She was the first to awake that morning. The pack had piled in the den the night before in anticipation of the winter storm they'd each scented plainly on the air. Pip had settled herself closest to Veho, but otherwise isolated herself from the rest of the pack as much as the small space would allow. The mute female was still struggling with the loss of her fellow sea wolves from the pack and preferred to keep to herself while healing so as not to disrupt the daily goings-on of her packmates.

It was abnormal for the others to not be even stirring yet and Pip surmised she must be up far before sunrise. She could find no hint of light. Was it still dark outside then? Quietly, the girl stood and tip toed to the entrance of the den only to find it blocked by snow. Her ears fell back worriedly and she gave a tentative scratch at the wall barring her path. Thankfully, the snow gave way readily and blasted icy wind into her face. Digging a bigger hole, Pip slipped free and found herself surrounded by deep snow drifts.

Using the familiar branches above as a guide in direction, the small wolf trudged her way slowly towards a small outlet of the large river that fed the densite. What she found of said water - buried beneath heaps of snow - was frozen solid. Would the river be the same? But already her small frame was trembling with the effort it had taken to get this far. Relenting, she chirped out for alert her packmates that it was time to wake and something was amiss.

It was happening again, she realized with rising anxiety. And this time, Niq'x and Blitz weren't here to protect her. While the mute had been at the sharp end of Ophelia's tongue before, she'd never been bitten by her. The muzzle grab left Pip trembling with more than just the effort the snow had taken to clear. Her scent was drenched in anxiety, ears falling flat against her skull and tail tucking quickly. Most distressing was the pup's apparent lack of acknowledgement of her submissive nature. It should have been unnatural for her, an adult, to want to show her throat to a pup, but she certainly felt the need now. Old habits died hard.

In pleading, soft orange eyes flickered to the wall of snow barricading them in and blocking their path to the river and any of its smaller outlets. The subtle clue was lost on the irritable pup who only sniffed and looked down her nose at her.

Pip flinched at the arrival of another packmate. A quick glance was all that was needed for her to recognize Veho's new Second. Despite being a new member himself, Tomen was too young yet to be of more significant status. The omega lowered herself even further to the ground when his growl lashed out. Even if it wasn't meant for her, she'd rather not become the center of his attention when he sounded so mad.

Eeep! she thought nervously when he approached, eyes downcast at the ground to prove she had no intention of challenging his authority. Pip blinked with surprise when he only licked at her head. Her tail unfurled from between her legs long enough to give a few lowly sweeping wags before stilling. She risked a glance up and saw no anger there for her. Phew.

With Ophelia no longer hovering over her, Pip took a few stilted steps towards where she'd grown too tired to continue on towards their water and pawed at the thick snow a few times.There was little more she could do on her own.

Maybe she should just... Nope. No escape that way. The snow was piled far too high to make a subtle escape. Any attempt would leave her packmates surely looking after her and questioning her behavior. Shrinking down into the most miserable ball was not helping either. More and more tension piled high and Pip shouldered every bit of it. Even if she hadn't been the cause of it, she likely would have felt some responsibility anyway. But knowing that this entire situation snowballed from her waking the others up left the small mute feeling sick with anxiety.

She had to fix this.

Despite the cold, Pip began panting heavily. This was not how she imagined this morning's problem being solved. All the bickering was completely unexpected.

Though she was weary from digging out so much before the others woke, with trembling, exhausted limbs, Pip went back at it in the hopes that others would begin picking up the hint and help her tunnel towards the mouth of the river. It usually ran too fast and too wide to freeze over like the smaller rivulets that it fed like the one near the mouth of the den.