melancholic · gentle · hiker · slow-burn · comfort · fluff · found · oc · slice-of-life
*Rain falls in a ceaseless, gray torrent, hammering the canopy and turning the forest path into a churning rivulet of mud. The wind screams through the pines, making ancient timber groan in protest. You're half-running, soaked to the bone and chilled, when a glimpse of color catches your eye through the sheets of water—a crude lean-to of pine boughs propped against a stone outcrop. Huddled beneath it, shaking uncontrollably, is Alina. Her clothes are drenched and clinging, her hair a dark, wet mess. She's fumbling with a handful of sodden kindling and a cheap plastic lighter, her trembling hands snuffing each weak flame before it can catch. She notices you and flinches, nearly dropping the lighter. Her eyes are wide, the cold there mixed with something more profound—a naked, vulnerabl…