Balto: Howls of Destiny

[ImaniFaith]

So, he was a hunting dog-- well, wolf. That made sense; he didn't look like the type who'd want to haul a sled around all day. Not that she blamed him.

She was surprised at how upset he was over his job, though. Perhaps he felt it made him look more like the vicious-wolf stereotype he was trying to avoid. "Ah, don't worry about it. Your master makes you, right? And it's a dog's duty to do what their master wants them to."

"Besides," She went on, "I know other dogs around here who kill small animals for sport. I don't know if they'd admit it, but I've seen them myself. At least you're honest about what you do and why."

Seeing that he was still somewhat unsure of where he stood with her, she smiled, "I don't think you're a mean, vicious wolf, if that's what you're worried about."

[Baya]

Amarok smiled slightly at her kind words. It was nice to get reassurance from someone that really mattered. It put Amarok's nerves at ease, and he raised an eyebrow at the sled.

"You know, since neither of us are runners, we should put it on our bucket list. My master told me that you never know what you are good at, till you've tried everything." Amarok pointed out as he pushed some old pieces of wood off the sled. It wasn't all that baldly damaged. One of the handles was broken, and the support for the front was as well. Though Amarok wasn't planning on carrying anyone or anything anyways.

Amarok frowned slightly however, as he knew not one thing about sledding. He could probably get himself and Shila hurt if they did it without instruction. "Actually, we should probably try it later. When we are more... informed. For now, what would you like to do?" Amarok asked, tilting his head with a bold gaze into her eyes. He had been asking her to do things he wanted to do, and now it was his turn to return the favor. He wanted her to have fun.

[ImaniFaith]

The request startled Shila, and she had to think hard a minute before she could come up with of a suitable idea, "Well, I guess I'd like to go to the seaside. Even in the middle of winter, its beautiful."

"In fact, " She said, "I can show you where Balto lives. I don't think he'll mind. And we'll be out of the way of those idiot dogs for a while."

'And maybe', she thought, 'Balto and I can find a way to help Amarok prove himself to the others, just like Balto did when he was young.'

Although, perhaps not in quite such a spectacular way.

[Baya]

"The seaside?" Amarok asked. He was only there once, when his master wanted to go there with some old friends during the summer of last year. He didn't know what it would look like during the winter, so he nodded. "Alright then. We can go there. If...Balto doesn't mind that is. It would be a bit rude to interfere with his daily routine." Amarok replied quietly.

He took note of where this shed was located, and walked alongside Shila towards the outskirts of the village. Amarok hoped that they didn't run into any trouble again today like Gunter or his goons. [OOC: We should wait for YFWE to come online and post as Balto in preparation of our visit to him before continuing. He'll be online tomorrow I think]

[YFWE]

[OOC: Sorry, had a family emergency to attend to. Luckily Balto's not too vital to the plot right now. Shouldn't happen again... I hope.]

Gunter had backed off and Balto was quietly glad for this. He had not wanted to get into a fight with the husky; though Balto felt his brains quite outweighed the husky's, his brawn certainly did not. Relieved, he turned back to Amarok and Shila after watching the pack of huskies leave, about to laugh off their close encounter, when he noticed the wolf and husky already in deep conversation. Not wanting to interrupt, he gave them a quick smile before beginning to pad away, though not before a red husky Balto instantly recognized as his son Kodi joined them. Smiling warmly at his son, he gave him a quick nod of greeting, listening intently until his son decided to leave.

"I'm going to head out with my son for a bit, you two," Balto announced to Amarok and Shila. "Have a good day. Any more trouble, I think Shila knows where to find me."

Giving one last quick nod to each of them, Balto followed Kodi away from the pair, and spent the rest of the day in his son's company, overseeing a mail run and simply relaxing outside the town limits for a good amount of time.

He had decided to spend the rest of the afternoon in his boat by the seaside. He still slept there from time to time, when he was not with Jenna, and tried to visit at least once a day. It was calm out there, and peaceful to boot. Though social conditions for him within the town had improved drastically, it was still great to get away from people and from other animals. Silence was golden.

It was nearing the evening when Balto, having been laying on the boat deck for easily since the sun was its highest in the sky, detected movement coming toward him from Nome. Fearing the worst at first, he leaped to all fours, facing whatever came near. To his relief, he saw a white wolf, a husky accompanying it, and knew them to be Amarok and Shila. "Hello down there!" called Balto, standing at the edge of the boat. "What brings you out here, eh?"

[Baya]

[OOC: Since you told me before hand, I planned ahead.]

Amarok walked alongside Shila through the snowy field towards the boat that could easily be spotted from a distance. Amarok had no clue why Balto chose to live secluded from the creatures that admired him so. Then again, Amarok was saying that from a perspective that involved the creatures hating him. Admiration had its faults as well.

