+10 (double xp) Scout a neutral territory [1/1]
+10 (double xp) Use the terrain to your advantage [1/2]
+20 (double xp) Explore a territory and find something useful in it [0/1]

Why had the young man come out here? It would be pretty dumb since the cold would creep into his skin and he could feel the elbow where it had been broken in his youth ache. Not only that but he had come here alone, without his usual companions. Walking carefully across the territory he was mindful to use his claws for extra grip. Especially where there were patches of ice, he didn't need to go and get injured. What his uncle had said to him however troubled him deeply. Yes he needed to eat but why hunt when he could scavange? Though he felt his gut twist at the thought, he knew he couldn't go by that the rest of his life. However he found hunting... hard.

Carefully Castus moved across a ice patch and once he did he would turn to study it. What if something slipped and hurt itself? would that make the kill easier? Maybe. Tail tip twitched while he mulled it over quietly.



"talk"

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Snug within the generous layers of her chocolate coat, the bitter winds of the northern lands were little more than a mild discomfort to the Vermeda lioness—their harsh exhalations stinging toes and nose and delicate inner ears, but it was easy enough to keep warm as long as she continued to move. An impatient spirit amidst the cold and white, the woman found herself in a buoyant and feisty mood—with no outlet to channel her energy save for that which she creates herself.

It was the unexpected gloss of the tundra that first caught her eye, and as she paced up to it, she noticed it was a rather large sheet of ice. She stood there for a moment in a state of rest and contemplation before leaping forward on a whim – all four paws splaying outward as she landed and slid across its length at a surprising speed. She cackled at the sheer ridiculousness of it all – this was a game meant for cubs, surely, not grown women – but she dismissed the weight of social prejudice long before she reached the other end of the rink.

In her enthusiasm for the activity, she did not notice that there was a silhouette of another in the immediate distance, nor did the wind offer her his scent. So, as she reached the other end she would turn back around and repeat the exercise, only this time getting a running start. Her laughter bubbled from her chest to permeate the quiet atmosphere of the tundra, as she slid once more across the frozen sheet of ice.

+10 use the terrain to your advantage (possibly? lol) (double exp - pathfinder)
+10 scout a neutral territory (double exp - pathfinder)
@Castus

table by sentinel / lion + meadow + flower

  

  

+10 (double xp) Scout a neutral territory [1/1]
+10 (double xp) Use the terrain to your advantage [1/2]
+20 (double xp) Explore a territory and find something useful in it [0/1]

The wind was not in his favor to detect another, and so when this lioness went sliding past laughing her head off. Well... he was a little disturbed. For a moment he froze staring at her as she went by then looked around him quickly, were there others? Baffled by her carefree attitude on the ice, he turned to ask if she was ok. Maybe she hit her head? But she was already racing past him to repeat the slide in the opposite direction. Grunting he turned to try and follow finding it hard to run on the ice,he sort of jogged in the same spot before he nearly fell. With a growl he moved to push himself forward and called out, ""Miss? Miss! w-wait!"

Doubtful she would hear him in her gleeful game he tried to run again but ended up falling with all four legs sprawled out beneath him. And slowly he drifted past her with a exhausted and annoyed look on his face. Emerald eyes would blink noticing she was going past him, and he attempted to gather himself. This was a tedious task, he only managed to get himself in a half seated position.


"talk"

coded by flea + background credit

Light-pawed with her buoyant mood, she coasted across the gloss with cheerful laughter bubbling from her throat, entirely caught up in her delight and entirely unaware of company. That is, until the distant and fractured words broke from the tundras backdrop of quiet and caused the woman to turn chin over shoulder in surprise. She twirled around with the motion of her shock – having now found her balance and footing, the technique of ice skating was coming easier to her – in time to watch as a silver-pelted lion slid belly first past where she had been standing.

Tuathla did not miss the annoyed look on his expression as he drifted by her, but she could only stare in surprise for a long moment before finally collecting her composure. “Like this, see?” – as he rose into his half-seated position, she would gesture with her muzzle to her two front mitts, splayed slightly out but not enough to compromise her balance – “with the way my legs are, and if you let your claws out like so” – she would emphasize her half-extended claws by scrunching her toes – “it should be easier to stand… but it’s a rather tricky element, so it might take a moment.” She finished eventually, lifting up her indigo eyes in earnest to meet his emerald, her tail lashing in unexpected uncertainty as she awaited the strangers judgment to her impromptu tutelage.

@Castus | I think there is an open italicized tag somewhere?

table by sentinel / lion + meadow + flower

While he was annoyed, it definitely not directed at her. Well ok, maybe a small percentage was. She spoke and watched her carefully, noting her position and the way she used her claws. A thin frown wore itself across his face as he struggled to his four feet. Eventually he managed to stand though on shakey legs, and with a delighted look he yelled, "I did it!" only to suddenly go sprawling down again. His locks of mane with feathers curled into various places covered his emerald eyes.

A low pained groan left him while he snorted some of his mane out of his eyes to look up at her. a pitiful pleading look given at her as he asked sheepishly, "C-Can we get off this stuff now?" he smiled meekly before attempting to get himself into a crouch position and crawl towards more stable shores.

