ORIGIN

Black looked at Fisher, and obediently and without a word began to snuffle along the walls of the tunnel, immediately becoming oblivious to all else. There weren't prey animals down the dry, well-lit tunnels as often as there were in the green and grassy places, and it took him some time to find the hint of one at a crack in the wall. As it was, the small paw-sized tunnel exhaled a constant, soft flow of cool and damp air, so it probably came from elsewhere.

Now, Black was not a hunter. He wasn't active, fast, or even particularly high on endurance, and so he'd actually tended more toward fish and toward digging prey from the soft earth than anything. Now, though, he did the only thing he could in this rocky place: he sat, staring at the hole.

If told to hunt here, he'd wait, waiting to ambush prey. For hours, if that's how long it took.

There had to be a better way. But Black clearly didn't know it.

________________

Face only gingerly healed, he was on his way back towards Eridanus to then go onward to Pisces. Once again scouting out the potential area where he could best lay down his weaponry. Quite a bit behind Fisher and Dark, Louie still attempted to slink in the shadows but his only sense of sight on his right side was his body gently grazing against the walls and boulders he crept around. Still, he had complete vision in his other eye and that was useful, but without his other side he had lost some depth perception abilities. It was only his previous navigation of many of the caverns that allowed him to judge distance as he did.

Although, anything outside of a range of 20ft was fairly easy to judge and it was from this distance that he spotted Fisher and Black as they traipsed around the tunnel. Fisher certainly looked the same, he was also quite scarred up and damaged but at least he had two working eyes and Louie gritted his teeth. Since their last meeting when they were only babes, he had hardened and changed a lot and now, the only allies or friends he had were those who would fight beside him or for him. Narrowing his one good eye, he also barked out to them, "Fisher." Blunt and to the point, he wanted to establish whether or not they were still on good standings. Perhaps even convince him to join him, as he knew that Maji Walezi was the home of the bear and mongoose.

Best not to reveal his plan to poison that significantly large group.

The black dog lifted his head and turned to stare, ears pricking up and forehead wrinkling. He stood swiftly, though seemingly unhurried--rather, he was at once alert, drawing closer to Fisher. But he didn't crowed his friend--no, the fox's voice had called Fisher by name, and so Black looked to him, instead, for direction.

The stranger was a pretty thing, tawny-red with hints of gold in his coat, and a strange dark something over one eye. It didn't bother him, didn't warn him of danger, but he took note of the facts nonetheless, committing them to memory as the stranger stalked forward on sooty paws.

Black drew himself more upright, calm, watching to see what would happen now but making it clear, by his silent presence looming beside Fisher, that his friend was, as always, under his protection.

It didn't even occur to him that his protection might not be much use.

________________

Both had grown significantly since their last encounter, equal in size he could tell that Fisher had gained further muscle on his lithe figure and this didn't do anything to increase his already foul mood. That dog was also pretty big and he was best not to cross the path of it. Beginning to walk towards the group, this strange feeling of... could it be happiness? At seeing a familiar face was almost relieving. They'd only encountered each other once, but he already felt as though they had a connection stronger than he held between those he'd known for weeks. Nose twitching, he didn't return the head bob but he allowed his tail to wag once.

Being sociable and friendly felt weird.

Careful not to show the bad side of his face too much, he kept his head swung around to the left. Body still brushing against the cave, he moved away from it once he got closer to the others. Almost blindly guiding his left side of his body, he held his body rigid and kept his gaze to the ground. Though he was put off by the black guardian, his only recognition of this was the slight curl of his lips, "Who's the body guard? Or more appropriately why the body guard?" Both amused and irritated that he had a muscle man and Louie didn't, he cast his gaze over him before looking at the fisher. Even being close to Fisher made him feel better, but he would never say this as he'd rather keep his emotions closely guarded. Friends were nothing if they couldn't aid you in whatever path of life you had decided to choose.

As of now, Fisher was neither his friend, nor his foe. One encounter didn't change that, and his eyebrows still held the scowl on his mangled and mutilated face. Whatever feelings he had, they were worthless.