Shy Deer Steppes Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown

Magpie tried to usher her ahead. Wildfire hesitated, them attempted to obey, only for the large feline to step into her path. I knew it, she thought. She had been right not to trust the cougar all along. She could trust her instincts, which were currently telling her to either fight or flee. She knew the wiser of the two choices but the cat was now effectively blocking her path. The pup assumed she could easily leap to cut them off no matter where they turned.

What choice did they have, then, besides intimidating the mountain lion? Even though Wildfire knew it could be hopeless, she suddenly stood up to her fullest height (which wasn't tall at all), fur bristling to make her look larger. Her lips wrinkled back from her teeth and her ears slicked backward, disappearing as they flattened against her skull. She arched her back like a cat, her yellow eyes glaring and her tail stiffening behind her. Nothing about her stance betrayed the fear that made her heart flutter like a bird in her chest.

"Let us go," Wildfire said quietly, "or we'll call for the whole pack. They're right over there. There's twenty of us," the youngster fibbed, eyes flicking very briefly to the distant caldera before latching onto the cat's face. Although she quailed inwardly, she forced herself to look the feline full in the face, challenging her.