▶ Gender: Male

▷ Age: canine: 4 years || human: 30+ years (variable)

▶ Species: canine: Belgian Malinois

▷ Appearance:

canine - Halt is a short, stocky canine, standing at approximately 88 centimeters shoulder height. His pelt is shaggy and coarse, its black hair tinged with flecks of light grey, complete with all sorts of swirls and stripes. A small scar dots the brow area above his left eye, the result of an accidental poke from an exploration of a thornbush. His eyes are a steely grey, usually displaying little to no emotion. There are no other marks of importance along his body.

human - grizzled, middle-aged man. His hair is a mass of gray shades, with little uniformity across. It gives the look of a very peppery and spastic appearance. It is hardly trimmed, instead chopped using whatever blade he gets his hand on. He is also considerably short, standing at a height of 5 ft, 1 in. Despite his small stature, his body is incredibly powerful. Trained and well-muscled, he is capable of delivering very painful blows should anything piss him off.

▶ Personality:

Halt displays a gruff and grim personality about ninety percent of the time. Another five percent is complete sarcasm. Although he tries not to show it, he does care deeply about his friends and is quick to take offense if any of them are insulted. It is only to his most intimate that he displays any sort of emotion and allows any type of teasing. Others who try to ridicule him are made to regret doing so. Halt is extremely meek when it comes to dealing with the opposite gender, especially those with a stern or bad attitude.

▷ Abilities/Extras:

A camouflage cloak is always donned abroad his shoulders, with the hood just barely covering his eyes to prohibit others from observing what he is. This cloak allows him to blend into his surroundings, changing colors to suit whatever environment he is in.

He does have a few uncanny abilities. Halt is excellent at stealth, usually able to creep up on his victim without being noticed. His claws and fangs were altered to be able to inject poison, which range from paralysis to kill, if he pumps in enough venom (though he usually doesn't).

He has an owl companion named Chouette. She is an Eurasian Eagle-Owl with golden plummage that is striped brown and tipped black.

▶ History:

obsolete - ignore.

Halt, like the typical Ranger dog, was raised to be able survive on his own. Bred from the top lines of the species, the humans who trained him expected much improvement in skill, a goal he easily accomplished. Like all Rangers, he had two names: the one for dog use, and the one for human recall. His dog name was ""Arretez"", and his human name was simply ""Halt"".

At the age of eight weeks, he was removed from his parents's care and put into the hands of a trainer who was responsible for his well-being for the next eight months of his life. This trainer, Sam, was not the most patient of trainers, and for a serious puppy, a sharp snap only made Halt exert all the more effort toward his training. But his training progressed much faster than the other pups his age. By the time he had reached the graduating age of Year 1, he was already working on the more advanced techniques required of a Ranger.

After their first year, the Pups that passed the Assessment became known as Trainees. They received their own quiver filled with arrows with their trainer's insignia on it and a crossbow that they could load fairly easily. These Trainees were released into a secluded forest where their trainers could keep an eye on them without having to give aid. The Releasing was another test to see if the recruits were able to survive individually without having to refer to another constantly for guidance. This process often eliminated over seventy-five percent of Trainees, providing a much smaller group to choose from. However, the year this process was used, however, more than ninety percent of the Trainees eradicated.

Halt's rival, Filloj (human name is Nis), was a savage beast who wanted no other competition and proceeded to use this survival test to destroy almost all Trainees that got in his way. Filloj, having a full comprehension of wolf anatomy, easily targeted his opponents' weak spots and brought them down. Halt, of course, was marked to be one of Filloj's main victims. Not surprisingly, Halt's talent and wit got him out of trouble. With honed claws and a few poison darts, Halt had sent Filloj fidgeting on the ground, paralyzed and wounded.

So only Halt and four others graduated that year, with special medals made for each of them. Each medal was in the shape of a leaf, each one different, representing the strengths of their characters. Receiving the oak leaf, Halt was regarded as their best recruit, with the other recruits saying the same. So from then, he was appointed to be a Royal Spy, considered to be one of the best positions for a Ranger. He served for the recommended minimum of two years, before he resigned and decided to travel the world.