[ifyla]

@.eclipse.

   As much as she enjoyed autumn, she did not enjoy winter. It was far too cold for the little wolf, the fields she often wandered barren of the rabbits she usually hunted. The autumn colors had departed, submitting to rot and decay, much to her displeasure. Winter was too quiet and too lonely, without the business of summer or the gentleness of autumn. It was too cruel and too lifeless, stripping the lands of what they had to offer and leaving a barren skeleton in its embrace.

   Admittedly, there was something intriguing the emptiness. There was something to be said about the lack of life and sound and movement. While there was beauty in presence, there was beauty in absence as well. At times, the wolf paused in all her movements to stand as still as the world around her, to take a pause and simply exist without having to deal with all the troubles that came with it. And then she would resume her movements again, causing the world to stir once again

   So, while Ifyla found winter to be a source of displeasure, she would happily admit that not all of it was bad. But the small pieces of good could not excuse the hunger pains and biting cold. While there were things she liked about winter, she didn't like it as a whole. The beauty was not worth all the suffering.

   When she had emerged from a poorly made den to a world blanketed in white, however, she had been stunned. She had only recently witnessed the true beauty of autumn and now, staring at white flakes falling from a cloudy sky, she was viewing yet another marvel. Snowflakes caught in the thick ruff of fur around her neck, decorating her coat and facial features as some fell on her nose and began to melt. Not once in her life had she seen snow, never having beheld the gentle tumble of fat, white flakes as they covered the world around her in peaceful tranquility.

   However, her immediate thought subsequent to those expressing her awe was, This is going to be hell.

   The snow was halfway up her leg and it was far too cold for her. She was used to moderate heat, not near-extreme cold. Only the fur around her neck was thick, not nearly thick enough to ward off all the cold. But that didn't matter when she thought of her stomach, empty for how many days now? Four, if she recalled correctly. Whining to herself, the small wolf started off into the snow drifts in a search for food.

   While it was not hard to catch the scent of a hare when it stood out strongly against the scent of snow (which was basically nonexistent), it was hard to track it. The snow was not falling too heavily, but just enough to hide the tracks of the hare from Ifyla's sight. She would have to rely on smell alone and, unfortunately, her nose was beginning to pinken and freeze. The snow hindered her progress and made her much louder than usual because she just needed something else to make her life harder. Really, she was just begging for it at this point.

   Eventually, however, she spotted too black-tipped ears sticking out from what she thought was a lump of snow. She learned otherwise, however, when her golden eyes met beady black ones, the snow hare startling before scrambling to get away. "No!" she cried, leaping into action as she tried to bound through the snow to catch up to the rabbit, struggling through the snow and cursing all manner of deities as she lost the hare. She stumbled and fell face-first into the drifts, her yelling muffled before she pushed herself up, snow covering her reddish features as she crowed profanity at the sky, her insults falling upon the deaf ears of false gods and the poor ears of nearby listeners.

[Temorask]

Winter in this new land was like heaven to the Hounddut king. His old home had always had snow on the highest peaks, he’d played and learned in it as a child; it was a source of comfort to him now so far away from all he’d ever known. Temorask was bred for this, he was in his prime in this. Thick fur, heavy body with proportionate shape and fat, long claws to grip rocks and ice, webbed feet to displace weight. He could plow through snow like a train with a blade, leaving a thick cut path in his wake. The cold did not steal his breath or his warmth, he barely felt it sinking into his thick coat. So the boy king played.

Rolling and smashing through snow drifts like children in the fallen leaves of autumn. A few of his Hounddut brethren joined him in their rejoicing. They had been faithful to him and had followed him willingly on this long journey to nowhere. Now they all got to enjoy a little fun that fed their nostalgia and brightened their moods. In The State he would not have been allowed to conduct himself this way, his advisors frowned greatly on him doing so now, but it seemed to energize his people and perhaps more importantly, his soul.

The dark male was covered in snow, having melted slightly against his body heat it now clung to him in balls frozen tightly to the sections it grabbed. His face dappled with a white dusting, clumps hanging in his beard and in his mohawk. Chartreuse green eyes spotted motion in the far distance and he looked back at his people, ”If you’ll excuse me for a moment comrades. I’d like to see what that is. No no don’t worry. I’ll be fine! I’m a Hounddut in the snow!” The High Lord chortled and the group laughed and nodded.

As the hulking man approached he realized it was a dreadfully small creature trying to hunt another even dreadfully smaller creature. It was unsuccessful at best and the small wolf? shouted loudly enough to drop some snow off boughs of trees above. Temorask wanted to chuckle but refrained, instead sinking down into the snow and readying himself as the hare charged frantically in his direction. The Hounddut were not speed or endurance runners, they may be quick afoot for their size but they could not race a snowshoe hare and win.

No. They had a different method to hunting small prey.

The dusting on his pelt was enough to make him appear to be a rock or log when crouched. The hare went straight towards him, threatening to zoom past. But the great heavy beast exploded from the snow pile towards the small animal. With all the force of a raging train, jaws agape to grab it in motion. The sheer force of the impact from the heavy beast snapped its neck before his fangs even tightened on it. Snow flew dramatically in all directions, and settled on the boy king holding the dead hare in his jaws.

It would barely be a morsel to him. Which was good because he hadn’t caught it for him. Green eyes turned to the tiny creature and he began to move through the snow with ease towards her. Temorask didn’t even take the time to shake the excess snow from his pelt. Instead walking until he towered over this angry canine midget and dropped the hare somewhat unceremoniously at her feet.

”You won’t outrun a hare in the snow... ambush is more effective. Especially if, uh, you’re not built for the snow tiny one.”