Who:  Terra Branford, Irvine Kinneas
Where:  Out of Garden, Northern Continent, Icicle Inn.
Why:  Sent off to get a few supplies for Garden, Terra and Irvine brave the cold.
Date of Log:  8/28/00



Terra is standing about with a largish hiker-style backpack resting against one leg, reviewing something in a notebook and looking stylish in her Miscellanous Winter Clothing ensemble. Complete with those sexy Leia earmuffs.

Irvine enters wearing his standard cowboy gear. This stuff is usual overly warm to begin with, and the fully lined duster is meant for this kinda weather. However, he's put on a long sleeved shirt beneath it instead of his usual vest. He doesn't look positively wonderful at the moment, having that flushed look of someone under the beginning influence of the flu. However, it's a little better now, he's had a few fever reducers and sucked down two cups of that tea Dragonclaw suggested. So, at least for now he's convinced himself he's ready to go.

Terra looks over and brightens a bit - hangover? She got over it quite quickly, thanks - before hefting her pack up with one hand. It's mostly empty, being intended for the Urgent or Small and Light things that'll be coming back - the rest will get picked up by chocobo or car or something. They'll figure something out. Maybe a dog sledge. "Irvine," she says with a nod of recognition, as she slides her arms into the straps of the pack. "Are you ready?"

Irvine nods silently in Terra's direction, kinda surprised that she seems so chipper after the way he saw her last night. Ah well, at least she's not still suffering, it sucks to have a hangover that won't let go. As far as he knows, he's here for escort purposes, to keep any snowy frosty critters from thinking Terra is lunch, or dinner, or whatever. Thusly, he carries the Valiant with him, though it's holstered and strapped to his back for now.

Terra is the buying agent, on the good principle of sending a pretty woman to go do the actual, like, work. Why? Because goshdarn it, pretty girls get results. Especially when they're with pretty boys^H^H^H^H guys with guns. "Hm," she says, thoughtfully, examining of all things Irvine's shoulders. Why? "Do you mind if you carry the pack on the way back? It'll be full then, and you're stronger than I am," as if it's a matter of fact and not something subjective. After all, Irvine COULD be a big wussy. And thus uses guns.

Irvine nods, not really willing to argue the point. He was asked to get Terra there and back safely, and that's all he had planned on, but he is, in fact, rather broad shouldered, and could easily heft a pack. Part of it is his natural build, and the rest of it is the fact that the kind of guns he uses have a heavy recoil to them. If you haven't got strength, you're gonna get tossed back when firing them. "Won't bother me. So long as I can maneuver." You know, be able to use the gun he's supposed to protect Terra with?

Terra does have a sword. Of course, well, she doesn't expect trouble - the real enemy is the cold and snow and wind. But, nodding slightly, she turns and starts to march off towards the foot-path entrance which has been set up here, so to keep heat inside by sealing off the front gates - which would be what would be normally used, but, well. The weather is not cheerful.

Irvine follows along wordlessly, trying not to concentrate on the fact that he really feels like hell right now and wishes they coulda found someone else for the job. It's not that he wouldn't mind going under other circumstances, but traipsing out into the snow and cold isn't the best thing for a cold. He tugs the coat around him, buttoning it up the front as an afterthought.

Terra calls back, "Be careful, it's slippery," as the metal stairway thingy is in fact rather iced over. But, there's a hand rail, so it's no big thing. The last area is about two feet off the ground, thanks to a quirk of topography, but Terra hops down without mishap. *crunch* The sky's grey, and a little bit of snow is falling quite slowly - hardly any wind, for once. "Well," she says, turning around and walking back for a few steps, "This is outside..." It reminds her of Narshe.

Yes, it's outside all right. Doesn't remind him of anything, though. Selphie talks about Trabia a lot, so he guesses this is what her home Garden must be like on the outside. He glances up at the chilly grey sky, huffing out a breath in a puff of white mist. Well, at least the wind's not blowing furiously. "Yeah," he replies in a blase tone, "It's outside all right." Of course, this area in general is somewhat marred by footprints and little snowmen here and there, snow angels, and other signs that people have snuck out here to enjoy the snow.

