A New Chapter [haha lame but I'm in a rush!!]

[yaruka]

Allie woke up with the sun, blinking rapidly as its bright rays shone into her still sleepy eyes. She could feel the warmth of Blake, her black cat, lying curled up on her stomach, and Lu, her dog, lay next to her, ears pricked forward and alertly watching the surroundings. She reached out to stroke his ears gently, and he turned and sniffed her, licking her hand briefly before turning back to his guard duties. Just a few feet away the horses stamped and a low nicker called for breakfast. Allie smiled, she knew it was Bandit calling to her. He'd been with her his entire life and never once had he had to wait for his feed once she woke up. Gently, she sat up, lifting Blake off her stomach and setting him down next to her. "Come on lazy pants," she teased and the cat got up, stretching luxiuriously, then slunk off into the woods to find his morning meal.
She got up, fed the horses then ate a granola bar for her own breakfast. Then she began to pack up her things, saddle the horses and prepare for the last leg of her journey to Dead Horse Hut. She wrinkled her nose, what a name, she hated it. Unfortunately there was nothing she could do about it however. Smiling, she noticed Blake return and leap up onto Bobby, the half-draft's back, settling himself in the wide saddle. She called to Mack, the one-eyed crow, and he flew down and landed on her shoulder. She swung up onto her palomino mare Molly's bare back with the ease of long practice, and grabbing the neck rope, directed her onto the trail. She never used tack on Molly, and seldom the neck rope, the mare just preferred it that way. And after all she had been through before Allie took her on she had earned the right to that preference. As the sun climbed higher in the sky, the little caravan started off down the mountain.

[Illu]

The sound of shod hoof rang against a rock a short way behind the train, followed by a bark. Seconds later a shrewd looking cattle dog was standing on the top of the rise peering down at the innocent group with stark suspicion. It didn’t bark, just watched, his eyes fixed momentarily upon Lu with distaste until a voice called it back.

The voice proved to belong to an exhausted looking fellow, approximately one year younger than Allie. He looked on the verge of falling off an equally weary flaxen chestnut quarter horse, who none the less pricked her ears excitedly at the sight of the caravan and attempted to throw out her strides to show off.

”Lookie what we got!” she exclaimed cheerfully, her voice a little drained. The cattle dog huffed, still watching Lu and clearly unenthused with the presence of another dog. ”Let’s hope they know how to behave themselves,” he muttered, then raised his tail straight up in a sign of dominance and continued staring governingly as they got closer. He didn’t want any confusion as to who was going to be the Alpha here. The mare was instead watching Bandit enthusiastically. Oooh, spots!

Jack gave Lori a wary pat to calm her down and motioned for Sam to stay close. He didn’t want to run the risk the other dog was aggressive, Sam wasn’t well known for accepting defeat with any sort of decorum. ”Excuse me?” he called out hoarsely once he was within a distance where he didn’t have to shout too loudly. ”Are you on the way to Dead Horse Hut?”

[yaruka]

Lu felt the hair prickle along his spine, and his hackles raised as he whipped around to see another dog looking down on them from the rise they had just crossed. A deep growl rose from within his chest and Allie twisted to look at him, "What is it Lu?" she asked, then followed his line of vision to see the tail of, what she presumed, was another dog flicking over the horizon. "Easy boy," she warned. Just then a hoarse voice called out to her "Are you on the way to Dead Horse hut?" The voice belonged to a weary looking man abord a chesnut mare. The mare was looking at Bandit, who couldn't care less about her attention and simply stood quietly behind Molly, waiting for what was next. Pirate, however, twisted around to look at the mare and nickered throatily (or as throatily as a colt can) to her, arching his neck and showing off. Swiftly, Penny nipped him on the rear, pinning her ears back, her expression clearly declaring that colty behaviour was not acceptable at the moment. At Pirate's nicker, Molly too had pinned her ears, and now moved her front feet restlessly, achinging to go back and discipline the colt-how dare he!
The rest of the horses gazed curiously at the oncoming party and Allie, hoping the man was trustworthy, called back "Yes I am, do you live there?"

Lu's eyes hadn't left the other dog, and his tail rose too, he was notabout to be bossed around by this stranger!

[Illu]

||OoC|| Curses, I mistook Bandit for Pirate. Apparently remembering 8 animals isn't that easy.

Also, the picture you have for Lu is actually one of these, which doesn't really have much similarity to any of the breeds he's supposed to be. ^^;;[/url]||



The other mares weren’t impressed, but Lori sure was, she turned her attention to the fancy looking spotted one, ears pricked in interest. It was breeding season after all, so she was understandably jittery. She had enough sense not to do anything stupid while lugging Jack around, but even if she wasn’t she didn’t look in a state to do much anyway.

As for Jack, all he managed to get in was a nod before his eyes flicked down immediately at the sight of the other dog. Uh oh, danger was imminent. He had never bothered fitting Sam with a collar as in the bush it was only a choking hazard, but now having no means of restraint was definitely about to backfire. He called for him to ”Heel!”, but Sam was beyond listening.

