Day 12

Time: 3:23 PM

Location: Outskirts of Rime 12

The gentle rocking of the boat was smoothly to Darius and soon, he found himself drifting off to what wasn't quite sleep, but not quite consciousness later. As he did, he let his mind wander.

He remembered those strange dreams he'd been having recently, about his friends. He hoped they were okay... he really had no way to check, as he was. He couldn't call them, he couldn't really ask around for them... the most he could do was pray that'd he'd happen upon them on the way to Nightlight.

Since he'd been finding similar people to him in every single other place he'd come from, it makes sense that sooner or later he'd find them, but he'd have to be on lookout. They might even be at... wherever they were going.

He had to check. He'd hate to find that he missed his friends while looking for them.

Darius' thought grinded to a halt when something nudged his leg. Blinking tiredly, he looked down, seeing a hand on him. There was something strange about that hand, but Darius didn't register those oddities, the coldness, the clammy feeling, the limp way it was draped, at least until he followed the arm up to the body, and then he felt all his breath leave him. After a moment of horror struck through him, Darius reared back, shoving away the corpse's hand. He started at it with quicken, terrified breaths as it rattled around on the floor due to the ship's jerky movements. It almost looked like a fish out of water, dying, even though it was already dead.

Darius hated it, but he couldn't stop watching it.

Suddenly, the ship slowed and then stopped, and Darius looked up in confusion. Had they arrived? He lifted his hands, rubbing at his arms. If anything, it felt colder here. Darius didn't want to get out.

But then it started moving again, and Darius relaxed, his eyes returning to the corpse as it danced around the cabin as he leaned against the wall...

And then came the sound of horrible, high screeching all around them, making everyone inside the ship jump and hurry to cover their ears. It didn't really help, as Darius' ears already felt painful to the touch, and a pounding headache was starting to make it's way through his head.

Thankfully, the sound didn't last long, tampering off as the shuttle came to a stop. However, the damage was sone, as there was a horrible ringing in Darius' ears, and his teeth felt horrible inside his mouth.

None of them noticed the person from before knock on the door above them, at least not until it was wrenched up, and the person shouted down at them.

"Apologies, I forgot to warn you!" they shouted down. Now, their voice seemed too loud, and for a minute, Darius wondered why, until he realized that the horrible wind was gone.

The person waved them up. "Come on," they said, quieter now. "Let's get out of this so the kids can start working at it."

The kids in the ship blinked at them, and then at each other. Apparently, that sound had jarred all of the, because none of them even started to do what the person said.

Eventually becoming impatient, the person banged on the side of the ship to get there attention.

"Come on!" they barked. "No need to waste daylight? What are you waiting for?!"

The shouting startled all of them out of their reprieve. Luca was first, scrambling out of the ship as quick as he could, with the rest following as fast as they could. Darius climbed the rungs behind Ai, feeling his skin stick slightly to the cold metal every time he toughed one. And every time, he held his breath, terrified that his hand wouldn't come off. It did, though, and Darius didn't stop, not until the person had grabbed the back of his coat, hauling his up like a newborn kitten and onto the top of the ship. Darius saw his friends in front of him already down at the base of the ship, and he quickly slid down to meet them, landing on shaky knees.

As the little groups waited, Darius found himself taking a look around the place they had found themselves. Darius blinked at the tall ceiling, and far walls, wondering for a moment, why there was so much space, but when he saw the scraps of metal gathered in various, unorganized piles around the room, he found that he suddenly understood. It was a garage of some sort, one of those big ones Darius saw mechanics used.

And spaced around them intermittently were what Darius assumed to be the mechanics. None of them were looking at Darius and his friends, though, or even the person who brought them in. Every single one of them only had eyes for the ship, drawn in like vultures. It was... slightly unnerving.

Darius quickly looked away from them. Some movement drew his eyes to the front of the ship, where... wait, what?

Darius had to shake his head, rubbing at his eyes in disbelief. But when he looked again, it was still there, standing in front of the ship without a care in the world, attached to the ship with some rough looking rope.

Darius wasn't sure how to describe it. It was definitely a creature, of course, but none that Darius had ever seen in his life. It had the stature of some sort of horse or camel, but it was far bigger than any of them were, its head reaching about the size of a Tyrannosaurs. It was also covered in lots and lots of yarn like hair, draped over it like a mop. A pair of horns sat on it's head, but strange ones, like Parasaurolophus.

Maybe they were snorkels.

A shout from on top of the ship made Darius tear his eyes away from the strange creature, as well as everyone else. Apparently, everyone else had been staring at the animal in awe while Darius had been stuck on the garage. Go figure.

