Winter was inbound, that much was certain. Mornings arrived encrusted in a thick frost, and afternoons were more often than not spent beneath a shroud of iron-clad clouds, thick with the promise of snow. Of course, the clouds were a damn tease, because there was no snow. Not yet. Soon, but what good had soon ever done anyone? No, it was just morning after morning of frost, which inevitably turned the ground beneath Amaranth’s paws into mud… Morning, after morning, after morning.

The adventure to Boreas had been a longer trek than she’d initially anticipated. Her early thoughts of ‘Oh, what a grand adventure!’ and ‘How hard could it possibly be?’ and of course, ‘What’s the worst that could happen?’ were dashed almost instantly but it wasn’t in her nature to turn back. All of the complications she’d faced weren’t weighed against her age or ability, as they perhaps should have been, but instead rationalized by the logic of ‘Well if it weren’t for this damn mud this would’ve been easy.’

She woke in the morning cold and caked with yesterday’s dirt. The dirt didn’t bother her much but the cold absolutely did. Her pelt, just now growing in its first winter undercoat, seemed ill-equipped for the season’s changing. Every day, trekking along mile after mile, she told herself that it was warmer where she was headed. Whether that was true or not, well... It was a nice tale, and she knew her father and siblings at the very least waited for her, and Gus was around too… somewhere.

Had she lagged behind intentionally? Well, yes. Did she think her diversion was well intentioned at the time? Of course!.. Would she say the same if you asked her that now? To your face, obviously, even if she did grumble herself to sleep every night. How much further could she possibly have to go? Was she in Boreas already? To be honest she had no idea where the rest of her family had been heading, but she was probably going in the right direction… By this point, her coat was properly disheveled and mud caked her limbs up to her elbows. She eventually decided that this was enough trekking for today. Whenever spring arrived she’d bathe. For now, perhaps a rest…

With Winter on the way, Airikr had been waiting for something to happen. The frost that coated the ground every morning counted as a change, sure, but even that grew boring after a while. The clouds promised snow, but snow hadn't come. Not yet- a part of him was convinced there wouldn't ever be snow. That there would just be frost, and, soon enough, slush and mud. Every single day. While he hadn't told his siblings, he had been begging for the clouds above to give them snow. Even if it didn't stick, anything would be better than the dreariness they were met with morning after morning.

He had left not long after Amaranth had, reasoning that he would be able to catch up to her soon enough. Even if she was bigger, he was determined to reach her before either of them got to their destination. Which, in hindsight, had been a horrible idea. The mud wasn't exactly comfortable to travel through, and he not-so-quietly cursed every fleck of mud that ended up splattered on him. Even if it wasn't as obvious as it may have been on some of his fairer-coated siblings, it was still uncomfortable at best. He felt gross with all the mud on him.

He managed to get the worst of it off before he finally fell asleep, but he was aware of the rest the next morning. And an angry, grumbling noise had torn itself from him. If his siblings had been around, he had no doubt that they would have said something about his complaints. He reasoned it by thinking that he would have bitten their ears if they tried to say anything about it. Not to mention that the feeling of dried mud wasn't something he wanted to deal with. At the very least, Airikr thought, he had managed to get most of it off.

His happiness was short lived at the realization it wouldn't matter by the end of the day.

And he was right. He still hadn't caught up to his sister yet, either, and he cursed her with every second, too. The reasonable part of his mind knew that it wasn't actually her fault, and she had probably traveled a little further than him, but that didn't stop him from wishing she had been slower at walking, or shorter, or something. He was dying to be able to taunt her if he got anything even resembling a chance.

Maybe luck was more on his side than he had originally thought. He finally, after what had seemed like much too long, stumbled across a familiar form. His tail wagged once, twice, as he got closer, a grin stretching across his face as he took in how awful she looked. He didn't look any better, sure, with flecks of caked mud and his fur disheveled to the point that he wondered if he'd ever get it in halfway decent shape again. But this wasn't about him. This was about his much larger sister, and how rough she looked, and how he was about to point it out.

"You look like shit, Ama."

is this really necessary...

To say it had been a journey was indeed putting it lightly. The boy had not been as keen as his sister to run off and find their other siblings, but he wasn't about to sit around and be left behind. A begrudging companion, something that his dearest sister wouldn't ever let him live down. The mere thought of it made the mottled boy sigh, glaring out at the muddy weather that had been their other 'friend' through these travels. Leave it to Mara to find the worst, dirtiest path to take them down... She shouldn't be surprised that he had slowed down on purpose. Gus would rather settle into a cold den by himself than have to deal with another night sleeping beside the mud queen herself. She obviously didn't care about all the micro organisms that lived in that crap, and that by rubbing it all over herself she could potentially getting herself sick. And who was going to fix her up when she did? Not him, certainly. Not that he didn't have the knowledge to, of course, he knew all about everything, how dare you question him? Huffing to himself, the boy peeked out from his hiding spot, resting not too far away from where his more savage twin had collapsed for the night. As much as he cared so, so much for his family, and his twin, he really couldn't take another day of getting dirty. He had just gotten the rest of the dried mud off of him, a heavy feat when most of your coat blended in quite nicely with the gooey, gross substance. His blue eyes narrowed as he peeked over the edge of the hollowed stump that he had hidden away in, perfect view of Mara. What better way to protect himself, when she would most likely come to find him anyways. Gus groaned silently, tucking back into his hiding spot.

The boy was quite content to stay curled up there, at least until it either got warmer or dryer. That was, until a different familiar voice made its mark. Mottled ears perked upwards, nose pulling up over the lip of his hidey hole. Was that Airikr? Of course the little devil had followed them here. In most cases, he would say the more the merrier, but with Mara around.... there was little doubt that she would turn this into a mud bath if she could help it. As slowly as he peeked over, Astralagus slid back down. Now he had double the reason to hide... Plus, Airikr's words weren't really incorrect, so nothing to butt in on...

