county_jr | Meeting a Shadow [closed to Newt]

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Meeting a Shadow [closed to Newt]

Brisco knew he was being followed.

And not by those things scurrying around the station either. Those things, the 'ratborg', he could handle. Mostly. Those were small and easily evaded.

No. Brisco was pretty certain he was being followed by a little girl.

Which...okay...little girls were decidedly not Brisco's forte. Sure, when they grew up into comely young women, he usually understood how to please one, what to say, how to act around them. It was all pretty straight-forward, if you used a little common sense, but whenever he tried to tutor some uncouth acquaintances of his on how to talk to a lady, somehow a lot of his schooling never quite stuck. Then you had dunkings in water troughs or spittoons emptied on heads or drinks splashed on faces (rarest of them all because who'd want to waste a drink?). And then the louts turned around and blamed Brisco.

Even if it wasn't ever his fault, just because he tried to do the impossible.

Brisco let out a deep sigh as he approached his quarters. He had a notion to write up another one of his "coming thing" journal entries (about those mechanical rats) and had half it already written out in his head as the door swooshed aside, welcoming him back. He wasn't even that tired, to tell the truth, so he wasn't sure what compelled him to check on his bed.

And the little-girl-sized lump settled on top of it.

He frowned, readying himself to let out a torrent of accusations before he corralled all of that in. Heck, he didn't know how she was gonna react once he talked to her directly. So instead of yelling in his best "I'm angry" voice, he cleared his throat theatrically, making the noise into his loose fist so the sound would carry.

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Newt had been exhausted. She avoided sleeping when she could. Nothing could sneak up on you when you were awake. And you didn't have memories haunt you as nightmares.

She'd found the doll the other day, or she thought it was at least a day ago. It was a rag doll, the kind moms made for their kids, not bought. She'd picked it up and it felt comforting to hold it close. It was something to cling to that wouldn't make promises it couldn't keep.

She had really tried to stay awake. But it was making everything sway and she had a hard time walking. She didn't know where Tayla stayed, but she did know one place she might be safe.

She was happy to find the door wasn't key locked.

She didn't even snoop around. She found the bed and sat down for a moment. In a minute she'd crawl under it, safe for a little while. In just a minute.

There was a loud cough and Newt startled awake. Her instant reaction was to jump up and put the bed between herself and the noise, crouching to run, the doll hugged close with her left arm. Her eyes were huge as she prepared for something to grab her. Only nothing did. It was the man who belonged in this room. Mr. County.

Her eyes darted to the door just beyond him. Could she make it?

"'m sorry," her voice was soft as she tried to judge how much trouble she was in and how to get past him.

Okay, so he was familiar with what the girl looked like, but her voice? Entirely new. The stern look on his face only lingered for a moment. Less than a moment. Aw, heck. He sighed through his nose and tried to control his ensuing eyeroll as best he could.

Stern!

Nope. Not on his face anymore. Not even close.

Still, he squared his shoulders and crossed his arms to show that he meant business! But he found he couldn't rustle up enough annoyance to make the scowl look sincere.

Fine.

"You're in a lot of trouble, little lady," he said. But then this stern facade all fell away when he caught sight of that doll. Sighing again, he settled on the foot of the bed. "What's your name?" he said, with a hint of resignation. If he couldn't get rid of her, may as well get acquainted.

She was in trouble. She could take that. Being punished was nothing now. But they didn't have to know that.

She backed up a step as he moved to the bed and sat down.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Newt," she stayed just beyond arms reach. She was fairly certain Mr. County was safe. She'd seen his actions and they way he talked to people. She trusted he was safe enough to come here to sleep. But still she hung back.

"My name's Newt. And you're Mr. County," she tilted her head a bit.

"Newt." Weird name for a kid. Weirder name for a girl. Hard to add in a 'Miss' to it too. 'Miss Newt'. No, he wasn't gonna call her that any time soon.

He studied her briefly. Okay, he had to admit, the name kinda fit.

"Yep, that's my name. You've been paying attention," he said with a chuckle. "I'm mighty impressed. But I was kinda wondering, Newt, did you come aboard here alone? Cuz that's mighty brave of you."

"I woke up in a room by myself. I was with two people and a synth when I went to sleep," she shrugged like it was nothing, but it hurt. She felt abandoned again, even if it wasn't anyone's fault. "They found me and saved me."

"They told me we'd sleep all the way to Earth. But this isn't Earth and they aren't here. I looked."

She met Mr. County's eyes. "'m not brave. I just know how to hide real good."

"Alone? Hold on, so you were in that isolated room for 24 hours? Alone?" He rarely got angry. Annoyed, usually. Peeved, maybe. And his tone of voice was permanently set on mildly sarcastic, but the thought of a child arriving here alone?

He was steamed, and it took a lot of his strength to keep his voice down. He wasn't angry at the kid, but at whatever brought her here. Didn't even have the decency to take the people Newt was traveling with too...

"Hey, if you can hide real good, so good that the bad guys can't get you? That's better than bravery. Believe me, bravery's overrated. You hungry or thirsty at all? I think I'm finally getting the hang of that food contraption over there."

"The bad guys killed everyone and I hid," Newt shivered. "There are really monsters in the closet."

