“Meat shield, huh? Shit, that’s really what you’re going with?” Abe drawled, in a lazy way, not a southern way, just really making a whole event outta it. He wished he had a blunt to smoke just to complete the effect.
Sticking around and making fun of Christina wasn’t really the smartest tactical decision, but in this case it was more like poking a koala than poking a bear. Definitely not poking a bear trap, haha. Anyways he felt he was due a lil’ bit of fun. Even if she could miraculously fire and aim a gun one-handed, it’d take her so long to get it out of her bag that Abe would have like five years to shoot her.
He knew it was only a matter of time until Darlene came back, and unless that girl had a very well-hidden dark side, he was probably gonna have some ‘splaining to do, but that was a lotta work so he’d just let his dust trail do the talking. He’d say goodbye, at least. He didn’t owe anyone shit but it’d make him feel better anyways.
“D- for creativity. You’re not doing anything to convince me you’re actually useful to have around. As far as I know you’d panic and fuck up and dome me in the back of the head the first time you tried to fire a gun. Hard pass.” He kept a respectable distance from Christina ‘cause it’d probably hurt like hell to get clobbered with that trap.
You Gotta Roll With It, You Gotta Take Your Time
You gotta say what you say, don't let anybody get in your way - Day 12, 11 AM, Public
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MurderWeasel
- Posts: 2566
- Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2018 1:37 am
((Darlene Silva continued from Mama's Gonna Look So Great))
It was hard for Darlene to say exactly how long she'd been gone, or how far she had traveled. These were details that had held the utmost importance to her on the way out, when the very worst things she could possibly conceive of happening were her getting lost or left behind or else Abe and Christina getting into trouble and needing her while she was too far away to effectively intervene. None of those worries had been unfounded, but in hindsight she had been guilty of a certain lack of imagination. In reality, things had turned out much, much worse.
Really, it had been pretty improbable that she end up shooting probably the only person left whose death would tear her up in new ways. Had it been anyone else, she would've been upset, sure, and sad, and guilty, but not to the same degree. Anyone else, and she would've maybe stayed with them still, talked still, but their dying wish wouldn't have attained the same importance that Arizona's had. Darlene wouldn't have put her return to her living friends on hold for anyone else, because she hadn't owed anyone else in quite the same way, either directly or by proxy. But here she was, in the wake of delay after delay after delay.
Just how long had it been? When she left, it was raining, but the precipitation had been getting lighter and lighter. By the time Arizona's guns had been disposed of, it was functionally over, though the humidity still lingered in the air. Time always seemed to stretch for Darlene, or to contract, based on what she was doing and what was happening around her. When her primary goal was to pee in the bushes and change her shirt, and her biggest concern was getting far enough away from the others to have privacy while doing so, it had felt like a really long time. Those events, so small and meaningless, had felt like they'd taken ten or even fifteen minutes! But then, the shooting and the conversation, that had felt like forever, but if she had to pick a number, Darlene would've also said ten or fifteen minutes. Actually watching a movie, paying attention to the events and dialogue, she'd always found it incredible how much happened in a quarter hour. It was enough time to meet someone, fall in love, fight, and split up. Even the longest scenes were almost never that long, but so much was conveyed in the dialogue regardless.
And it was the same, again and again. Disposal of the guns? Ten to fifteen minutes. Maybe twenty for that, because she'd run around a lot, but maybe less, because things always felt way longer when she was running around. That was how being miserable worked.
Lunch with Ace? Yet again, ten to fifteen minutes. Darlene ate quickly a lot of the time, and even trying to slow it down, it had only been two ribs. Ten minutes might be pushing it. How long did it take to tie some shoes? How long did it take to finally say goodbye all the way?
The walk back had felt both quick and interminable. Put together entirely, Darlene had been absent for somewhere between forty minutes and an hour, probably. Maybe even less. That was all the time it took to upend and reconfigure everything she thought she knew about her life in this place, all it took for one of the strongest people she knew to fall by her own hand, all it took for a reunion to come and go.
What might have transpired with the others in that same small span of time?
