Pre-CR with a Small Child-Dog

[itsananimalthing]

A sizeable chunk of Richard Riddick's time in Sartmatia has not been spent in the city or at the kurgan or even at Liara's manor. Most of it has been spent prowling the suburbs, the farms and country homes beyond the busier city streets, and the untamed forests and mountain paths. So this evening, true to type, he's out with a snake coiled about his neck, a grumpy badger sniffing around his heels as he walks, and a barn cat bounding ahead and back.

The sound of a full kennel has him angling for one homestead, curiously, listening to what the dogs howling and barking inside are saying. It does send the barn cat running, of course, but his snake-friend is too old to care about stupid dogs, and the badger too gruff to worry about it. She can look after herself. What Riddick is hearing in those howls, though, is not making him feel at all happy to just walk on by. Those are not happy dogs, not any of them, and...

... and that bark is not an animal. What the hell?

He doesn't even bother hopping the fence. He melds into the ground outside the farmstead, and climbs back up out of it in the middle of the forest of kennels, his two animal friends swimming through the earth with him. Any light in the yard falls on a dirty, hooded, knee-length coat wrapped around a hulking form, face mostly hidden but framed by dredlocks, and hands that end in long, sturdy, but not terribly sharp claws. They look, really, more like dog claws than cat claws.

Comments

[wolvering]

She understands that and looks up at Riddick, surprised and even a little hesitantly happy about it. Dzaghli opens her mouth to say something, to Stranger, to Master--

The shot misses Riddick by a wide margin, but it makes Dzaghli whimper and cover her ears with her hands, and most of the dogs cower as well.

Dzaghli knows what the gun can do. Loud noises, yes, but if pointed at a dog or an animal, they bleed and hurt and sometimes die. She shrieks, because Master will not hurt Stranger.

"No!"

The man was in the middle of cursing the missed shot and trying to steady his aim when Dzaghli moves. She starts in a hop-shuffle on hands and feet, but then comes up just to her feet and launches herself at the man from an angle. He's too startled to do more than curse and try to shake her off, but she's stubborn, holding on with hands and teeth sunk into the flesh of his forearm.

[itsananimalthing]

Riddick flinches at the shot, but since it misses, he's already gathering himself for a leap of his own-- the girl just beats him to it, to his surprise. It only makes him hesitate a second, but it's enough for her to get her teeth in, and create a great distraction.

He actually barks a single short laugh, more out of surprise and pride than actual amusement, and then he leaps: more like a big cat than a man, crouching and then springing, he tackles the man with the gun to the ground. Dzaghli gets to come with them both, but he's got good enough control over his aim that neither of them land on her.

Then he's the one doing the biting, sinking those sharp, uneven teeth right into "master's" neck, one hand holding tight to the top of his head to keep him from twisting away, the other grabbing the arm with the gun so it can't flail around, and his knees crushing a ribcage beneath them. He'd warned him. He didn't stand down. Now he gets to lose his life, and Riddick gets a very good meal.

[wolvering]

Before Riddick gets the man down, she's shook more than shaking, but she holds on, and with more purchase is able to put her weight into shaking her head and shoulders rapidly back and forth until skin splits between her teeth.

Dzaghli pauses for a second at the taste of blood, but Stranger has his teeth (they're so sharp, not like hers!) in Master's neck, so it can't be a bad thing. So Dzaghli worries a bit more, but doesn't manage to do much damage before she decides she's proven herself and sits back to watch.

The dogs circle around, barking in excited confusion. Is this a hunt? Is the man now their prey? They can run now! Runrunrun!.

[itsananimalthing]

Not bothering with venom of any kind, that bite is painful, but there's not a damn thing the old man can do about it, either, not with two hundred pounds of vampire leaning on him, and his arm and head half-crushed in his grip, and his blood rapidly leaving his body through a series of holes in his neck. Riddick ignores the dogs for the moment, busily feeding on as much of that as he can get. It's not particularly tasty-- he's not really used to "old drunk man" blood, since they're not exactly his usual prey-- but it's filling, and if he drains this one dry, he won't have to feed for a week.

When he's finally full, and struggling to get anything else from the wound despite tipping the body up a little against his mouth, he lets go and just lets the old man drop. "Probably the most useful thing you ever did, giving somebody a good meal," he grumbles at the now very dead "master".

Wiping the back of one hand over his bloody mouth, now he turns to the girl and whatever dogs are left after his attack. "Sorry," is what he says first, apologetic, though not so the dogs in particular can understand him. "That was probably kind of surprising for you. Thank you for helping, though. That was well done."

