Shelter from the storm. [Py]

[Casey DeLaney]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 497px; height: 623px; background-image:url(http://i46.tinypic.com/2zimxpv.jpg)] There had to be something of value around here somewhere. Casey’s paws crunched through the thick snow that blanketed the grounds of No Man’s Land, his nose sniffing out any traces of something unusual. If it didn’t smell like snow, he was going to investigate it. It was one of the more fun duties of being a scout, searching the border and free lands for keeper drops or suspicious activity. He really hoped it would be the former that he would run into though. Casey wasn’t looking for a fight, that was for sure. It was dangerous being a scout sometimes… they were always the first to run into trouble, and always the ones out looking for it. Life seemed so fragile when you could be patrolling one moment, and be dead before you even recognized the Carna blade at your throat. But he would be having no Carna trouble today, no sir. Casey’s ears perked as he caught the faint scent of the labs. It was always a good sign for a drop, on the occasion that the keepers had planted an ‘easy’ one for them, not bothering to disguise the scent of the goodies they were leaving. That or he’d find a newbie to bring back with him to the Fulsi… Casey rolled his eyes as best he could in wolf form, thinking about just how awesome it had worked out the last time he’d taken in a newbie. Jonny was becoming more tolerable, and Casey supposed he was even starting to like the Tenderfoot, but the last thing he needed was another stubborn newcomer to look after. The wolf followed after the scent, wandering further and further from the Fulsi border. It would be worth the trip if he could bring back something useful. He passed by Studio Ess and recognized the scent becoming steadily stronger, and he knew he was going the right way. As he walked, the air seemed to get continually colder, and snow began to fall. Casey didn’t mind really, just taking a moment to stop and shake the thick, wet snow from his fur when it piled up too much. The snow on the ground grew thicker and thicker, and before he knew it, it was almost too high to walk through in his shift form. Casey lifted his wings to try and fly, but didn’t get very far. They were soggy from all of the snowfall and couldn’t carry him. The wind howled and gained speed, and Casey had to fight it to keep walking. The snow didn’t let up, and in fact was growing heavier and heavier, until Casey could barely see a few yards ahead of him. Worried that he might get stuck out in the blizzard, the scout abandoned his search for a keeper drop and bounded through the snow drifts, desperate for a place to take shelter. A dark shape appeared up ahead, and as he drew closer, Casey recognized it as the old hospital. “Thank goodness,” he panted, shifting back into his human form and dashing through the front doors. It wasn’t the safest place to be alone, but he knew it would have been more dangerous to stay out in the middle of a blizzard. Casey wandered through the halls until he found and unlocked door, and opened it to explore the room that would be home until the weather let up. “Not too bad,”

[/b]he spoke to himself, his voice echoing off of the ancient walls. Casey cringed at the sound of it, making a note to keep his voice down. He knew for certain that he wasn’t the only thing taking shelter in the hospital, and definitely not the deadliest. So he sat down on a small cot and shook the snow out of his hair and off of his clothes, and settled in for a long wait.


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[Py Ackerman]

[bg=190902] [atrb=border,0,true] [atrb=style, width:400px;height:350px] Py was having what you could call a ‘circumstantial crisis’ kind of day. It was one of those rare days, where the sky was clear, the ground was solid and not-a-swamp-bowl, and the smell of fine dining (that is, delicious prey) was in the air. And yet something had to come along and ruin this otherwise potentially wondrous day by doing something incredibly stupid. Or rather, it was someone, not something, and that someone happened to be a brat of a tenderfoot who’d decided that it was apparently okay to wander off on one’s own in search of adventure. Or food, or danger, or what have you. It didn’t really matter at this point what the kid’s motive was – all that Py figured was that he was seriously lacking in the judgement department and that Darwin would’ve definitely kicked him off the evolutionary map. Alright, that sounded a little harsh. Except for the fact that the brat – named Kyle – was, indeed, a brat, and had little respect for his superiors. Including Py. He’d insulted his hair, his height, and his accent in three fell swoops upon meeting the hunter and while Py paid little heed to the actual insults, they still had earned Kyle an honorary notch on Py’s blacklist. So, needless to say, when Py learnt that his idiotic tenderfoot in training had taken a stroll off into the heart of god-knows-where, he’d been a little reluctant to chase after him. His reluctance was quickly beaten into submission when Py’s superiors threatened to withhold his dinner unless he went out and looked. And so that was how he’d ended up wandering dangerously close to Fulsi territory, searching for any trace of his – temporary, he reminded himself – apprentice. The kid was new, and apparently had learnt nothing from Py in his short time of receiving lessons, given the fact that he’d left more trail markers than a territorial dog. Why Fulsi, Py thought sourly. Of all the places he could wander off to why choose the place that’s most likely to stick a knife in him and call it a day? My dinner is so going to someone else, I just know it…. The tracking was going pretty well, until the snowflakes started to trickle down. At first he thought nothing of it – what’s a few little flakes of harmless snow? As it would seem, the weather decided that it found his observation to be absolutely hilarious, and cranked up the snowfall a few notches. More than a few, actually. By the time he’d reached Studio Ess, there was snow up to his waist, a lump of snow on the hood of his jacket, and he was about ninety-seven percent certain that his face was so frozen it would crack if he tried to smile. His hands were freezing, and no amount of shoving them into his pockets was going to do any good. He glanced back the way he’d come, then looked forward again, trying to peer through the growing snow storm. There was no way he’d be able to make it back to Carna without freezing, and certainly no way of tracking Kyle at this point. The kid was on his own, now. Grimacing, he shuffled his way through the snow, frowning down as he noticed the path that something else had pushed along as well. Hopefully no trouble, he really didn’t need that right now, and he was in no mood for a fight. He made his way as best he could, using the path, and eventually reached the hospital. It was there that he paused a moment, apprehensive. He knew about the horrors that people had seen inside there – they were tales that were told around the campfire at night, things that scared the few children they had in the ring. The medics knew all too well, and had warned them of the dangers of the place. Yet, if he stayed out there, he’d have no chance at all. With a heavy-hearted sigh, he made his way through the doors, the wind blowing in and then dying behind him as the doors shut again. It was only in here that the smell of Fulsi hit him, as well as the damp, and the switch in his brain turned to ‘defensive’ as he cautiously moved deeper into the room. A small movement caught his eye, and he spotted a lone man, sitting on bed. He glanced around, but thankfully saw no one else around, and hoped that it was just a stray Fulsi who’d been caught in the blizzard like himself. He raised a hand in greeting, then the other, showing he had no weapons, and shrugged out of his wet jacket, slinging it over his arm and cocking his head at him. “Bit far from Fulsi, yeah? You get caught in that too?” His tone was easy, friendly, his posture relaxed as he backed up and leaned against a wall, the perfect picture of non-threatening. “I’m not looking for a fight or anything, just didn’t fancy being a snowman today.” He added with a quirk of a grin. “And since we’re stuck here until it blows over, might as well use our names, don’t you think?. ‘Carna’ and ‘Fulsi’ to address someone…s’boring. I’m Py.” ooc; YAY SHENANIGANS 8D this gonna be gud

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