(no subject)

[x5452]

WHO| Max & Tony (Lottie, if you're still with us? Feel free to join in too!)
WHAT| Tony discover's Max's secret.
WHEN| After the second Cornucopia bloodbath
WHERE| Holed up somewhere safe (for the moment)
WARNING/NOTES| Intense!



Max leaned against a wall and tried not to cry. She couldn't afford it. Don wouldn't want her to. He'd want her to keep her head in the game. Max bowed her head to let them rest in her hands, and only then did she realize her hands were shaking.

No! Not now!

Jerking slightly, she led herself slide into a seated position and dug into her jacket. Twitching, she slowly worked on getting the bottle open, tapping out a pill, and bringing it to her mouth.

Comments

[nightlightheart]

Even under nightfall this place is hot and oppressive and smells like dust and a million dead dreams.

It has been...uh, quite a day, to say the least. Far more eventful that he likes, but Tony is fairly certain there is little control over that to be had from now on.

He has this weird thing about death. And that it's just something that happens to other people. People who probably deserve it. He'd hardly known the guy, but Tony thought he might have liked Don a little bit. It wasn't anyone who just would stand there and take his crap and smile and nod about it, and Tony thought the world could use a little more of that. Even if that was a selfish way to think about things. But, you know; old habits.

He sinks against a half crumbled wall, lowers the bags he'd been carrying down to the ground and just lets himself sit for a moment. Wishes that this shirt they'd shoved over his head before stuffed up that tube was a bit thicker. But hey. Portable light source.

"You doin ok over there, Maxy?" he wonders, because even in the shadows she seems... shaken. And he might not know her well yet, but that just doesn't seem right.

[x5452]

Max swallows the pill, but it will still take time for the medication to kick in. Humiliated, she does her best try and cover her movements, not wanting Tony to see the bottle, and bitterly aware that there's little she can do to avoid him seeing it. Nonetheless, she did her best to close the cap securely while her body jerked and twitched.

"I'm fine...I'm fine." she insists, trying not to snap at him. "I'll be okay. I just need...I'll be okay."

[nightlightheart]

Tony gives a small breath of a chuckle. That sounds like a lie if he's ever heard of one. And for the record. He has.

He pats the dusty hard earth next to him, "Why don't you come sit," he insists. "Good enough view from here. Wall behind us. You could use a rest. Long day and what have you."

[x5452]

Tony seems so casual that she's not sure whether he doesn't notice the fact that she's seizing or if he's deliberately ignoring it with the social blase of a man who knows how to ignore it when someone farts in the middle of a cocktail party. It made her even more suspicious.

"I'm already sitting down." she points out, doing her best to control the tremors and adding saucily, "Why don't you come sit over he -- "

A particularly violent wave of the shakes suddenly hit her and she couldn't complete the sentence. It was always a nightmare, how her body lost control but her mind was utterly clear.

I'm fine, was what she wanted to say. It always gets worse before it gets better.

As the shakes begin to slow, she looked over at Tony, dark eyes defiant. She was vulnerable, and would be for about an hour until the pill kicked. He could take advantage and kill her now, and they both knew it.

[nightlightheart]

Sure, yeah, fine, she was sitting, but he liked his spot better. She seemed more like she was hiding than she was interesting in keeping an eye out on the world around him. But hey, what did he know.

Tony isn't a suspicious person, but given the circumstances, he likes finding comfort in things. This particular circumstance was not comforting. With Don dead, and Lottie being... Lottie, Tony knows that until he can get his hands working - get to building things - Max is his best chance at surviving.

So yeah. This is about him. Things usually are.

But... ok, he does find himself fond of the girl, from what little he knows her.

He digs through one of the packs for the water bottle he acquired, and decides that now seems like a good a time as any to crack it open. They could all use a bit to drink. And... there's wildlife around here who have to be getting water from somewhere. They can get more.

"Drink," he insists, after caving in. He was content to just kind of 'pretend' he wasn't watching her fall apart or whatever, but she's clearly not going to be coming to him.

[x5452]

Max's instinct is to refuse, not wanting to appear weak. But she is a pragmatic sort, and knows she needs the hydration. Her hands shake as she reaches for the bottle and manages to bring it to her mouth and swallow. "Thanks." she says, and holds it back out, focusing intensely on keeping the bottle from dropping or sloshing the precious resource.

