Well Shiver me Timbers

At the edges of Banesteppe was a river, bringing in currents from the ocean. Among those currents was a young lad.

The water was frigid. It was a miracle that however long he had been in there hadn't froze him to death. Icicles seemed to cling to his fur like decorations. His fur was shimmery with a small blanket of ice, one that gently made a jacket for him. If that jacket was trying to freeze him to death.

He'd washed up ashore, thrown onto the frozen beach at the feet of the massive mansion. Like a gift from the gods, wrapped nicely in ice and snow. Water that didn't want to melt off of his body.

Dipper had laid there, unmoving among the shimmering glassy bank. The only sign that he was alive was the vague breaths that heaved around his chest. It rose and fell subtly, but anyone concerned enough could notice.

His frozen fur had given way to a solid form, sticking to his his body as if he was a drowned rat. And in this moment? He kind of was. He smelt heavily of wet dog. Admittedly before this he hadn't bathed and cleaned himself much. It wasn't a matter of not caring, he just was too busy with anything and everything else.

It didn't help that snow was falling from above. It wasn't too much, but it was definitely there. Under the blanket of the cold sky the snow seemed almost like falling stars. At least to Dipper who could only see through a small slit of his frozen eyelashes. He didn't feel like getting up, so in a puddle of his own wet fur he just laid there, closing his eyes the rest of the way.
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Oh... He was dead.

He had to be because Benji couldn't imagine anyone looking like he did and surviving.

Approaching with a lowered head and remorseful expression, she sought to haul him back into the current, let his body float peacefully along the river's bloodstream; it felt a little more respectful than allowing him to rot on the bank or bury him somewhere in an unmarked grave. At least the fish would get their fill, too. When she neared him, really neared him, and hovered at his side, she found that with a steady enough stare she could see his chest falling and rising. Shallow breaths. Fuck.

"Alright," she muttered to herself, moving to shove her head against his wet, crunchy-iced neck to wake him. "Come on, imagine how horrible it'd be to die here? In front of this... thing. Let's get you moving."

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An uncomfortable grunt was given, along with a few facial twitches. Was he really dead, and this was the voice of the gods coming to him? He doubted so. The voice didn't seem godly enough, or whatever. Maybe that was offensive, but he knew deep down that he was right.

A small growl had escaped his throat after the grunt. It wasn't a hostile one, just more so a grumpy one. Like a kid who didn't want to wake up from a comfortable nap. Except this nap was far from comfortable and all his body seemed to be frozen and fused together.

Laying on that bank he assumed this was his dying place. Even if this icy bank was foreign to him. It didn't feel right. Like how you feel stepping out into some random forest. You didn't belong here and your body knew that more than it probably should. Every ounce of him wanted to get up and bolt. To run beyond here and return home. He never should have walked away, and this was likely his punishment for such. He should've stuck to the status quo. To ignore anything and everything. Conform. Yet every part of him wanted to escape the bland life that surrounded. He wanted that childhood adventure, and this was the toll to cross that bridge.
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"Positively wonderful attitude," she commented dryly, withdrawing her head slowly to shake the ice her forehead had gathered gracelessly. Benji snorted, sniffed, and looked around until that thing drew her focus in, suffocating her in its horrid sort of position above them both. Mhm. There wasn't much she could do for a wolf's will but he looked pitiful enough she'd not wipe her conscience of it if she abandoned him for the convenience. "Okay, here's what we're going to do—" she said, and went relentlessly at him, taking his scruff in her jaws and dragging him up the bank, paws scrabbling, nails dragging along the earth, hot mouth and spit melting the scarf of ice he wore. If he didn't wake, well, she'd be on her way to moving him at a pace a snail would mock. If he did wake, good, she doubted this wasn't anything but annoying. "—You can cooperate at any time. Don't let me hold you up."

Please, don't let me hold you up, she thought, damn, he was heavy.

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He seemed a lot more conscious at this point, his muzzle scrunching as his eyes opened. Okay now he was moving. Not willingly, but it took him a moment to register why. He was being dragged like a farmer hauling a bag of potatoes. If this potato bag was filled with steroid induced ones. Honestly he could vaguely feel the warm breath on his neck, but the rest of his body was completely numb. He couldn't even feel his body being hoisted across the ice and snow of the bank.

"Wo-" He'd tried to say one, but the saliva of his mouth had almost completely sealed his mouth shut. The frozen fluids at his lips were like natural superglue. As she slowly, but steadily moved him, he took a moment to carefully scrunch his mouth around. It looked like he was making weird faces at her, but he really was just trying to get his lips free. "One second." He finally managed to utter, his voice raspy and crackly as he spoke. It was hoarse as well, making it hard to her, but it most definitely was there at least.

Even looking closely one couldn't tell, but he really was trying to move his toes. To get them free of the water that stuck them together. It would help if he actually had feeling in them. Which was slowly starting to come back, but it decided it wanted to start up by his head first. Then his feet. Which really, really sucked right now.
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They'd made it some ways from the river, avoiding the sprays of coursing water, from where ice flecked, where the snow clung tighter.

