Needing a Good Cry

(The 6th of October; open to Dixie and Copper but Roscoe can come in later.)

Dixie's head was at its lowest it had been since Cash first left her. She was sniffled, curling her slender golden paw to wipe back tears of anguish. Tears of defeat. Tears of absolute Southern fried pain. She let out a choke. Her shoulders were hunched, her head between the blades. Her chocolate eyes were closed tightly. What had she done to deserve this?

She was a diva, that was a fact. But she hadn't done anything to deserve Cash threatening her. Cash turning into a monster and almost ripping her and her pack apart. Her feet were firmly planted. She wasn't moving anytime soon.

Her pups were sleeping in the den as the twilight hours had painted over the Outlands. Enzo'd refused to go to bed until his Mother explained why Cash was so mean. She'd had to endure Umeme's grumbling and snarling at the fact she was worried (for Sasha, not for herself) that Cash would take Dixie away. She assured the ebony pup she wasn't going anywhere.

It was one of those nights where she missed the hell out of Rita. Rita, the confident beautiful saluki who'd been the closest thing to a friend she'd had in forever. She missed her with all of her heart and soul. She'd know what to do; she'd encountered the same thing with her old love. Maybe Rita had a point. Maybe this war wasn't worth keeping pups in.

She breathed out, chest fluffing as she sighed and sniffled. "Shoot, "she huffed, "Dixie ol' girl, you got yerself into a right pickle of a situation here. Why yer as low as a hog at breakfast time."

Despite the night had rolled in, and most of Outlands residents were soundly sleeping. But there were a few who were still up, there were some that stayed up during the night, but there was one who couldn't find sleep. Whether it was from the pain in his side or his rasing mind that kept him up, or both, the hound wasn't sure. Either way he knew he would be finding any sleep this night. He felt very tired and his shoulder stung.

The battle from two days prior hadn't been an easy one for him to walk back. The wounds he'd sustained there had prevented him from getting back to the Outlands for hours and even then once he'd gotten there he'd had hardly any sleep. It was hard to with aguring going on around you. Still, there was last night, though even then Copper had gotten very little sleep, though that was for the same reason as it was now.

With a hiss the hound slowly pulled himself to his paws. The wound in his side screamed with protest but the dog ignored the pain and continued anyway. A cool drink would help clear his mind, it always had when he was younger back on the farm. Cream colored paws treaded lightly as Copper slowly made his way toward the river. As he walked something caught his attention, looking up to make sure he had seen currently he saw that he had. That golden fur was unmistakable even in this dark light.

Copper chanced his course and walked toward the hunched female, his expression soft as he came to a stop at her side. "Dixie? Is everythin' alright?" He asked his ears perking as the sound of a snuffle reached them. She was crying. Copper had to hold back a growl, he'd have to find out who was responsable and make them pay, but for now calming Dixie seemed more important. "What happened, Dixie? Ya know you can tell me." Copper lowered himself into a sit, and craned his neck to try and look her in the eye.

Female lifted her head, ears swinging to the side as she faced the hound dog. She didn't even give him a smile. She just lifted her eyes. "Oh, hey Copper," she huffed, "Ah'm just annoyed. Sad. Sumthin'."

She gave a sigh. "Copper," she said, "Ah don't know what ah'm doin' here anymore. Ah think that when Cash showed back up, ah don't know what to do." Her voice cracked with sadness.

She pressed her fluff against Copper's shoulder. "Copper...if...you knew yer Mother an' father...ah mean you may have but...if everything was bad would you be happier they'd have given ya up? Ah mean...fer a better life ya know...?"

Copper couldn't help the worried look that frowned across his face. He couldn't understand it, ever since they'd spent that night talking about a few weeks ago. Copper had found himself growing closer to the Diva dog, and now he hated seeing her hurt. It made him hate Cash for making her feel this way.

