Predator and Prey At Night

[Primrosette]

Bacchia was a bit relieved that RJ was letting the subject drop for her sake as well and it seemed like they both had an understanding of when to let things go. However, the subject of Ivan and The Respects can be something she can worry about later on and she just wanted to lay down and rest. She needed to figure out what she wanted to do after some hours. It was definitely gonna be interesting no matter what she will do.

"Aha. I don't know if you can heal some bruised ribs that feel like they are about to break at any moment." Bacchia replied with a slight smile and a small laugh and then she pointed at the cut that was across her collarbone. Ivan had thankfully not cut her too deeply with that glass back on the ferry and she didn't even want to think about what else he would have inflicted on her. "There's only really this for now as I have worked on my hand myself. I managed to slice the inside of my palm like a clumsy bitch. Hah."

Trying to keep things light was not her forte.

Doesn't mean that she wasn't going to try.

"Hey, RJ...."

Oh? You're really going to ask him? This loser?

He has a gun. It's better to be with someone who has a gun, right?

....Ugh, fine. Do whatever you want, Bacchia. Hope that this won't bite you in the ass!

"Would you like to partner up with me for a while? I mean, we don't have to. We can go our separate ways and well, you know." She shrugged as she stepped closer to him and she stopped inches in front of him, smiling with exhaustion. "This was a dumb question. Sorry."

Trying to be a better person was going to be a hard task for her honestly.

[AnimeNerd]

RJ was tempted to pull a face at the mention of the injury-yeah, bruised ribs weren't exactly things that he could heal-but he held back, knowing he didn't need to do another stupid thing to make someone hate him.

"I can spare some painkillers, if you want. Haven't used much of them, really."

Addiction was very much not his area of expertise, but he knew enough that one should be careful with any drugs that had positive effects. He had taken a single pill after patching up his wounds, and resolved to take no more unless they became absolutely necessary.

The attempt at a joke didn't result in a laugh, but it did get a small smile as RJ raised his bandaged hand. "Look on the bright side; you're not alone in that area." It probably wouldn't be any actual comfort, but hey, solidarity wasn't so bad.

Then Bacchia was asking him a big question, getting closer to him. Physically closer, rather than emotionally. Well, maybe they were somewhat the same emotionally, in that moment. Two people that were absolutely exhausted, having suffered beatings they only barely escaped alive. Two people that were lonely and didn't have many other options for company, so they'd take what they could get.

Two kids that were just terrified and didn't want to die in their sleep to someone stumbling in taking advantage of an easy kill.

"If you'll really have me, then sure," was the response that came out. "I can take watch tonight, make sure no one comes and tries anything stupid."

It was probably the more painful option for RJ, but it was the most logical one. Having Bacchia take watch all night would be stupid because his nightmare would keep him awake and neither of them would have sleep. Trying to halve it fairly would mean Bacchia gets half of a good amount of sleep, and RJ...what, a quarter? Best to just let Bacchia get the rest. One out of two people with fully functioning braincells was better two very sleep deprived people.

He could always sleep the next day.

[Primrosette]

"Oh, nice. Bandage buddies, huh?" Bacchia let out a soft snort as they were comparing injuries and she couldn't help but smirk a little. "I think I do have enough painkillers. It doesn't hurt as much as it did before. I just need to clean up this cut. Maybe use the alcohol I got. I'm not the most knowledgeable person when it comes to medical stuff. Kind of wish that I had before we were on this damn show."

She let out a sigh of frustration and then she felt her eyes widen in surprise at RJ's response about being partners. An actual ally. With someone not on her team. She could always worry about that later on. That didn't matter right now. He wanted her to accept him which was more surprising as she had been caused a bit of trouble with The Respects. She knew that they would be looking for her at some point, but she was going to make it clear that she was not going to join them again. She felt like there had been something more and more off about Fisk that had been bothering her. But she couldn't quite put her finger on it yet.

"Of course. Now you're stuck with me for now." She was feeling good about this and she was feeling a bit more relaxed in his presence despite the whole gun issue. "Hey, if you need to rest as well, feel free to wake me up. I might be a bit grumpy if you do, but I rather you be well rested too. We will need to be more alert later on."

She paused briefly and she rubbed her chin with her unwounded hand.

"Also, if The Respects come looking for me, we have to be careful as I'm going to tell them no if they want me back. Also, they might try to hurt you, so.... Yeah. Sorry for all my baggage, RJ."

[AnimeNerd]

Bandage buddies. It was kind of cheesy, but honestly RJ didn't mind. Cheesy felt familiar. Nice. And he would take any nice thing he could get, when he was stuck in a circle of Hell like this one.

"The saline might help, too. From the first aid kit," he said. "My mom's a nurse, and she's told me some stuff. Saline can help clean wounds and deal with dehydration, but...not the kind we might have to deal with."

It wasn't really blurting it out. More like his brain had thoughts and his mouth agreed to share them. At least it didn't actually sound like blurting anything out.

God, he was going to have to thank his mom if he ever got home again, wasn't he? It didn't matter that RJ hadn't learned any serious stuff yet-any medical knowledge was precious when you were in a game where you had to fight to survive. And as time went on, he felt fairly sure he would only become more grateful for each bit of knowledge he knew.

He smiled a small bit at the 'You're stuck with me' comment, and tried to think about the offer from Bacchia. She did have a point, when he thought about it. Bacchia having a full night's sleep would be great, but that just meant she would be stuck dragging his sleep deprived ass around, and he wasn't about to force her into such a thing. She deserved an ally that could actually function, not when that could pass out at any moment.

He nodded.

"I'll think about it, yeah."

