Welcome to Gaia! ::

The dark buck had assumed that with Raven at her marli's side, she would hear his words just as well as the two owsla had. Her sharp, angered remark was left unattended as the officer was already gone.

Still crouched in the shadow of the large man-thing, he startled at the sudden clatter not that far away, head lifting to squint briefly over as Harebell had an argument with something large and silver. As Cowslip called to her the dark buck turned his attention back to the log pile, ears and nose ever twitching, scanning sky and ground for elil constantly. Harebell was beyond his reach, and Cowslip, though not someone he knew well, seemed like a good rabbit. He would have to just trust the group would not run into anything too dangerous.. but that was why he was out here, on point, away from his own group. Knowing somewhat more about the threats from within on this raid, he felt compelled to seek out any danger himself, and give the rest early warning should some elil or even a pfeffa make itself known.

Stiffening as he saw that movement again, he strained eyes, ears and nose towards the wood pile. Something was over there.. but what, was impossible to tell. Yet it had moved, and there was only one thing that he knew off that moved in shady places, and didn't smell of rabbit.. Elil. If it was one of the many harmless creatures, like the autumn-hued bird of the forest, the pheasant, then it could be dismissed. But it was simply too dangerous and too risky to proceed without finding out.

So now, the question was... was it a pfeffa, elil, or something they could afford to ignore. Either way, he had to find out... for his team, for the raid party, for Bracken-rah. Shifting, he crept slowly forwards, dark body stretching out to get low to the ground, creeping carefully from one patch of longer grass to the next as he moved at an angle, trying to see beyond the shadow of the log pile before whatever was in there saw him... Yet even with his senses trained to the shadow, he never forgot to stop scanning the skies above, and the land around himself for other threats. He was owsla, and had plenty of experience with such dangerous work.

Fledgestone had darted down along with the group, perhaps just as marveled as some of the younger rabbits at the distance, having never traveled far from the warren before, and with this new experience, couldn't help but feel a spike of enthusiasm. When they came to a stop, he glanced about at the others before locking eyes with Cocklebur, remembering this was his only chance at a first impression, and immediately straightened up, trying to look as professional as he could. When they were given their instructions he murmured in unison with the others a simple, "Yes sir" and at once set off.

There weren't any Owsla in their band, but that didn't bother the young Fledgestone. There group was a good size and if they were smart, they'd handle themselves well. At least, that was what he thought until a loud clanking sounded to his left and he immediately froze, looking out at Harebell and the strange man-thing she had disturbed. There was no need to scold her, Cowslip had taken care of that, and any additional noise didn't sound all that wise to the gray rabbit.

He followed along with his group, coming across the tall man-structure, staring up at it curiously. The myriad of scents wafting from the objects were strange indeed, striking fear in most, or at least waking most to the possibility of danger, and though Fledgestone recognized this, he couldn't help but be more interested. "I wonder what all of this is," he muttered quietly. His little nose started fidgeting as he sniffed up at the objects.

Raven stepped back as Althea snapped at her, her long black ears remaining upright though to show she was not about to cower or back down so easily; even if Althea was her marli. Why must she stay behind her? Of course it would be safer but that’s not where the action would be. Besides, she was larger then your average outskirter and surrounded by Owsla, so surely that counted for something?

However, for now Raven kept her mouth shut and her golden eyes remained fixed on Blackthorn, watching his movements, waiting for her orders.

Harebell nodded at Cowslip, reassured by his encouragement. She herself likely stood out quite a lot in this area, with such a sunny colouring. She hopped alongside him and Fledgestone, looking around with every step she took. Not much cover didn't seem like such a good idea. Maybe she could dig a small hole in that dirt pile, the strong smell would surely hide their scents from most elil.
Yes. Yes in fact, she may just do that. She caught up with Cowslip to inform him of her plan.

"Cowslip, sir. I have an idea. That dirt mound over there has such a strong scent, and the ground seems soft enough to dig into easily. If I could make a small scrape in it we could have a place to mask our scents. It would make a good bolt hole, don't you think?" She decided to run it by him as she'd need someone to watch out for elil as she dug it out.

The spotted buck listened quietly to Harebell as she explained her plan. He could certainly see use in it and nodded as he mulled the information over. Anything to help mask their scents was better than nothing. The two already stood out... And if they had someplace to flee, perhaps that would give them a better chance at survival.

"Sounds like a plan. Good thinking, Harebell. Does are pretty good at digging... If you want to get started, I will watch for elil." He turned his back to the compost pile and his ears pricked as he listened to their surroundings.

Harebell was more than delighted that her plan was accepted, and was quick to start work on the scrape. The compost was a lot more potent than she had imagined, and it got stronger the more she dug. I would no doubt take days alone to get this scent from her body, but it was worth it for a hole to be temporarily safe in. Her only hope was that it made a good cover at all, but a burrow was the only thing she knew when she thought of saftey, and thus a burrow was what she would make.

She made certain to dig as deep as possible, with more than enough room for the two other bucks also. But it'd take time, and the longer she took the more danger they would be in. She kept this in mind to keep her motivated to work hard and fast.

As Harebell dug at the stinking heap of compost, it seemed to attract some attention as footsteps could be heard just around the corner of the house. Something was approaching!