nestbox | | they've got the kingdom locked up. (CALL ME OUT)

[And he just blinks at that, at first, surprised with the reply before just laughing, as well. Because, well.

That was it, wasn't it?]

Same here. [And he is chuckling still, nodding, as well. It really is pretty impressive, how close their roles were, within the maze. He wonders if she was the first one to suggest just going for it, too. He wonders if others supported her, like they did him.

What she says next, though, surprises him again, albeit for the wrong reasons, this time. His eyebrows shoot up.]

... Really? [Man, he would have been so pissed off. Sooooo pissed off. Thankfully, that wasn't the case at all. Though, then again, he was the last one before Teresa arrived.

He can tell, however, that this is a delicate subject. So he tries not to pry too much, not to ask too much. He knows how those can be.

Her question takes him by surprise (once more, too) only, this time, it's just one of his eyebrows that goes up.]

Kick me out? [... Did they do that in Tris' maze? Kick people out for causing trouble?] You mean... banish me into the maze? Or...?

[ It's good, either way, to be able to laugh about it instead of devolving into awkwardness. She's finding she likes his laugh.

At first she had been as angry as he expects, and more than that, jeaous. But then-- things had changed. Maybe she'd broach all that eventually, and it does all tie together already, anyway, in a messy tangled heap that lead to them getting through their maze, that lead to them being here now.

She tilts her head at him. He seems... confused? Surprised? Exile was the worst punishment possible, of course, but she'd have expected the boys to have thought of the same thing. No one survives a night in the maze, after all. ]

Yeah. Banished, Exiled, whatever you guys called it.

[Yeah, definitely. When he is with someone else, he prefers to laugh or, at least, smile. It's when he is alone (or alone in his thoughts, anyway) that things darken considerably. He tries to keep it under wraps to the best of his ability, though.

Thomas wouldn't really have given it time to feel jealous, because he would protest until he couldn't protest anymore. But well, yeah, he wasn't the only one in there. If he managed to do the things he had managed to do was because he had support. Minho, Newt and Chuck's support, mostly. He knew who he could go to, he knew how to make things work. The people they had been with, Thomas thinks, and how they related to them, are what really made a difference.

As she answers him, Thomas has a clear call back to the first time they made it to the WICKED facilities and that boy, sitting at the table with them, mentioned that Aris was the only boy in a maze of girls and how "some guys were just lucky". He blinks.

Oh boy. Was he wrong.

Uh.]

... No? We only banished people who had been stung. [A pause.] ... And even then, not always. [Not after he had been around for a while.] When you misbehaved, you were sentenced to nights in the pit. Sometimes without food. [Even if people were (sort of) free to bring you food if they wanted to.]

[ None of the mazes were all sunshine and rainbows. What he's saying sounds kinder than it was in theirs, but also more precarious. People were exiled because they were a threat to others. If they'd been stung, or if they lashed out at others for some other reason and could no longer be calmed down, didn't make that much of a difference - anything where locking them up wouldn't bring them to reason, wouldn't solve anything, needed to be solved in some other way. Tris lets out a sigh. ]

I guess we did some things differently.

[ And she tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, thinking back. ]

But I think she just said that because she was really pissed at me at the time. I mean I guess... starting a fight and getting locked up for it and breaking out and then going into the maze without actually being a runner on the same day? Might have been a little much.

[He can understand what she means... to a point. Yet, this is the part where they would probably disagree. It would really depend on the situation, for Thomas, it would have to be a case-by-case basis and, even then, he wouldn't exactly be comfortable sending people alone into the maze, mainly when they had absolutely no chance of survival. But well, that was why he wasn't the one calling the shots, he guesses.

Banishing people just for causing trouble, though, mainly when said trouble didn't actually equal seriously injuring somebody else on purpose--... Thomas really would never agree to that.]

I guess so. [He can't help the small smile, however (and the mental note to keep an extra eye on Harriet, just in case).

What Tris says next, though, makes Thomas' eyebrows go up again, in surprise.]

... You did all that in a day? [Wow.

