06-11-2013, 12:37 AM
[because of a change of circumstances i had to rewrite my post, so i'm reposting it. i probably goofed some tenses but eh DEAL WITH IT.]
A day, maybe two passes by in a fog. Sid gets a text from Serafíne, and something shifts inside her. She feels...she doesn't know what she feels. But she wants to see the woman, to spend a little time in the company of a woman she...someone who is important. So she takes a shower and she gets dressed and she gets into her truck and she drives. She meets Sera at a place that is not her house, but they walk there, and when they get there and they talk. Sera brushes up against that torn open wound, changes direction immediately. Sid relaxes, at least as much as she can, which still isn't a lot.
She fills Sid in. On the chantry, on the nephandi. On Leah.
At some point Sera tells her she needs a ride. And Sid needs Sera, so Sid drives Sera to a cabin in the woods. There they find Jim and Pan, the latter splattered with his own blood. Sid hangs back, awkward, uncertain, scared, but unwilling to leave. They came in Sera's Jeep, so Sid stubbornly remains until she knows if Sera needs a ride back to town, or she'll be taking the Jeep away by herself.
When she finds herself alone with the Disciple Cultist, she doesn't flee like she had on their first meeting. They sit by a fire and they talk about grim things, and it draws a little life out of her. Promises are made, demands demanded. They walk inside, hands linked.
=========
She gets that call from Justin. She tells him to come to her, that they, none of them, should be alone. He refuses. The silence between them is a long one, and ends only with, "Okay." She will not press him, but she worries about him, even as the calls go out to the others on her contact list. She fills them in the way one might expect, expressing the most information in the fewest words imaginable. When she's done she tells each of them the same thing.
"I'm going to the cabin. None of us should be alone."
A strange turn for the woman who has spent the better part of the last few weeks hiding from all of them, keeping out from underfoot. But that was different. Separate meant less attention drawn, but the attention has already been drawn. They need to stick together now.
=========
The next day she arrives at the cabin a little after Justin. The first thing she does is wander through the house looking for the others. Sera she finds standing on the edges, away from the others. Sid stands beside her for only a moment, slips her hand into the other woman's. Her own is warm like fire-warmed hearth stones. It's the only comfort Sid has to give to others. She gives Sera's hand a squeeze, and then she's gone.
Justin she finds and watches from across a distance. He is tense, grim. She frowns, but she gives him space. It's enough that he's here, now, that he's in one piece physically.
Jim she finds on the grounds, walking with Leah. When she sees him, head bent to speak to the girl she stops, and she watches him from a distance, too. Content that he is well, she leaves him be, and heads back to the house.
There she takes up a post in a chair, somewhere that her back isn't unguarded. From her vantage she can see most of the comings and goings through the house. Sometimes, when she realizes she hasn't seen someone in a fair while, she goes off in search of them until she finds them. She is very quiet, speaking rarely, and only when spoken to first. Maybe it's this place, and what lies on the immediate horizon, that has smothered her voice.
Night falls, and they set up their sleeping places where they can find them. Sid has a sleeping bag (borrowed from Frank), which she lays out on the floor in front of the couch where Jim sleeps. When she's settled in her place, she lifts up her arm, the one with the tattoo, her worldview summed up in five words, two circles, and seven dots, and she waits quietly for him to take her hand. If the Ecstatic doesn't, she finds his herself. And she falls asleep that way, warm fingers wrapped his, until her arm goes slack and she's forced to let go.
==========
The moring comes, and everyone is preparing. Sid watches them. She watches Justin and Annie when they disappear. She looks in on Jim, on Sera. On Lena and Shoshannah and Pan.
Then Justin is back, and everyone is as ready as they'll ever be. Sid finds those who are leaving, those she knows best, anyway.
Sera she finds first, Sera who has been withdrawn and quieter all this time. Sid has left her alone for the most part, only come near when she wanted to know where she was, then left as quietly as she'd appeared. Now, though, before they set off, she stops the Ecstatic. Sid refuses to say goodbye, and she refuses to make promises for after. Whatever Sera says, she accepts with a nod. And if she says nothing, well that's okay, too.
Sid approaches Justin next, as he arms and armors himself. Her dark eyes move over his figure, taking in the markings, the Kevlar, the katana. Her hand comes up like she might want to touch him, but before she reaches out her hand curls into a fist, and lowers again. She remembers that day in the park. She won't try that again. She watches him, though, the young man who has always been gentle with her, and considerate of her...quirks...from the start. There are no words for him, either, only a nod. He says, "Let's go," and Sid turns and walks away.
