Pierre Athene
Pierre half-listened to the girl prattle on in her rather grating voice as he continued to puff on his unfiltered Gitane cigarette, while he mulled over the enticing idea of just walking away from this opinionated bimbo. He restrained rolling his eyes at her ridiculous conjecturing about the state of the civilized society; there was no doubt that whatever happened here at Yellow Stone equated to nothing less than a unmitigated disaster and is also no getting around the fact that people are dead, but it is not like the park was some kind of microcosm of American society as a whole and a disaster here does not mean the dissipation of the social hierarchy. Even if he chose to follow her defeatist rhetoric and conceded the rescue was impossibility for the time being, they were in no ways equals as even without access with to his essential finical holdings Pierre was assured his name carried weight on its own and the promise of future wealth would assure his safety much like when Julius Caesar was kidnapped by Sicilian pirates.
However, something was nagging him about just leaving Donna…err Dani…Daria? Regardless of whatever her name happened to be Pierre strange empathic sense had abruptly returned and unlike his experience with Hector this woman’s emotions seemed to evoke a difference response, he felt calmed by her mirth instead of sickened by it. Something in the back of his mind was trying to provoke him into doing something with this knowledge, but he simply could not piece together the pieces of this subconscious puzzle. Maybe it was hunger driving these odd sensations as he suddenly felt famished; when exactly was the last time he had eaten? His stomach let out a loud grumble as Pierre flicked his cigarette over his shoulder. He supposed since they were both going to the flare anyways, might as reduce the amount of unnecessary stress and it never hurt in situations such as these to have a human shield around.
“I am sorry about my lack of finesse and social grace…I…I just seen so much in these last few hours and you happened to be the first living person I have come across since my…friend Hector died.” The mixture of truth in lies flowed from Pierre’s mouth in a quite believable way and it would take somebody who witnessed the events in the lodge to contradict his statements. “I…never saw death up close before as I was a sheltered child…seeing Hector skewered on a pole coughing up blood desperately trying to get the air he needed overwhelmed me and caused me to revert to a hostile state and for that I apologize. I just wanted to put the memory of what happened in the lodge behind me…some many people dead. My heart goes out to all those poor woman and children that were ripped from their mortal coils. No matter who is on the end of that flare it would be best if we approached it together as you suggested; I was being rather irrational, so it would be best if you took the lead.”
Throughout his response Pierre’s outward facial expressions showed the expected blend of disgust, remorse and horror making his performance seem rather genuine, but on the inside he was the same old conniving politician as cool and unrepentant as ever. Pierre knew the woman would not be won over by this impromptu speech and would continue to harbor doubts or perhaps even resentment towards him, but all he needed was one little strand of sympathy and he would eventually ensnare her in his proverbial web. Again Hector was a most convenient tool; the gigantic moron with his arm perpetually stuck under that pile of rubble was probably cursing him to high heavens right about now…if Hector still retained any cognitive functions or was still alive at this point, perhaps under the weight of his current predicament the bastard shot himself with his flamboyant luger; who would even waste the money bejeweling a luger? An idiot that is who…an idiot whom was no longer in a position to deny Pierre his long awaited destiny.
Pierre followed Daria to the location where the flare originally originated from and managed to stifle his disappointment at the lack of any military forces though that did not deter hope that a rescue mission was on its way. They were far from the only group to arrive a few others arrived in tandem with the duo as evidenced by a girl with brown hair bounding over to greet them; before she was in earshot Pierre could tell she was annoying by the stupid fucking grin on her face as no normal person was naturally that happy especially during a situation such as this.
“Oh, my gosh more people! I was under the impression until this point I was the only one that survived, but no here you guys are! My name is Mckenzie Green and it is sooooo nice to meet you; I find it heartwarming that a father and daughter overcame the odds to survive these trying times. I just love uplifting scenarios like yours as it shows that even in the most dour times hope endures. Oh, I forgot to tell you that I am 22 and I am an amateur comedian; you bring the bucks, I’ll bring the yucks."
Pierre massaged his brow as he did not know what offended him more the fact that this newcomer insinuated that he was old or her attempt at comedy. This woman presented him with a catch twenty-two as if he laughed out of politeness he ran the odds of encouraging her to crack more jokes, but if he remained silent she might crack more jokes to get a rise out of him. He let out a sight of sheer exasperation as this day managed to get even worse.
