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Say They Fear Her (f!courier/siri) (dubcon, referenced noncon) (56a/?)
Date: 2016-05-06 01:57 pm (UTC)“Ready,” Birdy agrees, holds up her ball of twine. Burn grins wide, lifts her own two balls of yarn before tossing one into her hood and stepping carefully over Runner’s sprawled arm and legs. Runner moves, twitches, makes a soft noise in the back of her throat.
“Sh, sh, ‘s me,” Burn reassures her, bends at the waist to run her fingers up the back of Runner’s arm. Runner turns her head toward the touch, but settles back down. Burn turns her head to wink at Birdy, and ties one end of the twine to a nail, sticking out a couple feet above Drummer’s head. She nods to another nail, near Drummer’s feet, just above the baseboard. She tosses the ball of twine to Birdy, who loops it around the nail a couple times before tossing it back. Drummer stands on tiptoe to tie it around a nail nearer to the ceiling.
They exhaust the ball of twine after two dozen tosses back and forth, ranging all across the room on silent feet. Birdy whips out one of her own balls of twine, and they continue with a second, then a third when the second runs out.
Lucinda shuffles past, not lifting her boots from the floor, halfway through the third ball of twine. SHe squints at the room, doesn't say anything, looks to Burn, then Birdy, then back to Burn, expression turning more puzzled.
Burn points to Drummer and Runner, still asleep, Drummer now snoring gently, before she presses her finger to her lips.
Lucinda raises her eyebrows, looks away, and continues into the kitchen without a word.
Birdy has to stifle a giggle under her hand, and after they use the last of the third ball of string, she and Burn beat a quiet retreat out into the yard, where they lean on each other, presses noses into each others’ shoulders, muffle screams of laughter into jackets and scarves.
Runner is the first one up, in the morning, and yells the entire time it takes for her to escape the web of string.
“You’ve got this, right?” Burn asks Watch.
“I got it, don't worry,” Watch agrees, tugs the string just enough for it to pull, not enough to set off the noisemaker in the wall, right next to Drummer’s ear, where she’s wedged behind Runner. “I have the pattern, it’s okay. Just go sleep with your girlfriends.”
“Thank you,” Burn whispers, slides back across the floor to drop down into the hallway. Dredge doesn’t look up from her place on the front steps, El at her chest, sleeping as Dredge rocks her.
She drops onto the floor in front of Runner, scoots back until Runner mumbles something, throws her arm over Burn’s waist, tugs her closer, breathes hot and wet against the back of her neck, breaths catching in her nose so she almost snores.
Burn wiggles her fingers at Birdy, laying across the room, her baby asleep on a folded up trio of blankets Lucinda offered months ago, out of her own bedding. Birdy waves back, grin creeping across her face.
Say They Fear Her (f!courier/siri) (dubcon, referenced noncon) (56b/?)
Date: 2016-05-06 02:00 pm (UTC)Drummer is the next to wake, though, and she freezes for a moment before hurling herself over both Runner and Burn at once, and her voice climbs into a shriek.
The entire room rolls over in their sleeping bags as one, scrambles for guns and knives, sits up enough to fix their eyes on Drummer, who stares wide-eyed at the wall while Burn clutches her side--Drummer planted a hand just below her ribcage in her scramble--and keeps the other hand over her mouth as her eyes nearly bulge from stifled laughter.
Drummer breathes heavy until the bug sound is louder, more steady, and now it sounds less like bugs and more like pinto beans in a tin can.
Burn can’t hold in her giggles anymore, and she laughs as Drummer punches her in the shoulder, scowling.
“Alright, what do you need me to get?” Drummer asks, rubs her palms together a she squats next to Runner and Runner’s clay bowl.
“Cazador stinger, one of the dried ones. Big handful of broc flowers. As many jalapeño seeds as you can find me.” Runner sticks her tongue out as she studies the bottom of the bowl. “That should be all I need.”
“Got it,” Drummer agrees, trots off.
She comes back with all the ingredients, and Runner powders the cazador stinger first, grinds it into an awful pus-green dust, adds the jalapeño seeds and grinds those in too, then tosses the broc flower in last.
Drummer starts sneezing as soon as she gets too close, tucks her scarf up over her face. Runner glances over, nods, tugs her own scarf up.
“Go find me some sandburrs,” she orders, points toward the priestess’s adobe and its patchy, burr-y lawn. “As many as you can.”
