Sanguine Cove Can't catch a break in the weather

RE: A spell of severe cold has dropped plenty of caribou on Serpent's Pass, making for a grisly scene with their frozen corpses partially snowed over.
Nash is calling to the entire pack but only expects adults/yearlings to respond. @Oksana @Aquene @Moonshadow @Chan @Stella @Magg @Woya

Nash had hoped with the peak of winter they might be heading into a better year. How much more tragedy could one pack face? He knew they'd been lucky over the summer with their water source remaining constant throughout the drought, unlike their neighbors, and they'd all suffered losses, but the Cove had done nothing to deserve the level of devastation they'd seen. Neither had the Chasm, which had seen the ruin of their pack completely.

The past weeks had brought a creeping worry to the Nash as he wandered their territory, seeking sign the winter was starting the thaw. Food was growing scarce and they had so many mouths to feed - only, many of them seemed absent. He hoped it was just the children hunkering down, muted by the loss of their father and their first winter. He hoped it was just the heavy snow, masking tracks and scents. He hoped he hoped... only now, it had become too much to ignore.

Half of their pack was missing, including all but one of Oksana's children and several of Woya's. Even @Matos had disappeared. All of the disappearances concerned Nash of course, but the loss of his own son hit differently. He couldn't help but be transported back in time, to when he'd returned home to find it empty. He'd thought he'd gotten over it, but with so many gone...

He was afraid.

Nash traveled to their borders and a little beyond, seeking the pass and any sign of the missing wolves and found only death. Corpses of caribou littered the trails, frosted over and half buried in snow. The cold had become too much for them it seemed, unable to den like the wolves did to escape the frigid air. Panic mounting, Nash returned to the territory, the smattering of corpses reaching all the way to the border. The moment he stepped over it Nash called to the pack. Perhaps he should have consulted with Oksana first, but he hoped she wouldn't begrudge him this worry. If it was cold enough for so many caribou to perish, what hope could the lost pups have?

She had noticed the wayward figures, found it odd.

Where had all her cousins and friends gone off to? If she had become overly clingy to those who remained, she didn't say much on it. Content to explore with Magg or Di when they were free. Yet today she had romped around the cove alone.

Only to spot the first grisly scene she had ever witnessed. Her understanding of it was minimal. Why had all of these beasts just...fallen? Seemingly frozen to death or without any clear indication of what else could have done this. Would...would it happen to her? To her friends and family?

There was a small tremble of fear to her as she raced towards Nash's call. Loudly heaving and practically throwing herself at the paws of the leader.

ᴠᴏɪᴄᴇ || ᴛʜᴇᴍᴇ

The snow had been piling up deeply around the cove, carried by the mountain winds and deposited between the high rocks and walls which guarded their home. It buried the familiar, made everything look strange. Stella didn't remember it looking like this last winter. Of course, she reminded herself she hadn't seen as much of the last winter here. She'd gone off then, coming back with the thaw. She'd felt it was the right thing to do then, but since then she'd not been so sure. But, one couldn't change the past, only the present.

Things seemed quieter, currently. She'd been scouting today, looking for any signs of life. Especially familiar ones. But all sounds and stirrings were muffled by the blankets of snow and layers of ice.

The pack felt more withdrawn, though she hoped it was just her. Of course it was not. Her own siblings were unaccounted for, as well as others.

When Nash's call rang out it should have been a relief, but instead she heard the echoes of her own worries in his tones. It took her some time to make her way to the borders, enough that she hoped to see more familiar faces when she arrived. Instead what greeted her was....
It sent a shiver down her spine. Well, its food at least, the girl wondered if they could even chew into the frozen caribou. They were scattered about, their antlers rearing up like bare winter trees. Had a cold snap truly felled all of them?

She made her way to the others, a blessed spot of movement in a field of unnatural stillness, wishing @Leo was there. She bent to touch noses with young Adora in greeting and reassurance before looking up to the Eastfall man. What was going on? The Vuesain girl's look said it all.

(This post was last modified: Jan 15, 2023, 04:03 AM by Stella.)

Worry was putting it mildly – Leo was close to panic! Part of him wanted to rush out and search for his little siblings across the Lore, the other feared what might happen to those still left while he was gone. He’d make small forays down the mountainside from his daily patrols, but he didn’t want to be away for too long – with the constant snows, it was impossible to find any trail anyway. He felt like an utter failure, unable to protect his own family. It left him sleepless at night, and generally miserable throughout the day. So much so, that when Nash’s call rang out, he almost didn’t answer. More than anyone, the young Vuesain had led down his leader – one of the Eastfall’s pups was missing too – and it was clear from the sound of the summons that it was not happy news. But in the end, he made his way towards the call, as shocked to stumble upon the grizzly scene as the others had been. And just like them, he immediately thought of the lost pups, and whether they had met a similar fate; his stomach turning so bad that he couldn’t even think of the free food. Tail, head and ears all drooping, Leo walked to his sister’s side, leaning against her shoulder by way of greeting. Then he looked up at their leader, voice grim as he asked: “Nash, any news?” He knew what the answer would be, but he had to make sure, to hear it from the dark man’s lips directly. Thoughts ”Speech”

Lakela @DA

Chan tried not to think much these days. There were few kind avenues remaining for his thoughts to go, and the aging wolf found it was easier to continue existing if he simply focused on literally anything else but what was inside of him. Life didn't help him with all of these twists and turns stealing joy away from those he loved, but when he walked until his paws were numb and let frostbite nip at his ears, he found he could enter a sort of productive trance that helped him kill hours at a time.

Still he found no traces. Not of the children, not of his godfather, nothing.

