sixthiterationlogs | Trekking down the Mountain with Team Moral Ambiguity

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Trekking down the Mountain with Team Moral Ambiguity

WHO:Vanille, Reyes, Anne, Seifer
WHERE: Comin' Down The Mountain
WHEN: Jan 25 to about Jan 30th or so
OPEN TO: Vanille, Reyes, Anne, Seifer
WARNINGS: Perhaps some gore for fox fights, will update as needed

They'd managed through their visions, through seeing visions of strangers and friends, and they'd come out the stronger for it. But now, there was a whole new challenge to face; getting down the mountain.

None of them are exactly perfectly dressed or prepared for such a hike; it's even a struggle to figure out which way to go so they don't end up on the far side of the mountain, but with navy, hunter green, and two black scrubs representing, they're able to find the right path and power through it.

Black Foxes

That sound you just heard? An ominous rustling of twigs and a crunch of snow? That's not your imagination - but where is it coming from?

It happens to be coming from more than one side, as three foxes attack you and whoever you're with; nipping at your legs and herding you off to the side between the three of them.

Nighttime

It's cold during the day, and even colder at night; someone's got a fire going, somehow, and it's the best bet to keep warm to huddle close to it, close to someone else, or a little bit of both. If you're lucky, you've caught a rabbit or bird, or maybe even some fish to cook up for dinner.

Fording the River

It's got to be crossed at some point, but there doesn't seem to be any good stretch to do it. It's wide, it's fast, and it's just deep enough to be trouble. This is definitely better attempted with help than on your own.

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At least Reyes had his shoes on that morning when they were whisked away. He was grateful for that.

But there was about as far as his gratitude went. It's a relentless hike for a man unused to this sort of activity -- he usually stayed put in his old life, the spider at the center of the web, holding court from a night club with a drink at his elbow -- so this is a new frustration, without even the use of jump-jets to help cross the landscape.

Anne and Seifer kept up a rotating burst of motivation using their powers, whenever one of their group started flagging and feet dragging. It was the most he'd ever used his own powers, too, walking in front and following that faint glow as it leads them ever onwards and downwards and northwest, towards home.

But, then: the fucking foxes. He doesn't even have time to quip, to be anything but focused on surviving this: Reyes has a long branch, sharpened using Seifer's knife, and he's wielding the stick with a stance familiar from Nida's training as he stands shoulder-to-shoulder with his groupmates, trying desperately to jab the black foxes away.

It's lucky that Seifer and Vanille are used to surviving harsh monster attacks. Luckier still that Vanille grew up in the bush, in a small village where large animals and monsters roamed around outside and anytime someone wanted to take a long trip, others came with them. Unless the trip was for a l'Cie Focus. Then... well, the l'Cie generally didn't need the help from normal humans.

Surviving in this village has been a small taste of a normal life for Vanille. The only trouble is that she hasn't been without her l'Cie powers in a long time. She has her scrubs power, but it's not the same at all. Still, once the foxes turn up, she's glad she has something, even if it's not her usual.

Glaring at the foxes, she huffs out a noise of concentration, focusing on her scrubs and the power she knows they have. This will at least provide something close to a Protectga spell, making the group able to withstand more attacks and weather more damage. With that done, she picks up a large rock and lobs it straight for the closest fox's body. The animal whines at the impact and runs off, not willing to take another hit.

Unfortunately, that isn't the only one they have to deal with. "Look out!" she calls to Reyes, pointing behind him.

There's still another fox left. And after so many hours of following his strange ability, when Reyes sees another glowing glint to his left, he doesn't hesitate -- he lunges for it, flinging himself in that direction as sharp talons reach out from the right and try to rake at his leg. (He suddenly remembers, then, a squirreldog scampering down his leg in the inn. What he wouldn't give for Joe Miller's strange spiritual connection with animals right about now.)

He pivots away from the animal, favouring his slightly scraped and bleeding calf, but it's not as bad as if Vanille's powers hadn't protected him from the attack. A wild flail with his makeshift spear, and the fox is growling and backing away, but too slowly.

