Balto: Howls of Destiny

[Baya]

"Good morning. It seems I've already scared a dog away. Let's start the count at one." Amarok said with a chuckle as he noticed her shaking her head prior. Her name was Shila. Amarok figured the name really suited her, and also rolled off the tongue quite easily. Not like his name. His name was pretty hard to pronounce at times.

"Well, no harm done. I know it now, and thats all that matters. You have a very unique name. Kind of like mine except. You know. You don't have to explain how your name is said." Amarok pointed out as he walked alongside her now. He hated the fact that he was scaring dogs off away from her that would probably normally greet her in the morning.

"You know, I enjoyed life near the woods far better. I was the least scary thing over there. Nobody ran from me, I did more of the running. Bears. Black bears to be exact. Don't mess with them." Amarok said with a slight shudder. The two passed by the post office and noticed a rather large husky with a band of other huskies. He growled as he quickly jumped in Amarok's way.

"Whats your hurry wolf boy?" The husky growled. His fur was a mixture of black and brown. His eyes were a lime green. He wore a purple collar with a golden piece of metal attached to it that read "Gunter".

"Not gonna run?" Amarok asked quietly, not liking this husky's aggressive tone. The husky chuckled and his eyes locked on Amarok.

"You don't know who I am do you wolf boy? My name doesn't carry to the woods? Oh yeah they never do, do they? No wolves make it back if they ever reach Nome." The husky growled.

"You tell him Gunter!" One of the dogs behind him cheered. The husky, apparently known as Gunter' smirked, showing off his canines almost as razor sharp as Amarok's.

"Yes. If you think we are going to just let you walk out here like you own the place. You've got another thing coming wolf boy. How about you crawl back to your den before I snap your neck and drag you there?" Gunter said in an extremely chilled tone.

Amarok snorted, then he actually laughed. "You know, I haven't met many other dogs so far. I'm guessing you and your friends back there make up the idiot portion of the population. If you know that I am wolf, then you should also know that threatening me isn't a good idea. I'm tamed, but that just means I don't attack without reason." Amarok said in a monotone.

"Was that a threat wolf boy?" Gunter growled with a wide sadistic grin. Amarok's eyes narrowed slightly. He didn't want to stoop down to his level, and make himself look bad. Especially in front of Shila.

"No. Just forget it. Let my friend and I pass." Amarok said quietly. Gunter looked to Shila, and he sighed.

"Shila! I'm sorry. I didn't even notice you with this brute taking up all my attention! Get away from him. Before he tears your head off or something." Gunter cooed, with his devilish grin. [OOC: For the record, he is related to Steel. Won't say how till later ;P]

[ImaniFaith]

With a roll of her amber eyes, Shila boredly regarded the blow-hard, "I'll do what I like, Gunter, but thanks for your concern."

Then, glowering, she looked over the rest of the dogs who were slowly forming a circle around her and Amarok. "And you guys, really? I'd expect this kind of thing from Gunter, but not from you."

She slowly began to inch her way toward the only break in their ranks, hoping her words would have some affect upon them. Even with a wolf at her side, she knew that there was no hope of taking them all on-- especially not with a sadistic rat like Gunter leading them.

"Come on, Amarok." She continued coldly, "If our friends are as concerned as they say they are, then they'll kindly let us go."

Boring her gaze into Gunter's green eyes, she growled, "Won't they?"

[YFWE]

Although Balto had wanted to get to know Amarok a little more than he had, the wolf's master had called him, and Balto certainly could not compare to the call of a human. He had bid a quick farewell to Shila and had headed off, spending some time with Kodi and Jenna before turning in for the night, Jenna's family allowing him to curl up beside the fireplace of their home that evening. As such, Balto felt quite rested when he awoke in the morning, yawning once before bounding out the door and into the sunlight.

He stepped into the snow, which seemed to be at its exact same quantity as it was the day before, and thought aloud about what to do that day. "I wonder if Amarok will be back in town..." he mused with a thoughtful look upon his countenance. Perhaps, at the very least, he could find Shila and speak to her. He could not deny that the white wolf captured his curiosity, as he did with most of the rest of Nome as well. But while Balto meant well, the same could not be said for many of the other animals.

Thinking long and hard about where he might find Amarok should the wolf be in town, his attention was almost instantly directed toward the post office. Balto was not certain that the wolf would be there; all he had to go on was that it was where he had found the canine the day before. That logic was good enough for him.

