{Game № 1} [Hunter]

[tachi]

{ Chi }

It was just yet another summer day in Chicago city. As usual it was way too hot, as the stifling warmth of summer had finally descended upon the city like a blanket. The warmth made it unbearable to tread the streets when the sun had reached its highest at the middle of the day, and Chi had made a habit out of sleeping the noon away. At least today the sun had been gracious enough to hide behind a carpet of clouds, like a blushing virgin collecting her fluffy dress around her, to hide her nakedness from the world.

Chi was not exactly any blushing virgin, as she moved through the gates leading into the amusement park - one of many that tainted the area of Chicago. Leftovers of whatever civilization had once dominated this Earth. She cast a fleeting glance upwards, at the words engraved into the sign hanging above the gate. Welcome to the Navy Pier!. The words could just as well have been hieroglyphs for all she cared, for she could not read either. The name of the place was simply something she knew from other canines, who had learned the name from their ancestors. The sign could easily say "Property of Prince Chicken-Feet of Smellistan", for all she knew.

Without any real attempt to be quiet or sneaky, she wandered through the entrance area of the Navy Pier. She slipped through bushes that had once been cut neatly into sculptures and shapes, but now had grown taller and larger - nature reclaiming the areas that had been stolen from Her. Chi reached the center of the entrance park, and the large block of broken concrete that had once been a fountain of splendor and beauty. Now it was merely a box used by animals for the water it collected when it rained, and as so many others had done before her, the Husky jumped up on the edge. She lowered her head, stretching her neck to reach, pink tongue darting out to lap the water in.

The cause that had resulted in her being here at this moment, was really quite simple. She was here because of the monster that lurked in the shadows, and attacked you when you least expected it. She was here because of this terrifying monster, and the poison it kept in its fangs - the poison killing its prey slowly, oh so excruciatingly slowly. It was the monster that in the tongue of the canines, went by the name of "Boredom".

[hunter]

The clouds, which kept the heat of the summer sun away, were highly appreciated by him. His black fur wasn’t fit to the midday heat of summer, even though his fur wasn’t as thick or warm as it would be in the winter months. The hours of today’s worst heat he had spent in one of Chicago’s numerous amusement parks, where he now laid to take a peaceful rest. In the shadows of course. He had been hunting earlier today, and his fleshless kill - which once had been a young hare - laid beside him.
A little noise made him open his dark brown eyes. He just stared out in the air. He looked without really seeing what he looked at. He listened. It sounded like someone was near, and that someone didn’t try to be sneaky. He lifted his head and sniffed in the air. The smell of another canine made him rise on all his four small paws. He sniffed again. It was probably a female. A dog. It seemed like he had to give up his peaceful rest. But it wasn’t a bad thing. His midday rest was just laziness, and now something… no, someone, had made him curious. And he felt he was in just the right mood to sneak up on this dog.
He went out of the shadow on his light paws, leaving his kill behind. His movements showed he was both lithe and agile, and soon he was in a new shadow. Shadows often kept him unseen, unless others wanted to see. Or unless he wanted to be seen. Of course, his camouflage was more useful in darker places than this amusement park at midday, and right now he didn’t care much about being seen. Besides, it was only one dog. He sneaked from one shadow to another, and stopped when he came to a wall a few meters from the fountain in the middle of the park. He stood very still. He observed. The wall kept only half of him in a cool shadow. It wouldn’t be hard at all to see him standing there. He didn’t really try to hide. He just observed the stranger he saw drinking from the fountain with his cool dark brown eyes. The lack of expression on his face made him look more bored than curious. The fountain had probably looked nice some decades ago, but not now. He wasn’t really an expert when it came to the taste of culture or design the humans had had, but he didn’t think anyone would look at it like it was beautiful. But it was the dog, the Siberian husky, who made him curious. She would be both stronger and bigger than him, but he had his own advantages if she became hostile.

