[RP] Dragonsummer Chronicles [No spaces left][Begin!]

[Bassios]

(( WARNING: LONG POST ))

The new girl, Nat, climbed aboard the sled and settled down. There was enough space on the sled for about 10 people, which was going to come in handy later on, though Annie was completely unaware of this. Upon closer inspection of the dog-things, they were clearly larger than the average husky and had a far greater muscle mass. The jaws were huge compared to a normal dog and Annie shivered when she thought about the damage the jaws could do without the enormous teeth in there.

Kirrey pushed the dogs on, speeding through the snow easily with their large, flat paws. After a short while Kirrey started to slow the dogs down, much to Annie's surprise. "Why are we slowing down? Shouldn't we be going faster to get out of here?" Kirrey smiled briefly at Annie, "I can hear a voice; someone else is here." Kirrey turned her attention back to the ground ahead of them, steering the dogs carefully around craters and boulders. Suddenly, Annie could see the figure that had shouted. Whoever they were, they were waving like a maniac.

Something moved at Annie's side, someone else was running towards the sled. Someone, a boy- or young man, was topless. "Kirrey-!" Annie began to shout before she overbalanced as she pointed out of the sled. She tumbled into the snow to see Kirrey throwing a fur coat back and shouting "Get him! I'll come back to you!" Annie ran over to the coat, stuffed it under her arm and rushed towards the young man in the snow. Oh god oh god oh god I hope I get there in time! Her chest burned as she ran, the cold air hurt her lungs so much, but she kept on running. She had to keep on running; otherwise the man might not live.

The man was still breathing when Annie skidded to a stop next to him. Still breathing, but only just. She threw the jacket over him and tucked it around him. He didn’t look too heavy; maybe she could carry him to the sled. Kirrey said she’d come back... Why is she helping me? Why is she helping any of us? She doesn’t know us... Annie sat next to the man and watched his breathing. He’s still here, for now.



Kirrey stopped the sled next to the waving figure. Another girl? Dragon’s teeth, these are our saviours? What happened to the brave and valiant warriors the mystics predicted? The girl interrupted Kirrey’s thoughts, "Jeeze am I glad to see you guys. This guy looks like he's had a tough time, and I haven't had a much better one but at least I'm in one piece." Kirrey mentally shook herself, They’re here, they’ll have to do. “I’m Kirrey. Here, put this on and help me strap him on the sled” She handed the girl another coat before jumping off the sled to the man on the ground. He still had a pulse, so there was hope for him yet. The new girl greeted Kirrey and Nat, who was still clinging onto the sled for dear life, put the coat on and grabbed the man’s legs whilst Kirrey grabbed his arms. Between them they managed to haul him on to the sled and strap him down so he didn’t fall off.

“Quickly, someone else is lying in the snow.” Kirrey ushered the new girl onto the sled without asking her name, time was of the essence if this other supposed hero was to be saved. They raced back over to where he was lying to see Annie sitting next to him, shivering intensely. Annie jumped up when she saw the sled, “Oh, thank you! I got scared that you might not come back, seeing as you don’t know me and all...” She looked a little scared at the thought of what might have happened if Kirrey hadn’t returned, but shook herself slightly and looked at the man on the floor. She looked at the man on the floor and picked him up carefully. It was a struggle, but she just about managed. Kirrey had stopped the sled right next to her so she could put the man down and hop on herself. Kirrey secured the man down just like the other one and turned to Annie “We have new friends, it seems.” Kirrey didn’t let on whether she’d heard what Annie had said or not, she just urged the dogs on again.

The next 20 minutes passed quickly as Annie and the two other earth girls introduced each other. The new girl was called Marie and she had found the other man that was strapped to the sled. Apparently he’d been calling for help before he stumbled and hit his head against a rock in the snow. Kirrey was silent for all of this time except when she called instructions out to the dogs, skilfully avoiding rocks and unstable ground as the sled sped over the ground. Again, she slowed the dogs down without any warning. Marie looked concerned, but Annie reassured her quietly, “She must have heard someone else, she heard you before I did”

Annie was right, Kirrey had heard someone else, someone who had obviously had a lot of experience dealing with snow. They had built an igloo in an attempt to keep themselves warm and shield themselves from the bitter, biting wind that must be even worse for them as the girl had only got a short sleeved shirt and capris on. Annie grabbed another fur coat, noticing that there were only two left I hope there’s no one else out here, we might not find them before it’s too late. And even if we did, there’s only two coats left...

