Stefen sucks in a sharp breath as he wakes up, the cold air in his lungs shocking him to full consciousness as he doubles over coughing. He gasps for a moment, shivering as the wind whips the snow around him and his gittern. Once he recovers, he looks up and stares in shock.
This is not Haven. This is not anywhere near Haven. Or the room he was sitting in, waiting for Vanyel. This is a forest with snow and what looks like other people.
"It is v-very c-cold," he comments - he tries for dry or sardonic, but instead just comes out pitiful and stuttered from his shivering.
Glitch uncurls himself from the ball he was in on the ground, and looks up at the person stuttering.
Huh. New person. New place, too, since he's pretty sure he isn't in the O.Z. anymore. The frozen parts of the O.Z. weren't so heavily forested, unless it somehow turned to winter without him noticing.
"Well, you're a sharp one," he mutters, and then his expression softens a moment later. The kid's even less prepared for sudden cold than he is, and he's shrugging out of his coat before he has time to think of just how cold it is out here.
"Here," he says, holding the ragged coat out for the boy to take. "The name's Glitch. And you look like you need this more than I do."
Stef opens his mouth to retort that stating the obvious was preferable to panicking because he didn't know where he was, wasn't it, and then snaps it shut when he sees the man shrugging out of his jacket. He's in a strange place with strange people, and he doubts this man has any better idea where they are, but he's still offering Stef his coat.
A Herald would refuse the coat. Stef is not a Herald. He takes the coat with a faint smile, shrugging into it gratefully and hugging his knees to his chest to block some of the wind. A cold backside from the snow was better than standing up, for now, in Stef's opinion.
"Th-thanks," he said, and tried to shiver less. It worked a little - the extra fabric helped. "I'm Stefen. N-not really a cold weather person."
"Yeah, me neither," Glitch says, trying not to shiver, himself. He's still got more layers going on than Stefen does, at any rate... But he misses the big furry blanket he had the last time he was in the snow. He misses that a lot.
"I'd see about starting a fire, but, ah... I'm not really the outdoors type. More the indoors in a nice, safe laboratory type. Or a less-nice, less-safe government function. You know, I never thought I'd miss those..."
Please, Stefen. Stop him before he really gets going.
"I never thought I'd miss letting the H-Healers poke at me during my f-free time," Stef says with a breathy laugh. "Or drafty classrooms." Anything back in Haven would be preferable to this, really. Stef imagines Vanyel's reaction to his pitiful shivering with a bit of a pang. The way the skin around his eyes would crinkle, the way he'd wrap Stef in his cloak and get him to someplace warm with hot spiced wine.
He shoves those thoughts to the back of his head and stands with a sigh, wrapping his arms around himself to ward off the chill. "Th-there are other people over there," he tells Glitch, nodding towards the arch. "Maybe th-they know where we are."
"I can't say I approve of medical types poking, in general," Glitch says. "But it looks like they left your noggin unaltered, at least, so you're already one up on me." He laughs in a way that's meant to sound careless, and doesn't quite manage it.
And then Stefen mentions the other people, and Glitch perks up a bit. "They don't look like Longcoats... I'll give them that. And even if they can't tell us where we are, all of us together may be able to find some way to get warm," he says, looking hopeful. "Or they could have something to eat." And at that, he favors Stefen with a broad grin. "Let's go!"
Slipped on the ice...
Stefen sucks in a sharp breath as he wakes up, the cold air in his lungs shocking him to full consciousness as he doubles over coughing. He gasps for a moment, shivering as the wind whips the snow around him and his gittern. Once he recovers, he looks up and stares in shock.
This is not Haven. This is not anywhere near Haven. Or the room he was sitting in, waiting for Vanyel. This is a forest with snow and what looks like other people.
"It is v-very c-cold," he comments - he tries for dry or sardonic, but instead just comes out pitiful and stuttered from his shivering.
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Huh. New person. New place, too, since he's pretty sure he isn't in the O.Z. anymore. The frozen parts of the O.Z. weren't so heavily forested, unless it somehow turned to winter without him noticing.
"Well, you're a sharp one," he mutters, and then his expression softens a moment later. The kid's even less prepared for sudden cold than he is, and he's shrugging out of his coat before he has time to think of just how cold it is out here.
"Here," he says, holding the ragged coat out for the boy to take. "The name's Glitch. And you look like you need this more than I do."
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A Herald would refuse the coat. Stef is not a Herald. He takes the coat with a faint smile, shrugging into it gratefully and hugging his knees to his chest to block some of the wind. A cold backside from the snow was better than standing up, for now, in Stef's opinion.
"Th-thanks," he said, and tried to shiver less. It worked a little - the extra fabric helped. "I'm Stefen. N-not really a cold weather person."
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"I'd see about starting a fire, but, ah... I'm not really the outdoors type. More the indoors in a nice, safe laboratory type. Or a less-nice, less-safe government function. You know, I never thought I'd miss those..."
Please, Stefen. Stop him before he really gets going.
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He shoves those thoughts to the back of his head and stands with a sigh, wrapping his arms around himself to ward off the chill. "Th-there are other people over there," he tells Glitch, nodding towards the arch. "Maybe th-they know where we are."
Reply
And then Stefen mentions the other people, and Glitch perks up a bit. "They don't look like Longcoats... I'll give them that. And even if they can't tell us where we are, all of us together may be able to find some way to get warm," he says, looking hopeful. "Or they could have something to eat." And at that, he favors Stefen with a broad grin. "Let's go!"
Reply
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