Wild Rye Fields Darkwave

@Namir and any WRF wolves!

This all felt really bad but also really good. He followed every instruction Little Crow made from not walking in a straight line to smelling for only one cache. He had to keep his focus and couldn't let this adrenaline throw him off course. Oh but the greed. Imagine if they could not only get by with one cache but maybe two or three or even four. They'd be able to gorge like kings but he knew that hadn't been part of the instructions. Little Crow had said one. So no matter how tempting going after another might be his bit his tongue on the idea.

He wondered for a moment how long their muddied appearances would last. Buzzard had to say he was pretty pleased with how Little Crow had topped his forehead off to hide that mark. In fact, he had made sure to cover his face the most. If anything his face was the most distinguishable. His underside and halfway up his side was still slathered with the muck, though. He wasn't trying to piss of Little Crow or go out of their plan. He wasn't like them other brutes. He had heard her say it. Buzzard was damned if he was letting that go now.

Big Buzzard kept using the tall grasses to their advantages, zig zags here and there letting Crow take the lead. The new duo had to be quick. It truly was now or never.

Her heart had started pounding in her chest, a roar of blood between her ears. It felt like every brush against a blade of grass was as loud as the crack of thunder overhead, like at any moment, like at any second, a whole horde of giant, angry wolves might appear and swallow them whole. It was like this every time, no matter how many times Little Crow had trespassed. This was nothing like the desert, and she couldn’t run home to Crow’s Crossing…but she couldn’t run home to the Crossing anyways, because they’d disown her anyways.

Zig, and zag, and zig, and zag.

She swallowed hard, sparing only the quickest glance to make sure she hadn’t lost her new partner. Still here. A niggling thought reminded her that maybe he could betray her – but not yet. He wanted dinner. So did she. And the telltale scent of rotting meat (seasoned, really) led them quickly to the cache nearest the borders. It looked relatively undisturbed, as if it hadn’t been tended to in quite some time…perhaps an emergency cache, or perhaps it belonged to someone gone now. Little Crow really hoped for the second one.

“Dig,” she hissed. “Quick, for anyone sees.”

He wasn't fooling around with this. For the moment the single word left his partner in crime's mouth his muddied paws went to work on bringing up the earth that hid their treasure below. His paws practically flew below him as he brought more of the earth up. It was damp and that made the work relatively easy. Even if whatever it was below smelled a bit aged it seemed it wouldn't be like cracking open a vault for the duo.

Only a few more swift movements of his paws and he would be able to expose their nice, filling hidden treasure. A sense of pride swelled in his chest but it was quickly replaced by a sense he wasn't too familiar with. Anxiety. Shit shit shit. What if they got caught? He pushed that aside and stepped back for Little Crow to grab her share. The last thing the damn male wanted to do was hang around like a bumbling fool. Just like she had said. "Quick, for anyone sees."

Big Buzzard knew he could do this. All he was doing was following her lead because, by her name, she had done this before. She had told him back at that river she was named Little Crow and crow's stole. It seemed she wasn't lying one bit here.

Saros is currently going under the alias Big Buzzard or Buzzard - thanks to a name given by Namir

Wow.

She hadn’t meant for the guy to do all the digging himself…though she supposed it made sense, in retrospect. All the knowledge had been hers, she was doing all the teaching. Only seemed fair that he did his part of the work, too. Yeah. That’s what it was. Big Buzzard earning his keep. She wasn’t gonna keep feeding him like some weird pet.

Little Crow kept her ears strained forward, twitching violently every time the wind shifted the fog or whistled through the grasses. Those imaginary wolves were still breathing down her spine, nipping at the tip of her tail, howling at her ears – but they were still the imaginary wolves. For now. The anxiety might not be foreign for the female loner, but that didn’t make it any easier to deal with.

“Good,” she whispered hoarsely, barely above the shift of grasses around them. She hadn’t lifted her head, not even her ear tips – couldn’t risk getting caught. Couldn’t risk losing Big Buzzard to something to stupid, so early on. They hadn’t even found Fallen Tree Cave yet!

It wasn’t a big cache, but there was definitely enough for two wolves to have a decent meal. Catching Buzzard’s eye, she nodded silently and swept in, picking up a rabbit, waiting only long enough for him to do the same.

If he had known what Little Crow was thinking he likely would have felt pride and taken a moment to bask in it. But as it stood in this very moment every second could easily be the duo's last one. So he stayed crouched and did his dirty work. All he got was a hoarse good but that was better than nothing in this moment. Maybe it didn't top the meal they had uncovered, though. That was the buzzard's real focus here.

In and out.

This whole procedure shouldn't take long and after this, they still had to high tail it out of here which would likely be the more rough part. Digging and grabbing was easy work. Ah shit, grabbing. He picked up the other rabbit that was left in the now exposed cache. Big Buzzard wouldn't give two hoots if someone was saving it for a midnight snack or a gift or anything. This was now his and Little Crow's meal for the taking, because they had worked for it just like whoever was kind enough to leave it here, had done before the two yearlings.

