Ice Age Anew [RP Play!]

[poppyxoxo]

Annora tucked loose hair behind her ears while also fixing up the braids that she had freshly twisted into her hair this morning. “Have you eaten anything yet?” She asked, gesturing towards some of the food that was still waiting for someone to take it all up.

“I’ll make sure to take note of that, thank you for letting me know. Can I at least get a hint as to who you’re choosing?” Annora asked, knowing full well that she probably was not to get an answer but nonetheless it was worth the try.

[poppyxoxo]

Aviana had woken up slightly later than what was usual for her, and she instantly felt guilty, but she did not let it subdue her from her day’s work as she cleaned her space, got ready for the morning, and headed towards the kitchen to grab something light and easy, maybe toast if they had any available. Aviana whipped her hair into a low bun, her curtain bangs tucked neatly behind her ears. She contemplated a beanie and after a few moments, she decided that was a smart accessory to have. She decided to do a round of the garden and make sure that everything was as it was meant to be until she was called to do something more important or was needed more elsewhere. The young woman then existed from her room and made a start down the hallway.

Once she had collected her fair share of the breakfast food, Ariana made her way outside with a small bounce to her step. A few nights before she had been struggling to sleep and last night had been one of her lucky nights where her mind had not been plagued with horrible dreams, so she had been able to enjoy her sleep which was most certainly a lovely change to her sleep schedule. Not that she took her grumpiness out on others, but it gave her something different to think over as the hours of the day progressed

The blonde must have been off in her thoughts because she felt her shoulder ever so slightly brush with someone else’s and she paused, spinning back around to offer her respectful apologies when she saw who the person was, and all her words dried up in her throat. Finally, after a few seconds of subtle gawping, Ariana gulped and shook her head with shame. “I’m so sorry, I was off in the clouds” she managed to say, hoping that Bastian was not able to notice the colour that began to rise in her cheeks. Was she embarrassed though, or was she half glad that it did happen to be Bastian, but she hadn’t meant to approach him in that way? Yes, that was it.

“How are you going, uh, did you sleep well?” Ariana asked, turning on her heels to have a look at was caused Bastian to be standing out in the garden that morning. She wasn’t totally surprised though because she had come to observe that this was one of his favourite spots but she couldn’t admit that out loud.

[deco.]

aleksi kozlov — tags: angeline — mentions: alessia // (on my phone so soz this is not all fancy)

Aleksi was up early, getting a good night’s rest had been hard to comeby for a few years now. He had many worries that kept him up during the night. He has crashed a few times due to exhaustion which got him a scolding from the tribe’s doctor. He had always been more concerned about the wellbeing of others rather than his own, there were people far younger than him who needed to survive so he put their needs before his own. He wasn’t sure how long he slept the night before since it was still dark when he got out of bed. His throat was sore from breathing through his mouth during the night, a habit that he struggled to break. It didn’t help that the air was so dry either. His throat was sore and dry, it was not the most comfortable combination. Aleksi pulled on a few more layers before exiting his quarters, his body had somewhat gotten used to the below freezing temperatures, well as used to the cold as one could get. Now that winter was approaching, keeping warm was going to be essential. Aleksi trudged in the snow until he found something to lean against, he pulled a lighter out of his pocket and a pack of smokes that he had found while he was out and about a few weeks ago. Luckily for him, a good portion of the cigarettes were still intact.

Alongside drinking, he did give up smoking for a time being but considering the last twelve years… He found it hard to not gravitate back toward one of the two. A part of him was happy that smoking had won that battle, he didn’t want to imagine himself as deadweight from being a miserable drunk. He huffed out a ball of smoke and stared at the snowy tundra in front of him, there wasn’t a whole lot to look at apart from snow and trees. His attention was quickly snapped by his name being called, it seemed Alessia had something she wanted to tell him. Though, he was caught off guard when an eager figure appeared next to him. He looked at the girl with a raised eyebrow, her name eluded him for a moment before Angeline came to mind. He would apologize to Alessia later for suddenly becoming preoccupied. Aleksi pulled the cigarette out of his mouth and thought for a moment before replying, “what are you having trouble with?” he asked, since her question was pretty open ended. Aleksi would help her of course but he needed to know what he was going to assist her with.

