Phoenix Maplewood it's too hard, I can't bite it

For anyone~!

The pack had successfully taken down a pronghorn this week. Sart hadn't been a part of it, but true to @Reek's promises he'd brought her and her sister back a decent meal. It hadn't taken much to fill her, but she slept it all off with a quick nap and was ready to go again. Her energy and zeal for life remained unfazed. Was she still a bit shy and cautious? Certainly, but each day she spent her made her just a little more bold than before.

She set off again and discovered river that ran through the packlands. Not overly familiar with water, she sat down and stared at the rushing stream for a bit. Leaves and sticks floated down it. They were caught in the current and would occasional slow in their course where the current ebbed around a bend. She didn't understand water, but watching it push little things along made her leery of it. She was little too. She didn't want to get swept away.

Sart was about to leave when she caught sight of an antler tucked onto the shore. It was a mighty thing with about a half-dozen prongs. She salivated instantly and found her tiny paws creeping forward before she knew what she was doing. Her teeth latched on to one of the narrower parts of the prongs and she began to pull it out of the sand. She tucked her hind paws beneath her and gave it a good tug. The horn flipped and trapped her beneath it.

The coy-pup panicked. Effectively trapped in "antler jail" (or so she thought) she yipped and scrambled in panic as she tried to escape the bone cage.

The commotion brought her closer, fiery eyes contemplating the little creature. Nochtli found no love in her heart for coyotes nor did she find hatred. Coyotes simply were to the dark female and recently, it seemed like a pair of them now inhabited the Maplewood. She'd heard a bit about this but had not yet paid much mind to it, until the screeches of one such pup drew her in to see what in the world was going on.

Light toes stopped at an overturned antler, her paw easily the side of the child's head. Leaning down, Nochtli observed for a moment before tilting her head. "Got stuck, eh?" She asked, not expecting any kind of answer besides more screeching. To alleviate even that, her jaws closed around the rack and carefully lifted it off of and away from the small body before setting it off to the side. "Are you hurt?"

A paw stepped down beside her. Sart's squirming immediately halted as she froze and stared at the white toes that dappled an otherwise black paw. A wolf had found her. A wolf! And Week didn't have white toes. Who was this? Were they going to try to eat her too? Maybe if she pretended she was dead it wouldn't bother her. Yup! She'd do that. She fell limp and stuck her little tongue out to make the effect more dramatic. Maybe it would just go away and she wouldn't be eated. Because eated meant dead and dead was not good!

Oh no! It wasn't working. Those mighty jaws came towards her. She squeaked a little, realized this, and fell silent again, but that didn't keep the tenseness from her fake-dead form. This was it! This was the end! And then the antler was lifted from around her form and the teeth didn't come. Sart peeked out from around her tiny paw as she realized she was okay. She still lived! And better yet? She was free!

The coy-pup sprang to her feet and ran, zipping to hide behind a nearby tree. Once there, she poked her head out over a tangle of roots and looked back at the wolf who was almost Week, but not. "I's okay," she squeaked, ducked her head, and then slowly lifted her nose up over the edge so she could talk and still remain mostly hidden. "It twapped me."

Her brows furrowed, watching the possuming pup for a moment before she lifted the antler away. As soon as the small thing realized she was no longer held hostage, she fled, drawing another moment of confusion from the Amazon. It took merely another moment before she realized that wolves had probably attacked or tried to eat it in the past. Perhaps it thought the Amazon would do the same thing to it? Maybe, though she waited and watched as it's head popped up from it's hiding spot to confirm that she was alright, if a bit spooked.

"Those antlers like to lay traps for puppies and spook them," She agreed solemnly, amusement bubbling in her chest as she fought a smile. "How'd it get you?" She asked, wondering if there was a wealth of bones and antlers laying around here in the Maplewood. She needed something to chew on and clean her teeth with. Should she thank the pup for leading her to such a thing? Probably, though she wondered if the small child would even understand what the gratitude was for.

Her ears swiveled forward as the wolf spoke. Antlers didn't sound very nice. Not if they liked trapping puppies. She hadn't liked that at all. Frowning, her ears sunk back downward as she thought on it and decided she didn't want to bite the thing after all. It was mean. She didn't want to have anything to do with mean things.

"It's notta very nice, is it?" she said after a while, lifting her head a little more to give the antler the full intensity of her frown. "I was justa gonna bite it, s'all." She wrinkled her nose at it, thinking back and trying to remember how it had all gone down. "Then it jumpeded mes." She turned her gaze away from the antler for a second before looking back up at the dark wolf.

"Why they gots ta do that?" she asked, lifting her paws up onto the root as she began to slowly creep out of her hiding spot. She only got so far as to sitting on the root she'd hidden behind before she realized her balance wasn't quite there. Sart slipped from the tangle of tree and ended up on her belly on the ground in front of it. She lay there, dazed for a second before she glared back at the root and shifted back to her paws.