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| Camp Sniper Perch |
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| Morning of Day 25 |
It's mid-morning of Day 25 in a camp having been stirred like a hornet's nest briefly by an arrival of a badly injured Hanne that prompted a doubling of the guards and presumption of attack imminent. But now no attack has come and people are settling in, Hanne's been through surgery with Ariadne and Morgan, and is safely asleep in the 'hospital' area of the Dropship Cargo Bay. High above that, on the peak of the dropship that's been turned into sniper's nest, a gigantic figure rests for a moment, weary and caught up in his own mind. Vested over scarred shirtless, the giant looks a grizzly sight at the moment, for Stone's hands are caked in dried blood up to mid forearm, streaked on chest and side, down his pants…and on his face. For even now, he sits there in that lonely perch, his face down into his hands, elbows on his propped up knees. He's not weeping, though it might have been mistaken for such from the hunch. He's just…covering his face and wishing he could scrub away the weariness and the screams both.
Tink had just about given up finding that elusive man until she had to do some repairs on the wall and climbed up into the nest to see if she could get a better vantage point since attack might be soon. Of course once she gets up there, she looks surprised to find Stone there, "Oh hey…there you are." She gives him a teasing glance, "I haven't seen you in several days…" Then she notices his condition and immediately rushes to his side, "Stone…oh jesus…Stone are you okay?"
There's a starting certainly. A thick-muscled jolt of motion, hand darting for the rifle propped next to him, combat reflexes geared up with stress. But Stone recognized the voice quickly enough. Recognized that teasing overtone too, and it all brought his tension back down a half dozen notches, hand relaxing on weapon. Of course, then he's remembering why he's been totally avoiding the poor tinker for the last three days since the List got out, along with most everyone else on it that he could manage, and so a few degrees of tension click back into place as he shyly ducks head away a bit, even while murmuring back, horror movie voice finally starting to sound slightly more human again, albeit not resonant and smooth like it used to. "I'm good, I'm good. It's all Hanne's, not mine. I was applyin' pressure and holdin' her down for parts of it all." A grimace and the blood-caked hand again reaches up to scrub over his 'war-painted' dark face. Eyes shift up to her again after a moment, grimdark in their memory. "You heard about her right? Got cut the hell up outside the wall? Someone caught her out there alone with her flowers, and…it wasn't good." A small sigh and back down go the eyes. "Be careful if you're goin' anywhere near the wall. Crap's gettin' dangerous." Protective worry, but he had to vocalize it. After watching a friend bleeding and screaming, he couldn't not be giving that warning.
"No…I hadn't heard," Tink looks stricken at the idea that sweet Hanne was attacked just outside the wall, "I was…I was just outside the wall doing some work…" She shakes her head and blood drains as she realizes that it could have been her that was attacked by the grounders. She looks at all the blood and murmurs, "Did she…did she make it?" Cause that's a lot of blood on him. She bites her bottom lip and sits down next to him, "And yeah…I won't go out there…now that I know."
Stone grimaces a sort of dark, broodingly protective disapproval at her mention of having been outside herself, but as she's going on, the weariness catches up to him too much to glower, and so he's just sighing again, giving a minimal nod of his still-bandaged throat, and scooting a little in the padded seat area set up there for the sniper to wait long periods, making room for her if she's wanting it. "Yeah, she's stable thanks to Morgan and Ari. Cut up bad…lost a finger at least, maybe more. Throat cut…belly…Lark found her out there and dragged her in, but she was left for dead." The words roll out, harsh and low and dark, a repressed fury stoked in the dark eyes, banked like burning coals, waiting to boil over onto the enemy scum that could have done this to their sweetest Delinquent. He actually closes his eyes again, taking a deep breath, shuddering a little, muscles tense and rippling. "Sorry. You don't need to hear this crap, Tink. It's just…fresh. Have a seat if ya want." A bit of a furtive glance, discomfort setting in, but being staunchly pushed through. "I assume you were lookin' for me, given your earlier…?"
Tink searches through her pounch and finds a spare cloth that she uses for cleaning. Then pours some water on it and starts trying to clean up some of the blood that he has on him. Even if he protests, she keeps going because someone has to wipe that look of horror off his face. To distract him, she brings up why she was hunting him down. "Kai told me," Tink admits as she throws her roomie under the bus, "About the list…" She bites her bottom lip and asks him, "Did you mean that? Or were your just making a joke?" Cause it wouldn't be the first time that someone made fun with her. She takes her chopsticks out of her hair and shoves them in her back pocket, running her fingers through her hair, "If it was…it's okay. You've been avoiding me so I thought maybe you felt bad about the joke." Cause she doesn't think Stone would have done it to be mean…maybe just got caught up in the Devil Dice game.