The voices were the first sign that something was seriously wrong. When Darlene heard them, her hurried walk broke into a jog, even as her legs and lungs screamed at her that she'd had far more than her fair share of exercise in the last little while. It wasn't screaming. It wasn't even normal anger, exactly, not like when Darlene heard those two girls shriek at each other before the fight in the halls a million years ago, but the tone wasn't one bit friendly either. She recognized Abe's voice, and thought she heard Christina's too, and nobody else, but they were testy, bickering not like siblings but like rivals. They weren't happy.
Darlene wasn't being quiet or sneaky. Her shoes scraped along, shoveling dirt and twigs and loose bark and dry leaves up into the air. Her breathing was painful. She wasn't watching the ground anymore. She'd diverged from the track, just a little, but it didn't matter because she could hear them, she knew they were here, at any moment she'd see them and—
And then she did.
Darlene's momentum carried her towards the pair even as she slowed her pace, her bag thumping against her side. They were in a little clearing, and there was a body nearby, and a shopping cart, and even if the latter hadn't been enough to know for sure who it was, Darlene would've recognized Sakurako. Her throat felt tight all over again, but she had little time to spare for the body, because the living demanded her attention.
Abe stood back, guarded, defensive. It was a stance she could make sense of in her mind, the sort that said things were bad, things had gone wrong. It was probably how he'd looked all that time ago, back on the first day, when she shot Beryl, though there had been other things demanding more focus at the time. That instantly got Darlene's heart pounding faster.
Christina, meanwhile, stood near the cart and the bags, but not nearly so loose and easy. She had something big and metal in—no, on—her hand. Darlene squinted and almost took her glasses off to clean them before she remembered and then she didn't have to. The trap! Sakurako had had a bear trap, and it had been in her things, armed, and, and was that blood trickling down Christina's hand?
"I, guys, w-wait, I just, I," Darlene stammered and stumbled, as she leaned forward, bracing her hands on her knees while she panted, revolver pressing into her skin cool and metal. Her spit tasted tangy, and she really hoped she wouldn't puke. She didn't want to have to explain what she'd had for lunch just yet.
It was hard for Darlene to say exactly how long she'd been gone, or how far she had traveled. These were details that had held the utmost importance to her on the way out, when the very worst things she could possibly conceive of happening were her getting lost or left behind or else Abe and Christina getting into trouble and needing her while she was too far away to effectively intervene. None of those worries had been unfounded, but in hindsight she had been guilty of a certain lack of imagination. In reality, things had turned out much, much worse.
Really, it had been pretty improbable that she end up shooting probably the only person left whose death would tear her up in new ways. Had it been anyone else, she would've been upset, sure, and sad, and guilty, but not to the same degree. Anyone else, and she would've maybe stayed with them still, talked still, but their dying wish wouldn't have attained the same importance that Arizona's had. Darlene wouldn't have put her return to her living friends on hold for anyone else, because she hadn't owed anyone else in quite the same way, either directly or by proxy. But here she was, in the wake of delay after delay after delay.
Just how long had it been? When she left, it was raining, but the precipitation had been getting lighter and lighter. By the time Arizona's guns had been disposed of, it was functionally over, though the humidity still lingered in the air. Time always seemed to stretch for Darlene, or to contract, based on what she was doing and what was happening around her. When her primary goal was to pee in the bushes and change her shirt, and her biggest concern was getting far enough away from the others to have privacy while doing so, it had felt like a really long time. Those events, so small and meaningless, had felt like they'd taken ten or even fifteen minutes! But then, the shooting and the conversation, that had felt like forever, but if she had to pick a number, Darlene would've also said ten or fifteen minutes. Actually watching a movie, paying attention to the events and dialogue, she'd always found it incredible how much happened in a quarter hour. It was enough time to meet someone, fall in love, fight, and split up. Even the longest scenes were almost never that long, but so much was conveyed in the dialogue regardless.
And it was the same, again and again. Disposal of the guns? Ten to fifteen minutes. Maybe twenty for that, because she'd run around a lot, but maybe less, because things always felt way longer when she was running around. That was how being miserable worked.
Lunch with Ace? Yet again, ten to fifteen minutes. Darlene ate quickly a lot of the time, and even trying to slow it down, it had only been two ribs. Ten minutes might be pushing it. How long did it take to tie some shoes? How long did it take to finally say goodbye all the way?
