Sooo, this is life, huh?

Today she was gunna be bold. She was gunna be fearless and explore outside all by herself without her crazy siblings or her parents holding her paw. All little Rhea had to do... was leave the den.

Okay so that had kind of been a hang up so far, as she was still sitting with her paws firmly planted in the loose soil at the mouth of the family den. Big green eyes stared warily out at the waving grasses that surely held monsters of all kinds within them. Gosh, this was way more difficult than she had anticipated. Ears lay flat as a nervous whine threatened to escape. No, she couldn't start crying like a baby or her family would hear an then they'd try ta help her!

Taking a big, biiiiig breath, she poofed out her cheeks, pushed out her chest, and marched out of the den, not stopping until she could barely see it from where she was. She was sort of between the plains and thicket now, that was a good start... Now what? She was sitting there, deflating slightly, when a rather large beetle came flying straight at her face. Letting out a panicked shriek she stumbled backwards. "Waaaaah!"

Oof! Landing on her back heavily and knocking the air from her lungs, Rhea would just lay still, gazing at the shiny beetle that had managed to cling her her nose stubbornly while she made a fool of herself. It wasn't too scary after all, even kinda pretty. Huh.