And as he neared the post office and noted the abundance of huskies surrounding what appeared to be two other figures, Balto had a good feeling that his logic had been sound. Finally reaching the group, he spied Amarok inside, Shila at his side, as they faced a rather sizable. black and brown husky that Balto knew as Gunter. Balto had never ben a fan of Gunter; the two had not seen eye to eye on most issues within the town. And as it appeared, this would be just another instance in which the fur might fly.

"Come off it, Gunter," called Balto into the crowd. "Can you not go five minutes without trying to exhibit your dominance over others?"

He took a step toward the crowd of canines. "Amarok, let me introduce you to Gunter. The village blowhard. It's said that mere minutes in his company will lose you a few brain cells."

[Baya]

Gunter's eyebrows raised as he noticed Balto fall into the circle as well. He closed his eyes for a moment and chuckled to himself. "The village blowhard? Big words for half breed scum. You know if my father was still around, you wouldn't be alive to speak those words." Gunter growled with that same dark smirk spreading across his face.

"Be on your way wolf-dog! This is between the wolf and Gunter!" One of the huskies growled from around the circle, that was starting to close in around them.

Amarok's eyes narrowed as he looked to Balto. He was a half breed? Then again he did have unusually sharp teeth and large paws. That would also explain the fact that he wasn't that intimidated by Amarok's own wolfish features.

"Now, I'm still going to give you a chance Shila. You can leave if you want, or you can stay and take the punishment." Gunter snickered.

"Tell me. Your boy here just said it's between you and me. Why are you involving these two? Why do you have these little pups closing in on me? Take me one on one Gunter. That is, if you have the bite to go with that bark." Amarok muttered, glaring towards the large husky.

Gunter chuckled once more and shook his head. "And ruin my pretty face?" Gunter cooed with a grin.

Amarok raised his eyebrow and he looked to Balto. He totally knew what Balto meant by village blowhard.

At the scent of humans emerging from their homes Gunter growled, and looked to the three in front of them. "This isn't over." Gunter muttered as the huskies regrouped behind him. Before Gunter took off he looked back to Shila. "By the way Shila. My arms are always open. So once you come to your senses, you know where I'll be." Gunter said with a smirk as he trotted off.

Amarok could feel anger bubbling inside him, but he suppressed it. The last thing he wanted was to justify Gunter's harassment and to disappoint Shila. When the husky was out of earshot Amarok walked so that he was sitting on the wooden steps of the post office and looked to Balto and Shila. "Thank you both. You did not need to stand by me against that windbag. Though, I'm very grateful." Amarok said quietly.


//

Gunter walked with his goons towards the abandoned shed his father once occupied. His eyes burned with hatred and anger. All his goons knew to stay silent when Gunter was so upset. When they reached the shed they all shook their furs dry of the snow. Gunter laid down in his corner with a sigh.

"Who does that half-breed mutt think he is, intervening in my affairs?!" Gunter finally shouted angrily. "I'll tear him limb from limb next time I see him! I'll take him down without any hesitation!" Gunter snarled. His goons just watched, shaking in fear from the other side of the shed.

Gunter snarled quietly to himself as he looked to his old father's picture that displayed him with his sled team. "I will get him father. I promise." Gunter murmured with a frown, calming down just a bit.

Some of the huskies were a bit disturbed from the outburst still, especially since afterwards he was talking to a picture. They were hesitant to leave but they did anyway, leaving Gunter alone to think.

[ImaniFaith]

"You don't have to thank us." Shila said with a disgusted glare at the retreating dogs, "We only did what any decent canine would do."

"Gunter's a jerk." She continued, "For such a big head, he's got a pretty tiny brain. He's been bugging me for a long time now, and I'm about ready to tear his face off."

With an irritated sigh, she looked at Amarok, "I'm sorry you had to get on his bad side so quickly. He'll be bugging you too now, but for very different reasons. You think you can deal with him?"

[Baya]

Amarok sighed as he looked to the sky. "I'm pretty sure I can deal with him. I can tell he's not a very brave one. He rallies other dogs to do his dirty work. For a guy that's hating on me for being a wolf, he's acting more like one than me." Amarok pointed out with a snort. He looked to Shila for a moment.

Amarok's eyes narrowed as he looked over his shoulder to see another group of dogs walking by. Leading them was a dark red furred husky, but he didn't look nearly as threatening as Gunter. He was grinning wide from ear to ear, as he stopped beside Amarok.

"You must be the wolf everyone's been talking about! Been scaring up the village real good huh?" The husky said with a grin. He looked over Amarok's shoulder and nodded. "Morning dad."

