Last of Us(Equinoxsol)

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Komeko nodded her head, taking Faulklin's plate for him since he had finished as well. "Yeah, that would be helpful, and we normally sleep on the higher floors. It's usually safer, and especially with the windows down here all boarded up, it gives a better vantage point to spot trouble coming."
 
"Okay," Mari said, stretching. Her shoulders had grown stiff, and she felt the need to run or do something, but she wouldn't if it would put herself in danger. She yawned before stating, "Just tell me where you want me to sleep. I don't mind..."
 
Komeko led the way upstairs once they had cleaned up from their meal, gazing about the bedroom they'd scrounged books out of from earlier.

"Really I guess any room is fine," she said, Faulklin bringing up the tail end of the group. "You don't have to sleep in the same room either if you don't want to. It's up to you."
 
"Okay. Thanks." Mari smiled. "See you in the morning." She left the room, finding a bedroom that was unoccupied. Setting her bag down, she took out an old blanket. Mari lied down, using the backpack as a pillow.

While she slept, she kept her knife in hand, not about to let Faulklin try to get the jump on her. Nor did she sleep very deeply, too trained to hear odd sounds in the night. If anything happened, she would be awake to do something about it.
 
"You too," Komeko returned, heading into a different room with Faulklin. The male spotted a short dresser by a window and pushed the objects on it off on the floor, not being mindful about it since it was highly unlikely that anyone would be coming back for them, many of the objects obviously aged and untouched for likely a good twenty years or so since the infection started.

Having cleared a spot, he perched on it where he would have a good view of the ground below, leaning his back against the corner of the wall while Komeko got settled on the bed, the blanket on top having a strong, musty smell but otherwise seemed in decent condition.

She cast a quick glance to Faulklin, who was watching through the window keenly. "If you get tired, don't hesitate to wake me and I can take over."

He only hummed to signify he'd heard, and after another moment gazing at the other teen, Komeko rested her head down and closed her eyes, asleep within minutes.

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TS
Night passed uneventfully. True enough, there had been a few stray Infected which did appear outside at one point, scrounging around, hunting, but they had passed on to go elsewhere without becoming a problem worth mentioning.

The sun would be up soon, the black of night beginning to show the faintest signs of gray light filtering just over the horizon, the single-eyed teen casting a quick glance over at his sleeping companion partially curled into a ball on the foot of the bed.

Feeling a little stiff himself, having remained mostly unmoving the entire night while he sat vigil, he lightly stepped down off the dresser and made his way out to the hall without waking her, only the faintest creak of old wood announcing his movements, but otherwise he remained light on his feet and quiet as he descended the stairs to the first floor, still carrying his sheathed blade in one hand above the ground.
 
Mari slept, until she heard a sound in the night, in the wee hours of the morning. Immediately awakening, she slid to her feet soundlessly, her dark eyes adjusting to the darkness quickly. Sneaking into the hall, she scowled when she saw that it was only Faulklin, and followed him down the stairs.

Once they were both there, she spoke quietly. "Someone's up early..." She folded her arms across her chest, looking at him silently. She still didn't trust him, and didn't really want to have another confrontation with him, but it was bound to happen anyways.
 
Rarely the type to relax under any circumstances, it was easy enough for the boy to pick up on the sounds of movement, however faint they were. True enough, his eyesight was pretty lousy at best, but his hearing was impressively sharp to make up for that.

As soon as he cleared the stairs a few steps ahead of Mari, he whirled around and narrowed his single eye on her with a suspicious scowl, his mood still not the least bit improved since the day before.

He audibly scoffed at her comment before turning his head to the side in a show of disregard, similarly crossing his own arms, but his gaze remained trained on her out of the corner of his single eye.

"And since when is the hour I get up any of your damn business?"
 
"I was simply making an observation," she said sharply. Rolling her eyes, she added, "How was I supposed to know that you weren't going to kill me while I slept?" She arched an eyebrow, looking at him angrily.
 
Faulklin scoffed again.

"If I was going to kill you anyway, I'd just do it to your face," he spat, before cracking the faintest, condesceding smirk. "And besides, even someone like you has to have some use. Infected bait is the first that comes to mind, personally."
 
"Ass," Mari growled, gripping the hilt of her knife and letting it go. She folded her arms over her chest, in order to keep from punching him. "You'll be fucking sorry when I'm what stands between you and and an infected. I might just decide to let it get you and then put you down myself."
 
