Ice Age Anew [RP Play!]

[sunhorsestar]

Time: 11 AM
Date: March 11th, 2250
Weather: Cold (-10° Celsius) but clear, with a light breeze.


Connall Walker | 35 | Leader | Western | Tagging: Annora


The day had already begun, long ago, and Connall had been up with the sun. He’d made sure everyone had been up in time to grab their breakfast before setting to daily tasks. There was always much to do though, and that was without accounting for their Eastern rivals for the supplies that were so precious in times like these. The life as a leader was too stressful to really be put into words. He was thankful for the people around him. His Hunters, his Warriors, their Artisan, but most of all, the light at the end of the tunnel for him, his sister and Annora.

"Annora, could I have a word with you? A moment of your time, if you would," he requested, stepping out into the main clearing of camp and catching sight of the young woman almost right away. He hated giving orders, leader or not, but someone had to do it, and as the oldest and the founder, he’d found himself in that position.



Ryder | 27 | Warrior | Western | Tagging: Open


Ryder had woken some time ago, though perhaps a bit later than some of the others, not rising at first light as some did. However, when he’d woken and eaten, and was a bit more awake, he was ready to work. It was now eleven in the morning or so, he would assume. They didn’t exactly have working clocks, they’d had to learn to tell time via sun positioning, not by any means an easy skill to adapt to. He’d learned with time, and much trial and error.

Okay. Eleven o’clock, it was WELL time for things to be moving for the day. Their leader had recently emerged. Normally Ryder would’ve taken a group out to scout for resources since they lacked decent numbers in the Gatherers, but if Connall had something planned, he wanted to stick around a couple more minutes to see if there were plans already in play.


Karter Zael | 18 | Warrior | Western | Tagging: Open


Karter leaned against the wall of the hut, back against the wall, seated on the snowy ground, and fiddling with some twigs. He didn’t fully know why himself, maybe just practicing fine motor skills, keeping his hands busy while he had nothing to do. He’d been out at dawn, trying to find supplies and coming back with nothing. It was discouraging, but not the end of the world. Aside from the fact that they were running low, and it wouldn’t be spring for another month yet. So fruits and vegetables would be rare unless they found some early growing ones. It’d be mostly meat and fish for the time being.


Sterling Robyn | 28 | Artisan | Western | Tagging: Open


Sterling had seated herself inside the hut she worked from almost as soon as breakfast was over, she’d been there for two hours now, working at the loom, working to create fabric from fibres that could be used for warmer clothes. It was coming into spring, but the fluctuation in weather that came with it meant warmer clothes may be needed on occasion as their bodies adjusted. She’d make thicker clothes and blankets over the course of the winter, but in these kinds of temperatures, having more never hurt. The more warmth one hand in a world of frost and ice, the higher their chances of survival through the year. She’d made it he’d job as one of the older members of the tribe, both in age and in seniority, to take care of the rest of the group.
____________


Kaden Turner | 19 | Captain | Eastern | Tagging: Emma


Kaden pushed open the door to the hut. He’d relaxed after breakfast, waking up a bit and going through in his mind what had to be done. His job was to keep things organized and oversee some ranks…that they largely lacked in numbers for the time being. So now, he would have to help with the Warriors until a Lead was appointed.

It was a little stressful,though he tried not to let on about it. There was no point in letting people know one of the authority figures was feeling the weight of responsibility weighing them down. Eventually, Kade picked himself up and slowly made his way towards the hut in which the Doctors stored their supplies— few as they may be— and treated patients when they came in. The hut towards the edge of their little camp. "Hey Emma? Are you in there?"


Móraín Maria | 27 | Warrior | Eastern | Tagging: Open


Móraín had lingered outside at the shabbily built breakfast tables. With no official builders, they’d had to do what little they could for structures. The Artisans had helped for a while, but the cold season had brought illness, as it so often did, and had claimed more than one life on their lack of medication. She herself had fallen victim to illness, and she spent a lot of time thinking about it. Remembering the glazed-over gaze of those who had passed, how still and lifeless they were when they finally went still. It could’ve just as easily been her, especially with her insisting she could still work.

Móraín to this day wasn’t sure why she had deserved to live while they didn’t. Three deaths, several sicknesses. However, it wasn’t something she was about to feel bad about. She was alive, she had a job to do, and a tribe to support. Their Leader needed all the able bodies possible to continue their work. Reinforcing shelters against the weather, scouting out the area and mapping it, travelling further and further in search of resources. As long as she was still standing, she could help with that, and fully intended to do so. Not yet though. Not until she had managed to get out of her head.