Reyes is oddly furious through the pain. "If I still had my blaster, you'd be mincemeat by now," he tells the fox, gaze fixated on it as it tries to circle their group. The threat is useless, but it makes Reyes feel better in the moment.

Vanille isn't as worried about what damage this last fox could do as she is about whether or not it will call in reinforcements. She has plenty of experience with animals and monsters that call for backup and even some that summon the nearest enemy to come help them. When a small flightless goblin-bird flock suddenly is plus one giant King Behemoth or a Juggernaut, nothing is okay. In this moment, Vanille misses her normal weapon and her l'Cie powers more than anything.

"Keep an eye on it," she coaches, turning so Reyes is directly behind her and they're back to back so she can at least take a look for any other threats. Or anything that might have heard the fight and want in on the action. "I just want to make sure it hasn't called for backup."

Too many things in her life absolutely would have by now and the last thing they need is to get surprised by more. Keeping an eye out for anything else, she moves to pick up another rock, slightly bigger than the last. In lieu of another branch-spear, rocks as projectile weapons will have to work.

"How would it even--" But he's not used to wild animals and the way they behave, or to threats that aren't another human being or alien.

So it's obvious by the way Vanille carries herself that she's strangely experienced with this sort of thing; she falls into a defensive position, a close-range melee that's different from everything Reyes is accustomed to. He tends to duck behind cover, fire from afar; sniper shots if the terrain allows. Not this kind of up-close-and-personal brawl.

And so it's Vanille's accurate toss of another rock, colliding soundly with the fox's snout, that dazes the animal enough for Reyes to lunge forward himself.

There's that sickeningly physical feeling when his sharpened spear collides. Different from the callous distance of a blaster, of merely pulling a trigger. Instead he has to put his back into it, leaning, applying pressure, grinding away, before the fox howls in distress and finally turns and scurries away. Reyes loses his footing as the resistance suddenly vanishes and he almost stumbles forward, takes some weight on his wounded leg with a groan.

Vanille crows with triumph as her rock lands true and again as Reyes strikes with his spear. It takes both of them to convince that fox to leave them alone and she hopes that will be the last one for their trip back.

"And stay away!" she huffs at the retreating animal.

The wounded sound coming from her companion catches her attention. Turning, she tucks her little self up against his side, wrapping an arm around his waist and his arm around her shoulders so she can take some of his weight off his injured foot.

"You need to sit down so I can take a look," she says. "I don't have my Medic magic but I can still wrap you up so nothing gets worse."

Reyes hates making (or letting) others carry him, but he's forced to lean his weight against Vanille as she braces him up, helps him hobble over to a medium-sized boulder. He settles down with a grunt and exhale; he sounds pained or annoyed, and it's hard to tell the difference.

"Medic magic. Really wish we had that in this village," he says, head downcast as he stretches his leg out in front of him, rolls up the fabric of his trousers to check on the torn bite. "Christ, I miss having our armour. It wasn't heavy-duty, but it helped. Thank you for..." He waves a hand, vaguely, not sure how to describe her power. "Your ability? Thing."

He's keeping his voice light and airy, as always, but there's a thread of strain in it now as Vanille looks over the wound.

Vanille is used to grumpy people at this point in her life. She can see past the groans and complaints to what really matters. So she isn't bothered by Reyes' grunts. She just helps him get settled so she can look at his injury. It doesn't look too bad, but it'll get worse if they just leave it. She tears a strip of cloth off her pant leg, using it to tend to the worst of the injury and then wrapping it up so it won't get more dirt in it. With that done, she settles back on her heels, looking up at him with concern.

"Yeah, I'm just glad I had something to help at all," she says. "I miss my l'Cie powers. Sazh and Hope had the better Synergist spells. They were really good at protecting the group with spells. Much better than I was. I was better at things like fire and water or finding an enemy's weakness and running with it."

He nods in gratitude as she binds his leg, and he touches it gingerly. It really isn't as bad as it would've been without that durability granted by Vanille.

"What were your l'Cie powers, exactly?" Keeping himself talking is a nice distraction from that stinging, nagging pain in his leg, so he focuses on her instead. "You mentioned them back in the shrine but I'm still not entirely clear on what they are. We didn't have elemental magic, as such, in my world."