Terra squats down, a little ponderously due to the pack - even empty, it's still bulky - and scoops up some snow, patting it into a loose snowball and turning to toss it, underhand, at the dread cowboy. Her target's the duster, though, so it should just go 'splot' and slide off without harm. After that, she sticks her hands in her pockets and looks around - kind of featureless, but she's trying to get where the contrasts and such are. ".....we were supposed to go to the northwest.. do you have a compass?"

Irvine glances down as the snowball does, in fact, smash against his duster. The snowfall is fairly new, and not very sticky, so it falls apart and slides back to the ground in a powdery sprinkle. Smirking back up at Terra, he resists the urge to get into a snowball fight with her here. Reaching into the duster pocket, he produces a small compass, holding it out to Terra. He'd remembered to grab a few things just in case. And those duster pockets are so nice for holding things. Ask Selphie.

Terra pads over with muffled crunches and takes it, peering at it and getting a little brass pocketwatch out from inside her parka - she'd tied it on a piece of good strong ochu-tentacle strand, so it won't get lost. She's serious about navigation, she is. Click, check - open compass, check... and then she nods, handing the compass back with a slight smile. Her cheeks are already getting red, although at least her ears aren't joining them.

Then she.... crouches down? What's she up to this time. She stamps at the snow around her feet, forming a rough arrow pattern and getting it good and deep in the hopes that the snowfall will fill it slowly, and thus there'll be some evidence of which way they went. "All right," she says with a nod - not hugely talkative, is she? - and proceeds to march off into the greyish white direction she'd decided was the correct one.

Following along just as wordlessly, the cowboy resists the urge to shiver. The duster is usually really warm, but his cheeks are also red, and the cold isn't the only reason why. Bah, this was a -bad- idea. Ah well, he'll rest up when he gets back. No turning back now. He watches her pattern the snow, nodding. Good idea, he probably wouldn't have thought of it. Even though part of being a sniper means surveillience and observation and navigation on foot. Then again, he's not used to doing that in snow regions. Otherwise, he just tags along behind her, reaching back to slip the holster off his back and pull out the shotgun.

Terra trudges along for a while.. hard to say exactly how long, but Garden becomes something of a hazy greyish shape off in the snowfall rather than a clear, looming presence as it usually is. "You know," Terra says as she keeps on trudging, turning her head slightly to let her voice carry more readily, "If you think this is cold, ah, I think there's a couple of scarves in the left bottom pocket. I remember having to ride through stuff like this in almost nothing," she adds, with a little depreciating laugh.

"I'm fine," Irvine replies immediately. He just wants this over with, reaching up with his free hand to tug the hat down a little lower. The Valiant is otherwise shouldered, left there since so far he hasn't needed it. However, at the mention of riding through this in almost... nothing? He lifts an eyebrow, head lifting to look ahead of him at the green haired lady, "You what? Why in the world would you have to go through this in next to nothing?" And, a better but unasked question, how'd you survive it?

Terra was in a semi-heated cockpit... and besides, she's tougher than she looks, kind of. "Well, it wasn't THIS bad, really," she says, after a moment of reflection. "Uh, I don't really remember it that clearly.. it was just something I did back a long time ago," she concludes, and that's all she's saying on THIS matter. The ground's taking a gradual turn upwards, and towards the back, Garden is now vanished in the dim greyness of the distance. Aie. Well, it'll clear up eventually.

Huh, ok, so she doesn't wanna talk about it. Feeling grumpy, fevers can do that too you, he wonders why she brought it up in the first place. Ah well, he's not gonna pry, none of his business really. He glances over his shoulder, realizing how far they've come already since he can't even see Garden anymore. Huh. Wonder how much further they've got to go. He doesn't ask though, refusing to be like a kid in the backseat of a car, 'Are we there yet?'.

Terra remarks, a minute or so after that, "I hope the weather doesn't get much worse." Yes, she's just FILLED with cheer and good spirits. And why shouldn't she be? At least she's not frightened of the cold or the isolation of the area - it's actually kind of nice. Free and empty. "Ummm..." She feels the urge to converse, but, well. What about? She just trails off, then, letting herself take the lead if Irvine doesn't try and catch up.

