Log-fall Foss She's cold inside, she wants to be like the water.

@Namir, maybe one other?

Lenae quickly decided she wasn't very good at this exploring milarky. That wasn't to say she was good at much at all, but scouting in particular was a lot harder than she'd first anticipated. At first glance it seemed so easy, one foot after the other over and over till she was far from the Monadnock and somewhere new. But she quickly realised she didn't want to be somewhere new, that new was dangerous and the big wide world beyond the big rock was scary.

She should have turned back when she had the chance. But because she was just a silly silly girl-or rather woman- she hadn't. She'd kept going, in the hopes that it would get better.So there she was, far from home with her ears pinned to her head as she tried to block out the loud rush of water as it cascaded downhill.

It wasn't so bad. The frothy water almost looked as though it was a stream of clouds rolling over the land. But with all the fallen trees littering the banks and crossing the river like makeshift bridges, she couldn't help but be reminded by the destructive force of the river. That something so pretty could be so dangerous.

It was sad really. Was nothing safe or innocent? Did everything, no matter how quaint have to be hiding a dagger behind it's back? Just to remind her that the world was a shitty, terrible place? It seemed so, or at least that's where Lenae's thoughts led her. The heavy fog that had descended from the sky certainly wasn't helping her mood, if anything it just reinforced how glum things were. Made her wonder why she even bothered, when the world was just as dark and as frightening as the one she saw in her dreams.

Lenae sighed and hung her head low. Her gaze shifted from her muddy paws back to the water rushing below her as she balanced precariously on one of the many logs that crossed the river. It was time to go home. She'd had enough of being brave, she was going to take the cowards way out.

Or at least that's what she wanted to do.

Taking one step forward with the intention of reaching the other side, her paw suddenly lost traction on the slippery bridge. And with an almost slow motion wobble, she lost her balance and fell off the side of the log.

Her terrified yelp echoed off the nearby trees as she hung on for dear life, her back legs kicking uselessly at the air.

Little Crow had only tracked a little further north – the fog seemed to clear up a little, but the exchange was hardly a good one. Visibility was exchanged for a limited range of motion, rushing water beneath. Fishing was one thing, she could wade through the water that wasn’t moving, looking for little flashes of silver or bronze, but this? This would require swimming. Like actual swimming. Like practice at swimming and holding your breath and knowing what you were doing.

It meant the loner was paying a little more attention than she had been before, to where her feet were, what was in front of her nose. It meant, when someone yelled, Namir didn’t go jumping straight out of her skin and into the river.

The wolf broke into a lope, hurrying up the bend before spying a tangle of legs and limbs in the churn of water and air. For a moment, Little Crow froze. What was she supposed to do? She damn well couldn’t swim – why should she risk herself for a total stranger?

But if she didn’t, would this lady drown?

Maybe if she did, the lady would owe her one.

Yeah, she’d go with that, ignoring the uncomfortable squirm in her chest as she leaned as far as she dare. “Hey! Hey lady! Y’want any help?”

Mentions/thoughts of suicide. :(

Was this it? Was this how she was going to die? It was so embarrassing, shameful, that she'd drown just because she couldn't keep her damn balance as she walked across a log. She was sure that anyone else would have had no problem with it, that they would have made it to the other side with ease. But not Lenae. Oh no, the world had to remind her how much of a screw up she was. And how little her life meant.There weren't many Selwyn's left to miss her, and wherever they were she was certain that they had probably forgotten about her anyway.

Such was the life of the youngest sister. At least Askan stood out. Lenae had always just been there, stuck in her sister's shadow.

Would it be painful? Oh no...She hoped not. It was scary to think about it and yet the threat was looming right behind her, weighing her down as she clung on for dear life. This wasn't how she wanted to go. Sometimes she did want to go, on bad days when she felt nothing but sad. But when she thought about it, it was never like this. It was always quick and painless, maybe a little pinprick of pain. But then it'd be over and she would be safe where no one could ever hurt her ever again.

