loihtija | Matkalla...

The snow comes down grey and wet around the train station when Grey boarded in Tallinn. There are barely any other passengers in the armoured train, people who can't afford an airline ticket and some backpackers. He belongs to the latter category, looking threadbare and tired, worn around the edges. He had to visit a man in Russia and it's practically impossible to cross the border these days. He did it by foot and bicycled some of the distance. Now he's on his way back to London. The only train leaving the station for the next three days had been going to Poland, so he took it. Anything to put some distance between himself and the North.

There's only one passenger in the cart with him. He decides to take a seat several rows behind the man and stretches himself on the empty seats, almost immediately falling asleep.

When he wakes up several hours later, the world outside has gone dark but he can make out the shadows of trees against the night sky. What woke him up, though? He listens quietly, and for a moment nothing seems out of place. The train keeps a steady sound of clonk clonk on the rails and nothing else. Then he hears it again. A screeching sound that seems to come beneath the cart.

He's on his feet immediately and pacing up and down the cart, looking for the source of the sound.

"Hey, you," he calls to the other passenger, opting to use Russian because it seems the most likely language that someone in a Baltic train might understand. "How long has this been going on?"

A train to Poland was not where he expected his urges to send him but here he was with his feet up on the chair in front of him and his knit cap pulled low almost over his eyes to block out some of the light. It has been a really quiet ride so far, nothing unusual. Even the guy who got on at a stop didn't seem that weird. No one was really normal these days but he didn't feel threatening to Declan's senses so he ignored him and let the scenery roll by.

The screeching knocked him out of his meditative state and whatever vision his powers tried to show him vanished from his memory. Declan rubbed at his eyes and muttered a few curses under his breath. It was hard to maintain things these days but it'd be really nice if the trail tracks had more oil on them or something to make them run silently.

He rubs a hand over his face when the other passenger started pacing around. "I don't know what you're saying." Declan knew a handful of languages but whatever this guy was saying didn't register. "Try English if you can. Or French. I'm good with French."

Declan let his feet drop to the floor and stretches his arms over his head. If there was danger he was certain his powers would tell him. Right now, he didn't feel anything worrying. He focuses on the guy in the car with him, trying to get a sense for him instead.

Grey had bundled up his coat under his head and now he was wearing simply a threadbare sweater, jeans and a knitted hat on his head, dirty blond hair spilling out from under it, steel capped boots banging against the carpeted floor. Under his eyes were dark bags and the impressive brow above his eyes was furrowing with obvious displeasure.

He didn't like anything out of the ordinary in a place like this. It was never good. It was never anything pleasant.

He paused, glanced at the other bloke and nodded, satisfied. "English." He sounded very British. More British than the British, maybe. He had learned to try a little too hard to drown out his native accent. Hilariously, it wasn't the typical London slang either, but very posh and polished. "I asked how long has this noise been happening?"

Perhaps it was peculiar to get so worked up about something so simple as a loud noise. But he actually crouched down and tilted his ear towards the floor, waiting for the next screech.

Declan sat forward, arms folded on the backs of the seat in front of him, and rested his chin on his arms. "You're going to regret doing that," he said with mild interest. "It's been going on for a few minutes. I'm pretty sure it's just a section of bad track."

Still, this guy's insistence nagged at him a little. He opened his senses a little bit, waiting for whispers of danger or some sort of warning but he didn't feel anything besides the general wariness of the time. Everything was dangerous so unless there was a big threat his powers didn't flare up strongly.

"Unless you know something else?" Declan hadn't traveled this part of the world before. He didn't know what sort of dangers there were, maybe this guy knew something he didn't. Maybe he had his own powers to know something else was going on.

With a simple grunt as a reply, Grey quieted until the next scream sounded through the floor. It sounded like something was grinding between the rails and the train. Which was not good. Everyone knew you didn't put shit on the train rails. But it kind of seemed like someone had done exactly that and Grey couldn't think of any reason why that would have been positive thing.

The stranger was right though, he did regret doing that, wincing as the sound seemed to pierce through his eardrums and got back up, eyeing the train cart curiously, checking the windows and doors.

