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

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.

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?

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.

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.

[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.]

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.

[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.

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.

[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.

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. ]

[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?

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. ]

[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.

[ 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.

[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.

[ 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.

[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?

[ 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.

It's hard to say.

[Talulah shrugs, sighing, and leans back out of Frostnova's personal space again.]

It's not like we have anywhere else to go. And there's no guarantee they'll care enough to be waiting. They seemed like they just wanted to scare us, and now, maybe we're too much trouble.

[That's being pretty optimistic, though.]

We might be able to check if there's an ambush waiting from a distance and decide from there.

I'd rather go back then hang out in here until the morning.

[ and Talulah's might be right about the dedication of their attackers. they'd been organized, but not to the level of actual trained militants. there's a chance they hadn't made plans beyond roughing up a noblewoman for bragging rights. ]

How long do you want to wait before going to take a look?

An hour or two? If they didn't make plans beyond cornering us, I can't see them wasting much more time than that.

[And if they don't hear any of the stragglers trying to break into the factory she and Frostnova have holed up in, the chances their attackers have rethought the whole scheme increase.]

We could also see if this place has an exit towards the back. Then we could take a long way around to the safehouse.

It would make sense to have multiple exits in a building this big. Let's see.

[ though common sense doesn't always play into it. depending on the factory's original owner, safety for the workers might not have factored into the construction.

Yelena straightens up and begins to make her way to the opposite end of the factory floor, moving carefully to avoid the garbage and broken glass littering the floor. as they go it becomes harder to navigate between the abandoned machinery, a practical jungle of rusted machinery, and FrostNova can't help but think of how this would be an awfully good hiding place for someone—

which is exemplified when they turn a corner and come across what is or was a small camp set up in an open spot between work stations. ]

Ah.

Hm.

[Well, this is possibly a problem. There's no telling if this is an old camp and its residents are long gone, or if they're going to come back sometime soon. And if they do run into possible residents, Talulah really doubts they'll be any more friendly than the ones she and Frostnova just shook off.]

I don't want to wait around to see whether or not someone comes back. Do you?

[ FrostNova's eyes take stock of what's there, the dirty mats and makeshift fire pit, and when she catches sight of a holey, child-sized sweater, her expression darkens to a pitch that Talulah's never seen from her before. ]

... waiting here isn't an option, no.

[ without elaborating, she starts moving again. stepping around the edges of the occupied space to continue on to the other end of the factory, she exits through the first door she finds with barely more than a glance to the area outside. ]

[Talulah's startled by both the expression and how fast Frostnova moves after agreeing they should leave. She can keep up, easily, but that's not really what's worrying her.

The other had been out of sorts practically since they arrived, which does make complete sense, but Talulah can't seem to parse the source of it. At first, she thought it had been that Frostnova was concerned about Talulah's injury, but that's healing up just fine now. It could be the entire situation, or the role Frostnova has to play within it, but...]

Hey. Slow down. We shouldn't get split up again.

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