A New Dawn

[Redd]

Location: Nal Hutta
Form: Red Wolf
Tags: [member="Scherezade deWinter"]


Paws softly padded around the edges of her cage, around and around the box edges of the cage. Pacing every inch of the cage as she went, energy depleted mostly, even when she was sedated, it was never enough. Sleep didn’t come easily for Redd anymore, as dreams of forest greens and a pack of wolves howling in pain woke her up something shocking. The yelps and snarls had haunted her for many years and so sleep deprivation wasn’t uncommon for the wolf, but no matter how hard she had tried to push the memories far from her mind, they would always come back in her sleep, reminding her of something which she had lost. Something which she had barely begun to experience.

Deep within she longed to roam free, free without bars blocking her way. Greenery that called to her to traverse once more. To run free and feel the breeze of tree caressing through her red fur. To feel some semblance of peace and serenity, to feel something other than the need to survive, to fight against her captors. Years after years she had done so; fighting, snarling, biting and she had even managed to bite her captors as few times. However, with their tricks and weaponry, she had fallen time and time again. It was almost as if she was doomed to fail and it made the wolf angry, angry in ways that she could literally kill someone. Fight, that’s all that she could do, was fight with every waking breath. Although, the wolf was tired, tired of the daily fighting, tired and occasionally weak from lack of sleep.

How many years had passed? How many years had she been fighting for? The questions plagued her mind as the wolf slowly curled up into the back corner of the cage, while golden eyes watched the locked door to it. She was tired and simply wanted rest, to rest without ghosts haunting her sleeping mind, or reminding her waking one of what was no longer an option. Footsteps could be heard outside of the door, the door which led to the room and the dark cage where she was kept. An ear pricked forwards as she listened to the voice of one of her captors talk about needing more meat just before the click of a lock indicated that the man was opening the door. A growl rumbled deep within as she rose up from her position upon the ground.

The red wolf was five feet long and would normally be around 150lbs, however, due to her captives deciding that it was better to keep her half weak, she was fed less than she needed and so only weighed 132lbs. She smelled rather than saw the red meat that was being brought in and although she wanted to refuse the food, survival instincts made sure that she ate, for there would likely be more dogs fights in her future. More teeth being bared at her. More claws threatening to take out one of her golden eyes and more whips that threatened more pain if she didn’t do as she was instructed. Hate for the two-legged species burned deep within and a snarl was issued as the man opened the door and crept towards the cage. A stick was held in one of his hands while a silver dish with the meat in the other. “Behave,” the man commanded as he knelt down and brown eyes peered into the cage.

Golden eyes glanced down at the rod he held and her ears pressed back against her skull in warning as she moved to keep as far away from the man as possible.

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

"Remember Baal, you're an ak-tor now, you need to behave like I tell you to, or we'll get caught too soon," Madalena whispered softly into the ear of her Loth Wolf pup, her hands petting hi fur to assure him that he was perfectly safe with her. It was the first time the Sithling had taken him with her on a mission, and she was probably just as nervous as he was. Was it even moral, to take a wolf puppy with her to something like this? The answer was probably no, but she needed him to show that she was someone not to be messed with when she met the slavers.

Slavers. Someone within the CIS had actually thought slavery was bad by default and the entire factions seemed to be entirely against it, comfortably ignoring that many world under the Confederacy's domain treated their citizens more or less the same, despite whatever this or other Vice-dude was sitting on a comfortable cushion and claimed to be running it. From what she'd gotten to see so far, most planets more or less ruled themselves, the effect of the person being placed in charge of them having little to no effect. Still, it was not her headache. What was her headache was this mission.

A slaver by name of Bo Gabbart had arrived on Nal Hutta and intended on making it into CIS space with sentient cargo. Madalena's job was to intercept him before he got there, take him out, and "liberate" his inventory. She also had to be careful about it, since it was very likely that the cargo would go kaboom if she did something wrong.

So here she was now, dressed as a fancy lady all covered in furs, on a planet that was much too warm for this, walking around with a Loth Wolf. Beneath her furs though, she was heavily armed, with enough knives to make sushi for twelve, two lightsabers, a gun, and a few detonators. She was a walking armory and she grinned at the fact that only she and Baal were aware of that.

One inside the compound, every sense Madalena possessed went out to reach and see what else was there. She counted the number of people walking around, the number of caged sentient, the animals, the stink of it all… Seriously, for someone who's money depended on selling flesh, one would ave thought he'd take better care of them all.

Walking directly to the area where three men had set up a crate to be used as a table, Madalena flung a bunch of credits their way and flashed them a sultry smile. "Heya boys," she purred, "I'm here to meet with the big boss. He's sellin' what I'm buyin'." Baal, ever so lovingly listening to her instructed, gave them a snarl.


