The land of ice and snow is one that is extremely foreign to the golden huntress. Perhaps it could be labeled as desert of sorts, barren and inhospitable as it is. Yet it is still so very different from the place she'd grown up in. Even so, it piqued Myra's curiosity. She'd been hesitant to explore the tundra during the cold months, when all of its icy dangers were undoubtedly increased tenfold, but now that spring was beginning to warm the air, she saw no further reason to hold back. The sun, however, does not offer much comfort here - in fact, it is almost a nuisance, bright light reflecting off the endless white to pierce her eyes uncomfortably.

It's for that reason that she decided to poke her head into the cave entrance she'd spotted burrowing into the depths of the great snowy mountains. She was a bit skeptical about it. Tunnels and similarly tight spaces had always made her feel unsettled, and to have such a rigid ceiling overhead? Always seemed too much like being sealed in a tomb. So, she lingers in the tunnel entrance for a moment, not more than a few strides in, peering dubiously into the frozen depths stretching out ahead of her. She didn't need to go further in, did she? She could wait right here for enough time to pass that she wouldn't risk going snow blind on the way back.

How terribly unfortunate that the choice was no longer hers to make.

Vicious tremors send her lurching almost completely off her feet, shoulder colliding hard with the icy wall at her side. The entire earth was rumbling, shaking, the sensations vibrating through her from underneath her paws and through the tunnel walls all around...and from above. The thunderous crackling sound is all she needed to hear to reflexively send her body catapulting forward, heavy debris made of snow and ice crashing down perilously close to her flanks as the entrance was sealed behind her.

What was it she'd thought earlier, about being sealed in a tomb? Deep breaths, Myra, deep breaths.

She is left slouching against the cavern wall, panting slightly while her heart thundered against her ribcage. Distantly, she becomes aware that she is not alone here, pointed ears twitching as the sound of unfamiliar voices floated towards her ears. With a deep sigh, she straightened up, eyes opening to take in the situation and her present company fully. "You should only attempt that if you're sure it'll work. We can't risk exhausting ourselves here." She offers in response to @Vansen's suggestion of using brute force, managing to speak without a tremor in her voice, though her body was noticeably shaking. Whether from the cold or the stress, who could say?

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genya was no martyr, nor was she intelligent enough to come up with a ready solution. but it seemed there was one plan that the group had come up with, and that was to dig. but where? as she peered around, all she saw was fallen debris and ice. none of which was soft enough for them to break through. to her amusement, a young lioness was desperate enough to attempt. maybe it was due to her, but genya felt more tremors from the ceiling. she flattened her ears, unwilling to listen to the sounds of their demise any more. well, we should try something before we die here she said, sighing. perhaps...we can use our strength and bully ourself through? we just need to find a spot where the structure's weak... her voice trailed off as she absorbed the environment into her sight. a part of her wondered if she ought to use her fangs to chip away at the rocks. or if she could use her hefty weight on the wall and hope it'll crumble and not bury herself while doing so. with nothing to wait on, genya walked along the blocked path, eyes observing for every little crack and hole to the other side.

she has wings under her armor

code by corvus

Soon enough Apollinaire found that he wasn't the only unfortunate soul stuck in the premises of this cave. First, an onyx girl emerged from the darkness, evidently startled by the rattle of the ice chandeliers above their heads. Her shocked exclamation brought only a tsk from the older man, his expression souring at the rough language the sweet child was using. If he didn't have to worry about dying in this snowy tomb he would be far more displeased with his company. "Avalanche, mon chéri," His voice was neutral, but he was evidently making a mockery of @Asteria.

A large obsidian woman speaks. Quite the predicament, yes. Apollinaire could do nothing but give a curt nod at her suggestion. He was not worried about death - his time had not yet come.

And if Apollinaire had any say in it, death will come for them first before it came for him. If they failed at their task and were truly stuck here without any route out then... his eyes followed the curve of @Genya's neck, the muscle rippling beneath @Farrow's skin.