"Maybe it's nothing," he said, shrugging his shoulders but he still seemed tense, the trepidation that seemed to ride hard on his gaze didn't pass. Instead of sitting down, he crossed the cart to a window and pushed it open, cold, smoke scented air invading the cart. The screeching was more distinct outside and he stuck his head out to get a better look of the scenery and the train ahead of them.

When the guy opened the window to check some more, Declan really started to wonder if something was going on and his powers weren't picking up on it. Opening them wider invited dangers though. Things out there could pick up on that and come to find Declan. It was never good to invite things in like that. He sat up a little straighter and fingered the bracelet of lapis beads on his wrist that he wore to open his mind a little bit more but he didn't yet reach out with his extra senses.

"Do you see anything out there?" he asked, standing up with one hand braced on the back of the seat. The swaying of the train felt normal but with the window open the screeching was louder, more intense to his ears. He got a sense of why the guy might be worried. Or he was picking up on the guy's worry through his powers. He wasn't usually that open to people. He knew how to cut down the psychic noise of the world around him.

Declan certainly couldn't see anything through the windows of the train.

"You're not sensitive to certain things, are you?" Had he run across another psychic? It wouldn't be the first time. Maybe because this guy had a sense for something Declan's powers didn't feel the need to warn him? This was the trouble with his abilities. He could twist and turn thoughts around in his head never totally sure what was his gift and what was just... normal.

These trains can get to incredible speeds, which thankfully isn't the case here. They were going a lot slower than the top speed that could be achieved on clean tracks. Grey pulled his head back and was about to answer those questions when the train shook from side to side like a some outside force had given it a good push.

He tried to grab a seat for support but was still thrown over as the cart groaned and rattled, metal bending out of shape as part of the train wheels got shoved off of the tracks, both doors to the compartment started to open but only managed to peel open merely quarter of the way and stuck that way. The automatic breaks kicked in then, speed slowing considerably but that also increased the velocity that the cart already had away from the tracks. Metal screamed as more wheels popped off the tracks.

Grey was struggling up, grabbing his coat and backpack. "We got to get out of here," he said simply before pulling out a gun from his jacket pocket and loaded a round in the barrel. By the time he was ready to shoot a bang could be heard from one of the doors leading to the compartment, a hand and a shoulder extending from the crack in the doorway, a man trying to push through. He didn't say anything, just growled with his lips pulled back from snarling teeth. At the same time the tree line stepped away outside and the scenery opened to a moonlit fields.

"There's a river coming up, get ready to jump," Grey said as the cart shook again and he trained the gun towards the open window, ignoring the man at the door way as he shot the glass twice, shattering it completely.

It was like a camera flash went off in Declan's face. The train vanished from his vision, instead it was a confusing tumble of images and sensations. There was the rush of water, mud under his fingers, and a painful cold in his feet. The very obvious vision was gone in a second just in time for Declan to get thrown to the floor of the train, his shoulder connecting painfully with the floor.

"Son of a bitch," he muttered under his breath and he scrambled around until he found his backpack. Even with the ache in his shoulder he put it on and got up on his feet. It was almost impossible to stay on his feet as various forces - the train slowing down, the car flying away - competed to knock his feet out from underneath him.

He was halfway down the aisle when what was definitely not a man tried to get into the car. Declan saw the face behind the snarl, the demon that possessed the man. It was ugly and it was hungry and it was after them.

Now his powers kicked on full blast. Declan waved a hand at the door and it slammed closed full force against the possessed man trying to get through. It was enough to temporarily startle the man who jerked back. Then the snarl turned into a very pleased grin. He looked at Declan like he was a particularly tasty snack.

"Well, fuck me." He probably shouldn't have done that but regrets wouldn't do him any good right now. Declan moved to the big guy's side and leaned out the window, watching as the river drew closer and closer. When it was close he threw himself out the window with as much force as he could.

At least he could guess what the rushing water sensation was going to come from.

Grey saw the away the door slammed close on the demon's face but he didn't have time to wonder about the powers that had done that. He was busy clearing the window sill from th shards so they could use it as a leverage to jump off the moving train.

