><Sweet Home... Louisiana?><

[Goats and Velt]

There were no fences.

Nothing at all. Surrounding them was nothing but grass. Trees in the distances. The scent of mud and water intermingled behind them; as they crossed it, Lady had informed him that it was called a swamp. This made no difference to him, however. All that mattered was that there were no fences.

Velt's last memories were vague. He knew that he was taken out of the fences, by a man who was not the farmer. He knew the chain put around his neck was too tight and painful, that he was dragged despite his choked bellows. They approached a dark vehicle... And then he couldn't remember anything. Brief flashes of another vehicle, louder and filled with frightened goat bleats, and things stabbing him and rushing around. Then he woke up groggily to this vehicle being open and to be let out here.

He followed of course, and now he was confused, for the humans and their vehicle were gone, and they were alone without any fences to tell them where they could go. Eyes wide, Velt turned to Lady.

"Where do we go?"

"Wherever we want."

Perhaps most animals would have been exuberant, or perhaps indignant at such an obvious question. This grey-black goat was not. She didn't seem to be showing much emotion at all. Her face was slack, her attentiveness only shown through the flickering of her eyes and short ears. All senses were running -- and she didn't like what she sensed.

"Dogs?"

Bucky snorted, shooting a glare at his fellow LaMancha.

"Wolves."

Lady shuddered at the word, her first true sign of emotion. She didn't know much about wolves; she had been kept in a building stuck in a tight shed all of her life, after all. She was used to dogs, having heard their barks as they herded in all of the other goats, on display to show how where they lived was "free range". But wolves... Wolves she had heard howling on the long trip in the vehicle. Velt knew of wolves. Wolves sounded like devils.

Mr. Skittish hugged close to her at the word, trembling. Lady snorted at him and he jumped away, eyes wide with surprise. Lady didn't give him any further attention and simply plodded along. At last she found what she wanted: a pond. Fresh water.

"We'll stop here."

She wasn't sure when she had become leader, but all of the goats -- even Bucky -- obediently headed to the pond and stopped. Most of them drank, but even afterwards they hung around, some laying in the waters to cool off, some like Bucky hovering just at the edge of the clearing, nibbling on the grasses. Velt tried them as well, but frowned, ears drooping; they were not as good as the corn the humans gave him.

"Why aren't you eating?"

The cow looked up at Bucky, who stared at him like he was from another world. Velt's eyes flickered away; Bucky always made him nervous. The other goat was so intense, so... Not right. Granted, most of the goats weren't quite right, what with Mr. Skittish being, well, skittish, and Lady being unemotional. But Bucky? Bucky was simply insane.

He wasn't about to tell him that, though, nor why he didn't want the grass. He simply mumbled something about not being hungry and drank some water, staring at Lady out of the corner of his eye. She was watching him with a soft frown.

Had there not been goats on his farm, he would have thought all goats were this crazy.

[Faden]

He had no way to explain what was coming over him. No words that he knew could describe the powerful urge that was driving him forward, controlling his limbs against his will.

One minute, he was wandering and feeling sorry for himself, like every other day spent since his release into this god-forsaken land, and the next minute he was on his belly and creeping forward like...some sort of...animal.

There were creatures nearby, ones that he had never seen before but rang distant bells in the very back of his canine brain. They were minding their own business and, frankly, looked quite intimidating. But, inexplicably, he was still moving toward them. It was so against his personality, his fawning and rather feminine personality. For once in his life, his flowing coat and delicate feet were getting dirty as he snaked along and he didn't care! Sure, he would be horrified later, but for the time being...all that occupied his brain, was the completely overwhelming urge to...group those creatures together!

He needed to herd them!!

Darting forward from the grass suddenly, his eyes intent and feral with the sea of instinct driving him on. The little border collie bolted for the nearest herbivore, a smallish one with horns, and nipped at its ankles, attempting to chase it toward the others. And then, in a flash, he was racing around the outside edge of the tiny group, dodging forward at hooves and backsides, and away again any time one of those hooves or horns came his way.

And he was having the time of his life! Mouth open in a breathless grin as he ran, the young dog ran circles around the herbivores, for nothing other than the pure joy of it.

Never, in all the time spent in the hellish confines of the pet store, did he believe that he actually had a purpose out there somewhere...as useless and strange as it was.

- Meet Faden -

[Goats and Velt]

Velt noticed the stranger first. Having lived on a real farm before, he knew the smell of dog, particularly farm dogs -- they had this particular scent, off-putting and so providing apt warning for what was to come. The cow lifted his head, ears twitching, and scented the air. He then froze. Here? But there was nothing around... No humans, no farms, no fences...

It had to be some sort of sick joke, and he turned to question Lady about it. Before he could get a word in edge-wise, though, he saw the beast bolt out of the grasses... And blinked. It was puny. Not like the ones at the farm. Heck, it looked like it wouldn't even fit in-between his horns...

Then it nipped at Mr. Skittish's ankles and the goat let out a terrified bleat, kicking out impulsively and then fleeing. Except instead of fleeing toward them, like Velt sensed the dog wanted, he fled away. Lady's head snapped up and her eyes widened upon seeing this black beast charging at her. She threw her head at it, but it was gone before her horns even got close. Tossing her head, she backed toward Velt.

