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Fynora absolutely loved snow.
Some would say she had almost been built for it. The way her hooves delicately touched the powder, soft crunching sounds echoing around her. The wind kicked up her silver mane and tail, billowing it around her almost as if it were snow itself. Her wings fluttered and a smile spread across her face, pleased. A soft laugh escaped her as she watched a couple snow rabbits bound quickly by her, leaving holes in the snow that had coalesced beneath trees and bushes. A more sorrowful but still amused giggle escaped her at the few peeking faces of animals testing the air before deciding to disappear back into their warm burrows. "Stay warm my dears. No need to push yourself." she cooed, her voice almost sing song in tone.
As she walked further, the wind kicked up, bringing a delightful chill. Her wings fluttered and her antenna twitched. Her blue gaze cast towards the sky as it ruffled her chest fur. "This winter will be one to remember." she smiled, seeing how the clouds covered over head, heavy with more snow ready to burst at a moments notice. Most all soquili and natives were tucked safely in their teepees, staying warm and snuggling close to loved ones. Not Fynora. She was here to make the most of her winter wonderland.
At least, until she caught sight of fresh tracks in the snow, pawed by the looks of it. Too large to have been an animal, yet not overly massive. Another soquili perhaps? Or a rather large bear? What struck her the most curious, however, was the fact that the snow around these paw prints almost seemed.....melted? How was that even possible? How could someone simply melt the snow just by walking? Curiosity peaked inside her and she changed her course, following the prints.
The more she pushed on, the more the tracks seemed to grow.....erratic. Angry? Or confused perhaps? As if the other wasn't sure where to go almost. Eventually the stopped just short of a cave that Fynora hadn't ever noticed before. The tree's in front were thick with snow, their tops hanging down heavily weighted by clumps of white powder. On a normal day, they would be blooming with flowers which is perhaps how this small cave had remained hidden for quite some time. Inside, Fynora could just make out some sort of red glow, flickering against the walls, akin to some sort of fire.
Ah that would explain how the snow was melted.
Pressing closer, Fynora stood just outside the entrance, not wanting to spook or anger whoever was inside. "Greetings, Is everything alright in there? the snow is thick, I found your tracks and wished to check on your safety!" she called.
From inside the cave a startled grunt could be heard. Feminine in sound but tough with anger. The flame covered head of Ekata Blair rose from its curled position, glaring at the cave entrance. She couldn't yet see who was speaking to her as everything was awash in blinding white. "Piss off." she hissed, the fire around her neck flaring brighter temporarily with her anger.
This caused Fynora to take a few steps back, caught off guard. "I'm sorry, I just worried you might have been hurt." she responded, lowering her wings as best she could, folding them against her back. "I'm coming closer." she said, pressing forward into the mouth of the cave, stopping. Finally she could see the mare within, soft milky orange in color, painted with dark blue, almost black, fierce red streaked across her eyes and flames for a mane that seemed to fade into an almost vapor like kind of smoke for a tail that never seemed to fade. At first glance, Fynora would assume this mare quite fine in the snow what with her own self produced fire but the closer she looked, the more she could see this mare was shivering. "Oh my, dear are you alright?!" she asked in panic, taking a few more steps into the cave.
Ekata's head rose again with an almost warning hiss. "I said piss off! I'm fine!" she growled in defiance.
"Forgive me for being stubborn but you do not seam fine." Fynora protested, not one to anger quickly, however one hoof did rise up and stomp down slightly.
Ekata's eyes rolled. She shifted, getting to her paws, standing up to her full height, easily standing over the flutter mare that stood before her. "I said. I'm fine." she repeated, glaring down at the other, stepping closer and flaring her mane.
Fynora took a few steps back, but stopped, eyeing the other curiously. "You aren't used to this amount of snow are you." she questioned, a soft smile forming on her features, hoping it would eventually win the other over.
