Serious: Time Together and Time to Spare (Open to LoreleiMaiden and Daniel D. Haught)

Arianne Greyson looked up at the man beside her as they walked along the quiet forest path.
He may have changed slightly, his muscles larger, more defined and harder, his skin, darkened as her own by the outdoor life and marked by the intensity of his training...but he was still the man that she had fallen in love with.
He was still her Avery.

A soft smile tugged at her lips as her eyes traced his silvery ones, her fingers gently interlaced with his own, both of their sets of black fingerless gloves pressed together.
Nerves bubbled her stomach, despite the fluttery warmth in her chest. She was delighted to have Avery (and his ever loyal companion, Lawrence) back at her side once more and was even more ecstatic that he had agreed to meet her foster father. She was now just saying silent prayers that the two of them would get along!
Her rational side firmly reminded her that Avery and Eric were both confident, intelligent men who would surely be civil with each other, soon chatting away like old sea-mates.
Though Arianne's more paranoid side was hoping that Eric- whose tongue was often sharper than any sword he had ever taught her to wield- wouldn't say something to offend Avery.
"No," she told herself silently. "What's not to love about Avery? Que pasa? He'll love Avery as much as I do...and if he doesn't, he'll act as if he does if he ever hopes to be loved by me again..." she added, decidedly.

Arianne stroked the side of Avery's palm with her thumb, thinking back on the past few hours.
So much had happened..
"It feels so odd...Saki just deciding to end the Milky Ways like that," she commented aloud.

Avery was terrified. He didn't understand it. He had fought giant animals, climbed into a volcano, spent a whole six months training relentless, and yet still he was scared of meeting the man who was essentially Arianne's father.

What if they didn't like each other? What if he said something wrong? What if Eric was allergic to dogs? What if he was never allowed to see Arianne again? What if-

Avery cut off his own train of thought. If he was going to go into all the what-ifs he may as well turn back now because there was no way he would be brave enough to step into the man's house. Besides, if the man did try to separate them and Arianne didn't want to leave Avery, Avery would do everything in his power to get her back.

Avery was brought back to reality by Arianne's thumb moving across the side of his palm. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Arianne watching him with a smile on her face. He turned his head to look at her and grinned. Her following words, however, sobered him. The Milky Way pirates...he had been totally caught off guard by their sudden disbanding. Had Avery not been with Arianne at the moment the news had reached them, he probably would have freaked out and gone to see Saki just to rant about her decision. He had spent a whole year of his life training in preparation for a reunion and then...it was over. The crew was gone. The members separated and went their own way. And Avery was left with a smoldering anger deep inside.

Fortunately that anger had dimmed as Avery remembered what he had gained from meeting the Milky Way pirates. Or rather, who he had gained. It wasn't like he had been training for Saki anyway.

Avery's other hand reached done and brushed an object in his pocket on the opposite side from Arianne. The object was small and square, but not much else could be drawn from the bulge that protruded from Avery's side. The object itself was not all that precious to Avery, but what it contained was something he valued more than even the One Piece itself.

"Yeah..." Avery said in reply to Arianne's statement. "Things will certainly be different for us from now on." A flicker of his grin reappeared and he leaned over to gently plant a kiss on her forehead. "But ya know," he continued in a low whisper. "Different doesn't always have to be bad."

On Arianne's other side was Lawrence, the dog's head lowered so that he looked shorter than the others. Actually, if he raised his head he was about six feet in height, but he rarely did that except when he was sitting, or trying to see something higher up. He did so now before letting out a loud bark.

Avery jumped in shock and watched as his dog take off in pursuit of what looked like a squirrel. It was hard to tell, the terrified creature was moving so fast it was more like a gray streak.

"Ah, come on..." Avery moaned. "He turns into a giant and he's still acting like a puppy."

Arianne felt a familiar but wonderful warmth engulf her chest as Avery's warm lips pressed gently to her forehead and his words comforted her. She smiled tenderly. "Of course. And I don't mind how "different" things get as long as we're together."

And she meant it too.
After hearing of the immense hardships that Avery had gone through in the run of his training- all he had sacrificed to become stronger. He had lost an arm...not that she would have noticed if he hadn't told her of his loss. The mechanical arm was now covered with synthetic skin as was his mechanical leg.
Arianne had spent a good few minutes looking at the expertly crafted skin-substitute, its colour and texture truly enchanting her and instantly evoking her curiosity as a scientist.

Every now and then, Avery's hand brushed over an object in his pocket.
It was probably some kind of keepsake from his travels, she decided, and he was touching it for comfort as they approached Eric's house.
She couldn't slight him for it. After all, the ornamental flower in her hair given to her by Amerie had instantly become one of her most treasured possessions from the moment that she got it.

Arianne laughed softly at the sight of the massive dog bolting after the squirrel. "Yes. You'd think that such a big dog who spent such time with a pack of wolves who live in the surroundings of a volcano, would be behaving a little more like the alpha and not the little cub of the pack."
Her giddy smile- the one that she only ever wore around Avery- softened to a delicate much more affectionate one as she watched Lawrence. "But, he's having fun. Perhaps it's good that despite his new size, he's still a playful puppy within...when he's not called to fight, of course."

She continued to walk with him, moving slightly closer to him as they walked, enjoying the warmth of his large, strong form next to hers.
For so long, Arianne had be accustomed to taking care of herself without the support of anyone else.
But now, she had someone else to depend on and who could depend on her.

It wasn't long before the top of Eric's house- an old country house with sloping rooftops- began to appear over the tops of the trees.
Arianne's hand tightened around Avery's slightly and she whispered to him as they approached the top of the path.
"Now, Eric may be a retired pirate...but he certainly still behaves as if he's still very active. He hates it when people try to do things for him or presume that he's just a feeble old man..." She raised her eyebrows. "And it's often a wonder that they even do that- considering that he hardly looks like one."

As they neared the top of the path, the rest of the house came into view and between the white, wooden beams of the porch a man could be seen sitting out on a deck-chair there.
He had thick grey hair and equally thick sideburns, his eyebrows bushy and bold and heavy-set upon his firm brow-line. Though his faced was marked and lined with age, the roughness and darkness of his faintly scarred skin showed a lifetime of warfare upon the seas.
He wore a loose white shirt, suspenders holding his black pants up and over his shoulder and one gnarled hand rested on the cane at his side, the other moving to tap the mahogany bowl of the pipe between his teeth.
As the couple neared his house, his single, good, glinting, blue eye scanned them- the other eye, a milky white and sightless.

His brows furrowed and his eyes widened when the two youngsters finally reached the full line of his vision. "Ari?" he croaked. "My Ari?"
Eric Greyson grinned widely at the sight of his foster daughter. "Finally, my girl has come back from the brink..."

Arianne beamed widely, giving Avery's hand a final squeeze before she walked smoothly up to her foster father, embracing him, happily. "Hello again, Eric...it's great to be back, really."
Eric smiled, hugging her close and then looking over her shoulder, his expression going from soft to scrutinizing. "...and look who my little lady brought back. This is the boyfriend I've been hearing all about?"

Arianne took a breath, parting from him and returning to Avery's side. "Yes, Eric. This is Avery Crusher. Avery, this is Eric Greyson..."

As Arianne whispered some last minute instructions to Avery about how to act towards Eric, he nodded. Somehow he wasn't surprised that the old sea dog liked to be treated as an equal in terms of vitality. Although Arianne's descriptions of Eric had always been kind, Avery had figured that any pirate that survived to get old wasn't someone to mess around with.

That still left Avery with a problem: What in world was he supposed to say?

When the house came fully into view, Avery's heart performed a nervous backflip. This was it. Whether he was ready or not, it was go time.

Arianne and Eric hugged. No surprise there. Eric was close to Arianne and he must have been a little worried with her running around the ocean all the time. In Avery's eyes it made him more human, it made him a father, and that was the most terrifying aspect of all.

Now it was Avery's turn to greet him. Eric had spotted Avery and Arianne introduced them. Avery mentally took a deep breath and stepped forward.

"Hello, sir," Avery said, holding out his hand. "I..." Avery drew a blank. He had an idea of what he might say, but the question still remained as to how he could say it. Avery's grin started to appear, but there was no trace of its usual cockiness. "...I guess, I'll just be straight with you. I've spent the last couple of days trying to figure out what I was going to tell you on this first meeting. I could've written a speech or maybe stolen some heartwarming lines out of a book. The fact is, I'm not going to waste my time or yours. I'll just give it to you like it is: I am honored to meet the man who raised someone so special." Avery's grin had changed into a small smile during what had, ironically, turned into an impromptu speech. "And thank you, for everything."

Lawrence had returned holding by the tail the squirrel he had been chasing. He quickly caught wind of the serious atmosphere surrounding the small group of people and dropped the squirrel, nudging it away with his paw. The small, frightened creature needed no second bidding. In a flash of gray fur it had shot up another tree and was out of sight.

"Avery..."
Her voice came out in a loving, moved breath.

Arianne's heart was truly warmed by what her lover had said and she immediately, almost instinctively, wrapped her arms around his torso and hugged him tightly.
She didn't care if Eric saw her unthinking, school-girly, warm, cuddly (bluntly, rather un-Arianne-ish) affection for him. If anything, she only hoped it would verify further, how Avery truly made Arianne feel, the wondeful effects that Avery had on her and her love for him in return.

Eric listened to Avery's off-the-cuff little monologue, the whole time, his eyes, (or rather, his eye) surveying the young man, nothing in his facial expressions relaying how the man felt about Avery so far.
His bushy eyebrows shot upwards when his usually very reserved young foster daughter suddenly embraced her tall, muscled suitor. Arianne normally avoided bodily contact with anyone that she didn't trust completely; even while fighting, her sabre and arrows allowed for a non-contact means of meleeing someone.

His attention was briefly diverted by Lawrence's squirrel-parcel-delivery-and-relinquishing-of-said-squirrel entrance and a single eyebrow of his, arched at the dog's immense size. He had never quite seen a bloodhound that big- not even on the Grand Line.

Eric Greyson looked back to Avery Crusher, staring him square in the face and suddenly leaning up close to him so that his wrinkled nose was almost brushing Avery's, his voice firm:
"Young man..."
His chapped lips suddenly broke into a smile and Arianne, upon recognising that very smile, let out a sigh of relief equivalent to that of a prisoner on death row whose execution had been cancelled.