The walk back had felt both quick and interminable. Put together entirely, Darlene had been absent for somewhere between forty minutes and an hour, probably. Maybe even less. That was all the time it took to upend and reconfigure everything she thought she knew about her life in this place, all it took for one of the strongest people she knew to fall by her own hand, all it took for a reunion to come and go.
What might have transpired with the others in that same small span of time?
The voices were the first sign that something was seriously wrong. When Darlene heard them, her hurried walk broke into a jog, even as her legs and lungs screamed at her that she'd had far more than her fair share of exercise in the last little while. It wasn't screaming. It wasn't even normal anger, exactly, not like when Darlene heard those two girls shriek at each other before the fight in the halls a million years ago, but the tone wasn't one bit friendly either. She recognized Abe's voice, and thought she heard Christina's too, and nobody else, but they were testy, bickering not like siblings but like rivals. They weren't happy.
Darlene wasn't being quiet or sneaky. Her shoes scraped along, shoveling dirt and twigs and loose bark and dry leaves up into the air. Her breathing was painful. She wasn't watching the ground anymore. She'd diverged from the track, just a little, but it didn't matter because she could hear them, she knew they were here, at any moment she'd see them and—
And then she did.
Darlene's momentum carried her towards the pair even as she slowed her pace, her bag thumping against her side. They were in a little clearing, and there was a body nearby, and a shopping cart, and even if the latter hadn't been enough to know for sure who it was, Darlene would've recognized Sakurako. Her throat felt tight all over again, but she had little time to spare for the body, because the living demanded her attention.
Abe stood back, guarded, defensive. It was a stance she could make sense of in her mind, the sort that said things were bad, things had gone wrong. It was probably how he'd looked all that time ago, back on the first day, when she shot Beryl, though there had been other things demanding more focus at the time. That instantly got Darlene's heart pounding faster.
Christina, meanwhile, stood near the cart and the bags, but not nearly so loose and easy. She had something big and metal in—no, on—her hand. Darlene squinted and almost took her glasses off to clean them before she remembered and then she didn't have to. The trap! Sakurako had had a bear trap, and it had been in her things, armed, and, and was that blood trickling down Christina's hand?
"I, guys, w-wait, I just, I," Darlene stammered and stumbled, as she leaned forward, bracing her hands on her knees while she panted, revolver pressing into her skin cool and metal. Her spit tasted tangy, and she really hoped she wouldn't puke. She didn't want to have to explain what she'd had for lunch just yet.
Seriously, fuck Abe. Fuuuuck. Him. It wasn't even a two minute job, and he was just standing there practically laughing! Piece of shit was dead once she got this stupid thing off her hand. She was just stewing to the point that she almost didn't hear the other voice.
Darlene was, thankfully, actually trying to help, although she wasn't doing too well in the actually getting there. It looked like she'd ran herself to exhaustion, which given what Christina had actually seen of Darlene didn't take a lot.
"Yes! Get this fucking thing off me! It's practically impossible to do alone." Christina called out before grunting. That got Darlene to actually get her ass moving again, although she was splitting her attention between the trap and Abe, who was still standing there like a fucking asshole.
Darlene was, thankfully, actually trying to help, although she wasn't doing too well in the actually getting there. It looked like she'd ran herself to exhaustion, which given what Christina had actually seen of Darlene didn't take a lot.
"Yes! Get this fucking thing off me! It's practically impossible to do alone." Christina called out before grunting. That got Darlene to actually get her ass moving again, although she was splitting her attention between the trap and Abe, who was still standing there like a fucking asshole.
Survivor: UCONN - Seriously, it's awesome!
Version 8
Kaede Tsurumi: "Eeep! I-I'm so sorry! I-I'll try not to get in your w-way next time!"
Morgan Whitney
Tyler Slomkowski
Victor Grail: "I didn't give you the lead so that you could lose it! I guess it's up to me to carry us after all."
Version 8
Kaede Tsurumi: "Eeep! I-I'm so sorry! I-I'll try not to get in your w-way next time!"
Morgan Whitney
Tyler Slomkowski
Victor Grail: "I didn't give you the lead so that you could lose it! I guess it's up to me to carry us after all."
Honestly, Abe shoulda been more concerned about how long it’d been since Darlene left. Once the misadventure with the bear trap started he’d completely lost track of time, only being jarred back to reality by the sound of distant gunshots, but that was the key part, distant gunshots, so after a quick little beating heart interlude he turned his attention back to the dipshit in front of him.