"Don't count on it," Faulklin stated in a flat, matter-of-fact tone, looking as unimpressed as he sounded. "Someone like you would probably be lucky to survive the month, and that guess was a rather generous one."

After a moment he shrugged, uncrossing his arms and crossing the room away from her.

"Not that it matters to me. In the meantime, you could prove useful, and afterwards, I won't have to worry about one more problem potentially slowing us down."
 
Mari rolled her eyes, thinking his words were full of shit. "I've survived this long, haven't I?" she asked, before turning away from him and going back up the stairs. If he wanted to be an asshole, she would let him go right ahead. Maybe Komeko would come to her senses and leave his ass.
 
"Surviving in one spot in a group isn't the same as surviving on the road," Faulklin shot back, before shrugging, not really caring enough to keep the conversation going. He propped the inside door to the garage open, the horse from before greeting him with flared nostrils and a slight whinny. Giving the animal a slight pat on the shoulder, he retrieved a brush for the animal's coat, setting about brushing down its fur distractedly.
 
Shaking her head, Mari hefted her backpack on her shoulders before heading towards the front door. She opened it, heading outside. Shutting the door behind her, she quickly ran to a house across the decrepit road, everything silent in the early morning.

Going inside the other house, she listened for any sounds of inhabitants before beginning her search. There was a chance that it would prove futile, again, but she had to hope.

When she returned to the house Komeko was in, she had square, wire-rimmed glasses on, with scratched lenses. It wasn't perfect, but it was a lot better than without. Walking inside, she pushed them further up her nose, squinting a little bit.
 
Komeko yawned and stretched her arms skyward as she descended the stairs, feeling well-rested. She paused as she heard a bit of angry muttering and cracked a slight smirk, making her way to the garage where Faulklin was and pausing in the doorway with a growing smile.

"...come on, you stubborn ass, the saddle's going on snug whether you like it or not," the teen growled.

"Is he giving you trouble?" she questioned in an amused tone. Faulklin glanced up then rolled his eye.

"Damn animal's determined to be difficult," he muttered in reply.

"Well...like rider, like horse, I guess?" she offered up lightly.

"I'm not difficult," he protested flatly. Komeko only chuckled again and stepped forward, glancing at the dark-colored stallion. "Good morning, Rebel." She reached a hand out to scratch it's shoulder but the horse danced away and snorted in disapproval, showing the whites of its eyes. Komeko merely shrugged and retracted her hand. "So, is Mari awake?"

Faulklin rolled his eye again. "Yeah, the idiot is awake," he replied, ignoring Komeko's noise of disapproval. "I think she went somewhere though. If we're lucky, maybe she won't come back." He paused for a moment as he heard a door shut and huffed. " 'guess the bitch decided to return after all-" he said, before getting smacked upside the head, giving Komeko an accusatory glare. "What was that for?"

"You should be nicer, like Nii-san tried showing you how to be," she scolded, before turning to greet Mari.

"Hey, 'nice' was his thing, not mine!"

Ignoring him, she gave Mari a friendly smile, looking curious. "Welcome back."
 
Mari nodded in Komeko's direction, smiling slightly. "You can tell him that I didn't lead any infected. I'm probably more careful than he is about it." She rolled her eyes, which looked a good deal bigger behind the thick lenses of the glasses.

"Sleep well?" she asked politely, refusing to acknowledge Faulklin.
 
"Yes, very well. Bad smell aside, the bed left behind here was actually pretty comfortable," she said with a slight shrug. "And what about you?"
 
"Pretty much the same," she answered, a pleasant smile upon her lips. Stretching, she used a hand to push the glasses further up her nose, adding, "Now that I can see, I actually know who I'm staying with...good thing, too. He was beginning to look like one of them." Mari smiled wanely, not entirely in the mood.
 
The scowl on Faulklin's face deepened and the corner of his single eye twitched slightly in irritation, flipping her off for good measure. "Yeah, fuck you too, Four-Eyes." He turned back to what he was doing just in time to avoid an unhappy look of warning from Komeko, the girl sighing under her breath.

"So are you going to stick around with us?" she couldn't help but ask, sounding tentative as though guessing she wasn't going to, easily enough guessed that it had at least in part to do with Faulklin's perpetual bad mood.
 
"Asshole," Mari growled under her breath before answering Komeko's question. "Maybe for a while...I mean, it's been a while since I've been with other people, but I'll give it a try." She shrugged, running a hand through her hair. Beginning to pick at her nails, she added, "It might be good to have someone to watch my back..."
 
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