ORIGIN

Her wounds healing now, Huckleberry had dared to wander from the nest for a while. Mama had gone off for now and she had been left alone with the gem that would become Cloudberry. But simply staring at the gem of a creature she'd killed had been too much. She needed some air. Think about some things.

It seemed that whatever clarity brought by the fight between her and her mother had gone now, replaced by her usual jumbled, shifting thoughts that drove her crazy - but she usually didn't remember it anyways. Once a thought had passed, it was gone and Huckleberry didn't even try to remember it. How could they even care about something they'd forgotten?

They hobbled along the edge of the river, lifting their feet high and stomping along letting out a small giggle every so often before their face drooped. Whatever was going on in their head, even she didn't know, she didn't even remember. At one standpoint she stopped suddenly and sat down at the river. She stared, unblinking into the river before focusing on a particular fish. With a single burst of magic, its heart stopped and it floated to the surface, stone dead. It was easy to stop the lives of small animals like fish. Their hearts were weak.

Before it could be swept away, Huckleberry nabbed it and pulled it onto the shore, digging into it with large, ravenous bites, creating a horrible mess all over the place. They made strange, satisfied noises between each bite, their muzzle stained red with blood. They would regret this later, but how could they know?

Huckleberry jerked up at the sound of the voice, a few bloody pieces of fish dropping from their mouth. They stared wide-eyed at the fox approaching and many thoughts ran through their head. The first - run away. They didn't want to start another issue with Mama. The second, stay there and figure out what they want. The third, be friendly and do what they say. The last, kill. There were some other various things scattered in there, lost, forgotten. It took Huckleberry a few moments to finally settle on mildly perturbed, giving them a scathing look before turning back to their fish.

"As if me, me!, Huckleberry doesn't know how to eat. I've eaten more fish then you've caught mice." They paused to lick their lips and stare at the fox again, wrinkling their nose at the way they ate. "Why? Why why why? You don't eat the bones? The marrow, the marrow! It's yummy. And it crunches. I like the crunch of bones. Only prey bones." As if to prove their point, Huckleberry reached forward and held down the fish with their talons and grabbed the spine with their teeth. With a single tug, they wrenched the spine out of the fish's body, creating a snapping noise as it disconnected from the body.

They crunched down on the spine and gobbled it up, relishing the cracking of the bones under their teeth. Was this what Mama talked about when she liked killing? But this was a fish, a dead one, not something that could think like Huckleberry. No, Huckleberry liked to eat, not kill for fun. As if they had forgotten the fox was there, which they had, Huckleberry lunged forward and continued to devour the fish.

As she continued to munch down on the fish, the fox continued to speak and she became aware again that she was there. They paused and looked up for a moment, their eyes staring blankly at the little pup as she continued to think again. Talk to them? Introduce herself? Maybe fight them? She didn't know what to do. Or maybe...

She had a sudden idea. There was a small sparkle in her eyes as she looked back down at the fish and continued to eat. As her teeth connected to the flesh, a little bit of magic flowed into its body. She could feel it working until the meat was statically charged. She wondered if the fox would feel it. Unless they were good at lightning magic, though, probably not.

Huckleberry paused again and licked her lips, stepping away from the fish. "You can have the rest. I'm Huckleberry. Thank you for sharing." They would have pushed the fish forward, but any touch, including her own, would lead to a shock and the spell would be used up. They wanted to save this little prank for Paige.

Huckleberry laughed loudly when the dog yelped and jumped back. She threw back her head, so amused that she had fallen for her little trick that they flopped on their back and waved their wings wildly, their feet kicking in the air. Their laugh was hysterical and booming and lasted for a while before it suddenly cut off and they scrambled to their feet, tears in their eyes.

"Oh wow, you should have saw your face!" She giggled. "Are you going to play with me? Nobody ever plays with me!" She crouched playfully and sent a light spark in the fox's direction, giving a few little hops, still not really realizing that she was quite a large animal.

Huckleberry watched the fur stand up on Paige's paw and was as excited and amused as her at the display. She wanted to keep doing it, but she had a feeling that some of her other spells would be a bit too much for playing. No, she could find a good one! A good one that would make both of their furs stand up!

She wiggled playfully at Paige, a mischevious glint in her eyes. "Yeah, I saw it! Want me to make it do that again?" With a moment of concentration, Huckleberry cast the spell and static began to build in the air. She could feel the crackling of it against her fur and it stood on end in protest. She giggled as she hopped around joyfully, relishing in the feeling, despite feeling a little dizzy from all the electricity.