Irvine crunches through the snow in step with Terra, not having to work real hard to keep up with her, even with this illness invading his body. He's not in the mood to converse, feeling paticularly cross as his head starts pounding. Luckily he brought medicine along just in case, he just doesn't see a chance to take it any time soon. Wait, what was that? Worse? Ok, now he does say something, "Can it get much worse then this?" Bad question to ask, cowboy, Murphy's law and all that.

Good one, Irvine Kinnypoo! A wind lazily slides off of the slightly-darker-mass to one side of the upward slope that the duo has been trudging, visible as a swirling of snowflakes off in the distance and drawing closer. It's pretty. However, as it continues along the path, it gets power from a phenomenon which is only found in places with lots of cold and lots of mountains - katabic winds, which combine gravity and wind to produce, well, bad winds. "Gah!" says Terra as she feels it, her ponytail streaming out at a near right angle to the ground; she hunches down a little until it passes, shivering. Gleep. Now she feels all icy in the shorts.

Indeed, Irvine's wishing he hadn't opened his mouth now. Would it have mattered though? Probably not. He crouches down also, tucking chin and half his face into the collar of the duster, the hat nearly getting blown off his head till a gloved hand reaches up to hold it down. That was -cold-. And certainly not condusive to keeping himself from getting worse in the illness department. He shivers visibly, rising to his feet as the winds finally pass.

Terra stops as the wind gust ends, and turns her head to peer back - yay, it's an Irvine. He's still there, and he didn't get blown away by the wind, which is a concern at times. "Are you all right?" she calls out, a little too loudly, the sound kind of resonating off of the walls of the nearby mountains. It's... very quiet here, even if one takes into account the muffling effect of that snowfall.
And it's starting to get dimmer, although that's more from the getting into a narrower part of the valley than the sun setting - so far, anyway - or, perhaps, because the clouds are getting thicker. Will there be a blizzard?

Straightening up, Irvine coughs, brushing off snow from his duster. "'m fine," he says, and though it would usually be a quiet reply, it too echos a little louder then it should be. That was thoroughly unpleasant. He glances at the sky, noticing the cloud structure. Man, that's the last thing they need is a blizzard. This just isn't his day. "Better keep moving. Dun like the look above us."

Terra nods a bit. And looks up... And has to pause a few seconds, just to enjoy that little magical feeling from all the snowflakes falling from the sky. It's enchanting to see them, and she'd agree with Selphie's statements about it being a gift from the fairies. (Which reminds her - she has to figure out what a Faerie Princess in a movie would wear.) After that, she squints off into the distance. ..... "Irvine, does that look like a..." She points at a couple of small hummocky things not far away. "...like igloos?" If someone built igloos, either they're near the town or the town's pretty darn tiny.

Glancing toward the area Terra's pointing at, Irvine lifts an eyebrow. He squints a little for the distance, even though his sight is better then average. "I dunno for sure." He's never actually seen an igloo either, so that doesn't help. "Let's check it out." Hefting the gun back against his shoulder, he starts forward toward the community in the distance. Hey, if they're almost there, that's just fine with him. Then he'll only have to dread the trek home again.

The eyes of the elves see far, and Irvy does seem rather, er, fey at times. But, anyway, Terra trudges forward; the little hummocks are not igloos, but are actual constructions, looking like half-finished snow sculptures more than anything else. "I think that one's a chocobo," Terra says as she points at a fairly tall and thin one, sounding pretty uncertain - then, she heads on forwards. This time, though, she can tell there's some tracks on the ground... if only because there's not much else to see there.

*groan* Enough with the fey/gay/effeminate jokes. Yes, Irvine is kinda girlish looking, but is hyper heterosexual. Ask Selphie. *cough* He glances at the snow/ice sculptures wordlessly as they pass them. The cold's really getting worse and every step is taking precious energy he doesn't have and can't replace very quickly. Therefore, he saves what little he would by not striking up any conversations.

Terra continues trudging, this time up the semi-worn path, and in the nearness of the haze of snowflakes drifting around, some lights begin to be visible... Yes, it's the outpost of warmth and happiness known as Icicle Inn! Huzzah! Truly, they have arrived. Or at least, are about to arrive. "Are you all right, Irvine?" Terra asks over her shoulder after a little while longer of this silence. It's... odd.

