Larkcall Lowlands I know it's gonna get me in trouble

For @Greer surprise!
RE: Drifting snows have left dangerous pockets in the Snowmarch Expanse. Don't fall in while traveling!
Dec 17, Clear, -7F/-21C

 

Travelling alone wasn't nearly as much fun as her outings with Craw and Odin or the trips that her mother and Uncle Greer sometimes took her on. Still, even alone it was more fun out here than it would have been just sitting around on the Monadnock waiting for her brother to wake up from his nap. The sun shone down unmasked from any clouds, lighting up her fiery coat like a beacon against the backdrop of white snow. The tundra looked still and mostly untouched other than the occasional gust of wind that temporarily blinded the girl with flying snow.

Clenching her eyes closed and grumbling to herself as the flakes pelted her face she continued moving without seeing. She was sure that damn hare was around here somewhere, she had followed it down from the goat trail until it's white pelt had melted into its surroundings. Cracking one eye open as the wind began to subside she caught sight of its black nose twitching in fear just a few yards in front of her. Grinning in accomplishment Kára leapt forward, sure that this time she was triumph against the rabbit.

Except when her paws hit the snow instead of being able to bounce back into another jump she felt the surface give out beneath her. Yelping in surprise the pups' eyes widened until the white were showing as she scrabbled to grab purchase onto anything.  Blunt claws dug into the ice walls of the pocket she had fallen into until her back paws were able to find purchase on a small shelf. Coming to a halt on the precarious perch Kára's whole body trembled with adrenaline and fear, belly pressed up against the wall as she stood on her back legs. The top was too high to pull herself out of and if she jumped she risked falling all the way down, what was she supposed to do now?

 

The snow fell with persistence, covering the lowlands in a thick, heavy blanket. Greer had never been fond of the snow ever since he had nearly taken his life during his first winter. He had disappeared for too long, the snow covering both his tracks and any familiar scents that would have led him home. Instead, he had wandered aimlessly for days, starving and half-frozen when he finally stumbled upon his brother Deacon and their former packmate, Titan. At least now his legs were longer and his nose was stronger; it was going to take a lot more than a few inches of snow to keep him from finding his way back home. It was still annoyingly cold and wet; it clung to his fur and chilled him to the bone. It was more a nuisance than anything.

As he meandered through the tundra the shadow stumbled upon Kára’s scent, zigzagging through the snow. A frown creased his lips. What was she doing out in this weather alone? He exhaled, loudly, through his nose as he followed her scent, his pace quickening. She was lucky he never told Morganna about all the times he had gotten her out of a jam…

Once he caught sight of her flame-coloured fur against the sea of white he sped up, hoping to eliminate the distance between them. However, just as he approached shouting distance, her scarlet head bobbed below the snow. Panic surged through him as he plowed, clumsily, through the snow. Luckily her tracks were still visible and her scent trail still strong—it did not take him long to find the little flame. When he caught sight of her trembling body Greer discovered that the little Archer had fallen into a snow pocket. She was temporarily trapped, but otherwise unscathed. He breathed a sigh of relief as he tiptoed to the edge of the pocket, his mercury gaze studying its depth and the frailty of the snow surrounding her. “Why K there?” She was not injured and was not in immediate danger; a sort of joke was okay, right?

@Greer

 

Her whole body trembled as Kára did her best to slow her breathing and the wild pounding of her heart in her chest. For this second she was safe but she still had to figure out how in the hell she was going to her out of this hole. Careful not to move anything but her eyes she tried to look around, but without being able to pull her belly off the wall there wasn't much she could see. The fiery body began to shake again as she realized there was no way out unless someone happened upon her to rescue her.

Ready to take a deep breath and start howling she paused as the dark face of her uncle peaked itself over the edge of the snow. Barking in excitement to see those grey eyes peering down at her, all of Kára's fear melted away. Greer would know what to do, he would get her out of this trouble. Truthfully he had rescued her more times than she could even count on her little adventures out of the territory and more importantly he never told anyone about it.

