[P] the quiet side of brutality

[Luna16]

Quiet Hail blinked as sunlight began to trickle into the den, stretching in her nest carefully. She turned, seeing Shy Horse curled up sleeping against her. She purred, touching her nose to her friend's daughter affectionately before carefully stepping around her. The keeper made her way to available fresh-kill, preferring to select her own rather than wait for the hunters to bring her meals. She selected a hawk, figuring the feathers would make good additions to the nests too, before sitting outside the nursery. Relishing the feeling of the rising sun on her fur as she meticulously pulled feathers from her chosen prey.

@Rowan - Ares

[Rowan]

• he/him • 31 moons • atari/crown • #arescrown •
killer aptitude t1

Ares had been up long before the sun. That wasn’t unusual anymore. Sleep didn’t come easily these days—not with Brutus gone, not with the lack of companionship or communication, and damn well not with the weight of a tribe pressing down on his spine like a second pelt. But even so, he always found time for patrols, always made time to watch the sunrise from the higher ridges. A small reminder that not everything burned down overnight.

This morning, though, his paws brought him elsewhere.The keepers den. Not inside it (he wasn’t foolish enough to get in the way) but close enough to keep an eye on things. On the future. On the cats raising it.

Quiet Hail caught his eye before he even meant to look for her. Settled just outside the den, plucking feathers. A hawk—impressive catch for whoever did so. The keeper seemed quiet, methodical, like always, but there was something about the way the light caught in her fur. She was an impressive trapper before she stepped into the life of a keeper instead. That was truly a shame for the tribe.

Ares cleared his throat as he approached, not wanting to startle her. He stopped a fox-length away, sitting neatly, as if he hadn’t just made an unplanned detour.

He wasn’t one for small talk. How did he go about this? “Mornin’…how’re you n’ the young?” he asked politely before turning his gaze to the feathers and flicking an ear. “Hawk feathers are durable. Good reinforcement.”

└> . . . @Luna16