December 10th. Noonish. Thankfully it's been a pretty straightforward drive so far. The weather has mostly held up, but there's a light peppering of snow coming down. The windows have two methods for dealing with snowfall, though, so it's not that big of a deal. The windows themselves can heat up- useful for defrosting a night of buildup- and they have traditional wipers. Outside of wildlife, they spotted their first sign of life about an hour
#Kirill'sTruck – January 13, 2019
back. A set of tracks either coming from- or towards- the north. It has, at the very least, given them a path to follow that they can be sure is free from any dangerous debris. They left the foothills behind quite some time ago, but even with all this distance between them the mountains loom behind them, visible in the rearview mirror. It's been mostly flatland since they escaped the foothills. Trees dot the landscape on both sides, but it's
Jessica is laying across the truck's seat, head in Yan Sun's lap. Her hands are rested on her stomach atop the thick blanket that she has pulled up to her chest. With Yan Sun driving she's taken the opportunity to hold down Yan Sun's role during the previous day: Doing absolutely nothing! "But-... here?" she asks, glancing up to Yan Sun briefly as if to make sure she's still paying attention to her tattoo rundown, "...Was a varren." she
explains, lifting her right arm slightly and drawing a line across the inside of her right upper arm.
Yan Sun has started to grow a bit more comfortable with driving the truck over the past hours, but she's still nowhere near as relaxed as Jessica was when in control of the vehicle. She's slipped her jacket off after the heating in the cab of the truck thawed the cold she was feeling. The beanie as well has been discarded as the temperature got comfortable. She glances down towards Jessica's arm to see where she's pointing, a small, fond
smile crossing her lips as she acknowledges that she's listening, not interrupting her. Perhaps because of the tracks that they're following, she feels confident enough to let her right hand drop from the wheel, slipping under the blanket - and Jessica's shirt - to rest on her belly, thumb stroking idly back and forth across soft skin as her eyes return to scanning the terrain ahead.
Jessica examines the area for a moment. "They are cute and dangerous." she explains, rolling her head against Yan Sun's lap to look up at her once more momentarily, stupid grin crossing her face, "Just like me." she adds playfully. As her head returns to her arm she has to roll her sleeve up a bit more, slipping it over her shoulder, to show off the next area. It slips right back down, but it remains high enough for her to rotate her
arm and brush her thumb against the outside of her bicep. Amongst the mangled, rough flesh there's a small, almost unnoticeable patch of green-blue that hasn't quite been washed away by the fire. "Up here here was-..." she furrows her brow as she tries to remember the word, "How do you call them...?" she asks, as if Yan Sun should know. "They have the-... With the-... the-..." she presses three fingers to her forehead and
Yan Sun snickers slightly. "Just like you." she agrees, continuing to listen to Jessica's rundown. Her struggle causes her to glance down again, raising an eyebrow. "Aaaa... unicorn...?" she suggests, sounding a little puzzled. She does her best to divide her attention between the windshield and Jessica.
Jessica furrows her brow, looking downright offended for a moment. "A unicorn?!" she asks, her mock offense slipping away. "You are thinking that I would-... You are sooo fucking gay, kitty cat! No. Not a unicorn! A-..." she repeats the exact same motion as if doing it a second time might clear it up. "You know? The big ones. From Earth? Gah-... what they are called?"
Yan Sun blinks, looking briefly unsure how to react as she glances down at Jessica, but soon enough a laugh slips out. "A rhino?" she says through her grin, obviously amused.
Jessica gives a big, heavy nod against Yan Sun's lap. "Mmm!" she hums excitedly. "Yes!" Her gaze travels back to the patch of burnt skin that was once covered by a canvas of tattoos, rotating her arm a little bit more as she does. "They fuck shit up." she says in a mutter. Her knowledge of rhinoceros' is, of course, limited to a vid she once saw. Her right arm comes back down on top of the blanket while her left slips beneath it, hand
coming to rest against Yan Sun's wrist. "You should get more tattoos." she says, peering back to Yan Sun from her relaxed position.
Yan Sun lets out another quiet snicker, considering the suggestion for a moment before glancing down at Jessica. "Would you do them for me?" she asks, flashing a small grin.
Jessica's grin grows, her hand traveling a short ways up Yan Sun's arm and then back down. "Mmm. We can cover you, yes?" she says, giving a small lift of her left brow before qualifying her statement with an added: "Very sexy."
Yan Sun 's grin takes on a hint of embarrassment as she shrugs a little, arm shifting a little against Jessica's stomach. "I mean... maybe one thing at a time." she says through a slight chuckle. "But... I think I could go for some more..." she adds, glancing down at what she can see of Jessica's left arm. "Yours are... pretty awesome."
Jessica pulls her arm free from beneath the blanket and uses her right hand to roll the sleeve up. The sleeve climbs all the way from her knuckles on the back of her hand until it disappears beneath her sleeve on her upper arm, wisps of smoke snaking between skulls. Despite the meaningless nature of the tattoo, it's certainly well done. Applied with great care by someone who has pride in what they do. Which, considering Yan Sun has met
Burd, is probably obvious. She looks the tattoo over fondly for a moment before setting her arm back down. "What you are getting first? Mmm?" she asks as her attention turns back to Yan Sun. She rotates slightly, so her face is almost facing Yan Sun's stomach, and lifts the bottom of her shirt with her left hand. "Maybe a bunch of stars right here, mmm?" she suggests- an aesthetic she's clearly fond of- and brushes her thumb
Yan Sun can't help squirming slightly under Jessica's touch, perhaps a bit of ticklishness showing through. "Like yours? I-... I could see that..." she muses, taking a moment to check the 'road' ahead before looking back down at Jessica, gaze lingering on her right arm for a moment as her grin fades. "Have-... have you thought about replacing the ones you lost?" she asks, swallowing a little as she can't help but worry about bringing the
mood down by poking sore topics. There's a vague memory of suggesting it before, but it's muddled by an alcoholic haze.
