The Waiting Game;;open.

[WH [the goat]*]

Liquid beads dropped off the mostly-white Border collie as the rain came sparingly. The spell of rain was pouring in a pleasant drizzle, just enough to be refreshing without being a cascade. The air was crisp and cold, edging near the uncomfortable temperature, and the clouds hung in the sky, darkening the city landscape, and making it hard to tell it was dawn. Vehicles splashed up water, humans walking with umbrellas walked solemn, or quickly went on their way to their business. Colours of the sounds danced in the collie’s vision as she riskily weaved in and out of the streets, and sometimes attempted to cross the road. She was not thinking directly about her actions, she was being spontaneous, minute decisions and instant reactions led her here, and those would always lead her out alive as well. Maybe an injury could occur, but she would constantly arrive conscious as many an occasion before. She loved risks, pushed, and she spited those who told her she could not do something. Currently, she had proven them mistaken. Usually when she done things like this, she put one major thing on her mind, and zoned out everything around her, leaving only a vague memento of where she was. That was what was happening now. It was a very immense thing to reconcile on, the initiative that had formed into the almost-five-year-old Border collie, and that was of unification to a pack. Yet, there was a more direct version – joining a pack, and getting directly involved in their ways.

That, indeed, was a frightful concept for her to ponder, and that was what got her. Whenever she discovered a secret fear, Impure would chase it, face it, and try it out if it was something like joining a pack. It did not take long for her to conclude on her idea, and truly, as most of her actions, it was a no-brainer. Joining a pack, and now, as she walked this sidewalk on this dark and rainy day, it came to which pack. It had to be nothing like her pack of old, if you could call it a pack at all, and even through she was still sketchy with the rank things, she knew she could do it. To Impure, she could do anything it took trying and trying, practice, and determination in default to do something. Impure was good at those parts. Dancing in front of a car, and slipping to the other sidewalk, it caused the car to stop. Good thing cars were not many on the street today, or that would have caused some damage. Wagging her tail with a wide smile, she skipped on the sidewalk fearlessly. When she had walked across the street, she had stepped on a sewer-hole-cover-thing as she called it, and then the idea came to her. It was as quick as she had hopped in front of the car and across the street. Now, it was remotely obvious to her which pack she should pick, a one who lives probably right under her feet. This was exciting, a brand-new experience, accepted into a pack – or, as it might possibly happen, get declined. Impure was sure she had a lucid idea of where to go, and this time, she made conscious steps.


***

There are times one can wish that maybe, just maybe being able to block off their smell somehow would make life a little easier, and even in the sewers, Impure didn’t even consider that. Truth being, she loved all the faint, tinted smells, the quietness, the lack of sounds she could see, in this place. The obscurity, also, was embracing to her. Impure’s eyes did not strain, they accustomed easily, and tried to absorb as much light as they could. Of course, a dog’s sight was never the best compared to other animals, but here the daemon border collie had enhanced sight, which aided in her unique ability of seeing sounds. Feeling for emotions, presences, it was easy to keep watch on your back when you had empathy. It was useful, and could lead to easy forecasting of events, and of reactions. There was a privacy aspect to it, Impure tried to respect each other’s feelings, and if she knew any, she would keep it always a secret to herself. She knew how being read was like and feeling emotions that were not yours were like; her parents trained her to have a resistance to both. Feeding emotions to others, that she seen as a crime of sort, taking advantage of anyone for your own bidding was what she considered a big crime. If not bigger, then equal to, murder. It was not like she did not break rules, but she had standards, and a sense of justice.

Buying some time, but honestly, time is free, you just have to earn it, and because she was growing quickly bored of walking along, she stopped. Turning towards the large hole in the center of the place, were the sewage lies, she looked at the wall across from her. In addition, there was a duplicate side like where Impure was standing, and she smiled. Backing off a little bit, to get some room, she started to run, and at the last minute, jumped. The air blew softly at her features; droplets of what was rain flew about the place. It was, as usual, a rush, and she loved such things. So, that begun her hopping side by side, at risk of falling into the dirty water. After a while, panting and with a chuckle, she moved on deeper to were the pack was said to be. She had never studied any packs, but she had knowledge of them, and The Celes are a mixed and mostly neutral pack. It was well away from the rivaling packs, and it was dangerously located in the middle of the city. Perfect for her, really, an ideal pack. Vlad had told her to join a pack, and this time, she was ready to fully listen to him and not bend the rules a little bit.

Where V was did not matter to her, really, he was probably doing his own thing, as Impure was hers. Vladimir, she was quite sure would never go in a pack, he was just that solo type of dog. Of course, she was sure he was doing fine. Impure had stopped jumping a while ago, and now was lively walking deeper. If she was going the wrong way, even the idea made her laugh, it would be funny, and she had a lot of energy today, she would retrace her steps if she needed. However, Impure was sure she was going the right way. She started to feel some dogs as she stepped along. With a yawn, Impure sat on her hunches and just waited. Hopefully, they would not judge her by her being deaf, and was confident that they would not. Nevertheless, who knows? Anything can happen, and it is wise to expect it will, and it is sensible not to grow paranoid on such logic.

She looked around, the smell of sewage faded - here, she was now in the underground.