2019-12-27 - Footprint Tag

Alexander was texting as he comes out of Espresso Yourself, one hand operating the keys, and the other hand wrapped around a hot, black coffee. A smile is playing across his features, and he murmurs, "Promise kept," under his breath. He braces himself for the slap of the cold, but he's still aware enough that he naturally comes to a stop when he realizes that THIS frozen wasteland is not the rather pleasant snowy winterscape he was expecting. "Oh, no," he mutters, under his breath. He looks to his right, and then his left, recognizing both people there. Isabella gets a half-worried/half-relieved sort of look. He raises his voice to carry to whoever else is out there. "Okay. What fresh hell is this? Anyone know?" He's not stepping forward just yet, because something here is probably going to eat them.

It's Gray Harbor: 'Something is going to eat us' is always a good assumption to start with.

Finch was at the Safeway, picking up some post-Christmas discounted candy. She had just stepped out of the store when, she was no longer there. Instead she blinks in confusion, hand clutching a plastic grocery bag full of red and green Hershey kisses, Reese's peanut butter trees, and holiday M&Ms. She's wrapped up in her black parka with faux-fur trim around the hood, grey beanie, gloves, sweatshirt, jeans and snow boots.

People start popping in beside her in a circle and she watches each new arrival with increasingly widening eyes. "Really? They couldn't give us a break for the holidays?" she mutters. Then Ignacio appears and she looks stricken. "Iggy?"

Levi had just been walking out of the bookstore, and it's likely he'd been taking a step off the curb, because when he steps through after Finch, there's a look on his face that would pair nicely with the feeling of when you think there's an extra step but there isn't. He stumbles, though manages not to actually fall when he's pulled into...well, wherever this is.

He blinks, looking around at the freezing world they're suddenly in. "Damnit," he murmurs, and while there's concern there, there's also some plain old annoyance. Really, Grey Harbor? Really?

The first person he recognizes his Byron, and there's a wry smile that doesn't really make it all the way up as he waves across the way, before Quyen pops into view as well. His eyes widen as he turns toward Alexander's voice. "No clue," he calls back, super helpfully.

Lilith is downtown mailing a collection of pricy packages she needs to get shipping insurance on at the post office, as a lot of it is antique jewelry and trinkets (or stolen and repaired/restored fence objects of value). One moment she's standing at the counter after the stupidly slow line irritates her, the next minute, she's standing in the bleak Dreamscape with pull on of her gloves while stepping out with a tracking receipt in her jeans pocket.

Standing in her laced up snow boots over skinny jeans with her North Face teal and black coat on and a messy bun to get through the busy day of errands and work, she freezes with reflex knowing and fear once the surroundings change. After looking around and seeing familiar faces, though, she thinks about taking a step toward Byron automatically with a little 'no' under her breath because he's here too and he should be at the bank, they just texted each other. There's always relief and fear in knowing he's pulled into weird stuff with her.

Buuuut, these things aren't often safe and the space between all of them sets her waries off. Mostly, she freezes and stands to stare like 'shit shit shit'. She doesn't say it, but it's in her eyes.

Autumn steps briskly out of the Thai restaurent with a bag of takeout slung over one arm. She's digging in her jacket for her carkeys when the realization hits her that...she actually doesn't realize anything, it's too bizarre, but at least she stops what she's doing. With a frowny squint on her face she peers at the circle of total strangers that materialize around her and proclaims, "What the..."

With a canvas market bag full of goodies from a bakery, Quyen steps out onto what should be the sidewalk. She's looking at her phone rather than where she's going, so it takes a moment for her to look up. Her expression is one of surprise and she stills, immobile as a statue as she looks around, taking in the strange scenario before her. The conversations amongst the others draws her eyes that way, and she lifts a hand in a tentative hello to the others. "Must be Tuesday," is the contribution made by the townie.

Alexander does not have the market on awkward and slightly off and Ignacio and his path in front of him prove it. The fast speaking Spanish New Yorker looks around in his winter coat and boots and a coffee mug full of bird seed. Yeah he was going to the garage to feed Canary (the chicken) and her roommates (Blanche, Rose, and Sophia). He just blinks confused until he hears Finch's voice...and a couple familiar and a couple not.

"Heeeeey who fell asleep watching Hunger Games 2 or that Daffy Duck cartoon where they draw him into a plant and erase all the scenery?" He looks to Autumn and Finch closest to him in a damn good Daffy, "Where's all the scenery?!"

With the holiday season having just passed, it's business as usual for all of Gray Harbor. Back in his business attire again, Byron Thorne dons a suit and tie. A heavy thick coat helps to ward against the cold and he has a gray, black and white striped scarf wrapped around his neck. The only thing that might break that professional visage that he's created is the thick wool hat that hides his usually perfectly styled hair.

He'd just stepped out of the bank, which isn't unusual at all. And he has his sights on a casino, so, yeah. On exit, he's already talking to another of his business associates, his phone held to his ear within a leather clad gloved hand. "Remember that favor you asked of me last year. To help support and promote that startup you were working on. Right. I have a favor that I need..." He pauses briefly to look down at his phone. Lilith had sent him a cheerful greeting a minute or two ago, but he only ever had the time to check now. It brings a smile to his face, but the phone is back to his ear by the time he exits the building in full, "Yes that.." His words are cut off when he realizes into just what wintry wasteland he just entered. "Mmhmm." He continues with the conversation, his eyes scanning the area, noticing several very familiar faces. There was Lilith for one. She'd just texted him too. Levi as well? Rather than return any smiles, he does wear a look of concern before he says to the investor on the other land, "Something came up. I.. need to call you back."

By then, the call was probably already cut without him realizing it.

She has absolutely no idea how she got here. One moment, Isabella was donning her winter runner's jacket to venture out for a quick errand as she slips her hands through her pockets to make sure that everything she needs is there - wallet, keys, phone. A strange bulk presses against her inner pocket in the doing, and curiosity spurs her to reach into it and draw out...

...a beat up copy of The Flame and The Flower, with the two (she presumes) protagonists intertwined in a half-naked pose. The incomprehensible look that plays over her expression is absolutely indescribable. "What the hell?" she wonders out loud as she steps out. "This isn't..."

The desolate frozen tundra stretches out before her at that single step, the door nowhere to be found and she freezes in place, the smutty sex book still clutched in her grip. Green-and-gold eyes widen when nothing else seems familiar - this is not Elm Street. And when Alexander calls out and realizing she is at least not alone here, the first thing she does, reflexively, is hide her shame by stuffing the book back into her inner pocket. Nobody saw anything. "Um. What. Why is this..." She starts, perhaps inadvisably, taking a step towards Alexander, though her senses ping her back towards the archway.

