[center][color=0076a3][h1]- Valen -[/h1][/color]
[color=0076a3]Location:[/color] Flight BAW229; Los Angeles to London.
[color=0076a3]Interacting with:[/color] Juliet [@Vicier], Lavena [@Caits][/center][hr]
Valen conserved his breath and focused on getting to the voice while keeping the girl above water. The woman's voice began to ramble, and she was clearly attempting to stave off the intense sense of impending doom and despair. Her words jumped topics faster than Valen's overtaxed brain could keep track of, so he decided to only focus when it was essential.

Once they were within eyesight, he allowed himself to feel relieved. She was young, and her body seemed capable, so that significantly boosted the likelihood that she would survive and not become another burden. By this point, his own body was beginning to lose all feeling in his toes, the numbness creeping up his legs like a virulent plague.

As Lavena, as she introduced herself, began dressing the child, Valen shook his head. [color=0076a3]"You should keep your clothes on, you'll expire faster. I'll take care of warming her."[/color]

As he exchanged the case with the woman and received the girl, he kicked the water violently, leaning backwards so that most of his body was above the surface of the water. The case caught his eye, eliciting a small amount of curiosity. It would have to be worried about later; right now, he had much more important priorities.

His right hand covered the girl's mouth while his fingers pinched her nose shut, blocking any water from entering her body as he quickly stuffed her into his shirt, stretching the neck opening and pulling her head through. It was a difficult maneuver to pull off in the water, much less with half-dead hands, however, with some tearing of fabric and a little brute force, he was able to pull it off without keeping her head under water for more than a couple seconds.

He positioned her so that she faced over his shoulder, letting him swim forward without her going face-down into the water. As he struggled to position himself and the girl comfortably, he nodded towards the woman. [color=0076a3]"Valen, by the way. We need to get to something buoyant."[/color]

[color=coral]”Do you see something, a building?”[/color] Her voice pulled his attention form the girl towards Lavena's floating form, which had drifted away a few feet. [color=coral]”I’m not feeling… stable at the moment…“[/color]

[i][color=0076a3]She's gonna pass out if you don't get both your asses out of the water.[/color][/i] Valen growled gently and forced himself into action, swimming towards her. The girl's head bobbed gently next to him, staying above surface level at all times.

[color=0076a3]"There aren't going to be any..."[/color] Valen trailed off as he swam around a piece of wreckage, granting him a line of sight to a massive looming structure in the near distance. Light blazed brightly from its apex, shining through the hazy night in brilliant glory. Relief surged through Valen as he realized Lavena hadn't gone bat shit crazy. They were most likely hundreds of miles from any significant land mass, but by some miraculous stroke of luck, they had ended up by the only damn piece of land in the quadrant.

[color=0076a3]"Well, fuck me, you're right,"[/color] Valen chuckled. [color=0076a3]"It's a lighthouse. We might survive this hell yet."[/color]

Valen turned his neck to face Lavena, slowly treading closer as he shot out information rapid-fire. [color=0076a3]"We need to get to land soon, or we're going to die of frostbite anyway. We might be fine, but the kid's gonna die a lot faster. We need to go. [i]Now![/i]"[/color]

Without another word, he kicked off, taking off as fast as he could without drowning the girl. Every few seconds, he would check over his shoulder to make sure the woman was following and not lagging behind. Normally he would've continued to bark instructions at her, but the cold sapped every ounce of energy remaining away, leaving only enough for swimming and breathing.