Astralagus Adonis Adravendi

Mara groaned as she leaned down into a stretch, enjoying the slight ache and release of her muscles, then flopped sideways. She found her thoughts wandering to her father, to Mæ and Gwyn and Airi. Gus was around... somewhere, and she'd seen him earlier that day too so she didn't feel compelled to worry about him much. The others she missed. They couldn't have fallen that far behind, so how many more days would she have to spend slogging through the mud? Truthfully... she didn't want to think about it.

Amaranth was in the middle of trying to think about something else when a familiar voice broke in. She looked up to see her other brother seemed to have caught up to her at last. Despite his words a wide grin stretched at her lips. "Airi! Did you walk here yourself or did an eagle swoop in and drop you off?" Mara heaved herself back to her feet so she could greet him properly, and by properly she meant attempt to drape her muddy forelimbs over his shoulders in a mockery of a hug. Before she reached him, though, a new scent drifted through the clearing and caught her attention. If she was grinning pleasantly before, it looked positively feral now.

Mara considered her options, but eventually settled on feigning dramatics. "Oh, the gods are good to me, delivering my brother to my side! If only my other brother was here as well. I do miss him so!" She faked a pitiful, hiccuping sob, walking slowly as she did so across the space. She had no idea where Gus had squirreled himself away but if she had anything to say about it, he'd also be getting a proper greeting in very short order. Riki was fun to mess with, sure, and she'd get back to that. But Gus was famous for his dislike of 'ick' and it was one of Mara's very favorite things about him for all of the wrong reasons.

Despite his words and how blunt they had been, Mara didn't seem to be too bothered by it. Instead, she grinned, and an echoing one slowly found itself across Airi's face. "Either'd be better than being drug along." He was beginning to move away from her as she advanced, knowing that she was planning something, when another familiar scent was pulled to his attention. While his comment had meant to be a jab at Mara, and how it looked like she had been pulled along...It looked like she was the one pulling someone along instead. And from the way he wasn't there, it seemed like Mara had either rubbed mud on him purposely or he was trying to get it off. Or both. Probably both.

He didn't have to look up at his much larger sister to know that the grin on her face had turned into something positively wicked. Mostly because his had, too, and he finally glanced up in an attempt to make eye contact. He hoped the meaning behind it was clear; if we both go for Gus, one of us will manage to find him. Maybe it was a little mean, but he couldn't pass up the opportunity to absolutely torment his bigger brother. Especially if he had someone with him that would help him, and Mara counted as that someone for the time being.

Even if he was planning on picking on her again once it was all over.

It takes him a moment longer than he would have admitted to realize what Mara's feigned dramatics was meant to do. And, once he did, he started up himself. Whether Mara would have wanted him to or not. "Oh, I'm so tired and seeing my dear old brother Gus would surely be a relief! If only he were here!"

Hopefully he'd get tired of their whining and come out soon enough.

is this really necessary...

Well shit. Now they were both here, and plotting to find him. He didn't dare peek over his hiding place, knowing that he would be dead meat if they spotted him. He knew that Mara would stop at nothing until he was once again covered in mud, even after she had dragged him through the ends of the world and every pit of dirty things that she could find. The more that they spoke though, the more that the boy realized that the fates had already spoken for him. Ears pressed back against his mottled head, he jutted his nose over the lip of the log to glance towards them, seeing that they were staring in his general direction. As far as Gus saw it, he had two options. Give up and submit to the mud bath that would come, or run for it. He wasn't familiar enough with his surroundings to know a good spot to head towards, and most things were covered in muck and mud. So even fewer choices, then. Great. With a mighty roll of his eyes, Astra stood and revealed himself. snorting loudly. "Alright alright, you can quit the dramatic act..." He whispered bitterly, refusing to move from his hollow stump just yet. If they dove for him now, he might actually have a chance to escape.

Raising his nose towards the sky, Gus kept a careful blue eye on his two siblings. While it was sort of nice to see Airikr again, he knew that the more of their littermates they found, the more fodder Mara had to drive him up the wall. Astra loved his twin dearly, but she was the reason why he hated most things dirty and gross. They would protect each other until the end, that he knew for sure, but she still sought out torture methods that she knew got under his skin. His eyes softened a bit as he glanced at her, but still dared to stick the tip of his tongue out at her. She was still mucky from their trek here, fresh mud already starting to crawl up her limbs. Gus had managed to clean off, and had every intention to stay that way...

Astralagus Adonis Adravendi

Although she knew, loosely, where her wayward twin waited, seeing his nose and one glaring eye peeking up over a log was downright comical. She tipped her head back, laughing at the sight of him. She could practically feel the Grump™ rolling off of him in waves. Whether that was from being found or the knowledge of what was to come, she couldn't say. Probably both. She shot a sly glance at Riki, grinning still, and began to mince forward. "Ah, the gods are good. Heya, Gus!" She sat down on the opposite side of the log from where he had been hiding, no pressure. Keeping space. Picture of innocence. Muscles tensed, because knowing her brother, he'd bolt. Good times. She looked back towards Airikr to see what short stuff was up to. Between the two of them, oh ho, Gus was going down. Riki was quick on his feet, and even if he was a sour puss sometimes she knew he was always good for a spot of mischief. Looking back towards her twin she asked, the picture of casual, "What brings you to this neck of the woods?" (Prairie?) "I figured you'd be up a tree until late spring. You know," she hooked her paw into the muck below her, scooping some up and letting it fall back to the earth with a wet 'shlop.' "Once all the fun has dried up." She eyed him. It was his move. Only a matter of time... "TALK" "YOU" THINK