GRIM FEELINGS / p

[COLT MADISON.]

[align=center][div style="width: 370px; text-align: justify; font-family: arial; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.4; color: black;"]— colt didn't entirely know how to feel after his decision to stay in flintlock for good - or long-term, at the very least. back at home, he'd been looked down upon, ridiculed, kept from reaching his full potential - he'd grown sick of it. here, at least, he had the freedom to do what he wanted. still, he'd been with the ring since he was a baby. this was a big change, to say the least.

though he wasn't entirely past his hypothermia, he could go about day to day life with relative ease at this point. that being said, now that he was officially a part of the lodge, he apparently had to start participating in the menial tasks that helped keep the place afloat. he didn't mind too much; as a matter of fact, he was more than eager to get out of the medical wing and walk around. he hated laying in bed all day.

the young mercenary was suited up in jeans and a heavy hunting jacket, standing by the main entrance with his arms crossed. he'd been told to gather supplies - and, because the weather had been so volatile as of late, was told to go with someone else. minsuh, her name was - she wasn't familiar to colt. he preferred working alone, but he didn't care too much, as long as the chick didn't get in his way. he stood there waiting for her to show, absent-mindedly chewing on the inside of his cheek.

[MINSUH.]

[align=center][div style="width: 500px; text-align: justify; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 7.3pt; color: #333; line-height: 1.5; letter-spacing: 0.5px; word-spading: 3px;"]minsuh what felt like to not be able to reach your full potential.

that's how she felt with her brother sometimes. like she was being suffocated under his wing. little did he know she was no longer a baby bird , but full-fledged and ready to leave the nest. well, not leave it. she couldn't see herself without her brother as it's all she knew. but at least contribute. he doesn't want that, though, instead insisting he do everything for them. at first minsuh was unsure about flintlock, especially since their prior incident, but she's coming to kind of like it. mostly because she gets some sentiment of freedom from haneul. maybe it was good for them both, even if he doesn't realize it yet. he can learn to obsess on things other than her.

she volunteered for this task. supply hunting , it seemed. it would give her the opportunity to scope the area for gum if possible , maybe some supplies for . . . womanly matters. she knew her time was coming soon , as she tended to cramp up two to three days in advance. sure, she could always ask. but that would be her last resort. she liked to handle this matter on her own until asking was the only option. she didn't really talk to anyone here and those she did, they looked as if they couldn't be bothered with her. not as if she cared. she wasn't really here to make friends, she never was. it's what kept her pushing buttons; anyone who ended up paired with minsuh were up for one hell of a time.

she hasn't really talked to colton madison, but she's seen him. a handsome white boy with a structual face. minsuh places her bets that he thinks his appearance makes up from for the grumpy and brooding interior , but with minsuh on similar grounds, no it doesn't. it's okay, though. unapproachable to minsuh is the opposite as such and she takes it as a fun challenge to get under his skin , albeit with her being late , wearing a brown pea coat over a long sleeve turtleneck and jeans. [size=9pt]"you're colt madison?" she asks emptily as she approaches him, briefly stopping in her tracks to give him a once-over. he doesn't need to answer, though. she already knows. [size=9pt]"you look excited." he doesn't, though, but she loved to play into the ironics she lifts her eyebrows, a wisp of smile painted on her dainty lips as she strolls past him.

she most definitely would get into his way.

[COLT MADISON.]

[align=center][div style="width: 370px; text-align: justify; font-family: arial; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.4; color: black;"]— Colt lifted his head at the sound of his own name, pulled back to reality after spacing out. It was a girl; she was on the smaller side, looked to be a bit younger than himself. He vaguely recognized her; she had recently joined, he knew that. She seemed to be giving him a once-over, a glint in her eye. At her question, he stood up straight, quirking his brows. "That'd be me, yeah." He rolled out his shoulders, mentally preparing to head out into the cold.

"You look excited." Colt scoffed, his eyes following Minsuh as she floated past him and out the door. He lingered a few seconds before pivoting on his heels and following after her. "Oh, you bet. Been looking forward to this all day," he shot back, matching the girl's sarcastic tone. A frigid breeze washed over the pair, causing Colt to grimace. The sky was a pale gray; puffy snowflakes fell from above, drifting lazily to the ground. It was just a gentle flurry, no blizzard or anything - but it was still annoying.