Weirdly enough he’d never even considered that something could have happened to Darlene. She seemed like a universal constant, in an endearingly bumbling comedy movie protagonist way. He could write the synopsis in like five minutes - some poor girl is kidnapped into a death game, but she outlives everyone else through a hilarious combination of misunderstandings and accidents, roll credits, her plane home crashes and she’s the only survivor on an actually deserted island. Boom, punchline, sequel hook, box office failure.
Anyways. She came back, eventually, but not soon enough for it to have made a difference. Their group was donezo.
“Hey, Darlene. Wanna hear a fun fact?” He said in lieu of a greeting or explanation. “It’s probably pretty fuckin’ obvious by now, but I wasn’t shooting at a bird, way back when. I saw the three of you having a good time by the lake and I wanted to ruin it. That’s all. Lucky for me that Diego’s explosion came along to make me look like the big hero, right?” He smirked.
Abe wasn’t really sure why he was confessing, it’s not like he wanted absolution, but the scene in front of them looked pretty fuckin’ bad already so maybe it was just a roundabout way to rip off the good times bandaid completely.
Weirdly enough he’d never even considered that something could have happened to Darlene. She seemed like a universal constant, in an endearingly bumbling comedy movie protagonist way. He could write the synopsis in like five minutes - some poor girl is kidnapped into a death game, but she outlives everyone else through a hilarious combination of misunderstandings and accidents, roll credits, her plane home crashes and she’s the only survivor on an actually deserted island. Boom, punchline, sequel hook, box office failure.
Anyways. She came back, eventually, but not soon enough for it to have made a difference. Their group was donezo.
“Hey, Darlene. Wanna hear a fun fact?” He said in lieu of a greeting or explanation. “It’s probably pretty fuckin’ obvious by now, but I wasn’t shooting at a bird, way back when. I saw the three of you having a good time by the lake and I wanted to ruin it. That’s all. Lucky for me that Diego’s explosion came along to make me look like the big hero, right?” He smirked.
Abe wasn’t really sure why he was confessing, it’s not like he wanted absolution, but the scene in front of them looked pretty fuckin’ bad already so maybe it was just a roundabout way to rip off the good times bandaid completely.
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MurderWeasel
- Posts: 2566
- Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2018 1:37 am
There was too much going on all at once. Darlene was wheezing and trying to catch her breath and the other two were shouting and arguing and trying to tell her things. They wanted something from her, needed her assistance and attention and she didn't even know what she could do for them. She forced her head up, craning her neck even as her torso remained almost parallel with the ground, and she looked at what was happening and took in the words and tried to put it all together and be something other than just overwhelmed.
The picture Darlene was getting didn't make her very happy. Christina had indeed discovered Sakurako's bear trap, and she was having trouble getting it off all on her own, which was understandable except for the part where Abe just stood there and didn't do anything whatsoever to help her! Darlene knew Abe wasn't exactly Christina's biggest fan, and was in fact barely tolerating the girl, and Darlene herself had just been thinking not that long ago that she could've helped Christina yet was choosing not to, but that was a kind of different circumstance. Not giving Christina a gun or offering to help talk Abe into doing so was one thing, because Christina wasn't fully trustworthy and she was too intent on the weapons and it would change the power dynamic, which would be risky. Not helping the girl free herself, though, was a step beyond, because fixing that predicament would cost nothing and spare her pain and probably even if Darlene hated someone a lot she'd help them in that sort of situation.
More than that, though, what Abe was saying was getting to her in a major way. It wasn't that the content was entirely unexpected. Darlene had sort of figured he might've been up to something, though she hadn't thought he'd known who she was at the time he opened fire, and maybe she wasn't understanding right and he actually hadn't, or maybe there was some explanation that changed things, like maybe he was lying for some reason, maybe something bad had happened to him while Darlene was gone and that was why he was acting like this, but what she knew for sure was that the time for that conversation was after the bear trap was dealt with and they could all be more relaxed.
Besides, things had happened to Darlene too. She was having probably a worse day, and she liked Abe more than anyone else left alive but he needed to calm down and give her space to breath. She'd been splitting her attention between the two of them, glancing back and forth every few seconds, but as everything finally clicked into place she set her gaze now firmly settle on Christina.
