Failure was a bitter, painful experience. Grimoire knew the darkest of places; her parents had ensured it. Like a shriveled, dying vine, she’d come close to the infinite abyss of hopelessness or helplessness. But each time, she’d nearly dropped into the darkness, she found a bit of nutrient to nurse her unfathomable resilience (sometimes placed their cunningly by her parents). The one character trait that she developed that made her Grimoire and not her mother, Nakki, was resilience. And in her experience, failure shivered in the face of it.

Her limbs were bleeding from a failed hunt - ripped with tiny scratches by the thorns the rabbit had darted between. Grimoire nursed them slowly, dragging her tongue over her fur with careful affection. Her blood tasted bitter; the winter was harsher than normal, so her blood sugar was lower. She set her limb down soundlessly into the snow. Movement was require to keep her body temperature up. Grimoire disappeared into the brown skeletons of the brush and trees, long limbs shivering.

Her breath froze in the air. The cold crystalized the atmosphere. Tiny, floating stars seemed to twinkle in the afternoon’s rays. She tracked the glinting, microscopic shards with discerning eyes. Her paws followed. It let her deep into the forest, through pockets of shadows, and over icy swamps. And then they were absent; darkness was clustered near. Grimoire’s ears attentively adjusted. The meek howl touch them like a tender kiss.

She wove through the brush, spiraling slowly nearer a hollow tree. The loner’s scent filled her nose… and gave it a disturbing identity: Maeve. Was the world decaying to the point where she would be require to eat family (adopted or not)? She circled the tree and peered in, light glinting off her pink eyes.

"Maeve. Tell me your fangs are sharp…"

Her voice was light, distressed. A whine lingered on her throat as one of her paws slid forward. Her fangs slid out, bared tightly - defiantly - against each other. She hoped, desperately, that she’d not be require to use them.