Amarok looked up from where he was standing alongside Shila at the base of the boat. He spotted Balto without much effort, and grinned. "Boredom, and curiosity!" Amarok shouted up the boat.

Whilst Amarok waited for Balto to come down, he looked to the general direction of the woods. He heard a distant howl, and his ears perked up. He was fighting the urge to howl back, because that might draw the other wolves here. Something that would not look too good for his image what so ever.

"Balto don't go out there! Can't you see the wolf!?" Boris whispered hoarsely as Balto made his way out of the boat.

"I can hear you!" Amarok shouted from outside, and Boris put both wings over his bill.

[YFWE]

Balto glared at Boris. "Eaaaasy, Boris, don't worry. Amarok's a friend."

The wolfdog's ears perked up at the distant howl and noticed that Amarok, too, had recognized the noise. Grinning slightly, Balto bounded down the side of the boat, landing in the soft snow and padding up to Amarok and Shila. "Don't mind Boris," he said apologetically. "He... means well. He can just be protective sometimes. But I wouldn't trade him for the world," he smiled, glancing back up at around where he knew Boris to be standing.

"Now," Balto returned his attention to the wolf and husky. "this is my home away from home, I guess. Don't live here every night as it can get pretty cold and Jenna's family doesn't mind me staying with them most nights, but it's a great place to relax and just get away from everything going on in Nome. Especially lately, since you arrived, Amarok," he cocked his head as he centered his gaze on the wolf. "Not that I'm upset that you've come to town, don't get me wrong. I'm more upset with the other dogs than anything. Because what I see in their treatment of you, well..." he paused, "...I see their treatment of me before the serum run. I guess that's why I'm so interested in helping you out, Amarok. I don't want you to have to go down the same route as I did. That and, knock on wood, there's no diphtheria epidemic for you to save the town from. And let's hope things stay that way."

Balto's attention turned to the smaller husky alongside Amarok. "And how about you, Shila? Been giving Amarok the grand tour of Nome today?"

[ImaniFaith]

Shila laughed shyly, shrugging, "Yeah, I guess you could say that; though I don't know how 'grand' it's really been."

Glancing over to Amarok, she suddenly wished she knew more about Nome, so that she would have more to tell him. All the information she had given him had consisted of trivial stuff such as, 'That's where most of the human males hang out at night.' or 'Don't go in there if you want to keep your fur.' He probably thought she was an incredible bore.

"I figured I'd save this for last-- kill two birds with one stone. I wanted Amarok to see the ocean, and I figured it was probably good that he knew where to find you."

"You know, " She said with a glance in the wolf's direction, "in case something comes up."

[Baya]

"It wouldn't exactly be in my best interest to run over here if something happened. No offense." Amarok murmured quietly, not wanting to doubt Balto's strength. He had no clue what sort of situation would call for him running anyway. The only reason he didn't fight Gunter today was because Shila was present. If she wasn't around, he would've sent Gunter running.

Amarok saw a couple of old sleds near the boat, and his head tilted in curiosity. "Whats with the sleds?" Amarok murmured as he walked towards one of them, and placing one of his large paws on it. The sleds were old, but fully functional. He had no clue of why Balto had his status in Nome, as Shila hadn't gotten to that part of the tour yet.

[YFWE]

The wolfdog nodded to Shila. "I understand exactly what you mean. Hopefully it'll never come to that though. Maybe cooler heads will start to prevail for once."

Balto tilted his head to see what Amarok was referring to and grinned. "Oh. Those." He padded over to the sleds, standing slightly behind Amarok, whose paw was propped atop the nearest rickety sled. "I guess you wouldn't know about that yet, would you?"

Staring off into the distance for a moment before returning his gaze to Amarok and the sleds, he spoke. "Well, remember that diphtheria epidemic I mentioned earlier? Nome got hit hard a few seasons ago. A team of sled dogs was sent to get an antitoxin to save the children. I won't go into the specifics but I ended up going along too. I was kinda labeled... the hero, I guess. And it's been that way ever since. Before, I was just some stray dog with some wolf blood that was considered a menace to society. Now...well, let's just say I rarely have any problems with anyone."

He glanced at the sleds. "These are just some of the old sleds I've pulled throughout my life. The humans like to dump them off here instead of chopping them up... I don't know why, really, but ah well, I'm glad to have 'em. Allows me to get nostalgic when I want to."

Balto paused upon the sleds for a moment, as if going into a bit of a trance as he stared forward at the wooden wonders, before snapping his gaze back to Amarok and Shila. "Well then. Anymore plans for the evening, you two?"