[P] Oh Not Again [Comanche]

Auru Geniven

Dig, dig, and dig some more. Be careful to dig with stroke going out from the plant so as not to damage it, and keeps your claws away from the stem. Get to the bottom of the shoot. Grip it carefully in your teeth and extract it with soft pulling. Do not grip hard enough to pierce the outer surface, just enough to get traction. Keep the roots intact so that way you can retrieve as much of the plant as possible for usage in treatment.

Lean forwards so your head is over cleaner waters. Lower your head so the end of the shoot is floating in the liquid. Splash some of it over the plant to clean it a little bit, while it may only be a small bit of grit on each individual plant, it adds up and soon you have so much grit that you have now lost the room for what could have been several more shoots due to the dirt.

Place the relatively cleaned plant on the pile. Don't bother cleaning your paws. Feel a small run of satisfaction at yet another job well done, it's the small things that count. Each shoot is another piece of treatment, each one is important. Distantly note the sound of approaching pawsteps and a flash of red and yellow in the corner of your eye. Bring your paws to the base of another plant and beginning digging, digging, and then dig a little more.

Rinse and repe-

Wait.

Hold on.

Back up.

There was a moment where the brown man ran a mental comparison of the red and yellow colors he had seen to all the wolves he knew. Hmm... no that was more of an orange really. No, that one was yellow alright but no red, built for deserts, he was. Red and yellow, red and yellow...

Nope, nothing.

Begin panicking.

"Howl and you'll be digging your own grave."

Allow panicking to increase tenfold.

Seize up and find yourself unable to move. Muscles tensed and locked, paws frozen in place, pupils dilated, eyes wide. Allow breathing to grind to a halt with a gasping stutter in your chest. No, wait, don't allow that, but it'll happen anyways so keep trying to breathe but know that your efforts are futile. Feel as though everything from your eyelids to your throat to your tail has suddenly been frozen solid in a blizzard, except they're not cold in the slightest. Perhaps petrified into stone would be more apt?

"So, what ya' digging down there for bud?"

Swallow thickly on pure reflex, remain unable to voluntarily move. Feel short, desperate breaths begin to flow from nose to lungs once more as your body's survival mechanisms take over, forcing you to breathe so that way you do not perish from asphyxiation. Begin trembling as your body tries to free itself from the sensation of being locked into place, but the sensation refuse to abate.

Find your eyes flickering to the side to take in an unknown visage. Find the movement almost painful, even though it was so small. Find your chest really beginning to hurt right about now from lack of proper air and from the sheer tension. Take notice of the darkness encroaching on the edges of your vision. Discover that your body has increased your breathing capacity from 10% of normal to 20% of normal in an attempt to compensate for the darkness.

Find that it works, at least somewhat. Remember to thank your body when the situation is over.

Find that your tail has inexplicably curled between your hind legs, and is currently resting against your stomach in a quite familiar fashion. Feel your muscles begin to loosen somewhat as the need to flee takes hold over shock and sheer terror. Reach out with your back legs in an attempt to slowly step out of the small piece of collapsed ground you have dug yourself into as a result of harvesting your plants.

Turn your body as you do so in order to keep your gaze locked on the taller man, who is not bearing a look that is even remotely friendly, although it almost tries to pass itself off as such. Become momentarily bemused in the back of your mind as to why this is the second Rogue in what feels like as many days that has casually trespassed onto your pack's land and is the exact opposite of concerned about it.

Well he did tell you not to howl or you'd be digging your own grave (not that you don't do that on a daily basis), implying he does not want the rest of the pack to show up."

A fair point indeed.

A point to consider at a later date.

Slowly attempt to back up so that your are now crouched over your bundle of Coltsfoot, now standing on relatively even ground with the stranger, albeit you are shorter and currently lowered much closer to the ground. Remember that he had indeed asked you a question and you had best respond before he gets some other thoughts in mind, keep his attention on the question.

"C-C-Coltsfoot..."

Realize your voice did not come out as anything above what could just be called louder than a whisper by someone who was very generous in that statement. Do not bother with an attempt to correct this fact as your voice will likely not function for a second time in as many minutes.

Hope that the strange and quite distinctly unfriendly man will be satisfied with the given answer and allow you to flee without injury (and hopefully with the Coltsfoot).

OOC: I don't know why the whole post is written as an instruction manual but it is so ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

Also nah, you're absolutely fine. <3