Spook had been the latest one tasked with keeping track of the helicopter part -- heck, a good chunk of the time it had been assigned to him, mostly because he was less likely to destroy it than his sister and less likely to get distracted and misplace it like his brother. Instead, the young adult had gone and stashed it in a hollow of a tree in a particular copse of trees that he'd started to favor.
The hooded boy had amassed a collection of
things there along with it. The odd bone, a particularly straight stick that had been stripped of bark like a piece of driftwood, some interesting rocks, a feather -- it really wasn't all that much, and the hunk of think metal dwarfed it all. He'd had quite a collection hidden away back at the creek, but he'd been unable to bring
any of it along. He mourned the loss in his own weird way, and so far the snow had pretty well blocked him from collecting more except things that fell on top or showed up when he was digging for something that smelled interesting. Spook was fussing, trying to find a better way to sort the things so that if his mother came along to reclaim her prize, his things wouldn't be scattered to the wind.
what was pike doing?? ahhh... nothing good, thats for sure.
he'd been holed up in a bush -- downwind! kind of undetectable like arbiter had taught him -- staring at his brother through the underbrush. he was planning an attach, brou had offered to help but was pulled along on patrol with dad today. so, oh well, this was a one man mission... but pike realized sort of quickly that he was more curious with what spook was doing than anything else. so instead of following through with his sneak attack, pike busted out of the bushes.
what are you doing??
he bellowed with some waves of his tail, strolling up.
Maybe he should just leave his stuff here and find a different place for mom's thing. Or just find a different place entirely. Bah. This demented puzzle was occupying the entirety of his brain, so he hadn't a chance of noticing Pike's approach at all and just about jumped out of his fur when his brother popped out of the ether -- even if it wasn't as stealthy or sudden as it might have been any other day. GHYA--- Wha-- what are you doing!
he said, fur prickled as he tried to calm down his now-racing heart. Stupid brothers! And sisters, too, wherever the heck Brou was! Still, with a scowl, he continued, I'm trying to make that thing mom brought fit so she won't wreck my other stuff when she takes it back. I dunno where she even kept it before.
Or why he was the one who had to deal with it now. Or what it was. Or basically anything. His tail lashed in a catlike manner,