Minho would have a field day, listening to this. And so would Thomas, if Newt was awake and listening in, too. He'd so throw a 'See, I wasn't that bad' look at him. So much.

His hat went off to her, though.] You went in there completely alone without being a Runner? Really?

Look, there's a reason, okay. [ Now she's sounding defensive, and draws herself upright again from where she's been sinking into a slouch. Proud. Still so much shorter than him, though. ]

I had to save my friend. [ Ah, but, that's about where it registers that he isn't lecturing her so far, and anyway, it's in the past. She huffs, deflating a little. ]

This wasn't long after Christina became a runner. She was the new arrival after me, the one I mentioned, and, well, pretty much my best friend from the day she showed up. She went into the maze with the others that day, but when they came back she wasn't with them and-- [ She trails off a moment, steadying herself again. ]

-- And one of the others said, I don't remember what exactly, but it came down to "good riddance". So I hit her.

[ Repeatedly. No regrets. ] And I wasn't going to let my best friend die out there just because they locked me up.

[He lifts his hands up a little at her defensive stance, a silent 'Okay, okay' in response to her defensiveness-- He won't make more questions. After all, whatever happened after, she survived, right? Otherwise, they wouldn't be having this conversation.

Still, there's something cute about the way she straightens herself up like that, all protective of her position, making him have to move his head back a little, too.

Girls are scary. When they're mad, anyway. ... Maybe a bit crazy, too.

Yet, the explanation she gives right after makes Thomas think otherwise. Under those circumstances, chances were he would have done exactly the same that she did. Even if it would get himself killed in the end (he had no idea where to go, within the maze). What she says though, about what happened, makes Thomas realize that their communities really were very different. Sure, things got sour closer to the end, but within reason. In the beginning, things like that wouldn't happen.]

... "Good riddance", really? [Yeah. Scary.] Wow. [His eyebrows move up, before his attention returns to the floor, hand massaging his other hand's wrist.] That didn't happen with us.

Everyone had a role, compatible with their skills. No one would be allowed to be a Runner if one of the leaders, and the Runner's leader, didn't think they were capable of making it. When one fell behind, we tried to help however we could.

We looked out for each other. [He pauses, eyes narrowing. His words familiar as they come out, in a fond yet somewhat painful way.] Because we were in it together. ... Are in it.

[... They should really hurry up. Who knows what they are doing to Minho right now.

He looks up again, at the horizon, and sighs through his nose.]

[ She did make it through the night, she wants to say, we both did, even though they always said it couldn't be done. But the response sticks in her throat, eyes shifting away. They'd made it through that night. But Christina hadn't made it to the Right Arm.

It's hard to let the thought go, and the ones that follow it. ]

Mostly that was true for us too. But I guess some people just hate each other, no matter what's in the rules. [ Now her eyes are on the horizon too. So long as she has something to focus on, she can avoid looking back. She won't argue with him, even though she thinks it must've been the same in every maze - everyone lost some people to the way others felt, or the way they felt themselves. Not everyone who died did it because they were stung. Even though she notes the way Thomas sounds as he says those words, like they're something he's carved deep into his memory, Tris chooses not to remark. She sighs, instead, her next words coming out flippant. ]

Well, that's the story of how we proved it's possible to survive a night in the maze. [ She shifts forward, her forearms on her knees as she looks out. ]

Obviously most days weren't that crazy.

[They all had their own story about how that myth had been broken. It does make him wonder how the other mazes did it, though according to that boy they met before, some mazes were actually released by WICKED itself.

Probably because they knew the Right Arm would be coming for them, due to the information Thomas had released. That was why they had started harvesting them in that place.]

Your group didn't have anyone trying to keep everyone else together in spite of whatever differences? [He isn't looking at her as he asks that, half-lost in his own thoughts. He has no doubts that things like that probably happened at some point, but at least from the moment he made it to the Glade, he hadn't witnessed anything glaringly unfair. Ben's banishment had been... haunting, but he understood the logic behind it.

As for Gally's anger... He understood it, too. He was scared. They were all scared. And whatever Gally had remembered, much like Teresa had, it couldn't have been pretty. Not that his understanding would mean that he is anywhere near forgiving what happened next, though. In both cases.

