Post by macxcheese on Jun 30, 2015 0:01:07 GMT -6
March 14th, 2027
_________________________ Praecipio: Latin. Noun.
1. Companion
2. Friend
3. Comrade
_________________________
*Please note a good deal of Mace's language can be quite offensive. This is not meant as a personal attack to anyone but rather a showcase of how closed minded and inaccurate his way of thinking is. I do intend for Mace to learn the consequences of his thought process later in game, but I will be happy to change anything that personally strikes anyone as hurtful.*
A branch woke Sydney up- specifically a broken branch hitting the window of the RV. She realized this with relief and a dash of embarrassment. Images of morbid bodies had sprung to her mind and filled her with terror. Now that she was calm, she found the terror had made her stomach hurt. Or was it the beans from earlier?
Making her way through the small space, she tried to remember where the bathroom was. She found it after the door rattled from her placing her hand on it, and she tenderly entered the tiny room.
Ten minutes later, Syd was kneeling next to Mace’s head. “Hey,” she whispered. She poked him a few times in the forehead, swiftly missed a swipe at her face, and finally shoved him. When he was sufficiently woken up, she set her hands on her hips. “Your toilet is broken!”
CandyLeptic
"What the actual- Fuckwit? Ugh," he sat up and clicked the radio's static off from his bedside. "What??" he he whispered at first before feeling like an idiot. "What." he said, much louder this time, before sighing and rubbing the back of his neck. He was starting to believe his mattress was more deadly than anything outside of the RV. "Funny, it was fine yesterday morning." He started to get up before he called back, "Just before /you/ were here. Weird as fuck, isn't it?"
He got to work (bet the girlscout would never get a badge for THIS..) before calling back, "You dress like a boy and you sure as Hell shit like one, you know." He got the dammed thing to flush before using it himself. "I cant believe you left the fucking seat down," he added, not bothering to close the door any further than what it had been left open to, which was about half. He still wasn't used to company, honestly. And he didn't want to be!!! Maybe grossing this kid out would leave him alone.
macxcheese
Syd sat on the bed as soon as Mace walked away and listened to the sounds of the toilet being fixed. “Excuse me, but are you trying to perpetuate the idea that females don’t crap? Like we’re some inhuman beings that don’t function the same way as men?” She sighed loudly and flopped on the mattress. Stupid men and their stupid stereotypes. Whatev- wow this bed was super comfy! She snuggled into the comforter on top and closed her eyes. It would just be a second! She hadn’t slept on a real mattress in forev…
A small snore was the only reply to Mace’s complaint.
CandyLeptic
Mace finished after taking his time (it was HIS rv, after all!) before looking around the kitchen/living space for Syd. Did she leave? Was he finally free? No, it couldn't be. It wasn't Christmas just yet. He looked around the passenger seat before he head something from- oh no. He pulled back the curtain that separated his sleeping area from everything else. He let out a growl. Was nothing his own then??? It was a shitty mattress anyway, her fucking loss!
He did carefully creep to the right side of the mattress- opposite where the radio player was, and quietly picked up the magazines that were laying next to it. Not that he had looked at them in awhile, but he didn't need to hear from her why 'woman were unfairly represented in playboys' or this or that. He tucked them in the bathroom behind the toilet before standing in the middle of the RV, not sure what to do. He should kick her out of his bed- or rather, out of his RV- but it was so quiet with her sleeping.
He checked how many cans of whatever he had before he decided they would have to get food another way today. It was still storming, but much more calmly, which meant fish were biting. He took a seat at the kitchen table- the bench had been cleaned for the kid to sleep, and he started to collect supplies he would need. Hopefully the girl scout would be out long enough for him to get a trip done. Then again, he wasn't sure yet if he wanted to leave her in the RV herself.
macxcheese
A half hour later, Sydney was awake. And in pain. Sleeping with your legs hanging off the mattress was not a good idea apparently. She sprung up and stretched, surprised that she hadn’t been pulled off the bed. She cracked a grin. Maybe someone was warming up to her!
She crept from behind the curtain to see that someone making... a net? She wrinkled her nose in confusion until a grin spread across her face. Syd worked her way up to the man as quiet as a mouse (or so she thought), until she was right behind him. She sucked in a small breath and yelled “BOO!” She hoped he’d scream like a little girl.
CandyLeptic
Syd's "BOO" was met with a knife to the face! Thankfully he didn't quite cut her, but the opening of the butterfly knife was enough to cause Mace to stop for a moment to laugh at her face. "Do you KNOW by now not to do that? Fucking-"
He stopped for a moment to pull on his net with his teeth before cutting the line of floss off from the square box it had came from. It was a good sized net, but the craftmanship was shotty as Hell. It would work, though. Probably. He flipped the knife closed and tossed in his coat pocket, and pushed past Syd to get a knit hat from a pile of clothing on the floor.
