Forest Maiden

Arcadia Frost. 25. Scout. Hunter.

[fearlessarcher]

“Trap and skeet, have you done it before?” Sebastian asked. Granted, it probably wasn’t the smartest or safest idea to be the booming voice coming from behind someone with a loaded weapon but Bash hadn’t been a wealth of good ideas as of late. “Sorry, sorry.” He took a step back and offered hands of apology. “It’ll help your aim since things normally don’t stay still in real life.”

[arcadiaxfrost-blog]

The voice seemed to have come out of nowhere, but Arcadia didn’t flinch. Her eyes moved from the target to find a man standing near her, one she hadn’t spoken to much. “It’s okay,” she replied with a soft smile. “I have done it before, yes, but I’m not practicing my reflexes right now. I’m trying to figure out if the arrows I made will actually withstand being shot.” She held up one of them for Sebastian to see. It was just a wooden shaft with an attached stone arrowhead; it was far from fancy. “They seem to be working alright so far.”

[arcadiaxfrost-blog]

The cold front that had seemed to pass through the area had finally broken, giving Arcadia an opportunity to spend time outside without increased fear of frostbite. She was out by the lake with her bow, practicing her shots with her makeshift arrows. They were far from perfect, but with practice and training, she’d hopefully be able to figure out how to make them sure solid and secure. With using a few piles of loose snow as targets, Arcadia shot her arrows, paying close attention to the trajectory, angle, and impact of them on the targets. 

[lorcansalamanders-blog-deactiva]

Emma was glad to see that there was someone else who was sick of a white blanket coating everything.  Apparently it was too much to ask for just a little of the snow to melt to let some green grow.  “When I was little I used to love snow and I thought it was just so pretty.”  Emma scoffed, kicking the snow in front of her.  “What a joke ‘at all is now, huh?”

[arcadiaxfrost-blog]

“I think a lot of us used to feel that way about snow.” Arcadia sure used to find it beautiful. The snow formed a blanket on the forest floor, and the ice turned the trees to crystal. It was hard not to fall for the winter; despite its harshness, it brought beauty. But that was another time. Now, the winter never left, and the blankets of snow were now graveyards, yearning for more bodies to be buried in it. The crystal trees laughed at them, taunting them. “And now we all just want it to melt.”

[reginaholbrook-deactivated20160]

Regina didn’t know Arcadia well at all, but the brief encounters they’d had were always pleasant enough. She was a girl with a good head on her shoulders and who Regina had never known to cause trouble. That was good enough for her and the prospect of getting to know more about Arcadia was suddenly very intriguing. Not to mention it would probably do her good to focus her attention on something else for a while. 

“I’m just glad we have more supplies in general; honestly food has lost most of its appeal at this point.” She stirred the contents of the can in front of her with her spoon for a moment before continuing lightly. “Sometimes I wish I could remember what steak tastes like, but it’s probably best I don’t.” 

[arcadiaxfrost-blog]

She chuckled softly. In truth, food had greatly lost its appeal. It was now used as a necessity, while in the old world, people ate for fun or because of the flavor. That just wasn’t the case anymore. It was all bland now, but maybe the new cans the bits of fruit some of them contained would spice up the menu for a while. It’d be nice to actually enjoy eating again. “I remember what it tastes like, and no, it’s best you don’t.” It was a difficult transition from living in a forest to living in a winter wonderland, but she had plenty of time to get used to it. Going months without seeing any wildlife was always difficult for her; she rarely went a day without seeing any before her trip to Norway. Hell, even in Norway, she saw plenty of squirrels and rabbits until the Big Freeze, but then they all just disappeared. One of her strength was hunting, and it was a bit shameful that she couldn’t put her ability to use here. She kept up on her bow and practiced often enough, but there wasn’t anything to shoot. “It’s just best not to think about anything we had before now anyway. It just makes you want to go back. I mean, I didn’t even like McDonald’s that much, but I’d do anything for a large fry right now.”

[lafayettes-guns]

[arcadiaxfrost-blog]

lafayettes-guns:

Sarah Manning in 3.10 History Yet to Be Written

[forlornsurvivors-deactivated201]

           as sarah occupied herselfby wiping the blood off the table with her cloth, she found that shereally had no reason to stick around. she wasn’t a therapist, not inthe slightest – she’d been trained on how to treat wounds, and thatwas the gist of it.. but she knew, given the circumstances they’dlived in for a few years, emotional trauma was just as big of awound, and just as dangerous. so she finally willed herself the meetthe eyes of the stranger in front of her.

