burned at both ends | open

there is no way out of this,

if all our answers say goodbye.

most days, it was hard to keep annabelle entertained with things around the treehouse quinnlan and xak had created for their humble adobe. at first, she'd spent a lot of her time trying to sketch the gruesome faces of the lopped off heads they'd collected, and spiked around their proclaimed territory, but after a few heads completion, the dried blood flakes, and horrified expressions eventually lost her interest. they'd been dead for far too long, and not the dead-and-still-walking kind of dead, either. those were the real things she found fascinating.. the dead people that still moved. because of her inability to find something around the camp to keep her occupied, annabelle had asked permission to roam around the park a little bit with her sketchpad. xakery was a little reluctant at first, but after she gave him her toothy innocent smile, he gave in and let her go off, on the condition that she brought quinn's tomahawk with her. so, with her new approval, and her weapons of choice all bundled in a satchel, the youngin set off to wander the grassy woodlands, searching for something more exciting to fulfil her time.

it took her about ten to fifteen minutes into her trek to find a seemingly nice spot to sit down. the shade from under the large tree kept the sun from soaking into her exposed skin, the dirtied and blood stained sundress really doing nothing to keep her skin protected. but without the sun directing shining down at her, she felt more comfortable, and with a carefree glance around, she decided that this would be the spot everything would happen today. shuffling her bag off her torso, she set it beside her, grabbing the tomahawk first. although she was technically inside a twenty-nine year old's body, her hands felt weak around the handle of the weapon, and mentally, she wondered how well she'd do if she ever did need to use this for self defence. she'd never needed to protect herself before; xak was always around to do that whenever annabelle was in control. but maybe she shouldn't always depend on quinn's other half to save her..

pursing her lips with the thought, she lifted it above her head with both hands, making the best angry face she could pull off. when she was satisfied with how it felt, she brought her hands down in a wide swing, chipping the tomahawk into a slightly raised root from the ground. when it stuck, barely, she let a triumphant smile pull at her lips, letting it sit there for show. next, she pulled her sketch book out, the thick and wearing coil nearly halfway unbound, but she used it anyway. flipping through the pages of her finished or unfinished drawings, she waited until she found a few pages of blank before she curled it up and fished her piece of charcoal from the bag. "now, let's see.." she whispered softly, tapping the charcoal against her cheek in thought, completely unaware of the small dark smudges she was painting against her fair skin.

a rustle close by caught her attention, and as her eyes veered around the thick trunk of the tree to try and find the source. what she saw wasn't something she'd expected to come by. it'd been a while since quinn, or anyone else inside her head, had come across another member of the infected that were still capable of common knowledge and sense. shyly, she watched as he adjusted and climbed up into one of the lower branches, ducking behind the tree again whenever she thought that he was looking, or could see her. swallowing, she slowly stood up, cautious in her footsteps, sidestepping over dry leaves and twigs so she didn't make any unnecessary noise to alert him of her presence, sketchbook and charcoal still in hand. when she could see him better, now that she was at an actual angle that was slightly in front of him, a curious brow raised at his weapon of choice. she'd never seen one of those before.. the metal edge on it looked really dangerous, though.

swallowing, hoping that he was friendly, quinn sat down quietly and started to glance between him and her sketch page, running the charcoal's dark tip over the paper, starting to make his outline. she wasn't sure why she'd started to draw him, but the peaceful look on his face was something she found inspiring. plus, she wanted to show this to xak. maybe he'd know what kind of weapon this man was carrying? biting her tongue to focus, she finished off the messy details of his clothing, squinting a bit to try and see more detail without getting closer from her position. when she gave up, she did a few lazy run bys for shading, just to give herself more depth to look at. once completed, she held the sketchpad up beside sage, comparing between the two sights.

"not too shabby," she mused softly, smiling to herself. blinking, she dropped the pad to her lap, looking up at the man with slight unsure-ness after her words. she hadn't meant to say that out loud. "oh, hi.. i, uhm. i hope you don't mind. i.. drew you." swallowing, she pulled the sketchpad to her chest, reeling her knees up to hold it there, attempting to keep herself secure in a small ball. she really hoped he was friendly, and that he didn't mind himself being drawn. "could you, uh, tell me what that is? in your lap?" she questioned quietly, pushing her two index fingers together sheepishly. "i feel better when i know the names of the things i'm scared of.."

sage . 943 . thought i'd snatch this up (: