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

[ FrostNova falls into step silently besides Talulah, letting her lead the way through the darkened roadway. she's more immediately concerned with what lies behind them, moving at a quick clip in case someone responding to the alarm sees the same path and follows their trail.

her contingency on finding more Victorians waiting for them at the end had been to simply kill them all and take what they needed, but she lets Talulah try her intimidation tactics without protest. she watches closely as she notes the panicked glances between the people wearing lab coats and the clenched jaws of the soldiers, spotting the movement of a researcher lifting their hand and the grunt that immediately goes for their weapon. ]

Don't be stupid.

[ the man takes a stake of ice to the shoulder for the attempt, and the gaunt-faced scientist tosses the keys over a moment later. ]

[Talulah scoops up the keys, effortlessly keeping up the wall of flame between them and the Victorians. There's an identification symbol on the ring, which makes it simple to find the right vehicle.]

I'll drive. You can--

[Keep the soldiers and researchers at bay, is what she's about to say to Yelena, before there's a rattling explosion somewhere nearby. It's strong enough that she has to purposefully keep her balance, and close enough that they'll likely run into whoever caused it if they drive out.]

[ the explosion rattles her teeth, making her shift her stance to keep from stumbling like several of the people around them. even at a distance, the noise rings in her ears, indicating weaponry that poses a real threat to anyone at the receiving end.

by the looks on the Victorian's faces, it's making the group rethink their exit strategy. FrostNova, for her part, doesn't budge. once you pass a certain point, the only way out way out is through. ]

Okay. You can drive.

[ she heads for the vehicle, waiting for Talulah to drop the fire and follow her. as soon as the flames recede, a wall of ice springs forth in its wake, creating a very physical barrier between the base staff and the two of them. it drops the temperature of the air several degrees in the blink of an eye, but Yelena barely seems winded by the act. ]

You don't need to floor it. We want the engine warmed up. Stop when you see something coming toward us, or the exit— whatever comes first.

Right.

[Once she regains her footing, she hops into the vehicle and starts the engine, letting it run while she waits for Yelena to join her. The tunnel leading outside is lit only by the backup emergency lights, but the brighter glow at the end of it is...unnatural.

They still have the rest of the compound to get through, but Talulah's not sure they'll make it that far. The fire burning on the bits of rubble from the nearby explosion isn't the kind caused by mines or mortars. Or ordinary arts.]

Dublinn's nearby. The younger sister.

Loughshinny, right? We don't have much intel on how she fights.

[ in FrostNova's mind, she's the real threat they need to worry about. her exit strategy will trivialize the threat of any normal fighters, but if the Dublinn heir is close to Talulah's level of skill with her arts—

there's no use worrying about it now. she'll know what sort of obstacle they're dealing with soon enough.

whether it's luck or the sign of a trap about to close around them, no advancing enemies find them in the tunnel. the sounds of crackling flames and explosions grow louder as they roll closer to the surface, but Yelena says nothing else. the next time she speaks, the exit is no longer a vague shape in the distance. ]

Stop here. Don't turn the engine off.

[ she slips out the truck as soon as it comes to a stop. her steps echo on the concrete as she slowly walks a few meters ahead, putting a good distance between herself and the vehicle. Yelena considers the strength of the fire in the near distance, the size of the base, the direction they must be facing. there's limited finesse she can apply here, but she needs to exert some level of control— Talulah and their transportation have to be preserved. everything else is negotiable.

barely above a whisper, she goes through a brief scale, shaking the rust from her lungs. there's a flicker of movement ahead of them, a form in the flames, but then FrostNova opens her mouth and everything goes still.

Talulah can feel it, a knife of cold through their connection when Yelena unleashes her arts. frigid wind bursts out from her body, screaming down the tunnel, almost loud enough to drown out the bone-shaking intensity of sharp, operatic notes Yelena hits to channel her cast. frost explodes like snaking vines along the walls and ceiling, and the flame flares for several bright, terrifying moments as it feeds off the movement of air.

by the time she stops, it's guttered to a fleeting whimper. everything beyond the place where FrostNova moved to stand has gone dead, frigid, and the nearest sounds of battle have receded to nothing. when she turns back to look at Talulah, she looks like something dead. her skin is pale, so white it nearly matches her hair, tiny scales of ice flaking off her as she moves. the inside of her mouth and the corners of her eyes appear violently bright in contrast, red blood spilled across clean snow. ]

Should we go take a look?

[Talulah obeys the instruction and stops the truck, but as Yelena gets out and starts walking further and further away, her frown grows. Eventually, she opens the door and stands, leaning out so she can get a better look at where the other is going.]

What are you--

[Her half-spoken question gets answered a second later when everything, down to some metaphorical space deep inside her chest where the connection between their arts resides, turns bitterly cold.

It's a beautiful and deadly spectacle. Talulah can barely hear Yelena's singing as a medium over the initial howl of the wind and crack of the ice racing down the tunnel to swallow up the flames whole. She'd been on the other end of that sheer chill enough times during spars to know the effort it took to overcome, and if anything alive had been there before, that is certainly no longer the case.

Her breath puffs out in visible clouds in the aftermath. The cold can't touch her, not really, thanks to her arts, but...she can feel an echo of it, like warmth is just memory--no, worse. Like warmth is just a fairy tale.

She's careful not to slip as she goes over to Yelena, already gathering her own arts around her and sending it down that connection between them. Maybe that's all it would take, but when she finally reaches where Yelena's standing, she takes the other's hands, too.]

Before that, let's test if I'm able to counteract the cold. Maybe then you won't have to eat one of those candies.

[ while her arts may have just increased their window for escape, time is still against them. Yelena expects Talulah to clear the frost on the road when she moves, walk ahead to see what the world looks like past the mouth of the tunnel, something that immediately furthers their end goal. she's not prepared for the spark of Talulah's arts to rush through their connection, the sensation leaving her standing dead in her tracks.

FrostNova doesn't have the vocabulary to describe what it feels like. doesn't have a frame of reference for what to do next when Talulah takes her hands and she can feel something other cold. for a moment she's a child again, reaching out in desperation for a source of heat to banish the ice that took hold of her body and never really let go.

maybe it's that phantom memory that makes her body move on its own, Yelena's face nothing short of shell-shocked as she snatches Talulah's hands closer, holding them tightly to her chest. it's a stupid, dangerous thing to do— even her father can't touch her without hurting himself when she's like this. but Talulah's hands stay pale and strong, the skin the refusing to blacken from the contact with Yelena's ghastly arts. ]

It's warm. [ her voice is small, unbelieving. she can't muster anything more. ]

Good.

[She doesn't flinch when Yelena clutches her hands closer, even though she can feel the temperature drop even further, ice stinging the backs of her fingers. It doesn't matter, when her own internal flame makes it so that it's only discomfort and nothing more.

She keeps her breathing deep and even, feeding more of her arts in a steady stream between them. Typically, she's not very good at this kind of fine-tuning, but she doesn't want to experiment with what happens if she sends a surge instead.

What she says next can't hold or encompass all of what she really feels, how it's more than gratitude that she can help. It's a tiny grain of thankfulness to the twisted form of the universe, of her cursed fate until now, if it meant the parallel lines of their paths intersected for now.]

I'm glad.

[ Yelena stands there clinging to Talulah's hands for longer than she realizes. her sense of shame trickles back to the forefront of her mind slowly, needing to be defrosted along with the rest of her body. she can be painfully conscious of the way she presents herself, knowing the responsibility that comes with her position and the sort of image the princess of Ursus needs to maintain— but right now, even with her arts weighing down the air, Talulah's warm.

... and looking at her. like she's something Yelena doesn't have a word for. she blinks, frost flaking off her pale lashes, and feels a spike of heat pierce between her ribs, too sharp and unrelenting to be from carefully woven bond between them.

she drops Talulah's hands as suddenly as she grabbed them, taking a step as some color returns to her face. ]

Sorry. I didn't mean to do that.

Sorry? What for?

[Objectively speaking, Yelena stepping back and freeing Talulah's hands from the biting cold should feel better rather than worse. But she still feels inexplicably bereft when Yelena pulls out of her hold.]

And are you sure that was enough?

[The relative darkness makes it a little hard for Talulah to see if the frost that had been clinging to the other's hair and face and clothes had melted completely.]

I'm fine. I shouldn't—

[ be using you like my personal space heater, is what she means to say, but that's not what was happening, was it? they'd discussed trying something like this before, and it's clear Talulah has no objections about FrostNova getting in her personal space.

there's no solid logic behind Yelena's sudden aversion to Talulah's touch, at least not one she can voice out loud. aversion isn't even the right word, because if Talulah offered her hands again, Yelena doesn't know if she could turn her down, and that's ... dangerous. she's not in a position where she can allow herself to be vulnerable like that, and yet she wants to.

she really, really wants to. ]

—get used to shaking off my arts that quickly. You make it too easy. If we keep going, I'll never want to leave you alone.

That's a bad thing?

[Talulah almost wants to laugh. Yelena phrasing it like that brings up a similar feeling to the one Talulah had when they'd been hiding out at the party earlier, a sense that she shouldn't be taking so much pleasure from the other being near her. She obviously hadn't minded in the least, especially with how much they'd had to rely on each other during their time behind enemy lines.

Ah. Maybe that is the problem.]

Mm. But I guess I can't always be around to help, is what you mean? I don't want to make things more difficult for you whenever we're not fighting together.

Yeah. That.

