Wiping the Clock

Jan 5, 2011 1:22:58 GMT -5 @thetexas said:

Lady bubbly giggled at Cash, she found the idea of the Tramp cooking up meals very amusing. Not understanding or neivly missing its demeaning nature. At his wink she felt the skin under her tan cheek fur heat up and turn red. Her face beamed under the hound's attention. She looked as happy as a young female could. Even leaning back into Cash's forelegs warmly, as he stood over her.

"Oh, I bet he could really be a good cook! Oh my,he would even be a good candidate as the camp's janitor!" she said laughingly, not realizing how hurtful it sounded.

"Is that how you feel, Pidge, huh?" Tramp snapped, before he could help himself. This dog....this scruffy scarred hound-dude was getting under his skin. And getting WAY too close to his former mate. "Well you never know. I bet I could whip up something if I tried. Given all my dining....experience." Oooooh how he wanted to smack that mutt across his muzzle. Shut him up, put him in his place.

Knock him off his high horse and splash some realization onto Lady.

"Of course, given all the kids roaming around the camp" he added, eyes narrowing at Cash "it's probably best to leave the cookin' to the lesser members of the camp, while us more experienced folk step to the front lines, eh, boy?"

He couldn't take it anymore. First this young mutt steps in on his former mate, influencing her with all his sweet-talkin' nonesense and now they were both ganging up on him.

"Someone's gotta watch the kids." He added suddenly, eyes locked with the cocker spaniel's "and since you can't take your eyes off this sweet-talker, I'm gonna have to be the one to do it."

Had he passed the point of no return?
Maybe.
Maybe not.
But even if he had, at the moment, he just didn't care.

Cash gave Lady a small smile looking down at her as she leaned against his leg gently. Tough, attention was grasped firmly by Tramp, who spoke in return to Cash's jabbing comments, maw wrinkled in irritation and eyes narrows upon Tramp addressing him.

"Experienced folk huh?" he said, lifting his rear from the ground, which would gently force Lady from leaning on him. "Mind tellin' me who they are exactly?" he snorted. The fur on the back of his neck bristled lightly as jaw locked, glaring at Tramp with distaste.

"Y'all seem to think I don't know mah stuff, but I don't think I've seen y'all step up and so much as shake a flea off yer own behind since I've got here. Only thing I've seen yah do is cause this lil' darlin' shame, and the gal's so sweet, sugar wouldn't melt in her mouth." he spilled, though he wasn't done. Hound stepped passed Lady, head tilted, crooning at Tramp as he moved onwards towards him. The corners of his maw twitched, threatening to pull back and reveal ready ivories.

"An' if I ain't experienced enough for yah- maybe y'all should take a little trip over to the outlands yerself." he suggested irritably, though stopped alarmingly close to Tramp, straightening his neck up to full height, eyes slightly higher than that of the grey dog which stood before him. Cash could hardly believe what the Tramp had implied. Cash came from the outlanders. The outlander for goodness sake. He'd been trained by them, even had wounds upon his pelt from both sides, and he was the 'lesser' for it?

Lady watched, stunned, as the two dogs exchanged words. The little Cocker couldn't believe what she was seeing, she watched, not so much amused, and bewildered as Cash stepped over her. She realized that what they had said had struck a nerve inside the Tramp. She hadn't seen him this flustered since he killed a disease ridden rat years ago.

"Oh dear, boys...." she begin, though stopping herself midway. Cash was right, since he got here she never did see the Tramp do anything but mope around and at least at the beginning, hunt her down.

The cocker stepped back as Cash's muzzle twitched. She had been around the block before (literally, and with a muzzle on to boot) and seen a dog fight to know enough when two males got that look.

"Boys..please...don't" she said, a little on the quite side, as if willing herself that the two wouldn't go at it.

Tramp's stomach churned as the Hound Dude handed his former mate a compliment. The bastard, he thought, but he would not act out. Not physically, no matter HOW much he wanted to. He'd gotten Cash riled up. Time to add fuel to the fire.

"You're no Outlander." He spat, shoving his face so close to Cash's their noses nearly touched. "Or so the story goes. Any real soldier of Scar's would've died before switching sides like that. But you? You're just a little lost puppy trying to find it's way home, aren't you?" He added a superior chuckle to the tail end of his...observation. These were dangerous waters he was treading, but the gray mutt could care less. "Well let me tell you something, boy. This is no more your home than those outlands were. And Pidge here isn't your girl either. She's--" He caught himself. "....I've been on the streets my entire life." He said, quickly changing the subject. "I've hunted, fought, and nearly killed to stay alive. What have you done, huh Cash? what have you done that makes you a higher member of this here war?"

