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| Begins in camp, transitions to Forests Around Camp, The Wilderness |
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This forest is a mingling of hardwoods and temperate evergreens, with towering oaks and cedars mixed with slender alders. The ground is covered in grassy mosses and thick ferns — some with sharp, sword-like leaves and others with tight spiraled stems that unfurl toward the crowded canopy. Beyond the trees and ferns, the forest also hosts arching, moss-draped vine maples and flowering blackberry bushes as just some of its flora occupants. Toward the west, the forest begins to break as the mountains climb, revealing meadow balds and the broad web of the divided Potomac. |
| 10 Days After Landing |
"Hopefully we prevent that." Quinn replies with a nod, then she glances over at Grey, frowning at him, "We need to talk." It's unclear if she means now, or just in general, especially since she starts to wander back towards her tent to flop down in front of it. It's not quite away from the crowds, but might be a little more silent.
Grey shrugs at Quinn, "Yeah. Probably so." He looks around the group as some Delinquents begin to disperse and others push forward to ask what the hell is going on and/or to vote. No one seems to be bothering Bear Mask's sword, so he shrugs, leaves it there, and starts through the tent. He passes Quinn's new tent, however, going to where the remains of his stuff is behind the armory, checking to see if anything is missing. Then he wanders back the… oh… whole two tents over to where Quinn is seated, "Now? Or after the big guy leaves?"
"Now is good." Quinn responds, pushing herself up to her feet, hands dusting themselves off on her pants before she glances around, considers something before making the suggestion, "Somewhere private. No reason to disrupt the voting process in the works." Or air dirty laundry, again.
Grey nods slightly, shifting the makeshift baton on his back a little, then nodding again, "Alright." A little snort of laughter bursts from his nose, "Guess we don't have to worry about gettin' ambushed by Grounder scouts." And then he nods upward toward one of the areas at the rear of the camp where the wall hasn't reached, "Nurse log out there?"
"Yeah, sure." Quinn replies, her hands sliding into the pockets of her jacket before she turns on her heel, starting off in the direction towards the rear of the camp. Whatever is on her mind she's keeping a fairly tight lid on at the moment.
Grey leads the way out of camp, his spine prickling in a way that he really wishes it wouldn't, and a way that it hasn't with Quinn around before. He walks a half-hundred paces, to a long, low nurse-log of crumbling wood. Carefully, he sits down atop it, leaning back with his boots in the forest duff and his hands on either side of him, resting on the log, "So. You wanna start with the Arkers or no Arkers thing, or the prisoners, or somethin' else?" For all that he's mostly being serious, there is a little twisting smirk at one corner of his lips.
"I want to start with what happened to the plan." Quinn replies, moving to drop herself onto the log as well, her hands remaining in the pockets of her jacket, "I want to know when you stopped trusting me." She frowns at him, the expression both serious and strangely hurt. "I've never lied to you, Grey. Not once. I've never hidden the fact I don't want to go back into the box, and I don't trust Jaha or the Council…I never hid the fact there's nothing up there for me. So what gives?"
Grey's mouth purses at the question, and he half-turns to face Quinn more directly, "I guess I didn't listen so well." And then he looks down at his boots, "Or maybe I've changed bein' down here." All of a week and a half. "I mean… hell Quinn… I always called him a jackhole, but seein' what it takes tryin' to be in charge? I get some of it." He rolls his shoulders a little uncomfortably, "I still voted for you to be an emissary. I just… I didn't know you were like Morgan."
Quinn's brows arch upwards, "I'm not like Morgan." She replies, frowning a little more, "I don't want to kill anyone, and I'm not going to kill anyone that doesn't try to hurt me or people I care about first." She pushes to her feet, taking a step away from him, turning around to face him, "What the fuck makes you think I'm like Morgan?"
"You want to run away from the rest of our people." Grey gestures up to the sky with one hand. Squeezing his eyes closed, he sighs, letting his hand drop back down to the log beside him, "Okay. You're not as nutty as Morgan. But we're still part of the Ark. Except the people who were Boxed innocent, we all did something against the law. Sure, maybe some of it shouldn't be against the law, but we knew it was." There's a beat pause, "Except the Second Children. That's on their parents." He lets out a short, sharp breath, "Don't get me wrong… I ain't goin' back in some new Box when the Arkers come down, but I got friends up there. People closer than my bitch of a mom ever was to family. Closer than anybody but the people down here with me now."
