Though recently Kai had stood perched at the edge of these sharp cliffs, he'd never ventured down the dangerous inclines.. until now, of course. He'd been surprised to find at the southern edge of the Sound that it was possible to actually make his way down into the valley. Was it safe? No, not really, but what in life was ever rewarding that was super safe? Not much, as far as he was concerned. Interested, Kai started his descent down the icy cliffside - he was pleased to find a way down and wondered how tall the larger-than-life cliffs would look once he reached the bottom. Surely it would be a sight to behold.. The climb was a precarious one. Winter had already began to touch the north, and a decent amount of snow coated the sides of the Sound. The rocks that Kai was using to scale the cliffside were coated in a thin layer of ice, making him lose his grip more than once, though the male was focused on his descent. It was only when he approached the bottom that an eerie sound behind him caught his attention. For a moment he thought it might be the wind, roaring across the valley and creating a low rumble, but as he turned to stare up at the way he'd came he realized something was very, very wrong. The sound was like nothing he'd ever heard before, a low rumble that came from the earth itself, and that was when he saw it. Sharp drifts of snow had begun to come barreling down the cliff, bringing a cascade effect down with it. It only took a few seconds before it intensified, and Kai's eyes widened as he looked on in horror as the entire contents of the cliffside came rushing toward him. Shit. He'd had enough experience with snow that he knew it wasn't anything like water - it was powerful, and fast, and if he tried to outrun the avalanche he knew he might get pushed further down the cliffside in the process. Thinking fast, Kai came up with a plan. He went rushing toward a nearby boulder, and with that in mind he crouched behind it and hunkered toward the ground. Sure, he might get buried in snow and have to dig himself out, but it was better than being pushed around at will! That was his plan, at least..

Aesir was no stranger to late autumn snows. Or mid autumn snows. Potentially spring snows, or even the occasional summer snow wasn't completely unheard of. He didn't think too much about it when the recent days brought a heaping layer of fresh powder to the northern lands. Sure it was a pain in the ass to walk through, but the spectacular views more or less balanced out. Besides, he'd eaten yesterday so he felt no strong urge to do anything more productive today than to make his way down to the sea. He had loose plans to follow it's coastline continuing east into milder lands for the winter to come. It was quiet and calm. The earth appeared to be resting beneath its newly laid blanket. Besides the wind it was almost eery in its silence. The snow crunched beneath his paws as he continued his trek, and the metronomic rhythm lulled him into a state of thought that separated him from his body. His paws moved of their own accord so that Aesir was free to let his thoughts wander. He was oblivious to the fact that he was no longer alone, and he almost did not notice the earth beginning to shake and rumble beneath his feet. Almost. The brute's ears flicked and his eyes refocused. He swiveled and took stock of the new changes, namely the wall of frothing white currently racing down from the cliffs above. It charged towards him faster than any creature alive would be able to run, and the rumbling hiss grew louder and louder. "Fuck." No time to dawdle, Aesir's eyes darted from place to place, frantic to find shelter. They lit at last upon a large slab of stone partially embedded into the earth. If there was even a shred of luck residing in his cursed soul, it would be lodged deep enough to withstand the force of the blow. Praying had never done him much good in the past so he wasn't keen on renewing his faith now, but it didn't seem like the worst time to give it a chance. He muttered a hasty plea-turned-threat under his breath and dashed for the boulder. He crouched behind it in the same moment that another grey, furry shape darted in from the other side. Aesir bit his tongue to hold in his surprise, eyes widening at the sudden arrival and the coincidence of it all. "Nice day for a walk, huh?" He half-shouted over avalanche's oncoming roar. He wasn't sure how much time they had left before impact, but he sure as shit wasn't about to peek around the corner to check. "Aesir Speaks" "Aesir Listens" Aesir Thinks

Though snow was something he'd had plenty of experience with, sadly avalanches were not, and he wasn't fully convinced he'd made the right choice. At least it was better than trying to outrun the damn thing and breaking all his legs in the process of being pushed down the cliff, even if he ended up needing to dig himself out of the snow afterwards. He was mostly certain he could handle that part. Waiting as patiently (well, as patiently as one who was waiting to potentially be buried in snow could wait), he was relatively calm as he made to hunker down beside the stone. He certainly hadn't expected to see anyone else - why hadn't he seen them before? Admittedly he'd been focused on the impending onslaught of snow rather than whether or not anyone might be nearby, but it still caught him slightly off guard when he heard the approach of a stranger, coming at him from the other side of the rock as if on cue. Oh my. Now wasn't he a sight for sore eye? Perhaps if he was about to die it wouldn't be quite so bad in the presence of someone like.. this. What caught his attention first was the pair of miniature antlers that lay at the top of his head. Holy fucking shit. Was this guy some kind of caribou-wolf god creature sent to save him? He only entertained the thought for a moment, knowing his thoughts were getting a bit whimsical.  "Something like that," Kai snorted, shaking his head at the ridiculousness of their predicament as well as the coincidence of the two of them finding this exact rock at the same time. At least it was big enough for both of them - Kai wasn't opposed to doing whatever he needed to in order to save his own hide, but he wasn't in the mood to start a fight with someone his size, and especially not one so.. fantastically handsome. Mmm. But it wasn't the time for flirting, not really, and he let his thoughts shift as the rumbling of the ground grew closer and more pronounced. "You, uh, ever experience one of these before? Think we might die?" Death didn't necessarily scare Kai, but he didn't feel as though he'd lived long enough to be condemned to such a fate, so he'd claw his way tooth and nail out of a mountain of snow if he really had to. Today wouldn't be his last day in this world, and he had to hope this stranger beside him was thinking the same thing.

