Wapun Meadow buried beneath ketchup packets

@Indra?

A few days went by without seeing @Q-Tip. And then a few more. And then a snow storm happened and she felt all hope disappear of finding him again. Things weren’t the same without him near and she’d started to feel lonely. It’s much harder to make it through the day-to-day without her friend by herself and she considers finding a den somewhere to hole up for a while and pass the time.
 
The meadow offers little cover if she doesn’t shuffle around beneath the snow, several inches left behind from the snow storm. The wind begins to pick up, blowing loose flakes across the open terrain but she ducks down, digging through the snow to find the hard ground below.

since the snowstorm had swallowed her whole, indra had been careful with her exploits. tentatively she tested the waters each day, and finding the trails and weather favorable, had finally quit bearclaw and trotted out into a meadow she had not visited for some time.

she thought it prudent to scout wapun's reaches for any warrens or forgotten caches, but the snow made such intentions impossible. it sullied her senses, sheathed scents, and made travel difficult. she had been about to turn back towards a stream she had seen earlier when shifting snow caught her interest.

she froze, her eyes narrowing on the strange mound with suspicion. it shifted and collapsed. snow erupted from the motion in a flurry, settling in a haze about them. she stepped closer, fur on end as she watched the snow move of its own accord. she did not pull so close to trample on the creature, rather, she held back with curiosity in her gaze as she awaited the burrowing creature to resurface.

After a while, she begins to lose feeling in the tips of her fingers as she continues to dig through the snow. Once she reaches the ground, she keeps moving, creating a tunnel that collapses behind her and covers her with nose. If there’s any sign of a den, she hopes to find it, but it’s a weak attempt at best and she’d have better luck in a forest, probably. Ravioli falls quiet, stretching out her fingers and then bringing them to her mouth to clear of snow. A quick puff and shake rattles the snow directly above her to collapse behind her, falling off her back and she then stands on outstretched legs to pop back out only to come face to face with a wolf. Eyes widen and she makes a startled yelp, shuffling back and falling in a dramatic fashion by catching herself with her outstretched hands.

indra did not expect the snow to part way and a small silhouette to pierce the white surface-- like the small figurine, indra was taken by surprise. instinctively she recoiled and her hackles lifted as she fell on her hocks in surprise. she sat in the snow as the upright figure brought her slender hands to her muzzle; indra recovered enough to produce a shaky breath of relief. it was evident the sudden eruption had caught both by surprise.

unlike most predators, indra had no drive to chase this prey animal down or hunt it. curiously she canted her muzzle towards the unknown entity and breathed deep of its presence -- she had never seen a raccoon before and was most intrigued by it's black bandit mask and the slender, thin workings of it little paws.

She takes the few seconds she’s given by the wolf’s surprise to gather herself, watching carefully as her chest heaves in sudden anxiety. No one had been in the meadow a few minutes ago and she hadn’t really been paying attention to the world around her, unaware she’d been making it obvious where she was. Ravioli stares back while she’s examined but eventually breaks off to luck to her left, then her right, and eventually begins to pick herself up and dust herself off.
 
“You shouldn’t surprise others like that,” she says, and though her voice shakes a little, she stands her ground with a firm stamp of her foot. After meeting two wolves that haven’t attempted to eat her, and this one not pursuing right away, she hopes the statistics to remain on her side.

the strange creature went to bob left, and then right -- indra made no motion to stop her, but it seemed she changed her mind for she steadied before the russet girl and steeled her what indra interpreted as an admonishing look. taken aback by the temerity in the creature's voice, it was a few moments before indra replied.

"i-i'm sorry?" she fumbled ineptly, her ears pulled back in uncertainty. she had not meant to spook the creature, but she also was not sure what the creature was. "you're a weird looking otter." indra imparts, studying the dark band that steals across the raccoon's eyes with a careful sense of interest.

Ravioli narrows her eyes at the late apology, one ear flicking on her head. Good, she decides. She straightens up a little bit but then gawks when she is mistaken for some smelly water dog. “I am not an otter,” she scoffs, waving one hand in front of her face and drops it, presenting herself Vanna White style. “I’m a raccoon.”
 
