[SRP] Waiting

[CaliWolfe]

Quote:

Continuation of Bridge Breakers, Momoka and Fintan's viewpoint.

Wordcounts:
--- Fintan || 1079 words
--- Momoka || 1019 words

Total Wordcount: || 2054 words

Fintan certainly felt the cold now. He shivered as a brush of wicked wind slipped over the hill leading to the small drop where he and Momoka lay clinging to each other for their good lives. At least she was dry now. Fintan didn't know how he'd react if she was still soaked to the bone with only him to aid her. Instead she simply was tired and her pale eyes were resting with big, deep breathes. Finny had only to opportunity to listen to her, and ensure those breaths of reassurance, of life, didn't cease. He doubted she'd stop breathing altogether at all, but it was a possibility and one he was not looking forward to if it did happen to dawn on them.

The water looked as inviting as it had earlier, which was not inviting at all. The water tribe male had to think for a moment on how he even managed to get to that place to begin with... As far as he could recall he first opened eyes in a place a little south. It wasn't warm there, he imagined none of the world was, but it wasn't so cold that he felt his bones would turn brittle and crack from being frozen. For some reason he had left the small patch of land he was on, and felt inclined to move from where he was. Move where though? South? South to where the river turned wide, to where the big blue stretch of water began? Fintan saw water and thought nothing else could be south, only water and waves and as delightful as they were he was curious of his world. So north, he had decided. Head north and see what is there. 'Head north and ignore as your limbs start to freeze off', he thought.

Lightly he tapped Momoka, to let her know he was there, and buried his face into her fur as another lash of frozen wind battered against his cold body. To his surprise she reacted.

"...Nnn.." Her head was still fuzzy, her vision clouded and she could hear as footsteps of two of the group carried off into the distance. She felt more alive though, and more capable of movement. Of sight. Of being aware of her surroundings. She immediately noticed Fintan as he leaned into her to coward from the ice and snow. She wasn't scared, he had... Saved her. She owed him for that. "Fin-tan." She said his name, having remembered hearing him say it earlier before Reko and Ylva walked away. Momo then snuggled into him, his soft and not-so-warm fur somehow reassuring.

"Ylva wants us to start a fire." He told her. Thing was, he didn't know what a fire was. He was pretty certain Ylva didn't even know what a fire was! She had said it though, and it sounded... Strong. Warm. Essential.

"Fire?" Momoka asked. "What... is fire." She thought maybe it was food. Something able to be eaten. But she had said "get a fire going", how did one get a thing called a fire going? Was it something they had to create then? Ylva always was saying nonsense like that, Momo found. They had only known each other since their worlds both just began, but still. Ylva was older by three whole days and Momo was impressed by the things she had learned in that time. Fire, or rather the how to of making it must have been one of those things. "Fintan... What is fire?" She asked again, not sure if she had actually said that or if he heard her for that matter. She felt weak, and it might have been from almost drowning but she guessed it was because of the cold.

"Something warm." He told her, shivering. He felt his face lose feeling. Momoka was warm, but not enough to keep him from dying from the cold. "I... I can't feel my legs." He admitted to her. He couldn't feel anything! Whatever fire was they needed to get it done as quickly as possible. Ylva had made it sound important to being alive. Were they both going to die because they lacked fire?

Momo attempted to stand. Attempt being the key word here. She got half way up, Fintan moving alongside her if only for his stability and Momo's feet began to shake. She breathed heavily, panting as if this was some difficult task. She fell, only once and her face landed right back into the snow. Something clicked then however, and she stood upright, without struggle. "I got it!" She declared to Fintan as he shook like a leaf next to her. "We need too... We need to move! Moving makes warmth, right? If we move then it will be like 'getting a fire going', maybe that's what Ylva meant..."

Fintan considered this. "A-Alright." He told her. The theory made sense. Ylva was not clear on what fire was, she had only left them with the words Momoka had just spoken. 'Get a fire going', start moving. He took a step forward, and then turned to face Momo. "What should we do?" He asked.

"Let's... Run. Running makes warmth happen really fast!" Momo declared. Fintan nodded at her.

He began by rushing along the snowbank. The wind was piercing, and his toes felt as good as dead but he kept running back and forth. Momoka was bumbling behind him, her being a big heap of fur was slowing her down, but she was capable of running at the very least. Fintan began to smile. It felt... good! Running made him feel great actually, his heart was racing but he could feel the cold slipping away! Momo was right, this was a great idea!

He reached the end of the bank, where the snow curved upwards following the movements of the ground and in a daring move, he jumped from where he was and rolled in the snow merrily. "Ha, ha!" He laughed, rolled onto his back. Fintan looked up to see the brown female finally able to catch up. She proceeded to jump beside him, and the duo laughed in both misery and enjoyment.

