Big Salmon Lake Dashing Thru' the Snow

The snows were getting deeper. For some creatures this was an inconvenience, a sign that the wintry apocalypse had once more arrived and now it was time to hide in their cave bunkers until spring reared its head once more. For some it was a herald of bitter cold and harder times ahead, pawing through ever-increasing drifts just to find a miserable little withered mouthful of grass to desperately snatch.

And then there was Nynka—Nynka who could smell and track rodents a-plenty in the wetly crunching layers of snowflakes, Nynka whose nearly-pure-white coat blended right in with the chilly winter landscape this close to the ground. Nynka who had discovered that like a bird cavorting and cartwheeling among the clouds, a small lithe weaselbody could go diving in and out among the gentle rolls of the snowdrifts. Woo-ah-haaah! she crowed as she crested one snowbank and dove straight back down into another. Ooh, I'll get you, my pretty, she crooned almost affectionately to the hapless mouse whose burrow she came across only a foot or so down. There's no hiding from Nynka! The brash little weasel came up for another quick breath of air, and impatiently shook the clinging flakes from her whiskers before leaping up and arcing right back under the snow whence she had just come. Nynka wasn't really all that hungry, having recently dined on both a vole and another unwary mouse who might or might not have been some sort of relation to this one, but hey, a free meal was not to be passed up when it went scurrying about in front of one's nose. Speaking of which, Nynka glimpsed the tail of her target briefly before it whipped out of sight around the next bend, and spurred herself onward with a vicious little cackle. Come heee-eeere, little mousie; your brother and child were delicious!

Nynka's malicious smirk changed quickly to a mask of surprise however as, plunging carelessly forth, she found herself suddenly standing on ice and then skidding out of the uncooperative snowbank altogether. Her paws scrabbled instinctively but only managed to get herself turned around a full 180 degrees before she slid slowly to a halt a short distance away. Nynka cursed, glancing back at the snowbank into which even now her prey must be burrowing deeper and further away, but as she moved to bound forward she found herself suddenly leaping back in surprise instead, with her hair all abristle. Her mind scrambled for purchase just as much as her feet for a moment, and then as she managed to get her paws back under her she caught a second, better glimpse of the face that had suddenly loomed before her and given her such a scare.

Nynka's eyes went wide, and then narrow. She scuffled her way forward across the slick surface to glare almost straight down at the glassy-eyed and gape-mouthed salmon hovering down below. Hey, Mr. Fish! said Nynka as she smacked a paw temperamentally down onto the unforgiving surface. (The ice gave a small, ominously creaky little "crack" at the motion, which Nynka blithely ignored.) You almost made me lose my lunch! That mouse better not have disappeared or else I'mma gonna come back to dig out and eat you instead, just you wait! With this threat left dangling in the air behind her, Nynka slipped forward another quick step across the pond, and then gathered herself for another mightily heroic leap back into the beckoning snowbanks whence the apparently-almost-as-slippery little rodents lived.

His name is in the thread title, sooo... xD  

Dash had come for the salmon, but he had stayed for the entertainment. 

He hadn't even ended up cracking the ice, what with being so thouroughly distracted by... whatever it was that kept popping up out of that snowdrift. Each time the creature emerged, Dash's entire head followed its progress, up, down, up, down. He was enthralled. What could it possibly be doing? He found himself becoming more attached to the little thing as he watched, and every time it burried itself down in the snow he waited anxiously (or, with as much anxiety as Dash could ever summon for anything) until the creature reappeared. 

Dash's eyes widened as the creature popped up out of a snowbank by the lake and skittered onto the icy surface. It seemed to become distracted by the ice, beating its little paws against the surface. Dash's brow knit even further, his curiosity exploding. He began to inch forward for a better view. The last thing he wanted to do was disturb the little cutie and risk scaring it away, but he had to see what it was looking at...

The little thing seemed to possess an attention span comparable to Dash's, because now it was turning away from the pond and readying itself to leap back into the snowbank. It would have to be a very mighty leap for such a small creature, and leaping from the slick surface would be difficult. Dash wagged his tail furiously, like a spectator applauding to cheer on his favorite athelete.  As the creature went to leap, an excited, encouraging half-bark slipped from Dash's mouth. Whoops.

lol, so it is!  ;)  I am more than a little slow for the time being, if you hadn't already seen; apologies.  ;.; 

Nynka's leap was half-aborted as a sudden loud BWOOF came from off to her left. Her paws threatened to slip out from under her entirely for a moment, and then she recovered, only to turn (a little more cautious of her footing) to glare heated daggers at the creature who'd made the noise that distracted her a second time. It was another of those blasted wolves—of course. How these lands had ever acquired such a thorough infestation of canines was beyond Nynka.

