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⬅️ Previous capture (2024-08-18)
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Created: May 5, 2024 9:53 PM
Vic sat down on a rock beside Ulysses with a sigh. The camp had grown since last she saw him. Now there was a small campfire and a makeshift tent overlooking the expanses. The man she had come to see sat stoically but she could sense a weariness to him she hadn't seen before. Was he letting his guard down, finally? Vic sat and fidgeted for a few minutes, her mind racing and her heart pounding. She couldn't hide it even if she wanted to. No, Ulysses deserves to see her as she truly is.
"Courier. Do you intend to stay long?"
"Am I welcome to?"
"You have more right to be here than I."
A few minutes passed in silence, a few marked men walked the streets of
Hopeville below. Whether they noticed the two couriers was hard to say.
Then Vic turned to look at Ulysses.
"I know this probably means very little coming from me but I feel you
deserve to know that I truly am sorry. You are right to blame me. I was
careless and abandoned my home–our home. It was that carelessness that
took something special from you. I don't expect to be forgiven but I
needed to let you know that."
What seemed like an eternity passed. Oh god had she insulted him? Had
she become just as mocking as the White Legs? Oh god oh god-
"Thank you, Courier. Far too many people in this world shirk their
responsibilities, turn their lives into a meaningless array of actions
and words until demise. You bear the weight of your actions like a cross
from Caesar and yet you do it with a grace I've seen in few women and
fewer men."
Vic stared with mouth agape. He….respected her? After all she'd done?
Just a few words and that's it??
"You seem surprised, Victoria. Why?"
"Well I…. I don't know what to say."
"Then let the silence speak for you."
Almost half an hour passed. The two sat looking on into the sands
thinking. It felt necessary.
"Was speaking with me your only intention for coming here, or is there
another purpose in your step?"
"Well I've been doing a lot of thinking and I think you're right-this
state."
"You intend to make up for your actions by punishing yourself?"
Ulysses laughed, something Vic had never heard before. "Perhaps I
haven't been the best influence on you then. Your actions are history
and no punishment will remedy that."
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to-"
"I'm not finished, Victoria. While your past is unchangable, your
future is unwritten. Don't throw it away like I do."
"I……I guess you're right as usual. Still, I feel the need to be
here. Even if I don't make it my home I'm going to visit more often so
you'd better get used to me". Vic laughed nervously.
"I….I think I might enjoy that. It's hard to spend so long obsessing
over someone without growing a bit…fond."
What?!?! Did he actually just say that? Fond?? After everything? Respect
was hard enough to believe but fondness? Had the radiation in the Divide
screwed with his head?
"I can tell you're surprised again, courier. I suppose that's
understandable given everything I've done."
Everything he's done? Even if he did go through with his plan it
wouldn't've hurt nearly as many people as the victims of The Divide
(both the original inhabitants and the marked men).
"Even if you had gone through with it, it's nothing like what I did."
Ulysses chuckled to himself again. She really did learn, maybe too well.
"Can I tell you something?"
"Absolutely."
"Well it's about history-my history to be exact. A part of it I'm not
sure you've heard."
Ulysses looked at Vic intently, like an eager student ready to learn.
"Well, my culture has been taken from me too. My father's ancestors,
the Acjachemen, were colonized and assimilated. We weren't allowed to
speak our own language or practice our own customs. We were expected to
either become like our colonizers or die trying."
"I am truly sorry for your loss, Victoria. I know that loneliness, that
gaping hole in your chest of knowing you're missing something but being
so far removed that the memory, however tight you hold on, begins to
fade."
"It's nice knowing someone who can sympathize. It's…hard to talk
about especially because I'm so far removed I almost feel like I don't
have the right."
"The right? As long as that history continues with you, however small,
that is right enough in my book."
In truth, this is one of the few times she'd spoken about it. Maybe she
should more.
The pair's conversation was interrupted by a pair of tunnelers that
appeared from the earth behind them, teeth wet with drool. Vic pulls out
her trusty brush gun, and takes a defensive stance. One tunneler lunges
at Ulysses and Vic gets off a lucky headshot. After looking at Ulysses
with a grin, she's knocked off her feet by the second tunneler. It was
knocked down by old glory, wielded by a Ulysses she had never seen
before. He looked…concerned for her?
"Are you alright, Vic?"
"Y-yeah, I'm fine…..thank you."
"Don't mention it. However, I insist you take this to get your
strength back."
Ulysses hands a stimpak to the grateful-looking courier.
After injecting themselves with the stimpak and resting for a few
moments starts digging through her bag.
"Well, I know you weren't hurt but would you…want to share some of
this brahmin steak? I-if you want."