"Young man...you've got quite a way with words, haven't you?" Eric chuckled, his rather intense facade completely melting. "You've bagged quite a poetic one, haven't you, Ari? Good. Good. She's a lady with brains as well as beauty, my Arianne. Anyway, I can see you've got passion and honesty, boy. I like that. I respect that. Straight to the point. Real. No airy-fairy nonsense. Too many little twits rushing around the seas these days with heads full of hot air, thinking that they're up there with Mr Gol D. Roger himself but not an ounce of genuinity in them." He took a drag on his pipe, blowing a puff of white smoke to the side before looking back to Avery. "You, on the other hand, don't strike me as the miserable kind of little twollop who'd go around trying to lay every pretty young wench that he meets at the harbour. I met plenty of those in my time and from my reading...and Arianne's, I don't think you're one of the b*stards." He tucked his pipe away, leaning on his cane and thrusting a hand out to grab Avery's and shake it. "Ari's told me a lot of good things about you, Mr Crusher and I have to say, it's nice to put a name to a face, at last."
He chuckled, wheezing a little. "Heh, heh...I can't take all the credit for raising this little kitten. I found her with a noble pedigree anyway- a marine one if anything! Who'd of thought she'd grow up to be such a smashing young thing..."

Arianne was starting to turn as red as her coat, sweat-dropping and fiddling with her glasses. "Eric...."

"I found her when she was fifteen and starving. She reminded me of one of the old nakama- back in my days of delivering Binks' sake and whatnot, so I took her in. Best decision of my life. Not only was she company but a bright little apprentice too...I had no kids of my own- big regret of mine- and I was getting worried that I'd have no one to pass my gifts on to and then I find her! A readymade daughter!" He laughed again, coughing a little this time and then simply grinning. "So yes, forgive my ramble but I can't take all the credit for raising her. Though thank you for the sentiment."

He beckoned to them all. "Come inside! Come inside! I'll put on the tea."
Eric looked back down to Lawrence. "The dog here too. Fine big fella we have here! What's his name?"

Arianne (whose face was slowly starting to pale down again) smiled. "This is Lawrence, Eric. Avery's faithful companion."
Eric lowered a fearless hand to stroke Lawrence's head. "Well it's nice to meet you too, Lawrence. You'd like something to drink and chew on too, hm?"

He turned on his heel and started up the steps with his cane, turning back around only briefly to look back at Avery and say: "By the way, Avery, forget all that "sir" nonsense. I'm not a marine admiral." He grinned, showing a few missing teeth, this time. "Call me Eric."
And with that, he headed inside.

Arianne looked up at Avery, a wide smile on her face, saying in a soft voice. "He approves of you."
She leaned up and kissed his lips semi-deeply for a few moments before parting and taking his hand, still smiling widely. "And rightly so."

Avery didn't move right away. It was only when Arianne kissed him that he gave a little twitch and glanced down at her. He smiled and licked his lips, having realized from Arianne's kiss that they were dry. It seemed that everything was going to be okay. He had managed to get through that conversation without a heart attack, although it had been a little bit close.

It seemed that Eric liked him too, which was a definite plus. That would certainly make things easier on all of their minds as things...progressed.

Once again Avery's hand dropped to the small box in his pocket. He didn't touch it this time, but his fingers hovered over its surface for a moment before pulling back.

"Thank you," Avery replied to Arianne just as quietly. "But I'm just trying to be honest. If I hadn't met you, I'd probably still be wasting my time wandering the seas looking for someone worth following to the end of the Grand Line instead of pursuing what is far more important. And if this man had not met you..." Avery let his words fade away. There was no point in finishing the statement. Avery squeezed Arianne's hand and grinned at her. "Come on. We'd better get inside before he starts wondering what's holding us up."

Avery started walking towards the entrance of the man's house, his thoughts going back to his time on the island, training. Back when he had first joined the Milky Way pirates, Avery had been hesitant to do so because he had been afraid of losing his chance to serve under the Pirate King. Embarrassing though it was too admit, he had not considered Arianne as important as his goal. He had almost made the biggest mistake of his life. However, during his time training, Avery had spent some time thinking about his choices and he had decided upon what was most important to him. Whether or not he served the king no longer mattered, except as a bonus. All that truly mattered was right there in front of him.

Lawrence's thought process was, as always, much simpler as he followed in the wake of the couple. He was currently imagining what kinds of food he might eat that day and what other small animals he could chase. Sometimes the two thoughts were very closely intertwined.

Arianne listened as Avery spoke and felt something inside of her melt once again, her stomach clenching slightly as he left his final statement hanging.
It was true.
Arianne owed her life to Eric and if it wasn't for her foster father's kindness and generosity, she wouldn't have been alive to meet Avery in the first place.
Maybe it was selfish that Arianne had never quite reflected on this before, or maybe it was just because she spent so much time worrying about whether or not Avery and Eric would actually get along- either way, as Arianne walked with Avery into the lounge, she found her gaze very tenderly settling on Eric Greyson's weatherbeaten but ultimately welcoming face in the low light of the fire.

"I put some tea on, earlier," he pointed out, gesturing to the slightly chipped porcelain teapot and cups on the table. Eric put his cane aside, sinking down into an armchair near the fireplace. "Still nice and hot, I hope."

Arianne delicately kissed Avery's cheek again- a lot of lips to skin contact today, perhaps, but she didn't care. As far as she was concerned, she had just about a year of kissing Avery to make up for.
She guided him to sit down next to her on the sofa on the other side of the coffee table, letting Lawrence slip over to the rug beside the fire.
The room hadn't changed a bit since Arianne had last been in the house. The wooden panelled walls were covered with a myriad of old weapons- swords, guns, bows- scientific charts, tattered Jolly Rogers and a verifiable art gallery of Wanted posters.
Not just of Eric and his old crew- which seemed to have its own little shrine in the centre of it all, right above the mantel- but of current feared and famous faces on the sea.

"Just so I can keep an eye on the b*stards," Eric half-growled to pass comment on his collection of posters as he leaned down to get a cup of tea for himself. "Help yourselves to the tea, young'uns. Would Lawrence here, like some water maybe? I think I have some leftovers from last night."

Arianne rose fluidly, stepping over the dog with a smile and a the kind of controlled grace that she wouldn't have posessed six months ago. "I'll get some water and snacks for Lawrence."

Eric looked to Avery once their shared object of interest had left the room and tilted his head thoughtfully. "So then, Avery, Arianne tells me that you've interest in mechanics..."

Avery smiled at the kiss and allowed himself to be moved towards the sofa. Before he sat down, he removed his double-ended spear from his back and set it down, leaning it against the sofa.

"Lawrence'll take whatever you can find," Avery called after Arianne as she left the room. "He's not too picky." Avery waited until Eric had finished getting his tea before he got some for himself. He poured a third cup in preparation for Arianne's return before leaning back and answering Eric's question. "Yeah, I've got a huge interest in it."

Avery set down his tea for a moment and pulled back some of the synthetic skin he had on his mechanical arm, revealing it for what it truly was. The previous year, when he had shown Arianne his leg, it had been a mess of gears and wires. His skill had obviously improved with time. Underneath the skin, his machine arm was sleek and the metal was a dark gray. There were no gears showing on this arm, although there were two, pulsing red lines running the length of the arm. Also unlike the old leg design, the hand on the arm had fingers and even indentions with false nails in them. Avery left the skin off for the moment and retrieved his cup of tea, sipping from it first before turning back to Eric.

"My right leg looks just like that, except of course it's a leg," Avery told him. "So, yeah, I'm very focused on the area of mechanics. I'm always looking for ways to improve my own mobility and recently I've been looking into making weapons so that they essentially have the powers of devil fruit except without the disadvantage that comes with being underwater." Avery paused to drink some of his tea while he scanned the room with his eyes. "What was your position on your crew?" Avery asked after a moment.

Avery had been trying to guess at the answer on his own, but it was difficult to tell. There wasn't a whole lot to go by, except maybe the weapons and even those were so varied that he could have been anything from a sniper to a simple fighter. Or maybe he was a scientist, like Arianne. Her skills had to come from somewhere, unless she was self-taught.

Eric's eyes went wide as he surveyed the mechanical arm with his one good eye. 
"Davy D. Jones," he breathed, looking truly stunned at the fine machinery before him. "Craftsmanship doesn't even begin to describe the ingenuity that must have gone into this." The old sea-dog took another slurp of tea as his good eye flicked from Avery's arm to his leg, his curiosity almost seeming to mirror that of Arianne's whenever she got anywhere near a piece of interesting machinery. "I mean, Ari mentioned that you were a dab hand in the blacksmith's forge and a man with skills for mechanics but <i>this</i>...I mean I never would've guessed that you were part cyborg, Avery my boy. This synthetic skin is possibly the best I've ever seen..."

The old man chuckled, sitting back. "And take that to heart, boy. I don't go 'round handing out comments to every cocky little privateer who comes past my doorstep." His wheezy chuckle turned into a booming laugh as he extinguished his pipe in a small brass bowl on the side-table. "My Ari has an eye for a man with a good head on his shoulders, more than just muscles..." Eric's expression briefly became rather bemused, (the kind easily deserving of a sweatdrop). "Unlike that tart of a twin sister of hers. That young lady means well but by the time she reaches my age, she'd want to have figured out something else to do with her life..."

Eric coughed and continued, looking back to Avery. "Anyway, you've got good talent and motivation going for yourself." He grinned and chuckled. "And that dog of yours has the kind of temperament I want my own Taffy to have eventually. She's my collie. Out in the backgarden. She originally belonged to a neighbour but every now and then, Ari and I would take care of her. Then just last week, they gave me permanent ownership of her." Eric looked thoughtful for a moment. "I should probably tell Ari the good news when she comes back in..."

He blinked at Avery's question and then grinned. "Well originally, I was a marksman. I was the crew's sharpshooter. But my father was a swordsman, so I had a decent hand for the blade too. However, I was once separated from the crew and stranded on an island where this old scientist lived. One night I was in a tavern, gambling for Beli to somehow hire out a ship to meet up with my nakama again..." He shrugged. "Long story short, the geezer offers me the full price of the ship to become his aid in his experiments for a few weeks and I suppose I just fell in love with science. A month later, I found my way back to my crew...only this time, I was intent on becoming the crew's scientist. It took years of learning but I finally managed to solidify my profession...I brought my knowledge of weapons into my studies as a scientist and I started to work on cannons that could be automatically reloaded, gun powder that could be used even when wet..."
Eric put down his teacup. "My interests were centred are physics, you see."