CRUNCH. She whips around, eyes wide, and then... "We can't stay here, something's telling me that's our way out." She points to the archway.

What in the high holy hell is that noise!? Finch gulps, audibly. She looks back over her shoulder but can't yet see what is coming for them. "Not sure about Hunger Games, but that sounds hungry. I think we gotta move Iggy," she calls to her boyfriend. She takes a step/leap forward and lands in the next footprint ahead of her.

"Yes, staying sounds bad." Says Alexander, the guy the noises are starting behind. He looks at the path before him, and frowns. There are footprints. It seems logical, then, to try and step in the footprints, and hope that it doesn't set off a horrible trap. "Be careful, everyone." He makes a quick hop forward to try and land in the right way, but that coffee cup is throwing off his balance, and his feet land juuuuust outside of the steps. So much for his own advice.

Forgive her, Ignacio, but the look Autumn gives that Daffy Duck impersonation is one of complete wide-eyed the-fuck-is-wrong-with-you. It would probably go on longer but for the approach of a mysterious something and she scratches at the back of her neck and sort of bounces off the curb and into the first footprint. Maybe she has no idea why her outing for food has turned into a snowy horrorscape but she knows good advice when she hears it.

Lilith takes a moment to weigh exactly what she should do as far as 'moving' goes, but feeling the sudden wrongness of everything, she takes a careful step with leap of foot and moves just a little to mimic what the others are doing with the footprints in front of her. Plus if something bad is behind her, she doesn't want to drag it over to Byron or Isabella or any of them! But she's not entirely sure what's coming and glances over her shoulder after moving that small space.

The noises have Levi turning around again, craning his neck to see whatever is coming behind Alexander. Any trace of a smile he'd had a moment before is now nowhere to be seen. "Yeah," he murmurs in return, more to himself than an actual reply to the other man, before he takes an experimental step off where he's standing.

However, he misses the footprint, and when he tries to move his feet again, he can't do it. Some of the color drains from his face as he says, "And I was really looking forward to winter break, too." Judging from his expression, though, that can't be anything other than whistling in the dark.

"What was that..." says Quyen, turning to look over her shoulder, but deciding she should move away from whatever it is. She rushes forward only to find herself outside the footsteps, as well. She tries to lift her booted foot forward but finds she is stuck, frozen in place. "Shit," she says, looking around for whatever made that noise and frowning as she finds herself with only a baguette for a potential weapon.

Byron should be used to this by now, just stepping out of a mundane space to find himself in... somewhere like this. The phone is slowly lowered once he 'cut' the call and it takes a moment for him to take action as he's trying to determine what exactly this whole set up was. That is, of course, when the first sound of something dangerous can be heard from the distance. Where was it coming from? The first place he looks it towards Lilith and he has a mind to walk in that direction, but there were footprints from the spot that he now stands leading to that arch in the center. In fact, he almost wanders off the path without realizing it as an instinct to join up with the others.

With the phone now safely tucked away into his pocket and the very evident sound of something ancient and hungry coming from somewhere behind him, he immediately steps forward without a second thought, a reaction of sorts, into the snow.

Ignacio is no fan and no stranger to drifts. New England represen- wait. Okay so before he goes grandstanding he agrees, "Yeah there's a, um... Try to stick to the low parts if you got em in front of you." He says that but his are spaced apart for someone that's not still rehabilitating a leg! He winces and lunges for the footprint with a long stride (he also does not possess. Damn genetics) and falls to a knee with a sharp intake of breath as the cold saps the heat from his pantleg.

"Be careful, but be quick," is what Isabella says before turning her eyes to the footprints leading out to the archway. "Eight steps," she counts quietly, before reaching out with a foot to dig a heel into the snow and it's only when her snow-treads get a good grip on it that she lifts her other foot to take another. Her eyes fix forward, her heart in her throat - she can feel something old behind her, slavering in the dark, but she stamps down the rising panic to keep going. Once she reaches the archway, she'll try to find a way to help the others but she'll be worse than useless if she gets...

...eaten? Run down? She doesn't know. She doesn't want to find out.

Finch reaches out with her Spirit Glimmer, the tendrils of light only visible to her eyes wend their way to Ignacio, to bolster him. He's not a runner. He's not a jumper. This is BAD. And then WHAP, she gets a snowball to the face. "Ack!" She shakes it off though, and makes a deep frowny face. "Fuck you, whoever you are! I'm helping him!" She takes a running pair of leaps and makes it two steps forward, before working her Glimmer to help Ignacio once more.

She takes several steps, she's determined to get out of the danger zone and find a way, but there are consequences to her earlier sweep of their terrain; a projectile fires out from the darkness and hits her square in the cheek. An instinctive yell escapes Isabella, and she nearly stumbles when she takes another step, nearly slipping off the next footstep. A hand comes up to try and wipe her eyes from the snow, cold stinging her lashes and cheeks. "God...damn it...alright! Message received!" Her eyes move sideways in an attempt to fix on Alexander's and then the rest of her companions' progress.

Alexander is stuck. His foot just sticks in place, and he can feel the cold seeping into his ankle. "What the fuck," he mutters, and tries to yank it free. For some reason, this doesn't work. Then he tries to hop forward, and not only does that fail and leave him stuck in place, but that cold has gone right through his boot, and he can feel it working at his skin. His breath becomes rapid, billowing in the air, and he reaches down to tug futilely at his foot. "C'mon, c'mon, you stupid collection of frozen water. Let me go!" He's not very good at keeping calm.

There's a shaky and shuddery exhalation from Quyen as that cold seeps into her, sending shivers down her spine. She's stubborn, though, and pushes on again, to try to make her way back into the footprints, out of the snow, and away from whatever it is that's decided they are clearly prey. "You okay, Professor?" she calls, worry for Levi, but she's barely able to take more than a footstep on her own, let alone help someone else.

After getting settled carefully in the snowy footprint marking space with small making of distance, care over speed (despite the fear), Lilith looks over at Byron seeming to be having some trouble after that reflex step of his own and it makes her miss the next print a little bit. It also might be due to the way she keeps getting the urge to look over her shoulder, the hunted feeling, resisting the urge to just break out and run. Her eyes flit over at Finch this time though, to see what happens when she goes a'glimmering to try and get an idea of how safe it is to try anything like that.

