sunpendant | Two | Action/textish

Two | Action/textish

[Raven had hoped to make it to Violet City, the next major spot on her map, by yesterday. The weather and its increasing proclivity to ruin her day notwithstanding, she put Melody into her pokéball and soldiered on, pulling her coat tight against the wind.

Today? She thinks there's pretty much no hope left of reaching the city before nightfall. Can't tell when nightfall actually is, but she knows stopping would be more dangerous than pressing on. For someone who usually can't tell the difference between a slight chill and an icy river valley, this is unusually cold. She's too numbed and exhausted to care or think about why that's so wrong, at the moment.

There's also no chance in hell she's letting Melody out again while this weather continues. Tiny fragile precious bird. Of course, if the lights she might perhaps see in the distance aren't Violet City...she may lose that chance anyway.

Feeling as though she'll just keep slowing down if she doesn't do something, Raven pulls her gear from her coat pocket and fumbles with frigid, clumsy fingers to turn it on and get the words function going.]

going to viiolet city
too mucj snlow

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Standing first, then talking to this guy. There's snow caked in her hair and the edges of her coat; at his question, she merely holds out her hands. Craftsman's gloves kept out the fire and heat, not the cold. They're stiff from holding the top of her coat closed tight.]

[Alright, that's not good. Definitely not good at all. He examines her hands with a frown.]

You need better gloves; you can borrow mine for now. Dark Hound, heat one of our water bottles. Slightly. Bouncy, Stripes, if you can find Ice Heals anywhere this would be a very good time for it.

[All three follow his orders immediately, leaving him free to clear some room by the fire.]

I d-didn't know the s-snow was coming. [Not to that degree. Numb fingers pry off her gloves and drop them by the fire. She hates the way her shiver makes a stutter.]

Considering the season it was to be expected, but I have to admit that I didn't know snowstorms could get that bad.

[The fire is strong, at least. The lukewarm bottle Dark Hound is bringing back should also help.]

Soak your fingers first. Once they feel a little better, we'll dry and cover them.

[With no choice but to comply, Raven follows instructions, forcefully ignoring the increasing strength of her shivers and a drowsiness that wants to pull her under. She doesn't know this man or why he might want to help her. Right now her mind is too foggy to care.]

[Atta girl. In the meantime, Ash starts to take a few things out of his bag: extra jacket from his pilot clothes, all of his towels, and one Full Heal.]

I sure hope these work on humans, too.

What- what're you doing?

[No, Raven, just get closer to the fire. The ice in her hair is melting near the front, dripping onto the cave floor. As she sits there trying to watch him, her eyes slip closed.]

Trying to figure out if frostbite is close enough to being frozen for this to take effect. It'd make both of our lives much easier.

[He frowns slightly.]

Don't fall asleep just yet. It's easier to know if your state is improving when you're conscious.

Hard to keep my eyes open.

[Especially now that she felt a semblance of safety. Ordinarily she wouldn't be so accommodating of strangers. Forcing herself awake again, she holds both hands out toward the fire.]

It won't be very long, I promise. Hold your hands still for a few seconds. I think I just have to pour it on them.

[Time to see if those mixtures are as good as they claim.]

[Instead of putting more effort into talking, she nods once, pulling her hands away from the fire. Whatever he's going to use must be some kind of medicine for frostbite. Might as well let him. He has a few seconds and that's about it - she can't control the shivers.]

[Luckily, a few seconds are all he needs. He pretty much dumps the Full Heal on her hands, looking for any improvement.]

[It takes about a minute, and then her fingers lose their frozen stiffness, the pale tinge of frostbite receding. Raven relaxes visibly.]

Thanks.

Oh, good. It worked.

[He wasn't really sure it would, but it's enough to make him smile.]

You can go to sleep now, if you want. The worst is over already.

[With the way she feels, she could fall asleep standing. As it is she struggles to remove her now-soaked coat, intending to rest her head on it like a pillow and never leave the fire again. Maneuvering like this causes a pokéball to drop from somewhere within the coat to the cave floor.

She picks it up, still trembling, and obviously worried about the pokémon inside.]

[A wet pillow and a possibly frozen Pokémon? Ash doesn't like that at all.]

Don't bother with that coat; I have a dry jacket here. If you're worried about your Pokémon, I can ask Dark Hound, Scarf and Stripes to keep it warm.

No. [She holds the ball closer, against her damp shirt. I'm supposed to protect her.] I won't use your things.

Are you sure? You can both snuggle up to them if you want.

[Not that any of the three look like they care whether or not it happens. They're busy settling down next to the fire.]

[Shaking her head again, Raven releases Melody from the ball. The Swablu is already shaking, immediately nestling herself between Raven's chin and chest in a little cottony ball. Raven brings up one hand to cover her, and...thinks really hard about it before lying on the stranger's dry coat instead. Even though she doesn't want to.

She really isn't in a mental position to know what's best for her now. The shivering hasn't stopped.]

[Well then, it looks like he'll have to take care of the warming up by himself. ...And he does that by draping his largest towel over both girl and Pokémon. At the same time, his Ambipom pretty lets herself drop in their vicinity, looking very warm and inviting. They can't really afford to be subtle.]

[One eye opens when she feels the towel drop around her. Spotting the Ambipom...she does nothing. It can do what it wants, she's going to pass out and not think about snow.

Once she's asleep, the shivering tapers off, especially as the fire and lack of exposure really warm her up. She's out for a while.]

[Less shivering is always good, but Ash won't just leave it to time. He convinces his furry critters to settle down next to her, before finally sitting down himself to face the cave entrance.

Even now, the snow keeps falling...]

[Who knows how long this terrible weather is going to last? When Raven finally wakes again, she has no sense at all of how much time might have gone by. She comes slowly to the realization that she's...well, nested in the middle of a small pile of monsters. Swablu is awake already, rubbing Raven's face with one downy wing.

This whole situation is embarrassing.]

Hello? [The sound of her own voice invites a scowl. She feels heavy and cotton-stuffed and exhausted.]

Hello.

[Says Ash from slightly further away, as he tries to cook some strange vegetables over the fire. He's using his umbrella as a shield against surprise draughts; its skull pattern is staring at the sleeping group.]

I hope you can still breathe in there.

[All she sees is a pattern of skulls.

The reaction is instant. She pushes away, in the other direction, before she can think about the sluggish sensation in her arms and legs. She doesn't get far.

Melody sees this, and Raven's barely-checked trembling, and decides to solve it herself by flitting over to Ash and chirping in his face. He is scaring her trainer, he should fix it.]

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