He tilted his head. "So where are you from, exactly, Avery? Arianne told me a lot about you but my golden girl kept telling me that I was being rude when I asked about your origins..."

Arianne entered the room moments later, placing a bowl of leftover chicken and another bowl of  water in front of Lawrence before sitting back down at Avery's side. "Eric, you do know that Taffy from next door is running around in your backyard, si?" 
Eric nodded with a chuckle. "I do, indeed. I forgot to mention; the Myltons skipped town and left Taffy to me. Great, hm?"
Arianne smiled. "Yes, that is great, I suppose." She rested her head down upon Avery's shoulder. 

Avery turned a little bit red from embarrassment as Eric spoke and, oddly enough, there were actually two reasons for him doing this. The first was from all the overwhelming compliments. Avery didn't think of himself as an expert craftsman. He just experimented with stuff and occasionally something worked. The second reason was the fact that Eric was openly insulting Arianne's sister. While Avery did not approve of the girl's way of life, he tried to avoid mentioning this fact for Arianne's sake. Perhaps Avery needn't have bothered, considering the way Eric was going at the subject. He wasn't shy about it, that's for sure.

Avery brightened up as the subject turned to his dog. He felt a measure of pride in the fact that someone thought that much of Lawrence. His following words, however, gave the opposite impression.

"Wow, I'm glad someone likes the poor, flea-bitten mutt," Avery said casually.

Lawrence had heard plenty of similar comments ever since he had started hanging out with Avery, but he was no longer the same dog that he had once been. So after he had fired his initial death glare at the back of Avery's head, and had been ignored, the oversized bloodhound began creeping around behind the sofa. He'd show Avery just what this flea-bitten mutt could do. The two of them hadn't had a proper fight since leaving the island where they had trained and a part of Lawrence had been wanting to find out just which one of them was stronger.

When Lawrence had originally split off from his master, he had been leaving so that he could become strong enough to fight by Avery's side. All that had changed when Lawrence himself became the boss of a IQ enhanced wolf pack. He had grown beyond his own expectations and was able to not only challenge, but even defeat animals much larger than himself. These experiences had not only caused him to grow physically, but they had made him proud and confident in his own abilities.

Avery knew nothing about any of this. He was still listening to Eric as the old pirate talked about his own dog and then his position, or rather positions, on his crew. That guy had been through so much. Avery wanted to ask him more about the weapons he had been trying to develop, but he figured all that could wait when Eric asked him about his home.

"Well, let's see here," Avery said, thinking back. "You already know what about my career...eh, whatever. I'll just start from the beginning. I'm originally from the South Blue and I was born on an island called Enterprise. I dunno why they called it that, but there were rumors that the first mayor named it Enterprise because he figured that more people would come to the place if it had an impressive name."

Avery took a moment to drink some of his tea and think. He wasn't exactly sure how much he should tell Eric. The guy hadn't asked for his life story, but Avery doubted simple information like this would be considered rude. Not by Arianne's standards anyway. Maybe she was talking about the mess where his parents were killed by Marines. In that case Avery could understand what she meant, and he was touched that she was concerned about him having to relive that day. He wasn't too worried about it though. That memory was painful and it probably would always hurt, but he had moved on and he had no intention of letting the pain rule him.

"I have two older siblings," Avery continued. "They are twins and are nine years older than I am. They left our home island at the same time and ended up living on the same island as each other with their families. You already pretty much know what happened after that. I got into making weapons, lost my leg, and built my first cyborg part." Avery reached down and tapped his right leg with his left arm, which still had its skin hanging off of it. "This part, in fact. Well, not exactly this part. It's been upgraded, but that's unimportant." Avery smiled and shrugged. "And that brings us up to the point that I'm assuming Arianne doesn't want you to ask about. To make a long story short, some pirates came to the island, the Marines followed them, there was a battle, and pretty much everyone in town was killed. Including my parents." Avery took another sip of tea before closing with: "I met Lawrence after the battle. He had lost his owners so I took him with me while I traveled the seas. Arianne probably told you the rest."

Avery calmly set his tea down and began slipping the synthetic skin back over his arm. He would let it air out later, but for now he didn't want to gross anyone out. Even if they both seemed almost overly interested in it.

Eric listened to Avery's story, nodding every now and then in understanding.
Arianne silently swallowed as Avery spoke. She hadn't wanted her dear love to have to repeat the trials of his past to her foster father, remembering the pain in his eyes as he had initially retold his story to her.
He didn't seem as bothered this time; though naturally, a memory as terrible of that could rarely fade completely.
Arianne thought she noticed a brief flicker of hurt in Avery's silvery eyes, the kind of hurt that was completely understandable for someone recalling what Avery was, and immediately, she found her hand automatically travelling down to his and her fingers lacing with his.
It was a silent way of saying "I've got you, don't worry " and "I'm here for you and I love you", of showing her unrelenting support for him.

Eric was silent for a few moments as Avery finished speaking and his face was expressionless for a moment, as if the man behind that emotionless mask was deep in thought. He growled gruffly under his breath for a moment as he scratched the back of his neck. "If there was one thing I could never stand, even back in the day, it was innocents dying in the middle of pirate and marine scuffles..."
The elderly man leaned forward, taking up his pipe and gesturing to Avery with it. "Avery Crusher. You're a strong young man. A person in your situation may have collapsed...but you survived life...you overcame everything that life threw at you. You've got courage and spunk, young man. Courage and spunk..."
He sat back, putting the pipe between his teeth and watching Lawrence slink around the couch. "Hm. Perhaps your trusty companion would like to go out to the yard to play with Taffy?" Eric looked to his foster daughter. "Why not let the poor fellow out where he can run around, after he's eaten?"
Arianne raised an eyebrow, taking up a teacup in her free hand and giving Avery's hand a squeeze with the one that held his. "Let Lawrence out to play with Taffy?"
She smiled and laughed softly. "I don't think that's such a good idea. She's a rough and tumble little girl. If she doesn't jump all over Lawrence until he's sick and tired of her, she'll try to pick a fight with him..."

Arianne rested her head down upon Avery's shoulder.
"How have things been since I left last? The forest still quiet as always?"

Eric frowned, tilting his head to the side. "There's been a few disturbances as of late...but nothing too severe..."
Arianne's brows furrowed. "Disturbances? Like what?"
The old man coughed. "Well, just gangs of ruffians hanging around and trying to rob travellers. They just seem like cocky teenagers to me. They managed to scare the Myltons though. That's why they moved." Eric sat up straighter, seeming rather eager to change the subject. "So, Avery! You should come to my old lab to have a look at some of my old weapon plans if your hobbies really centre around mechanics..."

Avery felt Arianne take his hand and he shifted a little closer to her so that they could more easily set their intertwined hands down their legs. He was glad that he had been able to say all of that out loud, but he realized that maybe he had been a little too hasty. It did still hurt. More than he had originally thought.

Avery was finding that he enjoyed Eric's presence, but a part of him wished he could just slip away for a few moments, preferably with Arianne or Lawrence. Avery's little gesture of moving closer to his girlfriend had not been all about giving their hands a more comfortable place to rest. He just wanted to be near someone.

Unfortunately, because of this he missed some of what was said and had only caught the gist of everything. It took him a moment to register the last few sentences, but as he was doing so, a smile began to spread across his features.

"Your weapon plans?" Avery was surprised to say the least. Maybe he could afford to stick around for a little bit longer. Something like this would definitely help raise his spirits. "Sure, I'd love to see-"

Lawrence had gotten into position and he choose that moment to leap up and chomp down on Avery's shoulder. Fortunately it was not the shoulder Arianne was leaning on, but the other side. Also fortunately, it was Avery's mechanical shoulder so there was no pain.

Avery glanced back at his dog for a moment and then popped his shoulder free and snapped his fist back, which just so happened to be the same fist as the shoulder Lawrence had bitten. The metal hand struck Lawrence on the nose and knocked him back over the couch and out of sight. For a moment, Avery paused and examined his shoulder. There were teeth marks in the metal. So Lawrence wasn't holding back. That explained why he had chosen this arm to attack. He wouldn't want to cause real damage to his master. At least Avery hoped he wouldn't. The situation was already strange. An attack like this one wasn't entirely unusual, but they were in the home of a guy they had just met. Lawrence was normally more courteous around strangers.

"Excuse me for a second," Avery said as he stood. He flipped backwards over the couch and landed on Lawrence's back as the dazed dog was getting to his feet. Lawrence started to struggle, but Avery wrapped his limbs around the dog's body and bopped him over the head with his metal hand. "Calm down," Avery hissed. "If you've got a problem with me, we can work it out later. Okay? Now is NOT the time to start getting an attitude." Lawrence grumbled in annoyance, but he reluctantly lay back down, showing submission. Avery nodded and stroked the dog's forehead. "Good boy."

With that the cyborg stood up once more and walked out from behind the couch. He grabbed his spear, snapped it in two, which caused small handles to pop out of the separated pieces and converted the spear into a pair of tonfa, and then Avery shoved the tonfa into sheathes at his sides.

"Alright, I'm ready whenever you are," said Avery. He stepped around to the front of the couch and, without looking, he reached over and took Arianne's hand.

"Lawrence! What on earth?!"
Arianne let out a cry of surprise when Lawrence suddenly latched his jaws on to Avery's mechanical arm. Though Avery didn't seem overly horrified at the attack- showing that the damage wasn't too severe or the attack too serious, Arianne still felt rather concerned as she watched her boyfriend reprimand his suddenly very (almost violently) giddy.
Even though Avery seemed rather in control of the situation, she still felt the need to place her hand over his mechanical arm, rising to stand beside him.

Thankfully, Lawrence had bitten his mechanical arm rather than his real one...so Arianne felt the need to trust that Lawrence hadn't actually meant to hurt Avery at all. Even so, she gently kissed Avery's cheek, letting him avail of her care and comfort if he wished for it- even if he wasn't in any kind of pain or shock.