Smirking at his joke the grey eyes rolled dramatically, "Wh' Greer up there?" The quip was a quick response, though the sarcasm was weak given her belly was pressed up against a wall of snow and ice and he was her only hope of rescue.

 

There are several fresh rabbit tracks in the mud. Hunt Opportunity

@Kara

A rare, crooked smile worked its way across his dark maw as the little flame responded (dramatically) to his joke. Her question was accompanied by an exaggerated eye roll—a Kára Archer trademark. He shrugged simply in response, his toes curling in the snow as he assessed the situation he had stumbled upon. Fortunately she was not too far down—getting her out of her little predicament would (hopefully) be a synch. As long as nothing else unexpected happened.

The little flame was, perhaps, his favourite addition to the monadnock. The shadow even put up with her explosive personality. Instead of being annoyed by it, he was intrigued. Mostly because he was curious at who she would become as she grew older. Would she adopt a similar cold and sinister demeanour like her uncle, or would she be as fiery and manipulative as her mother? Or would she grow to be as smooth and ambitious as the silver spider?

He wouldn’t know unless he removed her from her icy trap. Or else she wouldn’t become anything.

The skeleton shuffled forward, hesitant as he drew closer to the frail edge of the snow pocket. He stretched one of his long, slender legs down to her, his paw dangling between them, motioning for her to grab hold. Greer would try to pull her up close enough for him to grab hold of her scruff with his teeth—just like a mother would to her cub. As long as they moved slowly and carefully there shouldn’t be any hiccups…

(This post was last modified: Jan 15, 2017, 12:55 AM by Greer.)

1/3 of learning about scouting: asking questions about snow drifts

 

At another time Kára would have answered her uncle's grin with a cheeky smirk of her own, she enjoyed making the shadow smile. In fact, she liked making all of the pack smile, but mostly her pranks left them agitated rather than laughing. Right now though her mind was far from what slimy thing she could convince Odin to dredge up and drop on someone's head, right now her only thoughts were on getting out of this icy prison. Uncle Greer inched closer to the edge and wide silver eyes watched intensely as his claws peeked over, a small dusting falling onto her face and making her blink.

Allowing his teeth to sink into the looser skin at her neck Kára did her best not to flinch as he began tugging on her, sending aching pains into her shoulders. She was much too large to be carried this way now but there was no other way for her to be hauled out. Trying to be helpful the pup scraped her own paws against the wall, trying to catch some purchase so Greer wasn't doing all the lifting but how much she helped she couldn't know.

It seemed like forever it took for Kára to be lifted the foot until she could grab onto the ledge with her front paws and hoist herself out. The second she was free she bounded a few paces away, heart crashing wildly in her chest as she turned to look at her prison from a safe distance away. Suddenly every inch of snow felt very unsafe to the child, "Where did tha' 'ole come from?" The words were desperate, spit out quickly as the Archer shuffled her paws in closer to her body as if trying to make herself take up as little room as possible.

 

1/3 teaching about scouting @Kara

With his long, thin legs Greer was built for speed not for strength. So hauling his little niece from the depths of the snow pocket, who was no longer little, was proving to be quite the task. He was determined because Kára got stuck in a snow pocket wasn’t an acceptable reason as to why Greer returned without her. Left her to fend herself would not go over well with the Whitestone queen. He did not feel like answering to her pearly whites.

Fortunately for the thin scout the scarlet Archer grabbed onto the ledge once she was in range and pulled herself onto the snow bank with Greer’s aid. He released her as soon as all four paws were on solid ground and she quickly retreated, putting as much distance between herself and the hole as possible. A lazy grin collapsed onto his dark features as he stepped back, his mercury gaze narrowing as his niece spoke, a question rolling off the tip of her tongue. “Snow drift. Soft, loose snow on frozen. Not compact.” To emphasize his point Greer brushed the loose snow with his paw, his gaze still focused on the younger Archer. “Watch snow banks. K careful.” She had been fortunate that her uncle had been lurking around, otherwise she might not have had such a speedy rescue. The shadow cringed at the thought of his niece being stuck in the pocket overnight—or even worse, for days. 