Yer gonna owe me a new mouse next if you're not careful! she sneered at the big hairy brute with her pearly teeth bared in warning. Even now that little rodent was making its escape, doubtless; hastily Nynka skidded forth once more and stuffed her whole front into the snowdrift with a determined wriggle. Her back paws scrabbled a minute at the icy surface she'd tried to leave behind, as Nynka scratched away piles of flakes with her forepaws with furious determination and her whiskers and nose quivering with anticipation. No dice, though. She reversed direction just as suddenly, yanking herself free and slipping down flat onto her tail in disgust. She glared again at the wolf with her directionally-fluffed-up fur rumpled unevenly backwards in a bizarre disarray that matched the disgruntled irritation rumpling her face. Two mice, even! she snapped. There's a mouse tax now for those who make me lose my lunch—if your terrible odor wouldn't already do that all on its own! You owe me, wolf.

No problem, this can be a slower thread if you want! <3 Also, I have no idea if these two can understand each other, but I'm thinking no? How have you been playing it in other threads?

The creature started and slipped, which made Dash feel a little bad. Well, he now seemed to have its attention. "Uh, you got this!" Dash encouraged the creature, sort of at a loss for what to do. He couldn't really tell what it wanted from him. Instead of leaping, the little creature slithered forward on the ice and disappeared into a snowdrift. 

When it reemerged, it was chattering even more vibrantly. Aww, it was kind of cute, with its fur all ruffled like that. Dash's ears lifted, but he couldn't tell what the thing was saying in its tiny little voice, so far away. Would they even be able to understand one another? 

Maybe.. maybe it was returning the favor, and encouraging him now? Dash looked around from his perch on top of his snowdrift, and his eyes landed on the crest of the next snowdrift. Maybe the thing wanted him to leap now? Might as well give it a shot. Dash jumped, and coming up several feet shy of the snowdrift's crest, he sank down into snowpile.

Now buried up to his neck in freezing snow, Dash had to admit that had been a stupid choice.

So I do usually have the policy, and have previously played it, that wolves can understand weaseltalk pretty readily. (I had it in Nynka's looking-for-threads post at one point but should probably put this down someplace more-obvious in fact, eep—thank you for the reminder!)
... For a probably-too-involved explanation, clickity here:

I honestly don't think it's that terribly fair or fun for most Wild Fauna players otherwise, with every single thread then automatically consisting of an awkward game of charades and/or having to start with a bunch of canine utter shock that "OMG this critter actually talks!!1one!." It fills up threadlogs and board with too much of the same old rehashed and frankly somewhat boring writing, and forces people into too much of a corner. We let our wolves talk straight to one another for convenience, and there isn't any good reason not to follow that same courtesy when it comes to fellow carnivorous mammals at the very least, IMO! *shrugs*  ;)  ...I can though see where hunting and eating things that talk gets weird/possibly uncomfortable fast, and think it makes more sense (and have seen more people playing as if) when birds and other more-distantly related creatures are less-intuitively understood, or at least have much stronger of an "accent" if they're not mute altogether.

TL;DR: There's no good reason not to let wolves and Wild Fauna understand each other, especially carnivorous ones, in my obviously-rather-biased opinion, and plenty of reason to let them. ...Though this all reminds me of my temptation to play a "dumb" wolf...lol.  >.>
Meantime, if you'd prefer to go back and edit or otherwise change stuff up in this thread somehow, let me know!  :)  I'll roll with it either way. (Though not understanding Nynka just gives her that much more of an excuse to be insulting and obnoxious ICly...sheesh.  @.@;;  lol.)

It took the winter-wooly canine a bit to get her "suggestions" through its thick skull; no real surprise there. Only irritation. Nynka did not have a very high estimate of most wolves' brainpower, and this certainly wasn't the first canid to exasperate her with its thick-skulledness. (Some in a much more literal sense than others...but that was another story.) The lithe little weasel ground her pointy little teeth, and was on the verge of hopping about and full-on shouting at the idiot wolf instead in the hopes this would somehow magically make her wishes clearer and more-quickly obeyed. But although slow, the canine did at last seem inclined to comply... just not, um, terribly competently, as it turned out.

Nynka watched, torn between laughter and disgust, as the wolf looked confusedly about and then threw himself overconfidently up into the air, only to misaim and come down in an unceremonious FLUMPH that left him buried from the ruff down. What an idiot. Her aggravation from a moment ago had mostly evaporated, however; there was something strangely almost endearing about the comical doofus of a wolf having so ineptly half-buried himself in one fell swoop right in front of her. Nynka smirked, but unusually enough refrained from further taunting of the creature right at the moment. One of the best things about this wolfy predicament, in fact, as she intuitively grasped, was that her lightfooted body could run right across the top of the crusty snowdrift's top to confront the inept creature face-to-face. Which she promptly did. Nynka shoved her tiny face at the wolf's skull close enough that their whiskers practically mingled, but for once her grinning mask lacked significant malice, and bore more the character of two friends having a good joke together.

Whoops? she said, teeth gleaming brighter than the snow as she enormously enjoyed the novelty of being able to look at one of the big dumb canines on their level, for a change, instead of having to cramp her neck looking far too far up. Need a little help there? And without waiting for an answer, she scurried to one side and set her busy little paws to digging. Bright arcs of scattering snowflakes glittered near-blindingly in the sun as her claws flashed rapidly and tossed them heedlessly all helter-skelter airborne.