The girl gratefully accepted the coat and hurried onto the sled, introducing herself as Jocelyn. Apparently she’d lived in Canada for a few years when she was younger. Annie had to stop herself from giggling; the image of Canadians living in Igloos was even stronger in her head now. “Strap yourselves in, the cold will make you sleepy soon and we have a long journey ahead of us” Kirrey addressed everyone on the sled before turning back to the dogs and urging them on again.

Annie drifted in and out of consciousness for the next three hours or so whilst Kirrey piloted the sled across the ice. With each glance the craters lessened and the ice became more uniform and smooth. Eventually some signs of life started appearing, the odd tree or bush appeared in view.

(( Hoshit, sorry about the length, wanted to get everyone involved. I couldn't quite get Pisces in without the post becoming even more longwinded. ))  

[Roland Karloseth]

((DMing a little bit here, with Bass's permission))

Jake woke up, and immediately noticed several things. First and foremost, he realized that his head was throbbing. Then, he noticed that there were people gathered all around him. Then, he realized that he was strapped to a sled, one that was moving. The straps ran under his arms and over his chest, so he still had full access to his hands. He brought his good hand to his head and felt the sore spot, and hissed in pain. Bringing his hand back, he saw that he was bleeding. "Oh yeah... best luck EVER. I don't think it'll need any medical treatment though, I don't think it's that bad."

Shortly after Jacob woke up, the sled came upon a forest. "We'll need to pass through here to get to where we're going." Kirrey told everyone. "It shouldn't be too much longer." With that, Jacob said "Alright then, where the hell are we now?" They were the first words he spoke since waking up, therefore alerting everyone to the fact that he was awake. Not waiting for an answer, he said "We sure as hell aren't in Arizona, it almost never snows there. And even when it does, never like this..." Jacob said, trailing off. He wasn't listening to what anyone said after he spoke, he was too pissed off at his lack of knowing where he was. "Sometimes it amazes me, what will make me angry..."

Jacob spent a lot of the trip staring out what he thought of as the car window, though it wasn't a car and there was no glass. Looking over his left shoulder, he watched tree after tree go by. Suddenly, in an old rotted out log, he saw what looked like spiky black hair. "What the hell... STOP THE SLED. I think there's someone out there." With that, he fumbled with the ties keeping down until he was able to slip free of them. By the time the sled had slowed to a stop, he was down and stumbling through the snow to the log. He was right, there was a man passed out in the log. Jake looked at the man, and was able to tell a few things from looking at him. one, he was about Jacobs age, maybe a little older. Another thing he could tell right away was that he was a junkie. "I've seen too many of my own friends who look like that... I'd recognize it anywhere: The signs of a tweaker." Jacob looked back and yelled "A little help here? There's someone here!"

((Ta-da, Pisces has been found! *insert the zelda item catch music here*))  

[pickle relish]

Nat wrapped the coat more tightly around herself as she sat on the sled. She was still shivering, but not as violently as before. She looked around at the snow, the sled, the dogs, and she knew for certain that this wasn't home. It never got this cold, and those dogs certainly weren't normal huskies. Where the hell this actually was, she didn't know, but until they got out of the cold, it really didn't matter.

The next few minutes were a blur, full of starting and stopping and yelling and gaining new people. Nat held onto the sled for dear life, nodding and smiling shakily whenever someone looked her direction. Within half an hour, they had gained four new people, two girls and two guys.

After a while, they came to a wood, which Kirrey claimed they would need to pass through to get where they were going. Good, Nat thought. I'm freezing, and tired of sitting on this sled. And I want some answers.