The male seemed understandably startled to see him, but at the very least he hadn't had a bite-first-ask-later reaction, and for that Aesir was thankful. The other male appeared to quickly process all that was... well, Aesir and to the brute's surprise he recovered with a laugh. Despite himself Aesir smirked back, though it was dry and thin given the looming circumstance. "I suppose this might be a bad time to tell you the story about how my brothers and I were exiled from home under suspicion of being cursed. Apologies, but I'm afraid I am growing used to these sorts of things." As to whether they would die, well. Aesir didn't want to jinx it. So perhaps he was being a bit showy, considering he'd never stared down a wall of hurtling snow and debris before, but it was true enough that Aesir had felt a string of persistent bad luck for as long as he could remember. It seemed a bit unfortunate that this other male had found himself in Aesir's path today, because while the horned man still rebelled against the true efficacy of whatever curse they were supposedly subjected too, even he had to admit that this absolutely sucked balls. It was at that moment that the rumbling grew catastrophically loud. The earth beneath his paws rumbled, and then shook, and Aesir felt as if the air around him was being sucked up an away. He crouched down and opened his mouth to tell the other male to brace, but before he could the avalanche impacted. Aesir felt a hot spike of fear when he felt the boulder shift a good few inches beneath the impact, but then it held. The snow roared around him as if he had been consumed into the mouth of a dragon, a blur of white and blue and grey and sound. The boulder allowed them a small space of air where the snow was pushed up and away, but it was getting quickly filled. It was beginning to look as if they would be buried. He turned to the grey male and shouted as loud as he could over the snow, but still had no idea if he would be able to hear. "START TAKING DEEP BREATHS, GET READY TO HOLD IT!" If they were lucky a pocket of air would remain for them but if not... Avalanches were common enough in the far mountains back home, but Aesir had only ever heard stories of wolves trapped by them. The ones where they survived were considerably more rare. His mind was firing quickly, and he swallowed to quench any bud of fear that tried to plant itself inside of him. Fear was as much his enemy as this damn snow, at the moment. He grit his teeth and began taking in deep lungfuls, prepping himself for the worst. How much longer would the damn thing go on for? "Aesir Speaks" "Aesir Listens" Aesir Thinks

His initial startled reaction quickly faded, giving way to a look that seemed far more interested and curious. Perhaps in the face of such a natural disaster he really ought to seem less worried about what they were about to experience, but Kai wasn't very good at worrying or looking ahead. Aesir quite quickly explained that he and his brothers were cursed, and that he was used to these sorts of things. Oh. Whoops. It didn't deter him from his fanciful thoughts that Aesir might be some kind of god incarnate, and he merely shrugged at his comment. "I suppose it's my unlucky day then," he quipped with a faint grin. He vaguely believed in curses, though he didn't have enough information to assess whether this man was really cursed or just had poor luck. Either way, it didn't deter him. Not that he could really just flee the scene if he did want to. Nah, he'd rather face a brush with death with someone else, especially a hunk like this one. Again, his whimsical thoughts didn't have much time to fully take root, for before long the rumbling was even louder, shaking as though they were caught in some kind of earthquake. They weren't given much warning when the avalanche hit, and though Kai moved to hunker down as best he could, he hadn't been fully prepared for the impact. Snow came barreling in from both sides of the boulder they'd found, but the pocket of air didn't last for long. The snow, initially like walls around them, seemed to slowly be crumbling in on their little safe haven. Fuck, this isn't good. He heard Aesir's shouting, garbled from the loud rumbling, and did as he instructed. He took in a few deep breaths and held them, feeling the pressure of more snow as it began to weigh down on him. As the avalanche roared on, seconds turning into what felt like minutes, Kai realized with a start that Aesir was no longer at his side - he'd been replaced by a wall of snow and Kai tried not to panic. He'd managed a small pocket of air himself but he wasn't sure how long it would remain before the snow continued to pile down on him. Though he felt a seed of panic sprout in his chest, he tried to quench it and focus on digging. The snow felt heavier than any snow he'd encountered before as he tried to kick toward the surface and dig as hard as he could. He was worried about accidentally bringing more snow down on him, but he took another deep breath and pressed on, panting heavily now.