[Milliways] White Upon White

[dejah_thoris]

He'd only left an hour ago.  Darkness had fallen and the storm outside was screaming and tearing at the building.  It was lunacy to go out in this weather.  But he was out there, and in only the clothes he'd put on this morning.  He and Edgar both.

They'd die out there, surely, if they didn't get a move on.  

Woola whined at her, picking up on the desperation she felt crawling down her spine.  She'd put on her winter coat and boots, and taken the goggles bar had given her.  Ellen and Ysalwen were already waiting for her at the backdoor.  She handed each of them one of the electric lanterns Bar had provided.

"Are we ready?  Do we need anything else?"  

Comments

[dejah_thoris]

Dejah mutters a prayer under her breath and tugs her scarf back over her face. She peeks over the enclosure at a sleeping Nitwit, and feels a lump in her throat.

He's not going to die. He's already dead. How can he die again? He's just holed up somewhere safe and warm, and when they find him, he'll be surprised they were even worried.

"Right. Let's get going again." She heads to the back door and hauls it open, only to be greeted with another face full of icy knives. "Curtis!"

Woola dives back into the snow, snapping at the flurries kicked up by the wind.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"At least there's no predators out here," Ellen says, wincing as she pushes back into the raging storm and starts scanning the ground again. "Nothing big enough to go for people, anyway."

The bears here don't count. Not compared to yao guai.

[freedom_is_grey]

Here is hoping no one decided running across a poorly-iced lake was a wise decision. Or that they could tell where the lake border begins.

Ysalwen remains silent on that point, though. Just follows Liranan back out into the blustery wind.

"Hold on a second, I can -- "

It's easier this time, casting the spell to still the winds. And if she exerts her will just that tiniest bit more --

Maybe she can push the boundary out another ten feet. It's something.

"There."

[dejah_thoris]

Dejah sags with relief. "You're a lifesaver, Ysa. I owe you both."

She turns back to Ellen. "You don't know how much I appreciate this. I've never dealt with anything like this before. I don't know what I'd do without you two."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen smiles faintly, although her headgear probably doesn't make that very easy to see. "I've had people go missing in incredibly dangerous territory before. I know what it's like having to chase them down before something happens," she says. "It's no trouble at all."

[freedom_is_grey]

"What Ellen said."

Ysalwen smiles faintly, hand dropping down to rest against Liranan's shoulder, just for a second.

"The chance to save a life is definitely worth the risk. And I'm not about to let us freeze while we go looking, so perhaps the risk isn't quite so great."

They've probably all been through worse? Ish.

"Shall we press on?"

[dejah_thoris]

Dejah's way ahead of her. She gestures silently in the direction of the pull she feels from the wrist cuff.

Woola puts on his determined face and growls low in his throat, as if he could cow the storm so his mistress no longer smells so strongly of fear.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen nods and focuses her attention through the snows in that direction. The trail's here, she knows it; it's a question of not losing it in the face of all this mess.

(She'll probably get the wigginses about the snow later, if she thinks about it too much. Right now she's convinced herself this is no worse than the Alaska sim.)

[freedom_is_grey]

In a little while time is going to stutter-step around Ysalwen.

It's the quickest way to make sure she has the spell to control the storm ready again.

And can re-cast it before it fails completely.

[dejah_thoris]

Dejah's eyes go wide.

"Was that you?"

[freedom_is_grey]

"Wha -- oh. You felt that?"

Whoops.

"It's the easiest way to keep the storm moderately under control. Around us, anyway. And that -- seems safer? So. Just a few seconds rewind. For me. No one else."

[dejah_thoris]

"Quantum disturbance," she explained, holding up her wrist cuff and tapping it. "After what I've been through, I'm -- a little bit paranoid about that sort of thing. Glad to know it's you, actually."

She struggled through the knee-high snow, forging ahead down the path. "I'd hate to think something other than just weather caused this storm."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Oh, that'd be just what we'd need," mutters Ellen. "Some god or something getting angry, or one of the people with super powers, or- I don't know, I don't think the Asgardians can do this..."

[freedom_is_grey]

Ysalwen snorts.

"If it were Thor, we could probably ask him to stop and he would. Or he'd be able to fly high enough to see our missing friends."

Not that she's ever gone flying with Thor.

Wait.

"Though now you've got me wondering -- this weather isn't usual for Milliways?"

[dejah_thoris]

"I have no idea. This is my first winter here."

Dejah's trying really hard not to run through all the possible reasons for this place throwing an epic snowstorm at them. She's heard whisperings of the time the entire place came apart at the seams.

That thought doesn't bear a moment's consideration right now.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"This was the first place I remember seeing actual snow," Ellen says as she returns to picking the trail out from the background white. "I don't remember seeing it fall this hard or this heavy. That kind of thing would stick in the brain."

[freedom_is_grey]

"Ah."

Well, that's -- not particularly conclusive.

"At least I can't feel anything fighting me?"

[dejah_thoris]

"I'll take that as a good sign, then."

She already sounds tired. They'll find them.



She trudges on in silence, head up, scanning the white upon white, striving to find something, anything. A foot print. A scrap of clothing.

"Curtis! Edgar! Call out if you can hear us!"

They're nearing the water's edge now. There's a burnt out old structure here, she remembers. Maybe they found shelter there. She points and Woola charges ahead.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"We're looking for you," calls Ellen, though she doubts she'll be audible over the wind. Not with her head down to scan for the trail, anyway.

[freedom_is_grey]

Liranan howls again. Helpfully.

Ysalwen just drinks a lyrium potion and casts her spell to still the winds again.

[dejah_thoris]

Woola is the first to pick up on it. The hint of the trail that remains. He disappears from Dejah's side in a blur and before she can draw a breath to call out again, he's back, eyes bright.

He's found something!

It's a scrap of rag, frozen stiff with ice, but the tiny length of twine with it is unmistakable.

"This is Edgar's. Woola, show us where you found this!"

Woola chuffs and leads them to a path still visible in the snow, though it's disappearing rapidly. It heads straight for the burned out building.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"It's orange," Ellen says, forgetting for the moment that she's never actually shown the other two women what she sees through the goggles. "Woola, if you can, push some more of the snow aside- we have to get through..."

Purely out of reflex she reaches over her shoulder for the Gauss rifle she often carries. The men might be safely indoors, but this is a bad situation and there may be predators she hasn't seen smell-trails for trying to take advantage of it.

[freedom_is_grey]

Ysalwen hums a little, just under her breath.

If a person casts an invisible prison, but instead of it crushing inward it pushes outward --

It does wonders to clear a very distinct and well-defined area of snow along the quick-fading path.

Just to help Woola out.

[dejah_thoris]

Woola takes full advantage and Dejah's not far behind him. It's easier not having to fight the snow itself.

It's not long before they're at the shattered, burned out remains of the old boathouse. There's a scattering of snow over the very clear place on the floor where two bodies were.

"They were here. And not long ago." She glances at her companions. "Maybe a half hour?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Not much more than that," Ellen agrees, the goggles fixed on the partially bared floor. "The scent didn't really have time to fade, judging by the way it's glowing in these... we've got a better chance now."