Solo Sneaky Rabbits

[Bloodfight]

Spring 15th, 513AV The Sea of Grass, 2-3 miles north of the Sonomos River Spring has finally come.. a yawn exuded itself, lazy and long. What life that had retreated into the recesses of the earth now crawled out into the world, beginning the timeless cycle that continued to roll on. The process known as life; after a period of cold and darkness. It was to replenish what had been lost in the white blanketed season, a time that brought the worst of many creatures, and yet the best: survival instincts. The grass would sprout up, grow, and then feed the prey animals, who would then feed the beasts with their lifes, and so on and so forth. Smaller prey had to be cut down to size quickly, they bred the fastest, while larger prey retained their small numbers, but were cautious, they were harder to catch. To a certain half-blood, Spring was exactly what he needed. Forget finding a mate, he had bigger needs to meet. Fooood... A stomach growled hungerly, drowned out by the 'swish swish' of wind caressing the Sea of Grass. Bloodfight was starving after having of emerged from his cave, living on mushrooms, and foolish prey animals that had stumbled and bumbled into his territory; that length of time had left him ravenous for the Spring season. Why had he been in a cave for most of the Winter season? He had figured that it was too late to try travelling to the burning sands, he would have been caught in the snow and froze to death. Yet he hadn't stayed in the swamps he and Sammers had scuffled in together, his previous base of operations once the mage-creature had left him alone. Trying to keep a fire going would have been easy, but dangerous at the same time. Smoke from a fire for both warmth, and cooking would have attracted unwanted attention by both creature and beast alike. Neither with good intentions (most of the time.) Caves were far safer, much warmer too considering they were under the ground far away from the cold winds which blew with a chilling bite to their breezes. Once Spring had come, Bloodfight had ventured out, planning to make his way towards the swamps once more in hopes of re-establishing his camp there; after finding some good food to prepare for the trip. It would take 2-3 days time on foot, maybe longer depending on how much he lolly gagged. Red popped out of the tall grass in the shape of hair, a head belonging to the absurdly wicked looking locks of red, nose twitching, eyes scanning, and then 'boop' it was beneath the grass once again. Just like that, grass displacing itself in a zig zaggy pattern. What was Bloodfight doing? He was on all fours, legs bent so his knees would brush the ground with each crawling movement forwards, leaving a trail of disturbed stalks of long grass. He was a huge guy compared to some, over six feet tall, and the grass he was sneaking about in only came up to around four feet tall, sometimes three feet depending where he was. He was envious of small creatures, how easy it must have been to traverse the green and gold harlequin plains of grass. He was a sitting duck when standing up, or even crouched over, an easy target to see, easily observable which was not what Bloodfight wanted at all. He preferred being unknown. The change from standing, to crouching, to a weird belly crawl was a very difficult one on his back, arms, and legs consistantly. Not only did he have to support his upper body with his arms, and his feet supporting his lower body, but he had to keep his knees suspended in the air, every time they dragged along the ground it drew unwanted noises to himself. In turn, he was scaring away potential prey. "Zithanese" "Common" "Pavi" Thoughts

[Bloodfight]

