It was a beautiful day, sunny and not at all hot, and despite it being more of the same for Pelėda he found himself in something akin to a good mood.

He was allowing himself a uncharacteristic rest below a small thicket, enjoying the breeze and the white noise it brought with it, the smells that softly wafted against the short fur of his muzzle. Pensive gaze looked out beneath the shade of the short trees he'd made his bed of, ears a constant rotation of alertness.

While he had a tentative grasp on being relaxed, he wouldn't quite allow himself the full experience of it. He'd managed to convince himself a cease of his search party, but the nagging of his never-ending task made it impossible for him to really enjoy it. So there he sat, in a purgatory of a repose.

With a soft huff of frustration, he'd turn his gaze back towards the water just in time to see the toddling mass of white emerge like a horrible specter. He was immediately afoot, a graceful scrambling to paws. It wasn't fear, but the anxiety in his chest lurched — he'd never in his life seen something like whatever this was. Alike a bear, but surely the biggest thing he'd ever seen.

He watched with curious eyes as it sunk into the dark depths, as it began to guzzle in a way he was sure there would be nothing left of the water if the beast kept at it.

"Hmm." It was decided in an instant, picking up sore paws to pad towards the water with an air of confidence he almost didn't feel. Any other time it would be genuine, but in the sights of such a creature he'd be a fool to think there was no danger there — and Pelėda prided himself on being nothing of the kind.

"Leave some for the rest of us, yeah?" He'd try at humor, a crooked smile that split his face in a way that wasn't quite real. The man would stop with enough distance that he could run with a start, but close enough that he didn't have to quite yell to speak to the other. His toes flexed in the softer, moist dirt there, close to nervous.