Ice in the Desert Chunk 5

Introducing Coulgant to Poison doesn't go as smoothly as Ice had planned.

We approach the stone in which the bunker lies beneath, and I can hardly wait to introduce Coulgant to Poison, and I chuckle inwardly as we lower ourselves down the ladder, wondering what stupid name he'll give him. Then the question rises in my mind of how he's going to react. I just dragged a random and very handy stranger in here after my first night spent with this group not completely willingly. A bite my lip in anticipation as I enter the main room.

As per normal, no one cares nor gives us a second glance. Upon closer inspection of these people, I notice that they all have very colorful uniforms, and some even have masks. I wonder where they get all this cools stuff, and I think of asking Coulgant, but I doubt he knows any better about this than I do. I push past a couple of these colorfully dressed kids, and the rest get the message and just sort of 'drift' out of the path.

Scorch knocks on Poison's door. We don't hear any sound at first, and Scorch knocks again. “Must you all be such impatient kids?” says a frustrated voice behind the door. “I have stuff that needs to get done in here, you know!” and then we hear shuffling and footsteps. The door opens, and Poison frankly doesn't look impressed to see any of us at first, and then he sees Coulgant. “Hey,” he starts, pointing at him with a faint sneer. “I've seen you before. Down at the shop, buying medicine. Didn't we run you off?” he says, almost challengingly, and I look at Coulgant with an expression that I hope says, What is he going on about?

Coulgant stutters. “W-what're you talkin' about? What shops? I've just lived out here with my partner on this side of the desert.” he says, and if it weren't for the surprised stammer I would've called Poison crazy right there and then.

“No.” says Poison, shaking his head, “You were buying some sort of pill. Jet-Star and I were there, and I don't exactly remember what we got mad at you about, but we sent you packing. I remember your hair, the way you stared at us defiantly at first.” he finishes. Then he speaks quickly. “Let's head in here to finish this discussion, shall we?” he says, and gestures us all inside. Coulgant fidgets a little, obviously put off by the encounter. Poison sits down at his homemade desk, places his hands together in front of him, and stares at us. The four of us just kind of stand around uncomfortably; Scorch and Crimson are as confused as I am, and Coelgant is flashing quick glances towards the door. Then Poison speaks again, glaring at him with a dangerous curiosity. “You're a brave kid, coming here, you know that? Either brave or uninformed.”

He speaks up. “I don't know you. Never seen you before in my life. You must have me confused with some other blonde, sun-burnt desert-goer. I've never even heard of any shops before.” he says, flashing Poison his most innocent, wide-eyed stare. “I just came here with my partner to join the mighty Killjoys.”

Poison chuckles. “Just look at you. You're one of the best liars I've ever met!” he leans forward, and says with a poisonous(ha ha) tone, “I don't forget faces. Ever. Now let's get this cleared up with your 'partner'.” he says, and tilts his head over to me. “Ice, do you know of the desert shops and the BLI?” he inquires. I shake my head. “Well, the BLI is a good place to start: Better Living Industries. Tyrants trying to rob us of our individuality in this world, and we, the rebels, the desert-goers are the last of that. You've seen the living dead people in Bat City, haven't you?” he asks, and I nod. I know what he's talking about: the people who have lost their souls, the people who can't change from their dead-end life in the city. “Good, that clears up enough. And for the desert shops? Organized individuals on the other side of the desert have permission to set up shops out here, which, while they can be traps for unsuspecting rebels, those who can recognize the patterns of the coming and going of the Exterminators can usually go in and buy stuff safely.

“It's more of a barter, we trade finds for finds. There's plenty of cool gear in there, sometimes you find a halfway-decent gun, a spray-paint bottle, maybe even a mask, though we normally make those ourselves. BLI has a lot of it's generic things in there, too. Medicine, sleeping bags, blankets, clothes, food, and more, all marked with the same symbol. You'll know it when you see it. We'll have to get out there sometimes. Well, on with the story.” he pauses, and his eyes flick from Coulgant, who was growing increasingly more uncomfortable, and back to me. “Jet-Star, Kobra Kid, a guy you've never heard of named Fun Ghoul, and I, right when we were just forming our little gang, when it was just five of us, were browsing through one of these shops about a year ago. We spray-painted the front of it, and thought we'd marked it as our store, our personal place for shopping. No one else from that side of the desert went there, or, at the very least, not when we were nearby.

