Dastard's Rapids am i made of paper, 'cause i tear so easily?

@Adelard - whenever you get the time ^^

01/24
Midmorning

Being part of a group was infinitely better than being alone. More often than not, Riv would find himself cuddled up with one of the other five wolves in the morning, and would have to be careful not to wake them up when he decided to rise for the day. It wasn't a conscious decision on his part, but rather something he did when he was more fully asleep. He figured if they were too affronted by it, they'd probably wake him up and get him to leave, but was anyone really complaining about extra warmth in this weather?

He wasn't particularly looking for any one thing today. Of course, he'd like to perhaps find some chaga mushrooms, or maybe white fir. Maybe he was seeking out a place for their little group to stay. It was still unclear whether or not they were actually actively searching for a permanent spot, but he figured it couldn't hurt to scope out the place, just a bit.

The place he'd stumbled across today was mostly frozen over, but that wasn't surprising. What was more surprising was that it wasn't fully frozen over - the middle still contained a rushing river, with ice creeping up to the sharp rocks on the outskirts. Perhaps Riven should have been more wary of it than he was, but it was the living things that he was afraid of. Rivers and mountains and trees and nature never had been and never would be scary, for him.

No, instead the half-frozen river seemed amazing, to him. So he had no qualms about clambering down right up to the edge, paws nearly numb from the ice-covered rocks. He couldn't recall ever seeing this much ice before - his homeland was so far south that they didn't really have to deal with this type of thing.

After a moment, Riven decided he'd prefer to climb back up. The small wolf began to make his way back up the steep embankment, only to make it about halfway up before he slid back down on his stomach. The ice made getting a grip near impossible, and he was already at a height disadvantage. So it really wasn't surprising that he couldn't get back up, but... it didn't make it any less of a conundrum. Riven paused, thinking - should he continue to burn energy, trying to clamber back up the rocks, or call for help and risk the embarrassment of the others seeing him stuck at the riverbank?

Riv settled on a third option, which was to navigate his way down the river and hope the rocks got less steep further down.

(This post was last modified: Jan 24, 2021, 06:06 AM by Riven.)

Having Riven around almost felt like having another Aubine around. Almost. Where Aubine was constantly at his heels, at least Riven had a mind of his own, the sort of independence that allowed Adelard the space to enjoy his own company every once in a while. It was almost impossible at this point to be alone with his sister hanging on tail at nearly every moment of the day. With their little band ever-slowly relocating towards a more suitable rendezvous site (being flat out exposed to the elements in the Orchard was getting a little old with the scattered snow showers), the Gerau found himself on his own today. Advising his sibling to scout, he remembered, was one of her most favorite things in the world. A few choice words and she was off.

Adelard made the most of his morning in tracing the trails of his comrades and keeping his ears and eyes open in case any of them needed his aid. For the most part, he was doing his own sort of research, snuffling about in search of abandoned dens and more suitable resting places for a pack of six. He had followed Riven's footprints in the snow for a time before he ultimately decided to abandon his quest and find out what the blond youth was up to.

His particular path led through a place where the trees were dark and the branches seemed to reach out towards traveling creatures. On more than one occasion, Adelard had to shrug and even break the underbrush up further just to keep the twigs from snagging and clawing at him. A rumble vibrated from his throat, a frustrated sort of wordless exclamation more than an announcement of his arrival to the area. When the trees eventually gave way, he heard the gentle roar of a lively river and, saw on either side of it, the ice that clung to its banks.

He expected a warm welcome and a spot of warm tawny fur with those twinkling blue eyes, but when it didn't come, Adelard scowled. "Riven?" he called out, eyes raking over the rugged terrain. The sound of scraping got his ears turned forward and his tail up in a high curve. Where was he? He tried again, stepping over to the frozen river stones but not thinking to look over the edge of the steep causeway, "Riven?"

         

ADELARD

heat stroke, bring the fire black smoke, I take it higher

Truly, he thought he would have more time to figure this out before he was found. Because, in all honesty, this was pretty embarrassing. It had yet to occur to him that he was truly in danger - more that he was embarrassed about his lack of knowledge on how to navigate an icy winter setting. To be fair, he had never really been around ice and snow before, so this could've happened to anyone... but he did want to make sure his new companions understood that he wasn't completely useless.