Wind was beating in from the open window and he had to yell when he pointed to the closer shoreline. "That side." It would take a moment to struggle out of the current and swim to shore with all clothes on but they could rendezvous later. He let the other jump first and followed soon after, gun tucked into a holster this time, muttering a prayer to his gods on his way down.

The water was cold and the impact robbed the air out of his lungs. He threaded the water for a moment after resurfacing after the plunge, watching the train screech past the river. The tail end of it was completely derailed and tilted to the side, it bounced off of the bridge and hung on only to tip over and crash against the shore and then sunk into the river with a great splash. The sound of more of the train crashing into the treeline beyond the bridge was deafening.

Grey cursed as the wave from the sinking train car reached him and threw him under the surface for a moment. it was pitch black and he could hear his heart bounding as his legs kicked frantically to get him back up. Lungs burning, when he finally surfaced, he drew in a breath and with the exhale let out a spell, a prayer really, a plea to carry him to the shore. His magic worked in subtle ways. In ways where the current let go of him easily, how the next wave propelled him towards the shore, nothing flashy but very effective. Still, swimming with all gear on was hard. He still kept an eye out for the other guy, scanning the river to find him. He'd have to go for another spell if he couldn't spot a head on top of the waves.

It was disorienting. There was the cold and then the rush of water over his head. It overwhelmed Declan. For a moment he had no idea what to do. Luckily, the reptilian part of his brain kicked in and he started to swim. There was some stupid thought in his head about following bubbles up and he tried to figure that out and somehow he made it up to the surface and sucked in air for a blissful second.

Then was wave crashed over him and he was back under. He was a good swimmer and had plenty of practice. It didn't help that he had his backpack pulling him down to the water. He kicked against the drag and finally made it up and stayed above the surface for a minute.

He didn't know where to go. Swimming had turned him around. He twisted and turned in the water listening to the sounds of the train crashing. The second wave to hit him was the sudden loss of life. It was muted, dulled with his distance from the train but it still felt like someone shoved ice into his brain directly. It wasn't the first time which was a horrible blessing because he could easily brush it off.

Tired of treading water he started swimming towards a bank. He trusted his powers would guide him to the right bank where the other guy was waiting. It was so fucking dark that it was hard to see. Usually his powers were spot on in helping him. Declan just had to trust.

Somehow he made it onto the shore and hauled himself up. He coughed up a little bit of water and flopped down. He just wanted a minute to catch his breath. Just a minute.

Grey spotted him eventually. It took a long time to find the head that was barely keeping on top of the waves. But he did and he redirected his own route towards land so it wouldn't take forever to find the other guy once they had both found land. It was cold and it was tiring, the whole business of swimming fully clothed in freezing cold water was definitely one of the worst feelings he had had in his life. But in the end it was survivable.

He didn't stay to catch his breath when he managed to drag himself on the shore where ice was starting to form on the rocks that stuck out from black water. Instead he kept going, now jogging, trying to keep his body temperature up. He'd rush out of the bushes where the stranger had found shore and unceremoniously grab his arm to drag it over his own shoulder, then up they both went.

"Have to keep moving," was all he said before he was pulling them through the thick willow bushes that grew on the shore. They'd have to keep going until they were in relatively safe distance and then they'd have to get warm somehow. Or they'd both freeze to death.

His body protested moving but he didn't have much of a choice as the other man dragged him up to his feet and forced him to start running. Well, it was more of an awkward jog but Declan managed to get his numb feet underneath him and started getting more coordinated.

"I got that," he said between heavy, panting breaths. Declan wasn't out of shape but after swimming through cold water in heavy wet clothes he was not feeling at his peak condition. He kept pushing himself though, the threat of a possible demon on their tail more than enough for him to go even when his body said no, stop you idiot.

This was where he hoped his powers did something passively. A lot of the time they guided him in subtle ways instead of blaring warnings or flashes of visions like he got on the train. Sometimes if he started in one direction he just ended up where he needed to be. Declan was hoping, quietly, that they were doing that right now as they pushed through the forest. A forest at night was not a good place to be.

