i_shop A Dog's Life [open]
There wasn't too much in way of internal dialogue here, the most you could discern would probably be woof. Of course, dogs didn't think the way they spoke; like humans, most thoughts were quite subconscious.
Vincent knew that he was in an unfamiliar place, so different to Australia, so different to the island. Sometimes he caught the whiff of a familiar human or two, but The City was big, and scents were lost just as quickly as they were found.
He had been living off scraps of whatever he could find. Sometimes he went around to that shop with dead chickens and long chains of pink meat in the window, and the nice man would throw him a bone or two. A lot of the time bones weren't enough, and Vincent would go hungry.
Vincent was not a puppy. He was 8 years old, an age somewhat akin to a man in his mid fourties. He was tired, and he missed his owners. Shannon was here with him, but she's gone now.
He sat besides the door of a shop that had an oddly rich aroma, and laid his head on top of his paws.
"'rrf," he whined quietly.
From: i_seekthetower Date: 07/04/2006 10:18:51
It had been many years since Roland had seen a dog. An actual dog. In the canine form such as the one before him, whining in front of the store with the rather tasty looking slabs of beef and chicken in the window. About the closest he'd come to a dog since the days of his youth was the billy-bumbler that Jake had with him. Oy, as he was called. Jake, the boy that he murdered and the boy that he saved. The boy that knew more about his path now than he did.
It made life extremely confusing. Especially when everything was turned upside down. He wasn't sure if he was going to find the path of the Beam again. It was there. Somewhere. But this new world was a distraction. Somewhere out there was the Tower, but Roland felt weak to finding it.
That's why he was out. He needed the fresh air. He needed the solitude. He'd lost his ka-tet, which he hadn't even had very long, and even though he found one of them again, he wasn't satisfied.
If Cort was here he would have smacked him upside the head for being foolish.
The gunslinger kept the small cigar tucked between the corner of his lips and bent down to pet the dog on the head. A small act of kindness he hadn't been accustomed to doing. At least, not until he'd met the boy.
From: i_shop Date: 07/04/2006 16:15:46
Labradors were a friendly breed of dogs, so when people patted them on the head, their reflex reaction was to rise up and meet the hand.
Vincent did that, and cocked his head slightly to look at the human. He smelt, not unpleasantly, of smokes and dust and carried an air of tiredness.
"Arrrowf?" Out came the tongue. It hung sort of lopsided, as Vincent fixed his two beady eyes on Roland's face.
From: i_seekthetower Date: 07/04/2006 16:29:53
Roland looked down at the animal as it made its curious greeting sound. Then he shook his head.
"My deepest apologies, Sai Canine. But yours is a dialect I do not fully understand."
Still, he remained crouched down, scratching behind the dog's ears a bit, looking up and into the window where the meats still sat. He paused for a moment, and then pulled his gunslinger purse in front of his waist, searching through its contents.
"Perhaps this will fill your stomach," he said, removing a piece of jerky, and holding it in front of the dog's muzzle.
From: i_shop Date: 07/04/2006 16:39:45
Vincent gave the dried meat a good sniff, chomped on it, and went on to lick Roland's fingers. It was partly because of his "pick up every shred of food" mentality, but also a sign of his canine affection.
He didn't stop licking when the fingers were clean. The man tasted a little musky. Friendly musk.
From: i_seekthetower Date: 07/04/2006 16:49:42
Roland gave a haggard smile when the dog began licking at his fingers. It had been a long time since he had taken out the time to pause and relax with creatures that weren't trying to to attack him -- like the lobstrosities -- or hinder his trek to the Dark Tower.
"I may have more," he said, searching through the purse and retrieving another stick of jerky. "This is the last. Eat sparingly."
The gunslinger hadn't come across too many friendly animals on his trip. Not even the bird, Zoltan, even though he didn't do anything to harm him personally, hadn't been congenial. This was a nice dog. He deserved the jerky.
From: i_shop Date: 07/04/2006 17:11:02
Again, Vincent used his nose first. Then, with a look, he barked once. It was not an unfriendly noise, more of an alert.
He noticed that it was the last piece. It was always good to make sure that it was okay to eat the last of anything before actually doing so; Vincent had learnt to do that on the island, where food was sparse, and his owners were just as hungry as he was.
From: i_seekthetower Date: 07/04/2006 17:16:14
Roland quirked his head to one side as the dog gave the little warning. Intelligent creature. More intelligent than some people he met. Cort would attest to animals have brighter brains than most humans. At least they listened to you.
The gunslinger nodded his head. He was raised with the knowledge of finding food amongst endless nothingness. The dog deserved the last piece of jerky.
"Go ahead. There are many journeys in the future. You will need your strength."
From: i_shop Date: 07/04/2006 17:36:38
If Vincent could understand exactly what it was Roland was saying, he would have been intrigued at this almost philosophical view. He got the gist, though, which was that it was okay to eat the jerky. So he did.
Now with a lot more food in his stomach than he started the day with, Vincent was feeling happier. He wagged his tail, the only way he knew how to express that.
From: i_seekthetower Date: 07/04/2006 17:41:02
Roland scratched the dog behind the ears once more before drawing himself to a stand. He didn't know how to speak to the animal any other way. And being that he was of the belief that the dog could have been more than what he appeared, it was only proper that he was polite.
The road to the Dark Tower had many fantastic obscurities. For all he knew this dog could have been one of them.
He turned as though to leave and then paused once more. The dog couldn't speak, but perhaps he could still be of help. He looked down at him, dropping the cigar to the sidewalk and smudging out the burning end with his boot.