Redhawk Caldera she wants to dance like uma thurman.

Finley was totally boppin' around the Caldera. Well, no, not really. Or maybe? I don't really know what "boppin'" means in wolf terms. But, let's just say that if walkmans were a thing in wolf world (...and in human world am I old?...) she totally would have been rockin' out to some Fall Out Boy or Jimmy Eats World as she frolicked happily about, looking for something to do.


I should delete that and start over.

So anyway.

Fin lingered along the shores of the lake that centered the pack's territory, gazing out across the water at the island at its very center.  She still very much wanted to explore it one day, but the winter had been too mild to make that possible.  She maybe could have swam the distance, but she wasn't sure enough of her endurance at the moment to give it a shot.  

Turning, she began to wander parallel to the water's edge, her eyes ever on her prize in the distance. The boppin' had come to an unfortunate end as she wandered. Although... Just because she couldn't risk her life that day by taking a precarious swim across a rather great distance didn't mean there wasn't something else horribly risky for her to do...

It wasn't often she made her way down south, preferring to either head north towards the mountains or journey to the oceanside. Or just staying within the confines of the Heartwood where it was safe and familiar and well...boring. Spring was becoming more and more pronounced, however, which meant fairer weather and longer trips were now possible. So, with a curious flourish to her flight patterns, the magpie made her ways towards a peculiar-looking mountain.

Specifically, she aimed her trajectory towards the very top of it where a lake resided and, by the looks of it, a bippity-bobbitying wolf travelling along its banks. As the bird alighted a short distance away from the female (wary of any sudden movements, lest she proved herself as aggressive as that grey-furred wolf of the Plateau), she shook out her feathers and canted her head, turning to follow the other's gaze towards the island that stood alone at the center of the expanse of water. "Why did the wolf cross the lake?" she teased with a chirp.

Of all the interruptions she suspected might happen to her energetic wanderings, a random, talking bird somehow did not make the list of expectations.  Fin slowed her step to peer to either side of her, wondering where the twittery little voice came from when her ears picked up on the flutter of wings that lead her gaze to the riddling magpie.


Fin stopped walking to stare at the birdy, her head tilting slightly.  She wasn't exactly sure how to respond to the question the bird posed.  But that might not entirely have been because she wasn't good at riddles.   "Uh..." the beta replied, startled and wary, "because the creepy talking bird freaked it the fuck out and she wanted to get away?"

It took a second or two for the other to notice her, before her brown eyes suddenly zeroed in on the magpie, who bounced from foot to foot excitedly. She was still entirely unaware that some wolves didn't tend to converse with birds, and so was confused and slightly offended by the female's reaction. Well, at least she wasn't trying to eat her. Shuffling her wings again, Shiv hopped forward and released a loud squawk.

"Wrong!" She herself wasn't the best at riddles, either, she had only learnt this one from a mischievous young crow. "Because it's puppies were being eaten by a bear!" The crow didn't like wolves very much. But, being a simple-minded bird, this magpie thought it was the best joke ever, and released a series of shrill giggles after the punchline.

Fin watched the little bird as it hopped about, its head all twitchy and wings all shuffley.  For a moment, she mused about how difficult it must be to be a bird.  Did they ever sit still?  But then again, the way they hopped about.. it was like they were made of nothing at all.  Which might make sense considering their little stick legs.  How could those things hold up those feathery little bodies?  Come to think of it, a lot of the birds she'd eaten really weren't much.  They could hardly even be considered a meal.  Except for geese and ducks and stuff, this little bird probably--


CRAP, it was talking still.

Fin focused on it again just in time to hear the "punchline", and thus she was able to honestly give it a super confused stare.  She narrowed her eyes for a moment, for some reason actually lending some thought to trying to figure out the riddle.  Maybe it was just the fact that this was her first ever conversation with a bird that motivated her to do it, or maybe it was because a bear was involved.  But whatever the case... "Why did that make the wolf cross the lake?" Fin asked, her confusion then shifting to realization as an idea occurred to her, "Is that where the bear went after it ate the puppies?"

Shiv waited expectantly after she finished her joke, awaiting for some sort of reaction from the wolf, almost certain that she would also find it hilarious. Instead, all she got was a puzzled stare, which caused the bird's partially raised wings to fall slightly. She needed to speak with that young crow, tell him his jokes weren't really that funny. At least, to the wolves, apparently. Her beady eyes focused on the canine before her as a brief silence settled on the area. What was she doing?

