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Sasha was jolted into wakefulness thanks to her own raucous snore. It was something that happened often; the young woman had always been an incredibly heavy sleeper. Her mp3 player was still playing, and Sasha paused to turn it off. She was alone but didn't worry about where Jerry might've gotten off to. She didn't need a keeper and neither did Jerry.

Rubbing at her eyes, Sasha rose to her feet. She looped the earbuds under the ratty braid she'd twisted her hair into. The sand was making her scalp itch and she couldn't help but wonder if there was some sort of set-up for bathing, or even moist towelettes she could use to wipe her face clean.

In a daze, Sasha stumbled out of the rest area. Maybe after she could clean up she'd come back for some food and hot tea.

(Exiting!)

"Yeah. I was used to my other trapeze artists having my back--literally-- and the rest of the troupe...we were kind of all a ragtag band, so it was a very tight knit circle."

She tapped her chin. "You know, that's probably a good way to off us. Bullets and poison probably wouldn't be nearly efficient enough.

When Rep called her sis, Clerise couldn't help but be touched. Despite it probably just being slang-- well. She'd been an only child, and it was sometimes a lonely existence.

Her new family at Deus was way better than her real one.

Upon his insistence that Balthazar would get fixed-- Well. His optimism was almost uncharacteristic, and that made Clerise appreciate it that much more. "Hah. Yeah, okay. I've got pride to spare anyway, right?"

A toothy grin right back at him. With his uneasy admission, Clerise just nodded, once-- and ******** it, she also wanted a hug. Without any warning, Clerise yanked him off the cot by the arm, wrapping her other arm around Rep's shoulder. Burying her face against his shoulder, Clerise squeezed him tight, exhaling heavily.

"I figured myself out in high school without the threat of death and s**t. Can't imagine doing it now when things are more complicated than what tonight's math homework is."

Human contact was something Clerise thrived on-- so she was content to sit there with him, everyone else be damned.

She relaxed into the embrace, glad for it beyond words. "You owe me a story later," Clerise said lowly. "Possibly many stories, if you guys end up..."

The redhead pulled back to give Rep a part two showing of frotting, an illustrated finger demonstration.

But with three fingers, this time.

"Yeah. Things are...okay, all things considered."

Despite the fact that Julie and the whole Sahara base was dead-- they weren't. She would count her blessings-- the people she cared about were alive-- Clerise had seen Clarice, Rep, Sasha-- there were a few missing that she wanted to go find, but...

"Coming from you, I don't know how much that means," Clerise teased, poking him in the ribs, letting him slip away. Her tone was pleasant, her mood elevated.

"No ******** kidding-- If I don't get another night out with meximarts, I will haunt Caelius' a**," Clerise grumped, arms crossed.

"You're strong too, you know. You really need some time to ******** let yourself heal though. Jesus, dude. Take it easy, all right?" She inspected where she knew wounds were, eyes sweeping over his bites.

Clerise felt like mothering, so goddamnit, she was going to.

"Don't do what, I doon'tt know what you're talking about~" she purred with a grin.

He passed her inspection-- for now, anyway. No open bleeding and no broken bones, at least. "Yeaahh. Well." She pointed a finger at him, narrowing her eyes. "You have people to come back to, now. Don't get turned into ground beef."

Done with her lecture, she nodded, hopping up off the bed, and tossed him one of the MREs she'd swiped: Spaghetti and Meatballs. "Eat something, it'll settle your stomach. I need to go track down miss lady again."

Clerise couldn't resist ruffling his hair, giving him a long look. "Bye, Rep."

Before exiting, she went to go hock a few more MREs and shove them into her coat pockets-- and then vanished out of the tent.

[ clerise is exiting ]

[Entering]

It was quiet in the resting tent, but quiet was a relative thing. This quiet was a breathing quiet, broken by the occasional snore or mumble, or by the low murmur of people talking in undertones. It wasn't the still, dead quiet of the tent in the Sahara, and Jordan was utterly grateful for that. He found an empty cot off to the side and settled down to rest, pulling his hood up.

And sat up again no more than a minute later, his hands clenched into fists and his breathing uneven. He'd been on the edge of sleep, dropping quickly into the dark behind his eyelids, and then in that drifting, half-sleeping state, the image of the bugs had come roiling up out of his memory. He'd struggled quickly awake, Ferros growling in helpless concern.

He was so damn tired, but he didn't dare sleep. He gave a moment's thought to going back to the infirmary tent, finding a corner there; but he wasn't injured, and he wasn't sure it would help anyway. The horrors of the desert were still too raw and fresh in his mind's eye. He leaned his elbows on his knees and rubbed his hands over his face, exhausted and frustrated.

Jordan looked up. Had he heard someone - yeah, he had. Rep was looking over at him, looking just as tired and just as awake as Jordan was. He got up and made his way quietly over to the other Sun hunter's cot; they couldn't have a conversation across the tent when everyone was asleep, and awkward staring would just be, well, awkward. "Hey," he said, just as quietly, offering a wan smile.

Jordan sat down, leaning on his knees again and twisting a little to look at Rep. "Can't sleep," he confirmed quietly. "Tried, closed my eyes, saw bugs. You either, huh." It was more a statement than a question.