old bones, young H.E.A.R.T [any]

[shadow]

old bones, young H.E.A.R.T
anyone is welcome

His tongue lolled from his maw as the poor old giant took himself slowly down the path. His body not like it used to be in activity, yet, at the age of nine, he was still capable to get around. The retriever's tail swished slightly out of joy, his paws taking him slowly along the grass, surrounded by mass of scents of felines and other creatures, trees swaying softly within the wind and humans chattering away as they continued their day.

Shadow avoided them unless one would come running over, preferably the children to pet him, in which he would be too tired to respond and just let them. The heat bearing over his long golden coat. He did enjoy the warm weather, yet it was just too much for him and his old bones. Shadow hated being nearly at the retiring age, but still the calm and most warm hearted canine kept going, besides, he still had many years left and that's what kept him going.

Eyes studying the area around him before he felt his pads hit the harder of the surfaces, concrete. He extended his claws a little allowing them to be worn down, that's what made them quite short. A few humans passed him by some giving him strange looks, disgusted ones, and some people even crossed to the other side of the road just to avoid the stray dog. He gave a sigh to the fact, he didn't really like it that the humans thought of him as one of those filthy stray dogs who would attack them.

He slowed down a little bit more as he began to ache all over again quite easily. The poor dog took himself back onto a patch of grass where a large tree rested over, and slowly and carefully sat himself down before laying, catching his breath, panting a little heavier now from the heat, he relaxed, breathing in that fresh air before laying on his side for comfort, closing his eyes to feel a relaxing refreshing breeze every few seconds, and it felt like heaven.

His locks blowing quite smoothly within the breeze as the canine lay there thinking about a few things, his breathing calmed down a little as he relaxed in peace amongst the grass, the feeling and thought of freedom once again dwelling within his mind. It felt beautiful. A smile was along his maw as after a short moments rest, he lifted himself up again to a standard laying position, one paw over the other, tail coiled around his rump.

He admired the scenery before him, children skipping and playing, birds twittering and darting past, what could be better than this. Surely this old dog did not know. But one day. He knew he would figure it out.

[pandakat]

In one swift movement he bounded out of the way of the child, scampering into the shadow of one of the houses. There he crouched, watching the youth he had left behind with a feeling of unease. There had been a time when he was used to the sight of a community of humans all together in a non-city setting. However, that had been back in his neighborhood where he and his Will lived months ago. This was a totally unfamiliar place with children he had never seen before. However, they didn't seem to care about this and occasionally rushed up to him anyway, intent on running their little hands down his almost all black coat.

The child toddled around where Sable left him, looking rather confused and repeating the word, "kitty," over and over. After a while he scrunched his face up, balling his hands into fists and rubbing them against his closed eyes. If the watching feline hadn't seen this action before, he might've thought that the kid was trying to grind his eyes out. Sable glanced at the blades of grass near him, feeling slightly guilty that he had upset the young human. After a bit, the feline gave in to his guilt and sulkily sauntered back over to the boy. The child immediately quit wailing and instead patted Sable on the head, crooning, "Little kitty itty bitty," And other sorts of nonsense that humans at this age often said.

"Isaac!"

Both the feline and the human glanced up at the loud voice. "Isaac! Come here right now and get away from that stray!" The boy puckered his mouth into a frown as a female human strode over and grabbed him by the hand. A second later the two humans were off, the mother dragging Isaac along and scolding, "How many times do I have to tell you to stay away from those things?", as the child waved goodbye to the cat. Sable, irritated at the human's manner, muttered to himself. However, his mutterings were cut short at the sound of something whizzing through the air. The feline glanced besides him just in time to see one of those two-wheeled stick things zooming down the sidewalk Sable was on.

The feline shot from his spot in a black blur, sprinting away and up onto the nearby tree's lowest branch. The tom glared at the human on the contraption until he noticed a strong scent just below him. He peered down from the branch with wide blue eyes, wondering what that smell was. It was a large gold-coated dog! Sable scrambled onto the higher branches, cursing himself for not recognizing the canine scent. As soon as he was in the safety of the leafy heights, he stopped to watch the dog, curious despite his natural aversion to them. After all, he had never been so close to one of them before.