Suddenly, she spoke again, and Shiv whipped her head upright again and resumed bobbing up and down. Her attempt to figure out the joke was a useless endeavour to the magpie, who simply shrugged as the idea dawned upon the suitably confused wolf. Shiv wasn't too interested in getting to know the behaviours of bears and their diets (which most likely included her), but she decided to humour the girl. Besides, she hadn't tried to attack her yet, so that was a plus.

"Yes! Yes!" she exclaimed, leaping forwards. "Bear ran away and...and..." she paused, staring blankly at the wolf for a moment before turning and looking over to the island that sat in the middle of the lake beside them. "...hid, yes!"

The bird seemed to be just as interested in what she had to say as Fin did for it.  Her question did not go unanswered, but it didn't exactly satisfy her curiosity though.  It hid after eating the puppies apparently.  Though the female hadn't actually made it to the island to explore yet, she surmised from afar that there weren't really any places to hide.


"How well did that go?" Fin asked with a slight tilt of her head.  The fact that the whole thing was a joke was gone now.  She really wanted to know if the wolf kicked the bear's ass in the end.

The crow's joke that had been stolen by Shiv was quickly turning into a story, it seemed. A tale of a hungry bear stealing wolf puppies and then hiding! For some reason. Shiv wasn't quite sure why a bear felt the need to hide from a wolf, even an enraged parent. Bears were massive, at the least the ones she had seen. They could easily take down a wolf with one swipe of their wolf head-sized paw. The magpie shuddered at the thought, not wanting to think of what a bear could do to her own tiny self.

The wolf seemed to encourage her to continue, wondering if the bear's tactic of hiding had worked out. The magpie paused, eyes narrowed as she thought, before springing to life after a moment or two. "Well bear is big, cannot hide very well," she pondered, beginning to pace back and forth before the curious girl. "Maybe wolf found bear! Maybe wolf ate him!" Her voice quickly rose in pitch, squawking out the apparent surprising revelation of the bear's fate.

The bird did not leave her hanging for too long.  Its answer was... uncertain.  And clearly made up right on the spot.  And though Fin liked the idea of a wolf eating a bear, she couldn't help but think that the story was somehow... lacking luster.  Maybe because she was talking to a bird.  Huh...


"I like that," Fin said with a satisfied nod, "You know what that reminds me, though?"  The beta crouched low to the ground as she said it, a feindish grin slipping across her muzzle.  "Wolves also eat... birds..."  She paused only a moment after she'd said it before springing forward towards the magpie with gaping jaws.

It seemed the story had pleased the wolf, who gave her a content nod. Her question and subsequent grin caused the bird to tilt her head curiously, though, wondering just what on earth she was doing. Being a magpie, she knew very little on the body language of wolves. Some emotions were easier to distinguish than others, of course, especially when it came to that wiggling tail of theirs. When it was waving that meant they were happy, tucked beneath their belly meant they were scared. Shiv tried to catch a glimpse of the female's tail, trying to decipher her plans befo— oh my heavens...!

With a frightened cry, the bird leapt into the air, narrowly missing the girl's sharp teeth. Why, oh why, did the wolves always try to eat her? Was she just that delectable? Feathers bristling, the magpie swooped around the wolf in a panic, before aiming to drive her beak into the side of the female's face in retort.

Fading! Thanks for the thread :D <3

Fin had never really been trying to eat the bird.  Not exactly anyway.. Okay, had her lunge ended with the bird struggling between her jaws, she would not have been opposed to crunching down and enjoying a little snack.  But nor was she heartbroken when the feathered creature took flight and avoided her attack altogether.


Fin picked herself back up with a snicker, turning to watch the bird fly off into the sky and disappear.  Or.. that's what she thought she was turning to see.  What she saw instead was the magpie turning midair and making a beeline for her face.

Fin yelped in surprise as she felt a beak stabbing her in the side of her muzzle.  She turned her head quickly away with a little growl, her tongue reaching up to lick the scratch with an irritable look back to the sky.  The bird was aiming back for another go and Finley, fighter of bears, was not about to get her ass handed to her by a freakin' bird.

So!  Fin turned tail and ran for it.  She had no idea how to actually fight a bird, nor did she feel all too compelled to figuring it out on such short notice.  So, she was off and away, darting back up towards her den with a bird pecking at her cranium all the way.