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This roleplay takes place in central to eastern Alaska.

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At the time that this roleplay starts it will be winter (more specifically early January) and will proceed from there.

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The sled teams are made up of 8 dogs. We will only be playing two dogs from our team, below is for reference.

These teams are rivals.

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Name: Shadow

Gender: Female

age: 2.5 years

Role: lead dog

personality: Shadow is very independent, she mostly talks to dogs in the team and doesn't often socializes when she meets other dogs from different teams it's usually because Fog dragged her into it.

Family:.
Siblings: Fog

Name: Fog

age: 2.5 years

Gender: male

role: Swing dog

personality: Fog is a playful dog. He is optimistic and likes to joke around. He Is very friendly and social.

sibling: Shadow

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Artemis woke as the sun began to rise. A cold breeze crept between each of the links in the fence and through the curved arch entrance of her box before sinking into her fur. Pale blue eyes opened as the freckled canine lifted her head. The sight of the sun rising had Artemis acknowledging that she couldn't stay in her box much longer. Around her, Artemis heard the sounds of some of her teammates moving around and begining their days. She huffed as she stood up and stepped fully outside of her box, before shaking her fur to ride it of the snow that had fallen from the top of the box to her back during the transition. Her eyes caught the sight of a light flickering into existence inside of the house. It seemed her human was up, though if he was up this early that meant that they were doing something different than usual.

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Acknowledging that her day would most likely not go as planned, Artemis turned and walked towards where she knew Lily's box was located to see if her counterpart while pulling the sled was awake quite yet. She walked past the box she had been looking for, seeing that it was empty. Artemis sought out Lily, knowing that the other lead dog would be somewhere close by. Her eyes caught on a flash of white and light grey moving towards Artemis's own box and she smiled softly - it seemed as if they had been thinking the exact same thing.

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Artemis turned around quickly and jogged quickly until she was next to Lily before slowing her pace. Lily was older than Artemis, but was also the smallest of the dogs on the team, colored in white with light grey markings. "There you are, Lily, we were thinking the same thing I guess. What do you suppose we're going to be doing today? The lights in our human's home are on much earlier than they normally are." Artemis spoke to the smaller Husky.

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"I seems that way doesn't it. I guess it might be a pre-race get together and walk through with other teams. We haven't done one of those in a while? Regardless, we'll find out sooner or later," was Lily's response before she broke away from Artemis and disappeared somewhere behind her. Artemis mulled over Lily's words and found that it was a very possible thing.

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She attention was turned away from her thoughts quickly at the sound of the metal latch holding the gate shut opening. She hurried in the direction of the sound and stopped a few lengths away as her human walked inside of the fence with bowls of food. All of them had gathered at the sound of the gate, so they sat patiently waiting for all of the bowls to be put down. Upon being given their release command they defended on the bowls, each going to their own and began devouring their breakfasts. As soon as they had all finished eating they were loaded into their travel crates and their journey to a new location began.

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The drive didn't seem to take very long, and Artemis was one of the first dogs to be released out of her travel crate. She jumped from the edge of the truck and landed in the snow. A quick glance around had Lily's guess validated. There were a few teams of dogs, each in their own groups, gathered together while human counterparts spoke amongst themselves.

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Tundra's form lay curled within his box. His head was placed along his side with his tail curled up close to his nose. A glance from the outside made him look like a giant puff ball of fur, due to the way that he lay. While he wasn't a heavy sleeper, Tundra preferred to stay curled up and warm for as long as he possibly could unless someone needed him. Most of the other dogs knew this and they often left him alone in the mornings. He could tell from the chill in the morning air that it was still to early for him to be awake, but that didn't stop Azzi from waking him with the touch of a cold nose to just below his ear.

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Tundra huffed in annoyance and flicked his ear reflexively to the probe of Azzi's nose. Slowly Tundra opened his eyes and pulled his tail away from his nose. He shook his head to rid himself of the phantom feelings that still lingered of Azzi's nose as he turned to look at the aforementioned canine. "What do you need Azzi? It's too early to be awake, especially when it's this cold," Tundra gruffed, his voice still rough with sleep.

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Azzi gave Tundra a lopsided grin that diminished any hope that Tundra still held about going back to sleep. Something had happened or Azzi was going to drag him outside of his box to play. "Our human's lights are on! We're going to be doing something special today! Do you think that we're going to have a race? I hope we get to race today!"

