[b][center]Lynn[/center][/b]

Leotard spoke but Lynn's mind would not focus. It was just thinking of Packet. [i]Is he old enough to drive? Has he had his first shitty haircut? Is he old enough to want to fuck girls, or - [/i] Lynn's fingers tightened around her biceps as she stood in the gray camp shirt, watching Leo as he spoke. As he mentioned the limitations of his powers, Lynn privately halved them for her own personal memory. For the girl who had not seemed to remember a single theorem for any of her math quizzes that semester, she etched what the spore-flinger said into her skull. [i]This one shouldn't be trusted, you fucking idiots,[/i] she wanted to hiss. Even she, however, had to admit they were up against some very steep odds, and if one were going into this ordeal with the goal of surviving, turning down this brat was less than ideal. Still, Lynn wished there had been a little more preparation for this. [i]We shouldn't have brought him now. He proves his loyalty by getting this information. Now he knows the whole group and their names, their powers.[/i] She shot a glance at Keaton. Denim was the smartest person she had ever met - but she thought that she had, perhaps, never had the same kinds of lessons as Lynn had. Sharing information with the new guy so he was up to speed was the smart thing to do, but Lynn wondered if Keaton's power gave her an ounce of cunning. [i]Maybe you were a meta after all,[/i] she thought bitterly to the old familiar voice wondering what use this pommel horse Judas had after he told them the ways in and out of the Spire.

"If you're going to take notes, keep a lighter or something on you to torch it if you get caught," Lynn said. "Wearing, I don't know, literally anything else might help with not getting caught, by the way." Lynn felt it strange she was lecturing him on this given she had a >1 felony/hr ratio that day, and was wearing an outfit that was rather plainly neither hers nor legally acquired. 

Archie shot down going today, and Lynn felt a sharp flash of anger at him before it passed. [i]It's not him,[/i] she thought, rubbing at her forehead. Three days. Three days of this. Her stomach rolling over. The - thinking about the hospital bed. Lynn blinked, realizing she'd been looking at Spoons. Still - four or five days was too long. Especially with Unknown Factor back handspringing his way through the Spire's security forces. Unless Packet started his work on Cara early, that was.

For a dizzying moment, Lynn had two thoughts that rocked her as if she'd had her skull blasted apart again. She could get to Packet first and convince him not to help - scare him shitless, anything - if she cared about this shithead teenager more than everyone at these tables.

Then the second: no matter what she chose, she was just using someone. Another kid. Which one? Who deserved to live? [i]I suppose I should be the one to pick, after all,[/i] Lynn thought, her empty stomach threatening to heave, the socket in her head aching. [i]I've got more experience at getting kids killed than any of them do.[/i]

"Less waiting the better," Lynn said, again so sharply and suddenly it surprised herself. "In the event you don't hear something related to - fucking gardening, I guess - from Denim each night, assume they got to her." Lynn didn't attempt to disguise her looking at Leotard as she said this. "Act accordingly." Lynn's tone left little room for ambiguity. She reached for another cigarette and cursed. [i]Next time I rip that guy off, I'm not going easy on him.[/i] "Oy, Amelia, you got another one?" she asked, turning to Amelia. [i]Leather jacket's better on her. I probably look like a six year old Hell's Angel in that thing. A pirate Hell's Angel. Christ, what if they shoot out the other one while we do this. I can't play the piano or nothing.[/i] Lynn scratched at the bandage, sparking a raw pain in the socket before she pulled away. It [i]itched.[/i] "I'll help plan," she said. "And wouldn't be opposed to meeting Packet. Geek like him meeting two and a half teenage girls, probably like Christmas fuckin' morning for him." [i]The candle flickered up and then the tree and - [/i] Lynn had not missed Leotard's reference to prompting cooperation from the kid whether he wanted to or not. Lynn's mind was too frantic, like a thousand steel ball bearings blasting against the inside of a shotgun barrel as it fired, to form any one single stance on the issue, whether it was worth scaring this kid shitless or not, whether any of this was right. "After that I'm going to the gym and I'm going to let [i]Vaquero[/i] wreck me one last time, so, you know." Lynn stopped, realizing she'd been implicitly inviting the others to do this, like the time with Eli, when they'd giggled and made fun of the hostess. She scratched at her head. She'd need to eat a lot of food to be in fighting shape come three days time, but - but that hadn't really been why she'd set it.

"And getting absolutely annihilated isn't off the table either. Maybe if we're lucky we'll - " she paused short of saying [i]make even more cops shoot themselves this time[/i], remembering Denzel at the very last moment. [i]I can't believe I just held back a joke about a fucking cop for these people.[/i] " - find some good shit, I dunno." she fumbled out, rubbing at her head.