ArchivedLogs:Northern Exposure

Northern Exposure
Dramatis Personae Anette, Daken
In Absentia	2020-03-28 Daken learns he's a father
Location Alberta, Canada
It's a harsh winter in Alberta, and a light dusting of fresh snow covers everything. Trees, rocks, and even a few animals that aren't lucky enough to be hibernating. And judging from the rather angry sounding growl that comes from one of the caves, somebody has disturbed one of the animals that was hibernating. Unfortunately for that bear it's Daken that emerges from the cave, meat in one hand, and a bag presumably full of supplies in another. He settles down and starts the process of building a fire with the materials around his new temporary shelter. The future hasn't been kind to him. The once hard man is now mostly skin and bones, and is even sporting unruly long hair and scruffy mutton chops. And judging from the muttering to himself, hunger and the cold might have taken what was left of his mind, for now at least. Unfortunately, the future hasn't been kind to a lot of people. Anette herself is several pounds lighter than she used to be and looks as if she hasn't slept in years. Still, she's managed the strength and determination to find herself in the wilds of Alberta, flying in the frozen air, scanning the ground beneath her. She's spent the last few days tracking down any rumor or gossip that may have told her where to find him. Nobody seemed to have any clue where he had gone but there were a few whispers that he had made his way to Canada. From there she just had to track down rumors of a crazed wild man. Surprisingly easy. Finally, she's narrowed it down to a patch of wilderness he's been seen hunting in and now it's her turn to the do the hunting. Yellow eyes scan the ground searching for tracks, movement, anything that would give her some clue. Suddenly, she picks up on a growl - animal, but not completely. She lowers altitude, landing in the snow some distance away from the cave, carefully making her way closer though wary of who - or what - she'll run into. Daken just pauses, nostrils flaring. "Nngh." he grunts, dropping into a crouch from where he's been gathering firewood. It seems to take him a moment to realize the scent is familiar, and confusion floods his features. He quietly stalks back towards the cave, gaze settling onto Anette. His voice is heard before he's seen. "Get the fuck out of here!" he half yells. "You're dead. I fucked up, and you're dead. Haunting my dreams wasn't enough for you?" Then he's out of the bushes, arms raised over his head, like he's trying to shoo off a bear. Anette immediately freezes when Daken speaks, waiting for him to come to her. "I'm not dead, I promise. I wanted to find you. I really did but...I couldn't. Please, trust me. I...need your help. I need help and I don't know who else to turn to." She waits for him to respond, wrapping her arms about her against the cold. There's only so much bundling up you can do and still remain aerodynamic. It seems to take a moment for Daken to realize that Anette isn't a dream brought on by hunger, and then he's charging the poor woman, wrapping his arms around her waist. "You.. You're alive?" Then he's crushing his lips against hers. "How?" Anette is caught up in Daken's embrace, holding him tightly to her and kissing him with just as much passion and need as he gives her. "Same as you, I went into hiding. I wanted to find you but I couldn't risk...I was..." Suddenly, she just breaks down in tears, collapsing either onto the ground or Daken's arms. "I thought I could do it. I thought if I kept my head low and stayed out of sight, we'd be alright. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I failed." Daken keeps his arms around Anette, smothering the side of her face and forehead in kisses, at least until he starts crying. Then the worn man simply buries his face in her hair. "You did your best beautiful. There were just too many of them, and those damn darts.. I got hit with one and escaped into the sewer. I had a broken leg for weeks." Anette shakes her head slightly, pulling her head away and taking a step back. "No, you don't...you don't understand. After that, I-I found out I was pregnant. I wanted to tell you but it just got so...so dangerous I couldn't risk being attacked. I had hoped you'd find me but I...I guess I hid too well." The talk of pregnancy should bring at least some joy but it just seems to bring pain and regret to Anette's eyes and she looks on the verge of breaking down again. She can't even look Daken in the eyes. Daken freezes, gaze falling intently onto Anette. "I have a child?" He falls silent, stroking her back gently. "Where is he?" Anette takes a deep breath before forcing herself to speak. "I...I couldn't hide him well enough. I tried but...sentinels. I was hit by a dart and...next thing I know I was in a camp. Nobody would tell me where he is. There was a raid at the camp and most of us escaped but nobody knows anything." As she speaks, she shivers uncontrollably, her eyes brimming with tears again. "I