I saw rise in the heat settle soft and as pure as snow

[reunionize]

[This, honestly, took a lot of work. More work than some of the battleplans, but admittedly the machinations of the Victorian nobles are predictable. The only thing Talulah knows about the northern territories is what she's gleaned from her father's journals.

Edward Artorius apparently had a decent enough relationship with the ruler when he'd been alive, and since the wendigo race of Sarkaz live for a very, very long time, perhaps any goodwill towards her parent might be extended to her.

She has also gleaned the northerners are not unreasonable; they've crossed paths during various skirmishes at the border, and they ignore all rebel forces once their own task is complete. Talulah has made it very clear no one from her side is to engage with any other party that isn't either obviously Victorian, or strikes first, and it seems the courtesy is returned.

That said, isolationist policy is hard to overcome, and what she's asking isn't a mere favor. To be embroiled in civil war in another country is an idea most people would scoff at, but...the north has undoubtedly seen the writing on the wall for what will transpire after the dust settles. Victoria's appetite is ever unsatiable.

The Gaulish castle she walks through is a testament to that. It's nothing but ruins now, good for little else besides neutral territory. She's brought two members of the rebels with her, two with a calm rationality suited to negotiations. She'd be fine going in alone, but, well...if Talulah saw another group's leader sitting all alone during a meeting that was meant to be a peaceful talk, she'd think there was an ambush waiting.

Still, no matter how rational one is, curiosity tends to win out, and she can hear her escort party gossiping even behind their masks. They're wondering if the northern princess is as beautiful and strong as the rumors say. If she's half as strong as that Cautus she'd seen once during a border skirmish, then her alliance would be more than a boon.

By her estimation, the meeting time is near, so she supposes she'll find out soon enough.]

Comments

[hypothermy]

[ with her attention focused on strategically placing the wound bandages to best cover the cut before she runs out of them, FrostNova doesn't register what Talulah says immediately. after a moment, she visibly pauses, hands stilling in the middle of ripping open another sterilely sealed pack. ]

... huh. Honestly, I just assumed you were putting on a brave face.

[ despite her improvements in regulating her temperature, Yelena doesn't remember the last time met anyone who didn't even notice how abnormally cool her body is. never, maybe? it's proving difficult to wrap her mind around. ]

You've said before that you're only half-Draco, but it still seems like you're capable of something not even my father can do.

[reunionize]

[She flinches when one of the sutures pulls over the widest part of her injury, but after a beat, she starts speaking again.]

Well, I did mention Draco's arts are more like energy manipulation. It's better against cold than normal fire would be, based on that.

[So it's not really skill or capability so much as Talulah and, perhaps, others of her race, are uniquely capable of ignoring Frostnova's cold.]

But that just means you don't have to worry about it around me.

[hypothermy]

[ FrostNova makes a quiet hum of assent to Talulah's explanation. it's still a little strange to wrap her head around, and she decides to focus on taking care of Talulah's wound rather than get too into the weeds about it. ]

Almost done here.

[ with the bandages placed as well as she can, she begins unrolling a long tube of gauze to further secure the sutures. ]

Do Draco happen to come with better than average recovery time too? If we could avoid having to find a doctor to check this out later, that would be one less thing we have to worry about.

[reunionize]

No, unfortunately not. But I think it's fine for now. You did a good job with what you had.

[It had hurt to get it treated, of course, but the pain in her arm had turned into a dull throb underneath the bandages. Her ribs, however, will inevitably be worse the following day, but there's nothing either of them could do about that with what they had on hand.]

Tomorrow...we should probably take a better stock of the town.

[hypothermy]

We'll have to, one way or another.

[ FrostNova wraps Talulah's arm without much fuss. good lighting and not having your hands slipping through blood makes the process go a lot faster.

she leans back once she's finished, rolling her head to loosen up her stiff joints. even now, the tension in her body hasn't fully dissipated— getting out of the opened help, but they're still deep in enemy territory without a clear path out. ]

I'm thinking I should probably stay up and keep watch in case the base got word that we might be in the area. You should get some rest.

[reunionize]

Hmm. Do I really look bad enough that you're coddling me?

[Frostnova's not likely to do such a thing, but Talulah also doesn't feel like sleeping until morning while th other keeps watch, even if she is the one that's injured.]

We should at least agree on lookout shifts.

[hypothermy]

Hey, I've never seen how you well you take a serious hit before, I'm just trying to be careful.

[ she shrugs noncommittally, clearly not set on the plan she's laid out. ]

I'm fine with shifts. Did you want pick a time to swap out or go by how long we sleep?

[reunionize]

Let's split it evenly. It's about eight hours to dawn? Wake me up in four, then.

[That's reasonable enough for Talulah to be satisfied, at least.]

Well, assuming nobody comes looking for us, that is.

[hypothermy]

Four works.

[ hardly a good nights sleep, but their options are limited with only two people. even if they could better secure the entrances, if the base sends a platoon out, there's limits to what booby traps in a civilian home can do.

