step out of the driving rain (open)

[viridescere]

WHO: Oliver Queen
WHERE: Throughout 7I and 6I
WHEN: early morning 22 October
OPEN TO: all
WARNINGS: none at this time

---

Ever since coming back from Lian Yu five years before (or, well, more like seven but his official story was five), Oliver had a routine that he's stuck to fairly regularly. He gets up early, trains, runs, then grabs breakfast and heads on about his day. He's found no reason to change that since arriving in this village and, besides, the run gives him time to think.

The scrubs aren't terrible to run in but the boots leave some to be desired. Back home, he's got Nike trainers that are custom-fit to his foot and his particular idiosyncrasies. Here, he's got boots that fit but not well enough, scrubs that are thin and not meant for the cold rain that comes down in streams and does just enough to melt the snow from the past two days and the peacoat is woolen and bulky. None of it is what he's used to.

Still, this is what he does. He runs. Since coming here, Felicity's been a lot more open to being together than she'd been back in Star City and he's not really sure why that is. She's explained bits and pieces of it, yes, but none of it seems to come together seamlessly in the way he'd like. He runs with that thought in his head, stops in at the Inn to spend a few moments drying off with a cup of tea, and then heads back out for the run home to the other side of the settlement.

The run back is quiet too. Not many people or animals out this early or in this kind of weather and Oliver can't say he blames them. It's cold even if it's not snowing and it's dark and gloomy besides.

i know you're bleeding, but you'll be okay.

[ex_assertiveness90]

WHO: Stella Gibson
WHERE: The inn + Stella and Peggy's house
WHEN: Backdated to early October
OPEN TO: OTA except where marked
WARNINGS: This post got more sad than anticipated :( Otherwise, none as yet.

---

ota;

Stella first notices something's wrong when Credence doesn't show up to meet her for tea at the inn one evening like he'd suggested. This is Credence Barebone, whom she's always known to be a conscientious, punctual young man, who would have warned her in advance if he'd planned to meet her somewhere and then couldn't make it. It's still possible he's been waylaid by something minor, but Stella learned a long time ago to listen to her gut instincts, and her gut is telling her something feels off. She waits till the next morning to go on the hunt — and what she finds is an empty house, both Credence and Graves gone, their things left about as if they'd suddenly got up and run off in the middle of something... or been abducted, or simply vanished. She doesn't touch anything or take anything, because it's not hers to take, but she's seen enough people suddenly disappear from the village to know what's happened here.

It occurs to her, too, that she hasn't seen Sonny since the day she pulled him out of the fountain after he'd nearly drowned trying to get himself home, and a cursory check reveals much the same scenario. Then she hears from Peggy that she hasn't seen Steve, and fuck, it must be the time of year — it must be autumn, with the way the weather's turning and the note she'd made in her diary this morning about how she's been here nearly a year now when she arrived in the middle of winter. It's just a season, and Stella's far from superstitious, but autumn in so many cultures means loss and melancholy. Or maybe it's just the observers, fucking with them again as always.

There are reasons Stella doesn't allow herself to get too close to people, though the reasons here and at home are different — here, it's out of self-protection against scenarios just like this one, when inevitably someone she cares about will disappear. The problem, naturally, is that she's a human woman and it's in human nature to want to care about things and people, and she can only do so much to control when that happens. Her many years of practice at keeping her emotions carefully regulated keeps her from showing too much of what she's feeling on her face, but anyone who happens to run into her while she's sitting in the inn common room with her usual cup of herbal tea that evening will notice she seems a little more distant than usual.

It's been nearly a year, she realizes again, which means it's got to be nearly her birthday. And Stella usually doesn't care one way or the other about her birthday but shit, she'd meant to be spending her 45th birthday at home in London after putting Paul Spector behind bars like he'd deserved, not trapped in what amounts to a fucking prison herself.

locked to peggy;

Stella has her tea, and allows herself time to converse with a couple of people, but eventually she makes her way back to the house. By now it's nearly dark; she goes to her bedroom and fetches the quilt off her bed, then goes back to the living room, lights a couple of candles, and sits down on the sofa with the quilt draped over her to wait up for Peggy. It's not winter-cold, not even close, but she's always felt cold easily and the extra layer helps.

Peggy had gone out to look for Steve earlier, and though Stella had offered to go with her she'd insisted otherwise. There's a lot of ground to cover in this village and the one on the other side of the canyon wall both, and it might have gone easier with two people, but Peggy's as stubborn as she is and Stella knows she can only get so far with her when she's so determined.

She's half-asleep when she hears the front door open and close; the sound wakes her up completely, and she pushes off the quilt and gets off the sofa to meet Peggy halfway. Maybe there's some good news out of this terrible fucking day — but by the look Stella can see on the other woman's face, she doesn't think so.

She waits, quiet, to let Peggy broach the topic — to allow her the time to collect her thoughts.