Irvine isn't overly talkative like Zell and Selphie are, but he's usually not prone to silence such as Squall is. "I'm fine," he replies quietly, relieved to see the bastion that is the Icicle Inn fast approaching. He even quickens his pace a little, hoping to get out of the cold briefly. He's assuming they're heading back after gathering supplies, anyway.

Well, the wind's picking up, and there aren't any people out and around - maybe that feel of blizzard approaching wasn't so inaccurate after all. The locals, after all, would know if anybody would. Terra looks around worriedly at the dimmed lights and the closed shutters, biting her lower lip and lifting her hands up to her face to breathe into, trying to get some warmth on the skin out there. "-do you think we should knock on a door?" she asks, surprisingly hesitant - of course they should! What else, freeze?

"Beats standing out here and freezing," Irvine replies, glancing at Terra as if to see whether or not she'll approach the Inn herself or if he's gonna have to do it. In his state, he wouldn't care if it was the dead of night, he'd be walking up there. The fever is spiking again, and his head is pounding. This means his crankiness factor is being upped a notch or two as well.

Terra nods, slightly, and stamps her feet a bit before marching on up to the inn and rapraprapping on the door. "Hello?" she says, raising her voice moderately loudly. Something's moved out of the way, and the door opens, with a squat and somewhat chubby man there.
"You folks from that garden thing down the other end of the valley?" he says, amiably enough. "Guess yuh got lost, huh? C'mon in, it's pretty empty." He gesticulates, opening the door wider and letting a little drift of snow in - "Come on, come on, you musta frozen yer cheeks off, don't just stand there 'n look dumb."

No arguments from Irvine, as soon as the guy ushers them in, he's more then happy to comply, letting Terra enter just before him. Maybe he'll finally get a chance to retake his meds and get this damn cold back under control. He doesn't even realize it, but he's physically shaking, though anyone could assume it's just from standing outside.

Terra plonks down the mostly-empty pack near the door and almost RUNS over to the stove. She sheds her parka along the way, tossing it over a couch, and just kind of flopping onto the carpeted floor... Aaaagh, that feels so nice. She closes her eyes and rolls onto her back, letting out an almost sensual sigh as she feels the icy chill melt and sublimate away.
The innkeeper just smiles, being used to this sort of reaction, and glances over at Irvine with a certain knowing expression. D'oh.

Irvine gives the innkeeper a weak smile, though he has no idea what that expression entails. He's not in his right mind at the moment, you'll have to forgive the poor sick boy for that. Reholstering the shotgun, he joins Terra a moment later, shivering so badly he's almost afraid it's a convulsion. It's nice, the warmth is, and in a few moments he's finally gotten that shuddering under control again.

Terra sits up after a moment, taking off her earmuffs and tossing them onto the couch as well, scooting a little closer to the nice piping-hot stove, cupping her hands up close to it - not touching, just near. The warmth makes her cheeks glow red, from many and various sources; she's not thinking about the mission right now, just enjoying the good feeling. She gives a nice, rather unimpeded smile to Irvine as he plops on down.
The innkeeper also says, helpfully, "Looks like the storm's gonna start soon... what brings you folks here anyway? If you're outta cash, you can stay down here free'a charge - or if you want a bed, there's that old house out across the square, pretty well sealed-up. Might be tricky gettin' the stove going, though."

Irvine glances at Terra, giving her the same weak smile he'd given the innkeeper. Feeling warmer again, he unbuttons the duster, letting the warmth seep in under the folds of his coat too. Can't quite get enough of this, especially with his body raising its temperature to fight the cold. He glances at the innkeeper at the mention of storm, licking his lips. Then, back to Terra he asks, "Are we staying here or are we heading back today?"

Terra -is- in command (or at least, like, In Charge) isn't she? Eep. She says, slowly, "I... think we ought to stay here, at least for a while.. We can try and stock up tomorrow, get orders in for things they don't have on hand, and then set back later that day or in the morning the day after." Three whole days?! Argh, such a trial. Ah well. At least the stove is warm, and it's a nice change of pace.
The innkeeper gets up from his seat and checks the seal on the door - can't have it blow down - and then saunters off down to the bar for a bit. Yes, booze is always good. Or perhaps he's checking on his dinner.