"I shot Arizona and ate her food," Darlene said without turning around, "just now. Sit down and hand me, I mean, put your hand on the ground."
It was all delivered in the same offhand tone, but the second part was directed at Christina, and the girl complied. On the ground, the situation seemed just a little more manageable. The trap had two pointy, toothy arms, which clamped tightly on the palm and back of Christina's hand. She must have moved something in just the wrong way to trip the pressure pad in the center, because her fingers didn't look like they'd reach it on their own. It was hard to say if that was lucky for her or not; there wasn't actually that much blood that Darlene could see, but she was pretty sure there was some serious bruising going on, purplish spots blooming around the points of impact, and who could say if the fragile little bones inside remained intact?
Bear traps, of course, were built to trap bears and then keep them incapacitated. This meant they were very sturdy and heavy and solid, and Darlene was almost definitely not stronger than the average bear! What she was, she thought with just a brief wistful remembering of Saturday and old cartoons with her grandmother, was smarter, and specifically more educated.
The book was flat yellow, paperback but the cover had a strange kind of waterproof texture, almost like one of those fancy journals some of her classmates used. It was called "The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook," and it lived in the school library, and sometimes at lunch when Darlene was bored and not especially focused she would go and visit it if it wasn't checked out, sit and flip through the pages and look at the pictures. It was good for this, because it was written in little chunks, each only a few pages long, taking no more than a couple of minutes to consume. She liked it because it was a lot like a book version of Wikipedia, each section describing its own wild scenario and how to deal with it, which let her imagine adventures where she encountered those situations.
She hadn't paid that much actual good attention to the advice, which had seemed fine at the time because the book had this big disclaimer at the start saying it was only for fun and that following its rules would probably actually kill you, but now almost two weeks into the very worst case scenario possible Darlene wished she could call more to mind. But one thing she could actually kind of remember was what to do about bear traps, because that song about Shia LaBeouf being a cannibal had been going around and there was a bear trap in it.
Darlene really hoped that wasn't one of the ones where the book was just for fun.
The exact details were hazy, but there were springs, she thought, that powered the trap from both sides, and the key was to pressure them both at once, rather than tugging at the jaws. She set the gun in the dirt, worrying for only a second that Christina might snatch it up, and then she found the parts that looked right and pressed, pushed with her hands as hard as she could and then leaned her whole weight on it, grinding the metal base of the trap into the dirt, and it was just enough to open the teeth and let Christina's hand slip free.
Darlene let out her breath and released, toppling backwards to sit on the ground and letting her hand fall almost casually onto the gun. Her nose was running and she sniffled, and she couldn't tell if she was laughing or sobbing dryly as she let her head loll back and finally looked back around.
The picture Darlene was getting didn't make her very happy. Christina had indeed discovered Sakurako's bear trap, and she was having trouble getting it off all on her own, which was understandable except for the part where Abe just stood there and didn't do anything whatsoever to help her! Darlene knew Abe wasn't exactly Christina's biggest fan, and was in fact barely tolerating the girl, and Darlene herself had just been thinking not that long ago that she could've helped Christina yet was choosing not to, but that was a kind of different circumstance. Not giving Christina a gun or offering to help talk Abe into doing so was one thing, because Christina wasn't fully trustworthy and she was too intent on the weapons and it would change the power dynamic, which would be risky. Not helping the girl free herself, though, was a step beyond, because fixing that predicament would cost nothing and spare her pain and probably even if Darlene hated someone a lot she'd help them in that sort of situation.
More than that, though, what Abe was saying was getting to her in a major way. It wasn't that the content was entirely unexpected. Darlene had sort of figured he might've been up to something, though she hadn't thought he'd known who she was at the time he opened fire, and maybe she wasn't understanding right and he actually hadn't, or maybe there was some explanation that changed things, like maybe he was lying for some reason, maybe something bad had happened to him while Darlene was gone and that was why he was acting like this, but what she knew for sure was that the time for that conversation was after the bear trap was dealt with and they could all be more relaxed.
