HPU - Richardson Valley

[caelei]

"Ah'm sorreh? Ah'm naw' shuere who we're tahlkin' abaowt. Ah, Ah sei. Ah'ruigh', then, wei cahn drop 'em off, and thein goh ge' the rope. Bu' yu'll 'ave teh leid the wey, ahs Ah don' know where this "Seir" lahd lives."

Magnus gave O'Connor a strange look. He had assumed everybody knew where everybody lived. He smiled, then said, "Cier is right next door." Obviously he hadn't mentioned what Cier was next door to, but that was a given, wasn't it? What else could his house be next door to besides Magnus' own house? The big dog set off towards Cier's house, walking leisurely through the spreading darkness of the area. The sun was almost completely down, and hidden by the forest so that there was hardly any light at all, only darkness. Nevertheless, there was just enough light to cast long, creepy tree shadows across the ground, a couple shades darker than their surroundings. They seemed to ripple and sway in a breeze that Magnus couldn't feel, and he shivered. Suddenly, a dark figure appeared beside them, and Magnus stopped short, jumping back from it with a highpitched yelp! of surprise and fear. And then he noticed that the figure looked a lot like Cier. "Cier?" he asked slowly, peering at the dog. He didn't look exactly the same, though. Something started nagging at Magnus' mind, but he couldn't remember. Something about this dog, this morning...? He frowned, saying, "Not Cier." He slowly started walking again. One of the mice on Magnus' shoulder shifted position, and Magnus frowned even more. Something about the dog, and mice, too? He shook his head. He couldn't remember.

Hey there, i see you all made it back here safely..!!

Magnus jumped again, sans the yelp, and squinted at Rav. "Hi, Rav!" he said excitedly, tail wagging all happy. The big dog pivoted, so he could see behind Rav's back, as if someone might be hiding there. Nobody. His expression grew earnest, and he drew Rav's bandana off, handing it to the Shepard. "Where is Pavelle? Felix?" he asked quietly, a thin note of anxiety in his question.

Meanwhile...
Pavelle shivered, crouching in the darkness so that she was nearly invisible, keeping more than silent. Felix knelt beside her. She kept glancing at him every couple of minutes, worried. His face was expressionless, but she had the suspicion that it was just a mask. His hand had to hurt, didn't it? You couldn't tell from the steely look in his eye, but somehow she got the impression that he was in more pain than he let on. Suddenly, a noise caught her attention, and she looked through the dark at the animal control center, ears pointed that way to catch the sound again. It seemed the vans parked outside were getting packed with supplies and urgent people, preparing to leave. But go where in such a hurry? Must be some sort of distraction, because the real threat to animal control was already inside. She had seen Venison go in, and then Amelia, by a vent. Plus another black dog that she had been hardly able to spot in the dark. Probably Cier. But not Rav. She supposed that was for the best; if Rav got caught, he would get in big, big trouble. Suddenly, the vans started taking off, lights flashing in the dark, illuminating the area. Both raccoons simultaneously ducked lower, shielding their eyes. Not because the lights were too bright, mind you, but because eyes would reflect the light and could clue someone in to their location. The vans skidded away and Felix and Pavelle returned to staring at the building. There was a couple minutes of nothing, all remaining quiet in the building. Surprisingly, Pavelle was not jumpy. She should have been tense, sitting here, waiting to see if she was going to be needed. But she wasn't. Maybe it was Felix. He seemed used to lurking in the darkness, and was exluding some sort of emotion that seemed to quiet her own nerves. She sighed, and looked at him again. He was merely concentrating on the building, eyes distant, but his unbroken hand was clenched in the night. She wondered, then, if the pain he must have been feeling wasn't something purely physical. She thought back to earlier, when he had pulled Amelia out of the road. Was he afraid that hanging out with the pets was changing him? Making him softer?

[Jimmy Jazz]

"d***it" he swore after everyone had left. "I wish I had gone no matter what Rav said" he said climbing up the ladder and pushing the manhole aside a little to peek out. Animal control was just sitting in the parking lot and on the highway there was the man talking to some other people. "d***it" he said again looking around, there didn't seem to be many conventional ways to get to the animal control building without being noticed. Drainage ditch? no, it was a bit too out there, too open for his liking. he looked around some more. "but wait..." he said looking down at his tags "nothing horribly bad has happened to make them suspicious" he grinned. and then snuck out of the man hole and out of sight of the man still on the highway. once he was out of sight he simply started walking down the side walk. "I wonder why no one else did this"
he mumbled to himself looking calmly around trying to memorise any possible escape routes if needed. he looked into the parking lot again and looked slightly interested but made sure he didn't stare too long. and then went back to looking for escape routes.

[Missingo]

Huh? What was that? Oh... no, no, everything is fine. Here, play along.

Matthew instantly recognized the song, and began to play the simple drum part. Alex started singing, then after a few verses, Matthew joined in with the harmony:

"Ah ah ah ... Oh lady lend your hand I cried, and let me rest here at your side
Have faith and trust in me she said, and filled my heart with life
There is no strength in numbers, have no such misconception
But when you need me be assured I won't be far away
Ah ah ah ...

"Thus having spoke she turned away, and though I found no words to say
I stood and watched until I saw her black form disappear
My labor is no easier, but now I know I'm not alone
I find new heart each time I think upon that windy day
And if one day she comes to you, drink deeply from her words so wise
Take courage from her as your prize and say hello for me
Ah ah ah ..."

The song would normally fade out, but since they were playing live, they'd have to improvise a small ending. Matthew and Alex looked at each other, and ended the song with a simple chord, and Matt hitting the bass and snare lightly in unison. "That was fun! So, uh, what next?"~

"Yeah, I han't been here long." She looks down at the ground a little and then back up. "Didjoo play music nex door yesserday?"

