The snow was deadly, dark and deep -- no, wait, that was wrong. The snow was deep, deeper than anything she'd ever experienced, but the forest was the dark thing. Great twisting trees with reaching arms - some reaching for her, as she spun in place and ran, bolting, across the animal paths. Domina huffed as she ran, lifting her thin limbs through the snow - leaving drag marks from them, as well as her narrow chest. She wasn't sure yet if she was in danger or not; Domina had been running for a while, and there wasn't any sign of life in this twisting chasm of a forest. She slowed from her run as she rounded a corner, and was face to face with a great towering tree. The thick growth was standing directly before her, with no perceivable way around. "Damn it!" She wheezed through her chattering teeth; pirouetting in the snow, with her head up and eyes eagerly searching for a new route. How long had she been in this stupid forest? She couldn't remember. She couldn't remember, and it was driving her mad.


Domina bolted to one side of the tree, only to have one back leg tangle in a branch. Tripping and rolling, she scrambled to get to her paws with a pile of snow clinging to her petite face; with a shake of her head and a squeaky, childish growl, she turned around again. "You stupid trees, I'll... I'll..." Her threats petered out to frustrated silence, as Domina sucked in a chilled breath and tried another route. This time, there was at least a little leeway. The trees parted enough for her to squeeze between them, in to a trail that had a little less snow - probably a trail for rabbits or something, although she couldn't catch a scent. A few careful steps later, and she was at another impasse. The girl's ears flicked back once, and she let out a frustrated shriek that echoed through the trees.

Look Out!

A young pronghorn has fallen behind its herd and starved in the snow. +5 Health

He knew where his brother was. He just wasn't ready to see him yet. His anxiety of having to come to his brother for less than angelic reasons coupled with what he had heard about the woman at the head of the Ridgelands had left him paralyzed. Tesla would have much rather get Angier on his own, but his brother seemed to stick to the pack lands. Frustrated, Tesla decided it was probably best if he stopped hanging around the borders and started to work on finding some other, more assured way of supporting himself. Unfortunately, so far this was proving difficult. The early winter winds nagged at his coat as he trudged through the snows, desperately prodding the air with his nose in search of food.

Nothing.

Mostly he came into the forest to find some shelter from the weather, though navigating this jumble of close growing trees was proving to be a challenge. It didn't bother him too much since he didn't really have any destination in mind, but the occasional dead end still elicited an exasperated sigh. It was here at one of these dead ends, though, that he encountered something odd. Voices. They sounded close.

"You stupid trees, I'll... I'll...— "

• "— No, they told me you were dead. STAY AWAY."

Confused, the man leaned to his right and peered around the tree next to him. Before him, he saw two wolves: one was pale and one was dark. They both seemed quite upset... although the dark one was more frustrated and the pale one more... distraught. Huh. He stepped out beside the tree, "Well seems t' me she's not dead. Looks pretty lively," he said with a good natured snort, hoping to step in and diffuse the tensions. Tesla was however, quite concerned with the implications at hand here. Was this little dark wolf some sort of baddy or something? He shuddered in his long, unkempt coat.

The sound carried on the winter wind, coiling around the trees and evaporating on contact. Domina was alone with her frustration; or, she thought she was. Nearly as soon as she had exploded with noise, there was a response. A stranger's voice, shouting from the dark trees. At first she didn't know where the sound came from, and that sent Domina in to a spin. Like some kind of lost child, her tail fell and curled against her belly, and her eyes of grey widened while she looked around. Her gaze landed on a colorful stranger first; his face poked out from behind a tree, and the girl's spinal fur lifted haughtily as a greeting. Her mouth opened as if she were to speak, but he cut her off - his voice jolly, and nothing like the shrieking, shouting female voice.


"No way, I ain't dead!" Domina chortled with a small sneer upon her lip.


There was movement in the shadows, a scuffling sound, the crunch of snow by something heavy. Domina turned and finally noticed the white wolf - and oh, was she big. That was just great. Being lost was one thing, but now she was outnumbered, and both of these strangers were huge; with a snort Domina's tail relaxed and uncurled from her belly, wagging once to remove the powdered snow from the tip. Her head raised defiantly in their presence.


"And who are you?" She questioned rather pointedly, thrusting her nose in the man's direction, and then narrowing her eyes as she turned towards the white wolf. "You guys friends or something? Part of a patrol?"


