Duck Lake come back to me

Laurel's heat was still in full session as she wandered away from Bearclaw Valley to see if she could find some more boys to manipulate. She decided to leave Indra to herself for a day as she set out, though admittedly soon regretted going there alone and finding herself wishing that Indra'd show up after all. Duck Lake, near to where Indra's got stuck in the snow, seemed like a good place to start. Atop that she also wanted to see the lake in frozen state, maybe see if she could get a sip to drink somewhere along the line.

The sun was actually shining today so it felt safer to go a while from Bearclaw Valley's territories. There was still a thick layer of snow but it only encouraged Laurel's playful prancing as she made her way towards the lake. Once she reached the frozen lake, Laurel carefully took a step onto the ice...

Larus had been roaming a little bit every day in an attempt to map the area for himself and keep an eye out for the stranger Laurel had described to him. So far he had found nothing of consequence - at least, until a trail cut through the snow before him. He deviated his path and pursued that trail, not realizing he was following after the girl until he spotted her approaching the lake's edge. Framed by the stillness of winter, she stuck out strongly, but the young man was transfixed for reasons unknown. Something was in the air - something that gave the moment a subtle magic. He slipped along through the snow carefully so as not to disturb her, but came to a halt with a purposeful crunch a few feet off from her position; he was silent and guarded, but eager to linger for reasons he could not understand.

Nothing showed that she knew anyone else was nearby as she approached the lake and put a tender paw on the ice. It didn't feel too slippery and Laurel gingerly put her second paw on there, then her hind legs as she took a few more steps. It was a little bit more slippery now that all of her feet were on the ice, but no more than iced up snow tended to be after a night of freezing to harden up slushy paths frequently used.

She walked gingerly, looking almost dainty as she stepped until she found a place where she started to jump at the ice. Front paws pounded down on the ice as Laurel tried to find a place where she could make a small hole from which she could drink, hoping the water wasn't too tightly frozen for it.

He watched her from the bank in silence. Each step she took was so careful, but he still felt a sense of danger and had to resist the urge to run to her aid - she was far lighter than himself and any help he offered would have only hampered whatever she was doing or, most likely, caused the ice to split and both of them to sink in to the frozen oblivion of the lake. So he stood there watching despite feeling a great need to be near to her — Larus didn't know why he lingered for so long.

When Laurel began to lift and pounce at the ice, the sound of her paws and her full weight driving against the surface made an odd sound. Each time he winced (a little like he was trying to avoid being hit with a snowball) although he was in no danger himself; soon the ice began to splinter away beneath her efforts and the Sveijarn could not stop himself from creeping closer, curious and worried for her. Each step invigorated him. He felt bolder than usual, if that makes any sense, but still the young man did not cross on to the ice the way Laurel did.

He managed to test the lake's edge with his front paws but he kept his rear paws firmly settled on solid ground, his tail puffed and twitching at his hocks as a clear sign of apprehension. Although he did not want to disturb her, Larus didn't want to startle her either — so he called out, Miss Laurel? and then with a little more concern in his voice, What are you doing? The magic of the moment was broken temporarily while Larus worried over the safety of his new friend; he wanted her off the ice - he wanted her closer to him - but it was such an odd thought that he pointedly ignored it.

Finally the ice was beginning to splinter a little. Laurel carefully watched to make sure that no cracks formed around her, because all she wanted was a little hole to drink from.

Her head curtly turned sideways when she heard someone's voice. Laurel had been so focussed on her drink that she didn't realise someone neared. She stared the ice down, which didn't seem to budge despite splintering somewhat; it certainly didn't do what she wanted it to, at least. Then she turned to look at the wolf, who she recognised from visiting the borders earlier. He was a boy, though, and things were different this time around. Laurel folded her ears forward towards him as he addressed her as 'miss', which tickled her fancy quite a bit, and then asked what she was doing.

Laurel sighed and started back towards the shore, deciding to give up on finding a place to drink for now. "Hey, uh," she smiled softly while she tried to think of his name again. Something that sounded like Laurel. Laruh-something. "Larus," which was a complete lucky shot because all of the other options - Larun, Larut, Larum - that she passed in her mind didn't really make any sense for a boy's name. "I was trying to make a hole to drink, but I think the ice is too thick or something. It's not working. Do you know any place where there's running water nearby?" He was from near here too, so maybe he knew better. Laurel smiled sweetly at him, both to convince him to bring her to a place where she could drink and as step one of the winding-around-finger programme.

Any traveler knew not to consume snow as a substitute for water, so he did not offer this as a solution to her problem. But he gave a glance at her nimble paws and the lightly splintering ice beneath them as she spoke, and then motioned with a small toss of his head for her to come back to the safety of the land. Let me give it a shot, he offered despite his own misgivings, and as Larus carefully backed away from Laurel's position so as to let her pass, he added, If I can't break it for you then... I guess there's the river to the west? But that's pretty far from here. It was at least a day of journeying to be certain, but the water was always rushing and winter's hold was not as constrictive.