Micah Tariah | 19 | Gatherer | Eastern | Tagging: Valerie


Micah had just returned to camp around eleven o’clock, a stark difference from having left immediately after breakfast, just shy of nine. However, the trek had been worth it, which was new in these times. For the first time in probably a couple weeks, she had good news to report. She may have gone farther than she usually did, but she wasn’t about to complain, regardless of if her legs and hips and back ached from the hike.

"Valerie! Just to the west, down the giant hill, I found a steady water source. There’s a stream there, I broke some of the ice, and the water is clear. Doesn’t smell, taste, or look weird, and as far as I could tell, there was nothing living in it. That means we have a stable water source as long as it doesn’t dry up!" Okay. Perhaps she was a little overexcited about it, but generally they walked for miles, or brought back whatever loose, clean snow they could to boil and melt, and it was just shy of enough for everyone and everything they could need it for. Now things were different though.

Hah. Dry up. Even as she said it, Micah inwardly laughed at the thought. That wasn’t possible under these conditions, right? As if it would dry up in a climate as frozen and snowy as this. She reached for the flasks at her hips. "I brought back what I could. Next time I go, can I take some of the bigger containers to bring back enough to last us for a bit longer?" She requested.

[senna_]

𝐓𝐎𝐊𝐀𝐋𝐀 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐒
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. western hunterxxxxxlocation; outside location --> western camp xxxxxmentions; tagxxxxxtags; dakota

Tokala had risen before the sun had, which nowadays was quite early. He often found himself restless this time of year; the winter months were tough, and anxiety regarding what may possibly sprout up in the days to follow was high. It wasn’t something talked about often, although he suspected certain people understood the situation, and others did not. Naturally, he always found it a bit troublesome when a member of the tribe didn’t know the true consequences of winter, but for the most part, he let Connall do the explaining. He was, after all, the voice of the group.

The hunter had decided to leave for a morning stroll before their activities started rolling out. With the help of Sterling, who was their only strong artisan, he had been able to sew together a fur coat, one of the few things he remembered being taught by his elders back home. While Tokala didn’t have a say in a lot of things, he had been extremely persistent when it came to properly using their animals; nothing was to go to waste, after all. In fact, the only time they could let the animal go without having touched it was when they physically could not hunt it down in the first place. Such as now. Tokala had found a quiet spot a few walking minutes away from their main grounds, near a caving cliff and what was once likely a thriving forest. It was a peaceful spot, far enough away so that the echoes of the tribe couldn’t find him, yet not too far as to strike fear within him. The scenery was the best part; despite the danger that clung to it, Tokala thoroughly enjoyed watching the ice drip off the slanted cliffside. It glistened when the sunlight hit it in the right direction, and it was peaceful.

And then there were the creatures of nature. Tokala didn’t see them too often, but it was thrilling when he did. As he crouched low, his dark eyes were quick to catch sight of what was mistakenly a buck. It was bony, so much so that even from afar, Tokala could count his ribs, but it was a deer nonetheless. Tokala could feel himself blending into the hills of snow as he observed; its elegance was eye-catching, and despite the hunger in its eyes, it carried itself with pride. In the early mornings, Tokala rarely brought anything more than a knife, and he was semi-disappointed when the buck took off, but that’s how it always seemed to go. On the other hand, that was a good thing to carry back to the camp. It had been quite some time since they had seen a bigger animal like so.

Standing, Tokala turned to head back to the tribe, stopping once more to scrap some bark free from an old pine tree he passed by often. Stuffing it into his satchel, he broke off into a jog, making a beeline for the medical cabin. “Dakota,” he called out once close enough, knocking twice on the door before letting himself in. His gaze was quick to find Dakota, and the corners of his eyes crinkled slightly as he smiled at her. “Good morning, shákw.” He swooped by to plant a quick kiss on her forehead; it had become a natural greeting for him, almost as a way to ensure the both of them that they were both still there for one another. “I brought you something.” He reached into his bag, scooping out the scraps of bark. “It’s from a pine tree. I remember you said it was good for fever or pain… Whatever it is, I hope this is enough to start.”