(This post was last modified: Mar 13, 2017, 12:09 AM by Greer.)

2/3 learning about scouting and snowdrifts

 

Kára did not understand how her uncle could stand so closely to the edge of the hole and smile so easily as if there was nothing wrong at all. Did he not see how she had just fallen in? Was he not worried that he would get too close and also fall in and she wouldn't be strong enough to get him out? The pup chewed on her lip for a moment after watching him easily kick the snow and hearing his explanation. Suddenly she let out an exasperated sigh and kicked up a pile of snow of her own, "They all look th' same!" How was she supposed to tell which snow banks were safe to climb like the ones she and Odin often played on and which ones were hiding dangerous holes?

Walking a few feet away in frustration the girl squinted as a sudden gust of wind blew snow like pellets into her eyes and ears. Whipping around to stare at her uncle for a second she demanded, "Uncle Greer! Show m' another drift! I wanna know what they look like s' I don't fall inner one again." Then as a second thought since she really did like her Uncle Greer, and especially didn't want to fall into another snow hole again she added, "Please." If she knew what they looked like she wouldn't need to worry so much about her adventures into the lowlands.

 

2/3 teaching about scouting/snow drifts

His ears twitched in amusement at her reaction, expression soft. The shadow had almost met his own demise with the snow when he had been close to Kára’s age. He had strayed too far from the Ridge, his path covered by fresh powder and senses dulled by the whiteout conditions. Fortunately Greer had managed to find his way back the willows before nearly freezing to death. However, as a result, he was no longer fond of the frigid substance and was sure to keep a watchful eye on his surroundings when winter plagued the Lore. “Not all,” he answered with a soft bump to her shoulder with his own.

As she stomped away the shadow’s amusement only increased, his dark lips curving upward. At her demand, he nodded quickly, assuring the girl that he would show her exactly what she asked for. The please was not necessary—they were Archer’s after all—but it was appreciated nonetheless. He might not be there to rescue her a second time if she got herself into another situation like this one. With narrowed brows he surveyed their surroundings, checking the bumps in the snow. Stepping forward the shadow motioned for his niece to follow. “There,” he pointed with his muzzle at a sloped mound before them, his mercury gaze falling onto his scarlet sidekick. “See shape? Round. Top soft snow,” he started to explain as he used his paw to draw a circle in front of them, “wind push. Below, hole.” As the final word dripped off his tongue Greer shoved his paw through the middle of his drawing, a crooked grin sprawling across his slender maw.

3/3 learning about scouting, 9/12 over all

 

Kára looked to where her uncle was gesturing, a mound of snow that looked like all the other mounds of snow and could feel her frustration rising. That is until he demonstrated with his paw in the snow and suddenly it was like a light bulb went off over the pup's head. Grey eyes scanned around the area, looking at the round top of the snow drift he had gestured towards and trying to see if she could find any others that had that weird round top. Pacing away from her uncle so that way she could peer around the big mound in front of them her eyes lit up, "There! Th' one over there!" It was smaller than the one he had pointed to but it was definitely round on the top.

Well this was similar to the game her and Greer had played when she was little, laying on the Monadnock and trying to guess what they each saw. They hadn't played that in a while but Kára had always loved it, "Let's g'find some more!" Ignoring the way that the wind blew towards her now the fiery chid set off, determined to find more of the dangerous snow banks than her uncle would, even if he did have an unfair advantage.

Knowing she had to even the playing field up somehow a mischievous smile cross her face and she paused. Letting Greer get close enough to be in range she suddenly started digging ferociously and kicking snow up towards his face.