uh....

Was this about to go in a 'let's repopulate earth' direction, or...? She blinked at him and her eyes widened marginally. Like, yeah, she was down for a roll in the leaves or whatever, but... kids? Hell no. She could barely take care of her cats.

... cat.

But, the blooming conversation did not, in fact, go in that direction. He opened up his whole can of worms and threw it at her. Like, right in her face. Worms everywhere.

Her eyes widened even more and the urge to get up and just run back out wildly into the storm was sudden and strong. She wasn't a fan of talks. Especially not the deeply personal kind. Never felt like she had been any good at them, and, as he just kept on going and working himself up, she got the impression than an awkward arm squeeze was not going to cut it this time.

Like a deer in headlights she just kinda sat there, frozen to the spot, with a half-eaten chunk of meat in her hands. She didn't move until he was done and opening crying.

...@#%&!

"...I....I know you weren't there for that. I saw you go in and- I- ah-... I may have listened in for a bit since I was curious as to why you were talking to my therapist."

She cleared her throat and her gaze shifted away from him to the meat in her hands. It was still on a bone from the animal. This was a real Flinstones kinda meal if she'd ever had one.

"I-" Jesus, she was bad at this kinda stuff. "...I'm sorry life's been such a @#$%& to you. Life's like that a lot. Frigid with a capital B. Like... I wish- I hope there's a way to go back so you, ya know, can get back to your family and stuff. I don't think you're a big old failure, and if I had to guess I don't think Satan does either."

She paused, and then, "Uh... your daughter, that is. Like, I've learned to recognize the signs when someone wants to throw hands at me and she definitely wanted to throw hands at me when I was yelling at you for the clone stuff. Like, defensive for you?"

She cleared her throat again, letting him have space to get all the feelings out he needed too. She wasn't comfortable enough around him to like... go over there. What if he reacted badly and punched her ribcage out or something?

"It's okay to cry, you know? I cry all the time. Like a @#$%ing broken faucet."

Heck, the only reason she wasn't actively bawling right now was that she was tired, mentally exhausted, and had reverted back into camping mode. Ain't no time for crying when need to keep the water inside your body was high.

"But, like... aren't you allowed to have times when you need people too? You might be a protector and all that, a really good one too, but, everybody needs help sometimes. Even you, right?"

Damn... It was a strange feeling. He hadn't cried like this since that day in the alley, when he was just a young man who had lost everything. Sure, there had been a tear here or there, or a welling up during a great movie, tears of joy when he saw Jr, or got married. This was different.

This was years of feelings, rushing in like a relentless storm, its rain drops salty down his cheeks as he just... allowed it to come. He'd taken it all in stride for decades, trying to be strong for everyone he loved, or felt like he owed his best to. None of them were here. He would never see any of them again.

He barely even registered that she'd confessed to spying on his deeply personal therapy session. He let the catharsis set in for while before she spoke up again, and he pulled himself together, looking up and laughing in spite of himself when he realised she called his daughter satan.

"Eh, you don't know her... What she's been through. She's an amazing kid... Like her old man, but stronger. Elke... Out of anyone, I always know she's going to be okay." He sighed for a moment, wiping his face, and leaving it dirtier than it had been, though a bit dryer. "I, eh... You probably guessed. I don't do that a lot... Sorry you- Sorry you had to see that."

He shook his head at her last statement. "I ain't a fool... I know when to ask for help. I just... In spite of all of that, I still fail. I walked out of that office determined to win, to finally just acknowledge how bad it was and fight it head on. And here I am. It ain't even funny in a dark way anymore. I swear to god, when I meet the person pulling the strings on all of this I'm gonna punch them in the face so hard it breaks my fist."

Just like that, he was done crying. That feeling was replaced by a familiar one... A deep, simmering rage, and a need to move forward in spite of himself.

"Well... In the end, it all doesn't matter. We ain't making it past this. Figure we die of old age, and in a few hundred million years wait for this all to repeat itself. Heck, dunno when we are, maybe we'll get killed in a mass extinction event. Sounds like a way to go, eh?"