[senna_]

𝐕𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐀𝐍 𝐂𝐇𝐔
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
. eastern hunterxxxxxlocation; eastern camp (near warrior cabin)xxxxxmentions; tagxxxxxtags; loren

Mornings were never something Vivian had found himself a big fan over. He thoroughly enjoyed staying up late, watching as one-by-one, the stars made their appearance. Occasionally, he had even gotten the pleasure of experiencing the works of the northern lights. That didn’t come too often, though, and when it did, Viv considered it to be a real treat. His love for the stars and the beauty found amongst the night sky wasn’t something he liked to openly talk about, or even publicly reveal. He supposed there was some form of embarrassment that came with it, but what tough guy liked something like the stars? Vivian knew he had far bigger problems to worry about. And yet, that still didn’t stop him from smiling up above when the whole sky was dotted with brilliantly lit objects. It was like an awakening call, a reminder that they were still there, alive and well. It was one of the few times where Vivian felt invincible.

Now, the grim look had returned to his face, and he barely even swiped away his messed-up curls from his eyes, as he stumbled down to the main room of their cabin. The lighting was gone, for he suspected sometime throughout the night, the candle had gone out, and it was cold. Vivian liked winter, he really did, but on the days where he got no sleep, he was miserable. Freyja could handle it, though; Viv even wanted to say she liked that side more than his normal attitude, as he naturally had more to say. It was just a downside for anyone who wasn’t overly fond of his attitude to begin with.

Pushing himself outside, Vivian immediately crinkled his nose at the chilly temperature, although it was surprisingly warmer than he expected. Looking down, he grasped the zipper of his leather jacket; he usually left it unzipped, but the way it was flapping around his torso was notably irritable that particular morning. Muttering inaudible words, Vivian continued walking whilst attempting to fix his zipper, which had gotten caught on something. In the midst of this, he found himself walking right into someone.

“Oh,” left his lips as he glanced up at the person he’d run into. “It’s you.” Viv had frozen to the spot, lips parted, eyes as wide as they’d been that morning, as he stared at the person in front of him. It was, of course, no other than Loren. Being this close to him was maddening; part of him wanted to connect his fist to Loren’s jaw, and the other wanted to feel the warmth of his lips against his own; to feel Loren’s hand in his, and the comforting feeling of being close to him. Flustered by this, and pouty at the same time, Viv stepped back, raising his chin to meet Loren’s gaze. He refused to give in. He had done that before, and evidently, it hadn't ended well. “So.” What to say, in a case like this? I miss you. “You heading out, or what?”

[senna_]

𝐕𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐃𝐎𝐑
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
. eastern leaderxxxxxlocation; eastern campxxxxxmentions; tagsxxxxxtags; aleksi, micah

Valerie liked to be one of the first ones up in the morning, and today was no different. Although she had slept in a bit later than usual, she was still up at a time that made her feel relatively good. During times like these, few people slept in. The winter months were always a challenge, although with the way the temperature changed so dramatically, Valerie wasn’t sure how much longer it would be before their winters began to look like their summers. She couldn’t say that was something her mother had prepared her for. She’d been eager to teach Val how she had liked to handle the tribe, take care of her people, and essentially make it to the end of the day, but the two Condor women had never officially had a conversation about the real problem: Mother Nature. Part of Valerie wondered if this was because her mom didn’t know herself. Another part figured she simply hadn’t wanted Valerie to worry, especially since she was hit with illness so soon after. Or maybe she had been in denial herself. It was hard to tell.

She had started a tracker when she first became leader, which was inspired by one her mother had made back when she was in charge. Val liked to keep it to herself, mainly so she could control it and to avoid freaking anyone out, but she couldn’t deny it. There were some drastic changes occurring. She feared this would be a bad year for tsunamis.

Sighing to herself, the strawberry-blonde closed the binder, tucked it under her bed, then left, quickly stopping to shrug on her mauve jacket before heading right outside. It was a bit breezy, which certainly increased the chilliness in temperature, but it was manageable. Every winter seemed more manageable than the last when it came to degrees. Her eyes skimmed the area, quickly catching sight of Aleksi. Aleksi Kozlov, a friend of her mother’s, and now a companion of her own. Valerie trusted everyone in the tribe to a certain level, but her respect towards Aleksi wasn’t something she tried to hide; she appreciated his company and treated him like a brother, even if she did act annoyed to his face. “Hey,” she called out in his direction, shoving her hands in her pockets and sending a greeting-like nod his way. “You have a second? I ━ ” Her words were cut short by the high-pitch voice of another, and with a raise of her brows, Valerie turned on her heel to catch the eye of the person who had just shouted her name.

