JC was aware that he likely sounded crazy to the woman, but could you really blame him? He had spent five years by himself, locked underground. Having the chance to talk to people was a miracle in itself, let alone people being actually interested in what he had to say, which was a rarity before all of this. JC had a lot of thoughts and saw a lot of life in a very strange way, as a result of his upbringing with his even stranger parents. He tried his best to be as normal as everyone else, but after growing up having certain things practically coded into your brain, he simply couldn’t view things the same as most people.
“Cory’ll do for now, but if you’re calling me Magic Man, I gotta figure out something better.” He replied lightheartedly. At the moment he hadn’t a clue on what kind of nickname to give her. After all, it wasn’t like they knew each other all that well, and nicknames always sounded better when they were authentic and came out of the blue. – Much like Magic Man or Bunkerboy. The more he thought about it, the more Magic Man and Bunkerboy sounded like a shitty superhero duo, which caused a chuckle to fall from his lips, which, may have looked a little out of place, considering they weren’t exactly talking about anything that’d merit a chuckle.
Did she really not understand what he was getting at? He thought it was pretty obvious what he wanted from the start. He thought he had been clear, but he supposed that being as straightforward as possible would likely get the reply he was looking for. “I just said if you’re that determined, I’d teach you…” He started, scratching his head. “I don’t want anything, don’t worry about it. We’re all surviving in this together. The more prepared everyone is, the better chances that we make it to the other side of this thing, right?”
“That’s...” Her voice trailed off as her eyes locked onto his. It was a nice thought. Naive. Unrealistic, but nice. Ideally that was the way a community like this one would work. It wasn’t really how the world worked, though, and it certainly wasn’t how life worked outside the wall. Anything she had needed back then had to be bought, bartered, or fought for.
“How...” She started to ask, and then she cut herself off again. How had someone like him - if that was really what he believed - survived this long, was what she wanted to ask. Before he had arrived here. Unless this had always been his home. Cory chewed on her bottom lip, and glanced around as she contemplated the strange offer set before her.
“Alright,” she said finally, appearing to agree with him. In truth, she had decided that she would trade him the breakfast ration, she just wouldn’t tell him that was what she was doing. She’d leave it somewhere he would find it, and call things even. She nodded once. Her lips curled up in a small smile.
“What’s your real name, Magic Man?” she asked as she walked back over to the crates. Her fingers wrapped around a plank of wood right at eye level. Then she looked down, searching for a good foot hold. “What’s your story?”