Eric blinked at Lawrence's sudden attack, having not expected that at all.
However, the old man didn't pass comment on it, his blue and white eyes both remaining fairly enigmatic as he leaned on his cane and stood up, beckoning for Arianne and Avery to follow him in the direction of the back-door.
Though as he passed Lawrence, he raised a thin eyebrow, coughing slightly. "A little less docile than I thought, are we?"
He looked up at Avery. "I've got some stuff in my lab if you need to fix up that arm of yours. I'll take you both to see it now."
And with that, he guided them both out to the slightly overgrown back garden- it's wild brambles seemingly only contained by the peeling picket fence that surrounded it. A path made of granite slabs marked the clear way through the back-yard jungle to the odd looking little wooden shed at the end of the lawn.

Arianne took Avery's arm, stroking the bicep gently as they walked behind Eric and asking him softly. "Are you alright?"
Before she could get an answer, a white and bronze blur suddenly shot across the lawn and started leaping around the three humans and one bloodhound, like a fluffy, sparky, energetic shark as it circled them.
Eric rolled his eyes and whistled between his teeth. "Taffy. Sit! Sit, Taffy! Sit girlie!"
The fluffy border collie sat, her big bright eyes blinking up at them.

Arianne smiled. "Hello again, Taffy."
Once beckoned, she came forward, eagerly accepting Arianne's affectionate petting before looking up at Avery with uncertain eyes, as if to say: "And who are you, exactly?"
Her tail was still wagging a mile a minute and gave a little squeak of a bark when she spotted Lawrence, dropping her head to the ground in a surveying gesture.

Lawrence grumbled at Eric's comment before rising to his feet. Docile? Of course not! He was wild! He powerful! He was in control! He was...apparently still weaker than Avery.

That thought nagged at Lawrence as he followed the group outside. True, they hadn't actually had time for a fight just then, but Avery had still been able to hold him down. It was embarrassing for him, the King of the Wolves, to be beaten by anyone. There had been just one other creature on that island that could match him. That animal was the king of the whole island. The humans called him Aldrich due to him staying in power for so long. The animals, on the other hand, just called him monster.

This powerful ruler was a giant tiger. He had defeated Lawrence in battle early on during the bloodhound's stay on the island. Strangely enough, even though Lawrence had searched for him during the final few weeks of his stay, he had not been able to locate Aldrich. And then there were the rumors...rumors that Aldrich had already been killed by someone else. That had really hurt Lawrence's pride. His ultimate goal...gone before he even got a chance to show off his stuff.

Lawrence's deep thoughts were shattered by the barking of a much smaller dog. He stared down at the border collie with mild shock. She was so noisy! And overly happy. Then again, Lawrence hadn't been much better last year and, to be honest, he still wasn't. The wolves had been very laid back and rarely exerted themselves outside of hunts. It was the puppies of their clan that had messed around a lot and for a while Lawrence had been able to relate to them better than the adults.

As the border collie caught sight of Lawrence and dropped her head, Lawrence took a couple of steps towards her. For a moment he considered acting like the imperious leader that he had been to the wolves, but then he decided that that wasn't worth it and he never really liked the role in the first place. So instead he lay down in front of the collie so that they were at the same eye level and he just stared at her, his tail wagging uncertainly.

Avery wasn't thinking so deeply. He was more focused on his current conversations.

"Thanks but no thanks, Eric," Avery said. "I can fix up my arm later. I've got my own stuff back at the White Hart-that's the ship Arianne and I own. Since Lawrence did the damage, he can go fetch it later."

Avery turned to Arianne as she spoke and then he glanced at this arm while he moved it up and down and around to test it. It looked and felt like it was still in good, working condition. Avery was about to answer Arianne's question when Taffy came flying out of nowhere. Avery watched as she preformed her dizzying maneuver, whipping around them at high speed. When she finally slowed down and spotted him, he gave her a little wave and smiled.

"Hi there," he said, quite at ease.

She suddenly lost interest in him when she saw Lawrence. Avery smiled as his big dog lowered himself to the collie's level. It looked like he would get to answer Arianne after all.

"Yep, I'm okay," said Avery, finally. "The big lout just wants a fight." He grinned at his girlfriend, but he looked a bit uneasy. "And I fully intend to give him one, but not yet. Maybe tomorrow. I dunno." He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and gave her a quick, sideways hug before gently sliding his fingers back across her shoulders and down her arm to her hand. "Thank you, though," he whispered as he squeezed her hand. "I never thought it was possible to miss something as simple as being asked if I was okay." He suddenly grinned again and this time it was his usual mischievous smile. "Did I ever tell you how glad I am to see you again?" he said in that same quiet voice.

Arianne smiled, looking up at him with a warmth in her usually overcast-with-thought, azure eyes. "You've stated it repeatedly. But I never get tired of hearing it and I'll never get tired of asking you whether or not you're alright, Avery." She returned the squeeze, her fingers interlocking with his, her actions always gentle but firm and deliberate at the same time. "I suppose the care and concern comes with the package when you love someone..."
Her face flushed a little red for a moment; she wasn't uncertain of her love for Avery and she wasn't trying to keep it a secret by any means...but for some reason, the usually stoic scientist still felt a little bashful when saying it aloud.
Blushing, she leaned up to kiss his lips, (as her foster father fumbled with the padlock on the little wooden door of the shed- too busy to catch the stolen, little moment of intimacy).
Arianne parted after a few moments and cuddled into Avery's side again, feeling at ease, a smile on her face.

Taffy watched as Lawrence lowered himself to the ground, meeting her eyes. Despite his size, he didn't seem threatening at all and more importantly, he didn't seem to want to infringe on her territory or her comfortable new family.
Plus his tail was wagging, meaning that he wasn't feeling particularly aggressive, the little collie noted as she sat back on her hindquarters, tilting her head.
She spent a few more moments surveying the other dog's unearthly size before standing up again and trotting around him, sniffing him and getting a good idea of his scent before standing at ease to allow him to do the same.
She was effectively introducing herself, saying: "Hi! I'm Taffy! This is my backyard. What's your name?"

By chance, she caught a glimpse of Arianne's gift of a kiss to Avery and the perky collie tilted her head with confusion before looking back to Lawrence. The big male human smelled vaguely like the huge bloodhound before her- so she could assume that Avery was Lawrence's human. He seemed friendly enough and like his dog, he wasn't aggressive or overly dominant in stance, but her own pet human's strange gestures of affection towards him had taken her aback slightly.
"Why is my human, Ari, pressing her mouth to your human's? I know that's what they do to communicate something...but it's so weird...Why don't they just sniff and lick? I've never seen her press her mouth on any other humans either...

Eric, finally done wrestling with the padlock, looked back to Arianne and Avery, chuckling and showing a slightly crooked smile as he gestured to them. "Well, my weapon's lab is open for visitors at last..."
Arianne internally shook her head as she smiled to him, slightly exasparated. She would have helped him open the door earlier but there was barely any point seeing as the obstinate old man would most likely refuse her help anyway.
She exhaled, releasing Avery's hand and shrugged. "Well, I've seen that room many times before. In fact, I've worked there and slept down there many times before. Perhaps it would be better if Avery and you, the real weaponary-buffs here, went down there whilst I stay up here and supervise..." She glanced fleetingly down at Lawrence and Taffy, cocking an eyebrow before looking back to her boyfriend and foster father. "The kids."

Eric shrugged back. "Suit yourself, kiddo. Probably a good idea that someone stays up here to make sure that the fluffy little rascal there, doesn't annoy that mighty hound of yours, Avery." He chuckled. "We'll leave you to it, Ari."
He beckoned to Avery to follow him into the little shed, waiting until Avery was inside before shutting the door. "I built this place the moment I finished building the house...took me well over a year to solidify this joint but you'll find that it's safer than any other secret hideaway any marine could go looking for..."
For a moment, Eric's comments were almost laughable. The shed was crooked, weatherworn, peeling and dusty...rather like the old man himself. Not to mention, the inside of the small place was also completely barren- not a single thing lay inside other than a sandy floor with verdant clumps of grass and weeds starting to burst up through the gold grains and the cast light from a half-cracked window.
"Heh, I know what you're thinking. But I also believe that you're smart enough to know that looks can be deceiving, Mr Crusher..."

And with that, Eric hooked the top of his cane into, what appeared to be a rusty iron ring laying in the sand, and pulled, what revealed itself to be, a trapdoor upward until it opened fully, uncovering a set of stone steps leading into the ground.
Eric guffawed wheezily. "You would've loved the look on Ari's face when I first showed her this."
He guided Avery down the steps, down a passageway into the ground and once down, he turned up a few oil lamps- wrought ironed to the wall- to illuminate a truly impressive underground bunker-room, filled with tables laden with various gun cases, skeletons and handles of various slicing and shooting apparatus, magazines filled with a myriad of bullets and hundreds of tools strewn about for the purpose of putting together any kind of heavy artillary. The walls were practically covered with drawn out plans and diagrams of various devices- not just rifles and pistols but medieval catapults and Roman ballistas. A bookshelf stood against one wall, holding what were presumably multiple titles regarding the construction and history of weaponary, however there were a few notable science covers amongst the dusty hardbacks.
A variety of odd scientific equipment- from typical Bunsen burners to the strangest looking of pipettes and syringes- also lay scattered on the tables.
However the biggest eye-puller by far was the magnificent rack of weapons at the far wall- guns, sheathed swords, maces, staffs, bows, nunchucks, sai and even a giant old cannon all in plain sight.
Eric coughed and grinned proudly. "This is my little patch of paradise here on earth. Now, I've noticed that you've modified that bowstaff of yours to become collapsable into a set of tonfa rather effectively...I'd like to know how you did that...maybe you could show me?" He gestured to the room. "I'd be glad to share some of my own weapons knowledge with you?"
The old man talked with him for a whole hour, swapping stories from his past and his glory days as well as his secrets for modifying various pieces of machinery and weapons based on his knowledge of physics. He listened to what Avery had to say and asked him questions with zeal, always seeming rather inquisitive about the young man- and although he was brash, he seemed to hold a high respect for Avery as a whole.
Finally, looking up from the plans for water proof gunpowder that he had been showing Avery, he spoke in a much more serious tone than before. "Now Avery, I have something I'd like to show you. Every now and then, I come across a weapon that I myself, cannot use...and it sickens me to see a powerful beauty go to waste." He smiled briefly for a moment. "That's why I was a trifle relieved when Arianne told me she'd finally got herself a boyfriend..." He coughed. "But more of that later. Anyway, the Scarred Sabre and Seraph's bow that my golden girl wields are both examples of weaponary that I, myself, couldn't use. I've never been one to have a great aim and both weapons require a light touch to be effective..." He shrugged. "Nowadays, it's my heavy finds that I can't use myself."
Eric walked over to a small cupboard at the side of the room and produced a very black long case. "If you wield that bow-staff of yours with both skill and strength...I think you might be just the man to wield this baby too...if you'd like to that is."
He handed the case to Avery.
Within it was, what seemed to be, a long thin sword- very light although clearly durable- that teetered to a single point. The handle was made of intricate silver though it had a leather hand grip. A single red precious stone- a ruby perhaps?- adorned the handle to serve as decoration and what looked like some kind of lizard was embossed above it as a crest of sorts.
What was odd about the sword besides its lightness was the fact that the handle seemed to be far too wide to encase the blade of the sword. The blade- in terms of diameter- was hardly more than that of a rapier's, after all.
However, Eric smirked with a glinting eye as he invited Avery to take out the sword and to push in the red stone like a button.

