Hunting

[Eponine Marcellina]

Eponine giggled a little and smiled for the first time scince she met parker. "You...you can call me 'ponine if you want." She said. She stood up straight and leveled her head so that theador could stay there, but when they finaly got him to balance on her head she started sneezeing again. Theador fell to the floor. "Sorry...I think I have a cold." She said. She picked up theador. "Sorry theador." she wishpered to him, and held him to her again. It was true the girl was still pail and her nose was red from all the sneezeing. "Who was that lady?" She asked, "The pritty one who was in here." She said. This was a good thing about Eponine was that she was honest, she said what she was thinking most of the time. "She looked nice, is she your wife?" she added pointing to his wedding ring. Eponine was also observent. it was a skill taught to her by her scientist parents, it came in handy a bunch of times in the past.

[Parker Quist]

Parker laughed when the bear fell back to the floor and pulled a wad of tissues out of his pocket as the girl sneezed. "It's okay. Here, use these," he said, handing the tissues to the young girl. "I think I still have some over the counter medicine upstairs." Hearing this last sentence, Tim looked up as he walked by. "She's got a cold," his dad said, and the boy ran upstairs

"You mean the woman in the ACU's? Sorry, the Army combat uniform, the camouflage." He sighed. "Yeah, that's my wife," he said, forcing a happy smile. He loved her, and it was his fault they were fighting, and that just made it worse every time he was reminded of her. He touched the wedding ring, turning it around and around on his finger. Just then he heard a 'heads,' and as soon as Parker looked up, Tim tossed him the medicine. It was liquid, so he guessed at her weight from when he had carried her and poured some into the cup, then handed it to her. "Here, drink that. It's bubblegum flavor. Have you ever had bubblegum?"

[Eponine Marcellina]

Eponine shook her head. "mom and dad said it rotted your teeth." she said matter of factly. She took the cup in the mans hands and drank the medicain. She pulled a face. "Bubble gum tast discusting." she said. She looked at the man and turned her head to the side. "You remind me of some one." she said softly. She searched her brain but she couldnt remember. "Some one I knew a long time ago." Then it hit her. "Uncle Marcus" She said..."You look just like him...only well...older." She said. Then she looked down at the teddy bear. "You act like him to." She said. "He was always nice to." She held on to theador and felt herself begain to rock back and forth on her feet. "He was the one that gave me the nickname 'ponine, when i was a baby...before...before the big fight." the "big fight" was how her mother and father had explained the idea of war to her when she was little, the whole world was in one big fight.

[Parker Quist]

Parker smiled at the little girl. "Well, Tim likes bubblegum. That's why it's the only flavor we have. Sorry about that. But Tim was a picky young boy before the big fight, so he wouldn't have anything else." Park had picked up on her use of the term 'big fight' and guessed that she either didn't know what 'war' meant or was trying to avoid the word. Either way, it was easier for him to just use the same term she had.

"You know, I had a cousin named Marcus once. He wasn't all that nice to me, though, he was kind of a bully. He was kind of like an older brother to me, actually, sometimes. One time he almost drowned me, but at least that was an accident. We were swimming, fooling around, and he dunked me under. My mouth was open, but he didn't know that until he let go and I didn't come back up. Mark was the one to save me, though, 'cause he dove right in once he realized what he'd done."

[Eponine Marcellina]

Eponine giggled. Then...well...the voice came. Not that eponine hears voices, she doesnt, but she doese have a voice of reason, how ever unreasonable as it is. He'll die, he'll die if you begain to care about him, if he begains to care about you, he'll die. And it will be all your fault. The voice wishpered. It was as if some one had fliped the switch inside Eponines brain, Her mood changed instantly. Her eyes which had been light and cheerful drained of all light. Her smile faded away so fast it was as if it had never exgisted. Her mind shut down, tears entered her eyes again and before she had a chance to even try to regain control her younge legs carried her out, out of the building, down the street raceing off, raceing back to the hole she called home, carrying her away from the family. Because she had no right to cause another person to die. No right to rob a family of a love one. Not again. Not this time. She would never let what happened to her mother, to her father to her uncle....Eponine dived into the small shelter and put her head faced down in the pillow, sobs brakeing from her....still clutching theador....she had left the blanket in the building. She didnt relize this untill it started to snow on her.

[Parker Quist]

Parker raised an eyebrow and watched the girl run off. "Well, that was odd," he said to himself. Tim and Jen stood ten or so feet away, also staring after the girl. The elder Quist male pushed himself up off the floor and grabbed the old blanket off the floor. "Um... I guess I'll be right back, then..." he said to his family, then turned and left the building to follow the young girl. He caught sight of her as she ran off down the street. After a few moments, he found her exactly where he found her the first time. And now, for the first time, he realized that he still had the hunting rifle slung over his shoulder. He still needed to get more meat for the shelter, so he dropped the blanket over the girl and headed out of the city, into the woods. The girl didn't want to be bothered, or she wouldn't have run off, so he didn't worry about her. If she wanted to talk to him again, she would find the shelter again. And now, she had warm clothes. So Parker pushed her out of his mind and trusted the snow to muffle any sounds he might make.

