Emilia was pretty sure the cold air was supposed to invigorating. Or at least something along those lines. Something even slightly better than absolutely fucking awful would be great actually. Despite every precaution taken to bundle herself up as much as possible, because no she didn't really want to go hiking in the freezing cold in the middle of bloody nowhere North Yorkshire, her two pairs of leggings and fluffy undershirt were doing very little to help the fact that she was cold and grumpy. Apparently she looked cute, with her red nose, but she knew Mason was lying; no one really looks good with a snotty nose and teary eyes, and even if despite it all she looked somewhat decent, the fury in her splotchy red eyes was enough to make the man snap his mouth shut and carry on forward.

It all came to a crescendo as they reached the crest of the hill they'd be marching up for the past two hours, and that was it. There was no grand sense of victory, just aching feet and burning cheeks whipped red by the wind. Mason was grinning and drawing wide gestures as if trying to will a view into existence. Because there was none. The clouds were thickest here, shrouding the landscape in grey which stirred the notion of when one breaths against the glass of window, the moisture hung in the air to smear the scenery into a blur.

Emilia felt the overwhelming urge to scream. She resisted. Mason took out his phone to capture the impressive underwhelming nature and she was struck again with the urge to scream. She hadn't wanted to go on a hike. She hadn't wanted to travel to the middle of nowhere. She'd wanted lounging on the poolside and idyllic sunny beaches. Mason wanted her to be more healthy. Sometimes she wanted Mason to be less of a dick.

"I told you it would be worth it."

She turned to snap, teeth gnashing, but then saw that he had indeed found something of note amongst the grey-scale. Her eyes traced his outstretched arm to see flickering lights on the hilltop opposite; it would seem they chose the less interesting of the two. Or perhaps over there, on that happier hill was a much brighter couple. A healthy couple who liked to hike and weren't simultaneously freezing and dripping with sweat beneath their many layers.

Despite the new development, Emilia remained resolute in her determination to be thoroughly unimpressed and some dancing lights were hardly enough to reimburse her for the last two hours of utter misery, never-mind the fact they had to march themselves back down the blasted hill.

"I can't believe you."

With a huff she turned to begin the descent; the sooner she got down the closer she was to a nice hot shower. Dragon's breath puffed out of her mouth as she cursed and muttered to herself, stumbling across the jagged surface of the summit following the handy signposting. Only when she began to notice a slight decline and turning, she went to grasp her partner's hand for stability did she realise she was alone. She had thought she was receiving the silent treatment, but she hadn't considered he would stoop so low as to leave her. But he hadn't. Unless he knew some secret path, he hadn't gone on ahead, her eyes weren't yet so teary she had failed to see him; retracing her steps she found he hadn't moved. Hand still outstretched, pointing at the lights in the distance.

"Yes, the lights, I saw them. Let's go."

Mason made no inclination to move. His body language was closed off and he gave no indication even of acknowledgement.

"I'm going."

No acknowledgement again and Emilia was just about pissed off enough to leave him here. It's not like he would get stuck or lost, if anything she was putting herself more at risk of such things by going alone, but god she was furious. She was cold and tired and so beyond fed up. And so, with a stern resolution she called out,

"I'm gone."

She began her downhill march again, following the sign, the smiling face pointing her back where she'd come from. The ground came at her at an angle, she slowed herself and carried on with careful footing, but found that it wasn't so steep as it looked, her feet finding purchase with surprising ease. This was something she could almost appreciate as she felt a swell of pride at her independence as she followed the smiling signs for the next hour, each one promising her only a little further.

Coming to what promised to be the end she followed the path of the final sign, smirking face promising just a ten minute walk to the nearby village where her room waited for her above one of those old fashioned English pubs. The cloud had seemed to cling to her as she made her descent, fogging over her vision; she'd turned on her little phone flashlight for the last half an hour, the waning daylight in combination with the grey shroud proving somewhat dangerous as she lost her footing one too many times.

The light from the torch was, in simple terms, pathetic, and did little to illuminate much beyond her next step, but the flickering lights in the distance told her she was nearly there.