The switch activated some kind of concealed mechanism and suddenly the sword's blade widened, the blade itself becoming longer. It appeared to be growing spontaneously, however under closer inspection, one could see that the new metal was actually shooting out of the empty slats in the handle.
After pressing the button several times, the blade was soon five times the length it had been before and had gone from a rapier, to a straight blade, to a katana, to a claymore, to a mighty broadsword in just a few seconds.
"And if you push the little crest in," Eric explained. "It'll retract back down to a dagger." He grinned. "Avery Crusher...meet the Chameleon Sword. The sword that can change to fit the situation it's needed in."
He looked up at the young man seriously. "I'm not forcing this gift on you by any means." Eric winked his bad eye. "But if you want it, it's yours to try out...and take with you..."

Meanwhile, Arianne had been above ground with the two dogs, sitting on the patio and watching them romp in the grass.
Her plan had been twofold.
Firstly, her absence gave them no third-wheel with a lack of weapons knowledge to hinder the conversation and secondly, it gave the two men a chance to get to know each other better without her being there to serve as a distraction of interest.
Arianne folded her hands and sighed, silently hoping that she, (their only common interest that she knew of- other than piracy and weapons), had not become a prominent conversation topic.
Eric could tell some embarassing stories about her if he wanted to. After all, he had seen her as nothing more than a helpless, ex-noble wraith, unable to lift a mere pistol, let alone fire it with ease.
Arianne sighed, rubbing her own forehead and comforting herself with the knowledge that Eric wouldn't do that to her. The old man had his honour and loyalty even if he'd lost a few other things in his years as a pirate.
Furthermore, she knew in her heart that Avery's love was true...and that he would love her even with the knowledge of how pathetic she'd been in the past.
She looked up and found herself smiling- and not just because of the sight of Taffy jumping around Lawrence.
The little border collie leapt up and tackled him in the neck, attempting to knock him over. She was agile, even if her physical strength wasn't as great as his, and certainly persistant.
"Come on! Let's play! Let's play!"

Avery's grin widened as Arianne spoke and for a moment he forgot about Eric. This is what he had missed about her. The familiarity they had with one another surpassed anything Avery had ever experienced before, even his times with Lawrence.

Avery was pleasantly surprised by the sudden kiss and he returned it with interest. When Arianne broke it off, Avery felt her lithe and powerful form move closer to press against him and his heart skipped a beat. He had always thought Arianne was beautiful (A slight blush appeared on his face as he remembered the first thing he had said when he saw her in that bar.) and now he thought she was even more so. He was still debating whether or not to tell her this. He had learned from his father that it could be dangerous to tell a female that she was prettier now than before. Perhaps it was all in way it was said. Avery would have to debate that one another time.

"Heh, I'm halfway tempted to take this discussion elsewhere," Avery muttered to her. "Perhaps...later?"

Avery winked at Arianne and then turned back to Eric as the man got the door open to his shed. He was a bit sad to hear that Arianne would be staying outside of the lab, but he figured it would give him some time to talk with Eric.

In the meantime, Lawrence was now having to deal with a very talkative collie, who was apparently naive in the ways of humans. It was looking like he would have to explain some things, though he wasn't going to go into too much detail.

"My name is Lawrence," the bloodhound replied. "As for our humans, they are doing that to show their affection towards each other. Oh, and as for Arianne not doing the same thing with anyone else, well, it's not the same type of affection she has for you or the old guy. It's kinda hard to explain, but then, romance has never been my strong suit." Lawrence glanced back down at the smaller dog. "Um...you do know what romance is, don't you?"

Avery was initially surprised by the empty shed and thought the old guy must have taken a wrong turn. Then he nodded, impressed, when Eric pulled back a large portion of the floor. If he hadn't known what they were here for, he probably would never notice that ring. The place had that abandoned look that made it completely unremarkable.

As they descended into the room below, Avery's mouth nearly fell open in shock, but he managed to catch himself in time. This place was amazing! It was even bigger than the shop where Avery had worked and there were far more types of weapons just sitting around. Avery's teacher had occasionally experimented with different weapons and tried to develop something new, but he hadn't really been very interested in it and never succeeded in creating anything new that was worth using.

The next hour was one of best Avery had had in a long time. Of course, it did not compare to the time he spent with Arianne, but it had been a while since Avery had had a serious conversation about weapons. He learned a lot during this period of time and heard some things he had already been taught. He also gained some insight into Eric's past and in return Avery told the older man a little bit more about his own youth and the island on which he had grown up. He skipped over some of the details of his stay on the island where he had trained-there were some things he could not reveal to anyone, not counting Arianne since he held no secrets from her except the one in his pocket-and he even told Eric about some of the tricks he had learned on the island about crafting weapons. The last thing Avery showed Eric was his spear. He demonstrated how he had made it out of four metal rods and how these rods could be connected and separated to form not only a spear and a pair of tonfa, but also a pair of nunchucks. He made sure to explain the most intricate part of the weapon, which was the two handles that sprang out when the weapon was in its tonfa form. As soon as Avery separated the rods into the nunchucks or connected them back into a spear, the handles automatically slid back into the weapon.

At one point during their conversation, while Eric was rifling through his weapon designs, Avery considered asking him a question. It wasn't an ordinary question like many of the ones he had already asked him. This question was one that would turn Avery's world upside down.

For a moment, Avery's hand strayed close to the pocket where the small box was kept. His heart rate accelerated as he started to draw the box out. He hesitated and glanced down at the box, which was now halfway out of his pocket. It was a tiny thing, with soft, black fur covering its entire surface in such a way that made it look completely natural. It had taken Avery ages to get that fur to stretch out across the box so perfectly.

With his thumb, Avery flicked the lid of the box open. Inside of the box was a ring.* This ring was composed of many strands of a silvery metal that had a bluish tint to it. The strands had been interwoven and overlapped each other to form the ring's shape. On one point of the ring was a diamond. The precious gem had been embedded so that the strands wrapped around it almost like vines.

This ring had been made to fit one finger in particular: Arianne's.

After a moment of consideration, Avery had closed the lid again. It was much too soon for him to ask his question. Besides, he hadn't even spoken to Arianne about it and he probably wouldn't do that just yet either. In fact, the only reason he was even considering talking to Eric about it was because the guy was right here in front of him at this moment. And when the time came for Avery to ask Arianne the question he had for her, Eric might not be in the same Blue as they were.

The moment passed and the conversation continued and then something unexpected happened. Eric offered Avery a sword. And it wasn't just any sword. Through a clever use of its hilt, this weapon had the ability to change its size so that it could be used as many different types of blades.

"Excellent," Avery breathed as he held the weapon up, his eyes shining with a child-like excitement. As a spear wielder, Avery wasn't particularly good with swords, but he figured that it couldn't hurt to have an extra weapon along, just in case. After all, that was the reason he had improved upon his spear so much. Besides, if Arianne ever lost or broke her own sword, this would be the perfect replacement. "Thank you," Avery said to Eric, flashing the older man his classic grin. He slid the sword reverently back into its case before taking one last look around the room. "What a great place," Avery murmured. "I almost want to stay down here for the rest of the day, but I figure Arianne's getting a little bit lonely up there. Then again, maybe not. She does have that blur to keep her company. And Lawrence, though he is acting a little bit weird." Avery smiled fondly as he stared up at the ceiling. "Do ya want to head back on up?"

Lawrence was under attack. Well, that's what it felt like to him. This collie just wouldn't leave him alone. He had growled at her once or twice, but she always seemed to come back for more. Suddenly she slammed into his neck and he couldn't take it anymore. He was a king, not a plaything!

Lawrence shook off the aftereffects of the body slam and he performed a perfect back flip, which was a bizarre sight for a dog of his breed. He landed smoothly a few feet away. At first he glared at Taffy, but his heart quickly melted when he saw her happiness. Oh, what was the use? He might as well go along with her. It might be fun.

Lawrence's tail wagged once and then he was gone, now moving at high speed. He blurred around Taffy for a moment, showing off his agility by flashing around her to all of her sides and he changed directions repeatedly. For a second he came to a stop on her right and jabbed her lightly with his nose.

"Bet you can't catch me," Lawrence taunted.

Then he shot into the woods, moving a little bit slower this time. At his top speed he was comparable to one of the supersonic ducks of Alabasta. He figured that it would be wise to tone it down a little, but only for this one occasion, of course.

(OOC: *Well, I guess you don't need me to say this, but your "hopelessly" romantic side was correct. It's an engagement ring that Avery made with his own hands.)

(( *hopeless romantic squeals in adoration* I'm so happy for Avery and Arianne! I love it! How awesome! *squeeeee~* I was rather hoping it was that option It's really quite adorable and I found the description of the ring to be particularly pretty. Now! On to my overdue post!))

Taffy blinked as she looked up at Lawrence, tilting her head a little as she tried to wrap her canine mind around this wonderfully human concept.
"Uh...romance? Uh...hmm, well I know that Eric loves Ari like a mother loves her puppies..."
Taffy thought deeply on the matter for a moment, comparing it to the other sort of "loves" that she knew about and then looked back up at Lawrence with her newly formed conclusion. "So does that mean that romance is more like mating?"
She wagged her tail delightedly, having firmly believed that she had figured it out. "Oh! I get it! Your human is my human's special mate!" She barked joyfully, hopping around like a newly bounced ping-pong ball. "That's great! That's great! That's great!"

