Rite of Merit - Halter - Verdandi, Alain, Brutus

„Stop brushing him. He nearly has no hair left.“ Damradas scolds Sascha jokingly but the thin tall man next to him still keeps brushing the fur of his curly Tokota. “What are you talking about? He has more than enough hair. And it seems he gets his winter fur at the moment.” Sascha responses and keeps brushing clumps of hair out of Alain’s fur. The curly gives out a soft hum as if he would enjoy the brushing and petting his handler gives him. A little girl, not older than two years old with nearly white hair jumps around and tries to catch the fur balls out of the air. Damradas watches his daughter jumping around and tumbling through the legs of the two Tokotas standing next to their handlers. Alain ignores her mostly, since he is busy being groomed. But Verdandi the giant graying tawny dire lady lowers her head to poke the little girl with her nose. Immediately Yumi lays her whole body over the snout of the Tokota and very slowly Verdandi raises her head until she can lift the little girl to her father. “Thank you, Verdandi.” Damradas mutters and picks up his daughter before petting his dire girl over the head. “Dandiiii!” The girl cries out happy and pets the big Tokota as well. “Is Verdandi ready for the judges?” Sascha asks and turns around to look at the tall muscular man in uniform. “Of cause she is. Morpheus and I took care of her education ourselves. And she behaves more than any other dire in existence. She is perfectly trained.” He says proudly and pets Verdandi under the chin. The dire lady gives out a soft hum and closes her eyes for a moment, waggling her short tail. Sascha chuckles softly and shakes his head “I mend her looks. Did you groom her?” He asks and Damradas looks at Verdandi. “Hmmmm…” Then he looks at his daughter. “What do you think, Yumi? Is Verdandi beautiful enough?” He wants to know and the little girl throws her arms in the air before giving out squeaking noises. “Daaaandiii!” She screams and Verdandi and Alain both flicker their ears because of the high pitched noise. “I think she is ready.” Damradas answers in Sascha’s direction. “Well it is too late anyway now. There, the judges come towards us.” He says and both adults look at a man in a suit walking towards them. On his side walks a blond woman leading a giant dire on a leash. “Are you Sascha Kayne and … Yumemi Denvar?” The man in the suit asks a little confused looking at Damradas and Sascha.

Sascha nods softly, while Damradas chuckles amused. Then he tips his daughter on the nose. “Hey, Yumi. The funny man is talking to you.” He says jokingly and the little girl turns from Verdandi to her father before turning to the man in the suit. She doesn’t say anything just looking at him with an open mouth before turning around and looking back to the dire. “Dandi.” She mutters and leans over her father’s shoulder to pat the dire girl on the nose. The judge is still confused, before Damradas shifts the weight of his daughter on his arm before giving the smaller man his free hand. “Damradas van Morpheus. I will take Yumemi’s place for the Rites.” He explains and the judge takes his hand and shakes it for a second before looking disapproving. But he just accepts that fact, looks at his clipboard for a moment to check the names in his formulas and turns towards the young blond woman behind him. “Well. However. May I introduce you to Mayani Amahogk? She and her Tokota Brutus were chosen to be your partner for the Rites, since you all three are members of the same tribe.” The blond woman steps forward and shakes Sascha’s then Damradas’ hand before reaching out to Yumemi to shake her little hand as well. “I am happy to meet you.” She says before the judge nods softly “Well, I will leave you for a moment to get used to each other.” He mutters while looking on his clipping board. “Brutus, Alain and Verdandi will be judged in fifteen minutes. Be sure to come to the ring in time.” After the man walked off Sascha turns towards Mayani and smiles friendly at her. “So you are from the Nunivak-Pack, too, Miss Amahogk?” He asks and the blond woman just waves his words off. “Oh please, we are basically the same age, you and I. There should be no “Mister” and “Miss” between tribe companions anyway. So please call me Maya and the big boy here is Brutus.” For a moment Sascha smile gets something ironic. He believes the woman misjudges his age, but that wouldn’t be that surprising, seeing that he doesn’t exactly look his age. “I am Sascha.” He says and turns towards his curly and he aligns a curl to the Tokotas face to make him look perfect. “That is Alain.” Sascha explains and Maya walks over to the brown curly to carefully touch his nose before petting it softly. “Hello, Alain. Aren’t you a handsome guy?” She says towards the Tokota and Alain thinks of biting in the woman’s hand. He dislikes getting patted after he just got groomed and styled to perfection. But since there is a giant dire next to the woman that would definitely knock the stuffing out of him Alain decides to obey and just let the woman pet him. Still he has a somewhat sarcastic proud smile over the compliment and raises his nose in the air as if he would want to say “Tell me something I don’t know.” Then Maya looks up to Verdandi and smiles. “You have quite the beautiful dire.” She says towards and Damradas and he nods softly. “Thank you. Your Brutus seems to be quite a stoic guy himself.” He says and looks up to the giant dire. Maya bites on her lower lip and exhales slowly. “Yeeeaaah… well… he is a guy, certainly.” She says and Damradas lifts an eyebrow. “But?” The man wants to know, but the blond woman just shakes her head. “No, nothing. He is super. My best boy.” She blubbers and the more she says the more Damradas frowns. Maya loosens the reign of her dire boy. First it seems Brutus would do nothing and just wait on his handler to give him orders. But the second that the leash is gone the seal dire jumps forward. Alain immediately jumps out of the way and Brutus lands on Verdandi and throws her on the ground. Both dire semi-play fight for a moment until the male lies on top of the graying dire and waggles his tail in joy, while Verdandi lies on her back defeated and gives out a bothered sigh. She growls softly and tries to wiggle out from under Brutus but the dire male presses himself on her and licks her face. “Tell your beast to go off my girl immediately.” Damradas demands angrily and Yumemi looks concerned. “Dandi ow ow?” She asks and looks confused to her father. But Maya facepalms and shakes her head before crossing her arms in front of her chest. “No, no, don’t worry. He is just playing with her. He is a big, fluffy loveable goofball sometimes.” She explains and gives out a loud whistle. But Brutus has too much fun and still plays with Verdandi who actually enjoys playing too, although she tries to be stern for her handler. She playfully bites his ear and pulls it softly, while he munches on her neck hair.

