so you changed your mind about it? / @neuroslayyer for Panam
PROMPTS FOR PRE ESTABLISHED CONNECTIONS AND CREATING HISTORY BETWEEN CHARACTERS | @neuroslayyer
Panam's hand pressed against the hood of her rig, her reflection splintered across the glass. Saul’s earlier words still burn in her skull — irritating, know-it-all, pure bullshit, the kind of talk that reeks of compromise. Every nerve in her body strains against it, the same way a tethered mustang might thrash at its reins before the ride begins.
She knows why she’s angry, though she’d never say it aloud — not even to Mitch or Carol, who’d understand. Like it isn't visible across her face. Still, it isn’t just Saul’s caution that needles her, but the thought that she’s about to drag her people into something none of them can walk away from clean. The Aldecaldos aren’t built for half-measures. They’re built for loyalty, for family, for the kind of trust that doesn’t need to be spoken. And V — damn it all — V has become one of them, tangled in Panam’s world like a loose wire sparking in a storm. The bond was never about debt or duty, but about seeing someone fight for your cause when they didn’t have to.
Briefly she mulled about V's question on whether the fire in her has gone cold overnight. It’s that question, that hesitant flicker of doubt, that pushes Panam past the edge. Her jaw tightens, and she steps forward, the sand crunching beneath her boots, the smell of fuel sharp in her lungs.
"I know you’re dying, V!" she says, her voice rising like a storm rolling off the hills. "And you’re not exactly rich with options when it comes to staying alive. But if you think I’d let you walk this road alone, after everything, you don’t know me at all. I don’t turn my back on family — ever — and you should be ashamed for even asking."
She exhales, the tension spilling from her shoulders, and though her anger doesn’t fade, it hardens into resolve, like cooled metal after the forge. Tomorrow, she’ll lead her clan into the unknown, into whatever hell awaits beyond the horizon. The engines will roar, and the Aldecaldos will follow, because that’s what family does — they burn together, if they must.
It didn't take a long time for her to accept that this isn’t madness, but necessity. That dying for someone who saved you countless times is the closest thing to peace she’ll ever find.
"Look at them! Look at me, V! Every single one of us here are willing to die for you!" She doesn't remember when it happened, but for some reason, her arm is against V's throat and her eyes felt wet from unspilled tears. "If you're going to keep feeling sorry for yourself for needing help, if you're going to keep spitting on the fact that we care about you and we're serious about it, you should just kill yourself right now."
