Secluded Spring tighten the veil

It was snowing again. Days had come and gone with the ever present sight of snow, the tempo of its downpour alternating with each rise of the morning sun. Today it was a light downpour, littering his tawny coat in sprinkles that resembled dust as he moved fluidly from the Thicket of Secrets toward the Secluded Spring. He was in search of water, a far fetched request considering that the weather hadn't risen above freezing since he'd entered the Lore, but visiting the land was always worth a shot. His quick trot turned into a full out run as cold air filled his lungs, stabilizing his energy to propel his legs through the fresh layer of five feet of snow.

His wide paws gripped the ground they landed on, moving him steadily along the path through Ghastly wood and through a fork in the road toward the Secluded Spring. It wasn't until his golden hued eyes landed on the likes of the snowed over spring, miles long in length, that he paused in stride and allowed himself to survey the area. Everywhere was quiet, the closest sound came from his breathing as he inhaled and exhaled deeply a final time to catch his breath. He was no where near tired, his body was built for traveling and many miles of continuous running, but he needed refreshment that he could not reach. The lake was completely frozen over, cracking lightly from his weight but by no means budging from the inches of thick ice beneath it, therefore he scratched at it lightly in a attempt to remove some of the ice and scoop it into his mouth. His nails scrapped up an inch, enough to tease him for more, though he greedily ate it up, licking his lips as though it had a taste. Powder covered the hairs along his mouth and he shook violently in an attempt to throw it off--momentarily he was at it again, scratching at the lake and licking up his reward.

(This post was last modified: Apr 21, 2014, 02:23 PM by Datura.)

Arla and Emma are the ish and made my pretties!
Koda will most likely always be accompanied by Chiron unless otherwise stated, or requested.

The cub still hadn't quite recovered from the tiring journey down the mountainside with her family, and the harsh weather and scarcity of food did nothing to help. Occasionally, Nova would stop, swaying unsteadily on her lanky limbs as she checked her bearings. She kept the ghastly forest at her tail and the mountain at her right, the summit of which was obscured in a thick blanket of cloud. Already Nova was exhausted, but the aching of her stomach gave her the motivation she needed to push past slick ice and tall snowdrifts in her search for anything edible.

Nova squinted into the distance, seeing a large wolf eating... something? She quietly whined, unsure if it would be alright to ask if the stranger wouldn't mind sharing. Nova could only imagine her sister would jump upon such an opportunity, but Nova wasn't so sure if she could do such a thing herself. The girl could hardly remember the last time she had eaten something substantial, and had been resorting to chewing on treebark or gnawing on evergreen leaves, which usually just gave her a stomach ache. The thought of what sort of meaty victual that this stranger might be eating was nearly intoxicating.

It only took another hunger pang to set Nova's paws back in motion, scuffling through the chest deep snow towards the spring. The frozen surface hidden beneath a veneer of powder needed more care in navigating, and slowly she approached the male. He was much bigger up close, and she held back a giggle at the comical sight of the white snow clinging to the wolf's face and whiskers. Just as soon as she smiled however, it was gone, replaced with barely concealed disappointment. There was nothing to eat, and Nova was starting to doubt that there ever would be.

Thanks for joining, finally I get to meet another pup! :D Is it my coding or your coding thats stretching the board?

The snow melted away quickly in his mouth, teasing him and the dying thirst that ate away at is throat but he continued on until he was content, his salmon colored tongue turning slightly pinker from the cold. Clicking his mouth together to warm his tongue, he gazed over the horizon in the mean time to spot Nova approaching him from the right side, she looked to be nearly adult size but hardly a threat considering her size. She was thin, like so many wolves he'd come to meet since his return, and he knew it would surely continue as long as Winter kept them in its grasp. It wasn't until Nova was within a feet of him that he licked away at the snow along his whiskers, increasing his sensitivity to the cold wind, before he acknowledged her presence. "Hello, did you come looking for water as well?" he asked, noticing the look of disappointment in her eyes. He was well fed, partially because he kept his travels to a minimum which allowed him to keep the fat on his bones, but that could only last so long, he wondered with the sparse amount of prey on the land, if he could keep the bulk he carried on his bones.

