memories are designed to fade

Vigilante Haskel · 01-01-2012, 03:49 PM

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I'm not sure where this all came from. o.O You can probably skip the second - fifth paragraphs? xD; 646 words.

He heard her approach, light-footed as she seemed to be, the only indication a slight flick of his left ear. None had ever found themselves in the position of sneaking up on the dog mutt; his training in his youth had not allowed for such a thing to happen. The slightest sound, the shifting of the air around him when another was near, the slight change in the way the air smelled... These were things the former righteous killer had come to be able to recognize immediately, without conscious thought, having honed these skills so well, such a long time ago.

Though the pack was smaller than it once had been, it was strong, the King knew. Their numbers were not as impressive as they once had been, but they were a loyal group. Even without requiring submission and respect, the King was given it. Certainly he did not show submission to his pack members—he did not even show it to his mate—but he gave them the respect that they gave him, a mutual exchange. He was fond of the members of his pack, even down to the trouble-making Terra. There was no one he did not want to be within the pack's borders.

Once, that had not been so. Before his ascent to the throne, the dog King had been far from fond of a number of members. There had been Leroy; the black and white male had been his almost-rival. He had left very shortly after Ayita and Vigilante had begun their mateship, apparently unable to coexist with the man his ex-lover had taken on permanently. There had been jealousy between the two of them, absolutely. Vigilante had never been fond of the man that had fathered Ayita's first children, though he loved those children as much as he could. There was always the barrier, though, between your own and someone else's. It couldn't be helped.

The trespasser that Terra had found recently, the young girl with the torn ear and the inability to respect borders, had reminded him so much of someone else. The scent had been disgustingly familiar. It was only later that he realized it was Svara he had been smelling, another one of the pack's original members he had not been fond of. She had caused nothing but trouble and had not done so with the light, friendly heart that Terra seemed to. No, she had been a problematic female, indeed. And for that matter, so had Firefly.

Those three were gone now, along with others he had disliked, and many he had liked. Some had left the area completely. Others had gone to different packs, searching for something the kingdom did not have to offer them. He thought of Anann and Anatoliy; he absence was tangible to him. The Russian man had been someone the King had not known well, but the golden woman had been perhaps one of the only wolves here he could have ever called a friend. Ayita, of course, was another; Alaine had been, as well, before she had gone in the night.

Finally, as if he had been waiting until she spoke to be brought away from his thoughts, the dog King turned his dark face to study her wispy features. He knew who she was, despite having never been formally introduced. "It seems I am finally able to meet my son's 'ghost,' at last," he said with a small, amused smile. Vigilante had told Skoll that Caspa was not a ghost, but he could see why his son might think so, with her aberrant appearance. Even with his dog heritage, she looked nothing like anyone he had ever met, and certainly that Skoll had not. "I have been well, thank you. And have you?" The question was accompanied by a short sniff, the smell of a lingering wound faintly noticeable.

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