Aleksi knew he was well versed in a whole matter of skills, combat, hunting, and a little first aid. He’d often think to himself how he was kind of a Jack of all trades when it came to survival skills. He would often volunteer his time helping out wherever he could. The man simply didn’t want to rest, which earned him a few scoldings from the tribe’s doctor.

[Guest]

xxx──𝑳𝑶𝑹𝑬𝑵 𝑲𝑾𝑨𝑵...
xxxxxxxx(eastern warrior)xx(tags) - vivian xx(mentions) tags

vivian was confused- indefinitely. he had no idea why the male had chosen to come up to him, especially with how messy the breakup had ended up being. loren didn't know if he was there just to tease him or to chew him out, or was just there to talk to him in hopes of mending things. a part of loren didn't want to mend things with him - he didn't want anything to do with him, and to have him just leave and never come back. but he knew the other part of him was far more overbearing - the part that felt as if he couldn't live without seeing him, the part that knew his heart would shatter if vivian left.

loren was beyond attached, and there was no denying it. there was no escaping it, and he was stuck in the never ending cycle of being mad him, to missing him and missing his lips and wishing he was there to hug him and hold him - to never let him go again. loren knew it was stupid, and he was going to just get himself hurt the more he thought that way, but god he couldn't help it. he couldn't stop it. he wanted him so badly it was nearly making him physically itch - his hands balling into fists. his nails dug into the palm of his hand as he tried to keep his composure.

with vivian moving closer- loren's heart slammed into his chest anxiously. he could feel his heart slowly creeping up to his throat, as his stomach filled with the nervous butterflies. he hadn't seen vivian this up close in a while- by god did he miss it so much. he missed the view of him so close, he missed the smell of him, he missed seeing his eyes sparkling as he stared into the deep black color- almost getting lost in his own reflection as he only imagined the things he wanted to say with vivian that close. his eyes dropping down to the male's lips- loren sucked in a deep and shakier breath. they were so soft- all he wanted to do was lean in and taste them again - feel them again, desperately. taste them against his tongue, feel his against his - the temptation to lean just a bit further and close the space was almost overbearing - but loren stayed still, reluctantly.

even though his words weren't what loren wanted to hear- just hearing his voice made him close his eyes to take in another breath. god he had felt dizzy- the whole situation left him feeling lightheaded. he was so, so needy. and he was craving vivian more than anything in that moment, his tongue grazing against his own lips slowly. huffing out air from his nose, loren only crossed his arms over his chest slowly.

"i don't want to go looking for them," he muttered, rolling his eyes slightly. he didn't care to help in all honesty - especially not with what had just happened to him. god if vivian even asked to do anything in that moment, loren knew he wouldn't be able to find it in himself to say no. vivian had him weak, his knees buckling, and his chest feeling like it was strained. it hurt physically, but loren was addicted to the feeling. "yeah, i'm totally just a little guard," he hissed sarcastically, furrowing his eyebrows with annoyance as he shook his head at the male. "you came to me, and yet you ask me to leave? really funny, vivian. maybe there's something you want, but you can't get yourself to ask, hmm? am i right?"

[Mezzo]

❅ 𝐑𝐇𝐘𝐒
─────── Eastern | Gatherer | Tags: Dexter | Mentions: Alessia, Emma, Freyja, Mateo


Okay, so maybe Rhys had slept in a little this morning, waking with a start to see the sun too high in the sky for it to be early morning (he had a few choice words in mind when he realized that), but he blamed last night for that. He hadn’t been able to fall asleep - which was really old hat by now - and, after what felt like hours of just laying there (he’d been trying not to fidget or move around too much, lest he disturb anyone), he’d realized that it was too late for him to expect to get enough sleep and be up and functioning like a normal human being at a reasonable hour with the rest of the tribe, and then what would everyone think of him? Sure, this whole tribe thing was kind of alien to him and he didn’t know how tightly everyone followed a schedule around here, but he couldn’t risk looking like an unreliable slacker! Clearly, the only feasible option had been to pull an all-nighter and catch up on what sleep he’d missed later. Definitely.

…Well, it had seemed like a good idea in theory, or at least it had in Rhys’s addled mind at the time, but he hadn’t exactly counted on becoming so exhausted that he’d passed out like a light anyway just as the sun was rising. Tsk, biology. What was it good for anyway? Sure, he’d gotten some much-needed hours of rest, but now he’d missed breakfast (he was definitely feeling the aftereffects of that; his stomach wasn’t happy with him at all!) and he looked lazy.