"What in God's name is THAT?!" the person roared, pointing down with a gloved hand. Their wide stance and thrown out arms made Darius think they wanted to run away, but they were also frozen in horror.

Darius had to strain to hear the reply.

"It's Frog!" Greg told him, holding up Frog just above the hatch. "See?"

"A frog?" the person spat, sounding disgusted. Something about the way they said that gave Darius pause. "Drop it! We are NOT wasting food for some CREATURE!"

"But I have to take care of Frog!" Greg cried out, sounding distressed. "He needs me!"

The person threw their head back, perhaps in exasperation, but whatever they were going to say was lost when Molly asked: "Hey! But what about that one?"

The person turned down to her, and then towards where she was pointing. He snorted. "Orange here has a job to do, just like the rest of us. She's too valuable to kill! That one-!"

"KILL?!" Greg shrieked. A strangled cough sounded from the ship and Darius imagined he was holding Frog tightly.

The person turned back to him. "Listen, kid, you either say your goodbyes to that ugly thing and get out or we're forcing you back out there-!"

"NO!"

Darius started at the sound of the voice, looking behind himself to find one of the mechanics, a short, blond one, had stepped forward, hands raised and a terrified look on his face.

"Pin, you can't do that!" he yelled out. "We need that this. You know this!"

The person shook their head. "We don't need to waste food here. If someone wants their keep they have to earn it, we don't need pets!"

"But the ship..."

Darius stepped forwards. "Frog can work."

Everyone looked to him. The mechanic looked hopeful, a growing smile on his face, but the person, Pin, seemed less than enthused.

"How?" they snarled. Darius opened his mouth, closed it, gulped than tried again.

"...I'm not telling you," he decided finally. Pin drew up, looking like they were going to yell, but Darius quickly continued. "We can't trust you. Yet. But you have my word. We'll all work hard and... 'earn our keep', even that one."

Darius finished his promise with a shaky breath, and looked into Pin's eyes unblinkingly, even with the horrible sinking feeling in his stomach. Why didn't he just lie? Why'd he have to say that? Pin was never going to believe that!

Still, Darius held Pin's gaze, feeling like Pin was studying him closely through their sunglasses.

Finally, Pin turned away, snorting. They reached down, hauling Greg AND Frog up, setting them gently down on the ship hull.

"Fine," they muttered bitterly. "But if you're wrong, then it's on both of your heads."

Pin pointed threateningly to Darius and the mechanic before stepping off of the ship, landing with thud on the other side. They clicked their tongue, making a strange sound, and the woolly creatures head suddenly snapped up. On of it's tall and thin legs lifted, and it lumbered over to Pin, the ropes dragging behind it. Pin snatched up the ropes, and then quickly led the creature off to a certain curtained off corner that Darius hadn't seen before. He didn't get to see any more when Pin and the creature disappeared behind it.

Beside him, the mechanic let out a relieved breath. Darius turned to look at him, and he gave Darius a grateful look. Not too much of one, though, he seemed somewhat distracted by the ship beside them.

"Oh good," the mechanic said. "Thanks for that. We're so bored here-HEY, WHAT FOR ME!- We're so bored here that this is probably the best thing that could happen! Now, don't you worry, we'll take good care of it- HEY, I SEE YOU GOING UP THERE WITH THAT SCREWDRIVER! JUST WAIT FOR ME!- We'll take good care of it... well, actually, I guess we won't since we'll be tearing it apart."

Darius nodded, and began to respond until he saw the mechanics foot twitch. In the end, he decided not to say anything, and the mechanic seemed relieved.

"Okay, great, we'll do that," the mechanic told him, eagerness leaking into his voice. Before he went, though, he paused, looking Darius critically up and down.

"Um... you may want to go to storage and find out if there's any extra clothes, though," the mechanic informed him, sounding apologetic. "You won't last long in those."

Darius blinks, and looks down at his clothes. For the first time, he noticed he was shivering violently, his teeth clacketing together like a drum at ten times the speed. His fingers were so cold that the coldness had morphed into tingling pain, and when he breathed out, he saw his breath in the air.

Had he really been this way the entire time, and never noticed? Darius peered closer at the mechanic and saw, while he wasn't as dressed up as Pin was, he still had a lot of layers on protecting him from the cold. So did the other mechanics.

Pressing his teeth together both in frustration and to stop the chattering (it was an effort in vain), Darius nodded.

"It's just through the door and to the left," the mechanic together him, and then, apparently reaching the last of his patience, he ran towards the ship like a man possessed. The others quickly followed his example like vultures to the kill. Darius watched them in awe, but he turned away once he saw one of them descend into it, bring out the corpse. Bile rose to his throat, and Darius had to squeeze his eyes shut, forcing his mind onto other things.

