Come down, come down sweet reverence

Jynn tugged the mountain goat hide tighter around herself, adjusting the hood to cover her ears which of course meant she had to have them pinned to her head. She thought she'd come prepared with strips of musk oxen hide around her legs but even so this brutal cold was something else. She'd never experienced anything like it and for the first time she was really regretting having travelled this far north. Still, there was the rush that came with completing a goal, she was as north as she could possibly go in Boreas… at least she thought.

The dark mounds of clouds parted as the sun shown through, revealing the fluffy white tops of the clouds and the blue sky above. Snow lay thick on the ground, covering the pine trees that managed to survive here. Jynn looked north to the deep blue ocean and a rocky island off to her right. However, to her surprise, there seemed to be a bridge of ice leading off into the distance. Jynn hesitated. Her adventurous spirit urged her forward but the streak of common sense she still bore warned her that the ice could break apart at any moment and then what?

Of all the hare-brained, idiotic, poorly planned, destined-to-fail schemes Perseus could recall himself having ever cooked up, this one was by far the worst. If he ever saw his mother again the first order of business would be clearing up exactly how many times he'd been conked on the head as a pup. This was just so... so stupid. In his head it sounded like a grand adventure, travelling up as far north as he could go, braving the winter, exploring the worst of what mother nature had to offer and coming out the other side with stories to tell. In practice? Well... The howling wind buffeted him, slicing through his pelt and cutting in towards his bones. Not even his thick winter coat was enough to keep him warm. Worse yet, even when he thought he'd arrived as far north as north could go, the land decided to play a little trick on him. Oh, you have got to be kidding me... He stood on a ridge overlooking the ocean, dotted with scraggly pines fighting to stay alive in this unforgiving climate. What should have been an open expanse was marred with a very distinct trail of ice leading out towards the sea. It should have been his invitation to turn back, and yet even through the pain and chattering teeth he was... curious. A speck of movement caught his eye below. Percy couldn't imagine anyone as batshit as he was who would willingly be out in this, but sure enough it was... some sort of quadruped. Even squinting, he couldn't make out any distinguishing features. Curious twice over, he moved forward. Descending down towards the shore Percy soon realized it was a wolf, albeit a strange one who appeared much better prepared for this particular hell than he was. "Hi there," he called out over the blustering ocean wind. "Any idea what that's all about?" He tossed his head towards the bridge, hoping the woman would say something to the effect of 'What's what all about?' or 'What bridge?' or 'I think you're hallucinating from exposure, go lay down somewhere warm and wait for spring.' Something sensible like that. "Talk" "Listen" Think

Come down, come down sweet reverence

Jynn crept closer to the ice bridge, reaching out a paw as she patted the ice. It seemed really solid and being a light creature she was sure it could bear her weight. The issue was if it would continue to do so. There was also the trouble with the wind, it was brutal and bitterly cold and she didn't like the idea of trying to travel across some unknown surface when she couldn't really see where the destination was. What if the bridge just ended in the middle of the ocean?

She continued to debate the merits of going further when she realized someone else was up here. Jynn turned to see a gorgeous man approach. For a moment she wondered if she was hypothermic and hallucinating til he spoke. Oh snap, he was real. Jynn cleared her throat and tried to focus on the matter at hand. "Not a clue. I was expecting it to just end in ocean but nope, here's this little bridge going off to who knows where. Feels like a trap." She reached out a slender leg and tapped on the ice. "Seems solid enough, though. I was just debating if it was worth trying to go across it. Name's Jynn. What brings you up this way?"

To hear that this strangely-clad woman was just as perplexed as he was reassured Percy almost as much as it worried him. On the bright side, he wasn't going crazy, but on the downside he wasn't going crazy, which meant the unholy pathway of death before him was a real, tangible thing. That sucked. Percy was also hoping he'd only be met with ocean at the end of this venture, because that would mean he could turn around. If he'd been alone he would have been perfectly content calling it quits and sweeping this whole business under the rug, but to hear that this woman was debating crossing it, well... Was he really going to be shown up by a total stranger who he'd probably never meet again, whose opinion he should not care about in the slightest? Not on his watch. Percy stepped forward to test the ice himself. "A trap seems like a fair bet," he mused, bouncing a bit to test his weight against the surface below. "Laid down by the gods to tempt the foolhardy. Can't think of any other reasonable explanation for it." Turning back to face the woman, Jynn, he did he best to smile through wracking shivers. "I'm Perseus. Percy to my friends. Thought I'd brave the worst of winter for the hell of it, and I'm currently suffering for my hubris. You seem better kitted for this sort of nonsense if I do say so myself." He appraised the woman's cloak of sorts, and decided that he absolutely needed something like that. He didn't know how he would acquire such raiment but swore that if he made it back south alive he'd wear it even in the height of summer. Turning back towards the ice bridge, he had to confess he was deeply curious, and he'd never been one to weigh risk against adventure. What was the worst that could happen? If he froze solid, he'd make a damn dashing statue. "If you want to check it out I'll tag along. At least for as long as my legs keep moving." He took a few tentative steps forward, carefully checking the ice beneath him with every step. "If I die though, tell 'em I went down bravely, would you? Spice it up a little." "Talk" "Listen" Think

Come down, come down sweet reverence

Jynn chuckled at the mention of gods again. Were all the wolves of Boreas so religious? Well, at least he seemed in better spirits. "Could be, but it is an unusually cold winter. Maybe there's just more ice than usual." The man introduced himself as Perseus and so far he seemed a delightful fellow. "Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one crazy enough to go this far north for the hell of it. I've heard so much about the winter's in the north and so many saying don't go north in the winter that I just had to see what all the fuss was about."

Jynn shivered as the wind picked up again, a fierce gust howling across the bridge and the ocean. "I can see now what they meant, but what's that old saying? A thorn of experience is worth a wilderness of warning?" She grinned. Really, no one could tell her anything. She had to see for herself.

Jynn tested the ice bridge once again, slowly easing her way onto it. "Thanks! I'd appreciate the company. And you bet. I'll make sure it's a dashing story, maybe a fight to the death with a sea monster. You'll win of course but succumb to your injuries."

It's yet to be determined whether the ice bridge is a trap or no, but it becomes quickly apparently that these two wolves aren't the only ones traveling it. A far distance out is a bear - and quite a large one at that, though it's so far out that it's hard to tell much else - that appears to be heading inland.

Do you approach the bear, or hightail it off the bridge?