TWD Austria | The Last Steps

Dear, admin team, this is also Simon's withdrawel from TWD, meaning he won't finish all four phases (as planned in the beginning) ;; 

Oh, well... I'm the worst TWD participant ever. I promise I'll be more active next time T.T
I do want to thank cyprussian for teaming up with me, it was a pleasure and I'm so glad we got to write a bit more. You're an even more awesome person than I expected and you totally rock! Thank you for everything  
Also a massive thank you to all the people featuring my team. You know who you are I'm so sorry I couldn't pay you back. I totally underestimated my slow- and lazyness -cries-

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The Beauty and the Shy

starring

Mentor: Helena Nattvik with Nattvik's Katyusha
Newbie: Simon Carr with CAS Loki's Desire

Previously:
Arrival: A Wet Welcome
Somewhere in Hungary: TWD: Hungary | Rage Quit (by Zoubstance)
Hungary Entry: TWD Hungary | Not a nice Place for a Rest
Somewhere in Austria: |TWD | Horse.Exe Malfunction | Austria (by ever-so-jAntly)

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Story:

A loud snort, followed by a long neigh made Simon look around one last time. Loki shook his head and watched his human closely as if he demanded another treat. It looked like he wanted to rant at his two-legged companion for giving him only two treats this evening.
“Good night, Loki,” Simon simply grinned, not following the stallion’s orders. He already looked massive enough. Naturally his rider knew it was due to his build, but the little trickster was almost always looking for food, and today he got enough already. They still had one day of riding left, before reaching the next checkpoint in Salzburg. To be honest Simon got more and more excited because he had the feeling Linda would accompany his beloved Zlesdin mare to Austria so he could switch horses. His sister was a really bad liar and she somehow responded very ominously to his last text messages. He wasn’t used to being separated from her for such a long time. And as annoying she could be, he still missed her. The two of them always had a very close relationship and it would really mean the world to him if he could see her on the next day.
With a slight smile he put out his phone and turned it back on. He always activated the flight mode during the day to save some energy. Furthermore Loki had a habit of jumping and bucking all of a sudden as soon as the sound of a ringtone reached his ears.

Simon was on his way back to his tent as he stopped abruptly. “17 missed calls,” he murmured to himself. They all came from David’s cell. Without thinking about the time lag he called him back, still standing outside in the snow. That couldn’t be good… Why would he call him 17 times? Did something happen? … Did something happen to Linda? He could feel his heart racing and his hands started shaking.
“Simon! Finall-,” David’s voice sounded kind of rushed.
“David, what’s wrong?” Simon interrupted his boss.
“Lucien and Linda were in a car accident. They’re alive but injured…”

Simon suddenly felt incredibly weak. There was this pressure squeezing his chest. He could barely breath as he couldn’t do anything else but listen to David’s words. He told him that Linda went along with Lucien to bring Yely to the checkpoint. So I was right all along, Simon thought to himself. That thought wouldn’t undo the accident though and he hated himself for even thinking about unimportant stuff like that.

“Some idiot lost control over his car apparently. I already talked to Lucien and he gave me the number of the hospital. I’m gonna send it to you right ahead,” David continued.
“Did… did you talk to Linda as well?”
David sighted: “She was unconscious when I spoke with Lucien but she isn’t in a life-threatening condition. That’s all I know so far. I’m so sorry, Simon!”

Simon nodded slowly. He didn’t even know what to say. He’d prefer rushing to the hospital immediately but he knew he could only do that tomorrow. Maybe he could ask Helena if they’d be able to hurry a bit more the next day. He knew that was selfish but how could he focus on riding now? What was it with his family and car crashes? He already lost both of his parents in such an accident and now Linda was in danger as well. His hands were still shaking and a few tears ran down his cheeks.

“Simon? There’s something else,” David started hesitantly.
In that moment Simon realized he had forgotten the third traveller.

To be continued.

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Reference1 provided by Bundy-Stock (not traced)
Reference 2 provided by LuDa-Stock (not traced)
Inspiration for the background came from own skiing pictures lmao
Used brushes and textures: Foliage and Grass Brushes, snow texture neige :STOCK:
Helena and Katyusha are Cyppie's children
Simon and Loki are mine