Souls’ Craters the fight inside is beautiful

Eli sat in the front seat, watching Brooke, giving her time. Patience, he yawned in a relaxed manner himself, waiting for her to realize that it was safe. Not a trap, a den. His tail beat gently against the steering wheel. And then she was in, and as she sniffed at the floor of his car--unlikely to find anything too interesting--he stepped into the back seat once more to go past her and try and hook his paw in the handle and pull it closed.

Nothing. Some kind of bitter smell kept hitting the back of her mouth from the clean carpets, the scent of the coyote here mixed well with it all. Hmmm. Snorting as she reached the other side, Brooke looked up at the movement, confused and then alarmed as the path to freedom wiggled and then closed with a soft thump. Plodding quickly up to it, she inhaled deeply around the sides where fresh air was faintly pulling through, not understanding, not liking this.

He let her snuffle a moment, but took this as his chance to comfort, sticking his nose into her neck and sniffing, tail relaxed, purposefully letting go of his more dominant posture that the dark-eyed coyote favored.

See? He wasn't scared! This was no big deal, she was safe and he was here to help her out. Little comforting licks. Fatherly!

The coyote looked up at him with the touch, trying to figure out what he made of this, if she should be fighting that panic welling up hard. His posture wasn’t upset. He was comforting her. Big ears going lopsided, a small huffing whine escaped her before taking another sniff, resigned. Looking to the higher ledge, she jumped up, blue eyes looking to the other coyote for a moment before flicking to the dark panes around them. Sighing, she laid down, haunches touching him, snout into his fur. He could figure this out, it was over her head which was feeling really heavy.

There she went, settling down. It was a relief for him, and in the long run much better for her. He would stay here with her, letting her take comfort from his presence. For the time being, though, he chose to remain alert. He'd pick his own spot to settle down once it was clear they weren't about to have a second round of runaway coyote pup.

With a quiet fondness, he watched her. At times he wasn't sure she trusted him as much as he would like, but she did trust him maybe more than he deserved and... Brooke was a good person. He hoped she could stay that way.

Eventually, lids grew heavy and the coyote found herself drifting off. Just a small wink and then she’d be back to figure things out. But, she was tired for right now so a few seconds would be fine. And in a few moments, tension left her body and the coyote fully conked out. Minutes would pass, but soon enough the girl would begin shifting back, filling the small space with grunts and cracks. Her human form would emerge balled up into the side of the seats, none the wiser of any of the events happening around her for many hours to come, not exactly prepared to meet with reality just yet.

When she was shifting back, his own sleepy self moved to the front seat. It wouldn't be ideal, but it would be better than crowding with her. They would keep well enough for a few hours, anyway. This would be more convenient when he reached the point where napping was optional.

Either way, he was prepared to get her home the moment it was reasonable. He found he didn't mind at all, really, that level of responsibility.

Just glad she was okay.