Suburbans Region

Major wandered close to his old home, as if to wait for his owner to return back home, though the large german shepherd knew that this would never occur. He stuck close to the walls of the houses, the numerous scents of meals emitting from the several windows he passed, sparking his hunger further. As he passed one white walled house, the barks of a dog surprised him, forcing his hackles to raise to their full height. Instead of responding to the territorial barks, Major crossed the snow covered street quietly.

Bambi yipped happily as she watched her humans fix a bowl of dog chow. She stood up elegantly on her hind paws, dancing in a circle, sinking in her stomach a bit to make her look as if she hadn't been fed in more than a day. Her tongue hung limply from her parted jaws and soon, she found her ribbon running around her maw, anticipating the delicious taste of dog food.

Once to the other side, Major paused and raised his head to look at the fastly dying sun, it's thin light casting a long shadow behind him. The dog ran his tongue over his gray nose before setting off again, travelling in the yards of the houses he passed. The snow crunched quietly under his digits as he walked, occasionally drowned out by the sound of the wind howling through the barren trees. Once the barks of the dog had faded away, Major's hackles began to finally fall flat.

The young adolescent realized the door that led into their fenced in back yard was open and ran outside, where she was usually fed. She waited patiently in front of the area the bowl is usually at, letting out a few more barks. It was getting dark, sure, but she isn't usually fed till this time of day anyway. It seemed out of the ordinary, but it didn't matter much to the Australian Shepherd. Her yips only progressed, becoming much louder as she begged for her owners to hurry.

Major positioned his eyes to the tall spruce trees in the distance. His intentions were to reach the boreal forest, but without the aid of a car, the journey there would take a few days and the unprotected plains stood in the way. Before sitting down to think out the several options that were available to him, Major moved to the garden of one residence. His ears flicked back as he was deep in thought.

She let out a long howl as her human walked outside and set down her bowl. She quickly dug in, making quite a mess. Her audits stayed perked, swiveling around at every little sound. She once heard a squirrel, more than likely retiring to its nest for the day, and instead of attacking it like usual, she completely disregarded it, enjoying her fill too much. Slight drool fell from her maw as she ate, but it barley bothered her. When she took a step back after finished, she slipped a bit and fell, landing in an awkward position with her hindlegs in the air and her chest and front legs against the ground.

Major settled on taking the quickest route to the taiga forest. He would have to cross the plains, which were open and dangerous, but being a domesticated animal, he would not be in such a position as a wolf or coyote. Quickly pushing up from his sitting position, he leaped out of the garden, his long legs quickly carrying him through the snowy neighborhood. An occasional human would call out to him as he passed, probably assuming the dog had escaped from his house. Their outstretched arms were easily avoidable as their clumsy frames did not offer speed.

She knew by now that the humans didn't enjoy her company, going as far as putting her outsite to eat and sleep, and rarely letting her around furniture. She couldn't quite figure out why however, she wasn't a bad dog, or at least, she didn't think she was. She picked her small frame up, looking at the fence, which was just an average wire fence, something she was possibly able to leaping over, however, she was scared to try it. Who knew what may happen to her out there? She let out a whine at the thought, slowly backing away from the fence that held her in the small yard, her banner tucked neatly between her hindlegs.

Despite being midwinter, his thick pelt felt hot and Major soon parted his jaws to let a small pant escape. His silver eyes moved to a house up ahead that was surrounded by a frail, wired fence, and instead of slowing his speed to crawl under, the german shepherd bounded forward and cleared the obstacle with ease. When he landed, his paws created a small spray of snow which momentarily distracted him from the scent of a young dog. Major looked to his right, trying to spot the canine, realizing it was outside of the house.

The Australian Shepherd seemed to be extremely surprised, even jumping back, bowing down and emitting a low, actually scary and threatening growl, despite her size and age. "You lost?" Her voice had dropped a few octaves to appear a bit more frightening. Snow still stuck to her pelt, but she completely ignored it for now. She was actually curious about the new comer, and even tilted her head to the side. She didn't enjoy strangers popping up randomly in her yard. Her banner violently wagged.

