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Post by Quirky Tea on Jul 26, 2014 19:54:05 GMT
Freya trotted all morning to reach Banner Park. She enjoyed the parks, where she could observe dogs and people together. She had recently discovered that some dogs could deeply love a human in the way they could love a brother or a close friend and that possibility intrigued her.
The humans she had known treated her in a very utilitarian manner. She was raised in an institutionalized way because she was a test subject in a science project that had since been abandoned due to lack of funding. The scientists enjoyed her terrier antics, but they always handled her with the distant interactions of an observer.
She huddled down in a patch of tall grass as she watched one woman turn a Frisbee to coax her dog to run through her legs. Freya’s eyes and ears recorded it. She watched the way the human and dog played and it reminded her of her own training. The woman flicked the disc as soon as the dog completed the sequence of trained behaviors and he tore after it with an obsession that was exciting to behold.
Freya shut her eyes and played the sequence back in her mind. She played it backwards from Frisbee catch to the takeoff. She slowed the time so that she could stop it at the exact moments when the dog adjusted his head for the catch.
She opened her eyes and saw that the woman and the dog were now too far away to observe. She stood herself up and tried to find new subjects to study. She saw a man, without a dog. Her eyes were too intense upon him as she tried to figure out the secrets of humans without their science and objectives—when they weren’t playing God. She was too hungry for this knowledge to remember her training and be more covert. The other things she recorded in the training simulations were things she didn’t care too much about.
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Post by Alarice on Jul 27, 2014 2:58:03 GMT
The park was somewhere you observed house pets, humans, and ferals all in one area. The black spotted Great Dane was here to clear the ferals only, the others were not of her concern. Kids screamed, running and wanting to pet her, she allowed some stray hands to touch, but she didn't allow the coddling some wanted. Stepping away, she knew the hunt was on when a feral was trying to stalking a house pet. Trotting forward, her muscles rippled as she leapt and tackled the dog. Lips curled as it fought beneath her, and she shoved it's head sideways with one big paw. In a split second, it was hanging loosely in her jaws.
Dropping him, she knew someone would remove his body, her eyes had another subject. Trotting forward, she noticed a terrier looking dog, it was locked onto a older man who was reading his paper. Without thinking, she stepped into the dog's line of sight. She towered the female, and it made this situation easier and easier. Her voice was that of a scary dog.
State your business.
No play, she was not in the mood after her outing with Mr. Grouchy pants. He had ruined her first day out, the stupid thing he was.
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Post by Quirky Tea on Jul 28, 2014 15:34:53 GMT
The man was sitting on his bench, his legs crossed so that he had an ankle on his knee. His reading glasses set halfway down his nose as he read his newspaper. He turned the page to finish the article. Despite how mundane it all was, Freya was fascinated, taking mental notes. She had never seen a human read a newspaper when she lived in the laboratory. They read research notes, not huge scraps of paper that stained their fingertips.
And then, something blocked her view. Freya’s first instinct, despite her militaristic training, was to try to lean around whatever had obscured her view. And then, she felt a sinking feeling in her gut when she remembered that moment and replayed it in her head like a video. It was so clear. A very large dog had placed herself in her line of sight and she smelled like another dog’s blood. Freya jumped back, her stance ready to react. Her tail was high. She was communicating that, despite her small size, she wasn’t going to go down without a fight.
”State your business.” The large dog had said. What that meant was that there was going to at least be a small space for her to breathe. She sighed and relaxed a small amount, but didn’t put down her guard. She shut her eyes and, using pieces of recorded memory, mapped out an escape route should the situation go sour. “I was simply observing that old man,” Freya said. “Just hoping to, you know, figure out what makes humans human. That sort of thing.”
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Post by Alarice on Jul 29, 2014 2:02:33 GMT
The black and white Great Dane stared at the terrier and didn't even know what to think. The female was something to observe, like the humans, and she was observing them? Where did she come from that she didn't ever interact with the humans? Frowning, Sin spoke again, still in the same tone.
Where did you come from that you have no interaction with the outside world?
Her guard was up, the female was weird, causing her red flags to wave in her mind. Something about the female was hard to understand, she was different, and Sin was determined to figure it out
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Post by Quirky Tea on Jul 29, 2014 17:40:48 GMT
Truly, Freya was different. She understood, in theory, what she was supposed to do as a dog. She was supposed to submit before such a large and strong dog, but she just didn’t. It wasn’t in her blood to be demure, shy, and small. If she did so, it would feel like she was lying and lying wasn’t something she did easily. She was fire and spark, just like any true terrier. But she was also naïve; unaware that most dogs would probably play their cards close to the chest.
“Oh, I was cooked up in a lab,” she said as if a statement like that was a nonevent. “Pretty nifty, don’t you think?” Freya paused for a small moment before she chose to speak her mind. “But I regret to inform you that you are mistaken. I have had tons of experience interacting with the outside world. I’ve had…” Freya counted in her head. “Perhaps one-hundred and three hours and forty-some minutes of it. That’s tons of experience, don’t you think?”
