Break and Connect

[Interstellar Bun]

She had darted into the building and out of the streets in order to get away from raiders, only to run into another slew of the violent individuals. It seemed her luck just wasn't holding up that day, well, not as well as it usually did. Small and lithe, Darling darted through the building, hiding in dark corners until she found her way to a broken elevator that kept the raiders from reaching the upper floors.


That wasn't about to stop Darling, though.


The hole in the doors was just large enough for Darling to slip through. She adjusted her straw boater as she looked up to the hatch in the elevator. It took a bit of fenagling and jumping, but she managed to shove it open and once she got her fingers on the edges of it, she was able to hoist her small frame through it.


With a huff, she looked around and reached out for one of the metal beams that held the place up. eventually she found another half open door and slipped out. From there she kept going up, crawling through small holes and broken places until she found stairs that finally lead to the roof.


"Thank goodness." She whispered the words to herself as she hurried up the steps, her stride rather dainty despite all things. Excitement starting to gather in her, Darling pushed the door to the roof open and stepped outside.


It was always beautiful on top of roofs. She felt like she could reach up and touch the sky, like she could see straight across the Commonwealth. Only, it wasn't the view that stopped her this time, rather, it was the dark shadowy figure that she hadn't expected to see. There was a moment in which she blanched before she realized that there was something familiar about them.


She released the breath she hadn't realized she was holding but didn't move away from the door, not yet. "Oh gracious I thought you were a raider for a moment. Or, I suppose you could be but you haven't shot me yet so I'm going to assume that's something of a good thing. I've, ah, seen you before haven't I?"

 

[LeoLion98]

The fighting below barely concerned him. With all the raiders in the building, someone would end up dying eventually. Whether it was the drug addicts or the visitor was entirely up to everyone's abilities. And Owl didn't care about that. He had much more pressing matters to attend to. And that was spying on random individuals in the Commonwealth.


Ever since his master disappeared a couple of years ago, Owl had continued to observe others as instructed. There... wasn't exactly a purpose without his master, no one to report to. But he still did it, recording his findings. He liked watching anyway.


As the sounds of violence ceased and that of confused raiders increased, the masked man assumed that whoever was in there escaped. Or hiding. Again, he didn't care. Until someone stepped up onto the roof. He turned around, ready for a fight, only to be met with a small blonde girl. In a boater hat. Odd. Yet he knew her. Sort of.


The man had seen her during his watch on occasion and she was pretty hard to miss. Then again, he was also rather hard to forget once seen clearly. Not many people slunk around the wastes in owl masks. And apparently she had seen his.


Rather than answer, he lowered his fists and stared at her. Words were not his thing. Ever.

 

[Interstellar Bun]

She blinked.


When it became clear that she wasn't going to get a response, Darling smoothed down her blouse, dusted off her jeans, and fixed her quaffed hair before taking a step forward. She extended her hand, the skin free from all but the smallest of scars that hadn't come from a life of violence but, rather, a life of work.


The man was creepy, there was no denying that. Everything about him set Darling on edge, told her that she might have a better chance with the raiders down below. It wasn't how he didn't say anything, but it was how silent his entire persona is. The worst part was how she couldn't see his face, couldn't see his eyes. For all she knew the person could very well not be a person at all, not with the whispers of synths hanging in the air.


Still, she had taken him lowering his fists as a good sign.


"Not one for words? That's alright, I'm sure I can talk enough for the both of us." She giggled, a light, warm sound that left her smiling brightly. "I'm Darling Harlow."

 

[LeoLion98]

Owl found the young woman strange as well. She was... perky. He didn't do perky. He was the exact opposite, in fact. It was their extreme difference that made him uncomfortable. He was used to violent people, to those who would have shot him before he even turned around.


He watched her fix herself up blinking in confusion behind his mask. When she started to extend her hand, he took a quick step back and raised his hands. He clenched his fists and blades shot out from the top of his wrists. When people tried to touch him, it was to hurt him. He would fight her if she made him, but he still wouldn't kill her. He doubted he would have to do either, but looks can be deceiving.


Owl stared her down through the black eyes of his mask, waiting for her to move first.

 

[Interstellar Bun]

The blades extended and Darling felt her heart jump into her throat, grey eyes widening slightly. Her hand remained hanging in the air fora long moment before her fingers curled back into her palm rather limply, her arm recoiling. There was a beat of silence as she watched, waiting to see if he would hurt her.


