[Takes place during the time Esther left The Hole saying they were hungry]
This place looked good enough for them to hunt inside- full of plants and warm air. Lesser gembounds would be scattering about, maybe. Either way they were hungry and they wanted something to eat. Maybe some kind of cave mouse would suffice. There had to be plenty of them in a place as green as Eridanus.
Esther couldn't sniff anything out, then. But it was fine, they were fine, and they would be fine. Their long legs took them through the area to continue searching. Maybe they just weren't in the right area of Eridanus to find one. Or they scared them all off with the scent of fire on their paws. Maybe Esther should have thought about it before they tried to burn the altar to the ground. But they did not.
Instinct trumped their thoughts.
Though they would continue searching.
And they couldn't find anything once again. Looked like luck wasn't on their side. Either way, maybe they should just do something else while they waited. That didn't cause a fire. Just yet. If they got more bored than they already were, then maybe they would use it to occupy their time. But their paws hurt from it before so they wouldn't be doing it now.
Time to look for something to keep themselves occupied. Or, that looked interesting.
Having spindly legs meant that they didn't really... Look where they were going when they were walking. Which meant not paying attention to anything that was directly in front of their toes. That also meant they had a higher chance of not seeing things and tripping over them.
And trip they most definitely did.
One of their legs caught on a vine and their body was sent forward in a lurch of colorful vibrant fur. They tripped in a show of what was essentially a cartoon, landing right on their face of the green ground of Eridanus. That. Kind of hurt. It really did.
Esther sat up with a huff, scratching their long nose with one of their dark paws.
"That hurt." A grumble.
Esther wasn't a fan of falling on their face. Now their nose hurt and they still couldn't find what they were looking for. Where could a maned wolf get some munchies 'round here? Esther was hungry and if they couldn't find a lesser gembound to chew on they would just have to find one that wasn't.
Even if they'd rather not.
An ear flicked when more sound was heard nearby. Slight turn of the head to watch small blades of grass wriggle back and forth near them. ohoho! Maybe they wouldn't have to go find someone to chomp on after all. They would still have to catch that prey, but at least they found something that did resemble that kind of mouse they were looking for.
Slowly standing up, Esther turned their body and launched themselves at the mouse in hopes to catch it.
Overscaling a bit, Esther missed the small creature, and it started to run away. Esther was not going to let it run off! They spent too long looking for the small thing to up and lose it now! The small red thing ran through the grasses, so Esther did the same. Taking time to dodge large plants and ferns as they followed.
When Esther got close enough to the thing to catch it, they moved their head down and sharp teeth crunched down on the small red creature, catching it but also causing Esther to lurch forward a bit. Thankfully they didn't trip this time so all was well.
After that, Esther immediately flopped down and began to eat the small thing. They would have to eat again later since the creature was so small, but that was fine. They weren't big nor strong enough to capture the bigger things in the place, and they dealt with it every day.
Now they just had to ignore the whispers while doing it.
They kept their eyes peeled for anything interesting while they ate.
Something was falling. Down, down and more down. Black and sheen. From some kind of black bird. Oh! That's an interesting thing! Wiping the blood from their face with their tongue, Esther stood to move closer to the thing that fell on the grasses. Dark, pretty, and a feather!
They plopped down and touched it with a paw that the hair was still growing back on. Ohohohoho! It was soft!