Heron Lake Plateau And sing your stupid head off

Niamh had been tracking a rabbit in the late afernoon, not enjoying the muggy, humid heat, when it crossed her path. Hardly thicker than a thumb, the striped creature wove this way and that, sliding across the ground like the way water would flow. It passed in front of her so silently and suddenly that Niamh let out a surprised shriek and leapt a few feet ino the air and backwards. It was nothing more than a harmless garter snake- but she honestly couldn’t say she’d ever been that close to one before.

Cursing softly, she watched its tail disappear into the grass and set off following it, determined to catch the creature that had given her such a fright. It was fast, and seemed to whip through the grass as though pulled along by some invisible string. Just when she thought she had it, it would slip past her jaws, until she realized she’d need to go for its head. Naturally, she missed- but caught it around its thin middle and to her surprise, it wasn’t slimy. The creature writhed bt she held it firmly but still gently enough so that she didn’t kill it. It’d make for a great learning tool for the pups.

The snake snapped harmlessly at her legs or at her face as she carried it- but its mouth had no teeth and posed absolutely no threat to her- or anything, really, larger than a bug. Still- she felt pretty badass as she trotted off toward the heart of the packlands with a writhing snake in her jaws.

"Catch you later," she told Clover as they parted ways, her sister with a mallard swinging from her jaws and Fiadh with a fat load of nothing. The hunt had been a joint effort, so it wasn't like she'd completely failed, but it would have been nice to present their brothers with two plump ducks instead of one. Ah, well. She shook off the negativity with a physical shudder and headed out to search for mint.

Only before she reached the woods, she ran into Niamh. The hostility that once existed between them was mostly gone, having disappeared along with Screech. There was still mistrust, for Fiadh wasn't quite as open about non-family as most of the other Blackthorns were, but there was no hint of it as she slowed her pace, dropped her yellow gaze to the ribbon of a snake in the golden wolf's maw, and asked, "what are you doing?"

When Niamh saw Fiadh approaching, she perked her ears and uttered a muffle chuff to the female past the snake's writhing body. When questioned, she slowed to a stop, and carefully lowered her head to the ground so that she could put first one foot, then the other on the snake's body, allowing it to more or less fit between her toes so she didn't squish it- but still had it in a firm enough grasp that it couldn't get away. It wasn't likely very comfortable for the snake- but at least she wasn't torturing it or breaking its bones. 

"Hey," She greeted, once she finally had the snake secured to her satisfaction. "I was gonna hunt down your younger brothers and see if they wanted to try hunting it." She said. "Good agility and speed practice if nothing else, this bugger's fast!" She said, and looked down as it continued to snap harmlessly at her toes with its toothless mouth. "Plus it's harmless, and won't be too much of a loss if it gets away." She said. "Think they'd like that?" She asked.

For Fiadh, who liked to know everything and trade in gossip, asking others what they were doing was an everyday occurrence. Oftentimes they had nothing juicy to share, but Niamh was different; Niamh often knew just what was going on and when. Once Screech was removed from the picture, she had proven a steadfast member of the Redhawks pack and, more importantly for the young gossiper, a reliable source of information.

Unfortunately, the snake was for much less suspicious intents than Fiadh imagined in her mind; she was awaiting an explanation of using it to somehow poison some unsuspecting enemy of the pack, but it was just a play thing for her brothers. "It'd be good practice for them. Not sure if they'll like having to work for it," she laughed, bending down to consider the harmless little snake as it lashed at Niamh's paws. "That doesn't hurt or anything?"

Niamh laughed. The last thing she' expected was for the two boys to be too lazy to want to chase after a snake- but she had met pups who'd been less inclined to roughouse and play than others, so maybe Fiadh's younger siblings fell into that category. She inspected the snake, which continued to writhe and snap, but Niamh shook her head in response to the question. "Nah. Little feller's got not teeth. I think these guys just eat bugs." She said, lowering her nose to the snake and allowing it to snap harmlessly at her nosetip. The little creature had only enough jawpower to hold a grasshopper or fly in its mouth, so even as it closed its mouth on one corner of her nose, she felt it as nothing more than the bat of a fly's wing. "Harmless." She said. 

She sat down then, and shrugged. "Only thing I'm not sure about, is that I don't want them to think that all snakes are this harmless." She said, second-guessing her decision. "I mean, I don't want them tackling this fella, and then deciding to go after another one they find someday that might actually cause them harm." She said. "An' I don't really know enough about those snakes to be able to describe them..." She said, slowly talking herself out of her former plan. "So...Maybe not the best idea? I dunno. What d'you think?" She asked.

"Huh," mused Fiadh as Niamh demonstrated the harmlessness of the snake. No way in hell would she volunteer her nose for that experiment, she thought, but hey, Niamh could do whatever she pleased. If the snake took a chunk out of her nose, well, she was asking for it. It didn't appear to do any harm at all though, and the Blackthorn cocked her head and said, "nice, didn't know there was a such thing as a harmless snake."

She wasn't expecting for Niamh to go back on her idea, nor was she expecting to be asked her opinion. Motioning for the golden-haired wolf to walk with her in the general direction of her brothers' typical abode, she chewed on the question, then rolled her shoulders into a nonchalant shrug. "They'll be fine," she decided with a grin that was uncannily like a much younger and much more daring Finley. Careless and reckless, that was the family business after all. "They're Blackthorns, they're made of iron. Their mom—our mom—used to fight bears. Can't live up to the family name if they can't fight dangerous creatures themselves." Nevermind that she had never taken on a dangerous beast; her day for that would come, she was certain. She had been denied from taking on the Blackfeather savages but she'd be part of the next one, or would go and find her own battles to fight.

"They'll learn how to deal with one if they have one to practice with, even if this one can't hurt them. Then they'll know what to do when they come across one that's actually dangerous." She thought for a moment longer, then said, "just to be safe, you could trick them into thinking it'll hurt them if it bites them so they're more careful." They'd get over the betrayal upon realizing it was just a harmless garter snake, she was sure of that.

Pretend the snake was poisonous? While it was a prank Niamh would have loved to play on her own siblings, she knew better than to do so to someone else's kids. She snickered, though, putting two and two together and getting an even better idea of how the family dynamic worked among the Blackthorns. No wonder they all had a chip off their shoulders- they were all cracked. If the matriarch of the family could fight bears, there was no telling what the rest of them thought they could do as well. Fortunately, she seemed to have chosen a fairly reasonable Blackthorn to team up with- even though Colt was an asshole on occasion, and didn't always know how to hold his tongue, at least he wasn't going off after dangerous animals...That was more Niamh's thing.

Eventually, Niamh would be somewhat disappointed to hear that Fiadh intended to leave the pack and explore on her own. This fact caused Niamh to drop the snake, which would quickly wind its way through the grass and away from her and her devious plot. She'd simply shrug it off, and let it go, as sometimes that was the best thing to do. Saddened as she was to hear that Fiadh would be embarking on her own solo mission- and wondering vaguely how Clover was taking the whol ordeal- she still knew from experience that leaving on a solo trip could result in something amazing, so she wished her friend good luck and safe journeys.