          “it helps to talk aboutit. isolating yourself usually makes things worse.” she hoped thather status as a nurse helped this woman trust her, even the slightestbit. she didn’t want to cross a line and make her angry oruncomfortable, but she didn’t want to leave her alone. “i’ve beentold i’m a good listener.”

[arcadiaxfrost-blog]

She shook her head at the girl’s suggestions. Talking about it would only make the images come back, and she didn’t want that, but part of her did want to talk about it. She hated that part of herself, but it was still very present. Despite her head shake, she began to speak. She was slow at first, but she quickly sped to a normal pace. Her eyes settled on the other girl’s shirt, but she was really looking at nothing at all. “I don’t know if it’d help or not. I don’t know how new you are, but a little bit after that last blizzard, I was out on a scouting trip with Evan, and we ended up finding a corpse that had been buried under the snow for a long time. He turned out to be an old member of this camp, actually, so that hurt. But on top of it, my mother died in an avalanche and was covered just like he was. So he looked like what she would if I found her and unburied her, and I can’t get the image out of my head. I have dreams about it.” 

Talking about it aloud wasn’t as painful as she thought it’d be, but hearing herself actually talk about it was. Talking about her mom being dead was something she rarely did. She usually spoke of her life or things she had taught Arcadia throughout it. She had been the girl’s mentor and best friend in all things, and now without her, it was sometimes difficult to get out of bed in the morning. She had cared for Arcadia, raised her, loved her, and protected her, and now she was gone. And Arcadia hadn’t even repaid her by finding her corpse in the snow. She never got a proper burial, and Arcadia never got to say goodbye. Her eyes began to sting slightly as she sat in her chair, staring at the nothingness below the nurse’s chin. A small sniffle rang out through the silence, and she immediately felt embarrassed for speaking at all. It was a bad idea, but she couldn’t go back now. It was out there in the open, and she knew the girl wasn’t just going to drop it and say nothing because Arcadia wouldn’t if their position was changed. She was in need of comfort, and whether she wanted it or not, the girl was probably going to offer some words in attempt to fulfill her need.

[forlornsurvivors-deactivated201]

              “i’ve seen worse,” theblonde replied as she tried to be as gentle as possible with thewoman. her fingers gently assessed the injury, cleaning it andcovering it so that it wouldn’t get infected somehow. this had becomeroutine to her and she recalled her training as she did so; puttingher focus onto the injury as much as possible, she found it hard tolook arcadia in the eye. there was pain there, loss, and it remindedher too much of herself.

             “there,” she said whenshe was finished, setting her supplies down and brushing the bandagefree from any imaginary dust on it. “keep it on for the night so itdoesn’t get infected. i can check on it again tomorrow if you’dlike.” she paused, occupying her eyes with putting her suppliesaway. “you okay?”

[arcadiaxfrost-blog]

The girl saying she had seen worse didn’t make Arcadia feel any better, and why would it? That just reminded her of how many others have it worse than her, and yet she’s here feeling sorry for herself and using up valuable supplies. She remained silent until the girl finished bandaging her up and started putting her supplies away. “Thank you.” She brought her hands together on top of the table, making sure she didn’t run her arm through the blood that was still on the wooden surface, and she rubbed her thumb idly over the thick bandage. She said nothing in response to the girl, but it’d make sense for her to check on the wound the next day. She figured it wouldn’t get infected, but it might end up being deep enough to warrant a stitch or two. 

At the question, Arcadia hesitated, her eyes flickering up at the blonde before ending up back at her finger. “I...I’ve just been thinking is all. It’s nothing important,” she dismissed with a small shrug. 

[forlornsurvivors-deactivated201]

          “yeah, nurse,” sarahreplied, holding her hands out so she could gently take arcadia’s andcheck the cut out. it’d been a long time since she’d referred toherself as such, and it still felt a little foreign to her – thetitle brought back many memories, ones that had been so far buried inher mind that they were like words she’d once read on paper. “youshould be more careful, something like this could’ve gotten seriouspretty fast.” she stepped away for a second to grab more supplies,and when she returned she started cleaning the wound. “how’d ithappen?”

