This place wasn't a chain, it was just some little shop in a brick building, probably handed down through a couple generations, then hit by the freeze. There are empry shelves where the tools used to be. Who knows if it was taken by folks trying to escape the freeze, or by those who survived it.
You should watch the ceilings, Silica. You hear some creaking around up there. Soft and slow, but something is up top, probably watching you.
"Silly..." K2 says quietly as she looks at a rack of five metal shelves. "I think we can break this apart, shove the metal shelves under the tires. GTFO."
I creep along, trying not to show that I'm watching our observers... whoever the fuck they might be. "Yeah that sounds good..." I answer her, trying to sound... casual. But I reach out to touch Kaykay's shoulder, a light, urgent touch. My face is serious... if she meets my eye I glance upwards and make the tinyest little 'shh' sound through my teeth.
But I'm listening, the sound of the upstairs floor creaking isn't unlike unsteady ice. You can get a sense of things from just that sound... how they step. Are they just trying to stay still, or are they actively stalking us. I tighten my grip around my revolver.
As you turn your head, listening intently above, you swear there are more than one of them up there. Trying to figure out where they are exactly, but your concentration is ruined when K2 starts trying to bust the ice on the big metal shelves so she can break it down. It's fucking LOUD.
They scatter, three of them. One moves past a hole in the ceiling, a kid, scrawny, about your height, maybe. There's one watching you, though, a boy. Maybe K2's age. He's the threat. The others, just ragamuffins.
"Shut the fuck up, Kaykay!" I kind of snap at her, pretty serious but not totally. We probably don't look all that scary right now... kids huh? Just some fuckin' kids hiding out here? Doesn't mean we ain't in trouble.
"Hey fuckers!" I call out to the ceiling, my usual charming demeaneor, "we be outta your business real quick... no trouble, all right?"
You shine the light up after yelling at the ceiling, and catch sight of the boy earlier. He looks like this:
K2 looks up with you, and shrieks when she sees him, scared out of her head for a moment. She jumps back, sliding on some ice and falling. The kid scuttles forward, towards the hole in the ceiling, and drops down. He lands with a bit of sound, crouched, and maybe ten feet away from you. The kids upstairs scamper like mad towards the back of the place, away from you.
What do you do?
Best Way Out?Head straight out the window you came in, back off quick and quiet. They won't chase you.
Shitfuckin'... Kaykay freaks me out a little and holy shit this guy!
Yeah that's fuckin' weird. I've got my pistol at my side, pointed at the ground, "hey, uh... we ain't got at'cha, allright? We just on the way out..." I start to back towards the window... yeah, get the fuck out... nice and casual.
The fuck is Kaykay doing? Get your shit together girl.
K2 points her revolver at the kid, her aim steady. "Back off, fucktard! We're just taking the shelves, that's it. Now get outta here."
The boy cocks his head, looking at K2. You don't think he even knows what a gun is. He's probably going to leap at her, just from his stance. K2 realizes it, too.
Things are happening too fast, without thinking my new reflexes take over. Suddenly the guy bursts through my vision in a hailstorm of too bright lights that crash around me. I feel a fear and anger inside me... this is not fucking happening...
"Better step off, fucker! We're takin' this shit and we're gone!"
The kid's eyes bug when you do that, Silica. He heard you. And he lopes off towards the back, leaping over a counter like some kind of animal. No words, nothing, just gone. You hear the kids upstairs scampering, sounds like they're leaving the building somehow. Outside, you hear more noise, like they've moved onto an adjoining building.
K2 looks over at you. "Did you... talk in his head? Like me?" She looks shocked, maybe like she'd just wondered if you were really doing that before or if she just imagined it.
This... I take a step back, slightly disoriented by the fading glare. "Fuck..." I say in some degree of shock as I look slowly at Kaykay, "yeah I... I... yeah..." for some reason I look at my hands, though I don't think it's got fuckall to do with my hands. I'm almost as surprised as the kid is... it just happened... without thinking about it, like it's fucking natural.
I slap my fist against my thigh to wake myself up, "let's get our shit together and get the fuck outta here."
Yeah I fuckin' rocked that shit. I nod to Kaykay a couple times... Hard not to smile after the first few seconds of wtf start to wear off.
