timidly, trying to get a look at the other to see what he looked like.
Well, this was unexpected. Usually whomever the wolf threatened would just not answer him at all or just tell them their name and never speak again. Was something wrong with this wolf? Or was it just not that bothered by his words? "I'm Aramis." he started saying in a tolerable tone of voice. Aramis then shook his head. "And don't you forget it!" Aramis pouted, facing the other side of his cage, not that it mattered; he couldn't see the other wolf anyway. "So what kind of sickness do you have? I won't pick on ill ones." He spat.
Ill? Yes, he had been ill for a while hadn't he...? "I'm not 'ill' anymore, but because I'm so small, I couldn't get any food. They say I'm a runt." What did it mean, being a runt? All he knew of it was that he was smaller and not as strong as the other pups at the reserve. "They took me away from them and brought me here...I get my own food now, but I'm lonely..." His ears drooped. This wolf would not want to be his friend, judging by his behavior and tone of voice. Sighing, Dartanion just laid down, with his head on his paws.
A runt, huh? Aramis never met a runt before. At least, not a live one. When he was born in the wild, his mother said that his younger sister died, and all of the other ones he knew about died too. But Dartanion said he wasn't ill. So why was he here? "Am I... the only sick one here?" Aramis thought out loud. Everyone else here seemed to be so healthy. He even heard all of them were going home soon... Wasn't he going home too? He didn't want to be here anymore. He had no reason to be here as far as Aramis was concerned. Just then Dartanion asked Aramis how he was sick, but his only reply was, "Nothing! Just leave me alone! You're probably gonna go away too! So there's no point in asking questions!" Aramis growled to himself, resting his own head on his arm.
Dartanion shrank back a bit again at the words from the other, said in such a tone. "I'm sorry, I was just asking..." No need to be so mean. Figuring this wolf really just wanted nothing to do with him, much to the pup's sadness once more, he shrank back to the shadows of his enclosement and curled up. Would he ever make friends? If he remained back here, probably not. Why did this have to happen to him? He hadn't asked to be a runt..! Tears welled up in the young wolf's eyes. Shutting them, they rolled down his cheeks to moisten the floor below him.
The next day, Aramis was actually feeling guilty about being mean to Dartanion, who he hadn't even seen before. Why the sudden change of heart? No body treated him nicely before, so why should he be nice to anyone? But Dartanion didn't say anything... he figured it'd be best to apologize. "Um...Dartanion? Um...I'm...er...sorry...about yesterday." There wasn't an answer, so Aramis figured he wasn't even in the cage next to him anymore. He sighed and lay down. Great. The one chance he decides to be nice to someone and they're gone.
The pup hadn't left, as the other thought, but was just asleep still, having had a fitful rest due to his loneliness. At the voice, Dartanion had stirred, ears perking a bit. It sounded like that wolf Aramis that was across from him? Why was the wolf talking to him, and so...nicely? Yesterday the other wanted nothing to do with him basically. Not getting up, the pup wondered if he should reply? This might be his only chance at getting on Aramis' good side. "I'm sorry for bothering you...I just..." he stopped a moment as his voice broke. "I just wanted a friend. Nobody likes me back here..." Did he dare hope now?
Aramis could definitely relate, that's for sure. He was always kept back here because he never got along with the other wolves. He smelled different than the other wolves because unlike them, he was brought in from the wild and had to stay there because something was wrong with him. "Yeah, I know whatcha mean..." Aramis replied, kinder, scratching his ear in a clumsy way.
Dartanion blinked. Aramis knew? Understood? This would be a first. He had thought he was basically alone. Tentatively, the younger wolf got up, inching towards the front on the enclosement. "Really?" He didn't want to be nosy, but couldn't help but want to know how this wolf was like him, reaching out for someone who could understand him. He waited somewhat impatiently, but managed to keep quiet, hoping the other would tell him.
Aramis gave a thin smile. It felt good. He couldn't remember the last time he smiled. "Yeah, I--" Suddenly there was a sharp pain in the young wolf's head, and he cried out, throwing himself to the ground. An instant later, Aramis' eyes rolled to the back of his head and his body began to shake violently. He managed to slip out a soft, pitiful whine, but it seemed like forever until the humans came. They were exclaiming something to each other that Aramis could not make out, and they took his shaking form away and out of the back room, leaving poor Dartanion by himself.
