A Bit of a Poke-Around [Livid/Ash River Dogs]

Aoife

April 310

Aoife ran far out ahead of her friend, Livid. She was going to find her father no matter the cost, but Iris gave her a single clue. That he might have been here, in Ash River Project, for some reason. She had no clue why he would associate with these dogs. They were monsters who used their powers constantly, who experimented on other dogs, and other strange things that she couldn't wrap her head around. Why would anybody want to stay here in a pack like this? She always thought it had to be some sort of class system. That the Alphas had a much better life.

She was in a place definitely within the pack's territory. Green and with the river meandering through the floodplain. It was rich in life here. She saw in the distance a patch of Glassrose. It was so common here that she couldn't believe her eyes. It was something of a rare plant back home. What she didn't know was that Glassrose was genetically modified by humans in order to keep the mutagens and pollutants from spreading and destroying Canaria. All she knew of the plant was that it reversed the condition of Basals in the process of mutating if the dog ate some Glassrose constantly until they started to revert and that it prevented mutations from occurring to the puppies in the womb. Though, there were still mutated dogs in Winterwood. She always thought it was a shame that a good dog should be saddled with a mutation.

She lifted her head. "Hello? Anybody home?"Her call rang out over the flat grassy hills. She turned around to find Livid. She felt suddenly afraid of being abducted and experimented on. "Hurry, Livvy, before they come."

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Livid

Livid&Ashton

You didn't have to look my way. Your eyes still haunt me to this day. But you did. Yes, you did.

Livid jumped up next to her friend. She looked around and noticed a black blur on the horizon approaching fast. She looked to her friend and smiled sheepishly. She lowered her head the sun beating down on her black fur. She looked down and glanced at the small grass peaking out of the ground. She shook her fur and glanced at her friend.


Ashton was walking around the borders when he heard the cry of a female. He looked and saw a huge dog and a little dog standing on the ground. He turned and started to sprint to them. He side adjusting quite easily. He ran up and over a hill separating them. He stopped on the bottom of their hill and panted a little. The paneling in his side expanding and snapping back to place. He tried to face where his side wasn't showing to them and he growled out, "What are you doing here? What do you want." He cleared his throat and then said, "Sorry about that. I just hating long distances. It is quite exhausting you see. My name is Ashton, welcome to the Ash River Project. If you would like I can show you around and or help you with anything." He rumbled out and started to inhale air again.  Soon enough his Chough came floating up letting out what seemed like curses at the Rottweiler. He looked sheepish for barely a second before returning to his nice grin.


Notes: Ashy is so weird but so adorbs.

dog (cc) Mark Alan Dooley @ flickr | table coding by Quirky Tea

Aoife

Aoife had been a touch nervous about an Ash River Project dog arriving. She shivered where she stood, her eyes scanning the horizon. She relaxed somewhat when Livid caught up to her. Not too long after that, she saw a black shape moving towards the two of them. Here it was, the moment when a monster from Ash River Project was going to steal her away and take her someplace awful and change her into a monster like the rest of them. "If they do something to us, we have to fight. You with me, Livid?" Aoife turned her eyes up to her friend, a little worried, but mostly determined that they were going to get out of this alive.

He looked like a pretty normal Rottweiler because he angled his left side away from them, hiding the clear paneling on his side. Aoife would have flipped if she saw his organs working in plain view. She thought she had seen something odd about his side as he was running up here, but she couldn't be sure. His Watcher hovered near him and Aoife stepped back away from it, distrustful. In her pack, Watchers were frowned upon. She believed what the pack believed: That it was better for dogs to be able to function and survive on their own merits, not by borrowing what the humans had done to dogs. Though she wondered what changes Yulianna would bring to the pack.

She kept on guard, but he seemed friendly enough. He was polite and even offered to show her around. She remained suspicious and was about to speak when his Chough let loose a string of curses. Nervously, she laughed. And then she laughed freely. It seemed that the little robot had a bit of an attitude. She always thought that the Watchers were emotionless shells, tools for dogs to use. She had never realized that they had their own quirks and personalities. There was a lot she didn't know, being sequestered up in the North.

"It talks?" She said, surprised. She refocused on the task at hand. "I mean, I do want help if you're really offering. Have you heard of a dog named Griff?"

((OOC: Now Aoife's dad is in the packlands, but Finley will have named him Pico BTW.))

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Livid

Livid& Ashton

You didn't have to look my way. Your eyes still haunt me to this day. But you did. Yes, you did.

Livid nodded at her friend. Ashton freaked her out but she admitted that his watcher made her laugh. She looked closely at the dog and watched his side. His breathing seemed normal enough but his eyes had a wild look in them. He looked like he was fighting himself somewhat.