Suddenly, one of the men spoke. "What the hell...STOP THE SLED. I think there's someone out there." Startled, Nat looked out, and saw the someone lying near a rotted log. "There IS someone out there!" She stood up as the sled slowed down, trying to get a better look. By the time it had stopped, the man had freed himself from the sled and taken off running towards the log. Nat grabbed a coat, hopped off the sled and followed after him, the movement painful for her cold stiffened muscles. They slowly loosened up as she stumbled across the snow after him.

"A little help here? There's someone here!" The man yelled back towards the sled. Nat didn't bother answering, and instead kept running to join him. She stopped next to him, gasping for breath in the cold air, her heart pounding. She crouched next to the unconscious man, feeling his pulse. He was cold to the touch, but he still had a pulse. She sighed in relief, and wrapped the coat around him. She looked up at the other man. "You think we can carry him?"  

[Kerrigan_dragon]

((Summary: Jocelyn, after zoning out, notices the world around her in time to go out and help Nat and Jacob to rescue Daniel, helping to lift and carry him into the sled. She also identifies his as being a cocaine addict.))

Jocelyn huddled into the coat given to her, warming up as well as she could in the icy winds. The rest of the world shrunk to almost nothing, all that was real to her was the rising and falling of her chest, and the desire to stay awake. Her world was jolted when a shout rang out, and the man with the shirt hopped out of the sled. Jocelyn peered out of the sled to see a man unconscious in the snow, and Nat and the recently awoken man going to get him. With a sigh, she stood up, clutching the coat to herself, and jumped off the sled after them.

"The three of us can carry him easily," Jocelyn said as she approached, looking the man over. "Looks like a long time user. He might go through withdrawal, and depending on what he's been taking and how long, it could be nasty. Redness around the nose, probably cocaine." She leaned in to take a closer look at his nose. "His mucous membrane is deteriorated. Definitely cocaine, if not something else as well." Jocelyn grabbed the man's arms. "You take his legs, sir, and you can help support his torso, Nat. Ready? One... two... three... lift!" Between the three of them, they were able to lift the man and take him to the sled. "I really hope we're close to a medical facility, he looks like he might have hypothermia."  

[xDarkPisces]

(Summary: With frostbite and hypothermia setting in, Daniel resigns to his fate, but he's found in the nick of time. They carry him to the sled, and he's not pleased.))

It isn't cold... Not anymore. For some reason that went away... Sure is dark though. Damn it, I can't see a thing... Is... Is that a voice?

"...STOP THE SLED...someone out there..." I'm right here... Damn it, I can't talk either? Why isn't anything working right?

Frost clung to Daniel's face and hands, his eyebrows and the fur around him. The wind whistled around the frozen rot of the log, biting at him, though his nerves had stopped responding. He shivered lightly, disturbing little tufts of snow that had fallen on his chest and stomach. Though he could not see the others as they approached, calling out to one another, discussing his circumstance, he could hear every word. He longed to call out to them, to let them know that he wasn't cold. In fact, he felt quite comfortable, tucked in his log, and couldn't remember a reason why he'd want to complain. Then they lifted him.

In an instant the world spun into view, piercing his retinas with a blinding, white flare. The feeling came back too, the cold, the pain in his head, the urge. The urge was there, gnawing at any shred of consciousness it could find. His mouth still wouldn't work properly, but the pain and discomfort and biting cold around him jarred several incoherent mumbles and groans from his lips. He writhed, or tried to, though his motor skills were far from working capacity. They held him tightly as they carried him, ignoring his movements, if he even moved at all.

From what he could make out in his pained stupor there were three of them, two girls and a guy, all seeming close to his age. They were all dressed somewhat normally, though the reality of this told Daniel that they too must have been half frozen. The golden color of the girls' hair stabbed at Daniel's memory, and he groaned something that sounded like "Abby!" just before they laid him down.

