The Fox Goes... Cheep?

Dusty's golden eyes blinked open, squinting in a slight patch of bright sunlight that filtered through a hole in the soil-and-root roof above her. She yawned rolling over onto her other side before pricking her ears. She could hear songbirds outside, meaning that the day was still young.
Dusty turned her head to the root-den's entrance, glancing up the slope and outside. There didn't seem to be anything remotely exciting going on. All of a sudden she felt she needed a drink.
The young grey fox got to her paws and with a quick glance at Kiri to make sure she was still sleeping, silently crept out of the den. She scanned the area, checking that the owl from the night before hadn't decided to hide out anywhere and wait for them.
After finally deciding that everything was fine and dandy, she padded over to the small trickling stream and began to take a drink.

Suddenly, something fell from the sky, landing in the water in front of Dusty. She leaped back a few steps with a loud yelp of surprise.
Quickly checking the area again, she saw that nothing had changed, despite her yelp. She then looked up to see a jet black bird hovering in the sky above her, cursing its luck at accidentally having dropped its meal in front of a fox.

After hearing the yelp, Kiri's eyes sprang open and she flew to her tawny-spotted paws. Blue eyes stretched wide, she recognized the sound as coming from Dusty. Racing out into the bright new morning, paws thudding against hard-packed ground, Kiri wondered what her friend was barking about. She was worried to be honest. Screeching to a halt before her gray fox companion, she saw prey sitting in the stream and spotted Dusty looking rather surprised. Glancing up, she also noticed a dark bird circling above. It didn't seem large enough to hurt them, but she wasn't sure if it was just the distance fooling her. "Hey Dusty, what is that thing?"

Dusty turned her gaze away from the sky for a second as her friend appeared beside her. Quickly returning her attention to the bird though, she replied with a quiet, "I have no idea... apart from the fact it's a bird of course"

The bird fluttered around in a circle, before stopping and hovering for a few seconds, trying to judge how would be best to get her meal back. It was only a small mouse, but she was hungry, and she was lucky to have caught such a creature in the first place,being fairly new to hunting and everything. She cawed loudly, trying to startle the foxes so that they would move away.

"Oi!" Kiri growled, fur fluffing up and teeth bared. "Don't squawk at us! Irritating bird!" Kiri wasn't really a morning fox, and this annoying cawing was driving her nuts. "Have your stupid mouse! Sheesh! No one wants it!" she snarled, picking up the small animal and hurling it towards the bird.

The raven, for that's what the bird was, dove towards the mouse as it was thrown into the air. She swiftly caught it in her claws before fluttering towards one of the nearby trees and landing in it. She kept a hold of the mouse by flinging it over the branch, and standing on it with one claw to keep it from slipping off.

Dusty blinked as Kiri threw the mouse and the bird retrieved it. She followed its movements as it landed in the tree.

"And I'm a Raven." she cawed to the two foxes before using her beak to rip off part of the mouse's flesh.

Kiri snorted and stomped downstream. Jumping in, she tried to rid herself of her drowsy state of mind, dunking her head under water and rolling about. Standing up, she blinked and shook the water out of her fur. Feeling a bit brighter and more upbeat after the brisk shower, the fox pup trotted out of the stream, leaving watery footprints behind.

Dusty shrugged to herself as Kiri went and took the animal equivalent of a shower in the stream water. "Feeling more up to doing stuff now?" she chuckled as her friend left soggy patches of ground on the stream bank.

The raven continued to tear and eat the mouse, glad that she had been able to reclaim her prey without any trouble.

Kiri, shaking out her damp fur one last time, blinked her bright blue eyes. "Yea" she woofed with a light laugh, fluffy tail waggling to and fro. "So, what adventures shall we go on today Dusty?" she joked, prodding her friend with a tawny-speckled paw.

"Who knows." she laughed, raising a paw as she attempted to shield herself from the oncoming assault of water droplets.
She wrinkled her nose as best a fox could and glanced up at the sky again, "At least the probability of it raining mice is low."

Kiri apparently found this statement extremely amusing, for she broke down in laughter, falling over, rolling about, paws scrabbling to grab her sides, lungs bursting. "Perhaps," she fought the onslaught of hysterical laughter, "We could go," she giggled once more, shaking her head to clear herself of this musical sound of merriment. "Swimming?" she enjoyed the water and seeing as her fur was already wet, the gray-tawny fox had nothing to lose.

