Exoskeleton - IC

Subject: Re: Exoskeleton - IC Tue Dec 31, 2013 7:46 pm

Serenity looked at the woman in front o her, expression remaining sad. She seemed to have mistaken her accusation towards the boy as being one towards both of them. Oops. Maybe she should have been more clear. "I meant to be speaking of the boy. I'm sorry. I said 'he' the entire time an didn't know that it would be mistaken that I was speaking of both of you. I know that you didn't come together as you had already explained that the reptile led you. And I wasn't calling him a thief. I was just saying why he probably came into this building." Serenity lowered her gaze once again, looking at her boots. "I'm sorry," was all she ended her earlier statements with. It would be a bad idea to make an enemy so early above ground.

Subject: Re: Exoskeleton - IC Tue Dec 31, 2013 8:49 pm

Mouse narrowed her eyes, "Though food is also a reason to come, I warned him not to touch it. You may say I am taking responsibility for the mistake." She said. The simple fact was that saying that Harry came in because of food at all could give the strange surface dweller man a reason to kill both him and her both. By claiming she took responsibility, it became clear that Mouse was trying to protect both of them. That also meant that verbally, she was fighting some sort of battle to keep them from dying on day one of the entire year they would be spending up here in this wasteland. Mouse had spent a long time preparing after the first disaster, in case she had ever been chosen in a raffle a second time. Two years later, fate, bearing some sort of ill will towards her, had her sent back to this place. She did not do all of those things to be killed because she decided to show compassion against her better judgement. This was the reason why she did not fully trust other people, the whole reason she was named Mouse in the first place.

She shifted her gaze from the girl to the man, "You may pass your judgment based on what has been said, but I stand on my claims. The Reptile brought me, and he was warned not to touch the food." She gestured to Harry again, and then withdrew her arms, folding them. Although she looked calm, her pupils had been dilated, and looking very closely suggested she was actively trying to control her breathing, mentally counting numbers and trying not to breathe too quickly. Having said all she was going to say, she was preparing to either fight or flee, but was exerting incredible control over the bodily response. It was often in the later days of her first journey that he had learned such control, it had saved her multiple times from insects, because she didn't bolt and start running. In this case, she did it because she didn't want to show how uneasy this situation really was. She was not frightened of the girl, but the man was dangerous enough to pose a very real threat.

Subject: Re: Exoskeleton - IC Wed Jan 01, 2014 10:06 pm

Harry heard what this mysterious girl had said, but before he could speak Mouse took care of the situation. He noticed how sad the girl looked. "What's wrong?" his natural response to someone he saw upset. He hated the look of a distraught human being, and tried to comfort whoever needed it. Although he knew she would be reluctant to speak.

Subject: Re: Exoskeleton - IC Wed Jan 01, 2014 11:13 pm

Serenity looked in shock at the boy, not expecting the question. She had been sad like this ever since being raffled, and no one had ever asked why. What was wrong? She was standing on the land she was going to die in. People she thought were her friends never tried to take her place in the raffle. She wasn't going to see her family again. The list went on and on. Serenity did want to talk about it to someone. But right now it was dangerous- revealing the reasons for one's emotions reveals weakness. One's weakness being known is dangerous.

Serenity was quiet a moment before shaking her head, managing a smile under her gas mask. "It's nothing, I'm fine. But thank you for asking." The last sentence wasn't just a statement to be polite. She was actually thankful the boy had asked, as no on else had.

Subject: Re: Exoskeleton - IC Thu Jan 02, 2014 12:30 am

Harry nodded once, and managed an awkward smile. It seemed like this girl and Mouse were alike. "What is your name?" He asked. Better to make friends than enemies on the surface, and so far he wasn't doing too well. He was typically friendly to people who he thought didn't pose a threat to him, and the man standing near him scared him.

Subject: Re: Exoskeleton - IC Thu Jan 02, 2014 12:43 am

Serenity kept the fake smile pasted to her face. "Serenity." After answering her smile slowly fade away to her normal self. She had always found her name ironic- Serenity from Hope. Yet, here she was. Lacking in hope and in the most chaotic of areas in the most chaotic and hopeless time in human history. "What's your name, then?" She returne the question, feeling a bit more at ease.

Subject: Re: Exoskeleton - IC Thu Jan 02, 2014 12:49 am

"Harrison, but everyone just calls me Harry" he said, and turned to Mouse, "and this is Mouse". His smile faded as he put his hands in his pockets. "Just so you know, I wasn't in here to steal food, however much I wanted it. I was chased here by a wasp". His face did not waver, even though he was lying. He didn't lie all the time, but he was especially good at it.

Subject: Re: Exoskeleton - IC Thu Jan 02, 2014 1:04 am

Serenity nodded at Harry when he introduced himself. Then he said that he was chased by a wasp into the building. Serenity frowned. The guy was convincing, but still.... Serenity felt herself deflate back to sadness and no longer felt at ease. The pieces of Harry's statement didn't fit together. She had thought that he was going to be fun to hang out with for a sec- she even felt a bit happy. "I said you came here looking for food- not calling you a thief. I'm sorry." She then glanced back at the entrance to the store. "And I thought wasps were just the dive and grab, forget chase, creatures. From what I've heard, that it. I might be wrong. Oh well, I guess there's another reason for an early death..." She turned to look back at Harry. "Even if it was chasing you, wouldn't that have meant that it was determined and so wouldn't the entrance have some damage to it from the wasp attempting to enter- and most likely doing so successfully? You might want to check the facts." Serenity was quiet again. "I'm sorry," she said hesitantly, turning around and walking a few feet away, signifying that she didn't want to talk anymore.