It was a sled, from the looks of it, and a massive one at that. Though in his incapacitated state Daniel took up a great deal of space, the others were all able to find adequate room to seat themselves. The world still churned and spun around him, and his head pounded even more. The log was much more comfortable. Why did they take him away from it? Finally, after several moments of groaning and writhing about, he found a few words and the ability to speak.

"Just leave me to die! s**t! Where... you taking me..." And that was all he could muster. His muscles ached, so he stopped thrashing. With a last bit of reserved energy, Daniel reached into the pocket of his jeans and produced a tiny plastic bag. His frozen fingers fumbled at the flap, but he could almost feel the rush even before he brought it to his face.

Fate would have it, though, that as soon as the stuff touched his nose, the sled gave a lurch, and the bag tumbled from his hand and into the snow behind them. "Fu-... NO!" He shouted in desperation, reaching out to grab the leg of the girl with blond pigtails, who sat next to him. It was a random movement, and he pulled at the leg of her pants for a moment only, then lay still again.  

[Roland Karloseth]

Jacob sat at the back of the sled, one knee tucked up against his chest while the other laid flat. He had drawn his blade after helping carry the man to the sled. The blade itself was rather interesting, a personal favorite of his. AT the end of the blade, there was a hole where one would stick there pinky finger through. When held properly, the blade is supposed to stick out of the far end of the hand, away from the thumb. The weapons main purpose was for fist-fighting, excelling in throat-slitting. Right now, he had his pinky finger in the hole at the end of the weapon, and was spinning it in a similar fashion to that of old western gunslingers spinning their guns.

"Just leave me to die! Where... you taking me..." When he heard the man from the log speaking, Jacob turned around to see what was going on. He saw him reach into his pocket and produce something, but he couldn't tell right away. When he brought the item to his nose, it clicked in Jakes mind. "s**t... This, we DON'T need." As luck would have it, however, when he went to snatch the bag of drugs from his hand, the sled hit a bump and he dropped it off the sled. He silently watched the man freak out, then pass out. After it appeared to be over, he said "This is going to be... fun. I guess it all depends on how long we are stuck together, but the withdraw symptoms will be... fun. I think that was probably his last bit, as big as the fit he threw was, but... maybe we should check to make sure."  

[pickle relish]

((Summary: Nat searches Daniel for any extra cocaine, finds it, throws it off the sled, and then settles back down.))

After carrying the newcomer to the sled, Nat settled back into her spot, shivering lightly. Jocelyn claimed the man was a druggie, and after listening to the explanation, she realized this was true. Nat didn't have much experience with drugs. They interfered both with academics and athletics, so she wanted nothing to do with them. But even with what little she knew, she understood that this man was in deep, and if there was no cocaine here, then he was going to go through a lot of pain.

"Just leave me to die! s**t! Where...you taking me..." Nat glanced at the man in time to see him pull out a tiny bag of white powder. Her eyes widened as she realized what it was. Of course he would have some with him. He was an addict, after all. But the sled lurched, and knocked the bag from his hands before he was able to get his fix. He yelled and grabbed at Nat's leg as she watched the bag disappear, startling a gasp out of her. He tugged weakly at her pants, and then stopped moving. She breathed a sigh of relief.

One of the others mentioned something about withdrawal and checking for more drugs, and Nat nodded in agreement. "I agree. It's possible there's some even he forgot about. It's better that we get rid of them now, before he detoxes. I'll check."

She spent the next few minutes checking all of his pockets, and found one last bag in his back pocket, which she tossed off the sled. With that done, she settled back down, and looked at the rest of the group, wondering who exactly they were, and what all of them were doing there.  

[Kerrigan_dragon]

((Summary: Jocelyn says thanks to Nat, introduces herself, and checks up on Pisces' character. She then asks about other people's situations.))

