Post by Pavane on Jul 24, 2010 0:57:19 GMT -5
Setting:
Merging Tributary - Late Summer (RL day 1)
Characters:
Bristlecone - Male Juvenile Coyote
Felix - Male Red Fox Kit
Fennel - Female Raccoon
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It's a hot day in the middle of summer, the sun beating down overhead. Most sensible creatures are asleep right now to beat the heat, but... the young are seldom sensible, and Bristlecone's left the cool den where his parents are sleeping, padding towards the edge of the pool and then dipping his muzzle to take a drink.
Felix is young, and is indeed not sensible! Except in this case Felix isn't up to drinking or anything even *that* sensible! He's off stalking imaginary mice and the like! And hopping about! And stuff that most wouldn't do in the sun!
Bristlecone lifts up his muzzle from the pool, and gives it a shake, sending little water droplets to either side before turning. A flash of color catches his attention, and he goes still for a moment, then starts to stalk forward as stealthily as he can. Who hunts the hunter? Him!
Felix is unaware he's being stalked. The other side of the coin of being bad at stalking is being bad at detection! He closes in on his imaginary prey and gets down low.
Bristlecone's not great either, but he's just a bit older and has had more time to practice, so he manages to evade detection. He comes around behind the fox - one he's met before, and so recognized as friend, not foe. Puppy friends are still for pouncing, though! He gets into a crouch, stepping forward into a patch of tall grass to hide him... which rustles. Dry grasses aren't so good for sneaking.
Felix blinks and looks around wildly. Not necessarily in Bristlecone's direction, however. He stands up and peers about, trying to see if he can pick out his potential attacker at random.
Bristlecone goes as still as he possibly can! Don't move! Or else you'll be seen! The dried grass is actually a pretty decent camouflage, though he's a bit redder in color than it is. But it's close... depends just how keen vulpine senses are!
Felix is definitely not keen. So he passes right over the pup. He shrugs and starts pouncing grass.
Bristlecone has escaped detection! Yay! His tail wags in pleasure, making the grass rustle again - ooh, he's going to have to work on that. Not so good for stalking. Best just pounce at this point - so he does, leaping out towards Felix and trying to catch him with his forepaws.
Felix squeaks when he sees something erupt from the grass and run! He can't let himself get caught!
Bristlecone gives chase! Tail wagging, muzzle grinning, little paws pounding on the ground. This is almost as much fun as actually catching the fox!
Felix is a fox, so quick thinking is at least natural and he heads for a tree.
Bristlecone's got longer legs, so he's gaining ground slowly as the fox goes for - a tree? He's never really thought much about those. Won't Felix hit his head on it?
Felix jumps just right to get his legs on the tree... to jump off it and over the pup! Good show!
Or maybe the fox will - whoa! His head twists up to follow Felix's course over him, paws scrambling at the ground to bring himself to a halt as he stares back over his shoulder. "Neat!"
Felix stops and looks a Bristlecone. "Really? You think so?"
Bristlecone nods his head vigorously. "Uh-huh! Like a bird!"
Felix looks at the tree. Best not give Felix any ideas. He might actually try to flly from a tree.
Bristlecone grins, sitting down. He's cheerfully oblivious to just how bad an idea it is as he continues, "I rode a bird once! That was neat, too."
Felix blinks. "Really?" He has *got* to try that! He turns to climb the tree then. We need an adult's intervention!
Bristlecone grins, and nods. "Uh-huh. Aolani let me ride her. She's a swan!" He gets back up and steps back out of the way as Felix goes to the tree, watching. If only all the responsible adults weren't sound asleep from the heat!
Felix starts climbing the tree, he is gonna fly! It'll be so awesome!
Bristlecone watches. Huh, so that's how climbing works... he hadn't quite figured it out, before. This will be awesome! Though... a small, nagging thought creeps into his head. "But... there's no wings."
Felix keeps climbing, as if he has not heard. Oh dear.
Bristlecone rears up, putting his forepaws on the treetrunk and watching the foxkit head up into the branches.
Felix climbs even higher. High enough to possibly get badly hurt.
Bristlecone scrabbles his paws at the bark, trying to climb up and join the fox. It's hard, though, because he's heavier than Felix and built different.
Fennel is making her way along one of the branches. It's quite natural for a raccoon to walk the high tree road. Foxes, though? Not so much. She pauses, tilting her head to one side at Felix. "Tree-fox? Treed fox?"
Felix is surprised and his paw slips and he crouches down and clings to the branch, whimpering. "No! No!"
Bristlecone peers up into the branches. It's hard to see, though - there's all those leaves in the way. "Huh?"