"What is that?!"

"A dog... Just stay near me. Don't move."

"Don't move!" Lady snorted and kicked at the dog as it came by again. It was perhaps the first time Velt had ever seen pure emotion come from her. "It wants to eat me!"

"No it doesn't. Though someone may want to tell Bucky that."

Indeed, upon seeing the intruder Bucky had charged, and was chasing the dog, tossing his head and kicking at random intervals. Lady looked frantically around for Mr. Skittish. Not that she personally cared for him, of course not, but they had all come from the same place, and so instinct told her to keep an eye on him.

And there he was -- a good distance away, but rather obvious due to his black and white coat and trembling. Lady called out to him.

"Come back!"

"Why? He wants to eat me!"

"No he doesn't!" Lady felt silly just saying it, and glanced at Velt. He nodded. "He just, um... He's just overly enthusiastic!"

Velt winced. Well, he supposed that was a way to put it. He bellowed at the dog as it came close to him, tossing his horns. Normally that had a decent effect on the smarter ones. The dumb ones, well, even goring them may not work.

Mr. Skittish pranced back and forth, tossing his head and snorting. Lady was clearly insane; she was hiding it by not showing emotion, he figured. He would just stay here, where it was safe. Let the others be eaten by the evil black demon.

Bucky, meanwhile, ignored any attempts at calling him over, determined to catch the damn dog and stomp it. How dare it attack him! Him! When there was a nice cow right there! Surely a cow was better for the dog than a goat!

Lady finally sighed and shook her head, face expressionless once more and not even bothering to kick at the dog. Instead she lowered her head and resumed grazing. Velt stared, tried to figure out if that was a smart idea, and promptly gave up. He was too busy tracking the dog to see if it actually demanded they go somewhere.

[Faden]

It was a good thing that the young border collie was fast.
He held his breath as he was charged by a mean old goat, and was nearly caught. His typical fear came back momentarily, and almost brought common sense back into his head...but as soon as he managed to pull away from the charging goat, it was gone again.

Laughing out loud, he continued to dodge and nip and generally harass the herbivores, until he realized that one was well out of the little group.

He needed to be with the others, and Faden was the one who was going to get him there.

Breaking away, he dashed in a wide arc toward Mr. Skittish, making his was far around behind the goat, before charging forward again, intending to run him toward the others. If the goat darted one way or the other, Faden fought to leap forward and snap menacingly beside him, to steer him the other way. All while keeping a careful eye out for the violent one of the herd.

It was tricky business, but Faden was consumed. He wouldn't stop until either they all ended up in a perfect group, or he dropped from exhaustion...and either could feasible happen very soon.

[Goats and Velt]

It seemed, oddly enough, that Velt was correct. Lady blinked and watched as the border collie left her and Velt alone and dodged Bucky's angry charge, only whirling around with a ridiculous laugh and snapping at Bucky in return. The goat snorted angrily and soon was participating in a spinning and kicking dance with the dog -- he kicked, it dodged and bit.

And then it vanished. Bucky snorted and kicked at it as it fled. Lady, sensing something wrong, watched as it ran, ran, ran...

"I told you." Velt frowned as the dog made a clear arc around Mr. Skittish, who was prancing in place, sensing something was going to happen but not quite able to figure out what it was. Lady just nodded, watching without any expression on her face.

And, predictably, the dog charged. Mr. Skittish let out a terrified bleat and -- to Velt's relief -- charged straight for them. Either he had finally figured it out, or his instincts had finally kicked it and informed him of safety in numbers. Lady thought nothing at all, simply watching the events with an almost bored expression. After all, the dog hadn't ripped any of them open. This whole chase and nip game was almost... Dull.

"Bucky, get over here."

Bucky froze in place, hornless head lowered and ready to strike, then glared in Velt's direction.

"Why? I'm going to skewer that damn mutt." He seemed to have missed the fact that he didn't have any horns to skewer anyone with. Velt figured it was best not to remind him.

"You can't catch him. They can go for hours. Just get over here."

Bucky snorted and pawed the ground in Velt's direction, head lowered. "And what would you know about this, you miserable swine?"

A tiny part of the cow snapped. "I lived on a farm, which is more than any of you can say. And I'm a bull, not a pig." Velt met Bucky's glare, ears flicking. "Now get over here."

Lady glanced over at the cow with surprise; she had never seen him get even remotely annoyed, let alone this sudden rage of authority. Even Bucky was silent, though he stared at the bull, waiting for him to bring action to his words. Lady frowned slightly, flickers of worry running through her; in a fight both animals could get seriously hurt...

So of course Mr. Skittish tore in-between the two animals at that moment, bleating with horror, making Bucky turn and kick compulsively -- and depending on where the border collie was, possibly square into the dog. Mr.. Skittish bleated at Bucky in horror, betrayal in his eyes, certain the kick had been aimed at him. Spinning and crying, he finally -- finally -- decided to huddle near Lady, shuddering and staring with wide eyes at the dog.

As Velt stepped back, snorting and tail flicking, Lady thought that perhaps she should be afraid, or at the very least horribly amused by the entire situation. Instead, she felt nothing at all, and with a slight shake of her head she resumed grazing. The insanity should stop... Eventually...