Secluded Spring play like puppies

@Lucia Sorry for such a long wait!

After meeting with Alastor for the second time, Cas had taken a day or so to rest before she took off again. This time, she'd headed east from Stonewatch Timbers, and had enjoyed a calm, relaxing walk along the way. Her leg was no longer aching with such fierceness - she'd definitely been overdoing it on the travel lately, and particularly when leaping around with that white wolf down south named Sven. But now she was feeling quite a bit better; more energetic and certainly much more in the mood to explore. She had to remind herself that, though she was doing all of this to make the most of her short life, she couldn't overdo it so much. Her goal wasn't to run herself into the ground, after all. It was to enjoy herself, and she couldn't do that with an aching pain that she did nothing to remedy. She was more than aware that there was nothing for her to do about the illness itself, but running for nearly two months straight was not at all good for her. She decided to just take things slow from this point forward - in the travel aspect, of course. She'd be happy to hunt or roughhouse with any other wolves she happened to meet. She didn't think that would be a big deal, because it was more the prolonged, vigorous exercise that seemed to do real damage. The little wolf inhaled a deep breath as she walked through the undergrowth, ignoring any and all feelings of claustrophobia she was experiencing as she picked her way down toward the scent of water. She frowned, noticing the vines, all frosted over with a thin layer of ice and hanging down low to skitter across the ground and leading toward the banks of a beautiful, small spring. It was picturesque and gorgeous, and Cas carefully stepped her way over vines and under bushes until she reached the edge of the pool. There, she stood, marveling at the enchanting beauty of the thing.

Lucia had her own fascinations with the Spring that was the main water source for her pack. While their territory did not encompass the entirety of the bowl's expanse, she still very much thought the whole thing to belong to them, to her. And thus, every time she was out of bounds but smelled the stench of stranger so close to the Spring, she just had to investigate.

The more and more of Winter that she experienced, the better she became at navigating the drifts of snow and brittle, iced-over growth that remained. Pranks pulled on both @Ryker and @Aleris primed her for sneaking, and with this expertise she esperanced that she could get the upper paw on this stranger as well.

When the other wolf came into view, Lucia had will her tail to be still. She was so small, she had to be her age, right? The runt figured she would like this girl, but that wouldn't spare her from the sneak attack she'd planned and worked so hard to keep under wraps. After all, she was already so close...

Just a few steps more...

"rrrrAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

The Notch pup roared as she broke cover, launching herself bodily at the other girl with forelimbs spread and a maniacal grin on her boxy muzzle.

Holy fudge Lucia is adorable

If there was one thing Cas hadn't expected at a peaceful, beautiful place like the springs before her, it was to hear a battle cry behind her, and to turn slightly only to see a black figure descending upon her like death itself. It didn't occur to Cas to be afraid, and instead of immediately fighting back, she rolled with the attack and attempted to use her own weight to steamroll the dark-furred creature - wolf? she wondered - into the snow. However, before she could do anything to hurt her assailant, Cas got a noseful of the scent of very young wolf; just a puppy, really. Her eyes widened in surprise as she stared up at the black pup, whom she had allowed to pin her into the snow. And then, unable to hold it back, the silver-and-red wolf burst into surprised laughter, her blue orbs meeting the pup's gentle golden ones. "That was great! I wasn't expecting that at all," she laughed, still allowing the pup to keep her pinned to the snow. "Am I intruding on your territory, kiddo? What's your name?" Okay, so this pup was nearly her size, but she was still obviously way younger, and Cas adored puppies. Particularly crazy puppies who liked to play fight and wrestle and sneak up on unsuspecting strangers. There was no doubt in her mind that she would get along with this little wolf.