#: Old Dogs can learn new tricks (Rick Marshall):

[hereliesbitches--me]

Starter Call (Still open!!)

@thewhitepoison

It'll get easier.         The wolf told himself. It'll get, as the seconds turn to minutes. Minutes to hours. Hours to days. Days to years. With the passing of time, feelings will fade, and he will feel at home again.

     But Earth was so damn different from Atrolize, it was a wonder he could get out of bed every morning and head out into the noisy world for work in the evening.  When Rick woke, bitterness was the first to set in as the comforts of dreams so quickly slipped from him, to leave behind a broken up , lonesome man in a cold bed far too small for his hulking body. As routine, he laid there for a good while and stared at an unfamiliar ceiling, taking in the unnatural silence and comparing it to every reason why it was not like the barracks he’d grown up in, til the alarm at the bedside blared annoyingly too late to scold him out of his comfort. Even that annoying little clock had nothing compared to the sirens that wailed to wake up the teams for training. Heaving a heavy sigh, a soldier no more wiped a hand down his face and rolled out to the bathroom finally.

    Every morning he was explicitly reminded just how small the average human was, when he hit his head in the doorway like he did every time in the damn doorway he failed to duck through out of habit ; By now, it was nothing more than a dull irritable pain that went away after a gruff growl and a stern rubbing. He used the bathroom, stared at his face in the mirror for a while, to meet the eyes of a strange man he did not recognize much these days. A massive, pawlike hand rose lazily, brushing through disheveled locks to smooth it out of his eyes just enough to really get a look at himself. That hair bounced right back when no hand tamed it. Rick scratched at his jaw and hummed thoughtfully with the mind to shave the growing beard he was not used to being present so thickly, however the calloused fingers grew distracted by the deep scarring that marred the rugged features along his jaw, cheeks, and nose. Absently, he traced them individually, in a way no one had ever dared to touch. Not that anyone cared to try -- for their superior was no kind dog when it came to stranger hands reaching towards him. Last thing anyone wanted was to be bitten, jabbed, or subjugated to the worst of cleaning duties instead of training and sparring. The deep blue eyes, hollowed and distant in their socket, drifted down to the scarred body unused to the lack of weight this planet provided, and the strange sensation brought about in knowing he would never need to pack on his armor again. These days, and for the rest of his life, that comfortable metal skin would lay away in the back of a closet where no one would ever find it (for his own safety and theirs. )

“ You keep looking at yourself, you’re gonna get lost in the mirror. Just shave and get out..”  He broke the silence with his own voice and winced at the empty echo of the bathroom. Nonetheless, he took his own advice. Shaved, fixed himself up to something more presentable, even if  everything fit tightly and seemed to threaten tearing if he moved the wrong way      Definitely need to look into custom made stuff.. Like all things, having money for that would take time. A soldier will make do with what he has, because god knows Rick was gonna live for a very long time by Earth standards..

    Before anybody knew it, late afternoon rolled by into evening, and the trek to work would set him at about closing time once he arrived. At least if he timed it right. Another deep sigh of exhaustion left his throat as he tied his boots and shrugged on a heavy coat. A cold evening was promised tonight, judging by the frosted window panes. On his way out, Rick paused in the open doorway and stared around his empty apartment. A sound had whisked by his ear so faintly, he could have sworn it was a whisper.        What did it say….?    Why the hell was he even asking about what the wind said? Rick’s face tightened suspiciously… his ears standing forward, tail hanging low with focus. Despite his doubt, his voice acted before his brain did, “ Hello? Anybody in here..? ”

He waited. He waited for a good few minutes. Nothing. Truth be told, Rick wasn’t sure why it disappointed him. He wasn’t waiting for anyone, as far as he knew. But now he was running late. Uttering a mild curse, keys jingling in hand, he shut the door roughly and took long strides equivalent to the average person’s sprint to get downstairs and out into the streets. Once a soldier, always a soldier. Being tardy would never be acceptable, even as a standard solely held by himself.

   Rick got to work exactly 5 minutes late, as expected. No one really cared except for the guy he was relieving, but the reaction wasn’t much. No one dared to hassle or pick a fight with a muscular dog man that edged nearly eight feet tall, and as much as his height on Earth was a curse, he was grateful at times like this. The mall closed earlier than usual, not that he knew or cared why, because it was all the same when your job was to watch for trouble all night. “ Hey, uh, Guard Dog... ” his coworker called him, undoubtedly forgetting Rick’s name in the same way Rick often forgot his. Rick looked up from the phone he was fumbling with and simply raised a brow. The other guard pointed towards one of the monitors within their wall of screens. He tapped a baton lightly at a figure,  “ Looks like we got a guest that didn’t get the memo.” Pursing his lips, Rick set the phone down and sat up straighter,  “ They can read the sign or take the hint why there aren't many cars in the parking lot.” He turned his eyes back to the phone, a sizable device that ran small for his own hand, and poked around the screen again to pass the time. For a minute silence lingered, the coworker watching the monitor intently and otherwise ignored, til he chuckled. The sound made Rick look up with a slight scowl of confusion, “ What’s so funny?” “ It's a really cute girl that's outside, and now she’s pulling at the door. Look at her! She’s wrapped up like a little bunny out there in the cold,”  the guard, perhaps his name was peter or something with a p, leaned forward and giggled harder, “ Aw look at her! I don’t think she even realizes there’s a paper on the door- ”  he paused,      “ ah, wait a minute..” “ Let me guess,” Rick rolled his eyes and put his phone away, “ She’s at a door that doesn’t have a sign on it.” Peter looked towards him and blinked, “ How did you know? Where are you going? ” The giant was already on his feet and heading out the door, “ Gonna tell her we’re closed before she hurts herself.” Peter may have called out something, though Rick didn’t care to stop and hear him.

    He really just needed to walk. 

   Take the long way, because walking passed the time. At least this way, when he got there then maybe the girl would have taken the hint and left. If she left, then he could just walk around more with the excuse he went looking for her, and peter in the office wouldn’t think to question him despite having the evidence on camera.      Tragically, life hardly ever worked in his favor. Much to his exasperation, when he turned the corner there was the little woman pulling at the doors and seemingly huffing in frustration. There wasn’t much he could make out of her beneath layers of heavy winter clothing, but he felt bad for her for sitting out in the cold.  Last he checked, it was below ten degrees out there, and it didn’t look like she was wearing any kind of gloves. Odd… but this was New York after all. Humans here were sturdy bastards. Slowing his pace, Rick stopped upon the door and stared at her through the glass warily. Key senses in the military saves your life, just like it could in civilian situations when dealing with a violent, unpredictable species. Keen eyes peered her over closely now for anything out of place.. A knife, a gun, pepper spray as the women here like to use. Anything that would warrant that he would not open the door or that her intentions were malicious.

In the end, all he found was a cold girl staring back at him peculiarly with warm brown eyes.. His nostrils flared with a quick breath, then he gently pushed open the door just enough to step out and regard her,

“ In case you didn’t notice by the locked doors or the empty parking lot, Miss.. The mall closed early today.”

He spoke flatly, words coupled with a breath of fog in the frigid air,   “ No amount of fighting this door is gonna make it open.”