She shot a disbelieving, incredulous look his way as he tried and failed at changing her mind about his hell beast of a daughter. "I mean, yeah, sure, people go through a bunch of stuff and it sucks, but like... stabbing people in kidneys? Constantly talking down to them? Like... Xavier tells me a few things here and there that are just honestly not okay. Also, I'm pretty sure if I ever drop my guard around her and become solid she's going to legitimately ruin me. Sooo."

She trailed off a bit.

It was weird, trying to be the upbeat peppy one in this situation. She really didn't think she had it in her. "I mean, it's not for sure that we're stuck here forever, right? New York's @#$%ing weird all the time but I hardly ever encounter something like this that lasts forever. Maybe it'll just take a bit of time and then one day we'll poof back into the city like it never happened? I would, um, probably keep in mind that this could be some kind of accidental mutation side effect. So, like, when we do get back try not to punch any old people or kids in the face too hard."

She intentionally left out the possibility of if they got back because it didn't feel like it would be at all helpful in this situation.

"Eh, I much prefer the idea of some calm, peaceful way out vs a big explosion and probably burning or suffocating to death." or like, say, eating a mystery mushroom and rolling the dice on if you were going to lapse into hallucinations and die while distracted, or possibly choke on your own puke and die in a bush.

But that wasn't important at the moment.

She glanced out at the storm still raging outside. He'd been forced to leave his phone out there, hadn't he? Tucked away in the pack with his weapon.

"We should probably try and get some sleep though, you know. Don't know what tomorrow is gonna look like and there's a moment for it currently. I'll take the first watch... Insomnia and all."

She'd wait to see if he agreed and let a spontaneous, probably bad idea, stew a bit more in her head. If she was gonna go back out there to try and find his bundle she'd need to sink her feet into the ground to keep from flying off in the wind. It'd be like snowshoeing the whole way there and back, but she at least had a general idea of what direction their old camp had been in. She'd just need to barricade the front of the cave with like, a tree or something, to keep animals out while she was gone.

Did the man get a little defensive when she pressed him on his daughter's actions? Yes. He was a defender. He was protecting her in his own way. "She was 12... The last thing she remembered clearly when she did that was getting kidnapped by a defunct government agency that put her through a death bootcamp that forced her, among other things, to fight her clones to the death in leu of sleep." She stared at her, pointedly. "...So forgive her for being #@$%ing condescending, She was trained to be a child soldier and now she's going for a degree in... plant @#$^, I dunno. She's doing the best she can to be a member of society." He paused for a second, and sighed.

"Again... Not like it matters... That Xavier kid... You talked to him a lot? What was his deal?" The futility of it all set in after a bit. At this point it was all curiosity, like being able to talk to the author after the novel was complete. Might as well ask all of the burning questions while he could.

He shrugged. "It's all the same to me, I guess. Either way we do the same thing. Survive as long as we can."

He watched her for a moment as she stopped talking, looked outside, and asked him to go to sleep. His face went dead pan. It was like he hadn't just been bawling his eyes out. "Uh huh..." He looked over to the curing pelts, and sighed. "We gotta stay off the ground. Those will do, Gotta cure em soon, though."

After some preparationg, the bedding would be set up, and he would lay down on his side of the fire... The second she tried to sneak out, he would speak up. "Fresh air?" Of course he was on to her...

Her intentions were more obvious than the glowing parts in a video game boss fight.

"Okay, sure, that might explain why a 12-year-old was that violent, but after she re-aged? Look, I don't wanna get in an argument about someone I barely know. All I know is that she is probably the 2nd most terrifying person I have ever met because I have no idea what she is thinking at any one time. Maybe you should try to get her to go to therapy when you get back. Like, Doc told me some stuff about overcoming past trauma to that is like, doesn't influence your life in negative ways anymore and all I'm saying is that maybe she could benefit from some of that?"

She blinked at Saph and scratched at her very dirty hair. "Xavier? He's my best human friend. What do you mean what's his deal?" She thought back to all of the little snippets X had told her about his interactions with the X-man and that one time she had seen them all together and heard the booming argument between him and his daughter through the wall.

