Stand fast or die [rockets]

[sorcerer]

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[atrb=background,http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/2858/colebg.jpg] The cold was wonderful. Cole couldn't remember a recent time when he'd seen snow this thick, or felt the wind blow as cold as it was over these flat marshes. The ground was a treacherous mixture of deep snowdrifts and thin ice, the trees bare as old bones. It felt like home. Any minute now, one of his brothers would come out of the evening trees. Boros, likely, his gray littermate with the blind eye. Time was, they'd said Boros's eye was a weakness, but his brother was faster and sharper for the lack of an eye, and more vicious, too. They'd never gotten along, the two of them. Boros had been the first to try his hand at leadership during that mutiny, and the first to spread his blood on the snow. A different snow, in a different world. He stared across the frozen marsh for a moment, studying an innocent-looking bush, a small clearing, a patch of dark ice. Winter was his favorite time, and not just because he was built for the cold. Nothing could hide out in the snow. No leaves for disguise, dark shadows, or hidden dips in the ground. He strolled across the snow in a way he never did in summertime, humming quietly, eyes glancing over every dark spot in the dying light. These days, he felt much better than he had in months. Part of it might have been Fala, and another part maybe the weather itself..he wasn't sure. For once he was moving without pain, though, and the darkness was clearer in his vision than it had been in years. Because of this, and because the snow was his element, he immediately noticed a dark shape moving around some hundred yards off. A dog, he thought, and one somewhat smaller than he was. This provided an interesting diversion to his evening stroll, maybe. It had been a while since Cole had a proper fight. Not that a domesticated canine was a proper anything, no matter how wolf-like it might be. Still, he'd be remiss if he didn't start something here. Days when he felt this..young..rarely came. He approached steadily. Not warily, but without any hurry, sizing up the other animal as he approached. "Ah, but we're a ways from the city, aren't we, canis familiaris?" Yes they were. Perfect for a holdup. Like old times, but without Boris and all the rest of them to fuck it up.