#yellowjackets winter

It’s freezing cold. Misty was being an asshole, mostly because she never wanted to empty the shit bucket. It was nearly night time, which meant dinner. Travis was off sulking over Nat not wanting to get down with him, at least that’s what Y/n assumed. Everyone else was off at their assigned chores, whatever card they’d drawn this morning from Van’s shuffle.

Y/n was sitting in one of the chairs inside the cabin, while waiting for it to be late enough to start food. She’d pulled the ‘help Mari with dinner’ card. It was really the ‘make dinner’ card, but everyone knew Mari was always the one stirring the pot— literally and figuratively, so regardless if she got the card or not she’d be there.

Y/n looks at the ceiling. It was boring, really. The same thing every day all day. Chores, food, cry, sleep. Chores, food, talk, sleep. Nothing else. The cabin was empty. Where was Mari? Mari was— actually, Y/n doesn’t fucking care. The door opens quietly, the wood creaking beneath Akilah’s feet as she sets down some herbs and plants from the last of their frozen stash, onto the table where it could defrost. She turns, dusting off her hands. “I have to go help Gen with the clothes line before they freeze, but.. there’s more plants a short walk straight from the porch steps if you want to grab them,” Akilah smiles.

Y/n sighs, standing. She stretches, “Alright, yeah. Yeah, I can get them.” She pulls her jacket on, preparing for the cold. It really is chilly outside. The air stings at her cheeks, turning them cold and mottled as she walks further from the safety of the cabin and deeper into the woods again. She spots the familiar bundle of herbs, crouching down and sawing at the thick grass around it to snap it off clean and bring back the herbs in bundles— it’s easier that way. A whistle sounds from beside her. She jumps, looking up. The sky is dark, a thick white that practically matches the snow covered ground. A storm, Y/n recognizes. She wipes the flying flakes of ice from her eyelashes, stuffing the herbs into her pockets. The wind is still whipping, whistling loud throughout the trees.

She continues to wander for a bit, picking up herbs here and there, and random things she knew were edible from her science class in freshman year. The wind got worse, and so did the snow and the visibility. By the time she decided it was scary enough out there, she’d already lost her sense of direction back to the cabin. All the trees looked the same after wandering circles for an hour in the near-dark. She bites her bottom lip, tucking her hands closer into herself as she folds her arms. Y/n looks left, right, then behind her. She picks a random direction. Forwards, she thinks. Maybe that’s the way. She starts slowly, afraid of running into trees— or worse— off cliffs. She finds a large stick, using that like a blind man with a cane to see the ground before she puts her feet down.

Y/n was beginning to worry, slightly panicked that she was lost. She was getting too cold. Her hands had been numb since she started out and her ears and cheeks were going too. The snow was so bad she could barely keep her eyes open. Y/n shivers, letting out a breath of air that wisps into the sky. She clenches her jaw, teeth tempting to chatter. She hated this. She hated being out here. She just wanted to go to her damn soccer game, not play survival ‘96 out in the canadian woods with people she doesn’t even like much. She can’t hear anything, not much, at least, besides the wind whistling and whipping— and then there's a faint “Y/n!” In the distance. Mari.

Normally she wants to slap the smirk off the girl’s face and tell her to keep her name out of her mouth, but for once, Y/n was glad to hear her voice. She freezes. “Mari?” She calls, hating how desperate the words sounded on her lips.

“Yeah! Y/n! Where are you?” Mari’s voice, from somewhere right. Y/n turns, she starts in the direction, dropping the stick from her hands.

“Mari!” She calls again, afraid of getting lost. Her foot hits something. She falls forward. Y/n hisses in pain, her hands landing in the snow. Already freezing, she can’t feel them nuch, but the impact was still absorbed and felt painful. She stands, when Mari’s figure emerges from the fog of snow. Her face— normally sarcastic and bitter— is fallen in concern. She immediately picks the shorted girl up from the ground, pulling her with her to the cabin.

They reach inside again, and Mari’s expression is tight. She stops Y/n into a nearby chair, slamming the door behind her. The others look concerned too. “Don’t be fucking stupid again.” Mari snarls at Y/n.

Mari rips her headband off, throwing it down along with her gloves and scarf. She scoffs, slumping back down in front of the small table by the fireplace to wait for the food ingredients. Y/n swallows anxiously, feigning nonchalance as she sets down the frozen herbs from outside. Akilah stands up, storming up to the attic. Everyone else; besides Travis asleep in the kitchen on the floor loser, Y/n thought, and Javi next to him, Misty reading a book in the pantry and whatnot— had gone upstairs to check on what was wrong with Akilah. Mari was the only one still downstairs, putting some snow into the pot to boil into water and start making soup. “Oh, great.” She mutters slowly sarcastically. “It’s all of you now?” She murmurs, alluding to everyone having dramatic moments since the crash.

