[Chr24] Avalanche! Watch Out!

“Don’t forget to layer up!” Genya’s voice carries up the stairwell, light with excitement. Des calls out some sort of affirmative as he grabs one of his thicker coats and slips it over himself. He stares into the mirror a bit blankly, taking in the mess that his hair has become. Usually he’d at least pretend to be worried about it, but right now he knows he’s about to be on the mountainside and it will end up being a wreck anyways. Haphazardly sweeping a hand through it, he heads downstairs to meet up with his adoptive father so they can head out.

The chill once they leave the house is something that makes Desotto strongly wish he had put on an extra coat if not three. He lets himself shiver, dragging the coat he did throw on tighter around himself. Genya chuckles good naturedly nearby, though his smile is mostly buried into the fabric of his scarf. Des would be annoyed at the laughing if it was anyone else, but he finds the pool of anger that usually sits in his chest is oddly lacking as he looks at his adoptive father.

“Colder than you thought?” Genya teases, and Des rolls his eyes.
“Shut up, old man.” Des mutters, turning away from the older man and heading out into the snow. It crunches beneath his boots at first, but the further Genya and Des walked from their home, it grew thicker and eventually their boots began sinking into the snow the further they walked

The family had originally intended to head out together, but Roo had been stir crazy and Amestris, as usual, had humored him. The two had headed out in their more beastly forms, rushing out into the snow and towards the nearby mountains, leaving Desotto and Genya behind to catch up once they were able. The climb was going to be much harder for them given that both of them weren’t in their own beastly shapes, but Des still wasn’t quite ready for the bad taste in his mouth that inevitably appeared each time he shifted. The memories were more than he was ready to try and handle, more than he ever wanted to think about, so hiking the mountain like this it was.

The wind blows sharply as if to mock him, but Des trudges onward anyways, stubborn as usual. Genya and Des travel in mostly silence, broken primarily by grumbles and grunts of effort. The path they’ve chosen isn’t one that’s well traveled– or at all traveled really. Des wonders, not for the first time, if this mysterious item they’re after is even worth the journey. The original excuse was family bonding, but the more Roo had chattered about the item, some sort of star, though the more Des thought of the object the more Des had wondered what this was really all about.

Shrugging his shoulders as he shoves past a tree, Des lets out a long-suffering sigh. “Why did we all have to come again?” He asks, looking over his shoulder at Genya. The smaller man snorts, though almost slaps himself with a branch a moment later.
“Because, Des, Roo wanted us to come. Besides, the more the merrier. And safer.” Genya pats his shoulder, stepping carefully past him as he continues making his way up. Des sighs but follows faithfully, wondering more and more how much he really cares about his brother’s wants. The two hadn’t gotten along at all to start, after all. Maybe they could just go back to hating each other, or something.

Not that it had been mutual.

Des is still lost in thought when his ears pick up on the sound of hoofbeats approaching at a rapid speed, eyes widening as he realizes what’s about to happen. They had just reached an open area, one that was at least mostly stable, and apparently they’d been spotted. Genya’s face lights up, but Des braces for impact as Roo’s furry form comes sprinting into view.

Snow sprays as the other buck comes to a sliding stop, a laugh peeling from his chest as he looks back towards the approaching shape of Amestris.

“Beat ya, Ma!” He says, sounding far too proud considering Amestris had absolutely let him win. She looks fond, though, in that odd way she usually does. Closed off but easy enough to read once you got used to her harsher nature. From her shoulder, her twiwa Rat lets out a shrill sound before fluttering off of her. The thing seems to like her well enough, though Des has to wonder sometimes given how nippy it tends to be. It sees itself off to investigate something or other, but Des feels no need to keep a further eye on it in case it decides to bite his face again just for being looked at longer than it deemed necessary.

“Good job, Little Roo. You’ve certainly been getting better at navigating the mountain.” Amestris compliments, brushing gently past her adopted son to nudge her face into Genya’s waiting arms. The man grins, brushing fond hands over the fur on her head and around her horns. Des rolls his eyes, investing in brushing the snow that hasn’t melted off of himself.

“Des, did you see that? I almost ate it at one point-”
“No, I didn’t see anything. Mountainside, remember? I can’t see through rock, dummy.” Des mutters, though there’s no real heat in his words. Roo laughs, far too used to his attitude, the chuffing sound loud against Des’ ears. 

The brothers bump shoulders despite the stark height difference, and Des glances back to their parents. Amestris and Genya are talking quietly, likely planning how to proceed. As they do, he takes the time to kneel down and form a snowball carefully in his hands. Roo, thankfully, seems to have become distracted by something on the mountainside and isn’t paying him any mind anymore. 

Desotto makes pair of snowballs before he stands back up, clearing his throat but otherwise making no sound. With a smirk, he hucks one at the back of Roo’s head before turning and throwing the other at their parents. Both connect, and Des beams at the success.

The glee is short lived as Amestris turns to look at him, and he only has time to gulp before she hefts a hooved leg up and kicks a wave of snow at him. Spluttering, he can’t help but laugh as Roo gently pins him down into the snow with his own hooves.

