savetheearth | action;

Who: Lily, Winter
What: Oh hey look another echo zone let's GO FREEZE OUR BUTTS OFF.
Where: Lapland, Finland
When: December 24th, front date because like I'll have time to put this up a day from now

Lo and behold, Christmas came early. In a sense. The last thing Lily was expecting on Christmas Eve was to be contacted by the Numbered Special Commission Group after news of yet another new echo boundary cropping up. Nothing horrible had even happened at the one they were at! Which was... good, technically, right?

All the same, these weren't precisely in Lily's holiday plans, but hey, bright side - Winter was ALSO in that same group, so at least she got to drag her new fiancée with her. And yes, she'd checked the weather before hand. With great dread. So she was bundled up quite a great deal.

But even as she materializes from the back of Santa's Post Office in Santa Claus Village, and they make their way outside... The western America raised girl starts to feel like she couldn't have possibly worn enough to keep herself warm.

"W- W- W- Winter...!" she almost wails, teeth charring, pulling her scarf up further over her face. "Wh- why couldn't this have been somewhere warm?!"

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Winter isn't as confident as Lily that something isn't going to happen in Fussen; it was more that nothing had happened yet. They hadn't done anything notable enough to break the cycle. And yet, the cycle was already starting again. In the middle of another cycle. Perhaps they had broken something, and just didn't know it yet.

That... wasn't really important now, though. What was important was to establish their operating area, figure out what was going on, and determine where to get started, and where they could stay in a pinch. The moment they come into being in the Village, she smiles, but doesn't say anything yet. It probably was a good thing if their link was somewhere they didn't have to worry too much about being, and the place itself isn't bad either.

And then they open the door, and a blast of terrible cold hits them, and Winter immediately knows they are going to be spending as little time here as possible.

"Because there's significantly less landmass in the southern hemisphere for us to have an operating location in, and that means it's still three days after the solstice?" she answers innocently. That's not to say she's not cold, but she's dealing with it quite a bit better than Lily is. Still, she tugs her own scarf a little tighter, flexing her fingers in her mittens. "Are you going to be okay?"

There's another shiver, but she shoots the shorter girl a sharp look at the answer, bringing a hand up to adjust her glasses and/or mask any amusement she may have. "I know all of that, smartypants, remember who you're talking too."

She adjusts her coat a little bit before trying to move, while leaning closer to her at the same time. "I'll... be fine. Maybe. Probably. After I take the hottest bath I can stand tonight."

Priorities. They had to prioritize. "I wish by this point we'd been able to establish some sort of rhyme or reason how to go about this, but every one of these things has been different..."

Shaking her head, she settles for clinging to Lily closely, grinning. "I'm aware. And remember, warm water first." Maybe it was the fact that nothing had gone terribly wrong in Fussen yet (massive tower reaching into orbit aside), but she felt a little better about all this than she had the last time. At least, she was confident enough to keep up a good mood for Lily.

And that brought her back around to the fact that they'd barely established a pattern at all for Neuschwanstein before being thrown headfirst into this new place. First was the pink lights in the sky, which they already knew about. There wasn't a massive structure that had appeared out of thin air, at least as far as she could see, so that was out. She didn't see any vermini around... were they even sensitive to cold? They'd never really tested, as far as she knew. She didn't see any particular wildlife worth noting, either.

A few moments pass as she makes that initial sweep. At the end of it, she adds aloud, "We have a few standard things to go on, but... nothing that I'm used to looking for is really turning up. Are you ready to explore a little bit the old-fashioned way?"

She accepts the clinging happily as she moves along. "Just something warm. Maybe some cocoa. Some fresh baked cookies..." She gives a bit of an airy sigh, looking skyward.

"You know, this isn't quite how I anticipated spending our first Christmas Eve together, but... I guess so long as it's with you, that's fine. I guess I'm the one who's always said home's just where my loved ones are..."

Her eyes are sweeping around them similarly, looking for anything out of the ordinary, but knowing it's not going to be that easy upon first stepping out. She looks back down at her, one mitten covered hand reaching out to grasp Winter's, particularly the one where a ring should ideally be. "Old-fashioned sounds good enough to me, for now."

Winter giggles lightly. "I can arrange that, definitely. Whatever happens. After all... we're together. Nothing's going to stop that, come hell or high water." No hesitation, no doubt. "You're stuck with me, Lily. Not that you mind." The girl leans her head against her partner, smiling warmly. "If we don't have time to do a proper Christmas Eve by the time we're done here, I'll give you a raincheck. You're dealing with the cold, I can accommodate such things."

Even as she says cheerful things, her mind's wandering a little bit. They don't have that much information on what's important, so they're going on instinct and luck. The commissioned group isn't that big, so they can't just spread out and search, and even if they could... Lapland represented tens of thousands of square miles. They'd never cover it all, and-

The mittened hand gently taking hers is her cue to get with the program again, and she lightly shakes her head to snap herself back on track. "Then we'll do what we can. There's a lot of open space out here, but we can't just leave it be." Looking out at the land, she arbitrarily picks a direction. "I say we start... by exploring the city." Which is a good enough decision, at least for now. "Sound good?"

"Mmm, well, I suppose I could take a raincheck, if need be," she says lightly enough, tilting her head from side to side as if considering it, even though there's not much of a question. "Though I'll warn you I'm liable to cash it in ASAP. And be warned that sort of thing might build up interest over time."

Of course, Lily is considering similar things. Perhaps a bit more darkly than Winter - they never quite know what is going to be in these zones, and they're both accustomed to encountering the worst of it. She's on her toes, and perceptive, even if all of her attention seems like it's going to the girl at her side.

She smiles, although it's harder to make out with her scarf pulled up. "Yes, the city sounds good, and under all these layers maybe I won't stick out like so much of a sore thumb." Plus, the city means buildings, which hopefully means heat. "By all means, lead the way."

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