an encounter (p)
Feb 24, 2015 22:04:38 GMT -5
Post by spook on Feb 24, 2015 22:04:38 GMT -5
SOME PRECAUTION WOULDN’T HARM MY HISTORY
IF I HAD THE WILL TO WAIT A LITTLE WHILE
IF I HAD THE WILL TO WAIT A LITTLE WHILE
Today was warmer than it had been, and Alhambra lay out in the sunshine, enjoying the feel of it on his back. The area around the spring had clung only tenuously to its former beauty in the direct aftermath of the hurricane, and winter’s onset had done little to improve it. The trees still stood with most of their branches cracked and hanging loose—the only thing that had changed was that most of the debris blocking the flow of the stream had at last broken up and moved along. This proved enough for Alhambra, who lay beside the frozen water, watching the sluggish current carry on beneath the thin ice.
A fish flicked its silvery tail and darted beneath his passive view, and the brindle greyhound idly pawed at the ice, wondering how fish survived beneath such freezing conditions. What if the ice froze all the way through? Would they resume their flitting and swimming once the inevitable thaw arrived? He shook his narrow head, not usually one for such pointless and distracting thoughts—the pursuit of greater scientific knowledge had never quite appealed to him. Other things—ripping throats in the dark of the night, deals made with vaguely dangerous dogs—those things appealed to him.
He’d taken to the spring, establishing himself there with various scent markings around the perimeter. It didn’t matter if dogs crossed into the area—he didn’t mind trespassers into his unofficial territory so long as they knew he lived there. And he only lived there when his peripatetic wanderings made it convenient. Other times he lived wherever he fell asleep—and when he fell asleep somewhere unfamiliar, it wasn’t ‘sleeping’ so much as ‘closing eyes and waiting for inevitable ambush.’ Years existing beneath the haphazard lifestyle Lark seemed to attract had inured him to such things.
He stood up abruptly, then stepped forward onto the ice, applying enough pressure with his one paw to fracture the thin crust of frozen water. Leaning forward, he lapped at the fresh water flowing beneath, before an errant snatch of breeze informed him that another dog had entered the vicinity. Alhambra said nothing, but his eyes darted sideways while he remained still, nose pointed at the water.
ooc. East