The mercenary picked up his pace so as to catch up to Minsuh, his boots crunching in the snow. He looked about with a half-lidded gaze, frowning. "Minsuh, right?" he would ask, before continuing, "So - where do you wanna supply search? We could go into town, or we could hit the cabins that no one lives in, a bit further out into the woods."

[MINSUH.]

[align=center][div style="width: 500px; text-align: justify; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 7.3pt; color: #333; line-height: 1.5; letter-spacing: 0.5px; word-spading: 3px;"]"oh, you bet. been looking forward to this all day."

at his answer, minsuh's mouth quirks slightly, mostly in silent exhilaration to herself. the young woman prided herself at reading people, they were nothing too far from books, and when one familiarizes themselves with the genres it didn't become too hard to see the patterns , the tropes. people had a sense of individualism, sure, but they weren't as different as they thought they were; in fact, it seems as if their own idea of self-individualism is the only thing that differentiated them from one another. it's why minsuh couldn't often relate to them, not even her own brother. she was different in ways not many understood. sometimes she felt smarter, above them even.

enough about her, though, back to colt. she could either dread this, or make it fun for her. of course she was going for the latter.

it doesn't take long for colt to fall into step next to her, inquiring her name, in which she simply nods. he proceeds further, asking where she wanted to search. [size=9pt]"i get to choose?" she asks faux shock , glancing over at him with widened eyes. her hand reaching up to clasp her chest. she was a great actress if she did say so yourself. [size=9pt]"you're such a gentleman." her face relaxes , hand dropping limply to her side not too long after. lifting her head, she gazes at the sky, eyebrows knitted as if she's in thought. in some sense, she is. what would give her the longest amount of time with colt madison? [size=9pt]"the town is too convenient. i'm sure that anyone who didn't want to walk further than a mile would go there so... i choose the cabins"

she lets silence hang in the air between them as she begins to trek; stuffing her hands in her pockets to try to trap the heat. she'd give him a moment of thinking he'd have that the whole time; that way he'd miss it more when it ended. [size=9pt]"might as well get to know about each other," she suddenly blurts. [size=9pt]"what is your story, 귀여운 소년¹"  the nickname was quite fitting for him if she did say so herself

¹ pretty boy.

[COLT MADISON.]

[align=center][div style="width: 370px; text-align: justify; font-family: arial; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.4; color: black;"]— As much as Colt liked to claim that he was a cold-blooded killer and a ruthless mercenary, it wasn't true. Not in the slightest. He had no qualms with murder, that wasn't it - but he would only kill bad people. Although he wouldn't say it, unlike Minsuh, he was a highly empathetic person - and it had been his downfall as a mercenary. If he'd just ignored the fact that Eddie was clearly a good man and killed him like he was supposed to, then he probably would've been helping to lead the Ring right at that very moment. It was weird to think about.

Colt shrugged when Minsuh picked the cabins; to be honest, she was probably right. He doubted that there was too much left over in the buildings in town. He hadn't searched there himself before, but others probably had. "Fine with me." It was quiet, then; the young man reached a gloved hand into his coat and pulled out an apple, taking a big bite. He was starting to think that he and Minsuh would finish the job in silence - which he would've been fine with - when she spoke up again.

"What is your story, 귀여운 소년?" Colt blinked, furrowing his brow with a slight frown. Was she... speaking another language? "Uh..." Getting over his momentary confusion, he considered the question for a moment. He hated getting this question because he always had to lie through his teeth. "There's not much of a story to tell, honestly. Spent most of my life with my family. Traveled a lot. They were never great to me, so I chose to leave a few weeks ago. Ended up here." To be fair, that was almost... a half-truth. Of course, he excluded the bits where his 'family' was a ring of mercenaries and his true reason for ending up in Flintlock was to kill their captain. "What about you?" Colt would ask, happy to change the subject. "You're new, too, right?"

[MINSUH.]

