[milliways] search and rescue

[bringspeopletogether]

Okay. So. First night in a tavern at the supposed end of the world and he's about to go running into a blizzard to rescue two men he doesn't know.

This is, by far, the most normal part of Alistair's very bizarre evening.

When he asks for equipment, the enchanted bar heaps up piles of furs, three strange lanterns with little clear orbs where a candle would go, a long length of rope, some sort of canvas backpack with the letters SAR stitched on one side, and what looks like a bright red, misshapen crossbow. He frowns at it as he gets to work shrugging on all the necessary layers.

"Do you know what that is?" he asks Chuck.

Comments

[andinfluencepeople]

Chuck immediately starts putting layers on, too, though he doesn't take his eyes off of Alistair very often (when he does, it's to look at the tiny grey cat alien girl). He's pretty sure he's been charged with keeping Ysalwen's maybe best friend safe, which he's pretty sure could've been accomplished by letting this rescue team be 100% dead people only.

Whatever.

"It's a flare gun," Chuck says, then his brow scrunches. Magic people. "I'll take care of it," he says. "Basically it's for if you need rescuing. Signals people, and stuff."

[bringspeopletogether]

"...Huh. All right."

Well, if it's got a trigger, then it must fire its signal like a crossbow fires a bolt. Whatever said signal might be. Alistair's mouth quirks. "Normally I'd say that's what mages are for, but we've only got the one and she's going with them," here he jerks his thumb toward the other group, "so. Lucky us?"

After a beat's consideration, he undoes the furs just enough to get at the daggers he'd tucked into his commoner's clothes. Probably better to have them easily accessible rather than under all his layers, just in case.

[andinfluencepeople]

"Yeah," Chuck says, glancing over at Ysalwen and Liranan. He doesn't seem overly pleased by that. He tilts back inward, lowering his voice, but he glances at Nepeta to include her. "Do you think we're going to need weapons?"

It's not really doubting -- like, he goes out side mostly when it's sunny and full of people. But maybe he should take a stick or something. The idea of punching monsters outside of a Jaeger is not that bad, but rabbits are really close to the ground.

[nepetaleijon]

"I've got weapurrns," Nepeta says, "if we do."

[bringspeopletogether]

A cheerful shrug. "While stabbing a snowstorm might prove difficult," says Alistair, "what's in the storm might be more inclined to bleed if it tries to make us bleed first. And since I have no idea what exactly is out there..."

He finishes strapping the daggers into their new spot.

"I'd rather be prepared, yes?"

[andinfluencepeople]

"Cool," Chuck says, to Nepeta, and nods to Alistair. At least everybody knows how to fight. "Just don't stab Edgar by accident."

He gets a walking stick of the right size, anyway, because he doesn't want to be the one guy who can't hit the demon rabbits if they inevitably attack. And, like, snow sucks to walk in.

[stilljustandrew]

"Hey, have you guys got safety lines? Okay, looks like yeah," comes a new voice, as Andrew leans in to look around at the party. "Any of you know how to use a walkie-talkie? I'm gonna be coordinating the teams from here --"

[bringspeopletogether]

"A walkie -- " Alistair blinks. "Right, not something you take a mabari on, I'm guessing?"

Unless mabari toys at the end of the world look like a black box with a lot of weird little lights on it.

[andinfluencepeople]

Chuck snorts at the joke with something close to real amusement. Dogs!

"Yeah, I do," Chuck says, extending a hand for it. "What channel are you on?"

[stilljustandrew]

"They're all pre-set to the same channel," says Andrew, passing it over. "Check in with me when you can, and let me know if you see any sign of them."

[nepetaleijon]

"The other team's rawrlready gone out," reports Nepeta, who's been looking at the door. "Are we almeowst ready?"

[bringspeopletogether]

Alistair nods. "I am," he says. "Do we have a means of finding our way back? How long is the, ah, safety line?"

Next time he unexpectedly ends up very, very far away from Thedas, Alistair's definitely going to have the foresight to bring a mabari along. Maybe a whole pack of them. He could just walk around the palace with a bunch of dogs following him everywhere he goes! Bliss.