And if she can she finds Jim, and he gets words. Just a few. "Don't make me open it."
Then she goes inside.
A day, maybe two passes by in a fog. Sid gets a text from Serafíne, and something shifts inside her. She feels...she doesn't know what she feels. But she wants to see the woman, to spend a little time in the company of a woman she...someone who is important. So she takes a shower and she gets dressed and she gets into her truck and she drives. She meets Sera at a place that is not her house, but they walk there, and when they get there and they talk. Sera brushes up against that torn open wound, changes direction immediately. Sid relaxes, at least as much as she can, which still isn't a lot.
She fills Sid in. On the chantry, on the nephandi. On Leah.
At some point Sera tells her she needs a ride. And Sid needs Sera, so Sid drives Sera to a cabin in the woods. There they find Jim and Pan, the latter splattered with his own blood. Sid hangs back, awkward, uncertain, scared, but unwilling to leave. They came in Sera's Jeep, so Sid stubbornly remains until she knows if Sera needs a ride back to town, or she'll be taking the Jeep away by herself.
When she finds herself alone with the Disciple Cultist, she doesn't flee like she had on their first meeting. They sit by a fire and they talk about grim things, and it draws a little life out of her. Promises are made, demands demanded. They walk inside, hands linked.
=========
She gets that call from Justin. She tells him to come to her, that they, none of them, should be alone. He refuses. The silence between them is a long one, and ends only with, "Okay." She will not press him, but she worries about him, even as the calls go out to the others on her contact list. She fills them in the way one might expect, expressing the most information in the fewest words imaginable. When she's done she tells each of them the same thing.
"I'm going to the cabin. None of us should be alone."
A strange turn for the woman who has spent the better part of the last few weeks hiding from all of them, keeping out from underfoot. But that was different. Separate meant less attention drawn, but the attention has already been drawn. They need to stick together now.
=========
The next day she arrives at the cabin a little after Justin. The first thing she does is wander through the house looking for the others. Sera she finds standing on the edges, away from the others. Sid stands beside her for only a moment, slips her hand into the other woman's. Her own is warm like fire-warmed hearth stones. It's the only comfort Sid has to give to others. She gives Sera's hand a squeeze, and then she's gone.
Justin she finds and watches from across a distance. He is tense, grim. She frowns, but she gives him space. It's enough that he's here, now, that he's in one piece physically.
Jim she finds on the grounds, walking with Leah. When she sees him, head bent to speak to the girl she stops, and she watches him from a distance, too. Content that he is well, she leaves him be, and heads back to the house.
There she takes up a post in a chair, somewhere that her back isn't unguarded. From her vantage she can see most of the comings and goings through the house. Sometimes, when she realizes she hasn't seen someone in a fair while, she goes off in search of them until she finds them. She is very quiet, speaking rarely, and only when spoken to first. Maybe it's this place, and what lies on the immediate horizon, that has smothered her voice.
Night falls, and they set up their sleeping places where they can find them. Sid has a sleeping bag (borrowed from Frank), which she lays out on the floor in front of the couch where Jim sleeps. When she's settled in her place, she lifts up her arm, the one with the tattoo, her worldview summed up in five words, two circles, and seven dots, and she waits quietly for him to take her hand. If the Ecstatic doesn't, she finds his herself. And she falls asleep that way, warm fingers wrapped his, until her arm goes slack and she's forced to let go.
==========
The moring comes, and everyone is preparing. Sid watches them. She watches Justin and Annie when they disappear. She looks in on Jim, on Sera. On Lena and Shoshannah and Pan.
Then Justin is back, and everyone is as ready as they'll ever be. Sid finds those who are leaving, those she knows best, anyway.
Sera she finds first, Sera who has been withdrawn and quieter all this time. Sid has left her alone for the most part, only come near when she wanted to know where she was, then left as quietly as she'd appeared. Now, though, before they set off, she stops the Ecstatic. Sid refuses to say goodbye, and she refuses to make promises for after. Whatever Sera says, she accepts with a nod. And if she says nothing, well that's okay, too.
Sid approaches Justin next, as he arms and armors himself. Her dark eyes move over his figure, taking in the markings, the Kevlar, the katana. Her hand comes up like she might want to touch him, but before she reaches out her hand curls into a fist, and lowers again. She remembers that day in the park. She won't try that again. She watches him, though, the young man who has always been gentle with her, and considerate of her...quirks...from the start. There are no words for him, either, only a nod. He says, "Let's go," and Sid turns and walks away.
And if she can she finds Jim, and he gets words. Just a few. "Don't make me open it."
Then she goes inside.