InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Mind if I borrow your date?"

Brian Cruz (seehowtheyrun) wrote in devolve,
@ 2011-02-04 11:19:00

Entry tags:

brian_cruz, cruzlings, jimmy_proudstar, kitty_pryde, pete_wisdom

Who: Jimmy, Kitty, Pete, Brian and the Cruz girls (NPCs)
What: Make their way to the colony.
Where: The Gatehouse.
When: Thursday Midday
Rating: PG-13 (for safety)
Status: Incomplete

They'd been so close. But the ice storm had forced them to hunker down and hold out. The weather had only made the girls worse. Now Lourdes was also wheezing, and Brian could feel the strain pulling at him like tearing paper. He tried not to think about what may have happened if they'd never run into Pete. The man knew the area well, knew where the safe spots were, knew where to find supplies. The most promising thing about being in the town had not been the shelter, it had been the food. Brian made sure no one ate too much too quickly. Hungry as they were, he knew he couldn't just let them eat until they were full. He'd known about it before the outbreak. He'd seen it happen after. It was a painful way to die.

They'd kept warm, waiting out the weather until they could safely make the final leg of their trip. As the wall came into view, Brian could feel something go tight in his chest. He couldn't name it, but he thought perhaps he remembered what it may be. Relief. The paying off of nothing but hope, faith and a gamble that was all in, or no return.

He shifted in the snow, staring up at the gate. Alicia to his left touched his arm. It was hesitant, as if she wasn't sure if what she was seeing was real. He leaned in her direction slightly and her hand closed about his arm, squeezing briefly. With her free arm, she hugged Isabella tight and they both rocked wearily into Brian's back.

He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, looking to Pete. "We're here?"

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set_to_stun
2011-02-04 11:41 pm UTC (link)

With a tap to the button, Kitty set the girls off drying their hair, watching with admiration as Alicia attempted to divert her baby sisters' attention to the warm rushing air playing over their little heads.

"Okay, we're all set." Kitty said off Jimmy's call, "Let me grab your clothes and I'll be right back. Will you guys be okay?" She searched their faces, landing on Alicia, and off her affirmative she slipped out of the room for a second to grab their clothes.

That was when she saw him, only wearing sweatpants, standing in the main room of the gatehouse. He had that look on his face, set expression he developed when he badly wanted a cigarette. She'd been right to think the man outside looked like him--he was him. Much more scraped and scarred up than she remembered, but the necklace was the same.

Kitty looked at him with the kind of neutral shock of someone viewing the impossible, but it was quickly eclipsed by relief and then...something else. He'd scarcely locked eyes with her as the intense rush of joy (he wasn't dead, he wasn't dead) filled her eyes before she flushed at her own unprofessionalism. In a quick rush, she grabbed the bag of clothes Jimmy brought for the girls and ducked back into the locker room, her hand brushing her cheeks as if she could wipe away a blush.

With a warm smile that she only half-felt, she showed the bag out to the girls, "I hope these fit okay. We'll get you outfitted a little better once we get inside."

She started handing out the clothes, guessing at who would fit what, trying in vain not to think of who waited outside but finding, as a question popped out of her mouth, that she had done a poor job, "Who was the man with you when you arrived?" She aimed the question equally to Alicia and Isabella.

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	seehowtheyrun 2011-02-04 11:56 pm UTC (link)
	"His name is Pete," replied Isabella, accent slightly thicker than her elder sister's. "He carried Josefina and kept us warm." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

set_to_stun
2011-02-05 12:25 am UTC (link)

Pete. Kitty repeated to herself, remembering her constant nagging feelings that he'd been hiding something from her, that he wasn't quite what he seemed. All his strange ticks and comments, the way his eyes roved over any place the entered from top to bottom, back to front. What kind of person would do all that and use a false name? Pete, she thought again. It suited him.

"I'm glad he was there to help you," Kitty said, handing out sweatshirts for them to put on over their tees and sweatpants, "And I'm glad you're all here." She smiled and nodded towards the door, "Now let's go see your brother."

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