"Dixie, I..." He didn't get to finish as she spoke again, asking him a very odd question. He at first didn't know how to answer, it really didn't seem like something he could answer. Copper hadn't ever met his father and had only known his mother for a very brief time, as soon as he had been weaned he'd been sold to Amos.

"Well, I can say this I suppose. I'm happy for the life I got, but had I stayed with my mother and things turned rough. I would have wanted to stay with her to help her through whatever was wrong." It was the best answer the hound could think of to say. He only hoped it was the answer she'd been looking for.

Dixie breathed in deeply, head lifted, lips parted. Her tongue glided over her teeth as she considered what he had said. She'd considered that, considered that she should stick it out with her pups. "Sometimes, hon," she whispered, "Sometimes, it's just easier to run away. Or just give up." She shook her head.

"Ah guess you could have guessed I'm talkin' 'bout the girls and Enzo," she sighed, "Rita went home. Rita sent home her pups. Sometimes ah think it'd be better fer them to just go off."

She waved away. "Roscoe he..." She swallowed nervously. "He's a good provider, he's wonderful but he ain't...too...he wants our kids ta fight. And as loyal as ah am ta Scar..."

She laughed. "Ah'm sorry, hon, talkin' too much."

Copper gave his head a light shake. "Nah, your not talkin' to much." Truth be told, Copper liked to hear Dixie talk, it didn't matter the current situation, he just loved her voice. He did have to agree though, sometimes it maybe easier to give up, or just let go, but at the same time it meant giving everything you have away and possibly never seeing it again.

Copper's eyes lowered to his paws as he thought of what he could say to her, he could just come out with his thoughts but he was afraid they's hurt her more then help her. So in the end he just decided to stay quiet on that matter. Instead he decided to ask her a question of his own.

"What brought this on, Dixie?" He asked as he finally turned his eyes back to her, he could guess one reason she'd be this way, but what did he have to do with her pups? "Why do you think the pups would be better off somewhere else? I mean I know fighting is no place for kids but why would you want them to live out their lives on their own?" Without meaning to he'd voiced his thoughts anyway, he could just hope they didn't do more damage then good.

"Because, ah can't...ah can't protect'em..."

Dixie had a tear roll down her muzzle as she thought about what Copper had said. Copper's mother had given him up, though Amos Slade most likely bought Copper from someone, and he'd turned out just fine. But she wasn't sure her pups would be alright in the end if she gave them away. Or even if she left them in the war.

"Roscoe's a slob." She felt she could really lay out what she felt in front of Copper. "He's a lovin' Dad, a good provider and he loves me more'n a pig loves feedin' time on the farm. But ah just..." She closed her eyes before turning her honey brown eyes on Copper.

"Ah just can't bring myself to love'm completely." She closed her orbs again before placing a paw on Copper's paw. "An' the kids don't deserve this, you know that. Ah mean what do ah do?"

Brown eyes lowered to cream paws as the hound let out a soft sigh. He didn't know what she could do, he'd never been in her shoes so there was nothing he believed he could say that would help her. On one hand she could give the pups up, which Copper would hate for two reasons, but possibly give them a much better life then they'd have here, or she could keep them with her and watch them grow up in a war where they'd most likely one day be killed for army they were born to.

The better option was clear as day. Still, Copper couldn't make that decision for her. Hell, he could even offer her advice that might make her lean toward one or the other. Truth be told, Copper loved those pups. He almost disliked the fact they referred to him as 'Uncle Copper', but he'd take what he could get as long as it meant being close to both them and their mother he could put up with it.

Dixie's next words shocked him and he turned his head to look at her as she spoke. Copper could agree one hundred present with what she was saying, Roscoe was beyond a slob as from as the hound was concerned. He nodded his head to her as she continued, her last words unintentionally sparking a light of hope in the hunting dog's heart.

