Nova Peak wintergebunden

a bloodied muzzle, jaws seperated as a fat pink tongue falls ontop of her triangular teeth. her fur clung tightly to her legs and underbelly, wet and dripping the stones and grass beneath. a thick trail of steam exudes from her body, wafting into the cold autumn atmosphere. it was an unsuccessful fish hunt, a bass that escaped death and swatted her in the face. while she had mamanged to get a good bite and draw blood, the fish was determined to escape her mouth and wiggled itself free from her. the slap from its spined tail left gracious with a feeling of defeat and embarassment as a small trickle of vermillion left one of her nostrils. 

she trudged away from the river and went deeper into the wooded taiga, her pink muscle ran along her coal lips and eventually hitched up towards her nose in an attempt to stop the bleeding trail. the sensation was enough to cause a twitch in her nose and soon the woman stopped dead in her tracks. her lips peel back to reveal fresh gums, her eyes squeeze shut, and a booming noise sounds an alarm through the world around her.

her and her damned sneezes. it was like firing off a cannon, poor gracious wanted to behave like a formal lady but couldn't get her sneezes under control. oftentimes her siblings would tease her, saying her sneezes were the cause of earthquakes (leaving adolescent gracious weaping at night for all the damage she caused). normally, her sneezes were singular and appeared rarely. but the universe had decided that one sneeze was simply not enough. another booming sneeze followed the first, then another, and then another. gracious found her muzzle shoved inbetween her two front legs in an effort to quiet herself.

she hadn't even noticed that mahler was nearby, his scent couldn't even penetrate her vibrating nose.