Being cold sucked. The snow sucked. Icy breaths of wind pushing against her face sucked. All of it sucked. Why did they have to move here with Gramps? Couldn't he have picked somewhere warmer? She wasn't sure how he enjoyed this place. With its tall peaks, treacherous pathways, and crumbling slopes, it was as dangerous as dangerous could get. Okay, it wasn't like living on a volcano, but who was crazy enough to do that? Not that Delphi knew that. All she knew was that this mountain was lame, stupid, and sucky. She'd rather be down at the Stone Steppe. At least down there there was less snow, less wind, less everything that made moving around miserable. She had even managed to find a cellar that was hidden beneath the aging stone. It was full to the brim of so much stuff that she could use! Yet, she still had to return to the mountainous caves at night by order of her parents and Vidarr. Wandering during the day was okay, but at night, she had to return. It was only recently that she dared tempt to break that rule.

As tempting as it was, she waited until morning to go out. Overnight, a storm had rushed in with a vengeance. Everything outside of the cavern was icy. Slippery and dangerous, she admired the dazzling ice gleaming in the morning light from the inside safety of the den. Would she really dare traverse down the mountain so she could wander about the steppe? Was it worth it? Glancing over her shoulder to where her family slept, it only took a few minutes for her to decide that yes it was worth it. "Binti, come help me get down the mountain," she calls out to her companion who is snuggled up with her sister, Aji. The young Binturong gives her a disgruntled look before stretching and slowly making his way over to the girl. There are grumbles and chittering disapprovals the whole time but the cheeky smile on the girl's face convinces him that at least it will be an adventure.

Stepping out into the light, she shivers. Man, it was cold now. As if the outside world had dropped twenty degrees overnight. Winter was here and ready to say hello apparently. Frowning at her toes tingled with the frigid and crunchy feeling of snow and ice beneath them. While focused on where her paws were taking her and not so much anywhere else, Delphi did not hear the creak. The sun's rays shining over the mountain slowly warmed the dangling icicles overhead. Taking a few more steps toward the pathway only a mere feet away, it was too late by the time she noticed.

In the next second, an icicle fell from the overhang and came crashing down. A clean slice along her shoulder that barely missed piercing her toes. Jumping back with a loud scream, she turned wide eyes over to Binti. None of her family members were healers. She had to find someone... "Binti, I-I need help!" Her voice shakes as she leans back onto her bottom. Blood seeps from the sliced open wound as she fights back tears. Fuck, why couldn't she carry anything useful in her satchel?

wc: 543/1500

Tomie liked the early morning, not because it wasn't dangerous but because she usually got to be alone during it. The sun was visible from so high up even this early and though it's rays hadn't yet warmed the stone she enjoyed getting to watch it without having to be around... Everyone else. She was maybe being a bit unfair, the other wolves hadn't been the ones to put her in this position but she resented that even children had been given more grace than she or her family had, after everything. Voodoo could have taken her family anywhere, could have decided to say fuck you to the black man but she hadn't, she'd chosen to be the bigger wolf. And, as far as Tomie was aware, still was considering the way the black man had chosen to respond. By making them less than. They'd done nothing at all to deserve this, and him tossing another child, a literal child in with them had only made her opinion of the man worse. He'd fought Tomie's mother, ripped at her, bit her and made the woman walk away to nurse her wounds and still been given more grace than he deserved by Voodoo. He sucked, and Tomie didn't want to be around anyone who chose to be around a man this fucking petty. Kettle meet pot. Tomie would admit, if pressed on it, that she too was being petty. But in her opinion her petty was justified because his wasn't. So maybe it was better for everyone if she tried her best to stay away from the others and just kept to herself, did what was asked of her when she was asked and otherwise give the other wolves the exact same treatment she'd been given. It wasn't fair, but it did feel like a sort of justice. She was only here to protect her mother and sister, nothing more, and owed the pack nothing as far as she was concerned. The young Klein woman watched the first grey dregs of light drag themselves up the mountain. Soon enough the pack would probably be rousing. Tomie rose to her paws, stretching and trying to get feeling in her freezing toes. That was the biggest drawback to being out so early, the chill was stronger. Especially this morning, the last hints of a snow storm still blowing through the air. Once she was satisfied she'd gotten the blood flowing through her limbs properly again the young woman turned towards the downward slope of the stone path, ready to go hide herself away off the mountain. And she would have too, if a voice hadn't pierced the silence, a scream. Unease rolling over her. There was a child like quality to the noise, and despite herself, despite all her bluster and her bitterness and her resentment... Tomie wasn't sure she could ignore the scream of a child. With a sigh she turned towards the sound and began a careful lope up the mountain path. She'd been close it seemed. Under an overhang, the shattered remains of an icle on the ground and a small, very small pup sitting on the stone with a nasty slice down her shoulder. Nasty, but luckily, unlikely to be too severe. Tomie sighed. She couldn't help it. The last thing she wanted was to find herself tangled up in a pack wolf mess but she also couldn't find it in her heart to turn her back on the child. Especially one clearly on the verge of tears. Damn. "Hold still." No points for bedside manner. Tomie approached the girl, taking a quick moment to swipe up some of the snow that capped the edge of the path. It would have to do. Tomie hadn't exactly made a point of having supplies on hand. She sat in front of the girl and gently, well as gently as she could considering her massive size versus the girl's minuscule one, pushed some of the snow into the cut. "It'll be cold, and might sting." It was more a warning to keep the girl from screaming even more, even if her voice had a tiny hint of sympathy to it. "But it's the best I can do to clean the wound." She glanced at the big black ugly weasel thing, she assumed that was who the girl had been talking to. "I don't suppose you know what Yarrow and Lady's Slipper look like?" She was pretty sure she'd seen those growing around here. The Yarrow tending to bunch together lower down in the sunnier areas and the Lady's slipper was scarcely found in some of the shadier areas. It'd be just her luck to have to go and find them herself now that she was here but well, she'd gotten herself into this mess she wasn't going to have the kid reporting back to the black asshole that Tomie had abandoned her. WC: 802 (1361/1500) "Speech"

Art by Cloudy!

Through the blur of her tears as she tried to stifle the bleeding, she heard someone approach. Lifting her gaze, Delphi watches the ivory girl come near and begin directing her. Who was this? Her ears flatten slightly as she turns her chin away. Wasn't she already holding still enough? Ugh. The cut still hurt. Well, it was more of a stinging sensation by now and she hated the feeling of her blood caking onto her fur. Where was Strai when she needed him to help clean herself?

Still, Delphi was curious and she watched the girl work silently. Her expression would scrunch as Tomie pressed the snow onto her cut. A hiss slides through her teeth as her lips pull up into a grimace. "S'pose it could've been worse," Delphi mumbles under her breath as the stinging pain finally subsides and the skin around the open wound numbs from the temperature of the snow. Trying to focus on breathing more than staring at the wound, Delphi's ear perks when the girl asks if she knows what Yarrow and Lady's Slipper look like.

Thinking on it for a moment, Delphi nods slowly. "Yarrow's the one with those small white flowers on top? Lady's Slipper, I'm not sure, but it smells... like fragrant, right?" The young pup questions Tomie as she continues to try and stay still. There was no use moving and making things worse. "I think Tenshi or Ulmaria's got at least some dried Yarrow in the storage," Delphi comments as she narrows her eyes while trying to remember the last time she'd checked what the older healers had gathered over the summer.

WC: 1635