Survival Of The Fittest

Eve scoffed at Eden's last comment. "Whatever," she muttered to herself, holding back her own anger tears for the 11th time today. Guess that was that.

Finally by the grace of God there was a pretty substantially-sized divot over Steve; Eve walked closer, wincing at a random pang in her side, and she measured herself against the hole.

"Yeah, I think I can get out," she said to John. She looked down at her stuff. Mmm... maybe not, or at least not in one piece. She'd have to trust that her savior wasn't gonna run off with her shit. Or Eden, for that matter.

"Stand back a sec," she called out to John and she guessed Eden too. She snatched up her restored bag and launched it up and out of the ditch, it barely making over the edge even with all of her might. She grabbed the bear skin and did the same, it complaining all the way about being manhandled before landing right next to the duffel bag.

Finally, she got right up to the edge of the hole and stood on top of Steve and vaulted herself out with some moderate difficulty at the expense of some dirt-coated clothes.

John stood back, not wanting dirt all over their clothing, originally wanting to help the minecraft-hole lookin' motherfucker out.

This whole family is weird as hell.

"You good?" John would ask, still ignoring the other one for the life of them.

Eve nodded her head slowly, bending down to pick up her bag and the bear skin that lay crumpled by the slope in the ditch. "Yeah. Thanks."

She didn't look at Eden, or rather did a poor job of trying to hide that she was trying to not.

There was a pang in her chest, but she brushed it off. She didn't want to think about it. She just grabbed her stuff and started walking, not turning back to either of the others as the frost crunched under her feet with each slightly uneven step.

"Sorry, I gotta- I got a place I need to get. I'll be fine... Sorry. I gotta go." Her words danced in circles as she tried to think of anything to say, anything to get out of there. Anywhere to get away from Eden.

((to be continued))

"Yeah, you better run," said Eden, an ironic edge to his voice. It didn't matter--Eve wouldn't hear him at this point unless he shouted.

She was always so easy to annoy, to upset, which were basically one and the same when it came to Eve. Could Eden be blamed for that? Wasn't it normal for siblings to intentionally fuck with each other? If only she could see that, if only Eve could see that what Eden was actually doing was fulfilling his God-given duty to--

Okay, no, he didn't actually believe that. He probably owed Eve an apology now, which he was really looking forward to. Goddamn her. As though Eden would ever actually be able to stop hurting her--what did she expect? It was her fault in a way--which was exactly the kind of edgy thought you'd expect Eden to have, so of course he was going to think it.

He peered into the ditch, frowning. He was just close enough to the edge that he could fall in if he wasn't careful.

The words, though directed at John, were said almost to himself. "You know, if I fell in that ditch, right now, I have a feeling you wouldn't bother to dig me out. Right? Of course, you've actually already dug a way out for Eve, so I could simply use that, but if we ignore that... nevermind."

He straightened up, sighing. He was perfectly aware of how pathetic he sounded, but wasn't that the point?

"Well. Someone really should go after that sister of mine. Catch you later."

Wasn't it the point that, having intentionally driven Eve off, he was now going to look for her?

[Exit Eden]

I wouldn't have. I would have saved you. Doesn't mean you're not a major piece of shit.

Sigh. Anyways...I guess...should I follow?

I'll...maybe. Yeah. No.

John stood around for a while before finally deciding to exit.

What a weird family.

((John continued elsewhere))