Thomas grimaces again and looks down. As curious as he is, the more time passes the more he feels like maybe he really doesn't want to remember. As selfish a thought as that is.]

Pretty amazing that you did, mainly up until you found your Runner friend. [At what she says next though, he just snorts a little, head shaking.]

I... figured as much. [... Sort of.]

We did. That was Sonya. [ Tris understands Molly's anger too, her fear. Feeling intimidated, like she'd be edged out of the runners by Christina's arrival. Most likely, there was no real feeling behind what she said about her fellow runner even at the time, and she got into enough trouble over even saying it at all.

Tris doesn't feel like justifying her, though. Not even now. So she leaves it at that, tail end of the sentiment hanging limp in the middle of the conversation. Her mind fixes instead on Sonya. Sonya who looked out for everyone, made sure they were all accounted for and everyone had what they needed, Sonya who stayed up late with anyone who was troubled, who was the first to wake and calm others from their nightmares, Sonya who broke up fights by knocking heads if she had to, even though she didn't often have to. Sonya who was taken by WICKED.

Add one to the reasons Tris cannot give up. She barely feels the tension coiling in her body as she looks toward the horizon, but then Thomas pays her a compliment and snaps her out of it. She sputters, blinking as she looks at him again. ]

I uh. Thanks. I mean. It's, it's not like it was ever impossible. Didn't you do that too?

[ Too many parallels. She'd be more surprised if it had been someone else, at this point. ]

[Sonya. Thomas had no way of knowing what was going on through Tris' mind and just how exactly it was that Sonya fit into that role he had mentioned. Yet, if his suspicions were right, that meant that Sonya was the Newt of Tris' group.

More and more it felt like there were far too many parallels going on. Almost like everyone really did have a role, based on their personalities, and in spite of the fact that there would always be some differences, each of their mazes seemed to have a role that was assigned to a different person.

Tris had Thomas' role. Harriet had either Alby or Minho's role (Thomas wasn't sure, with what little information he had). Sonya had Newt's role. Aris had Teresa's. ... Only he had saved them instead of betraying them.

He wonders if the other mazes were the same. If there really was a role for everyone. If there were other people out there who had parallels with him and Tris, too, as well as all of their friends.

He didn't dare to ask more about Sonya, though. Tris had shared very little, but Sonya was no longer here. He didn't know how Tris' relationship with her was, but if it was anything like his and Newt's... Yeah, he really didn't want to bring that up.

So he nods, instead, looking at her and blinking surprisingly when she suddenly sputters after he speaks again. ... He can't help the little chuckle.]

Yeah, we did. [And a nod.] Emphasis on 'we'. [And he laughs a little, again, head shaking as his attention returns to the ground.] I wouldn't have survived if Minho hadn't been there to show me the way. [Granted, he had entered on his own free will and against Newt's orders of sorts, but. It had been worth it, in the end.] That was the night we killed our first Griever. [Okay, so in this case, he could have said 'I'. But no point in putting more attention on himself, right? All he did was think that (maybe) it would work and then run for his life, pretty much. He got lucky.]

[ She's glad for him not asking questions for once. Maybe she'd even have shot him down if he'd asked. Chances are talking about those who have been taken isn't a comfortable topic for either of them, and she's far more comfortable keeping the conversation away from them for the time being.

When he chuckles at her sputtering, she frowns at him immediately, but as he goes on the expression dissolves into quiet surprise, just off the side of awe. ]

Wow. You didn't waste any time. And, what, with just two people? [ She shakes her head, smiling. ] We had our hands full with not dying.

[He agrees, definitely.]

Well... [He looks at her again, from the corner of his eyes.] The maze sort of did it for us. All we had to do was run. [It wasn't as simple as he is making it sound, no, there was a lot that could have gone wrong. He had to outrun the Griever and the walls crashing, but. In the end, it was worth it. He is still amazed he managed to think it up on the spot.]

[ Tris tilts her head at his remark. The maze? How? Until it clicks for her, and she grins. ]

Wait, you mean the changing walls? Wow, good thinking. Your idea or his?

