Glitched.

008. Crow Food

008.

// In which Liria ponders eating Roadkill. It's about as gross as it sounds. //

It took two days of driving, barely veiled insults, and the combined aggressive debate of lemonade versus orange juice or milk tea versus fro-yo for Liria to warm up to the travel party.

Ess is bigendered, meaning he both accepts male and female gender pronouns. Liria shrugged, accepting it about as easily as breathing (makes sense, considering they are fine with any pronoun under the goddamn moon except for 'it').

Three is still salty about the lack of a third gun, but she's actually a nice person under all the bitterness. (Liria will never, ever admit that, though. Those arm bruises make simply clenching their fists painful; Liria saw Three wince once as she rubbed her cheek though, and felt the petty side of them smirk in satisfaction. And then winced as well when they automatically lifted their hand to scratch an ear.)

Anon is probably the most mature of the group, and while not outwardly explosive like Three, just as dangerous. She almost took of Liria's hand when Liria tried to wake her up for Outsider's shift. But beyond that, Anon's nice. She offers food to Liria when Liria's hungry, and when not perpetually tired, can have a wicked dry sense of humor.

Outsider is different.

For one, they seem to have the group's undivided attention, and unlike the old Outsider Liria knew, is a lot more... less confident in themself. But when Liria is sad or tired, they answered back with a ginger pat on the back or sound advice, and Liria can almost feel the unasked questions and resentment swirling down the drain between the two.

With Anon and Outsider's help, the black Honda Accord has driven pretty much nonstop west, keeping close to the road and passing through the blue mountains and red dirt. Liria slept for a solid twelve hours, and woke up to Ess hovering over them with a black sharpie. While nothing was actually drawn on Liria, it was decided that Liria would probably be better off between the door wall and Outsider, unless Outsider is driving, where they will accompany them in the front passenger seat.

Everything almost felt normal again.

Or, until the group stumbles across a stray traveler on the side of the road on a lazy sunny afternoon.

Liria was the first to spot the person at the edge of the road, slowly making their way across the prairie. It's just a speck in the distance, but Liria almost immediately catches on, bored out their mind as behind them, Three, Anon, and Ess both play a bizarre game of Marry, Kill, or Fudge.

After hearing Three's proclamation they would kill Liria for the eighth time, Liria kind of tuned the group out, instead focusing on the scenery.

And then they saw the grey suitcase first, followed by a smudge. Squinting, Liria poked the driver's shoulder, pointing.

"...Hey. Is that a fox with a suitcase or something?"

Outsider startled, the wheel jumping under their hands, and their head jerked, visor flickering as if they are... scared?

Liria paused. The creature outside, no longer a speck, doesn't seem terrifying. Liria can see the dusty pink fur from their seat and the darker colored dark rosy hair, forming a curly hairdo. Closer inspection shows that the bedraggled dust streaked fox is a male from his snout shape, and his black tipped ears twitched. He can't be taller then Liria's waist at most, and Liria spots its suitcase, large and bulky, being dragged behind it. The fox looked up, and Liria can see a tiny black bowtie on his neck, his eyes tired and a dulled crimson color. Stress and frown lines made their way down his muzzle, and his dark grey jacket is torn. As soon as he saw the car, however, his eyes widened and he grinned, waving a white tipped paw frantically, abandoning the supplies to jump up and down.