She knew exactly how long it had been since her escape from the lab to the second, but had figured that laying it out in a string of numbers would be a bad social move. She didn’t realize that just speaking the hours and approximate minutes had, more or less, the same effect. To further prove that she had had enough interaction as to not be completely clueless, she continued. “In that time, I’ve dug a hole deep enough to lie down in and have it frame the sky above me. And I’ve swam in a lake as easily as a fish. And I’ve made a friend. I chased birds and squirrels for the sake of giving chase and no reason else. And I’ve watched many people. They mostly do quiet things alone and noisy things together. They are different out here than in the lab. Isn’t that amazing? Isn’t that absolutely spectacular?”
She was too eager, almost exactly like the scientists that raised her, made her into what she was—a dog that could record events as they unfold and share the data she collected. In her fervor she had forgotten that she was just a little terrier. She had forgotten the alarm her body gave her when Sin first stepped in front of her. She forgot everything except that need to share how excited she was.
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Post by Alarice on Jul 30, 2014 0:06:08 GMT
Sin frowned as she rambled on and on about her experiences. A low growl escaped as she felt her hackles raise. This dog was annoying, just like any lab rat.
Shut up. You all ramble on and on...you don't know the real world. I bet you don't even know who I am. I am a Luxe. I protect humans from dumb dogs...you're about to be one of them.
Snarling, she stepped forward again, daring the female to make a move. She was in a terrible mood today, already killing 5 dogs, and maybe this would be her 6th
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Post by Quirky Tea on Jul 30, 2014 16:55:19 GMT
Freya wasn’t trying to be obstinate. And, in fact, when the dog’s hackles rose she felt her breath stop for a second and her heart skipped a beat. But the dog’s words intrigued her. Here, this was a Luxe. And Freya couldn’t help but feel underwhelmed. She was already starting to think that this dog was one of the ones that she was supposed to protect humans from, not the one of the ones on her side—the ones supposed to protect the humans.
“You’re a Luxe?” Freya looked dumbfounded. She always admired the Luxes. But, at this moment, she couldn’t admire this dog. She couldn’t admire the fact that she killed dogs for no other reason than they were dumb, apparently. She wasn’t doing anything to hurt a human and even admitted as much. Yet this dog still wanted to kill her. Not only that, but this dog knew she was a dog the humans had raised her a purpose. Was this how every Luxe was? And if so, she was glad she wasn’t one. She didn’t want to be a slobbering idiot brute who would do anything to get the chance to kill another. But she couldn’t believe this was how a Luxe was supposed to be. “I thought…” She stopped talking, a little disheartened by how this all unfolded.
She looked up at Sin, but as she spoke, she lost her trembling sadness and found it replaced with anger, frustration. “I was supposed to be a Luxe. I was supposed to help people with their troubles against the dogs that wanted to usurp them from their rightful seat of power. But the way you’re behaving? It makes me think that you aren’t a true Luxe. You are simply a killer who enjoys indulging your bloodlust. Is that what you believe a Luxe to be?”
Freya was a gutsy terrier. “And you know what? If you strike me down right now, you prove me right. I’m not doing anything against the humans. I’m an ally of yours if you are a Luxe. And if you really want to kill me, then you aren’t doing this for the humans. You aren’t doing it because you’re a Luxe. So, don’t you dare say you are a Luxe and use that as a license to kill me. Admit what you’re doing. Admit it if you want to strike me down. Or, don’t kill me and prove me wrong.”
She had fire in her eyes and lightning in her veins. The fact that the dog called her stupid didn’t bother her. Because Freya knew that she was intelligent. She knew it from the praises the humans gave her. From the way she could understand the trajectory of a thrown object, as if she understood the way the calculus of its descent felt. She understood how to use her brain in a way that no other dog could lay claim to. Freya could not be taken down by words alone; it was not in her nature. She was so fearless that her hackles weren’t even up. She was so certain that she could stand here and either be proven wrong and live or die a martyr, her belief so strong that she was willing to be killed with the truth on her lips.
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Post by Alarice on Jul 30, 2014 18:05:09 GMT
Sin growled as the female roared before her, and Sin knew she was right though. Snorting, she sat on her haunches so that she would be less threatening.
Stupid dogs do harm humans, but you are not stupid. I see that. I am Sin.
Smiling, she watched the female terrier bristle and be on a rampage, and it was almost cute.
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Post by Quirky Tea on Jul 30, 2014 18:41:44 GMT
Freya still felt hot-blooded after the exchange despite the fact that Sin had cooled down almost immediately. She did feel a bit of a glow because of the fact that the dog had recanted the dumb dog statement and now recognized her as intelligent. Or… at least that was what Freya thought “not stupid” had meant.
“Oh, I’m Freya,” the terrier said. “Or Frey. Some call me Frey.” She still felt wired from the encounter despite the fact that Sin was now sitting. And rather than put it out as violence, she redirected it as enthusiasm.
