Looking to the Future [Mariah]

[GREY]

Paranoid slipped in through a broken window into the abandoned building. He enjoyed the solitude, the darkness in a place that was once full of light and people. The irony wasn't lost on him.

He laid down in the twilight, the last ghostly rays of the sun shining through the cracks in the forgotten place, illuminating cobwebs that folded around his frame and everything else. The dog was trying to decide what to think of his new pack. Good? Or should he dump them? It was simply too early to decide. A part of him decided it might come down to the females. With no idea of how long he'd live, getting a mate sooner rather than later would probably be an intelligent idea. Though, how he could ever find anyone, male or female, that he could trust was... a different matter. Paranoid really didn't trust anyone.

Sometimes it got lonely, true, but he considered being alive worth it.

[Crazy Stupid Love]

Mariah walked in through the broken window. She swiftly went through the hallways and into a big room with dusty tables and many controls and buttons. She saw the shadows of something big. "Hello?" She said walking to where she saw the shadow. The floorboards creeked as she came up behind a male dog. "What are you doing here?" She said with her ears pointed high and her head coked sideways. The dig was a big, brindle coated dig and she could have sworn she saw him one day in West Side but she never met him. Handsome male she could say. He looked like coyote too. He was kinda cute but, he was pretty big.

[GREY]

His ears caught the noise of a voice, and he startled, turning quickly in case of danger. It was a female behind him, and she didn't look aggressive, but appearances could be deceiving. So too did she smell of pack, but that didn't mean she wasn't a potential enemy. Paranoid was always on guard. Still, that was no reason to be impolite. "Greetings back to you."

His coyote side was not very strong-- it showed many in the build of his face and legs, and clearly not at all in his coloration or fur which was of a normal dog's.

"I was just hiding from the world." he stated bluntly. He saw no real reason to lie about it, even if it made her think less of him. "Why are you here? Plotting crimes?" he swung the question back to her. If she was plotting crimes, he didn't care, as long as they didn't affect him. Maybe he could even help. Although, what crime she could commit here he was uncertain.

[Crazy Stupid Love]

Se looked at him. He was honest and she liked that. "Look at how small and weak I look." She chuckled and rolled her eyes. he sat in front of him and looked into his eyes "Get real, like i'm going to hurt a male as charming as you." She smiled and jumped on a control system. She sniffed around it and jumped off. She perked her ears up and looked around. This is a big place, she thought.

[GREY]

Ch-charming? No one had ever called him charming before. Paranoid was now actually blushing. This had to be some sort of fiendish plot to put him off guard. Yes, that had to be it. "Appearances can be deceiving." he said, unintentionally flattering her even more by implying she was more than she looked. "So, you're West Side? We're in the same pack then. What do you think of the other packs?" he asked, ears perking.

[Crazy Stupid Love]

She smiled sweetly at him. "I never saw you." She said raising an eyebrow. That was even better about him that he was in her pack. West Side. She let out a sigh and said "The dogs are below our pack. We should be feared and then lean and mean dogs of Genesis." She said looking out the dirty window at the moon. She deeply gazed at the bright moon. Every pack had there tone of howl. West Side's bark was deep and echoed. It was loud and repersented the loudness of the reputation of the pack. She smiled. Her head held high as a West Sider and as a coyote. The timid swift coyote that she was inside did howl at the moon every full moon.

[GREY]

"I'm new. I haven't really seen you, either, but you smell like pack." His coyote blood gave him a good sense of smell. He could tell she was part coyote, and not merely a coyote look alike, by that alone.

This new information was interesting. "So do you think we should take over the other packs, if they are so beneath us?" he smirked. It wasn't really a question, more stating aloud his own thoughts. "I'm not opposed to that at all. Do you think our leader will risk war, though?" War was quite dangerous. But West Side... he felt certain West Side could crush the competition. And then Paranoid would have less enemies to worry about.

[Crazy Stupid Love]

She grinned. "Why yes no doubt I think everyone is beneath us." She looked at the sky and puffed up her chest. Her refection showed in the mirror from the light of the moon. "And Bullet will only risk war if he feels like one pack has been threatening his pack or a group of dogs trash West Side. He doesn't like unwanted enemies. He usually has a tough approach but ends up being nice." She chuckled and rolled her eyes. She wasn't like that. She had a somewhat tough approach but became nice very easily. She decided to get out of the window and sit in front of the dog again.

[GREY]

He felt a little odd about having her sit in front of him, especially since it blocked what little light there was, but Paranoid ignored it. His eyes weren't the only thing in the world he could use to sense with. "You know Bullet well then? Did you known him a long time? I only just met him myself the other day." he asked. Nice? An odd description for someone who had such a tough image.

Still, he saw the value of not going to war with other packs unless they started it. Perhaps there were other, better ways of getting known. "We'll prove to them that no one messes with us. In that way, they'll realize we're superior and be forced to respect our space." Sounded logical enough. Space was very important to Paranoid. Violation of space was... uncomfortable. He didn't really know why. He supposed it had to do with his fear of being touched.