K2 gets to work, banging on the ice and laughing with the thrill of what just happened. Within a few minutes of quick work, she's dragging a pair of metal shelves outside, and putting them under the wheels. I assume you help? She finds some work gloves hidden in a sodden box to avoid getting sliced open.
It only takes a couple tries and then you pull out of there! You're back on the road and K2 has the giggles something fierce. She's driving with one hand, reaching over for yours with the other. Do you hold her hand?
"That shit is intense, Silly. You're a stone cold badass." K2 says when she pulls the truck in to park. She pockets the keys, then hops out, assuming you'll follow.
Yeah we drag the shit out there, sure I help get the shit out. I don't think those kids are coming back but i don't know that they ain't so we're in a hurry.
Then we climb into the truck and gtfo, but holding hands? Fuck, do I do that? I don't fuckin' do that... no. She touches my hand and I'm like... huh?... for a second with a puzzled face... then instead I kind of clear my throat and turn a little in my seat and plonk my heels up on the middle of the dash and lean my head to one side against the window glass. Hands? No, I don't hold hands.
I sort of watch her... I can't get this thought out of my head and I really want to fuckin' say it... really... I even open my fuckin' mouth a couple times to say it... but not quite.
I just watch her drive... and probably worry about why I ain't sittin' closer.
You're still sitting there, in the truck, when she comes around to your side, pulling the door open for you. "C'mon, Silly. Let's go get some shut eye or somesuch." She's heading into a building that leads down to the freight tunnels, to one of Backside Misty's flats. Do you follow?
Yeah I follow.... draggin' my fuckin feet a little. I feel all right, you know? Not down or anything, just distracted. I know this shit ain't right. Why the fuck don't I just fuckin' say it...
"Kaykay..." she looks? She probably looks, "yeah... fuckin' sleep. After all that tense bullshit." I stutter over the words, that's not what I meant to say.
She practically skips through the gutted out building, and hums while climbing down the ladder to the freight tunnels. She waits for you at the bottom, still humming a little bouncy song.
When you get down to the ground beside her, she pushes herself against you, arms around your neck, mouth coming in for a peck of a kiss. She pulls back right away, looking at you in the dim light of a naked bulb ten feet away. Her tummy is pressed against yours and she's trying to read you. She's noticed, she feels your distance, maybe?
Kaykay presses against me, and my back ends up against the wall of the tunnel as she pecks at my lips. A hand goes reflexively to her hip, but the other's down palm against the cold tunnel wall.
My teeth are together and yeah... I'm fuckin' shit at this kind of thing. When the hell have I ever had to actually fuckin' talk to someone...
"It's way easier not givin' a shit about'cha, Kaykay..." I say quietly, tryin' to keep my shit together. Kaykay fuckin' turned me the shit on like I never expected... but... She is on my mind, Footie... I saw her in Kaykay for a little while there... I wanted that energy, that friendship... but she's not Footie is she? Footie... I fuckin' killed for her...
I look back at Kaykay's eyes and think to myself, head shaking ever so slightly, "Kaykay I..." I can pretend I have a better explanation... that I'm thinking of the future or something... but I ain't really... everything she's done last few days has just started to fuckin' bug me... "I think... I think you should go home."
I look into her eyes as I say it, but then I look away... at that pale burning light. Anything but her.
K2 steps back, breaking contact with you like maybe that is what bothers you. "You. You're tired, right? It's okay, Silly. I know you need your space. I just. I got too clingy, right? I'm just so... fuck, Silly, I'm so damn into you. Like, ever since we, you know, we did it. I can barely keep my hands off you." She stops talking, like she's said too much.
Crosses her arms, looks down, down at the darkness by your feet. Anything but you. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I was such a bitch to you, for like forever. I'm trying. To be better. I can be good for.." she sniffs quietly, stops talking as she composes herself. She wipes at her eyes with the back of a hand.
After a pause, she fumbles in her pockets, pulls out a BM stamp, tries to push it in your hand. "Here, take it. Grab some sleep, okay?"
Yeah my eyes are teary... there's a lot more on my mind than her. She doesn't even fuckin' know... It's her but yeah, more shit than I want to think about.
I almost interrupt, almost answer each time she speaks but I don't know what the fuck to say without just being' a bitch to her... so you know... no way I'm gonna say the right thing...
