The Calm Before The Storm

[outpostcook]

 Something's been bothering Kinner. There's a visible unhappiness in the little cook's expression, even beyond his usual gruff attitude. He sits in the Plaza, thinking, for once not manning his fish shop. He's going after the Thing soon, and he's not completely sure what to make of that. He knows exactly how dangerous the alien is. Even if the Thing where he'll be going isn't exactly the same creature, it's close enough. In some ways, it sounds even worse. But he can't give up with lives on the line.

He's got a better idea of what to expect than most, but that's a small comfort. After all, the Thing incapacitated and devoured Kinner alive, without much of a fight. This time he'll be better armed and better prepared, but still. He's not exactly thrilled about facing the creature, even with help. And, he realizes with a hint of sickness, he'll be putting his new friends in danger, too.

Kinner, when push comes to shove, isn't scared to look death in the face, and it's Palmer's world, but it's everyone else he's afraid for. Horvath. Alex. Blaze and Ghost. Prometheus. Cricket. Cricket most of all, since the others have magic or other quirks to protect them. Cricket doesn't. Kinner would rather he die than Cricket.

At the very least, he won't make an easy meal this time.

"Have you ever had somethin' you didn't want to do," he finally asks, voice trembling a little, "but you had to do it anyway? Were you scared?"

Comments

[outpostcook]

"A dock worker, huh? I was a Missouri farmboy back in my childhood." Kinner's a bit old-fashioned in some ways, and smoking is one of those things. He lights up a smoke himself. "Thanks, Mr. Barnes. Reckon I owe you one someday."

"I was - still am - a cook." Kinner accepts the offered handshake with a warm smile. "It was a shapeshifter - it can absorb people, animals, too, and make copies of them. I was milkin' a cow when suddenly there was a blue tentacle wrapped around me and red eyes starin' into me. Next thing I know I'm here. More to the poin, the creature's weak to fire."

[brooklynbarnes]

"Yeah. Since I was in high school. There's a lot of work there if you don't mind waking up before dawn and loading boxes all day. I've never been in Missouri. What is it like?" He flicks his cigarette before taking another drag. "I'm a Brooklyn man myself."

"Fuck. Kinner, that might be the weirdest thing I've heard. And since I got to here I've heard a lot of weird shit." He shakes his head. "How are you planning on leading it to fire?"

[outpostcook]

"I used to work on the family farm as a kid, so I'm used to working long hours," says Kinner, leaning back as he thinks of the memoris. "Missouri's a Southern state. Not Deep South, though. We have prairies and rivers. Nice landscapes. It's good for fishing, too. But I'm nostalgic."

"We were gonna take the fire to it. My friend says they've got fire at his outpost that they can use to fight it. It's gotta be completely burned, though, that's the catch."

[brooklynbarnes]

Bucky sits back and draps an arm over the backrest of the bench. "That sounds good. A good friend of mine and I are always talking of fixing up my old man's car and going on a roadtrip across America. We'll have to add a couple of stops in Missouri."

Bucky takes a drag from his cigarette, thoughtful. "Is it worth it, though? Killing that thing. Is it worth burn the outpost down?"

[outpostcook]

"I wish you the best of luck on that trip of yours. Sounds like a good time, huh?" That's an interesting question, and one Kinner thinks over for a while. He believes killing the Thing is worth it, but he is by his own admission vindictive against the alien.

"Is it worth killing it? We won't blow up the outpost if we can avoid it, of course, but we've got to kill the Thing. It's dangerous to all life on whichever world it's in."

[brooklynbarnes]

"Just between you and me? I doubt we'll ever do it. But it's nice just thinking about it." He seems lost in thought for a second, a fond smile on his lips as remembers long conversations late at night.

He takes one last draw from the cigarette before crushing it against the side of the bench. "Then do it. If it's as dangerous as you say it is, don't let anything stop you."

[outpostcook]

"Well, there's things I've always meant to do before I died, but I figure I'm not gonna get the chance for most of 'em." Kinner didn't waste his life, but he wasn't too adventurous for most of it.

"I'll be sure to let you know how things go. Hate to leave you on edge, especially with a monster on the loose and all that." Kinner takes another smoke and puts out his cigarette. "Not bad. Thanks for the smoke."

[brooklynbarnes]

The smile drops off Bucky's face. "I guess most people don't get to do the things in their bucket list." He frowns. "You know what? When I get out of the Nexus, I'm going back to my ma's and I'm going to see what pieces I need to fix up my old man's car."

"Thanks to you, for the perspective. And I hope you succeed." He sticks his hands in his pockets. "I've got to say, you have balls, Kinner. You really do."

[outpostcook]

"I wish you luck with that. I know I didn't get to do a lot of the things I wanted to do before I died. Don't feel too sorry for me. I ain't got as many regrets as some, though. Except that I didn't put a butcher's knife through that damned Thing's skull."

Kinner turns to a slightly brighter subject."Never been to Brooklyn. What was it like there?"