The Fox Goes... Cheep?

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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.

Kiri, after thinking for a bit, decided to go try her hand in hunting birds again. She shouted this over her shoulder so that Dusty would know where she went, and then quieted her footsteps, plodding into the ash-filled forest.

The raven was still perched in her tree. She had all but completely devoured the mouse now leaving a few little bits of flesh stuck to the bones. She tossed the mouse's remains into a bush below her perch where some other scavenger could feast on what little remained. She froze as she heard pawsteps coming her way, and realized it was one of the grey fox cubs from before.
"Great..." she muttered, hoping that the fox hadn't come back to try and eat her or something.

Kiri glanced up to see that the raven was still in the boughs of the tree. It had finished its meal and was simply sitting now. With a thoughtful look, the gray fox cub shrunk down to a crouch, waiting for the bird to come down to the ground. After all, patience was key.

Silen watched the young grey fox with a bored look in her eyes. She observed as Kiri crouched, waiting for her to flutter right down into her waiting claws.

"You know, If you're waiting for me, you'll have a rather long wait since I can clearly just fly away from here and not even go near the ground," she crowed, staring down at the fox.

Kiri sat up and shrugged. "Well you're the only bird for a long time and I don't want to lose sight of home. I suppose i could go out further but even then I doubt that i'd catch the bird. I'm a bit young for that" the fox drawled in a tone that said 'Duh'

The raven shrugged before spreading her wings and fluttering towards the stream. She landed next to the water, only further up from where Dusty was, where it was shallower. She kept a close eye on both foxes as she soaked her black feathers in the stream water. She ruffled them, cleaning them in a way almost unique to birds.

Although most foxes-or any predator really-would be rather upset to lose a catch like this, Kiri just began to burst out laughing. She found it rather hilarious that out of all of the birds in the forest, she managed to find the one that spoke. "Bad luck!" she snorted.

Dusty heard Kiri's snorts from where she was still swimming further down the stream. "What's going on?" she yelled over to her friend, curious as to what had provoked the reaction.

Silen comfortably continued to wash herself in the clear, cool water.

"Come 'ere!" Kiri called over the laughter. She watched as Silen washed. "You're an awful stuck-up bird ain't yah?" she asked, eyebrow raised. With a blink of her aqua eyes, she watched the raven carefully. After all, it wasn't everyday you had conversation with a bird. Perhaps she could get some good information off it. Maybe it'd help in her pursuit of learning to hunt?

Dusty nodded and quickly scrambled back over to the stream bank. She got out of the water and shook the moisture off of her fur, making her look slightly fluffier than usual.
She then trotted over to Kiri, "What's up?"

Silen finished her quick bath before hopping out of the water, ruffling her feathers on the bank to get rid of any excess moisture. "Charmed," she replied to the young fox's comment.

"This bird... Out of ALL THE OTHER BIRDS IN THE WOODS. this bird talks." Kiri snorted again, shaking her head to rid herself of the laughter. "Anyway, bird, what's your name?" In an attempt to make herself sound more friendly, the fox quickly added "I'm Kiri"

"Really?" inquired Dusty, half in disbelief, though she knew it was possible.
"Out of all of them you found one that speaks..."

The raven watched them both carefully, but as long as they didn't plan on eating her, she had no quarrel with the two young foxes.
"I'm Silen..." she replied finally, with Dusty then introducing herself as well.

"Silen, eh? Cool!" And with that, Kiri padded down the stream a bit, signalling for Silen and Dusty to follow. "I found a cool place earlier" She said over her shoulder. "Where we can talk and not be standing around on soggy ground"

After a bit of walking, Kiri made her way to a wall of hanging plants and a large row of seemingly dense bushes. Pushing her way through them, she came upon a small glade adorned with a miniature waterfall and beautiful green chains of ivy. Rocks were around the small pool formed by said waterfall and ferns surrounded the entire clearing. Butterflies flew idly about, just asking to be pounced upon. "Pretty neat, eh?"

Dusty followed her friend without question at her request. Silen took a few moments, but she soon took off and followed them too, though slightly higher in the air.

Dusty blinked as she looked at the place, "It's so pretty!" she grinned as a butterfly slowly fluttered past her nose. The young grey fox decided to chase after it as it moved through the air. It's uneven movements intrigued her.

Silen landed neatly on one of the rocks. She too admitted that it was a beautiful place, full of lush greenery.

Kiri took up the chase with Dusty, giggling as a deep blue butterfly landed on her nose. She sneezed, scaring the insect away. "Aww" she laughed, watching it flutter away with a couple wing-beats. "I wonder if they're good to eat..." she mused.

"I don't particularly like them.." replied Silen quietly, remembering a time when one had dared to fly over the nest she and her family lived in. She had snapped at it and caught it, but when she had attempted to eat it, she throughout regretted ever bothering the insect.

"Oh. Well, Thanks! I wouldn't want to eat something gross" the pup stuck her tongue out, making a disgusted face. "We'll need some food soon though. We haven't eaten since before sunset yesterday." She was afraid this might startle Silen so she added "But, we won't eat you, Silen. You're too small for a meal for the both of us!" she winked and padded over to the shimmering pool of water accompanied by the sound of rushing water. She swirled her paws about in the water, making patterns and pictures.

At the mention of food, Silen opened her beak to protest but then shut it again as Kiri added the rest of her sentence. Dusty was still happily chasing after a Red Monarch butterfly, not really paying attention to whatever else was going on.

"I'm not a professional when it comes to hunting, But I could always scout out for a few mouse holes. We may be able to work together to catch enough prey that way." suggested the Raven as she landed on a rock that was nearer to the position Kiri had taken up by the water.

Kiri thought about this offer for a moment. "Sure! We'll need to sustain ourselves somehow. We can't just charm ourselves into food all the time." she said logically. "After all, what've we got to lose?" With this statement, she stood up, flicked the water off of her paws, and turned to Silen. "I'm up for it anytime. Dusty?"

"Hmm?"
Dusty suddenly looked away from her 'prey' before trotting over to them.
"Oh, yea sure. Anytime."
The conversation that Silen and Kiri has just been having, finally registered as words in Dusty's mind. She grinned, "So let's go!"

Silen nodded, "Alright then."
The raven spread her wings, taking off, minus one or two loose feathers but otherwise she was feeling good that morning.

Finding that the raven was quite good company, Kiri trotted along behind the shadow of a bird in flight. "So... Where to?" she said rather loudly. After noticing her blunder, she pinned back her ears and said in a far quieter voice "Sorry."

"Its fine." she crowed down to Kiri. "I know a good hunting spot, but it's slightly further into the forest. It wont take long to get there but you can be as loud as you want for now."
The raven smiled down at Kiri, also deciding now that foxes might not be so bad after all.

Dusty bounded up to her friend. "I wonder what we'll be catching..." she mused aloud.