She pushes the token into my hand... the fuck do they think I want this shit for? Both of 'em... how do they get me that wrong? I don't wanna sleep at fuckin' Misty's... damn. Like tellin' me to wear a fuckin' sweater.
"Keep it... just..." it's in my hand and I raise it up, gesturing with it. I try to give it back, "just fucking keep it, ok? This ain't me... this whole..." I gesture around us and shake my head, eyes closed, "this whole fuckin' thing ain't me... I can't fuckin' do this any more, ok?"
I'm upset, confused with myself. It wasn't so fuckin' bad was it? Her nice soft bed... the way she... I want to kiss her... no no fuck... no. That ain't you, Silica. And she ain't the one you want!
Finally tears come, I fall back the few inches against the wall of the tunnel. It hurts... and I lean there. Every time I open my fuckin' mouth I make things worse.
You break down, standing there in the tunnel with K2. She cries, too. Keeps a bit of distance from you, hesitant to overwhelm you.
She doesn't leave. Maybe she should, it would be a good idea to let you be alone, like she said. Like you probably need. She stands there, in the light, her cheeks red, tears glowing from the reflections, making her face look brighter.
"...Silica. I don't want to go," she says quietly. Her voice slurs slightly from the tears, and well, some snot, too. She sniffs, continuing, "I can. I can do better. I want to know what is you, okay? Just wanna. Wanna be with you. I know you like Hadden. It's okay. Just... I... please. I need you." She reaches a hand out to touch your forearm, testing.
I pull back, covering my face with my hands for a second before lowering them to answer.
"What do you fuckin' need me for?" I look at her, a sort of disbelief on my face. "I been followin' you an' Hadden around like a fuckin' puppy these days... Kaykay, sleepin' inside... keepin' my fuckin' head down all the damn time... you know?"
I take a breath, how to fuckin' say this, "I didn't want that shit to happen... Kaykay I got my fuckin' head mixed up back there. A lot of shit happened... You fuckin' saved my ass lettin' me in your door but..." Am I tring to spare her feelings? Not like I can tell her the real reason I let myself open up to her... cause I was fucked up in the head over my actual friend? My dead friend.... the fuck, Silica...
"This shit ain't me... and everything about me is changin' these days and I don't know where I'm gonna end up..."
I wipe at my cheek with a hand and try to just tell her how it is but I'm not even sure I fuckin' know how it is.
"I didn't!" K2 starts, her voice shrill with frustration. "I didn't tell you to keep your head down! You aren't a puppy, we're like... we're like partners! You did that, that thing with the boy in the store, and you found that scrap with Hadden."
She huffs a breath out, like she's angry and hurt and confused and doesn't know why this has happened. "I told Hadden.... that I wanted to be with you. Because. Because I do." She swallows, sniffs again, "Be what you want, if you need it. I can. I dunno, help you or whatever."
"I don't wanna go home, Silica. I don't wanna be away. From you." She admits it as though it pains her, like she's the puppy.
Kaykay might catch the tinyest hint of a smile. Yeah she admits it... you know it feels kind of good hearing her admit it. Man she's gettin' to me again...
I raise a hand up, palm towards her, "ok that's enough of that shit... fuck Kaykay, we just is what we is ok? Ain't such a big fuckin' thing... " my expression softens a little. A little tilt of the head, truth is I just can't handle more fuckin tears... like what are we supposed to be here?
I push off the wall with a foot to stand tall, still shorter than her... fuck. "Kaykay, I'm gonna go sleep in the fuckin truck," I gesture over a shoulder like I do... but Kaykay's got this broken look on her face, all tears and messed up.
Suddenly shove her, hard, on the shoulder... with a smile, and a little breath-almost-laugh. Tryin' to break the fuckin' tension.
"I don't know what the fuck we are, Kaykay but we sure as shit ain't nothin, all right? Just... I can't just stop doin' what I do... you do what you gotta do ok? Whateva' happens happens... you get burned that ain't on me..."
I smile a sad little smile like old friends and enemies can share. We got history... I can't deny that. Future? Who the fuck knows.
When you shove K2, she falls back a step, but she straightens up quick, then laughs a little. It did break the tension. You tell her you're heading for the truck, and she gets it. She doesn't ask to come along.