[tachi]

Even through the veil of clouds Chi could feel the rays of the sun hammering against her back, now that she no longer had the protection of the leaves to shelter her. She cursed her fur, which wasn't exactly made for heat - especially not with the black tone falling across her back, that attracted the sun like a cadaver attracts flies. Chi had always had mixed feelings about the summer. She hated the heat, but it was much easier to hunt during the summer and the spring - in comparison she loved the cool of winter-time, but prey was rarer. But god dammit, she was a Siberian Husky, her breed was made for snow, not this merciless sun!

Then something caused her sixth sense to wake. She felt how it stretched lazily like a cat waking from its slumber, and then it poked the back of her mind for attention. Something is not quite right, it told her. The mental whisper was accompanied with a prickling sensation, small claws gently poking their way down her spine, all the way from her neck to the root of her tail. It was the feeling of somebody watching you without your knowledge or permission. Perhaps the feeling would prove to be false - or perhaps she would look up to find some bird watching her with its head cocked slightly to one side. But Chi hadn't survived this long without listening to her instincts.

Slowly the pink tongue darted out, to dip into the cool water one last time. Then she lifted her head, again slowly, as to not make any sudden movements that might provoke whatever was (or wasn't) watching her. Water dripped from her snout as she veered her head, the piercing blue eyes searching her surroundings. A few seconds later her gaze fell on a little black fox, standing but a few meters from where she stood on the concrete edge. The small body halfway in shadow and halfway exposed to the sun. Chi felt her muscles relax, as she almost laughed out loud. I've been jumping because of a creature smaller than a pup! Seems like I need to get a grip of myself. There was nothing to fear from this little fellow.

Lazily her tongue darted out to catch a drop about to fall from her nose. "Nothing to see here little one. Why don't you run along to whatever hole that spawned you?" Her voice held an undertone of amusement mixed with boredom.

[hunter]

The Siberian husky didn't look at him at once. She gave herself good time to lap the fountain's wather in her. In the meantime, he watched her. Her fur didn't seem to fit the heat of the sun, but neither was his own.

When she turned to look at him, he met her clear blue eyes. They were piercing, and he saw the amusement in her eyes, the taunt. She looked at him as if he was an unworthy opponent for her. He wasn't really an opponent. He wasn't a big brute like other canines in this city. Those who would tear the fur and flesh from your bones if they got the opportunity. If you didn't watch your back. She said something to him. Words. Is she worth using time on? he thought to himself. He knew the reply. It was a little sound in the back of his head, a little sound with bitter amusement which lived in his own personality. It filled his body, as water in times of rain would fill the fountain she stood on.

Yes.

"There is plenty to see. But it is not a pretty sight. Your fat torso fills up the most of the already scarce view of nature, which the humans almost ruined some decades ago. It is you, who should get back to where you come from." He went out of the shadow while he talked. His voice was cool and serious, not really bitter. It sounded as if he really ment 'her excess weight' was a problem.

[tachi]

The amusement in her eyes died as quickly as a candle being snuffed, as his words reached her ears. Whatever vague delight she might have found in the idea that this dark fox had dared approach her, melted away in the heat of her temper, with the speed of snow melting in the midday sun. If there was something Chilali had in excess, it was pride.

And nobody should attack that pride.

Her ears turned slightly backwards as her muscles tensed again - though this time they tensed not because of any warning from her instincts, but as a part of her body preparing to leap into offense with a moment's warning. She felt her upper lip lifting to show her teeth, as a low growl made its way from her throat and into the heated summer air. The effect was drastic - without having shifted her position even an inch, her entire stance had gone from lazy and amused to alert and threatening.

"Have you never learned respect for those stronger than yourself? Tell me, how did a tiny creature like you manage to survive with an ego that big? With that attitude of yours you're bound to have had several canines trying to sink their fangs into your sorry little hide." Her voice was as cold as her blue eyes, which at the moment shot daggers at the little fox. "Now scurry off before you force me to come down there and teach you some manners." Her anger smoldered just beneath the surface - ready to explode like a volcano if simply the right buttons were pushed. She hoped for the health of this black fox that he chose not to push said buttons.