Thinking about it was never this scary. She'd never seen anyone drown before, had never seen them choke and struggle for air. It all sounded so violent and bad bad bad.

She didn't want this, not here and not today.

A whimper passed from her lips as she tried and failed to heave herself back up onto the log. She couldn't do it, even as her little legs kicked uselessly at the air she didn't move an inch up. And then she heard a voice and little Lenae had real trouble stopping herself from bursting into tears.

"Mm hmm."She nodded quickly, knocking her chin on the wood in the process. Ouch! "Please don't leave me here."

Of course the lady wanted help – want a dumb question to ask. Little Crow gave herself a little mental kick, eyes flicking back and forth as she looked for something, anything to help get the woman out of the whirling waters. Her tail lashed as she followed the other wolf, making sure she didn’t lose sight of her – it wasn’t moving super fast, but enough that she didn’t wanna leave long enough to lose the stranger altogether.

The wolf huffed softly, unable to find anything like a bridge, or some stones; it was only sheer luck the tawny young female found a very large stick on the banks. Little Crow raced forward, pausing only long enough to shout at the soaked loner in the water. “Grab hold an’ ‘ll pull, okay?!” With no other instruction, the young wolf grabbed hold of the large branch, she shuffled sideways, awkwardly, shoving the large stick out into the middle of the open water.

Would the other wolf be able to grab it, maneuver herself enough in the current to aim? Namir wasn’t going to be able to get it out much further without falling in herself.

But what else could she do?

Come on, grab it, lady!

Lenae continued to scrabble and cling onto the log. She wasn't strong nor did she have a whole lot of endurance these days. Sooner rather than later she would fall and the prospect of what could happen next really really scared her. She wasn't angry nor did she blame the stranger for not knowing what to do right away. If the roles were reversed she too would have wanted to help but would have not been sure as to what to do.

Lenae didn't expect the stranger to dive into the water after her if she fell. That would be too much, too demanding. But at the same time, she couldn't offer any guidance on what to do. She was mustering all her energy and focus to stop herself from panicking or worse yet, falling in. As to whether she was doing a good job was debatable, but it was the least she could do.

Hours-or rather seconds-later, Lenae's ears perked at the sound of the strangers voice. Her gaze narrowed in on the branch the stranger held between her jaws. Yes. That was smart, why hadn't she thought of that? Because she was an idiot, probably. A foolish girl who never grew up. She wasn't a damn child anymore but she felt like one and acted like one to, most of the time.

"Yeah, okay!"Wasn't like she had much choice in the matter, it was either grab on or fall in.

Using all of her upper body strength-which wasn't much, mind you- she leaned as far as she could and- snapped at empty air. Oh no! Scowling-and looking a whole lot like her brother in the process- she outstretched her neck and tried again. And again and again until she managed to snag onto the end of the branch. Just barely and in time to, as her legs were wobbling and threatening to give out.

She might have rolled her eyes when the older wolf agreed, but Little Crow was far too focused on making sure she didn’t let go to be sarcastic or snappy. The stick, which didn’t feel that heavy at first, seemed to weigh more and more as time dragged on, each little breeze tugging on her and straining her neck. Her tail whipping behind her furiously, as if it might help keep her upright. Ugh! Her neck hurt! She clenched her jaw harder, about to pull back and look for another option when the other wolf finally caught the stick and hung on.

Namir almost tumbled right into the water after her. The older wolf wasn’t that much bigger (she might not have been bigger at all!), but it was still a surprise. Wheezing through her nose, the bandit slowly started to back up, each slipping step slow and painstaking before she pulled the pack wolf close enough to the shore that her feet might touch the bottom. Still, she didn’t let go until Water Wolf was able to actually get to shore (it’d be stupid to let go and let all her hard work go to waste) and she did with a heavy sigh, whiskers pricking forward as she eyed the older wolf.

“Y’okay now?”