Sam was visibly incensed at the other dogs cheek and was already head down, growling murderously with his hackles raised. Ignorant little whelp! This was his hut, his land, and no stuck-up newcomer was going to waltz in try to claim ownership! He was heading straight to the bottom of the hierarchy like any newbie who wished to live past tomorrow! With a furious bark, he made a little leap forwards to try and threaten the other dog into submission. Jack was quickly scurrying out of the saddle to try and get a hold on the situation before a fight started that resulted in one of them loosing an ear.

[yaruka]

OOC: haha, I'm sorry Illu! and doubly sorry cause it took me so long to reply to this. my internet has not been behaving :/ and that's interesting about Lu's pic, I had no idea that the dog in the picture was a specific breed, I typed australian shepard cross in the search and that's what it came up with
hmm, I'll see about changing it, I probably need to change a few of those pics anyway
-----
BIC:

The mare was looking at him! Pirate bobbed his head excitedly, prancing in place. Allie sighed as she looked back at the stud colt. She was going to have to get him gelded soon. She'd actually hoped that she'd be able to keep him as a stud horse, a well-disciplined stud. After all, he had a wonderful pedigree, and she could use the stud fees to help take care of all of her animals. But now she had to wonder if that was a practical idea. She hadn't had much chance to work with him yet, maybe she could teach him some better manners and respect.

The man nodded to her, and Allie was about to call out to him again when she noticed where his eyes lay. The man's dog had adopted a definate "attack" stance and she called Lu back to her side. Lu obeyed, eyeing the other dog with contempt. His upper lip curled but he stayed beside Allie and Molly. He would not fight if Allie did wish him too, unless of course that dog made one aggressive move towards his girl or any of the other animals. If that happened that other dog was going down.

The other dog made a lunge towards Lu, his owner scrabbling down from the saddle in an attempt to prevent the iminnent travesty. Allie too had lept off her horse's back and grabbed Lu, making sure he didn't respond to the other dog's threat. Lu's throat rumbled in a growl. "Easy," she whispered in his ear, hoping that the man could grab his dog before he managed to sink his teeth into Lu.

The line of horses were shifting their hooves anxiously, they did not like the tension surrounding them and were eyeing the dogs nervously. Only Pirate seemed oblivious to the posibility of a full blown dog fight. He was too busy flirting with Lori.

[Illu]

Jack grabbed the hair on the scruff of Sam’s neck and put a hand on his chest warningly. The dog stopped, but was still eyeing Lu malevolently. Jack look around for a solution, and grabbed hold of the lasso and tied it around Sam’s neck. Once he was let go the dog of course went straight at Lu again only to be brought up with a jerk. Hopefully whatshername would find a way to keep Lu busy too.

Sam was furious. How dare he be tried up for only trying to defend his own! This newcomer was a smartass and needed to be taught his properly place in the hierarchy! He began pacing up and down for as long as the rope allowed, creating a barrier between Lu and the other two.

”Sorry about that,” Jack apologised, checking the rope was securely fixed to Lori’s saddle horn and then remounting. ”Sam’s been the only dog at Dead Horse for a while, so I think he feels quite threatened. If you’re only staying for a bit we could keep them both tied up, if not,” he broke off and shrugged. The only other thing he could think of was letting them sort out who was boss themselves. Keeping Sam tied long term wouldn’t be feasible, the dog was bred to work and would go absolutely mad. "Um, Jack, by the way."

[yaruka]

Lu calmed down reasonably upon seeing that the other dog was tied up and had no real way to get to his "family", but he still kept a watchful eye on the dog, his body tense and alert.
Allie released her hold on Lu, but still stood beside him, keeping her hand on his head as a reminder to behave. The man's sudden speach startled her slightly, and she looked up at him slightly sheepishly as she realized she'd forgotton to introduce herself "Oh, hi, sorry. Nice to meet you." she said "My name is Allie. Um, I'm not quite sure how long I'll be staying. Lu will be fine provided Sam doesn't come too close to me or the horses. Or Blake or Mack for that matter." She gestured behind her at the patiently standing equines "This is my menagerie, from front to back that's Molly, Bandit, Pirate,Sunny, Penny, Harvey and Bobby. The cat's Blake, Mack's the crow and of course this is Lu." she said, gesturing at the dog at her feet, then dropped her gaze in embarrassment. She was sure the man had no real interest what-so-ever in the name's of her animals, and he probably thought her silly for introducing them. However, Allie was always interested in meeting other people's animals, and as a habit always introduced her own. She thought they deserved to be introduced just as much as people did anyway. She looked up again, eyeing the chesnut mare "You have a fine mare," she said quietly "She looks like a good worker." Allie was aching to go over and introduce herself to the horse, to see what kind of nature she had but there would be time enough for that later. For now, she had to get to the hut and get her animals settled. And herself eventually. She turned back to Molly, placed her hands on her withers then nimbly swung herself onto the mare's broad back. Calling Lu to heel beside her, she turned again to Jack "Are you on your way back to the hut?" she asked "If so, would it be alright if we followed you down? I'm pretty sure I know where it is, but I'd rather get there sooner than later and you must know the best route from here." She smiled warmly at Jack, at ease now that she was back on her horse's back where she was the most at home.