failed. I couldn't protect my son, our son, and now I'll never see him again. I don't even know if he's alive." It only takes a moment for that old grin to touch Daken's fingers. "Then let's go get him." he says simply. "And if they killed our son, I'll kill every one of them. Darts or no darts." He brings a hand up under Anette's chin, bringing her face up to his for another kiss. This one much more gentle. "And then I'll do what my father didn't. Commit to you, and raising our child." Anette looks up hesitantly, finally making eye contact with Daken. "You...you forgive me?" She barely kisses Daken in return, apparently shocked by his reaction to the news. "Hiro. His name is Hiro Victor Howlett." She also freezes as Daken mentions being there and raising the child. "You would do that?" she says softly. Daken actually smiles at that. "Hiro.." he repeats quietly, before resting his forehead back against Anette's. "Of course. And as soon as we get back out, we can have a court house ceremony. The last thing I want is for my son to turn out like me." Anette smiles faintly at this revelation. "I...I love you," she whispers, closing in to hug him tightly once more. "If your son turns out to be half the man you are, I will be so proud." She suddenly clears her throat and pulls away just enough to face Daken once again. "First...we need to find him. The only way we're going to get any information at this point is by force and I can't do it alone. I need as many allies as I can and so many of us are dead or missing." "I love you too." Daken replies gently before cracking another grin. "And you have me. We hit up the places that don't have darts, yeah? We find somebody that runs the camps and is an area without sentinels. I'll get all the answers we need. Once we get a location, that's when we need a team. Almost makes me wish we hadn't of blown up all the X-men." "No, we get a team now," Anette says, shaking her head. "We get a team now and we storm every place we can. I finally have you back, I need Hiro back. I'm done playing games. We destroy everything and everyone." "Then as soon as we eat," Daken indicates the meat he has out ready to fix, "we'll warm you up. Then head back into New York." Anette glances towards the meat in Daken's hands and grins. "Good. I'm starving." "Well, your choices are bear." Daken says, breaking away to start up the fire. If he was going to give another option, he never does. "Clawed me across the face. Damn near took my eye out." he shakes his head slightly. "I just wanted a warm place to sleep." he grumps. Anette looks around and shakes her head. "It'll be a miracle if I sleep at all." She suddenly glances towards Daken and frowns slightly. "So...what happened to you that day? And since? I haven't seen you in a year. Over a year." "Which day was that? There have been a lot of them." Daken calls back over, adjusting the fire a bit before settling down next to the warmth, extending his hands in front of himself. "Sentinels. The last time you and I saw each other," Anette says, standing still as she watches Daken prepare the fire. "Believe me, I wanted nothing more than to find you afterwards. I just...I couldn't." "Told you, got hit with one of those depowering darts. Glad it wasn't one of the permanent ones. I thought they'd killed you.. I looked, but I couldn't find any trace of you." Daken sighs a bit at that, giving a shake of his head. "But...what about afterwards. How did you end up here? -Why- did you end up here?" Anette sighs softly and looks down. "I was looking for you, too. I ended up running into a friend who can...well, she can see a person's entire medical status just with a single touch. Apparently I was already a few months along." She makes her way over to the fire and kneels down, holding her hands out for the warmth. "If I looked for you, I risked hurting the baby. The only way to protect him was to stay hidden and risk never seeing you again. It was...the hardest decision I ever made in my life." "Why?" Daken asks, looking over and raising a brow. "I might hate him with every fiber of my being.. But this is where my Father is from. I trained not to far from here when I was young. Where I started my training.. And where I learned proper English, and every other language I speak. They made me into a killer here." He sighs quietly, looking over at Anette. "Once my leg healed up, a majority of the places were getting raided, nowhere was safe. So I came back to what I know." "Makes sense. I should have done that. I thought about going back home but...I wasn't sure what the atmosphere was like. And I thought I could lose myself in the hustle and bustle of the city. Blend in." Anette looks up to Daken and shakes her head. "I should have looked for you. If Hiro had been with you, he'd still be here. He'd still be safe." Daken reaches over to squeeze Anette's hand. "Hiro will be fine." he assures her. "We just have to get him back." Anette shakes her head, even as Daken takes her hand. "But how can I be a mother when I can't even protect my own child?"