Whether or not she took him up on the offer, Larus was soon positioning himself at the lake's edge again and carefully testing his weight with each step, until he could stand atop the sheet of ice. Every step made the ice lurch; that or, the sound of it shifting beneath his weight was causing an unneccessary amount of anxiety. Something about the moment made him very cautious — but not about his own health. Rather, a deeply rooted part of himself wanted to appease this girl. He did not wish to appear weak before her. It was such a basic thing, an intrinsic thing, that Larus was probably not aware of it on any conscious level. He watched her though — ready to pass by if she would allow him to help her.

She'd hoped that he would have just known a stream not far from here that they could go to. Laurel didn't look very happy about having to do with this but at least he was trying for her. She just hoped he wouldn't do something dumb like crash through the ice and then she'd have to save him, or something. "Okay," she said nonetheless, because admittedly it was exciting to let a boy do things for her.

Laurel moved onto solid ground and off the ice just in case anything would go poorly, and sat down to watch how he would do.

I think I'm gonna roll a 1d6 to see if he breaks the ice. Odds he doesn't, Even he does. Exact number will be the extent of the damage. Result: 4

It was entirely possible that Larus had assigned himself a stupid, dangerous, and wholly terrible job as the girl agreed, but it didn't occur to him until he had carefully taken up position where she had been standing only moments before. The sheet of ice creaked and moaned whether he stood on it or not (he could hear it, with the sun beaming down and causing the lake's topmost edge to shine and melt). Larus looked to Laurel for a second or two as he gathered his wits, then placed his broad paws across the segment of ice she had previously been trying to break apart. It barely moved beneath his initial weight.

Okay, uh... One, two, three, on that count he lurched up from his forepaws and connected with the ice, his claws scraping dully at the surface, but the punch made a deep sound reverberate beneath him. The ice did not give way however. Um, trying that again I guess, Larus thought; his ears flicked back against his head in a brief show of uncertainty. Then he repositioned and lunged again, and again, growing a bit more confident with each attempt — until something gave way and there was a deep thunk as his final punch landed, going through the layer of ice with both his forelimbs.

Larus was taken by surprise as his paws met the sheer cold of the water. They plunged up to the elbow joint, and the ice splintered outward in a radiant pattern as he struggled to keep from bowling forwards. The Sveijarn had not anticipated how quickly the ice was going to split; on one hand he was happy to take the plunge in her stead, but on the other... Cracks formed little by little while Larus tried to get his front-end free, positioning his rear legs and bracing with them to try and draw his limbs up and out of the water. Every second meant there were more rumblings and more splintering spiderwebs of weakened ice.

Laurel had made holes in the ice before so she didn't think it was impossible to do; the ice just needed to be exactly thick enough; not too thick, but definitely not too thin. She was pretty sure it wasn't too thin right now, so it shouldn't be any problem, really.

She was pleased to have a boy do things for her and sat down in the snow at the edge of the lake. Her fur puffed out from the cold and she watched him as he went onto the ice. It seemed to make sounds as he stepped on it; a thing Laurel hadn't expected, considering the extent of the snow and cold. She had expected it to be thicker. Still, he probably knew what he was doing, so she didn't stop him and just watched what he would do. He counted down and jumped once, but nothing happened yet. Her tan ears fanned forward but then fell back again as nothing happened to the ice.

Then as he jumped again it seemed very sudden that he sank into the water with his front legs. "Be careful!" Laurel called out; a statement that was, of course, far too late. "Try to scramble backwards and run!" Laurel called out, another sort of moot statement as all she did was describe exactly what he was already trying. She watched with anticipation written on her face, breathlessly awaiting if her hero would be able to make it out without a swim. She definitely didn't feel like having to hug a totally soaked hero, let alone like.. dive him out of the lake or something.

She was shouting above the chaos of the moment but even if he had been paying attention to her, it wouldn't have helped. Larus struggled for a handful of minutes and finally found purchase with his posturing, dragging his forelimbs out from the broken ice sheet. They sloshed a dark line of water across the ice as he finally came free, and it wasn't until he was staggering back to the safety of the dry land that he noticed his injury.

It wasn't much: some lacerations around his elbows where the ice had caught him during the withdrawal. His legs were so numb by this point that they didn't hurt, and the water diluted whatever meager amount of slow-moving blood in to a pale pink across the lackluster fur of his limbs.

It was done, though. A hole was made. He flashed a contented grin to Laurel and motioned with his nose, panting as he spoke, There you go. Drink up, miss. He would leave her to that and tend to his small injuries whether she drank or not. The cuts did not appear deep but again, the cold of the water (and now the cold of the air blowing across his soaked front-end) made it difficult to tell. He plopped his rear-end down and inspected himself, taking his attention away from Laurel for the time being.

Laurel watched with bated breath to see if he would make it back onto solid ground. She sure hoped so, because she really didn't want to have to rescue anyone. Finally she could breathe out when he reached land; he'd been quite lucky. Or, she thought, perhaps just really skilled. He was some sort of hero, after all.

As he landed on the ground near her Laurel padded over to him and said with a worried tone to her voice: "You're hurt!" as she looked at the lacerations from the ice on his leg. He did not seem to mind his wounds all that much though, or maybe he just wasn't feeling them yet.