Then she sees the snowy, ice packed impact results and decides nope.

Levi struggles to get his foot out of the snow, but it's not working well at all. He lets out a little grunt of effort, grabbing his leg to try and move it, but it's no use. "Damnit!" he says again, this time less murmured and a little more frantic. He looks up when he hears Quyen though, and he flashes a quick thumbs up -- even though he is not actually doing very well at all at the moment. "I'll get it," he calls back, ever the optimist.

That first misstep sends more than just a little shiver down Byron's spine. He can feel that ice creeping up his shoes and pant leg, starting to solidify his leg. "Shit." As many of the others had said, he calls out, "Keep moving. Don't stop." He knows he should keep focused on where he's stepping next, but a quick glance is shot over to Lilith to see how she's faring. "You'll start to freeze if you step outside of these prints." Look, he didn't know that to begin with. He was just going to make his way in the right direction, prints or not!

Ignacio tries like hell. "Well my therapist can't... bitch at me for not putting ice in it." Fuck if he's dying here today. What the hell??! Those tendrils of glimmer reach out and he tries to move the other foot and lands well outside those footprints. THey're askew. HE'S askew. This whole damn place is off and seems to try to sap heat from his broken body. Through gritted teeth he growls, "Fuck... you...we got...reservations..." There's a thing to focus on!

Finch lands on a spike of ice and she screams as her foot is impaled. Then to add insult to injury, she gets an iceball to the cheek. "FUCK!" That's gonna leave a mark. "Goddamn you all. I'm gonna melt your fucking balls off!" She's one insult away from 'MY DAD IS A COP YOU FUCKERS!' She gingerly pulls her foot up and off the ice-spike and gags on the pain, her cheek stinging like it's on fire from the snowball strike. But Iggy is not making progress at all and that terrifies her more than the pain does. She helps her boyfriend again, at the expense of herself, her next leap misses the footprint.

Alexander's shouts sets her teeth on edge, grinding them together; it takes every ounce of her will not to just turn around and shatter the ice holding him, but as the gravity of their situation unfold, and their limitations are revealed, she manages to hold onto it. "Don't use!" Isabella yells out to the rest, in case they missed her attempts, or Finch's. "Get to the archway first, and then see if we can help the others!"

She must be clearly motivated, because she's trying to do this, now, as fast as she can. She drags a fist across her eyes to shake off the rest of the snow and attempts to charge forward as many steps as she can before she's forced to hold back a little and reassess. As far as her furious mind knows, she has to get to safety first, and then she can assist. She's no help to anyone if incapacitated.

Levi may have said that he's doing well -- but yeah, he's not doing well. At all. He's stuck again, and he shivers, then just keeps on shivering. H wraps his arms around himself as his teeth start chattering audibly enough for everyone who's around to be able to hear it, probably. Now he's not only pale, but there's an almost imperceptible bluish sheen beginning on his face. Maybe that's just a reflection of the ice, though. Hopefully.

His struggles become a little bit less frantic, and more like he might be thinking that just lying down and taking a nap might be a good idea. But he's not quite doing that yet, and his foot manages to come unstuck as he attempts to step again and get somewhere.

"This is a dream, right?" Autumn asks of no one, everyone, and with absolutely no concept of what it is that she's asking. She pokes at the icy crust of the first footprint with her toe, then skitters forward a couple more paces. As some of the others experience difficulties she looks increasingly puzzled and distressed. But this does not keep her from trudging towards the archway with determination. Get there, then help.

Welp. Alexander doesn't even have the excuse of a bum leg, or anything else. He's just stuck. The urge to panic and scream, and probably start firing lightning bolts on general principles is strong, but he's managing to keep what passes for his cool. "It's a dream," he agrees, to Autumn. "But it can kill you. Don't slow down." He takes a deep breath, and gathers himself for another leap, trying to yank his foot out and start making some forward progress here.

Biting her lower lip, Quyen decides the best way to help is to move forward and then perhaps see if she can help others if they need it. She manages to move forward before she wobbles a bit, and stops where she is to keep from falling and undoing the progress she's made. She turns to look over her shoulder, then around the rest of the strange circle. "Are we safe once we get where we're going, or are we being chased somewhere it wants us to go?" she asks.

Byron calls out to warn her, and Lilith looks the other direction to see what happened to Alexander out of the prints semi-nearby, who she was initially copycatting because he knows strange well, she thinks. But he's struggling, and she shoots another look at Byron before looking over her shoulder again, a bit harried in the features with fear of being hunted down because she's...

Hell. She paid attention and tried this time, she really did, but this time, it didn't help. She's stuck still and fumbling a little, trying not to panic. She mostly doesn't panic. So good.

Byron is focused on his problems now. It's not like the bunch of them are grouped together where they have the ability to help themselves. Whatever is happening between Finch and Ignacio, he doesn't take notice of. Now, if a fireball came flying off from somewhere, that is something far more noticeable, but I digress. Hearing some of the long distance shouting around him, he'll call out, "This is definitely a Dream." He has no idea who Autumn is, but he'll give her an inquisitive look anyway.

He can't really see what's going on with Alexander very well from his angle. He's way over there beyond Lilith, but he is watching Lilith as she struggles. "Quick, but careful steps, hon." He knows that she doesn't need to be told. It's hard for him to pay any attention to anything other than his own footstep trail. And then, something happens to one of the other pawns in this sick and twisted game. See, he's not sure what the hell just happened there exactly, minding his own business. For all he knows, nothing spurred that on at all...

"Jesus fucking Christ.. Keep going." He says, breathing out a hard, foggy breath.

"Holy fuck," Alexander exclaims when that WHATEVER comes out of the darkness. "Finch! Shit! Are you okay? Are you alive?" If she answers that one in the negative, it'll be awkward. He takes a deep breath, then frowns down at his stuck feet. Then at the hot coffee in his hand. Snow and ice. Hot liquid. With a woeful sigh - because that caffeine would actually be appreciated - he pours the hot coffee carefully around his feet before making his next leap. Maybe it will help! Maybe he just wasted the precious Java of Life for nothing.

Ignacio is hurting. efforts trying to get back to the path feeling like they are grinding the metal in his leg slower and slower. His hands go out, still holding the birdseed , he pulls them in trying to...what? Fortify himself? His teeth set and looks up to Finch, "Listen to them. Get to safety, then... do... things" The cold pulling the air from hims lungs? Damn, man. "Any of you good with moving shit NOW may be a great time to consider that." Or not! Even though his natural defenses this shit hurts, but not as bad as seeing a fucking Yeti or whatever the hell that is bash her like a semi, "FIIIIIINCH!" And something in the flippant author flips off pulling his foot back to path and fighting the numbness. "Mueve tu trasero chico. Vamanos!" Yes he's yelling at himself. "Finch so help me whatever...what ever you fucking do please don't do that again. I can't do this twice, Pajarito*."