Yelena packs up what she didn't use on Talulah into the boxes they came from, gathering the trash haphazardly in an empty one. she pauses with a sigh when she gets to their torn up clothing, now soaked with Talulah's blood— they'll need new clothes too. ]

Did you check upstairs to see what the bed situation is yet?

[reunionize]

I went up there but didn't pay much attention to the beds.

[She had been looking for places with the comms equipment after all. This place is meant for more than one person to stay in it, but that doesn't really mean much in the end.]

There should be more than one, but...whether or not that means one of them is just a bed frame, I don't know. But I did see a change of clothes or two in the closets. And outerwear, in case the weather gets worse.

[hypothermy]

One's all we really need for tonight.

[ if they're taking shifts tonight anyway, they can just swap. after that, though ... with the supplies packed up, Yelena stands from her seat and heads for the stairs.

one room has a larger, fairly luxurious bed for a safe house. not particular squeaky, lumpy, or moldy, and is wide enough for one person to spread out or to snugly fit two. the other holds a desk, and after some inspection, a shredded air mattress in the closet.

whether Talulah followed her up or waited downstairs, FrostNova will return to her to report. ]

Are you all right with sharing? We should be fine, as long as you can tolerate how cold I get.

[reunionize]

[Talulah had followed her up the stairs to take better stock of the situation. She's definitely gotten through worse than a sturdy house and a single bed, honestly.]

I don't mind sharing. And I think my tail will be a bigger problem than your temperature.

[She's confident that sleep isn't going to make a difference when it comes to her own arts being a decent buffer against Frostnova's ambient cold.]

[hypothermy]

I'll take your word for it.

[ FrostNova wouldn't know what it's like deal with dragging around a tail the of Talulah's. her preference for layers means that you can't even see the little ball of fluff that sits below her spine most of the time. ]

You can turn in whenever. I'll start taking stock of the supplies and wake you when your time's up.

[reunionize]

[Thankfully, hers isn't as unweildy as a true Draco's, and besides that, it doesn't really emote for her or get in the way. But it does still take up room no matter what, which can get tricky when trying to squeeze into tight spaces, or share a bed.]

Or before, if the Victorian army comes knocking.

[They're hopefully busy with whatever sent those two soldiers driving away, though. Talulah walks past Frostnova into the room and towards the bed.]

I'll try to get some rest, then.

[hypothermy]

See you later.

[ bidding her a "good night", after everything that's happened, doesn't feel very appropriate. she gives a nod of her head and descends back down the stairs.

a few days later, and Frostnova can't say that the situation's improved much. the town is just as treacherous to navigate as Talulah had surmised, filled with a disaffected Taran populace being held in a choke hold by the neighboring military base. they've found a few sympathetic residents who don't mind trading for supplies, but Yelena can tell that they're constantly being watched by the rest whenever they leave the safe house.

it's why she's become reluctant to leave Talulah alone for too long, she thinks. the area is hostile and it's necessary to be on guard, and if something happened to Talulah, the entire campaign she'd staked her country's future on would be for nothing, and she— she would be alone, stranded leagues away from everything she knows.

despite that, she doesn't expect the natives to escalate as quickly as they do. she's not surprised that their hatred of the Victorian nobility runs deep, but to go as far as cornering a supposed servant in a back alley when she's out on errands is downright reckless.

not that a few men are difficult to Yelena to dispatch, but doing it in a way that doesn't make it obvious she was trained by top foreign combatants since childhood is challenging. she puts a pin in figuring out how much self-defence is believable for a Victorian servant to know after she extracts the other half of the plan from one of her attackers.

Yelena wipes as much of the blood from her face as she can manage and takes off in the direction she knows Talulah will be. going through side streets, looking out for isolated dead-ends that would lend themselves to roughing up a lone noblewoman, following the sounds of a confrontation eventually leads FrostNova to her target. ]

Hey. Back up. Now.

[reunionize]

[Calling the place a landmine just waiting for the pressure to release had been apt. There's a constant tension hanging over the town like a shroud. Talulah feels it most readily whenever she ventures out, and the watchful glares of the Taran populace prick the back of her neck.

It helps that Frostnova sticks to her side more often than not. Although Talulah can't really tell if this is her playing her role as a servant or more that she's making sure nothing befalls the lynchpin in the plans of the Ursus army and rebels.

Still, they can't always be around each other, which is how Talulah finds herself accosted and threatened by a group she assumes is part of Dublinn. It's also pretty apparent they planned this specifically to split her from Frostnova, which means Talulah's main goal should be to get to her.

The most irritating thing about this is having to keep her cover. Her arm's healed up enough that close combat isn't really a bother, but she can't draw her sword, use her arts much, or start fighting back too fiercely. Just in case one of the attackers wises up and runs to tell the larger group that the sheltered Victorian noble doesn't seem much like one.

She's managed to keep from getting herself cornered or injured, and when the assailants are distracted by someone else's arrival, Talulah knocks one of them out before darting over to Frostnova. There's an odd pause as she remembers she should probably stand behind the other if she's playing at being a delicate noble, though.]