Whoever they were, she couldn't trust them. Domina carefully pranced around in the snow, following the curve of the path and closing the distance between herself and the ghostly woman. She wanted to keep them both within eye-line, in case one decided to do something stupid.

That he startled this youngster was no real surprise, he had pretty much just appeared out of thin air. Though he was tempted to feel sorry for her, his sentiments were quickly altered by her threatening stance and accusations. This one seemed a bit jumpy. It was no skin off his bones. He snorted, impatiently cutting in with "Wha, nah I ner seen this gi— "

He stopped speaking suddenly when he realized that the pale, distressed woman was now mumbling something. "— Its just this place, your coat. Evil things, I-I mistook you for a wicked man I know to be dead." At this, Tesla raised a brow. A wicked man and evil things, huh? Perhaps it had been her frantic display, but the old man found himself skeptical of her claim —whatever it meant. She seemed awfully cryptic, continuing on only to offer some more confusing, vague statements and a question about some dude he didn't know. Women. Maybe it was his years catching up on him, but Tesla was quickly finding the weaker sex to be tiresome and a titch too crazy for him —the younger ones especially.

The mood of this meeting seemed like it was taking a rather depressing turn, and so Tesla decided the topic would have to be changed as quickly as it could. This stuff about evil things didn't interest him particularly. "Well," he sighed conclusively, "I woun't bother yeself bout it anymore if he's dead. An' boy do I b'lieve evil things have happen' here." He snorted again. "Jes look at the place! Bit dreary if ye ask me." His yellow eyes swung expectantly to the smaller, testy woman. "Woun't ye agree?"

The white woman was rambling things that made little sense, and only served to unnerve Domina. She flicked her ears between words; following the woman, and then the man, and to and fro until her head was starting to spin. This was all ridiculous. It had nothing to do with her. "Man? Do I look like a man to you, whitey?" Mina snarked with an incredulous look upon her face. She side-stepped some tree roots on her way towards the burly man, using him as a shield - although her pace became a bit slower when his question arose, rumbling and eager for an answer.


"Yeah whatever gramps," Mina muttered with a twitch of her nose. She lifted her head slightly and peered around the area; the darkness was indeed quite eerie, but the girl wasn't about to show off how bothersome this entire encounter was becoming. With a haughty roll of her eyes, Domina gave a soft snort and directed a comment towards the weaker of the two wolves; the pale one, who seemed absolutely rattled by something.


"Well then get your butt moving, lady! Why are you sticking around if this place is so-" The girl's eyes went comically wide, and she forced her skin to shiver - making her fur stand on end for a moment or two, "Spooooky?" Her dull eyes caught the barest light and gave a shine. With a wheezing little snicker, Domina continued to lurk around the edge of the man's peripheral vision; she kept the man and woman in sight, but made sure that the woman was farther away. She did this because, the longer they were here, the more thoroughly she could study their scent. They seemed to both know their way around this forest, so if she could just follow one of their trails, young Domina would escape this foul forest.


With effort, she held back the urge to laugh outright at the woman's misfortune.

He pursed his lips and attempted to hold back a laugh when the youngster asked if she looked like a man. To Tesla at least, she appeared to be very female right down her catty little attitude. She seemed more girl than woman though, and the comparison was plain to see when his eyes shifted back to the white woman for a moment. The dark, golden tinted wolf appeared very young to him, and he hoped it was just her age left her lacking in the manners department. His good humor was knocked off his high horse, however, when the girl turned to him and made some snippy comment about his age. His lips tightened and he flicked his ear, trying to shrug it off. You're not that old, Tes. She's jes a spiteful dervish.

His conclusion was solidified when, only moments later, the girl began to tease the white woman. Atop his head, his grey ears shuffled uncomfortably. Though he found himself uninterested in the sad woman's ambiguous statements, he knew better than to outright poke fun at her. Clearly the other wolf felt this way too, as she shared some choice words with her. Tesla stiffened, this wasn't really his scene. Oh. The woman had been raped. He gulped uncertainly, really hoping that no more of her story would be divulged —he didn't care to hear it. Perhaps it would be best if he left—

Oh. No, it appeared the white woman was leaving instead. He breathed a sigh of relief, feeling as though that situation could have gotten ugly pretty fast. A wheezing breath off to his side though reminded that he wasn't alone, and that the white woman hadn't left him in particularly great company. Slowly, he turned towards the scrawny thing, wondering if he would find any triumph in her expression, though it didn't matter much. He sighed. "Ye hungry? I'm hungry. I think I saw a carcass back there."