Pfh. He thinks I’m a badass or something. Little does he know, without him I could be dead. [The air doesn’t give a reply, which she’ll take as the universe agreeing.] Dumb.
[She likes it, though. The cool title and the idea that there would be silly things like that happening in the world again someday. ...It strikes her a second later that it wasn't "someday". This might be unconventional as hell, but that's just even more proof that it's really happening. She has a penpal in the apocalypse. A penpal that was both closer and further away than made any sense. Ryder shakes her head at herself and continues reading.]
Huh.
[The dog joins the little scrap of cat doodle in her book, and thanks to her findings yesterday, she’s able to secure them both nicely with tape on the inside cover. No losing them now. The other part...]
Never had someone ask me to move in so fast, [she tries to joke. For obvious reasons, it falls flat. But there was also the fact that she really doesn't know what to feel, now.
All yours, he says, and asks that she leave things for him outside. So he wasn't staying? Even though it's basically a utopia these days that he's offering? Why?
...If he wanted to hurt her, he would have done so already. It'd be a weird trick to pull now, baiting her in like that, but then, he was scratching words out now. Maybe that sort of thinking is what he's worried about? So...should she invite him? It would be less weird. Well, the situation, anyway. The idea of suddenly having another person right there has her more uneasy than she expected. It was just starting to feel like they could be friends.]
Things never stay that way, huh...?
[Not in person. The faintest sound of a groan in the distance reminds her that as easy as things have been, it isn't just herself and Teo out there. With a sigh, she lowers herself off the hood of the car again and starts walking.
Ryder doesn't follow the instructions, at least not right away. She'd finished up those stale crackers she'd been so dutifully rationing, which means that either her stomach is being a little bitch about hunger suddenly, or it's being stupid and twisting itself up in knots over all this. Her head's not properly in the game, either. A halfhearted attempt at searching suddenly becomes a whole-hearted panic when she's so careless that she knocks some bullshit to the ground -- only made worse because she's so stupidly gotten back in the habit of talking to herself that she shushes the noise on reflex.
Fuck? She's an idiot??? Good god, what must her spooky godfather think of this --]
No, nope. Literally what the fuck, Ry?
[Get somewhere out of reach, because as fortunate as she's been about the local population, there's no escaping the consequence of every action, and she deserved these ones more than she deserved that detention she got in second grade for cutting off Jana Larrman's ponytail. From a defensible perch, she can hack slowly away at the undead that heard her invitation. It takes longer than she'd like.]
Okay, [she sighs, running hands covered in thick, sludgy dead people blood through her hair.] Maybe stop fucking around and take his damn advice before you get yourself killed.
[Defeated but certain, at least, that she won't have to fight her way through a crowd again, Ryder makes her way to her new hideout so graciously provided by a man who would be an absolute fool to not regret helping her. Sorry, dude. No Ryder of the apocalypse here at this address. Too late to return to sender. Once she makes it to the door and marvels at how there really weren't any undead that had gotten in her way, Ryder cautiously...knocks...]
Teo?
[She should have looked over her shoulder more to see if he was trailing behind or not, but honestly she couldn't deal with the shame. A beat without a response though, and Ryder lets herself in. She peeks into all the rooms, looks in all the cupboards, opens every drawer, and takes the lid off the toilet tank before she sits in front of a window and zones out.]
This makes no fucking sense.
[Once again, the world silently agrees with her. Day's not even half over and she's ready to crash...but just before she does, she remembers to honor his singular request. Post-it notes and her marker left outside the door, while she's curled up on just the other side. Just in case.
Nothing from her this time, which she regrets as she closes her eyes. If he stayed because she wrote him notes, then...?]
no subject
[She likes it, though. The cool title and the idea that there would be silly things like that happening in the world again someday. ...It strikes her a second later that it wasn't "someday". This might be unconventional as hell, but that's just even more proof that it's really happening. She has a penpal in the apocalypse. A penpal that was both closer and further away than made any sense. Ryder shakes her head at herself and continues reading.]
Huh.
[The dog joins the little scrap of cat doodle in her book, and thanks to her findings yesterday, she’s able to secure them both nicely with tape on the inside cover. No losing them now. The other part...]
Never had someone ask me to move in so fast, [she tries to joke. For obvious reasons, it falls flat. But there was also the fact that she really doesn't know what to feel, now.
All yours, he says, and asks that she leave things for him outside. So he wasn't staying? Even though it's basically a utopia these days that he's offering? Why?
...If he wanted to hurt her, he would have done so already. It'd be a weird trick to pull now, baiting her in like that, but then, he was scratching words out now. Maybe that sort of thinking is what he's worried about? So...should she invite him? It would be less weird. Well, the situation, anyway. The idea of suddenly having another person right there has her more uneasy than she expected. It was just starting to feel like they could be friends.]
Things never stay that way, huh...?
[Not in person. The faintest sound of a groan in the distance reminds her that as easy as things have been, it isn't just herself and Teo out there. With a sigh, she lowers herself off the hood of the car again and starts walking.
Ryder doesn't follow the instructions, at least not right away. She'd finished up those stale crackers she'd been so dutifully rationing, which means that either her stomach is being a little bitch about hunger suddenly, or it's being stupid and twisting itself up in knots over all this. Her head's not properly in the game, either. A halfhearted attempt at searching suddenly becomes a whole-hearted panic when she's so careless that she knocks some bullshit to the ground -- only made worse because she's so stupidly gotten back in the habit of talking to herself that she shushes the noise on reflex.
Fuck? She's an idiot??? Good god, what must her spooky godfather think of this --]
No, nope. Literally what the fuck, Ry?
[Get somewhere out of reach, because as fortunate as she's been about the local population, there's no escaping the consequence of every action, and she deserved these ones more than she deserved that detention she got in second grade for cutting off Jana Larrman's ponytail. From a defensible perch, she can hack slowly away at the undead that heard her invitation. It takes longer than she'd like.]
Okay, [she sighs, running hands covered in thick, sludgy dead people blood through her hair.] Maybe stop fucking around and take his damn advice before you get yourself killed.
[Defeated but certain, at least, that she won't have to fight her way through a crowd again, Ryder makes her way to her new hideout so graciously provided by a man who would be an absolute fool to not regret helping her. Sorry, dude. No Ryder of the apocalypse here at this address. Too late to return to sender. Once she makes it to the door and marvels at how there really weren't any undead that had gotten in her way, Ryder cautiously...knocks...]
Teo?
[She should have looked over her shoulder more to see if he was trailing behind or not, but honestly she couldn't deal with the shame. A beat without a response though, and Ryder lets herself in. She peeks into all the rooms, looks in all the cupboards, opens every drawer, and takes the lid off the toilet tank before she sits in front of a window and zones out.]
This makes no fucking sense.
[Once again, the world silently agrees with her. Day's not even half over and she's ready to crash...but just before she does, she remembers to honor his singular request. Post-it notes and her marker left outside the door, while she's curled up on just the other side. Just in case.
Nothing from her this time, which she regrets as she closes her eyes. If he stayed because she wrote him notes, then...?]