"Oh, umm, yeah, I did. I played the cello," Rachel said, holding her left hand up as if she were holding the neck, and moving her right hand as if she were pulling the bow across the strings. Alex and Matthew could be heard starting to play a song in the background. "Oh, right, we were actually just about to play again, although I don't have a cello so I'll have to play something else. Would you like to listen in?" she asked.

[Alex]

That was fun! So, uh, what next?

Alex thought about this. No song came to his mind that would sound good with guitar and drums only. His singing wasn't that good at all, but Matthew wasn't bad, so that wasn't a big problem. There were some songs on his mind, but Rachel's absence was bugging him for some reason. Perhaps she got angry of what Mai said, and went home? A uncomfortable feeling appeared in his stomach, like it was filled with rocks. Rachel could also make Matt hate Alex, too, once he gets home. He had to apologize to her, now!
Actually, I think I'll go find Rachel. Maybe she... uh... wants to join the fun?
Without waiting for any response by Matt, Alex ran outside, and turned to Rachel's house, but there was no sign of her in the yard. There were also no footsteps, but there were voices from behind him. He turned around, and sighed in relief - Rachel was there, with... (Alex' stomach jumped) Glory!

Oh, right, we were actually just about to play again, although I don't have a cello so I'll have to play something else. Would you like to listen in?

His eyes twitched. It's not Glory herself that he minds, but the fact that there would be three dogs with him. What would everyone say? They'd call him a dog lover! What would Amelia say? His stomach twisted again. She'd dump him for sure. Images of Amelia turning her back on him, while saying "Stupid dog-lover!" raced through his mind. In fact, other pet's opinions didn't bother him - it was just the lovely, black, female cat he was worried about. What to do? His eyes closed, while he inhaled deeply. Amelia is smart - she'll know that Alex isn't a dog lover. And if he tells her what happened, and why Rachel and Matt are there in the first place, she'll probably understand.
Oh, there you are. I was getting slightly worried. Do you want to come in, too? Come on, then, hurry, my parents will be here in an hour max.
With this, Alex turned around, and walked back in, grabbing the guitar, ready to play. The only thing that was bugging him now was Rachel's choice of instrument. There was no cello here.

[Missingo]

Oh, there you are. I was getting slightly worried. Do you want to come in, too? Come on, then, hurry, my parents will be here in an hour max.

"Oh, okay, then," Rachel said, grimacing as she stood. "Well, I guess I'll see you in a minute," she said, readdressing Glory, "or if you don't wanna come, that's cool, too, we can hang out tomorrow." With that, she turned and limped to Alex' house. While it was rather difficult, she managed to make it to the living room without assistance. "Hey, welcome back," Matthew greeted her as she entered the room.

Rachel took a seat on the chair. "Um, could you help me out a little here? We need to move this chair behind the keyboard," she said. "Oh, right," Matthew responded, getting up and moving the chair behind the keyboard and helping Rachel sit in it. "Err, sorry about that, Alex," Rachel said. "So how about we play Foreplay/Long Time by Boston?" she suggested, starting to play the keyboard intro.

[Alex]

So how about we play Foreplay/Long Time by Boston?"

You can play the keyboard? I didn't know that. You two are really good musicians. - said Alex. He was amazed that both of them were kind of multi-instrumentalists. All he could play was the guitar. A sad expression covered his face. In his past, he could have used his time to master other instruments, instead of..... his eyes closed, while trying to shake of the memories, hoping the dogs didn't notice it. It was painful to think about it. Whatever. In order to forget it, Alex started playing the guitar part of the song. A bass part was supposed to follow shortly after it, but there was no bassist. It didn't matter much, it was still very fun. Alex decided not to sing at all, because his voice was bad compared to Matthew's. It was a song that Alex didn't play in a long time, so some tones were wrong. It was still better than nothing. After the song is over, he looked embarrassed away. It seemed to him like Matt and Rachel were able to play anything on any instrument, while he was a loser, who could just play some easy songs on guitar.
Sorry for the mistakes...... - came a whisper. But then again, this emo behavior was not appropriate, and it just isn't him. Once he realized that, he turned around to face them, with a somewhat forced smile on his face.
So, uh... wanna try play Jump? You know, by Van Halen. It has a lot of keyboard in it.

[mathgrant]

Brian gazed out his window at the new neighborhood; as of yet, he had been both too shy and too busy helping his family, the Dewitts, move into the new house to attempt to mingle with any of the neighborhood pets. Brian had heard that there were some interesting characters in Richardson Valley; however, he didn't know whether it was a good kind of interesting or a bad kind of interesting. Brian had run into the latter kind of interesting often enough to cause his shyness to be coupled with a strong sense of fear. Nonetheless, somewhere deep within him, Brian felt a desire to broaden his horizons through interaction with his new neighbors, a desire which was somehow stronger right now than he remembered it ever being in the past. Even his owners encouraged him to go outside and introduce himself to everyone else.

Swallowing his fear, Brian made a resolution to himself. Tomorrow morning, he thought, I will get out of this house, and I will get to meet the neighbors. Brian looked down at his half-completed Sudoku puzzle; he was much more confident in his ability to complete those than in his ability to socialize. I sure hope I'm not too much of a nerd for them, Brian thought. Then he looked back outside at the neighborhood again. A beautiful sunset had formed the backdrop to the equally beautiful neighborhood. Despite this, Brian somehow felt more tired than usual for so early in the day; perhaps it was due to all of the hard moving work he'd been doing that day, or to jet lag. In any event, Brian felt compelled to go to bed earlier than usual. Nonetheless, he promised himself that he would spend the next morning getting to know the other pets in Richardson Valley. Here was to hoping that the neighbors were the good kind of interesting.

