Snippet #2663055

The wolf was eyeing Stride, seeming to see her current situation more as an advantage to make the most of, and was ripping its clandestine goods open a little way out of the gorgon's reach.

That was, until something caught the thing's attention. The thing's wolfish head lifted, ears shooting up to attention and nose twitching. Instinct was a large part of the werewolf. Some things overrode any kind of will impose upon the animal side. Territory, pack, food, prey. Prey.

Within a moment it turned and shot off along the hallway, toward the stairs.

"Well thanks for leaving me still completely unsure of why we pay wages to any of you." Oren remarked, rolling her eyes as she moved to follow.
"No the researcher will just go deal with the escaped werewolf. You all sit on your backsides and eat breakfast."


----

It had been a fine morning for Dinah Fox.

The sun was shining, the birds were singing in the trees, and she was dragging a dead stag up the back steps by its hind legs.

She'd managed to catch the quarry after a prolonged chase through the trees and undergrowth, before tackling it to the floor with her own hands.

Dinah was good with a bow, but had always felt it was a bit unsporting for large, ground-dwelling creatures, and with something the size of a deer she'd been worried about only wounding one and subjecting it to pointless suffering. Instead, by Di's reasoning, it was a lot better to instead tackle a fully grown stag to the floor and snap its neck with your arms.

Not shockingly, the girl was looking a little scuffed and bruised, with the green smears of grass on her knees and shorts, the sleeve of the faded khaki green tee she was wearing ripped open all across one side, and dirt coating her hands and feet.

"What the hell is that?"

A familiar voice caused the young woman's gaze to snap up from her progress. She looked toward the source to where a weathered-looking wall marked the edge of the gardens, on which sat a slightly scruffy young man, and three or four archaic looking books sat next to him.

Cyrus. Anyone else she did have some sort of responsibility to be nice. Her brother however, was free game. Especially when he started the baiting.
"The mail. Someone sent us a thank-you deer. What do you think it is, dumbass? I went hunting."

Cyrus slid a marker into whatever he was reading and pulled the tome closed, though he made no move to aid his younger sister's attempts to haul the animal up the steps.
"What are you even going to do with it?"

"There's some chest freezers out back somewhere." Dinah responded as she managed to drag her cargo to the top, with some effort.
"Gonna skin it and take the antlers for knife hilts, then can butcher it. Keep some of the offal to make some werewolf lures. It's gonna be awesome. I can't wait to show everyone the size of it."

"Something tells me you might be the one who is most excited about it. No-one is into decimating the local wildlife quite so much as you." her brother replied, prompting Dinah to fling a handful of mud in his direction. He ducked with the deft ease of someone who'd done this a lot.

"Shut up Cyrus. What have you done with your morning? Sacrificed a goat to Asmodeus and surfed the internet for -"

Dinah was cut off mid insult as the sudden thundering noise of paws and the ragged snarling breaths of a charging werewolf became incredibly obvious. The girl had just about time enough to brace herself before the hurtling blur of red fur tore into her and the stag, sending both tumbling down the steps.

With a fall and a roll she found herself back at the bottom again, cursing under her breath. A couple of feet in front of her the rusty-hued beast was hunched over the stag, its snout buried deep into its stomach sending rivulets of red out across the gravel.
She sighed.

"Cyrus. One word and I'm hiding roadkill in your sock drawer."