She takes another moment to shake the snow off but she side-eyes the wolf, unable to let her eyes trail too far should the other decide to eat her and sudden movements aren’t going to be in her favor here, even if she is nice. “What’s your name? Can you help me?” she decides, loosening up a bit with a little, subtle shimmy of her shoulders.

indra was mesmerized as the thing extended her thin limbs and waved them, her delicate digits suspended in a gesture of scoffing disdain. indra was more taken back than before, but she pulled her ears forward and tried to summon a semblance of confidence as she regarded the 'raccoon'.

the word was foreign on her tongue but she played it over silently, repeating it inward as she committed it to memory. it was not an otter, and apparently drew umbrange from such an interferance. "raccoon?" she repeated, unsure -- before canting her muzzle to the side as she repied: "...indra. wha-what do you need help with?"

“Yes,” she answers nonchalant before focusing on the task at hand. Maybe she has the wolf’s help, maybe she doesn’t, but she’s weaseled her way in now. “I’m Ravioli. I lost my friend and I’m having a hard time finding him because of… well,” she says, gesturing to the snow. It hinders much of her movement, she realizes, and as smart as it would be to go back to the original plan and finding a den, she’d much rather find Q-Tip instead. Perhaps, if she had a perch, she could have a better look at her surroundings and determine where to go. And if Indra came along? Oh, maybe it won’t be such a drag after all.

indra was drawn by the delicate camber of the raccoon's slim fingers - the slim cant of her little digits. she looked to her own paws, which were blunt and lacked refinement -- and then back to the raccoon again.

her head was still canted quizzically to the side as she digested the proposition. was it even a proposition? it hadn't been posed like one, but indra thought she could figure out exactlly what the masked land-otter needed.

"so.... like... you need a better ride? or... a view?" indra asked slowly, looking around them as if to ensure no one was watching. surely it'd be a spectacular sight to see a raccoon astride a wolf -- for a moment she wondered if at any point in time in the thousands of years before she had existed, if ever a similar arrangement had occurred.

“Oh!” she shouts, feigning surprise and lifting her hands to her face. “That’s a great idea!” Ravioli only moves forward a little, in case she changes her mind and isn’t all that friendly after all. She doesn’t necessarily suspect anything to happen, hoping she’s found a friend in Indra above anything else. If she helps her find Q-tip, great, but if she doesn’t she’ll still be alone and she desires for the best of graces between her and her wolfy companion.

she was skeptical, but the black-handed gesture of the critter somewhat endeared her -- with a reluctant movement she gingerly put herself down in the snow, canting her shoulder towards the raccoon so she could scale indra's backside easily. indra was aware that the arrangement was preposterous -- and dearly she hoped no wolf saw. as strange as it was, indra felt if it helped the creature, some good might come out of it. certainly if she had been afforded such kindness in the past by strangers her life might have turned out differently - a fact she preferred to quickly shelf as soon as she thought of it.

"okay.. but be quick. i don't want my friends to think i've lost it or something." she mostly meant laurel -- she didn't think blondine would think worse of her, but laurel definitely would.

Ravioli watches as Indra situates herself on the ground, angling so she can hop up on her. She’d gotten too big to ride around on top of her fox friend but a wolf offers a little more wiggle room. Her mouth twitches into a smile and she steps up, leaning over and using her fingers to cling to fur and she swings her lower half up as one might a horse and saddles easily while they remain close to the ground. She ignores the comment about her friends seeing her, not quite understanding the relevance to the situation but regardless she makes herself comfortable. “We can be friends, right?” she asks, clenching handfuls of fur into her fists for balance.

indra felt a trickle of a shudder wrack her spine as she felt the little creature's fingers rifle through her fur. she rose slowly, taking careful steps to not jostle her passenger. her ears turned back at the question, posed so casually she hardly recognized it. "friends?" she repeated dully, realizing the implication. "yeah, we can be friends."

she found herself lost in thought as she carried the raccoon across the tundra. the pair searched until sundown for the raccoon's friend, and at the last pale swath of orange light indra was seen heading for the valley alone.