It felt like hours before they somehow stumbled across what looked like an old hunting shack. It wasn't in the best condition with some broken windows and a questionable ceiling but Dec grabbed his companion and pulled him towards it. "Come on, it's the best we're going to do."

It was a different thing to be out of shape and first swim half a kilometre in a frozen river and then run through the woods on top of that. But Grey didn't let either of them have any breaks. He'd urge them on as quickly as they could go. He'd need distance, he'd need some time to ward off the demons that would come looking for them.

He was pleasantly surprised when the hunting shack rose practically from the ground and after smelling the air and eyeing the shack for a moment in perfect silence, he allowed himself to be pulled towards it.

"There's a chimney," he said with relief. "We'll be able to heat it up."

The shack was in quite a shameful condition. But the walls would cover them and the chimney seemed clear enough that they could light a fire on the heart. Every piece of furniture in the shack was broken and mice and birds had made it their kingdom, the single mattress in the broken bed was torn to pieces, the curtains in the broken windows shredded. Grey lifted the mattress up and blocked one window with it, then the other one with the bottom of the bed. The night was already dark but their eyes more than used to it by now. The shack ended up pitch black when the windows were blocked. Grey made a satisfied noise at that realisation.

He dropped his backpack in the middle of the room and started to look for anything that would burn, where he could get a spark out of, to lit a fire under the few logs that had been forgotten beside the fireplace.

"Go see if you can find more firewood," he said, teeth already clacking together now that they had stopped and his body was already too tired to produce much heat.

Edited 2017-03-22 10:33 (UTC)

The dark once the window was covered caused Declan to startle physically. Dark where he could kind of see was okay but actual pure blackness unsettled something in him. It was like the primal part of his brain knew that darkness that deep and inky was not good for him. He quickly swung his backpack around, dug in the front pocket and pulled out a lighter. A few flicks and a little flame appeared, pushing back the darkness.

"Here." He brought the lighter over to his new best friend and offered it to him. It was really lucky that it still worked, just like it was really lucky that they found the shack in the first place. It was the little things that meant a lot when it came to his powers. Declan appreciated the little ways it made things better.

Once the lighter was handed off he began to search through the shack. The furniture was the nearest, easiest source of firewood. The pieces near the windows were all a little wet and would be smokey which was bad but towards the middle there was enough that was dry. He grabbed a mostly broken chair and twisted the legs off, then kicked the rails out the backrest. For once, he quietly thanked his parents for making him go camping when he was a kid.

Crouching down in front of the fireplace he scrapped out the debris from animals with his hands and built up the bits of furniture into a decent campfire. "There," he said after a minute. "Light that mouse nest and it'll work for kindling."

Declan had made sure there were no little baby mice in the nest. He was not a murderer.

Grey had sort of hoped that he would step outside to see if he'd find firewood from there, but as it wasn't happening, he just had to make a do like this. The lighter and mouse nest were accepted, the logs of wood already sitting in the heart that he had cleaned out enough that fire couldn't leak out from it. His hands were black with soot and when he rubbed them together after igniting the mouse nest, a heat was created between them. He crouched down and blew between his hands towards the fire, a rhythmical slew of words spilling out between his lips. It was his native tongue, lilting and oddly rhyming. The fire bloomed, expanded, consumed the wood. He threw in several of the furniture legs and they caught in fire too. Within a few minutes, they had a big, warming fire instead of a small starting one.

Grey gave his companion a look beneath his thick brows and stood up, starting to strip his soaking wet clothes.

"I'm going to hide this place in a little bit. If you need to go outside, do it now. Later you won't find your way back in."

He didn't like showing off his magic if he didn't have to, but this was a situation where the need obviously trumped over his dislike of sharing.

Declan raised an eyebrow at him, "Buddy, unless you can hide it from psychic powers you're gonna find I'm a little harder to fool than your basic demonic entity."

He was actually really happy to find out this guy had magic. It wasn't the same elemental magic that his brother was brilliant with but it was magic all the same and around it Declan felt at home and safe. This was one of those moments when he kind of really wished he didn't wander so far from the coven all the time. He would be super safe there if he had stayed.