Besides, things had happened to Darlene too. She was having probably a worse day, and she liked Abe more than anyone else left alive but he needed to calm down and give her space to breath. She'd been splitting her attention between the two of them, glancing back and forth every few seconds, but as everything finally clicked into place she set her gaze now firmly settle on Christina.
"I shot Arizona and ate her food," Darlene said without turning around, "just now. Sit down and hand me, I mean, put your hand on the ground."
It was all delivered in the same offhand tone, but the second part was directed at Christina, and the girl complied. On the ground, the situation seemed just a little more manageable. The trap had two pointy, toothy arms, which clamped tightly on the palm and back of Christina's hand. She must have moved something in just the wrong way to trip the pressure pad in the center, because her fingers didn't look like they'd reach it on their own. It was hard to say if that was lucky for her or not; there wasn't actually that much blood that Darlene could see, but she was pretty sure there was some serious bruising going on, purplish spots blooming around the points of impact, and who could say if the fragile little bones inside remained intact?
Bear traps, of course, were built to trap bears and then keep them incapacitated. This meant they were very sturdy and heavy and solid, and Darlene was almost definitely not stronger than the average bear! What she was, she thought with just a brief wistful remembering of Saturday and old cartoons with her grandmother, was smarter, and specifically more educated.
The book was flat yellow, paperback but the cover had a strange kind of waterproof texture, almost like one of those fancy journals some of her classmates used. It was called "The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook," and it lived in the school library, and sometimes at lunch when Darlene was bored and not especially focused she would go and visit it if it wasn't checked out, sit and flip through the pages and look at the pictures. It was good for this, because it was written in little chunks, each only a few pages long, taking no more than a couple of minutes to consume. She liked it because it was a lot like a book version of Wikipedia, each section describing its own wild scenario and how to deal with it, which let her imagine adventures where she encountered those situations.
She hadn't paid that much actual good attention to the advice, which had seemed fine at the time because the book had this big disclaimer at the start saying it was only for fun and that following its rules would probably actually kill you, but now almost two weeks into the very worst case scenario possible Darlene wished she could call more to mind. But one thing she could actually kind of remember was what to do about bear traps, because that song about Shia LaBeouf being a cannibal had been going around and there was a bear trap in it.
Darlene really hoped that wasn't one of the ones where the book was just for fun.
The exact details were hazy, but there were springs, she thought, that powered the trap from both sides, and the key was to pressure them both at once, rather than tugging at the jaws. She set the gun in the dirt, worrying for only a second that Christina might snatch it up, and then she found the parts that looked right and pressed, pushed with her hands as hard as she could and then leaned her whole weight on it, grinding the metal base of the trap into the dirt, and it was just enough to open the teeth and let Christina's hand slip free.
Darlene let out her breath and released, toppling backwards to sit on the ground and letting her hand fall almost casually onto the gun. Her nose was running and she sniffled, and she couldn't tell if she was laughing or sobbing dryly as she let her head loll back and finally looked back around.
Yeah Darlene was absolutely done with Abe’s shit, not that he really blamed her considering the monument to malicious apathy he’d displayed for her, and also that his first reaction to her return hadn’t been anything like ‘oh shit are you okay where’ve you been, person I care about somewhat,’ like, honestly he was scoring a zero in all categories, and you know what?
The fact that he was feeling guilty at all about it meant that it was way past time to fucking sever.
Really, he should be grateful to Christina for giving him an opportunity. He kind of wanted to nab one of the idiot’s bags just as a playful parting jab, but he didn’t really need it and that might motivate her to actually go after him, so he just hoisted his own bags over his shoulders.
He only kind of registered that Darlene had confessed to murder and lunch, attagirl, which maybe explained her absence and also the gunshots, but all it really meant was one less person to outlive, ‘cause Darlene and by extension her probably fragile emotional state were no longer his problem.
Despite himself, Abe hung around long enough for Christina’s hand to be freed, but it looked like Darlene was having kind of a moment and wasn’t exactly prepared to heroically stop the idiot from pulling any sorta shit, so he wasn’t giving her the opportunity.
“Welp, it’s been fun but I’m gonna get out of here Miss Edward Beartraphands shoots me with her shiny new gun. See you around, little bush mouse.” Saying it out loud made the nickname sound a lot more stupid than it had in his head. Whatever.
Abe gave a quick wave, then disappeared into the trees. He was gone before Darlene could object.