[ she latches onto the explanation Talulah provides like a lifeline, suddenly feeling rushed to provide sound reasoning behind her actions after repeating the last thing she said in her head a few times. out of context, it sounds kind of ... suspect.

they really aren't in the position for her to over-analyze her own wording. since when does FrostNova even do that? she's clumsy with her words all the time, routinely too blunt to be an effective negotiator. Talulah's aware of it at this point, too— she takes a steadying breath, suppressing a shiver that can't be blamed on the cold. ]

If the Dublinn sister was out this far, there's a chance she's still active. We should get moving. I'll let you know if I need your help again once we put a few kilometers between us and the base.

[This really isn't the time to be arguing or lingering, but Talulah can't help but feel...frustrated, might be the correct word, at the sudden shift in the conversation. She doesn't like it, how quickly Yelena's pulled away and how eager she is to move on. There's an instinct pulling at her to dig her heels in if she ever wants a hint of that closeness from before again, but...

But. There's really no time to. It's already ridiculous that she's even thinking of risking their lives or the state of the rebellion for her own hangups. With visible reluctance, Talulah straightens and casts her gaze down the still-frozen tunnel.]

Maybe this has been their target all along. Should we take the truck? You chased anyone out of here, but there's no telling if there's a trap waiting at the end of this tunnel.

[ a similar unruly emotion simmers inside of Yelena. she wants to move on from this, but also wants to make sure Talulah knows it's not because she did anything wrong or upset her in some way. FrostNova's better at expressing herself through actions rather than words, and with the self-imposed limitation on moving any closer to Talulah than she already is, she has no way to get her point across.

at least Talulah's response gives her something else to worry about. she blinks, looking between Talulah and the end of the tunnel in mild confusion, like she can't understand what she's talking about. ]

A trap? We should be able to disarm if it's a tripwire or a mine. [ another pause as she thinks, before I look of understated realization crosses her face. ]

If you're talking about people, there won't be any that close. The wave I sent out was enough to cover 200 meters in front of us.

[Thankfully, Talulah doesn't think she's done anything wrong in this situation. She's not sure why Yelena's pulled away, but she can at least tell it hadn't been out of distaste or similar. Unfortunately, this does mean she'll be reluctant to bring this up again.

They really shouldn't be lingering, though.]

There's still no way Dublinn wouldn't notice you clearing out the tunnel.

[So that means they're waiting beyond that boundary. Talulah looks back towards their vehicle, thoughtfully.]

We'll have to drive slowly through the ice. Be prepared for a fight.

[ avoidance isn't what Yelena wants from her either. she can't really say what she does want either, not in a way she can make sense of yet. dissatisfaction roils beneath her skin, but she can't delay them any longer. ]

It's hard to miss, but we don't know how they'll react to it either.

[ going off what they saw of the nobles, the town, and the base, it's clear that Dublinn's attack has been a long time coming. months, maybe years of planning went into what's happened over the last few hours, and the Taran forces have likely been trained for dozens of contingencies.

two arts users of Talulah and FrostNova's level, dumped into the middle of all of this out of pure, dumb luck, though? that's hard for anyone to prepare for. ]

I think we can stick to your plan for now. Victorian military-grade trucks have good handling. You drive and I'll block whatever comes at us.

[ and if Loughshinny Dublinn is out there waiting for them, well. Yelena's not above taking out her sour mood on a fair target. ]

[They are an unknown quantity in this grand chess match, and Talulah's resolved to use that to their advantage. With that in mind, she returns to the truck and waits for Yelena to join her before starting to drive slowly over the ice coating the tunnel.

For a while, there's nothing. Just the distant sound of battle elsewhere in the city and the tires rolling over the frost and ice underneath them. It puts Talulah on edge, and she's tense even after they've gone past the reach of Yelena's arts and are on a proper road again. Maybe that's why she hears the faint rumble followed by a whistle, as if something is streaking towards them through the air.

It lets her jerk the wheel hard to the right to avoid a boulder striking the ground right in front of them. Another follows, too quickly from it to be from a catapult or canon, which Talulah also swerves to avoid.]

They've got another arts user.

[She's a little out of breath from the sudden adrenaline rush, and tries to manuver the truck to where they can better dodge whoever is flinging rocks at them.]

Can you see where they're coming from?

[ it would've been nice if they could've put a few more kilometers between them and Hillock before having to abandon the truck, but things were never that easy. when she hears the telltale sign of an arts-based attack hurled toward them, Yelena moves out of her seat, half-hanging out of the open window as her eyes track the sort of the blast.

Yeah.

[ while the caster stays out of sight, FrostNova's seen enough to narrow down their location. if they're sentries positioned along the roads to pick off any fleeing messengers, they're not going to be heavily armored. when Talulah veers sharply to make a run for cover, a snaking trail of ice shoots out across the ground, exploding up in a volley of lance-like ice protrusions behind the hill where Yelena's estimated their location. ]

[Yelena's arts do flush their attackers out, and even as she's trying to drive through the mess and avoid any other projectiles, she recognizes the younger Dublinn sister, Loughshinny, easily.

