Candle in the storm

Bindu Epals · 02-06-2011, 02:20 PM

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Time is around 2-3 AM, Feb. 6th. WC: 479 (:

In the early hours of the morning, when the dark gray sky had not yet lightened to unbroken white, Bindu half-trudged, half-stumbled through the thickening sea of snow that stretched out before her. Black eyes squinted hopefully into the darkness, but saw little variety in the landscape. Where am I? she thought, breathless, as she had wondered for hours now. When the snow started to come down in the evening prior, the hybrid's sixth sense came knocking in her skull, pounding out a clear message- find safety. Find safety or die in the cold.

During her warmer-weather wandering, the girl had come across the edges of an abandoned city. The houses and the shelter they provided seemed like the best option when hiding from a storm, but as the minutes turned into hours she lost faith in her plan of lodging there. Maybe the houses were already occupied, or maybe they were still days away. Doubts haunted every step, but they were beginning to lose their urgency as Bindu's mind slowly went numb with the rest of her dangerously thin body.

There was another reason for going east as well, though it was more unconscious. To the east lay the Valley.

She struggled on. The snow rose to her neck in lupus form, so, while she had the energy, she shifted to secui. It was a smart move- her fur was thicker and warmer, her legs stronger and paws wider. But even in halfling form, Bindu's energy was quickly sapping away. She was not meant for frigid temperatures.

Every few minutes, the wolfdog's dark gaze would flick upwards and then fall back to watching the path immediately ahead; after hours and hours of this, she was shocked to the point of immobility when dark shapes rose from the white sea only a few meters ahead. Houses. The fat flakes pouring down had concealed the neighborhood until now. A weak cry of triumph came from the teen's frozen maw, and she hurriedly closed the distance between her and salvation.

She chose to try the closest house to her, a shabby two-story that looked to be made mostly of wood. Its colors and other features were blurred by the storm, but Bindu didn't care. Her body responded in a strange, slow way as she climbed up a set of stairs that let to the house's door. She stumbled on the snow that blocked her way. The door gave way easily to the teen's halfling form. Shaking with a mixture of relief and the cold, she entered her shelter and instantly fell to the floor.

Everything was numb; Bindu could not feel her paws or legs or face. Her mouth parted and she croaked. At another time, she might have been terrified. But, when enveloped in cold, all that she wanted to do was sleep. Dark lashes blinked; the wolfdog lay quietly.

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