♠ And If Anyone Wants To Grant You Warmth When Everything Is Cold ♠
Who: dontcallmegol, baratiesbest, prodigal_axe and going_to_change
Where: The Northern Lights Bar
When: Sometime after midnight
Rating: PG-13 for language and half-nudity to keep a pirate from dying of hypothermia. Suggestive themes? IDK
Summary: Ace passes out at the NL after his round about the city. The crew at the lights is faced with trying to keep the man alive.
Notes: This log is effectively ( Read more... )
Where: The Northern Lights Bar
When: Sometime after midnight
Rating: PG-13 for language and half-nudity to keep a pirate from dying of hypothermia. Suggestive themes? IDK
Summary: Ace passes out at the NL after his round about the city. The crew at the lights is faced with trying to keep the man alive.
Notes: This log is effectively ( Read more... )
Perhaps it was the lack of food or rest or proper clothing that made the difference but whatever it was winter in Discedo felt so much colder than the snow covered island had ever been. It was freezing and with this blizzard tearing through the town Sanji thanked his lucky star that he had volunteered to stay at the Lights - at least it was fairly warm and safe here. Not that his heart didn't go out to all the poor unlucky bastards who did get hit by the storm - because it did - but for once he had been lucky enough to stay out of the worst.
That didn't mean he wouldn't have to brave the weather from time to time though. The bar might be warm and safe for now but they still needed to keep the exit as clear as possible in case something happened and that was something he had taken upon himself to do. There wasn't much else he could do when supplies were this low and just sitting there... no. Shoveling snow was a futile task but at least it kept him warm and moving.
So out he went, already shivering at the mere sight of the cold, darkened street. The door was nearly completely blocked already but he managed to push it open enough to slip through, breath hitching in his throat as the cold air hit him. Fucking hell this was insane!
He took a step, maybe two. And then he froze for completely different reasons.
There was a body there, just a few feet from their front door. A very half-naked body at that. A half-naked familiar body, half-covered in the snow and for a moment he could've sworn that his heart all but stopped. That fucking moron, what the hell was he doing out here? Like this?!
The cook didn't waste another second, quickly closing the distance between himself and the fallen pirate, kneeling beside him in the snow to try and shake him to life.
"Oi! Ace... for fuck sake, don't you fucking--"
That didn't seem to work so he did the only other thing he could think of. Grabbing a frightingly cold arm he made an attempt to drag the fire user up, taking most of his weight onto his own shoulders. There was no way in hell he'd be able to get inside like this though and so he took a deep breath and called out:
"OI! SHINJI!"
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The Northern Lights had (almost freakishly) weathered the worst of the storm so far. Maybe those other close buildings shielded it from the heavy damage. Who knew. But he just couldn't feel comfortable sitting in the warm bar, eating some of their (admittedly) scarce supplies, while the rest of the city suffered and starved and froze to death. Unlike the other crazy city incidents, Shinjiro couldn't do a damned real thing about this. The 'Lights was too isolated to shelter most people. They'd die getting here. Good chance.
Rationalizing that didn't make it any easier to just sit there. Or listen to people he cared about while they suffered.
So, once Sanji disappeared into the howling wall of white outside, Shinjiro poured himself one drink. Got up. And headed into the store room to do 'inventory.' Or what he could with the remaining supplies they had. Luckily the 'Lights tended to store up constantly. They had enough to last them, even if a few people showed up. If more than a few... he'd need to go hunting somehow. Hunting in a blizzard... even the damned monsters had more sense than to walk around in that.
"Fucking bullshit," he muttered at a couple of innocuous cans. He was about to start tallying them when a yell caught his attention.
He didn't even hesitate. He shot out of the storage room and to the entrance, with his good hand already digging for the pistol in his coat pocket. Were these refugees or attackers, interlopers? Neither kind would be in great condition after trudging all the way out here. For better or for worse.
Shinjiro (warily) stuck his head outside. His eyes widened at the sight of Ace leaning on Sanji. If deadweight counted as leaning.
"God damn it!" He shot over and grasped one of Ace's arms, pulling half the weight onto himself. "Lets get him inside."
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Honey hadn't counted on not being able to see an inch in front of her nose and the entire AI System was running on critical. It wasn't the cold that worried her; she was built to be able to withstand far more extreme temperatures. It was the lack of food that was bothering her, and it was all she could do to resist pigging out on what little she'd managed to collect.
It was getting worse too. The sky was slowly darkening and Honey knew that what little visibility she had right now would be gone the second night fell and she'd really be in trouble.
