We're more than carbon and chemicals

[lucetimods]

Who: All Draftees
What: Fighting Third Party
When: 26th, 27th, 28th, 1st, and 2nd
Where: The Southern Farmlands
Summary: See here for overall details.
Rating: Probably gonna be gorey in places :|a

DOESN'T NEED A CUT. People should know how this works, if not, just follow other people's lead. I'm gonna set up some strategist threads at the top, for the four strategists to use if they want to, otherwise people should start their own threads.

((Mod Note: Since this has been asked a few times, just fyi, the livestock do not talk. Happy hunting!))

Comments

[all7seas]

[So Jack allows himself to be helped again. There's always later. There will be time to straighten this out, once his voice is healed and he can find some of those daisies that Dawn was talking about, because he has no idea how this went so horribly wrong.

Lots. Lots of daisies.]

[herotypical]

[ a clear benefit of being short is that she must be at the near-perfect height for playing crutch. she supports his injured side with her shoulder, wrapping her good arm around his back.

perhaps silence is best. she doesn't want to talk her way into another mess -- not until they manage to get out of this one. ]

[all7seas]

[Jack can't go that fast; can't talk. And after a while, it becomes clear that he needs to rest again.]

[herotypical]

[ then it's lucky there's yet another of those convenient little shed barn things nearby. she helps him inside when it's clear that he's flagging. ]

[all7seas]

[This time he manages to croak out:] Enough. Go, Annie.

[He has been out in the field for a while; he will surely be transported back soon. And walking is not anything he wants to do anymore.]

[herotypical]

No.

[ she doesn't say much else -- no reason to inspire him to talk further. instead, she helps him to a hay bale. ]

[all7seas]

Yes.

[He sits down, relieved. Why don't they take me out?]

[herotypical]

What? You're going to make me go with all your scary non-ability to walk or even argue without sounding like a chain-smoker with laryngitis?

[all7seas]

[Silent laughter at this, and Jack shakes his head. No.]

[herotypical]

So, I stay. I'm not leaving you to get picked off by some thinks-he's-all-that Third Partier.

[all7seas]

Fine.

[This was frustrating, because all Jack wants to do is talk to her and tell her how she'd got the wrong end of everything, and all he is lacking is the voice. The walk had aggravated the wound in his side, and an unpleasant wetness is beginning to spread over his white shirt. He tends to that instead, lifting the hem of the garment.]

Not so bad.

[herotypical]

Bad enough. [ she begins to undo her splint. there's fabric enough there to staunch the blood. ] I just about think I can go without this now, anyway.

[all7seas]

[This earns her a glare.] Certain?

[herotypical]

Nope. I'm just doing it because I enjoy the sharp pain. [ she flexes the arm with a light hiss. movable and sore, but not incapacitated. more gently: ] I'm certain.

[ she crouches by him with the scraps of her cardigan in her hands. ] Can I...? And answer with a nod or a shake because if you keep talking I'll use one of these to gag you.

[all7seas]

[In happier times, Jack Sparrow would have made a joke about that threat. This time he nods miserably. He caught that hiss. He is not happy.]

[herotypical]

[ she wishes they had water or that she felt at all capable of asking jack to surrender his rum. instead, she dabs carefully at the wound and tries to clear at least a bit of the blood away before wading the fabric up and (extra gingerly considering it's state) uses her other hand to hold up his shirt. she holds the wad firmly but carefully to his stomach. buffy wishes she knew more about first aid. ]

[all7seas]

[The rum maybe could be used to disinfect. Jack is using it, however, to get more drunk. He clamps a hand down on that cloth so she can free her own. Herself.]

Go now?

[herotypical]

What did I say about talking?

[ she remains crouched. ] Don't answer that; it was rhetorical.

[all7seas]

[He decides to try again; maybe he can start over. In a hoarse whisper:] Annie? Friends? [This is followed by insistent hand motions to the contrary and an emphatic shake of Sparrow's head. He wants to be more than that to her.]

[herotypical]

[ here she was, tending to his injuries and...and he doesn't even want to be friends anymore? is that what he's trying to tell her? buffy swallows hard and drops her eyes to the bloody work ahead of her. ]

If you're being cruel just to try and make me leave, it's not going to work. [ whispered.

buffy did always miss the point. ]

[all7seas]

[This is clearly going to take more effort. He reaches down to touch her cheek, trying to regain her attention.] You. Me. [Oh, God, Sparrow. Stop making those easily-misconstrued hand motions.]

[herotypical]

[ her attention does return upwards at that touch and then...? is he perhaps proposing some kind of strange friends-with-benefits arrangement? is that what all the hand motions are about? and the inability to say friends in a normal, friendly way even with all the windpipe damage?

she tries not to look horrified. ] I don't...Jack. I'm gonna go with erring on the side of caution and hope you didn't just suggest what I think you suggested.

[all7seas]

[Utter confusion, now.]

[herotypical]

[ impatient and curious and concerned, she lifts the makeshift compress just a bit to check his stomach. muttering to herself: ] I told her the window was closed. Moved on. Greener pastured. I bet there'll be little disposable cameras on the tables to capture all the lovely memories, too.

[ and now she may as well be speaking gibberish though she is really falling back on the bitterness felt towards riley's wife when the ex had finally come back to sunnydale. missed opportunities. ]

[all7seas]

[This finally quiets the pirate, mostly because he has absolutely no idea what she is talking about. All he can sense is the bitterness, and that worries him. Somehow he did something wrong. Somehow he saved her life and then ruined it.]