And now he needed rescued from a river. The irony that it was congruent with his given name was not lost on him, either. Vaguely, he wondered if he would ever actually talk to anyone about that. It wasn't like he was planning on seeing anyone from his old pack again, so he might never be called River for the rest of his life.

It was too good a name for him. He was riven from his former life, so Riven he would be.

Riven? Riven?

The boy raised his head when he heard his name being called and he let out a soft bark, his face and ears burning slightly with embarrassment. This was not an ideal situation. "I'm down here!" he called up, standing on his back feet to brace his forepaws on the slick river rocks. "I didn't think it would be so difficult to climb back up."

"I'm down here!"

Adelard's ears perked up to their normal positions atop his head; they had lowered dramatically as he had begun to consider the mishaps the lad had gotten tangled up in. His head whipped towards the steep bank and he crept forward, his head popping up first over the edge as he saw Riven down below. "I didn't think it would be so difficult to climb back up."

The older man's lip came up on one side in a small half-smile; at least Riven was all right. Phew.

"Is that right?" he questioned, his tone smooth and without disappointment or exasperation. With Riven up on his hind legs and stretched upward, the slip and slide downwards to the rocks below seemed a far fall. Adelard supposed it wouldn't have been too much of a feat for him to back up and make a hasty climb of it, but with the energy it would expend {for such a smaller creature} and the difference in physique, if he had been Riven, he probably wouldn't have made it back up either.

"Are you hurt?" he asked, just wanting to make sure. Safety first. "Seems like a pretty nasty tumble, being that far down."

         

ADELARD

heat stroke, bring the fire black smoke, I take it higher

There were benefits and downfalls to his smaller size. He could fit into smaller spaces than most other wolves, but he also could not get out of moderately-sized holes in the ground. He could survive on less food, but he also was probably the least intimidating creature in all of the wilds. Normally, the male did not consider his size to be all that impactful on his day to day life.

This was, unfortunately, one of the times that it was.

“I’m not hurt,” he assured, a small smile stretching across his maw. “A little cold, but I think that’s just because everything is cold right now.” And coming from a place where nothing was cold was a bit of a shock.

Blue eyes scanned down the river bank, looking for an easier way to get up. “I just wanted to see the ice a bit more closely,” he admitted. They had not had it back in Torres Fields - he’d found one single ice patch last year, and it was minuscule in comparison to the endless sheets of white here. “It’s very beautiful, but also very slippery.” Which was also an embarrassing realization. Surely Adelard would think of him as foolish, not knowing what would happen if he’d come down to the water.

“I think I might be able to climb out if I can find a spot downriver.” It would be terribly rude of him to trouble his new companion into helping him up - that would expend so much energy. “Unless you’ve got other plans for how I can climb the rocks? I don’t know if there’s a technique or system for it that I don’t know about.” It was becoming clear that he didn’t know about a lot of things.

Riven wasn't hurt. That was a relief; Adelard silently released the breath he had been holding in his chest. The worry all gone apart from the few twinges that wondered how he was going to recover his curious companion. When it came to Riven's fascination for the ice, Adelard's brows rose as his smile softened, "That isn't ice, kid," he chuckled. "When I find you some decent ice, I'll show you.. sheets so clear you could see right through 'em. Well, almost."

He lowered himself down on this belly, his paws gripping onto the edge now as he craned his masked head downward. He tipped his head to one side in thought, eyes narrowed as he looked out to where Riven was saying he might find a spot where he could climb up and back around.

"Well," he mused, his gaze seemingly unfocused and yet trained on a certain spot all at once. "You might?" He suddenly turned his attention to Riven, the tail behind him starting to wag. The timbre in his voice was almost mischievous, "Or I could pull you up..." One of his eyebrow spots came up while the other remained in place, "D'you have good teeth?"

         

ADELARD

heat stroke, bring the fire black smoke, I take it higher

Riven’s own brows knitted together when the other male told him that this was not, in fact, ice. Because he was pretty sure... but he was no expert, really, so what did he know? Certainly not how to climb up slippery rocks that were covered in not-ice. ”I am not a kid,” he responded absently, without really thinking about it. If he had, he might’ve apologized for being rude. But he was currently too preoccupied with his mild predicament to focus too hard on anything else. It did, however, grab his attention when the larger wolf continued his speech - that he would show him real ice. See-through ice. Riven had no idea that such a thing existed - he might as well have had stars in his eyes as he looked up at the dark-furred man. ”You’ll show me?” he asked, tail swaying behind him.

