OOC: Welcome back, Aussie! (You spelt it right. :-)) *Wedges the
crowbar of opportunity into the Aurora Borealis machine and gives it a
damned good heave*

IC: Thor was still licking his chops from the scrounged meal at the
rear of the butcher's, contemplating his chances of hooking up with
Belisarius' musher, when the subtle scent reached his nostrils. With a
flick of his tail and a swift look around, his tuned senses picked up
the traces of a female. The only female he'd encountered recently was
Thunderbolt, and his ego was still recovering from that little
incident. Maybe this was his chance to reestablish his confidence with
the opposite sex, he was a rogue now, AWOL as far as Tony, his
smuggling musher, was concerned, and he'd take his sweet time
returning to the courier.

"Spare a second, Beli matey," yapped the rust-toned Husky, cantering
around the corner of the shop, unaware of the hybrid watching from the
shadows of an adjacent alley, the wolverine eyes of the famed wolfdog
blending into the overcast pattern of his fur. This shouldn't take
long, a quick hello, an introduction to his new-found sled dog friend,
the subsequent departure, a stroll around his favourite parts of this
backwoods town and who knows, he might just've made another friend.

Cantering confidently around to the front of the building, the
well-built Husky was just in time to lay eyes on the bitch his senses
had alerted him to. And in time to see her daylight robbery. Inwardly,
Thor winced, a practiced canine cutpurse like himself would have
picked a less salient mode of thievery. But he had to commend her
brashness, whoever she was, for risking it. No doubt the butcher would
skin her alive if he caught her again, but for now it looked like she
made her getaway with covetous agility.

The butcher, on the other hand, was less than happy. It had been
months since his last trouble with the dogs of this town, but the odd
loss of stock here and there was part and parcel of living in a
settlement highly dependent on dogs. With a string of verbal profanity
chasing the impudent sled dog down the street, he muttered darkly to
himself and marched back into his shop. Thor saw this, and utilizing
his knowledge of the backroads hereabouts, decided it would be a good
idea to make acquaintances with this new face.

"Not bad!" came the male's bark from a side-alley as the female fled
by. He padded casually out to greet her, tail at ease to match his
expression, "Bold, but swift, and nary a chase. Reminds me of my
puphood." He grinned and gave a curt wag of his reddish tail, "Name's
Thor. You're a new face, lass, d'ye 'ave a name to go t'with?"

-John
OOC: Birdy, you can hop in here, and anyone else with free or
partially-free characters. Draiko, this next short segment of my
consciousness is dedicated to you, who has waited so long for a post
for Mike from me. It's coming up.