[FIN] Winter Wonderland

[Blood_Goddess]

It was just the little effort that he put forward that Ray needed, from there she was able to easily help support his weight.
Once he stood, she put an arm around his lower back, and lead the young man forward, encouraging him each step of the way.

He was brought to what looked like a pile of branches and pine needles, though as she helped him over and lowered him back down onto the branches it would show that it was more like a couple of fanned branches ripped from a tree, a large red and white stripped snake still spitting the taste of sap out of his mouth.

"Alright, tip for you." Ray said, snapping her long fingers and pointing to each of the pokemon that belonged to Luke, especially so on the Aggron.
"This here, might look crude, but its an effective enough sled to help transport someone over snow if they're injured or tired."
A wide grin crossed her face as she unzipped her first jacket, tiling her chin up as she dug around the pockets, and pulled out a canteen.
"Mieu, and Mew. over here." She gestured, returning to Luke's side and unscrewing the canteen lid.
"Alright Red, take a drink of this. You are way more dehydrated then I would have like to find you in."

It wasn't hot, but the water was at least warm, it had been warmer when she started the day, but her body heat isolated by the coat at least helped to keep it from getting too cold.  

[Suudonym]

Luke moved where he was guided, trusting that he wasn't in the middle of some elaborate hallucination and about to be kidnapped by a Rocket again - just his stinking luck if he was. He was at least becoming marginally more alert, his eyes more often open than closed even if his vision was bleary, but it was still an immense relief to not have to stand anymore.

Mieu hardly needed that woman's word to know that his place was beside his trainer, and in a few short bounds he was at Luke's side, calling after the slower Lorelei to come.

Luke turned his hand to accept what was offered to him, taking a moment to piece together what it was and what he should do with it before understanding. His throat, dry and sore, nearly rejected the warm water that by now seemed like something foreign and strange, but it quickly became more acceptable and, moreover, a welcome relief. He summoned the will to speak, even if only scarcely, "Rosie...?" He'd told her not to worry, but he knew that wasn't realistic. He wanted her to be free of it as soon as possible.  

[Blood_Goddess]

"Don't drink too quickly, just sip at it for now, so you don't get sick." She told him as she let him drink, helping him if he needed.

She waited by him, letting the Flareon's get settled on him infact she was encouraging it.
After he seemed to have had a few more sips of water he spoke, and she couldn't be surprised by what he said.

"Last I heard she was with the police and a rescue team out here somewhere. I got her text that you were lost out here." she made a gesture toward him.
"I've got a radio back at my camp, sadly civilian cell phones don't work all the way out here. I'll radio this in once we get back and I get you warmed up."

With that the women removed the hat from her own head, and fitted it on Luke's.
Pushing herself back to her feet and looking over toward the Aggron.
"Would you mind pulling this?"  

[Suudonym]

He nodded, understanding the words somewhat more easily. "Thank you." There was a growing feeling of security just in the simple fact that someone knew where he was, and from that he was able to relax, his eyes falling closed - until a sharp cry from the teal and white Flareon jarred him from the onset of rest. He frowned severely at Mieu, breathing a quietly irritated sigh.

The Aggron, meanwhile, grunted his accord and took to the task assigned to him. He didn't feel like he made for a very good shelter, but he knew he had an innate skill with physical labor.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Ray chuckled "Atta boy Mieu, keep him awake till we can get him warmed up. Sorry about this kid, hang in there."

Putting her gloves back and patting the Aggron on the arm as she passed, shuffling along and leading the way for the other pokemon.

It was clear that she had come quite a way, and by the time they found their way to where Ray had set up camp, it was starting to get darker.
It was a modest set up, a small tent set up with supports along the walls made of oak branches to buffer against the wind, obviously put up with a hurry but enough to get the job done
A rolled up sleeping bag sat over a elevated support of logs.
A fire pit burning low a few feet from the tent, with a tripod made out of sticks and suspending some kind of large can boiling with water.