He turned towards the rest of his little group, who also seemed intent on watching the, somewhat morbid, show. He instantly noticed that all of them were shivering, looking just as cold, or moreso than he was. That made sense, as none of them were dressed much better than he was.

Darius stepped forward, drawing their attention, and he jerked his head to the side. He instantly regretted it, though, when pain sparked up his neck when his jacket brushed up against it.

"O-Over here," he told them, voice wavering despite his efforts. Thankfully, the rest of them didn't need much convincing, following Darius towards a the wall that the mechanic had pointed out earlier. Sometimes, the walls shook, probably from the force of the wind outside, and every time they did, Darius' heart leapt to his throat in fear, wondering if this was the time those walls wouldn't hold up. It was a stupid feeling, and a misplaced was, but Darius couldn't help the overwhelming relief flooding him when the walls finally stopped moving. He wasn't sure all those thin metal walls had kept this place safe so far, but Darius didn't trust them.

The door they were supposed to go through was easily spotted, but when Darius stuck a hand out to grasp it (quickly, so he wouldn't think about all those horror stories of frostbite he'd heard before), he found that he couldn't. His arm would move to the door and his wrist would turn to be in the correct position, and he could feel the shock of cold on his palm, but when he tried to curl his fingers around the cold metal, Darius found that he couldn't.

A cold feeling of panic swept through him, and Darius stared in horror at his unresponsive fingers. They looked fine, healthy, but no matter how hard he tried, they wouldn't turn.

"D-Darius?" Ai asked softly, but Darius barely heard her through the roaring in his ears. Why wouldn't his fingers work? Were they broken? Were they already dead from the cold? What-?

"Step aside," a gruff voice said from behind him, and Darius startled, easily doing so. From behind him, Pin stepped forward, easily gripping the handle and pulling it forward. Their goggles and face coverings were gone now, revealing long black hair that curled in a afro around a dark face. Cold eyes stared out at Darius impassively from where Pin had stepped aside, and Darius felt himself gulp nervously. It was painful.

"I'll get you to the storage room and get you settled," Pin told them, clearly the way so the small group could walk through. And they did, quickly. Darius was disappointed to find that the corridor outside the garage, also made up of metal sheets on a metal floor, was not any better than inside the garage. "Then you're on your own. Do your work and do it well, or you're gone."

Even through his freeze-addled brain, that statement made Darius' head snap up. "Wait, what? Not just Frog?"

Pin didn't look at him, and Darius' mouth fell open as he started at the person in shock.

"We made a deal, though," Luca muttered. He had pulled his rolled up sleeves down to cover his whole arm, but it didn't see to help much.

"I understand that," Pin told them. Their (were they a they? Darius had no idea) voice was firm. "But I'm afraid this is how it is. Think of it this was: that it's a kindness. From here, you're closer to the edge of the winterland than you were. It's the little things."

Molly crinkled up her nose. It looked like it took effort. "That's not what that means. And you can't just lie like that! This isn't a kindness at all!"

Pin was quiet for a moment after that. Finally, they sighed. "Here, we only have the luxury to care about our own survival, the survival of Rim 12. Here' only small mistake could mean death to all of us. Careless tracking of the fire could mean a sleep death overnight. Irresponsible storage could easily mean starvation. Any less than constant maintenance of the walls could mean that this whole thing collapses, or becomes useless. I won't pretend that saving you all meant any less than getting your ship for spare parts, but I also could have killed you, and I didn't. Now, we have extra mouths to feed. Here, in this place, it's the small things."

Molly opened her mouth, and then closed it, apparently unsure about what to say to that. In the end, it didn't matter, because Pin suddenly stopped at a door looking identical to the one they had just walk through and gripped the handle. They had arrived.

"The fixed stuff is at the back," Pin explained curtly, holding open the doors as the rest hurried through. "But if you can't make it that far, there's also some stuff at the front. It's just a bit ripped up and warn because we don't have the thread to fix it. It won't feel like much when you put in on, but as you warm up, you'll start feeling the worst pain in your life. I'm warning you now: don't take it off, ever. Well, unless you want to take the easy way out. But when it hurts, that's good. It means you're healing. Once you're down with that, come to the fire. Ask around for any spare jobs anyone might have. We'll get you you're more permanent jobs later, when we find were you'll be most useful."

At this, Pin paused, apparently at the end of their speech. They seemingly didn't know how to end it off without being awkward, but Darius saw the realization dawn on them that it didn't really matter. No one, him included, was paying much attention to them anymore, more intent on grabbing the clothes from the racks and shrugging them on, breathing sighs of relief as they did. Darius saw Pin frown at the, rubbing at their jaw thoughtfully. They almost looked sorry for them.