“You want some cactuses too?” Drummer asks. “Got enough of 'em out past the fence.”
Runner looks up, through the skeletal bush that’s more a windbreak than a bush anymore. She narrows her eyes, studies the horizon, squints through the heat waves rising off the desert floor.
“Yes,” she says, nods once, sharp and short.
Drummer giggles as she hops to her feet, trots around the bush and out onto the flats.
“SInce it looks like you're involved in a prank war, I would recommend checking your sleeping bags before settling down for the night.” Siri points toward Burn’s legs, bandages wrapped over the needlepricks across her feet and calves from the cacti. “And let’s not cause actual bodily harm next time?” She turns to fix her gaze on Drummer, who shrugs and snuggles tighter against Runner, who tips her head side to side and pulls a face.
“Doc means it,” Lucinda pipes up, over her plate of beans and molerat. Her eye is still black, but it’s getting yellower by the day. “No more bleeding injuries.”
“Alright,” Runner agrees, shrugs. “No puncture wounds.”
Say They Fear Her (f!courier/siri) (dubcon, referenced noncon) (56c/?)
Date: 2016-05-06 02:01 pm (UTC)“No blood. Got it.”
Birdy trots out of the house, holding her sleeping bag out in front of herself, at arm’s length. Powder dusts out of it, when she shakes it opening-down. She turns her eyes on Runner and Drummer, who both shrug.
“It’s itching powder,” Birdy says, turns to Siri, drops her sleeping bag and sticks out one leg, covered in rising, reddening welts. “They put itching powder in my sleeping--” Birdy turns and sneezes into her elbow, three times in rapid succession.
“Bless you,” Twist offers.
Birdy gives her a thumbs up, keeps her nose buried in her elbow as she starts to sneeze again.
“What did you put in the powder?” Siri sighs, turn to Runner and Drummer, narrows her eyes until she decides Runner is the more likely culprit.
“Broc flowers, jalapeño seeds, and, uh.” She slides down in her seat, looks at Siri from between her knees. “Dried cazador gland.”
Siri sighs again, louder.
“Watch, you and Birdy go to wash up, Runner, you have the ingredients for an antivenom if it’s needed, correct?”
“Yeah,” Runner mumbles. “I’ll get ‘em to you.”
“New rule, no bloody pranks, and nothing that might actually poison someone.” Siri runs her hand down her face and stares at the sleeping bag crumpled on the ground.
The team nods, and Watch trots off with Birdy, toward the well in the center of town, buckets in hand.
“Pretty sure this breaks the ‘no bloody pranks’ rule,” Twist murmurs.
“At worst it’ll bruise her a bit,” Birdy replies, scratches at the side of her arm. “And besides, look at what they did.” She holds up her arms, still covered in a rash.
Twist grunts, settles her elbows on her thighs.
“Tonight? Or just when we find ‘em?”
“Tonight or tomorrow,” Birdy agrees.
“Got it. Off to bed, for now, wake me up if we get a chance.” Twist stands, stretches, and heads in toward her own sleeping bag.
Birdy stays up, rocks her baby until she sees Drummer trot past, out toward the outhouses a ways from town. She’s up in a flash, runs inside to wake up Twist, who rolls to her feet almost immediately.
Say They Fear Her (f!courier/siri) (dubcon, referenced noncon) (56d/?)
Date: 2016-05-06 02:03 pm (UTC)“Which way do we tip it?” Twist asks.
“Sideways, or backwards,” Birdy replies. “Not forward, though.”
“Got it. Backward is easier, with the line of them.”
“Alright. Let’s do this.”
“Easiest way is to tip from the bottom.” Twist steps out from behind the building, points at the foundation of the outhouse, where there’s a single sagging, splintery wooden step.
Birdy nods, and they approach on quiet feet.
Drummer is humming to herself, and Twist gets her fingers under the bottom step, squats. Birdy squats next to her, grins wide as Twist nods and throws her weight into lifting.
Drummer shrieks as the outhouse tips backwards, and Twist and Birdy start sprinting, are already back in their places--Birdy with her baby in her arms, out in front of the house, Twist on top of her sleeping bag, blanket over her shoulders--by the time Drummer storms back into the camp, her hair a mess and her belt still undone.
Birdy buries her nose in her baby’s scalp as Drummer storms past, eyes wide, and makes a beeline for Burn.
