DoC | Of Heros and Strays

Uniskorne as Sscarlet

PenguLePenguin as Viper

Fallen leaves cluttered the streets around Canidale as the humans tried to clean them up in vain. Fall was in full swing and the weather was crowing colder but that didn't stop strays from wandering about the streets - they still had to eat. Though luckily with the growing cold, this time of year many of the humans had feasts - often including some kind of large chicken. Earlier this week though, some of the large chickens had escaped from the butchers even.

Though right now, Viper wasn't interested in finding food, no. Even with Felix as her ‘companion’ of sorts and building up her homely little nook again, the mischievous side of her was growing restless. So, she had ventured into the city and farther. The sun was falling from its peak when she stopped at a fenced in compound. Her amber eyes flickered along the fence and scanned the perimeter. Viper had heard tale of the aggressive military faction dogs. Though they weren't wandering the streets, she had seen one or two in the windows of uniformed humans cars. What a shame, to be locked up in a prison.

Viper shook out of her own thoughts and trotted along the fence, sniffing it. The whole place smelled weird, even the grass underfoot, like it was leaking out. This place was even more a prison than those prissy pets ‘yards’ she sometimes came across. Her nose moved the chain link, more so than the rest of the fence. She nudged it more with her head and found a hole. It wasn't long before she had wiggled inside, chuckling at how this place seemed so up-tight but didn't even check for holes in the fences!

Sscarlett

There were too many bodies coming and going from the Base for Sscarlett’s comfort. True, they were mostly human, but that just added to the confusion. Humans were bringing their pups to visit the Soldiers, and it caused all sort of noise and traffic. That had been one failing that she and her Handler tried to work on daily: Her nervousness around large crowds. She didn’t get defensive nowadays, but she did require more walks and patrols to ease her nerves.

She was on one now, trotting determinedly along the ‘Back 40’ of the Base’s outer perimeter fence, not expecting to find anything out of the usual. Every now and then, she’d run across a possum or raccoon (a armadillo gave her a scare one time), but nothing she considered ‘out of regulations’ had crossed her path even once. As it should be. A well-patrolled fence should have no forced entries, so, when she came upon the hole in the fence and found signs of forced entry, the Doberman was understandably upset. Immediately, her nose went to the ground and snuffed the scrapes in the grass. She would find this intruder and confront them. Soon, she was on a scent--dirty, smelled of the city, not a familiar dog. She growled low as she followed it.

She set to exploring this new place. Yes, she knew it was dangerous but nothing she couldn't handle. She had managed to escape angry butchers and fought off other strays, surely this wouldn't be much different. Viper wandered about the grass, reaching one of the buildings and traveling along its wall. The windows were placed sparsely and relatively small from the residential houses or shops in the city. In some stretches, there wasn't anything but paint and wall across a span. This place was definitely weird.

She continued on until rounding a corner and finding what was probably the main gate. The road outside was blocked by the fence and a small shack in the middle with a dozing human in uniform. Going past the gate was a parking lot, mostly filled with parked human cars. The scent of different dogs lingered around the area, most of them leading to the main doors going into the building. Viper sat and yawned, almost wanting to take a nap but didn't want any stray humans tripping over her and bringing her inside the building. The chain link fence already made her feel a bit trapped, inside the walls would be a nightmare, thank you very much.

As Viper contemplated on what to do or where to go next, her thoughts were interrupted by pawsteps on the weird smelling grass…

Sscarlett

Each step closer to the hub of the Base made the Doberman more irate at the sheer audacity of this intruder. Fences were put up for a reason! They kept things out from where they did not belong. In the case of the Base, it kept Civilians out from potentially dangerous areas of Military concern. After all, there was live ammunition kept on the Base. Sscarlett evened her breathing. This ‘intruder’ might just be lost and confused; she didn’t need to get upset because of a breach of security and immediately consider someone the enemy. Of course, as she turned the corner of one of the barracks, her opinion was considerably swayed back to the original.

At first, she’d thought the dog against the wall her own shadow. Black as night and sharp as knives, this was every dog’s mental image of ‘that dog’. The one you never wanted to come across in an alley (or on the battlefield). The one who chased you as a pup in your nightmares. The one that came up in someone’s story about another dog they knew getting their tails handed to them. A demon dog. A bad dog. Sscar felt her hackles raise, but she’d been trained how to handle these situations.

“You are on private property, Civilian! Identify yourself and state your purpose!” she barked, standing her ground, head tilted up in a position of authority.

