A Wager Who: Liah and Coyote When: early afternoon Where: the roof What: THE REMATCH!
Rowan had brought back her favorite pair of sunglasses the day before, when he'd gone on an excursion to both of their houses to collect as much as he could carry of things they might want. It was a small thing, but it made her feel better. The sunglasses were big and bold, the lenses dark and the frames a subtle mix of tortoiseshell and leopard-print, and Liah had them on as she sat on the roof, her back against the stairwell wall, not more than three or four feet from the entrance to the building. Ro would probably yell at her if he knew she was up here, but she needed to get outside, fierce, taloned bird-mutants in the sky or no. She knew they were there, at least, and she figured she could watch for them and flee inside (or, hell, just phase herself through the wall if she had to) at the first sign of one.
Thus far, she hadn't seen anything at all. The sun was warm on her outstretched legs, and she was dressed for maximum tan in a tank top, cutoff shorts and flip-flops. Her head was tipped back against the brick wall against which she was leaning, and she was idly gazing at the clouds as she struggled to keep her eyes from falling shut. No falling asleep when there were flying monsters around!
Pff, winged creatures!? Bring it the fuck on! Coyote wasn't afraid of no monsters, whether they flew or dragged or danced their way across the city. If he wanted to go outside for some fresh air, then he would go outside for some fresh air, and God help anything (or one) that got in his way.
Because he had a crowbar, and he was so not afraid to use it. (Which would've been made more evident if he hadn't washed off the... blood? stains from when he first arrived at the hotel.)
He lurked up the stairs all the way to the rooftop, pushing the door open. He took in the sight of the city, it wasn't often he got to be standing this high up after all. The ghetto little apartments he was used to were way smaller than this building.
...but his 'something is wrong with the world (besides the monsters)' sense was tingling, and after a quick glance around.... ohhhhh.... heeeey. S'uuuup...
Okay, even if he was the type of guy to hold a grudge, he wasn't going to lose his cool around this girl and blow it around her again. That's what losers did, and he did not want to lose again.
"Nice weather, ain't it?"
Well, well. If it wasn't Mr. let's slither away as soon as the conversation gets heated. Liah watched him emerge from the stairwell, carrying a... crowbar? Somehow, the thought of that dude wandering around with a crowbar wasn't the most reassuring one she'd ever had. She didn't move, watching him gaze out at the ruined landscape all around them, wondering if he'd notice that she was sitting here. It was almost humorous to watch him become aware of her.
"Nice," Liah agreed, a faint smile on her lips as she hid behind her movie-star sunglasses. "What're you doing up here? Gonna feed the bird monsters?" When they plucked him off the roof and ate him, she meant.
Oh, it was so on. Hell, was it ever off? It will not be off 'til one of them was dead damn it. ...okay, maybe that was a little dramatic, but he'd imagine the both of them were too stubborn to give up unless ending-of-life was involved.
"Hmmm." He glanced over at her, pretending to examine her for a moment, before looking back over at the sky. "Yeah, you would probably keep them fed for a good week or so," he estimated using all those sciences and math numbers he had in his head.
People always took her the wrong way. Sigh. She'd been being nice... for her. Most of the time in everyday conversation, Liah was at least mildly sarcastic, and her humor tended to be cutting. Some people just couldn't handle that, though. She rolled her eyes behind the sunglasses at his comment, since he was clearly insinuating that she was fat, thinking that would traumatize her. Obviously, he was used to sparring with typical kinds of girls, and Liah definitely wasn't one of those.
She idly flexed her feet, taking a few seconds to examine her toes, which were newly painted in the shiny gold polish Rowan had also brought her from her house, then looked up at him with an exaggerated sigh. "Oh, em gee. I'm gonna go take my fat ass off somewhere to cry now." Not. "Whatever, you'd scream like a little girl if one of those things got ahold of you."
It was hard not to! She hurt his pride, and he had to fix that. He had to reclaim his lost honor, damn it! And if that meant being on edge with everything she said then... well, that's what he'd do! Hm, it's not like she would've wanted to be friends with him anyway.
He rolled his eyes at her response, and at her insinuation, he glared down at her. Was that a fucking challenge!? Because he was so about to bait one of those mofos onto this roof and take one of them for a ride. (And unlike how she was not a typical girl, he... was probably a typical guy. ...actually, that may be insulting typical guys. Add a 'stereo' before that, times ten.)
"Hell no I wouldn't!" He waved his crowbar around at the sky.
It was pretty apparent to her that this guy hadn't seen one of the bird mutant things, nor had he seen what they could do to people. She'd cleaned up Rowan's back where one of them had clawed him herself, and it hadn't been pretty. She watched him wave the crowbar he was holding around and shook her head at his male testosterone-fueled stupidity. Maybe the flying monsters were meant to pick off people like him, who didn't seem to have the usual number of brain cells?