"Guilty as charged. Who would you happen to be?" Amarok asked, not knowing Balto had children.

"My name is Kodi. This is my mail sled team. I noticed you got Gunter really ticked. Any enemy of Gunter is a friend of mine." Kodi said with a chuckle. Amarok chuckled himself.

"Well it was nice to meet you. I have to go get ready for a mail run. Shouldn't take long." Kodi said with a nod at his dad, and walked off towards the mail shed that held their sled.

Amarok looked to Shila afterwards. "Would you show me around town?" Amarok asked in a bold way.

[ImaniFaith]

Shila raised her brows at the wolf's emboldened tone. She had only been living here for a year or so, and had never really had the chance to show anyone around Nome yet. It sounded like a fun prospect, and her owner wouldn't come out for her for a little while longer.

Still, something about Amarok made her feel so... nervous. And it wasn't his fierce teeth or claws. However, she did enjoy being in his presence. Very much.

"Sure." She smiled awkwardly, "It's not like I have anything better to do."

'Great, that must have sounded nice.' Shila mentally kicked herself, "We can stop by the post office first, seeing as that's where we met-- and start from there."

Jogging just a bit ahead of him, she grinned over her shoulder, "Follow me!"

[Baya]

Amarok smiled slightly as he followed alongside her. The truth was, he wanted to spend more time with Shila and learn a bit more about her rather then the town. If she was to be his friend, then he would like to know what she liked and disliked. He'd question her, as they looked around however, as to avoid suspicion. The two walked through the village, and Shila talked about many of the buildings and landmarks.

After a strong bit of the tour Amarok looked to Shila. "This is a very small village, but it has so much to see. Too bad there are some dodgy characters around though." Amarok said quietly, noticing that several dogs glared at him whilst others just ran off.

Amarok and Shila walked across the village a bit more until they came across an empty, completely abandoned shed. Amarok sniffed near the shed, and noticed that once upon a time some dogs DID occupy this shed. Now, nothing. Amarok stepped into this shed, and noticed the dusty wooden floors. He sneezed quietly, his ears perking up from that. He looked around the ceiling noticing there were alot of spiderewebs, but it was quite sturdy looking as well.

"This place is actually quite interesting." Amarok said as he jumped on top of a broken sled. He gazed around at the old hay that was put up against the wall. This was where a crew of sled dogs were kept. Amarok had seen sled dogs around his secluded shack quite some time ago, but only once or twice from afar. He wondered how it actually felt to be running for so long and pulling a huge load. Though these thoughts quickly dispersed. He was a hunter, not a runner. There was no point in his curiosity.

"Ever been attached to one of these?" Amarok asked as he tapped his paw on the sled, looking to Shila wondering if she was a runner. She looked like she was well exercised and fit enough to be one, so Amarok just made the assumption.

[ImaniFaith]

Shila's eyes widened at Amarok's question, then she laughed. "No. I'm not cut out to be a sled dog. That's a job mostly for huskies." Sitting down, she too placed a paw on the sled, "My master-- Brian is his name-- keeps me around for company. He does run with me a lot, but it's not nearly the same thing."

Sighing, she looked up at the ceiling, wondering how many more snowy winters it would take. This whole place seemed as though it had been here forever. "What about you? What does your master have you do?"

He didn't look like a runner, that was for sure.

[Baya]

It definitely wasn't the answer Amarok expected, but he didn't really care. When she asked him what he did with his master, his ears flattened slightly. Here he was, trying to fight the fact that he wasn't a vicious killer, and what was he? A hunting dog. Perhaps Shila would understand his job wasn't about just plain carnage. At least, that's what Amarok was hoping. "I'm a sort of...finisher for game in the woods. My master hunts them, eats their flesh and makes their furs into things we need. He sells whatever we don't need on the market. What I do is basically kill the animals, if the bullet doesn't. Either way, the animal will die, but it will suffer if the bullet is somewhere that isn't lethal right away." Amarok explained quietly. He looked down, slightly ashamed.

"I-I'm not saying what I do is great, but it is an act of mercy to kill a suffering animal. I would never harm another living thing without reason." Amarok murmured, hating how he was sounding. He should've just lied and said he was a guard wolf or something. Which in a sense would actually also be true, as he protects his master from things like bears or even other wolves.

Amarok jumped down from the sled, and sighed. "I hope you don't think any less of me Shila. If you wish to avoid me as the others, I don't blame you." Amarok said in monotone, not meeting the female's gaze. For the first time in his life, he was ashamed for what his master made him do.