“Look at what your damn dire is doing to my girl! She gets dirty and we need to go the judge in less than ten minutes!” Damradas nags and Sascha looks at Alain. “Alain. Would you please?” He asks but the curly Tokota just looks at him before pretending to not have heard him. “Oh, come on. You don’t need to play with him. Just stop him.” Sascha insists and Alain gives out a long sigh. Carefully he comes near the two bigger dire rolling on the floor and carefully pokes Brutus with his paw. The seal dire looks up and watches Alain before jumping on his feet and running behind the curly to play fetch with him. Alain nearly flies, so quick is he running behind his handler with his tail between his legs. “Coward.” Sascha mutters and shakes his head and gets the Tokota’s nose in his back as an answer. Verdandi picks herself up of the floor and shakes her body to get the dirt out of her fur. Brutus gives out a little confused whimper because he doesn’t understand why Alain doesn’t want to play with him. He turns his head towards his handler when Maya walks next to him and puts on his halter again. “Come on boy. Let us go to the ring already. You need to look pretty for the judges.” Sascha watches Maya and Brutus go before turning towards Damradas who puts Yumemi on Verdandi’s back before brushing his girls fur out. “Stupid dire. Now all work was for nothing.” He mutters and Sascha chuckles softly. “I thought it wasn’t about looks but education. So you shouldn’t worry to much.” Sascha tries to convince his friend and Damradas give him a short glare. “Go away.” He just barks and the smaller man shrugs. “If you wish so. We see each other in the ring.” With that Sascha puts on the reign on Alain and leads him towards a ring made of wooden fences.

Damradas is steaming for a while when a man with cherry red hair comes closer. “Daaaaddyyy!” Yumemi screams and holds up her little arms towards the man and he pulls his daughter down from Verdandi. “Hello, my little lady. Are you nice to Papa?” He asks the little girl and Yumi nods and laughs amused when her second father holds her over his head before putting her on his shoulder.” Then he looks at the tall blond man. “You seem awfully stressed. Is your girl being mean to you?” He asks jokingly and Damradas shoots him a dirty glare. The man watches the blond man for a moment before chuckling and giving Verdandi a pet under her chin. “It seems your girl made a friend. Isn’t that something nice?” He wants to know and now Damradas brushes the fur of Verdandi slower until he stops completely. After a while the man gives out a groan before looking at his housemate. “Fine. Yes. Yes it is a nice thing. Still. She is doing halter. I want her to look perfect for the jury.” Damradas explains and his housemate nods softly. “Of cause. But I think Verdandi is pretty even if a little bit dusty. Don’t you think, Yumi-darling?” He asks his daughter and Yumemi laughs and nods. “Dandi pwetty!” She agrees and Damradas looks at his dire girl. “Fine. If you both say so. Do me a favor and keep an eye on our girl, while I am gone.” The man says towards Ian and the red head nods. “Of cause I will.” He says and Damradas looks up to the girl on Ian’s shoulders. “Good bye, little one. Be nice to your father, will you? Papa will be gone for a few days.” Yumemi leans forward to give her father a kiss on the cheek before he gives her a kiss on the forehead. “And say good bye to Verdandi.” Damradas says and Yumi leans forward to pat Verdandi on the nose. Ian watches the scene for a moment and reads the thoughts of his housemate before making a hand gesture to shoo Damradas off. “You should go. You get points subtracted for being late.” He says and Damradas leads Verdandi towards the fence where Brutus and Alain are already waiting.