"Perhaps you'll need food to eat first," they decided quietly. Darius only barely heard them. "Food to work... Listen. Grab some of the plates first and get some of the food from the fire. I'll tell Angelico to waive your work fee. Well, sort of. You'll start your work in debt, but..."

Again, they hesitated, and again, no one responded. Darius was only half listening, picking up one of the smaller coats (there had only been a few big coats, contradictory to the millions of the littler ones) and gave one to Greg, and the other to Frog. Frog's eyes were closed as it hung limply, it's skin a worrying shade of blue. It was only shallowly breathing, but at least it was still breathing at all.

"Oh, forget it," Pin finally muttered. Darius straightened at that, and turned his head just in time to see step back from the door, shutting it behind them. The resulting bang got everyone's attention, even those who had been completely intent on getting warm.

That bang signalled something, though Darius couldn't be sure of what. Eventually, the pain in their fingertips made them turn away, and continue at the task at hand.

Even when fingers didn't close properly and limbs didn't work as they were intended to, sheer determination allowed them to get most of the clothes on and covering them, even some of the stuff like hats and boots. But other things, such as buttons and gloves, were beyond them.

Eventually, they gave up on trying to force those, instead all huddling in a corner together, ears and noses buried in the fabric and spare jackets laid over them like a bunch of terrible tiny little jackets. Neither they, nor the carpeted floor beneath them provided much warmth, at least, not enough to feel. And when Darius hand brushed against Luca, he was horrified to find that his skin was ice cold.

They both jumped at the feeling, with apologies muttered through chattering teeth.

Then, when they were all sat down in a line, huddle together to share warmth but unable to touch, they... waited. For what, Darius wasn't quite sure. He knew, from listening to Pin, that there was a fire, but even the explicit promise of warmth seemed so far out of reach that Darius deemed the notion of reaching it impossible. He knew from their speech that there was food, too, but if his stomach was growling, there were far too many other sensations around him to even understand it.

They just sat and waited. For what, it was unclear, But... Pin had mentioned something, or implied something would happen. Darius started wondering what, but soon found that he didn't really much care.

All Darius knew for certain, one hundred percent certain, was that he was tired. No, more than tired, exhausted. No, even more than that. Even as he laid, Darius felt a tremendous weight upon him, and it wasn't the people pressed to his sides. He barely felt them, and even then, they'd be a comfortable weight. No, what Darius was feeling was terrible, like whenever he picture tomorrow, a week from now, or even a year from now, he seemed felt as if it was all impossible. There was too much pressure in life, too much he had to do... and Darius found that he didn't have the will to do it. No matter what he thought or had he tried to convince himself, he was just too tired to do anything... to live or go on, or do any of that.

From beside him, Darius felt breath on his cheek, and when he looked over, Luca had his head leaning against the hood of Darius' coat, and he was breathing deeply, chest falling and rising in a measured rhythm.

...That was bad. It took a few moments for Darius to break through his own sudden and violent jealousy to remember that, but as soon as he did, he was leaning down, trying to warn Luca.

Hey, wake up, don't fall asleep, Darius said, or he tried to. He thought he did, but he found himself doubting that. What was actually much more important is that as soon as Darius leaned over, he knew that he doomed himself, and as he fell, he felt that he fell both in the real world, and in sleep as a tidal wave of darkness crashed over him, just as a fire erupted in his fingers.

Darius woke up. Or rather, came back into consciousness. He wasn't awake yet, not really, and he didn't plan on getting up for a long time, not after all he'd been through.

He knew, intrinsically, where he was. He was back at his room, his own room, inside his own house.

...Darius felt his heart sink as he thought about all the implications of that. But this time, he didn't ignored all that, throwing it to the wind as he rolled back over, hugging his comforter to his chest, all the while wondering what these dreams meant, and whether they were real or not. If they weren't, Darius didn't want to know what that meant for his psyche. If they were, well...

That would be worse. Far worse.

Groaning, Darius pushed those thoughts away again, but even further this time. No time to dwell, or time to wonder. He would just... enjoy this.

"Darius?"

For the amount of time he had, he would enjoy this.

"Darius, didn't you already get up...?"

He pressed his sheets tighter. It was warm here, and safe, and familiar. He NEEDED to remember this. He didn't want to go back!

"...Darius?"

Just for now, just for a couple minutes. It was nice and warm and comforting, but it also hurt, deeply. Like Darius was being eaten from the inside out, he felt grief well up inside of him.

