Pestilence had realized that she was putting too much pressure on herself lately between the raid, the fight with Toxicity, her planned departure from Ashen and her hopeful moving into Fireside the yearling had a lot on her mind. The day would be coming soon where she said her goodbyes and made her way out of the Empire's embrace, and before that day would come Pestilence had decided to give herself one last afternoon of fun. Pasketti had told her about a game wolves played in the snow and how they would build a sled out of a log and ride it down a snowy hill. It sounded like exactly what she needed, and Pesto immediately went out in search of somewhere with a good enough sloped hill to participate.

Southern Boreas got less snow then the north, though this particular morning it had fell enough to stick to the ground and Pesto was sure it would at least remain until her fun was over. She knew she wanted to work as quickly as she could before it melted, and so she started off early in the morning. Finding an appropriately sized tree was the hardest part in the barren land but there were a few to choose from if she looked hard enough. Pasketti had brought a blade to strip the bark with, and hide to lay atop the bark to try and give it enough thickness to hold her weight. Pesto worked fast helping her companion to strip the tree, lay the bark and reinforce it. When the hard work was done, they'd be able to have a sled race just the two of them... though Pesto might need to find something to weight the monkeys sled down so Pasketti didn't have an advantage in the race due to her lighter size.

WC: 304

The young wolf hadn’t expected to catch the familiar scent of Ashen out here. Not that he was far from her pack of his. His exploring came to a halt, and he decided to follow her trail. He knew Pestilence, though mostly in passing. She was a daughter of Deathbelle, and that made her family in a way.

He tracked her up the top of the hill, and found her holding funny shaped bits of bark. He wrinkled his nose in confused thought. “What are you doing?” he asked, his Kea-companion hoping up past his ears to peer down in curiosity. His snow-leopard was a few paces behind him, scenting the tree the Princess had stripped. As through the answer to their question might lie there.

Mortis trotted closer to pesto, and her bark-and-hide creation, offering her a friendly smile, through his eyes kept drifting to her work.

WC: 150
Total: 454

When the snake around Pesto's scarred neck did not stir, she knew the wolf who was approaching was a friendly one. She paused in her craft, turning towards the winged boy with a friendly smile. "Mortis, wow you're growing fast." She did not see the other children of the Ashen Empire very often, not even her own new siblings did she spend much time with. Though it was hard not to notice the winged prince and harder still to ignore how he already rivaled her height. He questioned what she was doing with the tree, and Pesto motioned a paw towards the bark. "I'm building a sled, to race my monkey on." She told him. "You bring it to the top of a hill and then sit on it, and when you push off the sled will carry you all the way down the hill. Whoever makes it fastest wins. It's like riding on a cart, but without the grass to slow you down and without anyone pulling you." Having explained the game, she paused to study the boy. "You know, if I race Paskeiti it won't be fair. The opponents need to be similar weight otherwise someone will go faster then the other. Do you want to race me instead?" The princess challenged him with a grin, motioning with her paw towards the tree. "I can help you make it. We just need to tear down the bark and i have some extra hides for you to lay on."

Total WC: 702

He laughed a little at her comment. He had heard it a lot recently. Wolves that had once seemed huge, he now somehow began to tower over. He knew he was reaching the extent of his height, and he was almost as tall as Sirius.

He eyed the snake with curiosity, knowing his mother kept such a companion as well. At ehr words, his attention snapped quickly back to the Princess. “A race, i’m in!” he agreed easily. Despite his young age, he knew the two of them were very similar in height and weight now. If that's what was needed to make it even, then even it certainly would be.

He bounded closer to the girl, reaching over, he ruffled her ear like he would his own siblings. Not once questioning if he should be treating the Princess as he did his brothers and sister. “How do I go about making this sled?” he asked, happy she had offered to help. Well he had sharp claws and teeth, he didn’t think they were flat or long enough for the task she wanted. He could see her knife, and already guessed the long flat blade was perfect for slipping under the bark.

“if we built a couple small ones, your monkey and my leopard can race, too” he teased with a laugh, glancing back at the cat-boy who pulled a face at him.

WC: 239
total: 941

Mortis was not hard to convince to join in the fun, and Pestilence nodded her head deeply in excitement. They could make a few extra sleds for their companions too and surely the extra competition would make it even more fun an afternoon. He asked her how exactly they'd start creating the sled, and she grasped her knife and buried it into the tree next to where she peeled her own. "Here I'll get it." She offered, propping her paws up against the bark and pulling down on the knife with her teeth. It was wedged in solidly and with a little wriggling some time and help from her monkey, the bark peeled back and off in one long smooth chunk.

Huffing an exhausted sigh, she threw the knife down and tested the bark with her foot to ensure it would hold weight. While she did so, Pasketti worked off a few smaller pieces for the companions to race on. "OK Pasketti, put mine on my back and his on his back." She told the monkey, bending down. They could carry the sleds to the nearby hill, then place the hides on top for comfort. The monkey did as it was told, then collecting the smaller sleds in her arms to prepare to head out. "Once we get to the hill and get the sleds positioned properly, we count, push off, then race." She told Mortis with a grin.

Total WC: 1174 / 1500

He watched with curiosity as she pushed the knife into the bark. He felt he was learning something new, and he was always ready to add to his reservoir of knowledge. He leaned close, watching the process. She used her monkey to help her carefully grip the edges and pull it back. The end result was one large, smooth piece of bark. Perfect (he hoped) for sledding.

The monkey got the task of creating a couple more, and even Osiris came forward now, tail hanging smoothly past his rump and twitching once in either curiosity or anticipation. Pestilence explained the process to him as the monkey placed one sled on his back, another on Pesto’s. The two littler ones were placed on Osiris’s back. Together, the small party made their way to the top of the hill. He watched as the Princess arranged a coat to hers, and then copied the process on his own. Once she had judged his work and deemed it fit for sledding, he positioned it at the top of the hill.

He glanced at her once, and grinned. “Last one down the hill gets a pink rump!” oh yes, he had heard about that little adventure….

With that final exclamation, he pushed his sled, and let it tip down the hill. Letting out a whoop of joy as the wind hit his face, and tore at his wings. He kept them tightly to his side, knowing the extra drag would only hinder him. He tilted his head forward, balanced on the edge as he forced his sled to move as fast as it was able.

Total WC: 1,448

Pesto and Mortis made their way to the hill, each clambering onto their sleds and preparing for the ride. Around her neck the snake coiled tighter to ensure it would not fall off and her monkey plopped down upon one of the smaller sleds. She did her best to balance her weight low and be as aerodynamic as possible, but her seriousness cracked as Mortis brought up the pink rump. Grinning, she turned to eye him. "You'll look about as good as your dad did with a pink rump." She taunted with a laugh, and then as he moved to push off she did too.

The sled was a little wiggly, and Pesto struggled to keep balance as it slid down the hill. Mortis' joyful whoops reached her ears and she echoed it with a cry of her own. The race did not take long and before she knew it the sleds were sliding to a stop at the base of the hill - Mortis' coming out just ahead of hers. "Maybe I should have set a rule on no flying." She joked, leaning off her sled to prod him in the wing. "Congratulations, but if you want to paint my butt you're going to have to catch me first." As fast as she was able she scrambled off the sled, kicking her feet into the snow and tearing off away from the winged boy.

-exit-?
WC: 1679/1500 {Complete}