Morningside Cuesta Tweet Tweet Hi!

So long ago she had come here. And so long ago, she had left...And now she back for venturing! And she was excited. The small aging rock wren rested upon a rock, her tail flicking behind her as she turned about to look around here and there.

She'd chased a doe from the packlands, not expecting a successful hunt but rather, a game to test her skill. She'd herded the ragged doe over rocks, through creeks and woods, until she'd become completely unraptured in her game. It was only when she reached the Cuesta that she allowed the stag to flee, feeling a little bad about having run it so far and considering taking it back the way she'd come. She really ought to, but was distracted by the sight of a tiny bird perched upon a boulder, allowing the stag to make its way to the other side of the meadow.

She took in the air, and spread her wings for a bit to get a taste of the wind. Itsy turned about on the spot as she did, till she stopped. She saw a...dog? Yes, a dog. Watching her. She kept her wings up in a stand-still pose as she stared back, even hardening her stare as if contesting the dog to a stare off.

Poppy wasn't quite observant enough to catch the bird's glare, but it seemed to face her quickly, brashly. Blinking at the tiny bird who seemed uninterested in simply flapping away, as others of its species seemed too, the sheepdog dipped onto her forepaws, into a little bow almost resembling a play stance as she chuffed an upbeat greeting.

Itsy lowered her wings as the dog did nothing in response to the glare. Then tipped her head slightly. Then it got into a play bow as she had observed among some dogs before pouncing and playing with each other. She puffed out her chest, then...

"Bark!" she shouted. It sounded nothing like an actual dog bark though, it was more of a chirped shout. "Hello dog...what you do so far out here?" she then chirped.

The bird's shout had her ears flick back in surprise, at the sound so odd and distorted coming from the beak of a bird. Still, she grinned and issued a sharp bark in retort, tail lashing through the air once before the bird began to speak. "I was herding a deer, but I lost it,"  She explained, glancing behind the bird to see if she might catch a flicker of movement behind the rock.

Itsy's feathers bristled at the bark issued back from the dog. The bird hopped around on the rock a bit, looking for this deer spoken of. "I see no deer..." the bird said. "Where wa-" She stopped as she caught sight of something behind the rock and jumped down.

Soon flying back up with a snail in her beak, which she thwacked against the rock. Only for it to bounce away. "Awww" she chirped sadly. Then she got back to her active self, reminding herself of the conversation at hand. "Where was it?"

The little bird hopped away mid sentence, returning after a beat with a snail clutched tightly in her beat. She'd determined the bird to be a female, but since this was an educated guess at best, she kept quiet on the matter. When the insect bounced away, reflexively did she dart forward and grasp the thing before it slipped through her jaws and into the snow. Shoving her face into the powder, she snuffled around a moment before finding the bird's treat, gripping it carefully and placing it back up on the rock. "I lost it a little back there - I think I'll have to take it back later," She admitted.

Itsy watched the dog as it went for the snail, and for a moment thought they might steal her food. She opened her beak to shout, till it was returned to her rock. She stared up at them, then hopped over, pulling it back with her beak.

"You have returned my food...I must repay you" she said. She may have not liked animals larger then herself sometimes, but if one helped her even just once, she owed them. A lot.

The bird pulled back the snail, suddenly seeming very serious. Poppy blinked as she offered her words, shaking her head quickly. "it's alright, really. it's nothing," She said in the same kind of seriousness, tail wafting behind her as she watched the bird with a new kind of interest. She had no desire in holding the bird to any debt, simply for retrieving something fallen, though she was touched; no one had ever offered her such a thing before.

The bird shook it's little head. "No. You helped me, I help you. I could starve without snail, never finding it again." She was quite stubbron when it came to those that helped her. And she had helped a few wolves that helped her, or spared her. 

"Oooh, I know! How about Itsy helps you find dear!" she suggested, suddenly very happyand hopping about on the rock. "Then you take deer back to home!" 

The bird seemed quite firm in her decision, and Poppy chewed her lip a moment, not liking the idea of holding the tiny girl to her vow. But the bird - Itsy - offered a service that had the girl brighten, tail wagging behind her again. Her was something that shouldn't prove too difficult, and the bird ought to be able to help quickly, with her ability to fly and all. "okay - it's a stag, and over that way."  She gestured with a quick flick of her muzzle, smile curving her muzzle again.