Caught off guard, Ekata growled again. "Why can't you seem to get it through your head that I am FINE? I'm not ASKING for your HELP!" she spat, raising a paw and flexing her claws in an almost threat type gesture.
"You needn't ask, because I'm offering it anyways." Fynora said, daring the other and testing the raised paw. She took a few steps closer. "Just because you have fire around your head and neck doesn't mean you are adequately heating the rest of you." she sighed, glancing around at the small cave. It wasn't grand, small enough for perhaps three or four soquili and shallow in terms of how far it extended. But with the right tactics it could be warmed up enough. A thought crossing her mind, she smiled again, turning around back towards the mouth of the cave.
"Yeah, go on, get out of here." Ekata snorted, thinking she had finally managed to get the other to leave her be. However when the flutter mare didn't leave and instead began kicking and tugging at the bent trees in front of the cave, her mouth dropped open. "HEY. What are you doing?! Don't get that inside! You are going to make it wet!" she hissed. The one thing she hated more than snow was water as it caused a wave of chills to run through her spine. "Stop... I said stop!" she hissed again, stomping up next to the other mare.
Fynora had just about finished when the firey mare came and shoved her out of the way. She huffed, regaining her footing and flaring out her wings. "Do you MIND?" she huffed again. "Honestly, are you this much of a brat to everyone?" she shook her head, using her hips to bump the other out of the way, despite being smaller. It didn't have quite the effect she had hoped for but it seemed to confuse the other mare enough that she moved. Once she was out of the way, Fynora finished kicking at the trees to dislodge all the snow from their branches, causing them to stand back up again and branch out, covering most of the the cave entrance from the wind and freshly fallen flakes. "There. It wont stop all but now that they aren't burdened, they should block enough to keep more warmth inside for you." she said, albeit sort of smug.
Ekata glanced at her and then back at the trees. "Ok. Great. And when they are bent again? Am I supposed to do this all night?" she hissed, skeptical of this mare. She should have just kept going back towards home like she wanted, but the growing wind outside caused a pit of worry to form in her stomach and her gut told her to stay put for the time being.
Fynora watched the other mare carefully, studying her movements of her body and the expressions on her face. She dropped the smug smirk and shook her head. "No. Here, come to the back." she gestured, nudging the mare to follow her and to sit down and become comfortable. It took a bit of prodding to finally get her to sit down but once she had, Fynora curled up next to her, resting her extra fluffy chest on the other's flank where the fire had turned to steam like fog and seemed least hot. "Two is better than one for generating heat." she smiled warmly. "And if the trees get bad again, I'll uncover them. You focus on conserving heat." she nodded.
Ekata's cheeks felt slightly warmer than usual in a way she couldn't explain. She only ever was this close to another soquili when she was playing her little game at destroying happy couples lives. Never had she had someone curl up to her like this as -their- decision. In fact, she was almost tempted to kick her off and just high tail it out of there, but again, the wind seemed to read her mind and caused a howling shriek near the front from its growing pressure. "Uhg. Fine. You are so annoying." she hissed once more. "If I just lay here and go to sleep will you finally shut up?" she growled, eyeing the white mare, who in all honesty..... was really beautiful when she finally got around to just -looking- at her.
Fynora simply giggled. "Yes. Now rest. It shouldn't last long, I suspect by the time you wake up the most of it will be gone and you can travel safe again." she smiled, a almost motherly reassuring smile.
Ekata couldn't help but sigh, something about the other mare just seemed to get under her skin and the more she fought to shoo her off, the less it worked. Eventually she gave in, though sleep didn't come as quick as she liked. Finally, unable to stand listening to the howling of the wind in silence, she broke it, striking up forced conversation.
Fynora chuckled, and gently patted her with a hoof, responding with gentle tones and words. Eventually, after a couple hours of getting Ekata to warm up to her, both figuratively and physically in this case, the wind had calmed, Ekata had fallen asleep and Fynora found herself quite pleasantly warm on a blissful Winter's Wonderland.
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