John knelt at the foot of an old rocking chair, the only sound in the air being his own breathing and the whir of an oxygen pump. His calloused hand slowly raised to the weathered face of an elderly woman, her once lustrous blonde hair now wiry and thin. Gently, he stroked her cheek, his fingers brushing the edges of the clear mask that covered her mouth and nose.
"Howdy, ma." He softly spoke, and she didn't react. "We're gonna be goin' someplace real far, okay? You, me, an' the our new lady friend." He carefully lifted her up, cradling her in his arms until he carefully placed her within the confines of a metal pod. He affixed her oxygen within a compartment on the side before pressing a button that caused glass to slide over the opening with a quiet hiss. He gently kissed it's glass surface and watched her chest rise and fall for a moment, before with a heavy sigh he pressed another button, causing the glass to become opaque.
"Don't'cha worry, ma," he whispered.
"You'll be right as rain soon."

It was… difficult, to open her eyes.
Thoughts scrambled.
Feelings muddled.
Simply existing felt like a chore right now, but the calloused, yet gentle hand on her shoulder was persistent, and so, slowly, her eyes peeled open. She could feel them wanting to stick together, though she wasn't greeted with the harsh sunlight she was expecting to be filtering through a white canvas sheet, and was instead met with a much softer white of the shattered moon. She could blearily make out a few stars, and if she really squinted, she could see Serpens Caput, which was a name she only remembered from Jimmy's long winded explanation to a very much turned off Glynda.

Some snaps mere inches from here face refocused her on the present, and years of muscle memory kicked in as she snatched the gloved hand before her and pulled the person attached beside her, where she straddled his lower back and pinned his arm to his shoulder blade. She reached for her weapon and-
Like a flood, everything rushed to her head, and with a pained grunt she slipped off the mans back, her hands gripping her head as she knelt in the sand.

grimm, slain by her gaze

a claw between her shoulders

her thoughts, a haze

A hand, the same that had awoken her, rubbed small circles in her back, and carefully guided her to a more comfortable seat whilst her eyes were still screwed shut. It would take a few minutes before the throbbing pain in her head would subside, and she could finally take stock of just where she was.

The man that had roused her was slapping the brim of a leather duster across his leg in an effort to get the sand off. Behind him, the remnants of a small fire, as well as a floating Sustainment Pod that had several leather bags strapped to it. She touched her stomach carefully, and when she felt no pain, she held her hand before her and summoned her Aura.

It flickered briefly, before fading, and she could feel the strain as it did.

"Neat trick."

Her head snapped up, shining silver meeting piercing blue. Her hand twitch, but she calmed herself. If this man wanted her dead, he would have killed her while she slept.
Well, man is a bit of a stretch, as he seemed to be no older than sixteen? Seventeen if she was being generous, though definitely not a day over twenty. Still, she had been his to kill, so.
"Where's Oro?" She asked, figuring she'd get the obvious out of the way.
"Pro'lly a few dozen miles thataway." He gestured off to her side, and she could just make out bootprints in the sand, and a quick comparison revealed that yes, they were indeed the mans.
"John, by the by." His rough voice said, and she eyed his outstretched hand. "I hadn't interduced myself, and I figured now's as good a time as any." A few moments of consideration, and she shook the offered hand and gave a polite smile.
"Summer Rose."

"So, John," she began. Anything to break the awkward silence as they marched in the dead of night. Or rather, she alternated between walking and sitting atop the Sustainment Pod, all the while trying to summon forth her Aura. "Why do you talk funny."

Internally, she slapped a palm to her forehead. She was, out of practice, afterall. Thankfully, John only chuckled.
"How'd'ya figure, Rose?"

"Well, Oro and his tribe talked super formal," she recalled with foggy memory how Oro spoke, but she remembered just how polite it was. "And you… well you just talk weird. In general." He shrugged.
"Well, far as I'm concerned, yer the one that talks all fancy like. Almost as if yer from Vacuo proper." He reasoned, and Summer shrugged in kind as they continued walking. Her hands twitched, and another thought came to mind.
"Hey, where are my-"
"Second pouch on the left, Miss."
Her eyes narrowed, but she tapped along the bags until she felt the outline of her precious baby. Carefully extracting the package wrapped in her cloak (which she is just now realizing she wasn't even wearing), she slowly pulled out two poles about the length of her arm, which were connected by a few gears. With a fluid snap and twist, the folded out into a beautiful marksman's rifle, which she attached a stock to the rear end of as she looked it over. A few scratches and dents here and there, nothing that couldn't be fixed.

two sickles bearing down

his, a smile, her a frown

she threw him to the side

when his grin became a mile wide

She hadn't even realized she had doubled over until John caught her by the shoulder when she was halfway to the floor, and her headache was already fading when he settled her back atop the pod. He didn't say anything, just fixed her with a raised eyebrow that said plenty.
"Sorry, just remembering is all." She smiled as she spoke, and John held his look.
"It usually don't make ya keel over jus'ta remember somethin' or other."
"Yeah, well, it does fore me." She snapped before grimacing. She hadn't meant to, but the pain put her on edge.
"Easy now, I ain't mean nothin' by it." He held his hands up in mock surrender and offered a teasing smile. Though it fell when she sighed. "Has it gots somethin' to do with yer Aura?"

"...I don't know, John." She murmured, her small voice ringing out in the emptiness of the desert.

"Ya know, John," Her escort hummed from his position on the floor, his back against the stone wall of the cave they currently resided in. The sun outside had yet to peak, but John insisted they travel at night. "I don't know a whole lot about you… actually, I'm not even all too sure where we're headed." She trailed off, and John snorted as he cracked an eye open.
"Yer jus' now askin'?" He chuckled deeply, and her pout only seemed to make him laugh harder. "It's been days since ye tried ta kill fer rousin' ya, an' yer only now wonderin'?"

"N-no. Stop laughing!" She shouted, and he only laughed harder. "It's not funny! It just… hadn't crossed my mind." her voice faltering towards the end, and John's laugh settled slowly.

"We're headin' fer the border o' Vale," he stated, and his eye flickered towards her for a moment to gauge her reaction. "Supposed ta meet up with someone ya know to hand you off, an' get the rest o' my money."
"No ideas as to who is gonna meet me there?"

"Who 're you expectin'?"

"My old boss, husband, kids maybe?"

"Ya got kids?"

"Two little ones, though they're probably all grown up now…" She trailed off, and John hummed.

"How long you been away from home?"

"…Years, or so I'm told."

"…Damn."

She snorted and smiled bitterly as John rolled over, using his duster as a jacket.

"Yeah… damn."