Survival Of The Fittest

Shit

Victor was putting the lighter in his pocket, the problem had been solved, and now Thing had to say that. He just rolled his eyes at what he was going to have to do. Not because explaining would implicate him in any way, but because explaining would simply take up valuable time needed to get things done. Either way, Victor's gun dropped.

"Come on, Fitz. Let's get moving. I don't feel safe here."

Fitz made no movement, quick or otherwise, after Karin. He picked up his rifle, but did so slowly as she sprinted away while clattering loud enough to wake the dead.

At Karin’s last shouted words, he raised his eyebrows slightly. He turned his head in the direction of Victor, initially waiting. When Victor didn’t address the words and decided that they should move on, Fitz didn’t move after him.

“No, ‘ohhh, she’s lying?’”

As Fitz spoke, he checked over the rifle once before he pulled the clip out of his pocket and loaded the gun, though he kept it pointed away from Victor still.

“Taking the gun before she’d hit the ground? That’s pretty cold. I’m not going to say I’m clean – I definitely have taken stuff from the dead, even the ones I didn’t kill. But they were always cold first, y’know?”

And there lay the doubt. Thinking about it, Thing did tell the truth. Of course, that truth was only the basic idea of what happened, leaving out the important context (like hey dumbfuck, YOU killed her).

"She didn't hit the ground. She hit me. When Ashlee got shot, we both went down, and she collapsed onto me. By the time I realized that Ashlee had landed on me, she was dead, or as good as. Of course ... Han," Victor said with some distaste, "left out the fact that she was originally trying to kill me." Victor scoffed at that. "So she'd killed Ashlee only because she was in front of me when she fired. Of course I bailed. I wasn't going to let Han have another chance to kill me just because she got butthurt."

Which was ... the truth. More or less. Unlike a certain something that had just left the area.

“Hm.”

The noise Fitz left out was doubtful, and the look he gave Victor even more so. His eyes shifted away as he considered this information.

“...Alright. Fine,” he said, in a tone that did not convey the sentiment. “But about that.”

Fitz gestured at Victor’s gun.

“You even practiced with that thing? You know how easy you could have shot me instead if you’d gone for it? I dunno a lot about guns, but I don’t trust the aim of anything you gotta light with a fuse to begin with.”

Victor hated this line of questioning. He couldn't lie, but the truth wouldn't exactly be comforting.

"No, I haven't. I'm saving the ammo for when I need it. If shit goes down, I'll at least let you know when I'm going to fire." Victor looked at his gun. "At least if I can't shoot them with it, I could hit 'em with it."

((Victor Grail continued in Lost and Lonely))

“...Uh huhhh.”

Fitz eyed the gun doubtfully, then shrugged.

“Okay. Consider my fears forgotten.” The smile he gave was grim. “Lead on, then.”

-

He said very little for the rest of the day. Though he spent a lot of time eyeing the gun as he walked behind Victor, much as he had complained about Evie doing. They encountered no-one else, and found somewhere to sleep.

When it was his turn to keep watch, Fitz waited just long enough to be sure Victor was asleep, then quietly gathered his things and left.

((Russell 'Fitz' Fitzroy continued elsewhere.))