[shadow]

His ears managed to pick up the commotion going on ahead of him, he watched with curiosity of what poor creature was being offended off from the humans presence, yet the dog remained firm and relaxed on the ground. "kitty," A cat. Poor thing. Shadow listened carefully still. "Little kitty itty bitty," He found it quite weird on how humans would refer to a cat that way, never in his life had be been called a 'doggy woggy' or something along those lines. "Isaac!" even he cowered to that loud shriek, ears twisted back as he kept his head low.

"Isaac! Come here right now and get away from that stray!" All the time the human was shrieking at the boy, Shadow was determined to run over and fend them off with his barks, yet the poor old dog was unable to move, his old bones not what they used to be. "How many times do I have to tell you to stay away from those things?" He hated it. He absolutely hated the fact the humans referred to them as 'nothing' and pieces of filth, it was the humans fault they were out here in the first place.

There was no sign of the cat at first, until he managed to pick up the scent heading towards him, his eyes scanned before noticing a quick swish of the colour black and white dart up the nearest tree. Shadow tilted his head before slowly lifting himself from the blades of grass, making his way slowly over to the tree, a concerned expression on his face, his tail drooped, still panting from the heat before looking up to the tree, his voice calm and friendly. "Hey there..."

The dog hoped the cat could tell he wasn't going to hurt him, Shadow wouldn't hurt a living soul, and rather, this dog loved all nature and referred to every creature as a friend. He'd rather help cats and that chase them, what was the point and fun of chasing a cat, scaring it or even making it angry? He could see no entertainment in hurting another creatures soul. His warm brown eyes scanned for the cat before he sat down softly with that wide smile. "I'm not going to hurt you my friend."

His voice still eased as his tail wagged lightly in a friendly fashion. This dog was a giant sure, a big fluffy giant with a fine coat, but just because he was a dog it didn't mean he was a cat chaser, or didn't mean he hurt any animal for pleasure. Shadow was probably the only dog ever to be known to like cats and not chase them. He was the biggest and friendliest. Although having old bones, he certainly had the purist of hearts.

[basil]

"Don't judge a thing 'till you know what's inside it, don't push me I'll fight it!"

[/b][/i]

Gentle footfalls of the cream and black Siamese caused no disturbance to the humans, he would not get himself caught as he had in the past, nor would he ask the humans for food. ‘I can hunt for my own food, I’ve been an ally cat in the past’ He thought, stopping as the sound of rustling caught his attention. Turning to where he’d heard the sound the Siamese spotted a couple rat’s raiding the restraint’s garbage. ‘Lunch’ He thought with a smirk, creeping forward closely before laying still on the ground, not moving a muscle as he watched the rodents. One seemingly curious rat moved towards him and began to sniff him, in a swift movement Basil’s teeth and claws sank into the small creature, killing it quickly. Basil wasn’t one for making his pray suffer, as he had suffered for months in the hands of the humans, and he knew how horrible it felt, there for, he preferred to kill quickly. Besides, playing with your food was rude.

Basil finished the first rat quickly before his gaze shifted back to the garbage; the second rat was still there and hadn’t been scared off by the noises. Stupid things, weren’t they? Smirking slightly to himself Basil crept forward toward the second rat, and when he was close enough; pounced. Though the action allowed him to capture the rodent, he also knocked over one of the garbage cans, causing a loud crash. ‘Shoot’ He thought, glancing back at the back door to the restaurant as one of the humans exited. “Get out of ‘ere you stupid feline!” He yelled, a thick accent in his voice. Letting out a low hiss Basil grabbed the rat in his mouth and bolted out of the ally.

As soon as Basil rounded the corner from the ally he stopped dead in his tracks, like a deer caught in the headlights. Basil was standing about three feet from a large golden retriever dog. Now, it wasn’t like Basil hated dogs as he had met one or two nice ones in his time, but you could never really tell with them. Slowly lowering his head Basil dropped the rat on the ground and cleared his throat, the only way to find out whether a dog –or any other creature, for that matter- was good or not was to talk to them, right? “Good afternoon, sir…” He said coolly, keeping his slight nervousness out of his voice.