[stilljustandrew]

"The safety line's extensible," says Andrew, "so it should stretch as far as you need -- let me know if it doesn't, I'll clip another length on at this end."

[andinfluencepeople]

"Weird," Chuck says, but there's an admiring note to it.

After a beat, he glances around. "I'm with Nepeta," only mildly butchering her name. "You ready?"

[nepetaleijon]

"Ready!" she says, and hops down from the barstool where she's been perching.

(She hasn't put on any of the cold-weather gear offered by Bar, opting instead to equip her blue hoodie and ARCTIC LONGCOAT.)

[bringspeopletogether]

"Right, then." Alistair scoops up the equipment -- it only takes a little bit of wrestling with the pack before it's settled over his shoulders -- and doles out the lanterns; Chuck gets the flare gun as well. He offers a cheery grin to the assembled. "Off we go."

That cheery grin lasts until a quarter of a second after he opens the back door. Opens is a generous term, really. It's more like the wind tears it out of his hand and sets it to banging against the side of the building, as gusts of wind and snow billow into the bar.

Maker's breath, this is a bad one.

No matter. Squaring his shoulders, Alistair ducks his head against the wind, clips the line to one strap of his pack, and moves into the storm.

[andinfluencepeople]

Chuck doesn't swear, whole face scrunching against the cold. He clips himself to the line after Alistair, and sets his walking stick into the snow as they leave.

"He can't be enough of an idiot to go near the forest," Chuck says, though he's not entirely convinced.

[nepetaleijon]

"People go near the furest all the time, though," says Nepeta doubtfully.

(She doesn't clip herself to the line yet, choosing instead to slip past Chuck and range herself between the two humans.)

[andinfluencepeople]

Chuck's silence is rife with if Edgar was an idiot enough to go into the forest during a fucking blizzard, he deserves what he gets.

But Curtis might not. Like, Edgar's not actually said what he did, and he went after the guy to save his undead skin, so --

"Fuck. What do you think?"

The question's to Alistair.

[bringspeopletogether]

"A forest's going to offer more shelter than open ground," says Alistair. Well, half-shouts, really; the wind is bad enough to tear away the occasional syllable if he speaks normally. "It's worth checking."

More shelter may also mean the storm hasn't completely erased any footprints around the forest. And there's more foliage to snap or trample, even if it's half-buried under the snow. Alistair's tracking skills might not be on par with a mabari (or certain other people of his acquaintance), but he can manage if he's got more to work with than a featureless white expanse.

[andinfluencepeople]

Chuck tucks the walking stick under one arm to free up a hand, and masks the radio with it. He lags behind a little as he does so, but just a little.

"Loc--" he fumbles, pauses, can't think of what to call the fucking guy on the other end of the radio who isn't LOCCENT. He decides to forgo it. "Back door's north, so we're headed 30 north-of-west, towards the forest."

He waits for a reply, trudging after Alistair. He honestly can't really tell where Nepeta is, but he figures she knows where they are.

[stilljustandrew]

A faint crackle, and Andrew's voice: "Got it," he says. "The other team's headed to the stables. Mission Control out."

(It is only with great self-restraint that he has decided not to refer to himself as Echo Base.)

[bringspeopletogether]

Okay, so there's an Important Quest at hand here, Alistair hasn't forgotten that, but he can be forgiven for being distracted by the enchanted walkie-talkie box for a moment, right?

Because seriously, that is one fascinating enchanted box.

He keeps slogging through the snow, but he's slowed down a bit as well, craning glances back to try and get a better look at the thing.

[andinfluencepeople]

Chuck snorts, and tucks it away so he can use his walking stick again.

"I'll show you how to use it later," he calls as he starts to catch up. "Just try not to trip, yeah?"

[nepetaleijon]

And with perfect feline timing, Nepeta rematerializes out of the snow right in front of Chuck's feet.

"I don't s33 any tracks ahead of us," she reports, "at least not any human ones."