((Not that she would’ve, haha.))
The fact that he was feeling guilty at all about it meant that it was way past time to fucking sever.
Really, he should be grateful to Christina for giving him an opportunity. He kind of wanted to nab one of the idiot’s bags just as a playful parting jab, but he didn’t really need it and that might motivate her to actually go after him, so he just hoisted his own bags over his shoulders.
He only kind of registered that Darlene had confessed to murder and lunch, attagirl, which maybe explained her absence and also the gunshots, but all it really meant was one less person to outlive, ‘cause Darlene and by extension her probably fragile emotional state were no longer his problem.
Despite himself, Abe hung around long enough for Christina’s hand to be freed, but it looked like Darlene was having kind of a moment and wasn’t exactly prepared to heroically stop the idiot from pulling any sorta shit, so he wasn’t giving her the opportunity.
“Welp, it’s been fun but I’m gonna get out of here Miss Edward Beartraphands shoots me with her shiny new gun. See you around, little bush mouse.” Saying it out loud made the nickname sound a lot more stupid than it had in his head. Whatever.
Abe gave a quick wave, then disappeared into the trees. He was gone before Darlene could object.
((Not that she would’ve, haha.))
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MurderWeasel
- Posts: 2566
- Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2018 1:37 am
"I, I, but..."
That was about as far as Darlene got, and she was pretty sure Abe didn't hear a single word of it. It was choked, sputtering, a nonsense utterance anyways, and it was so stupid because she should've had something better. She should've popped up off the ground and ran after Abe, called his name and tugged his arm, or just...
The ideas weren't coming. She had no energy left. If someone came along and started shooting, she'd probably not even make it to her feet in time. Her best bet would be to tip over entirely and play like she'd been hit. It wouldn't even be that different from how things would turn out for real, probably. If she'd been all alone, she might've followed through on the plan even without an ambush. Just going flat on her back and lying in the dirt forever sounded significantly less draining than continuing to move and talk and think.
But Christina's hand had been messed up, and things had happened while Darlene was gone, and whatever had gotten into Abe, whether he was coming back or not, whatever that nickname he'd called her meant, there were still things that required Darlene's attention. She didn't have to like it. She didn't have to be good at it. It was just, when she was all banged up, Jonah did his best for her, and Christina wasn't Darlene's first or fifth choice of companion but, by now? The girl had shown herself to be pretty alright, and it didn't cost a single thing to help her, and so Darlene got to work.
Christina actually probably didn't even need the help, of course. She still had a good hand, and she had supplies, and she hadn't been running around in the forest shooting people and carrying way too many guns and having lunch dates with repeat killers like Darlene had. She wasn't ragged and panting, even if she was in pain. But she didn't tell Darlene to buzz off, or decline the help, or say anything mean, and right now that was all Darlene could ask for.
It was still early enough in the day that there was a lot more ahead of them, but that was just too much to think about right now. The Fortunately, the lazy move was also the smart move: find somewhere and rest, recuperate mentally, and hopefully by the evening things would be better. After all, Darlene had a long, long night ahead of her.
She thought again, briefly, of Ace, and of Abe, and of Arizona, and of the dangers lurking all around. She thought of Sakurako, and of that night not long ago at all (had it really been last night? Or the one before?) when they'd found a moment of happiness around the campfire. Darlene had done her best to savor it at the time, but still she wished it had lasted a little bit longer.
When everything was taken care of, the girls exchanged a few words and got moving. There was no telling what the next hours would bring, but Darlene was well and truly ready to leave the woods behind, and Christina had no objections.
((Darlene Silva continued in I Was There Two!))
That was about as far as Darlene got, and she was pretty sure Abe didn't hear a single word of it. It was choked, sputtering, a nonsense utterance anyways, and it was so stupid because she should've had something better. She should've popped up off the ground and ran after Abe, called his name and tugged his arm, or just...
The ideas weren't coming. She had no energy left. If someone came along and started shooting, she'd probably not even make it to her feet in time. Her best bet would be to tip over entirely and play like she'd been hit. It wouldn't even be that different from how things would turn out for real, probably. If she'd been all alone, she might've followed through on the plan even without an ambush. Just going flat on her back and lying in the dirt forever sounded significantly less draining than continuing to move and talk and think.