And as far as baggage went...yeah, a group of people that made it clear they want to kill people was probably pretty highly ranked in the area of bad possibilities. He definitely had baggage as well, but one guy with a wooden board was different from a group with God knows how many weapons. But on the other hand...

RJ shrugged.

"I'll keep that in mind, but to be fair, there are already a lot of people trying to kill everyone, and they probably would've tried to hurt me regardless, wouldn't they?"

The points weren't connected, but it was still the truth. It would be a bigger confrontation, but something like that was bound to come up eventually. And from all the information he had at that point, at least three people were dead because of The Respects-nearly four. With how everyone was acting, he wasn't sure how many people left from this group would be willing to let him live, and he definitely doubted they'd let him leave with his gun.

Maybe the Respects would understand Bacchia's reasoning and let them be. Maybe RJ would get shot. Maybe they both would get shot. All he could do at that point was just wait and see.

[Primrosette]

"Saline. Alright, I'll keep that in mind. Thanks, RJ." She nodded at him in understanding.

Bacchia thought about what RJ was saying about people being out to kill each other and she couldn't disagree with his words. She had been one of them.... No, there was still a chance that she might have to kill people who want revenge. Like Ivan. He had to be put down like the stubborn dog he was. Well, she was hoping that The Respects would take Ivan out after what had happened those few hours ago and then she wouldn't have to worry about Ivan hunting for her regardless.

She knew that The Respects could also be an issue too. Mostly Fisk, Vasily and Verity. She didn't have a bad thing to say about Keegan since he saved her and she hoped that the others was making sure that he was continuing to be safe and well. She still felt bad that he did that for her and she wondered if he and Verity were still going to friends. Thinking of Verity.... She still didn't trust that bitch one bit. Letting the girl who had shot Keegan into the group.... What the hell had they been thinking at the time? Bacchia had mainly done it for Keegan. But she still regretted that. Well, Verity was The Respects' problem now. Vasily was just a loyal dog to Fisk and she knew that he was pretty unstable as well. Too emotional. Possibly too drained by the violence. Sofia... She didn't know her and she didn't really care. She was more frustrated with James about not telling her about dating another girl.

....

Wait. Why did she even care about that cowardly idiot?

Ugh. He was such a jerk and Bacchia guessed she did care. A bit. A little. Gross.

And Fisk. As a leader. He wasn't good at it. She knew, she knew. She hoped the others will make sure to keep safe around him once he loses more control.

Other killers. Seo-yun, Eric, etc. They were going to be people that she was going to have to keep an eye out for and she might have to make a choice of taking them out. It was just how it was.

"I mean, you're not wrong about that honestly." She said as she was looking around in the dark and she wondering if she could ever see someone trying to hide. Nope. Didn't look like she could. "Well, if people are going to come for either of us, let's make sure to have each other's back for as long as we can. Yes?"

She held out her hand towards him. Hoping that he will take her up on that promise.

[AnimeNerd]

RJ simply nodded in response to Bacchia's thanks. He couldn't really think of anything to say, or at least nothing that wouldn't sound stupid, so he only nodded.

Should he help her more? Help patch up the wounds? RJ felt like he should help treat Bacchia's cut, since he was the one of them that probably had more medical knowledge.

But something told him to stay where he was.

Maybe it was distrust after his previous experiences trying to relax near people. Maybe it was embarrassment that still lingered after having seen Amy changing and not wanting any sort of repeat after that. Or maybe it was common sense that pointed out how cleaning and bandaging a wound wasn't that hard of a thing to do.

Whatever it was, it was enough to not offer any more help. If Bacchia said she would do it herself, she would do it herself.

Bacchia spoke, and she agreed with him. Nothing specifically, as far as he could tell, but with the general sentiments. No matter what, they were going to be in danger. A good number of killers existed, and who knew how many more were just waiting for the chance to kill?

RJ looked at the hand presented to him, before holding it in his own.

"Yeah, let's do that."

Maybe it was only a small bit of hope, that someone would actually want to help him and work with him, but he'd take a small bit over no hope at all.

[Primrosette]

Bacchia felt good about this. She had someone with a gun and less noise that made her feel like she was going to lose her mind. The Respects were getting too crowded for her liking and she preferred to just have one person bugging her than over four or five people. Also, she couldn't afford to get distracted by her petty feelings that she clearly had for that fool that she will not name again and she had to focus on the task at hand.

Focus, Bacchia, focus. Just make sure to keep RJ as a good ally for the time being and even if Ivan comes for you... You have a gun in play.

It was really too perfect for her. But she was going to take what she was given and no one was going to stop that for now.

"Glad to have you on the same page, RJ." She gave him a small nod as they were shaking hands and then she pulled away from him slightly. "Now I'm going to clean myself up a bit before I get some rest."

((Bacchia Rubus continued in Go For Broke))

[AnimeNerd]

Bacchia didn't immediately pull him forward and impale him on her sword. Always a good sign from the people you want to work with.

RJ didn't actually expect that to happen, but intrusive thoughts just had a way of entering your head and only making themselves known at the most awkward of times. At least he hadn't made any outward reactions when thinking of it.

He returned the small nod, a small, tentative smile on his lips. "Same to you. I'll wake you up if I need to, later."

Would this partnership last for the whole game? RJ wasn't really sure of that. They were on different teams, they both really wanted to live, and there was no telling how this game could go. There were people that probably should've gone far that were dead. There were people like him that were somehow still alive, despite so many factors not in their favor. The game was unpredictable and he had no idea what to expect from it, as well as this partnership.

But that wouldn't stop RJ from internally rejoicing that, if only for a little while, there was someone that had his back.

[[RJ Blackburn continued in Go for Broke]]