The mood then changed back to it's original state and she placed her paw over his. Copper let a soft sigh out through his nose and despite himself lowered his head to lick her cheek, washing away salty trails as he done so. "Dixie, I can't tell ya what you should or could be doin', but I will say this. Do what ya thinks best for the pups, and if that just happens ta be sending them away for a possibly better life away from here, then I'll be here for ya if it comes to it."

His breath and voice were hot on Dixie's ear as he spoke slow and soft. These were words of comfort, something she hadn't heard for a long while. Roscoe offered words of vengeance. There was no comfort when Lightning killed her pups, just vengeance. While fine with her to see the little piglet's blood spilled on the ground, Dixie could have used a southern drawl of slow words to make her stop shrieking. She was staring at the sand as he spoke and as his tongue folded against her golden fur. She looked up slightly, just rolling her orbs upwards at the dog. Sending her pups away would break her heart. But Rita had done it. Rita'd brought her babies back home to New York. Maybe she needed to do the same. Maybe her person, the leader of the strays, could adopt them and turn Enzo and Sasha into little singers, leaving the tone deaf Umeme to be his watch dog. Happy thoughts which wouldn't happen. Roscoe would never have it.

"I just...don't want 'em to die..."

Her voice faltered off as she let out a choke of a sob. She buried her head into Copper's creme colored chest, cheek pressed against his heart as she cried softly. Comfort. It was what she'd been looking for and there she was finding it pressed against Copper. The top of her head nuzzled under his chin, the affectionate gesture was one she'd only offered to Cash. Everything with Roscoe had been raw, sexual, devoted, sloppy. This was graceful and loving, grace being a friend who's arms Dixie was happy to fall back into.

Copper pulled his ears back as he looked into her eyes, so sad, so alone. He found himself hating that look and wishing there were some way for him to make it disappear from her beautiful face. It didn't suit her. Hell none of it did, but he couldn't change the fact that she'd joined the war. Couldn't change the fact that she was having to make a decision that she should have to make. Couldn't change the fact that he couldn't help her make that decision, and he hated that fact.

"I know, Dixie. I know." His voice was soft and carried an undertone of something he couldn't openly show to her, no matter how much he wished that he could. He rested his head against hers and silently whispered words of comfort he couldn't give into her ear. For now at least, just being able to be this close to her was enough for the Bloodhound mix. It was enough that Roscoe was more or less none existed in this little world they'd created for the moment. It was enough that he could hold her close this one time.

Copper closed his eyes as he imagined that this moment could of been under different circumstances. In a different world where Dixie's pups weren't Roscoe's, and where he wasn't their 'uncle'. Despite his dreams the hound knew this couldn't be true and that it possibly never would. But, at least for the moment, the two of them were all that were in his world.

The large Doberman mix's eyes were aglow from the moonlight as he moved through the barren dust filled land toward the river. However as he wasn't planning on getting a drink, no, Buster was planning on leaving. He'd not slept the whole night. Not knowing that she was in that hole, most likely hurt. No Buster couldn't take being in the same area as the rest of the Outlanders, much less in the same land.

So as brown paws moved across the dry earth, small clouds of dust being flung up as he went, Buster didn't plan on stopping. That is, until he cause a glimpse golden fur. Normally Buster wouldn't think twice about walking right past that stuck up female and her attitude, but it wasn't just her. Slowing his pace until he came to a complete stop next to a termite mound, Buster couldn't help the smirk that worked it's way onto his muzzle.

"Hahaha, Beautiful."

It was Dixie alright, and she was getting cozy with someone who was obviously not Roscoe. He watched the two for a moment as the hound he'd come to know was named Copper lowered his head against Dixie. As he watched an idea came into the Doberman's head, he could use this. That prissy female needed to be brought down a peg or two, and this was just the need Buster needed in order to do it. He could use this, and that was just what he'd do.

With that thought in mind, Buster turned away from the two and continued to the river. He wouldn't be leaving just yet, there was still some fun to be had here it seemed.