Nova Peak midnight stroll

Muahaha...

He kept close to her heels as she lead him, pausing only on occasion to sniff something new, but his mother was attentive and slowed so as not to leave him too far behind. Most times, he would become so distracted by something novel that the rest of the world would cease to exist, but this time he was eager to follow his mother and his attention remained largely on her. They neared the small river and her tail swept across the log that was adorned with things he had not seen before. Fearless, of course, he marched right up to the log to check the things out, and his mother right on que offered an explanation.

He looked to her, wagged his tail, and proceeded to poke one of the mushrooms with his nose. Then he swatted a different one with a paw, which partly mushed between his toes. With a look of disgust he shook his foot, dislodging some of the offending texture. The commotion had stirred a small creature from within the log; a wood hornet that had been busy scouting out a nest, crawled out from a small burrow. It was a long, black and white thing, and it instantly caught Swift's attention. His mouth curled into a devilish smile, his eyes narrowing. He snapped at the beast...

...and immediately regretted it. As his mouth closed on it, its stinger took him in the lip, and he squalled like a cat with its tail caught in the door. Before his mother had a chance to react, he bolted from the log and ran yelping down the stream edge. He came to a blackberry bush not far from where they were, and, as if he had done this a hundred times before, the oft-clumsy Swift deftly moved between the thorns on the branches to snag a few leaves which he mouthed with earnest.