"I wanted to be /free/, Grey. It's all any of us want…and if they came down all normal and full of themselves do you think they'd let us be free?" Quinn takes a step closer, her voice dropping, "You didn't even talk to me about this. You assumed, and you left. Every moment, every day…something here changes things. Everything changes. What someone might have been convinced up ten fucking seconds ago isn't what they might be convinced of after learning something. I /wanted/ to live free, away from their laws. Laws that have no place here any more. But I stayed, and I threw myself at the mercy of the fucking camp to make a case for letting the grounders go and sending emissaries…only to find out that it was done without anyone else knowing. I listened to people yell at me, tell me how horrible of a person I was, and I tried to fight for them as much as anyone else."
"I think Earth, and the Grounders, and now the Mountain Men, whatever the hell they are, changes everything. Just not livin' on a space station anymore changes everything." Grey nods his head back toward camp, "The Second Children? Boom, all out. The people who stole piddly shit 'cause they didn't have enough? Boom, all out. It can't be the same down here." A little smile touches his lips, "And Quinn… I didn't come for you 'cause I figured you'd agree. I knew Morgan and Cameron would, but I needed people from other groups. That's why I went to Faolan and Fiona. I was tryin' to build a consensus."
"But you broke it." Quinn shakes her head, flinging a hand back towards the group, "You saw them, and you heard them. You might have made ground with two people, but you lost ground with others…maybe made ground with others again. Information needs to be shared as much as possible…no one even knew that the reason they attacked wasn't because we were on their land, but heading for Mount Weather until yesterday, when Morgan told me. No one is talking to anyone, and that needs to change, or we're all going to keep mistrusting each other. Some things…sure…can't be shared, but others need to be."
Grey shakes his head, "I wasn't lookin' to gain ground with people. I figured, if they agreed to it, most of the kids except the assholes like Rawlins, Niner, Asher, and Silas would agree with it. But I didn't want to risk those guys making a scene or… shit… just trying to do something to Gideon and Wren." He blinks at the mention of information being shared, "Shit… I told a couple people about that. No one asked, I figured everyone knew. Tell you what, here's what I know: There's some people livin' in or on Mount Weather. If anyone goes near them, they rain down holy hell on everyone around. So they attacked us to stop us from pokin' the Mountain Men. That's what I know about Mount Weather. I think it was stupid as hell, and they should have talked to us, but that's what I know."
"No, no one's told anyone about anything. This is the first time I've even heard about their names, and sure as shit no one talked about Mount Weather raining down holy hell before Morgan mentioned it briefly." Quinn shakes her head very slowly, still frowning, "You need to trust me, Grey. We all need to start building some trust…not be blind to our faults, or others fucking crazy…But we still need to talk, to trust each other. Somehow."
"No one knew about the Mountain Men, that I know of, until Oxfor told us about 'em." Grey picks at the nurse log alongside where he's sitting, looking down at that for a long moment, then looks up, "So unless someone else got that out of Gideon and Wren, that's new as of last night. We just knew that we'd been attacked for goin' up to Mount Weather." He shakes his head, "Look, it's not that I didn't trust you, Q," at least he's back to that, "I needed people who weren't associated with me. To convince Katie and Jasin that I wasn't goin' off half-cocked on my own." Which he may have been anyhow. Lifting his left arm to show a new slash across the top of his forearm, he adds, "I trusted Cam. He came after me with a knife two nights ago. I trusted Hanne. She went off and fucked Cole." He still has no idea why that rankles a little, especially at a time like this, "I never trusted Morgan, except when it came to medical stuff, but he's shown he can't be trusted with anything but that anyhow."
"Yes, that." Quinn agrees with the distinction about Mount Weather, giving her head a shake. Too much too fast. She moves back to the log, dropping herself down on it next to him, "But you didn't tell anyone else you were leaving…even people to sort of…smooth things over when it was discovered you had left. Nothing. I think if you'd asked someone to give you a head start before telling the camp that'd have been taken better than what happened. I wouldn't have done it that way, but I get it. I'm pissed as hell, but I get it." She reaches over to angle his arm for a better look, "Cameron's a fucking nut. He flip flops radically emotionally. He's too…all over the place. At least Niner and Asher, even Cole, are consistent with their emotions. I don't want Morgan going with the negotiators. I'd take anyone over him or Cameron."