[member="Redd"]

 

[Redd]

Keys rattled as they were inserted into the lock and the wolf looked back over the man’s shoulder noting that the door had been left open. A recruit perhaps? A newbie? Or were they stupid enough to think that after all these years, she wouldn’t attempt anything? That the threat of electricity would simply keep her at bay? Lowering her form she watched and waited as the lock clicked to signify that the door was unlocked and it swung open. Being that the man had to put the bowl to the side to do this, the idiot turned slightly to grab the bowl and Redd took her chance. A feral snarl was pulled from the animal as she lunged forwards and using her large size shoved the man off balance and back into the floor. A surprised cry parted his lips as he scrambled to get the stick that he had lost in the process.

Paws pressed into the floor and propelled her form forwards to break free of the cage and the man who had been briefly stunned by her actions. The wolf shoved through the opened door and down a corridor. She was free of her cage and room! It had been the first time that she’d even managed to get this far and paws thudded against the floor as she darted down a single corridor. “The wolf is free!” The man screamed as an alarm sounded off all around her which made her ears press back. No, she didn't want to go back into that cage, she wanted freedom and it had taken this long to get this far. Pausing, she looked left and then right before darting through into an open room filled with more cages, cages that held other dogs, dogs that were smaller in size.

Another growl emitted as the dogs began barking at her and she turned to spy another door that had been left partially opened and the wolf shoved her form into the door to push it open enough to let her through. “Redd has escaped!” More voices spilled after her and the slight taste of freedom was quickly beginning to turn sour inside her mouth. Where was she? What was this place? Where was the exit? She asked herself as she pushed through the door and onto some street with more cages. Smells filled and overwhelmed her nose as sounds that she didn’t recognise reached for her. “Get her!” Came a familiar voice, the voice that had held her captive all these years and as she turned, there he was. The green eyes and sandy blonde hair was all too familiar and she bared her teeth at him. “Did you really think that you could get away?” He taunted.

Did she? Yes, she did. At least she was determined to, but it was the smirk that threw her off, a smirk that had her head angling to the side. That was until the sound of electricity reached her ears and she was too slow to dodge the charge that forced a yelp from her and her body went crashing to the ground. Although not quite out of it, the charge had left her in a slight daze which gave the slaver more than enough time to slide a custom made muzzle over her maw. “You idiots, how many times do I have to warn you about this one?” The blonde haired man lectured as she tried to shake free of the men that were now wrestling to drag her large form back inside. “Sorry sir, I forgot to close the door behind m-” A slap echoed inside her mind as she could only assume that the blonde man had hit one of his workers. Paws tried to get back under her as she growled softly. Fight! Was the only word that was present in her mind and it was the only one that she knew, but as she tried to break free; even with a muzzle on, she was still a little half dazed and out of it.

“Quickly, get her back before she recovers,” The blonde man instructed as golden eyes locked onto the man. A man she had once bitten before and she cursed the day that the likes of him had decimated her pack which had left her pack haunting her dreams and memories.

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Madalena had been busy flirting with the two goons while Baal looked around, ever snarling. Her little ball of fluff was going to get all the cuddles later for doing such a good job. The Sithling noticed the noises from afar the moment they began, but she knew that as a buyer, there was nothing she could do about it without blowing her cover. Not yet, anyway.

Sending Baal a small tug through the Force, her pup knew immediately to play bigger. The snarls turned into barks, drool pooling in the corners of his mouth. He looked like a killer. Madalena just wanted to hug the crap out of him.

“How about we hurry this up, boys?” she asked the goons, giving them a charming smile, “don’t know how long I can keep the doggo calm. Few more minutes and it’ll be human meat he’s cravin’, and he don’t care too much about which humans he gets to nom.”

Madalena had been planning on goading them in just a little more, when the scent caught in her nose. With nothing to sever her connection from the Force, Madalena was a blood hound, who could sense species and bloodlines through the Force, by the blood. Any interest she had in getting the human cattle out vanished entirely the moment she caught the scent, and Baal silenced himself immediately as well, noting that something had changed.

Both hands rose into the air, carrying the goons through it as well, slamming them hard enough against each other with the Force, heads hitting, bodies dropping, and Madalena was power walking into the building, Baal at her heel. She was not going to ignore the scent, not now, not in a million years. Later, later she would sit down and try to think about the whats and the whys, but now she just wanted whoever it was that was the owner of the scent.

It didn’t take her too long to reach the part of the building where two men were trying to gain control of… A muzzled wolf?

