Hunger brought him out of the swamp, he cared little for dining on frogs and birds, too many small bones and not enough meat. Drying bog flora clung to his wispy fur, and his long legs were green-black from wading through the muck and mire, caked with the decaying stench of who knows what. Quite pleasant actually, in Orpheus opinion, as it masked his own wolfy smell when he was slinking through the undergrowth in search of a bite. He had roamed as far at the eastern ridge of the crater before doubling back toward his haunt. He smelled his sister now and again and so decided to follow her trail in case she’d found something to eat, something she would inevitably share—or lose actually, because he’d make off with whatever she had. Upon bulldozing his way through a bush that smelled strongly of having been her hiding place for some time, the waifish male spotted his bulkier sister near two males, one with a flop ear, the other white with a splash or two of red. Orpheus snarled, of course she was having an ice cream social rather than making a meal out of… Mother of god…
Little baby bunnies. Everywhere.
These Orpheus could get for himself. Like a coyote or a fox, he bounded into the fray. Springing once, twice, and then unceremoniously closing his jaws over the head of a downy hare that had suddenly found itself wriggling madly beneath his paws. A hares scream was the most satisfying sort of sound, but it quieted quickly when one of his teeth punctured the little fur-bearer’s eye and the strength of his jaws crushed its wee head. He carried it thusly, traipsing without grace toward a clear spot where he might enjoy his snack. Nearby, another male played with half his meal, a writhing bit of brown fluff trapped beneath his paws. Orpheus stared at the older male and his prey for a moment, deciding he would leave the next one alive; it seemed an especially thrilling meal to toy with.
ORPHEUS |