Saucy wandered the thick forest, it somehow reminded her of the forest she’d met Wintersbane in. Dark, with a riotous display of roots and vegetation of all kinds. She had made a game of jumping over some roots and crawling under the taller ones instead of going around them. Her usually white chest and stomach fur was brown and full of dirt and leaves, from all to crawling. 

After a while she came across a foul puddle, a whole area reeking of just poop and rot. She gagged for a moment, nearly spitting up the mouse she’d snacked on earlier. Whomst’ve the fuck did this!? She followed the scent, which progressively got better over time but still smelled a little icky, to the strangest thing she’d ever seen. She frowned in confusion when she saw him, What the poop are you? she asked, her icy blue eyes full of curiosity and a hint of distaste.

Saucy frowned at the strange animal, it was the weirdest thing she’d ever seen. Almost wolf but not quite, just weird. He introduced himself as a ‘Mr peanut butter’ whatever that was, then asked for food. She frowned, pursing her lips as she looked him over. No, I just ate like a lil bit ago. What’s a peanut butter? she asked, more curious about his specie than whether or not he was fed. He’d survived this long into his life, he could feed himself right?

The guy was really whiny and huffy, which was pretty irritating to Saucy. Especially since she didn't even know what it was she was talking to. She at first thought that this was a peanut butter, but he explained that peanut butter was actually his name, as well as a weird brown stuff that is sticky and edible. Why can't you get some? Where does it come from? asked the curious female, her eyebrows furrowed with confusion and a bit of annoyance.

The weird wolfish animal continues to drool over his name sake, Saucy absorbs the info but can’t really process it. What is his people and why would anyone put food in a toy? What the heck kind of toys does he have? Before she can verbalize these questions he’s walking away, having excused himself in some exchange that didn’t happen. As irritating as Mr. Peanut Butter was, she had questions and he supposedly had answers. The white she-wolf hurries after him. 

So umm, what are your people? What are you, cause if you’re a wolf you’re the weirdest wolf I’ve ever seen, she asked, falling into step next to him.

The ‘dog’ seemed very irritated all of a sudden, which Saucy found very rude. He’d been the one to bother her in the first place. If he really was a dog, who belonged to ‘humans’ (whatever the heck that was), she decided that dogs kind of sucked. He turned away and started walking faster, that plus the shouting really struck a nerve, and perhaps it was a mixture of that and instinct that really set her off. A growl bubbles up in her throat as she shouted back, I was just tryna ask questions shitbag, you’re the one who asked me for food. She dared him to turn back around.

The dog turned back around to reply, something that he said struck a nerve that hadn’t been touched since she was back with her family. Saucy wasn’t insecure about much, she was confident, strong willed, ambitious, and she was well aware of her personality. Though there was one thing she’d never wanted to be, and that was mean. Sometimes when she was younger and she and her siblings would get into fights, over trivial things of course, she could get a bit of a temper, and it would usually end with her siblings crying, and her parents comforting them. Never comforting her, she’d been the one to start it right?

She remembered one specific time when Spicy had done something stupid, which had made Saucy mad. They were very young at time, so quickly Saucy began to fire off rude things to her sister, and while Spicy shot back bullets just as round she was still the first to break. Her mother had found the two girls, Spicy wailing as Saucy steamed in the corner. Saucy, you’re so mean to you’re sister, those words that shot a dagger through the pup. She’d sat there while Spicy found solace in her mother, watching with guilt as she began to believe it, etched into her mind, you’re so mean. She didn’t want to cry, to show that she was hurt by this, so she waited for Spicy and Mara to go back to her dad and her brother before the tears ran down her small cheeks.

Things like this happened many times in her childhood, only ever with her stupid siblings, but it always made Saucy feel like such a loser. Truthfully it probably wasn’t that big of a deal, but she’d spent many days of her life trying her best to be kind, to be good, to prove that voice in the back of her head wrong. She was kind, not mean. She wouldn’t take this today, not from a ‘dog’. She was good, always has been and always will be. She had to believe that, she had to push away that dark feeling inside that sneered and told her that she was cruel. She wasn’t, I’m not mean.

Her mother’s voice is all she hears when he speaks to her, and she disappears for a moment, replaced by a young white furred pup, who sits and watched with a defiant facade, hiding tears. The young pup is angry, and she lunges forwards in a blind rage, her teeth closing around the tail of the golden dog who walks away from. She sinks in, tastes blood, then lets go and backs away, Saucy returns to her body to see what she has done. I’m not mean.

Saucy watched the dog twist and turn, trying to see the damage. It wasn’t horrible, she hadn’t severed it or anything. But blood did ooze from his blonde tail, and trickle from her teeth. She licked her lips and watched him, fur bristling and tail raised. He put distance between them, Saucy stood diligently and defiant. Why? he called out, but the yearling did not reply. 

She just waited till he’d gone from sight and let out a definitive hmph. She felt like she’d done good, like he’d deserved that. Somehow by retaliating she felt as though she’d championed her claim and avenged herself. He had caused her a moment of doubt and pain, so she’d returned the favor. She was a badass, not mean; with that in mind she turned and stalked proudly to a new destination, and left in the clearing the dejected white pup, to cry on her own.