Madalena blinked, confused. The men, focusing on the wolf, had not noticed her. One of her knives slid into her hands and flew into the eye socket of the one whose face was pointed at her, going directly though the squishy eye, hitting the brain. He fell down before he knew what even hit him.

The second one, she wanted alive. Grabbing him by the neck with the Force, Madalena lifted him.

“I’m not here to hurt you,” the Sithling said softly, her glowing eyes focusing on the ginger wolf.

[member="Redd"]

 

[Redd]

Snarls had her fangs bared and although it was futile, she struggled against those that held onto her. This man, whoever he was, was not her friend, but if it wasn’t that suddenly the man upon her disappeared off of her with a thud she probably would have recognised the situation sooner. With no one wrestling with her or holding her down, the wolf slowly dragged her paws back under her and rose to stand up although the wolf was still a little dazed as to what had happened. Looking back over her shoulder she noted the dead man with a dagger sticking out of his eye and alarm bells began ringing inside her mind. Growls returned only to be halted as she noted the blonde man dangling from the air, which made no sense to Redd, none at all.

The man seemed to be scrabbling at some invisible force around his throat and an ear pricked his way just as she heard the voice of a woman. Ears flickered back against her skull against while the growls returned and she lowered her head in warning. Who was this woman? The wolf asked herself as golden eyes noted the glowing eyes and the purple furs that covered the strange woman's body. Slowly she began to take a step back, just as she remembered the muzzle. The wolf couldn’t bite if the female who claimed to not be here to hurt her, did try to attack. A whine suddenly broke through as she dropped her head so then her large paws could paw at the muzzle that covered her powerful jaws.

Strangled laughter escaped the blonde man as he wheezed, “I wouldn’t let her get that off if I was you, she is far too feral to be your pet. She aims to kill. So you better kill her before she kills you.” Pain was all that the wolf knew, fighting was all that Redd knew. It had followed her throughout her whole life since she had been but a pup, but she had only fought for her freedom and had only killed when she had to defend herself. This man, however, had held her captive and she wanted to rip his throat out. The red wolf abandoned her efforts to get the damned muzzle off and lunged towards the wheezing man as muzzled jaws attempted and failed to close around his ankle to pull his floating form from the air so then she could savage him.

A growl of frustration clawed its way up as she laid down once more to claw at the cage around her jaws. She was trapped and it frustrated her once more, how and where this infernal thing came from, made sure that she couldn't clench down upon someone’s throat and tear it out. Paws on either side of the thing clawed at the muzzle but to no avail. That was until she scented a wolf, not quite like her, but a wolf and her attention snapped to the pup who seemed rather at ease beside the woman dressed in fur. Finally, Redd didn’t focus upon the muzzle but the situation at hand and she angled her head to the right in confusion. Golden eyes paid close attention to the woman as panic began to settle and noted how there was a lack of pain. Who was this woman? The wolf no longer felt the need to listen to the fight or flight instinct, the one instinct that had kept her alive all this time, as it seemed as if there was something different about this woman.

“Dumb wolf,” The man wheezed as Redd slowly eased herself down to the ground, but held her position which was a slight distance from the woman, just in case it was some kind of trick. She wanted room to bolt if need be and she needed to conserve her energy for the moment, there was no need to exert it while trying to get something which wasn’t coming off, off. That blonde man wasn’t going anywhere for the moment anyway, he seemed content to just… Float for the moment.

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

The wolf whined, and Madalena looked at her with sympathy. She knew by now that this was no wolf of any kind, and knew exactly what lay hidden behind the fur and the paws. Sin did not begin to describe how the Sithling felt about a creature such as this being locked up like some vermin-like animal. She didn't have an exact list of what was done to her, but it didn't exactly take a genius to guess that it was violent, and repetitive.

"She is not a pet, you stupid bantha-humper," the Sithling growled at the man, tightening her grip on his neck. But yes, she could almost taste the need to kill. Was it part of her personality, Madalena wondered, or the effect of being the man's slave?

The ginger wolf tried to pull him down, but no, not yet. They would do that soon enough.

"I'm not going to hurt you," she said again to the wolf, going down on a knee close to her, "I know you can understand my words. I want to get this muzzle off of you. I need you to calm down and let me do it, and once it's off, I will take three steps back. Is that okay with you?"

The strangled man let a little scream out, and Madalena turned around, seeing Baal with his jaw clamped around an ankle. "Baal! No! This is not your kill!"

The Loth wolf turned around, and came to sit by Madalena, his eyes peering curiously at the ginger wolf. Madalena herself turned to the ginger wolf again.

