by Hopeflower » Mon Jan 14, 2013 10:16 pm
Xanthe and Savarna welcomed their offspring with affectionate nuzzles and traded an uncertain look. "Mama?" Alira growled tentatively, sounding much younger than she was as she curled up beside the white and red female's flank. "Will we be okay?"
Savarna automatically hid any misgivings she had as she looked down at her daughter and replied softly, "Of course we will, little one."
"Where are we going?" Cirrus directed his question at Xanthe.
"I'm not entirely sure, Cirrus," Xanthe growled honestly. "But we will know, when we get there."
Cirrus kicked at the half-buried rib of some small creature that had been eaten some time ago; the bone had since been bleached by time and the sun. "I don't want to leave," he muttered almost sulkily. He was surprised when Xanthe leaned down and gave him a gentle nuzzle.
"I don't either," Xanthe admitted. "But we don't have much of a choice."
A rustling at the edge of the clearing drew his attention to the return of the first hunting party. He hadn't expected to see them carrying much, but his hopes fell further when he saw that between them, they had brought back one two young Dryosaurs, probably barely old enough to keep up with their mother. The hunters seemed as disappointed as Xanthe as they dropped their small catch in the center of the clearing.
"There's barely a furball stirring out there," one of them growled. "But maybe the others will have better luck." Xanthe nodded, but didn't hold out much hope.
"This is no good," Silver growled softly.
Steeltalon turned to look at her questioningly. They were cautiously following a somewhat older game trail on the very edge of where they would normally venture. They hadn't claimed the area as their territory, exactly; the underground caves were too vast to explore fully, and there was no telling where any one path might lead. Still, it was home to them, for now.
"There's no fresh scent here, or even stale scent," Silver went on. "Nothing's been this way for a while. Nothing but us, anyway." She gently nudged a browning bracken frond with her muzzle, adding, "This is all dry. Let's go back and - "
Whatever the younger female was going to say was cut off with a startled yelp. The half-mutant turned just in time to see Silver jerk back from the undergrowth with a fairly large furball clinging to her face and chittering wildly in panic. The off-white raptor shook her head violently; unable to hold on, the furball went flying and landed hard in front of Steeltalon's clawed foot. The few seconds it took for it to recover were enough for her to pin its head to the ground and pierce its skull with a swift, smooth motion from her killing claw. She sniffed it curiously; it didn't look like any furball she'd come across before. Most were much smaller. This thing was covered in gray fuzz, with exception of its white head, and had a long, naked tail and dark eyes set in a narrow face.
"It - it fell on me," Silver explained, looking sheepish as she came closer.
"It fell on you? It's not raining furballs, is it?" Steeltalon growled, looking up instinctively, though she was scanning the trees rather than the sky.
"Of course not...though that might be a nice change of pace. Do you see any more?" Silver was focused on the dead one, nudging it with her muzzle. It might be enough to feed her, being smaller than Steeltalon, but it wouldn't feed both of them.
"A couple of smaller ones." Steeltalon cocked her head, perplexed. The little ones were hanging on to a tree branch with their tails. The black and white female stretched up on her toes, trying to get a better look, before padding over to stand under the little creatures. She tilted her head first one way, then the other, trying to make sense of what they were doing. Silver watched her, uncertain.
"Maybe we should leave them alone. They seem smarter than this one was," the younger female growled.
Steeltalon glanced back, but returned her gaze to the little furballs. They didn't seem so far above her....She flexed her legs experimentally, wondering if she could get a big enough jump to reach them.
"Gotta have a little sadness once in a while so you know when the good times come."
"Talent is a pursued interest. In other words, anything that you're willing to practice, you can do." ~ Bob Ross
"The future is always uncertain and painful but it must be lived." ~ Unknown