After perhaps half a bell of more weird belly crawling, he found the strain was too much, it was too a foreign movement, as his body wasn't designed to be like a cat of prey. He had been doing it in hopes of spotting more signs of prey being closer to the ground, but found that he was more focused on staying quiet, and keeping his form as perfect as he could to even notice any signs of prey. Bloodfight threw the belly crawl idea out and relaxed, returning to his usual posture when sneaking. He grunted as he regressed back to being on his feet, crouching in the grass before sitting, when he looked behind himself he saw how big of an indent he made in the grass, thus creating a trail that could easily be followed. Absently he rubbed his neck with a dirty hand, eyes travelling upwards to the sky, squinting, his hair acting as a visor that kept most of the painful rays from stinging his eyes (but the brightness of the day was still enough to illicit a headache.) He relaxed. Letting his eyes shut with ease to feel the warmth on top of his head, breathing in the dusty and rugged air of the plains, he was some ways away from his cave and had yet to see any sign of prey. So he breathed, taking in the many scents of the world around him. He could smell the earth, the air, grass, himself, and a faint something that reminded him of comfort. Sniffling, he began to follow it, taking slow steps through the grass hunched over, the scent was stronger when closer to the ground while it faded as he stood slowly, testing the scents limits. It was warm, and held a muskish qaulity to it, buttery even, not so much as rich as it could have been because of the other factors playing in that it was an old scent. How old, Blood couldn't tell just yet with the current information he had sensory wise. He kept his eyes to the ground as he shifted through the grass, looking for a physical trail to latch onto and follow after. There. His eyes saw before his mind could process, in the grass there were some disturbed tufts, and shredded stalks, as if something had been nibbling on them. He picked a piece up inbetween two very sharp fingernails and brought it to his nose, sniffing, it was linked to the previous scent he had picked up before. It strangely reminded him of rabbits, he had never tracked rabbits specifically before, they just sort of hopped right into his snares since it was easier to set a trap rather than hunting them litterally. Blood right now couldn't wait patiently enough for his snares to yield results, so he must have been doing something right up until now. His eyes sorted through the stalks, hands spreading the wall of grass in front of him apart as he tried to search for any disturbance related to ones physically being there. There were two sides that seemed disturbed large enough for a rabbit to have been hopping through, and then there was the way he had came. One side could have been an entrance, the other an exit, and neither were presenting much evidence when he tried applying his nose to the situation. So he took a bit of a gamble and went left, the seeming exit trail of hopped on grass. "Zithanese" "Common" "Pavi" Thoughts

[Bloodfight]

To be honest this form was much easier to slink back into, while he was still on all fours, he wasn't crawling around like a cat of prey would be. It was more suited to his personal body structure, he was crouched whilst moving forwards by leaning forwards a bit as he moved a foot slowly in front of him, turning his body with the movement, and used one hand to balance himself while the other would part the grass for him to see in. He could still be seen vaguely among the grass tops, but at least he could spring into action if the situation called for it, and he could focus more on tracking his prey, rather than fretting over whether or not he was scaring it further away from himself. The form also seemed to give him a better view of what was around him, or over yonder beyond the grass tips, as well as a clear veiw of his path, and unmarred the path he was following. It was perfect to him, with minor kinks. Snap Blood froze at the ominous noise, tensing, and crouching lower. Holding his breath as he waited for something to happen, straining his ears to hear what had possibly made that noise. He wiggled his toes, glancing down at the portrusion of a small twig he had stepped on. It had been just him. Expulsing the breath from his lungs, he relaxed only a smidge, sniffing in the air not chimes afterwards much like a prey animal himself. In a way he was, he had no armor or natural protection, nor wings to take him away from imminent danger, all he had with him were his dirty clothes, and a crowbar tucked neatly behind his back inbetween his body and belt. Blood had sharp nails, but nowheres near as sharp as the Zith did. The crowbar was added protection, in case he needed something to swing at a predator trying to get far too close. An insurance that he probably would come out alive with it, rather than without it. Moving on. It seemed he was tracking something, from what he could tell it must have been rabbits, he could smell them thicker in the air. More so because of the increased mating activity going on, it would proove to be good pickings if he could just sneak up close enough to a burrow... Or come behind just one and surprise attack it. He would eat wonderfully that day then. When Blood went to move a bit of grass wall, he found that his finger tips did not brush more of the green and gold shoots, when he pulled them back by an inch or so, peeking through to see what was in store for Blood. He saw a pile of poop, small ball like droppings in great big piles, he tilted his head at it. Prey is near. He sniffed, bringing his nose just a smidgeon closer to it and felt that it smelled very much like grass, just a bit. He started to put two and two together, the nibbled stalks of grass, and now poop that smelled of grass as well. Back in the early Winter before the big snow had hit, Blood had met a rather interesting creature called a Myrian, it used the smell of prey to mask its own scent. Would the same thing happen if Blood rubbed a bunch of rabbit poop on himself? He'd reek afterwards, but perhaps the benefits of doing so would reap great rewards. Blood would do it. Quickly, before he could change his mind, he grabbed handfuls of the round balled poop. Rubbing it onto his body like one would with soap, making sure to get his face as well and cringing. He wasn't much one for hygeine in the first place, and he didn't actually mind the smell, but smelling like prey had brought predators. Just as the Myrian had accidently lured Blood to itself with the technique. The half blood would have to find water, and wash the poop off later. But now, it was hunting time. "Zithanese" "Common" "Pavi" Thoughts