"Thank you for checking his pockets, miss," Jocelyn told Natalie with a smile. "I was just going to recommend searching him." She looked at her hand for a moment, thinking to offer it for a handshake, but instead tucked it into her coat as her fingers became chilled in the wind. "My name's Jocelyn. Nice to meet you. I didn't really introduce myself. I'm a Medicine and History major, so I'm sometimes handy to have around, I suppose." She bent down to adjust the hood around the man's head, as his ears were getting a bit frostbitten. "How about everyone else? Does anyone know where we are? Last I knew, I was in Greece, looking for coral on a beach, then I got swallowed up by this inky darkness." Cautiously, Jocelyn felt the man's neck for his pulse, to see how his withdrawal was affecting his so far.  

[xDarkPisces]

((Summary: A bit of a flashback for Daniel concerning his mother. When he comes back to the present, he's ready to know what's going on.))

"Go ahead and open it, hun... It's not gonna bite you. Just open it."

"But... C'mon, Mom, I heard Dad yelling about it last night..."

"Listen to me. I'm healthy. I'm strong. Do you see? There's nothing wrong with me, and I've been using since I was 15." Her nose was red, but her eyes shone with the same familiar blue that had always been there. Junkie or not, she was beautiful... She was comfort. Security. Or was that more of the 'brainwashing' his father had told him about..?

"I... okay..." He was opening the bag... The stuff clung to his fingertips like cake icing, soft and smooth in texture, its grains too small to feel. Slowly, with an already trembling hand, he lifted the finger to his nose. Before he even inhaled, a bit stuck to the inside of his left nostril, stinging just a bit. He hesitated, watching his mother carefully, unsure of what to expect, then snorted. One quick motion, and the world spun. It melted away into a white surge of motion and time...

Daniel's eyes snapped open. To his dismay he was still on the sled, lying exactly as he had been a few moments ago, before he shut his eyes in an attempt to let the world go. "Murhhg..." he groaned, attempting to roll onto his side. His stomach churned, urging him to throw up, but there was nothing to release. Not even residual alcohol. I've been in rough places before, but... This place. What is this?

The cold gnashed its teeth around him, stabbing his senses again, burning his eyes. His eyebrows no longer had frost on them, and his skin was beginning to warm a bit, but still he shivered violently. His muscles throbbed from trembling, but he couldn't hold them still. "Damn it... It's still cold. Why do I get the feeling it'll always be cold?" He grumbled softly, running his hand along the rough planks of wood that served as the floor of the massive sled. "Look... can somebody please help me sit up? I'd like to know what's going on... and where my..." He trailed off. Stop it. You're not in that deep. She told you it wouldn't hold your throat so tightly. So will it away! Or are you just as weak as she is?  

[Bassios]

(( Summary: Kirrey takes the adventurers/heroes to her house, they meet her father who starts cooking food for them and insists they tell him about themselves ))

Kirrey broke her silence at the cries for an explanation, but she didn’t turn around. She needed to constantly watch the ground for obstacles, the woods were getting thicker. “I can only answer a few of your questions, but I’ll do my best to help out until we get back to Waerhal. The ice plain we were just on is a forbidden area; monsters and otherworldly creatures stalk there at night. As for what’s going on, that’s best left to the elders and mystics to explain. Suffice it to say you seven are apparently the salvation of Mira.

“Three hundred years ago our dragons disappeared. One day they were here, the next they were gone. No one knows why except that they mystics predicted this would happen. No one listened to them; everyone was convinced that the mystics were losing their sight. The dragons had never left Mira before then, why should they do so now? But the mystics were right; the dragons did leave, and with them left our summer, because the dragons heated our world with their magic and wisdom. The mystics have predicted the arrival of heroes from another world wearing strange clothes and speaking strange dialects, and here you are.”

They’d reached the edge of the woods to find themselves on a rise in-front of a village. Several hundred people lived here in brick and thatch houses. Annie surveyed the landscape in front of her, Definitely not England. Kirrey was guiding the sled along the rise to the natural slope in the landscape so that they could get to the village. “Welcome to Waerhal, I’ll take you to my house, Da will be home soon and we will have some food before you tell me of yourselves.” Kirrey pointed out over the village towards a moderately sized house just off the main square in the centre of the village. Smoke wafted out of a simple brick chimney at the side of the building, a fire had been lit to warm up an impossibly cold house.

