Windsong Fjord You spin me right round, baby right round

For @Reyes, sorry I took such a long time getting this up ^^; 
RE: Spinning ice discs are forming within bodies of water throughout the Lore.

With it being so clear and bright out, Askan figured there wouldn't be a better time for him to try his paw again at fishing. The last time he'd tried he'd been successful, but in his eyes it didn't quite count because he'd followed another wolf's lead and the water had been awfully shallow. Like, it wasn't even to his elbow, kind of shallow. That said, he was glad that he'd managed to pluck something up, as he would have looked like a right idiot if he hadn't been able to. Then again, that hadn't stopped him from swallowing a whole lot of water and near drowning himself the first time he'd had a go at fishing. No one had been around to see that... Well the orange bitch had, but she didn't count.But today, today was going to be different. For one, he wasn't going to make a tit out of himself, and two, he was going to fish where the water was a little faster and deeper.

The fjord, with its quick current seemed to be the perfect place to work on his fishing skills. It was nice and remote and he'd checked beforehand to ensure there was no one around to bother him, or bare witness to his failings, should anything embarrassing happen.

Pacing along the river side, Askan stared at the ice that had gathered in clumps at the edges. He couldn't fish from land, so his only option was to try and stand on some ice. But what if it was thin? What if he fell through? From the looks of it, the river wasn't flowing too fast, he didn't think he'd drown right away. But then again he wasn't the strongest swimmer either, so really it was quite a big risk. What else was he supposed to do though? He didn't have access to the water from the shore and he'd be damned if he came all this way for nothing. He wanted to fish, so that was he was going to do.

Testingly, Askan put one paw on the sheet of ice and pushed down, hard. His ears were perked up as he listened for the tell tale sound of cracking to tell him that the ice was weak. But after moments of waiting and even more pressure being applied, the ice did not crack. It should be thick enough to support his weight. With a nervous huff, Askan shuffled onto the ice, keeping his legs spread to ensure he didn't slip and fall arse over tit. Carefully, he shuffled to the edge of the ice and peered down at the black, churning water. He couldn't see any fish swimming near the surface, which seemed a little off to the Rye wolf. Weren't fish just... They lived in water, he should have been able to see them. Assuming that he just wasn't looking hard enough, Askan squinted down into the dark depths with such an intense focus that he didn't notice how the ice upon which he stood was beginning to crack. Not under his feet, rather several footsteps away, closer to the shore. The clump ice was breaking off, with Askan standing atop it. Just his luck.

(This post was last modified: Jan 27, 2017, 12:20 AM by Askan.)

Things with @Cottongrass had been…surprisingly okay. They hadn’t found the girl he was looking for just yet, but that was fine by him. More travelling partners just meant more headaches – and now that the weather had let up some, it meant the white youth could wander further away and they’d still find each other again when the time suited them as much. Currently, the wolf needed a bit of quiet time, and thought he might do some hunting. There wasn’t much a lone wolf could do, but a vole would tide him over, and a second one would be a fine treat for the yearling.

It was not, unfortunately, voles and snowshoe hares he came across. Well, yes, one to begin, but only one. He’d gone down the slope thinking to catch one at a watering hole, and what did his grey eyes spy? Why, another wolf, of course! A wolf with his face pressed to the bottom of the ice, out in the middle of the stream. He might not be from the north, but even he was pretty certain you weren’t supposed to stand out on the ice like some dumbstruck yearling.

(Briefly, he found he could imagine Cotton in such a situation, too.)

Snorting softly, Reyes crept closer to the shoreline, eyeing the mesh of ice and snow as if it might jump up and bite him. He needn’t wonder long, for soon a strange noise started from the ground right in front of him. The wolf was completely forgotten, silver eyes widening as he pricked his ears, head tipping from side to side as he tried to determine just what it actually was when he finally noticed the cracks beginning to spider web across the surface.

“Dios mio… ¡Oi! ¡Oi, cabrón! ¡Estar atento!”

Shallow water has trapped several fish in a small pond. Hunt Opportunity

There! Askan could have sworn he saw a flash of silver beneath the surface.But maybe it was just a reflection, Askan wasn't sure. He was beginning to question whether this was such a good idea, it had seemed like one at first but the more he thought about it... Well, as usual he refused to admit he had made a mistake, but at least in this sort of situation he had an excuse that could shift the blame from his shoulders. In his homeland there weren't bodies of water as large as this, there were streams and creeks but nothing as large or as fast flowing as this. And no one had ever showed him how to fish in the first place.

