Upon entering the orchard of cherry trees, Cas had firmly decided she'd found a new favorite place, instead of the Larkcall Lowlands. This place was absolutely perfect, with it's broad, open paths weaved through slender, elegant trees that adorned them. She only knew that these were, in fact, cherry trees, because the man who kept her captive had a few scattered around his yard. But those were nothing compared to this huge, incredible orchard, and Cas couldn't wait until spring, when they'd be ridden with beautiful, pale pink petals. Then, of course, would come the cherries, which were beautiful in their own right. Cas had no idea how they tasted, but the humans sure did like to eat them.

For now, Cas was content to just stroll slowly down the paths and pretend that the snow on the tree limbs was thousands of cherry blossoms. If she concentrated hard enough, she could even imagine that the winter sun was doing more to warm her frosted fur, and that the few drifting snowflakes that flurried down and nipped at Cas' nose were drizzles of spring rain. It helped quite a bit that the snow on the ground was patchy, and some areas showed dirt and mud underneath.

And Cas was certainly not one to pass up a good puddle of mud. Especially when she wasn't in severe pain, and she was in a particularly excellent mood.

So, she did what any immature wolf would do.

She jumped.

The first puddle that she leaped into splattered mud all the way up into the fur on her flanks, and all the way up her legs. Most of the mud was frozen, but there was plenty of it to make a mess, especially with the warmth of her paws melting the surface slightly.

Yes, it was entirely childish. Yes, it was incredibly messy. Yes, it was going to take a dip in a freaking ice-cold river to get it off. But Cas didn't care whatsoever, laughing as she slid on a patch of icy mud and getting it caked on her chest fur, and even on her face and tail. Part of the reason she didn't care about the messiness and childishness of the situation was that she was alone in the orchard, but another part of her knew that she wouldn't have cared even if an entire pack of wolves was watching.

Life was just so much better when you pretended it was spring in the wintertime.

The little wolf jumped slightly at the sharpness of the voice directed her way, and she turned her head to meet the gaze of whomever had spoken. Mud dripped off her muzzle, and she offered him a smile and a wag of her tail. "Hey, yourself," she returned, as though his own 'Hey!' had been one of simple greeting and not of a grumpy wolf attempting to get her attention. No need to match negativity for negativity, after all. Maybe all this wolf needed was a better day.

She frowned when he asked her 'Just what the hell do you think you're doing, huh? like it was somehow any of his business. It occurred to her that she could probably reply to that with something mean in return, but she chose the alternative path - cheerfulness with a slight bit of sarcasm.

"I'm having fun. You know - enjoying my day. Maybe you should try it," she offered, and trotted over to shake out her muddy pelt in an attempt to shower him with icy, wet dirt. "It's a beautiful day!"

She bounced backward, out of his reach in case he got even more pissed at the fact that she'd tried to spray him with mud. "What's your name?" she inquired, as though this were a normal conversation, and he hadn't just opened it up in an attempt to ruin her fun.

Cas snorted and shook her head. "Well, aren't you just a blazing ball of sunshine?" she asked, her tail still waving lazily back and forth. "Nothing's fun if you look at it in that perspective. You've gotta be positive, or you'll only end up making life harder for yourself." The little wolf usually wasn't very philosophical in conversations, but she couldn't help but feel bad for this man. How horrible must his life be in order for him to act like that? It must not have been kind to him.

Perhaps that was all he needed. A little kindness.

The silver-dusted female padded back up to him and moved to tap her nose to his muzzle in a genuine greeting, and stepped back. "If you won't tell me your name, then I'll just have to tell you mine. I'm Cas. Castel Noor, actually, but everyone I've ever met has just called me Cas." She offered him a smile and a wag of her tail. "Can I know what I've done to piss you off so royally, or do you treat every wolf you meet like this? To be fair, I was minding my own business, and you showed up to stick your nose in and ruin my good day."

"Not that I'm angry with you for it. A day this nice is always better to share with someone else," she ended with a smile, and pointedly hopped into another mud puddle. "All these mud puddles make it feel almost like spring!"

Cas rolled her eyes and laughed a bit. "It may be better than the alternative - being a perpetual downer who can't see any of the magic in life." She could imagine, of course, what it felt like to see the world from this man's perspective. She had seen the world that way for a long time, stuck in that cage for so long.

Maybe he was in a proverbial cage. Maybe something bad had happened to him to make him see the world in that light. The thought sent pity through the younger wolf, and her eyebrows knitted slightly. Nobody should be forced to live like that.

Her eyes lit up a bit when he said she hadn't pissed him off, and her tail set to wagging once more. "Oh, good. I was worried I'd made a bad first impression." She probably had, covered in mud the way she was. Not particularly attractive, but that was the least of the tiny wolf's worries.

She set her jaw and frowned when he mentioned how she looked, and she flicked her tail. "For your information, I'm tougher than I look. I can definitely handle a little mud and river water; it's not so bad, actually." She decided to leave out the part that she was actually sick, and kind of cold now that the mud had seeped into her fur.

She blinked in surprise at his next question, and shook her head with a slight smile. "That's a personal question, coming from someone who won't even give me his name. But, if you need to know - no, I do not have anywhere to go, or anyone to see," she replied, taking a seat on the forest floor in front of the dark man. "What about you?"

Cas groaned and rolled her eyes for what felt like the umpteenth time durin their short conversation. "I don't mean real magic. I know that stuff doesn't exist. I wouldn't even be here like this if magic existed," she told him in exasperation, eyes narrowing. "I meant it metaphorically, dumbass." This guy was really beginning to get on her nerves, and she wasn't above standing up to him, if the need arose.

Cas pointedly ignored the statement about how she hadn't made the best impression, and instead focused on his next train of thought. "I haven't done any of that yet," she reasoned with a grin, and shook off a bit more of the mud, though this time not on the man. "I'm in the business of doing whatever the hell I want, so I'm not worried about the consequences. There's really no point in it for me." That was true, at least, for her. Her lifespan was so short, it really didn't matter if she caught hypothermia beforehand.

She laughed at his claim about her being personal. "You make about as much sense to me as I must to you,""Leaving somewhere is probably a good idea; I hate staying in one place too long. Especially if I don't like it there, or if I'm not treated well." She smiled up at him. "It's pretty much soul-sucking to spend time in a place you hate. It's good to leave."