He hummed in thought as Adelard settled down on his stomach to assess the situation. He might find a way up, if he went the other way, but it seemed his companion had other plans.

Pull him up? Riven couldn’t imagine how he would do such a thing. And certainly why his voice might have taken on such a lilt. Everything he was being told or asked was confusing - were his teeth good? He ran a tongue over them to check. Everything seemed in place. His face was the picture of confusion as he looked up at the other man. ”I think my teeth are good,” he said earnestly, one ear folding over as he tipped his head to the side. ”You’ll be wasting a lot of energy if you pull me up, and it’s really not fair to make you do that, because I did this to myself.” Of course, he’d waste more energy trying to navigate downstream and clambering back up the rocks, but that was neither here nor there.

At least his little tidbit about ice was well-received. Something to look forward to... once they were away from here. Adelard's tail grew still.

"I think my teeth are good," Riven answered.

"Mmhmm," the Gerau hummed, watching as the blond seemed to mimic his expression. He had to admit to himself, the folding of the ear was endearing. "You’ll be wasting a lot of energy..." Adelard sighed and shook his head, his paws crossing as he remained on his lofty perch. He had been at this vagabond business for a few moon cycles now, his body very much was used to burn out. Tangent subjects aside, he either could've gone down there himself and let Riven use him as a stepping stone or... "Tell me something: have you ever played tugga-war?" He eyed the smaller man's frame, wondering now for himself if his plan was feasible. Again, he hummed; it was obvious he could have outweighed Riven by a couple good-sized stones.

         

ADELARD

heat stroke, bring the fire black smoke, I take it higher

Tugga-war. These people all had such interesting accents - Riven loved hearing the different dialects. It was all very endearing, setting them apart from the individuals back home. Riven himself had very little in the way of a unique accent.

”Yes,” he responded with a wag of his tail. ”I’ve played it a time or two.” It took a moment for him to realize why that game held any significance in the conversation they were having, but Riven wasn’t dull. ”What if I pull you down here instead?” he asked, brows drawing together. It wouldn’t do for them to both be stuck.

Of course, Adelard’s legs were significantly longer. He could probably just jump out if he really wanted to, so there wasn’t a lot of harm to be done there.

If the other man really wanted to do it, he wouldn’t argue... even if he still felt pretty bad about the whole situation. Maybe if he could find the chaga mushrooms, he could make up for the loss of energy that the dark wolf would most likely experience from the ordeal.

"Yes, I’ve played it a time or two."

Here, Adelard was still weighing out his options. There was still a chance that his calculations and initial guesses were off; Riven was quick to question those musings. "What if I pull you down here instead?" Bright sun-gold eyes swept over Riven's sandy coat, his mind oh-so-tempted to liken the man to a rabbit or a fox kit - something that was obviously much smaller than him. The thing was, neither of them could predict the outcome unless they tried...

"Well, then I guess I'll be stuck with you," the masked brute answered, his tone bordering on a light, teasing note that might've ended in a playful duhhh. His smile touched his eyes and the tip of his tail flicked about from side to side in the snow. He had to admit it to himself - being serious all the time was tiring and it was rather nice to have this quiet, tongue-in-cheek moment with Riven (even if he was the one being humored as his companion worried).

"Y'know what... just sit tight."

Adelard withdrew his head from the river stones' edge and went romping back the way he had come. High and low, he looked about, zipping one way before dashing in the complete opposite direction. A chuckle still caged up in his chest, he clasped his jaws around a thin branch. Last spring it had been a fresh offshoot, tender and green. Now, in winter's last stretch, it was brittle and stiff in the cold. As he jerked his head this way and that in a thrashing sort of motion, it loosened and tore away from its trunk in a couple of clicks and snaps. He dragged it across the ground and back towards the river; just by looking at it as it laid on the hard-packed snow, it seemed to be sturdy enough.

He hadn't been gone long; and, when he peered back over the embankment, he had the branch in his jowls. His body fell to the ground in a heavy thump and he splayed his paws on either side of him to anchor himself further. As carefully as he could, he craned his head over the edge and lowered the branch. Hopefully Riven would be able to reach. He simply chuffed, Here...

(This post was last modified: Feb 03, 2021, 11:11 PM by Adelard.)

         

ADELARD

heat stroke, bring the fire black smoke, I take it higher