It's Not All Smiles and Giggles (Open)

[Drask]

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76 Summer, 2011 AV

Lightning cracked across the sky, back-lighting the dark clouds that hovered over the city of Syliras like an army standing in formation, preparing to attack. Hundreds upon thousands of tiny droplets flooded from the sky, leaving small circles on the ground. Water rushed into small dips in the roads, creating large puddles that continued to grow and grow and a painfully slow rate. Small rivers ran down shingles and down onto the streets, creating small, cascading waterfalls off the sides of shops. Meanwhile the clouds above moved with the speed of pond water, just enough for an onlooker to notice its movement given they could see through the rain. Even then, the grand expanse of rainclouds made the speed trivial, as the dark, cotton masses seemed to spread endlessly across the sky and deter any hope of the storm ending soon. The thunder followed, a jarringly loud sound in the otherwise silent night. It echoed across the stone streets and deep into the cold, dark alleys. Those who were still occupying the streets, braving the cold rain, jumped at the absurdly loud noise. Many retreated inside in response, leaving the bravest of the citizens to stand in the storm. However, before long they too gave up the hopeless fight against nature and joined the others inside. In one of the many dark, damp alleyways a pair of bright golden eyes stared through the thick fog that had collected there, watching the streets empty as the rain grew more intense. They darted to and fro, taking in everything they could with the limited visibility, watching the rain in silence. When Drask had grown tired of watching he emerged from the veil, a brilliantly white coat accompanying the golden eyes as they left the fog. Unfortunately, his fur was matted down, and was covered wet dirt, masking his beautiful coat under a layer of filth. The wolf trotted slowly out of the dark corridor and out onto the street when he was sure there was noone about. Hastily, he dashed to the other side of the road behind a rather noisy tavern full of music and laughter. He pawed his way silently past the back door, which had swung open prior to his arrival to reveal a rather lanky man throwing a sack of trash into the alley, piling it on top of a precarious pile of trash. Needless to say, it tipped over and spread its contents across the cold, stone walkway. The man had already walked back inside by the time the bag had topple over, and Drask had already set to work rummaging through the trash in search of dinner. He stuck his muzzle deep into the pile of trash, taking in the scents of vomit and alcohol. It took him quite some time before he found the remains of a steak dinner and immediately set to work, attempting to quell the ever growing hunger inside him. It was then that he heard the sounds of footsteps behind him, and his head whipped around to face the intruder with harsh eyes.

[Auron]

A slight extension that stretched from the eaves of the building was all that protected him from the rain as he stepped rather unsteadily out of the tavern. His eyes drifted lazily, almost disinterestedly, across the street in front of him. The light of a lantern in particular, reflected to him by a pool of light, he found to be fascinating in his drunken stupor. A crack of lightning soon broke through the foggy haze in his mind that had rooted him to it, however, and he hazarded a peek into the sky from below the overhang. Petching rain. Should have worn my cloak. The weather had certainly dampened Auron’s spirits, which just a few short moments before had been so very high inside the establishment. The spattering of the rain against the cobblestones outside of the tavern suddenly reminded him of an urge that needed to be addressed. Come on then, we must needs a piss.

Auron bowed his head against the torrent of water cascading off of the tavern’s roof as he stepped around the corner and into the alley. He hugged the wall as best he could; not only did it provide some shelter to him, but it gave him something to lean against. Avoiding the largest of the puddles of water took a significant amount of concentration, inebriated as he was, as he plodded through the rain. He thought he was almost far enough hidden from the street to be able to relieve himself when he noticed that he had disturbed the animal’s meal.

He was taken aback by the size of the thing. He half wondered if there wasn’t a body buried in the slop that it pawed at, so big it was. But even so, its eyes seemed to carry some intelligence to it. Auron was almost saddened to see the beast eat at garbage the way it seemed to so ravenously. “Aren’t you … massive?” Auron crouched down onto his haunches, hoping to dissuade the creature from thinking that he was any kind of a threat to it. It took a forearm pressed against the side of the building to keep him steady as he balanced precariously on the balls of his feet. "Awfully big for a stray, aren’t you?" He smirked. "That sized though, I don’t suppose many others want to fight you for scraps." He studied it a few moments longer. Could it really be just a dog? It did seem to have at least some wolf to it. Of course, it was hard to tell in the light and with the amount of filth caked to the thing’s coat.

Auron looked up at the sky, and felt the rain patter across his face. He chuckled. "I suppose we could both use a bath, couldn’t we?" He looked back down at the animal. He thought of sticking a hand out to it, to see if it might come to inspect it, but the thought of whether it was feral stayed him. Of course, if it was and Auron felt so threatened, then perhaps he might have to use his new long sword earlier than he expected.

[Drask]

Drask watched the figure as it stood at the entrance of the alleyway, the unmistakeable smell of alcohol wafting from him. It was difficult to catch any other scent with the rain masking a majority of it. The boy felt uneasy knowing this, as he relied on the smells to tell the story of whomever he should meet, but he had no idea how dangerous the man could be, or what his intentions were. The stress faded slowly once the figure had dropped himself down to his level, noticing the awkwardness in his movement. Drask felt better knowing that the man was not "all there". A drunk opponent was not much of a challenge, but he hoped it didn't come to that. "What do you want?" he asked in his Kelvic tongue. Drask had been in his animal form for so long that he had reverted back to talking in his Wolven language, and had forgotten that most other races could not understand it. Thus, it merly came out as a low, half-hearted growl. The tone gave the impression of annoyance rather than anger, which he feared may cause his intruder to become hostile. It was odd, fir Drask had been a rather kind person, one not known for being unpleasant. But something had changed inside him. The boy turned his attention back to the trash he had been rummaging through, pulling out several small scraps of food he deemed edible. He had learned to ignore the taste as it usually made him nauseous, given it was covered in garbage. Anger bubbled inside him, his mind pulling up the image of the their who had assaulted him. How long had it been? Weeks? Days? Time seemed more like a suggestion than a solid fact.  Before too long Drask had finished his dinner and was trying to find something to quell the hatred. He was unsure if the man was still there, but he had already forgotten him. Hopeful, he trotted over to a stack of empty beer barrels and began pawing at the cork, hoping that there was some small amount of alcohol left. It had been so long since he had drank ale, and he missed the comfort he felt when consuming it. But he was unsuccessful, as not a single one held any liquor. He huffed loudly and turned back towards the man, a look of defeat on the wolfs face.

[Auron]

The wolf turned back to its meal, with little more than a growled warning in Auron's direction. He sighed as he pressed himself up so that he could stand. A mite unfriendly, this one. He unlaced his breeches, and then planted a hand against the side of the building to brace himself there. As his urine mingled with the rain-water, he couldn't help but smile to himself and think. Mangy cur! This is my territory! The moment of alcohol-fueled bravado passed quickly, however. The creature needed to eat, just as he did, and Cyphrus was fraught with predators that had much in common with wolves; he had no desire to face anything that resembled those if he didn't have to. He turned back to see the animal pawing at an empty cask of ale. "What's the matter, fella? Your kind don't drink ale, don't you know?" The idea introduced a lingering doubt into Auron's mind, though. "I don't suppose you're one of those Kelvic types, are ya?" The way he asked the question was only half-heartedly, almost as if it were a joke that he did not expect an answer to. If there were anyone around to have heard him ask it, he would have been embarrassed at sounding so very stupid.