So she'd had one hell of a morning, it was honestly really annoying, and Caelestis was scowling just at the thought of the ridiculous series of events. First off, she'd been wandering around for like two days and it had taken till this morning for her to find something she could realistically hope to catch. It was this fat little bunny, and she totally would have got it if it's frantic racing hadn't led them both straight into quick sand! The plump little hopping critter struggled about and ultimately sank, while Caelestis was close enough to solid ground to pull herself back to safety, but not till after her pelt was covered in in the goopy stuff and she felt absolutely disgusting. It wouldn't have been so bad if she hadn't backpedaled when she got to dry land and tripped over a rock or something and landed flat on her back. This just wasn't her morning and the girl was about ready to go fight lady luck or whatever force of nature was responsible the incidents.

It was possible that she was also just pissy because life sucked for a myriad of other reasons and she had too much pent up aggression about recent events, but Caelestis couldn't afford to admit that. She'd already tried starting a fight, and that honestly just left her worse off than she'd been before, so... Now she just didn't know what to do with herself. Well, the first order of business was finding a place to wash out her pelt, which she did after a while. Once she'd double triple quadruple checked that it was safe and there was no hidden quick sand around the shallow stream she proceeded to roll through the waters until she'd rinsed most of the mud off, and then went racing away from it, shaking out her pelt and shivering harder than she had in ages. Damn it, when did fall get here? The water was freezing, and the air was even worse now that she was wet! Ugh!

Shaking out her pelt a good four times or so in vain effort to dry off faster, the young explorer frowned and looked down at the leather strapped to her right wrist, briefly wondering if water was bad for the little compass inside of it. Lifting her leg up a bit, she watched the needle spin and eventually settle, pointing north as always. Good, she'd hate herself if she ruined it. Now, how was she going to warm up?

Somehow, Kai hadn't strayed far from Mount Volkan. There were still so many lands to explore and he wasn't quite ready to make his trek to the northern lands quite yet. Spending some of the colder months in terrains less hospitable was sounding quite appealing, but spending much more time in solitude... that he wasn't quite sure about. Deciding not to decide on it quite yet, he busied himself with wandering. Today he'd ended up just southwest of the volcano, past the forest of young redbud trees and into a much weirder terrain. The land here was flat, and - upon further inspection - quite dangerous despite the inconspicuous appearance of the muddy terrain. As he trekked through, he accidentally placed a paw in the quicksand before reeling back, quickly realizing that the land wasn't quite as solid as it seemed. He'd gotten luck, and he grew more cautious as he avoided the vast stretches of quicksand. He sniffed at the air, searching for something of interest. The scent of water, distinct from the dank smell of damp earth, caught his interest and Kai redirected himself toward the trickling stream. By the time he reached it, pausing to lean down for a quick drink, he spotted someone up ahead, far up the stream. He squinted, lapping at his lips before loping in the stranger's direction and offering her a grin from a far distance. "You look like you're having a rough day," he commented, getting a better look at her damp coat. Fall had definitely settled in, and though the temperatures weren't super uncomfortable, surely she was chilly after being soaked? He raised a brow, quite obviously checking her out. "Anything I can do to help, beautiful?" "TALK" "YOU" THINK

Shivering, cranky, and overall pretty miserable, the last thing Cael had expected to add to her list of woes was some guy showing up and seeing her looking like a mess. Ugh. Great. Turning to land an irritable stare on the grey male, she huffed, "Boy, you must be a detective, how'd ya guess?"

Glancing over him with a slightly curled lip as she trembled harder while a cold breeze made her feel like an actual icicle, she noted that he had some kinda cool red markings. Probably was a bit older than her. Attractive or not, he wasn't getting any extra patience from her when she felt like she was gunna become one of her snow wolves any minute. "Be my guest, but ya better be careful what you do," she replied, trying to come off as vaguely threatening despite the fact that she was far more interested in warming up than getting into a fight at the moment.

A Wild Santa Paws Appears!

What's that? Is it Lil Ardy dressed up as Santa? No, silly, it's Santa Paws!

Already in the Christmas spirit, Lil Ardy - err, Santa Paws, can be seen dragging a large bag of gifts behind her. As she approaches Caelestis, she rummages through her things and tosses a bundle of gemstones at her.

