#t; slivko 002

[tmuses]

Slivko groaned, the heat of the sun beating down on him. Setting his rifle down next to him, he shoved a hand into his pocket. His fingers grasped around for his pack of cigarettes, though it was met only with junk. Even before the apocalypse he'd been the kind of person that kept the most pointless shit in his pockets. If anything, it should've been less cluttered, what with the lack or receipts and loose change but it'd only gotten worse. "Man, what the fuck are we even doing out here?" he complained with another heavy sigh. He shifted his body weight to better access his other pocket without standing up. This time he found his pack with ease, and his lighter too. Flipping the lid open and placing his mouth to the pack he grabbed one and lit it. Without saying anything, he offered the pack out to his companion in case they wanted one too. Cigarettes were a hot commodity these days, but he was nothing if not a saint.

[tmuses]

For a second he opened his mouth to ask who the fuck John Green was, but quickly closed it upon realizing he just didn't care. The tone of her voice and the roll of her eyes indicated an element of sarcasm. Maybe a couple months ago she would've been too anxious to so much as disagree with him, now though? He couldn't get her to shut up. Blair's quick response was met with a nonchalant shrug and a wordless grunt. Sticking around so they felt safe was one thing, motivating them was another entirely. Motivation in his household was the sound of a belt being unbuckled. Motivation in the army was little short of torture. Light motivation wasn't something he was familiar with, nor was he sure he'd be capable of doing. "If you want light motivation, I'm not your guy" he shook his head, lips pulled together into a thin line.

Blair was a little naive at times, but not a total idiot. She knew how much he hated doing this stuff, and not just because he told her; often. Slivko was lazy by nature. Blair was just sort of hoping it was lazy in like... a lion sort of way, like he might hop up and be really useful in danger and go back to sleeping and eating and being generally useless... kind of way. "So very John Green of you," She commented wryly, rolling her eyes. Not that she expected him to know what that meant, maybe Shiloh would have laughed. The thought soured her fun.

He looked like he was listening and for once not in the patronizing way where he would nod to everything she said and ask her to repeat herself all over when she finished speaking. "No," She answered instinctively. "You're here so they feel safe enough to go look where they need to without worrying about getting eaten... But also... I don't know, a little? Like I'm not talking Guantanamo Bay here, but like a LIGHT motivation couldn't hurt."

[tmuses]

Slivko rolled his eyes at her, uninterested and entirely unwilling to continue the argument. He bristled in irritation, though it wasn't entirely directed at Blair. Mostly, he was frustrated with Cain. At first Slivko had thought it'd be fun to fill his shoes and be in charge for once. Even back in his army days he'd been jealous of the power Cain possessed. Now, he realized he didn't want any of it. He didn't want the pressure, and he sure as fuck didn't want the responsibility. Constantly, he poked and prodded at his former Sergeant, anything to kindle the fire that seemed to be dying more and more each day. Nothing worked and he continued to be nothing but sad, bitter, and empty. He'd intended to take advantage of Blair's momentary silence and wander off but the panicked tapping on his arm put a stop to those ideas. His lips pressed together into a thin line, a heavy sigh pushing through his nostrils. Things could never be simple. He crouched down to put his cigarette out against a piece of stone on the ground, shuffling it back into his pack before standing up again. "Relax, they probably just wandered farther in," he reassured her, though it was less to put her at ease and more to keep her quiet. He wasn't worried, not yet. Screaming usually came first, and it was still relatively quiet outside. Regardless, he checked his weapon, ensuring it was ready if he needed it. "Where'd you last see them?" he questioned, eyes scanning the area while they began to walk. Slivko rolled his eyes at her, uninterested and entirely unwilling to continue the argument. He bristled in irritation, though it wasn't entirely directed at Blair. Mostly, he was frustrated with Cain. At first Slivko had thought it'd be fun to fill his shoes and be in charge for once. Even back in his army days he'd been jealous of the power Cain possessed. Now, he realized he didn't want any of it. He didn't want the pressure, and he sure as fuck didn't want the responsibility. Constantly, he poked and prodded at his former Sergeant, anything to kindle the fire that seemed to be dying more and more each day. Nothing worked and he continued to be nothing but sad, bitter, and empty. He'd intended to take advantage of Blair's momentary silence and wander off but the panicked tapping on his arm put a stop to those ideas. His lips pressed together into a thin line, a heavy sigh pushing through his nostrils. Things could never be simple. He crouched down to put his cigarette out against a piece of stone on the ground, shuffling it back into his pack before standing up again. "Relax, they probably just wandered farther in," he reassured her, though it was less to put her at ease and more to keep her quiet. He wasn't worried, not yet. Screaming usually came first, and it was still relatively quiet outside. Regardless, he checked his weapon, ensuring it was ready if he needed it. "Where'd you last see them?" he questioned, eyes scanning the area while they began to walk.