Even if Taffy wasn't entirely certain of the exact definition of this word, "romance", she was content that she now had a rather new and wonderful understanding of her human's odd behaviour around this new "Avery" fellow.

When he and Lawrence decided to disappear into Eric's special shed that Taffy wasn't allowed to enter, she busied herself by trying to get Lawrence to play with her. After all, it wasn't very often that she found herself with a playmate.
Normally she was on her own in the backyard. Since her old owners had run away because of the mean people, she had been feeling a bit lonely.
Of course Taffy had Eric to throw her ball for her, but he was too old to engage in any proper rough and tumble play and Arianne was always too busy even when she was around.

Her efforts had initially only produced a few annoyed growls but Taffy was certain that if Lawrence would just give her a chance, they could have a barrel of fun together, his enormous strength and size not daunting the smaller female in the slightest.
Suddenly and without warning, her formerly unwilling playmate's attitude seemed to change drastically and he started whizzing around her, poking her at speeds that the little collie had never thought possible for a dog to reach.

"Wha-? Huh? Hey! St-! Ugh! Hm?"
Taffy tried to follow Lawrence with her eyes but she soon became dizzy, managing only to round on him with a bark when he slowed down enough to become a solid shape and not a mere blur.
His next challenge, however, tantalised Taffy back into having straight vision. If she had been a human woman, she would have been grinning widely...but alas, she was a dog, so only her crazily wagging tail conveyed her excitement.
"You're on!"
She watched as he bolted off into the forest with the same amazing speed. Or was he going a little slower this time? Or was that just her imagination?
Either way, Taffy found herself speeding off after him, her little claws tearing through the withered leaves and soil underfoot, each time her padded paws struck the ground. She barked happily after him, having the time of her life as she hadn't gone for a proper run like this in ages...

...suddenly a strange yet ominously familiar sound met Taffy's ears.
Oh no.
Her ears flattened and she automatically dropped her tail between her legs.
Not them. Anyone but them.
She looked around, wanting to go back to the house but it was too late. If they saw she and Lawrence running that way, they'd follow them back to the house and they might hurt her new humans like they did her old humans.
No, it was best that they hid.
Taffy let out a long whine and a whimper, trying to call Lawrence back to her.
"I'm scared. Please...please...we have to hide, Lawrence..."

Meanwhile, Arianne was sitting in the garden, enjoying a cup of tea that she had made for herself. She had watched the two dogs bolting off into the forest and thought nothing of it. They were having fun, she observed, a small smile on her face and besides, Taffy knew the woods well enough so that they wouldn't get lost. Lawrence was also more than capable of sniffing his way back to Avery, as he was fighting himself out of any situation that they might get themselves into.
However the most dangerous system that Arianne's mind could conjure up at that time was the two of them meeting a rather ravenous pack of squirrels.

Almost laughing slightly at the idea, she sipped at her tea and then waved over to Eric and Avery as they resurfaced from Eric's shed.
Eric followed Avery out and turned to re-adjust the padlock on to the door. "We wouldn't want any undesirables getting down there now would we?" he mused aloud, looking over to Arianne. "Is Taffy off on one of her adventures again?"

Arianne rose, smiling and nodding as she put down her cup on the patio table. "Mhm. And she took Lawrence with her too." She walked down to meet the two men, almost giggling as she took up her favourite spot at Avery's side. "He kept refusing to play with her but she was persistant." Arianne raised an eyebrow up at him. "Did you enjoy Eric's "shed of wonders"?"

Lawrence

Lawrence was having fun. He had been traveling on a ship for so long and even though the White Hart was a nice sized vessel, it wasn't a good place for him to mess around on.

Lawrence was so focused on what he was doing that he didn't hear the strange sound. He did, however, hear Taffy's voice when she called him back to her. He was a little bit surprised by the fear in her voice, but, arrogant as he was, he felt no need to be unnerved by it.

"What's wrong?" Lawrence called as he trotted back. "I'm pretty sure that there is nothing dangerous on this island except maybe a bear or two. And they won't bother us, not while I'm around." Lawrence puffed out his chest proudly. Then a thought occurred to him just as he was reaching Taffy. "You're not scared of squirrels, are you?"

Avery

Avery's face split into another grin when he saw Arianne once more. She was what he lived now. It made him realize how foolish he had been to ever have left her, even if they had been planning to meet up after a few months. When they had been reunited a few days ago, Avery had made himself a promise to never leave her behind again and he had tried hard to fulfill that promise. Not counting the times when they were sleeping, this last hour was almost the longest amount of time he had spent apart from her.

Avery was surprised to hear that Lawrence had actually gone with Taffy. It seemed that his longtime friend was starting to calm down again. Hopefully this meant that their upcoming duel would be delayed. That was the most Avery could hope for. Like Taffy, Lawrence could be persistent when he wanted too and something told Avery that this fight wasn't quite like the others. Lawrence was acting too openly aggressive for that.

Avery slipped one hand into his pocket and put his other arm around Arianne's shoulders. He took on a casual pose, allowing himself to fully relax for the first time in the last couple of hours.

"The "shed of wonders", huh?" Avery commented. "Nice name for it. It was fun. I've never seen so many weapons and designs for weapons in one place."

Suddenly Avery started to yawn, but he quickly fought it back down. "Man, it's been a long day," he muttered. "Traveling here and...all of that." He had almost mentioned the fact that he was emotionally drained, but the reason he was tired in that manner was because he had been so afraid of meeting Eric and he wasn't going to admit that while Eric was within hearing range.

Avery looked off into the forest and smiled slightly. He had hated leaving his dog in the woods, back when they were training, and it hadn't gotten any easier, even when Lawrence had a wolf pack to back him up. A remnant of that fear still remained, despite the fact that Avery knew Lawrence could handle most creatures on any island.

Avery turned his gaze towards the sky. There were still a few hours remaining in the day, but the sun had already set far enough that the shadows were beginning the lengthen. It was a bit cool, Avery supposed. He hadn't really taken notice of that fact before. Perhaps he should have paid more attention to what season it was over here in the West Blue. In any case, if it was going to be dark in the next hour or two, that meant he needed to get busy on something.

"Um...excuse me for a few minutes, please," Avery said taking a step back. "It's time for my evening exercises." He smiled and nodded at Eric. "It's been nice talking to you."

Then Avery turned and jogged a short distance away from both Arianne and Eric. He first pulled off his hoodie, leaving his long-sleeve T as his main protection against the air. That shirt would also be removed later on, but only once he had gotten himself hot enough for it to be worth it. The second thing he did was to draw his twin tonfa and stick them each point first into the ground. He wasn't intending to use them just yet and they would only get in the way of his first exercises. So after taking a big step to his right, Avery proceeded to begin stretching.

Arianne

Arianne leaned into Avery's warm, strong torso, taking in his soft scent.
She had made a certain mental note, whilst laying on her back on a thin cloth and bamboo, makeshift bed in the heart of a dense, hot, humid, sticky jungle, trying to get some sleep. She had been trying remember the feel of Avery's soft black hair as it slipped through her fingers as smoothly as water, falling to the nape of his thick, warm neck. She had been fighting to visualise the feeling of his large, built arms encircling with her and holding her close to his broad chest- covered by the soft cloth of his black hoodie. She had been struggling to recall the way that soft light turned his unique grey eyes to a sparkling silver.

But most of all, she had been trying to remember his scent.
Arianne had first picked up on it when they had first spoken, walking side by side through the streets of Windmill Village, her slender shoulder just brushing against his broad arm.
His scent was neither bad or over-bearing, by any means. But it was decidedly difficult to place.
It was something natural- like the kind that one could get from a forest, mixed in with the tangy scent of sea-salt, the sweet scent of timber used for ship-building, the scent of freshly smithed steel, of new sails, the ashes of the forge and what Arianne could only guess to be the aroma of life on the sea in general.
Whatever the mixture really was, it was wonderful and it instantly ensnared the young scientist's senses.

After her killing of Slavo, back when she had first come to terms with the fact that she had broken one of the Decalogue.
"Thou shall not kill..."
It didn't matter that he was a criminal, at the time- she had taken the life of another living creature...and it was destroying her inside.
Arianne had broken down in front of Avery and when most people would have happily stepped back, not wanting to bear the brunt of someone's emotional trysts, Avery had instantly hugged her, taking her into his arms.
That's when his amazing scent had truly hit her and whilst she was in that jungle, trying desperately to recall it she made a firm mental note that the moment she was reunited with Avery, she would do everything she could to ingrain his natural scent into her memory for all time.

She watched Avery as he spoke, noting how fatigued he was.
"Rightly so," she thought to herself. "It's been a long day."
Arianne smiled faintly at Avery's determination to go on with his evening exercises nontheless. He was determined. Enduring at all times.
One of the many reasons why she loved him.
She stroked his chest briefly. "Alright. Don't overwork yourself. I'm going inside to prepare the guest rooms...I may join you for a quick spar later...hm?"
Arianne gave Avery a quick kiss on the cheek before heading inside, leaving him to train.

Eric blinked at Avery's persistant desire to train and Arianne's promptness but merely smiled to Avery. "Nice talking to you too. I'll call you in when supper's ready." He caught Avery's gaze wandering over to the woods and chuckled, reassuring the young man before he walked inside after Arianne. "Don't worry, Taffy knows where not to go...and I'm sure there's nothing in the woods that big fella of yours couldn't hand-" Eric paused for a moment, as if only realising something, his eyes briefly widening and then narrowing. He coughed abruptly and then grinned again. "...nothing that Lawrence couldn't handle, at all."
And without another word, he disappeared into the back door.

Eric followed Arianne upstairs for a moment, helping her to find fresh linens for the guest bed.

