surveillance

[oinks]

Passengers: Amanda & Jason
Location: Darkest hallways of the Peregrine
Date: Post-port, just post
Summary: Hey Jase whatcha up to
Warnings: Stalking and violence, will keep updated as needed



The cold, silent cruise through space without some kind of destination in mind incites boredom in Amanda far too easily; she's spent time, recently, getting on the nerves of wardens and is laying low. For her, this means minding the business of others to a comical degree. Everybody has little routines, and things they do when nobody is watching. Amanda is short, and slender, and if she hangs her head and picks at her nails people don't notice her, or at least they do their best to pretend that she isn't there at all. It suits her fine, and the added scrap with Ellie only lends itself to shield her true intentions.

Jason is interesting, except that she knows it's the kind of interesting she rightfully shouldn't engage with. What she remembers from the simulation is sharp and mortifying. She avoids him when she sees him in the hallways and just as suddenly the inverse becomes true, and she takes to following him. Keeping an eye out. He saw a very jagged part of her she cannot reconcile and it's only fair that she sees something from him, something he hates, or is ashamed about.

... From what she has seen already, he spends an inordinate amount of time running through the ship at night. Like a hamster in a wheel.

Tonight he is lifting things in the kitchen. Amanda is drawn to the dim lights like a moth and she curls into a little corner to keep an eye. She isn't tired. And she's avoiding the inmate bunks, anyway.

Comments

[theartofmadness]

Another night just like any other. Nightmares. Cold sweat. No going back to sleep. He hadn't forgotten about what happened during the sim; during Space X or whatever the fuck. Everyone stopped talking about it shortly after they returned. Moved on.

It was all superficial though and Jason knew it. It was how survivors operated. Something terrible happens and you feel it deeply and it affects you profoundly but you move on. Keep walking forward. Add the scar to your growing collection and get on with it. Life isn't fair. Life is unforgiving. As it turned out, so was he. One more flip and a hard exhale.

Time doesn't matter in space. Was it midnight, 2am, 4am? Hard to tell. He ran down the hallways for a while before deciding to make a mess of things in the mess hall. It was called a mess hall, after all. Flipping tables isn't the same as flipping tires but hey. Beggars can't be choosers.

When Amanda slips in, Jason's in his own world; though he wasn't unaware of the little shadow that followed him from time to time. He was a lot of things. Reckless. Impulsive. Too many things to list, really. Unobservant wasn't one of them. But Jason was also human, and painfully so. Tired, and only continuing to exert himself, he isn't on as high of an alert.

[oinks]

She can't wholly disapprove of his tendency to make a mess wherever he goes when it probably pisses somebody off, but the loud sounds make her wonder why somebody doesn't come to tell him to knock it off–

It's more likely that they don't care. She draws a finger around what's left of the bite mark on her wrist, courtesy of an inmate she was so sure understood her. She won't make that kind of mistake again, but she can't help but wonder- what Jason remembers, what he thinks of what he saw in her face while she died, if he enjoyed it. She hates that he holds that over her, like a clenched fist.

Amanda keeps watching. She skirts the edge of the hall in order to get behind him. The sharpened spring that Ellie gave her is tucked into her front pocket, and every so often she touches it just to make sure its still there, pressing a bare fingertip against the point until it stings and hurts her. Gives her a little clarity with which to work, as she steals closer to where he stands.

[theartofmadness]

It's a natural talent he has: pissing people off. One could analyze what this means but that's not why they're here, is it? (It's exactly why they're here). Instead, tables are aptly flipped and Jason's taking a small moment--hell, he might even be tired enough to fall asleep again. A roll of his neck and a hand idly rubbing the back of it. His gaze moves with that roll just enough to see her.

She's been acting like a fucking weirdo for days now, weeks, or however long it's been. Not that Jason's conveniently forgotten what all happened in the sim, he remembers vividly, but just come at him. Instead, she's always just sitting at his peripherals and for a while he kinda just dismissed it as weirdos being weirdos, but.

There's an audible crack as he pulls his shoulder blades together and releases his chest--vertibrae re-aligning. Feet turn, and his head cocks to the side. He won't say anything for a moment. Just stare back. But finally: "So, we gonna fuckin stand here like two assholes for the rest of the night or are you gonna say your piece?"

[oinks]

She freezes up when his head turns as if that will make her invisible, but he's seen her, clear as day, and she realises with a rush of ice-cold clarity that he knew the entire time that she was in here. She doesn't dare move, sucking air in as soundlessly as she can through her parted mouth. They stare at each other. His question breaks the spell.

Amanda straightens up and feels a good pull between her shoulder blades when she stands as tall as she can (that is to say, barely at all). She thinks of how quick Ellie was to slam her head back into the wall with a motion well-practiced, snake-like; Jason's muscles cord in his arms when he tenses.

She chooses her words carefully.

"I wanted to know if you told anybody about the sim."

[theartofmadness]

He's watching her just the same. She hadn't done anything yet but people who slink around in the shadows the way she does are never up to any good. Just his personal experience. Ego and a slice of arrogance doesn't have Jason all that worried, though. Just curious. What the fuck her problem was.

The arch of his brow rises. Eyes search her for a moment. And for what it's worth, all the body language lined up with him telling the truth. "Why the fuck would I?"

Because it put him in a bad light. Hell, he still struggled with it. Not like she needed to know. He knew he had... a violent streak. But.

[oinks]

"I don't know you, motherfucker." She doesn't move from where she is but she puffs up around the words like an angry cat. The point isn't unreasonable. He could be the type of person to throw himself under the bus and take her along with him, who the hell could say otherwise, besides him? As if Amanda would trust his word alone.

She shakes her head, like she's talking herself into it. Working herself up, "But you know me. And that isn't fair."

Not fair, or his fault, but she needs somebody to blame. Needs something else to lock onto to keep herself from crumbling, collapsing inward.

[theartofmadness]

"So ask a fuckin question or somethin' you weirdo." he doesn't miss a beat. The fuck is this person's problem, honestly? Whatever though its not like he hasn't dealt with weirdly hostile people before and hell what else is there to do but entertain it for a hot second--flip some more fucking tables? So he gives her his attention nonetheless.

"What, because I watched you die and spot you lurking in the shadows you think I know something about you?" Which, fair... that was true, it does tell him something about her. Maybe she's thinking about something else, though? He's not sure yet. Arms fold over his chest and Jason cocks his head to the side a bit. "If that's the case, that whole sim bullshit told you something about me, too."