Shiver

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Lamont was an idiot. Even more so than usual today. Candace had been prattling on about something unimportant during their afternoon patrol of the city, as usual, when their tufty-earred leader had jogged up and said that their pray was in town and for us to stake out the nearby inn.

All night.

Now not only was he, Virgil, now suffering from severe boredom and stifling leg-cramp, mostly from crouching behind a crate of the particularly bad smelling kind, he was also finding out firsthand what happened in this heat-forsaken town after sun-down. It got cold. Very cold. Cold enough that he’d re-found things in the darkest, deepest corners of his coat’s pockets that he’d thought were lost forever. Unfortunately these were mostly of the unpleasant variety, including scraps of paper and lint-balls, but that wasn’t the point. He shouldn’t be forced to find such things, that was the point. He should be back at the ship, warm, and preferably drinking some sort of heated beverage made by someone other than himself. Preferably Candy.

Speaking of which, the girl wouldn’t stop shivering. Couldn’t, probably but he’d never admit that. Lamont’s plan had not taken into account that neither of them had eaten since lunch, nor that Candace had somehow forgotten her coat today. Well, not somehow. It had been a relatively warm day, for Solona anyway, so the girl had gone out with just a thick shirt on. Now, as the sun had gone down and deprived them of even that comfort, she was certainly starting to feel it. Normally he would have said that it was her own damn fault for not wearing enough clothes, but when given the chance to blame Lamont, he’d gladly take that instead. It was, after all, his fault that they were out there in the first place.

It wasn’t as if anything was actually happening, anyway. Winter had just ended and the fishing trade had just begun in earnest, meaning that the taverns were packed until closing time every evening. After that, doors were shut tight and the night-life in Orianna was next to dead. Anyone moving around at this time of night would be labelled as suspicious. Even pirates wouldn’t risk it, and if this Lee was worth even a copper of the bounty on her head she’d leave in the rush of market day come the morning. Even with a portrait to work from, it would be hard for any of them to find someone who did not want to be found. Marketplaces were the worst, as far as he was concerned. A waste of time, space and effort, as well as getting in the way for those who had proper jobs to do. Inconsiderate bastards; they probably did it on purpose.

Well, at least it wasn’t snowing. There was a bitter wind blowing though, and even he had to shiver as the moon climbed another notch higher in the sky. The sky was cloudless, now that he thought about it. The temperature was already pushing the zero mark, and it was just going to get colder. That, and Candace wouldn’t stop her infernal shivering! Honestly, just watching her was making him colder by the minute. Sure, it was Lamont’s fault that they were out there at this ungodly hour waiting for someone who wasn’t going to come, but the woman could at least do something to warm herself up. Jogging on the spot, for example. That’d work. She was rubbing her hands together but everyone knew that things like that only worked when you blew on them too. Honestly, it was like he was the only one with any sense around here. If she wasn’t going to take any action to keep herself warm then, well, on her own head be it. He’d tried to help. Mentally, anyway.

Still.

There weren’t many people Virgil liked. Scratch that, he didn’t like anyone. There were, however, a select few that he could tolerate for extended periods of time. Others might say that this meant he liked them. Those people were idiots. Despite this, he preferred to keep those select few in question alive and, if necessary, healthy if such things were not too far out of his way. It was to make the world habitable, really, and to keep himself from taking out unfortunates in the street because of their sheer stupidity. Despite her rather unpleasant habit of dallying with the Captain (who, lest you forget, was the goddamn reason they were stuck out here), Candace was one of these tolerable people. She was of moderate intelligence, though she did tend to babble, and her cooking was palatable enough for long periods of time at sea. Well, that was giving her a little too much credit. She hadn’t made him sick to date, however, and by prior experience Virgil managed to be grateful for this.

This lead to quite a dilemma. Did he let her get frostbite because of her own stupidity, lose a finger or two through this and impair her cooking ability, or did he, gods forbid, help her? His lip twitched at the second option. Helping. Now that was something he really didn’t enjoy. A completely pointless action and the recipient never, ever seemed to realise just how far he’d gone out of his way for them. Still, this was Candace. She cooked his meals. She was one of the very few people he could stand, on the Vigilante or otherwise.

Was he going in circles? Fuck that. This was going to piss him off all night unless he did something about it. As Candace began shivering all over again, he knew he didn’t have much of a choice.

“Come here.” He muttered gruffly, unbuttoning his jacket slowly. Candace shot him a funny look, before shuffling over, her hands stuffed beneath her armpits awkwardly.

“What is it?” Her voice was quiet, and even in the gloom Virgil could see the steam escaping from her cracking lips. The cold, no doubt. Candace was scrupulous about her appearance, and cracked lips were something he’d never seen on her. But he was delaying. Candace was looking at him strangely and, before he changed his mind and let her fingers fall off, he reached out and roughly grabbed her wrist, pulling her close. The red-head had not been expecting it, and it was obvious when she thumped ungainly across his chest. Virgil grimaced. Physical contact. He hated it and Candace was far closer than anyone had been to him in years. Still, the thought of someone else, perhaps even Basil of all people, cooking spurred him on.

“Stay close.” He mumbled darkly. “You’re going to freeze if you stay out there.”

To say Candace was shocked was an understatement. After glancing down at her stunned, honey eyes, Virgil fixed his own at an incredibly interesting brick across the alleyway from them. Yes, Candace, he was doing something nice for her. Don’t look at me like that. Close your goddamn eyes. To her credit, she stayed silent, and contented to wrapping her arms around his waist. He hadn’t thought about that, and stiffened as she seemed to settle in. She was too close. Far too close. He could smell her and he should never be in a situation where he could smell another person.

“You can’t button it up otherwise, relax.” Candy mumbled against him, not moving an inch. To his annoyance, Virgil realised she was right. Not wanting to bloat her ego, he said nothing and simply wrapped his arms around her in turn. To do up the buttons, of course. From there he simply left them resting on her shoulders, figuring the least she could do was provide an arm-rest for him. Besides, it was comfortable. And she wasn’t, well, doing anything. Just standing there.

That, and she’d stopped her damn shivering.