Y/n stands, crossing the room. She swallows, standing by the table. She reaches out with a shaky hand— still cold, and slightly adrenaline spiked from nearly freezing to death outside— to grab some of the herbs, picking up the knife and attempting her best at chopping them into even pieces. She swallows, hissing at her lack of grip and control over her half-numb hands. Mari subtly glances from the fireplace, stopping where she was stirring the snow to melt it faster. At first, she didn't speak. And then she clenches her jaw.

“You do a nice job of trying to get yourself killed.” She snaps, and Y/n has to resist sneering back. She only glares at the food, trying to gain control of the knife.

“Shut up. Akilah sent me to get herbs, I was doing what she asked.”

Mari scoffs, laughing bitterly. “Yeah, blame it on her.” She mutters beneath her breath, grabbing some of the cut herbs and tossing them into the water.

She then turns and picks up one of the bigger knives, an actual kitchen knife found from the cabin drawers rather than the hunting knife Y/n was using. She pulls the crow meat over from the cloth that Nat and Travis got earlier, quickly dicing it into cubed pieces. She pushes the chunks off the knife with her finger, taking a handful and tossing it into the pot. She grabs the bark from the rest of the ingredient pile, scraping the top layer with the knife before cracking it easily with a hand over the top of the blade, an even pressure to split the bark. She does so until it's in small enough pieces, and then adds that too. Y/n is almost jealous of how easily she manages to just cut everything and throw it all in like some little fucked up wilderness chef. It angers her. But then again, everything about Mari angers her.

She focuses back down on her knife, the handle feeling heavy in her grip that was stinging with pins and needles; coming back from the cold. She yelps slightly, trying not to drop it. Mari clenches her jaw agan, slamming her knife against the table. “Alright, what the fuck is your issue?” She looks up, making Y/n jolt. She swallows.

“I. Um.” She’s unsure. What is she supposed to say? There’s no issue. She’s just bothered by what happened outside earlier. “Nothing. My hands just hurt.” She swallows back anything more, and Mari’s eyes flash with irritation. She picks up her knife and resumes cutting, not glancing up at Y/n for another time.

Mari is just.. Mari. She’s rude, she’s sarcastic, and she’s blunt. But that’s part of what made her who she was. Mariana Sofia Ibarra. But everyone only calls her Mari. She doesn’t mind. Some people call her Mar. It usually pisses her off, buf certain people she’ll allow it from. She tries to ignore Y/n’s huffing and grumbling at her own cutting skills, the way the knife tensed in the younger girl’s hand. Mari doesn’t care. She can’t care. She never does. But reluctantly, she finds herself putting her knife down and rounding the table.

Y/n was trying to cut the stalk of the herbs, still half frozen. She nearly slips and cuts herself. Mari’s hand gently rests over hers and guides the knife steady, the other arm moving to slide around her waist and pull Y/n into her front against the warm fabric of Mari’s yellow ‘Yellowjackets’ soccer merch sweater. Her chin hooks over the shorter girl’s shoulder. “Hey— hey,” she soothes, helping her shaking hands to cut the herbs. Once they’d fallen into a smooth rhythm of even cuts, Mari leans in and presses an encouraging kiss to her cheek.

“Relax.” Mari tells her, “you got it.”

Y/n tries not to jump at the contact. She nods, relaxing back into her. Mari smiles, her irritation fading as Y/n calms down. She stays close, letting go of her hand and moving to meet her other arm around her waist. She holds Y/n close to her front, her chin on her shoulder.

When they’re done and the others are asleep, Mari is only left to stir water, boiling, to clean the pot out. Y/n sits quietly. Mari notices, she blinks. “Why were you so shaky cutting herbs?” She asks, her bitterness threatening to slip. Y/n shrugs, looking at the floor. “Just.. freaked out from earlier, I’m sorry.” She says. Mari nods. She sets the pot off the flames of the fireplace and then moves over to her bed pad. She sighs, seeing Y/n’s hesitation on sleeping. “Come here.” Shs lays down, patting her chest. Y/n crawls over and lays down, too. Mari smiles, her arms wrapping around her again “I wouldn’t let you get lost.” She whispers, “I promise you,” Mari presses a kiss to her forehead. “Go to sleep, jittery toddler.” She says with sarcasm, then grins. “I love you.”