“So… yeah, you’re a Luxe?” Freya's tone was definitely more excited now. Now that the Luxe had calmed down, Freya wanted to learn everything she could about her. It was obvious that Sin was built for combat, but so far, Freya hadn’t revealed anything except that she had been in a laboratory for the majority of her life. “What’s it like being a Luxe? How long have you been one? What training did you receive? Did you like your training? How much of it do you use on a day-to-day basis? And… do you have a human friend?”
She wanted to learn more about the Luxes, she wanted to learn, most of all, why she hadn’t ended up as one of them.
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Post by Alarice on Jul 31, 2014 0:46:03 GMT
Sin wanted to talk about her life as a Luxe, so she did.
Alright then. I started when I was three months old, they found me as a stray. We go through rigorous training, fighting other dogs until someone gives in. We are trained to heel instantly, one word. I do have a human companion, his name is Michael. He is kind of stupid sometimes, doesn't really understand me, but I love him. I do enjoy my training though, I am one of the biggest out there. I use about 50% of training on a daily basis, I don't run into much trouble with my size. Anything else?
Sin thought she had covered everything she had asked, maybe.
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Post by Quirky Tea on Jul 31, 2014 1:17:43 GMT
Freya hung onto Sin’s every word. She didn’t need to though because her brain recorded everything and she could just rewind and play back, but she was interested in what Sin had to say. She loved to learn. She lived to learn. But the important piece to her was Sin’s relationship with human. It was Freya’s most recent obsession—to see what was common in regards to a dog’s love of humans.
She felt a little like she was missing out. She shut her eyes, remembering the names of every scientist and trainer and handler and kennel worker and assistant who ever interacted with her. She only knew their name if another human had managed to address them. The trainer who released her the final night in the laboratory… Her name was Jacoby. She had long, light colored hair and a sharp expression. She had laughed whenever Freya made a mistake. Other humans tried to hide their disappointment whenever she failed a task, but the terrier could always see it in their eyes and their pursed lips, holding back a curse.
The off-hand way that the Lux spoke of Michael contrasted with the dreamy way that another dog had described his master, but Freya didn’t deny at all that it was love this Dane held for her man. And, honestly, it made Freya believe that, perhaps, she too had a fine enough relationship with a human being. That perhaps love isn’t measured by what you did with each other, but rather how highly you cherished those moments. Freya smiled.
She played back what Sin had said in her head and replied not to the human part, but to the training part. “I’ve had training, too. And I know obedience as well. I loved the training. My human trainers and handlers always tried to make it fun for me. I learned a little combative strategy training as well, but I’ve never had to use it in the field yet. Mostly they focused on my abilities. I was born with the eidetic memory, but they changed me so that I can share it. So, most of my training was specialized training. For recon missions. Me and my kin were supposed to be a new kind of Lux."
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Post by Alarice on Jul 31, 2014 2:33:09 GMT
Sin noticed this terrier was hanging on her every word, thirsty for the knowledge she had. Most lab rats were like that, at least the ones she had met. Nodding, she spoke in a smooth tone.
I am sure your experiences are different than mine. Mistreatment was never in my line of work here. Luxes are loyal, never fight their handlers
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Post by Quirky Tea on Aug 1, 2014 18:25:39 GMT
Freya was a bit perplexed with Sin’s bland response. “Well, of course our experiences were different. You ended up a Lux and I didn’t.”
Freya wondered why she didn’t get the part. She didn’t usually dwell in the past, but being a Lux had been her life’s purpose since she was born. She had intelligence in spades. She had had a huge amount of training, both general obedience and highly specialized. She had a good rapport with any human handler while understanding that she was to answer to only that human until she switched hands. Not only that, but they transformed her until she was something just a little more than a dog. Something strange and other. What had Sin done to be chosen other than had been born to grow larger than other dogs?
Not only that, but she was disappointed that this Lux saw no merit in a new strain of Lux. There was no curiosity, no questions to ask her to expand on what she had meant, and to explain the extent of her abilities. Freya thought that, should she meet a Lux in the flesh, she’d grow starry eyed and that the other Lux would do the same because they were both new to each other.
The difference that Freya saw between herself and Sin was that she, the terrier, had been created for a new purpose the humans invented and thrown away while Sin was found, a stray on the street, and molded into what they wanted. It almost made Freya a little sick to her stomach that they’d work so hard for a stray they found and give up on a dog that they bred specifically for their purpose and modified.
She was even starting to think that perhaps Sin might have been a little bit simple, which was okay, but she had hoped to discuss and share and revel in their life experience. Instead, she felt a little bit sad from this exchange. “Well, I think I gonna go,” Freya said bluntly. She turned and left promptly and rudely.
I’m not a Lux. So what? It seems that they are just a whole bunch of big, dumb dogs anyways. She smiled at her thoughts.
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Post by Alarice on Aug 2, 2014 3:55:13 GMT
Sin watched the female trot off, and frowned. Okay then...Turning, she trotted through the park, unsure whethere she had said something wrong or not
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