Somebody save the idiot pup please...? >.>

Alright, this he had to try.

It was a normal day...sorta... Tony was in the manor, Fia and Zo were off somewhere over the rainbow, his mother was out somewhere as well (supposedly the same place), his father was busy, and Tony was bored. B-o-r-e-d. But most of all, he was tired of being cooped up in the manor and oh so very curious about one thing in particular; swimming. Oh yes, he knew it was cold outside and yes, he had already stuck his paw in the river water and found it particularily freezing. But because Tony was not only stubborn and curious, he felt the irresistible urge to do what was called 'swimming'. And he didn't want to wait till summer; that was much too far away. He wanted to swim now.

With all the perfunctory casualty as an every-day walk, Tony let his overly large puppy-paws take him straight to the edge of Rabbit Lake, albeit the edge was not technically the edge of the water, since it was frozen solid all the way through. Now, although Tony was a heavy pup by nature--muscle ran in the gene pool--the ice nearest the edge was thick enough to support his meager weight. And of course, since nothing bad had yet happened to the pup, he was unaware of the true danger that lurked behind anything he thought fun. He testingly padded the ice with a tiny paw, feeling the chill begin to take in the tender flesh; yet still, he began to walk across the slippery surface, stopping every so often after a paw sliding too far this way or that. The dark brown pup was in stark contrast with the icy blue lake edge, and was easy to spot should anyone really try. But another thing Tony had not taken into account was just how large the lake was, coupled with how much of it was frozen. The little pup could take days just searching one small section for an open patch of water to swim. With a defeated sigh, Tony began to take his frozen paws back across the ice, jumping every so often in an attempt to lighten his gloomy mood, when a resounding crack was heard. His little ears perked straight up as thick cracks began to form around him and spiderweb further and further out, and at once, without knowledge of what was truly happening, Tony knew to be terrified. The emotion--mainly, the intensity of it--was unfamiliar to the pup that was normally filled with bravery and bravado, and that only served to scare him more.

The ice began to float apart like small islands, and Tony all of a sudden found himself stranded, yet...in a surprisingly good situation...? He stuck his entire paw fully into the water, but yanked it back when it easily cut through his meager pup coat to his nerves, chilling the bone on contact. I don' wanna swim anymore... He just wanted his mother... He was scared and alone and didn't know what to do and Tony just wanted to be home with his mother and father right then...! "Momma!" he cried out, his head veering side to side, looking for his mother.

Guardian walks. "Guardian talks." Guardian thinks.

We gotta stop running into each other like this XD Also; I give your charries some pp responsibility over mine because I trust you and our threads could go on forevs if we tried >.>

There were little islands of ice floating around Tony now. Some were large enough that he could land on them, but fear kept him rooted to the spot, as well as the knowledge that they were slippery and one wrong step or jump could land him in the freezing water. His little eyes snapped up when he heard his name, although it was not his mother calling them. The ochre gold orbs honed in on the source, and he saw that it was his older cousin, Silvano. His memories of his cousin were hazy--brief visits, passing notice, nothing too intense to be memorable to a puppy--but he knew that someone had spotted him in danger and that it meant safety was not far behind...maybe. He did as he was told and kept standing on his ice floe, his claws digging into the ice to prevent any unexpected slides. Silvano's gonna help me... Silvano's gonna help me... were the words going through his head to keep him calm, even when his back paw slipped back and skimmed the edge of that cold water, making him yelp.

He saw Silvano dart off somewhere, and for a moment, as he lost sight of his cousin, he was terrified that Silvano had left him. But he should've given the older wolf more credit, the moment he reappeared around a bend, seemingly having scouted a better route to come to Tony's rescue. But he was still too far away...! Taking a few deep breaths, his courage reignited at the appearance of another wolf, Tony let his blind bravery take hold as he attempted to jump to the next largest ice slab closest to shore and Silvano. But he had slightly miscalculated his weight and how far the still start jump would take him, so only his upper half made it fully onto the cold island. His hind legs dipped into the water and made Tony gasp with the shock as his claws scrapped over the sheer surface, desperatly grabbing at nothing to pull him onto the now leaning floe. "Silvano! Momma! Papa!" If Fia and Zo could see him then, and if they were under less dangerous circumstances, they would've laughed at their normally haughty brother crying so openly for help. But if they were there, then, at that moment, they might be crying just as loudly. His hind paws scrabbled numbly, and somehow he managed to pull his legs out of the water. But his courage was gone again, and he just laid on the floe, shivering and shaking as his soaked lower half instilled the fear of a repeat attempt. At the very least, he was closer to shore...

