Of all the toasts she has heard in the past five days, this one seems to be the most reasonable one. She watches Irene's reaction carefully, and is impressed with her level of self-control. She seems to know just what to say --
She seems to know just what to say.
Charm gets you nowhere when civilization breaks down, so for many, it had been a lost skill. It's also not something she has been up against recently, which means quite something if one's idea of recently can be summarized in "about twenty years". It makes her uneasy, not because she takes it as a reason to distrust Irene, but because she suddenly realized that the other woman may very well be a normal person. A person untouched by the Breakdown, the monsters that once were family members or friends. Someone whose problems were entirely man-made, and not coming at you in a death sprint to eat you alive or growing inside someone's brain until that person is gone and only the beast remains.
Of course, she reckons, man-made problems have their own severity, and normal is relative. For one, Irene's attire does not suggest a low-to-average wage.
"Caroline." She lifts up her own glass, having received an identical drink to Irene's for simplicity's sake. It's not like she would have had any clue what to order.
"I will gladly wait for the shock to wear off, but I can do without waking up. I will take a war I can still win over one I have already lost."
no subject
She seems to know just what to say.
Charm gets you nowhere when civilization breaks down, so for many, it had been a lost skill. It's also not something she has been up against recently, which means quite something if one's idea of recently can be summarized in "about twenty years". It makes her uneasy, not because she takes it as a reason to distrust Irene, but because she suddenly realized that the other woman may very well be a normal person. A person untouched by the Breakdown, the monsters that once were family members or friends. Someone whose problems were entirely man-made, and not coming at you in a death sprint to eat you alive or growing inside someone's brain until that person is gone and only the beast remains.
Of course, she reckons, man-made problems have their own severity, and normal is relative. For one, Irene's attire does not suggest a low-to-average wage.
"Caroline." She lifts up her own glass, having received an identical drink to Irene's for simplicity's sake. It's not like she would have had any clue what to order.
"I will gladly wait for the shock to wear off, but I can do without waking up. I will take a war I can still win over one I have already lost."