"You would," she disagreed. "Or at least run... unless you're an idiot. You can what, melt yourself into a shadow? Unless you have super strength or you can throw giant fireballs, I think you're out of luck as far as fighting them goes." She wasn't really even being insulting right then, just matter-of-fact.
Coyote didn't need to be smart, he'd proven that much to everyone else who was dead or mutated by standing there being a badass. All that bullshit about school and good grades, where did that get everyone? Oh, right. Nowhere. In the end, what mattered in life was the will to live, and he had plenty of that.
"You're not very creative when it comes to fighting, are you?" So what if he didn't have fireballs or laser beams shooting out of his face? He didn't need to--there were other ways to inflict pain, the human body was a weapon! "All I know is this: If one o' them things plucks me up, then I got two choices. Live, or die. And if I gotta fight to live, then I'm fighting to live."
"I don't have to be creative with fighting," Liah told him. "The most I've ever done in a fight is pull some bitch's hair or knee a guy in the nuts for getting too personal. I'm not into comic books, superhero shit or Warcraft." It was a good thing, since WoW was dead in the water with the current non-existence of the internet. "Good luck with that," Liah said when he said he'd fight to live. With his crowbar. It would be hysterical to see him trying to take on one of those bird creatures with a crowbar, except for the part where it killed him. He might be obnoxious, but that didn't mean she'd want to see him dead.
Did this woman have no honour!? Hair pulling and hitting below the belt!? God...
"So what're you gonna do if you gotta go up against one of those things?" Coyote pointed out at the city. "It's bound to happen, lady. I doubt you'll be able to stay here and live all peacefully for the rest of your life." Especially considering that this crazy messed up shit was life now. Something shitty was bound to happen, like a monster busting in, or hell, a whole pack of monsters busting in. And when that happened, people couldn't do nothing. "Life's fucked up now."
"Yeah, I was here for that part," Liah said when he told her that life was fucked up now. "If there's not a building I can phase into to hide, I guess it'll kill me and eat me." She sounded quite nonchalant about that possibility. It was an act, but he didn't have to know that. "You can't fight something like that. Crowbars are kind of heavy. It'd be hard to swing one well enough to kill a mutant bird monster." She eyed him as he hefted the metal bar, wondering how it was that even skinny boys were so much stronger than the majority of girls. Didn't seem fair. "Or do you have biceps of doom to go with your shadow thing?"
"No, but I don't need them!" Okay, so Coyote wasn't exactly exploding with muscles, and he wasn't the biggest dude on the block, but he felt he made up that up with willpower. God it didn't matter if the world ended or not. It didn't matter if he happened to live through the apocalypse--people were always going to be cynical and give him shit, weren't they? But he'd show them, he was going to live damn it, and he wasn't going to be a wuss about it either.
He backed out towards the center of the roof.
"Why're you so cynical?"
Liah was glancing at the sky in between glances at him; she didn't fancy seeing him swept away by a giant bird monster thing, and the longer he was pacing around and shaking the crowbar and making noise, the more likely something like that was to happen. She sure as hell wouldn't be able to rescue him or whatever, but she could at least shout a warning if she saw something approaching. She smirked at him when he asked why she was so cynical and replied, "I'm so sorry, dumpling. Were you expecting Mary-fucking-Sunshine? The world just ended and nearly everyone died, tra-la, tra-la, let me go tiptoe through the fucking tulips."
She didn't even sound pissed off, more amused with a sharp edge. "That's kind of a personal question when you don't even know my name, and I don't know yours," she pointed out.
Coyote didn't want to be rescued by her. Right now, he'd rather be dropped to his death than have this mean bitch save his life and lord it over his head. He would never be able to live it down.
And no, but God having everyone else die was supposed to be incentive to live and keep going, not... run away.
...okay, so maybe having the world end was incentive to just run away, but that didn't mean that was what you should do.
"Coyote," he stated. She made it sound like he was judging her from greener pastures, or some shit. As far as he saw it, if he could stay positive, then so could everyone else.
Liah pushed her sunglasses up on her head to look at him when he told her his name. Coyote, really? That had to be some sort of nickname. She couldn't imagine this guy's mother actually naming him Coyote. "Liah," she replied, nodding to him. This was possibly their most civil bit of conversation yet! Call the news crews! Oh wait, there weren't any anymore. If nothing else, it was nice to know the name of the person you were insulting and being insulted by.
