On the tail of a tasty treat Fiora had found her delicate paw-steps taking her up the rise of the valley, away from the magnolias she so desperately adored and toward the surrounding forest. Most days she battled her opposite desires - on one hand she wanted a family, a home, a place where she belonged without even the smallest doubt. On the other, she was horribly lazy, and selfish, and her crippling self esteem prevented her from trying out any of the tasks that the yearling might want to undertake as a role some day. The war in her mind raged day in day out; rarely ever did a victor emerge.
But today was no such day. Today she had decided to make someone proud, damn it, even if it was just herself. The teenager was tall and limber and capable of all sorts of things (so she told herself) if she would only just try. When her quivering nose caught the scent of rabbit nearby she sprang an idea so genius she considered herself gifted for it. Fiora would go out there and catch that rabbit and bring it back for Kyros and Hypatia, and then that way she'd impress Borlla and this mysterious Phineas man, and then she wouldn't be so worthless after all!
She'd tracked the hare, young but naive, through the surrounding trees until it stopped for longer than a moment. It appeared to be having a nice little bath in the rays of sunlight that streamed through the cracks in the forest canopy, little brown paws moving furiously between mouth and ears. Now was the perfect time to strike. Fiora leaned forward, poised to bolt forward and snatch the creature up in her unforgiving jaws - but she misplaced her gangly limb, overreaching and letting a branch snap beneath her tawny paw. Instantly the hare's head snapped to attention.
Fiora hadn't even the time to exhale the breath that had caught in her throat before he'd cleared the area completely, bounding forever away into the forest. Just like that her brilliant opportunity had vanished. It took the yearling several moments to even realize she had to go back to square one; that little thing was well and far away from her and she doubted it would come back. Horribly disappointed in herself the ice-eyed beauty simply stood, a grimace on her ruddy face as she considered drowning herself in the Creek for such a stupid, stupid mistake.