"Temporary home sweet temporary home." Ray burst with a wide gesture then spun around to Luke
"Alright, first things first, we're getting Luke in there, Luke we're going to get your boots off, and Mieu, you need to get his feet and hands warmed up as best you can, the last thing we need is for him to get frost bitten and have his toes start falling off." her lower jaw pulled slightly and she arched her eyebrows "Yeesh"

Ray got to work, not just helping Luke up and into the tent, getting him wrapped up in the sleeping bag and getting the two fire types to help warm him up.
She kept moving, lighting something in a small can like object sitting on a support made out of metal and placing it into the tent. it smoked lightly flames flicking up from the rim every now and then so indicate its contents.
"Now... don't touch this, don't even look at it, just, leave it alone," She told him, giving him a sever look before making sure the small fire was secure again and making her way outside of the tent once again.

In very little time the tent would start to warm up from the makeshift heater, Though Ray glanced in at it every now and then with a consistent caution, she remained busy outside with the boiling water and a flash of her knife with irregular chopping and slicing noises.
By the time she returned into the tent, leaving the door open she was holding a metal tea cut with what looked and smelled like warm tea, a great deal of chopped green pine needles floating at the top, and a first aid kit tucked under her arm.

"I'll admit, you look more messed up then I expected you to be." Ray sat down on the ground by where Luke was sitting, handing the tea up to him though her eyes were clearly tracing over the wounds on his face. "That's not from the cold and wilderness."  

[Suudonym]

The events occurring around Luke seemed dreamlike and surreal. The more he thought about it, the more the whole experience seemed like something he had to have imagined. The feeling of warmth spreading around him, however, was unmistakably real, and he curled tightly into himself to lock it in, hoping very much that he wouldn't be asked to move again anytime soon.

As much of a relief as it was to have the chill thawed from his body, he wished the same could be as easily done for the twisting of his stomach and the throbbing of his bones. He was grateful for proper heat and shelter, but he was already beyond tired of the forest's landscape. His desire to return home was only amplified by the knowledge that he was free of a fate of dying alone in the snow; he wanted as much distance between himself and that experience as he could achieve.

Given that he couldn't move on his own, though, he really had no choice but to be patient.

Luke tried to keep an interest in Ray's activities, if only to have something to focus on to prevent succumbing to sleep, but his attention was so scattered that he was still somewhat surprised when she was suddenly in front of him. He unfolded his posture enough to accept what was offered to him, cupping his hands around the apparent beverage. He raised his eyes when spoken to and shook his head faintly, murmuring his response, "Should've seen the other guy."  

[Blood_Goddess]

"Ahaaa, I wish I could have." Ray chuckled at his comment, glad to see he still had some kind of humor left, even if he didn't say it very humorously.
Still, it was better then nothing, she couldn't imagine his spirits were very high right now.

removing the gloves from her hands, having the use of her fingers allowing her to open up the first aid kit.
"We'll get you cleaned up, becasue I don't know if you've looked at yourself recently, but the other guys, must be dead."

She didn't ask Luke to do anything, other then sit there and drink his tea, that was probably not the best tasting, but it was warm, and it was good for him.
"So what happened?" Ray asked, in the process of cleaning out the wounds on his face and the blood off of his skin.  

[Suudonym]

Ahh, it must have looked worse than he thought... Granted, he was probably in much worse shape than the other guy by now, but at least he wasn't the one with broken wrist, though he certainly would have liked to be the one to receive immediate medical attention.

The taste of the tea was... weird, but it was hot and the aroma wasn't unpleasant, so he bore with it without complaint. It wasn't as easy to bear with the contact to his forehead - it was still incredibly tender and painful to the point that he had avoided touching the area as much as possible - and he tensed rigidly as the wound received care. He answered with a stiff, quiet tone, "Uh... I was shot off my Pidgeot - Ice Beam - attacked by a couple Rockets... Still don't really know why... Wound up stuck at their camp, and their superior decided to let me off." That was the condensed version, at least.  

[Blood_Goddess]

her notched eyebrow arched as she glanced up to meet his much more green eyes.
"Rockets?"
she wore that expression during his explanation, her brow furrowing lightly as he finished his story.
"I expected you to say that you got away some how." She admitted "They do this to you and then just let you go, with your pokemon." It didn't add up to her.

With him cleaned up, she started pulling out bandages, fitting them where she could.  