[Teh Brawler]

O'Connor followed Magnus as he trotted off, but was startled by the dog that popped out of the bushes. He growled, but held back, as he was still smaller. However, when Rav came out, he relaxed, and acknowledged the large dog. "Oi, Rahv, Ah'm a littel confused 'ere. Wut's goin' ohn?"

[Keeshah]

O'Connor followed Magnus as he trotted off, but was startled by the dog that popped out of the bushes. He growled, but held back, as he was still smaller. However, when Rav came out, he relaxed, and acknowledged the large dog. "Oi, Rahv, Ah'm a littel confused 'ere. Wut's goin' ohn?"

Well Venison showed up, an added to the number of pets going on the raid into animal control.. So i had to give up on saving them from themselves..
Besides someone had to stay free to tell their parents what had happened to them, an where to go bail them out of doggie jail.

Magnus jumped again, sans the yelp, and squinted at Rav. "Hi, Rav!" he said excitedly, tail wagging all happy. The big dog pivoted, so he could see behind Rav's back, as if someone might be hiding there. Nobody. His expression grew earnest, and he drew Rav's bandana off, handing it to the Shepard. "Where is Pavelle? Felix?" he asked quietly, a thin note of anxiety in his question.

Rav takes the bandana an ties it back about his neck.. he then tilts his head off to the side in puzzlement.
What do you mean where is Pavelle an Felix?? They left to take you home, 10 to 15 minutes after Venison arrived, to go into the animal control building.. They should have arrived here way ahead of me..
Rav facepaws..
I bet they doubled back, an are trying to gets the cats out before Venison can.. try to out hero each other, instead of working together!! An then there is the cat that started this whole mess, still out there.. an Cier has gone missing as well.
Come to think of it, have you seen the fox come back??

Rav asks the two dogs..

[ArgentFlame]

Cier hid behind a parked car in the animal shelter's parking lot, waiting for the vans to leave. Eventually the vans started to leave, and he had to duck down a few times to avoid the headlights. After all the vans had gone, he came out from behind the car and made his way to the back to the building. it took him some time to determine that the electric fence was off, and had a little bit of difficulty getting over both fences. Once he was over, he looked around, and noticed that the side door was slightly ajar. He went over too it 'This must be where one of them went in.' He hesitated for a few moments, unsure of what to do next. 'I guess I'll just wait out here and keep my ears open in case it sounds like they need help.' He leaned against the wall, near the door, and waited.
________________________________________________________________
Sean looked over at the large dog when he gave a yelp, it seemed that Sean had surprised him. He gave a quiet laugh at the dane's confusion, and remained silent. Then another dog walked up,the one that had had the pink bandanna before. The dog, Rav, began talking, explaining what was going on. 'A raid on animal control? Have they all gone crazy? What reason could they possibly have to put themselves in danger for someone they don't even know?' He continued walking in the direction of home,trying to figure out why anyone would do such a thing.
___________________________________________________________
Del rode on Magnus' shoulder in silence while they were walking home, she was worried about everyone, but especially Cier. When Rav showed up she looked over at him. When he had finished his explanation, she finally spoke up. "Wherever Cier is, I'm sure he's doing his best to make sure the others are safe, so don't worry too much, he knows what he's doing."

[Djinn]