Basil stood stiffly as he watched the dog, his legs ready to run of need be, though the dog didn’t seem that bad and the brute was obviously older so the chances of Basil outrunning him were high, the Siamese had to be ready for anything. ‘This has become an eventful day already…’ He thought, the end of his high held tail flicking slightly. Basil hadn’t yet seen the other cat in the nearby tree as he didn’t want to take his eyes off the dog just yet, but he did sense the other feline, which gave Basil a small sense of relief even if he didn’t know the other cat.

"Never gunna give in, never gunna give it up no!... You can't take me, I'm free!"

[/i]
~You can't take me by Bryan Adams[/center]

[pandakat]

The retriever seemed to be an elderly fellow, though Sable honestly wasn’t really in touch with what dogs looked like when they aged. But the feline judged that he definitely wasn’t young anymore from the way the chap was inching closer to the tree--’Inching closer to the tree?!’ The cat exclaimed silently, feeling slightly panicked. What did that canine want? Sable was just a little black and slightly white cat in a tree, he didn’t look edible or like a playtoy or anything. He clung to his branch as if certain that the canine fellow was going to somehow bowl over the entire tree.

And then the retriever showed his teeth, revealing a bit of his canines and almost causing Sable to completely flip out. He was going to die. This dog was going to chew him up and spit him out and--hey, it kind of looked like he was saying something. The feline paused from his panic attack and peered down at the dog, trying to discern the words.

”Hey there...”

Sable blinked. Out of all the things he expected a large dog like him might say to a cat like himself, ‘hey there’ was not one of them. It was so...normal. Wait what? Was he starting to expect the abnormal? Maybe he had been hanging around Juniper too much. He loosened up a bit, though he didn’t reply to the canine’s words yet.

”I’m not going to hurt you my friend.”

He tilted his head, looking about the clearing for another fellow. ’Hmm...nope. No one else,’ The feline noted, ’So is he addressing me as this ‘friend?’ ‘ He gave a little snort of derision at the warm expression, replying silently, ’Excuse me, Sir Scarytooth, but I don’t really know you.First of all, I only really know one creature in this odd place and it happens to be some loudmouthed, psycho she-cat that I met by chance. Second of all, I’m a cat. Unless it’s ordinary in Nenbrook for cats and dogs to be all buddy-buddy...we shouldn’t really be more than acquaintances. And lastly, are you trying to sweet talk me into getting down there so you can tear me apart?’ Of course, Sable knew that he was being harsh and stereo-typical but this was mostly due to the fact that he was still quite panicked and hadn’t met any dogs close-up before except for the ones that yapped from behind their fences back in his old neighborhood.

However, the tom made an effort to calm down and reply, not wanting to anger the large fellow. ”Er...Hello.” He finally managed, not quite sure what to say. He took in a few more slow breaths before dropping to a lower branch, curiosity as to why this giant was addressing him getting the better of him.

"Good afternoon, sir...”

Sable looked at the owner of the voice, spotting a Siamese tom near the golden retriever. His eyes widened slightly at the other cat’s ability to stand so close to such a large dog, address the fellow, and still look as calm as could be. Maybe the retriever was a friendly sort of dog? Either way, it didn’t seem as if the other tom had noticed him as of yet.

[shadow]

He kept his smile still, trying to at least show the poor cat up there he would cause no harm, of which Shadow saw no reason to harm another soul, and shortly after his words had been spoken to the fellow, he was able to see a glimpse of the cat, shade of black and white as it spoke. ”Er...Hello.” He was quite happy that the other had replied, and Shadow understood fully that it was scared, he would not want to do anymore quick movements to scare the poor thing, and at that moment watched as the replier came down another branch, it was much easier for Shadow to see now.

As he was about to reply, a voice came from behind, and his warm smile still showed. “Good afternoon, sir…” He could tell from the courage and bravery that this cat held, Shadow respected that in all means. He turned around before sitting again, tail swaying happily and softly. "Afternoon." he gave a nod of his head, as a type of bow in respect. Shadow looked back up to the other in the tree before clearing his throat. "My name is Shadow. Pleasure to meet both of you." being directed to the other up in the tree, he turned in the direction, allowing the greeter before him to see there was other company.

The old dog was panting still from the warm weather, and with it, slowly lay himself down again in a relax state of mind, trying to give the impression to the other in the tree that he was still a type of dog unlike the others, he wouldn't hurt a fly. He took a breath of that fresh air before looking to the other greeter cat before him with a friendly smile. "And what might your name be sir?" a calm eccentric tone given off as his tail coiled around his rump in comfort. He leaned slightly as he lay, his back end on the side and his front straight with one leg over the other.