He grunted at her and it took all the grace the Warren family nannies managed to instill to not petulantly grunt back, instead scuffing her shoes against the stones, sending them quietly scattering into the brush. It was so hot she wanted to whine, and she hated doing the outside jobs. Blair only liked being stuck in the sun if there was some body of water nearby and she had a little bikini to tan in and frankly a dirty school fountain just didn't cut it.

Blair was shielding her eyes from the sun, wishing she'd been smart enough to trade for a hat before their value raised with the temperature. Slivko said no, what a shock. She shook her head at his rejection, rejecting it in kind. "You are the guy," Blair insisted. "Because you're the only guy I have." She didn't want to think about it, she didn't even mean to. He barely came into her mind, just a passing thought that maybe people might take her more seriously with Jax here. That was all it took and she could hear Beckett trying to manage her name with his teeth being knocked loose in his mouth. She didn't need that today. She turned her face towards the sun, a good reason to scrunch her eyes shut for a moment until all she could think about was the sweat beading on her nose. After a moment she peaked open, blinking back the colored glare that was now obscuring her eyeline. The bush Annika had spent fifteen minutes pruning was now abandoned. Blair whipped her head from left to right, sucking in a panicked breath. Her hand swatted at Slivko in rapid light pats as if he'd some how missed her erratic scanning. "Oh my god, they were just there. Where did they go?"

[tmuses]

He raised a brow at her response. Normally he'd have something smart to say about the way she was speaking to him, but the way the heat was beating down on his skin was making him feel lazy. He let out a quiet snort at her irritation. When he'd first met Blair he'd thought she was nothing but a useless crybaby. Now he knew she had layers. It was obvious she was trying to fill the void Shiloh had recently left behind, and he could admit she was doing a half decent job. Of course, that didn't make him mess with her any less. When she denied his offer, Slivko put them back in his pocket with a shrug. Her insults meant little to him-- just like her praise. "Yeah? I got some bad news for you-- we're all dying. Some of us are just doing it a little faster," he smirked. Her disgust only lasted a short while, the blonde quickly returning to his first question. He appreciated her honesty, even if his initial instinct was to give her a hard time. She was absolutely right, as much as he wished she wasn't. With Cain and Shiloh out of commission, the faction had grown restless and lazy-- which meant he actually had to pull his weight. He was on board with Blair's plan for the sole reason that if she managed to pull it off, he could go back to riding Cain's coat tails without doing much to earn his place. His gaze wandered over the crowd along with her, noting the way that only a few seemed really interested in doing the work. "Is that why i'm here? To motivate them?" he questioned with a raised brow.

"Foraging," She snapped, trying to position herself a little higher to see what the others were doing across the way. Annika had been staring at the same bush for almost ten minutes now. "Oh my god it's got berries or it doesn't," Blair hissed irritably, watching the girl fiddle with the leaves leisurely. Blair wrung her hands in front of her irritably, trying to refocus on the mushrooms she was supposed to be plucking. Slivko held out a cigarette in response, one hanging out the corner of his mouth charmlessly. She wrinkled her nose in response, "Gross." That, evidently was not sufficient for Blair. "You're not, like, that old. You know how bad these are for you. There's no more chemo, you're gonna die."

"Okay you got me, we're not foraging. I don't know what kind of mushroom this is. But these guys normally bring in double, maybe more, and since... you know. No one's asking about it." They'd never underperform for Shiloh, Blair thought miserably. She knew how to make them listen, how to make them work. Blair just parroted Shiloh-isms and hoped it would work, but things were getting worse.

"Cain used to go with them, and I don't know if they've slowed down because they're scared without him watching their backs for Zombie's or whatever, or because they're lazy as hell and capitalizing on not having daddy here to watch them," She sniped bitterly, watching them giggling at the same. Damn. Bush. "They used to go so much further out than this, there's basically nothing here."