{M} Seekers of Village Vengeance. {Oddysen & ScottishGal}

[Oddysen]

Alick just let the tears flow, as he leaned against Fia. Crying through shallow and quick sobs. After a minute or so, the tears started drying up, and the sobs came less often. Eventually, he just says against her silently. Everything was just, so wrong. But gradually, that feeling faded. Giving way to the feeling of how right it felt to be held by Fia like this, and he surrendered himself to the comfort of it. He'd probably been laying like that for ten minutes when he spoke, still laying against Fia. His voice weak, but steady. "At least we have this."

[Scottie]

Fia continued to rub her hand over his back as he sobbed. Her eyes remained on the exit of the cave, watching the water bounce high around them. She kept silent, knowing her words probably wouldn't help anymore. The water that had been floating around her, slowly moved back outside to the rain. Plopping into the plants close to the entrance of the cave. She started to rock gently with him, like she did with her brother went the thunder started. She had started to hum softly, it was just an old nursery rhyme but it would be soothing. She heard him softly say something and she nodded with a small smile. "Exactly." Her words were as quiet as his but she kept him in her arms until he decided he wanted free.

[Oddysen]

Alick lay against Fia for another minute, and if he was honest, he'd have been happy to lay there like that until morning, but he had control of himself again now, and it didn't feel honest to continue to lay there like this then. So he straightened himself up, giving Fia a warm smile of gratitude, and stood up. He put braced a plank against the wall, and used a soft chop of his axe to snap it in half lengthwise, then fed it into the fire, before sitting down next to Fia again. After sitting in silence for a few seconds, he let out a heavy sigh, and spoke "I think it's time we tried to figure out what to do once we get to Abhainn."

[Scottie]

Fia felt him move against her and she slackened her arms. Allowing him to wriggle free. She responded with a warm smile of her own as he stood up. She wriggled her feet out again and let the fire heat up her toes. She watched him chop another piece of firewood before feeding it to the small fire. The silence was only broken by the soft crackling of the fire. Then he sighed, Fia flicked her eyes to him and then blinked rapidly. "Or we could wait until we got there?" She gave him a sheepish smile which slowly faded. "I have no idea what we are going to do...We need to tell someone what happened...maybe they can go help..." She trailed off and her eyes moved to the fire by her feet. There was no one less to help at their village. No one at all could have survived that. "I'm sure something will come up." She tugged her feet back under her dress and dragged her knees to her chest.

[Oddysen]

Alick sighed again, "Alright love. We'll take it as it comes along." Alick looked over at Fia, to see her hunched up, looking uneasy and weary. A smiled gently and lay an arm around her "Come hear you." he said as he pulled her against himself, mirroring the situation from a few moments ago. He closed his eyes as he hugged her, humming gently to the same nursery rhyme she'd been using to soothe him.

[Scottie]

She let out a soft chuckle when he agreed with her vague plans. She rested her chin down on her knees, staring out at the grass slowly getting drenched. She felt his arm brush over her shoulders. She barely had time to register it when he pulled her closer to him. She let him hug her and kept her arms tight around her knees. She heard him hum the same nursery rhyme she had and she closed her eyes slowly. It was like she was home...and she was 8. Her mother had come to see her when she had a nightmare. Fia had demanded that she not leave her until she was asleep again. So the humming started and the woman clambered into her daughters bed to keep her company. She let out a long sigh before speaking. "My mum used to sing that song. Said it would keep away the little monsters under the bed." Fia kept her eyes shut as she remembered those nights with her mother.

[Oddysen]

Alick smiled as he hummed but just kept humming and let Fia talk. He knew the tune well, though it had not been one his mother used often. As he hummed, he listed to the sound of the rain outside, and the crackle fo the fire. The sorrow and anger from before were still fresh in his mind, but having vented, it was more subdued, and he felt satisfied sitting here like this, holding Fia and humming to her.

[Scottie]

Her mother would sing that song until she fell back to sleep. Fia would swear that she remember hearing that humming in her dreams. She dragged her eyes open and let her gaze flick to the fire before them. She stared into the oranges and the red, losing herself in their colours. It was heating up the small place quickly and her skirt would soon be truly dry. Fia wriggled herself from his grasp and ran a hand through her hair. She let out a small sigh and pulled her hair up into a bun that she tied with her faithful small piece of string. Fia gifted him a small smile as she pushed herself to her feet. She started to undo the small ties that lay around her waist and her arms. "I'm going to let this dry off as I fix my shoes." She told him as she shrugged her dress off. Laying it out beside her skirt to try and dry the damp patches around her shoulders. Fia plonked herself down beside their packs and started to root around inside them.

[Oddysen]

Alick sighed softly, as he'd been doing a lot lately. Truth be told, he was tired. It'd still be quite a while till they went to sleep and he was fine with that, that wasn't the issue. He wasn't sleepy. Just- just tired. But so was Fia he suspected. She'd have to be. After all, they'd been through. But she was bearing it a lot better than he was, that's for sure. He felt a bit ashamed about that. He was a man, he was supposed to protect and shelter her, but instead, it ended up being the other way around. Alick knew many men back in the village that would have been very bitter over something like that. But though Alick wasn't one of them, it still didn't sit perfectly well with him. It made him feel like he was doing this all wrong, or maybe he was just weak, but.... But he did his best, and that was all anyone could ever do. He knew that. But still, it, it wasn't supposed to be like this. He turned his eyes to the outside. He couldn't see much through the rain, he could barely see the rain actually. The sky outside had darkened very considerably and used as his eyes were to the fire, and with the fact he was merely looking past the fire, it was no wonder. But he could till see the rainfall, as the drops reflected the light of the fire. The heavy rain outside accompanied by two tiny rivers flowing from the top of the cave entrance and onto the ground just outside, and in a few spots, drops gathered and fell, also along the perimeter of the cave. He hoped the rain stopped come morning. If it didn't, they might just have to wait it out here. Which, he supposed, wasn't all bad, but As Fia had said back by the lake, it was better to get to Abhainn sooner rather than later.

[Scottie]

Fia found the needle in no time and had it clenched between her teeth. She rooted around until she found a scrap of old burlap material and a piece she could tear apart for thread. She smiled and pushed herself back up to standing. She plucked her shoes up and then settled back down beside him. She tore the material into small pieces and started to create some thread from the other. She glanced back to him as she took the needle from between her teeth. "It's pouring it down ain't it?" She said sweetly, wanting to break the silence. "I've not seen it that bad in a while." Her eyes dropped to the shoe in her lap, one side of the thin material was nearly worn through and the other had at least two small tears. She spent a moment figuring out where the material should go to patch it before she continued to ramble. "You remember the time that the river by the village burst it's banks and poor Farmer Nelson had to rescue his chicken from being swept off." She smiled down at her work as she started the thread off on her shoes. "Here's hoping that the water doesn't pick up and we go floating out of this cave." She finished one row of stitches before glancing up at him with a small cheeky smirk. "Don't worry. I'll save ya." She winked at him before returning her eyes to the project in her lap.