The word on the wind spoke of a gathering of beasts in this region, the kind that spoke in tongues and called out to the gods of old, those gods which welcomed the blood of their ilk in supplication; these were his people, and he was intent on finding them wherever they rooted themselves. So it was that the youth tread across the snow, for all purposes a vantablack shadow against the ice, scouring every inch of the terrain for signs of his brother Marruz. He'd come this way — the boy was as certain as ever about this.
That is, until the scent crossed through a gully. The snow was nothing more than murkwater and his brother's path vanished alongside it; if Marruz came this way then he might've been deterred by the slush and its seemingly endless depths, or he'd crossed and had his trail devoured by winter. 'For the love'a Mora, you just had to make me work, didn't you—' The man thought as he came to a halt. His broad paws crunched against the snow and for a moment, all was still.
It wasn't only that there was water — there, lingering nearby. A deeper scent. Fresh, but not familiar. Mithras huffs a breath and gives the gully one last grimace before he departs from it, pushing off the burm of snow and taking up a direct line of approach. He doesn't have to go far to notice the stranger's tiny shape (compared to himself, but Mithas always had an ego that gave him titanic proportions). It wasn't his brother, that was certain. But he approached nonetheless, and called out with his heavy voice, You there—what do you know of this place?
As if the first local would hold all the answers.
Dash frequented the eastern parts of the Chimera Fields where the grasses (or the snows, this time of year) ran up against the rather ironically-named Neverwinter Forest. The Coterie wolves had been settled in the Forest for a short time now, and Dash often found himself venturing from their hideaway for a breath of fresh air. Something about the tree branches constantly blocking out his view of the sky made him feel clausterphobic.
Dash had yet to venture this far west, and had he come this way in the warmer months he would have been facinated to observe the mark of the tornado upon the fields, cutting a deep trench across the grasses as far as the eye could see. As it was now though, the gully was mostly obscured by a thick layer of snow, more or less disguising its existence from anyone unfortunate enough to take a misstep.
As it happened, Dash was a misfortune magnet. The boy sank down into the hidden gully with a yelp of surprise, and his cry rang out across the fields. He found himself up to his neck in snow, reminding him acutely of the avalanche that had buried him and his sister so many months ago. The memory triggered more panic. Dash thrashed about desperately, and a stream of whines and yelps spilled from his throat. He could feel himself sliding deeper into the ravine, and he was too wound up to realize that his wild attempts at escape weren't really helping things.
@Kubo I guess we can continue on, since Mithas is inactive.
Dash was snapped from the flashback by a voice, shouting through the haze of his panic.
Calm down? The advice was so ridiculous that it actually prompted Dash to still in his incredulity. If there was ever a time to
not be calm, this was it. Dash opened his mouth to shout at protest to the really-bad-advice-giver, but he then noticed something odd.
He wasn't sliding anymore. Granted, his situation wasn't improving, but at least he wasn't falling further into the ravine. It seemed that being still was a better plan than thrashing around. Maybe... maybe this kid wasn't the worst advice-giver ever.
"You.. you got any more suggestions?" Dash asked hopefully, doing his best not to move a muscle. It took a lot of focus for Dash, as he was almost constantly in motion.