It's only natural to expect that the Rike man's paws should carry him to the northernmost reaches of this land eventually. The jagged beauty of that snow-tipped mountain ridge is alluring indeed, even when ringed with dark clouds as they are now. Though when it comes to things like beauty, Rainer could take it or leave it. A mountain is a mountain. Rocks don't grow more interesting simply because one has traveled to a different place. No, he's wandered here because something within him prefers the bite that lingers in the air, the chill that edges on the threat of pain within his lungs. The firm, unyielding stone beneath his paws offers a stability that desert sand can never hope to match, defiant even when he scores it with his claws.

It is these cold and deadly environments that he finds most interesting.

And yet everyone has a limit, and it appears that Rainer is no different. When it rains, it pours, and that heavy layer of clouds that had gathered overhead weren't just for show after all. His heavy fur is unbothered by the cold most days, but not when it's sopping wet. He growled furiously at the offending clouds, his teeth bared and gleaming, but the heavens remained unshaken. Shocking.

At first, when he'd sullenly tucked himself away in this sheltered alcove, he'd thought that these pools of water had been created by the storm. But most rain puddles didn't steam or sizzle when cold water touched them, did they? He tentatively sticks a paw into a spring sheltered by a rocky overhang - and then promptly eases his entire body into the water with a groan, the warmth he so coveted slowly seeping into the very marrow of his bones. What a fun little secret he's discovered.

Though if it was a known landmark, quite a few creatures might seek shelter from the rain here. A devilish smirk curls his lips at the thought and he presses himself against the lip of the pool, submerging himself until only the necessary sliver of his face remained above the surface. A gray shark lying in wait for the perfect ambush. How fun.

@Valaine

Art + Code by Dee

if you're going to be two-faced,
at least make one of them pretty

Truthfully, she didn't come to the Freeze too often. Valaine preferred sunshine, feeling its warmth boring into her flesh, feeling at ease and comfortable. A wanderlust had pushed her from the cozy edges of the cove and onto colder lands with intent to see something that she perhaps didn't look at too often these days - snow. The Freeze. But much to her disdain, shortly after she arrived there, it began to rain.

Her coat was heavy, and even more so when it was weighed down by rain. She shook it out, but shortly after, it would be holding just as much water as before. Valaine muttered under her breath, grumbling about the weather in a very colorful way as she made her way towards the hot springs (unknowingly). She sought shelter in the collected trees nearest to them, hoping to find some kind of cave or rock overhang to wait out the storm so she didn't also freeze to death.

As she neared the hot springs, the realization might've begun to pick at her brain like someone swinging a pickaxe. The steam rising from the pools caught her eyes first, and as she neared, she noticed the lands surrounding them were void of snow and ice. The rain soaked the ground, and below her feet was... dirt. Flicking her tail pensively, she stalked closer, feeling fifty percent better with the warm steam rising from them.

She slowed her pace as she approached one of the pools - entirely not seeing the lion waiting within - and peered into the dark and bubbling water. Was it safe? Or was she going to boil alive? She had no experience with this, but damn did it feel inviting! Her hesitation slowly began to melt away as she searched the surface, but she didn't dare enter the springs yet.

---

Valaine's poking around the edge, so feel free to have @Rainer do his thing xD

art / code

For a time, the world is quiet, save for the perpetual drum of raindrops against stone, still relentlessly beating down against everything outside of Rainer's unorthodox shelter. The piebald beast isn't particularly perturbed by it now, comfortably settled as he is in the blissfully warm embrace of these secret waters. The heat presses against his muscles like a skillful massage, cold and tension both draining from him as he let himself float in the shallow pool, steam curling around his nostrils like he was some sort of hairy dragon.

It'd be tempting to just close his eyes and drift off to sleep, if the beast wasn't so keen on seeing who or what else might stumble upon this little haven. And even still, his eyelids begin to droop without him noticing, his mind growing fuzzy around the edges.

Until the soft sound of pawsteps cuts through the haze before it can fully settle over him, and his pale blue eyes snap open, his senses jolting back into alertness. A lazy grin stretched the Rike's lips, and Rainer pressed himself closer to the smooth edge of the pool, still mostly submerged, suppressing the urge to flick his ears as the pawsteps gradually grew louder and louder - and then stopped at his pool, incredibly close by. How lucky, that his newest toy should come straight to him.

