Lost Creek Hollow Poison and Whine

What she didn't know is that his refined scent actually kept his food from running off. Wolves smelled like wolves. Wolves who didn't wash their coat often smelled like whatever was in their coat. And wolf. But mostly the other thing. 

"It's a good look for you. Like a hedgehog."

Truthfully, she was pretty--even he, a wolf who rarely craved feminine company, could see that. 

"The pose could use some work, though."

"Well I doubt you could give me the advice I'm looking for, hm? Get back to looking for our otters!" The she-wolf demanded, nudging Pepper with her flank.

"But now that I've told you mine, what sort of wolves do you like?" Leto asked, finding herself curious as to what sort of preference someone as grouchy as him would have.

He HAD been looking for otters, but nothing yet. Probably due to the talking, but oh well. Fish would work, if no otters showed. 

"Stinky, big, rude," was all he said in response. It wasn't true, of course, but it'd give him time to come up with a proper answer. He hadn't thought about it much. He didn't like having a type. If he met the right person, he would know.

"You may as well mate with yourself then." She snickered, picking up her pace to properly walk beside him, scanning the water nearby.

Admittedly she was excited for the otters and hoped they would come across them sooner than later. Sure, fish were fine, but this would be something new.

I should get myself to sleep, it's 3am over here XD, I'll be back to continue tomorrow though! Loving their dynamic so far

"Now yer gettin' it," he said, huffing a deep chuckle. 

He could leave it there, but she'd offered a heartfelt answer, so he wanted to give one back. 

"But nah, I want him to be kind, quiet, and confident. Smaller'n me. Maybe cleaner, too." 

That was heartfelt enough he supposed. He wanted someone to keep safe. He'd done such a great job last time. 

The sound of disturbed water caught his attention, his ears facing the sound. He stopped. 

"Hang on.." his voice fell to a deep hiss. 

He scanned the water, seeing two black forms diving and frolicking. 

"See em?" his voice remained quiet. 

Heck yeah! I'll be on most of tomorrow. I'm also liking their dynamic quite a lot. Sorry Pepper is an ass lmfao

Leto was quick to rush over, sticking her head underneath his. She spotted them quickly, however she was left a bit lost.

"How are we supposed to grab them?" She asked, lowering her voice to just above a whisper. Surely they would be harder than fish, after all they seemed to be swimming rather than living in the water - so it would likely be more difficult to go undetected.

Lmao no worries, Leto's v much annoying and clueless so it matches up XD they're giving me plenty of ideas so expect some art

the wolf’s head bobbed up, ears quickly pinning to his head when the female’s head was rammed under his chin. She was focused, and probably didn’t notice as he exaggerated the movement to reposition so he didn’t have to hold his head a few inches higher. 

He looked again, trying to plan. The water was clear, so they’d have no problem tracking one if it did go under. And it didn’t look too deep, but that was hard to judge from afar. Water was weird. 

The river itself wasn’t all that wide. Maybe two and a half times his length. And the sound would mask out any either of the two wolves made. Upstream, a fallen tree had collected debris. He couldn’t tell how permeable it was, or if it was clear underneath, but water was pouring over the top of it, also spilling from the sides. 

”If one of us were to start downstream and move up towards ‘em, it’d push ‘em into that fallen tree. They’d have t’ go over or around. Other one of us could go in fer tha kill.” 

It seemed like a solid enough plan to him. If they chose to swim around on the side opposite, that might cause an issue. Definitely if they swam under. But over, or on the correct side, and whoever was waiting to ambush would have a decent shot at catching them. 

ooh! I shall do so >:)

Leto nodded, looking up to him - seemingly to wait for further instructions. She trusted him to know what to do, and was happy to simply do as she was told.

They were so close - and all she could think about was the promise of a much needed meal.

He wondered if she had a preference for which of the positions to take, but her silence seemed to confirm that she didn’t. No objections, either, so maybe she also thought it would work. 

The harder of the two would be the one waiting for ambush. Otters were slippery. Not…actually, but they could squirm out of a lot. Pepper did have experience in snagging them, and he’d rather not lose out on the meal. 

”I’ll wait for ya at the log. Go down a ways, then slowly start herdin’ ‘em towards it. They may try to get up on the bank. If they do, chase ‘em. They’ll be easier to catch on land.” 

He moved slowly until he was beside the tree. The sound of the water was much louder here, so he wasn’t being as careful to stay quiet. He crouched in the thick brush.

Leto headed further down the river, staring at the small creatures for a moment to plan her chase. Even if the water was shallow enough to enter safely it would slow her down quite a bit - so it would be best to avoid staying in it the whole time, only entering when it was necessary.

With her mind made up she began to approach, the creatures that had previously appeared to be quite careless now clearly nervous in her presence. She flicked her tail, beginning her chase towards the fallen log.

They seemed clueless enough. He thought so, anyway, as they hadn’t stopped what they were doing. He figured it’d be fine if they saw her. But he needed to stay hidden or else they wouldn’t come towards him. 

Leto did as they planned, and as she walked upstream, the otters would finally take notice. Pepper couldn’t hear them, but assumed they were making their weird otter sounds now. They were acutely aware of the wolf encroaching upon them, and did begin to swim upstream. They were quick, and almost seemed to wait in place after they made some distance, like they were teasing her.

Well, it was better than them running off in every which direction. She continued after them, briefly hopping into the shallow water to scare them into moving forward, hopping out onto the other side.

This was similar to the way she used to chase the larger prey at home - though she was much wetter, and certainly felt much safer. However she was still getting they same rush of adrenaline, forcing herself to resist sprinting after one and sinking her teeth in. These were too small to settle for only one.