In the ring Maya has problems to hold Brutus back, after he sees Verdandi again, while the dire lady completely ignores the seal male. Alain holds up his nose ignoring the both of them and just tries pose to show his most beautiful side. A group of three people walk towards the handler and Damradas is surprised to see such different judges. One of them is an old man in pelt clothing with a lot of fur.  The second is a friendly looking woman in casual clothes. And the last one is a man in a very formal looking suit with a necktie. All three have a badge on their chest which proves that they are all legit judges. First they inspect Brutus. Maya gives his dire the order to stand still and raise his head and the Tokota does what she says without hesitation. For a moment Damradas is baffled how well Maya has her companion under control. Just a moment later Brutus rolls out his tongue and waggles his tail while the female judge scratches him under his chin. “What a lovely guy. Very friendly.” She praises the dire and Maya gives Brutus the order to lie down. The Tokota lays down and rolls on his back and the woman starts rubbing his belly. “Lovely.” She says and laughs while the older man seems unimpressed. The man in the suit coughs awkwardly and looks to Maya. “Would you mind giving him the order to stand up again? I want to inspect his posture.” The blond woman nods softly. “Brutus. Up!” She says but the dire is still occupied with getting petted. “Bruuutus.” Maya says again and the dire looks up happily to his handler. “Up!” She repeats and the dire rolls back on his paws and stands up. For a second he shakes his fur to get out any grass and gives out an excited bark. The man in the suit nods satisfied and walks around Brutus. He leans forward and inspects the seal points, carefully striking over them and touching his legs to measure their thickness. “Good, good. No wrong posture. Fur is shiny and taking care of. A bit dirty, but that isn’t surprising.” He mutters and bends Brutus paw back and forth. The dire looks at him confused and isn’t sure if he likes it. The man in the suit walks over to head of Brutus and looks to Maya. “Could you make him open his mouth?” He asks and the woman nods. She makes a gesture and but Brutus doesn’t understand what she wants. “Brutus!” She says again and gets her dires attention. “Aaaaah.” The dire licks over his nose before opening his mouth. The judge in the suit inspects the teeth quickly before nodding satisfied. “Okay, well done.” Then the last judge steps towards Brutus. He just puts one hand on the dires chin and the other on his snout and looks him deeply in the eyes. The dire is confused by this gesture and waggles kind of unsure his tail. Without a word the old man nods and walks away to the next Tokota. Maya is baffled by this strange behavior and looks towards the female judge that just shrugs. “He is strange like that.” She whispers apologetic and walks over to Alain.