Now that she's had most of her secret life blown wide open, she's finding it easier to talk about the details of being a l'Cie. It's still hard and there's a lot buried in her past that's hard to talk about, but she's trying. So now she pushes herself up so she can settle next to him and try to figure out how to explain it all to someone who never experienced it.

"Well, it's a lot of things," she starts, leaning back on her arms. "All kinds of magic tied to one of six roles. You're only really good at three. The other three you can learn some things, but you won't master them. My main three were Saboteur, which is like... making an enemy weaker; Ravager, which is elemental magic like manipulating fire or water or electricity; and Medic, which is healing magic. The other three are Synergist, making your allies stronger; Sentinel, the one who protects everyone else by taking the enemy's attention; and Commando, the one who relies on physical strength, not magic. We all have our main role, but we have to work together with the other roles to make it through the tough fights." She glances at him, flashing him a smile. "So I guess what my power does here is like a Synergist casting Protect spells. It lessens the damage we take."

"Sentinel," Reyes repeats, catching on that particular phrasing in surprise. The way Vanille is describing the different roles, they sound oddly familiar. "We had specialties very much like that. One called sentinel, too, but their focus was tech and biotic abilities to protect the team. Barriers and such."

He'd always thought that her world erred on the side of fantastical and magical, compared to his own, but perhaps the various universes are closer than he realised. "Your Ravager sounds a bit like our Adept, too. They're useless names slapped on it by the Alliance military, mostly, but it serves as a point of reference."

A beat, while he considers. "You must miss your magic." He suspects Ryder would've been itchy and restless without her biotics.

"Yeah, that's what our Sentinels did," Vanille says wistfully. "Draw the enemy's attention and then use Steelguard to protect yourself so you don't take as much damage. Get yourself a good Synergist and a Medic and you're really set."

Fang was good at Sentinel, though Snow was the best of their group. He could just sit there in place and take hits forever. Surprisingly, Lightning was also a good Sentinel, owing to the fact that her Evade ability was just as good as Steelguard.

"Sometimes," Vanille admits after a moment's consideration. "I miss being able to protect people the way I used to. But... without my magic, without worrying about my brand all the time... it almost feels normal. I miss feeling like a human instead of a l'Cie. There's good sides and bad sides to each. You just have to learn to adapt and survive."

It's easy to be awed by others' exceptional abilities, but now that she mentions it, Reyes can see those bad sides, too. He recalls the early human biotics with their incurable migraines, the brain damage. The mistrust and suspicion that others levelled at them. And in Vanille's case, if it spared her from potentially transforming into one of those monsters from her vision...

"It must be a bit of a relief, then," he says. "Not having the weight of it on your shoulders. Adapting and surviving is best skill anyone can have -- I mean, just look at us." He waves wearily at the mountain around them. "Who'd have thought we'd wind up on a mountain, on this unknown planet, in the middle of nowhere, and somehow still pull through? Adapting."

His words bring a tired sort of smile to Vanille's face. She kicks her feet a little bit, more for distance and distraction than anything else. He's right, of course. They are adapting. Every little thing that gets thrown at them here, they adapt to. They're surviving and still helping each other. That has to mean something.

"Yeah," she agrees. "Maybe we're even getting more family out of it."

Anne had referred to their group as Vanille's new family and it seemed fitting somehow. They'd all been through so much trauma up on this mountain, watching things from their past or maybe future, things they didn't want to see again or have anyone else witness, either. And yet despite it all, they're still pushing forward, still trying to get back to the village. It's something. A big something.

"We're gonna continue adapting and surviving and you're not escaping from me, got it?" she says playfully. She even smiles to emphasize the joke, though she means every word of it.

"You make it sound a bit like I'm being held captive." But it's clear by his own smile that he doesn't mind; she's helped him, they're helping each other. The unexpected teamwork continues. And so Reyes rises off the rock he's been sitting on, testing putting weight on his injured leg. It still twinges with pain, but Vanille's makeshift bandage holds tight. It's not overly gruesome. He'll still be able to walk, though the long trek won't be enjoyable.

It wasn't ever going to be, anyway.