Cash didn't appear to have heard Lady, instead reacted harshly to Tramp pushing his face in his. Maw jerked, meant to hit the side of Tramp's face to the side firmly, before lips pulled upwards to reveal the from of his teeth, rippling backwards and unveiling rows of his ivories. Those teeth seemed to have been used in this war only for the use of fighting lately. Fighting... it was a terrible thought that he barely registered in his irritation.

"Yer right street boy. I ain't no outlander." he agreed. Tramp only seemed to be making Cash appear better, or at least better than he felt. "Y'all ain't heard the whole story have yeh?" he snorted, "kept a bear from rippin' them pup's apart. Didn't realize you only looked after a selected few." he mentioned the pups only because it'd seemed Tramp had mentioned youngsters to guilt Lady, but it only brought back thoughts that he'd left Two-Tone behind. Hound jerked his head forward sharply, taking another step towards Tramp to force him back.

"Y'all have no idea what I've done to be here." he snarled, teeth bared as he scowed at Tramp, head lowered instinctively to protect his neck. Though when he spoke, it would sound hurt to the trained ear.

((ooc: If Tramp and Cash actually fight, can we agree on no real injuries? As in no biting to tear through the skin? I just don't see either of them going that far if they do fight... xD ))

(OOC: Yes I agree. No REAL injuries, just enough to roughen them up a bit XD They're both still gentlemen....er....kinda haha)

"Then maybe you should show me." Tramp growled, this time actually slamming his nose into the hound's. He'd struck a chord, he knew--all this recent emotional pain had trained him to identify it in someone else. At least....it SOUNDED like pain behind his voice....could've been another trick to win Pidge over further.
The bastard!

"I came to this war to protect my children. All of them." He added, in case Cash dared comment snidely at Angel. "I'm a father first, and a soldier second, you flea-brained mutt. And that means" his voice rose, and with it, a nasty snarl "I'll do my best to keep all these kids safe, got it? So that NONE of them EVER have to go through what I did as a pup!"

That was it. He was done. No more restraint. No more mister nice Tramp. With a deep throaty growl, Tramp raised his head, then slammed it as hard as he could into the other dog's cranium. It hurt--DAMN it hurt--but it hurt Cash, as well. And that was all that mattered.

"Boys, please!" Lady yapped. This was starting to get a little out of hand. The cocker didn't wish to have either of them hurt. She watched, mouth agape as the confirmation escalated. She watched, as if she was a spectator on shore, watching two battleships circle each other. The growls, deep and threatening, being the only thing holding her back.

When she saw Tramp bring his snout down on Cash, she quickly scurried forward, running in between the two growling dogs. She placed her furry body between Cash and Tramp, facing Cash. Long ears fluttering back and forth as she whipped her head back to Tramp, then back to Cash. "Please, stop." she yipped quickly. It wasn't almost as much a whimper then a spoken phrase. He big brown eyes planted on Cash, pleadingly.

But she had put herself in the most vulnerable of positions, between two male dogs who where both staring daggers at each other.

(OOC: its okay for one of yall to hit/draw blood from her or knock her out of the way, just don't brake something ^^ Flesh wounds only)

Cash released a snort upon Tramp's head making contact with his, shaking his head briefly before going to retaliate. Though, he stopped short, skidding slightly and straightened himself up. Lady had leaped into the middle of it, and hell would freeze over before Cash physically harmed the female, intentionally or not. Though dark eyes hardened upon locking with the Tramp once again, and maw flickered. He'd stop fighting... so long as Lady was standing between them, for fear of harming her. Though he wasn't going to shut his mouth.

"C'mon," he snorted, "Mah cow died last night- I don't need yer bull." he retorted, country vocals heavy on his tongue. Seemed Cash didn't believe Tramp was really here for any pup. And in saying this, it appeared he was only here to trail after Lady. Much like Cash had with Dixie- but now it was all so much more complicated. Dixie... Hound closed his eyes for a bit longer than a standard blink, before focusing on the situation before him.

(OOC: Hope you guys don't mind a daughter intruding on this...?)

Annette had just been walking, trying to clear her head. Shutting her family's problems away in her mind like they'd never existed wasn't working. She needed to confront them.
Personally, she didn't blame Angel's parentage for the problems. As far as she was concerned, if mom and dad had acted like sensible adult dogs about it, instead of bickering like puppies, the family wouldn't be crumbling like this. And, of course, neither of them had given so much as a second thought to what would become of her and her siblings as a result.
It was with these thoughts in mind that she stumbled across the fight brewing between dad and some strange hound, with mom standing in the middle. "Not again..." she muttered. Seemed to her like SHE, not either of her parents, was the mature one around here. Tucking her ears back into her collar - just in case things got nasty - she placed herself between her two parents, glaring at both of them, ignoring the hound for the moment. HE wasn't part of it.
"Why don't you two both grow up?" she snapped, her pent-up anger releasing suddenly. "You've got a FAMILY to think of - start acting like we matter more to you that your love life." Here an especially hard glare was turned on Lady. Annette hadn't for a moment missed what was going on between her and Cash.

