Log file from Cutter. 1/10/2000 12:09:36 AM Title: Covering Tracks Characters: Cutter and Suntop Synopsis: Suntop tells Cutter of a recently human encampment near the holt. The mystic then leads his father to the site and the two set about cleaning up the small clearing. Base of the Lost Holt Father Tree(#765RJ) A dense grove of grotesquely shaped trees dominated by one immense Grandfather of a tree whose age is no less great than its size. It is obvious that the old tree has survived a terrible tragedy but new growth and thick strong branches cover the worst of the scars left by the terrible blaze. Weeds and night blooming wildflowers grow in natural disorder around the trees roots. Like old friends, the gnarled trees embrace one another, their many branches entwining to form a dense canopy high above the ground, serving to keep the ground cool from the summer heat. You hear hushed noises as the holt slowly comes to life as elves and wolves awaken from the hot summer sleep. Suntop walks up to the Father Tree from the clearing. Suntop has arrived. Suntop seems to have fallen asleep outside today. He was in a patch of sunlight, but as the day progressed, the sun moved. Now he just has a wolf curled up next to him...the warmth is pretty much the same. Cutter pads into the clearing, evidently having spent the better part of the day away from the father tree and judging by the look on his face, he's spent it brooding. The wolf at Suntop's side looks up and snuffs at Cutter's approach, but doesn't move. Neither does the Suncub. He's gotten such little sleep, his body doesn't want to get up form a nap. Cutter stops at the edge of the clearing as he catches sight of you sleeping peacefully. A fatherly smile lifts the corners of his mouth as he moves over to a nearby tree to lean against it not wanting to disturb you or the wolf at your side. Maybe it's the wolf's movement, or maybe Suntop feels his father watching. It might just be time for him to wake up. At any rate, he rolls over and gives a stretch and a yawn, his eyelids beginning to flutter open. ** Where'd the sun go? ** Cutter chuckles softly and looks up toward the treetops in the direction where the sun is getting ready to set, **It's gone on its way, ** he sends and then straightens. **Did you sleep well?** Suntop rubs at his eyes and sits up slowly, ** I just thought to rest a little bit... ** he chuckles softly, ** I didn't think to sleep half the day away. ** Good thing he did though. He must have been so exhausted the dreams couldn't even seep through. Cutter's smile changes a bit as you sit up, quickly covering up most of the gentle, fatherliness that was present when you weren't rully awake. **You needed it.** he sends rather bluntly not knowing how else to point out the obvious. Cutter glances away from you once more as his hand lifts to rub at the back of his neck and he asks, "Do you need more sleep?" It seems that he's trying to find a way to ask if he should find somewhere else to be so that the magic residue that still hangs over him from the shaping doesn't disturb your dreams. "Now?" Suntop asks and then shakes his head, "No...I'm awake now." Besides, Suntop is fairly used to the magic feeling he gets around his father now. Just occasionally his sense flares. "Did Ember tell you what we found?" Cutter's brow lifts as his gaze moves back to meet yours and he seems to relax a bit, letting his hand fall to his side again. He shakes his head and moves across the clearing as he replies, 'No, she didn't. " She didn't? Stars...now Suntop has to tell it. All right, start at the beginning. "We were hungry and we didn't want to hunt, so we went to look for berries. We were down by the river when Ember scented something. I followed and we found an abandoned camp." Here's the clencher. "Ember said it smelled like humans." Cutter's brows lift in surprise at that and his entire body tenses at the mere thought of a human encampment so near the holt, "How close was it?" he asks, with more than a little concern and unease in his voice. Suntop thinks a moment, remembering, "It was up the river from the Holt...and a few paces in from the banks. But it was fairly close." Closer than any had been before... Cutter's jaw tenses as he digests that and he nods, "How old was it?" he finally asks as the knot of worry that's taken up residence in his stomach suddenly doubles in size. Suntop begins to look quite worried as well, "Ember said it wasn't too old...but not just abandoned." Suntop isn't the best judge of these things. "Maybe the human is gone...?" It's a long time before Cutter shakes his head and crosses his arms over his chest. His brows, already drawn into a worried scowl draw further down as he straightens and asks, "Could you find your way back to that camp?" Suntop doesn't like his father's exprression, but he nods, "Not as well as Ember could, but I think so..." He stands, brushing leaves and bracken from his clothes. Cutter nods his head in a single, quick motion that doesn't seem quite suited to his Glider-tall form, "Do you feel up to taking me there?" he asks as his expression relaxes somewhat, loosing some of the severity though the depth of his concern is readily evident in his bright eyes. Suntop just napped. He's up for almost anything...except hunting. "I'll try..." he offers and then goes to retrace their steps to the river. Cutter nods and follows behind you, sending a mental call to Rainrunner who quickly joins father and son on their short journey. Cutter keeps to himself for the most part as he keeps an eye out for any sign that the humans might have come close to the holt than the river's edge. Suntop walks away from the tree, back into the clearing that marks the