@Fox
To her front, a sprawling lake with a large, raucous population of ducks. To the backside, a pack territory. Ptarmigan was firmly stuck between a rock and a hard place... But the pack territory seemed to be the better option. Since the day she was born, something about ducks had made her teeth clench and her eyes widen in desperate fear. Every sound from the lake made the small Endore start, and her tail lashed agitatedly whenever one of the clumsy birds took flight.
A low growl was building in her throat, yet Ptarmigan had nowhere to direct it. The ducks would respond by waddling away or seeking safety in the centre of the lake, where Ptarmigan would be stuck with them. It was their lake, and they weren't leaving. She looked over her shoulder, her eyes whizzing around for any sign of a patrolling pack wolf, in case she had to make a break into their territory to get away from the biggest fear known to her.
Well, howdy there!
Duck Lake, while not the prettiest thing to behold, happened to have one of the most reliable sources of prey. The ducks that flocked there seemed to go on without end, and Fox never once feared that the creek wolves would go hungry because of that. And it was that very reason that she often found herself skulking by the ugly, bird-ridden lake. Seeing wolves react to the lake was usually somewhat amusing to Fox. Some wolves were afraid, some annoyed, others amused. Fox usually chased the ducks for sport, not for food, although she had caught a few from time to time.
She was wandering close to the lake when the sharp scent of another wolf made her fur stand on end. Was it one of those wolves from The Sunspire? Fox loathed them through and through since they had not left their base, and she was reminded that she would need to make another appearance there soon. When she examined the scent further, though, it did not have even a hint of Ferdie or Jace around it, so the girl assumed it was not one of their scoundrels.
It took the girl a moment to spot the dark figure against the grass and occasional tree, but Fox laid eyes on her soon enough. This was no pup, as Magpie and Bones were. With purpose in her step, Fox trotted toward the stranger, her posture insinuating "I'm only a threat if you make me one."
The ducks quacked, and Ptarmigan shrank lower to the ground. For her, there was nothing funny about dozens of ducks plotting and scheming her demise. They looked stupid enough, but she knew there was more going on in their brains than they let on.
She had turned back to the lake, so that Fox's approach was masked largely by her fixation on the ducks. When she glanced back over her shoulder a second time and saw the red female striding toward her, her hackles instantly lifted. There was fear in her eyes, for this was clearly some pack patroller come to feed her to the ravenous waterfowl. The growl that had been rumbling quietly in her throat grew in volume into a warning snarl.
The snarl was not unexpected, although Fox had expected the other female to flee before she did such a thing. Considering she had no specific qualm with this wolf (yet), Fox stopped where she was, a dozen or so yards away from the green-eyed girl. Her tail wavered uncertainly behind her, and it was no friendly wave. This lone wolf was close to her hunting grounds, and the yearling redhead was unlikely to let such a thing fly without anything in return.
And yet... this was a lone wolf. Unlikely to do her any harm, and a potential recruit on top of that. The creek was bustling with wolves, but Fox didn't see any harm in trying to coerce more wolves to do her bidding. The yearling's expression softened then, though she remained ready to spring if the need arose. “Unless you have plans to join our ranks, I suggest you scram,” said Fox, her tone neutral.
The pack wolf and the lone wolf faced off in that instant. Fox held herself neutrally, portraying no outward desire to harm Ptarmigan, who continued to hold her defensive crouch. Tension rippled along her spine in the form of her coat lifting and falling. With ducks at her backside and a pack wolf defending its territory at her forefront, the Endore had few options other than to run straight into the mountain... Where she would easily be cornered if the other chose to chase her that far. It was safe to say she was nervous.
Unfortunately, she had never dealt with nervousness in a mature fashion, so when Fox issued something of a thinly veiled threat — join me or piss off — Ptarmigan giggled inappropriately. It was clear from her skittish behaviour that she didn't really find it that funny, but despite knowing she should keep her mouth shut, the female couldn't help herself. As her ears skimmed back over her skull in hopes of blocking out the ducks (which, for all she knew, were creeping up on her), she brashly said, “why should I?”