After his initial panic subsided, Rhys had just sat there on his bed for a few heartbeats, not even bothering to fix his bedhead as he allowed himself to wallow in his misery, bringing his hands up to cover his face. See, this was why he knew he couldn’t make it on his own after Vee… well. He was a hot mess and he knew it and he’d relied on her for far too much and it wasn’t like he made great company in the first place, but she’d said she believed in him, and he wasn’t going to lie, it was such a simple thing, having someone believe in you, but it had felt so nice. Not that that mattered anymore, anyway, since Vee was gone now, just another ghost to haunt him, and he was stuck here of all places. Actually, no, that wasn’t entirely fair - it wasn’t all bad, he could be dead in a ditch somewhere instead, encased in permafrost forevermore, if Alessia hadn’t agreed to take him in. He still hadn’t made it up to her, either - he had a lot of regrets about that too.

At least the people here were friendly enough. So far, no one had been outright hostile towards him. He supposed he had Alessia to thank for that; she could easily have turned him away and left him to starve or freeze to death but she hadn’t, and while he suspected some in the tribe may not have been so keen on the idea of letting some random outsider join, who were they to argue when it was their leader’s decision? Of course, one tribe mate in particular had been welcoming: Emma, the sole doctor of the group. It had been weird, albeit in a nice way, to have someone looking out for his health that wasn’t himself or Vee, and he couldn’t help but respect how she genuinely cared about and looked after everyone’s health. It made him, in turn, want to look out for her — quid pro quo, right? If she was always so busy taking care of everyone else then someone ought to ensure she was looking after herself, too!

The thought of getting a chance to speak with the endearing girl was enough to break Rhys out of his sleep-deprived stupor. But, then again, Emma always seemed so busy with her duties… What if he was just wasting her time with his visits? And she gave him the impression that she was the kind of person who would be too polite to dismiss him even if he were doing so… but, but! If he had a reason to see their doctor, then he wouldn’t be wasting her time, now would he? He could ask if she had anything to help him sleep! That was official enough, wasn’t it? Right, yeah, this sounded like a good plan. It would improve his mood and be a better start to his day, at the very least, spending some time with his friend (well, he certainly considered her a friend, and he just hoped she felt the same way). Probably. Hopefully. Or she’d see right through his deceptions and he’d just be making a fool of himself — no, no, thinking like that would just go nowhere.

Opening the cabin door just a fraction, Rhys dared sneak a peek at the outside world. He probably still looked half-asleep, but… that’s because he was. Semantics. Running a hand through his messy curls of dark hair - which he already knew from experience didn’t actually do anything to tame it, but it was a habit, damn it! - he took in his surroundings, seeing that most of the tribe was already up and about (yet another in-your-face reminder that he had slept in. Oops.) and carefully, but with determination in his step, he made his way to the medical cabin, where he expected to find Emma. His stomach rumbled a bit to remind him that he had inadvertently skipped breakfast… again… but meh. Food could wait. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed a certain ebony-haired hunter talking to Mateo, and he exhaled in what could only be relief. Look, he tried to respect all his tribemates, he wanted to make a good impression on them, but he was man enough to admit (to himself! No one else needed to know.) that Freyja, with her sharp tongue, scared him just a little, so he tended to shy away when she and Emma were together.

Stepping into the medical cabin, Rhys looked around and couldn’t help but deflate - just a little! - when he noticed Emma wasn’t there. It figures — she was a busy person, probably already off doing something important for the tribe while he’d been sleeping in. Sigh. He’d just have to do better in the future. Just as he turned to leave, though, he spotted the familiar dark-haired head of Dexter, the doctor trainee. Hm. If Dexter hadn’t noticed him yet, he could slip out stealthily - as stealthily as he could, anyway - but wouldn’t he look more the fool for coming all this way and leaving so soon? It wasn’t like he didn’t want to talk to the younger man, but Rhys didn’t know him as well as he did Emma and he was freaking hungry and he’d slept in already (and still managed to not get enough sleep, which always felt great) and, wow, so much for thinking he could make this day any better with a conversation, of all things. Well. Whatever. He was here already.

