Adalyn

The sky was choked with clouds, and a chill had crept into the air.

Adalyn glanced up, just as the rain begin to fall. It was a light downpour, harmless really. It would leave her damp, but that was it. She was not completely impartial to the wet, seeing as how her previous owner had kept her in a kennel outside for the majority of the day. She was allowed in at precisely five to eat a nutritious dinner of both dog chow and bits of human vittles alike, but apart from that one mealtime, the dog was kept outside.

She padded closer to the beach, otherwise referred to as Orca Bay, amber eyes narrowed to catch any glimpse of a fabled whale pod. A dog raised rurally, she did not have much experience when it came to beaches. The sand, the tangy salt water - both were new, as were the critters that scuttled beneath her paws, in a frenzy to escape the rain and waves. The unfamiliarity ate away at her confidence, until her tail was tucked between her legs, her broad skull level with her shoulders.

Poor, lonesome Adalyn - she was so accustomed to human contact, the incessant buzz of Man's voice, the touch of his odd five-digit paw. She just didn't know what to do with herself.

Jace Ithuriel Wayland

Jace was a wanderer, he always had been. At least, ever since he had left his old home. No connections, nothing to become familiar with, because you always would lose it. That was one of the first lessons he had ever been taught. Loving anything, will only end up in its destruction. When he was a kid, his father had given him a hunting falcon, as was the custom, and instructed him to make it obey. Jace set off with that goal in mind, wanting to please his father. He spent weeks, months trying to make it listen to him, and after spending so much time with the creature he had formed a bond with it. Pleased with his accomplishments Jace had gone running to his father. The result was not what Jace had anticipated however. Instead of smiling and praising his son, Jace's father had sliced its head off right then and there stating that he had been told to make it obey not to tame it. As a warrior, this was meant to be a lesson surrounding the fact that no warrior should ever be able to be tamed, they were meant to obey. Jace left with a completely different lesson that day, he would never allow himself to love again.

Now that Jace had finally made his way away from his home life, he had decided to let himself finally relax, after 17 years of training and fighting. This was his world now, he was free, at least, from home. But now, as he lay in the soft sand of the beach, is heart though calm, was not free. He never really suspected he would be, but everyone can dream right?

Jace picked up his hand from the grainy ground and smoothed back his amber-chocolate hair, shaking the excess sand out. He had been laying out for quite a while (how long, he had no idea not being in possession of a watch) and had managed to take a quick nap. He felt refreshed and more alert than he had prior, so as he sat up he was slightly annoyed with himself that he hadn't even noticed the clouds that had come, nor the light rain that had begun. Jace let out a low curse as he sat up, his stomach muscles contracting evenly. He didn't get up immediately, instead he mussed up his hair again, placing it in its usual perfect spiky mess. His melted gold eyes shined in the harsh mix of light that clouds seemed to create around lakes. Resting his elbows on his knees he took a look around, checking on his ancient battle sword and the light shirt that lay half buried in the sand beneath its hilt. It was then that he noticed the track marks, they weren't close but they weren't far either, definitely canine and of good size. He looked further down towards the bay and that was where he spotted her. A nicely sized young husky dog. She looked frightened, staring out at the water and then around her. He almost called for the animal, but thought better of it. better to let it come to you, don't start something you can't do jace he thought as he stared, squinting, towards the dog. His eyes gleamed with interest, reflecting like golden mirrors.

Adalyn

The husky elected to sit, stiffly and lightly upon her haunches.

The wind was all wrong, blowing a sea-breeze against her face, so she remained unaware of the human behind her. How she missed him in the beginning was odd, seeing as how Adalyn was a fairly observant canine. She watched the waves for several minutes, remaining unnaturally still for a dog. It was unnerving. But then, the wind changed direction, bringing to her the scent of Man, fresh and close. Ears twitching, she caught the faintest murmur of breath. Excitement began to build in her chest, as she had been feeling very alone not two minutes beforehand.

Pushing herself lightly and agilely to her large paws, Adalyn turned half of her sturdy body, amber eyes wide as she took in the human male. For a moment, she didn't move, apart from the flaring of her nostrils to take in his scent. The only noise came overhead, from the shrieking gulls, and the roar of the waves. In one quick movement, the dog's neck snapped up, and a friendly bark passed through her black lips.

Padding over to the Man, she stopped, hesitating. Her eyes mirrored his own; interested, curious. She'd always been treated well enough, but the relationship she shared with her master had been lacking affection. He had struck her once, as a puppy, for biting him playfully, if not a bit roughly. She hadn't turned violent though, for after that incident, she had quit biting altogether.

