[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Bella crouched low to see the shallow impression in the snow, as the wind blew cold flakes over the back of her neck. Her thick fur let her stay warm enough, and her mask protected her face to a degree, but she still felt the chill as an unpleasant sensation where her fur was thinnest.

She brushed the shallow mark gently with the tips of her claws, and stood carefully, squinting as she followed the shallow impressions through the snow into the growing darkness.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Melline's ears twitched as a distant howl reached them, though the only outward sign she gave was a narrowing of her eyes. Her tails twitched, once, and her nostrils widened as she sniffed the air, but all that reached her was the scent of ice.

She too was protected from the cold by thick fur, but hers was glossy and lustrous, patterned to give her concealment in lush forest or dense jungle - and completely impractical for the white expanse which lay before her, like a pristine dusting of sugar on a cake.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Beside Melline, Merpsichore shivered slightly and let out a low rumble of discontentment at the feeling of the thick leather around her claws. Unlike the other two, her hide was made up of bony armoured plates, and a frozen region like this would be a deathtrap without the assistance of something else's hide to make up for her own. She was swaddled in a thick bruma hide, with thick leather boots on all four of her feet.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Melline said nothing, but she rested one paw on Merpsichore's head and was rewarded with a low rumble of approval. They were reasonably prepared for a mountain expedition, but she could understand the discomfort their tracker was feeling, with no fur of her own to protect her, and she wrinkled her nose as the smell of the grease used to tan and waterproof the hide filled her nostrils. Bruma were useful, but some of their natural smell always remained and she hoped it wouldn't attract another one - not that it would be too much of a problem if it did.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Bella stepped a little closer to her companions, and brushed the snow from her claws.

"It definitely came through here, whatever it was; the tracks are deep, so it's either very big and heavy or very strong, and I don't like the look of it either way." She stopped to peer at the broken branches wafting in the wind some way off, and she narrowed her eyes as she spotted more tracks at the base of the tree.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

"We've taken down bigger things" rumbled Melline, though her voice betrayed her doubt. Bigger, certainly, but then they had known what they were up against, and only a fool went into battle unprepared.

She twitched her fingers slightly, and Merpsichore raised her head, grumbling, before plodding over to the tracks to sniff deeply. She recoiled slightly, and tasted the air, as a faint scent caught her attention on the breeze, but stepping forward proved challenging as she sank into the snow with each step.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Bella squinted again, and shook her head.

"Bigger, certainly, but this is something unusual. Those footprints are too deep for my liking, and with the way this snowfall is picking up, we'll be lucky if we make it back to camp before dark.

Melline shivered as if an icy finger had been swept down her back. For Bella to call off a hint was unheard of, and the likelihood of finding the tracks again the next morning would be very low.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Merpsichore yowled as a bit of snow finally found its way inside her boot, and Bella shook her head again before looking toward where their camp was set up.

"That's it, we're done - We'll try to pick the trail back up in the morning. Let's go and defrost ourselves."

Merpsichore happily cantered over to Bella, who rewarded her by scratching the top of her head, before looking determinedly on into the snow. It was beginning to fall heavier, and the light was fading fast.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Melline sniffed the air, but the smell of snow was overpowering anything else, and so she sighed and nodded in agreement. She only hoped they would find their quarry before it found them.

Slowly, they began to trudge back to their camp, the snow now ankle-deep and falling more heavily, limiting their vision. Merpsichore guided their steps, and a short while later they were stumbling into the cave where they had set up camp, grateful they had prepared the fire before leaving.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

As she warned her hands, Melline pondered about the prints and what could have made them. Hoof-shaped and deep, with clawed paws every other step. She wondered if it had instead been two creatures, but she couldn't think of any that would be that close together and not fighting.

Bella had other concerns on her mind; the blizzard had sprung up unexpectedly and out of season, and she feared they would become trapped in the cave if it snowed too heavily.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Merpsichore raised her head, and sniffed the air; there was a scent on the slight breeze coming in through the cave mouth, but she couldn't identify it, though whatever it was set her on edge. Tongue flicking back and forth, she let out a warning growl, and Melline and Bella stopped eating and looked at her silently.

She stood up, and quietly prodded closer to the cave entrance, but whatever it was deemed to have heard her and she could no longer smell anything but snow.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

"I think keeping watch would be a good idea tonight" murmured Melline, on edge even after Merpsichore had returned. Under normal circumstances, she wouldn't have felt afraid, but having the blizzard outside was making her feel trapped, as to go out into it would likely be a death sentence.

Bella nodded her agreement; in truth, she too was a little unsettled but would never reveal it. "I'll take first watch" she murmured instead, low as if afraid to be overheard by whatever had been at the entrance.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Later that night, Bella sat with one of her Bestiaries, trying to identify what kind of creature could have made those tracks, though she kept an eye and an ear on the cave entrance just in case. Merpsichore snoozed by her feet, but her bony frills were raised indicating her sleep was a very light one, and this went some way to reassuring Bella whilst Melline tossed and turned beside them, unwilling to sleep away from the group as she would normally do.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

As she turned the pages, her eyes grew weary, yet Bella held herself from and refused to give in to drowsiness. She dipped instead from the tea made with melted snow, and darted her eyes around the room to assess every darting shadow. It was difficult to measure time without a natural light source, but when the fire began to die down she judged half the night had passed, though she built it up before she woke Melline for her watch.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Having figured out a long time ago how to wake someone with blades on their arms (who was often more deadly when waking that she was when fully awake and aware), Bella grasped the stick firmly and poked Melline on the shoulder. Melline swung into movement, eyes wide and mouth already forming a snarl, but calmed when she saw Bella with the stick, and nodded her acceptance of the watch, before straightening up and stretching out her limbs.