Chapter Text
Charlie had his peace for about 10 minutes, as he let himself zone out, following Mariana and Flippa as they walked.
Said peace wavered when he realised the sun was rapidly setting, leaving the woodland they walked through shadowed by the trees.
Said peace completely ended when Charlie heard the hissing in the bush beside Juanaflippa.
Charlie fumbled for a weapon - though his inventory from earlier had been pointedly empty - or anything he could use.
He didn’t need one, Charlie realised as Flippa pulled a glock from thin air and shot the spider as it lunged out at her without hesitation.
The spider crumbled into dust that blew away in the wind, as Mariana and Flippa simply continued walking.
“It’s getting dark, Not-Slime. You need to walk faster.” Mariana said flatly, not turning to look back at ‘Not-Slime’.
“Hey- Shockingly, ‘Not-Slime’ isn’t my name?”
“What is it then?”
“Charlie.”
Mariana stopped walking, Flippa almost crashing onto him before she regained her footing, and looked over his shoulder for the first time in a quarter of an hour to face Charlie.
His face looked like he was mourning something, as if Charlie’s name made Mariana look as if even with the mobs screeching in the trees and his daughter beside him, he couldn’t be lonelier.
Then his face flickered back to a mask of indifference, and he turned back around to walk even faster.
Charlie picked up the pace, reaching out an arm to tap Mariana on the shoulder to see what the fuck was that, before Flippa tugged on his sleeve, shaking her head so hard her glasses almost flew off of their face.
She pulled out a sign: ‘i think dads in a bad mood, dont worry, he’ll stop soon :)’
Charlie tried to ignore the stream of questions in his mind, instead letting himself mindlessly follow Mariana into the darkness.
It wouldn't be the first time.