House of Emblem: Freefall

It's Cold Outside, Now Why Can't I Change?

White Lilies
-Jinsik-
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27th of February;
Sovereign Year 1143

Jinsik takes another breath in, icy air stinging at the back of his throat.

They're huddled together, all nine pressed shoulder to shoulder with woolen cloaks pulled as tightly as possibly, blankets sparse between them to fend off the cold. Three days it'd been, a trip he'd been cautiously against since the beginning, the nine of them set off to trek alone through the fresh winter snow–no guards, no supervisors, just the three eldest of them at twenty winters given as much authority as Prince Park Sunghoon himself, the one who'd brought up the idea.

"It's less of a hassle this way." He'd proposed, all of them gathered in the throne room at the break of dawn, personal belongings paired down to their minimum to make the hike easier, "We'd be forcing the guard to make the trek back and risking their wellbeing in the long run."

Four days. The trip would take four whole, hellish days. Prince Sunghoon had said if they couldn't survive four days in the snow that the Officer's Academy would be the death of them within the month.

Jinsik hadn't felt the same.

"We're going to end up like the kids in that one book; stranded in the snow and killing each other for meat." He'd said, half joking with a stiff smile as he handed off another stack of arrows to be packed away in a crate that two of them would carry that'd hold anything that benefited all of them. They'd agreed to switch around but Jinsik's been one of little faith lately, deciding that if anyone was going to have to be saddled with carrying it the whole way, he'd do it just to make it easier.

"Lady of the Maggots? Oh, come on now," One of the older students had said when handed the stack, a soft chuckle accompanying it, "You have to have a little more faith in your elders. We won't let anything happen to you." Choi Beomgyu, a commoner–Jinsik remembers thinking, watching shaggy, soft brown hair fall into the other's kind eyes–let into the court because he happened to be good friends with two of the lords. They'd never talked before then–opposite sides of the round table and all–but he remembers no harsh looks, no mean spirited words.

Just someone who looked frailer than Jinsik, played tricks on Lord Heeseung, and never shied away from advocating for those less fortunate in the capital. A kind soul. Someone Jinsik didn't think twice about trusting.

"Plus," Beomgyu had said, latching the trunk closed before he'd picked it up to check its weight, dropping it to the ground with a heavy thud, "everyone knows humans don't taste right. Prions are too big of a risk to take."

It hadn't taken away Jinsik's trust completely but it was... one of the weirdest ways the older could've made him feel better about the whole ordeal. If he leans a little forwards and towards his left he can see that same head of shaggy hair at the farthest point, keeping them pushed in from the edge, a blanket shared between him and one their youngest of the year–far taller than all of them but just as frail.

They're all pink nosed, staring at the dying fire in silence, far too tired to speak but too wired to sleep. Wildlife poses less of a threat now that the snow's thick enough but it's still there; human threats are what Jinsik fears the most however–fears the low burning fire makes them too seen, too easily found against the blank, white background of snow.

Variables. Too many of them, keeps him on edge as he bites at his nail-

"We should take shifts." Prince Sunghoon says from Jinsik's right and breaks him from his spiraling, hand pulled from his cloak to poke at the embers with a broken arrow, "We'll need what rest we can get before dawn if we want to be timely." A chorus of hums meets his proposition, everyone not too keen on sleeping out in the open, but less happy about walking on no sleep, most of them still refusing to open their mouths in fear of being heard.