Irvine sighs quietly, not looking forward to being away from Selphie for that long. But, Terra is in charge, he's just along to provide a little extra muscle if needed. Besides, maybe he can find something around here for his little wonder in yellow and bring it back to her. Well, since they're going to stay for a bit, he pulls the hat off, setting it in front of him so the melted snow can evaporate. Besides, it's not a good idea to be going anywhere while he's feeling this cruddy and he knows it.

Terra says, apologetically, "If you want to head back on your own, I don't mind - I mean, you probably want to, um, not stay away from Selphie and everyone for too long." Yes, awkwardness there - she's wondering, in a very real sense, when there will be a widdle baby. Why? Because she knows when two people are close'n'cuddly, you get babies. She can quote examples. The idea behind it? Nothing! No clue. But. She knows the principle involved. Straightening up a bit and looking over at the gunman, she half-smiles. "I mean, I can't really order you around." She's technically on equal standing with Irvine, since neither of them are exactly with SeeD Rank.

Babies? If there's a baby anytime in the immediate future, it's not Irvine's and Selphie's gonna have some serious explaining to do. As for Terra's rank, the gunman feels she's in charge, basically because he was flat out told she was. So, thusly he replies, "No, I'm supposed to stay with you just in case. I go where you go. So, I stay." He isn't trying to sound grumpy, but the hoarseness to his voice doesn't help. Gah, need meds, so he fumbles in the pocket of his duster to find the vial Dr. Kadowaki had given him.

Terra nods a little, feeling kind of awkward and bad about it anyway. Sigh. She looks over at the stove again, enjoying the warmth and the sensation of that fire right behind there - she's not some kind of pyrokinetic, but still, she had a bit of affinity for the element, and it's a comforting thing. Especially when everything's covered with snow. She slides her feet out of her shoes, setting them aside and pulling off the woolen socks as well, setting them neatly aside to dry, before spreading out her feet and giggling a little. Her left foot has six toes.

Irvine isn't looking at Terra's toes at the moment, or bothering to count them. He's found the little vial, and sheds his coat after pulling it out of the duster pocket. His face is still flushed, though it could just be the stove warming him, except that he still occasionally shivers. He'd love nothing more then to curl up in the duster and shiver himself to sleep at the moment. However, there may be business to attend to, or something, he'll wait and see what Terra wants to do.
Popping open the vial, he shakes out a few pills into his hand and dry swallows them. You get used to doing things like that after awhile. Can't always find a water fountain when you need one.

Terra looks over at the pill-popping. Mm, she understands. "Are you sick?" she asks, a little more softly than before. Blink, blink. Wow, if he came along without waiting for this to finish itself out or at least having someone throw an Esuna at him until it went into remission.... gee. He really is a good sort. "...you should have been wearing a scarf," she says, a little chidingly. "It's not good for you to breathe straight air when it's this cold, and it would have kept some heat in too." Yes, Terra has the Mothering Instinct down.

Irvine was trying to deny it even existed, which is typical for him. Glancing at Terra, he merely nods, but can't help but roll his eyes at the chiding. Plucking at the duster, he replaces the vial to the pocket from whence it came and stretches out on the duster, lacing his fingers behind his head. Weary, that's a good word to sum up how he feels right about now. And wishing Selphie were here, that's another. "I'll remember that for the way back." However, he knows she's right, his chest hurts thanks to sucking in that cold air all the way here.

Terra gets up and goes over to get her own parka, because Irvine seems to be onto a good system here - camping out in front of the stove! Yay! - but also grabs a couch cushion or two. Going over to her earlier spot, she spreads out her parka to make herself a little nest to lay in/on/around, before saying in a moderately commanding voice, "Lift up your head for a moment, please." Why? Because he's about to get a pillow. Yes, it's mothering. At least it's a good sign, since after all, if she was unhappy with Irvine still, she wouldn't be acting motherly. (She might, though, be acting like a mother.. so to speak.)

Irvine props himself on his elbows, glancing back at Terra in a moment of confusion until he realizes what she's doing. He gives her a faint smile, "Thank you, Terra," and lays back on the proffered pillowing. Much better then the hard floor. Though he really doesn't want Terra mothering him, he hasn't realized yet that's what she's doing. It just seemed like a nice gesture to do for your comrade. He'd hope that after the previous night she'd have gotten over her anger with him, but hey, women are weird, Selphie has taught him this.

