Samwise finds himself as a rather plump rabbit in a field. He's anxiously watching his mother leave, a vague silhouette through a line of trees, but he knows he can't just go after her; the bases of the trees form a difficult fence to climb, and he has to stay here regardless.
He turns around to the rest of his kin, huddling rabbits looking at him in terror, and he fearfully knows he has to do something. He sees several large creatures sitting nearby, and hops over to them hoping they'll be his new mommy.
The first is a great vulture, cracking chunks of bone from some great carcass with sickeningly wet crunching sounds. He looks up at it hopefully, but it just cocks its head at him, staring with blank, uncomprehending eyes. He reluctantly backs away, realizing he'll get no help here.
The second is a great gruff bear, currently attempting very hard to stuff itself under a fairly small tree. Samwise the Rabbit has to paw at its side for some time before it even notices him, struggles for a few moments to free itself from under the tree, and then looks at him cheerfully. He makes piteously cute rabbit noises, but the bear gets a somewhat blank look in its eyes before realizing what Samwise wants. It cheerfully picks him up, looks around, and then throws him into a patch of long grass to play in. Nodding to itself in satisfaction, it stuffs itself back under the tree, wriggling to get even deeper.
He bolts in a panic from the long grass, panting in terror at what might lie within. He freezes on realizing he's inadvertently approached the third, a great serpent currently staring him face to face with calculating, slitted eyes. The snake flicks its tongue out a few times, before shifting its gaze elsewhere, obviously having no use for him.
The slinks towards the fourth, a fox, but finds he can't actually reach. The fox is surrounded by the injured, sick, and troubled, and frantically attempting to lick wounds, nuzzle things back to health, and sniff out troublemakers. Samwise realizes the fox isn't going to have any time for those already here, much less himself and his comparatively smaller brood.
He finally makes his way to the fifth, a wolf. The wolf notices his piteous mewlings and picks him up by the scruff. Samwise can't help but squeal in delight at finding a new mother, but to his dismay the wolf simply drops him next to some wolf cubs standing over a meaty bone. He scrambles away, trying to get under the wolf in terror, while one of the cubs licks its chops and advances on him. The larger wolf gently nuzzles the malicious cub back to its meat, which it continues eating grumpily.
Samwise begins pawing frantically at his new mother's leg, but to his horror, the wolf just tilts its head at him, eyes blank and uncomprehending, just like the vulture. As he sits there in dismay, he hears another cub approaching and whining piteously. He senses the problem immediately; the cub is approaching from the direction of a smug turtle, and the cub is working its jaws as though they were tired, occasionally turning back to growl menacingly at the reptile. The great wolf sniffs the cub, tilts its head at the turtle, and begins sniffing the ground intently. It apparently finds what it was looking for, and begins digging intently, while the cub watches and works its jaws, ready to go back and get that turtle.
With a start, Samwise realizes he's been forgotten entirely, and turns back to look at the cubs with horror. One finishes its meal, shakes itself off as though wet, and then barrels off towards a similarly baby crocodile, which hisses and rushes to gladly meet him. A second spends a few moments stretching and grooming itself, before slinking over towards a bear cub slurping honey from a stolen hive. Samwise can tell the bear is unpredictable, but if the wolf is snuggly enough, it will probably share some of its honey.
A third growls at him menacingly, the older wolf too busy to nuzzle it away a second time. It begins advancing on him, and a fourth follows, somewhat blank-eyed and obviously emulating its brother. Samwise turns and runs, but the cub catches him, and they struggle briefly before he escapes. It savages him several more times, until in his panic, he runs straight past a hare sitting upright. Samwise's heart jumps as he realizes what's going to happen, but he's far too terrified to do anything but keep running and hope his fellow realizes the same. His hopes are in vain, as the cub notices another target and pounces on it immediately.
The struggle is brief and fairly evenly matched; the hare kicking rapidly and gnawing a bit with its teeth against the cub's voracious biting. They separate, both in fighting stances, before the cub goes in again. The result is largely the same, and the cub begins to doubt itself. Its fellow walks up uncertainly and sniffs at the hare, who sniffs at it right back. The follower cub looks to the aggressive one for guidance, while the hare resumes sitting, keeping an eye on its attacker in case it wants to go again.
The aggressive one finally looks back at Samwise, bounding gleefully after him when he flinches. Its fellow also takes off after him enthusiastically, glad to have something to chase. As he make a panicked arc to avoid being cut off or trapped in underbrush, he sees his kin... and realizes they're nibbling on meat with several wolf cubs, oblivious to the danger. The world seems to slow to a crawl as he takes in the bizarre sight, utterly confused...
...and then he wakes up.
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Topic: Isle of the Young Gods: Game Thread (Read 52663 times)