It's time to raise the curtain

The girl startled at the sound of a voice, she'd been too busy muttering curses under her breath and scratching at the thatches of grass in which mice might nest to notice the looming beast bearing down upon her. Her front legs splayed and dipped low and her head whipped to look over her shoulder, ears back and teeth bared. She wouldn't let her genuine fear show, short fur bristling in warning... for all the good it would do her. He wasn't just big, he was huge... but he also could have stepped on her and snapped her spine for all the attention she was paying so maybe he wasn't going to eat her up in one bite... yet.

Cricket swung her back end around, the movement rapid and twitchy, like a grasshopper jumping off a blade of grass right before a frog managed to munch it down. Her expression morphed from fierce to sour, a distrusting look clear on her face. Now that she could see the other wolf, she realised he wasn't exactly in the best shape either. Her ears unfolded from the flat of her neck, curiosity quickly taking hold, her expression growing more bland by the second. He smelled like other wolves too, so what was he doing out here? “Whatsittoyer?” she shot back sardonically. “Y'don't look like you could catch much either at the moment.”

“Speech”