03-01-2019, 09:43 PM
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//uhh tw for hypothermia + near death and mentions of itMichael Reynolds [abbr=Male ★ 19 ★ Member of Flintlock Lodge]★[/abbr]
Dallas Darrow [abbr=Female ★ 16 ★ Member of Flintlock Lodge]★[/abbr]
"I'm fucking freezing." The voice came from the shorter and more feminine of the two figures slowly making their way up the mountain. Her arms were hugging her, and she was shooting daggers at the other figure walking a few feet ahead of her. He paused and glanced back at her. "I already gave you my coat." He was even colder than she was, he was shivering quite badly, but he knew if he complained he'd never hear the end of it. Coming here had been Michael's idea, after all, and Dallas had protested it all the way. She wanted to try and find their way back to their family, but Michael couldn't let her go back there. He couldn't bear the thought of telling her why, either, so he told her that this would be temporary.
And it would. Until he could figure out how to get Linus to safety and until he could figure out where they'd go next. He knew he was going to have to tell her at some point, but it wouldn't be today. It couldn't be today, though. Michael could barely deal with the knowledge of what had happened himself, he couldn't imagine trying to take on the task of explaining what had happened to Dallas, then helping her get through the trauma. He would tell her, though, when the time was right he'd tell her. He just hoped this place was real, otherwise he might have to tell her when it was wrong.
She knew that it wasn't fair to complain about the cold when her brother had done everything he could to ease it; including suffering more himself, shivering away in the two sweaters he had, hands tucked into his armpits. Some part of her wanted to punish him though, for bringing her here instead of home. She missed her parents, and her brother, and her aunts and uncles and cousins and everyone else. She couldn't stand being in the middle of nowhere, far away from everything she'd ever known and loved. Well, almost everything. She still had her brother, and she wasn't willing to risk losing him too. It's why she'd followed him here, up this accursed mountain.
Then they saw a shape, in the distance, and Michael released a sound that was somewhere between laughter and sobbing. "It's real. Oh my god, it's real." It took him a moment to realize that the only boots crunching through the snow belonged to him, so he turned around. Dallas had stopped and was staring at him with the most infuriated look on her face. "You didn't think it was real?! Did you drag me up here thinking that it might not exist?!" Well, he had been pretty sure that it was real, but he couldn't help but doubt that it was, wonder if he was going on a wild goose chase for a place that didn't exist. But it did. They were saved.
"No, I did." He said, trying to sound confident but his speech came out slurred. He started moving again, this time with a bit more vigor now that the end was in sight. After a moment of head-shaking, Dallas followed him. They didn't get far, though, because after just a few feet, he was stumbling, then falling, the cold finally getting to be too much for him. Or rather, since cold was just the absence of heat, too little. "Michael!" Dallas shrieked, running to catch up with him, shrugging off his coat as she went and putting it around his shoulders. "Come on, we're almost there!" She said, pulling her shaking brother back to his feet.
God, why had he insisted on coming here? Why had he let her take his coat? Why had she taken it? This was as much her fault as it was his, wasn't it? He couldn't die, not here, so far from home, and not like this. Last year Barty had fallen into a frozen lake, and he'd nearly died; what if Michael didn't survive this? Dallas glanced up and saw shapes approaching them, the inhabitants of the Lodge no doubt. "Help us!" She cried desperately, still trying to get Michael to shelter, but he kept stumbling and she could barely keep him on his feet.
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COLA WITH THE BURNT OUT TASTE
i'm the one you tell your fears to
THERE'LL NEVER BE ENOUGH OF US