#fauna would slap jet if he left without a word

[rxn-awxy-wxth-me]

The Girl makes a request

Okay so I was meant to be writing a proper fic, but then I decided I hated it and wrote this instead! I was thinking about cacti in the zones and how The Girl would definitely get attached to them, then it kinda turned into this. Anyways, hope you enjoy :D

When The Girl approached Poison with her request, they were sat on a torn up booth seat with their legs propped up on the table, watching Jet steadily as he carved notches into the table opposite with a pocket knife.

Their attention was broken as she approached them and stood back a little from the booth, hands clasped tightly together as if trying to contain excitement or nerves, Poison wasn't sure which.

Catching her eye, they saw it was likely both. She seemed to be anticipating something, and clearly had something to ask them.

“Everythin' alright?” They asked evenly, prompting her to bounce on the balls of her feet and put her hands on the table.

“Can I give some water to the cactus out there?” The Girl pointed out of the diner window towards a rocky area next to the building, “S'just that it’s dyin’ and it looks really sad.”

Poison followed her gaze and looked out at the sandy rubble of what must once have been a wall. Small trees had attempted to grow there, but had become twisted and skeletal under the sun’s constant glare. Sure enough, there was a cactus there too, looking off-colour and distinctly sorry for itself.

They stared for a moment, before turning back to The Girl, ready with a firm but regretful No. The word died in their throat however, upon seeing her face.

Poison was always stringent with their supplies, especially water. The five of them could do without a lot of things, they knew, but if they ran out of water they'd be fucked. There was only so much they could carry around with them, and Poison knew it shouldn’t be wasted on anything that wasn’t their crew, even desperate-looking desert fauna.

Still, she was watching them with such a pleading look in her dark eyes, a small hopeful smile on her face at the thought of helping this feeble looking cactus.

Surely half a bottle’s worth wouldn’t do any harm? They could drink a little less themself to make up for it, Poison reasoned.

“I reckon,” They said, sitting up and swinging their legs back down onto the floor, “you can have half a bottle, but don’t go askin’ for no more, alright?” They raised their eyebrows in a mock warning.

The Girl smiled, nodding her head vigorously. She turned to go, but paused and looked back shyly.

“Will you come help me?” She asked.

Poison was silent for a moment, regarding her. It had taken The Girl the longest to trust them out of everyone, probably because they were often, as Ghoul so delicately put it, ‘a pissy motherfucker’. Besides, it’s not like they had ever really tried to properly engage with her, not like the others. She had kept her distance, and Poison was okay with that arrangement.

But now here she was, asking them to come help her.

“Sure thing” They replied.

It wasn’t like they had anything better to be doing, riding out the midday heat as they were.

The Girl grinned and started to lead the way towards the door. As Poison slid out of the booth and turned to follow her, they caught sight of Jet watching them, trying and failing not to smirk. They flipped him off, causing Jet to break into a grin.

Poison shook their head and continued on. Honestly, this is what they got for being nice?

The back of the Trans Am contained a small mountain of junk, supplies, and other random things the five of them had picked up. It was hard to protect your shit in the zones, and having so much useless stuff to dig through to get to anything of value was as good security as anything. Not that it had been intentional. Poison and The Girl dug through it all carefully, hunting for their stash of water.

“Here!” The Girl attempted to pull out the largest water container, which was thankfully still about three quarters full.

“Hmm, not that one,” Poison dug around next to it, “a bottle'll be easier... hah!” They held one up triumphantly.

“Okay,” They turned to the girl and handed her the bottle, “Now we can get this fucker watered, yeah?”

She nodded excitedly and they walked side by side towards the cactus stood in the dust by the diner’s dirty windows.

“D’you think waterin' it will mean it'll be better next time were here?” The Girl asked, glancing up at Poison.

Seeing the plant up close, Poison saw that when The Girl had said it was dying, she really meant it. Usually cacti like that would be a healthy green colour, but this one was so shrivelled that all they could see was it’s spikes. It was dull, sad looking, and definitely on death’s door. In fact, Poison wouldn’t be surprised if it was dead already, certainly wasn’t going to last much longer.

They weren't about to spoil it for The Girl though.

“S’hard to say, but it'd better not go dyin' on us after this.” They gave the cactus a glare, which made The Girl laugh. The sound surprised Poison, high-pitched and delighted, ringing like little bells. They hadn’t heard it very often, and they had never been the cause of it before.

It was then, as she knelt in the sand and poured half a bottle of their precious water around the base of the cactus, that they realised they were enjoying spending time with The Girl. She seemed to want their company too, it’s not like the others weren’t free to come help her, but she had asked them. Poison wasn’t sure how that made them feel.

The Girl capped the now half empty bottle, and stood up, “I’m gonna name it."

There was a long pause.

“Uhh, you thought of anythin’?” Poison prompted.

The Girl sighed, “Ain't very good at thinkin’ of names.”

They smiled to themself at the truth of that, she still had yet to decide on her own name. “What about... Spiky?”

“No."

“Spike?”

“No!”

“C'mon!” Poison waved their hands in exasperation, “What about Prickles?”

The Girl tilted her head in consideration, then nodded, “I like Prickles."

“Shiny."

And that was that. Poison was about to tell her they should go put the bottle away when they heard a familiar voice behind them. “I never thought I’d get to say this, but Poison? You're goin’ soft."

They spun around and there was Kobra, arms crossed, with a teasing grin on his face.

“Won’t look so soft if y’say that again, asshole," Poison threatened, though there was no force behind their words.

“Whatever you say, Pois,” Kobra said lightly. He looked at The Girl mischievously, and she beamed at him.

“Look, if I wanna water a cactus with the kid here, then that's what I’ll do,” Poison gestured towards The Girl standing beside them, then grinned themself, “and y'can’t say shit ‘bout bein’ soft, Kobes."

