[align=center][table] Michael Reynolds [abbr=Male ★ 19 ★ Member of Flintlock Lodge]★[/abbr] | Dallas Darrow [abbr=Female ★ 16 ★ Member of Flintlock Lodge]★[/abbr] | [/table]
//uhh tw for hypothermia + near death and mentions of it
"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.
[table] |
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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 |
| [/table]
[align=center] [I]clever as the devil
and twice as pretty [B][I]if you wanna rumble all you have to do is ask
She had been outside for her own habit related reasons. Though seeing two forms approach the lodge she was quick to put out her cigarette and start walking in hopes to meet them. Her pace would quicken hearing the desperate cry. You can't exactly run in snow, but she did her best to move faster. She knew them, both of them, but that wouldn't register right away. Her main focus was Michael, who she was quick to sort of...force his arms into the jacket Dallas had put on his shoulders and then Blake would also put his arms through her jacket as well.
The ginger put his other arm over her shoulders to help Dallas keep him up. This would be when it registers with her. When she looked over to speak to Dallas and the words almost were lost [b]"Dallas..." meaning this was probably... "Go ahead, go to the lodge if you don't bump into anyone else and bang on the door. Tell them I sent you up to get help." she told her, looking her in the eye "I can carry Michael, alright? you're too tired and I can' carry you both"
[color=transparent]thes code
JUST STANDING WAITING FOR THE PUNCHES
Tomorrow had been outside for the specific purpose that Jeremiah and Beorhtwulf needed some time outside multiple times a day; Claire did too, but she was currently curled up asleep and he didn't want to bother her. So he leaned against the wall of the Lodge, watching the two hounds frolic in the snow as more snowflakes drifted down.
He jerked, hearing the calls for help; he didn't recognize the voice, but that didn't stop him from pushing towards the sound. He pulled out his walkie talkie, quickly relaying a message that there were people outside of the Lodge needing help as he pushed forward through the snow. He got there a lot later than Blake, quickly taking in the situation.
"Here-" Tomorrow said, shrugging off his coat and pushing it towards Dallas. He'd be able to fend off the biting cold a lot easier than a shivering teenaged girl, though he made sure to note to ask for it back later. "I radioed for help, let's get you inside."
'cus it don't make a difference anyway
tags - 26yrs - 6'1 - he/him - representative of fl
[align=center][div style="width: 430px; text-align: justify; font-family: calibri; font-size: 8pt; color: black; line-height: 22px;"] ☁ hayley had to believe that, some degree, the mountain, with it's endless cold and snow and endless supply of wolves and bears and other predators, served it's purposes. she didn't like to think about it, she didn't like the way those thoughts might make her look, but at the end of the day they were there: the mountain weeded out the weak. if you couldn't survive the hike, the cold, the animals, then you wouldn't survive there. it could be easy to brush them off as kind, as soft, because when you walked into the lodge, there were crackling fires and warm smiles and mugs of steaming drinks. the people there could be warm (with an exception to brendan), but it took a certain kind of person to survive in a land that wasn't designed to be habitable by humans. you had to be strong, you had to be smart, and you had to be willing to survive. it was easy to brush them off, but frankly, hayley laughed at the thought of some macho badlander trying to survive a week up there, marching through the snow by day, chopping logs for heat, hunting for their food. sure, people had to do those things everywhere, but there was something about the flintlock mountains that just made everything that much more extreme.
and yet another two had survived the trial of the wintry hellscape that was the mountain. just barely, from the looks of the boy who'd met the ground and the girl hugging herself for warmth, but she couldn't exactly judge their state. when she'd arrived all those many months prior, still pregnant, it had only been the very end of autumn and she'd hardly survived the trek. she'd made multiple trips down since then, but not being pregnant anymore helped ease the trip, and she knew what to expect. wear coats, go on horseback, make a day of it. the first trip up was always the hardest, it was something that got easier with time.
she'd been with jackson when the call had sounded, the two of them huddled together in the small room she'd claimed as an office, hunched over tables with papers covered in pictures and words and little toys representing different things. tomorrow's voice rang out over the walkie talkies, and once more she was delighted with her idea for them, and the two were hurrying out, careful to lock the door behind them as they headed down the stairs, shrugging on coats as they ran out into the snow, an extra in jackson's hands while hayley tossed her shotgun over her shoulder. they weren't the first to arrive to the party, as expected, and really, none of it was surprising. brendan was threatening people with his staff, tomorrow and blake were trying to help, as usual.
there was a game of jacket-roulette going on, which jackson ended when he held out the extra coat to tomorrow, moving to michael's side and glancing at blake. ❝i can help him, you make sure she's alright.❞ while he'd missed the earlier exchange of names, there was a look of familiarity between blake and the kids, and he figured the younger of the two could probably use a familiar face in that moment.
hayley, on the other hand, shot brendan a not right now look, before glancing at the teenagers. ❝my name's hayley, we're from the flintlock lodge,❞ she explained, voice risen over the wind of the mountainside, ❝we've got warm food and plenty of tea right up there, c'mon.❞ she said, motioning for the party to head up there, because shifting her gaze to the girl, who seemed more alert in that moment. ❝what are your guys's names?❞ she inquired, brows furrowed in concern.