"On we go with the world's worst hike, then. Together."

"Held captive by family!" she giggles.

It's better than being on this hike alone. Vanille smiles and slides into step beside him.

"Together," she says with a nod, as they head on forward.

Black Foxes - Closed to Seifer

Anne hasn't explored too deeply unto the forests surrounding the village, partly because she recognizes the fact that she's a city-bred tourist in the wild frontier. Partly that was just because she knew she didn't have the experience for dealing with wild animals in general, and with the nature of this place the creatures are a little bit trickier than your garden variety rattlesnake.

On this trek, she's about to get an up close and personal introduction to local wildlife; walking along, chafing her arms to keep warm and focusing on the moment she'll get to set a fire in her fireplace and curl up with her cat, she almost misses the way the brush seems to shift without wind to aid it. At first she thinks it's just a trick of her imagination, because it seems to come from the left, then later the right, and possibly from behind? But the sounds are consistent enough that eventually she knows something is tracking them.

And, just about the time she makes this realization, the first black fox makes its appearance; leaping from the brush, snarling and snapping its teeth. She instinctively staggers back, but this is just what it had intended; a second fox leaps from the other side and its just by sheer lock that Anne is able to dodge past it.

The first fox leaps again, and in Anne's hasty retreat she backs into a small huddle of rocks and trips backwards into the snow and underbrush, throwing her arm up in front of her face int he last moment so her arm catches the press of teeth instead of her eyes. Obviously this had been the foxes intent in the first place; navigate her into rocky terrain and get her down. The second fox rushes in and she's able to repel it with a well-aimed kick, but the first fox has a solid hold of her forearm and is tugging back and snapping its head to and fro.

Nighttime

She'd been dressed for a quick jog in the cold when they were transported up to the shrine, so she's at least got decent coverage, but she hadn't planned on this amount of winter weather hiking and the nights in particular are brutal. She'll help to start and stock the fire, and huddle as close to it as she can without worrying of setting her clothes ablaze.

"I keep trying to think of some of the winters I had in New York ... they could get pretty brutal, but of course I could always retire to my nice warm apartment. Or at least a nest of blankets, if the power was out."

River

It's something of a relief to have come this far, but standing there looking at the rushing waters, Anne's unsure how they're going to get everyone across. She stands a little lost for words as glances up and down the bank to see if there were any better candidates for passage.

Certainly didn't look at it.

"So, uh ... any ideas?"

This was his realm of expertise, he should have been quicker on the uptake. Perhaps, with the relative safety he'd come to expect around the small village he'd allowed his skills and his guard to slip. It didn't help he had no Junctions to help enhance his senses and keep him more energized for longer periods of time. He was tired, physically and emotionally, as such he was so zeroed in on getting them through the stupid forest and back home that he'd not been paying as close attention to the warning signs as he should have.

In the back of his mind a small nagging had grown. The quiet of the forest, the rustle of brush around them. They were being hunted, circled, and yet stupidly he'd not called the alarm preemptively. Stupid, because in a few moments there would be a flurry of brush and fur, and a shout from Anne.

In his periphery he sees the fall, and like a shot he responds. Bounding over brush and stone like it's nothing to bring that smith's hammer he'd shown up with in a brutal, swift blow against the fox. Aiming to knock it away from Anne before the damned thing can do too much damage.

Anne is trying to hold her arm close to her chest as the Fox is trying to wrest it away, her other hand grasping among the snow for a rock she can use as a weapon. She's just able to wrap her fingers around it when the fox lets go of her arm in a play for her head, but in that moment Seifer comes bounding out of nowhere and slams that fox out of the way.

The second one, at this point, has recovered from Anne's kick and is sprinting up behind Seifer. Anne whips her hand froward with the rock she'd just found and slings it at its head. It glances off the head, not downing it but disorienting it for the moment.

"Seifer - behind!"

A good tactic, finding a rock. Fortunately Seifer was quick enough to spare her face an unfortunate rearranging. There's a moment where he looks like he's about to ask her something when she shouts her warning. He whipped around without hesitation, diving after the now dazed attacker for another vicious hammer blow.

