singillatim | Я вернулся в деревню

Her voice lowers slightly. "You slept with him?" she asks, blinking. "No, of course it doesn't mean that, but - well, did he tell you his feelings first?"

Chloe shrugs, then gestures to the burn on her face. “I got stranded overnight at his place, night I got this. We were bored.”

She’d kept pushing, waiting for him to hit a point where he’d back down, and he’d steadfastly refused.

“I don't know if he had those kind of feelings before that, but he was acting weird afterward.”

"Weird?" she pushes, wanting to know the details.

What a strange feeling this is, gossiping with someone who had been a near stranger only weeks ago like they're best friends. But it's a good feeling to have - to be able to sit and chat about something so damn normal instead of worrying and fretting about this place.

“Well,” Chloe leans forward with a conspiratorial smile, the soup bowl sitting between her elbows. “I’ve got that ability, right, the one from the aurora. Endurance. I could have gone all night and into the morning, probably, but he fell asleep. He cuddled right up to me, I really had to wriggle to get out of there once the fog cleared!”

She’d slipped out through the window as soon as doing so wouldn't kill her, hoping if he had to untape his door alone it’d cool him off a bit. However!

“Yesterday I stopped by the hall and I noticed he took down that stupid poster of me he’s had on the board for ages.”

She leans forward as well, eyes wide. She giggles to herself, behind her hand, at the mention of endurance, of being able to go all night.

"Stupid poster?"

Chloe rolls her eyes. “He was cross because when I was new I went into his house. I didn't know he lived there! He didn't even have anything good.” Yes, she’d also stolen food when he was away with Methuselah but he might never have come back from that! It's not a big deal.

She laughs to herself. "Did he catch you there? Being a thief?"

“Hey! I was not -” Chloe sighs. “Yes. Held a gun on me and everything. Very exciting first meeting.”

"A gun!" she squeaks, eyes wide. "Why did he have a gun?!"

How is that the big takeaway here? “Came with him, I assume. I've got a gun, too, I'm just more polite about it.”

There's a lot to go through!

She looks a little scandalized, but not much more than that.

"What were you - there to steal? Did you get it?"

“I was looking for food,” Chloe admits. “I didn't trust the stuff at the hall - no such thing as a free lunch, right? - and I didn't know how to hunt yet.”

Luckily even here it's usually pretty easy to get men to do things for you.

She nods. It's reasonable. Stealing for food is something that Svetlana has experience with. Not that she's done it herself, but that she knows what it's like to want to.

"I still don't know. But - do you know a man named - Cornelius Hickey?"

“I do, but I’ve got to admit I'm a bit surprised that you do.” He's definitely a strong personality. “That's my mate who got jumped, actually. If he's been offering you food it's legit no-strings stuff.”

"Why?" she wonders. "I - yes, he did offer to help. He was very kind about it." But strong personality? She didn't see it, but she's softer than Chloe. Maybe that meant he was softer, too.

“He helped me too, when I was new.” He’d given her some of the raw meat she’d caught him chomping on, but Svetlana doesn't need to know about that.

“A little rough around the edges, is all. One of the sailor men.”

"He said as much. But - I offered to help him if he needed it. Which was a strange bargain, since I would have done it anyway." She shrugs. "But he seemed to want to hear that."

Chloe shrugs again, gives an obscure smile. “Sadly, not everyone’s as sweet as you.”

Taking things for free can give people power over you in a way that both she and Hickey aren't big fans of.

“Thanks for offering anyway, though. Seems more likely now that he’ll seek help if he needs it.”

She frowns at being called 'sweet,' even though she knows it's true. She is sweet. Kind. She always has been.

"I hope he does," she agrees. "He seems like he needs it."

Sveta reminds Chloe of a friend of hers from home, one so sweet that she calls her Sunshine - it had started out as a mean joke but it's a fond one now.

“You think?” He hadn't seemed that bad off to Chloe, but that might be because they're so similar.

"I mean - that he doesn't seem the type to ask for help. Only give it, if it suits him," she admits.

Okay, yeah, she's got a point there.

“He's got…” Chloe doesn't want to out him if he hadn't already told her. “He's got a friend who looks out for him. But in this place you need everything you can get.”

"His roommate?" she wonders, using Hickey's word for him. But there's a knowing sort of look.

She isn't stupid.

"Well, I am willing to help him, no matter what. He offered to help me, too, even though he didn't need to. That's - important."

“Yeah. It's not easy, all those other guys from the same boat here. The things they used to do…” Lash you in front of everyone, Billy had said. Even here he’d been afraid of that.

"No. I wonder why that is," she muses softly. "Why there are so many of them. Why - none of my people or - or your people are here."

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