All right, clearly helping Ignacio is not allowed in this game. The creature runs up and smashes Finch down into the snow and ice shards and she screams in agony as her back is torn up by the ice-thing's claws. So much for her new winter coat. And you know, life. She grits her teeth and pushes herself back to her feet. Time to try to get to the center then use her abilities. Blood trickles down her back in rivulets, the shredded coat back no longer doing its job of keeping her warm. She looks over to Alexander with a grimace. "Alive. If I don't make it, you have to get Iggy home, please, promise me," she calls to the other man. Then she looks to try and make it to the next footstep. She looks to Ignacio and gives him a weak smile. "I love you, Iggy. Just keep moving ok?"

Levi looks up again as that...whatever it is...comes jumping out to knock Finch over. "Look out," he calls -- or, well, he tries to call, anyway. There's not actually much sound that comes out of his mouth. He's shivering so hard that it's a wonder he doesn't fall over into the snow, which he actually might prefer at this moment. It looks so inviting. So soft...he could just lie down for a minute...

But instead he takes an agonizing step forward again, willing himself to move at least one foot toward the archway.

Finch is weakening, she can feel it, her next attempt to reach a footprint doesn't make much in the way of progress. She stumbles a foot out of the last print and gets stuck. She sinks her teeth into her lower lip. Not like this. Not like this. She just found her family of choice. Just found her father.

"Nobody is going to die if I can help it," Isabella breathes fiercely, hearing the words exchanged between Ignacio and Finch. "I'm almost there...just...hang on and keep going!" She takes a deep breath and gives herself a hard shake, a wary eye cast into the darkness before she grits her teeth, digs her heels in and bends her knees...

....then surges forward in an attempt to bull through those last two steps without incident.

"Me?" Alexander blinks at Finch. "Um, I'm sort of--yeah, okay. I'll do what I can, at least." Which is bup and kiss, but hey, he'll try. So he takes a leap forward. And hey, maybe the coffee helped! Because he's actually able to take a step forward. There are a lot of steps to go, but he pumps his fist and goes, "Fuck yeah!" before bracing himself for the next attempt.

Autumn arches an eyebrow at Alexander's reply, specifically the 'can kill you' part, but not slowing down seems like a pretty good idea. The archway is so close and she makes it one step closer. Ignorance is bliss.

Finch is across from Lilith and there's some obstruction, so she doesn't exactly see what sends her sprawling, but she has a feeling she knows it's nothing good or mere tripping, perhaps. After swallowing down thickly, she tries to make her dead leg with cold move and move right enough to get forward but it's so hard and so sluggish, she just kind of shuffles and sticks again. She's tempted to try and melt herself loose, but after seeing the immediate projectile after Finch exerted a couple times, she talks herself down.

Also, she hears Byron's voice, and it serves as a focus to stay calm, calling out assurance, "I'll meet you where we're supposed to be, babe. Promise." Promise. Damnit. Don't break the promise you aren't sure you can keep.

The attack on Finch makes Quyen spin around searching for wherever the creature has gone to, eyes narrowing with anger. But it's fear that keeps her moving forward, and she manages another step. "Keep moving..." it might be as much to herself as anyone else. It's so cold, and she's not even one of the ones with hypothermia.

All that Byron knows is he would not want to fall face first into this ice. Not after what he'd experienced the first time around when his foot got stuck. He has to wonder as he works to trudge himself through the snow, just exactly how she's going to pull herself up out of the ice without it just freezing her. Without knowing that Finch was helping to boost Ignacio and if Byron had a different skill set than he does now, he very well would attempt to do /something/ to get him and his friends out of this situation. It's a good thing that he's not a Spiritualist right now!

"Are you okay over there?" He calls out to Finch. He won't tell someone to go and help her because he knows that's an impossibility. It's at that moment when he turns to take notice that Lilith has barely moved from where he'd seen her last that he tries to coax her to do so, "Come on, babe. If I could, I'd carry you the whole way." It's this distraction which makes him loose that footing, but he's nervous. There were friends in trouble, Lilith looked to be in trouble, and there was nothing he could do for them. He can feel that ice start to creep up his leg once more, his foot dug deeper into the snow at this point.

On the far side of him is Levi, who also isn't making much traction, but he can keep a better eye on the guy from his position.

Ignacio goes for that second step but it's with his bad leg and it doesn't quite come through. He's looking around as the doubts try to set in. He's struggling but at least he's not... okay he's sort of standing still. Looking up to Finch and Lilith close. "We have something we can use as rope? I have... A mug and bird seed. I don't think that's helpful. But do we need to stay in the footprints? Can we go up one of the paths a-a-and p-pull some of the s-stuck people?"

Finch looks to Byron and shakes her head a little. She's not ok. But there's nothing he or anyone else can do about it. "Just keep moving, Thorne, I may need your buckets of cash for my hospital bills if I get out of this," she grunts at him. Time to try again to make it to the next print, pulling her half frozen leg up to try and reach it. She makes it, barely, and the exhaustion in her limbs is making her just want to lie down in the snow and sleep.

This is better. It's a better leap, and maybe Alexander's actually started to figure out how to aim for the damned footprints. He hops forward not one, but two spaces. "Okay, okay." He looks around at the others who are still stuck. "Any of you have lighters? Or anything you could use to try and thaw or chip away at the ice? Not your abilities, clearly! But if there's something else..."

Levi is now past noticing anything else besides himself, and even that is getting dicey now. He makes it a step forward, but his skin has a definite blue tint to it now, and his hands that were rubbing his upper arms in an attempt to generate some sort of warmth are getting slower and slower. He drags his gaze upward, slowly and almost reluctantly away from the snow toward the archway, and attempts another step.

She's close. A few more good feet and she's home free -- whatever that means, because Quyen knows that what seems and what is are not always the same. Perhaps it's how close to what seems safe that sends her off the path and into the snow. But she finds herself in what had been Levi's predicament before, frozen, and much worse than the last time she had been stuck -- this time the cold is ruthless and sharp and she takes in a sharp hiss of breath through her teeth in response to it, an angry catlike sound.

