trans_9 | (no subject)

If there was one thing Eve had paid attention to during her brief time in the ship, was the location of the small hidey spots that might offer some kind of safety along the way. She'd really hoped it wouldn't have to come to this, but the thought was never really far from her mind. Even when she wasn’t being forced to look for the ever elusive ‘cake’ she still felt somehow threatened. She hadn't been able to talk with Claire earlier, and she wasn't going too any time soon. She’d waited for a long time, much longer than she thought she had, but it still made her feel uneasy.

Yet Eve hadn’t really ‘left’ the spot Claire and Leon had placed her in. Partly because she knew she could see it if she poked her head out and partly because that’s what she wanted to tell herself. Luckily, as time wore on during the hour, worrisome thoughts had faded somewhat, and this small white rectangular duct-cum-crevice felt… comfortable. At least for now.

It was in the middle of casting a strange finger puppet shadow on the floor when she felt another’s presence. Human. Scrambling out on hands and knees, envisaging Claire, Leon, perhaps even an old friend she caught sight of one of the new children to the ship. Eve stood curiously, perplexed, chancing only a single step toward her. Suddenly it was a little harder to breathe easily and be comfortable. She blinked at the girl not used to company that was almost as small as her, but relieved in such a person not being a dangerous looking threat.

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Sherry was, by nature, a quiet child. But even she knew to say hello when a stranger appeared. Sherry cocked her head to the side and blinked a few times, before opening her mouth to question the other little girl. The stranger was thin like she was, with lighter blond hair than her own, darker blue eyes, and looked somewhat malnourished. Not that Sherry could particularly talk on that subject, still under a hundred pounds soaking wet.

"Who are you?" she asked, shifting her weight to her back foot in case she needed to run. It was one thing to be friendly (the other girl didn't look bad, but you never could tell...), and wholly another to go running to her new mother for help. Sherry would err on the side of caution if she had to, and knew it. "Why were you hiding in a vent?"

Eve tipped her head to the side, just looking. She hadn’t yet seen this girl around and hadn’t heard a name. Did Claire know her? Was this Leon’s friend? Was this girl looking for cake too?

At first she answered with a wary shrug. She wasn’t hiding – not really. She just felt safe there. Safer still if Claire or Leon were here, but they had things to deal with.

“Waiting...” She finally confessed in a raspy tone, barely louder than a whisper.

"Are you Leon's friend?"

Her voice was weird, like she needed to take a very long drink of water to get it to sound normal again. Sherry shifted her weight, and paused before answering, "I'm his daughter. Who are you?" she asked again. This was kind of bothersome, really, the girl didn't want to give her a name (or, for some reason, couldn't give her name) and it kind of frustrated her.

"I can go and find them, if you want, you know. It'll only take a second."

That statement didn't give Eve much hope. She wasn’t entirely sure what a ‘daughter’ was or if she should make Leon come back from whatever important tasks he was doing. But she nodded anyway. It was like joining the ship all over again; meeting new faces only to loose them and find others to replace. Was it normal? Placing a hand on her head thoughtfully. She tried to shake the strange feeling from her brain.

“I…”

She blinked rapidly and tried to organize her thoughts. It was a lot harder than usual.
Taking survey of her surroundings just for comfort however partly did the trick, and she plucked the next coherent thought with as much conviction as she could.

_{“I’m Eve… I didn't want to be any trouble...”}

Sherry nodded and smiled, a little bit. More flies with honey than vinegar, after all, she reminded herself. "Okay, Eve. I'm Sherry. I don't think it'll be any trouble if I go and find him."

Leon would know what to do. And if he didn't, Claire would, that was straight and simple fact. "Unless you want to come with me?" The girl was timid as Sherry was on her worst days, but Sherry still held out her hand. She wasn't a talking dog, or a giant dinosaur, and her hair wasn't some wild color. In fact, except for her raspy voice, she was nearly normal!

“Can I come?”

It seemed like once she started talking, she just kept going. She didn't really talk in complete lengthy sentences yet and she probably wouldn’t for a while, but she was talking; trying to relate. (Even if it was accompanied by a raspy squeak)

Then there was the kind hand offered to her. It was smaller than Eve was used too holding, but somehow, it made her feel a little bit better. Her fingers intertwined with Sherry’s timidly, but without fear. If Leon and Claire were her friends then she definitely wasn’t a monster.

Sherry wasn't sure why the girl was being so timid. It was kind of annoying, since she was used to people acting (at least) like they had some kind of backbone. Oh well. Sherry nodded, "Yes, I said you could. Let's go, come on." She took Eve's hand and started off in search of her parents.

"Where are you from?" she asked quietly, as they padded about the halls of the precinct.