The dark furred female had been enjoying her adventures inside this strange place, until it was interrupted by some rude dog. She turned her head to see the newcomer, throwing a glare at her. Viper kept in her sitting pose though slightly squared her shoulders and perked her ears in interest. The other dog seemed slightly uneasy at Vipers presence, though kept it hidden by a mask of authority. That was fine, Viper could play with masks too.

“Hm? Why should I do that?” she questioned. This dog seemed uptight and not wanting her authority questioned. But that would be exactly the thing Viper would do - doing the opposite of what dogs wanted her to do. She raised a brow with her voice and threw on a smirk to accompany her eyes. She almost seemed to say ‘Who are you to question me?’ though of course she didn't say it outright.

Sscarlett

This...had never happened before. When those two requests were issued, no one--Soldier or Handler (albeit, they only heard barking)--had ever refused. As such, Sscar had never quite focused on what you should do if someone did refuse to acquiesce. Her surprise registered through her mask, and her mouth formed several words before she settled on what to say next.

“Your safety and security as well as that of the Base and all personnel require that I know who you are and what your purpose for being here is,” she explained levelly. This dog was sending her hindbrain all the proper signals for a fight, but the Doberman would refuse them as the black dog had refused the requests. She could be civil.

However, she was also not stupid. If this dog wished to fight, Sscar would not take her on without witnesses. Yes, she was trained how to fight, but something about this other female made the Doberman nervous. Sscar might be trained, but this dog was probably dangerous. You couldn’t plan for a tricky fighter, and this dog looked like the sort to play dirty. Still, the Doberman stood her ground and kept her attitude one of knowledgeable authority--which she was, after all.

She masked her satisfaction as she watched the dobermans surprise and  mouth move to form words but nothing came out yet. She played more into her smirk, making it more malicious, though not to the extent where it would deem her insane. Viper could make a good guess that this dog was relatively new and not seasoned much in the ways with hostile dogs. She could make an easy fight if it came to that but Viper wanted a bit more fun before getting down to fang and maw.

Viper got up and faced toward her, not wanting to open her backside and neck for attack if she did lunge. Yes, they were matched about for height though Viper estimated she held the advantage in weight, though possibly not muscle. “My safety?” Viper asked, ignoring the rest of the statement. “Are you sure that you care about my safety? Of the, what do you call us.. Roamers? You seem so hostile and ready to fight.” Viper played the victim card slightly, though it was still noticeable. “And as for of the ‘base’, what are you going to do about me then?” She could tell the doberman didn't want to fight, at least not yet.

Sscarlett

Protocol and procedure raced through Sscar’s mind. The situation had turned hostile, or potentially so, and it was her duty to first attempt to negate hostilities.

Lowering her chin somewhat, the Doberman replied, “Affirmative. The term is ‘Roamers ’, although I prefer to address each dog individually. As for the Base, my duty is to protect the facilities and personnel within. Visitors fall under those parameters as well. So, yes, I do care about your safety, ma’am.”

The other unfortunate thing about Sscarlett was that she didn’t catch social clues well. The subtleties of personal interaction were as foreign to her as the world outside the fence. Sarcasm was a word she’d heard but never observed. Metaphor also tended to give her the slip. Basically, she took everything as literal. Right now, she felt she’d covered all the necessary bases to end hostilities. Others would have just groaned.

She scoffed at how this dog seemed to care about the strays. Of course a loyal pet would defend its humans. Hmp, Viper honestly didn't understand why they were so dedicated to their humans. If a dog didn't have a human, other humans would take them away. Or at least they tried.

“Oh? If you did care about us Roamers then you would do something about the humans who take strays away and put them to sleep.” Her words seemed to drip with venom and accusations. If this dog was so concerned about her wellbeing, she would do something about it. Of course, her words were just to get under this dog's fur.

Sscarlett

The Doberman blinked, uncomprehending. What was so bad about being put to sleep? Everyone was put to sleep at oh-two-thousand. Maybe the strays didn’t want to go to sleep? Wanted to stay up all night...doing whatever they did.

Sscar replied, “I have no information about that subject, ma’am. Is it some sort of human-imposed tyranny? If that is the case, I can relay the crime to my Handler, and we might be able to arrange for sanctions against it and rescue of the subjected dogs.”

She’d been taught many things, but there had been no need to educate the service dog about euthanasia. If it came to that in her life, she would never know. Death was an abstract concept to the young bitch; she heard stories of dogs not coming back and saw graves, but the full idea didn’t go much further than that. Like a little kid, those dogs ‘went away’, and they were happy. And Sscarlett knew no better, but wasn’t the worst for it. Until now.

