Neverwinter Forest haunted by ill angels only

Looking for one to two participants, please~ ♥

The cold had picked up significantly. It was a living, ravenous thing that bit into Cypress’ flesh, stinging his eyes, nose, and paw pads. Even his teeth hurt. He didn’t realize there was anything abnormal about the season — it was, after all, his first winter. He knew only that it was just as dangerous as he’d been led to believe. Dimly he worried about @Amari, @Kaskara, @Eimear, @Szabala, @Dublin, and Rian — he’d been avoiding them in a misguided attempt to keep them safe, but the long hours of self-induced isolation were slowly beginning to wear on the battered effigy. This afternoon the desire not to be alone left the raven so voracious for social interaction of any kind that he was tempted to cry out for it, shattering the cracking cold with a summoning howl — but he kept his mouth shut and locked. A bitter wind rushed him, whipping his long, wild fur against the grain, leaving his obsidian pelage in a disarray of frost-tipped quills — and he gritted his aching teeth against the cold, the elongated scar at the leftmost corner of his mouth tipping downward in a sinister grimace. In an effort to stay warm, he began patrolling the territory borders, dragging his blunt talons through the rime and snow wherever he could, rubbing his broad-shouldered frame against trees to absorb the spice of the evergreens and leave his signature, and scent-marking.

To say that Maude was miserable was an understandment. She had known cold before. She had been soaked in cold water for most of her life, been bombarded with shriekingly chill winds from the northern seas, but this? This was icy, frozen hell. How anyone was surviving it, let alone standing it, was beyond her. She barely was doing either.

The pirate let out another flurry of curses, instantly regretting opening her mouth, nearly struck blind by the sheer cold. Warmth was far away from her, but she sought it out in any shape or form. The dark mass ahead of her caught her sights immediately, and almost without question, she barrelled towards it, sticking her body against the (thankfully) lupine-smelling, Neverwinter Forest-smelling, mass. No toime fer pers'nal space, mate; 'tis bloody cold, She muttered, nuzzling against the unknown packmate.

Thank you for joining! ♥ Awkward teenager time!

There was a rhythm to the lonely sentinel’s patrol — mark! dig! rub! — and the constant movement kept him warm. Automatically his thoughts drifted to Rannoch and Lucy — were they warm? Were they safe?

Did they miss him?

Mark! Cypress’ young, sharp teeth closed firmly over a curling piece of healthy bark, and with a swift jerk of his regal skull he ripped it away from the evergreen it clung to and cast it upon the ground — throwing down the proverbial gauntlet to any would-be intruders. The sticky sap left an unpleasant, acidic taste on the boy’s tongue that he tried in vain to stifle with mouthfuls of snow, and he began to hypersalivate at an alarmingly embarrassing rate. Ugh. He wouldn’t be doing that again anytime soon. Still, the garish appearance of the tree’s white flesh was easily visible from a great distance; pleased with himself despite the slimy foam that coated his lower jaw, he lifted his leg to underscore his message.

Dig! A few meters north, he spotted a patch of earth that had not completely frozen over. Dropping his shoulder, he rolled in the snow, in particular rubbing his cheeks and muzzle against the ground to clear his sinister visage of drool — and then he bounded to his paws, cold all over again, to dug deep furrows in the semifrozen ground. Chunks of ice and mud were flung haphazardly behind him, the damp pads of his paws leaving a subtle scent marking along with the visibly striking slashes of upturned soil.

Thud!

Jarred out of his rhythm, the eidolon found himself rather aggressively accosted by a ragged, skulking creature he knew only vaguely. “Maude,” he squeaked out, his voice cracking embarrassingly in his adolescence. “Get — go — ” His lips curled instinctively as the older wolf — a stranger in practically every sense of the word — nuzzled against him, muttering something about there being “no time for personal space.” An uncertain growl bubbled up, churning in his throat as he tried to process the sudden intrusion, but it fizzled out into an indecisive whine. His ears flattened, then sprang forward; his lantern yellow eyes struck pointedly for Maude’s, then skittered away to fix uncomfortably on the boughs of a nearby tree. Kjalarr had called Maude a “friend” — and if Cypress offended her, wouldn’t he offend his brother?

Swallowing his protests, he stood without moving, his skin crawling and hackles bristling at the uninvited contact. There was a small part of him that enjoyed it, simply because Maude’s presence meant he wasn’t alone anymore — and it was “bloody cold” — but for the most part he accepted her only because of her closeness with Kjalarr, and he couldn’t think of a single thing to say. He felt guilty for snarling, but he didn’t feel like apologizing. Working his mouth reflexively, he wracked his brain but came up with nothing.