Micah was running full-tilt, and Valerie’s hands shot up as if attempting to stop a bull from running her over. “Slowww down,” she spoke, feeling a bit overwhelmed by how quickly Micah’s words were tumbling out of her mouth. It took her an extra few seconds to respond, as she focused on processing what had just been said. Unlike the gatherer, apart from another raise of the brow, Valerie’s face didn’t show much expression, whether that be positive or negative. She didn’t like revealing her excitement, disappointment, or otherwise until she had more information; she had learned early on that it didn’t take much to get up the hopes of her peers. “That’s weird that we’ve never seen that before,” she mused under her breath. Then again, they didn’t often travel west, for obvious reasons. “I’d like to see it myself sometime, but that does sound promising.” Her eyes flickered down to the flasks, and even though she knew Micah sometimes annoyed her, she couldn’t ignore the relief that flooded through her. “Thank you, Micah. Do you want to take that to Carly and see if she can boil it? That will help us figure out if it’s clean or not. If it is, sending out a slightly bigger party is something to consider. If it’s running, then it’ll also attract animals.”

[senna_]

𝐄𝐌𝐌𝐀 𝐒𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐙
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
. eastern doctorxxxxxlocation; eastern camp (medical cabin)xxxxxmentions; tagsxxxxxtags; dexter, kade

Winter was always the season where Emma felt most out of sorts. It consisted of tough months regarding the supplies needed for work, and it was mentally exhausting. The short days, the lengthy darkness they had no choice but to work through, wiped her out. She often found her sleep schedule shifted drastically, and she felt like two completely different people in the winter months compared to the summer. Between the wetness of snow and the harshness of ice, nothing ever survived – including many people's motivation. Emma couldn’t help but notice they didn’t get nearly as much snow as they used to when she was growing up, which was because of the growing temperatures. She never kept track, but it was becoming more and more obvious. There were pros and cons to every situation, and in this particular one, she could never seem to find solid ground to settle on.

That morning, Emma felt exceptionally out of place, which was rather uncommon for the girl. Her hands were tiddling, tracing the bone of her knuckle and the rough skin near her nails, and her lips were dry from biting nervously at them. Nevertheless, she kept a smile on her face. Dexter was good with understanding when she fell into her anxious states; they never talked about it, mostly because she refused to, but being the sweet person he was, she always caught him working even harder than usual to keep their tasks up to date. It always made her feel extremely guilty, as if she was slacking off, and she never purposely gave him extra things to do. She liked to consider them as equals, even if he was technically still in training. Titles didn’t mean much to her, anyway.

She had yet to lay eyes on Dexter that morning, but she was almost certain she could hear him rustling around somewhere. Regardless of whether or not he was present, Emma still felt the need to speak. “Dexter,” she called out, her tone wavering a bit from the way her distraction levels were rising and falling, since she was looking for her coat. “I’m going to get a cup of tea, do you want anything?” She nestled in the silence for a few more seconds as she gathered her long hair and freed it from the inside of her jacket. A voice eventually spoke aloud, but it wasn’t Dexter. It didn’t take her long to realize it had been Kade who had spoken, and Emma’s eyes immediately lit up at the thought of seeing her friend.

“I’m in the office,” she returned. “I’m coming.” Her mind barely lingered on her craving for green tea as she caught sight of Kade. A smile lit up her features. “Hey, Kade! What's up, is something wrong?”

[sunhorsestar]

Micah Tariah | 19 | Gatherer | Eastern | Tagging: Valerie


Micah only really caught her own excitement and the speed of her voice when it was pointed out, and her face reddened with embarrassment. Oops. It got like that when she was excited about something sometimes, but this was worth being excited about, she figured. Very rarely did anyone in the tribe dare travel west, towards the border they shared with the tribe that rivalled them for sources, but she’d figured that since it was an area they hadn’t explored, as long as she lay low and went alone, there was no harm in it, and she hadn’t been caught either.

"Yes ma’am." Micah's initial question had never been answered, but that could be dealt with at a later time. For now, finding Carly and boiling the water so that any lingering bacteria in it would be killed was the main priority. How long had it been since there had been a sufficient water source? Careful not to lose a drop of the precious liquid, Micah hurried off.


Kaden Turner | 19 | Captain | Eastern | Tagging: Emma


"Not at all, don’t you worry yourself." Easier said than done, as Kade knew well, out in a world of ice and snow and freezing winds. There were a great many things to worry about from day to day. He pushed his hands into his pockets, noticing now that he was inside again just how cold they’d been, lacking warmth almost entirely. Perhaps it would do him well to make a request, even though it hadn’t been what he had initially come here for. He was here anyway though, and there was no harm in asking.

