to the victor's besties go the spoils

[friendsfordinner]

Who: Cornelius Hickey & ota!
What: June catch-all + distributing presents
When: throughout June
Where: Milton

Content Warnings: n/a, will edit as needed

Comments

[friendsfordinner]

"They didn't immediately start trying to kill us if that's what you ask," Hickey laughs, with a little shrug. It's not that hard to be friendlier than the Forest Talkers. But thankfully, these people were.

"A couple of them could prove useful. There was a priest," which ew, gross, "but the woman who owned the pub was good for gossip. Her boy and I went beach-combing."

[desperate_times_right]

A priest. Chloe rolls her eyes. That mandatory Christmas mass had been more than enough Christianity for her, thank you very much.

“Hard to believe there are families down there. There were kids in the Forest Talkers, but it wasn't really the same. How’s the gossip?”

[friendsfordinner]

"Not as messy as ours," Hickey admits. There's a pause before he muses, "There's a cannery down there. Something happened there—I was warned off of investigating it."

Chloe should absolutely not be surprised when Hickey admits, "I kind of want to get a bigger group and go back there to see what happened."

[desperate_times_right]

“Oh, I heard about that,” Chloe says thoughtfully. “When I was sorting the newspapers at the library, I saw an article about job cuts at the cannery. Sounded like a lot of people in Milton worked there. Maybe there was a strike, or even a riot.”

Who knows what might have happened once the people in Milton were driven to kill each other?

“I’d love to check it out, if you can stand to wait until we get a bit of real night first.”

[friendsfordinner]

"Course I can wait," Hickey says, with a nod. "Doubt I'll be going back there any time soon anyway. Trip's nice and easy, but it is long. I'll want to stay at home for the next few weeks."

Hickey doesn't realize he says that until he's out of his mouth: he wants to stay home. He hasn't really ever thought of anything as home—to say something like that without realizing it has taken him by surprise a bit. But after a brief flash of surprise on his face, his expression settles into acceptance.

Yeah. This is home. Weird enough to think it, but it is.

[desperate_times_right]

Chloe snickers. “And to think, Billy was annoyed with me for suggesting you guys would get boring once you got married.”

[friendsfordinner]

"Fuck you, I'm never boring," said with a grin. This is absolutely Hickey just giving Chloe shit for the sake of giving her shit, there's no trace of malice in his words.

"You should be nice to the man who gave you shampoo."

[desperate_times_right]

Chloe laughs. “Too late, you already handed it over.”

[friendsfordinner]

"Yeah, cause unlike you, I'm nice," grins the man who isn't nice and they both know it.

Hickey shrugs a little before continuing, "Dunno how much of anything there will be left en route to Silverpoint a few months from now. You know some people were talking about burying the bodies? Waste of effort if you ask me."

[desperate_times_right]

Chloe shrugs. She wouldn't have done it herself but she understands the impulse.

“Everyone does what they have to do to get through this.”

[friendsfordinner]

"True," he muses, "but it's bloody cold out there. Not much shelter either. I just can't understand why someone's morals would be so strong that they'd actively put themselves in danger."

It's not like they can bury everybody, after all. Ground's too cold. And bodies are too numerous.

[desperate_times_right]

“Not my thing, but I've got mates who’d do it.” She’d probably have to throw Elena over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes to get her out of the cold. “Sometimes it's not even morals, it's like… trying to keep something that makes you feel human.”

[friendsfordinner]

"What makes me feel the most human is staying alive," Hickey points out. "Not freezing to death trying to help someone who's beyond saving."

It's obvious as he talks that he's not trying to get in an argument. He's not trying to pick a fight. He just fundamentally does not understand why people would care about things like 'the dignity of the corpse.' What matters is the person, who they are, what they're doing, not the body itself.

But then again, most people don't jump right to 'cannibalize the boyfriend' after he dies.

[desperate_times_right]

“Yeah, I hear you, but it's not like that for everyone.”

She’d taken so much shit for wanting to leave Elena’s cameraman behind after he’d taken a bullet in Nepal, and she’d been right in the end: he’d slowed them down enough that they'd been caught and Lazarevic had killed him in front of them anyway.

[friendsfordinner]

Hickey remains quiet for a moment, thinking over what Chloe's saying. After what feels like an eternity but is really close to ten seconds, he simply shrugs.

"I guess that's why people like them die and people like us survive. We know what to do."

[desperate_times_right]

“I think we need both,” Chloe says, though she's not sure Hickey feels that way. “People like them to remind us of what the world could be, and people like us to keep things moving.”

[friendsfordinner]

He absolutely doesn't feel that way.

"If you say so," Hickey shrugs. There's a moment before he muses, "Course, dunno how useful reminding people of what the world could be is in a place like this, where you've got half a dozen things trying to kick us off our feet. If it's not the weather or some bloody earthquakes, it's some form of supernatural nonsense bound and determined to fuck with us."