Rocky Bits, Friday Morning

[moodyvagrant]

It was a cold morning, and Anders shivered inside his ragged jacket as he picked through the rubble on the cliffs overlooking the ocean. It wasn't a bad place to scavenge: Sometimes there was wire there, or glass, and once a plastic bag holding a precious half-full box of bandages

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[godilovedthis]

If anybody asked, Kathy would swear to her dying breath that she'd always intended to come up here. Sure, climbing was hell on her legs and the rocks were an omnipresent danger, but whatever--good scavenging, wire, glass, et cetera. The fact that Anders was up here was purely coincidence.

Cresting the rise, she paused for a moment--to catch her breath, the do a quick scan for hollows...but mostly, just to watch him. How close was Justice to the surface right now? How careworn did Anders look today?

Foolishness. She blamed it on all the new people, constantly trying to make her feel things. So when she did speak, it was to drawl, "Fancy meeting you here," like she didn't care one way or another.

And maybe, if she concentrated, she could believe it, too.

[rebelscreams]

Dante... well, Dante had spent his fair share of time moving around the island these past few days. Keeping an eye on everyone was harder when there was a flock of new people wandering around, getting into trouble.

And so it was inevitable that he'd eventually trip all over one of his own rules again.

One was bad enough. Two was worse.

He slipped silently between the rockier parts, staying out of sight.

He was already here. He might as well watch over them for now.

[moodyvagrant]

Anders sensed someone was watching, but that wasn't unusual. Not unusual enough to worry about until whoever-it-was attacked, anyhow.

"It's not a bad place to be," he said, solely addressing Kathy (and ignoring his complicated feelings about her). "Seems like people have picked it through pretty well right now, though. I haven't found anything but a hairtie."

To be fair, he always needed hairties.

[godilovedthis]

"Well, that one will be a decent replacement for when you inevitably lose the current one." There was enough humor lurking around the edges of that statement to turn it from a chastise to a joke, shared between the two of them.

Which meant, of course, that as soon as she realized that was what it was, she'd stiffened a bit and turned her back on him to go poking through a pile of rocks by her feet.

[alreadyhollow]

Monster was really rather a relative term, wasn't it? There was one who lived out on the rocks who looked much like one, who even thought of himself as one, but the word didn't fit him quite the same way as it fit the rest.

He knew there were people here. He had a sense for that sort of thing, after all. And as those people moved through the fog, he watched, a massive, creature-shaped glow in the haze.

He considered, briefly, pointing Anders toward something that he might find useful, some flotsam that he'd noticed had washed up earlier in the week. But he remained silent. Yesterday had been... long. And there wasn't much left in him for any encounter that might be coloured more strongly by forgetfulness than old friendships. These days, he tended to let those who might yet forget approach him or avoid him at their own leisure.

[moodyvagrant]

Anders noticed the glow -- it was hard to miss, and anyhow, Starsmore's fondness for this place was hardly a secret.

He took a moment to make his decision, but finally lumbered over toward that hole in the haze.

"Are you doing all right?"

Not that he remembered why he cared, exactly.

[alreadyhollow]

//I can say I've been worse,// Jono replied, moving his head slowly to look Anders' way as he approached. It was good to see he still cared, still had enough of him left for that. //Been better, too.//

There was a mess of cracks and fractures spread out over his face, all spiderwebbing away from a central point that looked vaguely like a bullet hole.

//Met Alluka yesterday. Met her twice.//

Both times had been interesting in very different ways.

[moodyvagrant]

Anders didn't mind the way Jono looked. It was close to the way Justice looked, for one thing -- light breaking through flesh. Pure spirit scouring away humanity. His eyes flashed blue for an instant before he answered.

"I know her," he said, surprised by the sudden memory of a small girl with a stuffed animal in her hands. "I don't remember the last time I saw her. I keep to myself lately."

No one was pure enough for Justice.