"Uh…I just came to ask if there were any herbs or supplies I should keep an eye out for when the guard party goes out to look for resources and check by the border. I know it’s awful early in the season for herbs to be around, but sometimes there’s early bloomers and all." He paused, withdrawing his hands to brush his hair back and examine the pads, a little cracked and dry. "And…do you have any ointment? My hands are so chapped I’m worried it’ll bleed soon if I don’t do something about it."

[Rae'tia]

❆
⫷ Horasiu "Janus" Pedra ⫸
⤜ 37Y | Western Captain ⤛
⤜ Tags: Open ⤛

indentationJanus hated sitting in his office, but he was often doing just that. He couldn't wait to finish up the last bit of the day's paperwork - only a few more pages thank the gods - before he could head out to do some actual work. A yawn worked its way out of his mouth, and his stomach gave a rumble of protest. He'd skipped breakfast, knowing that he wouldn't have gotten done until much later in the day with the paperwork if he hadn't. The man had a schedule to keep, mornings were for paperwork, and any problems or meetings. After lunch, or noon - whichever came first - he went about the area taking care of his other duties, and occasionally when there wasn't much to do, he'd work out.
indentationTurning a page the man hissed as he wrenched his hand away after a slight pinch of pain. Glancing at the offending hand he sighed and the sight of blood. A paper cut. It wasn't a big one, nor was it bleeding much, but it was across his palm and that was a problem though minor. Giving it a few quick licks to help stop the bleeding, Jan sighed. Janus debated on whether or not he should go see Dakota and Yan for this, but ultimately shook his head, deciding not to, and returned to the paperwork.

☀
⫷ Theodore Foster ⫸
⤜ 29Y | Western Cook ⤛
⤜ Tags: Open ⤛

indentation The sizzle of turkey meat on the hot pan caught his attention, and he swiftly moved from one side of the kitchen to the other. Grabbing a spatula, he checked one side then flipped the turkey burger and slapped some cheese on the patty before checking the others and flipping those that were ready and slapping some cheese on them. With that done, Theo turned his attention to the large pot of chili and grimaced. A few ingredients were missing, but most of the said ingredients weren't too important, so thankfully the dish wasn't ruined. He had of course substituted what he could, so it wasn't too bad. It would still be edible and tasty. To most people. But Theo wasn't most people, and he hated the fact that he didn't have the oil, cumin seeds, and both types of onion in storage.
indentation Putting the spatula down, Theo started stirring the stew, to keep all the parts moving and cooking just right. As he looked down at the chili and sighed, "I'll have to talk to Analise, Kat and the gather's to keep an eye out for them." Before grumbling a little bit then got quiet and returned to work. Glancing at the Turkey burgers and the Chili he figured that lunch would be done just before noon.

☁
⫷ Angeline Weis ⫸
⤜ 22Y | Eastern Scout ⤛
⤜ Tags: Open ⤛

indentation Legs hanging off the edge of the roof, Angel sat staring off into the distance, enjoying the cold and silence she often found up here. The Storms that raged in her head had caused her to seek out her sanctuary, which was really just any high ledge that she could swing her legs over. It wasn't the safest thing around, but it was oddly calming to her. Figuring she'd been up here long enough, the young woman swung her legs over the ledge and placed them back on solid ground. One hand reached back to the sword on her back, relaxing marginally when she found that it was still there. Starting back down to the ground floor, Angel's mind wandered.
indentation The sword was a family heirloom, and the last thing she'd gotten from either of her parents before her mother and father had left. Her father had gone missing in a storm, searching for shelter for the small family, and her mother in a desperate attempt to save her only child wrapped her in every layer of clothing she could. Her mother had died that night due to the cold. That trauma mixed with the fact that she didn't know the local language at first led to a lack of speech for a few years after she was found. Stepping into the main area Angel sighed, deciding she didn't want to deal with Old Rosie and the others yet and again sat down to watch as everyone went about their days.