As she listened, Viper realized this this pup had an incomprehensible amount of ignorance of the world. Bring a dog back from the dead? Did this, this pup not recognize or understand that humans had the ability to take innocent dogs off the street and put them to sleep? Or as the pets liked to call it, euthanasia. Fancy words were all but masks for murder.

Her smirk soon turned to laughter, almost like she had just told an incredibly funny joke. “Oh, ho, ho! Do you really think dogs come back from the dead? You're such a sweet, innocent little pup.” Viper trotted over to her, almost nose to nose and ignored any and all hostilities. As Viper approached, her sweet tones soon turned to venom, like wine to vinegar. “You shouldn't be here. I bet the dogs that surround you, your ‘heroes’ have killed both humans and dogs alike.” Viper hoped to sow seeds of doubt in her mind, herding the scattered flocks of disbelief.

Sscarlett

“Shouldn’t be here?” Sscar gawped in, yes, disbelief. Her mouth formed several words. She opened it then closed it. Logic stated that she was assigned to this Base, therefore she belonged here. As for the second part of the Stray’s statement-?

“In battle, the enemy must be subdued. If they continue with hostilities, yes, unfortunately, casualties might occur,” she explained slowly, trying to help this Civilian understand the complexities of war. “My ‘heroes’ are those who have faithfully served our Cause. Some may have tallied a body count, but it was all for the Greater Good. What have your heroes done, ma’am?”

The last part did have a bit of an edge. Sscarlett was proud of her Unit and her fellow Soldiers. This dog was, basically, attacking them for being loyal and serving the Cause when, clearly, she had none of her own. Switches that Sscar forgot she had were being triggered. This dog was on her territory threatening her family. Training never fully took the dog out of the Doberman--it just wrapped it up in camouflage.

Who was this dog to speak about the ‘Cause’ and ‘Greater Good’ and heros? . Viper didn't believe in causes, she didn't believe in a greater good. She only worked for herself.

Her maw opened slightly in hostility, bearing her canines. “There are no heros in this world. It just depends on your point of view,” Viper spat at her. A low growl escaped her throat, even a pup could recognize the hostile tension between them.

Sscarlett

The Doberman considered this. Her COs had instructed her in points of view and how opinions weren’t necessarily wrong. She had every right to disagree with differing opinions, just as others had the right to have their point of view. Of course, if a point of view or opinion involved the harming or killing of innocents, then it became an issue that required being dealt with. In that case, Sscar’s duty dictated that she react appropriately. Even with the other dog growling at her, the Roamer had yet to cross the line of protocol. However, Sscarlett was thoughtful about the opinion expressed.

“Maybe there aren’t any heroes in your world, but, in mine, I’ve witnessed many heroes of varying calibers,” she explained. Sscar considered a moment then added, “In some way, you’re a hero, too. You’ve survived on the streets and prospered where I probably would not. But, that’s just my opinion, ma’am.”

Here would be where a more sarcastic dog would smile. The Doberman was not sarcastic, barely understood the term, and was merely exchanging information, so she found no reason to smile. She rarely smiled, anyways.

She was almost taken back at her words, almost touched by the maybe-compliment. Almost. She held back the facial expression and true, she did appreciate the words but Viper didn't forget previous hostilities so easily. It was still quite possible that this dog was simply biding her time with idle chatter. Or was simply just an ignorant pup who knew nothing about the outside world. The former would be more interesting though.

Viper glanced back toward the entrance, scowling slightly before pushing past the dog. She was growing bored with simple talk and wanted to continue on. If that meant a fight, so be it. Viper wouldn't complain, it would at least be more than arguing with this pup.

Sscarlett

Sscar watched the Roamer leave. It’d been a strange encounter, leaving the younger dog somewhat perplexed at the conclusion. Had she embarrassed the black dog? Insulted her? The outcome was unclear, and, as the Roamer was heading out, the Doberman wasn’t going to stop her. However, there was protocol and procedure.

Sscarlett followed at a comfortable distance, only speaking as they neared the Gate. “Thank you for visiting Canidale Military Base. If you choose to visit again, please check in at the office at the Gate here to be officially admitted.”

Viper chuckled softly at the pups words. She still thought Viper followed rules and protocol. Sigh, such an ignorant pup. She didn't want to come back anyway; the fence was suffocating, the compound smelled weird and everything was so hostile and uptight.

Viper made her way along the wall of the compound. She flicked her ears and heard the doberman following her so she quickly ran, disappearing around the next sharp edged corner.