Turning on his toes, a thought of where this woman had come from came to mind. He only hoped that this thin woman hadn't wasted energy in search of water that looked to have been frozen over for days, he only wished he could get some kind of water without using so much energy to get to it. "The weather here has changed so much from what I remember...is this your first winter?" he wondered to the young woman, probably guessing that this winter was the first, and worst that she had ever encountered.

(This post was last modified: Jan 07, 2014, 06:38 PM by Koda.)

Arla and Emma are the ish and made my pretties!
Koda will most likely always be accompanied by Chiron unless otherwise stated, or requested.

It was a little bit daring on her part to just approach this wolf, not knowing his temperament, but so far he seemed alright to her. Nova mutely shook her head at the large male's first question. She did miss water, how it glittered in the sunlight and splashed under her paws, and it quenched her thirst in a way mouthfuls of snow or ice could not. But it wasn't water she was looking for right now, and she would easily trade all the water in the world just for something she could sink her teeth into.

He asked a second question, and this time she nodded instead. "Yeah, it is... Are they all like this?" She asked him. She had nothing else to compare to, and while she had the sense that the hushed tones the adults used and the sad, worn looks on their faces that this was something outside of the ordinary. "It's so bad that we had to leave the mountain so we wouldn't get trapped and stave," she elaborated, not entirely sure they had truly escaped starvation as things seemed nearly as bad down here. She knew that she was supposed to keep the location of their home, or what used to be their home, secret. But she could no longer return to the pass, to climb the dusty mountain ledges and sleep in the cool breeze that channeled through the cliffs. That place was no longer home now, and she had no idea if she would ever return to it.

Look Out!

There is a rabbit's nest nearby. +1 Health

"No, none of the winters that I've lived through have been this cold and unforgiving." he spoke, letting his ears fall slow to his skull, emphasizing his point to the young woman who no doubt would experience many more winters then he would. He could remember the lakes freezing over, the was normal, but the temperature seemed much more extreme then he remembered, bitterly cold to the point that only a fool would dare venture during night without the sparse warmth from the sun. He only hoped that prey would return soon, he couldn't recall them leaving so quickly before the pack had a moment to prepare; he only hoped Secret Woods had saved some food for the hard times.

He could tell the woman wanted nothing but food in her belly, like so many wolves he was coming across, and he wanted nothing more then to make her hunger go away but even superheros were stuck between a rock and a hard place--he stared momentarily into her eyes before looking out into the distance. He understood the logic the adults of her pack had for leaving their mountain home, winter was always unpredictable especially on such high levels, remaining on the mountain would surely kill more wolves then it would save. "I'm sure that your new home is safer then the mountain, it's too dangerous to remain in high elevations, especially with winter being so harsh this early." he explained, feeling the pang of thirst at is throat once more, but he dismissed the feeling in respect to his conversation with Nova. "have you eaten at all since you left your old home?" he wondered, not knowing how long this young woman had been without food. He only hoped that their pack was able to build caches before it was too late. Once the words left his mouth he caught whiff of rabbit in the wind and turned his head in the direction it had come, could there possibly be food for them afterall?"

(This post was last modified: Jan 14, 2014, 06:10 PM by Koda.)

Arla and Emma are the ish and made my pretties!
Koda will most likely always be accompanied by Chiron unless otherwise stated, or requested.

btw I think the formatting error is in your first post, it seems to fall apart there :)

Nova was used to listening to her elders, and so payed careful attention as the male spoke. She sure that he contained some of the same sort of wisdom that Mapplethorpe did, and wasn't let down when Koda told her of winters past and the dangers of the heights, nodding in agreement with him. Then he asked her if she had eaten since then, and she frowned slightly, having to think hard to remember when the last time had been. The pack took something down when they first arrived in the lowlands, but Nova had missed out. The hungry pack had devoured nearly everything, just leaving Nova stringy meat and bonemarrow to gnaw on. "Not really, no," she sighed. "I missed the pack hunt, and there just wasn't enough to go around." That was the fact of life for her now and she didn't have any room to be bitter about it when everyone was suffering, that there just wasn't enough of anything. Not enough food, not enough water, not enough warmth.

