Trois

Today he loitered. Whatever the little rodent-y gremlins that lived around here, he'd been trying hard to catch one but thus far hadn't had luck, stopping to growl at another crevice where the latest one he'd chased had disappeared. A huff, and he finally turned to leave. Other things to do -- others to try.

At least right now the weather was clear, it was making it easier to sniff around and try again. He did need to find something edible after all -- kinda the way to stay alive and all that, but he wasn't desperate or anything yet. He should be able to catch these damn things, at least assuming nobody else came and just tried to ruin his day. So far, he was pretty sure he was a magnet for that. Did he have "bug this guy" written all over him? He was pretty sure he was more plain than that. Anyway. He turned away and started his quest for another overgrown hamster thing.
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Little time had passed since she first awoke, but she wasted no time with questions. Honestly, she couldn't care less how she got here or why or whatever else might be important. S'not like she has anywhere else to be anyways. At least here no one knew her, no one knew what happened, and there was nothing holding her back...

Until the rumble in her stomach sorely reminded her that she needed food.

Just how long was she asleep anyway. She would have grumbled to herself, but the figure of another caught her eye first. Some tall skinny boy, or maybe he was just lean, had his face shoved by some hole in the ground. “Careful. Never know where snakes are hiding.”

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Vidocq, indeed, was still mostly angles and wouldn't strike anyone as being some massive threatening thing. Maybe at a distance he was a looming wraith, but he was young, even if he didn't act it. Youth didn't mean he was incapable, he'd do okay hunting on his own -- it's not like he had anyone to care for other than himself. Being selfish was easy.

He was sniffing around another creature burrow when a voice called to him. He jerked back a step, quickly looking over for the source. But this time, it was a woman. Compared to him, she was pretty puny. A familiar dark color, but not quite the same as his -- maybe if he was wet they'd match better. And at least she wasn't as old as those other guys. Maybe her brain hadn't turned to dust yet. “Little cold for them, isn't it?” His nose twitched, and he did a quick scan of the rest of the area just in case there was someone else. Last time had been weird enough, he wasn't keen to repeat it.
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The boy was quick to turn, almost as if he was startled, though his voice did not waver if he had been. Kei snorted giving a simple shrug of her shoulders almost as if suggesting fuck around and find out. “You'd be surprised. Besides, would you like it if some creature came poking around the hole you sleep in?” 

The shadow took a few steps almost as if she planned to keep walking, though paused before turning back. “If you're hunting why not find something bigger than whatever you're scrounging up from the dirt?”

Sure it was easier said than done, but there was two of them now. Couldn't be that hard to find something worth their time and at the very least if he was good for nothing he could be used as a distraction for herself to hunt something.

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He wasn't put off by her behavior at all -- but then again, Vidocq seemed to walk a similar path, at least in that aspect. Either way, far better conversation than the loony old guys -- even if she was still kinda old too, just not as mega-old. She wasn't harping on woah the world was weird and zomg where were his parents, that got old just like them. “I'll take my breakfast delivered if it wants to, but if somethin' is big enough to block a whole den with its nose, we're all screwed.” He shrugged, too. It was quite the thought though... Whatever would be that big would be about... Hell, tree-height. Big.

He waved his muzzle back to the rocks. “There's a hell of a lot of these giant rat things around here. That's what I've found, you seen something else?” Honestly he didn't pay attention to anything much bigger than a rabbit -- it wasn't like he could take down anything bigger on his own -- stuff went from nice portable snack sized to mega giant trouble with hooves awful fast. If he was wary of bigger prey due to his own inexperience, that didn't seem to be coming to the surface.  But he took a step towards her as he turned, but didn't go farther than that.
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The boy seemed to have no interest in stopping, but really that wasn't her concern. She had warned him after all, that was her attempt, the gods could see it. Whatever happened after was all on him. However, "giant rat things" seemed to pique her interest. Admittedly she hadn't seen anything else to eat yet, but there had to be something walking 'round free for the taking. “Well— no, but that doesn't mean I'm going to risk losing a limb to poison.”