Dusty blinked as her friend broke out into uncontrollable laughter. She hadn't expected Kiri to find the statement so amusing.
When she finally calmed down and managed to suggest something to do, the young grey fox's eyes glanced towards the water, "Is it cold?"

"Nah, not too bad." Kiri stated, straightening up and attempting to get the dust off of her face that she had acquired whilst rolling around. As if to demonstrate the temperature of the water, Kiri put a paw in the stream. With a grin, she whipped around and flung the water all over Dusty "See?"

Dusty gave her friend a disapproving look before bursting out laughing and bounding into the stream. She flicked more water at Kiri in retaliation, splashing it towards her like mini waves.

The raven watched their antics from the tree, slowly getting through her mousy meal. She wondered what it was like to play around like that, as all she had ever seemed to do when she was a chick was get into trouble for trying to fly to early.

Kiri snorted as she snuffed water up her nose. She flailed around, shaking her head and creating mini tidal waves which crashed towards Dusty. With a fianl sneeze, the fox pup was free of the liquid in her nose. Realizing how stupid she just looked, Kiri began to laugh uproariously.

Dusty chuckled, grabbing some of the loose weed that was scattered amongst the plants on the bank. She threw it at Kiri, just missing her head and landing on her friend's back. The weed was wet and slimy and Dusty didn't waste any time before she started laughing about it.

Kiri's ears pinned back at the feel of the slimy weed. "Ew!" she exclaimed, pawing up a clump of mud and muck and hurling it at Dusty. "Ha!" she yelled, a giggle following.

Dusty ducked as the mud flew over her, she was fairly glad that it hadn't hit her and muddied her fur. She then laughed and splashed more of the water at Kiri, bounding past her and heading for the slightly deeper water.

Kiri splashed after Dusty, paws slipping on the muddy stream bed. As she got to the deeper water, her paws lifted off of the ground and she began to float, feet swishing back and forth to keep her moving forward.

Dusty began swimming too. She had trouble at first but after she developed a perfect way of using her paws almost as if she was walking rather than flailing around, she was able to control her movements in the deeper water.

Kiri, deciding to explore, took a big breath and dunked underwater. She opened her eyes and was amazed to see schools of fish swimming about in their aquatic community. She saw tall, thick seaweed. Running out of breath, she propelled herself back up to the surface of the crystalline water. "Dusty!" she barked, eyes sparkling in wonder. "Go down there and look whats there!"

Dusty tilted her head slightly before nodding and taking a deep breath. She then ducked under the water, almost mirroring Kiri's actions.
It was pretty down here. The light shone through the water, reflecting upon the rocks and sand on the stream bed. Minnows and other small fish teemed around the few pebbles, seemingly trying to find shelter, away from the grey fox now intruding in their watery world. Every so often, Dusty would catch a slight glance of a bigger fish, it's scales catching the sun before it swiftly and quickly swam away.

The young fox cub pulled her head out of the water and gasped for breath after staring at the scene beneath the ripples. "It's incredible!" she grinned. Dusty hadn't imagined that there would be that many fish and other creatures living just in one part of the stream bed.

Kiri's eyes were lit up "It's fantastic isn't it!?" she practically echoed Dusty's words. "I could look at it all day!" as if obliging, she went under once more, observing the wildlife and the lovely blue-green hue of the water. She now truly saw the beauty of the forest, from the few trees that were left standing to the defiant flowers in all shades and hues. Coming back up, she looked about, as if she was only now seeing the scenery.

Dusty continued ducking her head under the water. She followed some of the small shoals of fish around. Unlike Kiri, apparantly, Dusty had almost always appreciated the nature and beauty of the forest she lived in. All the different shades of green you could find in a single tree... all the dappled patches of evening sunlight you would find in the denser part of the woods.
She smiled, raising her head out of the water again to catch another breath.

(Lolol. When i read the word 'Fantastic' All i could think of was the 9th Doctor.)

(LOLOL) Feeling enlightened, Kiri was in an excellent mood. "Let's go do something! I feel up to anything" she urged, legs pumping to carry her towards the bank. As paws met pebbles, the young fox shook out her gray fur for the third to fourth time that morning. "What to do.." she mused, sitting down and attempting to wring out her fur, failing badly.

Dusty had been quite content chasing the small schools of minnows through the stream water. The way their scales reflected the light, scattering it across the rocky surfaces on the stream bed intrigued her. She came up for another breath of air to see Kiri stepping out and shaking her fur again. Dusty tilted her head to the side, wondering what she was planning on doing, but she soon just shrugged and went to join the fish again under the water.