Lenae's legs were all wobbly and sore by the time she set her feet on the sore. She wanted to collapse into a tiny pile of tiredness but that wasn't really the polite thing to do, considering how she had just been saved-yet again- by a stranger no less! Lenae didn't like to think of herself as a damsel, but it was hard to avoid the truth of the matter. Especially when  she'd nearly tumbled into such a fast and scary current.

Sighing, Lenae shook her head and turned to face the stranger, of which she owed her life to.

She wasn't quite sure how to say thank you, all she knew was that it had to be said. Lest she came across as ungrateful or rude.

"Ummm...Yes! I- thank you!"Against her better judgement, her tail began to wag so fast she developed a bad case of the wiggle butt. A condition that seemingly plagued her family. "I feel a lot better now! With all of my feet on the ground, I mean."

But oh no. What if they thought she was stupid, a fool for getting herself into such a position in the first place? Or worse yet, what if they wanted something in return? From scent and sight, she knew this stranger wasn't a man- so she wasn't in that sort of danger, especially at this time of year- but still, she had nothing to give. Nothing of value anyway.

She must have been so annoying, all joyous and chirpy like a bird who didn't know how to shut up. The more she worried, the more self conscious she felt. Like a pest, an annoyance. Maybe she should have drowned, it might have been for the best.

"Ah...I'm sorry. I'm no good."She mumbled, more so to herself than the stranger.

“Oh, well, that’s real good. Don’t blame ya. Ain’t never gone swimmin’, m’self. Seems like a weird place t’try, though.” Namir’s face slid into a wry grin as she took a step back, allowing the strange woman some space – it wasn’t like it was cold or nothing, but she didn’t really want to get splashed down with river water, neither. She might have asked why, or how, but it didn’t matter much, now that she was out, and solid.

Or something.

“Oi, now stop that, ma’am. I ain’t sayin’ nothin’ of th’ sort.” Oh heck no, none of this. She wouldn’t get paid back if this little lady started on with this self-depreciation bullshit! And Little Crow wasn’t real interested in doing good just for doing good (even if she really couldn’t stomach the idea of letting someone die just a few moments earlier). “Yer jes’ lil’. Like me. ‘er a lil’, uh, what did Mama call ‘em? Anna bird? Anna hummin’bird? Them Anna birds, yeah. Real lil’, zippin’ all over th’ place, but that didn’ make ‘em bad – just fit in places where them big birds didn’t. Like me. Like you.” She hummed, lifting her brows as she took a few more steps, waiting for the other wolf to follow her away from the water. “Why don’tcha tell me why yer out here anyways, Anna Bird? It ain’t real nice in these parts.”

Now, come to think, she was real pretty, like them Anna birds, too.

Shallow water has trapped several fish in a small pond. Hunt Opportunity

It wasn't like she had been trying to go for a dip. For if she had, she'd done a piss poor job of doing so. Rather than correct the stranger though, Lenae merely shrugged, sheepish like she'd just been caught doing something bad. If she wanted to try and swim, she would have tried a lake, or a pond rather than fast flowing water. Maybe the pond near the Monadnock? Then again, she always did seem to run into all sorts of people-good and bad- there. So maybe not. Maybe Selwyns weren't supposed to swim.

At the reprimand, Lenae's ears flattened to her skull and she pulled a long face. But that expression soon faded as the stranger continued, referring to her as little and... a hummingbird. Oh my. At first she wasn't quite sure what to make of that. Hummingbirds, they were cute little things, more often than not blurs of colour as they whizzed past on their hunt for nectar. Colourful, pretty and also, rather flighty.

Yes, that sounded right, like it fit. Still, it was a little startling that this stranger managed to hit the nail on the head so easily, in one fell stroke.

Her tail began to wiggle behind her and she couldn't help the sunny smile that was as bright as her eyes.

"Oh..Oh my. Thank you. Heh. I uh.... I thought I'd try my paw at exploring...As you probably noticed I'm not very good. But it's important to at least try, right? That's what my Dad used to say!" Not that it really did him any good in the end.

"But um...Yes! You were really brave and clever and amazing! So cool!" She was rambling now, quick, someone stop her.