He had livestock to last him for months. Years, even, for they were in a literal refrigerator.

Yet he was but one and they outnumbered him. If only there was somebody he could lull to his side, somebody to back him up should worse come to worse...

@Gauthier. Oh! As if sent by the heavens, the familiar man was here too. Apollinaire couldn't put a name to the face, but he was grateful that there was a pridemate among the group. Sanguine gaze settled firmly on the burly brown lion who was quick to agree with Apollinaire's proposition to dig. He posed a good question too. "Perhaps -" a chuff on the other side made his head turn towards the wall, ears flickering. "Here. If we can hear whoever is on zhe other side, zhen it should be easy zho dig zhrough it." He mused.

A furious snarl and @Viveka was throwing herself at the wall, digging like a crazed dog. Apollinaire sneered. "Zhat must be our que," the Dieudonne stepped forward, using his front feet to start digging into the base of the wall, beside the Rike yearling.

@Vansen's voice sounded behind them, suggesting they use brute force to break through. Wouldn't that be a feat? He continued to dig, more inclined to agree with @Myra on that one. Digging was less exhausting, and could be endured for far longer.

become the storm you are hiding from An avalanche, they say, but she almost does not believe them. There is a crowd of them, now, and some outside of the wall she can barely hear. Muffled voices and exclamations and she retreats, sullen and angsty as she tended to be. “nothing like any avalanche I’ve seen,” she snipped back at @Apollinaire, and that was true. The walls of ice surrounding them were unusual and it seemed the phenomenon was more intense than any rumbles she had seen before. Her youth worked against her, obviously, but she didn’t feel any need to retract her point. Some threw themselves at the ice and she didn’t speak to the matter but joined in all the same. Her claws were sharp and she scoured the glassy surface, using her teeth to pull away chunks when she could.

code // art // do not use without permission

The only reprieve was that he was not the only one trapped. In fact, it seemed almost a twisted sense of irony that so many lions seemed to come from within and about the cavern. Where once he thought he was alone, he was suddenly surrounded by the worried, curious, and concerned presences of others. His gaze turned to @Apollinaire on the other's approach, and even through the thick of his accent could still understand what he was trying to portray: The only way out was to force themselves out. These caves had been explored thoroughly enough to perhaps know there was no other good way out. “Yes, you're right,” he agreed, “we should dig.”

It helped that there were others. If Farrow were here alone, he would sooner starve than be able to break through the ice.

@Asteria arrives, and Farrow opens his mouth to reply to her, until the dusky form of @Genya soon approaches too, far calmer in spite of their rather dire predicament. “Well, depends on how we get along,” he mustered a small bit of humor, finding more comfort in the surety that these other lions had in their success. “I wouldn't mind dying in good company.” Farrow wasn't entirely pessimistic himself; in fact, he may have also found himself more determined had he not been so desperate just to get home. @Gauthier's voice suddenly drew the Bearslayer's attention, and though the man brought up a good point, Farrow could not see what else they could do; if they tried to dig through another potential exit, it would pose the same issue. It was impossible for Farrow to tell which way was safer.

The muffled voice of an outsider accompanied the distorted image of crimson just outside. It seemed that, at the very least, their predicament was known to someone who could get even more paws. As more lions began to approach and make their own comments about their situation, Farrow refocused on Genya once more, considering her suggestion for their escape as well. But Apollinaire did not wait either, just like @Viveka who had begun her own desperate attempt to escape. Despite all the difference in opinions, their ragtag group's collective goal was the same: to escape. So, Farrow followed Apollinaire, and began to dig beside him, paws scraping at the snow and rocks and debris that surrounded the walls of ice that caged them.

hail to the king
kneel to the crown

royal flames will carve a path to chaos
bringing daylight to the night
let the water flow with shades of red
arrows black out the light

in the long, gawking moments trapped in their tomb of ice, Gauthier finds the blurring throng of strangers aside inconsequential. They are shadows, sulking forms drawn from their own corners. Curious that they should all find themselves within each other's similar misfortune - but Gauthier wouldn't fret the fit of chance. There were some who believed that there were too few coincidences than a seeming destiny, but a claustrophobic fright left him without a profound double-take.