She winced when a duck quacked loudly from the lake's edge.
Fox, for one reason or another, completely overlooked the nervousness that enveloped the loner. Instead, she saw only a possible threat to the creek, and Fox was ever-protective of her precious pack. The loud quacking of a duck made the loner wince, and it was only then that Fox realized what it was that seemed to be stalling the other girl from leaving. Fox blinked a few times, trying to comprehend what would make somebody afraid of the animals. She had seen it before, sure, but she still failed to see why anybody would fear them. They were waddling balls of food, as far as she was concerned.
"Wrong answer," Fox growled, unwilling to take in somebody who was afraid of birds (birds!). With little warning, the redhead began stomping toward the loner with determination in every step. Her stance had moved swiftly from neutral to aggressive, and there were now only a few ways for Ptarmigan to come out of this unharmed. Then again, perhaps that was not her goal at all. Maybe she was just here to cause trouble, as Fox was notorious for doing.
Maybe if Ptarm had more insight, she would have realized that saying what she'd said was probably not the right thing to do. Then again, she hadn't ever particularly cared what came out of her mouth. The way she saw it, she could say anything she wanted, and because she hadn't made an aggressive move herself, Fox was completely in the wrong for bothering her at all. As quickly as that, she reasoned to herself that Fox was nothing more than a villain and a bully.
“Leave me alone,” she hissed, eyes widening as the small red Alpha began to stalk toward her. The Endore lacked fighting experience, or she might have thought they were probably even. Neither was much bigger than the other, and she reckoned Fox was probably as fast as she was. Rather than thinking logically, however, she immediately assumed she was going to get her ass handed to her and began to curl into a ball as the other came nearer... Only to feel a nip on her tail.
Panic enveloped her as she threw her gaze over her shoulder to see a duck right behind her. By then, Fox would have been almost on top of her, but Ptarmigan reacted to the duck with an almighty, snarly yelp and a sudden lunge in the red female's general direction. It would be no surprise if in her terror she bypassed the other wolf completely and began galloping straight for the creek, or left a good chunk of her shoulder fur behind in the other's teeth as she wildly tried to escape the Duck Hell she'd found herself in.
Fox was bewildered by the other girl's response. She opened her mouth to retort, but no sooner had she done so than the black form was rushing toward her. Fox was barreled over by the other, completely taken by surprise, and she rolled on the ground with a half-grunt, half-growl. It only solidified her thought that conversation was better left alone, and action was the only way to deal with strangers. If the girl had run in the other direction, Fox would have huffed and gone about her day. Unfortunately for Ptarmigan, she ran toward the creek, instead of away from it.
The firecracker leapt to her feet, stretching her body long and lean to catch up to the green-eyed girl. She passed her, by some feat of speed and strength, and did her best to halt the girl with the weight of her small, red body. All at once, Fox flung herself in front of Ptarmigan, hoping that, in doing so, she would be able to keep the stranger for encroaching upon their lands.
Her quickest speed couldn't keep the red wolf's wrath from her. Fox streaked by, clearly employing the wind to aid her (at least Ptarmigan believed that, being unwilling to admit she was slower). A clipped growl met the Alpha female's approach, but Ptarm was unwilling to fight, and her flat out flight probably indicated that.
When the Swiftcurrent Creek bitch leaped into her path, the Endore slammed hard on the brakes. She skidded on the ground a moment, yelping at the sudden exertion in her joints and the pads of her paws, then switched directions abruptly. There was no way in hell she was going back to that lake, so Ptarmigan chose the next best direction: toward the mountain range. She thought she could wheel away from the Alpha there and prevent herself from getting trapped if the other chose to follow.
The green-eyed girl headed toward the mountains, and Fox only chased a few strides before slowing to a halt. She had no need to hurt the girl now that she was no longer a threat, and Fox snorted, shaking her fur. At least the stranger had had some sense in her little pea brain, and that was more than Fox could say for the dozens of other wolves who came hanging around (or refused to leave when they had settled too close).
When the stranger was finally out of sight, Fox swiveled her body around toward the creek and began walking at a steady pace.