[wolvering]

Most of the dogs don't go very far, chasing each other around and getting a well deserved run after being cooped up with not enough exercise for far too long. The eldest of the dogs that may have some wolf stays close to Dzaghli, licking at her face when she lets go, and plopping down next to her with contented panting. A little further off, the mother and her half-grown pups watch with more wariness.

Dzaghli, for her part, crawls over the still warm body to peer more closely at Riddick's teeth, and then reaches out to touch his claws.

"You what?"

She's seen others like Master before, and one even taught her words before disappearing from the kennel and never coming back, but Stranger is nothing like Master. Not just looks, but he talks to Dzaghli like she isn't a bad dog, or doesn't understand any words at all. She understands enough! Most of the time. Saying words slowly doesn't help her understand more.

But she helped, Stranger just said so. She helped him hunt and he's happy! Dzaghli yips in her excitement, wiggling in place.

"You, Dzaghli hunt-pack?"

[itsananimalthing]

"Well." Riddick pauses on that. He hasn't had a corviger in... a very long time. And she's very young. He gives his words that twist, now, so that the dogs can understand him, too, those still listening. This affects them, too. "That depends on if you want to be. I don't have an easy life. But for now, I'll look after you and your friends and get you away from here. You can tell me if you to be hunt-pack when you're fed and cleaned up and know me better." He stays crouched over her dead... whoever he actually was to her... and offers her his hand. If she'd rather walk on all fours, he understands, but he thinks she might at least want to touch him first, either way.

[wolvering]

At Riddick's words Dzaghli looks toward the kennel, bares her teeth briefly, and then reaches out to grab his offered hand. Her grip is strong but she's careful not to dig her ragged, broken nails in.

"Want," she says, and then leans in to attempt to lick at his chin, much like a puppy would.

The dogs crowd around too, making a happy racket about the prospect of food. Dzaghli is happy too, for them and for her, because this is all much better than being inside the kennel forever.

"Go now?"

[itsananimalthing]

His other hand comes to rest on the back of her head, gently, when she licks him. Probably not normal person behavior, that, but he's not going to try and convince her of that yet. Too much change at once, and she'll probably run off, or at least be angry with him. So he strokes her matted, dirty hair gently, and says, "We'll go now."

Then he pushes up to his feet again, keeping her hand unless she wants to let go and run, and starts in the direction of one place he knows can pawn off a bunch of dogs, though probably not the child: the local werewolf packs. They'll know best where they can go to be happy, healthy, and well cared-for. It's a long walk, but he has questions, which will at least fill some of the time.

"Do you have a name?" is the first one he asks.

[wolvering]

Dzaghli likes the touches now that she has them, so when he doesn't let go, she doesn't either, even if it means she's up on two feet when he stands. It's not something she does often, especially without a wall to lean against, so she's not precisely steady, but she sets her face determinedly and tries to mimic how he stands and walks. She has to put some of her weight on his arm because her knees and hips and back aren't used to the position and tremble a bit.

She wrinkles her nose at the question. "Dzaghli name?"

Then she quickly rambles off, mimicking the man's slurring accent very closely, names for the dogs around them while pointing at each one in turn.

Then she points to herself, still mimicking. "Dzaghli. Bad Dzaghli. Little bitch. Devil-child. Daughter of a whore. Witch-spawn."

"Dzaghli name Dzaghli?"

She thinks, anyway. It's what Master used to command her most often, and "dog" is shorter and easier for her to say than the others.

[itsananimalthing]

Riddick is pretty sure he'll never remember all of those names, but he nods anyway, giving her all the support she needs from his clawed hand so she can walk however she wants to walk. He has the strength to spare. When she gets to herself, he listens to the list with mild dismay and some disgust. "He just called you 'dog', and insulted you? That's it? Ugh. That man was more vile than he even tasted. Do you like that name? You can change it, if you want to."

[wolvering]

"Name like...what? Change, what?"

Dzaghli understands like, but a name isn't like food or sunshine which can be liked or or not liked. It just is. It doesn't make sense. And she doesn't know the word 'change.'

She looks up curiously as she asks the questions, hoping Stranger will show her more. Dzaghli hasn't seen the woman who taught her words in a long while, but she remembers, and that woman was patient. She thinks Stranger might be too.

[itsananimalthing]

"Change." Riddick takes a moment to get what she means, remembering that her vocabulary is pretty limited. But then he explains: "Make different. Make new. You don't have to keep the name that man gave you-- you can make yourself a new one, for a new life. You don't have to, but you can, if you want to."