Are you hurt? You're covered in blood.

[hypothermy]

Most of it's not mine.

[ she steps to cover Talulah on the side with her still healing arm, a habit she's picked since their arrival in Hillock.

though momentarily thrown for a loop by Yelena's sudden and rather jarring appearance, at least one of the Dublinn-aligned individuals has already begun to advance on them, causing Yelena's hackles to rise. ]

And that's not a joke. What's your plan here? The army knows where we're staying. If my lady turns up missing, what do you think they're going to do?

[ it's a bluff, but there's no way for their assailants to know that. as angry as she might be at them right now, they don't have the look of full-fledged Dublinn agents. they're people who have been pushed into a corner, lashing out with the only means they have, and turning them over to the military would be a death sentence. ]

[reunionize]

[Not to mention, the Victorians are chomping at the bit for any excuse to crush Dublinn and its sympathizers. If they're not careful, they could light Hillock's tinderbox right here.

Which is why Talulah avoids speaking to their assailants. Anything coming from the mouth of someone they perceive as a noble, no matter how kind or well-intentioned, would probably only make things worse.

Instead, she lowers her voice and speaks so hopefully only Frostnova can hear.]

We can't just break through and run?

[hypothermy]

We can.

[ Yelena whispers just as quietly, mouth barely moving as she utters the two words. she squares her shoulders and raises her head, looking for all the world like she's about to try and shout them down, or possibly scream for help.

then her eyes dart to a rusty pipe running up one of the nearby walls. FrostNova's fingers twitch, and in the matter of time it takes the locals to gather their courage again, she achieves her goal. ]

Go.

[ grabbing Talulah's hand, she rushes forward, just as the metal bursts and gives way to a blast of water that rains down onto the alley. ]

[reunionize]

[Talulah follows Frostnova's lead without hesitation, using her arts just enough to turn some of the water into a cloud of steam that hides their retreat.

The back alleys, like in a lot of Victorian cities, are narrow and a little winding, and the locals definitely know them better. On the other hand, losing them in a crowd further towards the city center won't work as long as Frostnova is covered in blood.

They need a hiding spot. Thankfully, there always seems to be a handful of abandoned factories in Victoria nowadays, and Talulah gestures towards the gaping hole in the rusted fence surrounding one at the end of the backstreet.]

That way.

[hypothermy]

[ for practicality's sake she really should've tried not to make such an obvious mess of herself, but Yelena wasn't thinking that far ahead at the time. close combat isn't her specialty, and with a handicap of being unable to use her arts, she didn't want to prolong the fight. ]

Mm.

[ FrostNova reacts quickly to Talulah's direction, swerving and ducking to guide them through the fence, still holding onto the other's hand all the while. she only releases it when they near the building and she needs to test the door, finding it locked but workable after using her arts to shatter the handle. once they're inside, she seals it shut with more ice, working carefully to ensure it's not overly obvious from the outside. ]

That should hold, as long as they don't march up with a battering ram.

[reunionize]

[Talulah follows her lead until they're inside the building, where she slowly wanders around the perimeter of the room, avoiding the windows and looking for any other entry points. Finding none, she addresses Frostnova when she completes the loop.]

I don't think they have the means for one. That was a pretty sloppy bunch.

[That still managed to split her and Frostnova apart, which is annoying. Fighting under all of these constraints is becoming more and more frustrating.]

I'd heard it was bad here, but I really didn't expect this.

[hypothermy]

[ slumping against the least filthy wall she can find, Yelena lets herself relax as much as the situation allows. it seems like the only time she's able to feel fully at ease since coming to Hillock is when she sleeps. ]

I'm not surprised Dublinn's been able to gain a foothold here. If the base nearby does have something valuable, it's possible they're planning to make their official entrance into the conflict by dropping a match here.

[ as she speaks, she pulls the hem of her dark shirt up to start wiping the rest of her face off, the other hand carefully tracing the outline of her nose. ]

I don't think it's broken, at least.

[reunionize]

[She makes a thoughtful noise at Frostnova's assessment of the town. It would complicate things a little more if Dublinn is also after whatever's in that base. Even if it's nothing, they still get the benefit of kicking off their conflict with the Victorian army while Talulah and her companion get caught up in the subsequent inferno.

Before that, though...]

Let me see.

[Talulah leans forward more to get a better look at the other's nose. It doesn't look crooked, which means it is probably fine.]

You're right, it's not. But did you get elbowed in the face, or something?

[hypothermy]

[ she drops her hands when Talulah asks, letting her get a good look to confirm her suspicions. a strange thought flashes through Yelena's mind when she leans in, though it's gone before she really knows what to make of it. ]

I headbutted one of them when they tried to grab me. Must've hit him at a bad angle.

[ if they'd managed to pin her down, she would've had no choice but to use her arts to get out of it. risking a few shattered bones had seemed like a fair trade to keep her identity hidden. ]

Do you think we should try going back to the safe house tonight? They might be waiting for us.