Djinn listens and hears the footsteps. He then begins to whisper frantically. "Oh ****! I need to hide!" Looking around he finally ducks behind a pile of empty cages to be used on the field. While he's not completely concealed somebody who wasn't looking for him wouldn't see him.

~~~~~

Glory tilted her head up at Rachel then smiled and nodded quietly.

[caelei]

What do you mean where is Pavelle an Felix?? They left to take you home, 10 to 15 minutes after Venison arrived, to go into the animal control building.. They should have arrived here way ahead of me..
I bet they doubled back, an are trying to gets the cats out before Venison can.. try to out hero each other, instead of working together!! An then there is the cat that started this whole mess, still out there.. an Cier has gone missing as well.
Come to think of it, have you seen the fox come back??

Magnus looked at Rav, staring through the dark, for what seemed like nearly a full minute. Then he felt his chin tremble a little, and he asked, "But... you said... Felix... Pavelle... would be safe?" He drew in a deep breath, chin still trembling, and focused his eyes on his feet as he walked, shoulders sagging. Venison can still get them... he thought dully, but his heart was beating too hard and fast. He should've gone after them when he had the chance, and not let Rav and Cier tell him what to do. He should've got them himself and brought them home safe.

Meanwhile...
Pavelle shivered a little as she waited. It was getting a little colder out now, being night, and she wasn't used to sitting in one place in the dark while the temperature dropped. And, even though nothing yet had happened that would've cued her to jump into the "mission", she couldn't help wondering how everyone was doing. Still, she still felt calm, thanks to Felix, who seemed passive enough right now for the both of them.

Felix was just happy that he wasn't cooped up inside Edie's house with the Dane and her parents. He missed nights like these, when the refreshingly cool night air soothed any troubles he felt, helped him to reflect on life and on whatever predicament he had gotten himself into recently. He felt a small smile hovering, ghostlike, on his face, mostly visible around his eyes. Other than that, he really felt nothing. Before, he had been thinking about his actions earlier, when he had saved... no, he better not distract himself with that now. He could dwell on it later. The remote smile had been erased from his features, leaving him looking serene. The air had also calmed the feverish feel of his shoulder and fingers, which helped to ease him.

[Dylan]

Amelia slips though the vent and lands in a dark room...Oh great.... Taking a breath she immediately covers her nose, Ugh! what smells? She quickly fumbles over soft unseen piles of who knows what until she stumbles out into the hallway...ugh...what was that.... She tilts her head towards the door that had a sign that read. "laundry room" ...Amelia brushes herself off and stands up...right into someone. "Well, what are you doing here?"

Pyxis reaches to pull Djinn back in. Quick get back in here! There is no where to hide! Pyxis looks up at the doorway way as the footsteps abrubtly stopped. Huh? Pyxis shook his head, he had to time to think about it. Come on Djinn! lets get you back in here before he starts moving again!

[Missingo]

Rachel instantly noticed the change in Alex' behavior. "Alex, you alright? Is something bothering you?"

Sorry for the mistakes......

Matthew sighed. Some people just didn't understand. "Come on now, it doesn't matter if you make mistakes. Music isn't about playing things right, or even sounding good; it's about expressing yourself, but more importantly, having fun. Besides, if you didn't notice, I absolutely FAILED at those fills," he pointed out, wearing a sheepish grin.

So, uh... wanna try play Jump? You know, by Van Halen. It has a lot of keyboard in it.

"Uh, sure, give me a second," Rachel said, hitting a few buttons on the keyboard to switch from the organ tones to a more distorted keyboard sound. After a few seconds, she began to play the introductory chords.

[Jimmy Jazz]

the vans disappeared around the corner and he looked around for any camera's, nothing, except for one pointing towards the Visitors entrance walkway. something to remember. he looked across the road to see if anyone was watching from there and then started quickly walking towards the obviously unprotec-.... he saw the "electric fence" sign and froze. that was bad. he looked around again, he could stop here and walk away. no one would know, no one would blame him. he shook his head and thought I was helped... I'm not going to let someone else get 'retrained' he looked around again and then plucked a piece of grass from the ground and touched the fence bracing himself for the pain.

...

there was none. he opened his eyes and blinked at the piece of grass. it was positively touching it. he lifted it and pressed it against the fence again. still nothing. he raised his eyebrow and then hesitantly touched the fence with his finger. nothing. "dang fence, scared me half to death" he mumbled as he started climbing it. he leaped down from the top of the fence and landed rolling out of the jump. he jogged towards the side of the building he rubbed his shoulder. "I'm rusty" he grumbled as he tried blending into the shadows, which wasn't hard, being mostly black. he started edging along the wall and looked around the corner, didn't seem to be anything that way. he edged the other way and nearly bumped into Cier. "Cier? what... well, alright, who went in? and where?" he asked quickly looking around.

[Keeshah]

Sean looked over at the large dog when he gave a yelp, it seemed that Sean had surprised him. He gave a quiet laugh at the dane's confusion, and remained silent. Then another dog walked up,the one that had had the pink bandanna before. The dog, Rav, began talking, explaining what was going on. 'A raid on animal control? Have they all gone crazy? What reason could they possibly have to put themselves in danger for someone they don't even know?' He continued walking in the direction of home,trying to figure out why anyone would do such a thing.

Rav looks Sean over, sniffing at his tail, to remember his scent..
then continues on with his ranting in frustration.
There all completely loony!! an not even doing it for a dog!
Rav exclaims, throwing up his paws up into the air again.
All they need to do is tell there human what happened an it would all get fixed up, but Noooo they have to follow the crazy cat to get more cats out of animal jail.
Rav complains.
(OOC - Dang it)

Del rode on Magnus' shoulder in silence while they were walking home, she was worried about everyone, but especially Cier. When Rav showed up she looked over at him. When he had finished his explanation, she finally spoke up. "Wherever Cier is, I'm sure he's doing his best to make sure the others are safe, so don't worry too much, he knows what he's doing."

I sure hope so.. But i fear this is going to have bad unforeseen repercussions to us all.. pet curfews, no longer being able to roam freely instead we will have to be leashed to are humans.

