Mice? The mongoose tilted her head to the side, confused for a moment. Hmm, she'd never thought about eating mice nor had she ever tried. Perhaps she should get on a new diet, one that didn't exist primarily on insects. "Never had a mouse..." A mischievous grin appeared on her face. "Perhaps when I beat you, you can go catch me one, eh?" The little noodle laughed aloud herself. Challenges were so much fun! As was being competitive, she was quickly finding out.

Fang watched his tail wagging for a moment before she mirrored it. Was this some sort of affirmation or show of good will? Perhaps it was. "Of course, I have! Just had to make sure, ya see? That should be an oath of our kind, 'ain't never scared'!" The little female gave a resolute nod of her head. "Ain't never scared" she liked that! She'd have to remember it for later on. "You win? Ha! Those first two challenges were flukes, buddy. This one is the real challenge who decides who's the most noodle-y for the day! " She didn't know where that word came from but she liked it and felt it fit both of them.

The mongoose herself turned her attention to the tree root and after she rubbed her forepaws together, ran straight towards it.

Unlike her companion she managed to leap and make the jump to the top of the tree root whereupon she gave a brief pause to lick her tongue out before continuing on. The race had begun!

---

words: 256
tagged: Fisher
ooc: Awesome! >3 I think we can do a roll for all three then add it up at the end.
muse: 5/10

"Talking looks like this."
Thinking looks like this...

Fang offered to catch a mouse if he won, something that sounded like the absolute best thing. He definitely couldn't lose now! Though, if he did, he'd have to catch her one-- but even that would be pretty fun. He liked hunting mice almost as much as eating them, unless a snake got in the way. That was the worst. "Aw yeah, Noodles ain't scared of Nothing!" He barked in agreement, wagging his tail as he managed to get his way on to the root finally.

"And I'm definitely a better noodle, Tiny-Noodle!" He taunted-- Fisher was an expert at distracting others with insults during competition. It was a bit underhanded, but the thrill of competition always got to his head. His claws sunk into the root as he braced himself for the rest of the race.

Next up was the rock. With the boulder in his sights, the noodle wriggled on the tree root and then dove, rushing off towards the rock. He had to beat out the Mongoose! No matter how much his paw ached...

;; post roll

And it seemed like he got into the rhythm of it! The brown noodle shot off like a bullet, a blur of dark fur along the earth to the rock. He scrambled up on to it with ease, eyes bright. "Hurry up, Fang!" He barked, his tail lashing this way and that to get his balance just right as he got himself ready for the final hurdle. He would win this race, he would! He didn't dare look at his opponent as he had pelted forward-- she would only distract him after all.

Time to see who the best noodle was!

That's right! They weren't scared of anything! The mongoose smiled as she ran for the glory of the mouse! And just for running in general. The taunt that the fisher threw her way caused the mongoose to turn her head and lick her tongue out at him. This distraction however must have messed with her because when she turned her head she ended up tripping over her paws. She rolled for a minute and fell to the ground, she was unhurt though and managed to pick herself back up and keep going but now she was behind Fisher. "Nu-uh! I'm the better noodle 'cause I'm smaller more petite and pretty!" The yellow mongoose called back undeterred. If he wanted to distract her then two could play at that game.

The mongoose laughed as she chased after the brown large-noodle, chasing after him and trying to regain the ground she'd lost. After the fisher she made it to the rock and then turned to head to her new destination. The Fern! Which would be their last destination and decide who would be the winner and who had to hunt for the other.

---

words: 204
tagged: Fisher
ooc: ---
muse: 5/10

"Talking looks like this."
Thinking looks like this...

Fisher perched on the rock, his eyes focused on the fern that his brand new rival / noodle friend had pointed out, tensing his muscles. Like a slinky, his muscles coiled up inside of him, ready to spring forth. His pelt rippled as he took a deep breath, hearing the mongoose scuttle up beside him. Right. He had to jump, he had to win!