She didn't reach for the gun that was safely tucked inside of her shoulder holster, no, she never did. Even if he had lunged at her she likely would have just broken into a dead run to the nearest side of the building with the hopes of hitting the fire escape.


But she didn't run, not yet, though her smile did waver a little.


"Not one for shaking hands either? I can understand that, you can never be too careful out here; learned that one myself the hard way."


She giggled a little as though the statement was less sad and more amusing. As she continued speaking, she hooked her thumb into the pocket of her high wasted jeans. "So do you have a name?"

 

[LeoLion98]

He watched her watch him, fear practically radiating off of her at this point. Good. He was a thing to be feared. But she eventually retracted her hand, a motion that almost made him flinch. She kept smiling, though it was obviously hard for her to keep it, and spoke amiably. It's like he hadn't even moved.


Slowly he lowered his hands again, retracting his blades as he did so. Now that she knew that he was dangerous, that he could make a move faster than she could blink, he doubted she would try to attack.


In response to her question, he said nothing. She didn't need to know his name. Besides, most people could guess it anyway. All they had to do was look at him.

 

[Interstellar Bun]

He still didn't respond to her. For someone who came from a large family, from a house that was always loud and welcoming, smelling like hard work and food, it was odd to be greeted with nothing but silence. She knew that not everyone liked to talk, but most of them would at least give her short, polite responses.


He didn't do even that. Maybe he couldn't talk. His tongue could have been cut for all she knew, or if he was a synth maybe he was broken.


"Well I for one hate to be presumptuous but I might just take to calling you Owl because of that mask of yours. It's very handsome, by the way, very unique as well." She took a step forward, not to him, but to the edge so she could see better. "Goodness don't you think that's a lovely view? I'll bet that's why I always catch you standing up on stall buildings huh?"

 

[LeoLion98]

Silence was all he had ever known. Cold and unwelcoming silence. His master talked yes, but when he did it was never pleasant. Harsh words, orders to be carried out and nothing more. If there was ever a time when he had experienced affection it was lost to him. Now silence was all he ever gave.


He knew she would get it eventually. But he hadn't expected her to compliment his mask. Most people either screamed or stared in terror. He had once even had it called creepy. Owl had knocked the man unconscious not too long afterwards. But Darling was being nice to him. That was a tactic he hadn't experienced before. For now, he would go with it to observe and hopefully get her to leave. He needed to be here and she did not.


The spy followed her gaze while still keeping her in his peripheral vision and shrugged. Though the land was destroyed, there could be a certain beauty to it, he supposed.

 

[Interstellar Bun]

He shrugged and Darling took that as a good sign, after all, he had at least reacted to her words. If one could ignore the faint sound of gunfire in the distance and the smell of death and decay that danced on the occasional gust of wind, it really was a beautiful place. She liked being able to see so far, to see water glistening in the sunlight. The Commonwealth didn't have the same charm as Oak Creek had, but Darling tried not to think too much about it. Focusing on the past was never something she let herself do.


"I'll bet sunsets are pretty up here too." She mused the last thought before looking back over to the masked man. There was still something so painfully eerie about not being able to see who she was speaking with.


She hooked her thumbs into the pockets of her high wasted jeans, her posture relaxing. She always thought that if she seemed easy going, maybe it would rub off on others too. That always seemed to assure people that she wasn't about to reach for her pistol.


"So if you're not up here for the view, what are you here for? The solitude? I imagine not a lot of people can manage to get up here."

 

[LeoLion98]

Owl never really looked for the beauty in things. He didn't care about the appearance of things, not in that way. He just didn't find it important. He was more focused on other things, things that lay underneath. That was what mattered. True intentions, the reality of things, that was what he cared about.


As for the past? With as... colorful as his had been, he was a man who never looked back. Then again, he didn't exactly look forward either. He was rooted in the present because his future was no assured, but his past was too difficult to ponder.


Again, he shrugged. They could be. Some were more pleasant to look at than others. Like the animal he was named after, he was a nocturnal creature, for the most part. Owl preferred the cover of night and silence it offered.


Though Darling seemed to relaxed, he did not. He never did. He was taught not to and that lesson had served him well. Even if it meant he was constantly on edge, but again, he had been taught to deal with it.