[Suudonym]

"Not so much 'they,'" he said with a slight shake of his head. "Only one of them was violent. Some of the others protected me from him. Sympathy, or pity... I don't know." Before they were Rockets, they were people with individual personalities and behaviors. Luke imagined that there had been a substantial amount of luck involved that his circumstances had led to his release - luck that was quickly balanced out by nearly freezing to death in the winter cold, but still.  

[Blood_Goddess]

The day would again bring no results, and with it a growing helplessness in Rosie's chest.
She could tell from the silence of the others that they were about to call it a night for too long, and were just hesitating to do so.

It felt like the only thing spoken from her the entire day was the occasional cry out for Luke's name, hoping to get some kind of response back, as the day wore on though her voice grew weaker and weaker from tired.

"Luke!"

Please hear this, please just reply.

_______________________________________

More strange noises started to fill the distant forest, the cries of a strange pokemon maybe? Certainly none that the Growlithe had ever heard, it put them on alert, concerning most of them as they stopped and stared out throught the forest.




It wasn't long before they were rejoined by two of their pack, the red dogs skidding to a stop in the snow and panting from their run, having been out further in the forest from the others looking for food.
One of them said, licking his lips.



The Teal one perked up, leaning himself forward to look past the others in his pack
He offered, intrigued.

the older of the pack asked with a frown.


At this news the pack could just stand in awe and fear, listening to the growing calls of the humans.
Suddenly the teal one hopped up
This earned him shocked and fearful looks from the others.


His smile faded as his idea was not met with as much enthusiasm as the others





There was no reply from the other Growlithe, and his smile fell further
I'm curious.> He concluded, and turned to start back the way the other two had returned from.

they called back to him, pouncing around in the snow

He laughed back at them, turning around and wagging his tail at them.  

[Blood_Goddess]

"Where else did they get you?" She asked once she was done with his face, moving into a crouch to give her a little more height.

"Mmm, well you never know with people, from what I hear this isn't the first time that Rocket's done things out of mercy. or... yeah whatever you want to call it. " She added with a growing grin "I wouldn't know if I should call what you just went through mercy, you're lucky I found you when I did you know."

She let out a light breath, folding her hands over the first aid and finishing up with anything he needed help with.
"Just a nice little reminded that humans will be humans I guess."  

[Suudonym]

"Uh..." He frowned faintly as he recalled the attack and the ensuing struggle. "Ribs, stomach... Just bruising, I think. But here." Supporting the cup carefully with one hand, he gestured to the torn skin on the right arm that he had sacrificed to the Absol's maw. The wound, having been laid upon on the ground for hours and gone untreated in the absence of his own first aid supplies, had become moderately infected, as likely a cause for his shivering and lethargy as hypothermia and dehydration.

He nodded. "I know. But compared to the alternative..." At least left in the wilderness, he had a chance of being located. If they'd decided to drag him back with them... that likely would have been the end of him. No trial, no chance, no lingering hope. It was an unpleasant thought.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Ray took in a breath through her teeth, reaching up to help support the arm up, while not touching near the wound.
Yeah it looked like a bite from a pokemon that was for sure, she could guess what kind from the size of the maw along with the story that Luke had shared.

Knowing it would be uncomfortable, Ray did was she could to clean it out without causing him too much more discomfort.

"Compared to the alternative, we may have never found you at all!" She agreed, finishing up with the first aid kid and pushing herself to her feet.
"Alright, finish drinking that, then drink more water and rest, I'm going to try and get a hold of someone over the radio."
She informed him, pushing herself to her feet once again after gathering the first aid kit into her arms.
"I'm making you something to eat too, in case they take too long, its nothing like a burger but it will at least through the night if it comes to that."

With the way things were going she suspected that they would have to wait before they could get Luke out of there.  

[Suudonym]

He flinched initially but gritted his teeth and endured it. He was certainly in a pitiful state, but he couldn't in good conscience ridicule Kyle for screaming over his wrist if he gave much reaction to something as simple as having a wound cleaned.

He exhaled a held breath as she finished, cautiously maneuvering his arm into a comfortable position and listening as she voiced her intentions, nodding slightly in response to the instruction given. "Thank you," he said, searching and failing to find a way to bolster the sincerity of the sentiment. "Really, really thank you." He was sure he didn't have to tell her how likely he was to have survived much longer without her intervention.