"You mean like, why's he dating your daughter, or... like, why is he like he is?" She thought back to her hunting the demon 12-year-old down with saph a while back before X had started dating her. Oooh. He'd asked questions about him then, too. "He's like... I dunno, if Mr. Rogers got jacked and decided to fight crime, but was also a teenager?"

Juniper made a face at the idea of curing anything again. She knew how too, but didn't like it one bit. Saph had done the last few rounds of it while he was getting meat from all of the animals they had killed while she scuttled away like a sissy to hunt for wood and mushrooms in the forest.

She waited for a bit after he had laid down before she decided to move. She didn't know what signs to look for when someone was actually asleep, but he hadn't moved in a bit and seemed to be out?

Carefully she started getting to her feet, when-

"Fresh air?"

She jumped in her skin and yelped, then whirled around to face him.

"Ah! Um. Yes?"

A giant ass bush went careening past the front of the cave behind her as the storm continued to rage.

"I have to pee!" Oldest excuse in the book. She was so caught.

"She's not as violent now... But yeah, she ain't without her issues. I look at where people started when I judge where they are. You should probably try that a bit, too. Still... I ain't about to try and get her to go to therapy. She makes her own decisions when it comes to that stuff, and I can't think of anything short of a court mandate that would get her to go." He shook his head, looking down at the fire... It was getting a little low. Another bone in, and it picked up once more... They probably had about enough to last the night... The smoke wasn't too bad, too. Smell wasn't great.

"I don't trust guys like that... Always hiding something, or acting. There ain't perfect people out there. Not perfectly nice, not perfectly strong. It just don't exist." He watched her reaction as he mentioned curing, and sighed.

"You know I'm gonna take care of it... May need help." She was better at getting the brains out... though in this case, most of it was on the wall...

A good hour later as she snuck out, her raised an eyebrow as she mentioned having to pee. "You... waited, and plotted for over an hour, watching me to make sure I was asleep... to pee. Gotta ask again, what are you up to?"

Try that too? Try what? It felt like too much of an excuse to just be a certain way because of something happening to you and using that as the excuse to justify that behavior. Juniper didn't even let herself off the hook for being a dick about things some times, regardless of what she had been through in her life, she sure as heck wasn't going to let the girl currently torturing her best friend off the hook for it. She chose not to let herself get riled up by it instead.

"Uh."

Crap, he had a point. It was also really creepy that he'd been paying attention to what she was doing without even looking at her. She didn't like his power at. All.

Considering that she wasn't great at thinking up things on her feet and she was too tried to fashion a good lie, she just slumped back down by the fire and blew an aggravated raspberry at it.

"Fiiiine. You got me. I... was gonna try and go back to our old camp and find the bundle of stuff you dropped when you grabbed me. I know your weapon and phone and stuff was in it and I figured maybe you'd be less depressed if you had it again."

So much for that plan, apparently.

The much larger man sat up from his piece of animal skin and watched her as she considered thinking up another clever ruse, gave up, and blew a raspberry at the fire. Man, it was like she was a completely open book. Nothing covering up what she was thinking. Honestly, her and Elke had that in common, even if everything else was the exact opposite.

His eyes widened a bit as she got to then end of her explanation of what she'd really been planning... Wow.

They were miles from where that tree had fallen. The wind was still whirling loudly outside, the thunder echoing through the cave at regular intervals. And she was going to go out there... to make him feel better.

"...Gonna be honest, I dunno what to say to that. No. We'll start with no. But, thank you. You're... You're a good kid, Juniper. I'm gonna be fine. We'll be fine. Honestly, over the last week and a half It's become pretty obvious that there weren't a whole lot of people better suited for this bullsh@$ to happen to. I can't let you put yourself in that much danger for that. Phone's probably toast, and the crowbar.... It'll be there when this storm is done."

He looked down to the fire, frowning and then looking back to her again. "I mean it... Thank you. Don't, eh... Don't do anything reckless on account of me, okay?"