He couldn't very well tell her why he was on the roof. He had been hiding up here for a reason. Luckily, she offered him an out and he didn't have to explain one, and so he simply nodded. When one did not talk, it made explanations rather difficult.

 

[Interstellar Bun]

"Solitude? Then I imagine I'm not making that too easy for you am I?" Her smile, as bright and sunshiny as anything, became a little sheepish with the realization. She ducked her head down, scratching the back of her neck for a moment.


She was friendly, yes, but she understood that some people weren't and, more than that, she was sometimes a lot for those individuals. Though she never really craved being alone, she supposed it wasn't fair for her to take that away from others. And yet, she didn't leave. Really, she didn't want to, not just yet.


It was safe up there for one thing and, well, she'd be lying if she said that she wasn't at least a little curious about him now. Hell, maybe she just didn't want to be alone out there again. In truth, Darling just wasn't made for the Wastes. She didn't like fighting or hurting people, she had no threshold for pain, and she craved human interaction. He wasn't her first choice for that last bit, but she had a habit of making friends with strange individuals when she found them.


"So how exactly do you plan on getting down if you don't mind me asking? Going through the building is a bad idea I can tell you that now, gracious I'm surprised I made it through that without much more than a scratch." The sheepish tone had vanished by then as she figured she was at least asking a reasonable question.


Why she was asking questions to someone who apparently couldn't talk was beyond her.


Maybe he could just point.

 

[LeoLion98]

Not particularly, he thought, but gave no answer. She seemed to realize it, so there was no need to respond.


Friendly was not in his vocabulary. He was a solitary man, having only ever known the company of one other person in his life. Company was not something he craved, as he had never really known it. His master was, admittedly, not a good person to be around. When he had left Owl on his own... it had been a bit of a relief. And also disorienting. He was alone with no one to report to. Yet he still did as he had been instructed. It was a strange relationship the men had.


He could have left this conversation at any time. There were plenty of other vantage points he could be using that didn't have a talkative blonde woman. He said he wanted to be alone, he preferred it that way. But he didn't leave either. Perhaps part of him was curious about Darling too.


In response to her question, he did point. Right to the adjacent roof. That was several feet away from the edge of the one they were standing on.

 

[Interstellar Bun]

He pointed.


Darling turned her head, feeling the wind whip her ponytail back as she drew a line from one building to the other with her eyes.


"Well how dandy. You're good at this aren't you? Though, I don't suppose I should be too surprised, you have a bird mask and I'm guessing you've been climbing roofs longer than I have." Her gaze returned to him, those grey eyes moving over the mask again. She seemed fascinated with it, with him.


Her lips parted again, ready to continue musing for the both of them, when a sound like thunder caught her words in her throat. Banging was coming from the very door that she had appeared from and locked behind her. If there was any doubt how new she was to everything, the raw fear that glimmered in her eyes and pulled the blood out of her face left nothing to question. While some people would have been excited for a fight or at least ready to spill blood to save their own lives, Darling wasn't.


Her hand didn't even go for her gun. The instinct wasn't there.


Instead, she took a half numb step back and looked to Owl with that same frightened gaze.


"Should we run?"


We. She used the word without hesitation or thought.

 

[LeoLion98]

He was and he had. Ever since he could remember, he had been training to do just that. It had resulted in more than a few broken limbs when he was younger. Now he could vault the gaps in between buildings with ease and not so much as scratching himself.


And it seemed that he would need to do that again. The raiders would break through at any moment if there were as many as he estimated. And if there were, he would rather run than fight them, even with his combat skills.


He had been about to flee, until he saw Darling's face. It was nothing but fear. Her response was flight over flight, but there was nowhere for her to go. She could not jump from roof to roof like he could. Unless he helped her anyway. She would certainly be light enough to carry...


With a quick look at the door, he turned to her and nodded. He pointed to Darling, himself, and then the building he had indicated just a moment ago.

 

[Interstellar Bun]

She blinked, her eyes doe-like and confused as to what he was wanting. She had seen the way his muscles seemed to tense, like he was going to run off and let her handle it on her own, but he had stopped.


"You want me to make that jump? I mean- I can try but I'll probably break something and if that happens I don't guess...oh!" She brightened then as his motions suddenly clicked in her mind. "You want to get me across yourself, right? Okay. Yeah, we can do that!"


