[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]

"Oh thank Issus," Dejah breathes. "The wind cuts right through me."

Even all bundled up like this, she's colder than she's ever been in her life. She's trying to ignore the part of her mind that envisions the worst possible outcomes. It's not helpful.

There's a straight line up ahead. It's the fences that mark the path down to the stables.

"Curtis!" She can't help it. She has to do something. Shouting is probably no good, but it makes her feel better. "Edgar! Call out if you can hear us!"

[freedom_is_grey]

Liranan howls, high and wild and hair-raising.

Maybe he is taking a page from Dejah's book.

"Liranan! They don't know you. You'll make them think wolves are hunting them. Stop it!"

It seems like a valid concern, except -- maybe their world doesn't have wolves?

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen is silently glad that she didn't bring Dogmeat with her.

Besides, she's busy frantically scanning for the brightest, strongest streak of orange she can possibly find.

[dejah_thoris]

There's a vertical line of darker shadow rising from the white out. Dejah swings her lantern toward it. It resolves into the edge of the barn that houses the stables.

Dejah points.

"Let's check in there. Maybe we're worried over nothing and they're just -- let's just check it. To be sure.

Maybe they're too busy murdering one another to hear her shouting?

[freedom_is_grey]

"It's possible," Ysalwen allows, blinking her eyes heavily as she recasts her spell to still the winds.

There's no sense in making it harder to get inside the stables, honestly.

Take comfort, Dejah, Liranan would smell blood if there was any!

Less so strangling, but. Well.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Trail heads in that way," Ellen reports. "Doesn't look as fresh as I'd like, but..."

It's better than trailing them by asking nonexistent locals if they've seen two people. It's better than nothing.

[dejah_thoris]

Dejah strides ahead, unaccustomed to making her way through knee deep snow and fighting for every step. Her breath fogs in the air and a rime of ice is beginning to form on the scarf over her mouth.

"Woola?" The calot course corrects so he can break trail for her.

The barn is dark, and there are no voices, only the soft breathing of the residents. "Curtis?" Nothing.

They're not here.

[freedom_is_grey]

"Huh."

Ysalwen exhales sharply, and Liranan starts sniffing around the barn, checking for --

Well.

Checking to see how stale any sign might be. If there is a sign.

"Why would they leave? With a blizzard raging, what -- do you know what might drive them out of here and back into it, Dejah? Either separately or together?"

[dejah_thoris]

Dejah's expression is somewhere between stricken and wooden. Because they are both fools, obviously.

"They were not together. Edgar was upset and fled the bar before he knew there was a storm coming. Curtis went after him when he heard it was blowing in." She dips her head, one hand over her eyes. Woola leans heavily against her side.

When she speaks, there is a pained heaviness to her voice. She hates being powerless to help. "There's history between them. I do not believe either one of them is thinking clearly."

[freedom_is_grey]

"Andraste's ass!"

Ysalwen exhales.

"Well, I suppose that leaves it to us to do the clear thinking. So."

[stilljustandrew]

A crackling noise sounds from the walkie-talkie.

"Team A, this is Mission Control," comes Andrew's voice through the faint static. "What's your status?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen fumbles for the radio. "We're at the stables," she reports. "We got a trail, but they're not here."

[dejah_thoris]

"Tell him we're heading north from here. Along the path that follows the lake."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"We're heading out north, along the lake path," Ellen duly reports. "How about you?"

[stilljustandrew]

"Team B's heading into the edge of the forest. Keep me posted if you find any sign of them? Uh, Mission Control out."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Will do. Team out," Ellen reports, and holsters the radio. "Well, there's our progress report, I guess..."

[freedom_is_grey]

"I really hope they're not in the forest."

Ysalwen exhales heavily, then pulls her hood back in place, shaking off now-melted droplets of water.

No sense letting them freeze back in place outside.

"At least along the lake path they would eventually hit the mountains. There are caves there, which is something, as far as shelters go."

[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.)