The innkeeper emerges from the bar area with a tray of.. stuff! It's got a couple of little loaves of black bread and some fresh butter, a knife for the modification thereof, two largish cups of hot beef broth, and a plate of... smoked fish? Hey, there's not a lot they can grow in the ground, so they eat lots of animals. It's the magic of cold weather. The tray gets set down near the two campers, and the man says genially, "We get storms like this sometimes. Isn't usually too much of a problem." Usually being the operative word here.

Irvine ends up sitting up again, propping himself up on his palms. He almost reaches up to tip the hat, but it's not there, it's by his feet drying off. Whew, good thing he remembered, that woulda been embarassing. "Thanks... this is rather kind of you. Oh, sorry, we're being impolite, I'm Irvine Kinneas, and this is Terra." He suddenly realizes he doesn't know her last name. Um... so she's just Terra. That can almost be misconstrued as her being... having the same last name. But, the cowboy's not really thinking well right now because, he's not well. "How long do these storms usually last?"

Terra isn't wearing any rings, thankfully. Not even around the extra toe. She smiles sweetly at the innkeeper and stays quiet, since she's seen the Irvine Kinneas sleaze^H^H^H^H^H^H charm in operation, and it can be a wonder to behold. She does say, sotto voce, "It's Branford.." Just so Irvine will know.
The innkeep plops himself down in a chair and says, thoughtfully, "Shouldn't last more than the night. Usually it ain't so bad, but when things all changed, we got ourselves a new mountain range." He chuckles ruefully. "And our neighbor. Heard you folks have some kinda single building setup?"

Irvine isn't sleazy! Not to other guys, sheesh. He glances at Terra and nods, marking down the last name to memory. And he's got a damn good one, so he won't be making that mistake again. Back to the innkeep he shakes his head in surprise, incredulousness, "A new mountain?" How are they gonna find their way -back- after this? Uh, oh yeah, Garden. "Yeah, it's our mobile home." He tries not to elaborate on it too much.

The innkeeper leans back and gets comfy. It's his favorite chair. "Well," he says, thoughtfully, "We were always kind of a valley. But the place where your town's ended up useta be open, you know, like a plateau. Now, it isn't. Cut down the wind a lot, at least."
Terra meanwhile turns her attention to the food platter, lifting up the cup of steaming hot broth and taking a tentative sip. Mm! It passes the Terra Taste Test. (And she takes a bit of the smoked fish too. Num num. It better not get her drunk.)

Irvine also reaches for the other cup of broth. Something like that would be more then welcome on his itchy throat. Listening to the innkeeper explain how Garden seemed to be helping them, he nods, sipping the broth. Ah, yes, that's -really- nice. He even feels the heat starting to clear his sinuses a little. "Well, we won't be there long. I don't think. Do you get visitors up this far often?" He's slightly worried about Garden being discovered by the wrong people. You know, like ShinRa folks.

"Nope," says the man, "We get a little trickle of folks tryin' to ride the glacier, but they don't come in too much." He chuckles quietly. "We used ta have some of the Shinra folks up here, some kind'a archealogical man, but the guy just vanished one day. Had a wife and a new daughter, too, was a shame." He pauses, reorganizing his thoughts. "Other'n that, we mostly have people leave more'n we have 'em come."

The mention of ShinRa personnel, at all, makes Irvine pale a little, covering it by taking another gulp of broth. So, ShinRa was here at one point. Well, finally curiousity overcomes him. "ShinRa? How long ago was that? Sounds kinda sad." Yeah, make it sound like concern. You taking notes on how to be charming and yet devious yet, Terra?

Terra is paying attention, she's just eating right now. Munchy munchy. The innkeeper says, thoughtfully, "Must've been... about twenty years or so, maybe a little more now that I think of it. Been runnin' this inn for a while," he adds, proudly. "Anyway, this was back before the Shinra got into mako energy, they weren't so big then, mostly built weapons and such. They just had the one man up here, but he was a real bright'un."

Irvine listens as he continues to sip the broth, nodding occasionally as the story is unfolded. Well, that's reassuring at least. No ShinRa up here in twenty years. Good, maybe they'll never figure out Garden's up here.

(To be Continued...)