She didn't bother getting up as he approached. Something about this land made her feel so... safe. Chickadee hadn't yet come across a single soul who meant her harm. Far from it, everyone she had met had been impossibly kind and thoughtful. She'd never experienced such selfless cordiality in all her life!

His barking seemed quite effective at getting the birds to stay away, and Chickadee cocked her head approvingly, looking at this handsome night-sky stranger from her upside-down position. As he sat back, Chickadee rolled over onto her feet and shook the snow from her coat. Sitting back on her haunches, it was then that she noticed that the stranger had the most chillingly alluring eyes she'd ever seen...

She furrowed a brow, tilting her head one way and the other as she attempted to discern how, exactly, the stranger was able to see. A question began clouding her face, but just as her lips parted and the first syllable slid to the tip of her tongue, he broke the silence.

Oh heavens, she liked him already. Chickadee's tail wagged happily in the snow, and she followed his gaze as he sent a final warning in the birds' direction.

A silence crept over them again, and right about then Chickadee realized with a dawning horror that she had let slip a most graceless little giddy laugh.

...Oh my god, did I just giggle?!

Sweet merciful heavens! Behold, the most widely feared predator of the land, teeth sharp as knives and a killer thirst for blood; listen as the fearsome beast peels back her lips and... titters like a little squirrel!

Mortified beyond comprehension, Chickadee raised one of her large forepaws and hooked it over her muzzle (which had begun to flush red with humiliation).

Returning her paw to the ground, she took in a deep breath and set her brows low over her bright eyes, as if she had resolved to mend this complete and utter disaster of a first impression. Things couldn't get much worse, could they?

Oh, but things always can get worse..

Now she would be nothing more than a joke to him. He wanted to know her name. For a moment, Chickadee considered lying -- perhaps telling him that she was a miss Abbey Whiteshadow, or hell even Lulu or Patty would have been better than the truth.

But no, she'd never been good at lying. Quite frankly, she was an atrocious liar. There was no hope; evidently the gods had determined that her humiliation was not quite complete.

Her face, always betraying the emotions she wished most to keep hidden, fell into an expression of complete defeat, though a smile tugged playfully at her lips. The irony was not lost on her -- though she'd never admit it, some part of her deep inside continued to giggle like a madwoman.

"Er uh... I'm..." The smile was fighting to break through, threatening to dismantle her expression of sheepishness. She did her best to hold it back. "My name's.. Chickadee." Then it was hopeless; she couldn't hold back any longer. A grin bloomed over her face when she said her own name -- a cheesy sort of grin that brightened her whole face and absolutely refused to be smothered away. She shook her head, grinning down at her own paws in a last-ditch effort to hide her face, and sighed. "Chickadee."

---

CHICKADEE
^{you're not alone}