“I can remember it clearly now that I've started thinking about it. We had good finds that day. Kobra had found a neat pin, Jet-Star had a helmet in his hands, and Ghoul held a few containers of food. I recall walking down one of the isles in the little store, seeing him,” he says, nodding in Coulgant's direction, “and thinking, 'Wow, how did I not see him before?' and then I got angry because of his ignorance of our sign. Called the others over, and we backed him up into a corner.” he continued, and I myself felt awkward listening to the tale of Coulgant's struggle. “He was holding a bottle of pills. Claimed he had to get them for someone. That was you probably. Take any meds?” he asked, but before I could answer, he pressed on. “Anyways, asked him if he knew it was our place. He said no, and I told him he sounded as ignorant as the scavengers on the side of the desert we currently stay on. Jet-Star and I threw a few punches, nothing major, no stabbing or anything, just enough to tell him not to come back again. Thought I'd never lay eyes on him again after that. But look where we are now! Small world, eh?” he says, concluding his story. Coulgant is bright red, presumably from the shame of being defeated as easily as that, an he glares at Poison with an anger that scares me. He starts talking.

“Yeah... it's true. I-i had to go out there, it was the closest place. I didn't know they'd be there, I was just lookin' out for you.” he says. I think about the pills, finding the talk about them strange, even though I'd never needed to take any. Coulgant answers my question before I can even ask it. “You see, you've always had a hard time sleeping. I don't think you've ever noticed, I always snuck one into your dinner, and that's why you probably slept okay last night. Whenever I ran short of these, I would dash over to that shop when you went patrolling to go get more. Was always more careful after I met these guys, but I still went. I've been doing this for... about a year. The second time was when I got caught.” he finishes, not making eye contact with me. I'm not sure exactly what to feel or say. I never noticed any problems with my sleeping. I thought some of the nights where I lied wide awake were just nights when I wasn't tired, not nights where I hadn't had the 'pill'.

“You never told me?” I say, not out of anger or of disappointment, but simply out of confusion. Why wouldn't he have told me? It's not like it's embarrassing to have sleeping problems. I don't think it is, at least. “I could've helped you go and get them. I would've.” I say, and he shakes his head.

“No, I didn't want you to know about the shops. That's a whole new level of dangerous, that side of the desert. Worse than occasional Exterminators or Vampires. I was keeping you safe by not telling you.” he says, trying to persuade me that he was doing the right thing. But I was on a roll now.

“I can take care of myself. I've done find up until now, and I'm still in one piece, ain't I? I know how to scavenge, how to shoot, how to hide. I would've been fine.” I say, voice rising just a little bit.

The twins take this moment to make their existence known once again for a moment by opening and shutting the door as they left. We all stare for a moment at where they used to be, and then we resume: Coulgant and I discussing my safety, and Poison watching it all in silent intrigue.

“Trust me on this one, Viney, Ice, whatever your name is.” he says pleadingly. His eyes show that what he's saying is genuine, and I archive it as one of the few moments where he willingly lets me see what he's thinking. I want to argue back, I want to fight and say that I couldn't trust him after he'd lied to me all this time, but I didn't want to damage anything. He was just trying to help me. He's always been there for me for years, why would I want to shatter it all over another of his attempts to help me? I'll admit that it was a rather deceptive way of doing so, but...

“Whatever.” I mumble, my sign to let him know it's all fine and he's one once again. Poison smirks and starts talking again, which may or may not have been a good thing.

“Now that that's all sorted out, I can safely conclude that you're from the poor scavenging side of the desert, one of you was a clueless yet still rather helpful kid, and the other the not-quite-so-clueless and still rather useful kid. So, two people I can use neither clueless as of now. Two people that know each other and can work together. Why not? Let's get you a name.” says Poison, as if his previous tale of Coulgant's defeat wasn't important enough to start a grudge over. I lean over and whisper to Coulgant.

“Beware his name skills. He named himself, and his full name's Party Poison.” and Coulgant smirks a little bit. Poison stands up and leans in close to Coulgant, examining him like he did me.

“Near white hair you've got there.” he mutters, deep in thought. “Like a ghost. That's a good one. Quick and easy to remember. White Ghost.” he snickers a little. “Black Ice and White Ghost. The invisible pair.” he says, amused with himself. “Now, get lost. I'll see what I can do for a little trip to the shop tomorrow. The two of you fascinate me for some reason, and I want to see what'll happen.” he finishes, and shoos us off. Ghost gives me a puzzled glance as we leave the room, and reassure him that Poison is just an eccentric person, and that the names, while they were used, weren't taken too seriously. I tell him how people rolled their eyes in sympathy for me when he announced my name at this morning's meeting. We spend the rest of the day in a corner of the main room, talking endlessly like we normally did. It almost felt like the Dust Bunny with us talking like this.

Author's Note

Please watch for typos and grammatical errors.