Heron Lake Plateau variation under nature

All welcome. Maybe @Aria?

Eventually, he finds his way out of the forest. He hadn’t been successful in finding anything to eat for days and when he comes across a river, the only distinction to separate the woods to the open plane, he follows along the bank. He’d never been much of a fisher and the few attempts he tries, he ends up a soaking mess and even hungrier than when he began. A frown paints itself across his muzzle and an irritated flick of his tail as he stares down at the rushing water by his toes.

Bowie ultimately finds himself on the other side once it narrows, and following the branch up a slight incline until he comes upon a lake. His normally thin frame, sunken in eyes, reflect back at him in the bright light of the day. Yellow eyes narrow as he looks back upon himself and a glimmer beneath that catches his attention. Stomach roils in upset, threatening him to dive in and take the kill. 

He plants his feet and dives his head forward into the water and there’s a fleeting moment that worries about how ridiculous and clueless he looks.

vague bc not sure if aria will leave or not yet !

The pale girl wanders slowly through the plateau, her nose twitching as she searches-- for food, for vegetation, for someone else. She soon finds something, or perhaps someone, and is drawn to them right away. She moves quietly towards the scent, her ears angled forwards. She pauses a short distance away from what appears to be a coywolf-- a brown and gray agouti male who's head is currently shoved into the rushing waters of a river. 

He is fishing; she recognizes the movements as some that she herself does. Aria sits, no longer moving forward, and waits to see if the male is victorious. She's in no condition to fight-- even though they are somewhat matched size-wise-- and would much rather keep peace with strangers. For now she is only curious.

Successful roll.

It catches him off guard when his teeth connect with a scaly, fleshy thing. The texture is different and he almost opens his jaws to release the surprise but he realizes within half a second he shouldn't. Soon enough, he's back above water with a flipping fish between his teeth and stumbling back to gasp for air. Fish isn't a common meal for him, even during the famine. In fact, all of his attempts have been failures until this moment. Bowie stumbles back a few steps and eventually drops the fish after one severing bite. It's nearly in two pieces when he looks down, then shakes his fur of the cool water.

Once he's gained his balance, he catches a sliver of white out the corner of his eyes that startles him. He drops his head instantly over his kill, opening his jaws to wrap around it protectively once more, and his yellow eyes focus on the figure some distance away. His gaze softens but he doesn't let go. His first decent meal in sometime, a meal he knows still won't be enough, and he even shuffles back a step or two for added distance.

Mine.

The man is successful, and Aria's ears perk with a strange excitement for him. Her tail wags a little as he raises, but she grows rigid as the other becomes protective of his kill. She had wanted to fish some on her own, but now she's not sure if she wants to move closer in fear that he would attack her. She shakes her head, watching him from afar. 

"I don't want it," she says to him, hesitating again on whether or not she should move towards the river. 

I don’t want it.

Bowie stares at her from the distance he added between them and glanced down at what he could see of his kill. It wouldn’t be enough to satisfy his hunger for long and he had no reason to share. Her words, however, made his ears fall back on his head. A lie, he knew, because in a time of famine, everyone wanted everything they could get their hands on. He swallows a lump that forms in his throat, scaly, fishy, metallic, and he sputters a cough around the kill.

Eventually, he drops it. Head first, he picks it up again and in a matter of seconds devours the entire thing. His stomach rumbles at the sudden upset and he looks back to the bank of the river and follows it until, ultimately, it turns into a lake some ways down. The spot he found only proves to be fruitful; another fish caught in the section he’d manage to catch his own. Bowie cants his head as he takes a step forward. A large branch blocks the fish’s exit and it doesn’t seem smart enough to work its way out.

The small wolf chuffs quietly, jerking his head to draw her attention. He’s lucky he caught the one and he isn’t sure he’d risk his streak so soon.

The male devours the entire fish it what appeared to be one bite-- Aria couldn't really tell. She ended up staring at him until he finished, then following him somewhat upstream towards what looked like a holding cell for dumbass fish that had gotten trapped. Her head tilts to the side and she looks at the male curiously. Another one was caught, but she's curious as to why he would offer it up when he was so reluctant to even let her look at the one he'd just caught. She steps towards the water, her head tilting. Would he let her try, or is this some sort of trap?

She steps up and Bowie takes a single step back, giving her some room. He isn’t entirely sure he’d catch a fish a second time, when his luck thus far hasn’t been promising, but if it got away, he can’t blame himself. However, she doesn’t take the gesture right away and instead shoots him a quizzical look that takes him a few seconds to decipher. When it does, his ears fall back against his head and he lowers a little to show he has no ill-intent. 

A frown appears then, and a few jerks of his nose to give her the go-ahead.

1 even for yay...-- damn okay

She nods to the male, deciding that she can trust him for now. She watches him as she steps forward, her eyes darting between the water and the male as she is still a bit wary. When she reaches a good spot, her attention turns fully to the fish. She stares as it's silvery scales flicker in the sun, keeping track of where it moves in it's large prison. Her eyes narrow and she holds still, staring at the creature hungrily. With a large burst of adrenaline and hope she strikes, her face plunging into the water and her teeth snapping into... nothing, it seems. She raises her head and water drips from her pale white features, but no fish rests in her jaws. She scrunches up her nose, looking to the male. 

Surprise bear!

Mortar hadn't got nearly enough food to satisfy his appetite. A mouse and a fish, both from yesterday. They had done nothing to quiet his rumbling stomach, and so he continued on his journey to find something more to eat. He was following the river, hoping to happen upon something. It seemed there were two others who were working on a meal, too. 

Maybe they had already caught something. He sauntered towards them, a chuff coming from his throat in anticipation of what might be. He came to the bank, swiping at the water towards the wolves, silently demanding food. Like they were going to just up and give him some. Hey, it could happen.