[Eponine Marcellina]

Eponine felt something warm drop over her. She saw the man walking away. On tiered legs she got up. on feet light and quick she fallowed him. She was careful not to make a sound. She relized he was hunting. Shed didnt make any sound. At least non that he could hear. She had to explain, she had to tell him...she wasnt ungreatful, but..she didnt want him to die. She couldnt be responsibel for his death. for anyones not when she already was responsibal for the death of three others. Of course in reality she was in no way shape or form responsibal for any ones death least of all her parents or uncle. This was all the workings of a damaged mind, a scared heart, and a small frightened little girl, who wanted nothing more then her family back, then her live back. She wanted her parents to hold her again, for her uncle to take her to he opra again, for...for time to go backward. A imposibal want, a stupid one, one she had tried to forget, with no success. So here she stood trying to find a way to explain to this man, who had been so kind.

[Parker Quist]

Parker took the gun off his shoulder, ready to shoot anything he came upon. He heard Eponine behind him but didn't react- he didn't know how she would respond, after all. So instead he went farther into the woods, looking and listening for anything alive- other than the two of them, of course. Then, remembering that he had a bright red sweatshirt on, he pulled it off over his head. He had a dark green tee shirt on underneath, and while it might be cold, it would make it easier to hunt. Park tossed the sweatshirt behind him. Either he would grab it on the way back, or possibly Eponine would.

There was a deer ahead, but Parker didn't want to shoot it, knowing Eponine was still behind him. In his experience, little kids, and often girls in general, didn't like to see animals shot. Plus he didn't know anything about her history, and for some people, especially after the war, it was even worse, and brought back bad memories.

[Eponine Marcellina]

Eponine bent down and picked up his sweater. Then looked at him. He wasnt shooting....it must be because of her. Eponine did the only thing she could think of, she backed up and silently went to where the forest begain. there she sat and waited for him. She follded the sweater and placed it on her lap. She picked up some snow (makeing sure it was white.) and put it in her mouth waiting for it to melt. She was happy the man gave her cloths. And she wanted to explain to him...but...she didnt like guns. They scared her. They killed, no, they murdered. Killing was takeing a life, murder was takeing a inocent life. There was a diffrence. Just as same and equal were diffrent. This was something her parents burned into her brain. Along with the importance of being persistant, and polite. so here she sat.Waiting to explain, waiting to tell the man that she was greatful, but she couldnt let him die. Eponine was still holding theador. Quietly she begain to sing a french lullyby to him. "faire taire maintenant mon sommeil de bébé cri maintenant mis"

[Parker Quist]

Parker stood behind a tree for several minutes, on the edge of a clearing that he usually had reasonable success in. Then, half an hour later, he climbed the tree and made his way through the treetops to another clearing not too far away. The whole time, his gun was slung across his back to keep his hands open and ready. Climbing and jumping quietly from branch to branch was something he was usde to, and now very, very good at, from hunting trips like this.

Once, he almost fell out of the tree he was leaping onto. He was older than he used to be, and it was a long jump, so it wasn't really surprising. Fortunately, he just managed to wrap his fingers around another, slightly lower branch, and then swing his legs up and onto the branch.

Again, he waited silently for several minutes. Half an hour. One hour. Several hours. Eventually, a family or deer walked by. Parker unleashed three quick shots and got them all. The problem would be getting them all back, but it was enough for the time being. Some of the others would be hunting for the kitchen, too, so that was enough for now.

Carefully, moving one carcass at a time, he brought them to a side street close to the soup kitchen, going back a different, shorter way than he'd come originally. Then he jogged back to the soup kitchen, grabbed a wagon, and brought it back to the deer, where he'd hidden them so no one would take them. After loading them onto the wagon, Park brought them in the back door of the soup kitchen. He'd completely forgotten about his sweatshirt.

[Eponine Marcellina]

Eponien fallowed him. In her hands she still held his jacket. Tentatively she knocked on the door. Her hands were trembling. She folded the sweater and put it on the ground, in the snow she wrote a note. "you left this behind, sorry for running away. Eponien Hartford." It was in large little kid writing but still it was neat. Eponien went back to where she slept and curled up under the blanket. She closed her eyes, wanting to escape from this world. she wanted to go into the past but couldn't. So she got up and went to a spot of snow about a foot away, and dug up a old music box. she opened it and a song came out. "wishing you were some how here again," from phantom of the opera, it was one of her favorites. She smiled and hummed along to the bitter sweet tune. It was pretty, and it reminded her of the time she was with her uncle, her parents, and every one, how things use to be.