“Okay, okay! Get off, man! It’s wet and cold down here.” Des huffs, mumbling a thank you as his brother helps drag him back to his feet with a low yet chirpy chuff.

“If you two are done playing,” Amestris says like she hadn’t joined in too, turning to the cliffs. “We need to keep going if we want to get there before daylight’s end.” 

“Yes, ma,” the boys chorus in unison, Des busy sweeping snow off of himself. Genya laughs quietly as the family starts off again, talking amongst themselves as they go. The peace of their journey is interrupted by a thunderously loud sound, shaking the very ground beneath them. Roo yelps, Genya clutches Amestris, and Amestris narrows her eyes upward. Rat lets out a shrill sound, this time one that sounds more warning than complaint, and takes off without waiting to see if they heeded its warning.

Des follows his mother’s gaze after watching Rat fly off, and curses when he sees what’s coming their way. Snow, thundering down the cliffside. An avalanche.

Before he can think, Desotto finds himself being thrown onto his mother’s back behind Genya. His adoptive father looks serious for once, but smiles encouragingly in what must be an attempt to comfort him. 

All at once in a dizzying speed that left Des with no time to fully wrap his head around what all was happening, Amestris began running at a full sprint. Her long limbs carry them easily over the landscape, though as they progress she has to be more mindful of where she places her feet. Ruvik lets out a loud whoop as he dashes off after them, sprinting easily at their mother’s side. 

Des holds on tightly as they run, cursing himself for being too afraid to just change shapes. One less body to worry about would likely help Amestris out, but that choking feeling remains strongly in his chest. Beneath him, he can feel his mother’s step hitch as she lands oddly on an uneven patch of ground, but no sound leaves her mouth. She moves without hesitation, every slip or catch goes ignored. She powers on, and Ruvik is no different. The other buck runs at full speed just ahead of them, tail whipping behind him.

The avalanche thunders closer behind them as they run and Desotto wonders, a bit numbly, if he’s going to die. If they all are. 

He has so much left he wants to say, so much left to do. So many old wounds he wants to heal. If he dies now-

His thoughts are sharply interrupted as his mother takes a sharp turn, diving into a small cave. Ruvik doesn’t follow. Desotto feels like he can’t breathe and he wasn’t even the one running as snow buries them inside, covering any chance they had of pursuing Roo. 

The silence after that is loud. 

Amestris waits minutes before she begins trying to dig them out, the soft sound of Genya’s voice doing nothing to stop her. The man tries at least twice to make her slow down before he shakes his head and lets her work, turning his focus to Desotto. Des shakes his head to try and communicate he’s fine, but he finds himself wrapped in Genya’s arms anyway. He shakes in his adoptive father’s hold, but he does not cry. He won’t.

Amestris’ digging is the only sound that fills the cave, though Des knows they’re all thinking the same thing even if they aren’t saying it. Rat is probably fine, the creature likely flew up to somewhere safe. He’ll be demanding dinner by the time they get home– if they get home. The concern is Ruvik, who likely just kept running. Desotto knows his brother is fast, but the idea of outrunning an avalanche is insane no matter how quick you are. Mother nature isn’t kind enough to care if you’re trying to run, after all.

If something has happened to Roo, Des can’t imagine what will happen with ma. She’d be destroyed, heartbroken. It would be ugly. Distantly, some part of his mind wonders what would happen to him if his brother was dead. Would he ever be the same without his cheery counterpart? Sure, he’d hated Roo at first, but that was pretty much gone now. Mostly. 

When light finally spills in from the outside, Desotto feels equal parts relieved and terrified. They’re out, yes, but now they have to try and find… Roo. Not a body. Just, find Ruvik. Shaking his head, Desotto sets out after his mother. The snow is higher than it had been before, but he powers through even as his legs begin to chill beneath him. Finally, after a few moments of all three bucks calling, they hear the soft sound of wingbeats. Rat appears, fluttering down and looking all-too-cross to have found them. He squawks, loudly, and a voice follows from where he had come from.

“Rat? Did you find them?”

“Roo!” Des yells without thinking, grinning a bit madly when the familiar set of horns appear from behind a large hunk of snow and rocks. He rushes forward, crashing into the larger chest of his brother. If Ruvik is surprised he doesn’t say it, just nuzzles his brother’s head before Desotto can pull away.

“Aw, worried, bro?” Roo teases, and Des swats at him half-heartedly.

“We just survived an avalanche, dude. Yes I was worried.” He mutters, and Roo just laughs again. Before Des can start a fight about it, Amestris closes in and begins looking Ruvik over for any signs of injury. He takes it in stride, assuring her that he’s fine, but she keeps checking anyways until she’s satisfied.

“I guess we aren’t finding that special item then, huh?” Genya says after a while, to which everyone else nods. It’s unfortunate, but dying is hardly worth it. Amestris makes the official call to go home, and no one in her family argues. Especially not Rat, who has likely decided it’s far later than his usual feeding time.