Hunting Beasties (Private - Xald and Bey - M-GLEc(?))

Max pulled his car up the long gravel driveway towards the cabin. Already the pair could see the police tape and the cruisers. People were picking all over the area, most notably the giant hole torn into the side of the building, the blood stains in the snow leading towards the mountains, and the one body of the three-member family who owned the place, seemingly ripped in half. Max looked at the site before quietly whispering. "Mein Gott..."

Natalie laughed grimly, "Indeed. It looks like how you say, bear attack. See this all the time back home." she sighed, "Off to slay monsters?"

"Tsarina, zis is far from a bear attack." He said, putting the impala in park and pulling the key from the ignition. Already one of the officers was approaching the car. Max unbuckled himself and stepped out of the car. waving. The officer offered a token wave in return, studying both of them for a moment. "You the Academy folks we were told about?"

Natalie nodded, giving him a salute, "DWMA students, I'm Natalie Toloczko, meister, and zees is my weapon, Maximillian Kiesling. Vat can you tell me about vat happened here?"

The officer ushered them towards the building, starting to explain as they walked. "Best we can tell, whatever did this attacked last night. It broke through the wall, attacked the, uh, father, who apparently grabbed for a rifle. We haven't found the mother or their daughter, so we can only assume it, uh, took them. Family friend called us in this morning after dropping by..." He sighed, running a hand through his receding hairline. "You kids fight things like this?"

She nodded, "It is common for myself." she stated simply, not a fleck of feeling in her voice. She was all professional, no consolation or warmth. She was the ice queen, here to hunt, "Did it leave any tracks or clues as to what it might be?"

"Uh, yeah. This way." He led them to a slope, down into the Rocky mountains. Large hoofed tracks led both up and down the hill, the downward tracks accompanied by two furrows in the snow. "Best we can tell, it dragged the two women with it." Max turned to Nat, raising a brow before turning back to the car. "I'll grab ze backpacks. Sir, if you would kindly tow mein car to your impound lot while we're away." The man nodded, watching him pull two large hiking backpacks from his trunk and returning, offering one to Nat.

Natalie took one, suddenly grinning now that the officer was gone, "Ooh! I'm so excited. It has been too long since I have been on hunt."

Max offered her a smirk, looking down towards the valley. "Ja. Let's just cross our fingers zat ze vomen are ok." He took a few steps down the hill, working not to stumble in the snow.

Natalie lightly skipped through the knee-deep snow banks, like a deer, graceful and quick. She got a little ways ahead and climbed up a tree, "I will see if there is anything ahead, yah?"

"Just be careful. Who knows how far ze beasty has gotten. It may still be close." He trudged through the snow, his heavy snow boots crunching the powdery flakes beneath his steps. He looked towards the nearest mountain, humming. "If we can make it to zat mountain by evening, we could find a cave in vhich to camp."

Natalie looked around, then climbed back down, "Zere is a lot of trees. Hard to see. Zis could be a long hunt. Do ve have plenty of food?"

He chuckled, using trees to balance himself on the steeper sections of the slope. "Vell, even if ve don't, at ze very least you could hunt us something, eh Tsarina?"

She laughed, "In zis snow? Things will be preferring to stay in their holes. Hunting for food would be difficult."

"You couldn't even find a deer? Und here I zought you vere some great hunter, Tsarina." He teased, finally making it to the bottom of the hill and moving forward through the valley towards the mountain.

She rolled her eyes, "It is hard to find one when you have not seen them in so long."

Max snorted, adjusting the straps of his backpack and rubbing his hands together, pulling his jacket tighter around. "Excuses excuses." He continued to tease, chuckling.

She rolled her eyes, "Fine. You find camp, and I find food." she huffed, shoving her bedroll at him and taking out a hunting knife as she trudged off into the snow.

He laughed, almost falling when she gave him her sleeping back, and then returned to hiking up the mountain. About half way up he found a decently sized cave, pulling out a flashlight and turning his other hand into a small version of his weapon form. He pressed into the cave, finding it empty aside from some rats, and deeper than he expected. Further inside was a natural hotspring, heating most of the cavern and causing light steam to waft out the entrance.

Natalie trudged through the snow, muttering in russian about "city boys not knowing how difficult it is to hunt in the snow".

Max took to laying out their sleeping bags, keeping close to the hot springs to provide warmth. After setting out a loose stone circle, he ventured out onto the slope of the mountain, grabbing loose branches for a fire.

Natalie worked in a clearing that had some exposed brush to hide herself, setting some salt out to try and lure something in. It would likely be dark by the time she caught anything.

Max, using a survival booklet he had brought with him, carefully arranged the branches like a tipi, lighting some dry grass he'd found in the cave underneath and carefully nurturing the fire.

When the sun was but a little past setting, Natalie returned to the cave, a deer slung over her shoulders. She frowned as she entered the cave, "Vere is the steam coming from?"

Max, sitting beside the fire, pointed deeper into the cave. "Zere's a hotspring in ze back of ze cave, Tsarina. I zink I might take a dip." He said, easing his jacket off.