General

Name: Rune (pronounced "roon")
Breed: Chinook
Sex: Female
Orientation: Heterosexual
Birth: 1928, somewhere in Alaska
Allegiance: Team Dog in competitive sled team with Dingo, Kenan, and Reiner; becomes a wheel dog on that same team.

Characteristics

Personality: Naive, gullible, and cheerful.  Rune is known to be energetic in nature, often thought of as the one that can't sit still and bounces off the walls. Her rambunctious tendencies make her liven up a room, but she can be seen as annoying to her docile companions when she's not taken in sparse doses.
Talents/ Abilities: Rune's very strong for a female of her size and stature, her strength is known to be capable enough to be used in the wheel dog position when needed, which is especially impressive considering that she is the only female on her sled team, the best team in Alaska. It's hard for her to hit a low point, but when she hits rock bottom, it's more like crashing.
Weaknesses: When she hits rock bottom, it's hard to get back up to her usual high levels of happiness. 
Dreams: She really wants to become a famous sled dog, even aspiring to attain a status similar to Steele, without his disgraceful personality.
Fears: Reiner (when she was young) and mice.

Design

Colors: Golden tan with brown patches
Pupils: Dark Brown
Iris: Chestnut Orange
Schlera: White
Paw Pads: Dark brown
Inner Ears: Light gold
Reference Sheet: None Yet

Liniage

Parents: ??? (??? X ???) x Huslia (??? X ???)
Siblings: ???, ???, ???
Mate: Reiner
Pups: Yang, Jaune, Carla, ???, and ???

History

Rune was the only girl in her mother's litter of four. Her mother's brother, Kaltag, was the pride of her family, since he was in a champion sled team from 1924 to 1926, and since she was young, Rune wanted to aspire to a similar status to make her mother proud.

In 1930, Rune tried out and made it onto Nome's #1 professional team. She was the youngest of the team and the only girl. Rune worked in the last pair of team dogs right in front of the wheel dogs, which told a lot about her strength. When she joined, she was seen as a threat to the much older wheel dogs, specifically, Reiner, (Ralph's older brother), who was near the end of his youth.

Since Reiner saw Rune as a threat to his position on the team, he bullied her and pushed her around. When they were running, Reiner would nip at Rune's tail, often complaining that Rune was annoying, slow, and weak. When the dogs were put to bed in their master's barn, Reiner would kick Rune out of the dog pile, and she's spend her nights cold and alone.

Rune never told anyone about her tormentor, simply because she was worried that she'd be kicked off the team or that her teammates wouldn't trust her and call her a snitch. So Rune remained quiet for a few months.

Rune had finally had enough during a race when Reiner bit at her tail. She kicked him in the muzzel, causing him to trip. The sled crashed into him, and the whole team was brought to a halt. Rune attacked Reiner and when their musher had finally broken the fight, Reiner was blind in one eye and Rune was missing half her tail.

Rune and Reiner were tied up at opposite sides of the barn for a few weeks. Kaltag came to visit Rune while she was recovering from her injuries, and told Rune that she shouldn't have joined a team with Steele's son (implying that Kenan had done Rune wrong). Rune told her uncle that Kenan had never hurt her intentionally, and told Kaltag that Reiner had taken her tail. Kaltag saw that Reiner was chained up on the other side of the barn, and decided that Reiner should face civil justice for his wrong doings. 

That night when the team returned, Doc held a town meeting for the dogs where they cleared the air between Reiner and Rune. Rune was found to have done wrong by not telling her teammates what was wrong, her teammates were found wrong for having not noticed Reiner's tormenting and not having a healthy work environment, Reiner's fellow wheel dog, Keno, who knew about the situation was kicked off the team, and Reiner was wrong for his actions.

Kenan - acting as lead dog - apologized on behalf of the team, and told Rune that no grudges would be held against her if she wanted to quit the team. Rune decided that she'd stay on the team, and her position was changed to be closer to the lead pair: Kenan and Dingo, since Kenan promised to Kaltag to keep Rune under his watch from then on. However, Rune never got the one thing she truly needed, an apology from Reiner.

With Keno off the team, tryouts were given to any dogs that wanted to take his place as a wheel dog. A dog named Aero was picked, and even though he was adequte for the team, he couldn't work well with Reiner. As it turned out, Reiner was losing sight in his good eye, so he had no sense of direction and was basically pulling the wrong direction. Reiner's position on the team was in serious jeopardy.

One night, Rune saw Reiner slip on ice, and asked Reiner why he didn't walk around it. Rune realizes that Reiner honestly can't make out much with his diminising eyesight, and Rune decides to help him by working with him at night while the others rest. She does this with the hope that Reiner will reconcile with her and apologize for taking her tail off. 

Rune is able to help Reiner understand key directions and pace with slight nudges against her body when they run alongside eachother. Unbeknownst to them, Steele watches them on the beach at night and notes that the team could make its way back to its former glory.

One night, Kenan wakes up and sees that Rune's not in the barn. Kenan decides to go look for her and sees a figure on the beach at night and goes to investiage. Kenan runs into his father, Steele, and although he's not necessairly happy to see him, Kenan listens to Steele's limited words on Rune and Reiner working together. "Those two might make it to Nenana and back." (These words have a significance to Kenan, as he realizes his father acknowledges that the next generation of sled dogs are superior to the last generation. This also marks a significant transition for Steele, as his fall from grace has lead him to become more humble and observant of other dogs.) Steele leaves Kenan to watch Rune train with Reiner.