Tundra wanted to roll his eyes, but refrained from doing so in an attempt to not hurt the other dog's feelings. "Azzi," the larger dog spoke, "we haven't even been to one of the meet ups before a race, why would we be racing today? It's probably just a meet up, so don't get your hopes to high up."

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Azzi only made a comment about Tundra 'not being any fun' and left Tundra alone in his box. Happy that he had at least been allowed to try and go back to sleep, Tundra started to curl up once more. He was thwarted of his attempt only a few seconds later as the sound of the gate opening made its way to him.

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Tundra pushed himself up into a standing position and made his way towards where he knew the food bowls would be. He paused and waited for the command to be given before he even considered claiming one of the bowls, however as soon as it was given he took a bowl on the end for his own. He scarfed down his meal quickly and then waited for what he knew would come next. They were led out of the fenced area and into their travel crates. Arrival at the new place had him being unloaded from his crate last. He shook out his fur and padded over to the rest of his team and sniffed at the snow under his paws that had been disturbed.

Shadow's paws scraped against the soft dirt, her claws digging thin lines. The team was in a fence in area behind the human's house. All the dogs where talking or pacing the perimeter of the fence all except Fog. In her mind she shook her head. Her brother was definitely not the most active of dogs. He was probably still asleep. Shadow heard a slight rustling behind her and fog emerged from his box. His brown fur looked fuzzy until he shook it out and the fur was back to the usual sleekness.

"Hi," Shadow said as he sat beside her.

" hi," Fog responded. They sat in silence for a moment before they heard a familiar shaking sound. Food!

Fog leaped up and raced towards the bowls of food. He arrived just behind the other dogs with Shadow trotting softly behind him. The food was dry and not very flavorful. But he still likes it. The human said something and walked off towards their house.
"did you hear that there's going to be a race soon?" A voice asked excitedly. Fog tilted his head, " Some of the other dogs are talking about it!" Hawk said. The dog was young, he had just joined the team a few months ago and was nearly still a puppy. He was very excitable and thought of everything as a game. Fog watched as Hawk ran off probably to tell the other dogs multiple times each.

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The snow under Artemis's paws sent a small chill up her body. She was used to being outside in the winter weather, but fresh undisturbed powder snow always seemed to have that effect on her. It was like something magical, at least in her opinion. Her gaze swept over the backs of her teammates in order to look over where some of the other teams had gathered. They were still obviously bunched together by the team they belong to, but Artemis could see a few talking between groups.

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Artemis returned her attention back to her own team and took a quick headcount of the dogs that were out of their crates. The only one missing from the immediate group was Tundra, but he was making his way over to stand next to the others. Now that she was satisfied that everyone was where they should be, she moved over to Lily and exchanged a few words with the other lead dog.

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It only took a few moments for it to be decided that Artemis was going to be the one running 'peace keeper' for the group this time. Really, all that being 'peace keeper' meant was keeping account of everyone and also keeping them in line. If a fight broke out it would be Artemis's job to break it up. The two switched the role almost every meet up so the other could enjoy talking to others.

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Deciding that they had determined all that needed to be finalized and getting the cue from their human, Artemis spoke to the team, "Best behaviors. That means no fight and nothing beyond gentle roughhousing." The team broke off after that. They still continued to keep in a general area, within Artemis's reaction range and their human's sight. Artemis lay in the middle of their area, close to her human, but not close enough to crowd him. Tundra had moved off to his own area near a group they saw regularly but didn't interact with much and appeared to be laying quietly, so she didn't think she'd have to worry about him for a while.

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Tundra took in the scent of his teammate and a few other dogs that had passed the area they were walking in now. It was fresh in places but still had plentiful sections that were disturbed by those that had passed by. His turned his gaze up and caught Artemis doing a head count. He had long since learned some of his lead dog's tells. That was a good thing though, if you were able to get a read on what the lead dog was doing you could react accordingly. He respected Artemis, despite her being younger than him in the same way she respected him. She didn't cause trouble for him, so he avoided causing trouble for her. They couldn't do each other's jobs and they both didn't tell others how to do it, perhaps a comment here or there requesting better notice about turns or the state of the sled's ease of movement - but other than that there weren't issues between the two of them.