Taking a deliberate step forward (her confidence having returned, for now), Adalyn grinned a dog's grin, shaking her head so that the tags attached to the collar hanging around her neck jingled. She sniffed at the Man's foot, taking another step toward him, so that she might smell his hand, and the foreign appendage lying in the sand at his side.

Jace Ithuriel Wayland

Jace's face continued to shine with a brightness unfamiliar to him. It had been a very, very long time since he had last shown any true feeling of happiness, or affection of any kind towards and living creature. He had grown into a hard, golden crusted shell of himself. But now it seemed, as long as no one else was around to see his weakness and beat him down for it, he could let himself just, be. As he watched the canine before him now, he actually let out a slight smile of interest. His gaze emanated a newfound thing, something along the lines of friendliness.

He was most intrigued by how still she managed to remain, reflecting memories of himself, like she was concentrating hard on something. He was begging to think she was just a dog gone rogue when she suddenly seemed to shimmer, as if coming alive again. Her ears were the first to confirm the signs of life. Then came the turn of the head, that certain moment in all animals where life stops and they make the decision of friend, foe, or thing. Jace watched, equally as silent and still as the animal. The hair on the back of is neck stood up in strange anticipation. It was the same thing he got when he went hunting, when his prey and he would make eye contact and have that mental understanding before bolting into the fun. It was an exhilarating feeling. Jace's eyes shown brilliantly even despite the lack of sunlight at the moment. The light rain caused his golden orbs to glint beautifully and was beginning to flatten his wispy hair against his tan face. The entire scene was like some sort of movie scene, the drizzle of the rain adding that much more to the overall effect. His breath was now visible, like a haunting of smoke that battled the rain. He was, in fact, still shirtless,not seeming to realize the fact that his shirt was going to be filthy from the events of the day.

With a start Jace refocused his eyes, he had not realized that his train of thought had gone of the tracks. The sound of the dog's joyous call had broken through the fog. It was short and to the point, she wasn't abut to try to eat him. Nevertheless, in immediate response to her quick movements, his hand had shot like lightning to the hilt of his aged, iron sword. His body tensed, causing water droplets to run down his smooth golden skin. His grip only slightly began to relax as she tentatively made her way towards him, her small black nose flared with curiosity and her eyes were nearly the same in coloring as his.

She stopped short of him, staring with some slight concern and an over awareness only a badly cared for dog could have. As she seemed to gain some more confidence once she completed the battle in her head, she began to step closer to him, sniffing at his bare foot. He suppressed a grin at the feeling of her hot breath on the tips of his toes. With a steady, fluid, motion Jace released his grip on his sword and, laying it flat palm down, he reached it out towards her, leaning only slightly forward seeing as he was sitting with both knees bent up and legs placed wide apart. He didn't move for a moment and waited for the young dog to make her move. Meanwhile he spotted dog tags around her neck, causing his heart to tumble downward again. In most cases, a dog with a tag, is a dog with another love.

Slowly, Jace picked his other hand from the sand where it had moments ago been forgotten, laying on the ground by his side. He shoved it into the pocket of his ratty old jeans and retrieved a small, paper wrapped package. He wouldn't open it until the dog was more comfortable with him though.

Adalyn

At the Man's sudden movements, no matter that they were in response to her own flutter of activity, Adalyn leaped backwards, startled and a bit ruffled. A low whine escaped climbed up her throat and through her mouth, her head lowered until her muzzle brushed the sand-strewn ground. She waited, perhaps, from some type of rebuff, although in the past her quick reaction was always rewarded. Humans were so very unpredictable, that the husky was unsure in their presence, despite that she relied on them heavily. But eventually he relaxed, and so she followed suit. Resuming her previous activity - smelling him - with a dose of apprehension (lest he startle her again). She glanced toward him as he stretched his arm forward, ignoring him in favor of the curious object that reeked of iron. Growing bored with her momentary infatuation, Adalyn turned her stout muzzle to his outstretched hand, snuffling it with some tentativeness. Her cool nose came into contact with his warm palm, inhaling the delightfully familiar scent that was human. On an impulse, she ran her smooth pink tongue over his palm, before ducking her head sheepishly. Her eyes glowed as she observed his other hand working its way into his pocket, extracting a package. Curiosity came naturally to her, and devoid of a leash to yank her back (Adalyn truly loathed leashes), she was able to take another step forward, and thrust her nose toward the package.

