Normally he wouldn't bring Yurei out on his hunts, especially not with how the weather had been as of late, but he knew he was going to need another set of paws at least to carry back whatever he caught if not actual help with the hunting itself. Instead of bringing any kind of relief Spring had only worsened the already terrible situation in the northern portion of Boreas. He knew that if they didn't start hunting larger game they were never going to get enough food to last through this. The pack's stores were quickly dwindling with how withdrawn everyone had been since his brother's take over and the few small prey animals he had found here and there were not cutting it. Part of him only wanted to worry about himself and Yurei, but he just didn't have it in him to leave the rest of the pack to fend for themselves. He trudged through the thick snow and ice, actually feeling grateful whenever they found a portion that was frozen over enough that they could almost skate their way across it instead of climbing or hopping through the snow drifts. As he had hoped, once they reached the Red Forest the snow drifts were a little more manageable since the giant trees around them caught a significant amount of snow on their branches. Somewhere in the distance he heard the slide and thump of a pile of said snow falling from a branch. "Be careful," he reminded his mate, glancing back over his shoulder at her. "Keep an eye out for any falling snow or icicles." Boris soared through the air above them, his mostly white body nearly blending in with the cloudy, wintery sky. The snow owl kept a look out ahead of them, ready to call down with any warnings of dangers he saw. Leading Yurei through the forest, he kept his eyes peeled for any sign of life - something that was getting harder and harder to do as the weather worsened and it drove more animals further south. It made him wonder if they should be doing the same, but now wasn't really the time to consider such things. He could only do the best he could with what he had been given. After a bit of searching he found some fairly large holes in the snow that created some oddly shaped foot prints. He tipped his head to the side curiously at them for a moment, his two toned gaze following the trail they created. "Well... lets see where this leads, I guess," he muttered quietly before continuing on along the trail, trying to decipher what could have left this trail all the while. Eventually he spotted a huge, brown furred figure up ahead and he led them off the path a bit, ducking behind one of the large tree trunks while he examined the odd creature. It moved fairly slowly, but it was larger than most bears he had seen. The fur was long and shaggy with claws that were much, much longer than he would have ever expected. "What is that thing?" he whispered to Yurei, wondering to himself if he should even try hunting it. It was big enough to make a good meal for all of the pack and then some, but how deadly were those claws? Was it even a predator like a bear? It seemed to move way too slow to be much of a threat... But what was it? WC: 584 / 1500 "Casso" | Think | "Boris"

Art by CloudyNight

"Yurei's Speech" | "Casso's Speech" Yurei has been still getting used to her new reality, to the sudden new reality now called Incendium was going through. And yet she couldn't feel comfortable as she really feared for her and Casso's life, she feared Ignis would hurt him. She cared more for his well being than hers. Every night was hard to sleep as she couldn't get her mind away from building bad outcomes or fearing they could be attacked in their sleep. Yes she was being too extreme but she just didn't want to lose the wolf she loved the most. She could be a coward but for Casso she would lay her life in the line. And her herbal forging wasn't as frequent as when all was more peaceful. And here as she joined Casso in his hunting was one of the first outside walks she had in a long time. But again for Casso she would do everything he asked her to do. And with her back pack on her left hip and Aki the wild cat on her back she was ready to help, to assist with any wounds or anything that could arise. She was a healer and for Casso she wanted to be always prepared to work. She walked a bit behind him with her usual submissive posture but not as much as one she would she around strangers. Casso was the only wolf she didn't fear. One she actually felt comfortable with. Eats were slightly pinned and her tail low but not between her legs. She walked as silent as she could, just to don't scare away her mate's prey. As they walked in the apparently quiet place, snow from the huge braches fell just beside her startling her in the process. But she managed to drown the yelp as she didn't want to disturb Casso's hunting. A soft sight escaped her lungs, hopping they were on danger our here. "Be careful" She nodded shyly on the warning. "I will..." She spoke in her typical low voice. Doing her best to keep up with the speed . And she was doing well this far. After some time he stopped and so she did, looking at a track of an unknown creature. She shallows dry in fear but keeping the feeling for herself. Silently she followed as he resumed with his walk. Herself kept an eye into the surroundings to atleast work as a second pair of eyes for finding this prey. They kept going and going until her male stopped once again. And when she looked at the spot he did, her heart almost got through her mouth. It began to pound hard as she was starting to feel scared. She wanted to run, to run with Casso and be safe. But she had to stay strong for him as she saw his interest on the animal. "I hope it won't kill us..." She muttered to his eyes. Aki was scared just like the white pelted wolf. Word count: 497

