Meadowlark Prairie but it's sinking

She was having a hell of a time chasing rabbits out on the plains. And by "hell of a time," she really meant that it sucked. It sucked big time.

Why was she so bad at this? Maegi drove her good paw into the ground in frustration, growling--then wincing at the pain that caused. She was even more sluggish than usual because of the still-healing injury to the muscle in her rear leg. Even the slight handicap was a huge detriment to her already abysmal hunting skills. Maegi was a failure of a wolf.

A wriggling nose poked out of a hole nearby, and Maegi's pupils dilated slightly, watching it. She was still. . .still. . .still. . .and then she pounced--and her paws smacked down on empty ground.

"Gaaarrggh!" she shouted, probably scaring off the rest of the game here, too. Whatever.

He has somehow returned to the woods, or thinks he's returned to the woods, but the mushrooms are still in effect and he's having a hard time determining what is real and what isn't. It doesn't scare him as much as Mou thinks it should.

The blades of grass are tall in the meadow but not as tall as trees; in his mind, they are. They're taller than the forest he calls home and as he stumbles through the grass, he thinks each blade is looming over him. He ducks and weaves through the grass.

When he picks up the scent of Maegi he relaxes a little bit and the grass recedes in his mind's eye, becoming a multicolored tapestry of something more natural in shape. Mou feels excited when he finds that scent, his whole body humming, and he launches himself carelessly through the grass after her.

She heard and smelled him coming and smiled, whirling around to meet him as he arrived. The frustration was still etched into her face, though, and she gave him a rueful look. "You any good at hunting?" she asked, not noticing that he was presently under the influence. "Because I'm terrible. I need help, Mou."

Maegi stared at him pleadingly, bemused laughter lingering just beneath the surface. It was so stupid, right? She wasn't a pup anymore; she should know how to hunt by now. Stupid club foot, she thought angrily.

She spoke and he just sort of stared at her for a moment. The scar that sliced half her face seemed to withdraw from the canvas of her pale, perfect face. It was shifting in the corner of his eye, curling and fading like an ink stain in reverse. He found himself huffing softly — laughing — and then realized what she had been asking and clued in. He shrugged, because honestly Mou had no idea what he was capable of. He had no memory of ever hunting or doing anything helpful at any point in his life — but he had been vomited up from the sea, so maybe he had been a master hunter in a past life.

That thought made him giggle again in that airy, strange manner. He staggered around her and began to sniff the earth, trying to do what he thought a hunter would do to find a target, but he could only smell the damp soil and Maegi. Before long he was engrossed in the game of sniff-and-walk, and had forgotten all about the request.

"It's not funny, damn it," she responded, but she, too, was consumed by giggles, further escalated by his strange actions. "What are you doing?" Maegi exclaimed, hobbling over to him and butting her head against his shoulder. "Stop it. You look crazy." Should have given him the name Sheogorath instead of Sithis.

There was scrabbling nearby not made by either one of them, and she paused, ears perking. "Shhhhhh," she hissed, eyes flashing. "You're gonna scare all the prey away," the girl chastized in hushed tones, crouching low. Like a soldier on his belly, she slunk inch by inch, moving toward the sound. Waiting. . .

She let out a small shriek as a rabbit came out of nowhere, whizzing past her ear. Growling, she dashed after it, in hot pursuit, trying to make up for the ground she had lost in her surprise. There was no way she could outrun a rabbit, but by gods, she would try.

( 4 ) <- if this is 4+ he succeeds. Will edit after result.

He's got her laughing and that's good. Mou can't remember the last time she was laughing, and maybe he's never heard her giggling like that, but its endearing and he loves her more for it. Soon he's playing up his actions to try and get more laughter from her, snorting at the dirt and making flamboyant motions through the grass, but she shushes him.

You're gonna scare all the prey away! She snips at him, and he lets out a little snort of protest. Fine, he'd stop. Except she seemed to be picking up on the game, and it wasn't really fair to tell him to chill out and then start crawling around like a loon. He gawked at her a second, and in that time she shrieked and was on her feet again - a rabbit jolting between them.

Mou was startled yet he remained passive, hardly shifting his expression except to move his head in the direction the rabbit was running - and then Maegi - and then he was left all alone while the chase began. When he finally took off after them he had to work to catch up, and was huffing and puffing by the time he spotted the pale form of Maegi in the grass.

He felt like he was flying. Great wings spread from his body, casting a black shadow that followed each step he made and every shift to his trajectory; soon Mou was overtaking her position and after feeling an exhilarating pull (as if the wind were picking him up and making him go faster, faster, faster,) he spotted the small form of the rabbit. It seemed unnaturally small to him, but more than likely Mou was still high and felt really big and magnanimous because of that. Either way he zeroed in on the rabbit as best he could and launched himself at it, butting Maegi out of the way.

assuming he caught the rabbit based on your roll--let me know if i am wronggg

Hey!-- she cried out in exasperation as he shoved her to the side, but perhaps it was for the best. He was swift--gods, he was swift!--and he bore down on the quarry like a streak of summer lightning. It was much better than anything she could have accomplished, and she sat in the grass, peering through the tall fronds with some awe.

Maegi laughed once the activity had ceased, rising to her paws and trotting slowly up to him. Nice work, she remarked, butting him gently against the shoulder with her nose. You gotta teach me how to do that. In the back of her mind, she knew she would never reach that level of competence, because of her clubbed foot.

But hey. . .a girl could dream, right?

As soon as Mou had the rabbit in his jaws, he bit down and he shook the creature back and forth. The snapping of vertebrae was all he could hear, until Maegi's protests and surprise rose to his ears too. He stopped when the rabbit was clearly dead, and grinned around its crumpled body between his teeth as she complimented him. He shrugged — it had been easy, but he hadn't really been thinking. Something deeply violent and bestial had overtaken him for that split-second. Some wild aspect that all wolves were privy to, but also, something Mou didn't recognize. He liked the feeling of adrenaline in his body and took a deep breath through his nose, feeling it ebb, and dropped the rabbit by Maegi's feet. His teeth were lined with blood and tufts of matted fur. He grinned at her for a split-second, and then made to bury his bloodied face in to her pale coat — playfully morbid.

It was quite macabre, but charming, in a way. She accepted his nuzzle, the scent of blood penetrating her nostrils. She almost wanted to draw back, thinking of the way her mouth had broken open again--and again--and again--but cuddled closer for Mou's sake, ignoring the memories that surfaced. The smell of fresh kill was preferable, and she focused on that, saliva pooling in her closed jaws.

Finally, Maegi pulled away--she might drool on him if she focused any harder on the rabbit. You have to teach me how to do that, she repeated, more emphatically this time. I'm gonna starve if you ever leave me, you know. A playful statement, but there was a bitter truth behind the words. Was she capable of surviving on her own, with no handouts?

She had serious doubts.