Hushed Willows longing

dice roll said it's succesful so some more feathers for banner's collection & also a hunting thread~ :p

Buchanan had not wasted any time getting started on his promise to Banner to further her feather collection — and by extension Stark by promising to make hunting a priority upon his acceptance — he had a mission that had happened to correlate well between what he wanted to do while also helping the pack as a whole. Surely, some of the birds could be stored away in the caches when Banner was done selecting the feathers from them that she wanted. A blur of brown and white caught the wraith's sharp eye and silvern gaze the color of liquid mercury zeroed in upon the fowl, studying it's fascinating plumage. It was a mottled black and browns, with white tipped feathers on some of it's chest plumage and orange tipped tail feathers spread out in a fan. Surely Banner could find a few feathers from it (it was a male spruce grouse but Buchanan didn't know that) that she liked, that were unique and interesting; though admittedly Buchanan had not asked her criteria.

Stalwart body swung low, close to the ground, his lips trembling with anticipation as he watched it, his breathing slow and rhythmic, like a runner about to start a race. His muscles pulled taunt beneath his mahogany fur as his gaze followed it as it moved from beneath a tangle of low hanging willow branches. Thus far, they provided average coverage for Buchanan but if he were to try to catch the grouse while it remained beneath a willow it would have been messy and difficult. He did not want to damage it too much because he wanted the feathers to be salvageable — not mangled and horrendously bloodstained. This made his need to be precise greater, to keep himself from mangling the body. A quick and clean death — the same technique he liked to use then he'd went after the targets that The Officer had pointed him at. It didn't always work when he'd been killing wolves — there were times when they'd fought back though none had fought as hard as The Officer had.

In hindsight, bird hunting was simpler in ways but harder in others. His prey was smaller and unless they were flightless birds could fly out of his reach if he didn't make an efficient and quick kill. Minutes passed and still Buchanan waited, patient until finally the grouse pattered it's way out of the thick willow branches and Buchanan sensing his opportunity lunged for it, aiming to trap it between his paws and grip the grouse's head between his parted jaws to snap it.