Shy Deer Steppes Snakes Among Wolves

@Serem

It’s still cold enough to suppress his need to lol his black tongue out to pant out into the dusty air around him. The sun is out today and the first signs of heat creep in. It’s not terribly hot, merely just enough to warm up his back and neck. Though he’s sure the longer he wonders in those desert the hotter he’ll become. 

He’s coming from Serpents Lake. Though now he’s not quite sure where he’s headed, he just picks a direction and walks. Preferably a direction that he can see things moderately far off in the distance. His heavy paws blow up plumes of fine dust as he walks along this arid desertland. His head is level with his body as he saunters along, expecting a long journey ahead of him.

Hours of walking has him allowing him to roll out his black tongue. The appendage wide and dripping with long rivulets of drool. Then, something in the corner of his eye catches his attention. He freezes, white eyes snap in the movements direction. A snake slithers upon the ground and a grin finds his maw. He’s found a snack. 

As Santi reaches the limbless animal he gazes down upon it as it creates smooth patterns in the sand below it as it moves. A healthy sized rattlesnake of seven feet and six rings on the ends of its tail. The attractive pattern on its back catches his attentive eye as he closes in, trying to take advantage of its distraction by movement. 

Bringing his large, muscled body closer to the ground beneath him he pounces high into the air like a fox diving into snow. His heavy paws land on top of the snakes neck trapping his head, giving it the inability to reach back and bite him. The snake being highly venomous, it surely wouldn’t end well for the wolf. 

The animals long body coils upon the impact and as he holds it down he reaches with his own elongated fangs to rival even the rattlesnake before him. Paw still atop the snakes head he chews vigorously just a few inches below the head with the end goal of severing it’s head and keeping the rest of its body to eat. Santi chews and tugs and finally with one fatal shake of his head he separates the two and quickly releases the head. He hops away from the shorter appendage with the remainder of the snakes body clamped between his jaws. 

He trots away with a smirk on his maw and the still wriggling body of the snake in his grasp. He shakes the body vigorously and flops his own weight down into the dirt, unabashedly smacking down on his meal in the middle of the desert alone. Or so he thought he was.