Я вернулся в деревню

[balancedlight]

Who: Svetlana and Open + a prompt for Fraser
What: Venturing forth and also dealing with April shenanigans!
When: April catch-all!
Where: Milton, then the path up to and including Lakeside. See prompts in post!

Content Warnings: Nothing as of yet; will update!

Comments

I. Milton

[balancedlight]

Sveta knows that the trek is going to take a lot out of her, but at least the oppressive darkness isn’t so all-pervasive any longer. The clinic, Goodsir’s cabin, seems so quiet without the clink and clatter of instruments and bottles. She clears out the cabinets of everything except first aid and lays that out in plain sight for anyone who might need it. Hopefully they won’t need labels for what they find, and she traces his handwriting over the English writing, committing it to memory.

She already split most of the other supplies with Goodsir, but there’s no telling what’s in the other place that he might not recognize. She respects the hell out of the man, but it doesn’t mean that he knows what to look for.

She’d feel better doing it herself.

But there’s still much to do and it leaves her walking between her hut and Goodsir’s, half nervous and half purposeful.

Re: I. Milton

[friendsfordinner]

Hickey's returning from a hunting session. He's got a dead rabbit slung over his shoulder as he looks over at Sveta, obviously pacing and obviously worrying. He frowns for a moment, looking her over. That blonde foreigner. She's a doctor, yeah? Better he at least get one of them on his side—Hickey is well aware that Goodsir's professional ethics as a doctor are likely to snap if he's concerned.

"Something's on your mind," he points out, with a little nod. "You're walking like you'll wear a hole in the ground."

Re: I. Milton

[balancedlight]

She looks over, eyeing the rabbit and then the hunter. Unfamiliar, though she's seen his face around. Not in the clinic, though. No. Strangely, he's stayed away.

"I - I'm preparing to walk to the other place," she tells him. "But I don't want to forget anything."

Re: I. Milton

[friendsfordinner]

"That other city, yeah? The one through the mines." Hickey frowns for a moment, thinking to himself before admitting,

"Haven't visited it yet myself. When everybody went off on their expedition, I figured I wasn't going to be one of the ones possibly dying in the mines. But now that the route's clear enough...I dunno. Might go down for a week or so."

Re: I. Milton

[meadqueen]

Randvi lives on Bear’s Bend, and often finds herself passing the healer’s home on Blackrock Road on her way to the Community Hall.

She's a bit surprised to pass the same woman walking in the same direction both on her trip there and her trip back.

“Are you all right?”

Re: I. Milton

[balancedlight]

She has her head down, focused on her tasks, but when she's spoken to, she stops short, looking up.

"Oh!" She covers her surprise with a sheepish smile. "Ah, yes. I am. I'm - preparing for a trip through the mines."

[meadqueen]

“Through the mines!” Despite having taken the original trip herself, Randvi is a little shocked. “A courageous prospect in this weather. You wish to visit Lakeside?”

II. Along the Way

[balancedlight]

The mine seems so much less strenuous now that it’s already been traversed and the other side isn’t such an unknown.

She holes up in one of the small cabin, grateful for the shelter and a warm place to rest her head. Especially when the fog lays out before her, obscuring her view. Frustrated again with her own lack of magical ability, her lack of access to the Twilight, she sticks to the tracks, never faltering from them.

The odd green fog doesn’t seem to plague her until just before she reaches the resort. It’s odd enough that she hurries, she runs, taking shelter in whatever cabin she can find.

[salamanca]

Lalo is in the process of boarding up his windows from the fog when the door swings open, and he looks up. He would not normally be at all upset to see a beautiful, frightened woman taking shelter in his cabin, but after what happened the last time a gorgeous woman hid in his house from the green fog, it's all just a bit much.

He can't even be angry this time. Did he leave the door unlocked? He must've. His mind is going. What an idiot, he silently admonishes himself.

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me," he says, more to the air than to Sveta. He coughs, as the green fog starts to seep in. "Alright. Get comfortable, sweetheart. We're gonna be here a while."

[balancedlight]

She's panting, doubled over a little as she catches her breath. Grateful that the door was open, unlocked, but a little worried that someone else is occupying the space. It takes her a moment to register what he's saying and then she looks up, blinking.

"We should cover the door," she says, taking off her tattered backpack and digging through it to find a spare sweater to block the cracks in the frame.

[salamanca]

"Here." Lalo goes over, and breathlessly hands her some duct tape. He coughs again. "Use this." But the windows still need sealing, too.

III. Lakeside - Open to Any

[balancedlight]

Lakeside itself is - almost a dream. After staring at the same town, the same place, for a month, she’s ready to have something new to draw her attention. Her first instinct is scavenging, collecting any medical or first aid supplies that she can - assisting Goodsir when possible.

Occasionally, she will stay in the Cabin Office, just to rest, sitting on the floor against the wall when she thinks that no one is around. It’s here that she actually lets herself cry. To sit long enough to hear her own thoughts means that she can hear all the ways that this is all crushing in on her.

But she eventually pulls herself together.

