[page 51]

	[a shot from higher up in the trees, looking through the wooden pillars. white fangs float among them, following a glow reflected onto the snow below. entire chunks are missing from some tree trunks, the holes marked by patches of ice and bleached bite-marks.]
	[lick, trudging along through the thick snow. their gaze is fixed straight ahead, their expression sharp. dusty is glancing around underneath them as they are carried along.]
	[dusty frowns.]
	[they turn upward gingerly.
dusty: "lick... are you okay? you've been quiet."]
	[lick continues walking, not faltering or glancing downward.
lick: "...yeah. we'll find a way to thaw the train. i know it."
dusty: "don't you wanna find a way out of htis forest? get somewhere safe?"]
	[from a distance, lick walks past a thick concentration of the forest, their frozen tail trailing behind. their footsteps walk back to the POV. there are more trees with the bite marks on them.
lick: "but we can't just... leave the train here."
dusty: "it's a popsicle by now, lick. why bother?"]

[page 52]

	[from behind a tree, a pair of ivory fangs prowl toward the light, over lick's pawprints in the snow. the shadow of lick's tail falls over the trunk of the tree, the tip coming into contact with a frozen bitemark in the tree.
lick: "dusty, how else are we gonna find the sun?"
dusty: "...lick-"
lick: "no. don't say it."
dusty: "lick, i think you need to be... prepared for-"
lick: "please don't say it."]
	[dusty is grimacing as they speak.
dusty: "... i think that... the sun is gone."]
	[lick continues walking, but their ears turn backward, and their gaze saddens.
lick: "... that's easy for you to say. you emit light, you don't know what it's like."
dusty: "i just mean... realistically-"]
	[lick plops dusty in the snow.]
	[lick, sitting down, one paw forward, ears back and their face intense. dusty merely stares at lick as they talk.
lick: "realistically? you don't know any more than i do about what's realistic. you're literally a hot-air-filled rustbucket."]
	[dusty's expression is blank with bewilderment.
dusty: "... wow. that's... quite the choice of words."]