#((gotta have the albedo mention. you can't have dragonspine without the albedo mention))

[prophecylinked]

It takes a good minute for Amanda to finish laughing, of which Noodle uses to put the kasa back in its place, using his sudden weight to be useful after his little prank. Once balanced again, he dangles from it in front of Ren's face, little paws kicking as if to wave at him. Despite his face no emoting beyond normal ferret expressions, there was an undeniable sense that he was proud of what he had done. The small spook he had given them was well worth it. Before any retaliation could be done, though, the spirit vanishes in a puff of snowflakes, fading into faint sparkles before the cold could reach his face and freeze him on both sides. He's back at his friend's feet the next moment, who's now finally done laughing, wiping her eyes so any tears don't get frozen in this weather.

Amanda gives a final huff of laughter before slowly returning her focus to the mission at hand, "You make hysterical faces sometimes, it's worth every reaction! Anyway, uh... you said it was literal?" It had been hard to focus on those words when Noodle had vanished, momentarily wrapped in worry, but now her childish joy made it hard to return to something serious. Besides, it was impossible that Dragonspine of all places could have some kind of city. It was a death trap, no one would willingly live here; though perhaps the way he described them as ruins told that fact enough. The young hero hums in thought, now trying to remember her mission after the chaos, "They said he was going... near the statue of the seven, so we were going up there to find more traces." Her companion squeaked, making sure she now saw where he was going as they started on the trail again.

Her teasing expression returned to it's usual resting mild unpleasantness, now much more comfortable, though notably still scanning ahead beyond the snow, her fingers intertwine behind her head to once again give her an air of confidence. Whether that was misplaced or not was still to be argued. "You think we'll run into that alchemist here? The big important one from Mondstat, I mean. I heard he hangs out around here, must be a weird guy if he likes this place... kinda like you." She notes with a hint of teasing smugness.

nothing  we  can't  handle,  she  says  —  only  to  contradict  the  thought  almost  immediately.  ren  can't  help  but  feel  more  SECURE  by  the  minute  in  his  choice  to  follow  along.  amanda  might  be  more  competent  than  most  (  an  assessment  that  may  qualify  as  stunning  praise  in  his  ever-critical  eyes  )  but  she  is  still  very  much  a  CHILD.  a  child  who  clearly  cares  more  about  the  destination  than  charting  a  proper  path  to  reach  it.  he  doubts  she's  so  helpless  as  to  get  herself  killed  —  not  with  her  companion  guiding  her  way.  but  lost?  wandering  this  frozen  graveyard  for  ages  on  end?  it's  not  impossible, and one missing person is troublesome enough already.

❝  the  entombed  city?  ❞  thankfully,  in  addition  to  being  nearly  immune  to  the  biting  cold,  ren  also  comes  equipped  with  an  inhumanly  SHARP  memory.  he  hasn't  looked  over  a  formal  map  of  dragonspine  for  quite  some  time  —  not  since  the  fatui  last  forced  him  there  a  number  of  years  prior.  that's  fine;  he's  always  been  better  at  learning  from  EXPERIENCE,  and  his unusual  fondness  for  the  gloomy  mountain  has  led  to  no  shortage  of  time  spent  wandering  about  its  frozen  expanse.  as  a  result,  there's  only  a  brief  pause  before  ren  speaks  again.   ❝  i  don't  think  they're  talking  about  a  rock  formation.  the  name  is  more  literal  than  that.  ❞  grim  though  that  may  sound,  it's  but  the  tip  of  the  iceberg  (  no  pun  intended  )  in  terms  of  what  macabre  points  of  interest  dragonspine  has  to  offer.   ❝  if  we  go  deeper  into  the  mountain,  we  should  start  to  find  ruins ...  do  you  remember  hearing  anything  more  specific?  that's  still  a  lot  of  GROUND  to  cover ...  ❞

he's  so  caught  up  in  his  pondering  that  he  doesn't  notice  the  ferret's  disappearance  until  amanda  brings  it  to  his  attention.  ren  pauses  in  his  tracks,  looking  around  with  a  quizzical  blink.  that's  strange.   ❝  he  was  right  there  a  minute  ago  —  ?  ❞  the  wanderer  starts  to  say,  only  for  his  kasa  to  flip  back  and  a  mass  of  something  cold  and  damp  and  unpleasant  to  slide  down  his  back.

he has never quite hated the OPENING in his bodysuit more than that moment.

❝  ...  ❞   a  little  sound  of  discontent  rumbles  at  the  back  of  his  throat,  drowned  out  by  the  uproarious  laughter  of  his  companions.  yes,  the  snow  has  no  adverse  effect  on  his  body  —  but  that  doesn't  mean  it's  COMFORTABLE.  the  wanderer  looks  rigid  and  awkward,  back  arched  at  a  strange  angle.  (  a  useless  effort  to  escape  the  ice  collected  in  his  clothes.  )  one  eye  twitches  involuntarily  —  a  glitch,  literal  or  otherwise,  as  he  quietly  ponders  every  step  he's  ever  taken  throughout  his  torturous  existence  to  bring  him  to  this  lowly  point.  awful.  terrible.  it's  going  to  take  ages  to  MELT.   ❝  i'll  just  wait  for  you  to  get  that  out  of  your  SYSTEM ...  ❞ ren grumbles, voice edging dangerously close to a pout.