She didn't see the street sign until she had practically walked into it. Well! She could at least get her bearings! Giving it a swift kick, the snow fell off, revealing the name Bonito Drive.
"Darnit." She was very far from the apartments. She must have gotten turned around somewhere. Still, she could see a dim orange brightness coming from a building. It must be the bar! She beamed; she may not be able to get to the apartments at the moment, but she could at least take a rest and maybe replenish a bit of her depleted energy.
---
It wasn't long after Shinji had collected Ace and Sanji that Honey had found her way in, after practically tripping over a bag of supplies outside the door the snow had already buried.
Collecting the bag Ace had dropped, she opened the door.
"Pardon me barging in~ I just need to rest for a bit!" She sounded cheerful as snow practically evaporated off of her, but the android definitely looked the worse for wear. She was slumped, and swaying a little.
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His skin was cold to the touch, his pulse was barely there and the gentle rise and fall of his chest was far from steady. It would be easy to miss him even breathing at all with how everything had slowed down. His lips were blue and he was pale, like a rag-doll in the two men's arms.
At least he was alive, but for how long? He needed warmth, there wasn't much left in his core.
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No, this wouldn't do. They were way in over their heads here, they'd need to contact an expert if they wanted the guy to survive the damn night. If he was even alive at this point, not even that much was certain.
Gritting his teeth he shot Shinji a glance. Somehow he doubted that his grumpy boss knew more than he did about this but they had to do something. Making him comfortable seemed to be a good first step and then they just had to... go from there.
"C'mon, let's put him down somewhere. I'll get in touch with a doctor -- unless you know something about this shit?"
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Common sense, right? Keep a frozen person warm. But privately Shinjiro wondered if Ace was too far gone. With skin like ice to the touch and blue features like that... he looked more like a corpse than anything that still had a pulse. He could feel some erratic breaths from him as they dragged him. Otherwise he'd have wondered.
If heat alone wouldn't bring him back... Shinjiro couldn't figure that Ace would survive the night. Unless something in his nearly depleted medkit might help. "Tch. Not when it's this bad..." Sticking your hands in warm water could work, he remembered that. But... Ace's whole body seemed was affected, and worse than he was used to seeing. "You go do that. I'll try and bring him around."
With Sanji's help, he dragged Ace into the storage room. He made a grab for the heaviest blanket on the shelves...at least they had a few of those. Would that be enough to warm him up? At least it wouldn't hurt to try. He wrapped the blanket around the pirate as best he could and sat down to watch. If he saw a change in color or something, anything, he'd try more methods to warm him up with. And just let Sanji ask for now. And--being in the store room--he didn't quite notice Honey when she first walked in.
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But there was some kind of commotion in the back.
Honey wondered if it had anything to do with the blizzard? Maybe.
And of course, being Honey, she was always happy to help.
Following the source of sounds, Honey peeked in, her brow furrowed. What she saw startled her.
First off it looked as though both of the conscious people were in a state of panic over what looked like a dead body. Someone must have frozen to death outside.
"Um... Is everyone okay?" Obviously not, but she didn't know what to ask. "...Can I help?"
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He gave Honey a curious glance and a nod, uncharacteristically free of sparkles despite the presence of such a gorgeous woman. The shallow flirting would have to wait for later.
"Alright, here's the deal. First of all - he can't be moved unless we absolutely have to and even then we have to take it real fucking slow. He can't have anything to drink, not even if it's warm and trying to rub heat into him or wrap him in blankets won't help. We need to warm him up from the core, otherwise he's done for."
Pause. A glance from Shinji to Honey and back again - he was an obvious volunteer but they had to be two.
"Bodyheat. Skin to skin contact, from each side of the torso. That's the only chance the bastard has and we have to get started now."
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When Honey popped into the room, he got up off the floor and dusted melting snow off his coat. He offered her an uncertain rough nod and a shrug, then gestured toward Sanji. "Not sure. He's askin' some doctors right now..."
...And then Sanji got off the line. His distracted curiosity over Honey's presence switched right back over. He listened carefully--when the other man mentioned blankets, he knelt down again and untangled the blanket from around Ace's cold limbs. It was still better to lay on that than the floor. Meanwhile he processed the rest of Sanji's words.
Body heat, huh? The thought made him... more than uneasy. Not that he wouldn't do it if he had to. He glanced from Sanji back to Honey. After weighing a couple concerns through his mind, he said: "If one of you guys won't, I will. But if you do... I can guard the damn place while you two do that. Someone's got to."