Maybe he'd been a little too eager, perhaps he should have taken baby steps, learned little by little before he attempted to fish from a river such a this. But there was no- Askan's ears flattened against his head and he whipped around to stare at the wolf standing at the shore. At first, Askan merely felt a flare of annoyance for being startled, as he did not like being sneaked up on. But then that sense of irritation simply multiplied tenfold when he realised that despite how clearly he could hear the stranger, Askan could not-for the life of him- understand a damn word that was coming out of his mouth!

Bla bla bla! For all the good it was doing, the stranger might as well have said just that! What sort of idiot called out in a different language like that? Did he really expect to get a response? Was he thick? Sat on one too many times as a pup? Askan's glower was scathing and the hackles down his spine rose as he shot the stranger a classic, pissed off look. Askan style.

"What?! If you're gonna yell at me at least say something I can understand!" He snapped, his voice ladened with venom.

Askan then happened to glance down at the ice, his eyes widened and his mouth dropped open as the crack on the ice became a canyon and he felt the clump beneath him drift away from the shore.

"Oh shit."

(This post was last modified: Jan 27, 2017, 01:46 AM by Askan.)

Reyes, for his part, had not even realized the words that fell from his mouth were in his native tongue. So young was he when his mother introduced him to his second language that his thoughts were rarely one distinctly or the other – so when something so startling as this occurred, and the words fell out before he actually thought about them, it was beyond his notice that they were strictly in his mother’s original language. That the stranger couldn’t understand was his problem, quite frankly.

For all the loner knew, the wolf on the ice was hard of hearing – or perhaps a bit stupid. Probably the later. He was standing on the ice in the middle of a damned river, after all.

He might have snapped right back, but as he took a step forward, the ice gave another menacing groan. Before Reyes could so much as blink, the large cavern gave way altogether, seeming to rock slightly as it took itself (and the other wolf) out to sea…er, out further into the river. For a moment, the swarthy male could only stare, utterly dumbstruck by the situation. This was, arguably, worse than when he found himself in the bottom of a snow drift.

“Ooooh, cabrón, you really went and did it, huh?” he barked, ears flattened into airplane position as he tried to make heads or tails of the strange situation. As far as he could tell, the chunk the other wolf was on seemed stable – for now – but the drifting continued, and he’d really be screwed, soon. “You think you can jump, puto? ‘Cos you ain’t got much time.”

"What did you call me!" Askan snapped with bared teeth, offended that the stranger dared to imply that this was somehow his fault.

Really though, as annoying he was, Askan didn't have time to stand around yelling, grumbling and generally being a pain in the ass. With each passing second, his circle of ice drifted further and further away from the shore. Askan glanced back and forth between the ice beneath his feet and the shore he was so desperate to reach. The stranger called out again and the Rye wolf cast a withering look his way. He really was captain obvious wasn't he? Once again, he called him something Askan couldn't understand and once again did Askan feel a flash of ire spark through his system.

He would have insisted that the stranger 'speak normal' but his little circle suddenly tilted as it was caught in the current of the fast flowing river. Askan dug his nails into the ice and spread his legs wider to keep his balance. He held his tail out with gritted teeth as he did everything he could to stop himself from slipping into the water. And screaming aloud like a big baby. Gods he wanted to jump, to get back onto the main body of ice but it was too late. If he tried, he'd no doubt lose his balance and plop into the water. The gap was too wide, there was no way he could make it without doing a run up, again he'd just fall right in. And with it being so cold, well it was fair to say that he did not want to go for a swim. At all.

But then something odd happened, at first Askan simply thought the adrenaline coursing through his veins was making him a little light headed, that his world was spinning. But as the ice bobbed and floated down stream, it began to speed up and Askan's paws slid on the ice. Nope. He was definitely spinning. Around and around. Like a dog caught on a roundabout.