"The guest room, Arianne?"
"Yes, I'm setting up the guest room for Avery."
"Really?"
"Si, de realidad, Eric. Tiene un problemo con es?"
"No, no..." Eric chuckled a little. "Of course not. Things have just changed a little since I was your age, anyway." He chucked Arianne's chin before helping Arianne by carrying fresh pillows into the guest room. He let out a long exhale before saying. "...I'll admit. I went after this young lad with a critical eye today. But I'll have to hand it to him...he's a nice young man...genuinely..."
Arianne smiled, starting to fix the coverlets on the bed. "Yes, yes he is."
Eric looked at her for a moment. "I haven't seen that kind of smile on your face in a long time."
A pause.
"Tell me honestly, lass. You really do love him, don't you?"
"...yes, I do. I want nothing more than to remain by his side."
"And I have no qualms about that, Ari. Not a problem at all."
"Then he has your approval?"
A smile.
Another smile to answer it.
"He has my approval...and you both have my blessing..."
"Good."

There was a few more moments of silence as the two of them worked, however when Arianne spoke again, her tone was a lot less tender and a lot more serious.
"Eric, tell me something honestly."
"Yes?"
"What's the real reason that Taffy is in your care?"
"...what?"
"You heard me, Eric."
"Well, I told you, Ari. It's because the Myltons left..."
"No, Eric. They didn't leave. You know as well as I do that the Sarah and Emmet were happy here. They were comfortable and they loved their life here. They loved Taffy too and they certainly wouldn't have left her here. They would have taken her away with them, if they were moving."
Arianne watched as Eric let out a long sigh and came to sit on the bed. "Ari...there are few things that I'd ever lie to you about...you know that, right? And the few things that I would lie to you about...well, you have to consider that maybe you don't want to know the truth behind them..."


****************************************************************
Taffy
Taffy continued to whimper, trotting up to Lawrence and nudging him with her nose, almost pleadingly.
"Those aren't squirrels. They aren't squirrels...please, please, please hide with me...those humans are really bad...really evil...they'll hurt us...please"
She kept her whimpering and pushing up until she had successfully gotten Lawrence into a thick patch of undergrowth to hide. Her entire fluffy body was quivering and trembling, her big, black eyes shaking as she looked up at the much larger bloodhound.

Suddenly, two hazy figures appeared, walking through the trees in the evening mist.
One was much larger than the other, almost towering over the verifiable dwarf that seemed to follow it.
As they got closer, the figures could be identified as a colossal male, standing well-above six-feet, and a pixie-like girl, a little under four feet tall.
The man was young, in his mid twenties or so and clad in a long, brown all-in-one suit, like a mechanic's. Strapped across his chest were several magazines of , what appeared to be, darts. A belt hung around his waist, grenados, a Blunderbuss, three leather pouches and three different sized metal tubes.
His hair was black and slicked back over his head, though tendrils of it seemed to have escaped the gel's (or was it just grease?) cover, sticking out sideways.
His eyes were a near-psychotic electric blue, seeming to bare out of his face as he trumped through the dead leaves below, his lips a thin emotionless line.

The girl seemed a lot younger- but that could have just been her height.
She wore a pink waist-coat with nothing beneath it, a pair of grey denim jeans covering her small legs. Her bare arms were covered with slashes and scars, tokens of a violent past but her innocent, almost child-like face was completely unmarred, her cheeks as pink as apple blossoms.
Her hair was white-blonde, almost comically tied in pigtails with pink ribbons...however there were two features that quashed any chance of this girl ever having an innocent appearance.
First of all, were her dark green eyes.
Eyes that seemed to radiate something evil and something fierce.
Secondly was the the giant knife- almost a colossal sashimi knife- strapped to her back.

There was also a smirk on her face.
A cold, open-lipped smirk with almost triumphant cockiness.

"Lars?" she could be heard addressing the older man, thanks to the dogs' refined hearing. "Where's our dear Silva?"
The taller man, put his gnarled fingers to his lip and gave a single soft whistle.

Without warning, a huge mountain lion leapt from the thicket of trees nearby.
But the first drawing point of the beast wasn't its size, its huge limbs, its giant teeth or its extremely sharp claws...it was the mangled torso of a human body that was clamped between its teeth.
The girl cackled. "Looks like we're not going to have to bury that one..."

Taffy buried her head downwards, trembling as she whimpered to Lawrence, telling him silently. "Those are the humans that took my first humans away from me..."

Avery

"Alright," Avery breathed as Eric went inside. "Time to rock."

He kept his motions simple, doing only the most basic of exercises. He did nothing that would put a lot of stress on his body. These were his nighttime exercises after all, not his afternoon or morning ones.

Avery's training schedule worked like this: After he woke up, he stretched, did somewhat stressful exercises, and then he went and showered and got breakfast. Before lunch he did the most stressful of his exercises. Then at night he did exercises that put very little stress on him. Lastly, he took one day off each week to give his body a break. This was how he had trained on the island and he was keeping it up so that he wouldn't lose all of his hard work.

Avery finished his first exercises and he removed his shirt, tossing it on top of his hoodie. He was by no means tired, but it had never taken him long to start to get hot.

Avery snatched up his weapons and reconnected the tonfa into their spear form and twirled the weapon around his body once. After that he began to practice motions with his spear, performing each move perfectly at least twenty times before moving on. If he made any mistakes, he restarted his count from the beginning with that move until he got it down.

As Avery worked, he thought back to what Eric had said and how he had acted. He had been telling Avery that Lawrence could handle anything in the woods, but then he hesitated, as if that were not true. Something strange was going on and Eric apparently didn't want to tell him about it. Then again, he might tell Arianne about it. Avery decided that he would have to ask her about it later. And if she hadn't heard anything, he would go right to the source, although he doubted that Eric would tell him about something when he wouldn't tell his own daughter.

Lawrence

Lawrence's lips drew back in a perfectly silent snarl. These humans not only looked dangerous, but it almost looked like they had been...hunting. And if that body the mountain lion was holding was any indication, it looked like they were hunting people.

Lawrence was a dog and as a dog, he wasn't against hunting for food. In fact, due to his size, he wasn't entirely against the idea of hunting humans if the need arose. However, for his master's sake, and because all of his best friends were humans, he would never actually harm a person. Unless said person hurt him first. That was a completely different matter.

But this...this was sick. A species in hunting gear apparently tracking another one of their species. It didn't look like they were soldiers for some kingdom either. It looked like a game.

Lawrence's rage-filled eyes glanced down at Taffy. Those humans were lucky he had her with him. Otherwise he wouldn't have hesitated to hurl himself on them and tear them to pieces.

The massive bloodhound lowered his body down next to Taffy.

"Be ready," Lawrence murmured. "We may have to make a run for it soon."

As Lawrence was saying this, he looked Taffy up and down. If he got at the right angle, he thought he might be able to clamp his jaws around her middle and lift her. If worst came to worst, he would do that and put on his top speed. The speed he had learned while he was with the wolves. They weren't the fastest creatures on the island where Lawrence had lived, but wolves have monstrous endurance. They can keep going for hours and that is without IQ enhancing their abilities.

Besides all of that, Lawrence had a few other tricks up his sleeve. No, there was very little chance that they would be caught. At least, that's what he hoped.

Arianne

Arianne looked to Eric, her eyes wide with numb disbelief at what she had just been told. She had heard some pretty insane, horrific things in her short eighteen years…she had seen some pretty insane and horrific things in her lifetime…but what her foster father had just told her had truly shocked her to her core.
She sat with him on the edge of the guest bed, her legs crossed and her hands clasped on her knees as if she was praying- even if right about now, she didn’t have a prayer.
Her mouth was barren, dry as a desert, but she managed to choke out something to shatter the long, stony silence following Eric Greyson’s reluctant confession.

“S-So…the Sarah and Emmet Mylton are…dead?”
“Yes,” he replied shortly, the old man not looking her in the eye as he leaned on his cane. “The authorities found their bodies just about two weeks ago. Went around town asking questions. Wondering if anyone knew anything…bullsh*t really. They know exactly what happened to them. They’re all just too scared of those two…and their gang…I’ve heard stories of bribes. Of blackmails.”
Arianne’s eyes narrowed and she straightened up. “Corruption.”
Eric sighed, pulling himself to his feet. “You can’t heal the whole world, Arianne. Look on the bright side, at least Taffy’s here, safe and sound.”

Arianne’s eyes suddenly widened further, an uncomfortable lurch rocketing through her stomach.
“Taffy…” she breathed, her heart suddenly pounding like a jack-hammer. “Taffy is in the woods with Lawrence…”
Before his foster daughter could say anything further regarding her terrified realisation, Eric raised a hand to silence her. “Relax. Their “game” consists of humans and humans alone. If they spot Taffy and Lawrence, the worst they’ll do is throw rocks at them to scare them off. Taffy’s no idiot-b*tch either. If she gets a whiff of them, she’ll run out of the woods and make sure that that beast-sized bloodhound follows her.” Eric shrugged. “And have you seen the size of that mutt? Lars and Trixie are sadistic f*ckers but they’re not stupid. They may be armed but they won’t waste ammo on anything but their game…”
Arianne swallowed back against her dry throat and bit her lip, still sorely worried but nodding after a few moments. Her foster father had made a few valid points, plus, he had known the man who had taught Lars and Trixie Gillespie, thus knowing their code of conduct.
Still, when dealing with that kind of psychoticism, one could never be too “certain.”

She bade Eric goodbye for a moment, letting him go to prepare supper as she headed out to where her boyfriend was training.
Arianne had decided to let Avery know about this situation as soon as possible but at the same time, she didn’t want to sharply cut across his training session.
She watched him for a moment, half drenched in receding sunlight…there was something that she rather enjoyed about seeing her lover practice with his bow-staff and tonfa.
If it was his dedication that Arianne most admired about Avery then the way he skilfully wielded his weaponry was the very embodiment of that iron dedication.
In fact, her face started to heat up a little as she approached him, shrugging off her own long red jacket so that she was left in her tank top, shorts and boots, slowly drawing her sabre from her belt.

“Mind if I join you, Mr Crusher?” she asked him with a smile. “We haven’t sparred in a while…” Arianne sucked in a breath between her teeth, her smile wavering. “And I have to tell you something. Could you call Lawrence in from the forest? As soon as possible?”

Taffy

Taffy whimpered further, starting to look even more upset and frightened.
Her ears flattened slowly and her tail arched further back between her legs.
“Lawrence…please let’s go, now…”
She started to edge backwards, however her paw made contact with a briar and she let out a loud and unfortunately-timed yelp.

