Pastel Highlands Wayfaring Stranger

Random Event: Snowmaggedon! A foot of snow has fallen overnight!
All welcome. Early afternoon set in Pastel Highlands

Fear.

It was the only logical reason the tawny woman could conclude as to why she had once more tucked her tail and ran in the opposite direction of the ridge. She hadn't even made it out of the bleak, colorless tundra she found herself in again now, let alone set her emerald gaze upon the low-hanging boughs of the familiar willow forest she once called home. Alas, after some time Ruka had managed to steel herself and give the trek one last attempt. She owed them, owed him that much at least.

Travel-weary limbs momentarily paused their slow trudge through the fresh powder that had fallen during the night in order to steal a glance skyward, guestimating the remaining hours of visibility she had and pinpoint which direction she needed to travel in since the bleak landscape around her offered little to no valuable landmarks she could use to pinpoint her exact location. Let alone another living soul she could ask directions from.

It felt as if this was going to be a long journey, but this time she would see it through no matter what obstacles tried to get in her way.

If she didn't get any more lost...

There was so much snow. It had been great to sleep in, acting like an additional insulator to the cold overnight. It had let him snuggle up even deeper into the small hollow he had found with comfort. Now though Azriel wished it hadn’t fallen. It was powdery and light and every step he took made him sink.

Honestly at this point he wasn’t sure if he was walking or wading through the fluffy white stuff. He suspected he just had bad luck and managed to find the deepest parts to go through. Especially as he noticed a wolf in the distance walking or rather trudging through the stuff with more ease than he was.

Grumbling softly to himself he decided that now was as good a time as any to take a break and flopped himself down, sending snow flying. He didn’t have anywhere to be and maybe if he waited he could somehow work himself into the tracks of the other wolf and follow them out into thinner snow…if there was thinner snow. Please let there be thinner snow.

Green eyes tracked the other wolf as they stopped and looked to the sky, as if they were trying to figure something out. Azriel kept his silence. If they were lost he couldn’t help and if they were looking for someone specific he wouldn’t help, not when he had his own problems to consider.

Number one on the list was the snow.

A loud huff was expelled from the woman in the form of a thick cloud of vapor as her gaze dropped from up above to refocus on the long, powdery road ahead. There was clearly nothing here to help her gain her barrings in correlation to where the willows may lay, but Ruka was far from accepting defeat. Momentarily derailed perhaps, but not defeated. Despite the setback it was probably best if she took a break to give her tired paws a rest before pushing further. Least she get a chance to clean out the clumps of compacted snow from between her toes.

Unbeknownst to the tawny woman, though, was the minor fact that she had now acquired an unsolicited travel partner following, or at least trying to, in her paw prints. With no wind current blowing about the stranger at her heels had the advantage of sizing up the medium built woman depending on their intentions.

Lowering her haunches and curling her tail around herself, her back remained to her secret companion while she brought the first paw to her maw in order to nibble away. Blissfully unaware she was being watched.