Fennel chuffs, her tail swishing back and forth. "No tree fox? Foxes have confusion, then!" She hmms. "This is tree! See? Tree-ee. Ground is that way!" She points downwards, then adds, "Usually. Sometimes ground is other places!"
Felix is getting an idea. He squeezes his eyes shut and starts to cry, "I want my mommeeeeeeeeee!"
Bristlecone is really starting to worry, now! He can see Felix, more or less, and there's something - someONE - else up there that he can't entirely make out past the leaves. He yips, paws scrabbling at the trunk as he tries to come up to the rescue. "Hey! Stoppit! Don't be mean!"
Fennel tilts her head as Felix begins to cry. "Mommy? Probably a fox. Foxes have foxes for mothers, yes?" She pauses for several moments to consider on this, then nods to herself firmly. "Yes! But foxes are on the ground. Not in trees. So! Fox goes to ground, finds mother! Very, very clever plan!"
Felix is just trying not to get to the ground in the most direct way possible. And the confused coon isn't helping. His sobs are loud. He doesn't move.
Bristlecone yips again! In his attempt to save Felix, he's actually managing to climb his way up the tree - slowly, and with a lot of effort, but he's figuring it out.
Fennel hffs. "Fox words are sad words!" she declares. Huh? What's that even mean? "Grown foxes sad! Little foxes sad. All sad!"
Felix wails out, the coon seems to be terrorizing him, and he keeps clinging to the branch.
Bristlecone scrambles his way up, managing to get his paws onto the branch that Felix is on. Whoa, this thing is narrow... at least, compared to the flat ground. But he'll handle it somehow! Now he can see the raccoon that's been talking to Felix - she doesn't seem terribly scary, to him... but scaring his friend is no good! "C'mon, Felix!" he says, trying to encourage the kit to move back along the branch.
Fennel looks rather nonplussed. The fox is sobbing, and then there's this coyote that's just appeared, and that's another of the things that doesn't climb trees normally. "Hff. Ground is on trees, today? Trees on ground, too?" A pause. "Or maybe trees in sky." She tilts her head to the sky, peering up. "No. Birds in sky, so no trees there. So! Trees are ground, today..." she concludes, nodding sagely, and then steps out onto thin air, tumbling a few feet before catching herself on another branch and looking indignant. "Bad ground! Acting like tree. Should be ground!"
"Make it stop!" Felix distresses. He whimpers. "I want my mother. I'm so scared! I don't wanna die!" He won't move, too terrified.
Bristlecone creeps out slowly along the branch. He's pretty much ignoring the raccoon right now - she'll handle her confusion, or she won't. But he has to save his friend! When he gets close enough, he leans in - careful, now, bend the knees and don't shift to the side - and tries to pick up Felix by the scruff of the neck, the way the grownups carry puppies. He's a bigger species, and a bit older, so he should be able to manage it, right? He sure hopes so, 'cause he doesn't know how else he's going to get the fox down!
Fennel huffs. She continues scolding the tree for not acting like the ground... at least she's conveniently in position underneath the two canids, for the moment, so she might help break their fall if worst comes to worst!
Felix's grip relaxes due to the grabbing of the scruff. Not resisting, he should be easy to save now.
Okay, he's got Felix now... so far, so good. Now he's just got to get back... easier thought than done! Moving backwards it hard, dragging along a fox only slightly smaller than him is hard, moving on a tree-branch is hard... doing them all at once means he's barely inching along, feeling back with one paw at a time as he moves back towards the trunk.
Fennel gives herself a shake, fluffing out her fur, and then peers back up at where Bristlecone is pulling Felix back along the branch. "Tree coyotes. Tree foxes. Tree deer, next? Probably!" She shakes her head, huffing, and jumps to the next branch over.
Felix doesn't move. Scruffgrabs do that trick neatly.
Bristlecone backs up until his rump is pushed right up against the trunk. Right... now he's just got the problem of getting back down. He peers down through the branches... well, he managed on the way up, didn't he? There's gotta be a way back down... and he'd better find it fast, 'cause his jaw is getting tired!
Fennel's attention span for these things seems to have expired. She makes another jump, and then begins walking out along that branch, still muttering to herself about trees and things in them but ignoring the canids. It simply doesn't seem to have crossed her mind that she should do anything further to help the two younglings. Not that she's done anything helpful so far, except possibly accidentally!
Felix still can't move! He's still afraid.
Bristlecone peers down at Felix over his muzzle, but... he thinks if he let him go, the fox would probably just fall down. He doesn't look ready to do much. So, it's up to him, and he takes a deep breath - as best he can around fur - to steady himself before he starts heading down. Jump down to another branch - and then another - and with the extra weight, he couldn't stop even if he wanted to, making each leap just before he'd fall down instead.
