Empty Walk [open]

[nucks]

Caelo. Her ginger coat was scraggled, but one could see… once upon a time, she was lovely. Her ribs jut out of her fur, making her look like a walking skeleton, wearing a dog's pelt. Her collar hung loose on her thin neck, but not loose enough to shake off. Her mind was… puzzled to say the least. She wanted, perhaps a second chance. A chance to go back to how it used to be… with lovely meals three times a day… a good game of fetch whenever she nosed her master.

Master.

That word made her shiver a bit, her free spirit going against it. However, perhaps it was better to a slave than free if she was going to starve because of it. However, she still walked as if she looked like a glossy pet dog. She smiled to herself. She doesn’t need master.

Any other day, she would be bragging about her looks to any moving creature, but today… she could hardly think of anything but food. Her thin stomach looked like someone carved a large hunk from her frame. And she turned her head up, finally seeing where her empty walk had taken her.

She looked up. The sun was bright and glinted off the fancy buildings like they were gems. Maybe it was her half-dazed mind that saw them in that way. She wagged her kinked tail. "Wow, this reminds me of where I lived." And she was looking for the house from whence she escaped even though she knew it wasn't around.

Her nose found the scent of some glorious food. Lucky dog had come on the day before trash day. And she ambled to a trash can. Her nose just giving her images of heaven. Caelo smiled and knocked the can over. Her mouth rummaged through the rubbish. And then she stopped.

The starving dog had a piece of a half-eaten chicken inn her mouth. She dropped it. Spitting it out disgustedly and wiping her muzzle with a paw. Her thin frame only looked as if she was starving, yet she couldn't bring herself to eat garbage. Her body wanted it. Her mind wanted it. But she stopped the instincts begging her to eat simply because of her vanity.

And she lay on her side, next to the trash, not wanting it, but her hungry body was unable to allow her to leave it behind. Her chest went up and down, her stomach empty and growling. Her icy eyes looked at the trash, beyond it. The glittering neighborhood. The sky was so blue today. Caelo smiled, wanting to live. And she shut her eyes. "What's wrong with me? I'm starving next to a pile of food. God must be laughing," the whisper escaped her throat.

[Zephyя !?]

Why, it seemed so odd to me, were the humans always inside, even when the weather was so nice as it was now? Maybe because despite the beautiful afternoon sun and blue blue sky, there was that autumn breeze and feel to everything. A late autumn, though. It would be ending soon, I knew that. It was obvious, it had been on for so long already. I expected a snow within... a week or two? I had seen times where one day it was summer, the next there was suddenly a blizzard.

I loved this weather though. It wasn't hot, and it wasn't cold. It was just perfect. Enough heat to walk around and not pant heavily, and enough cold to not have to lay in a garbage can for the heat. Atleast, it helped me. But I was a small dog, I fit into everything.

On the subject of trash cans, I turned the corner off the block I was walking on. My pads were aching slightly from walking for so long, like they always did. I was short, my legs noticably bowing inwards just slightly, and my body looking oddly proportioned against my stubby limbs. My head was possibly too large looking, with long feathered ears and a distinct muzzle. This whole dwarf german shepherd thing was really against me in situations like this.

Before me, on its side was a large trash can, gleaming in the sun. Food spilled out of it's mouth and onto the sidewalk. The smell of another dog caught me by surprise, causing me to glance around. I saw no one, and didn't think about looking anymore. Right now the only thing I was really paying attention to was the buffet set before me. Free, and without any catches, I hoped.

I edged my way to the lunch, sniffing carefully and licking my maw. I finally reached it, saw something from the corner of my eye behind it, but didn't pay enough attention to register it completely. I crawled into the can and dipped my head under, taking in the smells I knew so well. Banana peel, blech. Onion butts, no. Last remains of a sandwhich, good. I scarfed them easily, then sniffed again, finding a nice little amount of dog food, clearly not eaten by some sort of snooty mutt. I lapped it up, moaning in satisfaction. Yum-ee.

I stepped back, pushing my muzzle past the real garbage, needless waste and such and got right to the real courses, the food no one ate because they "weren't hungry" or "didn't like it". Fools, all of them. Didn't see a real meal when it was set before them. I, on the other hand, did. And I loved it.

word;;464
muse;;4/10
puppet;;Tucker

[nucks]

Caelo felt extremely weak, barely even able to move her body. She looked upon the pile of trash with icy eyes, contemplating why she couldn't just rummage through it. Her vanity prevented her, her pride, and the fact that not too long ago, she belonged to a man who loved her. Yet, she threw it all away just to taste this freedom. It tasted bitter. Horrible. She could only see her death approaching.

