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Maria’s Home (Early Fall – Midday)
It’s just past noon when Maria notices the chip in her blade.
Maintaining her sword is a daily habit of hers, something she’s been doing as long as she can remember. There are a lot of things she doesn’t remember – the settlements she’s visited, the people she’s met – but she always remembers the careful routine she created for her sword.
A whetting stone, tucked in the brown fabric tied around her leg for safekeeping, grinding against the steel’s edge. A cloth, washed every day, to remove whatever unsightly bits that have been caught along the razor-sharp blade. She isn’t sure if this is the right way to maintain a sword, but it feels like the right way to maintain hers.
She lifts it up to the harsh, staticky light of the kitchen, rotating it to observe the reflective shine. Her sword always feels just a bit too heavy in her hands, like there’s additional weight at the handle that’s invisible to the naked eye. Somehow, she can never get used to it – though, maybe there is.
Apparently, to everyone else, the sword is a dark, cool steel with a sharp hilt. It’s not an incorrect description. She, however, can see the thin eyes lined along the lower edge. When she presses her finger to one, it shuts and disappears into the cold metal. And when she removes it, the eye returns, unblinking and unfazed. All these years, and she still hasn’t figured it out.
Ah, right. The chip.
Upon closer inspection, it’s close to the tip, just about two to three inches below. She frowns. She doesn’t recall being so careless with its swinging. Regardless, it’s something she can’t fix on her own. Somebody in the group may have the skills she doesn’t.
And if she’s asking for help, they probably want a gift in return.
Later in the day, when she shows up at the Booneshack, the Boonehack, the Boonemack, whatever it is, she doesn’t have to knock more than once. They swing the door open and lean on the door frame, looking as Boone typically does.
“The hell’s this?”
“Potato,” she says wisely. It’s a good potato. She chose the heaviest one, and meticulously cleaned the dirt out of every groove.
“...‘Kay.”
She hears clattering further into the house, like pots and pans being thrown around. A voice that sounds like Val’s cuts through the banging, and she attempts to stick her head in to investigate. Boone shifts and blocks her view.
When she looks up at their towering frame, they look unimpressed.
“Can I help you with somethin’?”
She ponders for a moment, then points with her thumb at the sword strapped to her belt. “It’s chipped. Can you guys fix it?”
“What, Maria Carey can’t fix it?”
“Who’s Carey?”
Boone shuts their eyes for a moment. “Okay.”
Before she can say anything, they turn around and close the door behind them. Presumably, this means they can help out. She takes the opportunity to adjust her headband, fluffing up the bangs that have now grown to just barely cover her eyes. Maybe it’s time to get chopping again.
A few moments later, Boone emerges with one of the faces she’s less familiar with. He’s gruff, and unkempt. She crinkles her nose.
“Okay, Carey, here’s what we’re gon’ do.”
“Who’s Carey?”
“There’s this camp ‘bout a half hour’s walk away.” They start pulling the other figure – Bean, maybe? – out the door. She hears the scraping of his shoes along the wood as he drags his feet, sighing about having to go out. “There’s a mechanic who can help fix our shit.”
“Why am I coming along.”
“‘Cause you got some shit to fix too, dumbass.”
“I was relaxin’.”
Spleen continues to groan and whine as Boone presses their hands on his back and pushes with all their might. From Maria’s point of view, Lean whines a lot, and needlessly. She wishes he would stop whining. Maybe if she started to pull out her sword…
Ah, but it’s chipped. Perhaps another time.
A shrill, pathetic voice cuts through the bickering. “Can I come, too?”
She looks past the two giants in the doorway and—yes, as she thought. Val. Before she can tell him off for even thinking of it, another voice comes from behind her.
“Boy, with all due respect, I think you ‘oughta stay back. I dunno if you’re gon’ be much help. Besides, you, well, don’t really pass. In the infected way.”
“Buh…” Val sulks off, disappearing into the house as quickly as he came out.
Maria swivels her head around to see the gruff figure—it’s Deadra.
“Texan. What can I do for ya?” Boone says, seemingly finally done with wrestling Green, looking down at the fourth figure in the doorway.
“Georgian. Not much.” She turns to Maria, and gives a curt nod. “Heard ya need some help with fixing your sword. I’ll come with you. I don’t think you should trust these two to be your guides.”
Maria looks down at the potato in her hands, then back up at Deadra.
“Okay,” she says, and holds it up to her.
Deadra raises an eyebrow, staring at it for just a moment. Then she takes it and throws it toward Boone, who stumbles to catch it but manages to grasp it firmly in their hands.
“This a game of hot potato or somethin’?” they frown.
“The potato isn’t hot,” Maria says.
“Okay.”
“We goin’ or not?” Peen whines, again.
Deadra smacks his shoulder and shoves him out the door. “Yes, Dean, we’re going. Lead the way.”
Ah, so that’s his name.
Grumbling, Sean hoists the bag of weapons onto his shoulder and starts along the path. Maria, Deadra, and Boone look amongst each other and follow behind, one after the other.
Neighbouring Settlement (Early Fall – Mid-Afternoon)
The mechanic shop they enter isn’t in perfect condition, but Maria admits it’s better than half of the “houses” the others built on Wonderland. As they enter the run-down building, she notices a few things: the leak in the ceiling, the crooked shelf on the far wall, the chair with the missing leg in the corner. But what she notices the most is the cracked post in the middle of the room (likely a load-bearing one) that definitely needs to be reinforced. Maria could probably fix those if she had the tools or the time.
A girl with an obscene amount of piercings sits at the counter with a bored expression, fidgeting with something that looks to be a gun. At the sound of the door opening, her head lifts slightly, and she begins toward them.