She giggled when he proudly said that the water was now ready for her to drink it. She looked at the lake, which now had quite a large hole in it. Not exactly as she had intended it, but it was still good enough to drink from. "My hero," she said with a half-joking tone and she smiled softly at him before turning to the water's edge, where she leaned down to lap up the fresh, cold water.

Her interest in his wound was brushed off with a shy smile and a shrug. It was nothing, really.

Then she turned to drink and he watched her innocently, studying the way she moved without really thinking about it. The dip of her head. The curve of her tail at her hocks. Her hips — and when he felt a warmth spring forth in the core of his body, Larus redirected his attention.

He was surprised by the reaction and didn't know what to make of it. So he focused on his limbs, looking them over and cleaning them a bit.

She paused from her drink to look over her shoulder at him, just as he started looking over and grooming his legs, it seemed. Laurel continued to drink, feeling refreshed by the cold water as it'd been a little while of plowing through the snow without any fresh water nearby. It tasted even better knowing someone'd nearly slid under the ice and died getting it for her.

When her thirst was quenched Laurel turned 'round from the water and pranced over to Larus with a bright smile. "Thank you, that was great!" she exclaimed cheerfully and she stretched her neck to gingerly lick his cheek in gesture of gratitude (and to mess with his head using her newfound super powers).

If she thought she could get in to his head with a little bit of kindness, girlish laughter, and physical contact - well damn, she was right. Larus felt flush after the touch of her kiss upon his cheek, and without thinking his tail-tip began to wag. A brief smile swept across his gold-tinted face and then grew, becoming fixed in a pleased expression.

Do you require anything else, miss? He offered easily. Whether it was the hormones in the air or his own kind nature finally having a moment to shine, Larus was content to know she was happy and wanted to continue on that theme. He forgot all about his superficial injuries for now and sat up, watching her intently.

It was easy to see that he was captivated and that she had him right where she wanted. When he asked if there was anything else she wanted, Laurel thought of what else she could ask. There wasn't anything else she needed right now, though — she'd already eaten before coming here, and she had just had her water. "Aw, that's so sweet of you for asking," she said with a happy smile. "I'm good for the moment, but thanks." Laurel sat down not too far away from him and wondered, "How's life in Easthollow?" She actually knew very little about the pack, only that Birk lived there and that Larus lived there, both wolves who'd visited their borders when Bearclaw Valley was pretty much just started up. Maybe he could tell her some more.

She moseyed over to a dry patch of ground and sat there, and he watched her happily enough. She didn't ask him for anything else which was great - Larus didn't have much to offer.

Her question was met with a dull, It's pretty good, but then he remembered Valette's loss and with a small sigh, admitted, Actually, adjusting has been hard. I'm used to being on my own. Maybe it wasn't his place to mention the death of Valette's daughter but, Larus wasn't one to follow convention, and he remarked on this next: Only a few days after I joined them there was a death in the family. My alpha's daughter -- she um, passed. That really put a damper on things.

Not wanting to spoil the mood (what mood, you nerd) Larus skulked closer to Laurel and reclined as well. What about the Valley? You guys seem to be doing well.

Larus went on to tell her some details about pack life and how it had been hard. She wasn't really super interested in the story but nodded along accordingly anyway, a frown scrunching up her face when she heard about the death in the family. "Oh... That's gotta suck." Especially as it sounded like he didn't know any of them very well at all.

He then asked her about Bearclaw Valley and she half shrugged, half nodded. "We're doing pretty well. There's this one dumb girl in the valley, though, who doesn't really speak and keeps running away dramatically when she doesn't like something. Xan, our Alpha, seems to like her, but she's been nothing but rude and stupid to me and my sister Indra." It was actually kind of name being able to tell someone else about the girl, because Laurel knew nobody else who wasn't involved in the pack and knew everyone involved. Indra was the only other wolf she could tell these kind of things to.

Larus should've remembered the odd girl that Laurel was talking about, he'd met her. But he wasn't good with faces and had no name for the silent creature who had been throwing her food around like a barbarian. He listened to what she had to say and his brow furrowed, then without thinking he said, That doesn't sound safe or normal, so chase her out.

He knew it wasn't his place to advise Laurel in any manner though, and the look on his face indicated he'd realized this, and quickly. I mean -- if you think that's best, but.. If your alpha likes her, I dunno. That sounds... bad.. though. Abruptly enough he was tongue-tied and feeling like a total knob.

"I know, right?!" Laurel said when Larus agreed with her, glad to have found someone that she could vent to. Laurel wished that she could, but like Larus pointed out, Xan having some sort of weird attachment to this girl made it difficult. "It is pretty bad," Laurel said, barely noticing that Larus wasn't being exactly eloquent because she was so wrapped up in her own words. "I just wish that Xan would see what a bitch she is and chase her out like she deserves!" But obviously he would never do that because he was in loooove with her or whatever. Laurel certainly didn't understand why. Laurel sighed into the air in frustration, glad that she had someone safe to vent to, anyway, and having sort of forgotten about her magical I-can-ask-this-guy-to-do-anything-for-me powers. She was actually having sort of a good time, despite not sounding like it.