[wolvering]

Dzaghli takes a while to puzzle that out, working from the words she definitely knows and figuring out the rest as she goes.

Make new. She likes that. She wants that. No more kennel. No more Master. Hunt-pack with Stranger and Brother, yes? She very much wants that. The idea that her name could make new too... That's harder to figure out. It doesn't hurt. But Dzaghli doesn't know if she likes.

What it does remind her is that she doesn't know Stranger's name.

"You name what?" She points to his chest just to make clear what she's asking.

[itsananimalthing]

He lets her work at her own pace. It isn't as if he requires chatter all the time, and she could probably use the time to work through things, if just his words. He's honestly surprised she's doing this well, so far.

The question earns a smile-- no teeth, except for the uneven fangs that stick out here and there despite closed lips-- and a little squeeze to her hand, just carefully. "Richard. That's my name. I move around a lot, I don't have a home where I stay all the time, but I like it that way." She ought to know about his lifestyle before she throws her lot in with him, for good, after all.

[wolvering]

"Richard." It's a mimic, copying his intonation and accent well, if in a much higher pitch.

"Richard." She says it again for herself, liking the feel of it and the sound of it. Even more what he tells her next. Smiles are not natural to her, but she has a vague idea that they sometimes mean good and not bad.

"Run? Run good. Dzaghli like!"

No kennel, going where she wants when she wants. When Richard wants anyway. The thought makes her very happy, and she almost trips, not used to expressing the joyful wiggle on two legs.

Once she's caught herself on his arm, she makes a decision. She will make new all the things.

"Richard make new? Give Dzaghli name?"

[itsananimalthing]

"I, Uh-- let me think a little about that?" Riddick stammers, surprised by the request, and completely unsure how to handle it. He's never named anything before, not a pet or a gun or a car or even an animal he's traveled with for multiple decades... much less a sentient person who will actually understand what that name is. "A name is a big thing, to a person."

[wolvering]

Names are big? How can a sound be big?

But Dzaghli accepts the answer. Thinking takes time!

"Dzaghli wait."

She's very good at waiting, especially for food. Trying to beg only brought pain from Master-- But as if on cue, her stomach complains about the lack of it, and Dzaghli flinches. Hard.

Richard won't be angry that she's hungry, will he?

[itsananimalthing]

Rather than angry, he's chagrined. "Oh, I didn't even think to get you and the dogs something to eat before I dragged you away, did I? I'm sorry." And because her own current name is apparently "dog", he uses a different word for it, a synonym, to refer to the actual dogs. "Let me see if I can find you something to eat out here, child."

[wolvering]

I’m sorry is something that Dzaghli has never heard Master say. She knows, faintly, that it means the person saying it has done a bad thing, but she doesn’t think Richard has. It’s very confusing, and she peers up at him, concerned and hesitant for a moment before the rest sinks in. Food.

“Food!” But they’re going somewhere important. Even as her stomach complains again, she frowns. “Not food here? Dzaghli wait.”

[itsananimalthing]

"There's food everywhere, if you know how to look," Riddick says warmly, and gives her hand a gentle pull off to his right. He might not actually eat anymore himself, but he still knows where to find good berries for humans to eat, and if she isn't comfortable with those, he can call them some rats or a rabbit to catch.

... he may have to do that, after all, he realizes. There are a lot of hungry dogs around. But the girl first. He leads her and the pack to the bushes he'd seen the night before. "Here, try these. Have you had these before?"

[wolvering]

Dzaghli leans forward to peer at the bush, sniffing at the berries. They don't smell bad, but that doesn't mean they won't hurt. She'd watched birds eat berries (looked different from these, though) before and tried... and hurt after.

So she looks up at Richard and pats her stomach. "...no hurt?"

She hopes there's no hurt, because she's hungry and maybe they'll taste better than the pellets Master gave them all.

[itsananimalthing]

"Shouldn't, but here, let me try." Riddick plucks one and pops it into his mouth to taste. He can't swallow it (or, he can, but then he'd have to throw it up later, and that's just gross), but he does take it out with his fingers rather than his tongue. "Tastes safe. Berries that ain't good for you usually taste bitter. These should be fine."

[wolvering]

Dzaghli isn't sure what 'bitter' means. She knows different things taste different, but the woman who taught her words didn't have any food for her, and explanations with words were always hard to understand. But Richard saved Dzaghli, so she will trust him.

She reaches out, carefully mimicking his motions to pick one, and puts it in her mouth. Her eyes widen immediately. It's much better than the pellets!

Once she swallows, not quite properly chewing, she reaches out for another. "Dzaghli like!"