Compared to the others, Autumn has had little difficulty getting to the center, beginners luck? And with one last step she's there with Isabella. "Nobody lie down," she shouts back into the 'arena' and then looks at Isabella, wide-eyed. "What now?"

Does Finch actually think Byron pays for the hospital bills of everyone in town? Normally, if he'd heard the little joke, he may have smiled, but he has problems of his own right now. Whether there actually is something lurking behind him in the darkness or not, he's not quite certain right now. All that he can feel is the cold and frost that's continues to spread up and outwards the longer that he remains stuck here in place.

He doesn't go anywhere, often, without a sidearm with him nowadays, but since he just stepped out of the bank to get here, he's without that too. All that he can do is struggle to make his far too frozen legs function, just to pick up momentum and feel his body heat rise with the exertion. He'd make more comments here and there, but he's got things to do, like pulling himself out of this mess.

Lilith starts to open her mouth immediately when Alexander says 'lighter' because she's a human lighter and then some, but then he tacks on the disclaimer to the question with a mental slam reminder of what might happen if she tries. And she's already unable to move, what happens if she makes things worse. But she can't move. Maybe she... should try to help Byron and just... it doesn't matter, she's already so far behind, her will starts to tick down inside with fear.

But she made a promise. She JUST made a promise. After gritting her teeth and looking upward to just breathe quick and deep for a stressed moment, she manages a weak smile for Byron's direction with something like encouragement when the others are close/arrived? To what? Oh hell.

Byron is struggling too, help him, give up, trade off? Stop. "It's okay. I think I'm almost free." Lie. She doesn't know.

She gets to the end, that zone of safety where her boots land on the snow. Isabella finding the space. "I made it! There's enough space for all of us to get here, and it's not freezing. We-- " But her words cut off once she finishes her survey of her landscape. Her complexion drains of color at what she sees past the perimeter. "Oh, fuck me. Guys! I think you better hurry!"

To Autumn, she exhales a breath, escaping her in plumes. "Do what we can so we can all get out of here," she tells her. With the rest making progress, she attempts to find those who don't seem to be moving. "Lil!" she calls out, and throws out what she can of her own aspect. She doesn't know if she's actually safe here, but she's by the archway and now that things are coming down the wire, she's willing to risk her body to make sure everyone else gets to where they need to be. She attempts to assist her friend, to lift her shoe and unstick it off the ice.

Finch can't help Ignacio, until she gets to the center. That inspires her to coil up her freezing muscles and dash forward one, two, three steps. She's almost there, so close she can taste it. She has to get Ignacio to safety.

Biting her lip to keep from chattering doesn't keep Quyen from violently shivering. Unfortunately those violent shivers don't make it any easier to get back on the path. She wills herself to try, but it doesn't seem to do much. One foot moves, slightly, but not enough to un-stick from the frozen ground beneath her. She looks down at the ground like it might be a soft bed instead, but just manages not to sink down into it. For now.

Levi manages to keep himself upright, even though he can't shake that cold. At least it doesn't seem to be getting worse, which is definitely something, at the moment. Silver linings. And not of the silvery gray variety that is currently beginning to close in on the edges of his vision, either. He grabs his leg again to move it forward, pulling it upward as he looks up to Quyen. "You can do it," he manages to get out, but it's quiet enough that she might not hear it. Still, he presses on.

There's a string of low but enthusiastic curses from Alexander. He's stuck again. But, at least Isabella's safe. "Just stay there," he calls out to her, "And don't--" and then there's the stir of Glimmer and the retribution from afar. "Isabella! Damn it! Are you okay?"

Isabella feels it give. "Lilith, G--!" But her words are cut off by a chunk of ice that blasts her in the face, with enough force to nearly whip her head aside. The crack is as loud as a slap, and as it shatters on impact. The fragment that breaks off it slams into her boot, the icy spike driving into muscle and sinew. A scream tears out of her, blood welling from the wound.

She bites back the rest of the invective that follows, reaching out to grasp the archway in an effort to keep her balance. But it lets her turn, and see other bodies emerging through the deadly snow: Quyen, Finch and Byron. "There!" she breathes at Autumn, raggedly. "We can get them here without having to leave the safe zone. Go get her, I'll get Byron!" With that, she pushes herself forward, blood caking snow as she takes several steps outward.

"Ronnie!" she cries, eyes bright with unshed tears of pain. The side of her face feels like a tennis ball hit it in full speed. But she attempts to grasp for him, if he allows, and drag him to safety.

"It's fine!" she calls back to Alexander. "It's fine! Just keep going!"

Autumn stares at Isabella in silence, then with a nod sets her takeout carefully down by the arch and plunges back out into the snow, heading for the next closest person, Finch. "Come on," she says, offering her hands to the woman.

Lilith's foot miraculous lifts with force right out of where it's shuffling stuck and her eyes widen with the sudden change of it before she realizes she had help. Then she hears Isabella's call, and damnit, she MADE A PROMISE. She's not going to stand there and give up or fling a fireball backwards to buy time for others or try to melt it all down (tempting for a firebug with control issues). She takes the damn window.

She surges forward with haste after a glance at Byron to call, "Go, baby! Go go!" Then everyone gets a little encouragement, "We can do this." Gosh, cheerleader.

Finch takes Autumn's offered hands and she safely makes that last leap into the archway. "We have to help Iggy. He has a bad leg. I tried to help and they hurt me for it," she gasps out, falling to her knees. The back of her coat, and her shirt, are shredded bloodily, with long gouges down her back from the ice-predator's claws.

Perhaps he's spurred on by that creeping feeling of cold and numbness that starts to overtake him. Or the frustration of struggling so hard to just pull yourself up and move ahead. Or having this need to just make it to the finish line just so you can determine how to better help the friends around you. It's most likely all of these thoughts combined that give Byron the strength to not only pull his legs up and out of the snow for ease of movement, but to drag himself further along the path to... victory. He's not 100% sure if the center of it all is actually safe, but for now, it's better than where he finds himself.

If there's any hesitation on his part, it's when he pauses to take a look across the way and off to the side to see how Lilith is fairing. "You can do it, Lil." There's even this urge that returns to him to break away from the foot prints entirely and push forward until he reaches her set of tracks and work from there. That is until he hears Isabella's scream, something that chills him to his bone even more than this deep freeze right now. And then she's heading his way and the look that he gives her is one of annoyance and concern, "Stay back, Bella!" He tries to wave her away. "I'm almost there. Don't even..." But when she does reach him, just her very touch begins to warm him, making the few several steps easier until he reaches the center as well.