Yet just before he leaped, he felt a strange tug holding him back. Part of him wanted to lose so he could go catch a mouse. For once in his life, the Fisher wasn't focused on winning... For once, Fisher thought he would be okay winning or losing. So as he kicked off of the rock, a feeling of peace-- a feeling of simplicity filled him.

Fang was too much fun to be around to be angry if he lost. So what if he had to go catch a mouse! He was super good at catching mice. He could show her how to do it--

-- His paws hit the fern and he sank his claws in, but he fell through the fern and hit the ground, rolling and tumbling into the giant leafy plant with a burst of chattering laughter. He laughed and laughed, his eyes squished together as he tried to untangle his paws and long, wiggling body from the mess of green.

Did he win? He didn't even know. He didn't even care. Flashing a grin, he looked around for his noodle companion.

The vixen was right behind the fisher, leaping right after he did. This was it! This would determine who was the better noodle! Fisher grasped onto the fern but fell through while she landed easily on top with room to spare. With her miniscule weight the thing hardly even dipped beneath her. "Ha!" She said enthusiastically. "I win!" The mongoose laughed triumphantly. "Hear that, Fishy?" The little creature looked down from her perch to see her companion laughing. What on earth was so funny? He'd just lost the race!

But he'd had fun doing it. Perhaps that's why he was laughing. Now that she thought about it... She'd had fun too! Fisher wasn't a half bad guy! It would be fun playing with him and doing competitions to see who was the better noodle! With another laugh she looked down at the Fisher and leaped, landing squarely on his back. Since she didn't even break ten ounces yet she highly doubted that she'd hurt the fisher so she just laughed down at him, using her paws to tickle his ears. "You heard that, Big-Noodle? You gotta catch me a mouse! Hop to it!" Her voice was positively giddy as she informed him of his duty.

---

words: 205
tagged: Fisher
ooc: ---
muse: 5/10

"Talking looks like this."
Thinking looks like this...

The mongoose confirmed it-- she had one! Her dainty form seemed to take to the light, weak fern a lot better. His eyes flashed to meet her red-orange fur as it landed, plop, on top of him. "I hear ya, I hear ya, Lil' Noodle!" He replied with his huffy, barking laugh. "I'll go get a mouse, you just pay attention, all right? Watch a master do it."

Because Fang had one, he wriggled out from under her with a few gentle bats of his paws to shove her off-- though to be fair the fisher cat longed to stay right there, snuggling up with a fellow noodle-- and he bounded off back towards the tree, sniffing about with curiosity.

The sweet, tender scent made his mouth water. Savory hints of mouse flitted through the air, so close, so teasing to his senses. He lowered his noodly form to the ground and crept towards the source, where a few more ferns lay, and spotted the tiny prey nibbling at a bit of grass that had managed to grow by the ferns.

He had found his quarry... Now he just had to catch it to impress today's "Best Noodle". Though, to be fair, he had one the climbing and tied with the worm nabbing, so really they were more even than anything. His tail twitched, slightly, as he determined how he would catch the mouse before him. So far, the cute thing hadn't even seen him yet. It was perfect.

Yay! It was time for mice! She had to admit that catching a mouse was something she'd never done before, nor was it something she knew how to do. So she was content to "watch a master" do the catching before trying it later on herself. Admitting such things easily wasn't something that she did though and instead of giving an enthusiastic "okay" she smirked and said teasingly, "A master, eh? We'll see about that!" With a giggle she rolled off of his back when he started batting at her. She parted with a few playful nips at his paws.

The mongoose leaped up to a nearby rock where she would have a good view of Fisher's technique. She thought she could feel her diamond tooth tingling for a moment but she must have been mistaken as the sensation quickly stopped. Now she was focused intently on what the fisher was doing. It seemed as if he was using his nose to sniff things out which made perfectly good sense to her. The mongoose used her own nose to sniff and just thought she could catch the whiff of something near them.

Fisher was heading straight towards the base of the ferns. Walking slowly and carefully. He seemed to be preparing to pounce, sort of like she did when she caught bugs. The little mongoose was anxious to see how to catch a mouse or what exactly a mouse was for that matter. Her tail started to wag with excitement as she crouched on her little perch, waiting.