The X-Man turned Caveman would keep an eye on her for a while longer before sleep finally took him. They had a lot of work to do tomorrow, in order to make up for losing their camp.

She startled just a bit at the praise, blinking at him before sliding her gaze away. Was that really a good thing... what she had planned? She just wanted him to stop, like, moping and @#$%. Right? Right. It didn't really count as being a good thing if it was for selfish reasons.

The comment made her uncomfortable.

She mumbled a half-hearted excuse about it not really being reckless if she just made sure to do it right and left it at that. He laid back down to sleep again and she stayed up. Tending the fire, watching the entrance of the cave, humming a melody of a song her ears ached to hear on the radio again. She wished she'd gotten sucked into the past with her guitar at the very least.

She didn't attempt to sneak out again, but she didn't attempt to sleep either. Without her meds the dreams she had been having were too vivid... too real. She kept herself focused on her duties until the sun had risen and the wind had died down just a bit. When Saph was finally up the next day she allowed herself a short, exhausted cat-nap that was thankfully dreamless.

The cave had been a perfect temporary shelter. They had outlasted the storm, ventured out to gather up the bundle he'd left(Unfortunately the only survivor was his now bent crowbar.), brained a cured the hide, and built up a new shelter over the course of a week.

Things started to return to the closest semblance to normal, here. They talked a little bit more than they had been. Camp didn't seem so awkward and tense... Still, they were just keeping busy staying alive for the most part...

Until there was a loud explosion. It was strange... Distant, but still rumbling and massive. The ground shook violently for just a moment. Their first thought had been the mountain had gone, but it was fine at a glance.

It was minutes before a great breeze began, relentless, and nearly scaldingly hot. They were forced to retreat to that familiar cave, where the hot air could only filter in slowly. Quickly, they covered the entrance as the dust clouds soon followed.

It all happened so quickly, and here they were once more. Saphirus sat in from the cave entrance peeking through a small gap in the barreir they'd set up, sweat already covering his brow.

"The forest is catching, out there.... I can see the smoke... #@$%... Couldn't have been anything else..." He ran an arm across his forhead and looked back to Juniper. How long could they hold out here? It was getting hotter. They had a little bit of water. Still, if this was what he thought it was...

He cursed under his breath as he clenched his crowbar helplessly.

She was not, um, scientifically inclined when it came to disaster events and what likely caused them. Her parents didn't necessarily believe in everything related to dinosaurs or extinction events, and thus had warped her early mind and education around such things to such a degree that she couldn't even begin to fathom if she wanted too.

All she knew was this: Fire bad.

It was hot. Hotter than a Florida summer. She was sweating from places she didn't know could sweat, and the air was uncomfortable to breathe. It was better in the cave, but not by a lot. Like... at least their clothes hadn't tried to catch on fire yet?

"Should we try and make a break for the water? I... I don't know if I can get us there in one piece unless you like, launch us there or something." God, a freezing ocean sounded amazing right now.

... Then again there were probably giant ass sharks out there or something waiting to gobble them up.

She was huddled at the back of the cave, furthest away from the heat and dust that was leaking in. Whatever this was had ruined whatever progress they had made. Lots of stuff lost again. There was only so much in the cave with them since they had kept it as a storage area of sorts. But.... no food. Just a few scraps that they had on them before whatever that boom had been that shook the ground.

"So... is this like, that time god got pissed at the dinosaurs or something and blew it all up?" She was fiddling with the dirty, aged cat toy in her hands. The fake fur was well worn at that point from her nearly constantly stroking it.

"Think this is the end, then?"

Why did she feel so calm about it, if it was?

She asked about making a break for the water, and he shook his head. "Eh. From the breeze, it came from the south, but there still might be a tidal wave. Think this might be the best we can do..." He sighed again, and pushed the cover shut further, turning to retreat further in where it wasn't quite as hot. He took a quick seat next to the remains of the fire they'd set several days ago.