Then you tell her if she gets burned, it isn't on you. She doesn't seem to get that. To her, if she's burned right now, it is because of you. She's into you, Silica. You feel it. That yearning, that craving. She wants to be around you, near you, with you. She doesn't even understand it herself, but she knows what she wants.
She doesn't say anything more. You win. She nods, wipes at her face and nose, trying to regain some modicum of composure. But she's undone. She nods again, like maybe she didn't nod before, seconds ago. Punch drunk, lost. She turns to keep walking down the corridor towards Misty's to use her token. She'll sleep alone tonight. Just like you.
I climb up the ladder and reach the street. Alone. Hey, not like that's a big thing... I'm always alone... no big fuckin' deal...
But I stop there in the cold night air, takes me a few seconds to stand. My eyes still moist from letting it all out down there. I sniffle and wipe my eyes before the water starts to freeze on me.
I find the truck and climb in the back, all but throwing myself down into the bed... hope it'll snow tonight. That feels nice. I like the silence.
Comments
(Rolled: 2d6+2. Rolls: 3, 6. Total: 11)
xp(5)
You should watch the ceilings, Silica. You hear some creaking around up there. Soft and slow, but something is up top, probably watching you.
"Silly..." K2 says quietly as she looks at a rack of five metal shelves. "I think we can break this apart, shove the metal shelves under the tires. GTFO."
I creep along, trying not to show that I'm watching our observers... whoever the fuck they might be. "Yeah that sounds good..." I answer her, trying to sound... casual. But I reach out to touch Kaykay's shoulder, a light, urgent touch. My face is serious... if she meets my eye I glance upwards and make the tinyest little 'shh' sound through my teeth.
But I'm listening, the sound of the upstairs floor creaking isn't unlike unsteady ice. You can get a sense of things from just that sound... how they step. Are they just trying to stay still, or are they actively stalking us. I tighten my grip around my revolver.
Which enemy is the biggest threat?
They scatter, three of them. One moves past a hole in the ceiling, a kid, scrawny, about your height, maybe. There's one watching you, though, a boy. Maybe K2's age. He's the threat. The others, just ragamuffins.
Biggest threat, though. K2 is freaking them out.
Just great.
"Shut the fuck up, Kaykay!" I kind of snap at her, pretty serious but not totally. We probably don't look all that scary right now... kids huh? Just some fuckin' kids hiding out here? Doesn't mean we ain't in trouble.
"Hey fuckers!" I call out to the ceiling, my usual charming demeaneor, "we be outta your business real quick... no trouble, all right?"
What's my best way out?
K2 looks up with you, and shrieks when she sees him, scared out of her head for a moment. She jumps back, sliding on some ice and falling. The kid scuttles forward, towards the hole in the ceiling, and drops down. He lands with a bit of sound, crouched, and maybe ten feet away from you. The kids upstairs scamper like mad towards the back of the place, away from you.
What do you do?
Best Way Out?Head straight out the window you came in, back off quick and quiet. They won't chase you.
Shitfuckin'... Kaykay freaks me out a little and holy shit this guy!
Yeah that's fuckin' weird. I've got my pistol at my side, pointed at the ground, "hey, uh... we ain't got at'cha, allright? We just on the way out..." I start to back towards the window... yeah, get the fuck out... nice and casual.
The fuck is Kaykay doing? Get your shit together girl.
The boy cocks his head, looking at K2. You don't think he even knows what a gun is. He's probably going to leap at her, just from his stance. K2 realizes it, too.
What do you do?
Things are happening too fast, without thinking my new reflexes take over. Suddenly the guy bursts through my vision in a hailstorm of too bright lights that crash around me. I feel a fear and anger inside me... this is not fucking happening...
"Better step off, fucker! We're takin' this shit and we're gone!"
Holy shit.
(Rolled: 2d6+2. Rolls: 6, 2. Total: 10)
K2 looks over at you. "Did you... talk in his head? Like me?" She looks shocked, maybe like she'd just wondered if you were really doing that before or if she just imagined it.
This... I take a step back, slightly disoriented by the fading glare. "Fuck..." I say in some degree of shock as I look slowly at Kaykay, "yeah I... I... yeah..." for some reason I look at my hands, though I don't think it's got fuckall to do with my hands. I'm almost as surprised as the kid is... it just happened... without thinking about it, like it's fucking natural.
I slap my fist against my thigh to wake myself up, "let's get our shit together and get the fuck outta here."