What does he do first? "Don't you /ever/ do that again, Isabella Reede." It's quite the scolding for her reckless, in his eyes, bravery. There's no time to smile really, because Lilith was still out there. But in his mind, once you step out into the snow, you'll be trapped. That doesn't stop him from reaching a hand out in her direction, however, as he surveys the non-footprint covered snowy path leading towards her, "I got you, Lil. Just a few more steps."

Ignacio is making an art of flailing in place! It'd be a piss poor way to die. The one thing he has going for him is his lead weapon for battling all his self-doubt and fatigue is standing ahead of him on that platform. he's trying but his foot's going off that path. It's not often the author gets angry, but Finch is hurt, he's hurting, that gal over there and the dude with the good hair just turned into a snowball... shit. They love despair don't they He closes his eyes and forces himself back onto his fucking feet even if he's off the path. He murmurs to himself, maybe the frozen fog, "Turns out I don't need a medal to tell me I'm a good guy. Because if that little bird likes me... how bad can I be." Did he jsut draw inspiration from another movie? Hey, everyone's got a method. Don't judge!

"Yeah, we will...," Autumn murmurs reassuringly to Finch, "Though you should stay here because you're hurt and I'm not." YET! The little EMT spends a second squinting out at the snow field before she asks, "Which one's Iggy?"

Finch points to Iggy with one hand for Autumn's benefit. "Please help him. I can't do this without him," she whispers. There are tears in her eyes.

"I can't promise that," Isabella tells Byron grimly in an attempt to stamp down her panic. With Alexander flagging behind and glancing down at her foot, she pushes herself off again in an attempt to help. "Alexander, keep going!" she calls out. "I'll try to..." She reaches out in an attempt to assist him along.

"Wait! As long as you are touching someone at the arch, you can't be hurt. Pull everyone else in, closest first, then we can make a chain to reach the others." Finch moves to grab Alexander to pull him in.

Oh, good, now there's ice blowing at Levi's face. But he's gotten another step forward, which leaves...four more steps? Two more? He doesn't actually remember at this point. He looks around, calling, "Byron? Did you make it?" But again, it's very, very faint. He just can't muster up anything louder. "Quyen?" He looks around again, spying Ignacio further back then he is. His hands move, cupping around his mouth as he musters up any strength he has left to call, "Don't give up! You can make it!" He struggles forward again, slowly and not at all surely.

Alexander's teeth are gritted against the feel of his flesh freezing to the inside of his boots, his limbs becoming leaden and heavy. It's hard, achingly hard not to just give into the snow and ice. But he's so close. And then? Then Isabella says that she's going to do something, and his head comes up. "Don't you dare! Finch, stop her," he shouts, and surges forward one step. He lunges for Finch's hand, grabbing it and stumbling to safety.

"Okay." Autumn gets a bead on Ignacio and starts to step out of the safety area, but pauses at Finch's words. "Oh! Good call. We gotta move fast though." Quyen is close enough to reach, and gets the assist. "We're coming!" she shouts, to the others further back. "Hang on and stay awake!"

Quyen seems lost in those dark and cold thoughts, no longer really looking or seeming to hear the others. She still seems determined to plow on, making another step but that inexorable cold makes it almost impossible to move, and she's once more outside the "Safety" of the footsteps. Levi's shouts draw her eyes up. "I hate cold weather," is all she has to say, though its broken up by chattering teeth, in response to his optimistic cheerleading. Autumn's voice pulls her attention that way and she nods once.

Finch hauls Alexander to safety and gestures him into the chain. "I can anchor," she offers, because she is really, really not feeling well at this point. She hugs one arm around the arch, and offers the other hand to the next link in the chain.

"I can't reach," Autumn says with some frusration, stopping shy of Quyen as the border of safey divides them. "Need another hand!"

It's cold. Lilith gets spooked by all that speed, despite the initial reflex caution that comes with it to get her forward a good bit, but then she slows considerably when she sees Byron safe with his hands out. It's fine. His hands are right there. Slow and steady wins the rest of the race, right? But then she glances to the side and behind herself to see the flying ice shards by the other two males taking a drift toward her and that was a bit of a mistake, but not a huge one.

She composes a breath, doesn't try to melt the ice flying with fire on reflex to threat, then Lilith looks back at Byron's reaching hands. She gets another careful step forward instead of panicking through the rest of speed or lashing out, "Stay there. I'll get there. Just stay there, please. It's okay."

Ignacio points to Quyen still with that tired, but determined look on his face. There's a half-smile, "So proud of you." For now he focuses on trying to get 'closer'. Fuck the damn path. Proximal closeness is the desired effect. Aiming for the path's not doe much good so now it's a vagueish pathish area. He looks to Quyen, "Forget the p-path, p-push yours-s-elf forward so they can grab y-ya." Didn't people move here to avoid stupid snow? For fuck's sake.

Finch shouts out, "Grab that girl (Quyen) and then swing around, like a clock hand, to the next person! She'll be the new end of the chain and grab Lilith and so on!"

Alexander lets out a soft cry of relief as the cold melts away, at least for the most part, in the sanctuary of the center. "Isabella!" He checks her, first, with a distracted nod to Finch. Once he's reassured that she's...mostly okay, he forms himself as part of the nearest chain with Quyen, reaching for the next person who CAN be reached. Sure, he has to brace himself to touch a stranger, but he DOES, and that's the important part. Right?

Byron knows all too well that you can't tell Isabella what to do and if there were time for small talk and joking around, he might make some quip about it. Instead, however, he's observing just how far out everyone else, his eyes looking behind him to get a full rotational view of this archway center point. If anything, the fear of freezing to death has escaped him and this need to reach Lilith grows every stronger. There's calls for assistance for one of the others, somewhere behind him, but when he hears Lilith, seeing those fiery eyes of hers burning bright and to hear his words, there is no way in hell that he's moving from this point, keeping his arm extended out to her to coax her forward, "Just a little more, hon. Take my hand."

With Finch yelling at the rest at her discovery about the arch, Isabella draws back, relief on her features when she grabs Alexander and hauls him into the safe zone. As he moves to check on her, she shakes her head and gives him a reassuring smile, though it's tight on the corners. She'll then move to assist the rest of the chain as best as she can with her wounded foot and bruised face, though she keeps herself by the arch way. Finch seems to have everything in hand, so she follows where she's needed, but otherwise she keeps silent; her jaw is locked together to prevent herself from making pitiful noises...