Magnus looked at Rav, staring through the dark, for what seemed like nearly a full minute. Then he felt his chin tremble a little, and he asked, "But... you said... Felix... Pavelle... would be safe?" He drew in a deep breath, chin still trembling, and focused his eyes on his feet as he walked, shoulders sagging.

Rav layed back his ears, an tucked his tail up between his legs. feeling a knot forming in his belly.
I thought they were safe, they said that they were going to fetch you an go home.. they should be here..
Rav whines very sadly.
I guess i should have hog tied them, an dragged them home by there stripy tails!.. I feel very badly that there not here.. an angry that they made me a liar.

I'm so sorry that this happened, i was expecting they would have been more trust worthy.
He sobs, hugging tightly to Magnus..

[ArgentFlame]

Cier waited outside the door, worry gnawing at his insides, suddenly, a dark shape appeared and almost ran into him.

"Cier? what... well, alright, who went in? and where?" he asked quickly looking around.

"I'm not sure who's inside right now, but someone went in through the door here," He said,indicating the slightly opened door, "I was just going to wait here in case I was needed, but I can't stand just standing here while someone's in danger, I'm going in." He stepped up to the door and put his good ear up to the opening, listening for sounds of people moving, when he was convinced it was safe, he pulled the door open enough to slip in and left it open in case Octavian followed him.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
(OOC: Keesh, you're answering thoughts again)
Sean walked on ahead of the group of pets making his way home. He found a car parked in the driveway. 'Cier's owner must have come home,' He walked up to the door, 'I guess now's as good a time as any to meet him' He knocked on the door, and waited a short time before it was pulled open by the human. "What? Cier, why are you... Oh! You must be Sean, Cier told me about you in the phone yesterday." He looked behind the dog, "I see Cier's staying out late tonight. Well, come on in, I'll reheat supper." He stepped aside and allowed Sean to enter before closing the door.
_____________________________________________________________________
Del noticed that Magnus was getting upset. She hugged the massive dog's neck, which was the only part she could reach "Don't worry Magnus, everything will be alright. Their smart, I'm sure they wouldn't do anything reckless."

[Alex]

After Rachel repeated the chords a couple of times, Alex started playing the guitar part of the song. After the intro, Matt and Rachel started singing together "I get up, and nothing gets me down.". They were a good duo. It motivated him to start singing, too.
"Might as well jump. Jump !
Might as well jump.
Go ahead, jump. Jump !
Go ahead, jump. "
The house was filled with their music, and it could probably be heard outside, too, but suddenly, the door opened at the last "Jump" and mom walked in.
"Alex! What are you doing? You should be in bed!"
Quick as the wind, she unplugged all the cables, so not much could be heard from the instruments.
"What are you doing? You should be in bed!" - came her voice. She wasn't angry, but worried. And that wasn't for nothing. Alex was beginning to feel sleepy and cold again.
"This is no time to invite friends over. Thank you for coming, but I will have to ask you to leave now."
With that, mom pushed Matt and Rachel gently towards the door, being careful about Rachel's injury.
But mom! They... *aaachoo!* - came a sneeze, and the words "saved my life" were lost forever. Mom already closed the door behind the two dogs, and, not so gently, carried Alex on the couch, before proceeding to move the instruments back to the basement. Finally, she returned, and tucked him in on the couch.
"Are you crazy? You will spend the night here, and I will be at your side all the time."
Well.. it's still better than outside, on a bench. But the company isn't as good as yesterday... - he grinned. Of course, this was a reference to Amelia. Where was she now? Alex didn't hear about her all day. Perhaps something happened? Or she's sleeping. Yeah, that was probably that. He pushed the thoughts of something happening to Amelia away, and grinned again.
"No Amelia today anymore, mr. Loverboy!"
Don't call me like that!
Loverboy, loverboy!
It was Mai, who came running down the stairs. Apparently, she heard what mom said, and she liked it, too. Alex just rolled his eyes, and turned around on the couch, while closing his eyes. That wasn't really suiting Mai. Seeing him uninterested in her made her wish to play even bigger. After a couple of seconds of hesitating, she sat on his back, and looked at his head. His eyes were still closed. It looked like Alex didn't mind much that Mai is sitting on him....

[caelei]

Magnus' ears drooped down as Rav got upset. The Dane wrapped a comforting arm around Rav as the Shepard clung to him, and nearly smiled when Del hugged his neck and offered encouraging words. He sighed, but picked his head up a bit to make the others feel better. "They will... be fine," He said slowly to both of the pets, though his brow was wrinkled in concern. He looked around and noticed, suddenly, that they had left the park, and in the process seemed to have lost an animal. The shadow dog that looked like Cier was gone. He shrugged and continued homewards.

((Okay, here goes nothing... Please tell me to delete the writing below if it's awful, so we can all pretend it never happened. Note: I'm not trying to immitate Buck's writing style; that's too hard. And I'm trying to just stick to his objectives and keep away from emotions, so...))

SECURITY CONTROL CENTER. Venison squinted at the sign, before silently bringing himself up close to the indicated doorway. He closed his eyes and listened. There was the buzz of technology, and a couple various beeps and clicks from the same, but other than that, nothing. No murmur of conversation, no footsteps or even the faint sound of breathing. Which meant that it was likely that no one was in the room. The windows were covered so he couldn't get a visual, and it seemed that the lights were turned off inside, which made it impossible to crouch by the bottom of the door and judge the position and shape of shadows for a possible human form. He paused for a moment, then quickly rapped his knuckles against one of the windows just hard enough to catch someone's attention. He listened again. No response. If there was someone in there who wasn't asleep or deaf, they should've somehow given an indicator that they had heard. There was a good chance that there wasn't anyone in there. He went to the door and tried the handle. It was unlocked, and slid open, like the others before. He stopped again, and waited. Nothing. There was no one in there. He stepped into the room, threw a fast glance around, and then shut the door behind him. This way he wouldn't be surprised if someone came into the room; the door made a small creaking noise as it opened and closed, which was all the warning that he needed.

