Dead Empress Backwater everyone at this party's a vampire

For @Sephrina
Random Event! Someone has been here and gone, leaving strange tracks, scents and... a cake made of frozen fruits and meats?! Jackpot!

She had half a mind to go bother Rochus that morning when she woke up. Figured it had been too long since she had last pestered him, and it wasn't like he had come to her. So.

Only she had found something off when she left the den. An odd scent tickled at her nose and the ground seemed shifted by weird tracks. Weirder than any beast they had bothered to hunt before. Yet talk about a jackpot on what she found at the end of the trail.

A big old slab of meat, with something else mixed in that she didn't recognize.

Regardless it all seemed entirely edible. Big enough for her, maybe another? Granted sharing was not on her mind as she planted one paw on top of the frozen slap. Then used her teeth to try and break a piece of it off.

After finding out about the Valle girl’s icy bath in the creek her father had promptly put her under pack arrest. She had hoped it wouldn’t last long, but it had been a full moon and she was still only supposed to leave the territory with an escort. Sephrina had tried to reason with him that it was not her eyes that had caused the ice to crack, it was because she had slipped which anyone could do. He heard nothing and so she was stuck, or at least she had to be a lot sneakier about leaving when she could. At least he had agreed to let her go on the pup exchange next moon up the mountain.

The plan had been to sneak off now, dad was napping and the other adults watched her but nearly as closely. Besides, Nix was still gone and so was Aunt Sharlee, besides her father those two were most likely to keep her under lock and key, the strictest. The key was to not look suspicious, look like she was exactly where she was supposed to be, and that was what she was doing. Until the smell of something delicious changed her whole plan for the day.

Following her nose, it wrinkled when the scent of her sister mingled in. She liked Isla, and she was one of the only ones who she didn’t lie about, but recently she had been a bit much. Still, the smell was much too tempting to pass up and the child happily trotted in that direction. Seeing her sister’s dark body easily against the white backdrop, Sephrina barked in greeting, then approached the snack. Squinting to bring it into clearer view she grinned, ”Who left you such a cool thing?” And more importantly, why hadn’t she been left one?

It was a good thing it had been Sephrina to show up, otherwise Isla may have gone full blown nuclear over this gift. She guessed. it would not be terrible to share with her poor grounded sister. Breaking the rules together would always be better than alone.

Dunno, but you better help me finish it before somebody else shows up. She snorted sharply with a heavy exhale. Help me break it and you can have your share. For the hardest part about this seemed to be freeing out the edible things that were frozen solid.

Isla reared up slightly and came down on the cube. Only to have it slide out from under her some and her front end to slide down into the earth.

Isla did not immediately bite her head off and actually offered to share and Sephrina picked up. She had figured it was worth the risk of pissing off her sister who was angry most of the time anyway but if she caught her in a good mood she would get a snack out of it. And this time it paid off. Nodding silently and moving into position to take her portion after Isla had hers, the child had to turn her muzzle away to hide a smirk. It was just amusing seeing her bully of a sister laying in the snow, but she really wanted some of this.

Trotting over to the ice block she carefully placed one paw and then another on top, pressing her weight down. The ice block shifted slightly and then stabilized into the snow. Looking up towards her sister with a grin she said, ”Okay try pulling on it now. I’ll hold it.” This seemed like a better plan, and hopefully neither of them would land on their faces again. Though with how slippery this thing was she couldn’t be sure that with the first tug it would not go sliding out from under her. This had better taste as good as it smelled.

Her sister became the weight upon the block. Which was good unless either one of them wanted to go for a slide in the snow again. Isla would hard pass on that, thanks.

So she found an edge that had a bit of something sticking out. Grabbed hold onto it as well as she could, then began to tug as hard as she could. A little loosening, a little more...more...more.

A chunk of frozen fruit flew free from her and left her grip in a flying fling. A piece of a watermelon. Not that she had any clue at all what a watermelon was. Only that a sticky, frozen watery substance had been left on her teeth and tongue.