Nova caught the scent of rabbit, nose upturned and sniffing furiously into the wind. "Do you smell that, too?" She asked, looking up to Koda with a glint of light in the gold of her eyes. "Lets go get it!" She declared, for once seeming her age rather than beyond her years as she bounded in the direction of the scent.

Her claws dug into the ice as she ran towards the treeline, the black-tipped ears of a white snowshoe hare visible against the snow. The rabbit noticed her, darting towards its warren but not making it in time, with Nova seizing it by the back. Before she could even think about it she was shaking the thing, the hare's body going limp in her jaws. She set the hare down, waiting for Koda even though her stomach was snarling at her to gobble down the warm meat before her. She wanted to eat it, but wasn't sure that she actually deserved it.

(This post was last modified: Feb 02, 2014, 02:24 AM by Nova.)

Okay, for some reason my coding keeps messing up the board, I swear I do it correctly each time, maybe I'm in a rush.

He waited for her reply, finding his attention brought to his own welfare concerning the last he had gotten to eat. It was nearly a week ago since he'd eaten anything of significant substance but he was experienced enough to dismiss his pangs of hunger in order to concentrate on more important matters at hand; like tracking food for the pack, and a watering source. His first expedition had uncovered nothing more than piles of snow and frozen over lakes, he hadn't imagined for the land to be so barren this early in winter but times were changing and the ashen male was scrambling to keep up. When Nova spoke his ears perked with concern at her response, she hadn't eaten much since leaving her old home and couldn't find anything much now, there was no doubt in his mind that she were probably in worse shape then himself--but then again, he always considered his needs last. He shook his head initially in response, his ears pulling back and a look of sympathy along his features as he sought for words to console the young woman but thought against it, there was nothing an apology could fix in this situation therefore he offered none.

Relief came in the form of the smell of rabbit and instantly his head lifted to detect the stench, his eyes were laser focused on the horizon in search of the food and upon spotting the black tipped ears of the hare his body stiffened. He would not give chase, for Nova was already on the trail before he could agree to her request to go after it, and she killed it the instant her jaws met contact. She was a good hunter, probably a student of someone, and made note to congratulate her as he approached with head held high and tail wagging--a mixture of dominance and happiness for finally finding food. He was mature enough to compose the hunger cries in his stomach and settled to his haunches slowly when he was within range of the young girl whose excitement over food shown across her face. "I think you deserve this one." he mentioned with a smile, his tail dusting the snow behind him excitedly. He wouldn't dare deny a pup food in any case, especially one as polite and proper as Nova, he felt that despite their pack differences she needed the food more than he did--he could track down food another time. He was silent in wait for her to eat, acting as the body guard at her side in case someone caught the scent of rabbit and tracked it to the area, he would not let anyone scavenge from her hard earned meal and would only gain his reward if she considered sharing the small meal with him.

(This post was last modified: Feb 05, 2014, 05:07 PM by Koda.)

Arla and Emma are the ish and made my pretties!
Koda will most likely always be accompanied by Chiron unless otherwise stated, or requested.

There is a deer that was killed by a lynx nearby. +10 Health

With that little bit of encouragement from him, Nova dove straight into the hare without any hesitation. Blowing stray puffs of white fur from her nose as she dug in, she found the little critter was little more than bones and fluff. It seemed that even the prey was starving. Still, it was a welcome bit of sustenance that she quickly scarfed down. It almost made her feel giddy and for at least a moment it seemed like things might even turn out alright. After quickly gobbling down the rabbit she looked up to see Koda still silently waiting. There was a tinge of guilt that she had so selfishly eaten while another sat hungry and watching.

It seemed luck was on the duo's side today, and a waft of deer meat met her nose. She tilted her snout upwards, catching the stray scent and finding it drifting out from the surrounding forest. "Maybe there'll be enough to share this time, huh? I'm gonna go take a look, but you should come too, Mister...?" Nova left off, realizing she didn't even know the man's name. In ways, he reminded her of someone, though she couldn't quite place her paw on who. She sheepishly grinned, suddenly remembering her manners, "You can call me Nova."