100 Gemstones have been added to your credits!

Geeze. What a grouch. Kai resisted the urge to roll his eyes as she swung around to greet him, frowning and huffing all the while. "I know, quite the feat, wasn't it?" He returned the attitude twofold, chuckling despite the slight annoyance that had woven itself onto his features. His brows pulled together and his nose wrinkled as he regarded her. "Must be a surprise for the Queen of subtlety to be read so easily," he drawled on without missing a beat. Kai was also the sort to wear his emotions right on the surface for everyone to read, so he wasn't exactly going to fault her for it. Either way, he couldn't help but wonder what the hell was up with everyone being in such a pissy mood lately when he approached them. Life was too damn good to sulk about anything, as far as he was concerned! He mirrored her frown for a moment, but it quickly faded. "Tell me then, what do you hope I do to help?" Kai asked, only faintly suggestively. She was quite obviously cold and he had no issue helping her with that, even if it was in a more platonic way, but he wasn't in the mood to get scarred by an angry she-wolf today. "I can see you shivering, so you're obviously cold. And don't say anything about how obvious that is," Kai added quickly, actually rolling his eyes now as he took a few tentative steps over toward her. "TALK" "YOU" THINK

The guy proceeded to return her attitude, sending as much her way as she'd given to him. Bright eyes narrowing, Cael struggled to decide if this returned snark irked her. She was sitting here feeling like a soon to be icicle, so she felt pretty justified in being irritated by the pointless comments and his initial attempt at light flirtatious behavior. Being basically half dead from the cold meant this was no time for such foolishness. Only her foolishness could go unquestioned!

Well, okay, mostly she was just being an ass because the whole morning had put her in a shitty mood. Huffing, she managed to keep herself from snapping which was about the best she could do. Instead she just sniffed and turned to look for some sort of shelter. If she could find a place to curl up she could probably dry off easier. An enclosed space would warm her up more than being stuck out in the open to drip dry. Unfortunately the stranger was too quick for her to says was perfectly warm thanks and he needn't concern himself with her for even a moment longer. Her eyes narrowed and her lips pursed for a moment before she swung back around to face him and give the guy an uncertain look that said she wasn't entiirely certain how she felt about him.

"Alright, I'll make you a deal. If you help me find a place to warm up, then I'll start this over." Her words came off as quite tentative, as though she was prepared to rescind the statement at a moments notice. After a minute the trepidation lessened and she broke into an impish smirk before adding, "If we find a really good spot maybe I can steal some of your body heat." Never mind the fact that having a damp wolf pressed up against you seeking warmth was probably even less appealing in practice than in theory

Her mood was hard to really figure out, but Kai supposed if she wasn't trying to run him off (or trying to hightail it out of there herself), she couldn't be too upset, right? Well, hopefully. Either way, he was content to return her shitty attitude as long as she let him, or at least until it no longer continued to be entertaining to him. He was feeling more patient than usual today, though he supposed only time would tell how long his patience might last.  "A place to warm up? Are you not looking at one?" Kai responded quickly, offering a lighthearted chuckle, but he decided she might not appreciate his jesting - especially since he was only partially jesting with her. "I kid, I kid," Kai said after a moment, hoping to deflect her attitude before it flared up again. "Though honestly, I'd be more than happy to help once we do find somewhere to dry you off." Where the hell would he find somewhere like that, though, in a place like this? All he had seen for ages was sand, sand, and more sand, with some sparse trees and vegetation in between. "Or... at least we can try. To the east of here is a small forest that might help." Kai shrugged, not sure if she'd buy his plan or not, but he was familiar with the Redbud Forest to the east of this place and decided it was worth a shot. "TALK" "YOU" THINK

Raising a brow at his remark, she shook her head with only a faint trace of a smirk on her lips before she went to shake out her fur again and get more of the water clinging to her out of her pelt. If he was in range to get some water on him... well that was his fault, wasn't it?

"Looks like it's decided then," she asserted, glancing around again in the hopes of finding a particular direction to start walking in. There... was not a lot to go off of. Any plant life was real sparse, mostly it was the stupid trick sand that apparently could actually be mush anywhere. She wasn't totally sure how to tell a squishy patch from a solid one, so while the guy kept talking she silently decided he was going to be the one walking in the lead. Normally she'd do it but... well, if he fell in it'd be pretty funny and she was never one to deprive herself of something funny to laugh at. "East it is, lead the way then," she replied, maybe a little too cheerfully though hopefully the faint chattering she was still doing would hide some of it.

Though her expression wasn't completely displeased with his remark, which he took as a good sign, she barely hesitated in giving her coat a firm shake - and essentially getting him wet, too. He was pretty sure it wasn't just water, but some mud too, which clung to his side nearest to her and earned a wide scowl from him. "Rude," he commented under his breath, but any real annoyance quickly faded as she agreed to his plan. It was a half-cocked one, as he wasn't totally sure just how far the forest to the east was or even if it held any good shelter, but it was worth a shot to cheer this beauty up. "Aren't you even gonna ask my name before you let me take you out on a date?" Kai wiggled his brows suggestively, but he was mostly taunting her now rather than being actually flirtatious, since she'd rejected all his advances thus far. Either way, he'd guide her as long as she was willing to follow, and with that he set off in search of shelter - trying quite desperately to avoid those large patches of quicksand, deciding Caelestis would be way too pleased to see him struggle to his death. Either way he'd make his best effort to find somewhere for her to dry off, now fully invested in this sudden and quite pointless mission. -exit to the east?- "TALK" "YOU" THINK