At the mention of food Newt gave a little smile. "There were sandwiches in the room at first. There's a machine in the cafeteria. The same sandwich is better than some things I had to eat. Is there soup? I miss soup."

"Oh, I definitely don't doubt the existence of monsters." Though, most of the monsters Brisco had encountered so far were of the human variety. Still evil, to be sure, but human all the same.

He realized that the girl must've not picked out a room, and he didn't blame her, cuz it sounded like she was used to hiding. And hiding well.

"Soup? Gotcha." He could do soup. The only one he recalled from the food replicator was a version of chicken noodle, with sizable chunks of chicken and thin, flat noodles. He offered a bowl and a spoon to Newt.

"Bon appetit."

Newt grinned at the sight of the soup. A hot meal. She hadn't had one of those in at least a month.

She took the bowl and spoon and got as much as she could on the utensil before shoving it in her mouth. It burned a little, but it was good.

She swallowed and offered Mr. County a big smile. "My mom used to make this when someone got sick. This is better though."

Her mother's soup was made with reconstituted rations. This had more flavor.

"This isn't a ship. Not a colony. Why are we here?" She didn't care if she was talking with her mouth full. She was hungry.

She didn't remember what a space station was, though it had to have been covered in lessons some time.

Brisco winced in sympathy as he watched Newt down the soup. It was plenty hot; he knew that. Not scalding, but enough to burn a little if you weren't careful.

"Never thought I'd hear anybody say my cooking was better than their mom's," he said, chuckling. "Guess I've got a way with these." He wriggled his fingers deftly. Actually the machine did most of the work, though Brisco had no clue how the thing functioned.

And he wasn't gonna berate a kid for talking with her mouth full. "No clue," he admitted. "I mean, have you seen who else is here with us? There's no connection. Except...except there's a guy here named Abed who says he knows the rest of us from fiction. Y'know, from stories. Weird thing is, he didn't seem too bothered by it. In fact, he was looking forward to meeting someone who knows him from a piece of fiction."

Newt felt herself relaxing a bit more with some hot food and Mr. County's easy manner.

"I saw some people 'm not sure are people. A pretty lady with blue skin and a white man with scary eyes. Then there are people like you and Tayla. She's gonna teach me how to fight. I know you teach that," she took a moment to shovel in some more soup and swallow without much chewing, "but she knows how girls can fight. Running is best though. There are things you can't fight. Don't even try. Find the best places to hide. Even with the rats."

"I don't know if I saw that guy. I try to not be seen. He thinks people are from books and vids? His brain may be broke."

Newt then relaxed enough to sit, lotus style, on the floor. Her doll in her lap and the soup bowl held against her. "You were the first person I saw. So I followed."

S

"Newt, I think everyone here's a person and it doesn't matter what their skin color is. They're stuck here, same as us, same as other people. Just cuz they're not the kinda people you've seen before, doesn't mean they're bad."

Brisco was perfectly willing to give the more unique-looking neighbors the benefit of the doubt. Until they proved themselves untrustworthy, that is.

"Good for you. Learning to protect yourself is really important. I'm glad you're gonna get special lessons." Because he wasn't sure whether 'fighting like a girl' meant anything different.

"You're still finding places to hide, even here? Those rats are a little scary, though, aren't they?"

"There are very bad monsters. Not people at all," Newt's eyes were haunted and her voice was almost a whisper. She didn't want to trust anything not human, or maybe not human, because they just might try to kill everyone. "At least they look like people, I guess."

Newt shook the past off, shoving it aside to keep going.

So she ended up shrugging at the mention of the rats. "They were at first. Really scary. But rats are rats. They can tell you if something bad's coming. Their running was more scary. And where they got out of the walls and ceiling... there are crawl spaces. They were helpful, actually."

Bad things couldn't get you in small spaces. Usually. But it was nice to have someone gaurd you. You could breathe a little then.

Newt was scared of something. Something that probably hunted her down in the days previous to arriving on the Proserpina; something that definitely made her wary of anybody who didn't look 100% human. As curious as Brisco was about those monsters, he didn't want to dredge up past history.

"Hey, as long as the rats helped," he said with a shrug. He didn't think much of the rats either, even if they looked like no type of creature he'd ever seen before. Fact was, Newt was right. They still acted like rats and if danger was around, they'd be the perfect early warning system.

"You, uh, you comfortable staying in those ducts? Could get cold. And lonely. Even with the rats."

Newt blushed a bit and handed back the now empty bowl of soup. "Was gonna sleep under the bed. But I fell asleep before I got there. Been awake a long time. And I don't like lonely."

Sleeping with the rats was a last resort. If there were people, it was better.

Heck, he couldn't just let her be out in the station on her own. Whatever guardians she had before? Weren't here now anyway. Brisco took a deep breath, letting it out steadily.

"Look, uh..." He awkwardly scratched at the back of his head. "You, uh, you can have that bed. I can take the couch. Or that chair. Or even the floor. And I don't want you to be lonely."

There, he said it. And he'd say it again if he had to.

Newt grinned. "Thanks. I'll sleep on the couch if you'll let me. I'm small and will be more comfy. I mean, if it's okay."

It was even better if he knew she was there rather than just hiding under the bed.

(g'night)

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Meeting a Shadow [closed to Newt]

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