[hunter]

Impressive. As soon as his words reached her ears she changed. The amused emotion in her eyes disappeared completely, and the emotion in her blue eyes were now replaced with an emotion as dangerous as thin ice. Thin ice, where the dark, ice-cold water waited for the opportunity to break, so it could swallow you up. It would drown you, if you didn't freeze to death.

It was upcoming anger he saw in her eyes.

But her eyes weren't everything. her body had taken a hostile position with tense muscles, which were ready to leap at him, and her lip which curled up and slightly showed her predator teeth while a growl rose from her throat. She tried to threaten him.

She was a threat to him. She was bigger and she was stronger. But the little voice, who tells you when you had done enough and that it would be best to do everything good again, didn't really work in his mind right now.
Instead, he tensed his own muscles. Not because he wanted to leap at her - because this wasn't really a suicide mission, though it had some parallels to what he was doing - but his tensed muscles was ready to dodge, if something should go a little wrong. Even though he might be a little nervous in front of a dog who were twice his own size, he didn't show it on the outside. He shouldn't be it, but he was more exited than nervous - or scared as others might be. His self-control was complete, and no little voice would stop him yet.

His lips curled up in a little smile and he tilted his head a little to his left side. "Oh, I'm sorry. Did I get too close? I know for certain that females has a tendency to have sensitive emotions, but i didn't know you had such big problems about yourself, that you would get upset by the words from a fox like me." His voice was like dipped in sarcasm, and he continued - letting his next words be permeated with bitterness. "But I'm not here so satisfy you, lass, so go another place if that's what you seek."

She is talking about respect, he thought to himself. But if respect is what she wants, she shouldn't have mocked me from the beginning.

[tachi]

Another dog than this Siberian Husky might've laughed at the entire situation. Another dog not so rigid might've simply smiled and rolled its eyes. After all, the insults thrown at her by the little fox were quite humorous. Another dog might just've huffed and dashed this little creature with its paw. But in the end it was she who was here, and not another dog - and pulling puns on Chilali was reserved for close friends and family. Fact was that this canine was neither.

As she jumped from the edge to the ground underneath, her movements were slow, but that made them no less threatening than if she had leaped at him with the speed of a guniea pig on fire. Near to no sound followed in her wake as she landed - only a little thump as her weight met the earth, along with the low whisper of soft paws on soft grass. Even having moved from the edge of the fountain to the ground in front of the fox, she still stood way taller than the little canine. Ears still turned backwards, upper lip curled upwards to show her teeth, she slowly lowered her head until her eyes were level with those of the fox.

"Now you listen to this "lass", you little thing who dare to call himself a canine. In case you hadn't noticed, there is a hierarchy in this world. At the top we find the strong, and at the bottom we find the weak. Are you following me, or am I speaking too fast for your little brain to follow?" She lifted an eyebrow in a skeptical motion, pausing slightly as if waiting to see if he would interrupt with any stupid questions. Her voice wasn't loud, but it bore with it all the intensity of cold anger. It was clear that she actually believed what she was saying - actually honestly believed that this fox was below her in the system. "Now, in case you hadn't noticed, then larger breeds are higher in the system than smaller breeds. Why? Simple. We are stronger, we have longer strides and can therefore run faster, and we have a larger endurance. All in all, we are more powerful. Now, I don't know where on Earth you got the idea that you are somehow better than the rest, or from where you obtained the arrogant belief that you are somehow above this system. I hate to burst your bubble little one, but you are not. Are we clear? Or does this "lass" have to show you some physical lessons too?" At the last sentence her voice dropped to a low and threatening snarl, while the fur along her spine bristled accordingly.