Major looked at the smaller dog, unworried by it's growls. "Just trying to make my way out of the suburbs," he said in a calm tone, his eyes briefly flashing over the dog bowl before returning to the aussi. Deciding not to bother the female, Major turned around and continued on his way, keeping his ears back, wondering if she would follow.

She followed a bit, curious of course as most dogs are. She kept her steps cautious and when made to the fence, hesitated, looking back at her owner's house. She didn't know how they would feel about her disappearance, and even let out a small whine. They didn't seem to care, they did make the fence, and it was obvious she could crawl under it with ease. She sighed and stopped. He may not want her company, she flinched back a bit at that realization. She knew she may just be a bother to him.

Hearing light footsteps in the snow, Major knew she was following him. He slowed his pace a bit, allowing her to catch up if she wanted to, but the footsteps soon stopped. He looked back, seeing her a small distance away and stopped as well. "Are you going to go back to your people now?" he asked, a small look of sadness in his eyes as he did not have that option.

She looked a bit torn again and eventually made the crawl under the fence, avoiding the wire fence completely. She looked up at him with large blue orbits and smiled a bit, noting his sadness. "They wouldn't mind if I left, I think they'd be please, actually." She growled a bit at the fact, but placed a smile on her face, hoping to cheer up the stranger. She didn't even know him, he could turn around and kill her, and she wouldn't know it, and the though somewhat scared her.

Major shook his pelt as if he were shaking off unpleasant thoughts. He pushed his ears back in sympathy towards the young dog as she spoke. "Well then think of it as a good thing for the both of you," he said in a cheery tone, pushing his ears back up. "What's your name, kid?"

She began to let go of her fears and smiled again. Her small frame began to shake a bit in joy. "Im Bambi." She seemed extremely proud of her name, going as far as to puff out her chest, and wag her banner. "And you, stranger that appeared outta no where, what's your name?" She stood up a bit straighter as curiousity began to get the best of her.

"The name's Major," he spoke, a small tone of remembrance at the name Bambi flashed through his mind. "That's a unique name for a dog, isn't there a deer that has that name?" He chuckled, the name coming back to him from his late owner.

She looked a bit confused and shrugged. "Sure its unique."
She wasn't sure about the deer part, she was usually kept outside, and kept in a fenced in yard with just one tree in the center. She gave an odd shrug of her shoulders and said. "I don't know about the deer part." She pauses a minute and continues. "Hmm. Major... that's different too!"

Major realized that he took his life as a pet for granted as he noticed how little attention Bambi had gotten. "It was this thing I saw on the tv once," Major explained before moving on, "So where do you want to head?" He looked back towards the taiga, but figured it may be too much of a journey for Bambi.

She thought for a moment and shrugged. "Im following you." She wasn't very picky, and didn't mind where they went. She still smiled, trying to seem a bit taller, her audits swiveled in the direction of a hare digging a hole a little ways off, her attention focused on it for a moment, before again looked at Major.

Turning his head to look behind him towards the city, he wondered if they should head there in hopes of finding easy food. Now that it was beginning to get dark, most of the humans would begin to head inside, making travelling the streets easier. "Have you ever been to the city?" Major asked, recollecting his memories of the busy area.

"The... city?" It was obvious in the questioning tone that she wasn't sure what that was. She chuckled nervously and shook her head. "I've never left my owners home." Bambi started to look at the snow. It wasn't unfamiliar to her, but it was still strange not to be in the yard. She can't say she missed it too much.

"The city is like the town, in a way, except it's bigger and the buildings are closer together," Major huffed, watching his breath in the cold air before continuing, "There's normally a lot of people there, but at night there's less of them." Turning his head once more to look in the direction of the city, he pointed to the area with his gray nose. "It's that way, about half a days run."

The young canine smiled a bit more at the description. Vambi shook out her pelt for a brief second and turned back to Major, beginning to relax in his presence. "Sounds friendly." Her words were sincere, her wide orbs wide ing a biy, more so in joy. "But no, I've never been in the city." Her once wagging tail drooped a bit, slightly saddened by this fact. "I would love to visit it though."