Swiftcurrent Creek walk the line

Once again, Bazi's attempts at cheerful conversation came up short, though it was not quite so spectacular a failure as her early exchanges with Shadow. It no longer felt natural to be SUPER PEPPY and ALWAYS ON and GO TEAM FISH AND STUFF - had she ever been like that? How? The mere thought of spending an entire day in falsely high spirits deflated the Alpha like a sad, blow-up mattress for less loved guests and snuffed out the glow in her eyes. Her ears fell loosely back, one swivelling more acutely to catch the sound of a third wolf arriving.

"I d'no about that," she grumbled rather less excitedly at her pack-mate's remark, "Sometimes I think 'up shit's creek' was named for this very particular one." She had time to nod at the other girl's suggestion before spotting Shadow. Her heart sank. Not only were their interactions stilted - he was doing rather a lot of Ferdie-esque brooding, and it made it very hard for Bazi to view him as anything other than a ticking time-bomb. But you cannot very well walk up to someone and ask when they are going to descend into child-killing mania. That wasn't the done thing.

"Sure," she lied, and in a slightly raised voice called tersely to Shadow: "Hey, Shadow - are you going to fish with us, or stare at your own sour mug all day?"

So much for chirpy.