Sascha gives the curly a last short nudge on the snout before stepping back. First the man in the suit inspects him. “What a beauty.” He praises the Tokota delighted and strokes over the curly mane. “You took marvelous care of his fur. It is so shiny. Did you use any coat shining?” The man asks Sascha and the tall blond man shakes his head. “No. Only natural shampoos and a lot of careful brushing.” He responses proudly and pets his curly at his nape. Alain bathes in the praise and lifts his nose in self-confidence. The man inspects him more, lifts his tail and looks at his teeth. “I am positive surprised. He is a golden guy. Really nice.” He praises further and Sascha smiles satisfied. The man steps back and the old man steps near. Again he just puts his hands on the cheeks of the curly and Alain gives out an unsure hum. He doesn’t like to be stared at like that without getting any praise. Carefully he steps back to get out of the grip of the man. The old judge lets him go and gives an unsatisfied hum. “He has no fighting spirit. This Tokota will have no good hunts or fishing trips.” He mutters and Sascha snorts softly. He doesn’t like that the man makes such assumptions about his boy but since this guy is one of the judges he doesn’t complain verbally. He just crosses his arms and gives him a dirty look. Next is the female judge and she steps towards Alain. “Hello, Mr. Handsome.” She says in a soothing voice to the curly and Alain looks at her suspicious. He isn’t exactly fond of woman and he gives out a soft hum and turns his head away. Sascha steps forward and pets his curly at his neck to calm him down. “Come on, boy. Be nice.” He says and Alain snorts softly. But after a look at the woman he turns his head back and gives out another snort. “I am sorry. The wife and daughters of the old handler of Alain always cuddled him and gave him no space. And he isn’t exactly fond of too much petting and touching. That is why he is suspicious when it comes to woman.” Sascha explains and the judge nods softly. “Oh, oh well. I will not pet you if you don’t want.” She says and holds up a hand. “May I shake your hands?” She asks and Alain looks towards his handler. Sascha nods softly and makes a gesture with his head towards the woman. “Come on, Alain. Give her your paw.” He asks and Alain gives out a long sigh before sitting down and giving the woman one of his paws. A moment the woman wants to pet him out of a reflex to praise him. But when she sees that the curly pulls back his head she pulls out a treat instead. “May I?” She asks towards Sascha and the man nods. “Here! You are a good boy, aren’t you?” She says and holds the dog cookie before Alain. The curly needs a moment and sniffs at the treat. Then he carefully takes it out of her hand and munches it quickly. “He still is a nice boy. Just a little shy.” The woman says and gives free Alain’s paws.

At last the judges walk towards Verdandi. The first judge is the old man who gives Damradas a short look before taking Verdandi’s head between both his hands. The dire lowers her head immediately and looks the man in the eyes, since she has seen what he does to the other Tokotas. The old man smiles satisfied and slowly pets her over the nose. “She has a great spirit. She is an excellent hunter, with the spirit of a warrior.” He says and Damradas pets his girl on the shoulder. “You see. This guy knows what he talks about.” He mutters to the dire girl. The Tokota licks carefully the hand of her handler before standing up straight again, when the man in the suit walks towards her. The man walks around her, bends her knees and paws, looks into her eyes and her teeth. “A beauty. Really nice posture. She is bred excellently.” The man says after a while and nods softly and Damradas nods as well. He had no hands in her breeding process, although he knows Verdandi’s mother well. But he has no idea who her father is or what he looks like. “Thanks.” The last judge walks towards Verdandi and smiles at her. “Show me some tricks she can do.” She asks Damradas and the man sighs softly. He isn’t actually fond of teaching his Tokotas tricks like dogs but there are a few everyone should know. “Verdandi sit down, please.” He says and the dire girl immediately sits down and hold up one of her giant paws. “Good girl. Now lay down.” He asks her and the dire lays flat on the ground, the head between her paws. “Sit. And stay.” Damradas asks his girl and she stands up to sit down again and this time leaving her paws on the ground. “You have trained her well.” The woman says and holds up a hand and Verdandi immediately pushes her nose against her nose. “She seems a little tense.” The female judge notes and Damradas nods softly. “It is her first show. Verdandi isn’t used to so many other Tokotas around her. That is what makes her tense.” He replies and the woman nods understandingly. “Oh well, we all know this feeling. She is a nice girl. Not aggressive although she is a dire. A good trait.” She says and with that follows the other judges to the next contestants.

Damradas brushes his hair back before inhaling deeply. “Oh well. That was it, I guess.” He says and looks towards Sascha who nods softly. “Yes. The judges will go back to their little tables and will talk about our beauties and then give out their results. Most likely it will take an hour or so. So let us go back to Yumemi. I think she misses her big cuddle-friend.” Maya steps towards the two men and smiles awkwardly at them. “Do you mind if I join you? We will have to do the Rites of Fortitude and of Hunt together, so I would like to know you better, since we have to stick together for the next week.” She says and Sascha shoots her a smile. “Of cause you can. You are part of the same tribe anyway, aren’t you? Draven would not be pleased if we shoo away our companions.” He says in a friendly voice but Damradas sighs again. “Come on big boy. She will not bite you.” Sascha chides his friend and the tall muscular man gives out a snort. “I haven’t said anything.” He mutters and Maya looks up to him. “I don’t have to, if I am obviously a burden for you.” She snaps a bit ironically and Damradas shakes his head. “No. It is fine. Verdandi seems to like your Brutus anyway. So why not.” He says with a look at the two dire that already sniff at each other. With that all three walk off from the ring to make space for the next contestants.