[align=center][div style="width: 500px; text-align: justify; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 7.3pt; color: #333; line-height: 1.5; letter-spacing: 0.5px; word-spading: 3px;"]that's where they differed. although minsuh wouldn't go as far as to call it cold-blooded , or murderous , most small-minded people would. instead , minsuh wasn't so forgiving with her victims— did what she thought was necessary in order to survive. there wasn't such thing as good , or bad for her. good people did good things , and what about the bad ones ? what depicted them as evil enough to be above living as any of the rest of them ? left with her own thoughts , minsuh was able to draw this conclusion at a fairly young age. it was a no-brainer for her. what a lousy concept , one that she's surprised any anyone would allow that to follow them into The New World , would be even more shocked that a mercenary like himself would allow such a thing to get in his way had he told her the truth.

but they were just getting acquainted , and minsuh didn't expect him to. lucky for him she was patient with things like that.

"fine with me." he says , and minsuh watches as he pulls an apple from his pocket , casually biting into it.  minsuh sighs to herself. in her purposeful efforts in being late , she didn't think to eat; not as if that wasn't a regular occurrence with her. sometimes she and her brother had to ration , causing them to sometimes go without eating for days on end. she was still getting used to the luxuries of being able to grab an apple whenever she wanted to , especially when most of her concern had been on keeping her only company alive.

when he answers the question , it subsides her from her desires momentarily as he goes into his [I]vague story , one she's sure she heard plenty of times before. again , she knows they're just getting acquainted. but he couldn't at least be a little more interesting than that ? she's sure she heard this story before. she looks at him , her eyebrow raises , as if she almost expects more as the tables turn on her. she's quiet for a moment before she heaves a sigh , eyes flickering towards the trees in front of them as they trudge forth. [size=9pt]"i grew up in california , or that's what my amma used to call it , hers was korean born but moved here in old-world era. appa left when i was young so really no correlation to him but I heard he was a really nice guy" her words wield with sarcasm as she says that , glancing at colt with a scrunched face. [size=9pt]"as in nice , i mean a dick." her faces relaxes and she sighs , as she continues her story casually. [size=9pt]"amma died when i was thirteen , and my brother made the oh-so-noble promise to protect me. he thinks protecting me means breathing down my neck every five minutes, but who am i to complain? anyway, yeah we moved around a lot and now we are also here." of course , there was a more in-depth tale to that story , but she only gives as much as she receives. she's a lot more giving , if anything.

as soon as the story is told , minsuh is back to thinking about the apple again. a good story really works up an appetite , doesn't it ? the sixteen year old swings her arms back in forth nonchalantly before glancing at the other , giving a tilt of her head as she asks , [size=9pt]"oh yeah , can i get a bite of your apple?"

[COLT MADISON.]

[align=center][div style="width: 370px; text-align: justify; font-family: arial; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.4; color: black;"] — It was ironic, really; Minsuh had grown up with a kind, loving family, and yet she lacked any sort of empathy. On the other hand, Colt had been raised to be a mindless killing machine - but he couldn't help himself from caring for people. He'd tried to shake this sense of morality, tried to ignore it many times - after all, regardless of how skilled he was in fighting, he couldn't be a good mercenary if he turned down jobs. But no matter what he did, he couldn't shake this desire to preserve the good in the world.

The boy listened to Minsuh's story, lifting his eyebrows. "California, huh? The cold up here must suck for you, then," he remarked. He'd never been to what was left of California, but he'd heard about it. The place was basically a dessert. As Minsuh spoke on, his face fell. "I'm sorry about your amma," he told her, kicking a pebble and watching it skitter across the ground. "I'm sure your brother means well, though. You should cut him some slack." He took another bite of his apple. "I moved around quite a bit, too. Never had a house, though - my family was big. We squatted in abandoned warehouses, libraries, that sort of thing."

"Can I get a bite of your apple?" Colt blinked, taken aback by the question. He squinted over at Minsuh. "Y-You... want a bite?" he echoed, genuinely perplexed. Now that was pushing social boundaries, wasn't it? Still, she didn't seem hesitant to ask the question in the slightest. The mercenary scoffed. "What, did you skip breakfast or something?" He considered telling her to buzz off, but once again, his empathy got the best of him. Maybe she was really hungry. "...Fine." He would pass her the apple. "But not a big one, ok? And hurry up - we're getting close to the cabins." As a matter of fact, Colt could see them over the hill just up ahead.