Come Over Red Rover

Red was sprawled out in the summer sun, enjiying its warmth as he worked on a rawhide he had been allowing to dry for quite some time and was only now getting to working. He was carefully working it against the sharp edges of his fangs to shape it into a circle. It was squirrel, so he hadn't bothered to remove the fur and unfortunately this meant bits of fur kept sticking annoyingly between his teeth and he had to keep pausing to spit it out. He had just paused when he suddenly became aware of a strange feeling skittering up his spine, the feeling of being watched. The workd around him was too quiet, birds that had been used to his presence enough to be singing for the past half an hour suddenly falling silent.

Red didn't let himself tense up, but instead pretended to keep working the rawhide while he listened intently for the source of the danger. He even closed his eyes to hetter concentrate on listening. Even so, he had only a split second warning, the sound of vegetation and dirt being disturbed as something moved swiftly against them.

He rolled swiftly to the left, so that his assailant's slender legs only half landed upon him. His hind legs kicked out with the intention of sweeping the assailant's legs out from under them, even as he reached up with the foreleg closest to attempt to drag the enemy against his chest to allogator roll and pin them beneath his heavy body.

He didn't snarl or threaten in that brief moment of a tussle, simply acted with a calm intent.