It was rare that he got excited for anything. But food was an exception. Anything involving food. Eating it, killing it, finding it. All of those things were with getting excited for. 

He was excited now. His legs tingled with anticipation as the two black and brown animals drew nearer. 

The drop to the water was about a forearm’s length down. The log must’ve facilitated erosion around it, causing the stream to bulge outward. The shallow sands that coddled the river downstream weren’t here. 

The otters seemed to anticipate going over and stayed above water as they approached, which is what Pepper wanted. Now he needed them to commit to crawling over. He fully expected them to dive as soon as they saw him, he just hoped it’d be too late.

Leto continued her chase, snapping her teeth at them whenever she managed to get close enough. She avoided looking to Pepper, aware that it would risk giving away where he was hidden.

Her hope was that if they wouldn't go up onto the log themselves, she could find a way to leave them with no other choice - but that would be much more difficult if her companion was spotted.

One eventually did make it to the shoddy dam. It swam along the front of it, seeming to scope out a way up. Pepper licked his lips, eyes glued to the fuzzy meal. 

The otter pulled its way up. It was quick, quiet, and if he hadn’t known it had legs, would’ve resembled a snake. It readied itself to jump back in on the other side, and that’s when Pepper moved in. 

He was far less graceful than the otter, flying at it with his mouth wide open. The tree made for a rough impact, though he did manage to close his jaws around the otter’s flimsy back leg. He crunched down hard before slipping into the river. 

He’d never been a great swimmer, but it wasn’t deep enough here to facilitate the need. The otter made its discomfort known to all, and it wasn’t long before the wolf felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. The otter’s teeth sunk into him effortlessly, and in turn, Pepper shook his head violently, disorienting the thing before pinning it with a paw and readjusting his grip, now holding its neck instead. He shook again, and the loud cries subsided, replaced by windless gasps. 

He’d lost track of the other one, but knew it couldn’t have gone far.

Leto turned her focus to locating the second otter, first looking into the water, then the surrounding woods. She hoped it was the latter option - that would be much easier than having to grab the slippery creature underneath the water.

She winced when she spotted the otter biting Pepper - it made sense, yet she hadn't expected them to fight so much.

After he was sure his food wasn’t going anywhere, he shook out his coat quickly. His shoulder was bleeding quite a bit, but the blood was watery as it streamed down his leg and into the sand, where it mixed with the otter’s, who was now bleeding from the leg and neck. It made tiny movements, though Pepper knew it’d die soon. He’d crushed the trachea, which is why it couldn’t breathe, despite its weak attempts. 

”See it anywhere?” he called out. He was also looking, but due to his position, couldn’t see on the other side of the dam, where he assumed it went.

"Not just yet - should I dive under to check?" She suggested, staring down the dam. She was quite the strong swimmer, and as long as she was quick she should be able to grab the otter.

Without waiting for an answer Leto entered the shallow water, sticking her head into the water to get a look underneath the log.

fully forgot wolves could dive, live laugh love google

After catching his breath, Pepper ready to hunt again. He left the carcass to climb up on the grassier plateau so he could look over the collection of leaves and sticks. 

He hadn’t gotten the chance to tell Leto she should look under water, because she was already doing it. He could see her now, fur almost liquid as the ripples on the surface distorted her form. 

Pepper jumped down on the other side of the dam, wanting to see if the animal had stowed itself away in the debris.

Soon Leto reemerged with what looked to be the second otter - it's head tightly clenched in her jaws and body gone limp.

She exited the water with her tail held high - clearly proud of herself as she shook the water off of each of her back legs.

He didn’t see it, but heard Leto breach the surface, and hopped back up onto the grass. In a rare occurrence, his tail wagged happily to see she’d caught the second one. 

”Atta girl,” he said, hopping down beside her. 

”Ain’t never seen a wolf snatch ‘em up like that outta the water.” 

Maybe a fish, but even that was hard for Pepper to imagine being done without quite a lot of luck.

She dropped the otter, wagging her tail in return. "I surprised myself honestly - I think I got lucky, it wasn't expecting me."

The now mangled otter was good as dead and she wasn't exactly feeling patient - she could revel in her glory while she ate.

"Let's hurry up then, hm? I prefer the meat while it's still warm."

Yeah. It probably wasn’t expecting her. Why the hell would it expect to be snatched up from underwater. 

He was more than alright with that plan. He’d been drooling ever since he had the first one in his mouth. 

He moved over to the one he’d snagged, placed a paw on its chest, and began tearing at the belly area. He wanted the good stuff first. For him, that happened to be the liver. 

He wasn’t much for conversation with food in front of him. He hoped she wouldn’t mind a few minutes of silence.

Leto sat herself a small distance from him to begin eating, firmly placing a paw on the head of the otter to begin chewing at the legs and tearing flesh when necessary. The small bones had a satisfying crunch.

The taste was new - but Pepper was right, it was certainly good. She would have to catch otters again the next time she had a chance. They wouldn't keep her fed for long, but it was a good meal to hold her over for the time being.

He ate practically everything in there, leaving the less desirable parts like the stomach, then moved on to sheering the meat from its bones. It felt good to finally have something inside. He'd almost forgotten what his stomach was supposed to feel like. Not empty, not constantly reminding him to eat. By the time he was finished, all that was left was the destroyed carcass, some bones, and the silky pelt. The head, too, as he wasn't interested in that. 

He sat, wondering if she'd finished hers yet. 

"Told ya they were good. Small, but the meat sits with ya."