Pine woods Sinkhole

Artemis had been in the surrounding forest doing some exploring until she caught the scent of her favorite game to chase and that was pheasant. She chased the bird through the trees and when it went under some underbrush that her body was too big to fit under she decide to jump over it. Guaging the distance, height, and power she would need to make the leap she crouched back and leaped. Landing right in front of the bird, she laughed as it gave a surprised squawk. She tail twitched in anticipation as she wondered which way the bird would go, she could see the fear in its eyes and then watched with glee as that look seem to change from flight to fight and lifted her paw when the pheasant tried to peak her paw. In her momentary distraction the bird had the nerve to actually go through Artemis. Laughing Artemis only had one thought going through her mind, 'Brave bird', she thought. And allowed the bird a few seconds head start, wanting to continue the chase for as long as possible. After looking around she coudnt find the game she then used her nose to pick up the scent and then she was off again. Finding the pheasant again she gave chase and noticed that they were getting to the edge of the forest near the sinkhole. Deciding that it was probably time to end their little game she lunged for the bird and not noticing until it was too late, Artemis failed to clear a falled tree and one of her back legs hit the tree, causing her jump to become off balance and therefore she tripped and rolled to the edge of the sinkhole. She couldnt right or stop herself before she went right over the edge into the water with a loud splash. Luckily she was near an edge that was close to the water, because if she had fallen off of one of the higher cliff she could die by impact into the water. And if she didnt she would have had at least broken something.

Swimming to the surface, Artemis shook her head and glared angrily at the pheasant that seemed to be watching her. It gave her a squawk and then disappeared back into the brush. 'stupid bird, your lucky you arent dinner right now' she said out loud. Coming to her senses she smelled another of her pack and looking around she saw Liam, the alpha of the pack. To Artemis it felt like her whole body was lit on fire despite the fact that she was in the cold water. She couldnt believe she just made a fool of herself in front of her alpha, and so embarrassed she said the first thing that came to mind. "Hi Liam, you didnt see that did you? Beause I swear I think that bird was the cause of it. Stupid bird and its birdy magic, I will definitely be eating it in the near future you mark my words." She told Liam not realizing she was just rambling at the end. Clearing her throat she smiled kindly at Liam, " So pray tell what are you doing out here?" She asked in curiosity.

Artemis followed Liam out of the water and moved a distance away to shake her short fur, trying to rid herself of the water. Though she did know that it wouldn't matter much since it was hot out and her fur was bound to dry in no time at all. Moving back over to Liam she gave him a grateful but sheepish smile. "Oh besides my wonderful swim you mean, well I was actually out hunting or I guess just chasing a pheasant. It really wasn't what I set out to do, I like to just explore sometimes. It can be peaceful to just be in nature and letting yourself immerse in it, ya know?" She told him with a far away look in her eyes. Artemis was remembering the time where her and her human would just go for hikes, or camp out for days in the wild. She had really loved her human and he was the only one she truly bonded with. When she went to live with that lady it felt wrong to her to try and bond with her, and then doing all those stupid contest with some of the most stuck up dogs she had ever met on the planet. She shivered at the thought and shook her head as if to rid her mind of the memories. "I really like hunting, and yeah I know that it's unusual for my breed but there is just something about the chase, that I will never get tired off." She said with a smile. "Anyways sorry to ruin your alone time Liam."

Artemis followed Liam's example and laid down next to him. As she listened to his comforting words her tail began to wag softly. Finally there was somebody who saw things from her perspective, she was never one to just do what was expected of her breed. She was happy that she was shown a different way of life to live. "Thank you Liam for comforting me about that. Its not fun when you have others taunting you or making fun of you because you werent born a 'hunting dog'. I say skrew the lot of them, dogs can be anything they put their mind too. " She slapped her paw down as to prove her point. At Liam's next question her tail stopped wagging and the grin that she had been sporting wiped off her face. " My past with humans actually started off because my mother abandoned me. After it was pretty clear I wanted nothing to do with the family business of being a guard dog. I was sold to the one human I ever bonded with. He was a hunter and at first just got me to protect him while he was out alone hunting. But then one day i gave chase to the game that he had been tracking for hours and together we took it down. It was then my life felt like it couldn't get any better. He taught me all about hunting and we would go on hikes together or camping out in the forest. It was just me and him, but the word had spread that this low level hunter had suddenly started to come on the up and up. And so a group of hunters must have thought that I was the reason and somebody they tried to buy me off of him but he refused. Most gave up and just decided to get their own hunting dogs, but one human decided that he was going to steal me from my human. And for his efforts he received a pretty good bite too, but my human to his loudstick and shot it at the other human and it bit him in the shoulder."

Artemis had to pause to collect herself as she was crying at this point. " That human and the other humans killed my owner a few weeks later. I was picked up and then sold to another human this time a female and she likes to take me to get my fur, claws, and fangs cleaned. Then i had to participate in these silly contest with the most stuck up dogs i have ever met. I couldn't stand it anymore and finally when she wasn't around i made a break for it. I never got to pay those humans back for my owner but one day I feel like I will be able to." Artemis had never really shared her whole life story with anybody in the pack before. Yeah she has given maybe bits and pieces of her story but never anything like this. Liam really was very easy to talk to and it made her feel by talking about it a bit of guilt that she harbored was lifted, but it would never truly go away until she got revenge for her owner. Though she had no way of knowing how she was going to accomplish this it made her drive on thinking that she would one day show them that they messed with the wrong dog.

Artemis was touched that Liam asked her if there was anyone who was bothering her. To her it meant that he cared enough about her to be concerned. Honestly she had some in the past that use to bully her about her choice of life but that was only at those contest and only because those dogs thought it was beneath them to take part in something for 'undignified' as they so put it. But here in the pack it was a good thing that she was a good hunter because out here food wasnt going to just be dropped in their laps. "No nobody in the clan has said anything to me. Out here its a good thing Im a good hunter. Its nice to know that my skills are appreciated you know. I was merely saying that in my life that has not always been the case. What about you Liam, was there a good human in your life?" Artemis was quiet curious about her leaders life. As far as she knows nobody knows much about his past.

Even though Liam told her that there is nothing in his past worth talking about she kinda felt like he was just trying to avoid talking about it. Artemis felt like she made him feel uneasy with the way he just dismissed the whole topic. She was about to apologize to him but suddenly the sound of a loudstick went off in the distance. And when Liam motioned for her to come with him to check it out she didn't even hesitate. Artemis was right on Liam's heels when he took off in the direction of the sound. She prayed that there wasn't anybody from the pack that had gotten shot.

Saint Rock Suburbs