But Christina's hand had been messed up, and things had happened while Darlene was gone, and whatever had gotten into Abe, whether he was coming back or not, whatever that nickname he'd called her meant, there were still things that required Darlene's attention. She didn't have to like it. She didn't have to be good at it. It was just, when she was all banged up, Jonah did his best for her, and Christina wasn't Darlene's first or fifth choice of companion but, by now? The girl had shown herself to be pretty alright, and it didn't cost a single thing to help her, and so Darlene got to work.
Christina actually probably didn't even need the help, of course. She still had a good hand, and she had supplies, and she hadn't been running around in the forest shooting people and carrying way too many guns and having lunch dates with repeat killers like Darlene had. She wasn't ragged and panting, even if she was in pain. But she didn't tell Darlene to buzz off, or decline the help, or say anything mean, and right now that was all Darlene could ask for.
It was still early enough in the day that there was a lot more ahead of them, but that was just too much to think about right now. The Fortunately, the lazy move was also the smart move: find somewhere and rest, recuperate mentally, and hopefully by the evening things would be better. After all, Darlene had a long, long night ahead of her.
She thought again, briefly, of Ace, and of Abe, and of Arizona, and of the dangers lurking all around. She thought of Sakurako, and of that night not long ago at all (had it really been last night? Or the one before?) when they'd found a moment of happiness around the campfire. Darlene had done her best to savor it at the time, but still she wished it had lasted a little bit longer.
When everything was taken care of, the girls exchanged a few words and got moving. There was no telling what the next hours would bring, but Darlene was well and truly ready to leave the woods behind, and Christina had no objections.
((Darlene Silva continued in I Was There Two!))
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MurderWeasel
- Posts: 2566
- Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2018 1:37 am
The gashes left by the teeth of the bear trap were deep and painful, but Christina was able to get them disinfected, bandaged, and securely wrapped up. She appreciated Darlene's assistance, fumbling and unsure as it was, especially when contrasted with that other asshole who had yet again thrown her to the wolves. It was probably better to find out this way than if he decided to slit their throats in their sleep, or shoot them in the back, but it still rankled. He'd been so smug, so flippant about it.
Well, now he was off on his own with no allies in the final stretches of the game, and Christina had managed to get her hands on something to defend herself with, so who really got the last laugh? Assuming, of course, he wasn't waiting in ambush just around the next bend to blow them away.
Darlene was eager to get out of the woods, and Christina didn't object. This late in the game, the areas were going to become even more constrained, and come to think of it, being smack dab in the middle of the most treacherous, difficult to navigate, landmark-free expanse of open wilderness left in play was probably not the most intelligent plan.
She'd have to figure out how the pistol worked later, but for now even holding the weapon brought a greater sense of security than the dinky little knife and the sharpened stick she'd been forced to rely on previously. As she and Darlene set a course for somewhere new, Christina kept her attention and guard up, but Abe didn't return and nobody else made a move either.
((Christina Rennes continued in I'll Probably Get Homesick, I Love You, Goodnight))
((Everything here is subject to partial, total, or no change at all. Decoy's dealing with a power outage going and requested I scoot Christina out of the thread, but whenever he gets back he has total edit power if he wants it.))
Well, now he was off on his own with no allies in the final stretches of the game, and Christina had managed to get her hands on something to defend herself with, so who really got the last laugh? Assuming, of course, he wasn't waiting in ambush just around the next bend to blow them away.
Darlene was eager to get out of the woods, and Christina didn't object. This late in the game, the areas were going to become even more constrained, and come to think of it, being smack dab in the middle of the most treacherous, difficult to navigate, landmark-free expanse of open wilderness left in play was probably not the most intelligent plan.
She'd have to figure out how the pistol worked later, but for now even holding the weapon brought a greater sense of security than the dinky little knife and the sharpened stick she'd been forced to rely on previously. As she and Darlene set a course for somewhere new, Christina kept her attention and guard up, but Abe didn't return and nobody else made a move either.
((Christina Rennes continued in I'll Probably Get Homesick, I Love You, Goodnight))
((Everything here is subject to partial, total, or no change at all. Decoy's dealing with a power outage going and requested I scoot Christina out of the thread, but whenever he gets back he has total edit power if he wants it.))