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First Winter at Fire Lodge
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Jennie bent down to adjust the bindings on her snowshoes, then stood up to look at Jisoo and Chaeyoung.   “Lisa and Dahyun should be on the purple diamond trail,” she said. “I know the lay of the land better than you do, so I’ll walk the trail backward and you’ll walk it frontward.” She pulled a GMRS radio out of her pocket, fiddled with it for a second, and then put it away. “Before we move out, make sure you’ve got your radio and that its batteries are fully charged.”   As she checked her radio, Jisoo asked “Why didn’t Lisa have a radio?”   “Good question,” Jennie said. “I should have told her to take one, but then again I shouldn’t have had to tell her. There’s plenty of blame to go around.” But one look at Jennie’s face showed that she was ready to accept all the blame herself if anything had happened to Lisa or Dahyun.   Just then Jihyo and Tzuyu came to the door, dressed for trekking. “We’re ready to help look for Dahyun and Lisa,” Tzuyu said.   “But we’ve got everything covered,” Jennie said. “I don’t want more people out on the search than I have to - I don’t want to have to worry about you too.”   “But you don’t need to worry about us,” Jihyo said. “We’re both fully capable of taking care of ourselves. We’ve been coming here for years.”   Jennie put her hand to her forehead as if she was getting a headache. “That’s true,” she said. “But I’d still worry about you.”   Jiyho opened to respond, but Jennie kept on, steamrollering over any response she might have been about to make. “As a favor to me, please stay here. If we haven’t found them by the time G-Dragon shows up, then we’ll be in more of a position of needing all hands on deck and I’d be happy to have you come out. Deal?”   Before Jihyo could argue, Tzuyu said. “Deal. Do you have another radio so that we can keep track of the search?”   “There’s one on the main desk. And thank you for understanding.”   Tzuyu smiled at Jennie as she took Jihyo by the arm and led her back into the lodge.   “Okay then,” Jennie said, ‘unless you’ve got any questions, we should get on the trail.”   Chaeyoung stepped up to Jennie and quietly said “Don’t worry we’ll find them.”   Jennie nodded, as if willing it to be true. “I know. Are you sure you should bring Jisoo?”   Chaeyoung looked over at Jisoo and then back to Jennie. “She needs to learn, and this is as good a time as any. If she knows more about the backcountry, she won’t be as likely to panic in future situations.”   Jennie shrugged. “Well, if you’re sure. Let’s get going.”   Jennie headed off down one, apparently unmarked branch of trail, turning back every so often to check for markings to be sure she was on the right path. Chaeyoung and Jisoo set off down the other branch of trail, Jisoo leading the way with Chaeyoung behind her so that she could keep an eye on her and offer suggestions.   --------------------   Chaeyoung and Jisoo headed up the trail, keeping their eyes open for the purple diamond markings. After about 20 minutes, Jisoo called for a stop so she could get some water. Chaeyoung caught up with her and took a sip of water from her own bottle.   "How are you holding up?" she asked.   "Not too bad," said Jisoo. "I jog in the city, but this is quite a bit harder."   "Well, be sure to pace yourself - we're likely to be out here the rest of the day and I don't want to have to drag you out."   "Would you really do that?"   "Oh sure," Chaeyoung said. "I'd cut down some fir boughs, lash them together to make a sled, and drag you behind me. I'd get us both back, but I wouldn't be terribly happy about it."   Jisoo cringed inside her parka. Chaeyoung noticed and came up and wrapped her arms around her. "Hey," she asked, "am I really that scary?"   Jisoo shrugged. "No. . . yes. . . maybe. . . I don't know."   Chaeyoung took a step back and looked Jisoo in the eyes. "I've never had anyone think I was scary before. I don't think I like it. Can you explain?"   Jisoo thought for a second, then took a sip of water to buy herself a little more time to think. "It's kind of hard to explain. I've never felt this way with anyone else I've dated - not that I'm saying we are dating - I mean, I'd like to, but we'll have to talk about that once we get back to the lodge - but anyway," Jisoo's words came tumbling out in a torrent as she tried to explain the complex feelings she was feeling. "you're my boss as well as - hopefully - my girlfriend, and it feels like you've got all the power in our relationships, and that's not a comfortable feeling for me."   Chaeyoung stood in stunned silence for a moment, trying to understand just what Jisoo was trying to say with this wall of words that dwarfed anything she'd said since the start of the season. "I think I can see what you're saying," she said once she'd puzzled it out, "and I think I've got something that will help. How about this: I promise I won't let events in our social life affect how I treat you in our work life, and vice versa. Or at any rate, I'll try my damnedest not to. Does that help?"   Jisoo managed a smile and nodded. "It does. It helps a lot."   Chaeyoung enfolded Jisoo in another hug. "Good," she said, "and you be sure to call me on it if I break that promise." She put her water bottle away and looked around. "If everything's okay with us," she said, "we'd better get moving. I know it's not a competition, but I'd still like to find Lisa and Dahyun before Jennie does.   "Then let's go," Jisoo said with a mischievous grin as she took off jogging up the trail.   Chaeyoung shook her head and took off after her. It seemed like Jisoo was always going to be full of surprises.   --------------------   Dahyun struggled to pick up her snowshoe and once again put one foot in front of the other. It was much tougher to snowshoe through the several feet of soft snoe that had been dro
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brithistorian
After reading the first comments to come in and doing some serious thinking, I've decided to mark this one complete. I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope you stick around to see what I write next. ^_^

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Astraea21 #1
Chapter 19: Can't wait for the sequel. :) Awesome!
Astraea21 #2
Chapter 1: Looking forward to finishing this in no time. :)
IROSEI #3
Chapter 19: Wooooooooo!!! I'm so happy n.n
Daddy_Lisa
#4
Chapter 18: This is the ending? Seemed very empty but I'll take it
oeschinen
#5
Chapter 18: I am actually quite satisfied with the ending. If you, the author, feels that it has come to an end then this is the end :)
Personally, I ended one fic I wrote too because I thought the characters were happy enough and they are right where they need to be, even if there were a few more subplots and scenes I wanted to put in; in this case, the two main couples (Chaesoo and Jenlisa) already have a little bit of something going on when they all started as barely knowing each other.

Of course, then again, I'd like to point out that you tagged this as "slice of life". The genre came from anime which I think you're familiar with. SOL are known to revolve around a few characters just living their life working in their professions as they deal with normal life situations; marriage, break-ups, crushes, new/losing jobs etc. It's known to not have a plot and just revolve around well "life" which was what I felt for "First Winter at Fire Lodge" and I think it did stay true to the genre indeed :)

I enjoyed this. I'm on board and eager to see new fics that you'll come up with ^^
mitsii_chickin
#6
Chapter 18: Ahhhhh this is the end?
Casti1004
#7
Chapter 18: Awww this was cute
LALISAKIM #8
Chapter 18: Yay~ Jenlisa *i’m screaming*
ps. HAPPY ROSIE POSIE DAY
mangoshu
#9
Chapter 18: Oh~so we get to choose what we wanted?!
Ok~~then I'll choose "THE END" for <Fire Lodge>? Don't get me wrong though. Honestly, I like this story as it's slightly different. More real life in a way? But I dunno~~from the moment Lisa asked Jennie for a coffee date to Lisa's plan for a 2nd fire ceremony, I already felt that it's coming close to an end? And when I saw the title for this chapter, I'm quite sure it's the end already. But then again cos I couldn't see the word "completed" under its status, so yeah....I was actually confused in a way???
So yup, an end to this and a beginning to a NEW story, haha!