This wasn't his first choice in weapon, if he had his sword the situation would have been handled by now. Regardless it was clear with the quick, calculating way he responded that this particular kind of combat wasn't new to him. Once he'd cracked that fox a good one he'd switch his attention to scan for where its buddy went.

"Good job with that rock." He managed now.

Anne is taking the moment to breathe and look about; the second fox wasn't moving, and she couldn't find the first one. She doesn't feel too terrible about that with Seifer standing nearby, not with the speed and efficiency with which he showed up and reacted.

Her arm throbs, but she can flex her fingers so she's not too worried, but she does hold it against her chest as she starts to work towards standing.

"Thanks. Good job with the hammer." She'd done what she can, but those were by far the angriest foxes she'd ever seen. "Kind of just came out of nowhere."

For the moment it appeared the first fox had fled now that its partner in crime was down. Still, for the moment Seifer wasn't willing to let up his guard just in case. All too often would monsters and humans alike attempt to play that game for a secondary ambush.

A few beats and he offers a hand to help her up, eyes still locked on the brush surrounding them. "Don't have any Cures," He mutters out of habit, then lets an annoyed snort out with himself. Of course he doesn't he doesn't have magic here.

Got himself locked back in combat mode for a moment, don't mind him."'Course, they usually do. Should've expected something like this." Monsters were good at getting the jump on you. All the more reason for him to ramp up his paranoia. Though her hammer comment earns a wry smirk. "Guess I should consider a weapon specialization change." Hammer specialist instead of gunblade.

Edited (the hammer tho) 2019-02-08 04:09 (UTC)

She'll take the help up, takes a look at the downed fox to make sure it's not moving, and then off into the distance where the other had fled, before looking down at her arm. The sleeve is torn and there's blood and throbbing pain, but she can still move her fingers.

"I think it looks worse than it is, but I should probably get this wrapped up." It's more an aside to herself, realizing she didn't exactly have any extra fabric she could use.

"Yeah? What are you normally swinging?" She's glad he had at least something, and she's definitely going to save a rock for the rest of the trek down.

"We'll have to see what we can salvage." Everyone's rather under dressed for this excursion and there might not be much fabric to fasten into bandages. If nothing else Seifer will volunteer a pant leg or something. Not perfect, but it'll have to do. Hyne he hopes he gets some more clothing soon.

"You've seen it. Gunblade, was pretty damn good at it too." She's been witness to him fighting. Not with his usual finesse, unfortunately, more desperate and rabid, but that was his sword. He'll sharpen her a stick too. Everyone gets sticks.

It's probably a good thing that the group has Vanille with them or else things would probably be a whole lot worse than they are. Vanille might not be the hunter that Fang is, but she at least knows a few things about survival. She can pick out edible plants, at least a few of them, and catch some fish for them. So they've at least got a fishy dinner and that's a start! She's also managed to get a fire going for them and she can keep it up for a while, long enough to teach someone else how to keep it going while she takes a short sleep. That's how trade-off works anyway.

In theory.

In reality, she's tired, she misses Fang, and she wants to be back home. So she's focusing on what needs to be done and right now that's grilling some fish spread between two wooden sticks held over the fire, far enough that the wood won't catch, but close enough to cook the fish. It's tiring, but it's keeping her busy for now.

"I've never been this exhausted in my life."

He's honed the ability to whine, theatrically, about the things that don't actually matter -- but now, for once, Reyes' gripes are legitimate and reveal some of the strain that's wearing him down. He's flopped on the ground beside the fire, legs sprawled out in front of him, back propped against a log they've repurposed for a bench.

"Smells good, though." He gestures to the fish she's working on, but his eyes are closed with weariness, head tipped back to the sky.

While Vanille took care of the fire and getting something edible procured for them, Seifer had set about collecting branches and fallen wood. Some for the fire, most of which he'd been stacking and lashing together into a makeshift shelter for the night. That pocket knife Tony made him was sure coming in handy now, thank Hyne he'd taken to carrying it with him.

There wasn't a lot of room, which was by design if they were to stay warm they'd have to stick close, but it should keep them from getting surprised by predators or snowed on. That's the idea anyway. Once he'd finished rigging up and ensuring the stability of his little shelter he stood back, planting his hands on his hips with a huff.

