Oscar hates the cold. And snow. And snowstorms. And… Oscar hates a lot of things but his first and deepest hate is the cold. The small ass grumbles to himself as he slowly makes his way across the freezing landscape. His fuzzy coat, full of curls, has come in but it does little to help against the bitter bite of a blizzard. Long ears are flat against his skull as the donkey stubbornly push onward. Nugget, his rooster buddy, has abandoned his normal perch on Oscar’s rump and is, instead, chosen to fluff out between the donkey’s shoulder blades. Small hooves punch holes in the growing snow drifts as he tries his find his way back to the rest of the herd. Nugget yells out in frustration, “You ass! You got us caught in another storm! And for what?”

A snort is the only answer he gives the frozen chicken Nugget and even that just turns into a cloud of steam when it hits the open air. Truthfully, and if asked about it Oscar will deny it to his dying day, the donkey is beginning to think that he may have bitten off a little more than he can chew. But, he had been hungry and the sweetest patch of grass was near the water. Sure, he watched the storm clouds that had been rolling in but he was certain he would get there and be back in plenty of time. Oh, how wrong he was. Wind whips the frozen flakes of ice into his eyes and the small ass has to squint in order to make anything out.

Finally, the fear is too much and Oscar lets out a bray in hopes of getting an answer to follow home. The storm distorts sound and he thinks he hears one of the herd answering. Turning in the direction the call came from (or where he thinks it came from) the ass stubbornly plows on. The blizzard intensifies and each breath the donkey takes begins to feel like he is inhaling small shards of ice into his lungs. He brays out again, hoping for another call to follow as he continues on. The wind shifts, the swirling snow calms for a moment and, a few feet in front of Oscar, is huge polar bear. Oh shit! The white pelted bear sees the shocked ass and charges. This time he brays out in fear as the wind kicks up and obscures his vision.

Small hooves carry the donkey backward as he scans for signs of the bear in the flurry of white. Heart thuds painfully against his ribs as his eyes widen in an attempt to allow him a wider field of vision. The wind howls (or is it the bear?) and black claws suddenly strike toward his face. Braying in alarm, Oscar gives the paw a solid bite with his flat teeth before turning tail to run. This isn’t good!


WC: 489
Total WC: 489/1500

"Oscar Monaghan" | "Nugget"

Kyren had watched Oscar leave and thought to warn him of the coming storm.  Oscar was a mule-headed stubborn ass but the reindeer was sure Oscar knew what was coming also.  If the donkey wanted to head off farther alone then no suggestion of common sense was going to stop him.  Oscar wasn’t that dumb anyway so he’d probably be back before things got worse.  

It had taken time but the large reindeer had finally grown accepting of Taiga, accepting her nearby without keeping his guard up.  Everyone else had seemed fine with her before Kyren but one of them had to be a voice of reason.  Even if the giant cat had turned out to be true to her word it was foolhardy to rush into trusting such a dangerous predator.  Faith was all well and good till you were just another bit of meat in some predator’s belly.

Looking at the sky Kyren could see a haze farther off in the direction Oscar had gone in.  It was the snow storm that would most likely be upon them in a bit if the wind didn’t change. “Stubborn ass,” Kyren muttered, hiding worry in false agitation.  “I think we should make sure Nugget’s ok, it’s the one of the pair with a lick of sense.”  

Kyren’s raven glanced down at him from a tree, “Not going.  Strong winds.”

Kyren moved at a measured jog in the direction of the storm, still only somewhat concerned until he heard a braying call for help.  Kyren’s brows narrowed and he charged forward at full stride, a deep base of a challenging call to whatever threat Oscar faced.  The wind slaps him in the face, frosty ice flung on his face but Kyren snorts that away in disdain.  Ahead of him the reindeer spots the reason for Oscar’s call for help.

Bear!  Kyren lets out another challenging call, doing a perfectly fine job of having the polar bear turn to face him.  Lowering his head and rack of antlers the reindeer charges.  The antlers won’t be on his head that much longer but for now at least they would be put to use.  Kyren doesn’t try to actually land any blows but the fact of a reindeer even charging seems to have the polar bear at least pause for a moment.  The idea of prey attacking seems to be a confusing concept.  

Kyren’s large hooves do a good job of keeping him mobile even in dense snow, his only real issue at the moment is the distortion of watching the bear’s every move with the snow and wind playing tricks on the eyes.  Well, the other issue is Kyren really had no desire to try and fight a bear if he didn’t need to but the bear didn’t need to know that.

When the bear seemed to get over the surprise it charged towards Kyren and the reindeer lept aside, twisting his head about so that the upper tines slashed at the bear’s shoulder as it came in range.  Kyren shook his head in threat, “Oscar! Damnit all.  What did you get us into? I was worried about Nugget.” Despite calling out to Oscar his eyes stay fully locked on the bear, working to keep up with where it is as the snow acts as a sort of veil.

The good news is Kyren actually believed the bear was in a lot of trouble.  He didn’t need to get in a real fight with it.  The cat could do the dirty work, he just had to distract it and make sure Oscar was safe when the chance came.

WC 605
Total WC 1094 / 1500

"Speech"

Taiga had been resting, curled up in a snow drift. Though she was a lioness, she wasn't of the desert variety. Where she came from, lions had to be fit for both heat and cold. Caves were frigid things and that was where her family had called home. They lived and hunted in the deepest of snows, so the northern reaches of this land were nothing to the giant cat. It was simple for her to just curl up in a drift and let sleep carry her away. She had hunted earlier and so her belly was warm and full. Now she just needed to sleep it off. Fat chance with a herd of silly herbivores around her, right?

A chill wind brought the bleating call of Oscar into the woman's sleeping ears. Ruby eyes opened just in time to see Kyren prance off into the oncoming storm. The feline wrinkled her pink nose. What was Oscar doing out in a storm? With a yawn and a stretch, the lioness pulled herself from the drift, shaking the excess snow from her charcoal pelt. It was then that she heard the lowing sound of a bear in the distance. That explained it. Fuck.

The giant cat ran headlong into the storm. The harsh winds whipped at her face and the flakes of snow felt sharp as they collided with her nose and eyes. With the swirling winds, it was difficult to smell where her herdmates were and the curtain of snow made it almost impossible to see. The wind whistled, making the feline's hearing less than reliable. She stilled, searching with all of her senses for any sign of anything. Through the shrieking wind, she heard the grunt of a bear and the thunder of hooves. Ruby eyes shifted back and forth, looking for shadows in the snow. There.

Planting hind paws, Taiga rocketed forward, cutting through the curtain of snow. The lioness passed the fleeing forms of Oscar and Kyren. A larger shadow could be seen through the wall of wind and snowflakes. Taiga launched forward, massive claws extended and maw wide as she collided with the white bear. It hadn't been expecting her at all and she could see its eyes go wide. The lioness slammed hard into the bear, knocking it from its feet with the force of her leap. The bear released an odd squeal of alarm and began thrashing, trying to rid its big body of the clinging cat. Taiga released her claws from the white pelt, leaving spatterings of blood as she pushed away. The bear, a young bear now that she got a good look at it, spun, hind end low to the ground, as it ran as quickly as it could away from the mutant lion that had attacked it.

Once she was sure that the bear wasn't going to turn and try again, Taiga turned and made her way back in the direction that Oscar and Kyren had run in. The spotted cat growled and sighed. "Can you stop trying to get eaten, please?"

WC-512
Total-1606

"Taiga"