ϟ
⫷ Rosalie Kuru ⫸
⤜ 56Y | Eastern Navigator ⤛
⤜ Tags: Open ⤛

indentationThere were few things that Rosie hated in life. Waking up early was one of them, unfortunately. She - and a few others, mostly her darling Lewis - had always said she wasn't human before she'd had her first cup of coffee. Though it was usually a peppermint mocha during the cold winter season, with how everything as it was now, Rosalie rarely got such a treat. Humming softly under her breath as she made her way to her station, where she most often worked with the cartographers and their newer scout; Angeline. She'd had a hearty and full breakfast - for the times at least - so her mood wasn't too terrible. Opening the door to the office-like room that they used, she sighed seeing, that she was the first to arrive. Her lips thinned before shaking her head and started bustling around, getting everything ready for the day, supply lists, maps, etc.
indentation"Hmm, should probably send Miss Weis out soon. Maybe send Miss Tariah with her, to gather anything they can." The older woman murmured as her gaze ran down the lists and over to the maps. If she was reading everything right there were a few more places they could search for good, before they would need to move again.

[poppyxoxo]

Annora

The young women had risen early as always to get ahead of her duties, making sure that weapons were all in order, clean and working fine. She had completely forgotten about having breakfast and so she decided that she should probably get around to having some before she grew lightheaded because how was a compromised worrier going to be useful to anyone. As she swiftly made her way towards the smell of food, she ran into Connall and she greeted him with a warm smile. “Hey-“ she began but she took note of his face and lowered her voice slightly. “Of course, what is it?” She asked, a hand gently touching his arm to pull him off to the side.

[sunhorsestar]

Connall Walker | 35 | Leader | Western | Tagging: Annora


Connall let his gaze flick around the camp. People were up and already working, or preparing to set out, but so far, no orders had been given, and nobody had actually made to leave camp that he had seen. Tokala was one for going out early, before things got busy, so he suspected the young Hunter had gotten the chance to head out, possibly even before Connall himself had woken, much less left the relative warmth of the cabin.

"Ah…sorry. Wherever you’re going, I’ll accompany you. If you have somewhere to be, don’t let me hold you back, we can talk while we walk," Connall promised. That left another question to ask before. "Do you already have plans set up for the day?" His job was to keep order. Sometimes, that included GIVING orders, but he didn’t want to give orders to someone who had already taken the initiative to plan out their daily tasks. Such initiative was a good thing, in his opinion. It kept their group strong and well-functioning.

[senna_]

𝐄𝐌𝐌𝐀 𝐒𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐙
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
. eastern doctorxxxxxlocation; eastern camp (medical cabin)xxxxxmentions; tagxxxxxtags; kade

Knowing that Kade was indeed just fine and had simply been checking to see if Emma was present made her feel a bit better. It was always difficult to prepare for a visit when she was in her office, given its purpose. Oftentimes, people entered because they needed some sort of patching up, but one good look at Kade confirmed that he didn’t appear to be physically ill. She relaxed a bit, the smallest of smiles still lingering on her lips as he wandered in. Her head lifted slightly as the sharp winter’s air hit her directly, having been swept in from the motion of a closing door. Despite it being sunny out, there was no denying that it was all deceiving; the wind was enough to make one’s teeth chatter. She tugged her jacket, curling it so that it hugged her body, then turned away to face her friend.

His eyes were wandering slightly, which signified he was a bit distracted. Everyone always had something going on their mind; the sight wasn’t much of a surprise. She waited patiently as he looked around, allowing herself to back up towards her desk so that she could lean against it. “It’s hard to tell,” she responded a moment later, giving a small shrug. “I haven’t really been able to leave here lately. Are things growing back? Echinacea is always useful ━ those are the pink daisy-like plants. Or valerian, which are…” She paused, pushing herself away from her desk so that she could show him the plant, which was safely inside of a jar. With its extremely skinny stem and broccoli head-like top of small white flowers, it certainly wasn’t difficult to miss. “Based on how little things have grown in my garden, though, I don’t think you’ll have much luck finding things just yet. Thank you,” she added, turning to face him directly. “I appreciate it.”

Emma and Dexter had been able to get a small garden going, but what they really needed was a greenhouse, which quite obviously was not something they could get with the snap of their fingers. She had managed to protect an extremely small portion of herbs, as they could successfully grow in planters indoors, but for the most part, their supplies were killed by frost every year. She suspected the same for wild plants.

Her eyes immediately shifted downward as he made mention of his hands. With a slight frown on her face, Emma stepped closer to Kade. “May I?” She reached outward, gently taking hold of his hand. It certainly didn’t look like anything that was to be overly concerned about; dry skin was extremely common, especially since they lacked decent gloves and other forms of warmth. “Vaseline should do it,” she informed him, carefully dropping his hand before turning to head to one of the nearby cabinets. “It does get greasy though, so maybe put it on before bed. Have you eaten?” she continued, feeling the need to make small talk as she rummaged through her belongings. “I was just about to grab a cup of tea.”