Yeah I fuckin' rocked that shit. I nod to Kaykay a couple times... Hard not to smile after the first few seconds of wtf start to wear off.
I got this.
It only takes a couple tries and then you pull out of there! You're back on the road and K2 has the giggles something fierce. She's driving with one hand, reaching over for yours with the other. Do you hold her hand?
"That shit is intense, Silly. You're a stone cold badass." K2 says when she pulls the truck in to park. She pockets the keys, then hops out, assuming you'll follow.
Yeah we drag the shit out there, sure I help get the shit out. I don't think those kids are coming back but i don't know that they ain't so we're in a hurry.
Then we climb into the truck and gtfo, but holding hands? Fuck, do I do that? I don't fuckin' do that... no. She touches my hand and I'm like... huh?... for a second with a puzzled face... then instead I kind of clear my throat and turn a little in my seat and plonk my heels up on the middle of the dash and lean my head to one side against the window glass. Hands? No, I don't hold hands.
I sort of watch her... I can't get this thought out of my head and I really want to fuckin' say it... really... I even open my fuckin' mouth a couple times to say it... but not quite.
I just watch her drive... and probably worry about why I ain't sittin' closer.
Yeah I follow.... draggin' my fuckin feet a little. I feel all right, you know? Not down or anything, just distracted. I know this shit ain't right. Why the fuck don't I just fuckin' say it...
"Kaykay..." she looks? She probably looks, "yeah... fuckin' sleep. After all that tense bullshit." I stutter over the words, that's not what I meant to say.
When you get down to the ground beside her, she pushes herself against you, arms around your neck, mouth coming in for a peck of a kiss. She pulls back right away, looking at you in the dim light of a naked bulb ten feet away. Her tummy is pressed against yours and she's trying to read you. She's noticed, she feels your distance, maybe?
Kaykay presses against me, and my back ends up against the wall of the tunnel as she pecks at my lips. A hand goes reflexively to her hip, but the other's down palm against the cold tunnel wall.
My teeth are together and yeah... I'm fuckin' shit at this kind of thing. When the hell have I ever had to actually fuckin' talk to someone...
"It's way easier not givin' a shit about'cha, Kaykay..." I say quietly, tryin' to keep my shit together. Kaykay fuckin' turned me the shit on like I never expected... but... She is on my mind, Footie... I saw her in Kaykay for a little while there... I wanted that energy, that friendship... but she's not Footie is she? Footie... I fuckin' killed for her...
I look back at Kaykay's eyes and think to myself, head shaking ever so slightly, "Kaykay I..." I can pretend I have a better explanation... that I'm thinking of the future or something... but I ain't really... everything she's done last few days has just started to fuckin' bug me... "I think... I think you should go home."
I look into her eyes as I say it, but then I look away... at that pale burning light. Anything but her.
K2 steps back, breaking contact with you like maybe that is what bothers you. "You. You're tired, right? It's okay, Silly. I know you need your space. I just. I got too clingy, right? I'm just so... fuck, Silly, I'm so damn into you. Like, ever since we, you know, we did it. I can barely keep my hands off you." She stops talking, like she's said too much.
Crosses her arms, looks down, down at the darkness by your feet. Anything but you. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I was such a bitch to you, for like forever. I'm trying. To be better. I can be good for.." she sniffs quietly, stops talking as she composes herself. She wipes at her eyes with the back of a hand.
After a pause, she fumbles in her pockets, pulls out a BM stamp, tries to push it in your hand. "Here, take it. Grab some sleep, okay?"
What do you do?
Yeah my eyes are teary... there's a lot more on my mind than her. She doesn't even fuckin' know... It's her but yeah, more shit than I want to think about.
I almost interrupt, almost answer each time she speaks but I don't know what the fuck to say without just being' a bitch to her... so you know... no way I'm gonna say the right thing...
She pushes the token into my hand... the fuck do they think I want this shit for? Both of 'em... how do they get me that wrong? I don't wanna sleep at fuckin' Misty's... damn. Like tellin' me to wear a fuckin' sweater.
"Keep it... just..." it's in my hand and I raise it up, gesturing with it. I try to give it back, "just fucking keep it, ok? This ain't me... this whole..." I gesture around us and shake my head, eyes closed, "this whole fuckin' thing ain't me... I can't fuckin' do this any more, ok?"