Grey looks mildly offended at that, "We told Evie. She was supposed to let people know. We wanted to get out while the chaos was still goin' on. You know, cover." He scratches at his left arm around the cut with his right hand, then holds it out for her to study. It's not a deep cut, just a passing gash, as smaller than his shoulder and hip, but about the same as his side, "Cameron just lost his mom. I was a damned wreck after dad died." And he was the only one who missed the bastard. "But yeah, Cameron ain't in a place to talk to anyone important right now." He draws in a breath, letting it out, "I'm worried as hell about the negotiations. If we get someone there who badmouths the Ark too much, the Grounders'll think we won't have them backing us up when they come down. Then we don't have the tech or the knowledge or the guns. We're a squirrel in a bear's cave again. And if the negotiators badmouth the Council and Jaha too much, then the Grounders won't want to deal with them either."
"Evie told people that there was a group that went…after it was already discovered. She didn't tell a fucking soul before it basically was a done deal and we were almost out the gate with our own attempt at sending emissaries." Quinn replies, letting his arm go, frowning, "We need to get to the supplies…Morgan, Cameron…they'd both talk shit about Jaha and the Council. Some others don't trust the Ark, but they want this alliance, so I don't think they'd talk too much shit. We need people who are smart, capable…but I have no idea who is going to get chosen. Too many people have grudges against each other right now."
Grey shakes his head, sighing softly, "Well, ain't there some saying about good intentions. Must've gotten our wires crossed. Probably, she was tryin' to protect us. Didn't figure we'd be walkin'…" He pauses uncomfortable, shifting in his seat against the nurse log, "ridin' back in with a Grounder." He works the fingers of his left hand, then shrugs, "I got the coordinates of one of the supply dumps from Kane. But I don't think Rawlins and his lot are gonna let me outta their sight if they can help it. And I don't want them comin' along anywhere there might be important stuff. So you figurin' on goin' after that while I do my best not to bet my ass kicked around camp?"
"Yeah, we need to get to the supplies." Quinn replies with a shrug of her shoulders, frowning just a little, "They might just have to let you out of their sight…right now we can't afford to lose any individual. We all have parts that we're going to need to play in this, and that includes you."
Grey nods, "Right now, everyone's pissed at me. I'm okay with that, if it gets good people in place to talk to the Grounders, and onto the Senate, whenever that damned well happens." His fingers flex a little, "If I gotta be their punchin' bag, I can handle it. And if they're pissed at me, then just maybe they forget they're quite so pissed at the Grounders or the Arkers."
"You don't make a good martyr, Grey." Quinn shakes her head, glancing down at his hand, "Something wrong with your hand?" She wonders, but then continues on with her other train of thought. "People are working towards at least something right now. We just have to continue the momentum, and not let them get distracted by petty bullshit any more. That includes me, too."
"Nope. Just figurin' I'm likely to have to use it." Grey nods a little and shrugs, "I told you guys, Q. I'll be whatever The One Hundred need me to be. If that's warleader, I'll do it. If it's Senator, I'll do it. If it's punching bag or martyr, I'll do it." He draws in a long, slow breath, and then lets it out again, "Okay. So. This whole runnin' away from the Arkers thing." Grey makes a slightly placating gesture with his hands, "If the Council tries to hold on tight and shove us in a box, I'll be right there beside the nutcases crackin' heads to get free. But plannin' to run before they're even down here? Isn't that plannin' for defeat?"
"I'm not running." Quinn points out, a brow lifting a bit, "If you'd have been around to talk to me after the radio shit, you'd know I decided you were right. I can't leave and just let people get stepped on. I'm staying to fight for what is ours, and that includes our freedom." She then reaches a hand out, moving to cover his hand with hers, "You don't need to fight me, if that's what you're thinking. So, relax."
Grey blinks as her hand settles on his, glancing over at her in surprise, "What? No, I didn't think that." For a wonder, he doesn't try to turn his hand to take hers like a sneaky guy, just leaving his in place, "At least, I didn't figure on that yet, anymore, somethin' in there. I was thinkin' of Rawlins and his little crew. And maybe Silas. Or Niner." He draws a breath in, lets it out again, and then takes his hand gently back, "Glad I got through to someone… glad I got through to you. After this place got through to me."
"Maybe…I'm not sure that anyone will attack you, though. Honestly." Quinn replies, tucking her hand back into the pocket of her jacket, "The fact is…even they are tired. None of us really want to keep fighting each other, even if we've still got a lot of anger. Maybe we still need to vent, say angry things…but I think, I /hope/, we're to the point that the fighting is going to stop."
Grey smirks a little, "If they don't, all the better." He gives a low, wry, almost sad chuckle, "I hope it's over, but I wouldn't lay even money on it. Too many violent kids in the camp, and that includes us. I'd get physical to protect someone gettin' pushed around. And there's plenty of bullies here." He snorts a little, "Hell, that'd include me when we got here. It might still."