Kei squinted at him, a pout on her lips as she debated her options, but ultimately would approach him and the holes in the ground. “Show me this rat thing. It better be worth my time.” Or what? Well...really it was on her, but she wouldn't admit that. A free meal was a free meal though and if she could catch something easily then she wanted to know before she kept going...wherever she was going.

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He stepped away from the particular crevice, looking around for where the others might be hidden. Hm. “Well, one went in where I was looking if you want to know what they smell like. There's been more along the rocks, so there's probably more up ahead. Eating plants or whatever. Probably can see one move...” As he'd talked, he'd turned to face the outcropping that was farther along his projected path, his head had raised, ears pricked forward, and he stared intently, watching for non-wind related movement. He hoped that would be far enough away to have some that weren't previously startled by his poking about.

When he actually was trying to prove a point, waiting for some distant little critter to move felt like it was gonna take forever. It was probably more like second but felt like years as he scanned the rocks, looking for a nice orblike fuzzy thing roaming the outcropping. At long last, twenty billion years later, he spotted one. There were probably more, but this one was the one he saw first just because it crossed in the way of a blot of grey green leaves -- it made it easier to spot. So when he spoke again, he was slightly quieter, “There -- the bush, the big one. It's at the base--” He wasn't gonna take his eyes off the pika because they had a tendency to blend into the rocks a bit, but he did turn an ear towards his companion here. She saw it, right?
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Kei was still warry of poking her nose in random holes, but if he had seen this oversized rat thing go into it then it was bound to be alright. That didn't stop her from shooting a light glare at her companion before leaning down to sniff at the hole carefully. Sure enough, a prey scent was thick and fresh. While she was busy with the hole though, it seemed that Vidocq was already looking for his next target.

While he was busy, she was doing her own thing, pawing at the hole and glancing in, not that it did much good, in hopes of seeing this creature until a hushed voice caught her attention again. Gold eyes quickly scanned for this mysterious creature, squinting for unnatural movement along the rocks. Like him, it took her a bit to see it, but eventually, rat thing grabbed her eye. “Looks like an underwhelming gopher.” Seriously this is what he was eating? That was only a snack. 

“Dunno, doesn't exactly seem worth the trouble if you ask me.”

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So, she wasn't impressed. Well, sure, they weren't huge and dangerous and maybe you'd have to catch a couple to really be stuffed, but hey, they were here. They existed. She must be in a really nice place if she could shun some available food because it was small. Vidocq didn't like taking chances with being hungry. It wasn't fun.

He did finally turn away, looking back to her with a tip of his head, his emotions pretty vague, “So you're telling me you've got the perfect bigger thing to catch smuggled away somewhere nearby?” He said it without derision, mostly because he was curious if she had seen something before now. Honestly he'd rather opt for small stuff he could kill without getting hurt (or without help, if she was gonna be fussy), and things that were more certain to be catchable, than he was something big. He wasn't always the most practical of wolves but for once he was being pretty reasonable.
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He turned to her, still seemingly dead set on catching the little rodents for lunch unless she had something at the ready to hunt. Of course, she didn't and it wasn't like she had stumbled across something better either, but she wasn't desperate yet. Not this desperate at least...or lazy, whatever this guy was. 

Another snort escaped her as Kei tilted her head back “No, but I'm sure I can find something bigger and more worth my time.” And she would do just that! She'd give a flick of her tail as she left, almost like a wave before trotting off, “Have fun scratching at holes!”

Can close here or post and close!

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Wow. She'd seemed kind of cool at first but apparently she was actually some kind of hoity-toity princess. Oh, woe! The food was too small for her! Did she look down on rabbits too? Because these things looked about the same size, give or take a little. Well, he wouldn't be surprised if her arrogance made her go hungry at some point.

Either way, it was pretty clear she didn't have something better to hunt. So really, she would have probably just made him go hungry. Nope, princess, idiotsville was the other direction, better return home before you're missed! He was unimpressed, his reply fairly flat, “Okay, have fun catching some big thing all by yourself I guess.” He was unafraid to give her a bland "wow u r dumb" look as she retreated. But she didn't linger in his attention much longer after that. He casually moseyed around a bit to make sure she wasn't gonna mess with his hunt, but once she was gone, he was back to finding something edible.
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