Guardian walks. "Guardian talks." Guardian thinks.

... ... I'm late, even though my pup's and his savior's lives is in danger... I'm a terrible person :X

Tony dully registered the sensation of something distinctly not ice or freezing water as he was further lifted up onto his impromptu island. Shivering, his light coat of puppy fur matted to a shivering body, he was confused to see that he was moving at a decidedly fast pace. With squinting ochre eyes and his claws still stuck in the ice for dear life, Tony turned his head around and saw Silvano pushing him through the water. "Silvano?" Tony had felt that freezing cold water; how must Silvano be feeling? At they neared the edge, Tony felt guilt as Silvano emerged from the water, drenched and shivering, just as Tony was, although the pup was shamefully less worse for wear.

Shaking, Tony made a final pounce for the shore where the snow only served to chill him more, now that there wasn't even a slight barrier between his skin and the ice. But he went over to Silvano, looking up at his older cousin with worry. "Silvano...?" The name was pretty much all the dark brown pup could muster for the time, oncoherency a package deal with terror. Tony was shaking profusely, but so was Silvano. And even though they were at safety...Tony was still scared. He was cold, Silvano was cold, and he was worried if they were both still in any danger, because his yet fully-developed mind couldn't quite process the full magnitude of the situation.

Guardian walks. "Guardian talks." Guardian thinks.

Oh god; don't die Silvano! D:

Tony could see how weak Silvano was, even as his own body was wracked with cold. Even though they were finally on land, the wind and snow and distance from the manor were now their enemies. Despite his entreaties concerning Silvano's well-being, his older cousin instead got himself up and dropped his signature scarf over Tony's wet body, nosing it around his neck and back to keep it firmly in place. "But you're coming, too, right?" He asked with his own small teeth biting his lip once or twice with the rate they were chattering. He didn't want to leave his cousin, even if he was cold himself.

Even though Silvano nudged Tony--quite hard, actually; it sent Tony forward a foot or so--he ran back to Silvano's legs, hovering under his body. He could feel the minute heat waves coming from Silvano as his body tried to warm up, although it was obviously not enough for the older male yet. He was more drenched than Tony... But he stayed with Silvano. "I'll go with you," he said bravely, even if his eyes were still terrified.

Who said Tony could take instructions well...?

Guardian walks. "Guardian talks." Guardian thinks.

Tony heard Silvano growl low in his throat, but he refused to back down. When the older boy's voice ground out that he, too, was coming along and not just staying, Tony's spirits lifted. He pounced to keep up with Silvano in the deep snow, his hind legs screaming in protest, but it was the only way he knew how to keep up and not get left behind. He was so very, very cold. And Silvano... Tony felt terrible, because Silvano was so much more soaked than he.

"Fire," Tony echoed Silvano, as if reaffirming the word, as if it made it all that more real and right in front of him. The fire was warm, which Tony's young mind could only associate with good, safe, and happy. Silvano continued on in his talking, naming things that made Tony's eyes stay open instead of falling into sleep. The cold had begun pinching at his nerves, tempting him to fall asleep. He was always warm when he slept... He stumbled once, his eyes having drifted but for a moment, but picked himself back up. It took them awhile and many, many trials to reawaken Tony from a dreamland, but they eventually caught sight of the manor and soon arrived on its doorsteps. Tony looked up to the daunting building and then to Silvano, whose legs were shaking profusely and whose fur was matted with ice. "We're here, Silvano!" Tony called up as if Silvano could not hear him, as if he were speaking to someone far, far away. But to Tony, the sound was soft in his own ears, his hind legs trembling and faltering, consciousness light in the boy's eyes. He sneezed once, his backside falling with a thunk from the force of the surprise expulsion.

Guardian walks. "Guardian talks." Guardian thinks.