Arrow Lake there goes the neighbourhood...

loud screm!!! @Redshank u complete me

One last attempt to crack through the ice, and he gave up. A splintering slivered across the ledge and spiraled out beneath the thick-set layer, amounting to nothing, and he withdrew. The stress of lunging and pressing with his forepaws left Mou's wrists aching; he wasn't nearly strong enough to pierce the ice despite his height and general girth, and was unlikely to get anywhere without beefing himself up a bit more. It was too bad his life was such a tragic mess; if he were healthier, calmer, better equipped, he'd have broken through the layers and fetched himself a fish-sicle without issue. He huffed, his nose pluming with white, and took solace upon the hillside.

It was here that he paused, surveying his surroundings — and he would have utterly missed the dark shape despite its contrast with the snow, except he saw the eyes watching him. Familiar sparks of gold; but the sight of a stranger staring at him had a different effect. The feeling of eyes on him was not new (he often felt watched in the dark) but having something to fixate upon, something solid and real (or real enough) made a wave of unease shift down his spine.

Without moving his eyes from the stranger's distant face, Mou extricated himself from his position and began to weave between the trees, intent on figuring out why the hell they looked so damn familiar.