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| Coesbur Bridge, The Wilderness |
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Emerging from the forests, this bridge had once been part of a small, two-lane highway. Much of its asphalt and concrete remain, though sharp swordferns have grown out of the deep cracks. It has low barriers on one side, and higher ones on the other to protect what had been a pedestrian walkway from the rushing waters of the divided Potomac below. It stretches over the forty foot span of the river, leading into the Grounder village to the east. A sign hangs lopsided on rusting metal posts. What is left of it reads: C—- o- —esbur- POP: 4-,6-3 |
| IC date of RP |
There's nothing Grey can do in the village. He made sure of a couple of wounded Reapers, and did what he could for a couple of casualties, so well as his slashed arm and bruised face can allow. And the bloodloss. That's not great for manual labor either. It's not long, however, until the majority of the Grounders begin to retreat, and Grey slumps down against a tree again, drinking slowly and carefully from an actual canteen. Fires still burn in Coesbur despite the damp heat, but the dust has quickly settled… not that Grey can see it from where he's settled down just over the nearest hill and along the trail back in the general direction of Tondc and Camp Jaha.
Delano crests the hill, her hooves cutting through dirt and soft moss. Her white coat is covered in ash and oil, and the faint tattooing on her hindquarters marks her as Gideon's horse. Of course, the archer astride her strong back also gives this away. Gideon slows the mare a few feet from Grey, and Delano stretches her neck out to chuff at the man's hair. With a slow movement, she drops out of her saddle and lands on the ground softly. She murmurs something to the horse, and then she steps up to Grey. "Grey," she murmurs, voice gentle. "Why have you not gone back with the others?"
Grey looks up slowly at his short hair gets wafted by warm, hay-scented horse-breath, and then jerks in surprise and scoots back at the sight of horse-face right in his face, "Augh!" It's not a manly sound, it's not a sexy sound, it's a sound of pain and surprise, and he topples over, luckily onto his right arm and not his wounded left. Straightening up again, he looks past the horse to the woman, "What others? The wounded rushin' ahead? The Trikru who want to punch my face in? Cass wandering off on his own?" He leans his head back against the trunk of the tree, "It's all fallin' apart again, Dee."
The quite unmanly and unsexy noise from the young Skaikru causes Gideon's mouth to twitch in a faint smile. But the way he just kind of topples causes her to sigh softly, and she is stepping forward to squat down in front of him. Her hand comes to rest on his thigh, conveying comfort in that simple, heavy touch. "Grey," she murmurs, "what do you mean the Trikru who want to punch your face in? You have helped us…"
Grey turns the left side of his face toward Gideon, showing the split lip and the bruise spreading from there onto his cheek and jaw, "Arlin punched me while I was holding Asher up." Bitterness ripples through his voice as he works the cap of the canteen back into place one-handed, "Started screaming at me," The Grounder's voice may have been raised, but it certainly was not screaming, "about how this was all our fault for defending ourselves. It got pretty nasty after you left."
Gideon looks almost affronted when Grey shares the details of what happened after she left. Her lips thin, and she glances off toward where the Trikru had gone. Then her green eyes flick back to the dark-skinned youth. Her jaw flexes slightly. "The Mountain has been our enemy for generations… but it has also been generations since a missile has been sent." She shakes her head, spreading out her hands slightly. "You did what you had to do, but it was not your village that paid the price." Then she starts to stand, and she offers out her hands to him to help him up. "It is…" Her frown sets. "It is not your fault, Grey."
Grey watches Gideon's face as she goes through those emotions, and he hesitates when she offers her hands. After a long moment, he adds, "Yeah, it is, Dee." And then he reaches up with his right hand, using her assistance to haul himself to his feet with a groan, "If I'd been there, they wouldn't have used the rifles that first time. We could've used them as a bargaining chip, before things went too far."
The archer pulls him to his feet, and then pulls him closer still. Her forehead presses against his briefly, and then she tilts her lips to brush against his own in a soft kiss. Her fingers work over his knuckles, careful of any knicks or wounds. When her gaze returns to his, her expression is sobered. "Your people did what they had to do, Grey… I don't fault you for that… I don't…" She sighs, shaking her head slightly, unsure where her thoughts are going.
That touch of their foreheads, and the soft kiss, it crumples something in Grey, and his shoulders slouch, "And we still got your village destroyed." The fingers of his right hand tighten against her left, "By the Mountain." Staying close, he turns to look over his shoulder at where the baleful peak is hidden by the trees, and then back to her. "How much more of this is it gonna take?"
Gideon says nothing at his frank statement, and she refuses to look behind her where the fires still burn. When his fingers tighten around hers, hers do the same to share in the squeeze of frustration and anger. When he glances to the peak of Mount Weather, she also turns her eyes to it. Hers carry a deep fire of anger within them the moment she turns, and her jaw sits. "If an agreement can be made… if your people can help mine? Perhaps not much longer."