He turned and surveyed a row of computers. Looked like half a dozen secondary monitors, each showing a live camera feed from different areas of the building, and the same number of computers. He inspected the scenes on the monitors for a second, and spotted two security. They seemed to have left the security room recently to do their rounds around the building. Because of the "feral invasion" on the southern side of Richardson Valley, most of the buildings' personnel had been called to duty, leaving only a meager amount of people to supervise the building.

Venison turned from the six camera monitors to a seventh, which was located solitarily on the opposite wall of the room. This one was a newer model, and Venison immediately oriented on it. This would be the base computer, for storing the electronically recorded data and operating the system. He walked over and toggled the mouse. The screen lit up, displaying a desktop. The two security men must have been accessing data on this computer before going on patrol, and didn't bother to lock it down when they left. Venison immediately got to work, pulling up files and checking names and dates. The amount of information set into the database was too much to delete file by file; that would take an impossible amount of time, and he only had an estimated four minutes before one of the security would come back and discover him. Instead, he exited out of the program and searched the desktop. There were no icons. He clicked open Start, then went to 'Computer'. He clicked on 'Network', opening up the links to other computers. He right-clicked on the first, labeled 'Alpha', and inspected the data. 'Feed History' came up next, and he selected Alpha's recordings. Delete. He repeated the process, then deleted everything in the recycle bin as a precaution. Then he highlighted all the computers and disconnected them from their camera feeds before deleting them from the network. On the opposite wall, each computer lost its live camera, before shutting completely down. No more camera/security recordings. One objective completed.

Backtracking, he again went to 'Computer', this time opening up 'System Records'. He clicked 'Delete All' and the pages of history went blank. That took care of the recent records of computer activity, along with files associated with violence/misconduct of pets in the local area. Which emcompassed a good three months of stored data. He again cleared out the recycle bin so that none of the lost data could be recovered. Objective two complete. Finally, he shut down the last computer. The thing would have to be rebooted before the next user could log on, and hopefully that would take a few minutes, possibly buying the pets in the building enough time to get down to the Holding Areas and release the captives.

((Bah.))

[Djinn]

Djinn shakes his head and holds a finger up to his lips over to Pyxis. He doesn't want to go back into the cage and he's hidden well enough for now. He turns and looks at the door through the few cracks he can see through. (Dylan, I don't know who you meant for it to be but I'm going to leave it to you.)

[Dylan]

Amelia reflexively jumped back, ****! "Stay right where you are!" The animal control officer takes a step closer with his hands raised as if he is ready to grab...oh wait, he does want to grab. Amelia spun on her heels and ran into the nearest room, just as the officer crashed into the floor trying to get a hold of her. Amelia blindly sailed into the room. whaaaa! Amelia fell to the floor as she heard cursing in the other room. Amelia shook her head as she lifted herself up as she heard a familiar voice in one of the cages. Amelia?!?! is that you? Amelia looked around the what seemed like endless cages of animals. Huh where are you? Pyxis stuck his arm out to Amelia, over here! Amelia ran to Pyxis' cage Hey, how do you unlock th... Before she could finish her sentence the officer appeared in the door way. "What do you think you are doing?" as he rushed towards her, Amelia responded by throwing her disk directed at the man, inches away from his head. "hah! you missed" as he slowed his pace as he approached her. Suddenly the disk was once again back in her paw and she once again threw it at the man. "what the ****?" he cried out confused about how she got it back. The disk pounded right into his chest temporarily catching him off guard, the disk again returned to her hand. Amelia took this time to jump on the officer to send him flying towards the ground.

[Jimmy Jazz]

He waited a small amount of time himself before quickly and as silently as he could, ran in. he heard a muffled yelling from the end of the hall. and another man looking down it towards the noise, luckily, away from Octavian when he came around the corner. "oh c-" he said hurrying back behind the corner. he pressed himself against the wall praying that the guard didn't hear him. there was a short pause, and then there was a *clack clack clack* from the man's shoes getting further down the hall. he peeked around the corner hesitantly reach for the handle, he grabbed it and knocked on the door "Yo, Colin, you okay in there?" he called. because the yelling had shortly stopped.

((OOC: I'll stop there just so Amelia has some time to react))

[Keeshah]

Magnus' ears drooped down as Rav got upset. The Dane wrapped a comforting arm around Rav as the Shepard clung to him, and nearly smiled when Del hugged his neck and offered encouraging words. He sighed, but picked his head up a bit to make the others feel better. "They will... be fine," He said slowly to both of the pets, though his brow was wrinkled in concern.

Rav sniffed, and walked in close to magnus's side.
Can you go home without Pavelle? wouldn't your parents ask where she is??
Rav asks the big dog..
If you like, we can have a sleepover in the barns tower, where we can watch for the others to come home. you two old dog.
Rav adds to O'Conner.

[ArgentFlame]

Cier hid behind the corner, watching the human walk towards the door at the far end of the hallway. He turned when Octavian came running up. "Either Venison or Amelia is obviously in that room," He whispered quickly to the fox, "there's probably a human in there with them already, judging by the yelling. They really don't need a second one barging in. I think we need to distract him."

[Teh Brawler]

Tory failed to see anything of importance, so he deciuded to fly off. He quickly found O'Connor, and landed on his shoulder.

If you like, we can have a sleepover in the barns tower, where we can watch for the others to come home. you two old dog.

O'Connor thought about it, and retorted, "Ahruight, bu' if anehone comes bahck, everehone 'elps them aneh wei they cahn."

[caelei]

Magnus' ears pricked up when Rav said 'sleepover', and his tail started wagging sharply back and forth when O'Connor agreed. Despite himself, a delighted expression lit up his face, his eyes shining bright and round in glee. "Sleepover?!" he asked excitedly, and he nearly forgot about his sister and brother. And then, earnestly, he replied to both. The first response to Rav, cheerily enough: "Mom n' Dad dunno when me and Pavelle go out. They won't miss us." The next to O'Connor: "And I will help them when they come!" He gave a sudden, beaming smile.