[arcadiaxfrost-blog]

Arcadia let the blonde take her hand and examine it. It was her job, and Arcadia knew she needed the care. She was angry at herself for letting her mind slip away enough for her to become injured by her own hand, but the indifference she was feeling overpowered her anger. She nodded her head, moving her hand back to a comfortable position as the girl rose and left the table. Her eyes now found her chunk of wood. It was nothing more than a blob, and her gaze fell from it to the table. 

After the girl returned, Arcadia gave her back her hand and watched as she worked to sanitize the cut. A few hisses of pain escaped her in-between her words, but it didn’t disrupt the conversation. “I was working on that piece of wood and my hand slipped. Better my finger than my palm, I suppose.” 

[forlornsurvivors-deactivated201]

                sarah was considered anasset in terms of her medical ability, but that was the gist of it;she was timid, she was gentle, and although that worked when apatient was stressed and needed calming, other times it gave theimpression that she was doing nothing. the woman carried around adull pencil and a notebook in which she spent her time sketchingsmall things among the lines. the pages were slowly getting more andmore filled over time. she drew what she knew, and what sheremembered; a beach touched softly by the sun, a guitar on a stand,waiting to be played, a puppy asleep in his bed. things that shecould hold onto when she felt like she was completely alone.

               the exclamation had herlooking up instinctively. she slipped the pencil between the spiralsof the notebook and shut it, opening her bag to grab a clean cloth asshe made her way over to the other woman. she, like many others, wasa bit of a stranger ( sarah hadn’t gotten to know everyone, shehadn’t a connection at all ) but she didn’t hesitate to sit down infront of her. “are you hurt?”

[arcadiaxfrost-blog]

Instead of doing anything about her cut, Arcadia simply sat there and stared at the blood running down her finger and palm. A few drops had already fell on the table. The cut was deep, that much she could recognize, which meant she needed a member of the medical staff to check it out. She knew quite a bit of first-aid, but this was beyond her expertise. When a blonde stranger came over and sat across from her, Arcadia looked up from her blood to look at her. “Yeah. I cut my finger,” she responded. She was still a bit zoned out mentally, and her eyes couldn’t completely focus, but she thought she saw a cloth in the girl’s hand. “Are you part of the medical staff?” With so many new people coming around and her recent distance from everyone else, she didn’t know where the newbies ended up. She had only met the scouts.

[reginaholbrook-deactivated20160]

Sometimes Regina almost went the entire day without speaking to anyone. It wasn’t intentional and she was usually unaware of it, simply getting lost in her introspection and forgetting to come up for air. Today she’d been on lookout, alone, for most of the morning, only giving a polite nod to the person who came to take over when her shift was up. It wasn’t until dinner hours later when someone asked if the spot next to her was taken that she finally spoke; they’d had to ask twice to get her attention and her politeness was unconsciously amped up as compensation. “Please, sit. I don’t mind at all.”

[arcadiaxfrost-blog]

Scouting felt rather useless now since finding the ship, but its discovery was a large beacon of hope for people like Arcadia. After scouring the same areas for months and finding nothing, the ship showed that there was still plenty to be found out in the wasteland that Norway had become. But it also showed that if they wanted to find supplies, they’d have to travel for a long time before coming upon anything worth taking. She and three others had been the group to find the ship, and their 16-hour trek there had ended quite nicely. Not all long trips would end so well, however. Arcadia knew that. She was prepared for disappointment, but, for now, she was satisfied with what they had done. Once the ship was empty, then they could worry once more.

After getting different foods from the ship, dinners would have a little more variety than they had before, although Arcadia wasn’t sure how long that’d last. She assumed most of the food they found were either in cans or were similar to what people in the military ate. Dried foods in bags and the like. She had never been a picky eater, thankfully. As she looked for a place to sit down, she found the area to be rather full but found a spot by a woman named Regina. Walking over, Arcadia felt a pang of nervousness. She didn’t know Regina well, but they weren’t strangers. They just were in different age groups and their jobs were different. Circumstances had kept them from interacting, but now it seemed they were making them interact now. After asking if she could sit, she only felt worse after not being heard the first time. She asked again, this time deciding that if she wasn’t heard again, she’d just walk away, but Regina accepted her offer and so Arcadia sat. She knew very little of what the older woman was like, but she had seemed polite during their previous interactions. “Thanks. The tables usually aren’t this full. I think the idea of new food for the cooks has gotten everyone excited for meals now.”