Another jump - and then another, getting closer to the ground each time. They're not far off; an adult coyote, rearing up, could probably reach them now - and then suddenly there's no branch within leaping range, and they're still not at the ground yet. Bristlecone tries to stop, but he can't manage it - not with that heavy fox in his jaws, and with so much inertia built up - and his muzzle flies open in a yelp as he just keeps going, falling down off the branch and tumbling through the air.
Felix yiiis and flails as he is more or less tossed to the ground. It hurts upon impact, but no injuries are had!
Bristlecone tumbles down to the ground himself, landing in an entirely undignified sprawl of limbs! He'll probably have a few bruises from that - but nothing's broken! He's safe - that's his first thought, and his second one is looking over to Felix. The fox seems pretty much okay too, so... all's well! He grins.
Felix pants a little, but then smiles... and soon starts laughing.
Bristlecone grins broadly, his tail thumping against the ground. Now that there's not imminent danger... it's pretty funny! And neat!
Felix laughs even louder! That was awesome! "Wow! You were so awesome!"
Bristlecone laughs, his tail wagging. "Didn't even know I could do that! 'til I did!"
Felix giggles. "You're a hero!" He saved Felix after all! "You should tell yer dad!"
Bristlecone grins broadly. "Huh! Guess so!" He hadn't really thought about it that way, before - hadn't really thought about it at all, really - just did it. "He'll be prouda me for helping!"
Felix nodnods. And soon he has big smiles. "Well, that was enough excitement for one day!"
Bristlecone laughs, and nods. "Uh-huh. Our moms are probably gonna yell at us for getting our fur so messed up..." he says, stretching out as he gets to his feet.
Felix shakes off. "Oooh... not bath time. I hate bath time!"
Bristlecone grins. "It's not so bad. 'Specially if you go for a swim, first, so it's quicker."
Felix thinks about this. "Then I am swimming! He makes a break for the pond."
Bristlecone laughs, and nods, stretching out his legs to lope after. With the heat of the day, the water should be nice and warm for them!
Felix leaps in with a yuppee! He is going to have some fun!
Bristlecone pounces right into the water, with forepaws pointed forward together and his body stretched out in a dive! He sure caught it! Or maybe it caught him...
Merging Tributary - Late Summer (RL day 1)
Characters:
Bristlecone - Male Juvenile Coyote
Felix - Male Red Fox Kit
Fennel - Female Raccoon
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It's a hot day in the middle of summer, the sun beating down overhead. Most sensible creatures are asleep right now to beat the heat, but... the young are seldom sensible, and Bristlecone's left the cool den where his parents are sleeping, padding towards the edge of the pool and then dipping his muzzle to take a drink.
Felix is young, and is indeed not sensible! Except in this case Felix isn't up to drinking or anything even *that* sensible! He's off stalking imaginary mice and the like! And hopping about! And stuff that most wouldn't do in the sun!
Bristlecone lifts up his muzzle from the pool, and gives it a shake, sending little water droplets to either side before turning. A flash of color catches his attention, and he goes still for a moment, then starts to stalk forward as stealthily as he can. Who hunts the hunter? Him!
Felix is unaware he's being stalked. The other side of the coin of being bad at stalking is being bad at detection! He closes in on his imaginary prey and gets down low.
Bristlecone's not great either, but he's just a bit older and has had more time to practice, so he manages to evade detection. He comes around behind the fox - one he's met before, and so recognized as friend, not foe. Puppy friends are still for pouncing, though! He gets into a crouch, stepping forward into a patch of tall grass to hide him... which rustles. Dry grasses aren't so good for sneaking.
Felix blinks and looks around wildly. Not necessarily in Bristlecone's direction, however. He stands up and peers about, trying to see if he can pick out his potential attacker at random.
Bristlecone goes as still as he possibly can! Don't move! Or else you'll be seen! The dried grass is actually a pretty decent camouflage, though he's a bit redder in color than it is. But it's close... depends just how keen vulpine senses are!
Felix is definitely not keen. So he passes right over the pup. He shrugs and starts pouncing grass.
Bristlecone has escaped detection! Yay! His tail wags in pleasure, making the grass rustle again - ooh, he's going to have to work on that. Not so good for stalking. Best just pounce at this point - so he does, leaping out towards Felix and trying to catch him with his forepaws.
Felix squeaks when he sees something erupt from the grass and run! He can't let himself get caught!
Bristlecone gives chase! Tail wagging, muzzle grinning, little paws pounding on the ground. This is almost as much fun as actually catching the fox!