Nash's howl made him pause and blink up into the wintry sky, steely yet bright. Its tone was unsurprising, given their circumstances, though he hoped it was light enough still to not signal a found corpse. Chan took a breath, and changed course to meet with his brother.

When he arrived, the yearling duo Leo and Stella were present along with one of their newer faces, young Adora. Where a year prior he would have made sure to greet each of the kids and shoulder-check his own sibling, now the older Eastfall simply nodded his hello as he passed them by. His nose set to work investigating the corpses, making sure to learn as much as he could about what had happened here.

Woya was thoroughly relieved that it had not been any of her own spawn who'd vanished in the mountain's storms. Still, she felt driven to help find their little lost cousins and did what she could when freed from caring for her own youth and providing for the pack in other ways, such as hunting and watching over those that still remained.

When she heard Nash's call, she had been clearing one of the lake's watering holes. Woya hesitated a moment, then relented, dropping what she was doing to heed the summons. It was strange now, taking orders instead of giving them. She didn't much like it.

Arriving on scene, her gold eyes swept over the frost-driven massacre and then forsook it to focus on her daughter instead. She approached, hanging back a pace only because getting closer would bring her into Nash's bubble as well, somewhere she didn't much care to be.

Aquene had noticed it too, not just in the general absence of those around but also in the worried expressions on her husband’s face when they would see each other throughout the course of the day and at night. She worried as well; she remembered the pure panic she had felt when Kateri had gone missing shortly before her first birthday, and could not imagine going through that again with any of her and Nash’s current brood… especially because he had been the reason she got through it the first time, but she imagined he would be as equal of a mess as she had been should it happen this time around.

She was not the first to arrive; she had taken time to bundle up some herbs that could treat immediate concerns such as hypothermia, shortness of breath, or exhaustion with her as she made her way, hoping that there was some progress in finding the children. She hated the very thought that something could have happened to them. It made her feel sick just to think about, her stomach churning uncomfortably. What was the cause of all this tragedy? What had they done to deserve this other than merely existing?

That question would burn in her mind, coupled with the fact that she wondered if she herself was somehow to blame. It was natural to her, attempting to take the burden of guilt from everything around her and apply it onto herself. It was something to work on, but for now it was all she could do. She arrived, moving to gently run her nose against Nash’s neck in greeting as she passed him before joining the rest of the pack in front of him.

She saw the bodies of the frozen caribou, worry mixed with the deep rumbling of her belly in hunger… and her concerns would mirror her husband’s. What happened to the children if this was happening to creatures so much larger?

Aquene Slayer

I think I need help, cuz I'm drowning in myself

The height of winter was always difficult, but this year seemed to be harder than previous seasons. Her movements were progressively getting slower. She found her legs wanting to give out as she went to stand, and her energy reserves couldn't seem to fill up. Moonshadow's ageing and increasing limited mobility weren't the only things weighing her heart down. First it was the disappearance of @Kajika, then the disappearances of many of the children. Having them wander off is bound to happen, but when the world was at its coldest it worried the Eastfall matriarch even more. She felt useless in her inability to scale the mountain like she once had in order to search for any of them. If only time wasn't her enemy.

A silvered ear flicked at the call of her youngest son, her more silver than black head turning towards the sound as well. The tone and worry were crystal clear as it rang through the cove. Heaving to her feet Moon made her way towards the border, painfully slow. She was, of course, the last to arrive, but was just as shocked as the rest. The mass of frozen caribou was unbelievable to her. This was unlike anything she had ever seen in her entire life...and she's seen quite a bit. Silver orbs swept over the grizzly scene before settling on her family who had arrived already. The absence of any of the children who were missing told the woman that the caribou was the center of the call. She remained quite as to let Nash tell them what he needed to. The inky grandmother's worry grew with each passing moment. The mountain was unrelenting and unforgiving, especially in the winter. If it had claimed this herd, she hoped with every fiber of her being that it hadn't claimed her grandbabies.

Word Count: 000

The winter just seemed to get worse and worse for the cove wolves. While Woya had come to join them others including three of her own children had gone missing. The first time mother was beside herself with worry over their disappearances. She kept a close eye on Diantha to make sure she didnt go missing too. The crow also was out looking for her children as much as she could but there'd been no sign of them.

She was at her wits end for what to do. She was doing her best to care for the pack and look for her children as well as watching Di. It was getting to the point that she was going to have to do something because she couldn't keep it up much longer.

When she heard Nash's call Oksana was almost glad for the distraction. Something to take her mind off of her worry for a little bit at least. The crow quickly made her way to find her co-lead and see why he'd called.

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He called, and they gathered. Most of the pack quickly arrived, surveying the damage done to their herds. Nash didn't even want to think about how this might impact them come spring; how would their food supply look? At least for now the cold would preserve the carcasses and they could scavenge them for the rest of the winter.

So long as they didn't find the pups here.

Chan arrived but did not offer him their customary shoulder bump. He hadn't in a while, and Nash didn't move to offer his own. Aquene, at least, offered him a greeting that he returned before surveying the gathered wolves. He dipped his head to Oksana as she arrived. "Thank you for coming so quickly. As you can see, the cold has had severe impacts on the mountain," he said. "I'm doubly concerned for the pups we've lost, and our elders. This winter is deadly."

He glanced back to the caribou. The summer had been deadly too. He'd hoped with the snow would come a reprieve. Of course it had been in vain. "I know everyone is looking for our family, but I'd like to double our efforts. Daily patrols. If you can venture beyond the borders in cycled loops, do it. This year's pups are not to be left unattended; I don't want the girls wandering off and disappearing too. If you can patrol in pairs, do it. No more accidents with cats or snowfall or ice." Green eyes turned to Oksana, inviting her input.