11-28-2015, 10:57 PM
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The sun peaked high amongst the snow clouds, but its warmth did not reach the ground. Etojo’s dry leaves bristled in the cold as he angled them tight against his emaciated body. When the snowfall had been heavy, the larger flakes had caused his leaves to creak and crunch that there were now few left which were whole. But Etojo didn’t care, finally he had found what he had been tracking, his belly grumbling at the sight and he smacked his lips together with anticipation. “Food.” He growled, as he spied the lifeless body bobbing ensnared in a tangle of sticks which had begun to obstruct the flow of water downstream. He made his way towards it, sloshing carelessly up the shallow stream, chunks of ice and the sheer coldness of the water biting at his fetlocks. He paid no mind to the sensation, he was used to the chill, and the extra punch of coldness reminded him of her, a friend lost, and his heart pounded heavier with shame as he remembered their last encounter. Reaching down, he pried the carcass free from the sticks and pulled it from the water. Its body was stiff and smelled only of death now, the water having lapped away any trace of what it had been. But that hardly mattered, food was food, although his orange eyes narrowed and growled in annoyance when he realised the snack he clasped between his jaws was missing all but one limb. Such was the life of a scavenger, he would never be the first to make a meal of it, but he would be the last. He flung the dead creature onto the snow-capped grass, and leapt out of the stream after it. With his hoof he braced it still, whatever was left of its tiny bones and cartilage crunching with the burden of his weight as he ripped free the first morsel of soggy flesh. It was tasteless of course, he hadn’t really expected it to taste fresh. But even so, each mouthful satiated a hunger he could not have left untended for much longer lest it drive him to hunt. And he could not let that happen, not ever again. |