Coyote (first_angry) wrote in history_dot_com, @ 2015-03-29 19:51:00 |
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Entry tags: | ~artemis, ~coyote |
Stranger Danger (tag:Artemis) [1145 or so]
Coyote was having a good day, a very good. He’d awoken that morning with the sun warming his back after a good night’s sleep. A stretch and a yawn later and he was off exploring this new area he was in. That was always enjoyable, because the land was never laid itself down the same way twice. So every day was new, a possible adventure awaited over every hill and knoll, and Coyote liked to discover them.
Today, his adventures thus far had included helping a sweet faced rabbit lighten her heavy load. It really wasn’t her fault that she had to work so hard, it was part of the problem with the breed. Or to be more specific, with the breeding. Rabbits were randy little things, so it wasn’t much of a shock that a large litter happened now and then. Sweet little rabbit. She’d have a much easier time feeding three kits rather than six. Someday she’d thank Coyote for making the hard choice for her.
After his breakfast with the rabbit family, he’d padded along on four feet until he found a shy turtle. Coyote had spent a considerable amount of time playing with him so that he wouldn’t feel lonely. And it had been quite a lot of fun. He’d laughed and laughed while turtle lay spinning on his shell, kicking his feet in the air, jesting about not being able to right himself. Who knew that under that shy exterior turtle was such a jokester? That had been a good time, and Coyote hoped that turtle learned that the next time he encountered someone new, he could do his comedy act rather than hiding away in his shell.
The sun was still high overhead when Coyote had found beaver busy at work, hustling and bustling about in the river. What a generous spirit old beaver had! He was working quite diligently to clear out some sort of wood blockage so the river could flow more freely. Coyote had tried to help, pulling out some very large pieced of wood, which caused most of the dam to break apart and float off down the current. But beaver seemed to have a very specific deconstruction plan in mind and had yelled quite angrily. That had upset Coyote for a time, and his tail had curled low as he left. But within a mile or two, he reminded himself that he’d just save beaver hours of extra work and eventually, the old boy would recognize just how helpful he’d been.
It was getting on toward late afternoon when Coyote’s stomach reminded him that he’d not had anything to eat since his hurried breakfast with the rabbits this morning. It was time to find his next meal, so Coyote laid down under a tree in the shade to contemplate his options. As he rested there, thinking of incredibly clever ways of catching his repast, a sound caught his ear. It was a small sound, a quiet sound, a sound that was trying not to be heard: somebody was being sneaky.
Coyote appreciated sneaky. He wanted to see the sneaking in person, so he carefully got up, and followed the trail the small sound had made until his nose found another way to track his duplicitous prey. And what he smelled was… different. This was not a scent he knew, nor one he could place in any tribe or clan he knew of. It wasn’t rabbit, or turtle, or beaver. It wasn’t buffalo, wolf, frog, cougar, deer, or field mouse either. It wasn’t even man. It was something else entirely. It was lovely.
Carefully, oh so carefully, Coyote followed the scent of the lovely thing, the smell of it growing stronger and stronger. Finally, when the hairs along the back of his neck told him he was very close, Coyote lay down on his belly and carefully inched his way forward through the undergrowth without stirring a single thing to give away his presence. And there, just three trees ahead of him, was a golden, shining, beautiful, amazing, incredible…
Interloper.
She did not belong here. She was not supposed to be here. And she certainly wasn’t supposed to be doing what it looked like she was doing. As the graceful blonde creature raised her bow and pulled the string taut, Coyote deliberately twitched his tail. That was all. But that was enough. The deer that had been in her sites was running away, its tail a bright white flag that warned of danger.
Coyote grinned to himself, then waited to see what the tantalizing stranger would do.