No, she named him something stupid like Avent, which he never went by anymore. Once he found his new name, he stuck with it, no matter where he was. If people didn't like it, tough. "Awesome," he responded sarcastically. He supposed knowing her name had some advantages, but 'Liah' and 'That Girl' woulda all been the same when he was about to die and his life flashed before his eyes, including one of the last people on Earth to piss him off. "My life's a little more complete now."
Liah snorted at his smart-ass remark and shot back, "Yeah, that's what all the boys say after they've met me. There's no substitute." Haughtily, she lowered the sunglasses over her eyes again and stretched her legs out to get more sun, a little smirk curving her lips upward. It was fun to have people to spar with, and this dude would work nicely for that. There might be more to him, she didn't know... but she guessed it didn't matter. There was a lot more to her than most people saw, too.
"I'd imagine not." Coyote rolled his eyes as he looked back up towards the sky for a chance of a good dogfight. He was dead serious when it came to this. He was going to fight one of these monster things whether it be on the ground, or in the sky and he was going to win, damn it. If he didn't win, then he wouldn't be much help to the group if he was just a big loser.
The thought of it wrecked his nerves, but it wasn't courage if there was no fear!
Liah watched him walk around, and she couldn't help but wonder what his deal was. Did he seriously think he could fight one of those things? Seriously? Finally she couldn't keep her mouth shut any longer. "You're going to keep on until one of those bird things notices you, aren't you?" she asked. "Don't you think that's kind of dumb? It's going to spoil my suntanning time if I have to go inside." Like he cared, but it was something to say. Was it a testosterone thing?
"I think you'll get over it," Coyote glanced over at uh... Liah. Right. Seriously, he was about to go fight off some monsters, and all she gave a crap about was suntanning? "Besides lady, not sure if you realize--but there aren't really people left to notice your tan."
At any rate, he'd been asked that question a lot. Does he think it's dumb? Yes, but it's only dumb if it ends badly, so all he's gotta do is make sure it doesn't. Good plan? Good plan.
"Can't you find something better to do?"
"Yes, there are," Liah said, her chin lifting stubbornly. "I can think of several people right here in our hotel who might notice. I'm not letting myself go just because the world ended. Fuck that." Because she had to have something to distract herself from utter gloom and despair, from the shock and grief of losing almost everyone who'd ever been important to her. If that involved obsessing about the color of her toenail polish and tanning her butt white legs, so be it. She rolled her eyes when he asked if she couldn't find something better to do. "You have any suggestions, brain trust?" she inquired. "We're stuck in a freakin' huge ass hotel with no power, not much food and next to nothing to do."
Shaaallooooow. Coyote was going to make sure that even if she was the last chick on the Earth--which she definitely wasn't, and hopefully never would be--he was not going to pine after her in any way, shape or form. Or even think nicely about her appearance. He didn't like hitting girls, and this was as close as he could get. ...even if he wasn't vocalizing it.
"Work on something more long term, like I dunno, try to plan ahead if certain shit hits certain fans?" He shrugged. "What would you do if we ran out of food? Or if this hotel group stuff ends up falling apart?" Coyote doesn't like to think of himself as a bad person, but leaving because the group deteriorated into something messy? Sayonara, thanks for everything, but he was gonna bounce.
"I don't have to plan ahead," Liah told him with a smug little smile. "That's what Verity's for. That big brain of his is always churning with, like..." She groped for the phrase she wanted for a few seconds. "Contingency plans." She didn't truly mean that, because she knew it wasn't all on Verity and Ro to take care of the little group they'd formed. She made her own contributions, even if to date they'd mostly been taking care of the kids when needed and walking into locked rooms to see if there might be anything useful there. She didn't feel like explaining all that to this dude, so she didn't. She paused to think about what he'd asked, about what she'd do if everything fell apart here. "Well... if that happened, I'd say the five of us would be out of here." Team player Liah was not, at least not when it involved the safety of her quasi-family unit in the midst of a much larger group of people.
Hm. Shoulda figured. He didn't like to think that she and him had the same plans when it came to that, 'cause that meant they agreed on something. And he didn't want to be on the same page as her. Or the same book. Whatever. "It's gonna suck if you ever get stranded on your own, isn't it?" He turned back towards the door and her, taking a few steps forward. He just... God he just felt like he had something to prove, and it bothered him he wasn't getting what he wanted out of this chick.
Rawrrghh.
Oooooh, somebody was cranky. Liah got languidly to her feet when he approached, not wanting to be in the position of having to look up at him when he loomed over her. It was bad enough that she was noticeably shorter than he was when she was standing up. "Maybe," she allowed, smiling up at him once he got close enough. "What's the matter, pookie, would it make you feel like a big He-Man if I got scared or maybe cried a little? Not gonna happen." She found herself wondering, though, exactly what bone he had to pick with her. Somehow the two of them were like flint striking sparks, ornery and contentious. Not that Liah minded that, necessarily.
