silkie didn't mean to fall asleep. in fact, he'd fought it. he tossed and turned and huffed every time he felt himself nod off. literally. his head would droop each time he drifted off to sleep and he would jerk awake in defiance seconds afterwards. but his eyelids grew heavier after each time, and every 'i'll rest my eyes for a few seconds' ended up becoming a lot longer. silkie'd spent his energy on chasing a chipmunk around the entrance of hougeda until he'd finally caught it and made quick work of eating the small snack not keen on sharing his prize of his first successful hunt. or rather, the first time he'd hunted with the intent of sating a rumbling tummy.

he can't even enjoy gloating about it. energy level depleted — refill by resting at random beds throughout hougeda — he crashed the first comfortable looking place he can find regardless of whose personal bubble he may or may not have invaded. he sprawls out on his side and then gradually turns onto his back where he falls into a deeper, peaceful sleep each breath slow and even.

a paw twitches in his sleep and a bit of drool dribbles out of the corner of silkie's mouth as it lulls open. he just starts to dream when he hears his name. at first, it manifests as a part of his dream. the bounce of paws on his stomach stirs him to partial consciousness. he blinks at kiwi who is looming over him but silkie lingers stubbornly in that half awake, half asleep state and remains uncertain if he's dreaming it or not. he smacks his lips together and closes his eyes, letting out a soft half grunt, half snore as he falls back asleep.

until kiwi kicks him with her hind legs. he awakes up — in full this time — with a start. "huh? wha?!" he draws in a breath, his heart pounding as his eyes wildly search for the culprit as his mind works through the disorientation he feels. hougeda is familiar even when it's viewed upside down and he flops over to his stomach with a grunt as his heart rate slows back to normal. he sees kiwi out of the corner of his eye; and while silkie doesn't have all the facts he's quick to pin the badge of 'culprit' upon her.

"i was sleepin' kiwi." silkie informs her as if she wasn't already aware of that when she'd pounced on his stomach. his lips part to speak but a yawn comes out instead and he stretches begrudgingly pushing himself to his paws. "i'm up, i'm up..." he assures her just in case she decides he might need more motivation to do ...whatever she'd woken him up to do. he's undoubtedly groggy but he's awake.

his pointing out of the obvious was met with an unsurprising response from kiwi whose pointed tone seemed to be saying 'no shit captain obvious'. silkie's smile at her is sheepish but unapologetic. he likes naps and his favorite defense is that naps were important to a growing boy's ...growing. his defense was ready, lingering on the tip of his tongue, but kiwi didn't seem overly concerned and, in fact, was bouncing away from him crowing les go. taking charge. which was great. it really was. nomi and mom were raising strong, independent women in bat and kiwi. he isn't perturbed by her bossing him around encouragement. but he does look back wistfully at the place he'd flopped down in to nap with longing. man, he really wanted that nap.

he sighs longingly and follows after kiwi, unable to hide his snicker when he sees her turn around to make sure he's following. he is. mostly because he's fairly certain she would end up getting her way anyway and he isn't feeling overly confident about his ability to find some crevice in hougeda's tunnels to hide in to nap ( or to get out of said crevice even if he found one ). yet, when she mentions the word 'hunt' he immediately perks up. it's like magic in how abruptly it activates his sudden motivation into hyperdrive. naps? who needs naps? naps are for babies. silkie took a moment to admire kiwi because damn she was good. or maybe he was just that easy to read ( it was hard for him to tell ). "what're we gonna hunt?" silkie inquires eagerly as he aims to fall in step with his sister.

rabbits. silkie offers his sister a sage nod, forgetting that if she wasn't looking at him the action would likely slide by unnoticed. it wasn't like silkie had any preference for what they did or didn't hunt. the most important thing is that they were hunting. he was always down for hunting regardless of the specifics. "right!" silkie chirps as kiwi informs him that nomi told her how to hunt and tells him that all they gotta do is chase them and catch them. easy peasy. silkie has some experience with the whole chasing, catching and eating things. although, he's never actually pursued it with any sort of seriousness. not like he and kiwi are about to do. silkie only chased things for the fun of it. if he caught them then great and if he didn't ...no sweat. this felt different. important.

"and eat 'em?" silkie slides the suggestion in hopefully, grinning lopsidedly at his sister as he glimpses mischievously at her from the corner of his eye. it occurs to him after he suggests that they eat whatever they manage to catch that if he and kiwi are successful they might want to show off their crowning achievement to nomi and mama. first, however, they needed to find a rabbit. silkie squints for a moment as his eyes adjust to the light as the siblings set outside of hougeda but wastes no time lifting his muzzle to draw in the scents around them. all he gets is the influx of drageda's adults that frequently come and go. "i don't smell any rabbits." silkie points out with a frown and a furrow of his brow.

not all of them is how his sister responds to his hopeful suggestion, reminding him that they have to share. ugh. sharing. silkie doesn't necessarily mind sharing but when it comes to food he's a little bit more ...unwilling. he's a growing boy, after all, and his stomach is becoming more and more like a bottomless pit. he knows sharing is the right thing to do and is aware that kiwi's probably going to make him share regardless. for a moment silkie wonders just how many rabbits she plans on the two of them catching in one trip but her confidence is infectious ...and he's been getting a lot better at catching things. granted, nothing as big as a rabbit ( yet ) but still, improvement was improvement. she sniffs the same spot he did and for a moment silkie offers his sister a deadpan sort of look, an exasperated sort of 'my nose isn't broken y'know' look but sobers up quickly when she looks back up, exclaims they should try a new spot and takes off.

silkie trots after her, face set in deep contemplation. "kiiiiwiiii," he whispers to her, drawing out her name when he finally catches up to her. "maybe we should be quieter." he offers the suggestion. something in silkie tells him that since they're stalking and weren't chasing something that happened upon them that maybe causing all the noise they were was bound to startle their prey. 'course, he's no expert; he's just piecing together what he's learned on his own and what his hunter's instincts are telling him.

silkie offers his sister a soft wag of his tail as she agrees with his suggestion that perhaps they should be a little more quiet. half of him expected her to fight him on it. relief that she hadn't washed over him like a wave for a moment. as kiwi investigates some brush, silkie moves opposite her, sniffing around a small hole near the spindly roots of a large redwood that rise out of the ground. he steps onto a particularly large and fat root, letting out a soft oof as he comes down a bit harder than he expected to on the other side. nevertheless, there are no rabbit scents regardless of how hard he sniffs at the base of the tree. slowly, he makes his way around it, investigating it for scents of anything else at this point when kiwi's shriek shatters the silence.

silkie's heart leaps into his throat, pounding in his ribcage and he pokes his head from around the large tree trunk. he expects to see something but even though the distance between him and his sister isn't truly that far he's much too far away to see kiwi's unfortunate find. "what happened?" silkie scurries back around the tree and moves quickly to his sister's side, instinctively glancing her over for any visible signs of injury as his hackles bristle ever-so-slightly. yet, perplexingly, he smells nothing, nor does he see any obvious signs of danger. he frowns then, though it was not aimed at his sister but rather at the current crux. "what'dya find?"