x. The dripping on his neck. Water...in the purest of all it's forms, rain. Not in a puddle with oil or a pond with fish. Not in a river with particles. But rain, when nothing had yet touched it. Like a puppy pushed from the womb. Before the birth is licked away. A clean slate, plain and innocent. No memories, no breath. Not until the fluid is cleaned away. Ridley closed his deep brown eyes and let his bright pink tongue snake out. Within moments, a drip of rain from the small drizzle tapped his tongue and ran down his throat. Ridley opened his eyes and vision flooded his thoughts, claiming them as its own. He breathed deep and smiled faintly. Spring.

The grass seemed to stretch on forever. Forever... It was bright green, so bright of green that one might mistake it for a fake. The grass was dancing in the fierce wind, bending and waving. Rain collected on the blades, sliding down. Ridley breathed in. The wonderful mixture of smells from sweet grass, smooth rain, and crisp wind. Even his tight, slick, short pelt blew in the wind, if only slightly. He raised his head high, flicking his ears back. The fang dangling from the small loop on his silver earring swung, rubbing against his cropped ear. Ridley's dark eyes scanned the horizon. Green grass below and blue skies above. The only thing to break the two colors were the pearly white windmills, huge structures spinning busily. Although there were even more of them where he came from, he never did understand their purpose. Maybe to entertain the humans or point the way to something? Who knows? Point the way...

The rain was starting to let up. The drips on the back of Ridley's neck became fewer and fewer. It was about time to move on. Thick and dense muscles rippled in waves as Ridley stretched. Right front leg forward, stomp the paw. He stiffened his leg, tensing the muscles. It felt so good... Then he put his other front leg ahead and did the same. He then shifted his chest forward, hind legs hanging back where he left them. His front legs supported almost all of his weight, which was a massive amount due to his insane muscle mass. Ridley stretched his neck and his chest, then his hind legs. Hind legs then joined and the majestic dog was now off.

The windmills had to point somewhere. And there was no point in snaking all through the town to pop up in the countryside and have it turn out to be barren and windy. It couldn't be. Follow the windmills, Ridley. Ridley breathed in then out hard. One paw-step. A second. A third. Another. And another. The large Beauceron was now up to a swift speed. Like a horse's gallop. Ridley knew how tiring running was and he wanted to be prepared for whatever life would slap in his face, not tired out and panting. It was like walking on air now, his legs were used to the galloping so he hardly had to think to keep up his pace. His tail was down, but at an angle. Wind tickled its underside and Ridley let it trail like a banner, waving for a country's arrival.

What would be beyond the grass? Ridley hadn't walked long when he saw a small speck on the horizon. He stopped for a minute, trying to make out the figure. He broke into a run now, muscles heaving all his weight forward. He ran for a while until the image became clear. He jumped, turning his body sideways. His legs were held stiff, making him skid to a halt. Ridley squinted his eyes to find that it was a building, a large red one. But why a building out in the middle of nowhere? Ridley decided to walk over there and see what it was all about. Step one, step two, three, four, and more.

The great black and tan dog walked for quite a while until he was only about a yard away from the mysterious building. His big black muzzle raised. The medium-brown color of his markings stood out prominently from the sleek black color of the rest of his fur. His nose looked like an onyx stone, smooth and a deep ebony-black color. The sun's radiance bounced off his nose, which he always kept wet by licking. Ridley Devel's nose flickered left and right and his nostrils sucked like a vacuum. Like sight to a human, a dog's first choice of collecting information was smell. But smell was only one sense and it could only provide so much. It was time to probe deeper.

Ridley's paws carried him to a fence. It was wooden and somewhat high. He could easily jump right over it but first he looked up. Atop the wood was barbed wire. Most novice dogs wouldn't understand what the black spokes meant, but Ridley knew very well what barbs could do. All dogs are young and foolish at one point, and that was when Ridley had tried to jump a barbed wire fence. They had dug their teeth deep into the pads of his paws, a sensitive place for a dog. He remembered clearly the pain, the blood drooling off the fence. He also remembered returning to the same fence, the blood stains old and faded. He remembered the slits they'd left, and as he looked at his paw now, they were gone, perfectly healed. Barbed wire secreted a sense of deep-rooted fear, but barbed wire meant something was hidden inside the premises. What was it? Curiosity tugged at the male's heart. Curiosity killed the cat.