The woman watched with a growing delight as he slowly but surely began to master the icy and precocious element. Her eyes were focused on his paws, darting between them as he managed to stay upright for longer than a heartbeat, and when he finally cried out in triumph she reciprocated with a chirrup of delight, cut short only by his abrupt slide back to the surface. “Oh!” The half-laugh-half-exclamation burst from her chest in a cloud of vapor and she quickly raised a paw to her lips as though it might return the syllable back into her throat. Her ears twisted backwards and her lower eyelids lifted as she struggled with her composure—but it was funny, and Tuathla loved to laugh.

“At least you fall with style!” She endorsed brightly as she would slide carefully closer to him and gesture with her muzzle to the feathers that adorned his pale mane. She hadn’t noticed them earlier, and curiosity sprung up amidst her pumping blood and warm delight at their excursion. But she said nothing for the moment, and when he endeared that they remove themselves from the ice she would huff in insincere frustration. “Sure, I suppose so.” She agreed with a mock-frown, before sliding her hind end to align with his and then hitched a shoulder. “You can lean on me, if you want.” She offered amiably; she was confident enough on her paws on this ice that she might be able to allow him support to make it to the snow on all fours. But if he wished to coast the way he was, she wouldn’t sweat it either.

@Castus

table by sentinel / lion + meadow + flower

  

  

+ 5 Scout a neutral territory [1/1]
+5 Use the terrain to your advantage [1/2]
+10 Explore a territory and find something useful [0/1]

While her laugh did not help soothe his embarrassment, he couldn't get upset about it either. It must have looked highly amusing to her when he fell. A sheepish grin curled on his lips at her remark, she slide closer and gestured to his feathers. Castus didn't realize how odd it might look to someone else to see the feathers tangled in his mane.

Watching her slide so easily on the ice made him jealous, mind she didn't have a hunk of mane weighing her down... yeah that was why.. not that he was clumsy. Not at all! Her hip bumped his and he moved to lean a bit on her, minding his size. Shifting carefully across the ice his nails clicking from the strong grip he had on it, "You are so graceful on here... like you were born for it," he complimented in soft quiet tones.

When they got a foot away from the snow bank Castus leapt for the bank, only to fall on the spot. A loud crack was heard beneath him and he grunted, for a moment he was terrified he had broke a bone... But then he felt cold water bubbling very slowly under him. "uh.." he muttered worriedly looking at her with nervous eyes.

"SPEECH."

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Tuathla was a voluptuous woman but she was still smaller than he and had braced herself for a heavier burden than what he allowed against her. She sidled a glance to him, indigo eyes sweeping from face to paw before turning back to the snowbanks, mindful to take each step slowly and carefully. “Thank you,” She replied, another cloud of vapor encircling her muzzle as they slid closer and closer to more secure footing. “It is probably only the grace of my ancestors. This long fur doesn’t mind well in the summer but keeps me warm enough up here!” She smiled again, wide and easy across her mouth as her gaze darted to the lion, this time her relaxed inhalations offering her a familiar perfume. Was he a Vermeda lion?

Before she had a chance to ply him for information, they had arrived within a length of the snow and he had made a leap for the safety of its shore. Tuathla smiled brightly in expectation of his success, but when he slid downward and the ice crackled at their paws, she felt a sudden and profound anxiety. Ice was fun – freezing water, was not. “Quick, get off the ice!” She called to him, and without thinking, would seek to grab the side of his front leg and tug him with her as she would dart forward, just as the ice split into unsteady, wobbly plates. Ice cold, freezing water, would gush over her back paws and shins, but the lioness surged forward until she at least had her two front paws on solid ground.

@Castus

table by sentinel / lion + meadow + flower

  

  

+ 5 Scout a neutral territory [1/1]
+5 Use the terrain to your advantage [1/2]
+10 Explore a territory and find something useful [0/1]

Very politely he let his green gaze dart across her coat, it was indeed longer than his. But he was sure if he had that AND his mane he would roast... Smiling he let his gaze leave her form, not wanting to see rude or overbearing. When the cracked and she yelled for him to move, he just wasn't fast enough. Her jaws would clip the air instead as he fell through. Coming up with a gasp of air he swam quickly to shore pulling himself out, his entire body was shuddering from the cold. This was nothing like the waterfall or watering hole. This coldness seeped into his very bones it felt like, his old fracture aching from the change in temperature. ""s-so.. c-c-cold..." he shuddered out trying to curl into a ball and make himself warm.


"SPEECH."

coded by flea + background credit

@Tuathla

She gasped as the ice water rushed around her hind legs – the sensation utterly and completely shocking, and it took a moment for the woman to gather what had happened to her ice rink companion. Her attempt to bring him with her had managed only empty air, and when she turned around on the snow it was only in time to see him pulling himself to shore, his ivory mane and silver pelt dark saturation. She strode towards him without even considering that they were strangers—he had been nice, after all, and his situation was a dangerous one in this climate. “Here, you’ll catch your death alone.” The warning was intended to convince him to allow her to settle down at his side, and she would press her smaller figure against his, casting an arm over his shoulders should he oblige all of this motion and fussing of a complete stranger. “I did not know it was so unstable. I’m so sorry.” She whispered to him; her voice thick with guilt. She felt so foolish, so ridiculous, to have endangered their lives like that.

@Castus

table by sentinel / lion + meadow + flower