Meanwhile...
Pavelle's ears pointed forward as she thought she heard a stifled shout. "Did you --" she started asking, but Felix cut her off with a sharp gesture and a 'shhhhh' noise. She stared piercingly through the dark at the animal control center, looking for any sign of a fleeing figure, while Felix simply closed his eyes, tilting his head towards the building and rocking forward a little. There was nothing after the original shout, and Pavelle almost wondered if she had even really heard it, or if it was her imagination making up things.

After a couple moments of nothing else, Felix opened his eyes. He glanced at Pavelle, who was chewing on her bottom lip, and sighed. In a voice that his sister could plainly hear, but that still somehow less than a whisper, he said, "Don't go rushing in. Not yet." Pavelle thought about arguing, she stopped herself. He seemed sure. She sighed also, then settled down closer to the ground again, not having realized that she had nearly jumped up to help. Felix leaned back again, his attention focused on the animal control center.
_________________________________

Venison quietly exited the security room, closing the door behind him as he went. Then he turned and retraced his steps until he found the original small exam lab he had passed. He tried to remember Rav's directions. There should be an office with a window... he looked left, and found it in a second hallway. He crossed over to it, and stopped, thinking. Next, an elevator... he looked down the hallway, squinting through his bad vision. It seemed there was a blurry outline of some sort of double doors: the elevator's, pressumably. They were down at the end of the hallway. He jogged towards them, and memorized their location in the building. He'd be back if things went well.

He found the nearest door and pressed it open a crack, peering in. Empty cages stood on the walls on one side of the room, and on the other sat a lazy sort of lounge with couches and a desk. Adoption center, then, like Rav had said. He slid into the room, listening. He heard movement sounds, like someone was making noise really close by (Amelia and the guard). And then he heard, very muffled, a voice. Sounded adult. A security guy, then. That meant that Venison should be close to the holding cells. Which also meant the next place he needed to go was to the right... Crossing the room he opened the last door, and the sound of a fight became immediately clearer. He ducked back again so that he didn't immediately get spotted, looking into the room. Amelia seemed to be on top of a human, one of the security. He was trying to get his hands on her so he could pry her off him and probably force her into a cage for holding. Venison waved one arm at Amelia while her face was momentarily pointed in his direction, trying to catch her attention without getting seen by the human. The guard, on the other hand, didn't look like he would be able to see him from the angling and the guy's position on the floor, but Venison made sure to stay as far back as possible ((I'm trying to keep Venison hopefully as not-spotted-by-people as I can to spare Venison big repercussions later that Buck may/may not have wanted.)). When he thought he had Amelia's attention, he pointed at the side of the guy's belt, which the Coydog had noticed had a key ring attached to it. There were no actual keys on the key ring, but what looked like a small laminated identification card with a barcode and something that looked like a car fob. Venison suspected that the fob was not for cars, however. He thought that it could be used to remotely open the cages. If Amelia got her hands on the 'car' fob and pressed the unlock button, hopefully all of the cages would unlock and the animals would break free. This should cause enough chaos that both security wouldn't be able to handle the tide of freed animals, creating enough of a window for the pets in the building to grab Amelia's brother and his friend and get out safely without getting caught. ((Sorry if it sounds rushed.))

[Keeshah]

Magnus' ears pricked up when Rav said 'sleepover', and his tail started wagging sharply back and forth when O'Connor agreed. Despite himself, a delighted expression lit up his face, his eyes shining bright and round in glee. "Sleepover?!" he asked excitedly, and he nearly forgot about his sister and brother. And then, earnestly, he replied to both. The first response to Rav, cheerily enough: "Mom n' Dad dunno when me and Pavelle go out. They won't miss us." The next to O'Connor: "And I will help them when they come!" He gave a sudden, beaming smile.

Ok then..
Rav goes home with the other pets, telling Sara there going to be sleeping in the barn tonight.
an then gathering up pillows, blankets, an several cans of dog food, an milkbones. making it look like there are going to me more than just the 3 pets staying there tonight.
Rav changes the normal light bulbs in the tower to yellow bug light bulbs.. figuring it would be easier to sleep in the duller yellow light, than the bright white light. also hoping returning pets would notice the different colored light, an come to see whats up in the barn..
They carting the supplies out to the barn, an carry them all the way up into the 3rd floor tower. As well as bringing the beanbags up from the 2nd floor to sleep on..
Rav then goes back down to the first floor an pumps pumps pumps at the water pump, filling a few gal. jugs, and caring them upstairs as well, along with some bowls.

Woo that was a lot of work..
Rav looks over to the mice.
Hmmm i hope you like dog foods, i didn't think to get any cheese.
he apologizes, as he sets a pillow up on the window ledge, with a couple of wash cloths for the mice to use as blankets.
Rav props up some beanbags so they can lay down, yet still see out the windows. cuddling up warmly with the two other dogs, nuzzling.
So what do you'll like to do now that were sleeping over??

[ArgentFlame]

Del was excited, she had never been away from the house for a whole night before. After stopping at Rav's house to tell his owner about it, and a phone call to Mr. Burke informing him that she would be there for the night, they headed out to the barn. She sat on the windowsill of the third floor tower, looking out over the city while the dogs set everything up for the night. She was secretly worried about what might happen to Cier and the other pets, but didn't let that affect her mood. She turned to Dylan, smiling, "So, what do you think about this whole sleep over thing?"

[Laxan]