Even when Alma's voice jeered over the chime of crackling stalactites and their resounding echoes malformed over twisting glacial spires. A later time he may reflect on what it meant, along with that solemn mantra dancing on the timbre of Charax's voice, watch the skies. But before he could utter much in the way of direction or snark, a call from beyond their icy gate drew his attention.

@Amaroq, certainly. The voice and shape peer through the glossy glare of thick ice, and Apollinaire declares a decent enough point. Were they able to hear the world outside, it shouldn't be too much to work their way out - or his brother, in. "Amaroq," he called, but lowered his voice only slight when his eye ran over shivering cicles above, waiting like a guillotine. Of course he was on the other side.

Aside, a rabid creature began to dig at her own point - flinging ice and rock from beneath her claws, intently burrowing. Another suggests an act of brute strength, and yet another makes a valid point against. In the chatter, the best option seems to remain digging their way out of the tundra silt and sheets of ice, and dig they do.

Gauthier worked alongside @Apollinaire, pulling rock and thick frozen shards from the foot of the cave-in, though snow often sinks into the void. He took a moment to pause only briefly enough to call back to Amaroq between breaths, "Seek a spot that does not readily crumble, could you?" And returned to pulling the shelves of snow and ice from the entrance, delighting when he tore at an area that did not fall in as easily as he dug out.

Art © Ryuu

Do you really want me dead
or alive to torture for my sins

@Gauthier's scent is barely detectable through the thick snow and ice that had separated them, but Amaroq's sharp predatory senses would discern otherwise. The barest hint of masculine musk would permeate through the frozen wall, and it is enough to ensnare Amaroq. Gauthier is trapped along with the others, along with @Genya, who Amaroq now picks up on, even if vaguely (her scent so subtle, entwined with the winter air, like the barest flush of silk against skin).

Amaroq is pacing outside the walls then, a despondent growl, a frustrated hiss leaving his lips. He'd test the surface of the frozen gates here and there, his forepaws lifted and pressing against the hard surface, seeking for any cracks he could deepen or infiltrate, but to no avail - the walls were thick, unyeilding throughout its surface. Frigid, tense, the uneasy feeling suddenly shrouds Amaroq's frame; enveloping his features in the ghost of worry. A worry for his brother, that is now trapped within, and others apparently with him.

How many had succumbed?
How many had been injured beneath the icy rubble?
Were there any dead?

The worry had touched the red heathen's slackened jaws, his grimacing lips, and his feline brow would furrow with a seething intent. How was he suppose to get his brother out now? The walls were thick, encrusted in hard ice, yet still he would cup an ear towards the cerulean wall, listening to Gauthier's instructions and following them. A spot that does not readily crumble - and then what? Amaroq hears more voices from within, the sounds muffled though picked upon none the less.

"Now what?" Amaroq would speak outloud, his voice a dark, loud rumble, his forepaws digging into a stiffer bit of ice and snow that collected at the base of the frozen gate. Suppose he should have continued digging, or perhaps, he should leave them to get more help.


Art © Aurora

Fuck they were fucked, and fucked in deep. They would need to get out as soon as they could. Oxygen could ran out soon, and whatever was over their heads could fall over them if they werent careful. She liked the idea of digging, and every large men and women would need to help if they wanted to dig the tons of dirt and ice that blocked the entrance, also hearing peeps outside. "Fine." She said in a lower voice, and quickly she began to help digging, doing so on a corner. Quickly and precise. Determined to live. She didnt want to die here in such ridicule way. She hopped the rest would help, she didn't like the fucking slackers.