Stone makes a kind of disgruntled growling sound deep in his chest at the water, protesting in raspy whisper even while giving up and letting her do it. "Shouldn't waste water right now. We're gonna be getting low sooner than later, and gonna need to ration it." He settles though with a sigh, eyes downcast from her ministrations, but body still under them. There's a faint wince to his features as she admits what he of course expected, that she was told, that she's wondering. He glances up briefly, sees her biting her lip, sees her expression, and is looking away again, big shoulders slumping. Her talk of jokes though sets him to shaking head as much as he's able with the stitches in his throat, face set to grimace for a moment before he reaches up past her wiping to scrub at his eyes, the weariness catching through him. The voice comes then, barely whisper, tired, but genuine. "No Tink, it…wasn't a joke. It's…not somethin' to worry about. I just…kinda, ya know, thought about you, from time t' time after we talked that one time at the wall. Didn't…ya know, have the spine to do anythin' about it, or even like talk to you practically, but…no, not a joke." Eyes closing, a sort of pained look crossing features as he has to admit one more fact. "None of 'em on the list were, even th' most hopeless ones like Kai and Grey."
"Oh…" Tink looks a little surprise that Stone does like her. She sits back for a moment and shakes her head because she never expected the big guy to…"You're on my list too…" She blushes a bit at that remark and to provide she's not joking, she pulls out her notebook, opens to a page that reads…'Project V-card' and while the first name at the top is Morgan…the second name underneath is Stone. Of course, there's a line through it and a notation, 'likes Cameron…' on it. Morgan also has his name crossed out and the same notation. Underneath there's another few names but he only catches Reno before she slips it away from his eyes.
Stone's eyes go a little buggy with shock at that revelation from her, turning him full to face her, brows arched and mouth full agape. This leads to a literal brain spasm apparently when she's actually bringing out that notebook, because seeing that title, let alone his name second on it, causes the big guy to just stare at it blinking a few times, mouth still comically agape, as he apparently forgets how to read/think/function for a sec. As she's yanking it clear, he's left just kind of slowly, ever so slowly, managing to shut his talkhole, take a look at her that actually darkens his already dark skin in closest he can come to a blush, and then look quickly back down again. "Umm…uh…wow." And the award for pithiest idiocy of the year goes to…
Tink giggles at Stone's reaction, feeling better now that she sees that it was out of embarrassment rather than something else that cause him to give it away, "Yeah…" She bites her bottom lip and remembers what Kai told her. Yep, Kai said when she found the guy…all she had to do was…and that's when Tink takes the aggressor stance. She grabs him by his vest, which is easier because he's sitting down, and then swoops in to plant a kiss right on Stone's lips. It's not the most skilled of kisses but clearly the girl must have been practicing on a cantalope because her lips press up against him in sweet promise of something else.
"So you…" Stone began to say something, a question, or an observation, or something. Either way, he totally never gets to finish that thought, cause suddenly the tinker girl is breaking the poor giant's brain again. She's right there in front of him, his eyes go a little wide, and then…lips. Soft like petals, pressing into the firm supple fullness of his own. A kiss that zings with that electric heat all first kisses have. That little thread of shock and pleasure and new sensation, the brain bombarded with sensation, hormones flaring. But…a true first kiss should have…lightning. Sunfire. A heat that pushes through to your deepest part and floods you. A kiss should leave you hungry, wanting more, aching for the taste of those lips.
And don't get it wrong. It's a perfectly nice kiss, especially when Stone relaxed into it, big hands going out to oh-so-gently cup her hips, his head tilting into it a little, plump lips working against her own. It's a kiss that shows a touch of minimal practice, a willingness…but not a spark. And after an awkward moment of that kiss returned, Stone's parting from her lips to his almost…tenatively. As if not quite sure how to process what just happened. "Umm….thanks." Yeah there? That right there? That was when Stone's inner voice took his man-card and bitchslapped him, informing him that was the lamest response ever uttered, and stormed out to find a better host brain.
Tink did her best to lay one on Stone, she practiced and got up the nerve and it should have gone naturally…mother nature should have taken it's course. But sadly no, there's nothing, not even a spark to light a candle, much less passion's fire. She opens her eyes while her lips are on his in surprise and leans back, looking at Stone with horror as he basically gives her the 'wah wah' response to the kiss. She feels her bottom lip trembling, "I'm sorry…" And then she's gone, down the rope. She's taking off because that was possibly the most embarassing, most horrifying thing Tink has ever done to herself. She just basically assaulted poor Stone…oh Eden…please send an earthquake to swallow the bastards that hurt Hanne and take me with them.
Stone's too stunned by this whole thing to initially react when suddenly she's turning to flee. He tries to reach out to snatch her hand, while declaring a rasping. "No, Tink, wait, I…" But she's already over, and going down, and the best he can do is lean forward and call out for her. "…it wasn't you, it was me! I'm so sorry…I…" Too late. Way too late. "Fudging amazing, Billy! Real top notch fudging moment. You traumatized the poor fudging girl and she'll never speak to you again! Fudge my fudging fudgesickle life!!!"