He offers Reyes a lopsided smirk. "Not much of an outdoors-man huh?" This was just part of training for him. Had to reel himself in before he said something too ill-tempered about it all. Not everyone grew up a soldier.

The griping reminds Vanille of Sazh and a small, sad smile crosses her face. She half expects to hear him say, "I'm getting too old for this," next, but it never comes. Instead, she just focuses on the fish and sticking with her group. They've all seen less than pleasant parts of their lives and no one's really in a good headspace. All the more reason to stick together.

"Yeah, I'm tired, too." There's something about emotional weariness that's so much more exhausting than physical. "I miss my family."

And she doesn't just mean her Cocoon family. She misses Oerba, the way it used to be. She misses the flowers and the color and all the people. The last time she'd been home all the color was gone and all the people had been turned Cie'th. Oerba wasn't anything like what it once was.

"Won't be much longer to wait," she says as she carefully turns the fish over so it will cook evenly on the other side. "This is about all I know how to catch without my normal weapon."

Seifer gets a glance and a small smile in greeting. The shelter looks nice enough, something that should hold up for the four of them.

"At least you can catch something. Me, I'm feeling useless," Reyes admits with a sigh. "If I'd just had a bow on me, I could actually hunt—"

But he wasn't Hawke, and hadn't been up at the crack of dawn that morning with weapon in hand. At this rate, he thinks irritably, he should just learn to start sleeping with it, on the off-chance they're kidnapped again.

Once the sound of Seifer's efforts subsides, Reyes cracks open an eye to assess the young man's work on the shelter. "Cozy," he pronounces. And they will have to get cozy, even as nearly-complete strangers to each other... but at least it's better than huddling up with people he knows even less. There's a strange kind of solidarity with this group, at least, having weathered each others' worst together.

"I call little spoon," he says. A weary joke.

"That's fine, I'm more comfortable with the big spoon anyway." Anne joins them, taking a seat at the log bench and gives a nod to Vanille and Seifer. She's a little late to the party, clutching her newly-bandaged arm to her chest but generally content the wound wasn't worse.

"Normally I love a good camping trip but I wasn't exactly prepared for this one." Plenty of excursions and wet weekends and temperature drops because San Francisco bay area fog doesn't play around.

Everyone was still carrying the heavy burden of their shows. Emotional exhaustion really was the worst out of the two. Physical they could keep pushing for a while. There's no relief for the mind. "I miss my bed." Seifer offers, trying to lighten the mood a little. Not to undermine Vanille, he hopes she doesn't think that, just because they're all in bad shape. Morale is kind of a big deal in situations like this.

"Thanks for lookin' after the food Vanille, I can't fish worth shit. If we find some willows I can try to set up a snare tomorrow." It's getting too dark now.

They're all thinking about the same thing now, being constantly prepared. That level of paranoia isn't going to make them more healthy. Thanks, Overseers. Reyes and Anne's jokes earn a barked laugh as Seifer finally moves over to flop down on the log as well. His work's done for the moment. "Sucks I'm only familiar with edible plants on my planet. Didn't even think to brush up here." Not many, mind you, just enough to make it a few more days when separated from a squadron.

"So, big spoon or little spoon Vanille?" Now seems like a fine time to continue the joke. Humor can help pull their minds out of dark places. Though he does turn his attention to Anne, concerned.

"How's the arm holdin' up?" What a time to be without Paramagic or Potions.

If she'd had her regular weapon, she could've caught something a lot bigger. She and Fang used to "fish" for flying monsters big enough to carry the both of them and somehow Vanille, and her weapon, had the strength to hold onto it until Fang could jump on it and subdue it. They made for a good team, something she misses very acutely in this moment.

These three people she has grown closer to are helping, at least.

The jokes bring a smile to her face, small though it is. They've been through hell together and that seems to have made them closer. She'll take it.

"I wasn't going to let anyone starve," she adds on. "That wouldn't be very nice of me, would it?" It's the least she can do at this point. And they're all helping keep her mind off of what her future holds. Despite knowing that she should go back as soon as she can to finish everything and help save Cocoon, she isn't looking forward to any of that.