Coyote's bone was that he hated being looked down on, and she was really good at doing it, even when he was taller than her!
Besides, he was by default cooler than He-Man. What did a practically naked muscley dude have on him? He had finesse, and he wasn't flaming. Not that there was anything wrong with that, of course. The flaming, not the naked underpants thing.
But yes, it would make him feel a little less aggravated if she admitted she wasn't as tough as she was. Because she wasn't.
He smirked, "Outta the two of us, you'd be the first one to break, cupcake."
The boy was so full of hot air that he'd deflate and go soaring around the roof if she happened to stick a pin in him, Liah thought, unable to help being amused. She had to wonder if it was an excess of testosterone in his brain or if he really thought he was being impressive with all his posturing. Okay, so he was cute, and he was probably used to getting his way with girls. Well, Liah wasn't any girl. She was a snarky, opinionated and stubborn one. She stepped a touch closer to him, tipping her chin upward and smirking, using the very same expression that had used to drive her brother nuts. It was a devious yet happy, 'I know you are but what am I' expression.
"In your dreams," she said with a tiny shrug. "That crowbar will break before I do."
"Why don't we bet on it?" Coyote shrugged. Why not, it'd give him even more motivation not to go in a corner and cry. Because he was not going to do that before she was. And he wasn't going to break in any way, shape or form!
And yes, he did think he was impressive. He had super cool shadow lurky abilities and a crowbar. Crowbars were badass sticks, true facts. And his was the most awesome of all, and it didn't appreciate her insulting it.
"Since you're so amazing you'll be steadfast, and catch me balled up and crying in a corner."
"Okay," Liah said instantly, not bothering to think it over. Why would she need to? She'd held herself together this long; why wouldn't she continue to do so? The occasional private meltdown didn't count, and she hadn't really had any of those. None major enough to comment on, anyway. "What do you want to bet?" She pushed her oversized sunglasses up on her head once again so she could pin him with her steely gaze and make sure he wasn't trying to pull something over on her. She might make a wager with him, but did she trust him? Absolutely not.
Coyote smirked and leaned forward slightly, looking her right in the eyes with a just-as-confident look. "Whatever the other one wants." Oh, yes he was going to play the stakes high. He was going to make sure that whoever lost? They were gonna have salt rubbed into their wound. Mainly because he was so positive she was going to lose. A part of him was telling him it wasn't very noble to metaphorically wound a girl and then rub dirt in it, but he would think about it later! Now was the time to be compulsive and cocky. And he was very good at that.
Whatever the other one wants. Agreeing to that probably wasn't the brightest idea in the world, because what if-- highly unlikely, but possible-- she did lose? Liah wasn't crazy about having to do who-knew-what for a guy who didn't like her at all, anyway. But she didn't have it in her to back down. "Okay," she agreed, not looking the slightest bit perturbed, still smiling that easy and confident smile. "Winner picks the stakes, to be agreed on when the time comes." She extended her hand to shake on it.
Oh hell yea. To be honest, the small reasonable part of Coyote face-palmed, because it was Murphy's Law and all o' that. The worst thing that could happen, will happen. And that would be losing, and then having to deal with whatever stupid ass wish she wanted.
But he would not back down.
He placed his hand in hers and shook it firmly. "Good luck, cupcake," he smirked. Did he mean that? Maybe. He wasn't an unsportsmanlike person! But he was going to pretend to be one right now.
Liah's eyebrows lifted. "Good luck to you too, sugar pie." She could do the obnoxious nicknames as well as he could! She gripped his hand just as firmly in return, not wanting to come across as some wimpy girl. She might be female, but there was nothing weak about her. She released his hand and smiled brightly. "Have fun out here with your, um... crowbar. Don't do anything I wouldn't do." She moved over to the closed door leading from the roof into the stairwell and waggled her gold-polished nails at him in farewell.
"I'll do whatever the hell I wanna do," Coyote stated easily. If he wanted to fight bird monsters with his crowbar, then he would damn it. "...muffin." He added offhandedly, waving her off without a care in the world as he looked up at the sky, and any acts of heroism he'd be able to perform!
...or he'd probably just stalk back into the hotel after she went in. Being outside wasn't as fun as he thought it'd be. He was going to blame her for ruining it.
Muffin? Ew. This was getting sickening. Muffin was something you'd name a chihuahua that you dressed in a little sweater! "Byeeeee," Liah trilled, blowing him an exaggerated, smacky kiss and then phasing through the door and out of his sight. Ha, take that, crowbar man! "That boy is crazy," she muttered to herself as she headed down the stairs to the 12th floor corridor. She was smirking even as she said it, though.