Archer probably has a lot of pet peeves, actually? He just strikes me as the guy who gets annoyed by like, every little thing.
BUT to choose the thing that probably bothers him the most... I’d say being late, at anything. Completing something, showing up for something, it just really annoys him. He has a whole thing about punctuality and he kind of expects everyone else to be just like him in that regard.
He can barely tolerate it happening once, but if a habit is made of it, then he will let you know. He will chastise you.
Sure, it had been Red’s idea to camp out together for the night, but, well-–credit where credit was due. The fact that it turned into a blanket fort of epic proportions was entirely Lucille’s doing. Red had been content to roll out his sleeping bag and let that be the end of it, but Lucille refused to let the fun of the day end that easily.
It had begun when she’d spotted two trees standing close to one another and the thick branch stretching between them. With some rocks to weigh down the edges and a little help from the somewhat taller Red, Lucille had draped her own blanket overtop the branch to make a tent of sort.
But that wasn’t nearly enough. Oh no. Soon enough her pillow, and Red’s, and his sleeping bag, too-–all they had became nothing more than potential materials for the fort.
And when they finally finished, climbed inside, and lit the place up, Red had to admit: it was nice. Cozy. Crouched down inside with their meager light flickering, the rest of the world seemed irrelevant. Even nonexistent. It was a magical feeling.
Of course, a problem soon arose: it was cold. Literally freezing, in fact. They couldn’t light a fire without setting their lovely fort alight, and they’d run out of blankets long, long ago. Red noticed Lucille shivering–-her chattering teeth breaking up the constant flow of her voice-–before he noticed the cold himself.
Red wanted to shift closer, to offer her some of his own warmth, just for practicality’s sake. But then, he didn’t want to invade her space, and he didn’t want her to get the wrong idea. Red hesitated.
Before he could move, though, Lucille had scooted in closer and pressed her shoulder up against his without a comment. She just kept on talking, like it was the most natural thing in the world.
That was all the invitation Red needed. He curled in closer, doing his best to cover her small frame with his own limbs.
Maybe they’d have to take down part of the fort down eventually, just so they had enough blanket between them to avoid shivering through the night. But for now, Red was content to let simple touch be their only source of warmth.
it was cold, but Red had felt far colder. Lived in far colder, in fact. Even with only the short sleeves of his jacket to protect him, he wasn’t too bothered by the chill. It was familiar. Almost comforting, in a way.
Red knew that was a dangerous feeling. That wasn’t why he’d come here, he tried to remind himself. He didn’t want to isolate himself up on some freezing mountain again (or in some freezing cave, for that matter). That was the last thing he wanted.
And yet...
It was hard: all of it. It seemed like this had all been easier, somehow, when he was younger: traveling to new places, meeting new people, finding new connections...all of it. Of course, a lot of that was probably some combination of nostalgia and his present anxiousness, but that didn’t change the fact that he was alone in an unfamiliar region.
