[img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/909715047918497815/1037211200871731300/Umbri_banner6.png[/img]


[img]https://i.imgur.com/4uuThLm.jpg[/img]


Meanwhile, Umbri rubbed at the thick puncture marks on her left wrist, shocked that they’d already stopped bleeding and only tingled. She held it against her chest and stared at the shadows flickering under the door. As the screaming started she lunged up and locked it. 

The woman slid down the door, out of breath and reconciling with the zombies and [i][b]vampire [/b][/i]that shared the train with them. What next, a werewolf? Did all these creatures really exist in this world!? She swallowed, trying to block out the squeals of Rats outside.

[color=#A4303F][b]“I hate Rats,”[/b][/color] she rasped.

Temujin stared at her as he laid still, face-down on the bathroom floor. Once again, he was grateful he couldn't smell. [color=DC091C][b]"Repulsive creatures. My acquaintances are far too comfortable around them for my liking."[/b][/color]

Umbri twisted her head to him, upset. [color=#A4303F][b]“No, that’s not why I…”[/b][/color] She trailed off, then shuffled over to lift him until he was slumped upright with her against the wall. [color=#A4303F][b]“I hate that they exist, that’s what I mean.”[/b][/color]

[color=DC091C][b]"Oh."[/b][/color] He replied, his voice flat. It didn't stay that way. [color=DC091C][b]"Right, the world's better off if they're all dead, right? Just like all us chromeheads?"[/b][/color]

[color=#A4303F][b]“Jesus…”[/b][/color] she muttered, wiping a hand through all the blood on her face. [color=#A4303F][b]“They’re a [i]slave race,[/i] Tem. I don’t know why everyone’s [i]okay [/i]with it or how they even exist but it has to be something fucked.”[/b][/color] She tucked her knee up and looped her arms around it, bringing it in to lean her head on.

[color=#A4303F][b]“When I was a kid I saw one get hit by a car,”[/b][/color] she recounted somberly. [color=#A4303F][b]“It was half-dead, but kept on dragging itself down the street, just, ‘For Fred, for Fred’ over and over. Until another one came along, smashed his face in with a hubcap and went on to finish the delivery.”[/b][/color]

She shrugged.

[color=#A4303F][b]“We all watched it. I even finished my mac and cheese, so, you wouldn’t think it’d be something that would stick, but,”[/b][/color] she paused, thinking back to scooping up the lumpy goo from her bowl and looking across to the brains smearing the asphalt, too hungry to even lose her appetite. She twitched out of it and wiped at her eyes, unable to stop the emotion breaking into her voice.

[color=#A4303F][b]“So I hope Fred's happy with his fucking magazine subscription.”[/b][/color]

Temujin whipped his gaze towards Umbri, in a swift motion that made clear his surprise. [color=DC091C][b]"Huh…,"[/b][/color] he rasped. [color=DC091C][b]"That's [i]horrible."[/i][/b][/color] He hung his head in thought, the images of her story lingering in his mind. It took a moment before he spoke again. [color=DC091C][b]"What is worse, to be born happy in filth and slavery, or to long for freedom… and have it be forever out of reach?" [/b][/color]

[color=#A4303F][b]"I think you know the answer to that better than me."[/b][/color]

[color=DC091C][b]"...Hm,"[/b][/color] Temujin scoffed. She could almost hear a smile in it. Perhaps her senses were frayed with whatever cocktail of vampire and thresher venom flooded her nerves. [color=DC091C][b]"Maybe… maybe I judged you too quickly,"[/b][/color] Temujin mused. [color=DC091C][b]"You're sharp for a hooker." [/b][/color]

Umbri tore her eyes away from blinking at the light. [color=#A4303F][b]"I should feed you to the Rats,"[/b][/color] she said. The glossiness in her eyes was replaced by something stern. [color=#A4303F][b]"Don't say 'for a hooker'."[/b][/color]

[color=DC091C][b]"Huh?"[/b][/color]

[color=#A4303F][b]“Don’t turn me into an exception because you can’t deal with liking someone like me. I can’t stand it.”[/b][/color]

[color=DC091C][b]"Is that so?"[/b][/color] He thought for a moment. [i]Liking someone like her?[/i] Perhaps it was an odd thought, but… [color=DC091C][b]"Don't take it personally. I hate most everybody. Thugs and beggars, yuppies and comedians… There's little to like about people if you look hard enough."[/b][/color] He looked into her eyes for emphasis, those pitch black sockets seeming to search into her soul. [color=DC091C][b]"But you already know that, don't you? All those Chromeheads in Northbridge, burning, killing, razing their way through the ghetto, it's easy to see why this…"[/b][/color] With a lift of his chin, he gestured to what remained of his body. [color=DC091C][b]"...Unsettles you."[/b][/color]

[color=#A4303F][b]“It shouldn’t.”[/b][/color] Umbri answered immediately. It was so honest it felt uncanny. She gave the metallic innards leaking out of him a glance and admitted, [color=#A4303F][b]“But it… does.”[/b][/color] She sighed, looking away to murmur into her knee, [color=#A4303F][b]“I assumed what was done to you was by choice. I’m sorry.”[/b][/color]

Temujin was stunned into silence. He became acutely aware of their surroundings - the muffled squeals and rips just outside their door, the droplets coming from the tap that wouldn't shut entirely, and the white hum of the fluorescent light overhead. Her candour was equally refreshing and uncomfortable. [color=DC091C][b]"...I don't suppose you're a hooker out of choice either,"[/b][/color] he replied, his voice lowered by somberness.

[color=#A4303F][b]"Sex worker. I'm a sex worker. You're being rude."[/b][/color]

[color=DC091C][b]"Right,"[/b][/color] he replied. Two seconds passed in silence, as he deliberated whether to say, or not to say… [color=DC091C][b]"Sorry."[/b][/color] A begrudging word. But not an insincere one. She raised her brows at him, fully expecting him to combat her on this.

[color=#A4303F][b]"Mm, well…"[/b][/color] The defensiveness ebbed out of her voice as she got the sense that she [i]was [/i]being listened to. [color=#A4303F][b]"This was my choice. I didn’t have many of them, but this is one I made.” [/b][/color] She slumped to the side, letting her head rest in the corner and shutting her eyes. [color=#A4303F][b]“I pretend to be in love with men for money. If you view people like me as dumb whores then I don’t really care about how your opinion of me differs.”[/b][/color]

[color=DC091C][b]"...Hmpff,"[/b][/color] Temujin grumbled a reply. There was nothing more to say on the subject. [color=DC091C][b]"Let's just make sure you get to Shieldtown, or all this will be for nothing." [/b][/color]

Umbri nodded weakly, dozing off to the lullaby of absolute carnage outside. [color=#A4303F][b]“And we won’t have to look out for each other again...”[/b][/color]

[i][u]This[/u] is why I don't have friends.[/i]