But, he wasn't exactly being helpful right now but he was still fucking cold and tired. It kicked his sarcasm and grumpiness into overdrive which again, not helpful and kind of dickish. He took a deep breath and blew on his hands then focused.

"I can do a few things to help us too but I'll have to check to see if my chalk and salt survived the swim. I'm also sensitive to those kind of energies. If something's close enough I should pick up on it," he explained, really honestly trying to be helpful instead of just an asshole. "Also, hi, I'm Declan. Thanks for saving my ass."

There was suddenly a lot of talking. Grey paused to look at him while peeling off his threadbare grey sweater. He could tell it was the cold, it was nerves maybe, it was a lot of things that Grey didn't really appreciate but he understood perfectly well.

He didn't disagree about the psychic powers. He didn't know how those would work. He had no idea. All he knew was that he would pour this forest on top of the shack and basically turn it into a Bermuda Triangle of this forest. His people called it covering something with the forest.

"Grey," he replied simply and pointed at his own chest with a trembling finger. He dropped his clothes on top a pile on the floor until he was wearing nothing but his underwear. "Strip." He told Declan while digging into his backpack to find a string, which he hung across the shack from one wall to another.

Then with obvious effort, he paused, looked back at Declan while squeezing water out of his sweater. "You'll get warm quicker. Your clothes dry quicker." He wasn't just getting nude for fun.

"And you're welcome, though, that was you who pulled yourself out of that river." Far be it for Grey to actually admit that he had helped someone just because they had needed it.

There would probably be a lot of talking. Declan didn't do well with silence when there were other people around. Even in these crazy, threatening times, he was still a social guy. In general, he liked people and talked to them. For the first time since the train he really had a chance to get a sense of his new companion.

Grumpy was the general impression that his quick and cursory empathic probe. Not a threat was the other. Grey wasn't going to hurt him but he didn't seem to appreciate Declan's friendly approach. Got it. Serious time, almost like dealing with his older brother only without the familiar affection that came along with Sean's presence.

"Usually a guy buys me a drink first," he drawled but what Grey said made sense. Declan did his best not to stare but... damn. He enjoyed the brief look he did take before he started to deal with his wet clothes.

It went against every instinct to remove layers but Declan gritted his teeth and dealt with it. He pulled his shirt over his head and left it draped over his shoulder before he dealt with his jeans. Wet jeans were absolute misery. He struggled out of them, almost falling over but he managed it. When the string was hung up he carefully put his wet clothes on the line.

The run here had dried things out slightly but not enough. Declan was really tempted to strip out of his wet underwear too but since Grey didn't, he stayed somewhat decent. "I'm going to see what supplies I've got," he said, ignoring the shivering chatter in his voice. "Maybe I've got something to help us warm up."

Declan's mantra right now was: be useful.

They had to get set up. Everything else could come later. Grey was worried that hypothermia would still lurk behind the corner somewhere if they didn't get warm quickly enough. And the fire just wasn't cutting it. His underwear would go too, it was just the last item he pulled off because they were the closest to his skin and still a little warm from the running.

His lips twisted briefly at the joke, but he didn't laugh. There was amusement lingering in his eyes, though, when he gave Declan a curious glance later. He wasn't shy about checking out the psychic, pretty to the point actually. Whether he liked what he saw or not, he kept his opinions to himself.

Finally all clothes set up on the string, he stood carefully in the puddle of water he had squeezed onto the floor and closed his eyes, a deep hum moving through his throat and turning into a sort of monotonous singing, the kind that seemed to need a drum banging on the side, rising and lowering, undulating slowly as he kept lulling himself deeper into the near trance-like state. Flames rouse higher in the fireplace, lengthening the shadows that it cast on the walls, the puddle of water beneath his legs moving like a wind had been creating waves on the surface. Most people wouldn't have noticed any difference. Declan was sensitive, though, and the whole forest was rushing in at them, turning itself inside out to bury this shack in its depths.

Grey blinked his eyes open finally, a little bit of moon lingering in them as he looked around, feeling momentarily lost and disoriented.

"It's still pretty cold," he muttered.

Oh. Hey. They were apparently going completely nude. Cool. Declan just had to sneak one more look because he was curious and his self-control was iffy at best. So the guy that saved him was attractive. Nice. At least he'd enjoy being trapped in this rundown shack if he ever got warm.