Darius heard a shuffle from beside him, and then footsteps. He squeezed his eyes closed tighter. The noises paused.

"You're not Darius, right?" Kenji asked, and he sounded nervous. Darius sighed, and he looked up to Kenji above him, with a camera pointed right at him. He looked... confused.

What a weird dream.

When Darius woke up, coming back to consciously slowly, he became aware of a couple things. First was the weight on top of him, pressing down on all sides. However, unlike earlier, this weight was not depressing or scary. It more felt like a big blanket, and Darius relaxed into it.

The next thing he noticed was that every single part of his body ached, feeling raw and sore. It was like he had been thrown down the stairs, multiple times, and then sunburned. Darius frowned, wondering about that for a second, before he remembered that when a person get's hypothermia, warming up will really hurt, because it's the life coming back to their limbs, or something.

Darius cringed at that thought. It was a bit creepy thinking of how his limbs had been dead, and then brought back to life. It made him feel like some sort of zombie, or worse, a mere ghost.

Maybe that's were the pain was a blessing. How could he be dead, AND in this much pain? Though it wasn't really that much of a relief, it still hurt. A lot.

Inside his sleeves, Darius flexed his fingers, and let out a sigh of relief as they curled inward. Oh, thank god. He didn't know what he'd do if his fingers were STILL unresponsive. That brief moment of his lack of control had spooked him, a lot. He'd never really before thought about moving his hands, or any part of him, they just... moved, when he wanted them to. Until they didn't.

Suddenly, Darius heard a shuffle from in front of him, and he straightened, the hair on the back of his neck standing on end. What...

"Oh no, did I wake you?" a gentle voice said from the darkness. Darius' eyes furrowed, and he opened his eyes to see who had spoken.

Well, he tried to. Again, Darius felt the surge of panic rise within him. What was going on? Was he blind? What was this darkness?

As helplessness rose, Darius struggled up to a sitting position, feeling his arms flail. Little disagreements rose from the people around him, but that just made Darius panic more. Who was speaking.

"Oh, calm down, child, no need to wake the others," that same voice chuckled, and Darius flinched, nervous. Suddenly, he felt something soft hit his face and he jerked back... but when he did, he suddenly discovered he could see.

A face appeared in the middle of his vision, a weathered old face with many a deep wrinkles and pinched eyes. She had a small smile on her pale face, and her eyes glinted with amusement. Darius saw her hand, a shrivelled, pruned thing, next to his face before she drew it back, settling back beside what looked like a small portable stove. It radiated warmth, and Darius leaned towards it, reaching up to rub at his other eye, which he had realized was still closed.

The old woman, because Darius had assumed she was one, reached forward, taking the handle of a spoon in hand and dipping it into a small pot resting on the stove, giving it a few turns.

"You had been crying in your sleep," she explained to Darius. "And the cold froze your tears to your eyes, sealing them shut."

Darius blinked, feeling taken aback. He had been crying in his sleep? Because of what?

"O-Oh," he stuttered out. "Oh..."

"I'd suggest not doing that," the old women informed him, taking the spoon out and tapping it against the rim of the bowl. Darius watched a thin liquid substance run off of it into the bowl. "One for the reason you just discovered, and also because its best not to waste water here."

Darius frowned. "Wouldn't there be plenty of water around here?"

"You'd think," the old women replied dryly. "But drinking cold water in this temperature would be a mistake. I guess what I should really saw is not to waste the fire we have. Speaking of..."

The old women reached around the side of the small stove, bringing up a small, blue jagged piece of what at one point could have been a bowl. Taking it in one hand, she took the spoon, dipping it into the pot and depositing the liquid back into the... plate? She stopped before she had been close to filled it up to the brim, but Darius barely noticed, reaching out eagerly for the soup.

"That's it," the women laughed, her smile growing wider. "Eat up quickly now. After all, you owe me. I have a job for you after this."

As Darius took a hold of the piece of clay his fingers burned, but he was raising it too quickly to his mouth to care. The warming liquid fell down his throat quickly; vaguely flavoured liquid and uneven meat chunks that tasted delicious together in Darius' starving stomach. Darius polished it off quickly, and then held the plat back towards the old women.

She smiled, wordlessly taking it and giving him more. As she worked, Darius leaned back, smiling himself. The temperature was harsh, but already, this was better than the moon quarter. Pin was right, people here were kind, or as kind as they could be. But wasn't that what mattered? They worked as a community here, looking out for one another, helping one another...

Luya was definitely wrong.

...Why was he suddenly thinking about Luya?

Footnotes:

The Faithful Listener skill has levelled up.