Suppose you don't, she agreed, though it did not lessen the suspicion with which she viewed the annoying stranger. He was doing everything right, she guessed, though it was painfully difficult to think critically. It felt strangely familiar, the shame of recognizing the shortcoming, though she did not dwell there for long. Her thoughts were far more comfortable set to static, interrupted periodically by a "ahem" - worth noting, perhaps, was that she no longer seemed to find it necessary to track his movements visually, though she did acknowledge his efforts to keep her awake with an annoyed tapping of her right toe in a water-logged leather boot.
As he crouched down, she did however cast him a brief stare through a squinted eye, her expression lacking the characteristic animal snarl, and only a soft rattle of a growl in the back of her throat. Improvement! "Stabbing started well before small-talk." The correction was blunt and matter of fact. It had. Survival felt more important to her than anything in that moment - she did not know the concept of sacrifice as it did not apply to survival, altruism an alien concept, or perhaps just difficult to attribute to others. One could not completely fault her misgivings, however. Corpses were good looting, and she had heard the wolves all along the river that night. Whether it was the stench of sulfur or the presence of a much more fearsome predator, something had kept her from becoming dinner that night though she did not trust it to bear her far beyond the doorstep of this new world. She was beginning to have mixed feelings about survival anyway, and might have gladly cut her head off to be rid of the nuisance. It made it easier to appreciate the strange man.
"Intelligent hedges?" She opened her eye a bit wider, only to sit back and resume squinting sourly as he went on to describe the squirrels and bogarts, her nose wrinkling weakly with a humorously dry "Sounds absolutely delightful" to illustrate her distaste. What might have actually sounded delightful, however, was the lessening of the rain outside. As the pattering petered off. Glancing between him and the cloak she considered it a moment before reaching out to grab a handful of the wet wool, determined apparently to take it with her, as if the approaching end of the shower were her cue. "Why not just cultivate it?" She watched him, waiting to follow his lead.
As he crouched down, she did however cast him a brief stare through a squinted eye, her expression lacking the characteristic animal snarl, and only a soft rattle of a growl in the back of her throat. Improvement! "Stabbing started well before small-talk." The correction was blunt and matter of fact. It had. Survival felt more important to her than anything in that moment - she did not know the concept of sacrifice as it did not apply to survival, altruism an alien concept, or perhaps just difficult to attribute to others. One could not completely fault her misgivings, however. Corpses were good looting, and she had heard the wolves all along the river that night. Whether it was the stench of sulfur or the presence of a much more fearsome predator, something had kept her from becoming dinner that night though she did not trust it to bear her far beyond the doorstep of this new world. She was beginning to have mixed feelings about survival anyway, and might have gladly cut her head off to be rid of the nuisance. It made it easier to appreciate the strange man.
"Intelligent hedges?" She opened her eye a bit wider, only to sit back and resume squinting sourly as he went on to describe the squirrels and bogarts, her nose wrinkling weakly with a humorously dry "Sounds absolutely delightful" to illustrate her distaste. What might have actually sounded delightful, however, was the lessening of the rain outside. As the pattering petered off. Glancing between him and the cloak she considered it a moment before reaching out to grab a handful of the wet wool, determined apparently to take it with her, as if the approaching end of the shower were her cue. "Why not just cultivate it?" She watched him, waiting to follow his lead.