Kirrey stopped the sled outside her house and dismounted, the dogs needed taking back to the kennel. She ushered the Annie and the other supposed heroes into her house and told them she’d be back shortly and to make themselves comfortable. Annie took stock of her surroundings and the people on the sled. The one man was still asleep and would need someone to carry him in. “Can someone help me carry this guy? He still hasn’t woken up yet” Jacob grabbed hold of the man’s arms and Annie grabbed his legs. Jocelyn ran ahead and opened the door into Kirrey’s house where they all piled into and settled down in-front of the fire to get some warmth back inside their tired bodies.

After a few minutes Annie heard some voices outside the house, one was definitely Kirrey, the other must be her father. Kirrey walked in, shortly followed by the man. “Travellers, this is my father, Rhysar” Rhysar smiled at the new-comers, warmly accepting them into his house. “Welcome, new friends. Please, tell me about yourselves whilst I make something for you all to eat. The ice plains are a dangerous place to appear, dangerous and cold.” With that, he took his coat off and moved to the kitchen area in the open-plan styled ground floor of the house and began cutting meat and vegetables.  

[Roland Karloseth]

((Forced Summary: Jacob introduces himself. You also find out that when Jacob takes his dagger and spins it in his hand, it's because he's bored.))

Jacob chose to sit down on the floor against the wall, so that the others could take advantage of what seating there was. He sat in the same position as the sled, left leg tucked up to his chest with his left arm resting on his knee while his right leg sprawled it's full length away from his body. He had taken out his dagger again, one of the few things that kept him occupied right now since he had no music, no videogames, no cellphone, nothing. After a few seconds of silence after the man had asked them their stories, Jacob decided to go first. "Alright, since no one else is speaking up, I'll go. My name is Jacob, and I'm an alcoholic... except not. It's Jake to those who are either too lazy to call me by my full name or are too stoned to remember it. I'm nineteen. Also, I want to know where the hell I am and why I was abducted from my car by what seemed to be liquefied shadows. One things for sure, whoever caused it owes me a new window." With that, he held up his fist, showing the makeshift bandage on his knuckles.  

[pickle relish]

((Summary: Nat watches Rhysar cook, introduces herself, and wonders what the hell is going on.))

Nat watched Rhysar cook, fascinated. She had always liked doing stuff like cooking and sewing, in addition to her academic and athletic clubs at school. Although she was pretty good at cooking, she was no match for Rhysar's skill. She had never seen anyone chop that fast, except maybe professional chefs. She was so distracted watching him that she forgot that they were supposed to introduce themselves.

After a minute, one of the men, who introduced himself as Jacob, finally began to talking, startling Nat. She watched him as he spoke, trying to size him up. He was holding a dagger, which made her a bit wary, but he ran to the help of the unconscious man earlier, so he couldn't be a bad person...

A few seconds of silence followed his introduction, and Nat tugged at one of her piggytails nervously before beginning to speak. "I'm Nat--Natalie Hall. I'm eighteen. I don't really know what happened either. I was in my car...my phone died, and then everything turned black..." She stopped talking suddenly, wondering about what had happened back home. How long had she been gone? Did her parents know what had happened to her? Maybe her car had crashed, and she was in some sort of coma...? Whatever the case, it seemed best just to take things at face value for now, and to worry about getting home when she knew more about the situation.  

[xDarkPisces]

Daniel shuffled unsteadily into the cottage behind the others, one hand held against his temple in an attempt to still his swimming vision and calm his pounding head. He shivered violently as his body temperature adjusted to that of the interior of the house. He coughed once...twice, cleared his throat uncomfortably, and began to take in his surroundings, seating himself arbitrarily beside the fire.

Several minutes passed with no words exchanged, and Daniel's muscles began to ache as the slight hypothermia gave way to normal body temperature control. Then the door was opening and the girl returned with her father. "Travelers, this is my father, Rhysar," Kirrey said, cheerily introducing the man behind her. Daniel studied his face (a habit he'd picked up from his mother). His eyes shone brightly in the firelight, though they looked tired and worn. The creases by his eyes and across his forehead told his age, his emotions, his strength. Clearly he was hardworking, but years of cold labor, working to support his loved ones, had left him ragged.

