enter walden

It had been a long, long trip. She wasn’t sure anymore how many days she spent travelling, how many nights were spent restless, spent running away and hiding, in fear that they would catch her. Many nights, she came close to that, and fewer nights, she didn’t. Even fewer nights were spent sleeping, and whenever Charlie got to sleep, her nightmares were filled with that dreadful night. So, instead, she chose to travel, nonstop, barely ever giving herself time to rest.

Various rumors and murmurs from other mutants led her to the safe place, yet she was still almost solely relying on whatever information Walden had left her with. It was silly, in a way; it had been almost a year since she’d last seen him, yet the little time they spent together was etched in her mind. But his words- and the whole idea of seeing him again- pushed her forward, pushed her to walk whenever she felt like falling apart.

Seeing the library felt like a relief to Charlie, and she as it came closer, it seemed to come more and more to life. She could see people through the darkened windows, people outside, working practicing. It felt almost surreal, like a mirage, one that would disappear all too quickly. But she urged herself to keep walking; after all, what was the worst that could happen?

But then Charlie froze, seeing a familiar figure almost a little too close for her initial comfort. Here he stood, seemingly so focused on fixing something she cared little to none about. She wanted to yell out his name, run over to him, just to make sure it was all real, and she had finally reached her destination. Yet, instead, she focused on the odd tool that was in his hands, using almost a little too much energy to pull it out of his hands and levitate it over to her, not even understanding herself why she was trying to catch his attention. Only when she succeeded, and the tool was in her hand, Charlie smiled the slightest, hiding just how relieved she was to finally be safe.

“Hi.”

@chaskas

Walden was fixing the front door. The damn thing tended to break more than it was fixed, but they needed something as a final line of defense should there be an attack. He was itching to go back to the diner, but that would have to wait. They’d finally recovered somewhat from the explosion and he wanted to make sure they were fixed completely before he left even if it was just for a second.

       '  GO BACK TO MY BAR?  a good idea in theory   but   the bars fucked. ’  she could picture it now,   being practically torn apart by sentinel services just for the sake of it.   ‘someone saw to that when they reported it to sentinel. ’   her feet moved quickly, leaving her spot by the door to stand toe to toe with walden.   there were people around,  she reminded herself.  clenching her fist tight to prevent something happening subconsciously.  ‘ can’t imagine who that was—  ’   temper flaring  as her brown eyes stared in to his own. she breathed through gritted teeth.  if she was going to accuse anyone,  you’d be damn certain it was gonna be him.  ‘ good to see you walden. ’  liar.

“These people — or should we say mutants — are a danger to society and pose a threat to everyone’s safety. Furthermore, aligning oneself with their kind shows a lack of disrespect for the human species.” Kiara read aloud a part of the biased article of a newspaper she had gotten on one of her short runs outside, a mocking tone lacing her words, along with a small hint of anger underneath. “This person has a few missing brain cells.”

“I’ve pretty much stopped reading mutant think pieces these days. All of them are either linked to the Brotherhood or trying to turn people against us.” Walden squinted at the paper. “Where did you get that, by the way.”

         ‘  NO WELCOME BANNER? —  after the shit i just went through the least i deserve is someone greeting me with a scotch or    s o m e t h i n g. ’    a black leather bag slipped off of her shoulder and landed on the floor by her feet. whilst she hadn’t expected a parade, she been naive enough the imagine that word might’ve spread about what had gone down with sentinal services,  ‘ about a dozen mutants just got seized by sentinel services in a down town bar that was supposed to be safe.  so yeah,  they’re not dickin’ around anymore.’  her shoulders relaxed slightly,  allowing the safety of the underground to take the weight off her shoulders — until her eyes became aware of the wreck she stood in front of.  ‘ the FUCK… ’   she turned her head, both surveying the damage and looking for anyone that could answer the multitude of questions she had,  ‘please tell me you guys are just redecorating.’

Walden watched Sonia from where he was leaning up against the banister of the main stairway. “Whoever said they were dicking around in the first place?” He asked, not moving. He’d heard about Sonia and he couldn’t say he was looking forward to meeting her. Rash, flighty, and a mouth on her that wouldn’t quit; all of which already seemed to be presenting itself if the rumors he heard coming through the diner were true. He stood, his jaw clenched and looked at her. “You come to help, Sonia? Because if not, you might want to go back to that bar of yours.”

“Hey –” Nora shoved his hands away. “I’m fine, Walden. Breathing, talking, I can even do this.” She flipped him the bird. “I’m just gonna not do that again for the rest of the day if that’s cool with you? And maybe actually go hunt down an orange juice.”

He shook his head. “Alright, whatever you want. Take it easy, got it? You’re going to scare me shitless one of these days” He stood up and resigned himself to letting her help herself. “Go lie down. I’ll finish up here.”