I'm upset, confused with myself. It wasn't so fuckin' bad was it? Her nice soft bed... the way she... I want to kiss her... no no fuck... no. That ain't you, Silica. And she ain't the one you want!
Finally tears come, I fall back the few inches against the wall of the tunnel. It hurts... and I lean there. Every time I open my fuckin' mouth I make things worse.
She doesn't leave. Maybe she should, it would be a good idea to let you be alone, like she said. Like you probably need. She stands there, in the light, her cheeks red, tears glowing from the reflections, making her face look brighter.
"...Silica. I don't want to go," she says quietly. Her voice slurs slightly from the tears, and well, some snot, too. She sniffs, continuing, "I can. I can do better. I want to know what is you, okay? Just wanna. Wanna be with you. I know you like Hadden. It's okay. Just... I... please. I need you." She reaches a hand out to touch your forearm, testing.
I pull back, covering my face with my hands for a second before lowering them to answer.
"What do you fuckin' need me for?" I look at her, a sort of disbelief on my face. "I been followin' you an' Hadden around like a fuckin' puppy these days... Kaykay, sleepin' inside... keepin' my fuckin' head down all the damn time... you know?"
I take a breath, how to fuckin' say this, "I didn't want that shit to happen... Kaykay I got my fuckin' head mixed up back there. A lot of shit happened... You fuckin' saved my ass lettin' me in your door but..." Am I tring to spare her feelings? Not like I can tell her the real reason I let myself open up to her... cause I was fucked up in the head over my actual friend? My dead friend.... the fuck, Silica...
"This shit ain't me... and everything about me is changin' these days and I don't know where I'm gonna end up..."
I wipe at my cheek with a hand and try to just tell her how it is but I'm not even sure I fuckin' know how it is.
She huffs a breath out, like she's angry and hurt and confused and doesn't know why this has happened. "I told Hadden.... that I wanted to be with you. Because. Because I do." She swallows, sniffs again, "Be what you want, if you need it. I can. I dunno, help you or whatever."
"I don't wanna go home, Silica. I don't wanna be away. From you." She admits it as though it pains her, like she's the puppy.
Kaykay might catch the tinyest hint of a smile. Yeah she admits it... you know it feels kind of good hearing her admit it. Man she's gettin' to me again...
I raise a hand up, palm towards her, "ok that's enough of that shit... fuck Kaykay, we just is what we is ok? Ain't such a big fuckin' thing... " my expression softens a little. A little tilt of the head, truth is I just can't handle more fuckin tears... like what are we supposed to be here?
I push off the wall with a foot to stand tall, still shorter than her... fuck. "Kaykay, I'm gonna go sleep in the fuckin truck," I gesture over a shoulder like I do... but Kaykay's got this broken look on her face, all tears and messed up.
Suddenly shove her, hard, on the shoulder... with a smile, and a little breath-almost-laugh. Tryin' to break the fuckin' tension.
"I don't know what the fuck we are, Kaykay but we sure as shit ain't nothin, all right? Just... I can't just stop doin' what I do... you do what you gotta do ok? Whateva' happens happens... you get burned that ain't on me..."
I smile a sad little smile like old friends and enemies can share. We got history... I can't deny that. Future? Who the fuck knows.
Then you tell her if she gets burned, it isn't on you. She doesn't seem to get that. To her, if she's burned right now, it is because of you. She's into you, Silica. You feel it. That yearning, that craving. She wants to be around you, near you, with you. She doesn't even understand it herself, but she knows what she wants.
She doesn't say anything more. You win. She nods, wipes at her face and nose, trying to regain some modicum of composure. But she's undone. She nods again, like maybe she didn't nod before, seconds ago. Punch drunk, lost. She turns to keep walking down the corridor towards Misty's to use her token. She'll sleep alone tonight. Just like you.
I climb up the ladder and reach the street. Alone. Hey, not like that's a big thing... I'm always alone... no big fuckin' deal...
But I stop there in the cold night air, takes me a few seconds to stand. My eyes still moist from letting it all out down there. I sniffle and wipe my eyes before the water starts to freeze on me.
I find the truck and climb in the back, all but throwing myself down into the bed... hope it'll snow tonight. That feels nice. I like the silence.