Oceane had been hiding away in the murky muddy bank watching the buck as he set to playing in the weeds. She knew what he was searching for but she still thought it was odd that anyone would want to wade in the muck to look for plants. The ones he was picking and eating weren't even pretty when it came down to it. She was having a hard time getting the mud off her paws as she tried to shift her weight again and keep the mucky waters from seeping over her paws. She sighed and growled as she flicked her paws harder, finally giving up and sulking as she returned to spying.

Only unlucky for her the deer had heard the growl from her and had leaped across the river to the other bank. Though the river wasn't wide it was deep. The little girl scurried out from her hiding place and barked in anger at the fleeing deer. She shook her head as she stomped on paw and yapped at the deer, wishing that the stupid thing hadn't been so attentive while she'd been busy grumbling away about her dirty little paws.

Huffing to herself she started to dip her pretty little feet in the waters at the edge of the river, hoping to rid herself of the nasty black mud before she had to lick it off.

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-wave!- Alacrity had been halfheartedly tracking the buck for most of the morning. She was hungry, but knew that she had almost no chance to bring down the animal on her own. He was large, healthy and wary, and none of those three traits boded well for her, small-built and half-starved as she was. The wild dog's hopes had been rekindled when her quarry waded down to the river: perhaps he'd get stuck in the thick river muck. But her wishes were in vain, and she was almost trampled when an unexpected growl sent the buck charging in her direction. Well-honed instincts saved her from those sharp hooves, but her late leap missed its mark. Had she been able to grab his throat, Alacrity might have made a meal of him, after all. Alas, it was not to be, and the buck escaped with nothing more than a scratch for his troubles. Her frustration was quickly replaced with curiosity. Across the river on the opposite bank, the source of the growl materialized in the form of a partially-grown wolf. She was young, and apparently concerned with appearances. Alacrity was reminded of her younger siblings and chuckled to herself. "That's not going to work, you know." Alacrity was elbow-deep in mud herself, and knew from experience that it would take a good swim and an hour of patient grooming to return the white spots on her legs to their proper hue. Then again, perhaps the youth's darker coloration would be more kind to her.

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She had not realized how thick and clingy the muck had been when she'd perched behind the tree to spy on the buck. She was not happy as she began to discover just how strong the mud clung to her paws as she dabbed at the water harder and harder, speckling her pelt with splatters from the river as she lost her temper. Huffing to herself she squealed her annoyance at the muck and made a face as she realized just what she was going to have to do. She was not amused now at the spy game she had been playing, infact she didn't think she ever wanted to go spying on another anytime soon.

Lifting her paw close to her face she made a grimace as she was about to lick the muck from her toes as suddenly a voice called through the air. Relieved that she didn't have to start the horrible process of grooming out the muck between her toes she instantly set her paw back down and glanced around, finally catching sight of the other as she frowned. "I don't wanna lick it off either.." she whined to the stranger, at the point of believing that there was no other way of getting the nasty substance from her pelt.

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Alacrity didn't quite have the heart to tell the youth that licking the nasty muck off would probably be required, at least at some point. But if the younger female was satisfied with a slightly dirty pelt, perhaps the worst could be avoided. "How about a swim? That should get the worst off". Besides, the river was shallow here, and the current not too strong. Of course, the early season meant that the water was cold. Alacrity would feel the chill of it much more than the other - African savannas did not prepare their creatures for dealing with ice-cold snow runoff. But she would survive a short swim none the worse for the wear, and perhaps between the two of them they could find a less muddy place to exit the river. After all, it would do no good to swim the worst of the mud away, only to get coated in it again on the way out.

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(sorry for the wait. )

Oceane lowered her tongue down to take a swipe at the icky gunk as she realized that it just wasn't coming off. Luckily for her the strange lady took that moment to suggest another method to rid her paws of the nasty mud that cling so horribly to her pelt. She'd never come across mud like this before and she hoped that she never would again but she did know that she'd have to find a way to get it off before her mother figured out she'd been outside the packlands again. She wrinkled her nose as she dropped her paw down and sighed.

When she realized what the exotic lady proposed she shook her head and admitted. "I don't know how to swim.." she glanced at the woman with guilt in her eyes, like she should have known by now how to swim. She had played in water enough but she had never been brave enough to move out into deep waters. Oceane peered down at the waters as she wished now that she did know how, that would save her from a lot of trouble when she got back home.

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so sorry for the delay. work + summer school = fail Despite having plenty of younger siblings (and nieces and nephews and cousins), Alacrity was not a very good judge of age. Or more fairly put, she was a decent enough guess at age in those of her own ilk - wild dogs, jackals, and even hyenas (the latter observed from a definite distance); but still hazy on guessing the ages of the inhabitants of this land so far across the sea. In any case, it was enough to know that the other was younger, less experienced, and apparently unable to swim. Well, no matter. She might not be all that patient, but Alacrity was a decent enough teacher. "That's alright," she said, leaving the relative safety of her own riverbank for the slowly drifting stream. "I can teach you how, if you would like." She didn't wait for a response, but headed across the river toward the younger female anyway. Even if the girl refused, Alacrity's makeshift home lay in that direction.

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Oceane didn't exactly know what to think about the proposal that the strange lady was offering her but the idea was tempting none the less. She had begun to move across the waters as Oceane cast envious looks her way. She wanted to look that graceful and elegant when she was in water, instead she just always looked like a fish thrashing around on the end of a line. She had already made her decision by the time the other woman had joined her at the far bank.

She looked up to the long legged lady with the large ears as she stated shyly. "I wanna be able to swim like you can.." She didn't know much about swimming but she was determined to a tleast be able to paddle through water one day. The packlands were filled with swamps and rivers and she didn't want to feel like she was trapped every time she came to water. She wanted to be free!