[ It seems like that would take a very experienced runner to even know about, and be in the right place at the exactly right time. And even then, probably a lot of luck to top it off. ]

[He nods at her question, moving a hand up to scratch the back of his neck while avoiding her gaze. So maybe his ears gain a little bit of color as he replies, given her compliment.

He hasn't heard one in a while.]

Mine. He was already up ahead. [And then he looks down again, back to massaging his wrist, quickly adding:] I wouldn't have known which direction to run without him, though.

[ In the dark, she doesn't catch the way the compliment makes him blush. She smiles all the same, albeit tentatively, watching him for tells of discomfort. That's the friend of his who got taken, isn't it? Not the kind of territory to navigate without a care. ]

I guess he's a pretty experienced runner, huh?

[ To know the changing walls of the maze even at night and while being hunted is nothing to scoff at. ]

[Very wise of her to be careful where to step, indeed.

He nods at her question, eyes narrowing slightly as he keeps staring at the floor.]

Yeah. [It's a whisper, almost, his tone lower than before.] The best.

[ And there it is. Her eyes dart over him, taking in the details of him trying to stare a hole into the ground, the way his voice darkens. She isn't sure how to steer the conversation back to a better place, but she tries anyway. ]

Why were you in there in the first place?

[He isn't entirely sure that is a better place at all, because his eyes remain on the floor, shoulders tensing up a bit, leg beginning to move up and down, slightly. It's a nervous habit. The feeling that he needs to just move increasing. He needs to go, he should be going. They are wasting too much time here, who knows what they could be doing to--...

But then Newt's voice (and the argument that they just had not that long ago, even) comes to mind and he just sighs deeply through his nose. Yeah, he knows they need to stop. Yeah, he knows they need to rest. Yeah, he knows that trying to go non-stop will only make things worse in the long run.

But dealing with all of this is not easy. It's not easy at all.]

He and the leader of the group, Alby, went in to investigate something. [He tries to focus on the story in order to calm his thoughts.] They were taking longer than usual, though. We all gathered by the gates, waiting, until he finally showed up, dragging Alby on the floor. He had been stung.

Usually, I guess, you are meant to leave the stung people inside, that's what the banishing does. But Alby was important to them. To the group. So he didn't let him go. [He starts playing with his fingers then, the story obviously not doing much to drain any of that anxiety away.] The doors started to close and all the boys outside were telling him to hurry up, but none of them moved to go inside.

I guess the fear was too attached to them, the idea that no one could survive a night in the maze. If some of us had gone in and helped, we all would have made it out before the doors closed.

But no one did anything. And he wasn't letting go of Alby, either, and it became really obvious that he was never going to make it to us before the doors closed.

[He looks at his hands then, shaking a little bit now, his own hold on them trying to calm them.]

I figured two would be better than one, out there, so I ran inside right before it shut down. All three of us made it out the next day.

[He is still surprised at how well Newt dealt with the whole situation.]

[ He talks, but it seems like he's just sinking deeper into it. Wrong choice, maybe. For Tris, it leaves only the option of listening and watching, while she bites the inside of her cheek. Hearing it is different, of course, from being there, but she's got some idea of what it was like even so.

She nods as he describes it, the way fear held people in its grip, keeping them from even helping those important to them. Everyone, Tris has found, has a different reaction when they are afraid of something, but being paralyzed by it isn't uncommon. Not everyone can detach from it, master it, figure out how to function anyway. Thomas is, while clearly managing, also clearly not okay, but he's earned her respect by not shying away from it even for a moment.

She reaches out, tentative, places a hand on his forearm. Plain for him to see, her hands are calloused as any glader's, nails bitten down to the beds. She tries to meet his eyes, if he does look up. ]

Hey. [ Just stop for a second. ] We can find something better to talk about, if you want.

[ Not if it's too much, or if it hurts, or any of those choices. She withdraws her hand - it's really that simple. There's no pity in the look she gives him. ]

[His whole body tenses up the moment her hand touches his forearm. It's nothing against her at all, since it is an unconscious, immediate reaction, the touch unfamiliar, the thoughts far away from the here and now of things.