[arcadiaxfrost-blog]

Whittling wood was something Arcadia had never taken the time to get good at, and yet it was what she had decided to do to help pass the time. The resources they had taken from the frozen ship had been inventoried and put away. There wasn’t much else to do. There wasn’t a need for her to go out scouting now, although she was still very much planning on going out regularly. She needed the fresh air, no matter how bone chilling it was, otherwise she’d go insane. Even so, the trips wouldn’t be as urgent and would most likely just be plain boring. The area around the camp had been wiped clean long ago, so there was almost nothing left to find. They had enough fuel to not worry so much about getting wood either, which was partly why Arcadia felt no guilt in her recreational use of a chunk of it. 

With one of her small knives, she worked at the piece quietly. Right now, it was nothing more than a rough sphere, but in time it’d turn into something wonderful...probably. Arcadia didn’t have much experience with this, but the movements were repetitive and calming, so it was what she wanted to do. As she whittled away, her mind began to wander back to the nightmares that had plagued her thoughts and dreams as of late. Cameron buried in the snow, her mother buried in the snow, and their grotesque faces staring at her. The cold and snow had preserved them in a state between life and death, and their rotted eyes followed her whichever way she moved. She shoved the images away, attempting to replace them with something a little less horrible, but her thoughts remained dark as she began to move the knife with an uncharacteristic lack of precision. Her focus was not on what she was doing, and one wrong move caused the blade to dig deep into her index finger. Automatically, she exclaimed, “Ow,” and looked at it; blood was already coming out of the small cut. “Fuck,” she whispered under her breath as she set the knife and wood down on the table. 

[sbellamy-blog1]

I haven’t seen sky so clear in a very long time.”, Sebastian said, his voice low not to startle the girl by the window, “I missed the moon. Without it, everything is so dark, all the time.”

He approached her out of strange combination of boredom and curiosity. Everyone else had already fallen into conversation with someone else, talking about the supplies, or they had literally fallen asleep. But Seb couldn’t spend another minute talking about what they had found, or what it would be like on their way back. He just hoped there wouldn’t be as much win. Maybe the clouds stay away for another day - the sun would be a nice change. 

Hands in his pockets he stood casually at her side and allowed himself to observe the night sky through the small window, “That’s definitely Mars. It’s beautiful.”, snapping from his thoughtful state he turned to offer her a hand, “I’m Sebastian, I don’t believe we’ve met.”

[arcadiaxfrost-blog]

The soft voice caused Arcadia to turn her head towards the source, her eyes landing on a striking man standing above her. She nodded with a gentle smile and looked him over slightly. She had seen him around but had never tried to make conversation with him. Her mood lately hadn’t been the best, but with finding the ship and bringing the group to it, it had lightened enough to let her have conversation with others.

“It’s cool,” she began, “The day we have a clear sky, we can also see another planet.” A thought popped into her mind about NASA. She didn’t think often of America and what had happened over there when the Big Freeze happened, but she wondered occasionally how the government fared or if there was still one there at all. They were only passing thoughts. If America was still functioning, they would have come to Europe by now. If NASA still existed, it wouldn’t affect people the same way it had in the past. But she figured no country still had a government.

She raised her hand to grasp Sebastian’s and gave it a firm shake. “I’m Arcadia.”

[lorcansalamanders-blog-deactiva]

Emma hated the cold.  That was why she’d moved to California in the first place, to get away from it all.  Now it was all that there was.  At least she was at a camp with survivors, but she was regretting not paying attention more in school.  She had a lot of regrets, but one of the bigger ones was the fact that she didn’t have a lot of skills that could be applied.  She couldn’t hunt or cook or teach, but hey, Emma could apply make-up if someone found any.  The only other good thing she had going for her was that her dad had taught her how to throw a mean right hook.

At least she wouldn’t go down without a fight.

She sat at the edge of Camp, watching the frozen tundra ahead of her.  “You know, I really hate de color white.”  Emma hissed.  “It’s an awful color.”

[arcadiaxfrost-blog]

A smile developed on her lips as she heard what Emma had said. “Yeah,” she agreed with a nod while also looking out over the area. White used to represent cleanliness, but now it just meant death. “I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I’d kill to see just a little green out here.” Green was what she was comfortable with; it was something she saw every single day of her life, and now it was all gone. Sure, there were still pine needles and some frozen plants, but it just wasn’t the same. She wanted a forest untouched by the freeze, but she could only have that in her dreams.

