Shy Deer Steppes a wish for summer

Phone post

Kiir sighed in satisfaction as they looked around the steppes. They had seen this place from the lake, but actually being here made all the difference. It was still colder than they were used to, but the atmosphere was so reminiscent of home that they wanted never to leave. Though spring was just begun, Kiir could almost smell that summery scent of grass and dry, sun-baked earth and hear the sounds of insects buzzing. Summer could not come fast enough for the desert-dweller.

diesel was open to the concept of anything being up there in the clouds and dictating things such as fate and weather, but thought of it as something mortal enough that when the first days of lessened cold (warmth was still a ways away) came, she barked to the heavens a wish for good hunting and great sex upon anyone responsible for such tolerable conditions. 

the dogue pranced trough a great, dry flatland, and while she tried to squeeze some modicum of enjoyment out what would likely be the last days of her absence from her post at mereo, the looming presence of the sunspire mountains in the distance filled her with unease.

head low to the ground, chain necklace tinkling softly, broad snout sniffing for anything  that could feed its mouth for another couple days of travel, the deserter in her great focus failed to spot the coyote figure very near to her person.

Kiir blinked and stopped moving, watching the strange shape approach them with some amount of apprehension. Kiir had never seen a creature such as this before, all wrinkles and massive muscles. Surely a dog of some sort, or a horrifically deformed wolf.

They watched as it snuffled along the ground, unaware of them, for a time. Then, with a grin, feeling mischievous, they snapped a twig in the grass, to see if that would be enough to get the creature's attention. They kept up a pretense of cool indifference, but underneath, their muscles coiled, waiting to run. Not every canid individual was... friendly.

sorry for the late response! in a thread chronologically preceding this one (26th february) diesel suffered severe facial trauma, but as i wrote my initial reply to this scene before that occurred, any mention of them is absent in her internal dialogue. going forward i will refer to them as if they were always present, and you can handle this retcon any way you want, including editing your reply to include this information! for reference, this is how she's supposed to look now (note the lower lip is naturally loose and not a wound, i marked it incorrectly);

the snapping of the twig was enough to get her head to swing upwards and turn to look behind her, thinking some prey animal had snuck past her incredible alertness, but the sudden movement only made her vision go dark before she could see it.

disoriented and thrown off-balance, the hulking dog stumbled sideways - towards the wiry little coyote, very likely to fall over them.