[h2]Roan[/h2] 

Thump. 

Roan felt his paws hit the stone roof easily after his leap. The vibration and impact were absorbed through his thick soles as the rough skin aided his grip, giving him an advantage in his need to move. It wasn’t hard to regain his balance when he dropped to all four, ignoring the dizzy sensation within his head, feeling the firm ground underneath him. Testing the solidness, his arms stretched out and gripped the surface for a moment. His teeth bared when his torso rose, his rear legs coiled again propelling him forward in a gallop. Roan’s muscles stretched with the burn making him run faster. Each burst of speed was born of desperation and need, feeding his power where his belly failed. 

[i][color=8493ca]Faster...Faster…[/color][/i]

His instincts roared throughout  his soul and body, his pace was steady for most the trip. Every so often his nose twitched causing to him to grin to a slower pace, then come to a complete stop. Sniff...sniff...sniff.. He inhaled deeper, his brain registered the air particles and fixed each smell an image, name or emotion. The latter set on how it made him feel. One direction had too many smells. Each one set off alarms in his head as his stomach felt nauseated from the mixture, having difficulty in picking each one out individually. His mental state had already started to break down from the multiple changes within the past hours. A sign of danger even on an instinctive state for him, something that helped determined his needs and goal. 
 
[i][color=8493ca]No good, too many people. That one bad too. Not good food, too earthy...too dangerous. Stay away, must away. That one, no. Something rotted, not fresh enough. Need fresh… meat. Not enough, but… Wait![/color][/i]

Something had caught his attention. His head tilted upright, his nose quicken and inhaled deeper to seek the origins. A word, both familiar and foreign, snapped to his mind.  

[i][color=8493ca]Food![/color][/i] 

Again, he sniffed the air. Long and short, determining if the smell had a undesirable hint or was a figment of his imagination. His head cocked as realization washed over him. Ears continual rotated, seeking any sounds, monitoring his surroundings while keeping his brain aware. 

[i][color=8493ca]Food...is near? YES![/color][/i] 

The answer was enough to get his teeth coated with saliva again. The glops collected at the edge and dripped down slowly, staining his paws below him. Roan couldn’t wait because the animal inside of him knew he would starve as he had never been this hungry before. Never in the two weeks he traveled up those wretched ‘Claws’ or the days spent tracking down into the Othea forests, all filled with something fitting for his appetite. He was often over-gorged on fresh blood and meat. He was never hungry or needing to seek out food so shortly after he ate, not like now. 

He let out a small whimper when his middle clawed at him again, his voice silenced when the boarish sounds of hogs rose to his ears. The furry triangles rotated, shifting to center on the source as he stalked closer. Voices began, human and male from the sounds of it, growing louder the closer he came. Gingerly, his four limbs lowered and his head peering over the roof edge to spot the source. 

Below were the two men. One a few years senior compared to the other, his hands gesturing to a plump sow who stuffed her snout inches deep in her trough while ignoring the bickerment. Her teeth grinded the mixture of partly rotted vegetables, mud, and grain all mushed together into a glop without question and noisily hid Roan’s heavy breath. Roan growled in his throat at seeing her, his tongue licked his chops while his hands started down. He braced himself against the roof then slinked, quietly, onto the slanted covering over the pig pen. Strictly made for keeping the rain and snow off, the men failed to hear him as they edged inside to further argue price. 

[b]“Shut up, Brutus! NOW!”[/b] Came the owner’s harsh reprimand at the dog, a large scrawny mutt jerking in fear at his rope attached to the pole. The loud sound caused Roan to retreat for only a bit, retracting just when the man looked up then frowned. Immediately he kicked a meager bone at the dog causing the animal to recoil from him. His tail between his legs and slinking back into the shoddy lean to which was the only shelter for it.  

The barter seemed to be going in ill favor, clear by the owner’s foul mood, as he gestured to head inside. Likely to be out of the sound of the whimpering and frantic animal, not renewing his jerking at his rope once more. If Roan could care to focus on the words anymore, he would’ve easily understood them and found himself confused by their meaning. Now the words were merely buzzing in the back of his head, forgotten in favor of his stomach. 

A whine, low and panicked caused Roan’s head to snap to the side. Brutus, the brown and white dappled mutt was now staring at him. The neck was nearly crushed by the tightening rope collar looped about and threatened to choke it, each time constricted more and more. Roan snarled. His teeth shown just before he lounged. Snap!    

[b]“YIP!!!!!”[/b] The mutt took off like Roan had just nailed his ass. The thin, wiry and unfed frame disappeared in moments as he took off in the direction of the Kalesia Embassy. Likely to collapse on the gate front and far from the wild beast it had the misfortune to encounter. 

Roan snorted, [color=8493ca]'Stay gone!'[/color], then turned to the alerted sow. Her piggy eyes stared at him, uncertain, until she felt Roan's teeth at her flesh. She let out a blood curling squeal only to be silenced when Roan’s fangs found her throat. When the two men rushed out, all they managed to spot was a large, grotesque wolf clambering up the roof. From his jaws was dead sow, her eyes glazed over and blood marred her pick white flesh just when the wolf vanished over the roof. Leaving the men terrified in his wake.