*throws Amari into the background*

Dainty paws stung against the cold snow as the white and silver female travelled her way toward the borders. The girl's bright blue eyes were squinted some as the brisk wind ceaselessly slapped against her small form, almost buffeting the girl. She didn't mind the cold, but this unusually colder weather really took it out of her. Never had she seen a winter like this. Amari shuddered as she ventured forward, gradually finding it harder to move on, the cold becoming more and more unbearable as continuous amounts of bitter ice fell from the sky, blanketing not only the ground, but everything else under its unfriendly reign.

Amari's legs wanted to tremble as the uncomfortable numb feeling began to travel up her limbs, a soft growl of dislike soon escaping her mouth as she slowly lowered her head, attempting to see better through the flurries of snow at a lower angle. Regardless of feeling numb and having poor vision of her surroundings, the girl continued forward, mostly out of fear that if she did stop, she'd become Neverwinter's first decorative ice statue and one in the shape of a poorly sized wolf at that.

Maude smirked at the gasp made by Cypress, the boy Kjalarr calledTorgeir, amused by his cracking voice. He was still a pup, barely an adult, but performing the acts of one. A teen, one might call him. Maude had long since passed that age of adolescence, carrying herself as an adult far longer than necessary. But she cuddled against the boy all the same, desperate for some kind of heat. He would have to do, small as he was, though she would have greatly have preferred someone larger, like Kjalarr.

He growled, which gave her pause, but his whine soothed her rising passions. She nuzzled him again, trying to find the warmest part of his body. She barely noticed the woman in the distance.

Sorry for the lame thread ♥

It was all too much.

Too much sensation, too much invasion, and way too much woman for Cypress’ prepubescent angst to deal with. He gulped hard, a noise that sounded something like, “Urk — glub!” at Maude’s brash nearness — her biological sex had never really registered with him; Kjalarr had referred to her as female, it was too cold to question why she smelled like a male wolf, and Cypress wasn’t particularly in the habit of checking under the hood — and abruptly he found his voice. “I don’t want this,” he hissed, deciding that Kjalarr’s words about Rannoch applied to this situation as well. He was not responsible for Maude. He could say no to her advances and still be worthy of Kjalarr’s love. Forcibly he set distance between himself and the stranded mariner, baring his fangs though his body trembled with cold, adrenaline, and fear.

It was then that he spotted a telltale form in the distance. Amari! Lantern yellow eyes widened, stricken, as he took a step toward her — but the fear that he would curse her, had already cursed her by bringing her here, made him do exactly the opposite of what he wanted. A low, tortured moan spilled from his lips as he wheeled and fled, his body low to the ground as he tried to avoid her notice and Maude’s ire.

A soft growl escpaed her lips as she decided to contiue through the unbearing snow, dainty paws almost numbed completely as she slowly took another step. Pushing through the snow seemed to require more effort than the last with each step taken, the young girl panting some as she peered across the blizzardy terrain. As she trudged forward, Amari could vaguely make out two figures ahead, white ears twitching as she heard one of them whine, her cerulean eyes observing how one suddenly breaks away from the other, the darker hued wolf seeming to flee off in another direction. Cypress? The girl pondered, ice bitten tail giving a sway behind her as her paws guided her toward them.

Puzzled, the ivory and silver girl ventured forwards, sapphire eyes watching the wolf ahead. Slowly her light pink tongue escaped the warmth of her mouth to lick at her dry lips, her soft voice calling out into the bitter snowfall, ”Is everthing alright over there?” She questioned, the shewolf now findering herself closer to the vague wolf, whom now she could make out to be, Maude, though the other that made off was still a mystery.

Maude continued to burrow, trying to find the warmest parts of Cypress' body. Unfortunately for him, those were closest to his nether regions, which meant Maude was coming uncomfortably close to a bad touch. Maude, carefree and nonchalant as she was, didn't mind the closeness as much as the boy beneath her did, squirming and squeaking. It was a change to lonely dens, pining for a man she did not yet have. She relished the feeling of another wolf against her before it was abruptly taken away from her.

She smiled at his little snarl, her ears only folding back at his angry declaration. Then yer alright wit freezin' den? She quipped, smirking smugly, even as another wolf — a female — came towards them, questioning the situation. 'taint much, lass. Just tryin' t'beat t'cold,