Endure and Survive

Holly O'Rourke; angry scavenger with a fondness for teddy bears | Independent Fallout OC RP Blog | Mod is 21+, occasionally NSFW; blood, violence, etc | Tracked tag: saltyspitfire | Original blog found at: wastelandscavenger-archive. Icon Artwork by memaidraws

[saltyspitfire]

“ are you saying you can’t do it?”

“Won’t,” Starling said firmly. No doubt they thought it dramatic when she suddenly called out for all of them to stop. There’d been trudging through the brush on the heels of a bounty head for hours, and now they’d have to take a detour, “I’m sayin’ I won’t go no further. Not the same as can’t.”

She turned, and pointed with her lips towards the old overgrown sign that had stopped her. Well weathered, partially covered in vines and moss, most of the words on it were faded or illegible except for two: Wampanoag and Burial.

“We ain’t trackin’ a bounty through someone’s burial grounds,” she frowned and shook her head, “We go around ‘n try and pick up the trail someplace else.”

[saltyspitfire]

“ what the hell am i even looking at?”

“I think it’s some kinda eggs,” Holly answered quietly, carefully examining the dish in front of them; the results of Jake’s first attempt at cooking. In truth it was probably fine, but the color was a little off putting. Half seemed burnt, and the other half looked underdone, and it was near impossible to identify what had been chopped up and mixed in.

“Oh, might be an omelette…” she poked at what might have been a chunk of bell pepper with a fork, “Reckon…reckon we probably gotta eat it though…”

[saltyspitfire]

“ you got the wrong idea about me.”

“Do I?” Matthew asked, feigning surprise. He studied Andy for a moment, frowning thoughtfully, “Had you figured for Holly’s friend. Whatever else there might be, I ain’t real concerned about it.”

[saltyspitfire]

(Ellie) “Maybe you made me blush.”

Slim’s face fell, and his shoulders slumped slightly. A pang of guilt rippled through his chest.

“Oh…I-I’m sorry,” he said quietly, knowing how uncomfortable that feeling was for him, “I didn’t mean to…it wasn’t on purpose or nothin’.”

[saltyspitfire]

“ may i come in?”

”If you dare,” Matthew stepped back , holding the door wide and waving him in. The cabin, which was always a bit cluttered, seemed to have exploded at some point. Stacks and piles and crates of everything you could ever imagine littered the house from wall to wall. There were narrow paths from room to room, and space had been left so the furniture could be sat upon, but there was little room for much else. From the back of the house, Holly could be heard muttering to herself and shuffling things around.

“Watch the uh…” Matthew frowned, “…yeah I know know what that is, but don’t trip on it. She’s…restless, I s’pose. Can’t sleep, can’t be still. So she’s re-sorting everything to keep herself busy and…here we are.”

“There’s some soup on the stove here, if you’re hungry. Just take a few minutes to warm it up.”

[saltyspitfire]

“ uh, w- well, i wa- i was gifted these pickles.”

“You get ‘em from Holly?” Grant asked, squinting at the jar. Amongst the pickle slices inside were pieces of onion, garlic, what appeared to be an array of herbs and peppercorns, and small red peppers. He tapped the side of the jar, “Yep…yep she gave be some-a them too. You wanna have a glass of milk or somethin’ close when you eat ‘em. Those things is hot enough to make your lips go numb. Just so ya know.”

[saltyspitfire]

“ you know things?”

”’Course I do,” Starling said, making a face that seemed to imply that she was offended that he even had to ask. However, it was not her place to share what she knew, “I can’t tell you nothin’, ‘cause it ain’t for me to tell. But yeah, I know.”

[saltyspitfire]

(Dana) “ you don’t know how they work?”

”I assume wires are involved,” Grant shrugged, frowning at the Port-a-Diner. He gestured vaguely at the base, “Down in there prob’ly. But no, I do not know how they work.”