Ridley tried to look for an opening in the fence, running his nose along each slat. Finally, he found a loose one. It wasn't able to be swung open though. Dig, Ridley, dig! Tan paws scrabbled at the earth under the slat. Black claws pulled dirt away. Ridley was genuinely surprised about how easily the soil was removed. It must have been an area that had been repaired. Another dog probably found the loose slat the same way as Ridley, then dug out a tunnel to break in. Ridley momentarily thanked that dog, then smiled when his task was successful. Ridley nosed open the slat, swinging it to the left. He oped his snout in, then stole a huge sniff. A familiar scent. Sheep. Ridley was confused. Sheep was a smell he had never scented before, but it seemed to run through his blood. It awakened an urge in him. Herd.

Ridley knew what herding was, other dogs had told him. It was like hunting, a skill he had now mastered, only you herded large flocks or herds of prey and you kept your prey alive and drove it to a human. Ridley was a herding breed, the activity ran through his veins. But his blood was dormant. Now humans were mostly wiped off, only a few here and there. This barn and the pasture, under the smell of sheep, smelled of hume. Ridley wasn't hungry, he didn't want any of the sheep, but now he was cautious. When you add human to sheep it always equals danger for carnivores. Ridley slunk away, the loose board hitting his nose as he pulled away. Ridley wasn't sure what to do now.

He sat down. He wriggled a bit. His collar was itchy. He scratched it. His ear flicked. He sucked in his cheeks. His tongue was dry. He was thirsty. The rain was over, and with flat terra there were no puddles to drink from. Ridley ran back to the loose board. He smelled water inside the fence. He had to get in somehow. His claws dug out more dirt. More and more, hurling it behind him into the grass. After was seemed like hours, Ridley finally had enough space to barely wiggle in. But it was good enough. No use in wasting more time for comfort. He plunged into the tunnel head-first, pushing it through. Then his front legs, then his chest, then his hips, hind legs, tail. He was in.

The big black dog easily located the water, elixir to his thirst. It was held in a trough, some sort of man-made container. The water was fresh, probably thanks to the rain earlier. Ridley walked over and his pink tongue adapted to be shaped like a scoop. His tongue shoveled water in and his need was doused, quenched. SLAM! Ridley yelped, yielding to the unexpected noise. Not hanging around to see what it was, he pushed halfway through the tunnel. He had to struggle to make it through. Now he regretted keeping the escape tight. He made his way through, whining all the time. He hushed himself and ran under a faded yellow truck. It was dirty and smelled awful, like gasoline. Ridley hung onto the ground below him, grip tight, muscles tense, and pupils huge. He shuddered but stayed as quiet as possible. A quiet slam startled the already frightened dog, but the dreaded sense of danger faded. Ridley stayed under the truck. You can never be too careful...

;; r i d l e y . d e v e l

x. The earth under the huge black and tan's paws was rough. It was the kind of earth that was constantly treaden upon, with no sun or rain to rejuvinate it. Twigs and stones pushed against his fleshy black paw-pads. They felt rough and difficul to ignore. Adding the fact that in order to fit under the truck, Ridley had to crouch down very far, it only made his hideout even more uncomfortable and awkward.

Ridley felt that the danger had not yet died and convincng himself that he'd seen worse, he stayed where it was safe. Sure, not fun, but life was all about sacrifice, true, no? He looked to his left, the fence was right beside him and it smelled like fear. He looked to his right and in the far-off distance his fear-dilated pupils snagged the sight of a huge black animal. A lemon-colored figure was jumping at it, but as for identities, Ridley could not decifer. He watched as the lemon figure flew into the air only to be shot down by the black figure. Ridey looked away for a moment before stealing another glance. The orange figure was thrown against a tree just before its limp body warded the black creature away.

Ridley sighed a deep breath. The scent of danger had long since faded and his legs were starting to tingle. Ridley hesitantly decided to expose himself to the light again. The sun directly hit his eyes, making him squint and flinch away. Ridley growled and then slowly opened his dark brown eyes, letting them adjust to the light. The scent of dog overflowed his nose. As he swung his huge black and tan head around, his earring swung around, rubbing against his ear. It was annoying, but there really wasn't much he could do. Ridley's eyes took in three dogs around him. He felt confused. How did he attract so much attention?