Even if he hadn't seen his brief smile, Declan caught his amusement through his empath general sense of the man. In close quarters like this it was impossible for him to completely block out Gray's emotions without also blocking out his sense of any demonic energies or the dead. He didn't want to be without those senses right now so he was being just a little invasive.

He kept a respectful distance as Gray... sang his magic? Declan wasn't sure what he was doing but it was definitely singing and having a magical effect on the fire and the whole building around them. Instinctively Declan drew his psychic shields closer, shut himself off from the unfamiliar magic around him. Just to be safe. He could never predict what his magic would do when it encountered other magics. People could fuck with him without meaning to because he was so different.

"Yeah, I noticed." The shack wasn't holding in the heat the fire made. It slipped through cracks and holes instead of staying in and building up. He rubbed his hands over his mouth for a second, breathing on them to keep his fingers warm. "Got anything wool on you? A blanket? If we can build like a tent around the fire we can huddle in we'll capture more of the heat."

They would have to get real close together for that but Declan didn't know any sort of magic that could keep the heat from escaping. they'd have to rely on good ol' fashion human ingenuity.

Yeah, it was silly as fuck, wasn't it? Singing for magic. Grey had said as much to his mother when he had been learning the craft and she had given him the longest stare of disgust. He still thought it was dumb to sing but he still did when he needed to move more than just his own energies. He'd need to do more later when they wanted to leave the forest. But for now he was done.

His brows arched, mildly confused at first what Declan meant by a tent. It was the after effect of the trance, feeling a little disconnected from everything. But as cold was pushing through his focus, he realised that Declan was right. They'd need to make the space smaller somehow.

"I have a coat," he looked at his wet coat with a sigh. "And a thin blanket." He could maybe string them together to make a tent they could both fit under. Just barely. And they were both soaking wet, but it was better than nothing. They'd really have to get old fashioned with this.

He set to work, fishing out another string of snare from his backpack and the small blanket he used to sleep under when it got cold and bunched both the blanket and his coat into a makeshift tent, then hobbled around to attach those string ends onto the walls as well. It would have to do. After looking at the pathetic looking thing he tucked a bit of the blanket into the pockets of his jacket just to keep the whole thing together somehow. With a sigh, he dived into his backpack once again and pulled out a bottle of whiskey. The rest of his items were not in danger. He packed everything into water tight containers because he often had to get native and camp outside. Rain would soil everything unless he protected it properly.

"That drink you mentioned," he said as he pushed the bottle in Declan's hands, amusement suggested only in the air about him once again. When he crawled inside the "tent" he pulled some of the ends of both the blanket and coat under him and tried his best to make room for Declan.

There wasn't much in Declan's backpack that was salvageable. He hadn't packed thinking that he'd end up in a river. The second hoodie he brought with him was soaked through so he tossed that over the clothes line. Most of his items were packed in zip lock bags which had done a decent job of keeping the water out but a few hadn't. Luckily, his simple magic supplies were still safe meaning he had white chalk and salt. He made sure those were within easy reach just in case something came along.

All he could add to the "tent" was a fleece blanket he had stolen from an airplane but he carefully draped it from the half-fallen mantel over the rest of the contraption they would huddle in. It was better than nothing but it was still a piece of shit. Declan let himself be cold and miserable for half a second because fuck this was bullshit. Then he sucked it up again.

"You know, if this wouldn't make me colder I'd drink." Sadly, he knew that alcohol only created the illusion of warmth, not actual heat. He crawled into the tent, shivering when his cold wet skin made contact with Grey's. Huddling naked with a guy for body heat was a cliche and yet here he was.

Dec tossed a sprinkle of whiskey on the fire, making it jump up and burn hotter. "Alcohol, at least the pure stuff, burns blue and a blue flame is hotter than a red one." He glanced over at Grey. "High school science."

The teacher had been hot and Declan a stupid teenager with a crush trying to impress him. Yeah, he wasn't proud of that now but a few useful things had stuck around.

"Here, I had a few of these in my bag." He held out a granola bar to Grey. "It's not much but..."

