Flying Pinecones

"It's not like this everywhere in america,'I promise you that. There are some places where it's actually quite beautiful," Liam's smile fell a little bit. "There are some places where you can see the stars... I miss the stars..."

Vivian nodded and glanced towards the sky, "I agree. There's too much light pollution around here. There's too much pollution, period. I feel sorry for all the satyrs and nymphs, they're fighting an uphill battle."

OOC: Eep! One-liner!

Liam sighed a little bit. "Yeah, I can imagine how they must feel," he said quietly. He remained silent and melancholy for another moment or two before brightening up a bit; after all, her found it easier to smile than to cry. "Which is why, someday, I'm going to Antarctica just so I can see the stars,"

Vivian smiled and tilted her head, "Why Antarctica? You can see just as many stars in places that are much warmer." Vivian thought for a moment about Liam, he seemed to have a big heart. In fact, for some reason she had let down the walls she put up. Even though they had just met, there was something about him that Vivian found interesting. She couldn't quite put her finger on it.

Liam laughed. "Yeah, good point. But I mean, it's an entire continent with basically zero people! Y'cant get much less light pollution than that. Plus: penguins! Heck, I'd go down to Antarctica just to see the penguins and the sea lions and the orcas. But I mean, the stars down there, they gotta be something else. I mean, I bet you can see the Andromida from down there!" He beamed happily. He didn't really know much about Vivian; not yet, at least. But already he knew that he liked her. She was easy to talk to.

Vivian smiled, "That would be pretty awesome. I've always wanted to see the northern lights, or, I guess the southern lights. That would be really nice, it would take your mind off of the hypothermia setting in." Vivian wasn't a fan of the cold. Growing up in a tropical climate, the only time she saw snow, was on TV. It was weird to her that people would want to spend all day suffocating under hundreds of layers so they can play in the frozen water. Although, that was just her opinion.

Liam snorted with laughter. "Yeah, I guess you're right," he said with a bit of a grin. "But you know what? I think penguins worth the hypothermia, easy!" He exclaimed. He had a goofy, lopsided grin on his face; his tongue had the tendency to poke through his teeth when he smiled. " 'Sides, I don't think I'd mind the snow too much. I always liked the snow. Never saw it much as a kid," he glanced up towards the ever darkening, cloud-filled sky. " 'ey! What'd'ya know? Looks like it might just snow any time now!"

Vivian smiled, "Yeah, penguins are pretty cute. 'Specially the little waddle thing they do." Her smile wavered a bit, when Liam looked toward the sky. Glancing upwards she could see a blanket of clouds through the tree tops. Vivian pulled the sleeves of her jacket a little farther. She would never admit that she was cold, even though she was, she was too proud.

Without really thinking about it, he tossed her his jacket. "Cold?" Was all he asked.

OOC sorry, short post

Vivian caught the jacket and paused for a moment. Ultimately her fear of hypothermia won over, and she put it on. "Thanks" she breathed. She didn't really know what else to say, she never really talked to boys. Apparently they found her demeanor "intimidating", as someone once told her. It wasn't surprising, Vivian wasn't known for her bubbly charm.

Liam stared out at the growing darkness and heaved a sigh. "Well, looks like the end is nigh,"

Vivian looked up also, noticing a couple snowflakes drifting towards the ground, "Yeah" she whispered, unsure if Liam had actually heard her or not. Secretly she wished that it wouldn't get too cold this winter, she had hoped to take a sailboat out that upcoming weekend. Although it seemed stupid that someone would actually go out in the water during winter, Vivian didn't know how else she was supposed to spend her time. After hurricane Sandy struck the area, Vivian thought she'd go crazy after spending a week inside instead of on the water. If that's how she reacted after a week without sailing, she didn't want anyone witnessing her going months devoid of her boat. When she lived in St. Croix, the temperatures never reached below 40 degrees, so there was never a time where she couldn't get out onto the water.

He cast her a sideways glance. "Is everything alright?"

OOC sorry for my crappy posts

The thought of St. Croix had reminded Vivian why she came here in the first place. Her mother. Her stupid, ignorant, infuriating mother. She was so preoccupied with that thought, she almost didn't hear Liam. "Hm? Oh! Yeah!" Vivian lied. She absolutely wasn't about to tell anyone about her mother, her step father, or her past. Vivian feared how people would react when they learnt about her history. Pity. Vivian didn't need pity, she was strong. She was fearless. Well, mostly.

"You sure?" He asked. He had that nagging sense tugging at the corner of his gut. The one that told him
To just get out of there. Nobody needs and invalid around to make everything worse. To slow them down. His mouth hung open stupidly, for a moment, but he snapped it shut quickly. Damn! That'd be his downfall: insecurity. For a fleeting moment he floundered like a fish, a look if sheer panic in his eyes when he realized that she didn't really... Want him around anymore. Nobody liked having the invalid around for too long.

