The witching hour dyed the starless sky above Gemini inky black.

A lone coyote skulked quiet and unscrupulous on the earth beneath, searching hawk-eyed for weakness in the border between himself and the great wall as he crept. He did not advance until he knew it would not impede him to advance, did not noisily crush a stray twig or disturb a loose rock. It had taken hours to find the one sentry who’d fallen asleep on the job, a drooling heavy dozer who was none the wiser as Vito sniffed at his slack face and slipped right on through his post.

He’d been here a week. It had taken them less than that to murder Aiden. These backwards hicks must think him pretty stupid, to tell him that mildly useful idiot had shrieked so bloodcurdling because he’d escaped! They’d have to excuse the white animal if he opted not to stick around for interrogation number two. The waiting unsettled him.

Vito was a real bastard, the worst kind of bought-and-paid-for sadistic slimeball, but he was clever. Perceptive. He’d learned quickly that trying to leap from the pit trap was futile at anything but tiring you out. He’d also learned when the guards changed shifts, which ones left him alone to go eat some lunch or take a piss… how to dig diagonally, to work his small paws into the gaps between the filling meant to keep him in place…

He’d reached the wall. He was patchy head to toe with uprooted dirt. He smiled, exposing the sharp ends of those ghastly black teeth. Moonlight swirled faintly in one blue eye. Something had caught it, and slowly, the smile faded as he glanced upward, his lips closing, his left ear pinning back a little.

Gemini had mounted two skulls on the wall here. One enormous, the other more average, though its jaws seemed to take up the majority of its head. Had they done this to deter intruders? For some fruity ceremonial reason? It was rather morbid, and though the coyote was long past the days where dead bones would earn a second look, there was something… bothersome about these two. He was stricken with the irrational but very distinct feeling of judgment. It made his skin crawl.

Vito shivered almost imperceptibly and pulled his eyes away from the grim sight, dismissing it.

Freedom awaited.

OOC: Shai is back. @Shangra'la @Ronno
feel free to post whenever you can.

It had been an interesting and unexpected turn of events but it had gone well enough that she was now on the way to rejoin with Nardir with Bintang, a former member of Stoneclaw, in tow. It was nice to have a big cat around although perhaps somewhat awkward considering her prior visit to the now gone cat pride and her not entirely truthful activities regarding it. There wasn't anything she could do about it though so she would just work on moving as quickly as possible. Of course her new companion she had noticed didn't seem to be able to keep such a rapid pace as easily or as long as herself, something else she couldn't do anything about, so rests were more often than usual for her. Though perhaps that was a good thing because if she wasn't having to stop for someone else to rest she likely would be running herself beyond exhaustion and raggedness but as it was she was resting just about every time the feline did.

It meant she would be in better shape than normal but it was not helping her concern about the time spent traveling and how long it was taking despite the fact that they were still moving rather quickly towards their destination.

((sorry it's short but it is up @Alue ))

OOC: Free food!

The deer made the mistake of jumping across the moat.  Technically it made it.  It slipped.

It climbed up the edge with a broken leg.  As eager as Rooter was to finish it, it was still big and had two front hooves the size of his paws.  And he wasn't at full weight yet.  He followed it as it dragged across the forest.  Eventually it slumped to the ground, grunting in distress.  Opportunistic was the grizzly bear, but he was also patient.  He knew how these things went.

It was dead by sunset.

Rooter shook the creature to make sure and then dragged it away from the fallen branches it laid against.  This would fatten him up at least forty pounds when he was done by morning.  Mmm mmm!  And that was the first course!  He could eat off this thing for days.  Which was exactly his plan, if it weren't for the fact he lived in a pack.  He didn't think about sharing.  However, he had to check himself.  Maybe Telana would like some.

The name paused his movements.  The Hierophant left a nice impression on him.  She was sharp.  She had assumed he was just a stupid bear, but then spoke to him with more respect than almost any wolf here.  He wanted to see her again.  This could show he was strong enough to drag a creature that weighed over a hundred pounds and he was good at finding meat.  He was earning his place in Alteron.  Maybe they could talk some more.  Or he could eat in quiet with her.  She seemed the type to enjoy silence.

Was he that starved for company or was he hoping for a good second impression from her?

His next train of thought as he moved again was whether to share with Orcrist.  It surprised him that he wasn't the first name on his list.  Would he be upset if he didn't go to him first?  Maybe all three of them would get along if they ate together!

The carcass dropped to the ground.  "I'm losing my mind.  I'm thinking like them."

The meadow that opened up spring recovering violet and golden flowers that after he mowed them down last week.  They were beautiful in the sun glow.  Rooter knew from the scents it was a well traveled area so anyone coming was easy to spot.  He rolled a sound between a rumble and growl, about as loud and nonthreatening as a bear like him made.  Silly, yet terrifying.