“Uh, hey. Morning Dexter,” he began, not at all awkwardly, mind you. “Have you seen Emma this morning? I was just gonna ask her for something that could help me sleep.” Yeah, somehow he doubted he needed to go into detail about his insomniac habits - it was probably his worst-kept secret. Actually, you know what? “And something for a headache, maybe.” With the way his morning was going, it wouldn’t hurt.

[senna_]

𝐁𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐀𝐍 𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐀𝐒
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
. western gathererxxxxxlocation; western gardens xxxxxmentions; tagxxxxxtags; aviana

Bastian had always adored the mornings. There was something about the way the sun rose from beyond the peaks of the icy mountains and sprung into the gently misted sky that was comforting. He admired the way its rays burst in every direction, how the soft glow of its body filled the sky whole. Most of all, Bash enjoyed the colours; honey-orange and butterscotch were cheery colours, especially against the morning sky. He even enjoyed watching the fog that arose in the winter months; how it slithered both past and through living and inanimate objects was mesmerizing. It was so calming, yet so frightening at the same time. One day, Bash knew it would eat the world whole. It would be covered by a haze and nothing more. But they had a long time before that would happen, and until then, Bastian knew he had to enjoy every second of it.

He could tell it was chilly out by the way the branches on the bare trees were shaking back and forth. It was no lie that Bash thoroughly enjoyed summer more than anything else (although he did like the autumn season too, with the way the leaves turned such pretty colours), but he knew he couldn’t hide out in his room forever. So, pulling on a jacket, albeit reluctantly, he left his cozy room. It was quiet in the cabin he had been assigned as he headed over to the kitchen, pouring just enough water into his kettle to serve himself, seeing how nobody else was around. Was he late? Probably. Bastian was never really on time, no matter how hard he tried. He couldn’t help it! Being rushed made him feel rushed, which caused him to become more messy, and in that state, he always forgot something handy. As a Gatherer, and the only one standing at the moment, he didn’t feel he needed to hurry. Nobody had come banging at his door yet, anyway. He was fine.

He made himself some toast while he waited for his kettle to heat up, and poured the steaming hot water into a travel mug once it was ready. Dipping in a tea bag that was filled with jasmine green tea, he prepared himself for a more laid-back morning. With utter silence and a warm building, Bastian felt quite sleepy. He was on autopilot mode as he put away his dish and grabbed his mug, heading outside with a yawn. Bash always liked checking in on the garden. He knew this time around that it was rare to see anything sprouting, especially since the winter months were dragging on, but he still checked every single day. Plants had been one thing that was always important to him. His mother quite enjoyed having them, so naturally, he had been around them and knew of the responsibilities that came with them from a young age. Nowadays, he connected the idea of flowers to those he had lost in the past. He also linked them to his respected loved ones that were by his side, and those who were not physically, but in his heart.

He raised the mug to his lips, appreciating the temperature of the tea; it would surely warm him up soon enough. His shoes made small squeaking sounds against the packed snow as he headed towards the garden, eyes already brightening at the sight of it, even though there was little more than dirt. “Good morning,” he greeted it cheerfully, as if there were living beings inside. He set his travel mug down beside him, leaning closer to see if anything looked like it would start to sprout soon. He was so focused on finding something ━ anything ━ that he barely even felt the brush of another one’s shoulder until words followed the incident. He rose back to full height, turning to greet the speaker.

Aviana Vernice. Oh, how Bastian adored her. They had somehow managed to click when he first joined – something about her cheery nature fit well with his (attempted) positive attitude. Admiration had blossomed into more, but Bastian never felt there was a good time to say that. He cherished their friendship, having Aviana around, and he didn’t want to break that by admitting to feelings that he had hoped would have died off by now. “Sounds like a way nicer place than here,” he returned with a grin, turning to face her. “With the birds and the sun. Was it cold, being in the clouds?” Bastian knew he had a bad sense of humour; it was horrible, really. “You look cold, your cheeks are red. I have tea, if you want it!” He gestured towards the mug, then cocked his head slightly as he questioned his actions before swooping down to pick it up, in case she did want it. His dark eyes connected with hers, catching the dark irises, so dark and full of so much love. He was sure he could see himself in the reflection of them, if he stared long enough. It had taken so much for Bash to love again after Pippa died, but nowadays, Aviana was all that was on his mind. If he didn’t care so much for them and their friendship, he’d be embarrassed. He was embarrassed, but internally. He thought ━ hoped ━ he hid it well. “I did,” he responded with a nod, before eyeing her again. “Maybe more than you, it looks like? Are you doing okay? Is something on your mind?”