This was when he started to come alive in her jaws, moving and speaking oddly, though understandably; she caught glances of how frozen he'd become since his time being beached and knew better than to think he'd be able to recover or, fuck, thaw out on his own when the world was dark and frigid and certain to be happier snuffing him than making dawn come sooner. The options the circumstances left her with weren't plentiful.

"With utter honesty, I'm going to tell you this," she said. "You're one skip away from abysmally fucked."

And she wasn't entirely sure she knew how to help him. That didn't mean she knew when to quit.

With a final push, she hauled him beneath one of the ratty old trees, specifically the one she'd found to have some hollow wide enough to hold her and which she dug the dirt beneath to expand for her lengthy stay here; he'd have to help her some to get him inside, though. "Can you move enough to get inside there?"

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"Uh-huh- hm... one second." He chuffed out, laying there for a few moments where she'd dropped him. It then seemed as though he was far from moving, and that he was much more content just laying there in his own sorrow. His eyes had close for the time being, but his brain was fully functional again, running faster than a gazelle. Okay Dipper. You got to get your butt up or somethings going to come and eat you. He knew this wasn't true, but his instincts really just needed a nudge.

It took a hot minute, but he did start to move. He'd managed to pull himself the foot or so into the small nook, collapsing there in a heap. At least, the parts of him that weren't already shriveled up. That seemed to be all that the wolf was going to do for himself. Whatever energy that had remained bundled inside of him had been sucked out by those few actions. Lucky for him, since she had dug it out to fit herself, it wasn't too much of a hassle for him to fit. Maybe a little tight in some spots due to his extra width, but he really had lucked out with her.

Now in at least a sense of comfortability his eyes closed once more, trying to tackle his brain into thinking straight. He was trying his best to organize his thoughts. Panicked ones over here, normal ones over there- actually, it wasn't that hard to organize. Considering every thought of his was just screaming in discomfort and confusion. Maybe that's better categories. He shouldn't be worrying about that too much right then and there. He has more important things to focus on in this moment. One of which? Was thanking this stranger and hoping she just doesn't kill him afterwards.
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Thank fuck... she thought, delighted at the sight of him crawling like a slug turned mushier by the sun, morally she should have been relieved he wasn't dead enough to be unable to move at all but priorities were fickle and her jaw had begun to hurt. Benji snorted again, tilting her nose to the sky, watching how the snow fell from the abyss above, and dropped it to make moves toward the tree.

There was a slim bit of remaining space to slip her upper body in, puffing breaths that hit the air as mist, and tiredly plopped her head onto his hip. "It'd be rather rude to die in another person's... home so, you know," she said, shifting a little so the rest of her body blocked the entrance, more or less sealing what warmth they'd brew inside, hopefully it'd be enough to warm him; her own body surely bound to assist some. "Don't die."

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He gave a few grumbles at this, making sure to press himself to the backside of the hollowed tree as much as he could. Even half frozen to death he still was worried about taking up too much space. Even added onto the fact that she clearly expressed herself. This was her home. He had absolutely no right to be here. Yet she gave him the grace of a place to warm up within. He didn't doubt he'd be sent out as soon as he could feel his toes again, so he made sure to enjoy the temporary warmth this small den provided. Sure, it was a bit awkward, but it was almost nice for once. He didn't know how long he'd been in that water, but considering the fact he had absolutely no idea where he was, he was surprised he didn't die by hypothermia.

After a few moments of silence Dipper opted to speak. "Thank you." After his sister had left his father made him really work on formalities. 'You're becoming a man, so you need to act like one' or whatever his father had said. Maybe it wasn't his father and it was the alpha who said it. It was jumbled up in his brain, so he couldn't quite get the wording right, nor the speaker. That would be something to clear up another time.
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He kept on grumbling and groaning and she would swear that was the sound of someone defrosting in real time. Benji flicked her large ears back to cup her skull, body disproportionately set in terms of temperature but she failed to react or display any kind of discomfort, not that she suspected he would take note. With his luck, he might not even remember how he wound up here.

"Thank me in the morning," she told him, letting out another sigh, closing her eyes to mimic putting herself to sleep though sleeping was far from what she'd do. Frozen stranger would be an unthawed stranger with working cognitive function by the time he warmed up which in and of itself remained a big if. "You still need to wake up or else that thanks will be debatably bitter."

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He scrunched his face slightly at the mention of the fact he still needed to make it to the morning. That was true, and he wasn't doubting it, but still it felt... pessimistic. He didn't like that. Then again he'd been around that for awhile. Constant downers who were dreading the rise of the sun in the morning. They'd much rather sit and mumble and cry about things than actually hope for better days. His hope was growing the more he laid out of the snow, so he felt much better about his chances of survival.

Nonetheless she still was right. Having been an herbalist, and a great one at that, his father always informed him of the varying dangers that could await them outside. He could only hope his coat would save any drops of life left within his body. Those drops could turn into a flowing stream if given the chance, and this was that perfect chance for that. "Yeah, yeah." He muttered out a response, scrunching his eyes closed again. If he wasn't focusing on mental power maybe all that energy would return to it's homes amongst his body.
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