Enter: Tee

[Rianna]

Natia wandered along on her tiny puppy legs. She couldn't go very fast because her legs were so short now but she hoped as she grew the shepherd would come out in her and her legs would be long. But for now she waddled along. It had been a couple weeks since she had been chased out of her home by the dogcatcher. She'd been walking ever since stopping occasionally to rest and eat. It was hard for her to not have anyone to play with or talk to considering she was such a social puppy. Her heart ached for her brothers wondering if she would ever see them again and her thoughts of if they got caught or not drove her mad sometimes. At the moment she was fine though.

She reached a dusty road and plopped her little rump down to look around. She stuck her head in the air and sniffed like she used to do as a puppy, sniffing for her mother. She caught the scent of dogs and yipped with glee. Her tongue hung out and her smile was a silly childish one as she started to bark. Her barks were not very loud but they were frequent she kept yipping at nothing in particular hoping some dog would come. When her barks died down her tail started up. Wagging back and forth at a pace she did not know she could muster.

She waited a while, her ears perked hoping to hear something. After a minute she let out one last yip with all her might but it still came out like a puppy's. She sighed and decided waiting was best. Her tongue still hanging out panting she was happy to be here. She knew there were dogs somewhere around here and she would find them sooner or later.

[:Akio:]

:Akio:

A large white dog appeared out of the smokey air. His fur was tinted with the ash that he had just walked through. He had heard a small pups pitifull yips and instantly changed his course. He headed straight for them. He could see the pup now, a small little female. His eyes softened as he stepped closer. He was much taller then her and he gazed down at her. "Hello there," he said softly, trying to sound as welcoming as hi could.

We could use some new pack members. Especially young ones. She'll grow up to be strong too. The male thought. He smiled brightly at the pup and his eyes shined with new ideas.

[Rianna]

Tee was happy beyond belief when she saw a dog coming towards her. He was a big dog and he looked awful powerful. She gasped and gazed in awe as he came and stood over her. She lifted her head and looked right up into his eyes.
"Hiya mister!" she said smiling cutely. "I'm Natia, but you can just call me Tee. Who are you?" she yipped her tail wagging uncontrollably.

Tee looked up at him. "You're an awful big dog." she said looking him over. She only came to just below his knee. "Do you think I'll ever be that big mister?" she asked looking up. She was excited and when she got excited she tended to talk.. A LOT. She looked up at him with a lopsided grin, tongue hanging out. She waddled over to his paw and started to paw at it with her own that was about 10 times smaller than his. She plopped down on her rump once more and looked up at Akio.

[:Akio:]

:Akio:

A deep rumbling began in Akio's throat. If you didn't know look at Akio's features you might think he was growling, but no, it was a laugh. Akio let the laugh subside before looking down at the little pup known as Natia, or Tee. "You might be as big as me one day," he said, the laughter in his voice.

Akio knew that he should probably take her into the packs grounds and explain to her about them so that she wouldn't get hurt by any of the other packs. His smile turned upside down. He felt bad for having to poinsen this pups soul with the packs ways, but she could get seriously hurt if she wandered into the wrong part of a packs territory.

"My names Akio," he began, looking at the pup with a serious expression lying on his face. "And I'm the leader of the West Pack, the alpha. I need you to listen to me now, OK?" he hoped the pup wasn't one of them that got distracted by things, but by the way she was acting it seemed that his hope wouldn't be true.

[Rianna]

Tee smiled happily. One day I could be THAT big! her tail started to wag. She was certainly one of the happiest puppies. She smiled and watched as a tiny gnat flew by her face. It landed on her nose and her eyes went cross-eyed as she stared at it. Then she scrunched up her nose and it flew away. Her eyes followed after it until it was out of sight. Then she turned back to the big white dog. He had just said his name was Akio.

She looked up at Akio happily. He seemed to be very serious now. He was looking at her like her mom used to look at her after she nipped her brother too hard or something. She still smiled looking at him. She thingyed her head and her brow furrowed. "Okay." she said but her head remained thingyed as she tried to figure out what in the world an alpha was in her head.

[:Akio:]

:Akio:

Akio nodded slowly, trying to decide where to start and how to tell this young pup so that she would understand. He sat down on his haunches and looked at her with his pale blue eyes.

He began with the four packs. "You have strayed upon the Borderlands of the West pack, which I am alpha of. Your quite lucky because I think that the West pack is probably the most friendly of the four packs. There is the North, the South, the East and the West. I think you will find that you will be happy to have met me before accidentally walking into other parts of other dogs territories." Akio paused, looking down at the pup and waiting for her to take it all in. He started up again after only a couple of seconds.

"Your going to have to live in our pack or run away and not fall into the other territories. Do you understand what I'm saying?" He wasn't sure how a pup like her would be able to process this all, but he hoped she would understand.

[Rianna]

Tee looked at the alpha and watched him. It actually looked like she was listening. She listened to him at first then when he paused she watched as a leaf tumbled on down the dusty path. When he started to speak again her head turned to look at him.

When he asked her if she understood she nodded although what she was really thinking was that maybe if she moved her arms up and down fast enough, she could fly.
"I wanna stay with 'oo she said in a squeaky voice looking up at Akio smiling. Then she pounced at his paw and started to play with it as if the conversation they just had never happened.

[:Akio:]

:Akio:

Akio nodded and looked around him, as if expecting to see another dog there waiting to be asked to take the pup around the territory. He shrugged. He could take her around. He turned his head back to the pup and smiled a bit at her. "Come with me and I'll show you where you can go and where you can't go.

Akio got to his paws. And turned around. He turned to look over his shoulders before moving forward though to make sure that Tee was coming.

TO: City Gates