[nightlightheart]

Tony sits to her side, not quite close enough to be in her bubble, if she has one, but close enough to pat her on the knee. He takes a small sip of water once she hands it back, and he can feel how much he needs it. It tastes delicious and that isn't exactly Tony's drink of choice, pretty much... ever. He doesn't mention the shaking. Doesn't even ask. Just sits and sort of lets the day sink in.

It's not exactly been a good one.

"Should probably eat something too, soon," he says. Right now, food sounds just about the opposite of good, but that probably isn't a good sign.

[x5452]

Screw the Bubble. Max tilts her body so unless the millionaire moves or protests, he'll find her head on his shoulder as she shakes and shivers. "We've got the cans, and that freeze dried stuff."

Looking up at him she promises, "This will be over soon. It takes time...to get better. When it does, I'll just need to sleep for a bit. Not long. You'll be okay?"

[nightlightheart]

He does move, slightly. A shift of his shoulder, a shuffle of his weight, just so she can be a bit more comfortable there. He hardly minds. "Yeah. Sure. We're good here. You want some pears or something?"

God, he wants to just ask her a million questions right now. But it just seems... yeah, it's probably a bad time. She'll probably be able to explain it better when she's not... whatever. Who knows. Right now, he's fairly certain there are half a hundred cameras pointed at them and it might be better later, when half the world isn't watching. So he'll just be quiet for a moment. Let her shake it off. Maybe go grab some freeze dried ice cream and let her nap.

"I'm not much of a sleeper anyway. I got this."

[x5452]

With her eyes closed, she murmurs, "Neither am I, really."

The shakes continue, but the more violent ones seem to have passed. It's like there was an earthquake and now she's just riding the aftershocks.

"S'flaw in the design." she murmurs. "Manticore didn't make us as perfect as they thought.

[nightlightheart]

"Cross a few wires or something?" Tony asks with a small chuckle, because he'd rather keep things light. She knows him as a... probably less than serious individual, it'll be more comfortable if he keeps it that way for now. But he doesn't really know a better way to ask. His knowledge on genetics is limited at best. He's always been more fond of things he could actually control. Build from the ground up, pull apart or scrap as he saw fit. Maybe some people thought that you could do that to another person, but even Tony wasn't that much of a megalomaniac. Or that stupid.

[x5452]

"Or something." Max agrees. The shakes are admittedly making her less cautious, more willing to share. Or maybe she knows a display of vulnerability is good for the cameras, may earn them sponsors.

"They claimed it was a design flaw, this and...I'm not sure if they're really design flaws or ways to keep us under control. Reminders that no matter how much we run, we'll never really escape."

Her head sagged forward a moment, and under a bit of hair, the barcode tattoo on her neck could be seen.

"I've only be free for ten years, Tony. And now I've been put back into a cage." Her tone is bitter.

oh god this is way later than intended. i am so sorry! D:

[nightlightheart]

"My guess would be the latter," Tony tells her. Its just speculation of course, but the desire to control your creations wasn't a new concept, really.

He does notice the tattoo. Doesn't mention it, because for all he knows, hey, she's just a chick with a tattoo. But it does seem a bit peculiar for a girl who seems to not like the idea that she's been, for all intents and purposes, designed, to have a tattoo that makes it looks like she's just come of a production line. Unless of course, she was being ironic or something.

"Pretty shitty cage, too," Tony says, and pats her knee again. It's more just a gesture of comfort than anything.

[x5452]

The seizures seemed to have settled some, but Max still looks exhausted.

"I was thinking we might want to use those land mines to get us to a reliable water source." she murmurs. "Set up a trap for the canines, lead them to it, let the mines do the herd thinning. Viable, do you think?"

She fought to keep her eyes open, but the shakes had wrung her out.

[nightlightheart]

"A few might not be a bad idea," Tony says with a shrug. It was just easier to talk about things like this and not the elephant in the room. "I'd really like to poke around and find something a little more portable and less likely to blow off an arm at a wrong move. But blowing up things is something of a specialty of mine."

One he had actually been trying to avoid if he could help it, but he had no problems here.