We’re in harmony?

[Akando Mato]

Date: May 3rd Copper and open to all later


Akando was restless, he had been for the past few days he could of just chalked it up to his missed annual hibernation but that couldn’t be it. Alone on the trail towards camp the large bear walked onward. Massive paws leaving prints in the dirt before the scent hit him and he pauses. Akando knew the scent of hunting dogs like he did the back of his paw and this was definitely that. Old habits die hard as the bear rears up on his hind legs looking around, this was an army, he couldn’t be more safer then with his fellow soldiers. Right?

[Copper]

Sandy colored paws padded lightly at the ground as the young hound made his way back towards camp, a look of pride crossing his features as he held his head up high, showing off his prize: a fairly large snowshoe hare.

Ever since the fall of the Freedom Fighters, Copper had taken to doing what he could to help the army rebuild itself, be that helping with the construction of the new housing(what little he could offer being a dog), or helping out in the medical bay by fetching various items for the medics whenever they needed them. Whatever it was, Copper was likely to want to lend a paw. His help of choice, however, was making sure the army’s food reserves were stocked and for the hound, the best way to do that was to hunt, and that is exactly what Copper did.

Now that winter was finally coming to an end; prey items were becoming much easier to find. That isn’t to say that hunting in the snow was hard for the hound, quite the opposite actually seeing as he had originally learned how to hunt during the winter, but even Copper knew that animals weren’t exactly abundant during the colder months. With Spring finally taking her warming grip on the Earth, the army would now have no problems keeping up their food reserves.

Black leather nose twitched as the hound picked up a scent on the breeze. Almost immediately the dog froze, ears pulled back and stance slightly lowered to the ground. He knew that scent; it was nearly unmistakable — a bear. Quickly digging a small hole to place his kill in, Copper slowly made his way toward the smell. As much as the dog had come to hate the much larger predators after his encounter with the one in the preserve, he knew that if one had wandered this close to the camp, it could only mean trouble.

Keeping close to the ground, Copper kept as close to what little vegetation there was, slowly creeping up to where to scent was coming from. When he could finally make out the animal through a small thicket, the hound’s whole body became rigid. This wasn’t just any old bear; this was that bear, the one that had attacked him back at the preserve. For a long moment, Copper remained frozen, wondering how on earth this bear could have traveled the hundreds of miles it would take to get from back home to here. But that quickly faded as another thought occurred to the hound: if this bear was here, this close to the camp, that meant the army was in danger, and it was Copper’s job to protect them. Was he going to be stupid and try to take on a fully grown male grizzly again? Hell no he wasn’t. But he was going to do his damnedest to try and lure the bear away before letting the others know so that the threat could be dealt with properly.

Letting out a low and hopefully(on his part) menacing growl, Copper stalked forward and revealed himself to the bear. Taking a quick steadying breath, Copper lunged forward with a bark before dashing away, silently praying that the bear would give chase.

[Akando Mato]

There! There it was. Akando shifts on his tree trunk like legs and gives a threatening roar of his own the canine darts towards him and the giant lunges forward in a mock charge hoping to scare the hound off. This was the last thing he wanted to do,to be having to deal with some random hunter’s hound who had somehow managed to find him. To Akando all hounds were alike nothing more then there to spread fear in the forest, to kill and please their masters, to bring corpses back at their feet.

“Move!” Akando gave a low grunt, did this hound even understand him or was it another language all together? Claws scrap the ground as he gives another loud chuffing noise. “Now! I’m a solider of the Dawnseekers you damn cur!” He snarls

[Copper]

When the bear gave a mock lunge, Copper had let out another series of barks, turning to run around the large animal in an attempt to entice it. When the bear spoke, however, the hound’s body froze, and he was almost hit by the animal’s claws. Copper gave a yap of surprise before leaping away and looking up at the bear, confusion lighting up his features.

“You’re part of the Dawnseekers?” Copper asked, eyeing the bear suspiciously. He didn’t trust him, and even if he did believe the animal’s word, past experience with him made the dog wary. “How come I’ve never seen you before? Or smelled you for that matter?”

[Akando Mato]

“You’re part of the Dawnseekers?”