When his eyes turn to it, though, just half a second after, and he follows her hand to see her, hear her, he slowly begins to relax again.

He appreciates the gesture as well as the words. It's good to be offered a way out, yet, his thoughts are too far gone into it already, his foot resuming the tapping on the floor from before.]

Yeah, [He tries.] Thanks.

[But she is withdrawing next and he turns to the horizon just to find something he has been dreading to admit to himself for days-- Nothing. There's nothing there. He doesn't know if they are really going in the right direction, he doesn't know if this is the fastest way.

It's ridiculous, because he, according to Vince, is the reason they even know where to head to, but he can't remember a thing. What if this is all part of a bigger plan? What if he lied back when he had his memories and gave them the wrong coordinates to a few things just to get them to walk into a trap? Would WICKED have thought that far ahead? Was that even possible?

He was overthinking, the anxiety growing, worry taking over.

This was wrong, this was all wrong.

What if he was taking them towards their bitter end? What if by trying to save Minho and everyone else, he was putting Newt and all the others in danger? Of course, he would still go to save Minho anyway, but the more he thinks about it, the less comfortable he is about all of this.

Not to mention that he still feels like they are taking too long. He promised Minho he wouldn't let him be harvested like those kids back in the WICKED facility. Just the thought that he might be breaking that promise as they speak, right now--]

... I need to go.

[And before she can stop him, Thomas is getting up.]

I need to move-- I think... Running a little around this place?

[He won't be going to continue alone (and least not yet), is what he means, to make it a little clearer. But he needs to move, because moving helps him feel like he is at least doing something, rather than staying still.

Doing so around their campsite would still allow him to keep watch, right?]

[ He's panicking. This much is obvious to Tris, because she's seen it and felt it, but she can also tell that she can't calm him down - maybe one of his friends could, but he's already trying to think his way through it, so there's no real point waking anyone.

Tris sits back as Thomas gets up, head tilted up to see his face. Her surprise passes quickly before she nods. It's a restlessness she knows. ]

Or you can scout ahead. I'll keep watch.

[ She considers running with him, even though he's probably faster than her just by how much taller he is. At the same time, she doesn't want both of them to be leaving the site. So she leaves it as is. ]

Just come back.

[That she can tell so much with so little is not only surprising but amazing, as well. That she doesn't make him any more questions or tries to stop him is even better.

He is thankful, for that.

Thankful that she even goes as far as suggesting that he scouts ahead, rather than just running around. He might venture a little, but really, he isn't going to get very far at all and always try to circle rather than just going in one direction. He wants to make sure everyone will be safe, at camp.]

I--... [He wants to say, but trails off. He won't be long? He doesn't know if that would be true. So he ends up just nodding.] I'll yell if I see anything. [And run back like a madman, too, if that was the case. Hopefully not, though. It seems to be a pretty quiet night.

At her last words, he nods again.]

I always do. [And there's a small smile in there. Sad, but still. He meets her eyes once more.] Thanks.

[ She trusts him. Implicitly, anyway, if she didn't she wouldn't be on watch or even on this trip with him, and if Thomas couldn't look after himself, Tris is pretty sure he wouldn't have made it this far. That she understands his restlessness isn't to say that she doesn't blame herself for it. Apparently, the things they talked about brought issues to mind that he can't bear to sit still in the presence of, and she feels-- clumsy. Awkward. If running will help him, it's not something she'll try to talk him out of, and he's skittish, restless, tense, all of which she doubts will get better with more sitting still. ]

Okay, [ she responds, hoping that means he's staying in yelling distance. Runners, after all, will go for hours and hours and never stop. She isn't sure what to make of the smile, or the sadness it comes with, so she doesn't return it, merely watching him as he looks at her. His assurance that he always comes back is the one statement she doesn't believe, having seen too many not make it through things they were so sure they would, but it isn't the time to argue. Not exactly her place either. ]

Sure thing.

[ None of them should be alone out there. But she's never been very good about rules. ]

| they've got the kingdom locked up. (CALL ME OUT)

x333 <3

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