Whu...

Sephrina grinned as Isla began tugging on their frozen feast, bearing down on her front paws as hard as she could. It jerked a few times against her grasp until finally her sister pulled a chunk free with a comically surprised expression on her face. The girl couldn’t quite make out what her age mate was trying to say to her, but the tone was funny enough to cause the Valle girl to start laughing.

This was unfortunate since she was still leaning all of her weight down on a fairly slippering hunk of ice. The laughter caused it to slide right out from underneath her and go shooting across the snow. This had both advantages and disadvantages, the down side was that Sephrina followed her sister’s pawsteps and ended up getting a mouthful of snow as she came crashing down into the powder beneath her. The bonus was their treat flew directly into one of the broken trees that gave the Backwater its name, leaving a large crack across the surface.

Getting to her paws she padded over the investigate, giving it a large sniff and grabbing her teeth into something and heaving. Thanks to the crack she managed to get a hunk of frozen beef free from its ice prison. She barked gleefully at the success, turning to show her sister.

And suddenly they had become even!

Isla snorted warmly. Humored but knowing that they had now both had their fun getting bullied by a cube. Hey, but today was a good day. She felt inclined to move on instead of harping on Sephrina. Food always elevated her mood.

"Whatcha get? This thing is...sweet?"

Like some plants, definitely not meat! However the proof of meat being in there certainly seemed evident. So Isla would dive back in to chip away at another chunk, this time hopeful that she would find meat.

All the while one ear flicked softly to stay attentive on her sister.

Sephrina was surprised that her sister did not immediately begin teasing her mercilessly as she spit the snow out of her mouth. Maybe it was just because they had something much larger going on. This was the first time either of them had been bestowed such a lovely gift, and it would probably be the last time. Talk about a once in a lifetime.

Smiling brightly she responded, ”It tastes like deer kind of….but different” Her mouth was full of the beef and she chewed it a few more times before swallowing it, ”It’s good!” She watched the cloudy form of her sister approach the now cracked ice block in an attempt to get something else out.

Getting back to her paws she followed quickly behind, eager to get her own second piece. She would also do her best to anchor the ice down again if needed, but from what she could tell the blow against the tree had made more headway than anything either of the girls had done. Sniffling deeply, she strategized what she would try to pull out next once Isla was done.

This was...good.

A weirdly serene moment in the children of chaos' lives. Sharing with Sephrina was just a bit easier than sharing with anybody else. Especially when it meant she wouldn't need to share with another!

Now Isla managed to wedge free a piece of the cold meat. How quickly she came to understand her sister's description. Deer but different was the best way to say it. Like a fatty deer, maybe? She didn't know, nor cared to figure out the complexities of food when it had come freely.

"Try the sweet thing. It's like...a berry but weirder." She snorted sharply with humor before she scarfed down another bite of meat. "Bet nobody else here has had this before, huh? Not even the adults."

Did Sephrina like being first as much as Isla did?

The Valle girl had been planning on grabbing another hunk of meat, but she became intrigued at her sister’s description of a weird berry. Turning her attention back to the hunk of ice she sniffed around until she located a piece of what had been suggested to her. Sinking her teeth into the watermelon - wincing a little at the cold against her jaws - and started tugging until she managed to get a piece.

Ew. She hated it.

But, Isla has eaten hers and Sephrina didn’t want to be seen as a baby or something so she forced herself to quickly chew and swallow it. Pink tongue flicked across her nose a couple of times trying to clear the taste before she nodded enthusiastically. She liked to be first, and even more than that, she liked to be only. Obviously that wasn’t the case here, but they could keep it between them.

Looking back at their gift she suggested, ”We should hide the rest when we’re done. Then we won’t have to give Asmund or anyone else any.” Or they could eat it all now, Sephrina was good with either one. Either way, they were in for a good afternoon just the pair of them, how precious these memories would become.

FADE