[hr][center][color=808B96][color=00BFFF][h2][b]T a f f y[/b][/h2][/color]Southeastern Mir [b]-[/b] At Max's crash site[/color][/center]
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Moments before the shout from behind, Taffy took a risk to glance in the window again, and this time she [i]concentrated[/i].  Her bright blue eyes glowed with a soft yet unmistakable inner light that filled her pupils as she swept her gaze across the glass, peering through it to the inside of the small cockpit.  If there had been no window, then what she was doing now would have been completely useless through the metal of the plane's sides, but this ability of hers did work through glass, even dirty glass.  [i]No one inside, for sure,[/i] she thought to herself.  [i]That's a relie-[/i]

Then she was shouted at, and the shock of it caused her black-and-gray striped tail to puff out as she straightened up and whirled around to face the speaker.  Her focus disappeared instantly after the loud and objectionable voice had disrupted her concentration, but the illumination in her eyes remained there for a few seconds, like pinpoints of bright starlight disappearing behind the horizon, or the afterimages left on the eye after an incautious glance at the sun.

Even after the light had faded from her eyes, the glare she leveled at the dripping red-quilled Spicati in pilot's fatigues still blazed with fire.  She saw the otter boy out of the corner of her vision, running toward her, but for the moment, her sight was lined up with the hedgehog who regarded her with what she thought was a mixture of disbelief and exasperation...like he thought it had been the most obvious thing in the world that there was no one else in the plane.  Whatever else she possibly could have thought of in that first impression was burned out by her anger.

"So that's how you treat someone who's risking their life to help you?" she snarled as she hopped off the plane.  The boy at the edge of her vision faltered as he apparently sensed the shift in the situation.  She stomped forward, her shoulders tense as she "This is still dangerous!  It's dry as a bone this time of year!"  She ignored the hedgehog shake his dripping hands, demonstrating his cynicism about this remark.  "If we don't put out that fire, the whole [i]forest[/i] could light up!"

There was a terrific snapping sound as the great oak tree, that the plane had crashed into, tilted...then fell over, directly on top of the plane.  The impact shook the ground, and as the leaf-filled branches collapsed, they snuffed out the flames in a single smothering collision.  Soon, even the smoke was dissipating as its source was no longer there.  What was left of the plane tilted up on either side of the oak tree's trunk, as if giving it wings of its own.

Taffy slowly glanced over her shoulder at the sight, then looked back to see an incorrigible grin on the hedgehog's face, which she met with a dour frown.  [i]Thanks, forest,[/i] she grumbled mentally, then she huffed.  "Are you hurt?" she asked the hedgehog with a calmness that belied her frustration at being embarrassed by this circumstance.

Just as the hedgehog opened his mouth, Taffy turned away from him while saying, "'Oh, just a few bumps and bruises, but I'm sure I'll live,'" she said in a vicious mocking imitation of his voice as she turned toward the otter boy and regarded him...then she gave a start as she saw the bandages and blood, her gruffness softening in an instant.  She immediately went to him and pulled out the first aid kit from her backpack, ignoring the hedgehog and turning almost motherly toward the otter boy.  "You're hurt!  And those bandages are so messy.  Let's get you cleaned up and those bandages redone, okay?"

She shot a brief glare at the hedgehog.  "Is this the best you could do?" she snapped.  "It's amazing he hasn't gotten infected yet!"