// @Gauthier and company

code by Cloudy

The huntress was careful to keep her expression neutral, impassive. Yet despite her efforts to maintain a casual, unaffected air, her heaving sides betrayed the rising sense of claustrophobia she was feeling, cold tendrils of almost-fear winding around her quickening heart.

Why had she thrown herself further in to the collapsing entrance, instead backing out of this cursed place? The answer is simple in that she likely would've ended up literally buried alive had she attempted such a thing, but at this moment, confined within an icy crypt cavern with a bunch of strangers, the thought that she should have at least tried is inevitable.

The words of her unfortunate companions' float around her ears while she tried to focus on taking in their appearances, offering various suggestions as to how to escape this predicament. Although Myra had personally vetoed @Vansen's 'brute force' idea, she found herself too frazzled to offer any new ideas, her mind racing far too fast for anything useful to be picked out. Digging did sound like the most logical solution, however, though a part of her wondered if that might make things worse, if they might accidently dislodge more ice and snow down atop their heads.

"Was this really the only exit? Does anyone know?" Is the question that repeatedly circles to the forefront of her mind. The idea of roaming further through the dark, ominous tunnels in search of an exit doesn't quite sit well with her, but it could be a simpler solution. A good back-up idea, perhaps, if all else failed.

Even so, the huntress joined the males in their endeavor, moving to stand alongside @Gauthier as she began scooping away clumps of snow and heavier rocks with her unsheathed claws, resolutely ignoring the damp chill seeping into her toes. As @Genya had said, they had to actually try something before they resigned themselves to such a cruel fate. This method gave her something to focus on, at least, the physical exertion giving her back a sense of control over the situation.

She squinted at the icy barrier, finding the distorted red silhouette of @Amaroq to be vaguely familiar to her, though they had never conversed. His voice was muffled, but held a questioning note, prompting Myra to call back to him. "If you can't find a way to make yourself useful, then go find others who can." Perhaps it was counterproductive to be snappish with the only lion on the outside, but oh well.

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hail to the king
kneel to the crown

royal flames will carve a path to chaos
bringing daylight to the night
let the water flow with shades of red
arrows black out the light

As Gauthier scooped armful by armful of thickened snow and ice, he had to take a moment to laugh at his brother's now what from behind the shield of their prison gate. The mausoleum door. Perhaps it wasn't entirely funny, but also perhaps the entire situation had made him positively mad, enthused by the cacophony of worries and the insanity of the occasion. "You keep dig-" @Myra's voice called over his own, unamused and viciously sassy. One part of him leans to scold her against the ridicule of his brother, another is enthused by her spirit. She is, after all, putting what she has into tearing away at the wall. His brief glare shifted to a smirk, and he turned to the shadow loitering outside their glacial door.

"Melt it with your breath, brother." he called sardonically, and began ripping away at the ice at the corner. There, rock-snow and shards of ice broke freely to lighter passes, and he began to hoof away at it with both his forelegs, ripping away at it with all the strength of his upper body. For moments, ice and snow merely filled the gap made - but he was persistent, and each inkling of failure merely made him angrier, rougher, bloodying his paw-tips until there was a hole just enough to fit his nose through. "Here!" He called to @Amaroq, and resumed his eager ripping.

Adrenaline fueled the fury of his musculature, rippling with each violent row of a pull - fire in his thews, digits stinging and staining, his muscles would certainly be screaming once the adrenaline wore out, and his paws would be sore for days, but what was life without a few miniscule hardships?

The break in the wall grew wider, wider, until at once a mass of it fell to shambles and he pulled what remained back into the cavern, flinging ice and snow and rock until the yawning void of it was wide enough to accompany him - and if not everyone, then at least a decent amount of them, if they had not broken through with their own holes.

"A way out!" he called to what others had not suited themselves with their own exits, and with little regard to any further of their troubles, he broke through the aperture he had carved and took a great swallow of crisp winter air - and boyishly shoving a shoulder into his brother, made for a break into the freedom of the night.

exit Gauthier.

Art © Ryuu