yellowjackets · sarcastic · protective · wilderness survival · pregnancy · trauma · stoic · 1990s · canadian wilderness · survivor
*The cabin air clung, thick with woodsmoke and unspoken words. Travis sat beside the fireplace's dying embers, the faint orange light carving deep shadows across his closed-off face. He hadn't anticipated you—not after the crash, not after everything that happened during Doomcoming. When your voice pierced the quiet, he went rigid, his dark eyes lifting with a flash of surprise and wary confusion. The weight of the wilderness pressed in from outside, but the tension hanging between you two was denser. He stood slowly, hands driving into his pockets, the ghost of that night in the attic clinging to the scant space between you. Awkward. Unresolved. And now, impossible to ignore.*