She shut her eyes. But why couldn't she eat it? She tried to convince herself to, but couldn't do it on her own. She teetered between uncertainty and telling herself no. Her ear flicked at the sound of crinkled paper. No, it's nothing. Had to be. She breathed slowly, her chest rising and falling while her thin waist yearned for the food she denied it. And Caelo blinked her eyes open. Her chicken was still close to her. Good. But why was she being so guarding? And the scent of a dog put her on edge as instinct urged her to protect her resources. Was she being foolish? The young female mentally cursed her stupid instincts, believing herself delirious from hunger.

Nothing to be done about this, she believed it truly. And then, the trash moved. Yes. She could hardly trace the hint of a dog within the strong scents of the trash. It had to be something. And it was digging through her food. She glanced at the chicken she had been eye-balling, but felt herself needing it. She gave a growl. "It's mine."

Her voice was quiet, weak. She sounded fragile. And the Heeler merely lay on her side, trying to somehow tilted her sight to see the dog she smelled. She lay, pathetic, but somehow righted herself so that she lay on her stomach, forepaws splayed for balance. Her eyes were hollowed with the pain of hunger. Her fur no longer gleamed with health, but was like ginger straw, rough and damaged. She breathed slowly and her eyes beheld the him. She had to do a mental double-take because she had never seen a dog like him before.

Comical round-tip ears looked too big for his head… which itself looked too large for the dog's body. He was short, with his legs too short. To her, this new dog was a sight. Still, she had no strength to stand, and if she did, she wouldn't have wasted it to move. She was pathetic sure, but this dog. Was something else.

[Zephyя !?]

The taste of ketchup and french fries suddenly landed on my tongue, and I stepped back immediatly, cringing and creasing my nose as if I smelled something horrible. I hated ketchup with a passion. I licked my lips again, holding my stomach down and quickly digging through more of the trash heap in hopes to find something more tasty.

"It's mine." a soft but meaningful voice gave off behind me, and I turned around in the trash can to see who caused it. From where I could see out the opening, there was no one there. My nose twitched cautiously, the dog's smell returning slightly stronger. I stepped out from my hole and glanced up and down the street, then turned and looked behind the can, my body curled around the bin's wall, half in half out.

"Oh, sorry." I said, my voice normal, neither shy nor bold. Possibly loud compared to the other's, though. I let my nose twitch again, then my tongue slip out and run over the end of my muzzle, cleaning it quickly. I looked around, then back to this dog, noticing suddenly how... sad it appeared.

I glanced around, then suddenly dove back into the garbage can. I moved my nubby legs furiously, searching for something... then I found it. I tugged the edge of a somewhat soggy paper plate, which was half full of spagetti. Probably the result of a not-hungry human who was forced to atleast get a plate of food. I pulled it out, slid it around the can and then turned, pushed it to the dog and stepped back, grinning. I sat down infront of the mutt, wagging my tail obviously proud of my friendly gesture.

I did this when ever I could. If I got the chance to help out another soul like me, I would. I like to give to others what I never got, love and help. Maybe my gesture was a bit awkward to this mutt, but atleast I would feel happy knowing that I tried, whether it was acknowledged or not. One more creature I tried to make better, with a teeny action.

word;;362
muse;;2/10
puppet;;Tucker

[nucks]

At first, her thoughts teetered between inquisitive and overwhelmed. Here was a dog that looked like a man brought a hacksaw to his legs. Caelo, despite the way the world worked and despite the fact that she had never seen anything like this dog before, couldn't meet him with a healthy dose of suspicion. In fact, she wanted to take back her growl from before--regret was always something easy to feel for her nowadays.

The ginger female watched his tongue flick onto his nose. She wasn't sure if it was intentional or not, but a lick to the nose was a universal sign of canine appeasement. What conflict was he trying to avoid? Did she really look so hostile? The female brought her ragged, dying figure to its feet. A zombie ripped apart by hunger. Her eyes held that hollow, ghost-like look. Pools of innocence that had no soul--only the wanter cry of hunger.

Caelo felt her half-chicken rolling between her forepaws as she swayed in weakness. And he offered her a meal. A paper plate of spaghetti that he dragged from the trash to offer to her fragile self. She gave a shuddering breath, moving falterful steps forward, almost tripping in that dizzy of hunger.

She wouldn't eat. She couldn't eat. She was alone in this. Caelo's halfmast eyes flickered with a genuine emotion, but it was a confused look. She didn't know what to make of it. And she lowered her head into the dish of spaghetti.

She took a single bite, and a piece of strength returned as her stomach screamed for more. Caelo stopped. Her crooked tail wagged weakly and she smiled to the kind dog. She couldn't trust the spaghetti. She couldn't. She stepped backwards, revealing the delicious morsel of a half-chicken. And she picked it up, dropped it again.

Her lost eyes, icy blue looked to the male, wanting something. She was a pet before this. She belonged to a man and called him master. Her mind rejected, yet yearned for the almost institutionalized life of a housepet. Unknown, naive, simply lost. She gave a breathy sigh, rattling her cage-like ribs, almost falling from the sheer need to ask.

"Which one is better?"