...or that really scary feeling that brushes up her leg and sends goosebumps crawling up her skin.

Suddenly people are shouting at her and Quyen nods, leaning forward in her frozen spot as far as she can to reach out and grasp the hand reaching for her. This allows her to reach safety at last and add to the chain to reach the others. "Thank you," she manages to breath out, a squeeze of her hand around the fingers that she's grasping. Tears of pain glimmer in her eyes but she's determined to be useful as they reach for the next person -- Lilith? Maybe.

Finch grips the archway with one arm, holding onto Isabella's hand with the other. "Great! Now let's swing round to Lilith!" she hollers as they add Quyen to the chain.

"Try to be gentle when you grab, sudden movement can trigger cardiac arrest in the hypothermic," Autumn calls helpfully as the chain gains two links and swings to the next person.

"We have to hurry," Isabella tells Finch quietly, eyeing the gray movements in the outer perimeter of the snowy field, still attempting to quell the shudder from the thing that's touched her. But with one person left, she will move with the chain. "Do you see her?" she calls out to Byron, expression tight with worry.

Alexander grabs Quyen firmly by the hand, giving her a nod. "Hey. Alexander Clayton." Is this the time for that? Apparently, he thinks it is. And at least he's not stopping or slowing anyone down - just pivoting so that they can reach the next person and pull them to safety. "Those still out, give us a yell! Keep calling!" More to keep them awake than anything.

Byron's only focus right now is Lilith and it's difficult to watch her just flounder in the snow, seeing how she shivers and despite the brave face she's putting on, the fear that he can see in her eyes. Turning narrowed eyes behind him back to the others and observing as they work together to pull the other one out, he calls out, "I'm going in to get Lilith! I'll meet you part of the way." He's not talking to anyone in particular when he says this, seeing as they've more than likely already pulled Quyen to safety.

He doesn't even know how this all works right now, but he if he can reach her from some point during this trek, he can attempt to keep her warm and perhaps safe from whatever might be trying to steal their warmth, whatever! At the very least, this chain, only needs to reach him, as he tries his best to get to her.

Finch grunts as they swing around, feeling the sting of the tears down her back and the hole in her foot. "Lillith, then that other dude, then we should have enough people to reach Iggy!" she calls out.

Quyen's hands are like ice, poor Alexander, who might find himself in danger of frostbite just for holding onto her. "Quyen," is about all she can manage through her chattering teeth. As they spin out toward Lilith in this life-or-death version of crack-the-whip, she reaches for the woman's hand. She's shivering too much to say much to her, but hopefully Lilith and Byron can grab on without needing to be told -- or one of the many other people in the line can direct them.

"God damn it, Byron," Alexander exclaims, but it's under his breath, because - let's face it, if Isabella hadn't reached the center before he did, then he'd be the one doing the same thing. He tries to squeeze warmth back into Quyen's hand, but he doesn't have a lot to spare. Everything from the hips down is numb and aching. "Grab for him, grab for him," he chants to the end of the chain, and concentrates on just...not letting go of either end.

Lilith is a proud, proud creature with a full dose of fiery stubborn, but it's so cold. It is so so so cold. What she wants to do for that last bit of distance, to reach for Byron's bolstering hands, she just can't do. She can't feel her legs, she can't DO it. Her will starts to sap again with the physical limitations of her body and heat starts to flash with manipulation of the air around her, but she stops it when Byron moves, immediately. She keeps the panic glimmer flame reaction in check. 'cause Him. And only because of him. But her pride takes a hit after all that will stops before anything can form and there's just cold seeping into her again.

Like a little damsel in the snow (which she is furious about somewhere, behind the fear and panic) she drops and struggles to push out of kneel before he gets to her so she can reach. And she doesn't start yelling at him at all about moving. She's afraid in a way that usually doesn't creep on her bold little ass in danger scenarios like it should. Karma, maybe.

Levi may be giving into the call of the snow at this point. Maybe that call of encouragement was all the strength he had left in him, who knows! But in any case, he's not moving at this point. He's still upright, but for how long is the next question. He's staring at nothing -- he doesn't even seem to see the line coming for him.

Ignacio watches trying to sliver in place. He's hunkered down. He's beat, he's tired, is is the Gray Harbor champ of no progress. The only good news is if he loses his fucking leg then it won't hurt chronically anymore. He tries to keep himself awake and focus. He calls out to Finch, "Heeeey F_f-f-finch.... Where d-d-d-do snowmen sh-shop on-l-line?" Oh god Iggy not now right? And yet he takes a deep breath wincing against the ice shards whipping around. "The W-w-winternet" He closes his mouth to avoid losing too much head. Looking around he murmurs, "A'ight ya g-great l-l-lonely b-bastard... whadda ya w-want?" His eyes squint to the frost and cold.

"Go go go go!" Isabella cries - she's closest to the anchor and with Byron disappearing back into the wastes to get Lilith, she's now terrified for the both of them and the rest of the people in the snow. She pivots on her good foot, to spur the chain onward. With Quyen grabbed by Alexander, she hollers to go for the next one, towards Lilith and Byron and to keep moving in a circle so they can grab the rest.

Finch can't help but bark out a laugh at Ignacio's horrible dad joke. "I'm gonna hit you for that one when we get you to safety, Figgy!" she hollers, wheezily. Keep going people!

Byron trudges through the cold and snow, his steps moving ever faster when he realizes in just what shape Lilith was in. He won't voice his worries and concerns, because even he feels the chill again now. She was weak, could barely stand, but he was there for her now. "I got you, babe." Is the first thing out of his lips. He acted out of annoyance and impatience. Lilith should be their first priority and that's why he's out here now.

Wrapping his arms around her to try and keep her warm, leaning in for an icy kiss. Removing the gloves from his hands, to at least be able to touch her skin with his, letting what little warmth there is to transfer on to her. "It'll all be over soon." His own breath now coming out in a thick mist. He doesn't notice the others making their way there, feeling as if he and Lilith were the only two people in the world right now.

Only after a moment does hear someone's voice. It's that woman that the other set out to rescue first. The one who he refused to help until Lilith was pulled to safety. Dark eyes look her over, but his hand is already reaching out to take hers, clasping it tightly, before his attention returns to Lilith in full, his hold still on her. "You're safe now, Lil."

Byron and Lilith coming together right there in the snow and him laying the freezing kiss on her still feels like warmth for her, even though she can't feel her legs and what she can feel is burning or numb. There are perks to being fairly obsessive over each other in an occasional blinding kind of way, and she's incredibly bolstered and feels... safe at least. Cold, but safe.