Then Rhysar began preparing the meal. Several tense moments passed before Jacob spoke up and introduced himself, followed by Natalie... Nat. Hmm... A punk and a high school girl... This all seems so pointless and random. I suppose I should... "Name's Daniel. Don't call me Danny... Just don't. We're not friends. I like music, sleep, long walks on the beach, you name it, man... Don't judge me. I don't judge you." After speaking his piece, he sat back against the hearth.

Introductions like this were always awkward, but these seemed strained, forced... Like no one was really listening, just speaking and sitting. What the hell... This doesn't happen. I must be on some serious kind of trip because... whew...  

[Kerrigan_dragon]

((Summary: Jocelyn diagnoses Daniel with moderate hypothermia, introduces herself, and seems very cheerful, but very intense.))

Jocelyn sat back leaning against a wall, observing the others thoughtfully, trying to discern what she could about them from the way people introduced themselves, more than just what was said. As Daniel spoke up, she was startled into remembering she'd taken him on as her patient.

"Oh, hello there Daniel," Jocelyn said softly, standing up slowly. "And Jacob, Natalie, and the rest of you who have not yet introduced yourselves. I am Jocelyn. I have a Bachelor's of Medicine, and a Bachelor's of History." As she spoke, she walked over to Daniel and squatted next to him. "Breathe normally, please. I'm going to check your pulse. You were unconscious from the cold. Obviously you were not in a coma, so there's a possibility that you didn't suffer from severe hypothermia, but I would be surprised if your heart rate has returned to normal yet." After smiling cheerfully at him, she placed her fingers on his neck, counting out his heartbeats for a minute in silence, using her watch for reference.

"Heart rate is erratic, but returning to normal slowly. Moderate hypothermia. You will probably be delirious and confused for a while from that, as well as withdrawal." Jocelyn removed her coat and wrapped it around Daniel. Her tone of voice was cool and professional; courteous, but distant. "Stay warm and dry. Do not, under any circumstances, go outside until I say you can. I can likely cause you more pain and suffering than you can possibly imagine, even under the effects of withdrawal. Do I make myself clear?" Jocelyn stared intently at Daniel, making certain he would understand that she was dead serious, until the silence in the room had stretched beyond uncomfortably long, before looking away and smiling. "Since we're also introducing something about ourselves, it seems... I am 21 years old, smart enough to have graduated high school early, silly enough to have stopped schooling to travel the world, and very serious about keeping people healthy. And I hate the cold. I hate it more than you can possibly imagine."  

[xDarkPisces]

((Simple interactions between Jocelyn and Daniel. Daniel still needs his drugs. Badly.))

Daniel recoiled out of reflex at Jocelyn's touch. There was no harshness or pain to the skin-on-skin contact itself, but her hands were cold, and the shock of the temperature change sent a spike of pain through his pounding head. "Easy now!" he half-shouted in response. Daniel's protest went ignored as Jocelyn examined him with a doctor's scrutiny. As she was studying him, he thought it only appropriate to study her in return, though his reeling head could barely be trusted to reason at this point in time.

A quick once-over with his eyes told him that she was pretty, though her attractive features were simple and unassuming. Her bright hair lit up her face, which had reddened slightly from the bitter cold. No amount of experience-bound insanity could jar the natural male instinct from his brain, and through the haze of jumbled thought he found a simple physical attraction. His mouth conveyed none of this, however, as his next words were, "Why do you feel you have to care for me? You don't know anything about me or my issues. Did I not make it clear I didn't want to be judged?" He heaved a sigh and pulled away from her, regretting it instantly as the surge of exhalation threw his weakened balance, and he fell against her shoulder.

Daniel's eyes rolled back, and he coughed a few ragged wheezes. "Where's my fix, damn it. I just need something... anything... If one of you has my s**t, I swear..."