[Mezzo]

❀ 𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐄
─────── Western | Tracker | Tags: Analise | Mentions: Connall, Annora, Olivia, Kat, Calista, Janus, Karter, Tokala, Dakota, Aviana, Bash


If there was one thing Erice knew, it was that nothing made her want to stay in bed more than the early morning chill, by now an everyday occurrence thanks to the persistent subzero temperatures that covered the earth in permafrost. She wasn’t a late riser by any means, but it always took a few minutes to convince herself that it was time to get up and start a new day; who actually wanted to abandon the comfort and warmth, emphasis on warmth (which was honestly putting it generously considering the limited supplies the tribe had to work with), of their bed first thing in the morning?! But there was breakfast to be had and people to talk to and things to get done and simply not enough time in the day for all that combined with another hour of rest.

And so it was that Erice had, despite her internal mumbling and grumbling, forced herself up and awake for the morning after hearing the tribe leader’s call for breakfast. Were it up to her, she would’ve spent the better good of the next few hours cozily sleeping in, but alas, she’d learned to adapt her schedule around the tribe’s over the past few months. She’d made a beeline for the kitchen and, not one for having a large meal so close after waking, had settled on a light salad and cup of coffee, after which she’d retreated back to the cabins since the kitchen was bound to get more crowded with the typical morning bustle as others poured in for their first meal of the day. If possible, she would have liked to share a meal with Kat, but it seemed that wasn’t in the cards for this morning, as she hadn’t been able to catch the scout just yet. Oh well, they could always catch up later - it had been strange, at first, getting used to it not just being the two of them and their parents anymore, but they’d all made the joint decision to join the Western Tribe months ago, as the weather had gotten colder and the days shorter in preparation for the coming winter, and since then Erice hadn’t once looked back. Besides, she and Kat were both very much extroverts, and they relished in being around others. Really, Erice was more grateful than anything that the tribe had taken her and her family in and been so accepting of them.

Now that she was feeling more awake, though, Erice figured she ought to actually join the others and see what had to be done for the day. Making her way outside, she looked up once she left the cabin, shielding her eyes from the harsh light of the sun and seeing that it was almost at its highest point for the day, so it must be near high noon. Turning her attention back to the camp, she could see that others were milling about and socializing; the captain, Janus, was currently engaged in doing… something or other… with Karter, and Connall was busy discussing something with Annora and… what was that other girl’s name? Erice liked to think she was decent at putting a face to a name and she already memorized the names of those she worked with most and saw most often but, hey, cut her some slack. She was still relatively new to the group, and there were a lot of people to remember! Anyway, given that the two people she was supposed to report to and receive orders from were presently preoccupied, Erice figured now was as good an opportunity as any to socialize until she was called to work! It wasn’t like Janus was knocking down her and Ana’s door to be productive already, right? No harm, no foul! Of course, her first thought was immediately to look for her sister, but Kat was already in conversation with Calista, Annora’s older sister. Erice enjoyed Calista’s company - both could relate to being older sisters and always wanting to look after their younger siblings - and she hoped they were getting along. Waving in their direction, she decided to see if she could find her friends, Tokala or Aviana, instead.

Well shoot, it looked like Tokala was out and about already — the joys of being a hunter, Erice supposed. She’d tried asking Aviana and Tokala about their respective roles shortly after joining the tribe, but for the life of her she couldn’t relate. Being a tracker sounded much nicer in comparison, she thought! But she couldn’t help but notice that a certain brunette was also absent from the main camp. Interesting. Sure, their doctor probably had a thousand and one things to do which didn’t involve socializing just for the hell of it, but sue Erice’s imagination for hoping that maybe, just maybe her friend and Dakota were together at this very moment. If her suspicions were proven right, she’d have to grill Tokala for details later. Though she had never confirmed this with the hunter, it didn’t take a genius to figure out where his attentions lay, if you get her drift. While Erice didn’t know the doctor that well - frankly speaking, from first impressions Dakota seemed like a bit of a pushover but hey, that’s just her opinion - she figured she couldn’t be too bad a person if Tokala liked her so.