Itsy looked at the dog, and tried to imitate the wagging by moving her behind, her upright tail moving side to side with her body. She stopped suddenly when the dog pointed to the direction. "Right right, stag." Then she was off, stopping on a branch every now and then for the dog to catch up. "Off we go, off we go." It gave a little chirped whistle before flying to the next branch.

A grin leapt to her muzzle as the bird made to hop from branch to branch, obviously eager to help find the girl's deer. Poppy followed along, occasionally directing the bird to where she thought the stag might be, tail upright and almost touching her spine as she trotted gamely behind the wren. Unbeknownst to her, the stag was a mere short distance away, hidden from her by the trees and rocks, and the fact that their paths would not convene if she continued on her present one.

Itsy continued on ahead. But still, she found no stag. She was starting to doubt this was the way after a few, or rather a lot, of trees. "You sure stag this way? You sure?" she chirped to the dog, flying down ot a low branch just above the dog's head. "I do not see stag." The bird hopped around a bit along the branch, tail waving behind as she once again imitated the wagging.

She paused when they seemed to be getting nowhere, having lost even the faint traces of the scent she'd found. She glanced through the trees carefully a moment as the bird spoke, thinking a moment before offering a suggestion. "maybe you could fly above the trees, and see if it's anywhere nearby?"  It seemed a good plan in theory, and the stag should be visible with the lack of leaves and vegetation, allowing the bird's sight to be clear. She glanced at the wren curiously, tail wagging a little harder when she noticed the imitation.

The little wren nodded it's body with it's head with enthusiasm as it darted off through the canopy, disappearing from sight. She rarely went this high, unless traveling far. But she had no such luck, with not having eagle eyes after some time flying about.

She came to land down on a branch, not noticing how oddly white the branch was of the tree. And lack of leaves. "Dog! Dog, I cannot find stag! Itsy is very sorry!" the bird called out, hoping the dog could hear her. She did feel sorry she could not find the stag...not knowing she had in fact, or rather her talons had found it.

---

It was not long before she lost track of the bird, blundering around in the trees below it until the wren simply vanished from sight.Casting around the last place she'd seen the underbelly of the bird, Poppy's ears perked as she heard the voice calling through the trees. Making her way around a thick clump of bramble and down a short incline, she grinned when she caught sight of the bird finally. "you found him!" she cried, tail wagging as the stag caught sight of her and shifted, snorting an irritated cloud of steam from his nostrils. 

---

Itsy was a little confused as to what the dog even meant, till the branch she was on moved. She held on for dear life, shrieking. Even though The stag had barely even moved at all, the bird was small compared to the stag so it seemed like a lot more. Then she got overly excited. "I found stag! I found stag!"

The bird seemed elated over the thought that she'd managed to find the stag, who in turn seemed rather upset with being discovered. Poppy, however, grinned as her tail dusted the snow behind her. "you did! thank you," Her she faltered, glancing up at the bird curiously. "I don't know your name," She admitted sheepishly, adding a beat later, "I'm Poppy." 

Itsy continued to hold on to the stag's antlers, waiting for it to stop. "Itsy! Itsy!" she chirped happily, flapping her wings to show her chipper joyful nature. "Nice to help Poppy, nice to help!" Then she remained there, having completely forgetten about the snail she had left before.

Itsy seemed overjoyed, and the mood was infectious; Poppy grinned even as she stag began to look a bit angrier. She ought to get it moving soon; she knew that male animals tended to charge if you kept them waiting for too long. About to offer a reply, she considered for a moment her end of the bargain - had the wren even eaten it? "Itsy - what about your snail?" She offered, knowing the thing wouldn't move in this cold weather but would remain firmly lodged in its shell. Still, another bird might claim the easy meal before Itsy could.

She stopped for a moment, and tipped her head to the side. "Snail?" she asked down to the dog. She was unsure what she meant by snai- "Snail! Snail!" At that sudden revelation of something she lost merely a minute ago, she took off flittering away. "Bye Poppy! Itsy is happy she helped little Poppy!" Then she was off, to find her snail that had no doubt crawled away by now, or was still there.

The bird was off like a shot - well, a flapping, meandering shot - and Poppy grinned after the bird once as it vanished into the branches. Sizing up the stag once more, she closed the distance between herself and it, issuing a sharp bark and a snap that had the tense beast take off. She began to drive it hard back towards home, hoping her little adventure with the thing wouldn't take too much of a toll on it.