Jynn pinned her ears tight against her head, shivering as she walked through the drifting snow. A late fall snow storm was roaring through the Wash and she searched eagerly for the dried up river bed that would grant her som shelter. She’d been scouting out the reindeer herds with Birna before she decided to wander off and explore. Jynn silently cursed herself. She’d seen the darkening sky, she heard Birnas warning and yet she failed to heed it. Now what was she going to do?

It was getting harder and harder to see. The wind whipped the fine snow into a veil of white. Surely she’d reach the river bed any moment now. Movement up ahead caught her attention. There was something big up ahead. A bison?

Lyra wwas being reminded why she preferred the South. This snow as absolute bullshit and she was not quiet about her complaints. Grumbling all the while, she pushed through the storm. Why was she even here again? Why did her curiosity drive her to this dumbass place? It was cold. Down South was warm. Even the East. In fact, this entire season was actually pretty warm instead of the coolness that normally permeated the air. Not here. Oh gods, not here. Here was fine snow lashing at her face, freezing her paws, and blocking her vision. Ears pinned back to her head, she searched for the riverbed she knew was there - she had, afterall, ignored the darkening sky and left the riverbed to explore a bit away from it. And look what it got her.

A dark outline in the snow caught her attention, and she squinted at it. Thankful for the width of her cat-like paws, she padded forward quietly but slowly, wanting to see what was there... but also ready to fight or run - depending on what was there - if need be. The shape slowly grew clearer... and it was a wolf. She blinked. Was it a wolf? It was awfully leggy. Not unattractive, but certainly not a typical wolf. Then again, neither was she. The colors of the aurora borealis with freaking cat paws. Yeah, she definitely wasn't normal. With a shrug, she stepped forward, head tilting in curiosity. "A bit of a surprise to see someone else here in this snowy hell." Genuinely it was - she most certainly wasn't expecting to run into another wolf here.

Come down, come down sweet reverence

Jynn squinted through the snow, her nostrils flaring as she tried to decipher the scent of the creature ahead. Her ears twitched underneath the fur cap she had tied across her head in an effort to stay warm. It dulled her hearing a bit, for the cap forced her ears to pin to her head but maybe with a few modifications she could make something less cumbersome.

The scent didn't seem to be that of a bison and as the figure drew closer she realized it was a wolf, a very large and colorful wolf that made Jynn think of the aurora. She grinned awkwardly and chuckled at the other woman. "I could say the same! I thought you might've been a young bison. I got myself turned around but I'm sure the riverbed is somewhere nearby."

Okay, the fur cap was cute. She wasn't sure if it would do anything for her, since she was much thicker coated than this wolf here, but it seemed useful. Minus the lack of ears. "Is the fur headpiece supposed to hide the ears?" She wasn't certain if it was or not, and quite frankly, she wanted to know. If it was, she wondered if it was warmer for the long legged woman. If it wasn't, maybe ear holes could be put in.... she could see it working with the assistance of another wolf to mark where the holes should go.

"Yeah, we might not be the smartest wolves around," Lyra mused, amusement coloring her tone. She was absolutely bitching and moaning in her head (and a bit aloud, if she was being honest), but she knew damn well she got herself into this mess and it was indeed quite the mess. "I'm vaguely thinking it's actually that way." She gestured with her snout off to Jynn's right side. "I think. I'm not entirely certain and the wind and blowing snow makes it impossible to smell anything and tracks are covering as fast as they're made." It was really quite annoying, and she hated it with a passion. Snow was bullshit.

"Speech" "You"

art by rainbowglaze123

Come down, come down sweet reverence

Jynn nodded at the colorful woman's question. "Yea, I have huge ears. They're prone to frostbite but it sucks not being able to hear as well as I normally can." She didn't really know of a solution to this. She was considering fashioning something that would at least allow her ears to be upright but there was really no way to keep them warm in this kind of weather without sacrificing some of her hearing ability.

"Yea, that sounds like a good way to go to me. Name's Jynn." There was very little in the way of landmarks that could be visible and with the sky so cloudy it was hard to tell for certain which way was east vs west. It was either keep moving or try digging a snow den here and that could get tricky considering how light and fluffy the snow was. It was so cold and dry it wasn't sticking together hardly at all.

