Sacred Grove [bwp] cops and robbers

@Lauraceae short starter, srry || July 11, Morning, Few Clouds, 73.4 ° F, 23 ° C

kerberos rigel

i robbed the bank, it was me

It had been almost four weeks since his incident at the falls. While he was not in tip-top shape, he was better. Physically. Mentally he was still pretty wracked and distraught - not because of the incident although that didn't help any.

He shuffled about the grove with no real goal in mind. Maybe he'd run into coyotes to take his frustration out on or just find prey to track. A hefty sigh escaped him. He had realized long ago that he was stuck in a rut. He needed to leave. Although he hadn't mapped out where he would go or what would he do. Would that really matter though? Probably not.

(This post was last modified: Jul 19, 2018, 10:53 PM by Kerberos.)

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— rpndraw01

---

Laurel had not slept since departing with Vaken. He was an anxious, angry mess, about to bubble over with rage or hurt or sadness. He had done his best to avoid other wolves on his trek north, and seemed to be doing well to avoid other coyotes. During his walk, he tried to piece together everything he'd learned about coyotes. They were usually in three, but he could definitely take out one alone. Perhaps he needed to avoid them if there were two or more, as giving himself even more injuries didn't seem like the best idea.

Whatever he figured out, it would have to be alone. It was clear he would have to look out for himself and himself only. Screw everyone else. From here on out, it was him and the wild.

So today, Laurel had a purpose. Sort of. Perhaps it was bad for his purpose to be filled with basically murder of his not-so-far-off cousins, but it was something. Him or them, and although he was outnumbered, the coyotes didn't seem to have enough smarts to really retaliate.

Two mice lay in the dirt a distance away from him and he hid under the bush. Laurel watched it anxiously, waiting for signs of a coyote. He heard paw steps and froze, jaw clenching. When the coyote came into view, he watched — wait, that wasn't a coyote. Laurel stood from his hiding spot and shouted: "Hey, guy! Stay away from my mice!"

(This post was last modified: Jul 10, 2018, 09:54 PM by Lauraceae.)

kerberos rigel

"Hey, guy! Stay away from my mice!"

He lifted his head up, ears standing tall on his crown. Yellow eyes narrowed as he noticed the scrawny yearling looking like someone had dragged him through a cougar's den about ten times. He stepped forward, looking at the two mice. Well if you're gonna leave 'em out for anyone's taking then maybe you don't deserve them. But Kerberos backed up from the mice, not even he would stoop low enough to steal such a sad catch. If this was all the yearling had - which it looked like it was - then he could have it.

So you plan on eating them or are they some sort of centerpiece? The Rigel glanced around wondering if he had suddenly walked into the middle of something.

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— rpndraw02

---

Laurel growled at the man's reply, though quieted down when he stepped away from his mice. The yearling quickly jumped from his hiding spot and sniffed them over. Now they smelled more like wolf. He bit one of the mice's heads off and swallowed it whole, stepping on it to let it's tasty inside juices spill out. He then returned to his hiding spot, but didn't get back to hiding. "No, they're not for eating," he looked at the mice for a moment, staring at them as he tried to figure out how to tell the older man that he, a scrawny little boy, was trying to hunt coyotes.

"I am, uh," his ears pinned down and he glared at the mice. Maybe mice wasn't a good idea, maybe he needed something bigger, something... meatier. But he couldn't catch anything bigger! He'd tried, and he'd gotten pretty close, but not close enough. Laurel looked at the man, his face wrinkling in embarrassment, ears down. He just needed to say it, real quick-like. If he knew the experience of ripping off a bandaid, that'd be a good metaphor to put in right here. One breath, and then as quickly as he could: "I'mtryingtocatchcoyotes."

(This post was last modified: Jul 10, 2018, 09:53 PM by Lauraceae.)

They weren't for eating but the guy ate a whole head off of one? Okay, yeah sure. Yellow eyes watched as the yearling retreated. His own daughter would have been that age by know but damn did he hope she was doing better than this guy. Eating mice heads and banged up beyond belief. He bit his cheek at the thought of his daughter being like that.

The words buzzed through the air quicker than he could fully process. Something about catch and coyotes. Kerberos had a feeling the yearling wasn't try to play catch with the coyotes. Which meant he was probably trying to catch them. His eyes narrowed as he looked back to the mice, one headless now. Maybe it would work? The damn vermin had been going for everything lately.

"Alright." Was all he said.

Awkwardly Kerberos moved around the mice in order to find his own hiding space in the foliage, still within earshot and field of vision of the yearling. "How long you been waiting?" He asked in a voice that barely went above a whisper.

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There is a deer carcass being picked over by three coyotes. They spot you and become territorial of their kill.

— rpndraw03

---

Alright. Alright? Laurel looked a little dumbfounded for a moment, but quickly changed his expression before he let on that what he was doing might possibly be stupid. Alright! The end of his tattered tail gave a slight wag, feeling a little bit better about his little experiment. Even better, the older male settled down in the shrubs with him. He tried to keep himself focused, but the young Ritter was inwardly grinning.

Eventually lowering himself into hiding as well, the stranger then spoke. "Not... too long," he actually couldn't recall how long he'd been hiding there, staring at two dead mice.

The wind changed and Laurel stiffened again. This time it was coyote, he was certain of it. His rear end wriggled, ready to hop up and off another one of the awful creatures. Laurel's ears perked, he leaned in. Any minute now, any second and a coyote would show.

His own form leaned towards the scent of the coyotes, they couldn't be too far as the scent of them and deer drifted towards the duo. The Rigel's face peeked out from the bushes in front of him which was probably a mistake because what he saw was three hungry coyotes. Their posture said it all and he could feel himself tense, wincing slightly. @Tilly would probably rip him a new one if she found him injured again. Especially just barely being recovered from his previous mistake.

"What's your plan, kid?" He asked as he tossed a glance towards where the other yearling should be. If the coyotes had a whole damn deer to pick over, well, Kerberos doubted they would settle for some measly mice. The Rigel would have thought he would have been happy to charge in head first but...they were kind of outnumbered and his confidence suddenly seemed to be faltering.

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Lauraceae watched the mice, but then started to hear growling. He could tell the other man what his plan was not. It wasn't the mice not being good bait, nor was it the coyotes finding a perfectly good deer instead. It was not the coyotes spotting them before he spotted them. He turned in the direction of the creatures as they glared at the two wolves, dumbly hiding under the bushes.

Your plan, Laurel! the boy inwardly shouted at himself, but couldn't seem to think of anything coherent. Instinct one was to fight, charge, anything. But that had been going pretty poorly for him, and trying a surprise attack with mice going worse. A coyote stepped towards him, they growled louder. They were going to jump him, he knew it. Fear bubbled in his chest and Laurel stopped feeling any ounce of confidence.

"Run?" he offered what little plan he could think of, tucked tail, and proceeded with his plan.

(This post was last modified: Jul 10, 2018, 11:28 PM by Lauraceae.)

"Run?"

Huh, that seemed like an odd plan but maybe it was a back up plan. Kerberos didn't protest. No. Instead he merely followed after the yearling as the yaps of coyotes filled the air behind them. The Rigel had not needed to actually run in so long that he forgot how good it actually felt. How much nicer moving about over the earth was than sitting around in a den moping all day. He needed to be free.

He trailed after the kid (as long as Lauraceae hadn't stopped yet) and let out a small burst of laughter. Genuine and lighthearted. Kerberos didn't care where he was going in that moment. The sounds of coyotes grew faint although he was willing to be he'd find them later - or at least more later, as the same ones would be kind of wild.

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