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Honey gave this some due consideration. After a pause as she put two and two together.
"Oh! So it's like that thing Nat-chan did for me when I went into complete shut-down! If you guys need help, I'm happy to lend a hand. I need to take a rest anyway."
Honey didn't seem remotely embarrassed or reluctant. Natsuko had done something similar for her, to Honey it was just the usual circle of karma.
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Honey on the other hand... no complaints there. None at all. In fact, that would even be enough to make this whole thing enjoyable instead of nothing but a necessary evil. The fact that he didn't have to suggest it was just an added bonus. He could be a real perv sometimes but asking a woman he just barely knew to crawl down half-naked with a man she didn't seem to know at all? That just wasn't okay.
"Looks like it's you and me then, Miss Honey!"
He gave her a small smile, tried to add a little cheer into the grave situation. Right. Let's do this.
"Alright, let's get him moved onto the blanket first... and it would be a good idea to grab one to have on top, that'll keep the heat in better."
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No big surprise there. Shinji arched his shoulders up and jammed his bad hand into into his pocket, trying not to look as awkward as he felt. "Alright... you two do that." He grabbed another blanket off the shelf and set it down next to Ace.
"While you guys... get set up, I'm gonna go make you two a couple hot drinks. No sense in warming up the guy if you two freeze your asses off doing it."
Plus, that'd give him an excuse to leave while they undressed.
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Now, if there was one virtue Honey lacked it was modesty. After helping with the blankets, she didn't seem to have any sort of fuss about taking her clothes off. It wasn't the first time the android had been naked in front of strangers and besides, it was for a good cause.
Laying down and sandwiching Ace between herself and Sanji. She didn't find it particularly uncomfortable, though she personally preferred Natsuko's softer curves. Ooh was that a tattoo? She wondered if it would be okay if she could add onto it later?
"This isn't bad, and he'll be warm in no time. I've been overheating for the past couple of days."
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...Honey definitely didn't seem to be thinking about anything like that though and it took a lot of energy for the cook to keep himself in check. This wasn't the time or the place but that flash of very naked female skin was enough to color his cheeks a deep pink and if it wasn't for the fact that this was a life or death situation he might've just dropped dead on the floor from sheer over-stimulation.
Oh boy. This was going to be one long, confusing night.
He cleared his throat and awkwardly slipped into position on the other side of Ace, pressing his back against the other mans chest to warm him up. So he wouldn't be able to see Honey like this but it was infinitely better than the alternative.
"Yeah... hopefully we won't have to keep this up for very long!"
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Slowly but surely his once dead state began to take a turn for the better. As his core temperature began to rise, his body began to follow, bringing him about from unconsciousness. It was sluggish at best and he really wasn't completely aware of things around him. All he knew was that his body ached, tingled and burned all at once. But there was warmth, glorious warmth on all sides, something familiar and comforting to the fire user.
He shifted, stiff in his movements and breathed out a shuddered sigh against the blonds shoulder. His hand clumsily brushed over the body in front of him, completely unaware of who it was. It didn't matter, all he could think of was that he didn't want to lose that heat so generously pressed to him. So he wrapped his arms around Sanji's waist and chest, holding onto him for dear life. He curled in against him, shivering pathetically and pressing his forehead to his shoulder. He was so cold. How could he still be so cold?
His breathing came out in shallow, humid puffs, desperately trying to get oxygen to his lungs. It was around that time that he was able to open his eyes, blinking blearily to get them to focus. He didn't lift his head though, didn't feel the need nor care to move from the position he was in. He just needed to stay like this, maybe sleep a little longer.
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Needless to say the blond was a little drowsy and at first he didn't really register that the man behind him was slowly coming to. It wasn't until that arm brushed against him that he remembered where he was (and more importantly - why) and when it finally landed curled around his waist he couldn't help but tense up. Normally he would have bolted out from under their warm little nest but right now he couldn't manage more than a half-hearted protest.
"O-oi!"
It was all so pathetic though, strangely endearing and he didn't have the heart to push the fireuser away. Awkward and uncomfortable and holyshit he'd really like to get up right about now but it had been a matter of life and death, still was for all they knew and if he had to play human radiator for a while longer then so be it.
So he remained still. Tense, but still. A sigh of half exasperation and half relief escaped from his chest and even though his voice had an edge to it there was no mistaking the concern hidden underneath it.
"Tch. Took you long enough."
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