Ashton looked at the two dogs weird. "I can't believe I have meet a dog name Griff. I can show you our pack grounds so you can look around if you want to. No harm will come to you while you are in our lands. I will hopefully prevent that." He said with a smile and continued to say, "Yeah, it talks sometimes. It is a pain in my butt sometimes it won't stop talking. I am learning though. He isn't as chatty as he used to be."  He rambled at the two.

dog (cc) Mark Alan Dooley @ flickr | table coding by Quirky Tea

Aoife

Aoife's expression fell. So, Griff wasn't here? Was her entire trip out here for nothing then? However, she couldn't lose hope. After all, this dog said that he'd keep her safe in the packlands. As much as she didn't want to trust him, he was her best bet for actually finding clues about her dad and giving her safe access to Ash River Project. At least that was what she had promised. She looked to Livid again. She could be sure that if the worst possible scenario came, they'd fight themselves out of it.

Ashton had begun chatting a lot about his Chough. About how he had been getting used to it. The terrier mix still wasn't sure of the Watcher's utility. Only that whatever it was, it annoyed Ashton sometimes. But, if it could talk, perhaps it was his friend, too? Though she wondered the mental stability of a dog who chose a robot as a companion to talk to. 

Still, at Ashton's offer to guide her into the packlands, she nodded. "I'll see for myself. Well, then, lead the way." She still hadn't shared her name with the strange dog, but he was courteous enough to share his. She didn't feel completely safe just yet.

((OOC: So, they can chat along the way! We probs will make a new thread within the pack land for when they actually arrive.))

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Livid

Livid& Ashton

You didn't have to look my way. Your eyes still haunt me to this day. But you did. Yes, you did.

Livid glanced at Aoife and said, "Are you sure we can trust him. We need proof that he wont hurt us. I have had my fair share of Rottweilers attacking me when they said they wouldn't. I don't trust any of them." This was the first that Livid said the entire time. Her lips pulled back to snarl that caused Ashton to visible flinch from them. "I mean come on. They probably use that ploy a lot. I won't hurt then bam you get stabbed in the back." She growled out and looked at the Rottweiler closely.

Ashton shrank with the words directed at him. Then he got angry, "Well sorry, miss prissy if you had trouble with other rottweilers. I can't help what breed I am. Geez you even use words that humans use. We bite and scratch not stab."  He said with a small growl. His Chough blurted out "Stupid dog." Ash froze at that. He knew that Choughs would say what you are thinking but he didn't want it to say that. He looked sheepish and turned around exposing his glass side. "Well we best be moving on now...." He said with a small wince that was barely noticeable.


Livid lived up to her name. She stalked towards the dog but stopped when she saw his glass side. The word freak spiraled around her head causing her to get even angerier. She wanted to just jump the dog and spill his blood. She saw his spilt ear and recognized that as a weak spot but he also had his back wide open. Before she even realized what she was doing she had her jaws clamped around his tail and was yanking before you could even tell her to stop. 


Ashton forze and then yelp and his tail was yanked, hard. He felt the female disengage and looked at his tail. "Well that hurt..... I believe I derserved that. Lukas is going to enjoy patching me up....." He said with a whimper in his voice. He didn't even want to see the look on the others dog face. "I will show you pack grounds now. Just don't let the others now that you caused this to my tail. They will attack you and I don't think you would want that. I had a accident and I will come up with something hopefully. I promised that none of the pack was going to hurt you. I keep my promises."  He said and looked at his tail. Lukas will definitly be having fun patching this up... 


Notes: Welp, ashy just lost most of his tail. Livid is so mean.... I like this post very action filled and with both dogs at fault man...

dog (cc) Mark Alan Dooley @ flickr | table coding by Quirky Tea

Aoife

Aoife was surprised at Livid's change of personality. She had never seen her friend act anything but friendly or courageous. To hear her spout hateful words about a dog simply because of his breed surprised her. She would have never pegged her as the type. However, her loyalty to her friend was much too strong to discount her for a moment of prejudice. 

The air was tense and Aoife heard the Chough add an insult on top of it. And that was enough to incense Livid. The dog wanted to leave, to continue without violence. He had the sheepish smile on his face. He winced. And when he turned his body, the terrier mix was flabbergast at his appearance. Most of his left side had been replaced by a transparent material. She saw his organs in plain view. She watched his lungs inflate and fill his rib cage with every inhale and shrink with every exhale. His heart beat faster and faster as the tension rose in the moment. She could watch the organs in his digestive system moving slowly. It was an overwhelming sight for her. She felt queasy looking at him. Was really all that separated his guts from spilling just this clear side? Was that really it? "Y-your side.." The words came out in a trembling whisper.

Before she could gather herself again, Livid was on his tail. Literally. Her mouth was over his tail and before Aoife knew it, the Rottweiler's tail had been amputated. Her eyes were rounded as there was blood all over the ground and on Ashton and in Livid's mouth. "Livid! Stop it!" Aoife said, her hackles raised. 

Surprisingly, Ashton continued to offer to escort them into the packlands. He made it seem like egregious acts were the norm for him. That frightened a little bit, but she grit her teeth and would suffer this if it brought her closer to clues of her father. "He's my only shot to figure out what happened to my dad." Her dark eyes held a sad expression. If she could choose, she'd rather not go through with this. She'd rather find a different avenue for clues, but she couldn't trust Ashton to know everything. She had to see it for herself.