Askan would have stared at the loner on the shore, would have tried to make eye contact but with all the spinning that was increasingly hard to do. He wasn't really bothered that he was flowing down river at that point, it was still a problem for sure but damn it he did not like the spinning part. In fact, with all the turning he didn't even realise that his little bit of ice wasn't even going down stream, it was stuck out in the open on the current going around and around and around. All Askan could see was a blur of white, brown and black. And uhh, his head was starting to hurt and his stomach felt heavy and churned up. Ugh.

"What..The hell is happening here!" Askan yelled, completely bemused and more than a little bit queasy.

(This post was last modified: Jan 27, 2017, 05:12 PM by Askan.)

“You really shoulda jumped, cabrón,” Reyes sighed softly, more to himself than the other wolf. It was too late for the guy now, drifting until he was more than a wolf’s length away from the next chunk of ice. Idly, the loner noted that he could, perhaps, wait for the iceberg to float into another chunk and make landfall, but who knew how long that could take? He wouldn’t wait – and given how much yelling this other guy was doing, he had to guess the stranger wasn’t that keen on waiting, either.

Shifting his weight from one front paw to the other, the lone wolf found himself at an impasse. Sure, this situation sucked for the idiot on the floating roundabout, but really, Reyes wasn’t out any more than he was ten minutes ago and didn’t know this wolf even existed. He could turn around, hike up the hillside, and try to find that little Cottonball before it got dark again.

But-- The wolf heaved a great sigh, sides shuddering with the effort. His mama taught him better than this. And if it were @Cottongrass, or god forbid, one of his sisters trapped out on the ice like that, he’d want a stranger to get them off, yeah? Yeah.

Reyes sighed to himself, rubbing his face against his forelimb aggressively before starting to track the whirling ice block down the riverbank. “Hey! You still listening?” he called, ears pricking into the wind. It wasn’t helping the spinning, that was for sure. “You’re gonna have to swim, lobito, one way or another. It ain’t that far, you probably won’t freeze, yeah?”

Ah, yes. Comfort. Probably one of Reyes’ greatest skills.

Askan was beginning to feel sick. Not just a little queasy, like he had an upset tummy. No, it was a deep-seated feeling, churning away in his stomach and making his head throb with every thud of his heartbeat. Bleh. He just wanted to lie down, to get off of this slab of twirling ice, but just as the stranger suggested, the only way to do that was to swim for it. With a sigh, Askan peered down into the black depths of the river and just as he did so he happened to noticed a fish beneath the surface, swimming against the current. Oh come on. The universe had to be mocking him now, shoving his face in it just because it could. Fuck that. Askan was no fool, so of course he resented the world for making it seem as he was.

Oh man though...Ugh. Askan groaned and tried to glance up at the stranger. All he saw was a dark blob on the riverside, he assumed that was the loner. Or maybe a rock. He wasn't quite sure. For all the good he was doing the loner might as well have been a damn rock, stating the obvious as he was and talking in a tongue Askan didn't understand! Blleegh. It was hard for Askan to work himself up when he felt so sluggish and sick, even standing there was hard work. With each passing second he got more and more dizzy and his legs wobbled as he was beginning to question which direction was up and what was down. Was it this way? Or that way?

"Can't swim that well." He admitted sheepishly, or as sheepishly as he could considering, if it were possible he would have been green in the face. "Feeling a lil' bit dizzy too. Not sure which way is....Which."

He shifted his weight a little and the sheet of ice wobbled beneath his feet, making Askan 'WOOOAH' in alarm, before-somehow, by the grace of the Gods- he managed to right himself. At least the ice wasn't floating along and spinning, that was his only saving grace.

“Dios mio…” Reyes muttered to himself again – were it possible for him to drag a paw down his face, he most certainly would have, once again utterly amazed at the amount of ingratitude practically radiating off the smaller wolf. He rolled his eyes so hard he could almost see the inside of his head, and then he set to work. If this guy was so set on being a damn damsel in distress, then he’d get treated like a goddamn damsel in distress.

Continuing to grumble under his breath, the swarthy male abandoned the river bank for a moment, trekking further up the slope to where the trees still lingered. Tyne’s plan came to mind, and while he might have shit all over it, the other loner had gotten him out of the snow drift in one piece. Didn’t even drop him once. And if a stick could actually lift Reyes up and out of a ditch, than it could surely be used to tow the stranger out of the water like a sad little tugboat.

