[They've been here a couple of days, but it feels like years on end.
Lenka's been seeing a little of Red here and there, for the most part when he drops by for his daily dose of bandages, but they haven't exchanged all that many words yet. Today, though -- once the bandaging business is done, he has a question. Or a whole lot of questions, but they have to start somewhere. His posture is slumped, same as everyone else these days, fever and exhaustion and everything else weighing it down -- but he still meets her eyes.]
I need to know what you know about the hunters in the forest.
Edited (forgot the day) Date: 2018-06-06 08:43 pm (UTC)
Hunters are very common in Michigan, especially in the upper peninsula. Due to how remote this place is, many people have to hunt to have food to survive. Also there are quite a few dangerous animals out there- moose, for example- and gun ownership is considered a requirement for survival if you live outside of a city.
[Technically she really didn't, but it's still new information, so Lenka isn't as irritated with it as he otherwise would be. He's learning about Michigan. Great. Next.]
Snipers are trained professionals with exceptional marksmanship skills. They are particularly useful against some of the larger fauna of Michigan, which require precise shots to be taken down.
[Now he narrows his eyes, because she's definitely giving him the run-around, and that's...]
You know more than Stan about what happens here, don't you? You know what they did to Soma last night.
[His voice is impressively steady, but quiet: he's angry, but he's been angry for a little while now. Whether he actually does anything about that depends on how much she wants to keep playing dumb.]
[He didn't assume she did, but he also doesn't trust any of the counselors enough to think that they'd respond helpfully to something like that. She didn't answer his question about Stan. He wants to ask about a flood of other things, all of them pushing at his sick-scattered awareness, but no. This is more important.]
He doesn't know how camps like this usually work. He doesn't know why they have counselors here, or what their role is, whether they're friend or foe or something else entirely. He doesn't know why the Pastor probably knows their shoe size and how many people he used to know, before he became a God Eater. He's been running on fury and fumes since Cielo dragged him out of the forest but he only has direction for some of it. The rest is an endless yawning blank of everything about this world that he can't grasp and all of the cracks running into the core of him.
He shakes his head, tries again.]
Just tell me. What the hell is this? What did Soma die for? Are you just...
He wouldn't feel better, no. This isn't something you recover from, not the normal way, and he knows that some of his anger is like that -- the type that wants to find something to blame, something to funnel it all into and something to destroy. He's been here before and he never wanted to be here again. He promised.
But all the same:]
If he didn't die for nothing, then it's... it's my duty to make sure it matters. I'm his leader. It's my responsibility.
[It's difficult to probe into things with how little information they have. But her vehemence definitely got across, and she did respond directly. She knows. He still doesn't know how much she knows versus how much the Pastor knows. He has to think about that particular answer later. His brow furrows for a moment.]
I want to find a way to get through this week without sacrificing someone. What can you tell me?
[He bites his lip -- it's not the fact that the answer is cryptic that concerns him. She hasn't addressed this week, which is what he's particularly worried about at the moment, even if the weeks to come are also looming in the back of his mind. The things he said to talk down Chuuta and Cielo... he stands by them.
The big picture is important, he knows that logically. Emotionally is another story.]
There has to be something we can do this week. Is there someone else who knows?
[Maybe someone else knows or would say more. Hopefully not the Pastor. Please don't say the Pastor.]
[That implies a few things. That they're part of a larger group, but the same one -- which could mean counselors, but considering what he's been asking about, he wonders. That the pastor is part of something else altogether.]
Why are you here, Red?
[She'll probably be just as evasive, but it's... a pretty basic question that he's been wondering for a while.]
Were you somewhere else, before? Like the rest of us.
[It's a pretty vague question for the pretty vague answer. But something about Red just seems out of place, though that might just be the other adults they have to compare her to. And there's that shift in her composure, too. He's taking a stab in the dark.]
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timeasmymeasure
Tuesday
Date: 2018-06-06 08:42 pm (UTC)Lenka's been seeing a little of Red here and there, for the most part when he drops by for his daily dose of bandages, but they haven't exchanged all that many words yet. Today, though -- once the bandaging business is done, he has a question. Or a whole lot of questions, but they have to start somewhere. His posture is slumped, same as everyone else these days, fever and exhaustion and everything else weighing it down -- but he still meets her eyes.]
