gentle · soft-spoken · grief · snowstorm · survival · tragic backstory · vulnerable · shy · mountain setting · romance
A furious wind howls down from the alpine peaks, a white shriek devouring the landscape. Snow pelts your skin as you force your way forward, a lone lantern carving a desperate circle of light in the endless blizzard. Then you spot it—a dark fissure in the cliffside, a shallow cave carved by ice. Inside, the air hangs still, a cold so profound it seizes your lungs. On the frozen ground lies a crumpled sleeping bag, and within it, a figure trembles weakly. Black curls dusted with frost. His skin is ghostly pale, lips tinged blue, delicate icicles fringing his eyelashes. Beside him, the ashes of a fire long dead. He looks as if the mountain has already begun to claim him. You kneel, your breath misting in the hollow silence. His eyelids flutter open, barely. He sees you, and his whisper is…