The saddest of all tugboats, really.

It took him several attempts to find a stick long enough, and a few minutes after that to wrestle it out of the tree and through the woods, cautiously arranging himself on the river bank as he tried to extend his reach out towards the other wolf. Artificial, and completely ridiculous. He must look like a goddamn fool. And for a moment, he was glad little @Cottongrass couldn’t see this mess – and a moment later, he scolded himself for such ugly pride. Two heads were better than one – and in this case, two anchors against the river’s current was better than a single weight, no matter how hefty Reyes actually was.

It then dawned on him he’d have to take the stick out of his mouth to speak. Hissing and grumbling a whole litany of Spanish curses under his breath, he places the stick across the ice and barked, trying to get Askan’s attention. “Oi! Cabrón--” And if the stranger didn’t like the assigned nickname, he would damn well live with it, or offer up his actual calling in response. “—this is how it’s gonna go. You keep your eyes on me. I’m gonna hang onto this stick, yeah? Grab it. I’ll pull you in.” He paused then, eying the length of his chosen implement before eying the gap that separated the pair of wolves. Hmm.

“And if it ain’t quite long enough, you gotta jump, comprende? Jump and grab it – I’ll haul you in.” You know, avoiding that whole ‘I can’t swim’ problem. What kind of grown ass wolf couldn’t swim?

Eh, he’d get the answer to that question later. “Alright, we only gonna do this once, lobito. You ready?” It didn’t matter if the answer was yes or no, for Reyes was reaching for his stick again, gingerly extending it out to the stranger on the ice. He better goddamn take the offer, because this was all Reyes had going for the two of them, and even then, it was a bit of a stretch.

The Rye wolf had lost count of how many times he had span around. It seemed endless, as though he would rotate for eternity. Was this going to be it? Death by spinning? Askan cringed. Where was the pride and honour in that? That wasn't a warriors death, it was pointless and more importantly it was so embarrassing. What would his family and the Rye wolves say? 'Ah Askan, yeah he was a bit grumpy. Well very grumpy, but all right. Met a terrible end. Span to death.' How disgraceful, disgusting, he was a sham of a Selwyn. He didn't even deserve the name, it should be torn from him, just like his Grandfather.

But-ugh, despite the crushing shame it was getting hard to think. Askan leaned over the edge and gagged as his stomach gurgled in discontent. A voice called out to him, rushed and impatient as though there wasn't much time. Squinting, Askan tried to catch sight of the wolf by the shore, again all he could see what a dark blur but this time there was something else nearby. Something long and brown. Even as dizzy as he was, Askan was able to nod in understanding, he felt like shit, like he was going to hurl any moment, as though his brain had been whisked up but he wasn't an idiot. Not yet. So yes, he understood the plan. Ish. No he did, really. He could do this. Unless he wanted to spin forever he had to.

"Okay... okay. I'm ready." Or at least as ready as he was ever going to be.

Shifting his stance, Askan wobbled as his legs trembled beneath his weight.How the hell was he supposed to keep balance with everything shifting and turning as it was? Askan closed his eyes and- nope that did not help at all. The Yukon wolf clamped his mouth shut for a moment and swallowed, just in case. He nodded and faintly saw the stick being held out, like a brown line that was close but not enough to touch. Timing was key, he had to jump just before he passed the branch. If he reached out too soon he'd miss and the same applied if he tried too late. Gauging how close he was to the stick was a lot easier said than done. Whilst he probably wasn't spinning around all that fast, to Askan it felt as though he were racing in circles, going around and around faster than any wolf possibly could.

But he had to try. Stretching his neck forward, Askan opened his mouth and snapped at the air. Nope. He'd missed.

"Was I... Close? Think I'll need to jump?"

Before he could even get a response, Askan saw the brown from the corner of his eye. Without thinking he leaped forward, reaching out for the branch. Be it blind luck, or the Gods taking mercy on his tired, grumpy soul, he felt bark against his teeth and he clamped down.

Yes! He did it! He was not going to be stuck in spinny hell! But then he was falling, air ruffled his fur and oh GODS IT WAS COLD! Splashing about with his front legs, Askan kicked his back ones to keep afloat and held onto the stick despite the fact he just wanted to scream every swearword under the sun.