meet
columbia woodrow, the girl with absolutely no plan whatsoever. she has no clue what she’s doing - up until a few months ago she was perfectly content with sitting off to the sidelines and cheering as mushers raced past her. sure, she’d begun to really admire the lifestyle, but she just didn’t think it was for her. after all - races were moreso
todd’s department; todd collins, her best friend, had been raised into a sledding life since day one. both his parents were mushers - they’d loved the sport, as did todd. in fact, todd was the one who brought this love of sledding upon columbia in the first place.
that all changed when
machiavelli showed up.
machiavelli was a new face around these parts - the pretty boy had just moved here from fairbanks, and todd had been determined to befriend him. pretty boy owned his own sled dog team, inherited from his parents after their passing. he’d agreed to a friendly race with todd, and though columbia could sense that machiavelli was competitive, she didn’t think he was capable of foul play.
the race was scheduled to take three days, tops. columbia had to help out at home, so unfortunately she was unable to wait loyally for their returns.
on day two, machiavelli had returned. he seemed confident in his abilities, albeit a tad shocked that he’d actually won.
on day eight, todd’s lead dog
georgette had returned, terrified, with her harness nearly shredded.
despite the search party’s efforts, todd’s body was never recovered, nor were the bodies of the rest of his team. columbia had been at work when she heard of this news, and it felt like her entire world had shattered.
she never forgave machiavelli, despite his many attempts to apologize.
after learning that todd’s parents would be hanging up their harnesses for good after the loss of their only son, columbia was infuriated. how could they all give up so easily? todd had to be out there somewhere - he never was the type to go down without a fight.
when columbia heard todd’s parents would be selling georgette out of spite for returning without their son, she marched over to their house and demanded to purchase the dog. this was the only lead she’d had to todd’s whereabouts - georgette needed to be with columbia if she was going to find todd, period.
columbia lives on a sanctuary with georgette and her pet parrot,
tidbit. they are constantly searching for todd’s remains - if they even exist.
this is the tale of bacardi ransom.