[ The digging registers first. Collette was so focused on her own efforts and mental preoccupation that she doesn't hear shouting -- but her ears, trained to the shifting rock she worked with, heard something working away from the other side. It was a muffled distance, but it was continuous.

Then she hears the shouting. Who it is even her coyote's ears can't pick out quite yet. ]

< Hey! Whoever's out there, I can hear you! I hear you digging. Uh, be careful, I've been digging further to the left but I'm changing direction toward you too. But if you see anything get chancy, get back out! Don't get caught. I can survive a crushing or two, so please, be quick! >

[ Contradictory as she slid back down, spinning around in a tight circle and ignoring her own panting. She was hot, and the air in here was growing staler by the minute. She waited, listening for more than one person on the outside. No such luck.

But such luck to have anyone at all. She flicked her ears forward, scrambling up and returning to her digging, smaller stones flying out between her back legs as she changed direction toward where she thought her rescuer's digging was coming from. A trickle of dirt pouring on her back was all the warning she had before rock tried settling down on tpo of her head and shoulders. A larger rock glanced off her head as she pulled back, stunning her momentarily.

Holding still as the rock resettled, Collette made herself count to thirty, then backward from thirty. ]