The seconds tick, tick, tick on by in silence. If ever there was a time to 'play...' He shifts as quietly as he can, catching a brief glimpse of another pair of icy eyes up above before he sunk his own features fully beneath the bubbling surface.

Just to surge out of the pool with a loud cry directly in front of the monochromatic lioness, moving to sling both forelimbs around @Valaine's neck with a wicked grin, before dropping back to try to drag her with him.

Would he let her go or hold her under? That was for him to know and the unfortunate lioness to find out.

Art + Code by Dee

if you're going to be two-faced,
at least make one of them pretty

Valaine lingered unknowingly along the edge of the spring, finally deciding to try out the bubbling water and see how it felt. However, a waiting adversary beneath the pool's embrace planned an attack - one she hadn't seen coming.

How could she be so stupid and blind? Her naivety (no matter how rare) had done well to prove that the Rike males were the superior of the family yet again. Valaine might've grumbled to herself, but there was no time for that - because where she lacked in seeing the male, he took full advantage of the situation.

Bursting from the water's bubbling surface, he wrapped his strong arms around her neck and with ease, flipped her into the spring nearly head first. She hated the muffled sounds beneath the water, and as water filled her nose and stung her eyes, she kicked out every which way, trying to right herself, trying to kick away the one who would so boldly grab her like this, trying with all her might to at least get her head above water.

She hadn't even noticed the water's delightfully warm embrace.

@Rainer

art / code

This content might touch on topics that are sensitive or triggering for some readers. Trigger Warning for mentions of forced drowning

Rainer erupts from the steaming water with a great splash, his face shing with an odd glee when his arms successfully caught the woman's neck in his hold. He wastes no time in dragging her down into the spring, quickly shifting to grasp at the back of her neck with his jaws, so that he might push her head under and keep it there.

To most, this whole thing would've been little more than a harmless prank. A simple scare to be followed immediately by raucous laughter after and playful splashing.

There's something off about the grin Rainer wears, the corners of his mouth stretching upwards even as he struggles to keep a hold on the flailing @Valaine. The sparkle in his pale eyes is still playful, but the cold, sharp edge beneath the mask is closer to the surface now, turning his gaze dark.

He's playing a game, yes. It's simply none of his concern if it causes harm.

She makes it an engaging competition, kicking and scratching in ceaseless assault, jostling his grip with each blow she connected. She pushes him and he pushes back harder.

And then, he lets go.

With the laughter that had been so conspicuously absent earlier, he unclamps his jaws and pushes away, gliding a few feet away from her in the water. Tsk, tsk, what a ruckus. Is the water not to your liking? He purrs smugly through a toothy grin, the veneer of playfulness returned so quickly that one might've thought he'd never laid a paw on her, if not for his heavy breaths and dripping bangs.

(But of course he never would have drowned her. He's no Sigrun. No matter how fascinating the utter cruelty of their odd 'games' might be.)

Art + Code by Dee

Desperation and fear burned brighter, grew hotter as she flailed and kicked to seemingly no avail...

... at first.

At some point (and one that took too long to get to), he released her, and she clawed her way to the surface and then eventually pulled herself up onto the shore spluttering, gagging, and choking. As she sat bent over in a seated position, she looked like a wet rat - all her fluff hanging miserably as she struggled. His raucous laughter echoed in her ears and fueled her ire.

When she could finally breathe, she looked up at him with a glare of daggers. If looks could have killed, this one would've made him shatter into a million tiny pieces. "Bist du verdammt noch mal verrückt?!" she snarled at him. Her voice was rasped and she followed that up with another cough or two. "Ich bin fast ertrunken!" She was too flustered to compare him to a Sigrun or even think of that at the current moment.

She so wanted to lunge at him, but she wouldn't dare in fear that it would just enable him to dunk her and hold her under for a second round.

@Rainer

I came & conquered what you thought was safe

Had it been so long? Time had undoubtedly moved much faster for Rainer than it had for his water-logged plaything, but the woman is quick enough to flail her way to the surface in the absence of his resistance (Shocking, right?), even spraying a few etra drops of warm water over his way in the process. Why, she's breathing so well now that he thinks he could her gasps from five miles away!

So clearly, all is well.