I need to know what you know about the hunters in the forest.
no subject
Date: 2018-06-06 10:19 pm (UTC)[Technically she answered his question.]
no subject
Date: 2018-06-06 10:36 pm (UTC)Okay. What do you know about the snipers?
no subject
Date: 2018-06-06 10:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-06-06 10:51 pm (UTC)You know more than Stan about what happens here, don't you? You know what they did to Soma last night.
[His voice is impressively steady, but quiet: he's angry, but he's been angry for a little while now. Whether he actually does anything about that depends on how much she wants to keep playing dumb.]
no subject
Date: 2018-06-06 10:53 pm (UTC)[She wasn't awake last night, and she didn't give the order for him to be shot.]
no subject
Date: 2018-06-06 11:04 pm (UTC)And you're not going to do anything about it?
no subject
Date: 2018-06-06 11:07 pm (UTC)What would you have me do?
no subject
Date: 2018-06-06 11:20 pm (UTC)[He really doesn't.
He doesn't know how camps like this usually work. He doesn't know why they have counselors here, or what their role is, whether they're friend or foe or something else entirely. He doesn't know why the Pastor probably knows their shoe size and how many people he used to know, before he became a God Eater. He's been running on fury and fumes since Cielo dragged him out of the forest but he only has direction for some of it. The rest is an endless yawning blank of everything about this world that he can't grasp and all of the cracks running into the core of him.
He shakes his head, tries again.]
Just tell me. What the hell is this? What did Soma die for? Are you just...
[He doesn't finish that last question.]
no subject
Date: 2018-06-06 11:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-06-06 11:29 pm (UTC)[That answer is immediate.
He wouldn't feel better, no. This isn't something you recover from, not the normal way, and he knows that some of his anger is like that -- the type that wants to find something to blame, something to funnel it all into and something to destroy. He's been here before and he never wanted to be here again. He promised.
But all the same:]
If he didn't die for nothing, then it's... it's my duty to make sure it matters. I'm his leader. It's my responsibility.
no subject
Date: 2018-06-06 11:31 pm (UTC)[This kid...]
He didn't die for nothing.
[That's all she can say on the matter, though.]
no subject
Date: 2018-06-06 11:44 pm (UTC)And what about what's happening to us this week? The sickness. The threat.
Is that the same?
no subject
Date: 2018-06-06 11:47 pm (UTC)[Once again, she's saying what she can get away with saying.]
no subject
Date: 2018-06-06 11:54 pm (UTC)I want to find a way to get through this week without sacrificing someone. What can you tell me?
no subject
Date: 2018-06-06 11:58 pm (UTC)[Cryptic message is cryptic. But she has to get creative with her answers here, as much as she would like to help him.]
no subject
Date: 2018-06-07 12:42 am (UTC)The big picture is important, he knows that logically. Emotionally is another story.]
There has to be something we can do this week. Is there someone else who knows?
[Maybe someone else knows or would say more. Hopefully not the Pastor. Please don't say the Pastor.]
no subject
Date: 2018-06-07 01:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-06-07 02:00 am (UTC)[Unless she's calling Stan a really good liar, perhaps. Regardless, he still has to do what he can. Anything he can.]
Red... He's different from you, isn't he?
no subject
Date: 2018-06-07 02:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-06-07 02:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-06-07 03:14 am (UTC)[That's. The gentlest way to put it.]
no subject
Date: 2018-06-07 05:10 am (UTC)[That implies a few things. That they're part of a larger group, but the same one -- which could mean counselors, but considering what he's been asking about, he wonders. That the pastor is part of something else altogether.]
Why are you here, Red?
[She'll probably be just as evasive, but it's... a pretty basic question that he's been wondering for a while.]
no subject
Date: 2018-06-07 05:13 am (UTC)[If it helps, her normally-stony exterior has slipped slightly to show that she's not happy with the current arrangement.]
no subject
Date: 2018-06-07 05:19 am (UTC)[It's a pretty vague question for the pretty vague answer. But something about Red just seems out of place, though that might just be the other adults they have to compare her to. And there's that shift in her composure, too. He's taking a stab in the dark.]
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