[Jackalope]

Bloodfight was a noisy hunter. Anyone withing earshot could hear the half breed bumbling his way through the chest high grass in search of his next meal, but in the end, maybe that wouldn't matter. If he could corner the rabbits in their den, it wouldn't matter. No escape for the adorable little critter, and a delicious feast could be had. That was the plan, anyways, but as they say, the best laid plans of men oft go astray. Or in this case, a half Zith.

The cougar wasn't the biggest or baddest around, no, far from it. She was quite malnourished and she was desperate. Ribs were visible through tawny, sand colored skin, and that skin hung loosely off the bones of the beast. Weariness sat heavy in sunken eyes as each step the predator took was labored and punishing. That was up until the moment she caught a scent. She didn't care what it was, it was big, and slow, and maybe she could take it down.

Softly did her paws press against the ground as she began to slink towards the Zith, tail flicking about nervously as she stalked her prey. Big meant lots of meat. Lots of meat meant good. There was little for the creature to lose at this point. A starving animal was a dangerous one, and this was something which Bloodfight was about to find out.

-gasp-Thread is Jackajacked! Feel free to continue your pursuit of the rabbit. The hunter is being hunted.

[Bloodfight]

After appropriately fixing his own scent to mimic the poop, or as close as he could get it to the smell of rabbit and grass without his own stench overpowering the poop, Blood looked about for any opening that might have been caused by the rabbit when it had finished its call to nature. There were multiple pathes which opened up, and upon closer inspection he found... He was nowheres closer to finding the rabbit he so wanted to devour by just staying there crouched and oggling at possible pathes. He picked one, just as he had before and followed after it, stepping around the actual trail in hopes of preventing the destruction of it. There was a rumble. Just the thought of sinking his teeth into the flesh and fur of the creature brought a pain to his stomach, tasting the meat, and savoring the still warm blood. Another growl came from his stomach, mushrooms and small animals for a season? Probably not the best tactic in the world, curse that cave. There was a type of urgency to his movements as he continued to follow the rabbit trail, bolstered by the constant scent of rabbit surrounding him. Quick to make mistakes, he would never have guessed what was to happen; too blinded by his own hunger. Bloodfight almost began to run, his heart speeding up at the prospect of food, and hunting it himself, he had never hunted alone before and what times he had, they had been only with his mother way back when he was but a small child; she had been a good enough mother to humor his half-bloodedness. Such memorys were blurry. Hardly memorable, but he felt the excitement then, now rush through him. He had to slow down, he was following the trail but such an already hard to notice thing would have easily fallen out of his view if he were not careful. Even then, it was becoming slimmer, was he nearing his prey? Blood stepped about as light as he could, trying to make himself as small as he could (an impossible feat for such a large guy) and then listened. Bloodfight was trying to listen for anything that might have been helpful; whether he had gone cold on the trail or not, mayhaps a sound of a rabbit would have alerted him he was on the right path. ooc<3 "Zithanese" "Common" "Pavi" Thoughts

[Jackalope]

The cougar's nose twitched as Bloodfight began trying to mask his scent. It was somewhat confusing to the hunter, why this meat would want to smell like smaller meat. Regardless, onward it stalked, padded paws tenderly, silently, pressing against the ground as she moved closer and closer to the half-Zith. Her mouth began to water as the anticipation grew,

Bloodfight's target, a delicious, succulent rabbit, stood on it's hind legs in a patch of shorter grass. Back and forth did it's mouth and nose go as it scanned the area for any predators. After a few moments of observation, the long eared animal seemed satisfied that all was well and dropped back to all fours to begin enjoying a lovely stalk of grass. No one else around but others of his kind, though one of them smelled kind of odd.

If the half-Zith kept on his current path, the rabbit would come into view shortly. The cougar, unfortunately, was following close behind. They say ignorance is bliss, but rarely is it good if that ignorance has sharp claws and teeth.