Gripping onto Byron with teeth chattering, she nods a few times fast and lets him meet with the chain to make that safety link of touch and access to get back. And she's damn well walking on her own. Poorly, but... she's doing it. She manages a very small and blue-lipped smile at Isabella when there, then Alexander and the others more faintly before focusing on who is still out there now that she's Byron-connected.

Ignacio finally found something working for him while trying to empathize with the Frozen Dark and that is he can't feel (wait for it) his bad leg. Which means? He can throw all of his weight into it and hope it locks. Finally one foot on the damn path! He's going to feel that later but with any luck there will be a later to defrost and bitch in. People are moving this way and he tries to keep himself focused and drive back the biting cold and chilling doubts. A little louder, but also in case the rescue crew is snowblind, he hoarsly presses his luck, "What.... W-whaddo sssssnowmen call their offffspring?" More of this from teh frozen satirist. He closes his eyes and pushes forward in a lunge for that hand, "Chill-dren." Oh got there's a hand in his. Second best hand ever thankyouLevi!. Scared, frozen, determined his frozen hand squeezes Levi's. The other hand flings the birdseed out into the field behind him. Maybe something will grow here. Evenually. Probably not. Worth a shot. Probably spill it anyways."

Levi feels Quyen's hand, and he looks down slowly as the warmth starts to return to his body. His feet unstick, and he moves them -- slowly, and without great motor planning, but moving them! "Thanks," he says thickly as he looks at her, and he manages a smile as he starts to move in the direction the chain was going before. Luckily there's some momentum there to give him a clue about it. When he's close enough, he reaches for Ignacio, and when the hand is grabbed he smiles again, even though it looks more like a grimace. "That was really bad," he gets out.

"Snow-pe," says Quyen to Ignacio, a squeeze of both the hands holding hers. "Let's get somewhere warm again, shall we?" That's probably a bit of wishful thinking. But she's choosing to be optimistic. Foolishly, no doubt.

Finch shrieks, "RUN!" to everyone as she clings to Isabella's hand still. She knows her birds, being an ornithologist, and she knows those aren't no normal ravens. As if them being human-sized wasn't a big enough hint there.

"What the f-- " And there are birds everywhere. Isabella's pained expression shifts into something more indescribable.

"Okay, that's it. EVERYONE OUT OF THE SNOW!" And she proceeds to start trying to push cold people through the archway first. That pained expression intensifies when the cawing starts becoming more deafening in earnest. But she'll soon follow once everyone picks up their feet and pushes through the archway as blood starts to trickle out of her ears.

Alexander cries out, breaking the chain once Ignacio is safely in the center so that he can clasp his hands over his ears and just scream at the sky as it caws in such dreadful cacophony. He's stricken for a moment, but recovers at Isabella's shout, and uses blood-smeared hands to grab Ignacio and toss him through with what might be excessive force.

Hey, he promised Finch.

Ignacio ain't quitting while he's ahead. He wices and once on teh platform drops his hand. "That's... an ill-eagle m-move..." Can't stop don't stop. Wincing he yells "DE NADA!" Ignacio turns to pull Quyen with to make sure she can still move, hell more frozen than he was but he didn't really move too much there to encounter much snow. The other arm, coffee cup in fingers, loops around Finch's back and under her opposite arm. "Never been, m-more g-gglad to see y-you." And that said he doesn't let go but tries to shove them in the portal

Finch grabs onto Iggy, wincing as he touches her shredded back, and runs through the archway with him.

"Jesus," manages Quyen when she sees those abominations coming for the birdseed. She's moving as fast as she can, pulled by Ignacio, and she pulls Levi as she can too, knowing he's as frozen if not more frozen than she is. "Come on, come on." She can't feel her feet, so she's stumbling more than she is running, but at least it's forward momentum. The pins and needles are stronger than pain from any jarring of her poor ankles or knees as she staggers toward the arch.

Levi's still shivering once they get to the center, but at least he's moving okay now. Okay enough, anyway -- he can't quite run, but he does a sort of shuffling fast walk toward the archway, ducking his head and covering it with one hand as the birds drop down on them. His other hand still has a death grip on Quyen's, just in case she is the only reason he's able to move. Considering he wasn't moving before, and now he is, it's probably a safe assumption to make.

With Lilith still in his arms, Byron doesn't quite notice whatever it is that Ignacio is doing off in the distance. He's just glad that the bright eyed brunette wasn't shivering like crazy in a near catatonic weakened state, the way she was when he'd encountered her. That's when those loud sounds from the sky catch his attention and they all notice the giant black ravens swooping down for... At first, he'd assumed that maybe this was the hungry presence they all felt. It would make some sense!

There's no hesitation on his part now, reaching to tighten his grasp on Lilith's arm, hoping that she'd regained her strength by now. With a shake of his head, his attention diverting to see the other panicked faces of everyone else around them converging on the archway, he murmurs, "We never get a god damned break, do we?"

Lilith is now bleeding from the ears, on top of being cold to the point where physical motion seems like so much impossible work. But Byron's grip is fast on her arm, everyone else is fleeing and yelling for the flee, and those horrible cawing noises are too too much. She moves and she moves on her own. She's bad at it, and not as fast as she might be otherwise, but she does it.

With teeth chattering on the way out, though, she tells Byron, "... nope. But thank sweet hell you... have a giant bathtub. I need... hot."

Finch just grabs onto Ignacio and holds him, sobbing into his chest. She is hurt, badly. She feels like hell microwaved, but he's alive and she can deal with all the rest.

"Hospital," murmurs Quyen, once they manage to keep from falling over the bridge. She reaches for her phone in her pocket to dial 9-1-1. There may be an EMT in the group, but they probably don't have thermal blankets in their back pocket -- and if there was one, it's not enough for all of them that are hypothermic. Now they don't have a snow-ice-shadow creature stalking them, she sinks down to sit on the back of her heels by the bridge's railing. She just needs to rest. She'll tell dispatch what they need and where.

Ignacio doesn't let go of the stranger's hand (Quyen) until she's standing. Shaking, breaking with asthmatic urgency he gently wraps Finch in a hug. He presses a kiss to her temple and whispers, "I got you. You were amazing. puedes bajar tu espada, Pajarito" His hand lowers- wait is he trying to grab her ass here? Ah, no he's digging through her pockets for her phone. He presses the autodial. Smooching her forehead he says, "I"m calling for a couple rides. Come over here if you need a lift to wherever. We got you."