entrance to the Lost Holt. East Bank of the Silver Run River The land here, warmed by the silky summertime heat, dips down into the shallows along the edge of the river. The upper portion of the bank is covered with thick grass that disappears over the top of the hill and the part closest to the river is soft white sand. To the west, you see that the river can be crossed by swimming, to the other side. To the south and north, you see that the land curves and follows the rivers course. You hear hushed noises as the holt slowly comes to life as elves and wolves awaken from the hot summer sleep. Suntop pauses here, as this is where they first picked up the scent. Or Ember did. The mystic looks about, trying to remember the way. The Human-scent has faded in the last day or so, but there is the barest trace of it... Cutter has already caught the scent but, lets you lead the way, perhaps testing you but, it seems more like he's just keeping an eye out as his gaze runs over the surrounding terrain taking in every detail with a wary look in his eyes. Suntop's pace definitely slows as he has to rely on visual and auditory memory rather than olfactory clues. He is also careful to be wolfrider-silent...just in cast the Human came back. He pauses every now and then to remember, but soon he comes to the edge of the camp. ** Here... ** He nods to a small clearing. Cutter crouches as low as possible and peers into the clearing with wide, observant eyes. His nose works overtime as he tries to catch any sign that the humans might have returned. After several long moments, he glances over at you and seems to relax, **It seems that they haven't been back since you and Ember were here.** The look in his eyes carry a hint of pride but, is it pride for your abilty to bring him here with little trouble or something else? Suntop crouches as well, having quite a bit of practice with this. He'd much rather hide than fight. It's not that he's a coward...he can fight when he must, but he knows where his strengths are. ** How long do you think they've been gone? ** He catches the look and offers a quick, hesitant smile before turning back to the camp. Cutter creeps out of the underbrush and makes his way over to the remains of a small campfire. He crouches down beside it and takes a sniff or two of the ground. Finally, he straightens and looks over at you with a thoughtful expression as he answers, **I'd say at least and eight of days if not more.. They left before that last rainstorm..** he observes as he looses some of his apprehension about the camsite. Suntop emerges as well and gestures to an animal carcass they found as well, ** They're rather messy... ** Leaving the remains of the kill out. Bad form. Cutter nods his head in agreement, **Humans usually are messy when it comes to their kills. They take only what they need at the moment then leave the rest to rot when they travel.** he replies as he wrinkles his nose at the faint tang of scent from the remains of the carcass. Suntop just shakes his head, ** What should we do? Should we scatter the mess? ** That way the human couldn't try and find it again... Cutter nods, **We should bury what's left of that carcass, scatter the rest of their sign and keep a good watch around here for a while.** he replies as he calls Rainrunner away from his examination of the carcass. Suntop nods and wonders what he should begin first. He doesn't have anything to dig with, so he'll start scattering....unless Cutter gives him another job to do. Cutter doesn't really have anything with him to use for digging either so, he starts to scatter things as well, careful to make it look as if the clearing is as undisturbed as possible. After a little while of silence between the two of you he glances at the carcass and then to you with a thoughtful look, **I think we'll leave the carcass for now until we can come back with something other than our hands to use in burying it.** he sends as he gets rid of another bit of human evidence. Suntop tosses some of the charred firewood further into the forest and nods, ** Or we could just let the animals take care of it... ** It's not fresh and it's mostly eaten, but given enough time wouldn't most of it be scattered? But then again, they don't know how much time they have. Cutter shakes his head again, **No, it's best to bury it since we don't know if they're planning on coming back..** he sends as he glances around the clearing looking for any other signs of the humans' visit. Suntop nods and moves some branches to help cover it in the meantime. Just in case. Cutter smiles as you cover the remains and nods his approval, **Good idea..** he sends as he picks up a scrubby, evergreen branch and sweeps the last evidence of the campfire away. **There.. that should work until we can get that <> taken care of.** Suntop nods, ready to start back towards the Holt, ** I'm surprised Ember didn't tell you...but I am glad we took care of it. ** And he's glad the Human didn't come back. One corner of Cutter's mouth lifts in a lopsided smile as his head nods again, **Something probably distracted her but, I'm glad that you thought to mention it.. and I'm glad we took care of it, too.. ** he replies as he takes a final look around the clearing and starts back toward the holt, **Let's get back before we're missed, eh?** Suntop gives a trotting step to catch up...his father walks just too fast now. And Sunop's taller than Cutter would be if he weren't stretched. Cutter glances over at you and seems to realize that his pace is a little too fast so, he slows down a bit as Rainrunner darts on ahead. Another smile lights Cutter's features as he regards you with a studying expression before sending a quiet, **Thank you.**