“Yeah yeah."

By the time they next came to crash at the diner, Poison had all but forgotten about the cactus. They had gotten there late into the night after driving for hours, and the darkness had obscured most of the surroundings from view.

And so it was morning when they were woken unceremoniously by The Girl. She was patting them on the shoulder, whispering urgently, “Y'have to come see!”

Poison would have been worried were it not for the elation in her voice. Quietly they groaned, “can’t it wait?”

“Pleeease?”

“Okay fine, but this'd better be good.”

So for the second time, The Girl led Poison out to the scrubby area where the cactus was growing. As soon as they saw what she wanted to show them, they remembered letting The Girl water it.

Where before it had seemed old and hunched, it now looked a little healthier. They could see green on its main body, and to Poison’s eyes it stood prouder, arms reaching up toward the morning pink of the sky.

“You were right, Prickles is better!” said The Girl.

Poison could hardly believe it. They had been sure the thing was going to wilt to nothing, but sure enough, here it was. Maybe all it had needed was that little helping hand, or maybe the Witch had taken pity on it. Either way, it had managed to stay alive.

“I just said it better not die," Poison corrected, “Maybe it heard me?”

“Mmm," hummed The Girl, fiddling with the zip of her jacket and watching the cactus in front of them, “Can we give it more water?”

“I think it’s doin’ okay on its own now kiddo,” Poison nudged her gently, “We gotta keep that water for us."

“But It’s a survivor, like we are, we gotta help it out.”

“Why?”

“’Cause then it might help us out when we need it."

Poison started to laugh, “What, a cactus?”

The Girl poked them and gave them her best glare, brow furrowed, “No! The desert."

As silly and fantastical as the notion was, Poison found themself liking the idea that the desert might look after them, if they looked after it. They liked it enough to agree to let The Girl water the cactus again anyway.

How did she keep managing to coax them into letting her do it?

They cared about her, and they wanted to see her happy,  that was why. So much of her life was filled with running and surviving and looking over her shoulder. She deserved to have some fun, to be a kid, to look after some random cactus in zone 5 if she wanted.

So they dug out some more water, and she watered it. Half a bottle, no more, no less.

The other three weren’t worried in the slightest about the misuse of water, it was Poison’s job to make sure they had enough, after all. They did enjoy calling them out about it though.

“Poison, lettin' The Girl water a cactus again? You feelin’ alright?” Ghoul was watching Poison from the passenger seat with an over-exaggerated look of surprised concern on his face.

They were cruising down some unnamed road, having left the diner a couple miles back. Poison could smell the sun-baked asphalt beneath them, and their hands felt warm on the hot steering wheel despite the fingerless gloves they wore.

“It was half a bottle Ghoul, it’s not like we were waterin’ every plant in the fuckin’ zone." Poison glanced at Ghoul, “why're you so surprised anyway?”

Ghoul scoffed and slapped a hand over his mouth. Glancing in the rear-view, Poison could see Jet and Kobra exchanging an amused glance over The Girl's head.

“S'just... not like you to use supplies when you don’t absolutely have to," Jet answered after a moment.

“Someone’s gotta make sure our food for the next week doesn’t get eaten in a day," Poison huffed, “lookin’ at you Kobra.”

“That was one time!” Kobra exclaimed, hitting his hand on the window ledge in indignation.

“S'gonna be worth it though, isn’t it?” The Girl piped up, “when Prickles is all healthy again?”

“’Course it is, it’ll be the tallest cactus in this desert," Poison declared.

Ghoul twisted in his seat to face The Girl, “Thanks to you our diner’s gonna look even fuckin’ cooler than before!” Her face lit up in pride as they bumped fists.

“Since when has it looked cool?” Jet teased, smile dancing across his features.

Ghoul shrugged, “Since we been usin' it ‘course.”

Poison was now only half listening to the conversation, thinking about what Mad Gear record they were going to ask Ghoul to put on.

“Just can’t believe you let her do it," Ghoul was saying to them, grinning, “but good for you Poison, you oughta have some fun."

“Who says I don’t have fun?” Poison asked under their breath, watching the road ahead.

Still, they were all happy giving water to the little desert plant was making The Girl happy. So after that second time Poison and The Girl did so, it simply became routine.

Each time they stopped off at the diner, to pick something up, or lay low for a while, Poison and The Girl would go check on ‘Prickles’. Every time they did, the cactus looked healthier. It started to grow too, which brought discussion of just how tall they could get it to grow.

“Tall as the diner?” The Girl asked one time, looking between the cactus and their hideout, trying to picture it that high.

“That'd be one tall-ass cactus, I don’t think they can get that big,” Poison said. “Though,” they reasoned, tilting their head, “it’s done the impossible before."

Although Poison would never admit it, The Girl wasn't the only one who had grown attached to the unlikely survivor. They found themself hoping it would be okay next time they saw it, not just for The Girl, but for the fucking cactus itself. Poison felt glad The Girl had saved it. It had lived, and was thriving, because of her kindness.

The cactus never did grow as tall as the diner, but it did grow to a good height. Poison had to admit Ghoul was right, the whole place did look somehow better with the cactus there. Or maybe Poison just associated it with The Girl and all the silly, and later heartfelt, conversations they had around it.

Every time they got caught in a sandstorm and survived unscathed, or realised they had ran out of water just as the heavens opened, Poison would remember The Girl’s words about the desert looking after those who look after it. They were never sure they believed it, but they were never quite sure they didn’t either.

Regardless, The Girl had helped them realise something. It felt good to maintain life in a desert that was so often having life taken from it. Not only in defiance of BL/ind, but because the desert was their home.

And maybe, just maybe, the desert would decide to repay their favour when they needed it most.