What a sweet person Rain is. She reminds Carol of her daughters. She'd be dead inside of five minutes on Carol's homeworld, she thinks.
"Sorry," she says, mildly embarrassed, but not as much as she would have been before the world ended. Manners evolved with the times, so to speak, and usually drawing a gun on someone was an appropriate introduction. Carol was relearning her manners in Teleios, off and on, but evidently mostly off. "I'm Carol. But I like Sparrow." Worried Lady... sounds funny, actually, since most people would refer to Carol as something like scary. But again, that was back on Earth. In Teleios she softened substantially.
"I don't suppose you know anyone named Rick, or Daryl, or Glenn?" She doesn't look optimistic. But you never know. (The order there is not happenstance, the most important name sandwiched between two other nearly as important ones, as if to soften the blow.)
"Okay," Rain said beaming. "I can call you Sparrow. Carol the Sparrow, I like that!"
She considered all the names carefully, trying to match them with people she knew. "I don't think so," she said finally. "But I don't know everyone here. And... if they were scary looking, I might have hid."
Scary women were okay, but scary men still made her want to run and hide.
Despite her own situation, Carol can't help that her smile warms. It's nice to see someone so infectiously joyful, even knowing what a risk that can be. It's what convinced Carol to take on her adopted daughters after losing her biological child. It's dangerous, but even knowing that she can't entirely think on it poorly.
"It's alright. Maybe they'll turn up." She doesn't want to add that likely they might have seemed scary, except possibly for Glenn, at first. Rick and Daryl being trapped somewhere, she can imagine that bringing out some frightening looks. She was afraid of them too, at first, but that was thanks to her then-husband who made her afraid of everything.
"Are there people... in charge? People we can talk to?" Her luck with the Agents in Teleios was mixed at best, but it's still worth knowing.
"Not really?" Rain had to think about that one, too. "Well, the people who run the businesses and things, they're in charge of their businesses, but, well, if there are big people in charge..."
Her smile was a little shy this time. "I probably wouldn't know because I'm more like a mouse. I like to stay safe in my little places, like the Library where I work, and my little house way off in the woods. People are kind of scary, you know, and a lot of places don't have enough windows and doors to feel safe, so mostly I don't go in them."
Rain knew she was different, knew her mind didn't work quite right, but here no one seemed to mind so very much.
Nodding along, unhappy but not really surprised, Carol begins to resign herself to yet another unfamiliar foreign world, and this time by herself. Such irony, since when she first came to Teleios all she wanted was to be alone. Now, it's going to be a while before she's through mourning, if ever. Her first true home is gone, and in time she's sure she'll begin to doubt how real it ever was.
"Being scared can be the smart thing, sometimes. Don't feel bad about it." Carol's out of the habit of trying to offer advice, since it hasn't turned out so well historically, but Rain's difficult not to like, and Carol is still a mother despite having no living children. She can't help but make the point, but it almost shocks her to hear something like that out of her mouth, when she once so tried to convince her girls to confront danger head on. Hindsight is a strange thing.
"You don't have to sleep on the streets here," Rain said reassuringly. "Even if you don't have any money or anything. You can just find an empty place and stay there for free for a while till you can make enough money."
Her eyes went towards the different apartment buildings and she shivered a little. "I didn't stay here, though. I felt safer in the woods. Most people like houses or things better, but not me."
Her little house in the woods might as well have been outside, it was just that open.
"I like the wind and the birds and the plants and the everythings. There's a river and flowers and lots and lots of trees."
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"Sorry," she says, mildly embarrassed, but not as much as she would have been before the world ended. Manners evolved with the times, so to speak, and usually drawing a gun on someone was an appropriate introduction. Carol was relearning her manners in Teleios, off and on, but evidently mostly off. "I'm Carol. But I like Sparrow." Worried Lady... sounds funny, actually, since most people would refer to Carol as something like scary. But again, that was back on Earth. In Teleios she softened substantially.
"I don't suppose you know anyone named Rick, or Daryl, or Glenn?" She doesn't look optimistic. But you never know. (The order there is not happenstance, the most important name sandwiched between two other nearly as important ones, as if to soften the blow.)
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She considered all the names carefully, trying to match them with people she knew. "I don't think so," she said finally. "But I don't know everyone here. And... if they were scary looking, I might have hid."
Scary women were okay, but scary men still made her want to run and hide.
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"It's alright. Maybe they'll turn up." She doesn't want to add that likely they might have seemed scary, except possibly for Glenn, at first. Rick and Daryl being trapped somewhere, she can imagine that bringing out some frightening looks. She was afraid of them too, at first, but that was thanks to her then-husband who made her afraid of everything.
"Are there people... in charge? People we can talk to?" Her luck with the Agents in Teleios was mixed at best, but it's still worth knowing.
no subject
Her smile was a little shy this time. "I probably wouldn't know because I'm more like a mouse. I like to stay safe in my little places, like the Library where I work, and my little house way off in the woods. People are kind of scary, you know, and a lot of places don't have enough windows and doors to feel safe, so mostly I don't go in them."
Rain knew she was different, knew her mind didn't work quite right, but here no one seemed to mind so very much.
no subject
"Being scared can be the smart thing, sometimes. Don't feel bad about it." Carol's out of the habit of trying to offer advice, since it hasn't turned out so well historically, but Rain's difficult not to like, and Carol is still a mother despite having no living children. She can't help but make the point, but it almost shocks her to hear something like that out of her mouth, when she once so tried to convince her girls to confront danger head on. Hindsight is a strange thing.
no subject
Her eyes went towards the different apartment buildings and she shivered a little. "I didn't stay here, though. I felt safer in the woods. Most people like houses or things better, but not me."
Her little house in the woods might as well have been outside, it was just that open.
"I like the wind and the birds and the plants and the everythings. There's a river and flowers and lots and lots of trees."