His laughter takes its time to die down, and @Valaine's sputtered exclamations are met with a wolfish grin, though an eyebrow does raise at the sound of his own native tongue falling from her lips. In his defense, it is a little more difficult to see family resemblance in a drowned rat, but he's beginning to have his suspicions. Vielleicht. Verrückte Leute scheinen viel mehr Spaß zu haben, findest du nicht? He answers with a practiced air of nonchalance, too entertained still to bother taking offense to the accusation this time.

Jetzt, jetzt, keine Notwendigkeit für solche Dramatik. Denken Sie nur daran, wie lange Sie beim nächsten Mal noch den Atem anhalten können! Whatever 'next time' entailed. Aber Sie sollten wirklich vorsichtiger mit dem Wasser sein, ja? Alle möglichen Monster könnten lauern... He clicks his tongue in a show of false concern, drifting closer with a distinctly masculine brand of foolish bravery to pat her back 'reassuringly' with a heavy paw.

Though maybe the smirk gives his true feelings away.

Art + Code by Dee

A rasped growl escaped her as she registered his nonchalant answers. Clearly, he wasn't worried about what he had almost done, and Valaine seethed at this notion. Had her anger burned hot enough, it might've turned the water in her coat to steam. When she was breathing more easily, she shook the water from her coat, aiming as many of the droplets at him as she could. The result was a bit too fluffy for her taste, and she sat, licking a paw to smooth the most important furs down - the ones by her head and neck.

"Ich werde es mir beim nächsten Mal merken, damit ich nicht wie eine Sigrun ertrinke," she spat at him, resting her angry blue eyes upon him. She kept a wary ear in his direction as she continued to clean herself vigorously. The water left on her coat had a weird and funky taste to it. Sulfur.

"Du hast kein Leben," she grumbled, pausing only to shoot a pointed glare in @Rainer 's direction. "In einem stinkenden Pool sitzen und darauf warten, dass jemand kommt. Was für eine Zeitverschwendung."

I came & conquered what you thought was safe

From where Rainer happens to be standing, he rather imagines that he could see the steam curling from @Valaine's ears rather clearly. It hardly cows the beast - if anything, it only makes his grin stretch wider, even when he must shift his face away, his eyes squinting a little too sharply against the water droplets she sends his way.

Such volatile creatures, women.

Nun, nun, sieh dich an, wie du die Aufgabe verstehst. Ein großes Lob an Sie, He purrs, flippant cheer crossing the line into fully patronizing, though he now looks at her with a knowing gleam in his icy eyes. Liebe Cousine. Her mention of the Sigrun is the last bit of confirmation he needed.

Hmm. Klingt nach etwas, das eine Person ohne Spaß sagen würde. He doesn't miss the way the way the Rike woman's face twists when she touches her tongue to her wet pelt, even as he makes a show of relaxing back against the stony edge. A detail noted for a good cause. Her minor sacrifice would save him an unpleasant surprise later.

Bitte, sag mal, was würdest du lieber tun, wenn ich im Regen mache? Würdest du es wagen, es mir zu sagen?

---

1. Well, well, look at you, understanding the assignment. Kudos to you,
2. Dear cousin.
3. Hmm. Sounds like something a person devoid of fun would say.
4. Pray tell, what would you rather I do in the rain? Would you dare to tell me?

Art + Code by Dee

“Adalvolf voul’t haf drowned you for zat,” she commented off-handedly, still absorbed in her vigorous cleaning, avoidant of giving him an ounce of her attention. She would have liked to think her dearest and closest brother would have defended her against this annoying brute. No wonder he never got anywhere - he played around too fucking much.

Something he said caught her, though, and she fully turned her attention to him. It was her turn to scoff at him. “Oh was? Hält Sie ein wenig Regen davon ab, Ihren regulären Pflichten nachzugehen?” (“Oh, what? Does a little rain keep you from doing your regular duties?”) she sneered, following him with her eyes. “Mir war nicht klar, dass du so eine Primadonna bist.” (“I didn’t realize you were such a primadonna.”)

Truthfully, she hated leaving the confines of her den in the rain, but she was a female, and one that cared a little too much about her appearance and her looks. She knew this, and she didn’t care. Him, on the other paw, what business did he have caring for his looks so much? No matter what he did, he’d still be ugly.

“Kill some’zink. Remin’t our enemies vhy zhey are enemies. I do not care,” she sassed, throwing it over her shoulder as she turned to leave, deciding not to stop even if @Rainer had more to say. /exit

I came & conquered what you thought was safe