The next day, Kenan makes his musher switch Rune and Aero's positions on the team. Rune and Reiner's success as wheel dogs prevents Reiner's early retirement, and Rune is officially Reiner's partner as a wheel dog on the team. Reiner thanks Rune for her help, and asks her how she came up with the clever idea to use body language. Rune admits that when Reiner had nipped at her tail, she spent so much time focusing on trying to avoid his bites that she never could keep track of pace on her own, so she'd rely on her partner by brushing up against them.

Eventually, Reiner's actions towards Rune become kinder and gentler, and everyone on the team notices it. Yet drama stirs when Rune's team (including Reiner, Kenan, Dingo, Aero, and nine others) goes to a beach party with the rest of the sled dogs in Nome such as Steele's mining and supplies team, (including Steele, Keno, and Ia), the mail team (Kodi, Ralph, Kirby, and Dusty), retired sleddogs like Nikki, Kaltag, and Star, and house dogs like Meekah, Saba, and Alicyn. At the party Dingo gets cornered by his sisters Saba and Meekah, who complain that he needs to find a girlfriend. In the stress of the moment, Dingo grabs Rune and lies that they're a couple. Dingo tells Rune to play along, and she does successfully convince Saba and Meekah that she and Dingo are a couple. They're so successful in their act that they are unsuccessful from getting Dingo away from his sisters' undesired attention.

Dingo and Rune's act interferes with their daily life. When they're not working, they're often called 'lovebirds' by the other dogs. Rune also faces envy from Alicyn, and is often taken advantage of by Alicyn. While she's working, Rune will often experience the cold shoulder from Reiner for inexplicable reasons. (He's envious of Dingo, but won't bother to express it.) Rune asks Dingo if they can drop the act, but Dingo confesses that he doesn't want his sisters to find out that he's in love with someone, knowing that they wouldn't approve or understand. Rune promises to help Dingo if he tells her everything, and he agrees.

Meanwhile, Alicyn loses hope of gaining Dingo's affections, so she redirects her efforts towards Tristan (Kenan's older brother). Since Tristan is already involved with a wolf named Ava, Alicyn plots to get Tristan to break up with Ava by pretending to be pregnant with his pups. She does this by using Reiner (who has a similar coat color to Tristan), and tricking Tristan. Alicyn tries to kill two birds with one stone, by using Reiner to hurt Rune, and taking Tristan from Ava. Tristan breaks up with Ava from hearing that Alicyn is pregnant with his pups, and all attention towards Dingo and Rune is redirected to Alicyn and Tristan. Dingo and Rune then stop their trickery, and Reiner notices this change. Reiner asks Rune why she and Dingo aren't so lovey-dovey, and Rune tells Reiner in confidence that she was helping Dingo as a friend to act as his girlfriend, and that she never had any romantic feelings for him.

Rune and Reiner become friendly once more, and although they don't declare they're an item or are in love, it's implied for quite a while.

Reiner realizes what a horrible mistake he made with Alicyn, but Alicyn tells Reiner to not tell Rune the truth of her pups, since in the end they all got their desirable outcomes. While Reiner and Alicyn are discussing this, Kenan overhears the entire conversation and understands what Alicyn did. Kenan tells the truth to all the dogs in a town hall meeting in the boiler room, uncovering that Tristan isn't the father to Alicyn's pups, but Reiner. This leads to Alicyn confessing that she just wanted Tristan's love, since she couldn't have Dingo's. Alicyn, in a rage, uncovers why Dingo doesn't want to tell his sisters who he loves. She then runs out the boiler room, leaving all the dogs in a shock. Dingo is the next to run away, out of shame, and Kenan follows after him. Tristan gets back together with Ava.

Rune leaves alone, and in an alley, Reiner meets up with her. He tries to offer an explanation, but Rune yells at him that he doesn't need to give her an explanation, since they're not a couple. Rune finishes her rant by saying that any chance of them being a couple is gone. Rune leaves Reiner and runs off. As it turns out, Steele had watched the whole ordeal. Steele offers to help Reiner find his way home, since it is dark and difficult to tell the difference between ice and snow. Reiner asks Steele how he knew about his condition, and Steele tells him that he watched Rune train with him on the beach. Steele reminds Reiner that Rune helped him out of the kindness out of her own heart, and wasn't obligated to help him in the slightest after what he did to her. Reiner realizes that Rune had actually loved him, and asks Steele how he can ever fix his situation with her. Steele tells Reiner to do the one thing he (Steele) had failed to do: apologize.

So in a big romantic gesture, Reiner apologized to Rune for everything he did, finally giving her the one thing that she wanted since he started bullying her: an apology. Rune accepts the apology and they reconcile, officially becoming mates not long after.

A few months later, Alicyn has two pups from her pregnancy with Reiner. Rune learns to love the pups, and takes them in as her own when Alicyn abandons them and leaves Nome. Rune and Reiner eventually becomes parents of their own litter of puppies as well. 

Other

Modifications: None
Relation to Balto: My Balto Family Tree (Kaltag's niece, Ralph's brother's frenemy)
Name Meaning: Derived from Old Norse meaning "secret"

Credits

Original Body Art © Kay Fedewa
Body Art Template © Viddie on dires.org
Character  © Exile