If any human saw this sight before them, a dog greeting a cat, surely they'd be concerned or either freaked out. But Shadow just adored greeting other creatures, and found no enjoyment of scaring or causing harm. It was pointless. Let alone a sign of hatred, which as anyone who knew Shadow, was a powerful weakness of his. If he saw hatred, fighting of any kind, he would do his best to stop it, even if it did mean.. risking his life...

[basil]

Basil watched the dog without blinking, Basil had learned a lot time ago how to still very still, almost statue like but seem relaxed at the same time and that’s what he was doing now. Though on the inside Basil was freaked out, he kept calm, he was used to being nervous, though maybe a different kind of nervousness and besides, the dog didn’t seem that bad. ‘I have a feeling he wont take a snap at me, but you never know’ Sighing softly to calm himself a bit Basil put on a smile as the Golden Retriever greeted him and he nodded in return , relaxing more by the minute as the dog showed no sign of attacking, in fact, he laid down, looking pretty comfortable.

Flicking his ears forward slightly Basil smiled, this time more genuine then the first time. “Er… Hello[/i]” The Siamese’ eyes lifted from the canine in front of him for the first time to look at the splotchy black and white cat in the tree and Basil dipped his head slightly. “Good day to you too, sir” He said in a louder voice, addressing the cat in the tree, he looked pretty freaked out, and Basil couldn’t really blame him as he was pretty freaked out himself, but he was keeping his cool pretty well.

As Shadow spoke again Basil turned his attention back to him and nodded slightly. “The pleasure’s all mine Mr. Shadow” Basil said and grinned a little, just because he was talking to a dog didn’t mean he had to be rude, at least not until the dog was rude first and Basil had a feeling that wasn’t something that would come from this canine. Flicking his ears to catch the sounds of the people walking by Basil gave a soft sigh, having forgotten about the other half of his lunch that sat at his feet, it was no time to eat, that was for sure.

The canine spoke again and Basil cleared his throat slightly, he’d forgotten to introduce himself, that was unlike Basil, but this wasn’t a situation the feline normally found himself in. “Ah, excuse my rudeness, my name is Basil Steelbloom, a once show cat, ally cat and shelter cat, and now a stray” He said with a chuckle and flicked his tail slightly, making sure to talk loud enough that the other cat could hear him as well. By now Basil realized that the dog wasn’t about to attack him, perhaps his intention was to butter that cat up first. Basil wouldn’t let himself be tricked, but he wasn’t about to be rude, either.

[pandakat]

{{Gaah, sorry for the supar late and short reply. DX;; }}

Sable settled his chin a bit over his paws as he crouched on the branch, peering wide-eyed at the two below him. He hadn't seen either of them anywhere in Nenbrook as of yet, though that wasn't really saying anything. He still had so much of this place to explore. How many dogs lived here, anyway? He was used somewhat to the neighborhood dogs back at his old home but, then again, he knew their attitudes better and all the best escape routes.

The little cat was silent throughout most of the exchanges, even when they were addressing him. Most of his responses rattled about in his throat before fading into nothingness, so Sable pretty much resumed his staring. They both appeared to be pretty friendly, though he hadn't the faintest clue why they kept addressing everyone as "sir." Of course, they all were male but it seemed a bit formal and stiff and...well...odd? It felt especially odd when the other cat called him "sir," seeing as Sable appeared to be the youngest of the group. He exhaled, deciding to let it go.

'So Scarytooth is Shadow...' Sable mused, tail flicking. After a bit, he decided not to ponder his name seeing as many of the animals around here were named things that didn't really have to do with their appearance. Soon the Siamese introduced himself, along with a bits of information. 'A former show cat? That's a new one.'

Despite the fact that the other two had already offered their names, Sable did not do the same. It wasn't really the fact that he was trying to be rude, but rather his natural tendency to not tell unless asked. And there was also the whole deal with him still being suspicious about these two perfectly strange strangers who he had no information about besides their names.

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Admin's Note on January 29th, 2009: This thread is being archived due to inactivity.