---

words: 258
tagged: Fisher
ooc: ---
muse: 5/10

"Talking looks like this."
Thinking looks like this...

Fisher held his position, considering his options. A shock would be too obvious-- he was trying to show her how to hunt and he couldn't show her using magic she (probably) didn't have. So instead he would have to go for a more subtle option. He tried to change the pulse of the mouse's heart, holding his breath. If he could slow it, or even stop it, then the mouse would be easy to catch.

The last thing Fisher wanted to do was miss his pounce and have to chase the mouse around, so hopefully his magic worked. The little gem on his back glowed faintly as he narrowed his eyes, the muscles in his legs coiled and ready to spring. His tail twitched again as he crept forward carefully, oh so carefully...

And before him, the mouse seemed to fall asleep. With a wicked grin, the fisher cat pounced, and in one great bound he was upon the mouse, teeth snatching at its tiny, frail neck. He held up the prize and bounced back towards Fang, proud to show off as well as give her his catch. Hopefully she liked mice just as much as he did, but if she didn't, well. He'd happily eat whatever she didn't want.

"Here you go, Fang," he grunted through his teeth, eyes bright as he tossed the dead mouse towards her. He grinned broadly, tail setting into a vicious wag like a dog who had brought home a duck that his master had shot. "Enjoy!"

The mongoose continued to watch the fisher. Absorbing every single little detail so that whenever she had to hunt she could perform the techniques flawlessly or close to flawlessly. No one could ever do anything right the first time, no matter how much they bragged and said they could. The fisher's technique must have been close to perfect though because the mouse didn't even move, not even when he neared! Wow! His steps must have been super quiet! Despite herself the mongoose was impressed but that facial expression of hers didn't change. She just watched as Fisher pounced and killed the mouse with a bite.

He brought the kill over to her and sat it down in front of the mongoose. In that moment for the first time in her life she felt like a real queen! A satisfied smile plastered onto her face as she looked down at the prize. "Much obliged, Big-Noodle." The mongoose hopped from her perch down to the fisher's level. Or rather, below his level since she was so little. Then, as if it was an afterthought she said, "Good job with the huntin'. You've got ah-- good... technique." Technique? Was that the word she was looking for? Eh, sounded good enough.

The mongoose placed one paw on the mouse to keep it still while she tore of a chunk of flesh to try. It wasn't half bad! You could tell with the way her tail wagged and her satisfied grunts that she was quite pleased with her meal. After she was all done the mongoose looked to Fisher happily, tongue running around her mouth. "That was good!" She sat back on her haunches and cleaned her mouth and paws fastidiously. "A close second to insects, I'd say." With a laugh she attempted to bump his shoulder with her own playfully.

---

words: 306
tagged: Fisher
ooc: ----
muse: 5/10

"Talking looks like this."
Thinking looks like this...

Fisher felt absolutely, one hundred percent overwhelmed with pride as he watched her happily munch down the meal he had expertly dispatched for her. His tail wagged along with hers, enjoying the delicious smell of the meal overwhelm him. It took a lot not to snatch the mouse back, but the fisher cat did have some manners. His head tilted to one side as she finished, licking her lips and her paws clean.

"Nyah, mice are tons better than bugs," he argued with a shrug, but he was happy enough to let her believe what she wanted he supposed. Right now he was definitely starving though, which mean he would have to run off and find another mouse to chomp down on before she tried subjecting him to worms or worse. Flashing a grin as she bumped shoulders with him, he quickly ninja'd a lick of her ear before bounding off, tail waving like a flag in the wind.

"That's right, I'm the best mice catcher ever! And next time we meet, I'll be way faster than you, so let's have another race, got it? Next time you'll be catching me a snack!" He barked back at her, fleeing down the tunnel. It was a brief goodbye, but that was how the mustelid lived. Make as many friends as possible and linger around them for as short as possible-- he was a lone wolf, and he didn't need any pretty foxy mongoose tangling him up and keeping him around her like glue. No way, man!

"See ya!!"

;; fisher exit~