Joe contemplated, discarded a thought, then went back to consider. Nearby wasn’t too far away but also not close enough. Not for immediate intervention should danger occur, but who said that Momma Deathbeast wouldn’t consider Joe a danger as well?? He wouldn’t blame her. There would be NO GRUDGE held against a mother defending her child, though those jaws looked like he’d rather not get caught in between them. He’d keep it in mind. For now though, he thought that maybe they were able to elope the others if they were sneaky enough. It would be 4 AGAINST ONE, but he was positive that he could take them. He did it before. They knew it, he knew it… that’s why they came as a pack to get him. With the little one it made things more… difficult. Hecouldn’t risk to let them get a glance now, could he? Not when Jake was such A ENDEARING LITTLE MONSTER.
Mimicking Jake, Joe stayed as close to the ground as he crawled closer – keeping his distance to not startle the other or risking his pretty face in such a proximity to that jaw. ❛❛Mhmmmm, how about we call mama once they found us?❜❜, he proposed. his tone was much lighter than the situation called for, but that was just JOE’S NATURE. In most cases it came in handy when dealing with kids. Adult humans usually deemed it weird. He flashed a glance around, not daring to pop his head out of the huge fern hiding them. ❛❛We could play hide and seek. You played that before ?? I bet you know the best hiding spots around here, don’t you Jakey? Good, old Joe would love to see them.❜❜ Turning it into a game, maybe? A renewed cracking of branches reminded Joe that they had to be swift. SWIFT AND SLY AND QUIET. He burried the stolen money somewhere else and wasn’t stupid enough to keep it on his campground. However, they didn’t need to know where he was staying at, either. He lifted his mask to flash an encouraging smile at Jakey, nodding ahead. ❛❛What do you say?❜❜
Jake listened as the group came closer, ears twitching carefully. He had encountered people, humans, before. Poachers mainly, stealing the deer that his mother hunted and that he was too little to take down himself, he’d been shot at by them too, though his mother never let them leave the forest when that happened. He was very aware though that these people weren’t poachers, they were trying to sneak up on them. Little fissures open along the bone of his muzzle, forming something of a snarl in the bone. He’s a little frightened, he wasn’t as big as his mother was and he’d seen her take down a lot more than four people at once. When Joe finally responded to his question he considers it for a moment before he gave a little nod, little spines raising along his back again. They wouldn’t too much, since at his age the spines were more like coarse hairs than any actual defence.
“Jake knows good spots.” He says quietly in response. He’d been hiding in one of them before he’d found his way into Joe’s camp when the smell of food drew him out. His ears flick forward again at the snapping branches. These people were close now, the urge to call for his mother was there, but he wasn’t entirely sure she’d appreciate his new companion as much as he was. A nervous rumble leaves him and he moves a little bit, stepping carefully, seeming to avoid anything underfoot that could draw attention. “Follow?” He asks quietly, though he knew the other man probably would, he had a feeling he wanted to hide somewhere they wouldn’t find him, there was plenty of spaces to disappear out here. He only waits long enough to make sure that Joe was going to follow him, using the underbrush to keep himself hidden, his black fur made sure he wouldn’t necessarily be seen easily, he makes sure not to step on anything as he tries his best to be quick, seeming to sense the urgency of needing the hiding spot.