"Little spoon," she quips. "I'm so small, I'd make a terrible big spoon."

"Good, Anne can keep us all warm, then," Reyes says lightly. Although he realises it's almost something of a given, anyway, that the teens should probably get the inside of their little huddle in order to stay warm tonight.

It's a curiously altruistic observation, and not something he would've thought of before. But it's hard to lapse back into cutthroat every-man-for-himself behaviours when there's nothing much to be gained from it, and when he needs their help to get food. To stay safe, and warm, and have shelter.

"When we get back," because he chooses to believe in when rather than if, "I'm doing homework at the schoolhouse. Reading up more on the flora around here."

He glances at Anne's arm after Seifer's question. The bite seemed a bit worse than the smaller scratch on Reyes' leg, but she hasn't been complaining.

"I will absolutely lean into the role of Mama Bear and cuddle each and every one of you if that's what it takes." Leaning hard into the joke. "- and Vanille, piece of advice?" Anne grins mischievously, "It's not the size, but the Attitude."

At Seifer's prompting, she looks down at the fresh bandage on her arm. "It's ... it doesn't feel great, but that's to be expected. The worst of it is dealt with; I'll be fine." It's been a struggle getting used to a world without modern medicine and easily accessible painkillers, but she can be creative and industrious. "If it gets too bad, I can always throw some snow on it."

She's not being too bothered by it, and takes a moment to glance around before before noticing Reye's leg. "Looks like I wasn't eh only one with a vulpine run-in, Yyou going to hang in there?"

"I miss medi-gel," Reyes sighs. Speaking of modern medicine... "It would've healed up this scrape in no time. Almost feels like magic, now that I'm missing it. But-- it's fine." He shrugs, as if he's literally shrugging it off.

Not theatrically complaining, for once, because it is what it is, and he knows he's not the only one injured.

Oh, they will get back. Between the four of them there's enough experience and useful powers between them to ensure that they all make it back in one piece. They'll be tired for sure, but they'll be alive. Seifer's not even worried, he's just cold and cranky. Seifer nods his agreement with Reyes' idea. "Same, didn't realize I wasn't going to be recognizing much of the plant life here. No idea what's edible or not."

The downside of being from such different worlds. The animals, also, were posing a challenge. What was edible and what wasn't?

"I sure miss Potions and Paramagic, that's for sure. Few bites wouldn't be a concern." Now he's worried about infection and possible disease. So far neither of them appeared to be displaying symptoms that might suggest as much, so he'll hold onto hope that rabies doesn't exist here.

Anne's momma bear joke earns a tired laugh, Seifer moving to huddle closer to the fire. Now that he's not actively working the fatigue and cold are setting in. Definitely wasn't well-dressed for this situation.

They'll get back. Vanille might be having a down sort of few days here, but she isn't about to give up on any of them getting back to the village. Between her and Seifer, the group has enough capable survival hands to manage. Vanille can at least recognize some plants... the ones that resemble some Gran Pulse flora anyway. For now, though, she got them fish and that's where her focus is as everyone talks.

"Yeah, if I had my l'Cie magic, I'd be able to heal both of you just fine." She wasn't the group's best healer, that honor was Hope's and it fit his name, but she was the next best. Besides, she liked being able to patch everyone up. After so long, only having part of her power feels so strange.

With everyone huddling so close to the warmth of the fire, that brings up another question. Real sleeping arrangements and the idea of sleeping in shifts. She likes the comforting idea of having everyone sleep close together, but logically she knows they can't even with the bigger group not that far away, they need to have someone aware at all times, to poke up the fire and to keep an eye out for any wildlife thinking of making a meal out of them. Oddly enough, that gives her purpose and having a purpose makes her bouncier.

"Okay, who wants to learn all about fires and cooking?" she chirps. "Or we could just tell stories from home."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Trekking down the Mountain with Team Moral Ambiguity

black foxes

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poss. closed? <3

works for me!

Anne Weying

Foxes

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nighttime

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Hope it's okay to jump in!

always!

yay! the gang's all here!

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