As she spoke she had hurried forward towards him. Darling wouldn't consider herself as waifish, working on a ranch and getting into trouble had given her a more than decent amount of muscle and tone, but she was still built slim and small, something that made it easy for her to not only squeeze herself into small spaces, but easy for her to be hoisted up by anyone larger than her. Owl fit that bill.


She adjusted the straps of her backpack, making sure it was tight against her and wasn't about to slip off any time soon.


Standing in front of him she cast another nervous glance over her shoulder. The door was starting to creak and groan. They didn't have much longer.


"How do you want to do this?"

 

[LeoLion98]

She was far better at understanding him than most people, which he was grateful for. Though it was his choice to not speak, that made communicating with people a bit more difficult. Luckily, he didn't need to often, and when he did, it was only for a short time.


He was not hulking, but he was a very strong individual. It was his speed he relied on for fighting, but strength certainly helped. If he was able to throw a fully grown man over his head with little to no difficulty, then he could certainly carry Darling.


Owl pointed to his back and then turned around. He crouched down low enough for her to climb on, and held out his hands to help her. He couldn't pick her up, because he may need his arms free, so having her cling to his back was the next best thing.

 

[Interstellar Bun]

His back.


Darling hurried to close the distance between them and hoist herself up onto his back. Arms lacing around his neck tightly and legs grappling to him, the young woman made sure her grip was tight enough so she wouldn't slip, but no so much so that she was worried about accidentally strangling him.


Of course, that became a second hand worry as soon as the raiders made it through the door. It all but exploded open with a bang that made the metal door hitting the wall sound like a gunshot.


"Looks like we got lucky! There's two of 'em up here!"


Darling's blood ran cold and She shut her eyes tightly, waiting to feel a bullet rip through her back, or her arm.


Oh this wasn't ending well.


Raiders scared her, and for good reason.

 

[LeoLion98]

He let her clamber up on his back and stood as quickly as possible without dislodging her. She had moved not a moment too soon. The second he was standing, the door burst open. Raiders swarmed out onto the roof.


They thought they were lucky? They should have seen him without someone to protect. That was the only reason they were lucky.


Owl turned and bolted for the edge of the roof. He knew he would need to compensate for the added weight, but they didn't have much, if any, time to cover the extra ground. He didn't think they would miss, but it would be close.

 

[Interstellar Bun]

Owl made a dead sprint for the edge and Darling held her breath.


It hit her, right in that moment as the smell of gunfire hit her nose and the loud blast left her ears ringing, that she was clinging to a stranger, putting her whole well being in his hands, in the hopes that she wouldn't be hurt.


As quickly as that moment of clarity and, as some would say: sanity, came, it was gone.


Owl had made the jump and Darling showed no intent of letting her death grip loosen up, not while the guns were still firing and she could hear the raiders yelling, sounding like they were close to trying to give chase to the two.


In that split second, as the strange, silent man made a jump that would have given her a broken leg, he gained her complete and unwavering trust.


Not just anyone would have done that, something Darling had learned rather quickly.


It would have been easier to go along without her, but he hadn't. Another bullet cut through the air next to her head and Darling found that, honestly, she wasn't as worried as she probably should have been.

 

[LeoLion98]

Owl had no idea why he was doing this, why he was saving her. Then again, he was never really sure why he ever helped anyone. When he had first been left alone, he was rather content to leave people to their fates, unless he thought he needed them for something. but he found as time went on, he became more and more inclined to help. With Darling, he had a feeling it was because of how helpless she seemed, how scared. Humans had an instinct to aid things that appeared helpless, for the most part. That was why people were so protective of animals and babies. Perhaps that was why he was so intent on her.


At the middle of the gap, with gunfire blazing behind them, Owl felt something bite the skin of his neck. He hissed in pain. It wasn't particularly bad, just a minor graze, but enough to draw blood. It was likely hitting his passenger in the face. In the next moment, his feet hit the edge of the other roof. He faltered for just a moment before regaining his balance and continuing his sprint across the building. He would take them just far enough back that he could put her out of the line of fire before he would go back and deal with the Raiders.

