if these wings could fly for the rest of our lives
There was a hint of skepticism upon the young woman's features as she regarded the ivory bear in front of her. He was, she decided, exceedingly clean. Far cleaner than any sort of trash digger surely would be - right? Maybe he was one of those super posh people, like Arlo's Mr. Chocolate man? She'd hardly missed that certainly appalled sound to that foreign accent and yet, the man's goading words quite nearly went over the small bear's head. It wasn't that Abigail was incapable of fear, she simply hardly believed that he intended to eat her in the fashion he so claimed he would. After all, if he had intended to, surely he would have done it already, right? He just had one of those bristly exteriors. Kinda like a porcupine. They were all cute and squishy on the inside but super quilly on the outside just to keep everyone away! That flash of his teeth, however, prompted a rarely mischievous idea within the young woman's head, the girl commenting with a sort of assurance that he had something stuck in there if only for that simple fashion he so seemed to recoil in fear. It was enough to make her giggle, "I was just playing with you, porcupine!" She insisted, altogether amused with the grumpy bear. Poor guy just needed to have some fun!

It was her insistence of that nickname, of sorts, that caused her head to tilt, that almost critical gaze once again filled those hazel eyes. He? Wasn't grumpy? Whaatttt? Ohhhh, he was one of those grumpies that was insistent on not being grumpy because he was hangry, wasn't he? She understood that. Her father sometimes got hangry too. Men like to have their bellies full, that's when they were nicest. Not that Abigail really blamed them, she got a bit huffy when she was hungry too and it seemed like he hadn't eaten in forever. "Okie dokie, Mr. Man." She responded altogether brightly. She was hardly the type to argue, really, and it wasn't as if he'd actually told her his name....he hadn't right? She'd been paying pretty close attention! It was, in fact, this assurance of his hungriness that caused the girl to let that conversation linger upon his intentions to find food, the girl rather abruptly inquiring if she could join him on this fishing adventure.

That confirmation brought a girlish squeal to her lips, the young woman altogether ecstatic that he had decided to accept her company. This was, she was sure, the first step to achieving friendship status! Woohoo!! Abigail even eagerly took on the challenge to ride that much larger bear, the young woman scrambled up the nearest tree, that climbing was one skill she had mastered at an early age, much less her steadfast faith in herself to JUMP to...well, in this case to Mr. Grumpy Man's back. Her announcement of elation seemed to hardly prompt even the slightest reaction within her companion, though it hardly perturbed her in the slightest. Rather, Abigail flopped on his head, her far smaller one resting upon his forehead in an almost exhausted fashion. Well, her nap had been sort of interrupted a little. Even despite her own tiredness, the young woman was wholly attentive her companion, that strange pet name effortlessly picked up on, even if she was unaware that it was exactly that. His explanation caused her head to tilt to the side ever so inquisitively. "Little....bit." She repeated. "What's it mean?" Surely it had to mean something....right? Unless it just meant that she was a little bit of a bear. Maybe it was kind of fitting for her....

Those inquiries of what had brought her out here, much less why she was alone was answered with absolute honesty. Lying, she knew, was particularly bad and, as it was, Abigail hardly viewed the fact of her state of being alone as nearly that bad of a thing. It just was a thing. His assurance that he knew the feeling well, however, caused the young woman to pause, her paw reaching out to lightly bat the man's nose from above. "Well! You're not alone now! Cause I'm here!" She announced, that infectious optimism eternally present in the young woman, even despite her own frequent solitude. That mention of their shared loneliness, however, was hardly regarded with any further thought as the young woman announced those school finals she had only just completed. She was almost caught off guard, really, by that sudden interest within the man at the mention of them. He was the first one who really seemed intrigued by her education, even if he was just being polite. "I'm a plant biology major. Today was the final for Introduction to Plant Biodiversity and Evolution...and my Organic Chemistry classes." A soft sigh left her lips at even the mention of those courses. They had been difficult but, she was fairly confident of those marks she'd earn on her final exams. After all, she'd studied super duper hard on them.

She was wholly surprised that her grumpy bear man had decided to actually share with her his own day's experience, that mention of work was a topic that Abigail all too easily latched onto. "What do you do?" She inquired, entirely attentive to those British lyrics. After all, she could hardly imagine him in any sort of lame calm job, he seemed more...upper classey maybe. He probably had a super stressful job and that was why he felt like he needed to go all inner beasty. Still, Abigail hardly argued with his assessment, the girl simply nodding as if she entirely understood what that was like.

It was the bubbling of that water that caught her attention as the pair neared that brook, that exclamation of their deal caused a firm nod of her head. She was gonna catch a FISH! She slid rather unceremoniously down that ivory head, that small show of consideration on Mr. Grumpy man's part was certainly appreciated, even as the little panda waddled towards the water. She settled down at the edge of that creek, her tail flopping occasionally to the side. For several moments, she simply watched as those fish swam by, at least, until Abigail picked one that was hers. Quite at the last moment, the young girl lurched forward, pouncing on that swimming fish quite like a cat than a bear. There was a girlish giggle on her lips as she chased those fish several feet downstream, only to turn around with the inclination to try again. It was likely undoubtedly clear within those moments of such blatant 'play' that Abigail knew absolutely nothing of how to catch one of those slipper wet critters for herself - not one bit.