[b][center]Cordelia Lynn Holmes[/center][/b]

...a [i]leotard[/i].

Lynn turned her eyes away from the man* who was somehow more alien to her than the guy that turned into a lizard with alarming regularity, and found herself uncharacteristically reassured by the woman who beat the shit out of the lizard with alarming regularity. Lynn felt as if her waking mind had been split into too many pieces and passed out a chunk to everyone who'd come along to the picnic. A part of her was seizing upon Eli - [i]she seems skittish, she's looking at me too much - is it the eye? Or - or something else? Is this guy bad news?[/i] - another trying to consider what Spoons had said, that Keaton may be at the actual rendezvous point, which was so frankly obvious it almost made Lynn angry at Spoons for pointing it out. At the same time, a part of her recoiled back, trying to assess the hurricane of emotions that was brewing in the girl who'd been comatose a handful of hours before. [i]Why am I so fucking rattled if Keaton's not here? Why - she probably - she probably would've cut and run anyways, so -[/i]

That piece trailed off, too quiet and shaky-sounding to hold its own amidst the other trains of thought, all of whom filled Lynn's mind with smoke as they left the station. There was Archie. The knife twisted further. [i]I was never supposed to see any of you again, damnit. Christ why couldn't - why did Amelia have to do this?[/i] But the other part of her - one of them - was trying to explain to the others that it wasn't Amelia's fault, she couldn't really even get mad at Amelia for it - but it was a little too noisy for that part too. 

Eli looked like she was absolutely terrified. Was that shell shock or was it something else, more urgent? It couldn't be fucking leotard guy, he - / / - the fucking leotard, what was that about - seriously, [i]I don't buy that shit for a second, you were practicing gymnastics four days after Space Columbine? Wait a minute, he can't keep his story straight within a single sentence, first he's doing routines then he's going on a run? Don't they get chafed or something? Is no one else fucking seeing this shit?[/i] - // - Natalie was looking at her, the surprise evident on her face. Lynn felt her expression flicker as best she tried to keep it locked tight. Lately, she felt as though there was so much slipping through the cracks, so much she couldn't hold as tightly as she used to. Lynn didn't think for a minute she would've let Archie stay in the bed with her day one - [i]have they made me soft?[/i] She looked at Natalie (and how her other eye itched! Like a bad scab) and felt a sudden surge of venom rise up like bile, almost leaving her tongue, and Lynn bl(w)inked, entirely unsure of where it had come from. [i]Get a handle on it you fucking basket case, Spoons already did her makeup today and if you make her cry she'll have to do it again.[/i] - // - Eli was still looking at her. Then to the watch, then to Archie. Something about the watch? Lynn's mind tried to remember. He'd had it - the bonfire? She could barely remember. Before, though - it was like Spoon's little necklace. She'd held onto his arm when he'd started to change and kept him from growing, when they found the corpse. For a minute, all the thoughts were knocked aside by that fleeting memory. There were little details that kept overpowering the big ones. The kids locked up, tortured and experimented upon, they were gone when she remembered hanging on as tight as she could, trying to talk him down - or the boiling fury she had for Gennedy would slip away to mocking that hostess at [i]Vaquero[/i]. The panic about Keaton was slipping over all the things she was trying to remember from their meet-ups, now that her notebook was gone, shot to bloody ruin. Too many thoughts. She couldn't - // - [i]I look good?[/i] Lynn was rattled at the sudden whiplash from the leotard which, quite honestly, had shaped Lynn's perceptions of whether or not this stranger even noticed whether women looked good - to a brief moment of dizzying self-consciousness - to more irritation. [i]Another lie. Two in as many sentences. Is no one going to call him on his shit? And he claims he was trying to save me?[/i] Lynn noticed him looking at Archie. It was a little like Eli was, but it was a lot more the way [i]she[/i] looked at people. Another little part splintered off, warning there was something dark to this leotard boy, as much as he let the circus dress him and come up with his alibis. [i]And he was taken in by security before he could get to you, was he?[/i] the old whiskey-glass-clinking voice whispered, and for once Lynn agreed, wholeheartedly. [i]This one's not going out of my sight until he's going in the ground.[/i] They were all looking at Archie, Lynn realized, except for him of course - stupid, clueless him - Natalie was staring up at him, starry-eyed and sweet and - // -

"Let's go, then," Lynn said tersely, snapping as much at the utter chaos of it all than the newcomer and the situation as a whole. Lynn did not turn her back to Leotard, which was the most charitable of names she could give him ([i]and no introductions - some kind of mind fuckery, maybe? Seriously, what the hell is going on with this guy?[/i]) as she fell in beside Eli. She'd intended to walk a half-step behind the girl, giving her the ability to glance over to the right and see new guy with the other two ([i]two[/i], Lynn thought bitterly, not one and the other) if he tried anything. On the leftmost wing of the group, she could also actually see the others. Lynn had come to accept there were a fair number of people on the Promise who could snap her in half if they had to. Spoons, the lizard. Maybe somebody with some mind shit. But Lynn had truly yet to meet anyone who could tank a thousand degree punch to the groin, and she'd done it to the devil herself. 

Lynn made no real attempt to mask this particular sentiment from Leotard as they walked. It didn't matter if they were followed, not now. Lynn would've found being caught a welcome oversimplification of affairs on the Promise. She fumbled for some cigarettes to give to Eli, but there were none. Gone. "Shit." Lynn glanced up at Eli, and for a moment, she felt as though she were the tallest, that they were all a quarter as tall, the young girl she'd seen being walked to the station the day they'd left their own interrogations. Or any of the ones she'd known back on Earth. [i]Was it you I taught how to tie your shoes, Eli? Or was that somebody else?[/i] "You good?" Lynn said, waiting for the conversation of the others to spark up a bit before she spoke. In a way Denzel was working an illusion on her just by standing where she was, blocking Lynn's half-view of the Leotard Boy* and Spoons and Archie. Every other step or so when it sync'ed up right. [i]Could she just make everything go away?[/i] "'Cause I've never really had any problems with, like, whipping somebody's ass, so if it's like an interpersonal thing that can get straightened out." Lynn shrugged, missing the flop of her hood against her back as she did so, or the way the baggy fabric hung down around her. [i]I can't believe my dealer went to fuckin' summer camp. I can't believe I'm probably going to punch a motherfucker in a leotard wearing a summer camp shirt.[/i]