The little creature's paws skimmed easily over the snow, bringing it to a halt right before Dash's nose. Dash's eyes widened. He had never before been approached by such a tiny, delicate creature-- most small mammals (and indeed, most wolves, if we're being honest) kept their distance from the often loud, lumbering boy.

He sniffed curiously at the creature, unable to really do much else in his constricted state. He was surprised to find her scent much like that of a wolverine-- a fearsome predator, to say the least. His ears lowered in respect for the little creature, understanding it was likely more than met the eye.

It asked if he needed help, and it began working its little paws frantically in the snow around Dash's neck. Now that it was closer, Dash found that he could understand her words much more readily. Or, maybe it was just his imagination? Either way, the boy felt he had made a friend here. 

"Were you hunting?" Dash asked incredulously, scenting a recent meal on the creature's breath.  "That's amazing. I have ancestors that could dive like that in the ocean, but I bet a mouse is tastier than some old fish." As the tops of his shoulders were freed he began to wiggle, loosening the snow around the rest of his entombed body.

'Were you hunting?' Oh yeah, this canine was definitely a little slow. Or maybe just very young and naive. Nynka mentally bet on both, at the moment. Her paws didn't miss a beat in their rapid blur of motion, though; tiny they might be but they seemed to be making up for it at least a little with speed as she scootched around to the wolf's other shoulder and got busy throwing snowflakes up and away from that side. Yes, she said, restrainedly only rolling her eyes a little bit. I was hunting mice. That's the best way to get at them when they're burrowed deep underneath the crust of snow... Ususally. She did pause for a moment now, as she smirked at the foolish young wolf. Perhaps it took a bit more finesse to make it work than this gangling canine possessed.

Not that Nynka should be too smug— she hadn't quite managed to get ahold of the beastly little rodent herself either, after all. She chalked that up to the interference of this galumphing fool, though. There was indeed something rather endearing about his aping of her hunting technique, though. Incompetent though he might be Nynka thought that he was on the right track, at least; if he kept practicing perhaps he might move his genetic dial closer to perfection and make himself at least half as competent as a weasel, she optimistically predicted. Hold still a sec! Nynka sat back on her haunches and contemplated her handiwork with her head tilted to one side and her forepaws dangling idly in midair. Y'get a lot less wet chasing mice, at least, though I wouldn't say no to a refreshing bite of cold fish. But they're all just a little frozen right now anyhow. There, now try, she ordered with abrupt authoritative brusqueness. Depending on just how clumsy the canine was if he did manage to free himself, Nynka held herself poised and ready to leap precipitously back out of the way. Especially given his earlier clumsiness she definitely wouldn't put it past this canid to cause a miniature avalanche in the process of laboriously extracting himself, here. She wasn't going to trust him to be appropriately cautious of her mostly still-safely-warm-and-dry coat.

Appropriately cautious were words that had not ever, nor would ever, describe Dash. And "a sec" was pretty much the only length of time he was capable of "holding still." So as soon as he felt his shoulders freed of some of the pressing weight of the snow, he began wriggling himself out the rest of the way. 

Causing avalanches seemed to be Dash's specialty (if only Nynka knew). The side of snowdrift crumbled as Dash thrashed himself free, and the minute he emerged he went tumbling down the side of the drift in a small pile of snow. When he came to a stop, he popped up in alarm, looking all around for a sign of his little friend.

Wigglier than a worm, this wolf: Nynka thought she had been ready but the precipitous canine was in motion already before she could quite brace herself the way she wanted to. And for all her mental snark about what an incompetent bumbling oaf this wolf was and how much cleverer quicker and better she herself was, as she hopped speedily back she managed to knock one foot against a small iceball and go tumbling. This wouldn't have been too much of a problem, except that the big clumsy wolf himself went somersaulting free, and with a squeak of surprise Nynka continued her own motion to roll speedily out of the way before the great bumbling brute crushed her. Not quite the direction or approach she had expected him to take!

Snow was flying all about left and right and up and down and for one disorienting moment Nynka wasn't sure which way was up, although she did note that she seemed to be in one piece and unsmothered still, at the very least. Her next priority was to flounder her way up out of the smothering blanket of snow Dash had settled across her and everything else in the vicinity. It took a moment for her to wriggle into position and pop her head up out of the snow. She licked her nose clean and spat a few of the cold tingly flakes from her mouth as she eyed the young male wolf with supercilious disdain. He did seem to be frantically searching the area, to his credit, but Nynka was not entirely appeased—much better if he'd had a little more patience and grace, and not gone and buried her in the first place! Over here, she said slightly sourly. So much for her nice warm and dry coat! Already she could feel the small lump of snow perched atop her skull starting to melt and trickle down past her ear; she gave her head a quick little shake to get rid of it.