[Crazy Stupid Love]

She paused then shrugged. "His dad was a family friend. His dad Blue Jay protected my family from a wolf attack and risked his own life." She looked down and moved beside him which didn't block the light anymore. She did a sigh and thought of how heroic he was. He risked his life to fight off the last wolf. She let out a small tear because Bullet is tough and he has a strong heart. He became stronger from his dads death. She couldn't handle it. Her parents were still alive in the wilderness and one from her siblings died from illness. She looked back up. "Bullet has a mate and a family will soon arrive from Lacey, if ya know what I mean." She smiled. He was happy now. Had a strong and loving life at this point.

[GREY]

His eyes went wide. Wolves. Vicious, territorial creatures even if they attacked man far less than dogs did. Even before man started to die from Toy Soldier disease, he knew plenty of wolves would go after dogs or any canine smaller than them. They were fiercely territorial, and as far as he knew, big. He was amazed Blue Jay had survived, what with their hunting in packs on top of all that. Or... had Blue Jay survived? He was guessing from the fact Bullet was pack leader that the older dog had sacrificed his life in the effort. "That was very noble." And he meant it. Paranoid wondered if he'd ever have anyone he cared enough about to do that. If he ever had anyone he trusted enough to care for... But no. Trust was impossible. Everyone was out for themselves.

Except... Blue Jay hadn't been out for himself. That confused Paranoid quite a bit. Maybe some dogs were different. He accepted that very tentatively; maybe it was a lie to make him more trusting... But what would she gain by that? Sometimes it was hard being, well, paranoid all the time. And she did seem genuinely upset a bit. That was hard to fake. Paranoid shifted awkwardly in sympathy, an emotion he'd never actually experienced before.

He hadn't asked about the mate thing, but it was good to know. "So this Lacey, she will be our lead female?"

[Crazy Stupid Love]

She took time to compose herself. Blue Jay was Noble indeed. He was beloved and she thinks Bullet would survive any fight. But that is the hope she has to have for her pack leader. "Lacey is very sweet, and yes she is Bullet's mate." She smiled sweetly and tried to think of what there pups would look like. She wasn't even supposed to know that Lacey was pregnant. Lace did gain some weight lately but she was always pretty big with her fur so she didn't really trust her opinion. Trust is a word that could not be used. She looked at Paranoid and smiled "Yea........He was my hero when I was a pup. I had a crush on Blue Jay." She chuckled so hard this time, but stopped herself. He was dead! She wanted to throw herself out a window. "But he was my hero. Your my hero......You stood up to Bullet and became his Soldier. Since when does that happen?" She said smiling at him then looking into the only light in the room.

[GREY]

A crush, that was pretty amusing. "I had a crush once. It didn't end well either." Not in the end unwell in the sense of the dog dying, but more like getting dumped kind of unwell. It wasn't really the same, but he still sympathized with that kind of embarrassment that having a silly crush could be.

Paranoid thought his heart stopped. He was her hero? How had she even known he'd stood up to Bullet and asked to be a soldier? "It was no big deal." he assured modestly, truly seeing it as not anywhere near equal to fighting off wolves. Certainly, not even worthy of being called heroic. "Does no one really stand up to Bullet?" he asked with surprise. He would have thought it happened all the time, just usually not ending up very pretty. He'd always thought of himself as a bit of a coward, being afraid of everyone and everything. To think he was brave for facing his fears all the time... That was quite strange.

[Crazy Stupid Love]

"Well, No. No one dares say anything against Bullet because he is leader, he is feared and he is super strong. He can be dangerous." She said pulling off a half smile. She was scared off Bullet when he snapped at her because his voice was loud and his bulkiness is scary. She was only small and swift and persuasive. She remembered how when Bullet was a pup he was heroic and always was a lady charmer. He was a huge show off and a bit snappy but he meant well. He was always bulky and handsome with his pointy ears and long muzzle. His eyes were hypnotizing and his body was like a stud. She snapped out of her dreaming and looked back at Paranoid. "So, what's your history?" She said. She loved hearing stories about other people so she can bring up some funny moments and help them through the bad moments.

[GREY]

"Appearances can be deceiving like I said earlier, not that I'm saying he isn't dangerous." Paranoid said. He was one to never trust appearances or first impressions. "Didn't you yourself say he had a nice side? And anyway, someone has to stand up to the leader, or they'll get an inflated opinion of themselves and never know when their own pack disagrees with them." he argued. It was just common sense. Paranoid didn't really like the way he was setting himself up to the be the one to take the risk of standing up to the guy in the future; he didn't really like to risk his own neck at all. But he supposed someone had to do it sometimes. And maybe it was worthwhile risking his own neck for some things. It wasn't like honestly speaking his mind made him less loyal. In fact, it made him more so in his opinion.

"My story? There's not much to tell. I was born a feral, and learned to beg from humans with my mother. We would go into the subway and ride together. I learned how to navigate all the stops, and to read basic traffic signals to avoid getting hit by cars, or to guess when a human might be startled by a bark into dropping their sandwich. Simple stuff. We were led by a pack leader who won his position through smarts instead of toughness; we were the beggars, the dogs who knew how to worm their way into human hearts and use it to steal their food." he smirked. "But the pack dissolved when the humans started dying. And the subway isn't running any more." he sighed. "I don't know what I'll do for food once all the trash is eaten up. That's part of the reason I joined this pack. For survival."