Felix is a fox, so quick thinking is at least natural and he heads for a tree.
Bristlecone's got longer legs, so he's gaining ground slowly as the fox goes for - a tree? He's never really thought much about those. Won't Felix hit his head on it?
Felix jumps just right to get his legs on the tree... to jump off it and over the pup! Good show!
Or maybe the fox will - whoa! His head twists up to follow Felix's course over him, paws scrambling at the ground to bring himself to a halt as he stares back over his shoulder. "Neat!"
Felix stops and looks a Bristlecone. "Really? You think so?"
Bristlecone nods his head vigorously. "Uh-huh! Like a bird!"
Felix looks at the tree. Best not give Felix any ideas. He might actually try to flly from a tree.
Bristlecone grins, sitting down. He's cheerfully oblivious to just how bad an idea it is as he continues, "I rode a bird once! That was neat, too."
Felix blinks. "Really?" He has *got* to try that! He turns to climb the tree then. We need an adult's intervention!
Bristlecone grins, and nods. "Uh-huh. Aolani let me ride her. She's a swan!" He gets back up and steps back out of the way as Felix goes to the tree, watching. If only all the responsible adults weren't sound asleep from the heat!
Felix starts climbing the tree, he is gonna fly! It'll be so awesome!
Bristlecone watches. Huh, so that's how climbing works... he hadn't quite figured it out, before. This will be awesome! Though... a small, nagging thought creeps into his head. "But... there's no wings."
Felix keeps climbing, as if he has not heard. Oh dear.
Bristlecone rears up, putting his forepaws on the treetrunk and watching the foxkit head up into the branches.
Felix climbs even higher. High enough to possibly get badly hurt.
Bristlecone scrabbles his paws at the bark, trying to climb up and join the fox. It's hard, though, because he's heavier than Felix and built different.
Fennel is making her way along one of the branches. It's quite natural for a raccoon to walk the high tree road. Foxes, though? Not so much. She pauses, tilting her head to one side at Felix. "Tree-fox? Treed fox?"
Felix is surprised and his paw slips and he crouches down and clings to the branch, whimpering. "No! No!"
Bristlecone peers up into the branches. It's hard to see, though - there's all those leaves in the way. "Huh?"
Fennel chuffs, her tail swishing back and forth. "No tree fox? Foxes have confusion, then!" She hmms. "This is tree! See? Tree-ee. Ground is that way!" She points downwards, then adds, "Usually. Sometimes ground is other places!"
Felix is getting an idea. He squeezes his eyes shut and starts to cry, "I want my mommeeeeeeeeee!"
Bristlecone is really starting to worry, now! He can see Felix, more or less, and there's something - someONE - else up there that he can't entirely make out past the leaves. He yips, paws scrabbling at the trunk as he tries to come up to the rescue. "Hey! Stoppit! Don't be mean!"
Fennel tilts her head as Felix begins to cry. "Mommy? Probably a fox. Foxes have foxes for mothers, yes?" She pauses for several moments to consider on this, then nods to herself firmly. "Yes! But foxes are on the ground. Not in trees. So! Fox goes to ground, finds mother! Very, very clever plan!"
Felix is just trying not to get to the ground in the most direct way possible. And the confused coon isn't helping. His sobs are loud. He doesn't move.
Bristlecone yips again! In his attempt to save Felix, he's actually managing to climb his way up the tree - slowly, and with a lot of effort, but he's figuring it out.
Fennel hffs. "Fox words are sad words!" she declares. Huh? What's that even mean? "Grown foxes sad! Little foxes sad. All sad!"
Felix wails out, the coon seems to be terrorizing him, and he keeps clinging to the branch.
Bristlecone scrambles his way up, managing to get his paws onto the branch that Felix is on. Whoa, this thing is narrow... at least, compared to the flat ground. But he'll handle it somehow! Now he can see the raccoon that's been talking to Felix - she doesn't seem terribly scary, to him... but scaring his friend is no good! "C'mon, Felix!" he says, trying to encourage the kit to move back along the branch.
Fennel looks rather nonplussed. The fox is sobbing, and then there's this coyote that's just appeared, and that's another of the things that doesn't climb trees normally. "Hff. Ground is on trees, today? Trees on ground, too?" A pause. "Or maybe trees in sky." She tilts her head to the sky, peering up. "No. Birds in sky, so no trees there. So! Trees are ground, today..." she concludes, nodding sagely, and then steps out onto thin air, tumbling a few feet before catching herself on another branch and looking indignant. "Bad ground! Acting like tree. Should be ground!"