"I'll take it," Grey said as he took the whiskey from Declan before he could cork it up again and took a swig from the bottle. Science or not science, he liked the feel of the alcohol burning down his throat. But he was inclined to believe the psychic enough to put the bottle down after the first sip.

The tent was miserable, wet against his back and smelled of sheep. But he could live with it as long as it did at least half of the job and would keep him alive. The quicker they could get rid of the chill the better and he sucked his teeth, the little bit of bitter taste that was left there from the whiskey as he considered the man he had been kind of thrown together with.

Declan was definitely attractive. He had enough spirit to stay on top of the wave even after all this miserable cold, enough humour to joke even now. Grey had nothing complain about his attitude, nothing to complain about pretty much anything because at least his eyes rested easily upon the psychic as the glow of the flames licked his skin, defining muscles and turning his colours gold and rust.

"High school science, huh?" he said and accepted the granola bar. It was full of fibre wasn't it? That was good for body temperature. "Thanks. I'll find us some breakfast tomorrow once our clothes are dry."

He brushed his hair behind his back, loosening a rubber band around his wrist to tie the damp hair back on a bundle and then opened the granola bar, sticking it between his teeth. From the corner of his mouth he murmured: "You know what else they said in school? Shared body heat is great. C'mere." He shuffled around a bit awkwardly until he could press his front against Declan's back leaving as little space between them as possible, then rubbed his hands up and down along Declan's arms, creating warmth out of friction.

"This probably wasn't what you pictured your trip would turn out to be when you stepped into that train."

Declan was about to brush off the whole thanks thing but before he could say a word about it Grey pushed on and Declan was in his lap. Well, sort of in his lap. The bigger man was wrapped around him, ice cold skin to ice cold skin. He sat up straighter, trying to pull away because fuck body heat was not enough against that chill.

Normally, he was all for a big guy wrapped around him. After a little conversation, usually drinking, and flirting. This wasn't about that. This was about survival so he relaxed a little but stayed focused on getting his granola open and stuffing his face instead of the bulk behind him. So, he had a type and it was Grey. That was to be ignored because this was real life and not a porno.

"I didn't picture anything," he said, rubbing his hands together to keep his fingers from getting stiff. "I just got on the train. I was going wherever it was."

Not once did he have any feeling about the train crashing. It was something he should have picked up on. It should have stopped him from getting on but it didn't. He must have been meant to get on the train? Ugh, he hated thinking like this.

"I've had demons come after me before but nothing this big," he explained, frowning at the fire dancing across the logs. "Just trying to possess me. A psychic demon would not be good."

He tilted his head back, trying to get a look at Grey's expression. "Are they after you?"

Yeah, it was really romantic, all this. Just like in the books. Roar of flames and two bodies bumping together. Nah, nope, it really wasn't. But eventually it would get better once heat would start to crawl between them. Grey at least trusted in that. Declan felt ice cold against his front and it worried Grey mildly because he really wouldn't want to spend a night with a corpse.

He was used to cold temperatures. He grew up in the arctic zone and this definitely wasn't his first time ice swimming. But despite the familiarity to the conditions, it never was fun.

He lifted one knee up beside Declan's hip, propped his arm on it, so he could keep the smaller man in a loose hold and Declan could easily lean back against him as much as he liked.

"I'm not sure," Grey said honestly, tilting his head to look at Declan in eye eyes, shrugging mildly. "Usually they don't come after me like this. But some of them definitely do recognise me." They definitely knew who he was and sometimes they left him bloody messages. But that was quite a lot smaller than crashing a whole train.

"So, a psychic?" he asked then, one brow arching in question. Grey had met sensitive people before but not one that really identified as a psychic and actually had the power. Usually the ones that said they were something ended up being fakes. He knew already that Declan wasn't lying though. Not just because he had seen that door being slammed shut but also because they were two steps away from hypothermia in the middle of nowhere, Polish forest and the only thing they really had was to rely on each other. Grey usually could tell with people, too. It was what his magic was all about, an arse view of everything. Some people would get fancy and call it the third eye, but he just thought he had a good feeling of people and things.

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