The feline next to her is unfamiliar, but she's the one lobbing boulders at them. Talulah slows the vehicle just enough that she can focus, and the air heating around them is the only precursor to flames bursting from under their attackers' feet, like a flower blooming straight out of the earth. She doubts that will keep a fellow Draco at bay for long, but it's enough for her and Yelena to prepare.]

I don't think it's a good idea to keep running with those two on our tail.

[At minimum, it would draw the attention of every Victorian soldier in the vicinity. She'd really rather Loughshinny realize that Talulah and Yelena are not here to bother with politics or tensions boiling over, but that option has been off the table since Talulah realized they'd been planning to use her as a hostage at the party.]

They started this fight. Let's end it quickly.

[ how the Dublinn commander and her feline companion managed to follow them out here is beyond Yelena. why they're even this far away from the bulk of the fighting is another good question, unless they're chasing after the two of them directly, which isn't an impossibility.

she slips back into her seat, narrowly ducking another boulder flung in their direction. ]

I can start channeling when you stop. Freezing the ground will take care of whoever's with her, but I'll need you to keep Dublinn off me.

[ even after the energy she extended at the base, she should still enough left in her tank for a second showing. they can't afford to hesitate, not when they're this close to getting away, but Yelena knows this fight isn't going to be like their scuffle with the soldiers. ]

If you can't incapacitate her, let me handle it. It'll be better in the long run if I'm responsible for only one Draco walking out of here.

[They might have heard that a "hostage" went missing, which led them here, but Talulah really isn't concerned with that so long as they're standing between her, Yelena, and the road out of County Hillock.]

You could show a little more confidence in me.

[She stops the truck completely and hops out, the space around her turning hot enough to warp the air. Even if she hadn't been up against a fellow Draco, the situation is either their escape, or they get captured and killed. And Talulah won't let that happen, not with the information she has tucked into the inner part of her jacket. And especially not when Yelena is with her.]

Do what you need to. I'll keep her corralled.

All right— if you make this quick, I'll let you order me around for real.

[ Yelena doesn't make quips before battle too often, but the words leave her mouth before she can think better of it. whether it's the mounting pressure of their situation or Talulah's glibness rubbing off on her, she doesn't have time to ruminate on it now. as soon as the truck stops, she's out on the other side, her eyes on their opponents.

there's no sparing Talulah from her cast range this time. even through the blaze of her arts, Talulah will feel the full effect of the rapidly dropping temperature in the air around them. the wind stirs as FrostNova's voice cuts through the sound of fire and breaking earth, a tune she often hums under her breath taking the shape of a full, disarmingly soft lullaby.

within seconds, the ground beneath them freezes solid. a sheet of ice spreads from where Yelena stands like a rising tide, ensnaring anyone who isn't strong enough to break themselves free in time. ]

[Talulah has, after all this time, gotten used to the cold from Yelena's arts. Even if it's much worse than normal to be in the thick of it instead of during a spar or when they're more coordinated, she's used to dodging around the frigid wind and ice pillars.

In fact, it's giving her a subtle advantage. She knows how to melt the frost around her feet and when and where to move, but the Dublinn sister does not. And she also has to deal with Talulah's arts, streaking through the air and across the ground like they're a living thing, strong enough that the roar of their advance can be heard over the crack of Yelena's ice.

Her main goal is to keep Loughshinny far away from Yelena and the other target, or split them up entirely if possible, but Talulah notices quickly that she seems quite determined to stay in a predetermined range. Which usually involves things like Sarkaz witchcraft rituals, or combined casting, or--

Ah. It would be that her arts are both entirely the same and utterly different from her sister's, wouldn't it?]

Yelena! Change of plans. Her arts can heal. We'll be here forever if we don't focus on a single target.

[ Yelena doesn't stop singing immediately, her attention split between Talulah and the feline caster struggling against the cold. her screams of frustration are audible over wind and flame, not quite able to keep up between the ice crawling up her legs and how impenetrable the ground has become around them. only Loughshinny's halo of arts keeps the other young woman's skin from turning black and brittle under the extreme conditions, but it's not enough to let her stay in the fight.

the more important target here is obvious. Talulah won't get a verbal response, but Yelena's decision will become clear after her voice quiets and spears of ice shoot up beneath Loughshinny's feet, forcing her move and split the concentration of her flames partially away from Talulah.

given her casting aptitude, people often underestimate FrostNova's physical capabilities. when Loughshinny stays to the side, Yelena has darted across the road to greet her, a mere exhale of her breath calling a cloud of freezing down onto her. ]

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