"Make it stop!" Felix distresses. He whimpers. "I want my mother. I'm so scared! I don't wanna die!" He won't move, too terrified.
Bristlecone creeps out slowly along the branch. He's pretty much ignoring the raccoon right now - she'll handle her confusion, or she won't. But he has to save his friend! When he gets close enough, he leans in - careful, now, bend the knees and don't shift to the side - and tries to pick up Felix by the scruff of the neck, the way the grownups carry puppies. He's a bigger species, and a bit older, so he should be able to manage it, right? He sure hopes so, 'cause he doesn't know how else he's going to get the fox down!
Fennel huffs. She continues scolding the tree for not acting like the ground... at least she's conveniently in position underneath the two canids, for the moment, so she might help break their fall if worst comes to worst!
Felix's grip relaxes due to the grabbing of the scruff. Not resisting, he should be easy to save now.
Okay, he's got Felix now... so far, so good. Now he's just got to get back... easier thought than done! Moving backwards it hard, dragging along a fox only slightly smaller than him is hard, moving on a tree-branch is hard... doing them all at once means he's barely inching along, feeling back with one paw at a time as he moves back towards the trunk.
Fennel gives herself a shake, fluffing out her fur, and then peers back up at where Bristlecone is pulling Felix back along the branch. "Tree coyotes. Tree foxes. Tree deer, next? Probably!" She shakes her head, huffing, and jumps to the next branch over.
Felix doesn't move. Scruffgrabs do that trick neatly.
Bristlecone backs up until his rump is pushed right up against the trunk. Right... now he's just got the problem of getting back down. He peers down through the branches... well, he managed on the way up, didn't he? There's gotta be a way back down... and he'd better find it fast, 'cause his jaw is getting tired!
Fennel's attention span for these things seems to have expired. She makes another jump, and then begins walking out along that branch, still muttering to herself about trees and things in them but ignoring the canids. It simply doesn't seem to have crossed her mind that she should do anything further to help the two younglings. Not that she's done anything helpful so far, except possibly accidentally!
Felix still can't move! He's still afraid.
Bristlecone peers down at Felix over his muzzle, but... he thinks if he let him go, the fox would probably just fall down. He doesn't look ready to do much. So, it's up to him, and he takes a deep breath - as best he can around fur - to steady himself before he starts heading down. Jump down to another branch - and then another - and with the extra weight, he couldn't stop even if he wanted to, making each leap just before he'd fall down instead.
Another jump - and then another, getting closer to the ground each time. They're not far off; an adult coyote, rearing up, could probably reach them now - and then suddenly there's no branch within leaping range, and they're still not at the ground yet. Bristlecone tries to stop, but he can't manage it - not with that heavy fox in his jaws, and with so much inertia built up - and his muzzle flies open in a yelp as he just keeps going, falling down off the branch and tumbling through the air.
Felix yiiis and flails as he is more or less tossed to the ground. It hurts upon impact, but no injuries are had!
Bristlecone tumbles down to the ground himself, landing in an entirely undignified sprawl of limbs! He'll probably have a few bruises from that - but nothing's broken! He's safe - that's his first thought, and his second one is looking over to Felix. The fox seems pretty much okay too, so... all's well! He grins.
Felix pants a little, but then smiles... and soon starts laughing.
Bristlecone grins broadly, his tail thumping against the ground. Now that there's not imminent danger... it's pretty funny! And neat!
Felix laughs even louder! That was awesome! "Wow! You were so awesome!"
Bristlecone laughs, his tail wagging. "Didn't even know I could do that! 'til I did!"
Felix giggles. "You're a hero!" He saved Felix after all! "You should tell yer dad!"
Bristlecone grins broadly. "Huh! Guess so!" He hadn't really thought about it that way, before - hadn't really thought about it at all, really - just did it. "He'll be prouda me for helping!"
Felix nodnods. And soon he has big smiles. "Well, that was enough excitement for one day!"
Bristlecone laughs, and nods. "Uh-huh. Our moms are probably gonna yell at us for getting our fur so messed up..." he says, stretching out as he gets to his feet.
Felix shakes off. "Oooh... not bath time. I hate bath time!"
Bristlecone grins. "It's not so bad. 'Specially if you go for a swim, first, so it's quicker."
Felix thinks about this. "Then I am swimming! He makes a break for the pond."
Bristlecone laughs, and nods, stretching out his legs to lope after. With the heat of the day, the water should be nice and warm for them!
Felix leaps in with a yuppee! He is going to have some fun!
Bristlecone pounces right into the water, with forepaws pointed forward together and his body stretched out in a dive! He sure caught it! Or maybe it caught him...