Particularly naive, gullible, and/or young thread participants especially welcome. 3XD
Nynka was skirting the area of thickest wolfscent today, but she wasn't really going too far out of her way to follow any canine boundaries that had been set or anything—why bother? and in any case in general weasels and wolves didn't hunt quite the same prey. Predators they both might be, but they weren't direct competition for much of anything. Today, however, it was not wolves that were on Nynka's mind as she stared down into the waters nearer the farther edge of the wolfpack boundaries. She stared in fascination at the interplay of light upon the stream's surface, and the even more tricksy and eye-confounding flickering of light across the scales of the small fish that were hovering in the currents below, once in a while flickering their entire bodies one direction or another instead. Nynka watched one zip just far enough to grab at a small insect nymph, and gave her whiskers a quick shake as if to rid themselves of imaginary droplets. Despite all this sweltering summer heat that kept visiting, she really didn't feel like getting all wet chasing down fish today, but she did have to stop and stare and marvel for a little while. She had to wonder why none of these water-dwellers ever seemed to feel the ambition or imagination to do more, be more. She never saw any of them trying for anything beyond mindlessly following the waters and diving for bugs. It seemed such a bland, boring life, and anytime Nynka tried to imagine herself in their shoes (or fins, or whatever) she could already feel herself sinking down into the doldrums and going mad.
Now, on the other paw— high above, a ringing call came. Nynka moved easily back to where she was a little more in the shadow of a tree, even as she looked up and felt the slight breath of the breeze playing across her brown fur. The silhouette of a raptor circling on the thermals in the far-off distance took a moment to spot; through the hazy heat-shimmer here and there its tiny outline only a few specks wide rippled and swayed as it soared. Much nearer-by there was a sudden ruckus as a trio of crows found something to argue about. They too took to the air briefly, one particular hapless member of their mob being chased and mocked by the other two across the clearing and then down onto the ground with a hop and a skip. Their squawking was less melodious to the ears but it was their wings that Nynka's eyes followed in particular. She did entertain the idea of trying to ambush one of them—they were a little ways away from her, but earthbound for the moment and seeming to be paying little attention to anyone besides their tar-black feathery brethren—but she'd eaten not that long ago and wasn't really looking to hunt. She watched the sun strike oil-slick muted rainbows from their feathers as they fluttered and squawked and darted the occasional peck in one another's direction. One fluttered up over the others' heads and then down again on the other side with a particularly loud and derisive CAW.
Nynka herself climbed up on a shallow stump nearby and kept watching the feathery bunch for a bit. Then she looked all around her perch and, with a quick twist of the shoulder, threw herself up into the air briefly as well. She landed on a pile of last year's crumbling brown leaves with a rustle and a thump, alarming the crows a little and causing them to shout louder. Nynka ignored them to twist her neck around and take a quick look over herself, taking stock of her body and then her surroundings again. With a small shrug she climbed back up onto her stump and took up a spot of crow-watching again.
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