Dogs of War

In an Alternative Universe:

Archiel goes bounding out of the helo with the usual excitement she got when snow was involved. I watch her as Gaz follows behind her as usual. I stand up, zipping the jacket up tighter to keep the chill air out. 

"How did you ever even manage to convince anyone on the team to let you have a fox?" I ask Gaz, hints of humour in my dry tone.

"I didn't have to do anything, I just showed them how good a hunter she is, and they technically said no."

"Wait, they said no?" I ask, feeling as if I had wool in my ears. "Kyle Garrick, are you telling me you're harbouring an illegal fox on our team?"

"Hmmmm, where's Ceri?" He asks absently and I know he's avoiding the topic. At the mention of her name however, Ceri pops her head up out of the jack behind me where she was curled up harnessed to my back. Her tongue lolls out as strands of drool begin gathering. "Are you telling me she's been t here the entire flight out?" He asks, clearly looking to ser how I managed to hide her so well. 

I shrug in response, none of my amusement evident by the fact that my mask covers the slight upturn of my lips. "She doesn't like the cold."

"She's a wolf, Ghost, what do you mean she doesn't like the cold?"

I shrug again in response, the stunted Wolfs weight not much of a bother to me as evidence by the fact my larger frame clearly hides her well enough to deceive Gaz. Her soft whining in my ear as she rests her maw on my shoulder let's me know she wants to get down. I unzip the jacket and take it off revealing her to be attached to my back via her harness. I unclipped her harness and she drops to the snow covered ground. She whines in disgust as she picks up two of her paws trying to get out of the cold. As she's contemplating convincing me to pick her up, Archiel comes barrelling out of the snow, sending it flying in all directions as she tackles Wolf. They go sprawling, nipping and yapping at each other as Ceri becomes distracted from the snow.

"Such a priss," Gaz laughs watching Ceri try to avoid the snow even as she continues playing with the fox who is jumping and diving head first into the thick layers of snow. Her paw, bigger than Archiels head comes swiping out, sending the fox lurching sideways into a snowbank. Archiels chittering shriek as she comes flying back out, nipping at the wolfs underbelly.

I pull out my phone and snap a picture of the two playing in the snow together, letting off some steam before we were due to undergo our mission. 

Hey love, thought you'd appreciate these two goofs.

1 attachment sent

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Och, lovable fluffballs. Give Ceri plenty of hugs.

Miss ye both already.

Come home safe.

I look fondly at the display picture I had for Johnny's contact before putting the phone away. I give a short sharp whistle and Ceri stops playing with Archiel and comes trotting over to sit in front of me. As I go to lean down and check her over, the little fox comes careening over nipping excitedly as she hides under Ceri's fluffy tail, her little black nose peeking out from underneath like a cheeky child. Ceri wiggles her tail slightly, clearly happy but unwilling to give away her companions supposedly sneaky position. I feel my mask crinkling as I smile at the pair of doofuses and crouch down and run my hands along her body checking to ensure her harness is still on properly and no concerns had arisen since we boarded the helo.

Gaz gives his own sharp whistle and Archiel scampers out of her spot. She might not have approval on the team, but Gaz had worked wonders in getting her mission ready. She was our search and rescue expert in these snow laden lands and would complement Ceri's search and destroy abilities nicely. They had worked well in training scenarios and had quickly become dubbed as The Fox and the Hound. 

I watched covertly as Gaz did the same with Archiel, making sure her harness was attached correctly and the fox stood patiently, brimming with excitement and ready to demonstrate her skills. In comparison, Ceri was more laid back, better experienced on missions and was over all happy to sit by my side until go time, except she was still making her disgust about the snow very well known. I grab out a small piece of jerky I'd stashed away as bribery and slipped it to her. She gobbled it down greedily, picking my fingers for more, the soft whine drawing Archiels attention this way as well. I open my hands to reveal I didn't have any more treats only for Ceri to huff at me. If she was human, I'd have assumed that huff was one of disappointment. Being Ceri, I knew it was. I scratch her head in apology about the lack of bribery on my end, and put us into position to begin reconnaissance, search and rescue and destruction. 

Authors Note: Hey ♡ To those of you still here waiting for an update, I'm also waiting with you, I promise. As I've said in the past, I'm working a tonne of overtime, 60-70 he weeks, this leaves me exhausted and without creative juices. I have a few little side things like this kicking around in my skull, so you might see more of this kind of stuff added in as filler, hopefully it'll make up for the hiatus. I will name them all in similar manner as this one rather than the usual chapter numbers, so if you'd rather skip these little one off ideas you can.