"I don't like bullies." Quinn observes thoughtfully, leaning her weight forward a bit before she lets out a breath, "I hope we're past it, too. We need to be…shit is bigger than we thought when we first landed. Plus, it's moving a lot faster than we had ever imagined, and we're scrambling to catch up….and we need to catch up fast."
Grey nods sharply there, "Yup. I agree with all of that." He nudges the root of a fern with the toe of one boot, thinking for a minute, "Maybe it's gettin' people to buy into the idea of the One Hundred again. I mean, we had 'em for the Rescue. That moment Fiona and I shook hands, the whole came was together. And then we shattered apart again. The radio brought up all the old grudges with the Ark again. I got antsy." He shrugs.
"It did…we haven't had a chance to work together for more than…a second. A flash in the pan." Quinn smirks faintly, shaking her head, "We need to have some kind of stability. But I don't know that it can be forced on people…even if we need it right now."
Grey shrugs a little, just a tiny lift of his shoulders and a tired drop, "We're gonna need it some time. If only to enforce any peace we work out, and laws. I mean, right now, the only thing stoppin' people from stealing from each other is the threat of a punch in the face. I mean, I guess that's what a law is, a threat of a punch in the face, but we're gonna need laws."
"That's pretty much what a law is, yeah…a reaction to an action. Or some shit." Quinn shrugs faintly, looking only faintly uncomfortable about the use of the word law. "We are going to need rules…I don't know that we should use the word law. People might take it wrong."
Grey chuckles dryly, wearily, "Damn Q… when people take offense at the word 'law,' you got some real problems." He shrugs, "What the hell do I expect though, we're all damned criminals, or some fancy-pants folks who did something stupid or pissed off the wrong people." He pauses a moment, then considers, "Can you imagine if they'd sent down a dozen Guard, some Ee-Ess teachers, a real doc, twenty Farm Station people, and twenty techs? Either they'd have pissed off the Grounders and gotten their ass kicked, or they'd have a whole damned city already."
"I don't think the Guards would have been able to work with the Grounders." Quinn replies after a moment, mulling it over for a little while, "But the rest I think would have been willing to work, and would totally have a whole damned city by now." She glances towards the camp, shaking her head a bit, "I'm tired, Grey. The last few days have been exhausting."
Grey snorts, "At least you got to sleep night before last. I got a nap like, two days ago, a couple hours yesterday, and then last night." He pauses there, and his eyes widen a little, "But damn… it was great to have a blanket again, even for just one night. I don't know about you, but I'm getting damn tired of sleeping in my clothes all the time. And water to wash with… oh, we should talk to Cole and see if he can find something that'll blow up. I was thinkin' about rollin' a homemade flashbang in with the river snake."
"Would Cole know how to do something like that?" Quinn is not at all scientifically minded, so has no grasp of if Cole is capable, although she seems willing to go along with the plan. "I'd kill for a shower." She gives herself just a brief sniff check, then promptly lifts her arm, "Smell me, I reek."
Grey shrugs, "Hell if I know. But if he doesn't, he probably knows someone who does." Quinn's offer causes him to laugh, suddenly an 18-year-old again, and he lifts up his own arm in her direction, "You first, Q. I think I've stopped noticing, and that's what worries me most. But if we could blow up the river snake, we could all have baths." Shaking his head out, he pushes up off the nurse log, "I should go see how many people I can calm down, explain things to in small groups so they don't rip my head off. And maybe get a nap in."
"Good luck with all that." Quinn replies, getting to her feet as well, "I'm going to go see what I can do about gathering supplies for the supply run…and sort out who really needs to go and who is going to want to go. We need to move fast."
"Everyone'll want to go. Especially if there are guns involved. I'm there if you need me, but if not, I'll hold down the fort. You should talk to Kane too, he might have more info on the location." Grey hesitates a moment, then offers out his hand. Assuming she takes it, he uses it to pull her into a one-armed hug, something more comradely than romantic, "I'm glad you're not a nutbar, Q."
Quinn takes the offered hand, then returns the hug as well, "Oh, I'm nuts…but my crazy doesn't spread to murdering just because someone is an idiot. If it did, I'd have killed a lot of people by now." She then steps back, giving him a brief smile, "I'll try to talk to Kane, see if I can't get any more information from him."
Grey nods, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands, but doesn't feel the need to respond further. Instead, he returns the smile, then starts to meander back toward the dropship, waiting a touch for her to walk alongside him if she wants, as he hums and bobs his head to some song that appears to be stuck in his head.