Lady didn't see her daughter till Annette scrambled between her and the Tramp. The cocker almost dumbly wondered how the little pup had come across them. She at first glared hard at the Tramp. They had agreed to keep the pups out of their conflict. Yet the spaneil know that evry agreement they had was decimated when she told him it was over.

The cocker looked up to Cash at her daughter's glare. She loved her pups, no question about that, but it was not her fault that things had transpired the way they had. She was just trying to peace together her life after discovering the false promise of the one she had been living.

But, rather then retort to her pup's comment, she thought it best to just get her out of the area. Having one of her pups between the two still blowing of steam male dogs was definitely not "taking care of her family"

"Oh dear, Annie, please, this isn't the time to argue things such as that." The cocker's big brown eyes teared, her cheeks puffed as she tried to hold back from weeping. Seeing her former mate and Cash go at it was one thing, but this was taking it from a simple ego war to a war over her family.

"Your father and I have already made our minds up, and we're not arguing." she looked back and forth to Cash and Tramp. "You know you mean more to both of us then anything else in the world."

"Then maybe you should spend more time figuring out what's going to happen to us now that you're separating instead of hunting yourself down another boyfriend." Harsh words, of course, but Annette was determined to let her parents know just how irresponsible she thought they were being.

"Annette--" Tramp tried, then stopped, unsure of what to say. He still wanted to crush Cash into the dirt---rip his teeth into his flesh and tear any affection towards Pidge right out of him. He probably would have....but as he'd said before, he was a father first, a soldier second....and a street dog last.

Glaring first at Cash, then softening his gaze--if ever so slightly--as he looked at the older cockerspaniel, the gray-furred mutt took a deep breath, and once again approached his daughter.

"I know....things don't make a lot of sense right now" he began, keeping his voice as calm as he possibly could "....but I haven't forgotten you kids." I he said, making a subtle dig at his former mate. She didn't see him trotting around making googly eyes at any female he saw, did he?
"I'm trying my best here, sweetheart." Tramp continued. "Really. But it's not always easy." Again, he stopped,and he added a note of pain to enter his voice--allowing his daughter a brief glimpse into the emotional torment festering within him. "I probably look pretty foolish in your eyes, huh? I'm sorry."

Lady sighed, in a way, Tramp was right. Between Cash, the railroad, and the war, she had almost forgotten about he own pups. Well, not forgotten, but she was no longer the once worrisome mother she used to be. Things had changed, and in a way her pups had suffered.

"Hes right." She said, agreeing with her former mate, stiffing back tears. She looked up at the grey mutt, big brown eyes showing a mix of disgust at the situation, and sorrow for seeing so much emotional termoal rip threw her family.

"This isn't easy on any of us, and we all are going to have to adapt. Please, bear with us as we sort these things out." and with a look over to Tramp. "Like adults, without snarling and fighting like a bunch of mongrels."

Interesting that while she chastised Tramp for attacking Cash...she conveniently forgot that Cash was the one who had really started it.

Annette let her glare hold on her parents for a moment longer, before letting it drop. No doubt things were hard for them as well - but she couldn't help but feel that if she'd been in her mother's position, she would have handled the situation better. Strange, really, but Annette blamed LADY, not Tramp, for the family's breakup. Not to say that her father wasn't at fault as well, of course, but HE, not mom, had been the one to try and keep the family together while she had run off to join Angel in this stupid war - and got herself a new boyfriend as well. That last was an especially sore point for Annette, who just wanted the family to stay together. To forget about the war and come home as if nothing had happened. But mom seemed determined to mess that up. Annette felt her anger rising again.
"'Cause YOU're never at fault, are you, mom?" she snapped back. "Seems to me like you're already sorted, and getting pretty comfortable too." she added with a very pointed glance at Cash.
She knew that this wasn't helping, but she could only watch so much conflict between her parents without choosing a side. And they'd blown past that line a mile back. Deliberately, she took her position at Tramp's side.

"What's going on here?" Collette had stumbled across the fight while looking for that Rebecca girl. She had seemed friendly and Collette HOPED that they could eventually be friends. Then she found her "Family" fighting......again. She threw a glare at her sister. "Maybe Mom just wants to be HAPPY! Is that wrong?"

Annette was just being selfish. And even though She HATED taking sides in this fight, she was NOT going to leave her mother alone. Walking over she stood between Lady and Cash. She liked Mr. Cash. She wanted to keep him around a bit.