First day on the Force

Shining Pearls of sweat dribbled down the skin of Peyton's arms, dripping down onto the hot pavement that seemed to almost sizzle in the desert sun. Fuck it was hot out today, she wondered if the poor thing would even be alive when she found it. Coulda died of heatstroke twice by now if it hadn't gotten to somewhere cool. It had been twenty minutes since she'd gotten the report at the office, She'd made the best time she could but she couldn't help but worry.  That wasn't the only thing to worry about though, not out here. She'd only been in town a week or so but, she knew just how deadly the badlands could be for someone out on their own.

All in all though despite the anxiety, it was good to be out on the job. She'd spent most of her first days at the vet's office doing paperwork and such, behaving. It was nice to be free, even if it was dangerous out here even for someone like her. As she passed by an abandoned supermarket her sharp ears suddenly caught a low faint whine coming from another decrepit brick building. Could that be the old dog she was looking for? Or was it some kind of monster, crying crocodile tears and hoping she'd come to wipe 'em up? It was hard to tell, and she couldn't help the chill that ran up her spine at the thought of it, or the impulse she felt to look behind her. Regardless she figured there was only one way to find out and, brandishing the Glock pistol she kept at her hip, she approached the old brick building.

Decrepit was certainly the right word for the building. The paint on the walls was chipped and faded, a layer of dust settled on desks and paintings of what used to be a decent if uninspired hotel lobby a lifetime ago. The pained canine whimpering came from underneath the front desk, and on the other side. While that was where a dog might shelter, it was also a good spot for an ambush if it happened to not be a dog. It certainly sounded like a wounded animal, but with the only light being a couple dust covered windows, most wouldn't want to take chances in here. Not long after she had first arrived Torin had said it was fairly rare to see unintelligent cryptids in the badlands when compared to ghost town; typically the ones living here were crafty and sadistic in the manner of "IT", at least according to the necromancer.

Stopping in her tracks the she-wolf reached out with her senses, taking a few sniffs at the air to see if there was anything off about the dogs scent. She didn't feel like having to evade some squid faced monster today, especially not all on her own.

It wasn't so much that there was something off about the dog's scent. She certainly did smell dog, but also the overpowering smell of death. This didn't mean there was something off about the dog necessarily, in fact it smelled like many things had died in this place and been left to rot. It was quite possible the dog was here to become another victim.

Without another moment of hesitation, Peyton pressed forwards and, prepared for a fight, approached the desk, gun still out.

Behind the desk there cowered a dog, a young one, a rottweiler with a huge, but thankfully not too deep gash across its side. It was a clear mutt, though it obviously had some rottweiler in it along with patches of grey colored fur and a head a bit more like a ranch hound. When she stepped around the desk the pup took an unsteady step back and gave a pained yelp.

"Oh poor baby" The she wolf murmured softly and gently approached the dog, putting out a hand for it to sniff. Generally speaking, this was the easy part, from here she just had to bandage the poor little baby up and take it back to the office!

The hound had nothing in its eyes but fear, even when she held out her hand it snapped and snarled while trying to back away with a limp, the cut was deeper around its leg.

Keeping calm she murmured in gentle fashion to the poor animal, slowly gently approaching with hand outstretched, she'd dealt with hurt panicked animals before, a lot of the time it was just a matter of convincing them you weren't a threat.

The pup still shook and whimpered, but this time didn't try to bite, all the while from deeper in the building she could hear a quick skittering noise.

Peyton barely reacted, more or less used to this kind of thing at this point, plus getting all antsy would only get the poor hound all spooked like. She didn't want it scurrying off to get eaten by some creepy critter or other, which was most likely what that skittering thing was. So instead she simply put a hand on the head of the dog and calmly pet it, trying to let it know she was friendly.

He dog slowly relaxed although it did not relax much, and it didn't stop shaking. Which was common for dogs who had been through a traumatic event, far more concerning was the skin around its wound turning the color of dark purple as it began to slowly dry and flake up before her eyes.

Nooo, no, no, no, she'd seen this deal before. Her gut tugged in distress as she kept on rubbing the poor baby's head "I'll get you out of here, I promise." The she-wolf murmured softly, even though she didn't truly believe it. Was there anything she could do for it? She knew first aid, hell she'd been something of a field medic for her old pack when their medicine man wasn't around but, she wasn't a wise woman, she couldn't sing a song and heal this kind of wound. She wished she knew somebody who specialized in this kind of magic, someone who could whip up some kinda potio-oh shit!

Meanwhile in another part of town, Elliot's phone suddenly began to ring.

Elliot was on the job scraping bits of something that smelled awful off hot asphalt when he recieved the call. Still it only took a ring or two before e answered the phone and his voice came through the line in his rather cheerful and upbeat tone "Oh hey how's the new job going?" Elliot asked clearly he hadn't quite picked up on the fact his friends really only called him when there was some kind of emergency or they needed something like a potion or a wizard.

"It's going okay enough, ran into an issue though." She replied in measured fashion as she began to lead the dog out of the building.

"You alright? How can I help?"Elliot asked without hesitation, he used his shoulder to hold his phone to his ear as he tied up a trash bag to throw in the back of his truck. She was one of his covenant, and he was always quick to offer help to them when they were in need, it was what he had always been taught. To treat the problems of his fellows as if they were his own.

The dog meanwhile kept glancing behind himself nervously as they left.

"You know how there's like, always monsters, everywhere, all over this fuckin' town? Well.....I think one of them hurt this dog I'm trying to rescue, its got a strange wound that I don't think regular medicine can heal." She began to explain, then took a moment to look behind them.