"Wow!" Momo gasped. "Running is really fun! It's tiring though, can we rest now?" She asked between her breaths, her heart was now fighting to return to being normal. A feat she was sure it would accomplish given a few more seconds of panting.

"Of course." Fintan lay in defeat. "That was... A good idea. Pretty smart of you Momo." He lightly elbowed her in the shoulder as they lay.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that." Momo blushed, although the pink of her face was hidden under her fur. She had never been called smart before, it made her feel important and special. It made her feel good. Like running, running and being called smart all made Momoka feel good and mushy on the inside. As the duo laid back, Momo looked up and noticed the sky deepening in color. "I wonder what it looks like." She said aloud.

"What, what looks like?" Finny asked. He was licking his paws with yellow, they resembled what Ylva thought fire was but he didn't understand how they were suppose to make it.

"The sky." She said. "It's all covered up right now, I wonder what it looks like when it isn't." She had yet to see a day where the sky wasn't knitted together by a string of snow clouds. She had, however, seen once before a patch where the cover was broken. It was the first clue she received that the sky wasn't all grey and broken. It had been at night, and the patch was black with white dots glowing upon it. She wanted to see the entire picture, not just a single little patch.

Fintan had seen it uncovered, and he smile to Momoka while trying to describe it. "I've seen it." He told her firstly. "It's big, like another ocean in the air. It's black, frozen as the things floating in it don't move. I think they're called stars." He told her. "The stars don't move, but they shine very bright. They all seem to glow but are out-shined by one, huge star. I think that one is called the moon." He looked over to see Momoka's pale eyes stare in amazement.

"I want to see it." She told him, a look of determination on her face. "The stars, the moon, the big sky of black... Can you take us to where I can see it?" She asked, excitedly.

"Maybe." Fintan said. "But probably not. I don't know how I saw it, but it wasn't here. The snow was gone, the ground was visible." He warned her. "It might be too warm for you."

At this Momo looked disappointed. "Oh." She turned away. Then she had a thought and while gazing at the clouds said, "Do you think the sky will sometimes be visible here?" Even now she searched for a break in the thick white cover.

"Yeah." He told her, not actually confident that was true. It made Momoka feel better though and that was what was important. Fintan moved to stand at this point. "Come on, we should go back now." Back to where the wind was wicked and seemingly wanted to freeze him to death.

"Alright." Momoka stood. They did not run this time however, the duo walked alongside one another to the spot Ylva and Reko had left them. They walked calmly, far from warm but no longer freezing. Fintan was dried and brushed any water off of him to remain warm. Momo aided this as her long fur was warm and comfortable. She felt happy that she was of use, that her "friends" if you could call them that didn't think she was just slowing them down or in the way. Speaking of, where had those other two gone? Momo wasn't sure how to react to Reko and was concerned for Ylva's safety. "Where are those two?" She looked to where they had dispersed from. No scent of either of the them lingered in the area, it was as if the wind had spirited them away, a scary thought.

"They went hunting." Fintan told her, much to Momo's reassurance. She smiled at him in relief.

"That's good. Thank goodness..." Her voice trailed off as she laughed at herself for being so silly to think the wind had stolen them. Fintan didn't seem to mind her random outburst, but he did not join her in laughing. He merely smiled and she smiled back, glad he was at least pretending to be understanding of her.

"I'm glad you feel better." He told her, and leaned close when wind lashed at his face once more. He noticed that Momo seemed bigger then him. Taller. All of them were, he seemed short. It was troublesome that none of whom he met resembled him, he felt like a freak. Yet they seemed to like him regardless.

Or maybe, just like Reko, they were all just curious of how he looked.

"I'm hungry, I hope they come back soon..." Momo told her companion. Her belly even started to rumble and she blushed again as it did.

"Don't worry, they'll come back soon, I just know it." He bumped her chin with his head. She was tall, but he was still not a head away from being the same size as her. Maybe he wasn't as freakish as he had thought.

The male sat first, on the snow, and Momo curled up next to him. "They're coming right?" She asked again, only this time Fintan didn't have to answer. She squinted and in the distance she spotted two vaguely familiar shapes moving across her sightline. They were... Pulling something? Was that what they had hunted?!

"Ah." Fintan breathed out. "Finally, now I won't freeze to death."

Momo continued to gaze, and smiled merrily as Ylva came into her view. They had brought down a mighty beast, and she was glad to see they were both not hurt.

Now, all four of them were filled with a similar feeling. They were all fine, and they would stay that way... They would be okay. For today, at the very least. Tomorrow? Well that. That was a different story altogether...