Saying that what had just occurred scared Dartanion would be an understatement. He had gone completely wide-eyed at the sight of the other wolf falling over and shaking uncontrollably. He didn't know what to do, to think. The pup wanted to call for help, but the humans came in then and began to pull Aramis out. Panic rose in the younger wolf's heart. They were taking him away! The one that might have been his only chance at a friend?! "Aramis?!" He ran up to the front, trying to see what was happening, and where his friend was being taken. "Aramis!!" And he was alone again.
By the time Aramis woke up again, he was back in his cage with a slight headache. Compared to the one he last had, this one was nothing. The humans had taken care of him again, and each time he wished they didn't. He hated what happened to him. All of that shaking...It made him hurt. He closed his eyes, wanting to cry, but then when he heard a voice, the tears fell. The voice was concerned for him. The voice was Dartanion's, asking if he was alright. Aramis sat up as well as he could, a bit light headed. He didn't know how long he had been asleep, but as soon as he gathered himself some, he answered. "I'm okay now..." He groaned.
Dartanion had cried long after Aramis had been taken out, huddling back into a dark corner. He didn't stop until the other was brought back, much to the young one's surprise. Aramis was alive?! He had thought he worst when the wolf was taken out, not scrambling to the front of the cage to try and catch a glimpse at what was happening. Now at hearing the other speak that he was alright, it calmed him some but was still shaken by the experience, and sniffed back more tears. "I was scared...I thought you were gonna die...and I would be alone again..."
"You were scared for me?" Aramis asked, softly. "No one's ever been scared for me...except my mom...But she's gone." he said, poking his nose through one of the bars on the cages. A question instantly struck Aramis' thoughts. It was weird that he'd ask such a question to himself. He just met Dartanion yesterday and he didn't like him...but now..."Dartanion? When I was little, I had a little brother who died when he was born... do you think we could be brothers instead?" It sounded less silly when said aloud. They were both lonely and out of place and isolated. There must've been a reason they were brought together. Maybe being brothers was it.
"Brothers?" The thought seemed unimaginable to Dartanion at the time. He had never had family, and never knew them. "Really? I've never had anything like that...!" what if he was a bad brother and Aramis got mad again? Sticking his own nose and a paw through the cage bars, he tried to get a look at the other. But he sounded pleased, his tail wagging slightly in hope. The pup wished he could see the other better. "So what do brothers do?"
Aramis hasn't really thought about that. Said question actually made him feel pretty stupid for even suggesting it. He exclaimed without thinking, "I-I don't know! What brothers do I guess!" He looked away out of embarrassment.
The pup thought about it. Well brothers meant family right? "I wish we could see each other." He whined a bit, moving across the bars though it didn't help. Finally he plopped back down to sit. "Um...so..." awkward silence. "What happened to your leg?" He hoped it wasn't a bad question, but Dartanion couldn't help but be curious, being young.
Aramis looked at the lump that once had a leg attached to it. It still had stitches in it, which felt strange and scratchy whenever he put his nose on them. He looked at the empty space mournfully. "Some strange wolf bit my leg a long time ago when I got separated from my mom... and the wound wouldn't heal... It just kept hurting, and my skin was changing colors. It was then the humans found me... They cut off my leg. Once I was feeling better, they wouldn't let me go. So I had to stay here." Aramis sounded really sad about his leg. Sometimes he could still feel like it was still a part of him, but every time he'd look, it wasn't there. He managed just fine without it, but it was still hard sometimes.
Dartanion's ears drooped, picking up the sadness in the other's voice. "Oh. Did it hurt? When they took away your leg? Does it still hurt?" He couldn't imagine how Aramis felt about it, or what it was like to have three legs. The younger wolf was still too young. When Aramis didn't answer for a while, the pup whined, hoping the other wasn't angry with him again.
Aramis had to think for a while. He didn't remember much of it anymore, so he
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