may I request a blinkie with red text and a black background saying “Nobody messes with a Carmine!” with the zombie skins of Gary Carmine and Benjamin Carmine from Gears of War? If you’re uncomfortable with zombies then I’m fine with their regular appearances!!
I made an upscaled and regular sized version because the designs are pretty detailed. Enjoy your blinkie ^_^
Right, so I'm having some gnarly writers block BS so in an effort to tell that Evergiven-sized pain in the ass to go away I'm gonna post a snippet...a 1,144 word snippet...
Enjoy this interaction between Carmine and My OC!
Sarge leads Delta and Kid further into the tunnels, Carmine keeps at the back with Kid, like Sarge said to.
She keeps glancing at him from the corner of her eyes. He can’t quite read her expressions very well, her face is blank, almost like a statue. It makes him a little nervous.
And when he gets nervous, he babbles.
“So, um, like Baird said, I’m Carmine, but mostly Delta just calls me ‘rook’, but my actual name is Benjamin, or just Ben. My brothers call me ‘Squirt’ sometimes, but yeah, no one outside of them calls me that. Um.”
She’s looking at him fully now and he realizes she might not even be able to keep up with the torrent of words, shit, he’s an idiot.
“Sorry, sorry. That’s probably too much...sorry I’ll try not to talk so much.” He apologies.
She sort of, softens, a little, not holding her shoulders so tight, not so defensive.
“Is...okay.” She rasps. “Helps to listen...to remember...words.”
Oh, he’s helping! That makes him feel a lot better. But her voice is so rough, he doesn’t want her to keep talking if it hurts her.
“Does it hurt you? To talk?” He asks, concerned.
She touches a hand to her throat, almost like she needs to check if it hurts or not.
“Is...hard. Not hurt.” She assures him.
They keep walking. She keeps glancing around, always alert, eyes always moving, a lot like the older Gears do.
“Why many names?” She asks a moment later.
“Well, ‘Carmine’ is my family name, and Benjamin is, uh, my first name, like the name everyone calls me, except it’s long, so mostly it’s just Ben. Delta calls me ‘rook’ cause I’m the rookie, like, the newest member of the squad? And my brothers call me ‘Squirt’ because I’m the youngest of four, they don’t mean anything mean by it, but sometimes I wish they didn’t, you know? Um, did that make sense?” He asks.
She’s silent for a moment as they keep walking, and Ben worries that he’s overwhelmed her.
“I...understand.” she says eventually “What...do you want...to be called?” She asks.
Oh wow, that was like, a full sentence! The talking must be helping; he’s glad.
“I don’t really mind, in general. But, uh, you can call me ‘Ben’ if you want to!” He says.
“Ben.” She murmurs, like she’s memorizing it.
“Do you mind, being given a name, being called ‘Kid’?” He asks her.
She said it was okay, but maybe she just didn’t want to argue, or thought she didn’t have a choice.
“I don't...mind.” She replies after a minute. “Is not right name, but is better than...nothing.”
The way she says ‘nothing’ is heavy, more than just the word.
“What is Delta?” She asks.
He thinks she’s changing the subject, but he doesn’t mind. There’s probably a lot of things she’d rather not talk about.
“Delta is, us, basically. We’re a squad, we all stick together to get our mission done, so its easier to give all the squads a name, rather than call out people individually.”
She nods and makes a humming noise.
“Why, ah…” She pauses for a minute, then gives up and simply taps the side of her head, looking at him curiously. It takes him a second to figure out what she’s asking.
“Oh, why do I wear a helmet when no one else is?” He asks.
She nods, looking relieved to have overcome the stumbling block. He’s realizes he’s getting better at reading her expressions. Or is she just letting him see them more? He’s not sure.
“Well, we’re supposed to all wear them, for protection and stuff. But Delta is Sarge’s squad so what he says goes, I guess if I could take it off if I wanted to, but I...I just prefer it.” He tells her.
He’s not quite ready to talk about Anthony, not with a stranger, someone who never knew him. It’s actually kind of a relief, now that he thinks about it. Sometimes it feels like everyone knows, and has to ask about it.
“Sarge?” She asks, and, oh, of course, how’s she supposed to know that?
“’Sarge’ is uh, Marcus. That’s his rank, not really a name exactly…” He trails off, wondering if he should try and explain it. He’s not sure he can.
“Too many names.” She huffs, sounding frustrated and upset.
“Hey, it’s okay, you’re already doing great!” He goes to pat her on the shoulder automatically.
She flinches away. Oh shit, he didn’t mean to scare her!
“Sorry, sorry, I shouldn’t have done that!” He apologizes.
He’s an idiot, of course she doesn’t want to be touched suddenly!
“No. Not you.” She tells him, voice soft. “Arm is...hurt.”
“You’re hurt? We gotta tell Sarge!” He panics.
She can’t have gotten hurt between when they found her and now - They’ve only been talking and walking! She must have gotten hurt before…
He goes to run up to where Sarge and Dom are. She grabs his wrist, barely a touch, but it stops him in his tracks and he turns back to her, startled.
“Is old hurt.” She tells him. “Cannot help now.”
“Are you sure? Can I see, just to be sure?” He asks.
Maybe they can do something! She shouldn’t have to be hurt if something can be done about it.
She swallows nervously, shakes her head.
“Not...not now?” She pleads.
“If...if you’re sure there’s nothing we can do, I can’t make you.” He replies.
She nods, cautiously. They keep walking and he notices that she’s put distance between them. He thinks about it for a moment.
Everyone knows Locust are vicious, violent, fueled by their hatred of humans. Ben has seen it first hand. Being captured by them, helpless...
It makes him feel sick to even think about. He doesn’t think he could even imagine, even if he wanted to.
“I guess you haven’t been able to tell someone ‘no’ and have it matter for a long time, huh?” He asks.
She looks toward him, gives him a considering look. Shakes her head.
“It’s...It’s just words, I guess, but. I promise I won’t hurt you, okay? Unless you like, try and kill me or something…” He tells her.
She looks at him, and it weirdly feels like she’s staring into his eyes, even though the helmet. She steps back closer.
“Thank you, Ben. I promise, too.” She says, almost sounding shy.
He’s grinning behind the helmet, isn’t sure she can tell, but that’s okay. Kid trusts him!
He holds out his hand to her.
“Friends?” He asks.
She puts her hand in his, less a handshake and more a clasp.
“Friends.” She tells him.
He thinks he sees a tiny smile at the side of her mouth, hard to tell in the dimness of the Hollow, but that’s okay, he’ll take it.
