OOCHunting prairie dogs for a job thread.
I don't know if anyone can join in since the group is pretty far away from the city, but feel free to drop on by if'n ya want.
26th of Spring, 515 AV
Morning
The coyote followed his Sister, loping on quick paws behind her as she lead. He and Brother ran next to each other as they often did these days, inside the city or out.
This day they were ranging far from the place called Riverfall. Far enough that the coyote would usually think that Sister was leading him away, back into the lonely wilds to make him leave the human-forms. But this time he knew she wasn't.
Sister had been in a playful-good mood when he'd found her. She only played when was chasing something for fun, sometimes when hunting, or if she had found something interesting. Maybe even something new. The way her tail hung low but wagging as she ran told him that. So he ran with her, and with his Brother alongside. It was good to go running with his dogs. It felt good to stretch his legs.
They had left from the shadow of the city in the early morning before the sun was full in the sky and when the clouds had been like a field of faded, wilting flowers, colored red and pinkish orange. Now the clouds had turned white and blown away, far to the sides, and the sun was up though the light was still pale and chill. Everything was damp from the night, and the coyote's fur collected the water like a mist as he whispered through the grasses. He felt the wetness of the packed mud under his light paws, and could see ahead to the white fog that floated along the warming ground.
The small pack, coyote and dogs, continued on until the great walls of the city were an outline on the horizon, and then Sister stopped, snuffling her breath loudly in her nose, and they were there. Sister laid down to the grass, looking forward with her head low, and Brother plopped down next to her, the coyote sneaking up on her other side to look.
They had come to a great big open area, flat and wide with no hills or dips in the land. As far as the coyote could see stretched dug-out mounds and holes in the ground, great or small in size, with empty space left in between. And as far as the coyote could see, surrounding those mounds were big fat furry mice-things-- squirrels without large bushy tails and on the ground. They stood on their hind paws, front paws hanging, and watched. Watched the sky, watched the land. The coyote could see some watching him. Others scrabbled between the burrows, running or digging. Many of them were eating the grasses. Still more had laid out on their bellies in groups, perhaps sleeping or catching the weak warmth of the early sun.
Sister kept still and quiet, but Brother panted out his eagerness, crawling forward on his belly. The coyote wagged his tail and crept forward too. At once Sister took to her feet, and then they were off.
They raced between the burrows and the mice-things scattered, chirping. Soon enough and they had vanished into their holes. Some of the ones that were further away cheeped loud and insulting, and Brother snorted and ran, bouncing ahead, tongue hanging out. While he leapt over burrows and chased the things, the coyote and Sister looped around the other side to where Brother herded them. But whatever they were, they were quick, and there were many places for them to hide. The coyote managed to snap his teeth over the tip of one's tail, but it jumped and ripped away, and he was left with a tongue full of fur. He whuffed and panted it out, laughing silently as Brother continued to chase and the mice-things called their squeaking insults.
For a while they hunted, running around between the burrows, but they never caught any of the things. After that, the three canines retreated to the nearby shade under a scratchy bush, and they sat and watched as the mice-things came back out of their holes, chattering to one another.