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Tundra continued forwards, keeping his ears alert for any announcement that might be given before they went their own ways. When the command was given from their human it was Artemis who spoke saying that they weren't to cause trouble or do anything that appeared like trouble. Fairly standard as announcements went during gatherings. He caught sight of Lily moving ahead of him and straying from where their human was located. Artemis was to be their 'peace keeper' today.

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He let out a squeaky sounding yawn as he also made a path away from his human and Artemis. He kept to the left of the two of them and stopped near a team that had already spread out. He turned some of the fresh snow beneath his paws into a more compact form under his and circled the space a few times for good measure. Happy with how it felt under his paws, Tundra made a final circle before settling himself down on the ground with his head laying on his paws and ears perked, listening for anyone who might approach.

a few minutes after the dogs at finished their meal the where off to the gathering. When they arrived she leaped gratefully out of her crate and onto the cold snow.

fog narrowed his eyes against the sun. He could smell dogs so many it was almost overwhelming. The snow felt cold against his paws. Soft but freezing. He really only likes it when he was running, pulling the sled.

(sorry it's so short I've just been really busy.)

a few minutes after the dogs at finished their meal the where off to the gathering. When they arrived she leaped gratefully out of her crate and onto the cold snow.

fog narrowed his eyes against the sun. He could smell dogs so many it was almost overwhelming. The snow felt cold against his paws. Soft but freezing. He really only likes it when he was running, pulling the sled.

(sorry it's so short I've just been really busy.)

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Artemis watched the other dogs silently. Her eyes sweeping over the figures of the teammates from one to the other as she did so. Her attention was drawn away from her teammates as her human called her name. She turned to look at her human, but did not move from her spot. Her human wasn't looking at her though, but instead appeared to be talking to another team's human. A few names of her fellow teammates were also stated by her human a few moments later.

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The lead dog huffed and turned in a circle, compacting the snow under her paws and giving up it's fluffy, cloud-like quality and appearance as she did so. She didn't make a large amount of snow flat and sat down, returning her attention to her team. Only moments later the sound of a vehicle drawing near to where Artemis's human's vehicle was filtered towards her. She turned her head to watch as it came to a stop and then became silent. Dogs were let outside of the car, and she could see a few travel crates inside of the vehicle from where she sat. She noted that the group was a group she hadn't seen before, though she supposed they probably just hadn't been at the same races by the way the acted.

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Tundra shifted into a more comfortable position after a few minutes and moved his head to rest of the snow next to his paws. He knew better than to fall asleep during a sled team pre-race gathering, but closed his eyes. He didn't plan on sleeping, but resting his eyes he saw no issue with. There had been issues the one time he fell asleep during a gathering, a fight between another team's dogs that had most teams calling it a day. Tundra's team has been one of that last ones to leave because he hadn't heard the recall command.

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His ears twitched as they picked up the sound of a vehicle moving through the snow. He didn't move from where he lay, content to wait and see what was going on until someone approached him. The sound of the vehicle moving ceased and the sound of vehicle doors opening made Tundra draw the conclusion that another team had arrived to the gathering. The wheel dog lifted his head finally, twisting to see if he recognized the new arrival. He didn't he concluded after a quick glance and replaced his head to where it had been laying next to him.

Shadow

Shadow looked around. There where so many dogs. All different colors and sizes. She had never seen this many in one place before. She sat and swished her tail in the snow, creating little waves and uncovering the dry brown grass beneath it.

She could hear the yips and barks of dogs and the shouts of the humans. The place was loud and so very crowded. The wind blew making clouds of snow that fell back down creating little mounds.

By now all of the team had gotten out of their crates. Shadow went over to join them.

Fog

Fog looked over as Shadow came towards the team. He shifted to the side a bit to make room for her in the circle the team had made.
" Hi!" He greeted

" hi," Shadow replied with a flick of her ear.
"we where just talking about what the race will be like."

" I'm excited!" Hawk said enthusiastically " I bet there will be all sorts of ice to run on!"
"we don't want to race on ice." Lake reminded him softly. Lake was one of the more introverted dogs in the team but he had taken a liking to Hawk.
The dogs chatted for a while longer Hawk interrupting excitedly every few minutes. Shadow didn't talk much but that was the usual for her.