That anger, it actually sparks… hope…? in Grey. It's certainly better than the outright fear before. He shakes their joined hands lightly, leaning close to press his brow to hers again. "Get my people out, burn the place to the ground. At the very least, screw up the missiles on our way out." His own anger and frustration are strong, "So this never happens again, and so both of our people are safe. So how do we do it? How do we shut up the idiots who just want blood?"
Gideon turns her attention back to Grey fully, and she shakes her head. Her expression is serious, but also quite thoughtful. She draws in close to accept the press of their brows once more. Her eyes flutter shut. "It is almost impossible to approach the Mountain," she repeats. "I wouldn't even know where to begin…" She looks off toward the peak again. "Maybe we do not wait to shut the idiots up… maybe we do this ourselves." She lifts her gaze to his, her expression tight. "We get volunteers… and we go."
Grey smiles with a bit more relief at the 'we,' and meets her gaze directly, "I won't have to ask for volunteers at Camp Jaha. Kane's a jackhole, but he'll send the Guard with us." Grey's still the optimist, even after a theoretical ally socked him in the mouth. "Any Trikru wanna come, they're welcome. Even if you haven't been close to the Mountain, you're better than we are at sneakin' and trackin'. I just gotta make sure that the Trikru don't attack the camp while we're gettin' our people back."
"You think so?" Gideon grimaces. "I suppose there is no reason to avoid guns now." Her eyes drop away, looking out toward Coesbur finally. Her expression is serious. "We need to know more about the Mountain. We need to scout it." She looks over to her Skaikru lover. Her fingertips brush down his arms to his fingers again, squeezing gently. "We cannot attack if we don't know what is there."
"And if he doesn't, I'll desert. Told him so myself. And there's parents there too. At Camp Jaha. They'll come with." Grey shakes his head slightly at the mention of guns, "Only to avoid pissin' them off enough to fire off another missile." He winces as he tries to bring his left hand up to caress her arm, and his hand drops again, his right hand leaving hers as well, to grasp his wrist and help support the arm, "Yeah. Scouting. Info gathering. Planning. But we've gotta move forward."
Gideon looks surprised at Grey's threat to Kane, but then she has always underestimated the dedication Grey has to The 100. Then she begins to release him, stepping away just enough so that she can draw Delano close to them. "Come, we can discuss this more on the ride back to your camp." She then steps up to the stirrups, and she looks over at him with a small lift of her brows. "Then we recruit people to scout the Mountain… from both our people."
Grey shakes his head at her surprise, shrugging his right shoulder a little helplessly. And then she's drawing her horse close, and he shifts back a little, looking at the equine face warily, "Shit." Still, he sighs and follows her forward, "Yeah. Riding." He does not sound excited by that. Nodding at her words, however, he responds, "Yeah. Just people who want it enough."
<FS3> Gideon rolls Riding-4: Success. (5 5 1 7)
<FS3> Grey rolls Riding-2: Failure. (3 5)
Gideon swings up into her saddle, and then offers out a hand to Grey so he can swing up behind her. She holds Delano steady, and the mare releases a patient little snort, back shaking slightly before she stomps a foot, and waits for him to swing on up to join her. She tilts her head slightly down at him, and nods. "Besides… too many and we run the risk of making ourselves obvious."
The skaiboy takes her hand, searching for a foothold as well, and fails utterly at clambering up, trying to sling himself over the horse's crupper, but putting too much weight on his wounded arm and collapsing back down to his feet. "Goddamnit." It takes a second try, and then a third, but finally he's up behind her, tucking his left hand into his belt and wrapping his right around her waist, "You alright, by the way, Dee? I thought you were up in a tree there to start with."
Gideon radiates with patience, though she cannot help the small smile that quirks at her mouth as he struggles. "You all need to learn how to manage a horse…" Not that she has seen their rovers yet. Then she clicks her tongue, tapping her heels lightly into the mare's side, and begins to press the girl forward so they can find the road back to Tondc. She shakes her head slightly. "I was… until I took an axe to the chest." A wound that still aches, but the bleeding had stopped a while ago. She frowns a bit. "I fell… Cassandra was quick to help."
"Hey… I'm better when I've got two damned arms." Grey's just griping now. "I just don't like the ache in my legs." And then the horse is moving, and he tightens his arm around her waist, grimacing as it presses his wounded arm into her back. "And… you know…. wait, an axe to the chest?" And he leans forward, trying to look past her shoulder to see the wound, "Wait…" that's twice now, "Cass helped?"
"Yes," Gideon says dryly at both his questions. Then she shakes her head slightly, and she steadies herself as Delano carefully hoofs down a hill and into the forests in a slow walk. She says nothing for a time, head tilted a bit. "Cassandra has potential… if she can believe she has it." Then she drops into quiet, leaning back against him slightly as they continue to head back toward Tondc, only to divert their path to Camp Jaha.