hot, dry and hot

“You aren’t seriously going to jump, are you?” The young she-wolf’s large ears pricked up as an incredulous voice rang out behind her, interrupting her absorption in her surveying of the falls.

Bellamy stood up and whirled around, droplets of water flying out of her tan coat. Curious green eyes settled on a tall, lanky male cloaked in chocolate and rust-coloured markings. The stranger’s eyes were a striking aquamarine, and her first thought was that damn, he was kinda cute. A little older than her, though. Less cute was the stern look of disapproval that twisted his features, as well as his bossy and superior tone, which immediately ticked Belle off. “You’re right, it isn’t your business.” She shot back as he continued, evidently salty at his attack on her judgement.

The yearling’s gaze returned to the falls momentarily, cocking her head slightly as her eyes considered the steps of rushing water. “I was gonna depth check it first!” She admitted contemptuously, rolling her eyes at the stranger as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Bellamy didn’t consider herself to be a rookie in this stuff, after all.

She looked back to the falls, eyes carving out the path she’d been planning to her pond of choice; it would be a pretty easy scramble up and across to the pool she was eyeing off, no jump required. Though it was around halfway up the disjointed steps of falls, the water looked calm enough to swim in without getting swept over the edge, water rushing through the cracks between rocks that lined the pool. “Look, rusty, there’s no issue in checking it out. Worst comes to worst it’ll be too shallow, I’ll still have a pool with a view.” Belle continued with a small shrug. “If you really wanna be captain safety, come up and check it out with me.” She added, a cheeky grin spreading across her maw.

With that, she stepped back out of the shallows and back onto dry land, droplets of water cascading from her paws. She began to pick her way up the steep slope running parallel to the falls in a winding path, not too bothered to check if he was following her. It wasn’t her fault if he was gonna be a killjoy, she thought. Her movements up the steep terrain were practiced and smooth, wiry form obviously no stranger to exploring this kind of tricky landscape.