[itsananimalthing]

"Good. Good, eat as much as you like," Riddick chuckles, pleased, and runs a hand a couple times over her tangled hair, petting her like he might an animal, though with far more respect than anyone else likely has, in her lifetime. After all, animals are persons, too, when you can understand them and call on them. "I can find your pack-friends some meat, too." There are more than enough rabbits in the area that thinning out a buck or three won't be too much of a problem, and he can just summon a few for the dogs to chase, get out some energy.

[wolvering]

He hardly needs to give the encouragement before Dzaghli is plucking them off the bush and cramming them in her mouth. The petting hardly gets a reaction, except for a little flinch at the first touch. A moment later, though, she’s smiling at him and leaning into it.

“Meat good. Dzaghli want. Hunt-pack chase?”

[itsananimalthing]

"That was the plan. --Heads up!" he calls, this time loud enough, and with intention for the dogs, and the nearest set of unmated rabbits, to understand. "Prey's coming through!"

The rabbits in question bolted right up from the underbrush not far away, through rather than bolting away, they ran right through the remaining dogs. Riddick just got out of the pack's way and let them do their thing. He didn't feel guilty about sacrificing a few bucks; it was, after all, the way life worked, and they did need to eat something fresh, plus learn that he and those he would lead them to were to be trusted.

[wolvering]

Dzaghli is delighted that Richard can bring up prey with just words. If she’d had more socialization with humans, it might have been a happy squeal, but instead she vocalized with a high pitched bark.

And bolts off after the dogs. She’s left behind almost instantly, not really able to keep up with the much faster animals, but she’s also clever. She can see how the dogs move, and how the rabbits dart here and there. She seemingly abandons the chase entirely, bounding off in a particular direction with her odd gait. But there are fewer dogs that way, and some of the dogs have almost flanked the rabbits from the other side, so soon enough the rabbits are headed mostly toward Dzaghli. She watches with singular focus, and sure enough the frightened rabbits bound right past her. She leaps like a coiled spring, misses the first rabbit entirely, and only gets a very brief hold on the second. It’s not much, but enough that one of the dogs can close in, and the rabbit dies with a squeal.

One of the dogs picks up the rabbit while the rest keep chasing, and Dzaghli growls and bites until he drops it. So she can pick it up herself (in her mouth because she has trouble moving on three paws) and bring it to Richard. He said, but what if it’s a test? They have to be sure before they can eat.

[itsananimalthing]

Riddick follows along at a more sedate pace, letting the pack do their thing, torn between wanting to smile at the girl's excitement, and disturbed by how very animal she acts. The poor thing! He isn't far back when they bring the rabbit down, and he is impressed by the maneuvering-- much like a wolf pack, really.

What he's more surprised by is her bringing the rabbit back to him. "Oh, no," he tells her, blinking. "I already had my fill. That one's yours, and the dogs'. I don't eat like you do, anyway."

[wolvering]

It is theirs! Dzaghli is so happy that Richard meant what he said. They’ll all get a bite. Her own teeth aren’t very strong so she lets the dogs have at it, and bites and growls once the dogs have gotten it torn apart. The meat feels strange, but it tastes better than kibble. But the berries taste better.

So once she’s had a few bites, Dzaghli gets up, blood smeared on her chin and cheek, and goes back to the bush. She pulls off a few berries and pops them in her mouth, looking happily up at Richard.

“Richard good. Hunt-pack take care of.”

[itsananimalthing]

"I'm not gonna be able to take care of them all, and not forever," Riddick warns gently, having followed her the rest of the way off to the pack and their eating. "There's too many, and I don't have a home right now. I'm gonna hafta leave most of 'em with friends of mine. Is that gonna be okay?"

[wolvering]

“Pack take care of you too?” Dzaghli is a little dismayed at that, but she does understand that if he doesn’t have a home territory, a whole pack would be hard to lead. Not enough space to run, or running into other packs. She scrunches up her face.

“Friend? Like Richard?” If this ‘friend’ is like Richard, the rest of the pack will be happy, she thinks. “Brother stay Dzaghli.”

She won’t leave him, not for anything. The dog in question, a big shaggy thing, even leaves off the scuffles over the rest of the rabbit and goes to her side, nosing at her face and licking off the blood.

[itsananimalthing]

"They're even better than me, cuz they turn into four-foots just like them," Riddick promises. "We can keep-- Brother, is it? We can keep him with us, sure." He can manage one dog. Just not... how many is this, now? Nine?

It's the girl, he's most concerned about managing, in the end, though. "And we can visit 'em some, too," he adds, hoping that makes it a little better.