"And once we have this muzzle off, I will hold that man down while you do whatever it is you want with him. You're safe."

[member="Redd"]

 

[Redd]

Maybe it was because of the after effects of the taser or perhaps it was the lack of sleep that had her hackles up. Or maybe it wasn’t that at all, maybe it was because she was hungry and could feel her empty stomach grumbling that made her want to rip flesh from bones. To sink her pearly whites into flesh and to taste the blood, red copper upon her tongue. Murder would be something that others would see it as, she would see it as survival of the strongest and she had been fighting for years. Fighting for her life, fighting to forget the pain of losing the love ones that she couldn’t protect. Even with this woman before her talking about pets and that Redd wasn’t one, she could still hear the distant howls of pain. Howls of the lost. Howls of grief. Her own howls of mourning. She had only been young, just barely learnt to shift herself. The slaughter had been her personal hell and she had been killing to escape it, to run from the pain, to bury the pain in the kill, but she still felt it and it angered her.

An ear flickered forwards when the woman mentioned that she knew that Redd could understand her. The floating man who was severely struggling to breath also knew that she could understand them, but the rest didn’t. The wolf was just a wolf, a beast they had called her and she rose up onto her paws as the woman drew close. That was until screams of pain reached her ears and a snarl tore through her as something else was trying to take her kill. He was hers and she would kill for that right. Golden eyes watched was the woman barked orders at the pup, a pup who seemed tame enough to follow the orders according to the woman’s will. Did the woman also expect that the red wolf would also follow her orders? “Y-You’re a….. a… a… Fool!” He spat out in between gasps for air.

Hold him down? No, she would drag him off to eat him. He probably wouldn’t taste as good as a goat or a deer, but it was better than nothing right now. However, the muzzle was still in place and the woman wanted to take it off. The question was, did she let her get close enough to take it off, or did she just keep her distance? That would mean that she probably wouldn’t get the muzzle off and surviving with a muzzle on would be almost impossible. Thoughts flooded her mind as the wolf tried to figure out what to do. She could trust the woman as far as the muzzle potentially went, but afterwards? What did she want for her freedom? Did she want another wolf as her slave? To fight for her and do her bidding? No, she was tired of doing what other people wanted. To eat, she had to fight. To survive she had to fight and it seemed like the trend would continue but with a twist.

A twist that would ensure that she would survive, but she had to find some semblance of trust to trust the woman as far as to remove the muzzle, after that, she couldn’t be certain. Redd had never trusted a soul after the massacre. Never found comfort in anything except for the assurance that she could trust her own instincts and something inside was telling her caution and caution was not to be taken lightly. After a moment of eyeing off both the pup and the woman, she finally decided to take a step towards this stranger. Another one took her close enough to the woman, which was too close for comfort and she growled low in warning just as both ears flickered back to press against her skull. Redd may have been muzzled, but she still had claws and she’d used them if she had to. Finally, after another pause, she stretched her head out so then fur brushed against the woman’s fingers. The wolf would have her revenge.


[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

​

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

A sense of relief washed over Madalena as the wolf came to her, allowed her to touch her. Her fingers delicately brushed against the fur for a moment, the wonderful softness that she knew lay beneath the dirt and muck of her having been so mistreated sending out hints of what was yet to be revealed. The Sithling smiled as she gently moved to remove the device from the wolf's face, letting it drop to the ground without ceremony.

Baal stood by the two, watching intently with his green eyes. The curiosity was easy to read on his own wolfish face, though what he and the wolf female shared was actually much less than the eyes would deceive.

Madalena moved her left hand, and the man she had been holding in the air was suddenly brought to the ground, the satisfying crunchy sound of his hip bone breaking sounding as he was flattened against it. Baal made moves towards him, but a single glance from Madalena was enough to keep him where he was. The wolf female had been promised that the kill was hers, and so it would be.

"He is yours, as promised," she said as she released her hold on the man. He could try to fight. He could try to crawl away. If the wolf female decided to let him be, Madalena would just snap his neck and kill him herself. Either way, he was not going to come out of this alive.

[member="Redd"]

 

[Redd]

Golden eyes closed as the woman’s fingers seemed to linger along her fur for a moment and Redd had to lock her muscles so then she wouldn’t pull away from the touch itself. Did the woman expect that she would suddenly become a pet wolf to her after all of this, simply because she helped her? What the wolf did know, was that she was going to avoid every single possible outcome that involved serving another person unless she was able to come and go as she pleased. However, while watching the woman interact with the pup, she felt uneasy. Help was something that had never been something that had been offered before. Tricks she was used to, but this she sensed was supposed to be help… But at what cost? Redd assume that there would be a cost, there always was. To eat, she had to fight, even it it meant feeling claws and teeth sink into her skin, just so she could fill her stomach.