Jace Ithuriel Wayland

Each and every time the dog moved, the tags would chime their ownership. It was suddenly all he could focus on, nagging at him. He should try to find the owner, he should... but would he? This dog was able to do the one thing no one had been able to accomplish in years, and now he was going to lose it again. To love, is to destroy, and to be loved is to be destroyed. At the thought Jace had to swallow hard, he had to bite his tongue to prevent himself from shooing the dog away for fear of growing to love the animal. For now, the fear he held would have to stay hidden, there were more important matters at hand.

He noticed her gaze focus on his sword, now gleaming from the moisture. If not for her jumpy nature he would have picked it up for her to look at closer, however such was not the case. But her attention didn't last long and soon she had returned to him, he watched with growing happiness as she moved closer to his palm and finally, her cold, wet nose made soft, hesitant contact with his overheated hand. His mouth immediately became a smile, though he was unaware of it himself. When she licked his hand, learning his taste and showing she had no intentions, at the moment, of gnawing his head off, he beamed. Though she seemed to immediately cower afterwards, he made no move towards her lest she mistake the gesture for a threat.

It was then that her attention again shifted, this time to the small package he had fished from his pocket. He studied her expression, it had become more interested and that much more bold. As she had taken a step closer and even dared to reach her nose towards the parcel. He laughed, he actually let out a laugh. It was strange and he clenched his jaw shut tight in immediate response. Nonetheless, he proceeded to carefully unwrap the parcel as he spoke to the canine, wanting her to get acquainted with his voice.

"ohhoh, so you're hungry are you? well c'mon

He spoke in a rough, irish accent, his eyes sparkling. His voice was a deep, base; rich with tone and as smooth as the mirrored surface of an ancient lake. He had learn in his young years that a voice like his contained a certain type of pitch that proved to draw the attention of animals, sooth them and make them feel more in touch with him. He thought that was a bit of a stretch but you never know. For now he simply continued to unwrap the parcel, revealing a slab of raw, bloody, elk meat, freshly killed and still reaking of nutrition.

Adalyn

His laugh, so sudden, startled Adalyn. Her wedge-ears briefly flattened flush against her skull, but the scents emanating from the package meant that this Man could not be foe; not if he was offering food. At the sound of his voice, low and soothing, Adalyn's ears crept back forward by degrees. She hadn't always been a timid thing, but her previous master's gruff rebuttals had worn away her avid curiosity and luster. In fact, she was hungry. Never having had to fend for herself, it wasn't as if she knew how to hunt, the concept had never even occurred to her. But neither had the concept of consuming raw meat.

For all of her master's faults, he had fed her well. Dinnertime was always an event, having been served dry dog food mixed with cooked beef, or occasionally pork, and vegetables. So despite this Man's kindness, Adalyn was vaguely confused. She cocked her head to the side, looking at him as if he had perhaps gone a shade mad. The raw elk smelt appealing, yes, but it was looked so messy, and she was such a fastidious creature. She stretched her neck forward, flaring her moist nostrils at the unfamiliar scent. The husky had never hunted, thus elk was not a beast she knew well, if at all.

Pulling her lips back from her teeth, Adalyn took a small, experimental bite.

She found, that although messy, raw elk was actually a delight. Her stomach snarled, and with a mental shrug, she unceremoniously began to eat, with fervor.

Once she was done, Adalyn took an abashed step back. At least she was no longer feeling sharp hunger pangs in her abdomen, having satisfied them with the elk.

Jace Ithuriel Wayland

A look of utter amusement crept over Jace's face as he watched the reactions of the dog. She seemed so unsure, not just of herself but of the world. So hesitant and fearful, no animal should have to act like this around humans. It wasn't natural, at all. A sudden headache attacked Jace's scalp and he put a hand up to his forehead as the memories of his childhood flashed through him. The falcon, so unsure, then so trusting, then....

The feel of sudden lightness in his hand made him snap back to reality. The meat he had been holding was suddenly lighter in weight.

"ah, so you are hungry eh?"

He smiled understandingly at her and allowed her to eat the entirety of the meat. It seemed as though it was a completely new thing to her, and she might as well get used to it now if she was without owner. Jace's own stomach rumbled then, the meat had been his lunch. He sighed and placed a hand on his chin, scratching absent mindledy at his stomach as he looked at the dog. He patted the sand in front of him so she knew she could come closer if she wanted instead of standing off to the side like some leper. He also made a gesture to see her collar, though the thought of touching the label mad his stomach churn, he did have to know her name after all.