Subject: Re: Exoskeleton - IC Thu Jan 02, 2014 1:12 am

"The wasp isn't THAT stupid. The reptile scared it off. Wasps have the instinct to avoid a large predator." He said, getting nervous as she was throwing his lies off. Cover that lie up with a little bit of truth. He walked over to her, but not too close as to make her uncomfortable. "Hey, you don't need to be sorry. It's good to be skeptical. You can't trust anyone up here".

Subject: Re: Exoskeleton - IC Thu Jan 02, 2014 2:32 am

Mouse seemed to scowl the entire time the conversation took place, wrinkles between narrowed eyes indicating her annoyance. Lying on the first day was a bad way to go, not that Serenity had fallen for it. When one lied, they had tell more and more lies to cover up the first, until it became a web that entangled them. If you told the truth, you never had to remember or keep track of all the things you said in the past. It was easier, and if one wanted to keep something secret, it was easier to simply withhold as much information as possible. Goodness, did Harry ever stop talking? It was safe to do so inside the building, but if he talked this much, and this loudly outside in the desert, me would most likely attract a real wasp, and not just one, but an entire swarm. His lie simply had no facts strengthening the illusion, and wasps rarely hunted alone. The inexperience of both first-timers was obvious, and that a lack of understanding could be fatal.

In addition, why was Serenity so determined that she would die? Mouse had perhaps the exact opposite regard for how she would face the year on the surface. While one was positive she would not survive, Mouse was determined to live the entire year, and return below when it was over. Collecting food for the people underground was not her primary focus, they were not the ones at risk. She would put her own survival first, before she tried to help someone else. Yet, here she was, risking everything for a young first-timer who was in her eyes sealing his fate with every attempt at deceit he made. His face was convincing, but his words were not.

Subject: Re: Exoskeleton - IC Thu Jan 02, 2014 2:46 am

Serenity winced,glancing back at Harry. This kid was persistent when it came to lies, and yet he was still trying to befriend her? She turned around to face him, exhaling through her gas mask. She nodded, "I don't believe you still. I'm sorry. And that is just a habit." She didn't say anything else- she just walked back to the masked man who had brought her to the building and glanced up at him before looking at the ground, hands behind her back and eyes as sad as ever. She still believed Harry was a liar. He didn't seem like a bad person-just naive. But then who was she to talk? She, too, was naive, unlike the other two in the room. Serenity felt her face heat up at the thought- she probably made herself look like a complete fool in front of two experienced people. Wait to go, first impressions.

Subject: Re: Exoskeleton - IC Thu Jan 02, 2014 4:23 am

Harry sighed. Of course she didn't believe his lies. He decided to stop them completely, not covering them up but leaving them. He looked at the reptile at the doorway, being withheld by it's mysterious master. He looked back at Serenity,"I don't really expect you to believe me, considering the circumstances, but if we are going to survive we might as well be friends. Makes it a lot easier for the both of us" He turned to Mouse," You too".

Subject: Re: Exoskeleton - IC Fri Jan 03, 2014 2:37 pm

Mouse's eyes narrowed, with something approaching disgust at the idea, "I would not want to make enemies, but that does not mean I want to work with others. You are first-timers, and thus traveling with you is a risk, because you will make mistakes, and that is something that I cannot afford." She said, immediately rejecting any attempt at friendship. Mouse did not work well with others, that much was clear, partly because she was not a social, talkative person, and secondly because it was clear there had been past experiences that made her closed to the idea. She wasn't the first person to really behave in such a manner, though. While some survivors told stories, others refused to say anything, some feeling betrayed by everyone they thought would stand up for them, and others because they simply knew they could not explain something in a way that would prepare anyone else. For others, it was simply a matter of trauma, painful memories they didn't want to recall. For Mouse, it was the latter two, but not the former. She had not been well-known by anyone, she had always been a loner by nature. After returning, she was even less known, because she had developed her strange, hostile aura, and had about her person the silence that made it even more prominent. People did not want to talk to her, then, and instead she spent her days preparing for whenever she might be pulled in a raffle again.

Her name had been drawn two years later, but she hadn't broken down and cried, or gotten angry, like some people did. She had controlled herself, the same way she had dealt with predators, because she already knew that just like before, nobody would stand up for her, because they knew that whoever went in the desert could die on the surface and not come back. Her mother and father had simply broken down and cried. They would have volunteered in her place, either one, but having had her at a later age than most parents, her mother was in her mid-fifties, and her father was not far behind. They were both too old to be permitted to go to the surface, and though they pleaded for mercy on their beloved Doris, none came. Doris was the name in the raffle, and on legal documents, but Mouse seldom used it anymore. She had been one of the experienced among the hundred individuals sent to the surface, forced to seek out food for several thousand people, an impossible task that she knew at some point would cease to have meaning. Eventually, they would have to send more than just the few they already picked, there was no way to feed everyone, the system would fail at some point, the poorest of people were already starving to death.

After a long pause, she breathed deeply, and sighed, deciding that she was being rather harsh, when she should probably have more understanding, "I would wish you the best of luck, however. Surviving is not impossible, only a small portion of it is actually fleeing from things. Much of it is mental, and how well you can control yourself, even in a bad situation."

Subject: Re: Exoskeleton - IC Mon Jan 06, 2014 3:51 am

Xena let the two young scavengers take off. It was a small world and in the time it took the two of them to gather sufficient supplies for their city they'd be bound to meet again. When their footsteps faded into the distance, she turned to Lance. "Should we finish what we started?" There were still many motorhomes they hadn't checked for gas. In the meantime she took out a dagger and punctured the scorpion stinger. She grabbed a vial, and used it's natural shape as a funnel to fill it. Surely there was still some good resources on the charred corpse if they so desired.

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