“This is a prank, isn’t it?” Birdy asks, narrows her eyes at the burlap sack Runner handed her. “There’s no such thing as a snipe.”
“Go ahead and ask the boss. Hey! Boss!” Runner puts her hands on her hips, twists at the waist to yell over her shoulder. “Is a snipe a bird?”
“Yeah!” Lucinda yells back, without looking up from her crooked attempt at mending the widening hole in the knees of her jeans.
“Told you they were real.”
“I’ve hunted ‘em before,” Dredge agrees, shoves her own sack into her belt. “They’re dumber’n a back of rocks, in all the important ways. Real dumb when it comes to people voices, but they’re real good at avoiding animals. Works for us.” Dredge bobs her head, grins.
Burn looks down at her own burlap sack, scowls.
“I’m not buying it,” she says.
Tooth, Twist, and Watch trot into the circle, bags over their shoulders.
“Is this everyone?” Tooth asks.
“Yeah!” Runner agrees. “Hey, Boss, we’ll be back in time for dinner.” She holds up her bag, shakes it.
Lucinda lifts one hand, waves without looking up.
Siri, Photo, and Drummer stay in their chairs--Siri with her textbook, Photo with her pulp novel, Drummer tapping her fingers on her thighs as she watches people pass by on the main street.
“When do we send someone out for them?” Drummer asks, sits up in her chair to scan the horizon. The sun is almost down, just a sliver left over the horizon, sky turning deep blue and stars starting to prick out against the night, low in the east.
“They’ll be back tonight,” Lucinda replies, doesn’t look up from her bird, perched on her lap, pecking at the bouncy rubber ball Lucinda is playing keep-away with. “The whole point of a snipe hunt like this is that it takes forever and they don’t catch on until they’re hungry, tired, and realized they’ve looked like idiots yelling for a bird for…” she trails off, looks up at the sky, squints. “Eight hours?”
“Nine and three quarters,” Photo says, softly, holds up Tooth’s wristwatch.
“Nine and three-quarters hours,” Lucinda agrees and nods. “They’ll be back when they’re back, they can handle whatever the next ten miles out can throw at them.”
Drummer grunts, stands and turns her chair to watch for their approach.
Say They Fear Her (f!courier/siri) (dubcon, referenced noncon) (56e/?)
Date: 2016-05-06 02:04 pm (UTC)Birdy stops in front of Lucinda, who looks up at her.
“Snipes aren’t real,” she says, and turns and walks back into the house.
“Yes they are!” Lucinda sits up, calls after her. “But they’re waterbirds!”
Dredge drops the nightstalker on the ground, undoes her baby sling and settles El on one of the deck chairs.
“Who’s on watch?” she asks.
“Drummer,” Lucinda replies, nods at Drummer.
“You mind if i stay up and take care of this lady here?” Dredge pats the side of the nightstalker, looks to Drummer. Drummer shrugs.
“Go ahead.”
“Thanks,” Dredge replies, pulls her knife out of its sheath, gets to work.
“I’ll stay here today, if you don't mind, Boss.” Burn stretches out in her deck chair, wiggles her bare toes. “Let everyone else go wander around town, I can watch the front door.”
“Sure,” Lucinda agrees. “Could have used you, trying to wrangle more supplies out of the bureaucrats, but you’re welcome to stay here.”
Burn settles further back into her chair and nods, lets her eyes drift closed.
Lucinda rounds the corner and stops dead, so suddenly Drummer runs into her, fumbles an apology before she stops too, stares, mouth open.
“Is that--” Twist starts, catches herself.
“Burn!” Lucinda bellows, starts moving again, “Burn!” she yells again, when the woman fails to appear immediately.
Burn carefully, slowly, steps around the the doorframe, still standing on the porch, her shoulders hunched, trying to suppress a smile that fails quickly as Lucinda approaches quickly, hands curled into fists.
“Take them down,” Lucinda says, points to the row of underwear hung from the porch awning.
“I--” Burn starts, holds her hands up.
“Take them down,” Lucinda repeats, voice dropping, quiet and low.
“Yes ma’am,” Burn agrees, swallows hard.
Lucinda watches as she moves to the line of twine.
Re: Say They Fear Her (f!courier/siri) (dubcon, referenced noncon) (56e/?)
Date: 2016-05-14 02:13 pm (UTC)This is such a great fic and I'm loving all of it.