[table] Michael Reynolds [abbr=Male ★ 19 ★ Member of Flintlock Lodge]★[/abbr] | Dallas Darrow [abbr=Female ★ 16 ★ Member of Flintlock Lodge]★[/abbr] | [/table]
The first person reached them - she knew it had only been a few moments, but her fear at the idea of losing her brother seemed to stretch out the time while compressing it too, so once Blake was there, things seemed to happen very quickly. Michael grimaced as he was forced into the coats, and while Dallas wasn't so easily distracted by the familiarity of the young woman, he was. He didn't really want to think of dying, but fortunately Blake made a very good distraction. "Blake?" It was at that point the younger of the two seemed to fully comprehend who was there. "I'm not leaving him, and you don't have to carry me." She'd been walking for miles, she could walk a bit more. "I'm fine."
Another person appeared, a man in his twenties, saying he had radioed for help. He offered her his coat, but she couldn't think of preserving herself when Michael was like this. Another boy appeared, looking a bit younger than her, and he had the audacity to point a stick at them. "Get that out of my face." She snapped, batting at the bo staff. "Can't you see he's hurt?"
Two more people approached them, a man and a woman. The bearded guy offered an extra coat to Tomorrow, then went to help Blake with Michael. Dallas reluctantly stepped back and hugged herself. Tears welled in her eyes and she sucked her lips into her mouth. She blinked, trying to keep it together. She had to, for Michael. He shouldn't be worrying about her right now. "I'm Dallas, that's my brother Michael." She glanced back at him again. He was leaning on Jackson, but his startled attention was still more or less on Blake. "We got separated from our family, and he thought we should come here." She frowned. "If that's why, I'm gonna kill him." Dallas turned sharply back to Hayley. "Not really. I wouldn't - he's my brother." They were at these people's mercy, she didn't want to do anything to jeopardize the help they were willing to offer.
Coming here to find Blake had never been on the agenda; after she disappeared into the night, he hadn't had the faintest clue where he'd go to look for her, if he ever got the chance. Maybe he could have followed her, that night, but that would leave his family vulnerable. And why would she? She was a girl, she'd been his friend, and then she'd disappeared. She wasn't the first, she wouldn't be the last. First one to kiss his cheek, though. "Get inside, Dallas. I'll be there." The threat on his life didn't faze him, though he wasn't really sure why she was threatening to kill him.
//this is a gd mess I'm sorry
[table] |
|
COLA WITH THE BURNT OUT TASTE
i'm the one you tell your fears to
THERE'LL NEVER BE ENOUGH OF US |
| [/table]
JUST STANDING WAITING FOR THE PUNCHES
Tomorrow glanced at Brendan, frustration flashing over his face at Brendan's hostility. There was no indication either of these people were a threat; just two freezing, terrified teenagers shouting for help. He didn't voice his thoughts though, and instead turned to murmur a greeting to Hayley and Jackson who were also rushing out.
Jacket roulette was in full swing, and Tomorrow was thankful for the extra coat which ended the strange dance. He was concerned when the girl refused the coat, and promptly snapped at Brendan; not to say Brendan didn't deserve it, but it wasn't a good indication for her state.
The shivering older boy was conscious and talking, seemingly knowing who Blake was; that was a mystery for another time, right now he was focused on getting these folks inside and safe. Dallas introduced them as Micheal leaned on Jackson, jokingly saying she'd kill him if the reason they came here was Blake. Tomorrow wasn't too worried about her acting on that, if she wanted him dead she could've simply left him here to freeze.
"Nice to make your acquaintances, I go by Tomorrow." Tomorrow said, a bit gruffly though his voice was punctuated with concern. "We'd be happy enough to take you in, but we can talk more when we're somewhere warmer. The path should be mostly clear now." Tomorrow said, glancing back; after the amount of people running out here, the snow did have a small path leading back up to the doors.
"You'll do your brother no good as a popsicle, here." Tomorrow said, offering her the extra coat Jackson had handed him before following Hayley's motions and starting to head back towards the Lodge. He could hear Jeremiah and Beorhtwulf somewhere in the trees, and whistled to call them back to him; he didn't much care if the others were annoyed by it, he wasn't leaving his dogs outside in the snow.
'cus it don't make a difference anyway
tags - 26yrs - 6'1 - he/him - representative of fl
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