Sniper's Evening

It all began when BLU disbanded. The team had said their farewells and although sad, they all vowed to keep in contact. Whether by phone, postcard or when - if - they cross paths again.

That was two years ago now. Sniper only occasionally heard from parts of the team now. Mainly as his number had long since been out of order and he used what pay phones he could find along the road or in hotels to calls his old friends, mostly out of nostalgia every month or so.

The Australian had just been on the phone to the Scotsman of the team before it had abruptly been cut off. Sniper gave the machine a small bash with a fist as he let out a frustrated sigh, the last of his coins now eaten - but his frustration faded as he thought of Demoman still talking into the phone for another five minutes before realising what had happened.

Pulling his hat down over his eyes to adjust for the sun Sniper walked back to his campervan that was parked within the lay-by, continuing his travels. Allowing the radio to tune into the nearest station, he started to hum along to a tune that played, ignoring the French lyrics as he drove.

The sun had long since set and gave way to the full moon, illuminating the few mountains and hills in the distance along with the trees and vineyards nearby. With a small mumble of thought Sniper flicked the indicator and turned off the road into a gas station.

It was a reasonable sized one, with blue lights on the front making it visible for miles if it weren't for the surrounding trees. The campervan followed the signs for parking until he was in a space to the side of the building.

Sniper smiled and grabbed a few notes from the top of his dashboard, exiting the van and stretched as he took a deep breath of cool air, he made a mental note that he needed to find his warmer jacket as he walked into the station.

He slowed his pace as he entered, allowing his eyes to adjust to the bright interior of the store as he looked around. There was a small cafe to the left, although baron for this time of night, with a shop to the right. He nodded to the lone worker and offered a small "Bonjour." before walking on through.

He scanned through the aisles before stopping at a small rack of postcards, after spinning it on itself and contemplating for possibly too long he picked one out, figuring the countryside view of green hills with the word "France" at the corner would be best for his parents back home. So far he'd sent one for most countries he'd been through, his mum had been pleased for every card she received and urged him to send as many as he could as often as possible.

Thinking in his head of what to write this time around he grabbed himself a pack of biscuits - something to eat on his way to the next planned town and went to the counter, paying for the items he had and smiled at the lady as he got his change and made his way to the exit, tipping his hat with his spare hand.

"Bonne nuit."

She seemed flustered at first, maybe it was his awful accent but Sniper didn't wait for the rushed answer, making his way back to the camper van.

Opening the door he stepped up into the vehicle and shut the door behind him, locking the door with a flick of the handle. He set the two items down on the counter, his hand hovering over the biscuits as if contemplating if he should eat them now before huffing and taking his hat off, throwing it down on the seat to his side.

"I'll get myself a proper breakfast tomorrow in that café. Maybe write that card while I'm waiting.."

With a look to the watch on his wrist he pulled his clothes off all beside his boxers, placing them on the back of a chair before climbing up to the bed at the front of the campervan and laid down, relaxing back as he did.

Thoughts to his drive tomorrow passed his mind, hopefully it wouldn't be so bad, but the French sign posts had already proven troublesome and "made him lost" (not that he would admit he took a wrong turning), as well as hoping the weather would hold off, he had noticed some of the clouds in the distance were far too dark for his liking.

With those thoughts on his mind he pulled the covers over himself and slowly drifted off to sleep.