She nodded slowly. Welp, ear holes wouldn't work. That would defeat the entire purpose of the cap. "Sounds unpleasant," she noted matter-of-factly, in regards to the frostbite. "I can see why that would be frustrating, too. I wish I could help but I'm just about useless here. It does look very cute though?" She had no idea what could be done to make it more feasible for hearing to not be reduced, as any idea that briefly floated through her head exposed the ears or made it less effective. No doubt, the long-legged woman had spent many long hours ruminating on how to fix that. Her 30 second thoughts weren't going to benefit. It did look cute though. Earless wolf!

"Lyra Saxe," she offered in return with a dip of her head, before turning her eyes back in the direction she was pretty sure she came from. "Worst comes to worst, we still don't know where we are... which is really no different than now, except then I wouldn't even have a vague idea of where to go at that point." The light, powdery snow too was incredibly annoying as it kept blowing around instead of being dense enough to stay on the ground where it belonged. But no, it was windy and snow swirled everywhere - blowing from the ground and falling from the sky. It kicked up so easy, too, with every paw step, and overall was a type of snow she hated. She couldn't even gather it up into something fun, like a snowball. It would just fall apart. Sighing, she pawed at the snow, flinging some of it back behind her in a gesture of irritation. "At least we have a direction to start, and hopefully I'm not horribly wrong." With that, she started to move towards Jynn and past her, angled off to her right side at approximately a 45 degree angle. Here was hoping she hadn't gotten too hopelessly turned around.

"Speech" "You"

art by rainbowglaze123

Come down, come down sweet reverence

Jynn giggled and held a paw up to her chest for a moment. "Well thank you, I'm glad it looks nice even if the design still needs work. I'm joining a snow leopard and her reindeer herding, traveling band but of course that means a lot of cold weather." She was pretty sure she was up for the challenge, even now with the storm beating down on them. However, she was going to have to talk to Birna about hunkering down when these types of storms blew through. Let the band members who were more suited to this type of weather deal with the herds when it was blowing through.

The woman introduced herself as Lyra Saxe and with a direction determined they headed off, hopefully toward the wash. Jynn nodded. "Well, even if we don't end up at the Wash we should end up somewhere. I'm sure the winds out of the north so we must be heading roughly west to the Wash."

Lyra blinked. Of the words she expected Jynn to say, those were not it. In fact, she wasn't expecting that to ever be something she heard in her entire life. "A... snow leopard... and her traveling band of reindeer herding?" she questioned, head tilting to the side. I mean, it sounded interesting enough and she was mildly curious, but moreso because she had never expected to hear about reindeer herding, let alone a snow leopard reindeer herding. Or that a band dedicated to reindeer herding would exist. It's not often Lyra was left in shock like this. Today though, she was left in shock.

Shocked as she was, it was easy to refocus on as Jynn was saying, and she nodded. "That's what I was hoping I was right about," she said with a small smile. "At least there's nice company in the shitty weather! and maybe we can go hunting after this bullshit is gone, if that was something you were interested in." She knew she was hungry, and it would be nice to have some food soon

Come down, come down sweet reverence

Jynn chuckled at Lyra's confused response. "Well, that was the original plan anyway…" She debated what to do with the map she'd found. Was it really worth following? As much as she wanted to help Birna and learn more about reindeer while exploring the north she was more a creature of reckless exploration. She wasn't a dutiful chore tender. Not to mention there was the general barrier of how ill-equipped she naturally was for the climate they'd be living in. "I found what I think is a treasure map. It's probably nothing but man… I really prefer that kind of adventure."

Jynn was quick to chime in at the mention of hunting and food. As a traveling loner her opportunities for meals were limited, especially in the north. If she couldn't catch a rodent or snowshoe hare she was shit out of luck. "Absolutely, I'm starving!" Jynn suddenly yelped as the ground gave way beneath her paws and she skidded down to the bottom of the riverbed. There was silence for a moment followed by, "Ow."

She stood up and shook the snow from her thin frame. "Well.. I found the wash!"