[just-allisonargent-deactivated2]

Cold fingers pressed to a warm cheek, one that was too warm. It burned, and Mae snapped her fingers back away from the once soft cheek, looking to see it now engulfed in flame. Nothing but green eyes, glaring back at her, accusing her for not doing more. Not helping her better when she got sick. Mae blinked, holding in a scream, and opened her eyes again to the eyes. All their eyes. Blue, green, brown. All of them saying the same thing. 

You survived and we didn’t. 

Blue eyes snapped open, her mouth snapping shut simultaneously, cutting off the whimper of fear that had escaped her lips. Praying no one in her sleeping quarters had heard her, or cared to comment, Maeve laid stiff for several moments, counting the seconds off in her head as her heart rate slowed.

[arcadiaxfrost-blog]

The noises coming from a girl nearby had echoed throughout the quiet cabin. It wouldn’t have woken Arcadia if it weren’t for the fact that she hadn’t been able to sleep. It had been like this a while, but the exhaustion from her trek to and from the grounded ship had helped her slightly; her initial exhaustion had passed, and she once again was left with images of Cameron mummified by the snow he was found in.

She turned on her side and watched the girl nearby as the noises continued, but her eyes soon flashed open, causing Arcadia’s own eyes to divert their gaze in case Mae looked over. Whatever she had dreamed around, Arcadia was sure it wasn’t pleasant. Dreams never were anymore.

It was a few long moments later that Arcadia decided to say something. She didn’t know if the girl would want to be left alone, want a distract, or want to talk about it. Everyone was different, and it depended heavily on what the dream was actually about. “Did you have a nightmare?” she whispered, her eyes once again back on the girl.

[arcadiaxfrost-blog]

It had been a long day of walking, but the group had finally settled at the place they would call their shelter for the night. With all of their supplies, there wasn’t too much room left for people, but they would make do. Arcadia had settled in at a small corner right by a window. It wasn’t large, but it helped her relax. With all the excitement of the ship and the worried thoughts of the injured, she needed this time to empty her mind and just exist. Her focus was on the stars above, and one of them shone brighter than the rest, but it wasn’t a typical star. No, this one was orange. Was that...Mars? “Huh,” she breathed, a small smile pulling at her lips. She continued on out loud, although she was speaking mostly to herself, “I’m pretty sure that’s Mars.”

[oliviaxalbright-deactivated2016]

Olivia shook her head, waving off the mishap. “No worries. That actually sounds exactly like something that would happen to me,” So focused on a task that she couldn’t see the forest through the trees. Rolling her eyes at the grumbling, Olivia offered her hand. “Anyway. I’m Libba. I’m sort of new here, I guess, so I don’t think we’ve met? And if we have, I’m really sorry. I’ve been kind of out of it so remembering faces has been hard.”

[arcadiaxfrost-blog]

It was a relief to have at least one person in this room dismiss her mistake. God, she would just stay in her own cabin next time she got up this early. There was no point in wandering around. At the offer of her hand, Arcadia took it and gave a firm shake. “I don’t think we have. I’m Arcadia.” Libba was a cute name, but she didn’t say so. She had embarrassed herself enough this morning. “It takes a while to adjust, but you’ll remember everyone soon enough.”

[oliviaxalbright-deactivated2016]

Olivia jumped, eyes opening wide, as a clatter rang through the cabin. Wood on wood. Her heart pounding, adrenaline sent her scrambling to her feet. But it wasn’t long before she realized that there was no threat – it was just a toppled chair and an apologetic woman. “Shit,” she said on a laugh, a hand to her chest. She had been so deep into her meditation that the sudden jolt had sent her racing and stuttering to catch up.

Moving closer to the woman, Olivia looked her over. “Are you okay? You didn’t hurt yourself did you?” Leaning over, she righted the chair and set it back into place. With a grin, Libba commented, “Hope everyone was ready to wake up.”

[arcadiaxfrost-blog]

There was a tinge of pink developing on her cheeks as she smiled at the girl’s laugh. At least she wasn’t completely freaked out by her embarrassing stunt. “Sorry,” she offered with a light shrug of her shoulders. “I was trying to be quiet so I wouldn’t disturb you, and I just kind of completely failed. Sorry.” Now she felt pretty bad because not only had she taken the blonde out of her serene state, she had woken up everyone else that was in the cabin as well. And they would all be on high alert now because they had woken up in a horrible way. “Sorry,” she echoed, looking around at all the annoyed and tired faces that were now on her.