Art by CloudyNight

He glanced toward Yurei when she muttered something about hoping it wouldn't kill them and he smiled softly, leaning toward her to give her cheek a reassuring lick. "Don't worry about that, my love," he whispered. He nodded toward the large, lumbering creature and added, "Look how slow it is... we could easily out run it." Now whether he was going to be able to bring it down or not was going to be another question entirely. He thought that surely if he had been able to kill a large bear this shouldn't be that difficult, but he had been surprised before. The size of it was the only daunting thing about this strange prey animal - the more he watched it slowly move from one tree to another the more he felt sure that he would at least be able to out pace it. "Stay here," he instructed her, giving her another affectionate lick before slinking off through the trees to get closer to the creature and position himself behind it. Casso quietly crept up behind the giant, sloth like creature. Luckily the air was still so he didn't have much worry about it catching his scent. Once he was close, he darted up along side it with a snarl, leaping up to reach its neck and attempted to bite into its skin. His attack startled the beast and it tried to scramble away, reaching out toward one of the near by trees and attempting to hoist itself up the large trunk with its massive claws. Casso tore at its neck, but the fur was thicker there than he had anticipated so he wasn't able to get a good drip on it there. Seeing that it was trying to escape, he shifted his attention to the creature's limb that was up on the tree, doing a hop and biting down hard on the limb right around where its wrist would be. The creature made a pained sound and fell back from the tree it was trying to grip, taking Casso down into the snow with it. He didn't let up on his grip on the sloth's limb until it was on its back in the snow and then he moved quickly to get back to his paws, darting toward its neck again before it could get up as well. He made a hard bite into its throat, crushing his jaws down around the delicate area, before ripping away a chunk of flesh and hopping back out of the way to avoid a swipe of its large claws. He backed away as it struggled for a moment longer, attempting to stand and climb again before falling back down and eventually going still as it continued to loose blood and darken the snow around it. He gave a satisfied sigh and grinned, happy that Yurei didn't end up needed to patch him up after all. He had honestly been expecting to have to turn a fellow predator into their meal so he had expected more of a fight when they came out here, but this had been a lucky find. Now came the strenuous task of getting this thing back to the pack... He turned around to call Yurei over, but before he could he spotted a trio of very tall wolves watching them from the trees. He stopped and watched them, his two toned eyes watching them warily. "Yurei, come here," he called, not letting his eyes leave the strangers while he tried to sort out if they were friend or foe. With such a large prey animal he expected to draw some attention from other hungry predators, but this abnormally large wolves were certainly not what he was expecting. Once his mate was at his side where he could block her off from the strangers if he needed to, he called out to them, saying, "Can I help you?" What seemed to be the leader of the small group of these towering dire wolves came forward, giving him a curious glance. "Perhaps," she replied, casting another look toward the creature he had hunted. "That was an impressive hunt." "Thank you," he replied uncertainly, still making sure that he was mostly in front of Yurei as the stranger drew closer. "My sisters and I could make use of its pelt and some of the meat. Could I interest you in a trade?" A trade? That possibility hadn't even crossed his mind. If anything he had thought this large wolf would try to fight him over it the kill. He gave Yurei a glance that spoke to his surprise before looking toward the stranger again. "I suppose there's enough here to split..." He looked toward his mate once more, asking, "Is there anything you need or would want to trade for, my love?" His only concern had been getting something for them to eat and this more than accomplished that task so if there was anything that would be most useful for the healer that would a more interesting trade in his mind. WC: 842 Total: 1982 / 1500 Done! "Casso" | Think | "Boris"

Art by CloudyNight

"Yurei's Speech" | "Casso's Speech" Yurei wasn't sure about this, anything wrong could occur and she deep inside played nothing bad would happen to her mate, her own well-being mattered little besides how she felt about Casso's. He deserved more than her, more happiness than her. She never was into thinking she was important enough to be saved, to be loved, to even exits. And even though she wasn't unwanted or at least not by Casso, she sometimes still had a cruel view of herself, saying mean things to herself, acting like if she didn't have the right of walking the same ground as the rest, even with Casso. But she was always trying to change but it took way longer than she wanted it to be. "Don't worry about that, my love," He licked her cheek and that made her fair fade but just a bit, but enough for her to not run away. No why should she? What if he was attacked? She just couldn't abandon him like that. She took a deep breath nodding as she dared to look at the creature that doubled their size. Its claws looked huge and sharp and she couldn't help but feel unease. But she had to stand here for her mate, to support even if she was dying to hide. He then told her to stay and wait for him to which she nodded and with her heart in her paw she watched as Casso ended with the beast's life and pleasingly he came unharmed. Before Casso could say anything, she saw three huge wolves staring at them. And as usual, she felt how her limbs became rigid due to the increasing fear. Her heart pounded faster as her pupils dilatated in panic. Ears pinned and tail tucked under between her legs. Quickly without even waiting for Casso to speak she rushed his way and placed herself behind him. Legs shivering under her. They approached and began to chat with her mate. About trading. She wasn't looking at them, just hiding her head into his fluffy shoulder, until Casso spoke to her to which she quickly turned at them. "I..." She struggled to speak. "I...I have herbs if you want to...or...I would like...some in...return..." She tried her best to speak correctly but it was hard. One of the three wolves approached who had a backpack bigger than hers. "Are you a healer? This knowledge may help you. There are some herbs and plants that are poisonous and some don't look like they are. Ill tell you about it so you won't use them in treatments by mistake. First, Chaparral which is a yellow flower can harm the liber, Ephedra that can produce convulsions and Pennyroyal causes in high concentrations organ failure." Falling in silence the wolf returned to the side of it's mates looking at Casso. "Thanks.." Yurei said shyly.

Art by CloudyNight