A soft growl worked its way up along her throat as she slowly took a couple of steps away from the woman once the muzzle was gone, but still her golden eyes watched her with caution. “Y-Y-You’re an idiot. Redd doesn’t know anything except death.” The slaver spluttered out as he began to crawl backwards using his hands while trying to avoid screaming in pain. “That wolf hasn’t known anything but violence her entire life, since the Sith wiped out her pack when she was a pup. You need me to control her.” He said as he tried to bargain with the woman and her pup, for his life. Pack… The word sent echoes of memories flashing to the forefront of her mind, memories that haunted her knowledge and she forgot all about the caution that had her worried about what this woman and her pup wanted.

Peeling back her top lip as she spun to begin her advance upon the male who was desperately trying to crawl backwards, Redd snarled. She couldn’t deny most of what he had said, violence was all that she did know. Bringing death was how she lived and it seemed that trend would continue as paws stalked her prey. Finally as her paws brought her up beside the man who had held her captive, she glared down at him as her head lowered so then he could see the intent clearly written within her golden eyes. No mercy would be given. She would have her freedom and with gleaming white teeth, she lunged forwards while they sank into the man’s throat.

Gurgled screams had blood rushing up into the man’s mouth and it dripped from his lips while she bit down harder still, all the while shaking her head to get the proper ripping grip. A paw had come down upon the man’s chest and it was her weight that pinned him upon the ground while his hands failed to grasp at dirt, grasped for life. Claws pierced flesh, but it was the final pull as she pulled her head back and ripped the man’s throat out that sealed his fate. Blood spurted from the opened blood while his heart pumped it’s last few slow beats. The red wolf, felt the bath of warm blood splatter across her chest as she held the chunk of flesh in her jaws. Blood slid down along her tongue, copper and sweet to her senses, but it was the heartbeat that she listened to. The beat that finally echoed it’s last note and the song of the man’s life died, only to leave behind nothing but silence and sense of complete freedom in its wake.

Thoughts pondered on simply swallowing the morsel, it was, after all, meat that could fill her hungry stomach, one that grumbled in a reminder. However, the meat might as well have been rotten meat and she wasn’t going to ingest it. Had it been someone else, the wolf couldn’t exactly promise anything. Covered in blood, she glanced back at the two and wondered just for a brief moment about what they saw when they looked at her. A fleeting thought that was soon buried but an animal’s instinct. The area wasn’t safe. Not safe. She had to run. Spitting out the rotten meat, paws spurred her forwards into a sprint. A sprint that would carry her away from the woman and towards the swamps of Nal Hutta.

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Madalena noticed the shift in uneasiness in the other Lupine, but she wasn't entirely sure what she had done to cause it. It hadn't been her intention at all, yet somehow commenting on it seemed like it would make things worse, so she just remained silent instead.

The man whose hip bone she had broken thought it would be a really smart idea to speak now, but all he could get from Madalena was a roll of both eyes. "A prisoner, is controlled," she said in a soft, almost purring voice, "a pet, is controlled. But Redd here is neither prisoner nor pet. She's not even a wolf. You had no idea what you'd been torturing all these years, do you?"

But she was not merely toying. The few details he'd given her – a Sith killed her pack, Redd had been a pup, violence was all she'd known – those details, she committed to memory. They would be important to remember as she did what she could to help the Lupine out.

If anyone had expected Madalena to jump back or be disgusted at what Redd did to the man, they would have been wrong. Deadly wrong. While Madalena herself was in no way a prisoner, and had known more than just violence, she was still that – a weapon, a blade, an instrument of death. She left a path of dead wherever she went. She was no stranger to it, though on this specific evening, she would admit that she found no joy in it. Only sorrow. Redd did not feel like a pup. She felt like a grown person. How much work would it take to make her feel normal? To make her realize she deserved to be treated well? To make her comprehend that violence was hers to control and not the other way around?

Baal set his head on Madalena's lap, nodding to her. He was probably thinking the same.

And yet after it was done, Redd took off. Madalena understood. Motioning for Baal not to break into a sprint after her, she guided them both in Redd's direction. But it was not pursuit.

"Alwine," Madalena said as she opened her comlink. [member="Alwine Lechner"] was a Lupine too. She would understand. "I'm on Nal Hutta. I found… I found another Lupine, and her blood smells nothing like yours. I just saved her from a dog fight boss of sorts, and she took off. I think you or one of your brothers would be better equipped to come and reach out to her. I'll keep an eye out until one of you get here."