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Today was a lovely, bright, glittering sort of day! Of course, if the sun was shining, this generally was the way Yuuli saw her day. Her sunny disposition tended to put the happiest shine and the most pleasant spin on whatever was going on. On this day, she'd wandered into new territory to her. She'd felt drawn up and up, climbing the mountain's flanks and into the places that were already deep in snow.

She'd seen snow before, of course... having wandered as far as she had, it would have been surprising to not have at some point come across it. However, she'd never really experienced snow quite to this extent! She'd been following a trail up into the high reaches, and her purple eyes were wide with wonder at the expanse of white around her.

Birds called and caroled, she caught brief glimpses of small creatures with much fluffy fur, and still the snow kept piling up. She played about a bit with the snow, discovering that if it was broken, she'd fall right through the crust, but if she was careful and none had stepped in the area since last it snowed, she could mince across the crust for a distance before breaking through a little. She began dancing across the untracked snow, laughing when she'd fall through and into a drift, or find a patch of ice and go slipping and sliding a bit.

A bright flutter caught her attention. It was a brilliant red feather, caught in a bush not ten paces away. Delighted with her find, she pranced over towards it. A gust of wind tore the feather loose and sent it tumbling across a small meadow. Laughing, she bounded after it, occasionally breaking through the crust and struggling back up onto the firmer bits. None of this was terribly deep, or at least she didn't sink very far. She was nearly on top of the feather, ready to pounce on it, when an extra stiff gust sent the red flicker soaring up into the air. She followed it, bounding lightly across the snow field. The feather careened about, then landed up out on a hillside that led back downwards. With a grin, she bounded after it, launching herself to pounce it with all four paws.

"Gotchya!" she crowed a moment before her paws touched the snow and feather. However, her triumph disappeared as her paws disappeared into the snow, burying her to her shoulders. She gave a little gasp of shock, and it was a good thing she'd sucked in that breath, for that was when the hillside of snow collapsed beneath her, sending her and a large portion of snow tumbling down the hill. She managed a strangled yelp before she became lost in the a mini storm of moving white.

When the world stopped cartwheeling, Yuuli stayed curled up with her eyes tightly closed, still holding her breath. That had been a much larger reaction than she'd anticipated. Instead of just sliding down the hillside, she'd been caught in a flurry of white that seemed to be everywhere at once. Now still, she stayed tensed, mind still whirling dizzily.

But before long she let out her breath, and found that yes, she could breathe. She shifted and immediately regretted it. This stuff might look and feel soft, but that tumble had hurt! She swallowed and cracked her eyes open. She discovered she was suspended in a thick cloud of glowing white with deep blue shadows. She blinked, trying to orient herself and finding it terribly difficult. Her ears felt plugged, for it was so eerily quiet, even her own breathing sounded strange and muffled. As she became more aware and cognizant of her situation, her panic began to rise. This wasn't right. This couldn't be good!

She began to struggle to right herself, and found that doing so only dumped snow into her face, stifling her. She gasped in panic and fear, emitting a tiny sound of terror. But just then... was that a voice? Yes! A voice! "Help!" she cried, turning her head this way and that, unable to find where the voice was coming from. "Help! I can't get out!" She gulped down a sob, her throat tight. If she had ever felt this helpless before, she couldn't recall it. Would she ever make it out? It was so cold!

The voice seemed to come closer. It was very muffled, but sounded male. "Here, I'm here!" she called desperately, trying not to squeak in her panic. Squeaking wouldn't help, and likely wouldn't be very audible. She huffed a few panicked breaths, then discovered her hot breath was melting the snow directly in front of her face. While this did help her feel less closed in a little, the melted snow was now trickling down her body. If she thought the snow was cold, this water was much, much colder. How that could be, she had no clue, but it really wasn't something she was capable of musing just now.

Having her fur now growing wet with more melted snow made the chill bite deep. More than just her breath was melting it... her mere body heat, seeping out into the white stuff, was causing some of it to melt and dampen her pelt. The result of this was swiftly becoming an issue. Shivering was becoming something more than just a tremor. She clenched her jaw to keep from chattering her teeth. "Here," she called again, "I'm here... help!" She just hoped that male voice reached her before she froze... did people freeze up here like that? Her terrified, befuddled mind couldn't manage to remember if she knew or not.

Indeed she could hear him now! She could hear him digging, could hear the desperation and urgency in his tone. Her heart gave a leap... she was going to be rescued! She wriggled around within her icy tomb so she faced where the light was growing brighter and the sound of him talking and scraping back the snow was coming from. "I can hear you!" she called back, her voice rising in hope. "I'm coming!"

She took a deep breath before she did as he told her. It was frightening to dig into the rough sides of her little chamber. She'd seen what happened when she disturbed the snow. But he sounded authoritative, and she was determined to escape. Gritting her teeth for an entirely different reason now, she set her fixed claws against the snow and began scrabbling against it. It was harder than she expected, but she refused to let that stop her. The snow began to fall in on her, but she sucked in a breath and held it while flailing determinedly towards the sound and light.

