[ emburden. ]
@powersponged !
the boy huddles close to the tiny, honestly pathetic fire that he had put together, arms wrapped around his knees and eyes focused, half lidded, on the flame trying its damnedest to consume the tiny twigs it was given. a soft sigh escapes him; he isn’t terribly cold inside a pretty shitty trailer, but with an entire wall knocked out and rotting away, the breeze steals in and stings his skin. maybe he should have tried finding more fuel before it got so dark.
Ben looks up from the fire instinctively, and it serves him half well—he spots a figure moving toward the trailer, god knows it already identified the fire. his panic rises as he scoots backward, awkwardly climbs to his feet, and then holds up his gun for whenever the stranger got too close.
The unmistakable glow in the distance was simply too much to pass up on. Unlike the neon and video which fed upon electricity, smoke was far easier to come across in a world of destruction and chaos. Typically, he’d make quick work at setting up his own fire to leech the smoke out of, except the herd that he’d been running from for the better part of the day had used up the last of his energy, and he hadn’t found the time to stop.
He shouldn’t have expected it to go off without a hitch. Everyone had their guard up nowadays.
So he approaches the skittish teenager carefully, eyes trained to the gun in his hands as he raises his hands up in surrender. Bullets SUCKED on any occasion - he would know - yet with his healing factor all but nonexistent at the moment, he wasn’t sure a well-aimed shot wouldn’t have him down for the count. He didn’t much feel like finding out, either.
“Hey, hey - easy there. I come in peace.”