It’s lovely to see familiar faces among those who have chosen to be here. But she is unsure if she’s actually going to stay. There aren’t as many options here and she doesn’t want to leave Milton without medical care for long. If there are patterns to go by, then they should have another crop of Interlopers soon, which means that they may need care. She won’t leave them behind.

[bestsir]

Goodsir isn't looking for Sveta when he goes by the cabin office—he's just looking around in a general sort of way, exploring and seeing if there's anyone who needs help, or if there's any new information he can gather.

When he hears the weeping, he freezes. His instinct is to find out who it is, to go help, but he does understand that not everyone wants that. There's a few minutes of indecision, which he finally resolves by coughing gently and deliberately stepping with a heavier footfall.

[balancedlight]

Sveta reaches up and rubs her eyes. "Oh!" She steels herself, makes sure that her face is dry, if a little red and splotchy as she stands.

"Doctor Goodsir!" she squeaks out, straightening out her shirt.

[bestsir]

"Dr. Nazarova. I—I apologise, I hope I didn't disturb you." A beat. "Are you all right?"

She's certainly not, but he's not going to lead with that.

IV. Community Soup in Lakeside! - Fraser + OTA

[balancedlight]

Her babushka would roll over in her grave to see Svetlana cooking with canned beets. But they were a rare find, something from Milton that had rolled underneath a cabinet, and it gave her an idea. She started gathering the cans she would need, the vegetables and any scraps of beans or spices she can manage. They weigh her down, but it’s worth it.

Over the course of the day, in the little Cabin Office, she makes a big pan of beet soup - borscht. It certainly isn’t perfect, but it comes out delicious and Sveta will offer a bowl to anyone with a hint of a rumbling stomach who comes inside.

But there’s one reserved as a thank you for a friend. It’s been a while since he pulled her out of the ice, but she hasn’t forgotten it. The kindness should be repaid. She goes out to find him, a bowl wrapped a towel causing steam to surround her.

[maintiensledroit]

He's not sure where Diefenbaker's gotten to– ever since they got here to Lakeside, the wolf has taken off almost every day, leaving early in the morning and not returning until late in the never-ending day. It's worrying, with how strange and aggressive the animals here are, but Diefenbaker can take care of himself.

It means he's uncharacteristically alone, sweeping snow off the front porch of the cabin he's taken for the time being, when a familiar figure comes in sight. The Mountie smiles, lifting a hand in greeting. "Svetlana. What a nice surprise!"

His eyebrows lift as he takes in the steam wreathing her face. "What do you have there?"

[balancedlight]

"Benton Fraser, it is good to see you!" she calls back, stepping to the porch, around the pile of snow that he's seemed to accumulate from his sweeping. She holds up the little package when he asks.

"I hope you are hungry. I made - well, I should not call it borscht, but it is close. It is a thank you for saving my life."

[maintiensledroit]

Almost at the same time as she says the word — hungry - he catches a whiff of the steam. It might not truly be borscht, but it smells heavenly anyway, and Fraser's stomach gives an audibly loud grumble. "Ah—"

He colors, glancing down with a smile before he opens the door to the cabin, politely showing her in. "Yes, as a matter of fact, I am. I've mostly been eating pemmican and a little fresh meat, these last few days."

[guidemyway]

Look, Ruby was a teenager. And one who wasn't very good at cooking herself. So the scent of a freshly cooked meal is enough to drag her out from where she's been making herself at home to explore. When she comes across the cabin office her eyes go wide like saucers at the sight of the soup.

"Oh my gosh. That smells so good." There's a pause and then she looks over to Svetlana. "You made that?"

[balancedlight]

Sveta's smile is humble. "I tried," she admits. "It isn't terrible, I hope. But it is warm. And filling."

free food? ideal opportunity to add another russian to tobi's friends list

[eighteenhalflives]

It's a bit of an inevitability that making a fresh, warm meal with actual spices draws in the occasional stray. This time it's a young man with a mutt at his heel, both bundled in extra layers of scavenged clothing, who pauses in the doorway to take in the scene for a moment before he says anything.

"Woah, what's cooking?"

There's a part of him that scolds himself for sounding so easily impressed, but it comes with the territory; most of his meals lately have been whatever cooks quickly and conveniently on a campfire, and even that's a step up from 200 year old prepackaged food.

[balancedlight]

"It is - it's borscht," she says, rocking up on her heels like an excited schoolgirl showing off her science fair project. The stew was a bit like a science project, if she's being completely honest with herself.

[desperate_times_right]

Chloe would not describe her trip to Lakeside as fleeing, exactly, but she's certainly avoiding a situation entirely created by herself. It does mean that she spends a lot of time over here aimless, especially with the fog. She drops by the Cabin Office because she's noticed light inside, and is delighted to see Svetlana inside. Maybe she can cash that rain check for a meal together after all.

She smiles, despite the healing fog burns on her face. “Sevtlana, hi! I didn't realize you'd made the trip over.”

[balancedlight]

"Oh, Chloe!"

Svetlana turns around, positively delighted by the sight of her. Familiar faces is something she will never take for granted ever again.

"I only arrived a few days ago. If I knew you were coming, I would have made the trip with you."

It would have been infinitely less taxing with company, a fact she will remember for the next time.