“How can I help y—” Then she locks eyes with Maria, and a sound halfway in between a screech and a yelp exits her mouth. “M–Maria?!”
Upon closer inspection, this girl has even more piercings than she first thought. The bridge of her nose, her eyebrow, her lips—it’s clear to Maria that this girl really likes pain. The giant gloves do seem to show that she knows what she’s doing when it comes to mechanic work, though. Maybe she shouldn’t judge so much. At least not girls.
“Maria.” Deadra points her thumb toward the girl. “Do you know her?”
“R–Rhea,” the girl supplies.
There’s no recollection of anyone named Rhea in her memory. Maria furrows her eyebrows. “Who the dick is Rhea.”
Suddenly, the girl jerks back as if she was just knocked by some invisible force. She hobbles backward, eyes shut, until she falls into the corner of the room and sinks, slowly, down to the floor.
Maria’s eyes widen, the sudden realization shocking her. “Wait, is this Carey?”
“Oh, yeah, you’re right,” Boone says, “that’s—”
“Who’s Carey?!” Carey suddenly wails, pressing her palms flat against her face. Wait, if she’s asking who Carey is, maybe she isn’t Carey. Maybe she’s Rhea. “Have you met another girl named Carey?!”
“Who the dick is Carey.”
“I don’t know!” Rhea/Carey sobs. “You tell me!”
“Jesus, I was just jokin’. Maria, this ain’t—”
“I’m asking you who the dick Carey is.”
“What’s everyone even talkin’ about?” Teen supplies helpfully.
“Well I have no idea! You’re the one running off with a random girl named Carey after everything we had together—”
“I swear to motherfuckin’ God, y’all, if you don’t—”
“Everyone, shut the fuck up right now!” Deadra shouts, slamming her foot into the ground.
The light fixture above them swings, groaning.
“We’re here,” she continues, “to fix our weapons. Rhea, can you help us?”
Rhea, still sniffling, nods. She’s somehow able to get herself composed. She wipes away her tears and drags herself back to the counter to do business with Deadra.
They exchange a few words, probably a count and description of the weapons, but Maria chooses to let them talk among themselves. Deadra digs in her pocket for a moment before taking out a few feathers and teeth. They seem to argue, just for a few seconds, before Deadra is satisfied and hands over the amount she took out, minus a few feathers.
At the end of it all, she turns around to face the rest of them. “‘Aight, give her your weapons.”
They line up like a set of toddlers in front of the counter, slowly taking their weapons out and passing them over. Deadra is, of course, first—she holds the most, since she stopped to grab any that needed some fixing from the rest of the group. Sheen is second, only brandishing a single weapon. Next is Boone, only because they have so many guns and knives hidden in their clothes. They pull them out one by one, pretending that each one is a surprise. Rhea only looks partially impressed.
At last, it’s Maria’s turn, and she reluctantly passes it over with one hand. She isn’t looking forward to being apart from her sword, but she knows it'll be better when it’s back.
Rhea hums as she places it on the counter. “So this is what it looks like…”
She points to the chip. “Can you fix it?”
“Of course.”
And without so much as another word, she scoops up all the weapons and disappears behind a curtain.
Over the next fifteen minutes, Maria hears the sounds of clanging hammers and sharpening metal, along with various other workshop-esque noises. She thinks she might hear a yell at some point, but it’s quickly overshadowed by Preen accidentally stubbing his toe on the wall and Boone laughing at him.
When Rhea finally returns, she lays out all the weapons on the counter, almost like a shopkeeper would lay out their wares. Again, each of them lines up to collect their own weapon, then goes to some corner of the room to examine them.
Maria is no exception. She grabs her sword, a sense of relief washing over her as she feels the familiar weight in her hands, and runs her finger along the flat edge. The tip is smooth—she can’t even feel where the chip used to be. Maybe Rhea is even better than she gave her credit for.
With everyone satisfied, they start to file out of the building, chatting amongst themselves.
“See you later,” Rhea waves to them.
Later? Hopefully they won’t need to fix their weapons again. She looks back to nod at her and sees Rhea watching her with a small smile on her face.
“Oh,” Maria stops suddenly, turning around. “By the way—”
She steps toward Rhea and leans over the counter so that their faces are just a few inches apart. Rhea would probably appreciate it if she didn’t say this so loud, so she gets in even closer. She can feel Rhea’s short breaths on her cheek. Honestly, she’s rather proud of how well she’s been able to read other people lately.
“—by the way,” she continues, “that post is cracked. It’s a load-bearing pillar, so you should get that fixed before the whole building collapses.”
“WHAT?????” Rhea screeches, sputtering as Maria walks away.
Oh, that was a bad reaction. She thought that maybe she had some idea about the post, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
She pushes open the door, leaving Rhea yelling about random things behind her, and finds Boone standing outside.
They cross their arms, a hint of a smile on their face. She knows that one—it’s supposed to be teasing. “What took so long?”
“Post.”
“What?”
“Post…”
Wait. Now that she thinks about it, something about Rhea did seem familiar. The long, wavy hair and—that’s right, she also has a tongue piercing, hidden behind her bright smile. It must have been in a settlement she passed through some years ago. She doesn’t remember much.
“Are you kids comin’ or not?” Deadra calls from the other side of the plaza, interrupting her thoughts. “We’re headin’ out now!”
Both she and Boone hurry over—or at least Maria does—to catch up with the other two.
Well, now that her sword is fixed, it’s not like she’ll ever see her again.
Maria’s Home (Early Fall – Midday)
It’s just past noon when Maria notices the chip in her blade.