Disregarding Tokala for now (and silently cheering him on in her mind — he could do this!), Erice returned her attention to trying to find Aviana and… oh, was that her friend by the gardens? It was a little hard to be certain from this distance but she wasn’t called a “keen eye” for nothing. The blonde was currently with Bash, and Erice couldn’t help the smirk that grew onto her lips. If she thought she could get away with rubbing her hands together gleefully like a mastermind watching his plot unfold, she would, but she was in public and that would have to be saved for a private moment later. Erice and Aviana got along like two peas in a pod (the girl had been among the most welcoming when Erice had been trying to make nice with everyone, and they’d pretty much stuck together since then), and she absolutely knew about the not-so-little crush the warrior had on sweet, oversized teddy bear Bash — it was just the kind of secret they shared with each other. Hmm, she wondered if Aviana could see if she winked and gave an approving thumbs up from here? No, she supposed not, and that wasn’t exactly subtlety at its finest either. Pity. Ah well, seeing as one friend was nowhere to be seen and the other was extremely busy and not to be interrupted whatsoever, Erice decided to find someone else to speak with.

Spotting the familiar shape of Analise, the only other tracker, Erice practically bounded over to her, always eager for some good, interesting company to while away the time with, at least until their duties (or more likely, their captain) beckoned. She liked the younger girl’s energy, anyway — she liked how it kept the mood up. “Hello, hello!” she said chirpily in greeting as she reached Ana. “Are we making it a great morning?” Leaning in conspiratorially with her ever-present trademark smile, she lowered her voice to add, “Seeing as it seems that no one’s asked for us yet, I intend to take full advantage of our spare time until they do. Have you noticed anything interesting lately?” No, she was not going to oust either of her friends just yet, so, playing it safe, she observed, “I see Connall and Annora are close as ever. Think they’re planning out how they’re going to work us all to the bone today?” Sure, she was a go-getter, but if you asked her to choose between work and pleasure… well, surely the answer was obvious.

[poppyxoxo]

Aviana had to remind herself often that they were friend first and that it would be strange for her to start making her feelings more obvious through her acting weird around him. Aviana offered a friendly grin while walking up to Bash so that she was slightly closer to him, making sure that she was giving him personal space while still being close to him. "Being up in the clouds was quite chilly, given my overly red appearance" Aviana played along, nudging Bash gently as a sure sign that she had gotten his joke. She didn't mind his humor and if anything she found it charming and easy to play along with. "It is good to hear that you had a decent sleep, I feel so bad for those who struggle throughout the night and not just because I experience it too" she stated, shrugging her shoulders sluggishly.

A soft frown crossed her face as she glanced up at Bastian's hair and noticed a small section of hair had been disturbed by the wind so that it lay in the opposite direction from the middle part that it was meant to. "May I?" she asked, waiting a few seconds for his reply before she stood on her tippy toes to fix up the bit of hair, cursing herself for her obvious attempts to be closer to him.

"I've been sleeping a bit funny lately" Aviana admitted, surprised to find how easily she could talk about her issues but this was Bash, someone she could share her whole life story with within a split second but she knew that was not a good idea. "Oh, only if you're fine with sharing your tea" she smiled gratefully, allowing her slightly quivering fingers to wrap around the warm mug. Although she was more than used to the cold weather by now, sometimes when she had time she could let it affect her even to the smallest points but lucky for her this was a rare moment that she got to pause and enjoy herself. She raised the cup to her lips, closing her eyes as she took a sip, feeling it beginning to warm her up.

[senna_]

𝐄𝐌𝐌𝐀 𝐒𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐙
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
. eastern doctorxxxxxlocation; eastern camp (dining area)xxxxxmentions; tagxxxxxtags; kade

Emma gave a simple shrug of her shoulders - an innocent action, but the knowing smile on her smile, as faint as it was, was enough to show she had more thoughts than just the shrug, which was basically a way of showing her half-agreement. "I'll stick with my opinion on the matter," she decided lightly. "Everyone's got opinions. I've heard comments about myself as the official doctor several times. As long as you can do the job and do it well, I don't think age should matter. I'm sure you know as well as I do that there are far too many people older than the both of us who would be..." She tilted her head, pausing to put her following words into something light. "...not so efficient." She settled for that, yet again suspecting Kade knew what she meant. It was true, though. She knew authority did play a big role in things, but why give away an important job to someone in their thirties who put minimal effort into something when someone ten years younger put their heart and soul into the very same job? They'd learn to grow into it, as everyone once and would do. Maybe that was Emma being overly optimistic, though; she liked giving people chances.