The elfin girl’s head suddenly whipped around with neck-cracking speed, staring in their direction with both a surprised and an eerily excited look in her eyes.
“Silva,” she purred, crouching down to stroke the sandy pelt of the mountain lion. “Go check that out , will you? It seems we have a little friend over there.”
The man frowned, folding his arms, speaking in a harsh monotone. “A “friend” who seems a little too big to be a squirrel.” He strode over to the hedge-growth, in the wake of the mountain lion, pulling out a grenada from his belt. “Don’t worry, Trix. I’ve got it.”

The girl suddenly held up a hand and walked past him with a high-pitched giggle. “Oh Lars. You’re a typical man, always wanting to take the easy way out…blowing everything up with one of your boom-balls. Let’s at least see what we’ve got here, first.”
She suddenly drew her giant knife from her back- the proportions of the huge blade in comparison to the tiny girl (who barely looked capable of lifting it, let alone wielding it with decent skill), made the scene look almost comical but the prospects for the two canines concealed in the hedge-growth were anything but.
The girl suddenly sliced through the briars, the blade just barely missing Taffy and Lawrence’s snouts and as the thorns fell aside, she smirked widely. “Well, looky here…”

The mountain lion stepped in front of his two owners, his teeth pulling back in a rabid-seeming snarl- the equivalent of a maniacal smirk, his eyes wide and flickering.
He was smaller than Lawrence by about a foot but the chunky pieces of flesh hanging from his massive dagger-like canines from the torso that he had previously dumped aside- made him look darkly vicious and put a quiver in the small female’s legs.

“Leave us alone!” she told him, in the form of a squeaky bark, trying to seem threatening but it rolled out rather pleading.
The mountain lion growled, almost laughing at her. “Well, well, well…look what we have here…”

Avery

Avery closed his eyes as he executed a thrust. His right heel slid back and then he spun, slicing the blade of his spear through the air. Tiny droplets of sweat started to appear on his brow. Mentally he scolded himself on slowing down already, even though he was fully aware that there was nothing he could do to stop his body from feeling tired.

He felt himself jump when he heard Arianne's voice. His first thought was that she had gotten back pretty fast, but then he realized that the truth was he had just lost track of time.

Avery frowned, noticing that Arianne's tone was a little strange. He turned to face her and ask what was wrong, but when he did he caught sight of her without her jacket on. Avery had seen her without it before, but even so, seeing her like this showed him just how much she had changed in the last six months.

Slowly, his face reddening slightly, Avery's eyes roved down to his bare chest and then he glanced over at his shirt. He started to move towards it, but then hesitated. It wasn't like Arianne was indecent or anything and even though he wasn't wearing a shirt, it wasn't like this was the first time she had seen him this way. He was just letting his imagination get the better of him. So, at the last second, Avery shifted in the opposite direction, heading towards the woods.

"Right," he said. "I'll try to get his attention, but it's a long shot. He did avoid me for most of that time we spent training." Stopping by the edge of the forest, Avery peered into its depths. He could not look too far, his view was blocked by branches. Cupping his free hand around his mouth he yelled: "Lawrence! Get back here! Arianne needs you!"

Avery figured it was better to use her name than his own, at least until he better understood what was going on with his pet. Besides, it was true, Arianne was the one who wanted Lawrence to come back.

Avery returned to Arianne, walking right up to her, choosing to ignore her drawn weapon for the moment. Apparently it wasn't just her tone that was off. Avery could see that Arianne herself was troubled, although she was doing an excellent job trying to act normal.

"What's wrong?" Avery asked, sticking his spear point first into the ground next to him. "Did something happen when you went inside?"

Avery doubted that the problem, whatever it was, had to do with Eric. He was pretty sure that there was nothing that could get between Arianne and her father. Except maybe Avery himself, but he thought that his meeting with Eric had gone rather well. No, something else was going on. Something...

Lawrence

Lawrence stared down at the mountain lion. His muzzle twitched and then he let out a bark that was his equivalent of a human laugh. This beast was trying to act tough around him? Sure the mountain lion was creepy looking with all that flesh hanging out of his mouth, but Lawrence had taken down far larger animals on his own. Admittedly he had always been backed up by his pack and if he had ever gotten in over his head, they would have helped him. Still, after the first couple of months, he had never needed help.

"Why hello...runt," Lawrence growled good-naturedly at the mountain lion. The massive bloodhound lifted his head, raising himself to his full height.

Lawrence looked past the mountain lion at the two humans behind him. Although he did not fear any of the trio, he had no doubt that they would be difficult to handle by himself.

Then Lawrence heard it: Avery's call. The sound was faint, but Lawrence could tell that his master was a bit distressed by something. Well, if Avery was telling the truth and Arianne did need him, Lawrence would be happy to oblige.

First things first, though. Lawrence needed to get rid of the trio in front of him. He could just lead them back to the house and get Avery's help in finishing them off, but he didn't want to endanger Arianne or the old guy. Lawrence knew that Arianne had gotten stronger over the past year, but he was not sure how much. As for the old guy, well, that one was obvious. He might be able to do something, but Lawrence couldn't rely on a variable like that.

"Aaaand goodbye," Lawrence said breezily. "It's been fun, but I must cut this discussion short." Lawrence glanced down at Taffy and pointed his nose in her direction. "I've got a date with this little lass on the Riviera and the hotel we booked is run by a bunch of sticklers who will have us run out of town if we're even a day late. So long."

On that ridiculous and impossible note, Lawrence scooped Taffy up in his jaws like he had been planning and he sprang into the trees. If the back flip had been odd, this was completely insane: An oversized bloodhound jumping from a standing position and landing on a branch about ten feet of the ground.

Lawrence launched himself forward, bouncing from branch to branch, heading further away from the house where Avery, Arianne, and Eric were.

Taffy
The little border collie let out a high-pitched yelp as Lawrence snatched her up into his jaws. It wasn’t that he hurt her or anything, (in fact, Taffy couldn’t remember being picked up so securely and snugly in the jaws of another animal since her mother had picked her up when she was a puppy), but she hadn’t been expecting such a swift action and the bloodhound had taken her by surprise.


Silva growled, rolling his long shoulder blades and digging his claws into the tussled earth- his brassy pelt gleaming along with the hungry, carnivorous shine in his eyes. He was prepared to launch himself in a tearing run after the canine who dared challenge his dominance in this forest…but the mountain lion was suddenly stopped by one of his owners.
“Leave ‘em,” Lars grunted gruffly, shifting a foot to block the beast’s forepaws. “They’re just dogs. Probably mutts belonging to the residents.”
Trixie pouted, groaning with a kind of half-strangled boredom. “Ughh…Lars…” came her half complacent, half childish drawl. “I wanted to skin one of them. Humans have no fur. They’re not as fun to flay…they have no fur. So no new fur coat for Trixie.”
She ran a finger down the handle of her massive blade, still moping as her brother looked down at her, regarding her with a rather exasperated stare before grunting. “They’re not game-specimen and our game doesn’t begin until sundown. You know the rules. No hunting before sundown.”
Lars ran a gnarled hand across the mountain lion’s skull, scratching the rough, thick fur and eliciting a sedated purr. “And we don’t break the rules.”

Trixie stuck her tongue out up at her older brother but then smirked, her pigtails bobbing as she nodded. “Alright, alright…Trixie will be a good girl until tonight…”
She let out a low laugh. “So, we’ve already gotten the targets on the West side of the woods. Shall we turn to the old man on the North side tonight?”
Lars shrugged. “Might be an easy kill. Probably won’t be too hard to root out of the house and chase down. But Silva won’t like that. There’s not much of a challenge involved.”
The smaller of the two whined for a moment and gave an overly dramatic yawn. “Maybe I’m too tired for a chase this evening?”
The large man cupped a grenada in one hand, running his coarse fingers over the wrought metal bulb. “We’ll see how things go…we should consult the others first…”

Taffy looked up at Lawrence as he set her down, the two of them having emerged from the thicket of the forest.
She whimpered a little at first, still in slight shock and quivering on her fuzzy little legs before she looked up at Lawrence. “Th-thank you! Thank you so much!”
Taffy instinctually nuzzled the larger bloodhound’s legs, cuddling up to him for comfort and warmth. “You’re so brave, Lawrence.” She looked up at him, her big bright eyes full of curiosity as she cocked her head, her tail wagging a little more. “But what’s a Riviera and why are we going there for our date? Couldn’t we just go and play in a flower-bed instead?”

Arianne
Upon spotting the two canines leaving the woods, she young scientist let out a long sigh of relief and headed straight over to them, crouching to stroke the border collie’s fluffy head and then heartily scratching the ears of the giant bloodhound.
Catching her breath once more, she walked back over to Avery, stretching her arms out a little. For a brief moment, as she gathered her thoughts and prepared to relay the information to Avery that Eric had provided her with, Arianne let her eyes take a little tour of her boyfriend’s newly sculpted body. Avery had always had a chest and back that were easy on the eyes…but about a year of hard training had now given him a positively Atlas-esque physique, enough to cast a slight blush across Arianne’s face as she approached him.

Arianne gently placed a hand on Avery’s chest, looking up at him and saying in a low voice. “Whilst I was inside, Eric told me something unsettling. Apparently all has not been well since I last left this area. A group of organised criminals have been roaming the woods. At first they were just arsonists…vandals…general ruffians…” Arianne’s brow furrowed. “But then they began to attack residents in their homes…killing them off as part of some kind of hunting game. The heads of the group are a pair of siblings, trained by a man that Eric knows from his younger days.” She shook her head. “This man…is a verifiable psychopath…and he passed on his murderous skills to this brother and sister who rounded up a gang. Apparently they’ve also got a mountain lion on their side.”
She swallowed, her throat rather dry. “I just panicked knowing that Taffy and Lawrence were in the forest…and now I’m aware that my foster-father is living in an area that is being systematically torn through by these demons…”
She gently ran her hand down Avery’s arm, her voice lowering again and wavering slightly. “The Marines won’t come near the area because the group are deemed to be “low-risk” in comparison to the wanted pirates that they currently have to deal with.” She gritted her teeth. “Eric reckons that it’s also to do with the fact that the people here have previously refused to pay protection money to the World Government.” Arianne looked up at Avery, her eyes looking deeply troubled. “And Eric doesn’t want me to do anything about it in case this gang comes after me too, but I can’t just sit by and let this happen…”



((SORRY DAN! I have had a positively crazy week and I was certain that this post had sent already.
-_- Trust the internet connection in the Uni. Anyway, I seriously apologize!))