When the wind blows

[Tucker]

Tucker was slowly but surely getting used to the cold once again. As a pup he would readily curl up by the fireplace but as his training went it would eventually lead for him to train in all types of weather, strong and ferocious snow storms would whip at his fur as he and Steven tracked the bad guys. The crumbling castle gave little shelter from the winds so Tucker spent most of his time in the lower levels tucked away near some fireplace seeking warmth. His wounds still stung every now and again, scars aches but nothing the police dog wasn’t used too.

[Phoebus de Châteaupers]

The same could scarcely be said for Phoebus, soon having become almost childishly sullen and ill-tempered whenever he could afford to drop the content façade of the obedient soldier. Indeed, the cold and otherwise unpleasant atmosphere of the mountains neither appealed nor agreed with him, and while he dared not openly complain?

Sometimes, it simply couldn't be helped. This appeared one of those times, given there was little else for him to do but brood in his efforts seek some form of warmth; having grown irritated listening to his solitary footsteps click across cold stone, once certain he was not entirely abandoning his post, he was quick to descend into the castle's lower levels, which were only slightly warmer than its upper.

Naturally, it hadn't taken long to find what warmth he sought, for the fireplace faintly smouldered. To his credit, at least as far as he was concerned, he'd done rather well to properly learn his way around the damn place, for all its winding corridors. Soon inclined to remove his helmet as he moved nearer, he had very almost uttered a sigh of relief aloud.

Until he noticed the dog that lay before it, at least. A part of the same army as they might have been? He had yet to become acquainted enough with anyone to trust them to pay no mind to his complaints and his brooding; and so his footsteps grew almost cautious, sigh having been reluctantly swallowed. Besides. For all he knew, the rather large canine was asleep, and none-too-friendly when its sleep was interrupted.

If, however, the dog seemed to be awake - or in any case notice it was no longer alone - he'd speak.

"-I...Hope I'm not disturbing you..." The mild echo of his words prompted him to wince almost painfully, both at its volume and the fact that...Well...He'd just asked a dog a question. Aware as he might have been that all animals could typically understand words, he was never quite sure which ones talked back.

[Tucker]

"-I...Hope I'm not disturbing you..."

Brown eyes slowly open and Tucker gives a smack of his lips, licking his chops, the horrid aftertaste of whatever he had eaten earlier still clung to his tastebuds, leaving him with morning breath.

“Mmhm-you’re not” he lifts his head to look at the owner of the voice then dropping his chin of his forepaw. “You are....don’t think I ever got your name before? I’m Tucker” the soft thump of his tail on stone could be heard a second later as the canine gives a smile at the blonde.

[Headless Horseman]

Another figure was seated farther off in the room, huddled over a whetstone. The smooth scraping of their sword dragging across the stone's surface echoed along with the soft thumps of the dog's tail. He wasn't engrossed in the budding conversation, yet he did shift his shoulders in the direction of the other two briefly before returning to his work.