His eyebrows wrinkled a bit at her explanation of the events. "Uh... I dunno about that, but sure. A big rock hit the earth and... Not a lotta things survived." He checked on their supplies again, quickly, handing her one of the water skins she'd made, and sitting nearby, leaning his head back against the wall as she asked if it was the end.

He replied with a silent stare for a second, before looking off to the side.

"You, eh... You gonna be okay?" Well, neither of them would be, likely. Still. She seemed like she wasn't soaking this in. Or rather, she was numb to their likely demise. It didn't sit right with him.

She took the waterskin, stared at it for a moment, and then set it to the side without taking a drink. If they were gonna be short on supplies and stuff she wasn't going to waste any water now. Bigger people needed more moisture in them, anyway... right?

"M'fine." Was her reply. Not too quick, but it certainly didn't take long to think about either.

A short silence settled over them, them. She had a lot to think about. Lots of things that she had been thinking about recently, actually. It felt like months worth of thinking that she had put off for years.

"You ever just wanna, like... punch god in the face? Like... I don't really know if I believe in anything, but I really want to just so I can get up there and kick him straight in the @#$%." She laughed, but there was no humor behind it.


"I'm good. I'll be fine. I never really expected to live past twenty anyway, so... right on track, I guess. Just shy of like a week." She glanced at him. Sitting here, tired and sweaty, and with nothing really to do at the moment, her body had time to register how absolutely exhausted she was. She wondered if he felt the same.

"... You gonna be okay, though?"

He watched her set the water aside, and spoke firmly. "They find dead people in the desert with full cantines. Drink when you are thirsty."

He nodded silently as she mentioned wanting to punch god in the face. "Yeh... I get it. More than you know, I get it." They had to face it. Who ever... what ever he, she, it... was. They were an asshole. They deserved a punch so hard it could kill a god.

He couldn't help but smile a bit when she mentioned figuring she'd die before twenty. "Heh... I figured the same thing when I was your age. Huh... figure we might be able to stretch it a week if you wanna give god one last middle finger." He chuckled hollowly as well, looking over the situation. They would have to keep activity down mostly. The oxygen was super thick here, so even with clouded air they would be fine... Still, it tended to suck the moisture out of you normally, so water would be the biggest challenge in the coming days.

Was it futile to stretch it? He looked up to her as she asked if he was okay. "Eh... Guess I sorta made peace last week when... You know... What about you..." He took a sip from a water skin he'd been carrying. The temp seemed to be holding for now. At least the rising heat from the fires might keep them warm at night as well. Silver linings.

She laughed. He'd earned it with that one. "Sounds like a plan then. Think I can fashion up a cupcake out of a rock?"

She sat, reached for the water, and fiddled with it. Still not drinking. He'd made peace, then? That was good... right?

"I..."

The words died on her tongue and her jaw snapped back shut. Then, quietly, she replied. "I decided I was fine with it a long time ago."

It was still hard, even just alluding to things... but hell, who was he going to tell? She touched the old, thick scars on one wrist without looking at them. Tracing familiar paths down them.

"I was kinda ready to just peace out way before we got trapped here, ya know? My cat..." She rattled the old toy in the air, "... he died. He was my oldest living friend. Kinda just wanted to go with him, but, I dunno... got lazy I guess."

Juniper stared at the ruins of their previous fire without blinking for a while. "It was what I was gonna do talk to my shrink about, but... I chickened out of that too."

She lapsed into silence, then... just didn't have the energy to talk anymore. After a bit she laid down and curled up against her wall.

Sleep wasn't hard to find at that time.

--

A few days passed and she was halfway through her water. It still looked grim outside which meant no hunting. Would there even be any living creatures out there? She was so hungry after a few days of no food that she almost didn't care if it was more possibly poisonous mushrooms or not.

"... Have you ever wanted to kill someone?"

She was on her back, still in the dark since fire would just dehydrate them further what with all the heat in the air. Being trapped in the dark for so many days was doing funny things to her brain that she didn't really like. Hallucinations almost. Shapes and faces and figures moving around in the dark.