She hadn't turned to officially look at Kade until they were inside the dining space, simply due to the wind, but she was sure he could very likely see the smile on her face at his thoughtful words. "You're too sweet," she returned, the tiniest of blushes across her cheeks. Emma tried not to gloat often, as she didn't feel it was an attractive trait to carry, but she had always had a lot of confidence in her role. Her mother had been a nurse and Emma had spent a lot of time at the hospital she worked at growing up, before their life went downhill, like everyone else's. "It's hard not to feel discouraged," she continued, allowing her hazel eyes to shift to the window. "I mean, look at it out there. Things are getting worse by the day. But I know I feel worried when I see others that way, so I've learned to hide it as best I can. Clearly, it must be working. I'm not as hopeful as you may think," she added with a hum of a laugh. "I have a feeling none of us are as hopeful as we need to be. I like your confidence, though. We need more of that. Some more group activities would be nice, too. Sometimes I feel like we're falling apart a bit. Especially in the winter months."

She was unable to hide her smile once again as Kade rounded back to the greenhouse. It meant a lot to her, the way he was thinking. Planning, when they both knew deep down that the chances of this ever happening were close to nothing. "There's got to be something you want to see, too," she pressed, gesturing to him. "You help with my greenhouse and I give something in return. It's only fair. Honestly, though, we really have been pretty good with avoiding the flu season. You and your hard work helped with that. Until we get an official Second, you're basically in that position. I hope you get the rest you need; I can't even imagine how exhausting your job must be."

She turned her attention onto the cupboards nearby, allowing her eyes to linger on Kade momentarily as he opened one of them up, and clasped her hands together as he held up the bag she had been talking about. "Sounds like I'm going to have a good start to my day, then," she said, stepping closer to him. "How about you? Coffee, tea, anything?"

[senna_]

𝐁𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐀𝐍 𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐀𝐒
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. western gathererxxxxxlocation; western gardens xxxxxmentions; tagxxxxxtags; aviana

One of the many things Bastian loved about Aviana was how easily she was able to joke along with him. He never felt he had overly witty comments, nor were they the most clever like some of the natural jokesters in the tribe, and while even he had to laugh at how horrible some of his jokes were, Aviana had never once scoffed or reacted in a discouraging way. The best part was, Bash never felt she was faking her reactions, either. "Makes a lot more sense," he went along with the slightest bob of his head. "For a moment I thought you were blushing or something. I have that effect on people." He gave her an innocent smile to show he was teasing. "But the temperature change from the clouds to the ground makes so much more sense. Definitely." He brought a hand to his head to shield his eyes as he looked up at the sky. "Did you make any friends up there? I think I saw a flock of geese earlier."

He dropped the act a moment later as Aviana's attention drifted elsewhere, allowing his dark eyes to shift back to her person as she seemingly studied him. A somewhat awkward chuckle escaped his lips as he realized just how intently she was watching him. "Do I have something on my face?" he asked. "Oh!" He seemed to freeze in that spot as she came closer. The sweet floral scent that constantly seemed to linger on her filled his senses as she stepped towards him, and his eyes flickered over her face. It took a lot to stand there and do nothing as she flicked a piece of his hair. He desperately wanted to run his fingers through her golden locks, to brush his thumb across her cheek. Hugs were a natural thing for the two of them, but he wanted more. He'd wanted it for so long. And yet, he didn't move a muscle as she fixed his hair. "Thanks," he said with a grin when she stepped back. Then, just for the sake of it, Bash reached out and tucked some of her hair behind her hair. "Now we're even." He refused to add that he wanted to do that for more than just playful reasons.

His playful attitude died off completely as she mentioned her sleep, and concern shadowed his features. "You alright?" he asked, lowering his tone in case something was truly wrong. "Have you talked to Dakota about it? Maybe she has something for sleep. I'm sorry," he added with a slight pout, opening his arms for her to come in for a hug. "That really sucks. I'll find you a nice thick blanket. Maybe that'll help."