"Next time, you're welcome to sleep outside in the rain, if the bench isnt good enough for you," he muttered as he fetched the keys from the ignition. The RV had been off for some time, but he liked to keep the keys in there, just in case he had to start it quickly. He searched around for his gun (thankfully he found a few more rounds of ammo!), and pocketed that, too.
macxcheese
Syd gasped and backed up a few steps. Bad idea bad idea bad idea. She threw up her hands in surrender and only put them down when Mace started to laugh. “Th-th-that’s not f-funny!” she yelled, only to realize she was shaking. She didn’t move as he pushed past her- actually quite the opposite. She tried to take up as much space as possible! Mace didn’t seem to notice though and she kicked the side of the bench in frustration.
She followed behind him as he moved for the door. He was not leaving her in here without the keys. She barely picked up on his mumbling and hissed under her breath, “Oh fuck you.” It wasn’t like she meant to fall asleep. She hopped outside and shielded her eyes from the what little light change there was. “So where are we going?” she asked flatly.
CandyLeptic
"Fishin'" He considered lighting a smoke, but it was sprinkling a bit and he didnt want to risk it being put out every five seconds. More importantly, he was on his last lighter, so it would have to wait.
They walked in silence for a little while before Mace sighed and looked over to her. This was so awkward he couldn't bear it. "So have you ever fished without a rod? Is that how your troupe or whateverthefuck did?" It actually came off as a genuine question! They had some time before they came to the stream. Mace had fished there before, and while it wasn't the most plentiful, rarely did he have a day after rain where he didn't catch anything. Then again, he had only been in the area for about three months (if he had to guess), but he was pretty familiar with it by now.
macxcheese
Syd gave a small nod at Mace’s response and folded her arms behind her back. She looked around, taking in the forest, and jumped when the man spoke up. “Oh uh, no, not really!” she answered sheepishly. “I hadn’t gotten that far,” she added quickly. “I think that would’ve been next year, though I do know some knots that could be used in nets and uh…” She trailed off when it registered that she was rambling. “So how do you do it?”
CandyLeptic
He raised an eyebrow at her after a moment. "You don't just use regular knots?" Was she saying nets are supposed to work more than one use? No wonder the knots fell out after two or three catches. Shit. "I'll show you when we get there." he said with a yawn. Why was he up this early?
____________
When they finally got to a stream (or rather, /the/ stream!) he started to follow it a little ways before they came to the thinnest part. Large rocks were scattered amongst smaller ones, and little fish could be seen going around them. Mace took a step out, careful not to get his taped up shoes wet, and leaned down to move the rocks around. He chewed the inside of his lip as he explained; "You gotta make all the fish past through the same point, you know? The big ones need enough room though too. "You wanna help?" he didn't quite ask, but just said something to fill the silence. "If we move some a little upstream, the big ones should pass by 'em. They usually do, anyway. We're gonna need bait, too, after this is set up."
macxcheese
Sydney watched Mace set up the net, almost in a studious state. She raised her eyebrows at his question and shrugged. “Sure I guess?” She stepped on the rocks too, almost slipping at one point. Once she regained her balance Syd started chucking the rocks away, eyeing Mace to make sure she was doing it right. She stood up when they were done and tried to crack her back. “What now?”
CandyLeptic
Mace set the net's corners under two rocks, and placed a third rock over it on an angle- this let water go through, maintaining the current. When the fast current carried fish in, they'd hopefully get stuck. The holes were large enough small fish just filtered through (they weren't worth preparing, honestly) but large fish got themselves stuck. He wiped his hands on his jeans after running. He had never got sick from it before, so here's to hoping! "We have to find some worms or something next. Do you have one?" he gestured as he drank.
macxcheese
Carefully leaning over him, Syd observed how Mace set up the net. She pulled herself back just in time to not get head butted, and made a face while he drank the water. “No I don’t, but you might get one from drinking that!” She picked her way over the rocks again and onto the grass, peeking at the ground below. It was hard to see any bugs through the mud and weeds, but finally she picked up a small wiggling worm and held it up for Mace. “Like this?”
CandyLeptic
He looked at her for a moment. "Canteen? Do you have one to fill?" What did she- "I won't get fucking worms!" he got up after getting another refill, "It's a National Park, the water's completely cle-" he was interrupted by a coughing fit. He pounded on his chest a moment before finishing behind his teeth "-ean."
Two coughs later he shook his head, "More would be better, I think. He walked over to take hers before cringing at it. Worms were so fucking gross. He did take it though, and placed it under the net, where a medium sized fish already squirmed among a few leaves that had been trapped.