Iris said that her father had been through here. And, though Iris had lied to Aoife, she knew that her sister did it to protect her. She had understood that much. But she wished that Iris had given her the opportunity to choose on her own rather than keep her from the truth that her father had been alive this whole time. "I..." It was hard for Aoife to say. "Please, lead me into the pack." 

She gave Livid a sharp glare to let her know that she could choose to come or she could choose to stay here. But she knew that she hoped that Livid could behave herself because she'd rather not travel into the heart of Ash River by herself with only a dog from that packland as her companion.

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Livid

Ashton nodded at the female terrier. "Yeah this is my side. It doesn't hurt very much any more." He turned towards the other dog and said, "So your name is Livid. It's nice to meet you." He started to walk forward with his tail out straight.

Livid followed sheepishly looking over at her friend. She kept her head down and watched the grass under her fur. She didn't like the fact that he was so nice to them and it was driving her nuts. She looked around and never met his eyes.

Aoife

Aoife remained distrustful, but for a moment, pity filled her expression. She saw past the hideousness of Ashton's new form and saw the scars that bordered the clear window into his side. It had healed, but whatever had happened to him took its toll on his body. She noted the lack of muscle in his side--obviously removed to give a clearer picture of the organs in him. Aoife knew that, though a dog's stomach was the softest part of them, that there should be some sort of muscle there. And for him to not have reacted in shock to the pain of losing his tail.

Just how much pain had he gone through in his life? The dog seemed young, to Aoife. Though his injuries and hard life also seemed to have aged him. Meanwhile, Aoife's carefree life seemed to have kept her young.

But then, she smartened up. She remembered that she was in enemy territory and on a mission. "I won't apologize for what my friend has done." She didn't want Livid to think she had betrayed her. "But I will admit that it wasn't what I would have done." She let Ashton lead them into the pack's territory.

She allowed herself to fall back so that she could speak to Livid privately. "I'm sure we can take him... as he seemed handicapped due to, well, you see him." Aoife wore a worried expression. She couldn't shake the bad feeling this place gave her. It seemed the opposite from Winterwood. In her pack, Yulianna would have seen to it that she'd greet the dogs who came in. In this pack, there was no trace of the Alpha.  

She caught up to Ashton, hoping that Livid would come with, even though she snapped at her earlier. "So... Ashton," it felt weird calling a dog she didn't trust by their first name, "What's your Alpha like?" An attempt to make conversation and also to get a better bearing as to what sort of pack Ash River Project was.

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Livid& Ashton

You didn't have to look my way. Your eyes still haunt me to this day. But you did. Yes, you did.

Livid just looked at him. Then she heard Aoife talk to her,  "I'm sure we can take him... as he seemed handicapped due to, well, you see him." She nodded her head. All they really needed to do was break that paneling and all his organs would spill to the ground below. She winced at those thoughts and looked around carefully. She watched as Aoife walk up to him and decided to play nice for the moment. "Yeah, Ash, Is it alright if I call you that? What is you Alpha like?" She was actually really curious about this. "I am sorry for acting the way I did, could you ever forgive me? I just have a bad history with Rottweilers attacking me and then your watcher insulted me and I just..... snapped..." She trailed off and looked down at her paws while they walked.

Ashton looked aver at the two who came up on either side of them.  "Well you see, She is actually really nice. She is a Esper who looks after us. She is working with me on controlling my Watcher."  The last part was a lie of course. He was only saying that make Ash River seem nicer then what they thought. He smiled at the two dogs and laughed. "You two are a odd couple. A big dog with a small dog. I am really wanting to know how this came to be."  He said with a snicker coming out of his muzzle. He didn't know why this appealed to be funny to him but it was.His Chough started to chirp with laughter too as his emotions bubbled over. These two are a weird couple indeed. It spoke and then started to chirp with the weird laughter again. This caused the big dog walking beside him to look up at it and shake their head. 

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Aoife

Aoife still couldn't get over this instability in Livid's temperament. She had never seen anything like it with her friend and it was all due to an apparent hatred of Rottweilers? Then again, Aoife didn't believe she was capable of hating anybody that strongly. All she knew was a comfortable life and was well loved. And when she wasn't, she would read love in the actions anyways. She knew her mother and brother were dead, but her family had died when she was a baby and that was all she knew. She knew that her father was in and out of her life, but she believed that he was a hero, wandering the lands and helping other dogs simply because of the stories she had told her. And Iris took such good care of her. Aoife then had the dark thought, "Except how she lied to me about my father."

She walked behind Ashton listening as he described his Alpha. She had heard of news on the way over of the change in power. But the name was Alpha Finley and she always thought that Finley was male. She wondered if it was anything like Yulianna, who was definitely a male dog with all of the corresponding parts, but lived as a female. Most in the pack just went with the flow, but there were some who mixed the pronouns here and there. 

"We became friends in the way most dogs do. We got along together. I don't think size ought to matter." It wouldn't be long until they arrived in the pack's territory. Aoife was eager to be able to look around and stop following this modified dog and his chatty Chough.

((OOC: I'll start a new thread of Pico waiting in the packlands!))

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Livid