“Praise the spirits it speaks!” Akando booms out in a mock chuckle “and yes, I am part of the Dawnseekers, they came to my part of the forest really, I offered to show them around, where all the good stuff was, food, logs for their shelter and in return they feed me and I protect and guard against any possible enemies” the soot colored ursine explains “as for your next question, I stay in the woods mostly, don’t care to stay in their man made structures” Akando moved forward now, past Copper casting the hound an almost annoyed look “what, you actually thought I would stay in them? I’m a bear, fleabag”

[Copper]

Copper’s ears perked up at the bear’s comment as his brow furrowed causing the wrinkles already there to grow deeper. Of course, he could speak, couldn’t most everyone? Sure humans only recently started to actually understand him, but he could always speak. Most animals could understand each other. What made then, or even now for that matter, any different? Copper didn’t know, but for now, that didn’t matter, as the bear spoke up once more, just furthering to confuse the hound even more with his next statement.

He had said that this was his part of the forest.

His part of the forest…

His part.

How long had he been there if he had already claimed part of the forest as his own? Copper wasn’t wild, he didn’t know much when it came to regards to territory and the acquiring of it, but he did know that if the bear had only just gotten there within the last month or so that there was no way he would have already been able to stake out an area of land for himself. If Copper had to make a guess, he would have had to have been there even longer than the Dawnseekers had and if that were the case…

Dark brown eyes widened, and Copper opened his mouth to speak only to snap it shut again. What if this wasn’t the bear he thought it was? Sure, he smelled like it, but honestly Copper was just going off of the bear’s looks. For even as good as Copper’s nose was all he’d really been able to tell when he came up was that the animal he’d scented was a bear, he had no way of really confirming if this was the bear that had attacked him and his master. With that thought in mind, Copper relaxed his features, but he didn’t offer the bear any form of friendly gesture.

“Oh, well. Sorry for the misunderstanding then. I just hadn’t seen or smelled you around before, so I thought you were a stranger trying to attack the camp.”

Copper followed the bear’s movements with his eyes as he walked by him and couldn’t keep the growl from rising up in his throat at the insult. “No, I just would have figured you’d spend more time in camp is all. Where you sleep is no concern of mine, boar.” He spat the last word out like an insult, hoping to irk the bear in return.

[Akando Mato]

“Oh, well. Sorry for the misunderstanding then. I just hadn’t seen or smelled you around before, so I thought you were a stranger trying to attack the camp.”

The large black titan just shrugs his shoulders as giving a “It happens” attitude about all of it “I take it strangers have come here before to attack?” He questions as he continues to move along down the trail

“No, I just would have figured you’d spend more time in camp is all. Where you sleep is no concern of mine, boar.

Mato just gives a low gruff chuckle at the attempt of the insult, lips peeling back as he does so. “Nice try,mutt” he smirks at him then pauses to root around the trunk of a tree for bugs, trying to find a quick snack.

[Copper]

Copper’s nose twitched in distaste as the bear seemed to mostly ignore him, only giving a slight shrug in response to what the hound had said. Letting out a snort, Copper looked away from the large predator in an attempt at feigned indifference. At the bear’s words, Copper’s ear perked and he turned his head to look at him once more, the same feigned indifference clear on his face.

“A few. And besides, you can never be too careful. Not after what happened to the Freedom Fighters, anyway.”

Dark brown gaze followed the bear’s movements as he continued to lumber away, large form swaying slightly with each step he took. When he responded to Copper’s attempt at a quip, a low growl rumbled in the hound’s throw, all attempts at indifference thrown to the wind. After a moment, the hound seemed to regain his composure and just gave a shrug.

“Eh, it was worth a try.”

[Akando Mato]

“A few. And besides, you can never be too careful. Not after what happened to the Freedom Fighters, anyway.”

“Mmhm, I heard bits and pieces of that. Something about it being destroyed? That right?” He questioned, lifting his muzzle up and swiping the dirt off his muzzle with the back of his gigantic paw. He peered around now with an almost neutral expression before his red eyes land on Copper.

“You here with your master or are you here on his behalf?” The boar asked, rubbing up against the tree trunk with his shoulder to get at an itch.