But! Liam quickly regained his composure. His stupid grin was plastered right back in his face. "Well, m'lady! I guess I'll be off then,"

Once Vivian had registered what he had said, a surprised look crossed her face, "Wait! Why? It's not like I wanted you to go or anything. You can stay as long as you like..." Vivian stopped there. She didn't want to sound pushy, even though she was. She had gotten used to talking to Liam, she rarely talked to people. Mostly because she found a great deal of them to be irritating.

At that point the air was filled with big flakes of snow, it wasn't long before there were specks covering her hair and Liam's jacket. Then it occurred to her how selfish she was being. Liam had given her his jacket; he must've been freezing. Maybe he just wanted to get out of the cold. Vivian thought, Maybe he doesn't want to get away from me.

"Hey, uh..." Vivian started, stepping forward slowly, "If you are going back...maybe I could walk with you?" Vivian bounced on her toes a little, hoping her face wasn't any redder. It was weird though, Vivian almost never got tongue tied. Usually when she was nervous she made little quips or jokes. This time, there wasn't a snarky comment in sight.

"Hey, uh... If you are going back...maybe I could walk with you?" He heard the hesitating in her voice and the negative, nagging voice inside his head had a field-day. No way in HELL did she actually want to hang out in the cold with him. She was too kind to him for his own good.

He chuckled, although it sounded forced; sad, even. "Probably not the best idea if you were planning on getting home before dawn," He said lightly. "I mean it's gonna take me hours to push this goddamn thing through the snow," He said, gesturing to the wheelchair. It was pretty clear that he was exaggerating, but there was something uncharacteristically off-putting in his voice: detestment and self-loathing.

He looked up at her. "And you must be freezing! I'm just gonna slow ya' down," Once again, he put on a lopsided grin, tongue poking through his teeth. "Go on then! Don't worry aboot me," He said with some sort of mock-Irish/Scottish accent. "And ya best save me some hot chocolate or something! And the little marshmallows!"

Vivian's heart sank, maybe she was annoying after all. Determined not to show Liam that she was bothered by it, Vivian smiled and started to walk away. Until, ten seconds later Vivian realized something. She had no clue how to get back. Vivian stopped in her tracks. She turned around and gave Liam a sheepish smile, "Yeah... I don't know where I'm going."

OOC: Sorry it's so short!

Liam looked up suddenly. "I- um... Was planning on following you out," he admitted, swallowing thickly. "I don't... Um... Know where we are either," he admitting, bracing himself for her anger.

Vivian's smile was gone, "Your kidding, right?" she asked, "Please tell me your kidding." Vivian looked at the forest floor around her. If there were footprints left, it was too dark to see them. Not to mention the thin layer of snow that covered any sign of where they came from. Vivian was on the verge of panicking, being lost in the middle of the woods was nothing like being lost at sea. At sea you had a compass, you had birds, you had wind direction. It was already dark outside, meaning she couldn't use the sun to find their direction. Vivian was completely and utterly lost.

"Look, don't worry! We'll be outta here in no time," Liam said with a confident grin and a wave of his hand. We just gotta go..." He looked around, and swallowed thickly. Everything looked... The same. No matter! He pointed in the direction that he thought was north- it wasn't. "...that way!"

Vivian didn't question it. She started to walk through the snow towards the direction that Liam had pointed. She paused for a moment and looked back at her companion to make sure he was coming. Vivian was only twenty feet away from him, yet she had to squint her eyes to see through the flurry of snow and dark night. Part of her worried that it might take too long for them to get back to camp, and they'd end up freezing to death. The other part of her chided herself for being so pessimistic. They'd be fine, after all, they were headed straight towards camp, right?

Liam blinked against the snow: his teeth were chattering. The snow was coming down hard and it was dark Liam's wheelchair was getting harder and harder to push: the snow stuck to the wheels.

Twenty feet is not a great distance. But as the snow grew thicker and his fingers grew number and the wheelchair became harder and harder to push - - twenty became thirty became forty and suddenly, Liam looked up and Vivian was gone. Now, forty feet isn't that great of a distance either. But given the low visibility, it didn't take much for Vivian to disappear entirely.

With his jacket.

And, my god, was he cold.

Liam's heart sunk. His first and only thought was that she had abandoned him. Such a rush to get out of there and he was tossed to the side. Gritting his teeth Liam found himself feeling angry; he wasn't really sure why. And so he kept going c teeth grit, and forced his way through the snow little by littleX

Vivian checked behind her shoulder for Liam, with no luck. "Liam?" She called. Vivian turned around and started to walk back. She found him inching through the snow, his teeth chattering. "Oh my gods, I thought I lost you for a moment." then she took off Liam's jacket and handed it back to him. "Here," she said, "You need it more than I do."

He snatched the jacket back and slipped it over his shoulders, still a little put off by the idea that she might've abandoned him.

OOC I dunno what to do from here.