[saltyspitfire]

“ why? did you miss me? “

He was teasing, which she took as a good thing. If felt well enough to be playful that was definitely an improvement on his state of mind. Another time she might have offered good natured quip in response, however the truth of it was that she had missed him quite a bit.

That had become something of a standard for her though, even before he’d walked away from the Gunners and gone into hiding from them. If he wasn’t around, she missed him. Current circumstances only made it a little sharper, though she could not say why exactly. Maybe simply the added worry. What if he was found? What if he decided it was all too much trouble and just decided to leave the commonwealth altogether?

Holly tried to shove all of that to the back of her mind, and managed a thin lipped smile and nodded a little.

“…Yeah,” she admitted quietly, staring intently at her shoes as her face grew warm, “I always miss you.”

[saltyspitfire]

(Jake) “ he’s mad as hell.”

”Yeah?” Matthew glanced at Grant in the distance, who appeared to be pacing and muttering. That seemed on track for ‘mad as hell’. He turned back to Jake, an eyebrow raised, “Don’t reckon you know anything about why, do you?”

[saltyspitfire]

(Jake) “ you’re coming back, right? “

”Oh yeah,” Starling grinned, dropping her bag to the ground to give Jake a quick squeeze, “Be back before you can say miini-baashkiminasigani-biitoosijigani-bakwezhigan.”

[saltyspitfire]

“Only cure for stupid is reachin’ the gates of Heaven.”

”Couldn’t agree more,” Grant scowled at the dumbass — who had felt the need to accost them with his asinine thoughts — as he made his way down the road. No doubt he’d meet someone else along the way and he’d become their problem.

“Fortunately, that man will bring about his own end without any help from us.”

[saltyspitfire]

“I’m wooing you.”

”…Are you?” Holly asked after a brief, surprised silence. She blinked, and made a slight face, “Uh…well, good luck with that. I guess.”

[saltyspitfire]

“ you know things?”

Everyone had taken notice of Andy’s sudden absence from the settlement. He had never been a full time resident of course, but he stayed often enough that folks were used to seeing him around. Holly had explained the situation to him, but swore him to secrecy on it.

Then when questions arose, they had to agree on some explanation. Something simple enough to satisfy everyone’s curiosity, but not so mysterious as to invite even more questions. They might have felt guilty, but what they settled on wasn’t a complete lie.

“Some, yeah,” Matthew admitted, “Guess there’s some family troubles that came up real sudden. Holly says it’s mostly just squabblin’ but it’s takin’ a while to smooth it all out.”

[saltyspitfire]

(Levi) “ he told me what happened.”

”Pffft, did he?” Holly shook her head, surprised that Jake had told anyone at all, much less Levi, “It’s fine. I just startle easy anymore. I ain’t mad or nothin’.”

[saltyspitfire]

(Jake) “ you told us we were free to come and go whenever we liked.”

Holly let out the breath she’d been holding, and set the pistol down on the table. Being woken suddenly by half whispers and things clattering around in the kitchen had sent her mind racing. Now, knowing that it was only Jake and Jay, the fear quickly faded to mild exasperation.

“Well, yeah,” she rubbed her face with both hands then raked her fingers through her hair, “You are. But I didn’t think that mean you’d be over in the middle of the damn night scroungin’ for food.”

She sank into a chair and sighed, “Do I need to make you somethin’, or have you found what you wanted?”

[saltyspitfire]

“How come we ain’t goin’?”

”We are. Kinda. Just goin’ a diff’ernt way,” Slim replied, waving for her to follow him once the others had disappeared down the alley. The first time Matthew had asked this of him, he’d near fallen into panic and being separated from them. He’d felt exposed, even though they’d put him up on a roof. Not, it just felt like his place, where he was the most useful.

“You don’t gotta come if you don’t wanna…I won’t be mad or nothin’,” he offered, “But I gotta get up high so I can cover ‘em while they move in…”