A distict female voice floated through Ridley's ears. "Whar...ye Ah'm fine. Ye se misseh, a smart dog knaws courage but a wise dog knaws cowr'dice. Life and death ye know?" Ridley groaned, still getting used to the light and the crowd. It wasn't long after he spoke when a male's voice creeped into Ridley's ears. His now well-adjusted eyes pinpointed the source, a Golden Retriever. He seemed to be adressing both himself and the female. "Awrrr suh Insan'ty ar unh Sane. Don reckon ah knaw where ye come from but ah dun see no resson to be goin' off with yer name like assa! Assa!" Ridley looked away, scanning his surroundings again. The two golden dogs were presenting themselves to him, but one black dog was watching without a word. Ridley growled, out of confusion and not aggression.

"Aaanyway why're all yer arses hauled up here then, mm? Is there some sorta bonny goin' on or what? Ah'm confused. Up here for the yows or what? If yer all up here for the yows yer in for a sup'rise 'cause in thur's a shep'd 'n he'll skin yer arses and blast yer lugs off afore ye can squeak outta bark." Ridley sat down, his tail swiping arcoss the grass. He yawned, displaying his valliant fangs that had been used in many a battle before. The roof of his mouth was pink like his tongue only there were a couple black-pigmented spots.

Ridley examined the dogs around him. He was the largest of the four. The Golden Reriever didn't seem much of a threat, plus his mouth was stuffed with the carcass of a hare. The other male who had markings much like his own was simply biding his time. Ridley's head shifted to the female but he had to drag his eyes off the setter. The female was a prety little thing. Her silken pelt was a sweet gold and her eyes were a dazzling blue. Ridley smelled blood and was worried. Her whole flank was doused in crimson. "Eyyy lasseh, you should be the one fussed up. Were ye the dog 'tacked b'the tyrn't upp'n the hill?"

;; r i d l e y . d e v e l

x. The wind was whipping at a faster pace now and even the short and slick black and tan coat of Ridley Devel blew, even if it was only slight. Dark brown eyes observed the giant mills. He didn't quite understand what use spinning in circles was. When he spun in circles himself he never got anywhere. All that did was hurt his ankles and make him lose direction. What use could they be?

Ridley started to remember something. The beige extremities of the mills turned red and blue and purple, but only to his eyes. He remembered walking off of the area of one of his battles. His own pelt was bloody and battered. He could feel crimson drops streaking down his leg. Red touched black, then dripped onto tan. But more, he turned away from the bloodied lifeless body of his opponent. He remembered the cheering and praise. The camera flashes. And then a little boy holding a pinwheel. He blew and it spun around and around... Like the windmills...

Ridley completely missed that the dog was mocking him. It didn't really matter though, he was used to it. Ridley flinched a bit when he heard sheep's cries and the stomping of feet. The sheep were stomping back inside the barn. Smells leaked out from the foolishly unlatched barn doors. They smelled musky like any farm animal but Ridley could smell their meat. Deep under their fleece... He was starving right now and would probably do just about anything for some food. ...But maybe not hunt sheep, for fear of the farmer's gun.
Then another shock, Ridley heard a door open quietly then slam shut. Ridley yipped, a higher bark than one would expect from a big deep-voiced dog like him. Ridley loped around the truck to see a tall, but kind of smelly human coming out of the door. He was coming this way. The farmer squeezed something in his hand and the rusty truck reacted with a beep, a sound not foreign to Ridley. His heart started beating faster. "Eyy, the shepp'd's goin' out. Fig'r if we go inside the fence he can't see us. And then when he's gone mebby we c'n kill off a yow'r two and fill our stomachs." Not waiting for an answer, Ridley flattened himself against the ground and uncomfortably pushed himself through the fence. The fence was high and dense so as long as they stayed close to the perimeter of the inside, the farmer wouldn't be able to see the four dogs and as soon as he was gone, it would be free reign for the motley crew.

Inside, Ridley pushed his snout into the slat to keep it open for the other dogs. With Ridley being biggest and being able to fit nonetheless, the other dogs should fit without trouble. "If yer wit' me c'mon in. And if yer not ye better hurry off a'fore th' farmer's spots ye."