It was with almost a shout that she realized she'd broken through, and she could see someone else's paws, clawing at the horrible cold stuff that encased her. "Here, I'm here!" she cried unnecessarily, wriggling to try and work her way out of the hole as fast as possible. Being slender and lithe, it didn't take much before she emerged into that bright, cheerful sunshine she'd enjoyed only minutes before so blithely. "I'm free!" she exclaimed, then burst into tears, turning to bury her face against whoever it was that had rescued her.

"I'm... I'm sorry," she managed, pulling away from him in response to his withdrawal. "I didn't mean to...," she babbled a little, taking deep breaths and trying to get a grip. "That was just very hard," she finally managed to say with some poise, having pawed the tears from her eyes and gulped down her sobs. She took another few deep breaths, straightening her shoulders and sitting straighter. Her heart was slowing, her mind settling. How embarrassing to throw herself at this stranger that way! She was lucky he didn't stalk off and leave her to fend for herself!

She cleared her throat and gave him an apologetic look. "I'm very sorry, I shouldn't have clung to you as if you were my mother." She looked truly chagrined. "It was rude of me to treat you, my rescuer, like my personal pillow to cry in." She hung her head a little, glancing over her shoulder at that hole in the snow, that had really mostly just collapsed in on itself. She gave a shudder, which seemed to remind her body to shiver forcefully. Her damp fur now had crystals of ice in it, which she tried to shake loose.

"That was a truly terrifying experience," she shared soberly. "Is... if it's not too much trouble, is there somewhere nearby to get dry and maybe... warm?" She gave him a hesitant but hopeful look, privately praying he didn't think she was trying to trick him into further intimacies. "I don't mean to be any trouble... maybe if you just show me how best to get warm...," she trailed off, resigning herself to sounding pitiful and pleading. Ah well, if he was bothered with her, so be it. She did need to get warm, regardless. This shivering was not helping her slender frame gain any warmth whatsoever.

She was shaking hard as he moved off. She rose on trembling limbs to follow him, finding it harder than she expected. She knew she was suffering from the cold, but it was with rising dismay she realized she also was battered and bruised from her tumble. Her head also felt a little... off. Not bad, but not clear either. "I hope it isn't far?" she asked, trying not to sound as pathetic as she actually felt. She wasn't entirely sure how far she could go just now, truthfully.

She doggedly followed his pawprints in the snow, mostly keeping her head down and focused on those prints rather than on the cheetah himself. It helped her stay focused. She glanced up when he asked, then devoted herself again to concentrating on keeping up and not thinking about how tired, cold, and painful she was. "I'm a rogue, a traveler," she answered, able to let such things roll off her tongue without giving much thought to it. "My family have been wanderers since just before I was born. I've seen may places." She paused then, both in thought and in body, raising her head to look about her at the snowbound landscape. "Never anywhere quite like this though," she admitted, turning a faintly rueful frown to the male. "Else I probably wouldn't have done what I did that got me in this mess." Well, she certainly knew better now. Live and learn, thanks to her rescuer. "Do you live here?" she returned his question, resuming her determined paces across the snow.

She looked ahead to where he indicated. It wasn't far, really, but to her at this moment, it felt like a great deal of distance. She'd much rather have laid down here and rested, but knew she'd freeze in place if she tried. He'd know where best it was to stop, and clearly here was not it. She bowed her head again and kept her paws moving forward, trailing behind him by sheer force of will.

She took his advice and not-quite-scolding as her due. But when he mentioned his pride, she raised her head again to watch his back with concern. "I'm sorry to hear that," she murmured. "I wouldn't want to add any trouble for you or your pride." She dearly wanted to ask what had gone wrong to cause such a delicate situation, but she refrained. He didn't seem the sort that shared much, and she had a niggling feeling she was lucky he'd told her this much so far. So she held her peace, waiting until a better time to probe further.

Her ears swiveled fully forward with interest as he broke what she considered an amicable silence by introducing himself. "My name is Yuuli," she responded openly. "It isn't the fault of this place... it really is very beautiful," she added, "but clearly isn't terribly forgiving to someone like me, ignorant of its ways." She breathed deep, realizing it was getting easier to do so and that her body was relaxing a little as she moved, creating her own warmth with exercise. "I was enjoying myself before I made that mistake, actually."

Talking helped pass what had seemed like it would have been terribly long distance to the trees. Just before they moved under the sheltering boughs, she spoke again. "I'm sorry if I interrupted whatever brought you out here, beyond your pride, but I am very glad you were here. I owe you my life." It was honest, sincere truth, lacking the syrupy sweet ingratiation it might have. She wanted him to know she deeply appreciated his assistance.