With the prize clenched between his jaws, he stayed hunched and looked at Little Crow. This was the part where they fled, yeah? Well, she had to lead the way out because this was her kind of work. He was just here as an extra set of teeth, eyes, and paws.

Saros is currently going under the alias Big Buzzard or Buzzard - thanks to a name given by Namir

Yeah, this is the part where they ran like all hell.

Little Crow’s jaw clenched, digging in a little further to her rabbit as her muscles started to coil. The cache was left empty and she spared it a glance, wondering if covering it up would spare them more time in the long run – it hadn’t been disturbed in a while, so maybe the owner wouldn’t even bother looking? If she pushed the dirt back into the hole, would it matter?

Nah, probably not. Better run.

The best defense was long miles between her and the next wolf, the wolves hanging out somewhere around here. Her tail whipped from side to side, and then the small desert wolf was off like someone had shot her from a canon. Her ears flattened against her skull, her stride lengthening and lengthening as she moved, coming to a full stride in only a few seconds. When truly let out, Little Crow was a champion sprinter – not unlike her mother had been, years and years before (before the injury, before the anxiety). Her heart still roared like a locomotive, her heart hammering in her throat…but no one howled, or barked, and her and Big Buzzard were almost in the clear, almost out of the borders – and then they just had to run to the water and wash, again.

He did not wait for some kind of verbal clue because he doubted he would get it. The pair had their prizes latched tight between their jaws and for a moment he shared the same thought as Little Crow. Did they cover the thing up? Nah, probably not. Would only be wasting more precious moments for the stealing duo. Yet they were in the clear so far and Big Buzzard liked to think they might have a few moments to spare to do whatever the hell they pleased.

It seemed that that idea was not shared with his yellow-eyed company, though. As she took off like a rocket he did his best to chase after. He was no match for her speed but he'd sure as shit try. Keeping a few strides behind her tawny form. Big Buzzard couldn't let her get too far. He would lose her with that speed and all this fog and tall grass. Their plan would terribly backfire if he couldn't pull his ass into gear. So he would do his best to force his muscles to work hard and for his long strides to cover the tall grass land below them.

His jaws held firmly onto the rabbit. The idea of dropping it had his teeth sinking into the damn thing for dear life. This was his easy dinner. He couldn't make it out without anything to show for. Nor did he want Little Crow to think he was incapable of this kind of work.

Saros is currently going under the alias Big Buzzard or Buzzard - thanks to a name given by Namir

There is a deer that was killed by a lynx nearby. +10 Health

Mmm, yeah, it would be pretty humiliating if Big Buzzard lost his rabbit somewhere in the grass. It was already dead for fuck’s sake. How hard was it to keep it with him?

Namir chanced only the briefest of glances over her shoulder, just enough for her beady yellow eye to catch sight of her burly companion. A bit slow, yeah, but they could work on that. He was keeping enough pace. She didn’t look for long, lest she miss something out in the obvious and fall flat on her face. It’d probably trip up her partner in crime, too. It’d probably alert all the wolves (imaginary or not) that something fishy was happening just along the borders of the rye fields. And it’d probably make her look like a goddamn fool, too.

And Mama didn’t raise no fool.

The very thought left Little Crow bristling, pouring on a little extra speed as she opened her gait again, the veritable afterburners sending her flying over the finish line of a race only she was running. Her chest heaved, and they went sailing over the borders, but they couldn’t stop yet. It wasn’t like a fence that would keep pack wolves in. They had to keep running for the water, and lose any trace of rye wolf scent on them. Only then could try rest.

Big Buzzard knew they were close and despite his legs already getting a bit tired, because he was pushing himself to do something he wasn't exactly built to do, he kept going. They were so close and he had remembered Little Crow telling him to remember the spot. Once they hit that spot they'd be somewhat home free. Of course, they'd likely have to go wash the stench of these Rye wolves off them but that was easier than all this running. Anything was easier than hauling ass from wolves who didn't seem to care much that a rogue duo was thieving from them. Then again the duo had been fast and didn't leave much room for mistakes to be made.

He would pass the markers in the next few moments but keep trailing after Little Crow the best he could. Even if he wasn't the fastest wolf around it seemed he would be fast enough for another day. He wouldn't die today. Not that he knew of or at least not from these wolves. The yearling male had hope in his thieving teacher. She hadn't done him wrong yet and even if it was early on in their working partnership he still felt a certain comfort. They were in this together and there was a chance that if anything happened to him something might happen to her. Right?

Regardless of all of these things he cleared his mind, focusing on the only important task. Running like hell.

Saros is currently going under the alias Big Buzzard or Buzzard - thanks to a name given by Namir