Mudminnow River they slithered from eden

The man reacted quickly and her heart was set aflutter at the sudden turn of events — she felt the sensation of feathers in her mouth, though she realized she didn’t remember actually grabbing the bird, but her jaws clamped down and her blood pumped hot, and her toes pounded the ground as she skittered away like a frightened hare. Had her mouth been freed, the banshee might have loosed some sort of noise to denote the thrill of it all, like a yippee or a loud whoop, but there was business to take care of — and that business was to not lose the meal that she had just won for herself and for her cousins.

 He had moved on her quickly and snapped at her, a defense which was to be expected, and she hunkered low in a jaguar-esque slink to narrowly avoid the clip of his jaws. Again, Isleña wished her mouth could be freed to laugh loud in the danger; but all she could do was cast the man a glance over her shoulder and wish that bad things didn’t always have to happen to such handsome strangers. 

— that was, until her celebrations we cut short by a sudden change in the topography of the land; a sudden dip and then rise that caught her paw and sent the inky woman tumbling to the earth. Her shoulder hit the ground hard, the jolt of which threatened to knock the grouse right out from her mouth, but Isleña’s jaws held fast. Her only thought? Fuckkkkkkkk.