Sal hung her head out of the car window, ears and tongue flapped and whipped against the wind. After spending hours and hours on a plane from England it was nice to feel the wind in her fur. "Are we there yet?" She asked tediously every 3 seconds to be given the same reply from her parents, No. She paused and pulled her head back inside and turned to Pepper who was sat in the back seat and began to pull faces at him to pass the time. After what seemed like a year of annoying Pep' he turned back into her seat and folded her arms, "Are we there... Nooooooooooooow?" 'It's only been 2 minutes since you asked the last time.' Her mother replied. "But this trip is taking forever, I'll be a skell'yton before we get there, rotting from my timely demise!" Sal covered her eyes and began to weep dramatically into her palms. 'Sal-' Her mother spoke before being cut off. "I'm never gonna run on freshly cut grass again!" 'Sal-' Her father tried to say before being cut off by the rant. "I'm never gonna see my squeaky bone again-" 'SAL!' Her mother and father intrupted, causing Sal to peak from between her fingers. 'Sal honey, we're here.' The car had been stopped for the past minute and her parents had already exited. "Oh..." She looked back and forward quickly before unbuckling her seat belt and hopping out the car and slamming the door. "See Pep', I told you, you were over reacting."

[Kaido]

Pepper had been sat with his head in his paw the hole trip, listening to Sal's ranting. As much as he tried to ignore her however, she just wouldn't stop. He had already tried multiple times to cover his ears with his pillow, but even that didn't stop her voice. He was the last to get out of the car, stretching and walking towards the boot of it.
"Don't you dare leave me to carry all the luggage to the house!" he said, "and help me open this will ya? I think it's stuck..."
He stood, trying with all his might to open the compartment, but to no avail.
"C'mon, you can check out the house later!"

[Laxan]

Sal began running up to the large house, but stopped upon being called. "Aw! But Pepper~" She complained before sighing and running back down the path in a hurry, she wanted to get the luggage so she could go check out the house. Reaching the car she pressed the boot button in, the lid sprang up, Sal just managed to lean back to prevent the lid catapulting her across the driveway. Grabbing all the luggage she piled them up on her arms, shoulders and head and ran up the path. Unable to see where she was running she ran smack into the front door and ended up in a heap under the cases and bags. "Ow..." The mound muttered.

[Kaido]

Pepper couldn't help but burst out laughing. After finally composing himself, he walked over to the heap that was Sal and grabbed two bags of luggage in each paw. He nudged the door open and walked in, flicking his tail behind him.
"You're meant to open the door, by the way."
Pepper disappeared into the house and up the stairs. He sneakily put the bags at the top of the stairs, and then ran to check all of the rooms. After examining them all carefully, he chose one with a window overlooking the road.
"Dibs on this room!" he exclaimed, before running back downstairs to get the rest of his stuff.

[Laxan]

Sal appeared from under the luggage when Pepper removed the bag which had flattened her face. Jumping up she ran into the house and upstairs bringing her all her luggage with her. Reaching the top she watched Pep leave the room he had picked, it was the biggest room and had the best view. When he ran back downstairs she ran into the room and slammed the door throwing her bags down. Going to the door she opened it and waited for Pepper to come back up the stairs. "Claimed!"

[Kaido]

Pepper was carrying his pillow, his squeaky mouse and other belongings up with him. After noticing Sal in the doorway, he immediately dropped them.
"Oh no, I don't think so! I dibs'd this room! It's mine!! You can have the one at the end of the hallway!"

[Laxan]

"Oh yes I did, lil' Bro! What you going to do about it." Sal leaned up against the doorway and folded her arms. Their mother came upstairs to see what the yelling was about. "Moooooom, I've got my stuff in this room now and-and Pep' is trying to kick me out." She began to give her mother the puppy dog eyes. 'Well you'll have to let Pepper in or he won't have anywhere too sleep.' Her mother confused her, "Wait what?". 'You and Pepper are sharing a room. I thought your father told you.' "You cannot be serious! What about the room down the hall!?" Sal stamped her foot on the wooden floor, she was not sharing a room with the neat freak. 'That room is the guest room, and this one is big enough for you both to have plenty of room, It'll be fun.' "FUN! FUN! Pep' back me up here!" 'You're stuck with this room and that's final' Mother sounded angry now, "ugh, fine."

[Kaido]

Pepper was just completely devastated. Share? He had never had to share anything in his entire life, and secretly, he absolutely hated the idea of it.
"This is ridiculous! There's a bedroom right over there! I don't wanna share a room with this... thing! Moooooom!".
Complaining wasn't doing anything to help the situation. Mother completely ignored him and walked off to get the last bits of luggage out of the car.
"Ugh. This isn't fair!", he moaned. He pointed at Sal threateningly, "if this bedroom ends up anything like yours did back in England, I'll kill you!"
Pepper picked up the remainder of his belongings and went to shove past Sal to get into the room.

[Laxan]

Sal shrugged. "Hey, it wasn't that bad and that sandwich stuck on the ceiling did look cool when it glowed green in the dark... At least..." Sal closed the door behind her and stroked her chin. "I think it was a sandwich. I don't remember having a lettuce sandwich... Though it might have been originally chicken."

[Kaido]

"T-that's disgusting!", Pepper exclaimed, "That's it, I'm laying down room rules!"
He buried through his luggage, finally pulling out a pen and paper, before scrawling down some rules and shoving it into Sal's paws.
The rules were listed as follows:
1) No food is to be brought into the room by Sal.
2) The room is to be cleaned regularly by Sal (at least once per week!)
3) Sal's friends are allowed round no longer than 9PM, 10PM on weekends!
4) Pepper's word is law.
Pepper grinned roguishly, "are we in agreement?"

[Laxan]

Sal read through the list quickly before looking up from the paper to Pepper. "You cannot be serious." She began to tear it up into little pieces and threw it onto the floor. "I'm not agreeing to anythi- Oh! That reminds me." Running over to her case she opened it and began searching through it, decorating the room with the contents. Finally she found a flat square box and opened it to reveal a flattened and squished up pizza which looked like it had been sweating in the box. Taking a sniff Sal took a bite of a slice, dropping bits of cheese and crumbs on the floor. "Still tastes good. Want a slice?" Sal wafted the stinking box under Pepper's nose.

[Kaido]

Pepper covered his nose with his left paw and swatted the box away with his right, scattering the contents of it all over the floor.
"Gah! Now look what you made me do!", he cried, kneeling down to inspect the floor, "Ugh, and my list!"
He jumped back to his feet, fuming.
"You... are so dead!", Pepper dived at Sal, attempting to knock her to the floor.