 

[Interstellar Bun]

It wasn't until Owl sat her down that Darling realized he'd been injured. It shouldn't have been surprising, people got shot all the time, but he hadn't even so much as yelped in pain. It didn't look bad but even a wound like that would have been enough to make her at least tear up.


The raiders were still coming after them, yelling and firing as one seemed to be trying to get a match working to light a molotov. Darling wanted to protest, say they should keep running, but she refrained. Something about the way the masked man held himself told her that he wasn't one for running away, at least, not fully.


She stepped back, ducking down so one of the rusted airducts hid her from the raider's line of sight.


Shrugging off her pack she started digging through it. If she couldn't help by fighting, she could at least help with the aftermath. Which, for her, meant wound repair. She just hoped Owl was as tough as he looked.

 

[LeoLion98]

He had suffered far worse injuries before, most of which were sustained through his training. Pain was a lesson his master had taught him well. In fact, he had taught Owl exactly what a bullet wound felt like by shooting him.


When she hid, he sprinted back towards the group. He flicked his wrists and his blades popped out once again. The raiders took notice just as the masked man reached the edge of the roof and laughed.


"Look at this asshole," one of them said, a man with bright pink hair. "He brought a knife to a gun fight."


The gang readied their guns. There would be no time. They had been too busy thinking of ways to get at them. In the next instant, Owl had crossed the gap and put one of his blades right through the man's neck. The other had slashed open the arm of one of the women. With his "knife," he was far more deadly than any of these people were with a gun.

 

[Interstellar Bun]

Darling didn't see the fight, not until near the end when she finally peaked up to look. It was the lack of gunfire that had caught her attention.


Part of her almost wished she hadn't see one of the raiders fall, blood pouring from their fresh wounds like a deluge.


Blood didn't make her queezy, but the image was enough to make her stomach churn a little. Death wasn't something she liked witnessing.


It was as the last one fell that she stood fully and sat her pack and her med kit on the structure she'd ducked behind. Her thumbs flipped the latches open and she pulled the cover back.


The kit was well organized and stocked for one person, featuring pain medication, bandages, cotton, tape and, most importantly, sterilization wipes and two stimpaks.


Had he been a better friend Darling would have had no issue sitting him down and making him lean forward so she could reach the wound, and maybe if she hadn't witnessed the decimation of the raiders she would have done the same. But right then she paused, speaking only after a moment.


"You're bleeding."

 

[LeoLion98]

Owl watched the last enemy slump to the ground. He looked around and decided that, yes, they were all dead. He leaned down and wiped his blades off on one of the Raiders' shirts and sent them back into place. Cleaning he blood off of his clothes and mask would be much harder. He knew that from experience.


He saw her stand out of the corner of his eye and turned. She was holding a medical kit. As there were no other survivors but him, he assumed that she meant to help him. Strange. That never usually happened. Then again, he had, in essence, saved her. Obligation must have compelled her because no one in their right mind would have helped him out of the goodness of their heart.


Bleeding. That's right. The bullet wound. He probably had even more after the close encounter with the Raiders, thinking on it. And, admittedly, treating his own wounds was rather difficult sometimes. At least he didn't have any broken bones this time. He supposed that he could allow her to treat him, if only for that.


Owl cleared the space between the building for a third time and walked over to Darling slowly. She had to be at least a little scared of him after that performance. If she flinched when someone tries to just down a door and wanted to run, the carnage he created must be much worse to her.


Not that he cared. That was his method and it worked.

 

[Interstellar Bun]

By the time he had made his way back over towards her, Darling was already dampening a square of gauzy material with her antiseptic.


Disease and infection weren't something too many people thought about, but being raised around animals - animals that got hurt just like people - Darling had learned quickly that they were they were the silent killers everyone should be worried about.


"Your neck got hurt didn't it? I'm not particularly tall so if you want to sit down so I can reach it that'd be nice." She smiled, the expression soft and small but none the less genuine as she patted the spot next to where she had propped up her kit. "Did you get hurt anywhere else?"


The questions, the process of trying to figure out what she was going to do, it all helped her ignore the fact that he had very quickly proven himself to be one of the more dangerous people she'd met out since she left home.


Besides, it wasn't as though she had a reason to be worried, if he had wanted to wound her surely he would have done so anyway.


Part of her wanted to ask if it would even be okay to touch him, but, if that was the case he could have just walked away, right?