the drought was the very worst

He couldn't remember the last time they'd woken up—it was as though they'd simultaneously slept for eternity and a blink of an eye. He tried to lift his head as his eyes opened, but the weight of fatigue kept his chin resting on her neck. His memory was devoid of the details of the previous day, but the gentle breeze from their den's entrance told him it was much warmer outside than he remembered. 

"@Leta?" he mumbled into her fur. "Are you ... feeling okay?" Was it just him? Or was she feeling this way, too? 

"What ... did we do last night?" 

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Things had been so terribly cold as of late that even her thick winter furs were not entirely equipped for. It was the worst Winter Leta had remembered experiencing, and she could not wait for it to be over. The exhaustion of keeping warm seemed to take its toll one night, but the rest had been so thorough that Leta woke up feeling better than ever. Osiris spoke, and Leta turned to look at him with a sleepy smile.

“Well... we went to bed early,” she answered, a little groggy. Stretching, she said past a huff and a groan, “I feel better than I have in weeks,” but there was a bit of a sleep hangover. Rolling to her side and pawing at him, she said with a laugh, “feeling a little like I overslept, but I think we needed it,” Leta smirked, the imprint of her beau on her side from the length of time he had lain there. And he had the cowlick of a century!

“Let me fix that before your mother has a field day,” she said with a laugh, rising to help him out. And then, “how do you feel? Rested?”
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He could keep his chin lifted once she rolled away, and slowly, he regained his strength. "I ... don't even remember that," he admitted, speaking solely to when they went to bed because it didn't feel that way, "I can't remember—" a yawn "—anything" All he could do at this point was take her word for it, which was easy enough. He knew that she wouldn't lie to him. 

Osiris grinned as Leta noticed his cowlick, and he leaned towards her so that it was easier for him to help. He always appreciated her looking out for him. 

"I feel groggy," he replied, "and too tired to get up." He paused, and his smile faded. "Did we take a long trip yesterday?" That was the only logical explanation he could think of. "Is that why we're so tired?"

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Nothing? Leta was suddenly concerned as she asked, “tell me what you last remember,” with a soft frown. He asked for her own memory, but Leta was thinking then of @Elke; perhaps she ought to call her? Or maybe it really just was that Osiris had slept really, really well. “I was freezing cold. We tried to find prey to hunt, but came up short. It felt like forever, with the temperatures, and honestly maybe we went further than I even thought,” Leta laughed at that. Time had felt strangely fuzzy, but that Leta blamed exhaustion on. Even when they had fed, the winter chill tuckered her out.

Leta stepped over the massive man (her massive man!), beginning to work on the top of his bedhead. Leta took her time while she thought on things, and said, “I also feel super groggy, but that sometimes happens after I take the best naps. That... had to be top ten. If not number one,” she smiled. But then asked, “hows your head feel?” thinking back to Elke now.
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His memory always, and conveniently, failed him when he needed it most. Thankfully Osiris had Leta, who always managed to remind him and get his thoughts going. She did just that, as she recalled the previous day. 

"I do remember it being cold," he said after a prolonged pause. It had been frigid, and they had exerted more energy than usual, "We were tracking a turkey, weren't we?" With his memory jogged, he continued to concentrate on what happened on their expedition. "Seems odd that we'd go so far out for a turkey, though ..." He couldn't remember any shortage of food—he usually kept a close eye on the caches during the winter—but maybe they had decided that it'd be worth ranging further away? 

She distracted him as she straddled his body, and he leaned back to kiss her chin before she went to work. "Yeah, that sleep was something," he agreed. 

His heart skipped a beat when she asked about his head. "No, it's fine," he assured her, "But is your head okay?"

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Hmmm. He really didn't remember, did he? “No, food was pretty scarce. Not just here... everywhere,” she remembered. But they had managed to get the turkey; evidence of it was the feathers she had plucked to make a cozier sleeping space that were in the corner of their den. She began to work on his head and said to his question, “it's good, just... still a little groggy too,” she said with a smile.

Once she was satisfied with her work she stepped away from him and nodded. And then she looked outside and said, “feels so nice out today at least. Maybe that whole... frozen winter famine bit is done,” she hoped aloud. “Want to go see if we can find any new prey trails?” She was suddenly itching to move.
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The fragments of his memory began to piece together with the provided context. Then, finally, Osiris nodded as he made sense of what Leta told him. "That'd explain why we'd go far for a turkey." It wasn't prey to lift one's nose at, but there were better options that would feed more mouths. "We'll work on that once our minds are clear." They'd need their minds to be sharp if they would provide anything substantial for the pack. 

He was relieved to hear that she was good, and he didn't press any further. They had more pressing matters to attend to. 

The mention of the weather drove his attention to the den's entrance, and he nodded in agreement. "It feels like Spring," he agreed. It was odd that the weather had changed so quickly and drastically, but stranger things had happened here before. 

"I need to find my mother first," he said. "But we should rally a hunting party and refresh the empty caches." He looked at her then. "We can head towards the bay. I know that the herds like to graze there."

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Leta nodded, thinking that best. She had no idea what they’d do without the woman, and hoped they’d never have to. Leta said, “I’ll look for West,” in answer, given his equal importance in her own life. And she and West could look for any others that might be here, and account for who wasn’t. That felt helpful, at least. 

She nosed him gently, and then said, “I’ll see you after, ‘kay?” with a wave of her tail before setting off herself.
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