Blacktail Deer Plateau Riders on the Storm

Maybe @Saena or @Pura but anyone is welcome!

Valtýr had spent his first night on the Plateau tucked away in the rear of Blue Willow's den, his emaciated body huddled against the dry earth for warmth. Other infirm wolves slept there as well, but the young boy had shrunk away from their unstable presence. At dawn he left the safety of the medic's home, eager to get away from the incapacitated adult and feverish girl. The boy sought sanctuary in the nearby brambles, burring his skeletal frame amidst their scratchy boughs.

Eventually night returned, and with it the frost. His skin prickled, wishing it had a fatty layer to insulate from the cold. He shivered, thinking it might be warmer in the den despite the feeble company, and crawled out of his hiding place. However, he was interrupted by a dusting of snow falling from the sky. He had never seen snow before.

I won't be on pretty much at all until Monday night, so if Karm joins feel free to skip me if I'm holding anyone up. :)

In the darkness of night, Saena allowed the horripilation to wash across her flesh and send her hair prickling on end. She'd only just been informed that Junior's condition had worsened considerably. They'd found her at the plateau's edge, careening wildly; she'd singled out Dante and challenged him to single combat, which was obviously refused. Although not present at the scene, the red-mottled juvenile blamed herself. It was her fault that Junior'd challenged Dante, she had planted the idea that Junior was the rightful heir of the pack in the dark girl's mind.

For this reason, perhaps, the teen hadn't gone to visit her sister in spite of her infirm state. Worry gnawed at her belly alongside tremendous guilt, enough that Saena didn't seek solace in sleep, but wandered the plateau like a ghost. Behind her trotted an actual ghost, the spirit of a white bear cub that she'd spoken to Lasher of a mere week ago. Normally, it didn't follow her, but tonight it was in hot pursuit, though still not speaking. Ordinarily, the sight of this ghost sent Saena fleeing in the opposite direction, but tonight it was not the ghost that made her walk around the plateau, but the looming feeling that she'd be responsible for her sister's death if it occurred.

So intent was she on these negative thoughts that Saena didn't even see the young pup as she practically passed him by. Snow was beginning to fall again, and vaguely she remembered that it was disgusting cloud dandruff. Rather than making her want to run and hide, though, it brought hot tears to her eyes and she stopped just at the edge of Valtyr's line of sight with shoulders trembling.

The quiet snowfall factured an ethereal scene. Wind whistled betwixt the boughs of barren maples while a pale gossamer dusting began to stick to their ragged bark. A shiver ran down Valtýr's spine as he watched, momentarily forgetting the hardships of the world. The wonder eased his grief and mended the futility he felt. Even as a young child, he could still recognize that everything had truly gone wrong. The pain in his belly and the gaunt condition of his figure were merely physical ends to a horrible nightmare of event... but by come chance he had been saved by Lucius, though the child didn't have the capacity to dwell on its significant meaning.

His small nose curiously sniffed the air, little tongue peeking out from its sooty muzzle to sample flake or two. They tasted plain, but it did not matter because the pallid body of another wolf caught his gaze. Large, bat-like ears orbited upon his sunken crown curiously, watching her body become statuesque among the snowfall. She was close -- close enough to observe the quaking fur upon her wither and the damp copper hair upon her cheeks. She was older than him; a teenager which made her more approachable. However, after seeing Junior shrieking in pain and now watching this girl cry to herself... Val could only speculate that this was the place where all those sad, infirm, and begrudged were sent.

"Why are you crying?" the child asked unabashed as he took a few paces towards her.

A small voice at her rear made Saena turn her head and blink back the tears. The blurry figure of Valtyr caught her off guard, for Saena had never seen a smaller wolf than she on the Plateau before, but his story would have to wait. The Blacktail was very self-centered; even if she cared where Valtyr came from, it was of no importance when measured against her own problems.

"My sister is sick," she said thickly. There was so much more wrong in Saena's world than just Junior being sick—the events of her youth were piling up into a mountain of concerns for her sanity—but it was this most recent event that shook her the most. Tytonidae's disappearance was no more than an afterthought most days, and Pura haunted the Plateau like a feral monster, but he never came near. His hold on reality was tenuous, and she wasn't sure she wanted to test what little there was left by seeking him out.

She blinked hard, clearing her vision so as to inspect the child more easily. His fur was dark, but red broke through on his points. It was similar to her own copper. She might have identified with him if she wasn't so focused on herself. "She almost fell off the plateau a few days ago," she mumbled, wrinkling her nose against a second onslaught of tears.