blowfish | IC CONTACT

[ ... aw, man. Jesse sighs, scrubbing a hand over the back of his head. Out of the three of them, he feels for her the most. Not just for what she'd seen, but because that was her dad. It's gotta be some royally messed up shit to stumble on your dad knifing some stranger.

It's not her fault. It's not even Joel's fault, from what he's hearing, but if it wasn't for Sarah he wouldn't consider that angle for a second. ]

I'm good. [ Psh, it's nothing. ] Totally cool. I got fixed up, no problem.

Thanks for, uh, thanks for asking.

I'm glad. [Small pause.] I was a little worried.

Nah-- [ Ugh, that hand is scrubbing over the other side of his face now. ] It was, like, a misunderstanding. It was a misunderstanding, no big deal. Your dad, he just got confused. That's all.

Edited 2014-02-28 02:48 (UTC)

Yeah, that's what he told me. I just wanted to make sure you're alright. It looked pretty bad.

[ They've gotta come from someplace bad, or pretty messed up, for this kid to be so sweet while Joel is so... not. It's confusing. Jesse decides to go out on a limb and try and fit the pieces together through Sarah. ]

Y'know, he told me the same thing, but honestly, I don't get it. [ Still gentle. ] I mean, I believe him, but-- I don't really know what happened, I think. You guys okay?

[ He doesn't know how else to ask. What makes your father so terrifying? is not an easy question to ask. ]

We're alright. [Traumatized, but alright.]

[Sarah has no idea how to explain any of it to Jesse. She doesn't understand it herself.]

He forgot Haven and thought he was back home. He doesn't tell me much; all I know is that the world has gotten tough since the outbreak. That-- [She takes a deep breath.] -- that sometimes people are the monsters more than the Infected are.

... the outbreak?

[ Tentative, because yeah, it sounds bad. Please don't tell him that this story involves legit monsters, like Haven's already got. ]

Infected - what's, what's that?

[ But she's just a little kid. His natural curiosity, his often tactless curiosity, is tampered by the anxiety he feels at forcing her to revisit potentially bad memories. Jesse rubs at his mouth before he suddenly rescinds the questions. ]

You don't gotta talk about it if you don't wanna.

[Sarah takes a deep breath.]

No, it's alright. [Better her than her dad, though he would know more than she does.]

There's this sickness that was going around. Made people act crazy-- violent, aggressive, not thinking straight. At first, most of 'em were in the hospitals getting treated. But they escaped.

[Another deep breath and a pause. She remembers the city burning, the monsters pulling people out of cars...]

Everyone panicked. People tried to leave and get somewhere safe but it was hard. Not a lot of safe places left.

[ Oh, hell. He chews on his thumbnail while he listens. More descriptive than Joel's explanation, and it puts things into a fuzzy sort of context. Fuzzy and terrifying. ]

Sounds, sounds pretty freaky. [ No shit. ] It never got safer? There's no, like, treatment for it?

[Quietly:] No.

[ Tapping the side of his hand to his forehead, he sighs. He doesn't know what to say to this little girl, what to offer besides an awkward apology. ]

Sorry. You guys have been through some -- [ no cursing, Jesse, ] rough stuff.

Edited 2014-03-25 18:56 (UTC)

[A pause, more as if she's debating telling him something else.

She decides to, if only to make things clearer for Jesse.]

My dad's been through more of it. Y'know how sometimes people come from different times? He's from the future.

[Not a lie, just an omission.]

[ Different times, different universes. It's a small comfort when he finds others from planet earth, crazy circumstances aside. ]

How far? You're both from Texas, right?

[ those accents yo. ]

Yeah. I don't know how long, but it's been a long time. Dad didn't have any gray hair the last time I saw him.

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