It was not a good day for his tail.
The third blossom finally caught him and jerked him away from its sibling, though his clamped jaws tore the last strands of the stem as he was flung dizzyingly through the air. One of the flower's heads fell lifeless, and one was badly hurt by a leopard's claws, but one remained hale and whole, and with a white fox it had developed a taste for.
Jigano snarled, a sound half-anger and half-agony as he struck hard against the earth and scrabbled for purchase to try and pull himself away. Help came from an unexpected source as Isuma bounded around Amalia and grabbed a leaf in her small beak, yanking - and scratching - at it with pint-sized fury. Perhaps the plant was surprised by this onslaught from an unexpected source, for it released Jigano as both remaining heads arrowed in for the smaller, bite-sized prey.
The fox wasn't going to let that happen - and he knew Amalia wouldn't either. Switch! he called fiercely along their telepathic bond. Heedless of the bloody length of his tail he switched targets, leaping high and landing hard on the wounded blossom as though he were hunting mice, knocking the surprised collection of bruised and mangled petals off target even as he laid into them with scratching claws and tearing teeth in a vulpine frenzy of destruction, leaving the final bell to the leopardess as it opened its maw wide to close over the struggling gryphlet.
The third blossom finally caught him and jerked him away from its sibling, though his clamped jaws tore the last strands of the stem as he was flung dizzyingly through the air. One of the flower's heads fell lifeless, and one was badly hurt by a leopard's claws, but one remained hale and whole, and with a white fox it had developed a taste for.
Jigano snarled, a sound half-anger and half-agony as he struck hard against the earth and scrabbled for purchase to try and pull himself away. Help came from an unexpected source as Isuma bounded around Amalia and grabbed a leaf in her small beak, yanking - and scratching - at it with pint-sized fury. Perhaps the plant was surprised by this onslaught from an unexpected source, for it released Jigano as both remaining heads arrowed in for the smaller, bite-sized prey.
The fox wasn't going to let that happen - and he knew Amalia wouldn't either. Switch! he called fiercely along their telepathic bond. Heedless of the bloody length of his tail he switched targets, leaping high and landing hard on the wounded blossom as though he were hunting mice, knocking the surprised collection of bruised and mangled petals off target even as he laid into them with scratching claws and tearing teeth in a vulpine frenzy of destruction, leaving the final bell to the leopardess as it opened its maw wide to close over the struggling gryphlet.
