DEATH MARCH / o, joining

[COLT MADISON.]

[align=center][div style="width: 370px; text-align: justify; font-family: arial; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.4; color: black;"]— colt liked to think that he was tougher than most people. was it true? maybe. one thing he wasn't tougher than, however, was a blizzard.

"fuck!" he snarled, his icy breaths whisked away in the howling wind. the snow fell in massive clumps, coming down so fast and heavy that he could barely see his hands if he held them up in front of him. hail sliced at his exposed skin as it fell like thousands of tiny knives, the stinging pain only exacerbated by the subzero temperatures. he was wearing three coats, all of which had been soaked through. each step up the mountain was a struggle, his feet sinking deep into the foot or so of ground snow.

it was nearing sunset. teeth chattering uncontrollably, colt took his hands out of his pockets to lift him to his face; his fingertips were purple. his thoughts were nothing but a string of swear words. maybe it was stupid to take the trip on his own. would he ever dream of admitting that to the ringleader? no- the day he admitted that bastard was right was the day he died. and that day would not be today.

"screw this! i am NOT d-dying out here!" he would yell, his voice lost in the gale storm. his whole body was starting to feel tingly, each step more of a stumble than the last. he nearly smacked face-first into the side of the lodge; putting his hands on the wooden wall, he finally realized what it was - shelter. gritting his teeth, colt dragged himself along the lodge before he reached a door - locked. naturally, he started banging on it as hard as he could with his shoulder. "oi! l-let me in, or else! i-i'm... gonna..." the cold was too much. colt's eyes rolled back, and he passed out - right there on the door.

[RICHARD.]

[align=center][div style="width: 350px; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.4; color: #6B6953;"]winter in flintlock was definitely something to get use to. the snow and winds mixed together could be brutal, which was still something seb was gaining experience with. winters back home could be bitter, but they were nothing like this. with not being able to see barely five inches in front of you, most of the lodgers had been inside their homes taking shelter from the harsh conditions outside. seb, like he did during most of his free-time, was in the living room of the lodge settled down on one of the couches, his legs propped up on the coffee table as he flipped through one of his many comic books. he was about to let out a content sigh when-

bang! bang! bang!

hearing the door of the lodge being pushed against made seb's attention get pulled away from his comic book, his eyebrows furrowing together as he set it aside and made his way to the door. after unlocking it, he made an attempt to push it open, only for something to be blocking his way. assuming it was just the snow building up outside from the blizzard, he continued to try pushing it open, this time throwing a lot of his weight into the door through his shoulder. he heard a thud outside as the door finally pushed open, and his mouth dropped once he saw the body that was now laying on the ground. "oh-" he stood there frozen for a second. "oh shit..." this was not good. was he dead? oh god, seb hoped this guy wasn't dead.

finally able to bust out of his small trance, he was quick to reach down and grab the guy from under his shoulders, pulling him into the lodge before slamming the door back shut. "hey! we need some help down here, a medic or something! this guy is... unconscious?" he didn't want to say dead, but seb has seen a few dead bodies in his day (hell, he was even close to death himself almost a year ago now), and this guy looked the part. how long had he been out in that storm for? seb managed to get the newcomer to the couch, carefully laying him on it as he did his best to think of what to do - he never really was good in situations like this.

[EDMUND.]

[align=center][div style="width: 430px; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana; font-size: 6pt; letter-spacing: 2.5px; word-spacing: 0px; line-height: 12px; color: #000"]Most of the lodge had settled for dinner time, one of the few moments in the day where there wasn’t a watchful eye over the near vicinity of their sanctuary. People were beginning to return from the canteen with full stomachs, ready to make themselves comfortable for the night ahead. Eddie was no exception, adding logs to the already roaring fire in the lounge to prolong its liveliness as he prepared for a cold evening ahead. The winter was now in full force and that came with an icy chill enough to kill any unprepared traveller in these parts. It was certainly no place for someone to travel to — that was unless they had no choice but to seek refuge in the lodge.

Eddie nearly flinched at the sound of banging, the sharp sounds sounding hostile to the paranoid ear, as Ed quickly lifted his head to look towards the front entrance. Muffled shouts alerted him to someone outside, Ed quickly standing up and glancing towards Seb as he rushed towards the front door. God, the poor man was so naive — what if the person on the other side of the door was a threat? Seb would go to open the door willingly to the threat, seemingly unarmed and just asking for an injury or two. Especially for Max’s sake, Ed would do everything in his power to keep her family safe; after all, it was a promise he made all those years ago, and he didn’t plan on breaking it any time soon.

Eddie followed Seb to the front door and, as Seb went to unlock and open the door, Eddie exclaimed firmly, ❝ Seb— ❞ But, his attempt to halt Seb in his tracks was futile, Eddie opening his mouth a moment too late as Seb swung the door open. Fortunately, Seb had indeed been right in doing so; Ed could curse his mind for conjuring the most pessimistic of thoughts. Ed stood in the entrance, brows knitting together with surprise as Seb began to retrieve an unconscious man from the front porch. ❝ Shit. ❞ Ed whispered, then jabbing his finger towards the lounge. ❝ Get him into the warmth. ❞ As Seb began to move him, Eddie spoke into his walkie talkie for medical assistance before he went to help Seb, hauling the man onto the couch before leaning over and attempting to take a pulse.

Lips parted in concentration, his breath hitching at the back of his throat, before he murmured to Seb, ❝ He’s alive, barely. ❞ He pointed out, then straightening up to look around for blankets. From his years in Flintlock Lodge, Eddie had become proficient in helping hypothermic newcomers, and understandably so. He had to if he wanted them to have a chance at survival.

[COLT MADISON.]

[align=center][div style="width: 370px; text-align: justify; font-family: arial; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.4; color: black;"]— a voice, just barely audible. colt groaned, his face twitching. his mind was swimming; he felt so warm... or did he just feel numb? he couldn't tell. the voices were louder now, and there was two of them. who was that? neither of them sounded like the ringmaster - or any of the other mercs, for that matter. he could feel something placed over his body - something warm.

colt's eyes fluttered halfway open, and he blinked up at edmund and sebastian. he scowled, trying to scoot away from them but failing. "w-what the hell are you doing to me? this isn't funny," he slurred, "don't mess with me-" he was interrupted by a fit of coughing, his breath wheezing, before he faded back into partial unconsciousness.

[EDMUND.]

[align=center][div style="width: 430px; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana; font-size: 6pt; letter-spacing: 2.5px; word-spacing: 0px; line-height: 12px; color: #000"]A quiet mumble alerted Edmund, the Captain twisting his head with a frown as he looked down at the man on the couch slowly coming to once more. His slurs were feeble, Eddie watching warily before he uttered, ❝ Hey. Hey. You’re fine. We brought you in from the cold. ❞ He recoiled at the man’s spluttering cough, before glancing back to Seb when the man fell back into partial unconsciousness.

❝ Get him a change of dry, warm clothing. Go. ❞ Ordered Eddie, before he looked back to the man to give him a firm nudge at the shoulder. ❝ Right, wake up for me. Not havin’ another person die from the cold around here. ❞ He grumbled, words subtly laced with worry, ❝ My name’s Eddie. You’re safe now. ❞