Jessica too, has little more than a vague recollection of the discussion. "The omni-tattoo...?" she asks before giving a small shrug. She bends her arm at the elbow and looks it over from her position facing inward against Yan Sun's lap. Until recently, she had pretty much given up on her body. It was just a means to an end. A vessel to help her do what she needed to. She could still make a fist just fine, hold a gun, and grip the
handle of a blade and that was good enough for her. You don't need to be pretty to end a man's life. But that was then. That was before-... Her gaze raises unintentionally to meet Yan Sun's. A lot can change in just a few months. And a lot has. It's a realization that hits her from out of nowhere and slaps the smile right off of her face, causing her to turn her gaze away from Yan Sun and back to her arm, swallowing hard as she
tries to get her train of thought back on track. "...I don't know." she says a bit softer, but she seems to catch herself and tries to cover it up by continuing to talk. "I think-... I think that they are gone, kitty cat." she says, but there's no anger behind her voice. Just a factual statement as she looks her arm over and draws in a breath. "They should stay this way. But maybe-..." she gives a small, sheepish shrug that
doesn't really translate well up against Yan Sun, but a semblance of her smile makes a return, "...Maybe I can get new ones, yes?"
Yan Sun gains a faint smile, nodding. She doesn't seem to notice Jessica's shift in expression with her attention divided between her and the windshield. "Yeah, I-... if you wanted to, we could look into it when we get to Hong Kong? I know somebody that does that kind of stuff." she says, gaze darting down toward Jessica again. There's a hint of hesitation in her voice, as if part of her is worried Jessica might take her words the wrong
Jessica continues to examine her right arm distractedly for a few moments, opening and closing her hand as she does. "Mmm." she hums an affirmative to the suggestion, "It can't make it look any worse, yes?" she asks with a snicker.
Yan Sun doesn't seem entirely sure how to respond to that bit of self-deprecation, a slightly uncomfortable snort slipping out as she glances down. "Shut up, asshole..." she settles for. It's... a response, right? "You know you're hot." With that she moves her right hand from Jessica's belly, grabbing hers and bringing it up to her lips, pressing a kiss against the burnt skin of her knuckles, gaze on the road as she adjusts the wheel a
Jessica snickers at the gesture made in what seems pretty clear to be a response to discomfort. Which is fine, because few things in life make her more happy than making Yan Sun squirm. Nevertheless, the gesture causes her grin to grow slightly. Might have been a bad choice of words, though. "Of course I am hot." she says confidently, furrowing her brow as if offended that Yan Sun might even consider the notion that she doesn't already
know that, "I was soooo hot that I break into flames." she continues to rub the discomfort in, seemingly having no issue with pointing out her own disfigurement casually.
Yan Sun 's eyes widen a little as she realizes her mistake. "I-I didn't mean-... that wasn't-... grh..." she stutters, blushing, but she soon catches on that Jessica is messing with her. "Asshole!" she repeats, reaching for one of the pillows and placing it over Jessica's face, resting her elbows against it as she pointedly focuses on driving.
Jessica gives a chuckle when Yan Sun begins to realize that she's being fucked with. When the pillow is placed over her, she swats at Yan Sun's arm. "Bitch!" she grunts as she pulls her head from her lap, though there's an ear-to-ear smile that's conflicting with her tone. "Don't be lazy!" she complains, lifting Yan Sun's elbow closest to her and then planting her head right atop the pillow. "You are my pillow." she says sternly. "You
focus on driving. I focus on laying. This is how this works. If your arm is tired then put it somewhere else." she explains as she shifts about in an effort to get comfortable again.
Yan Sun snickers, a smile of her own joining Jessica's as she complains. "I am focusing on driving!" she says, letting her right her right arm drop back down onto Jessica's chest after she lies down with her head on the pillow. "I was just... removing a distracting element." she concludes with a nod, an amused look on her face. She lets her hand come to rest on the left side of her neck, absent-mindedly caressing her as she looks out at
Yan Sun 's thumb idly traces the side of Jessica's jaw as she continues her driving, once again turning a little. "Riiight... of course." she agrees sarcastically, amused smile remaining in place.
Jessica gives a none-too-serious look of annoyance but relents with a grumble and a shake of her head. Well now she's practically asking to be distracted, right? "What about my lips? Mmm?" she asks with a raise of her brow, once again reaching across herself to lift the bottom of Yan Sun's shirt slightly. "For your tattoo?" She tilts her head to the side, scooting up a bit to give herself some more room to adjust. She moistens her
lips with her tongue and presses a wet kiss against Yan Sun's stomach, the added height of the pillow assisting so she doesn't have to lift her head much. "Right here." she says, letting go of Yan Sun's shirt so it falls against her head, slightly concealing her face against Yan Sun's belly. "Or maybe right here..." she continues, pressing a second kiss beside the first.
Yan Sun seems confused at first, eyebrows furrowing. "Wha-..." she starts to ask, but she stops when she feels Jessica's lips against her skin, cheeks reddening a little. She reflexively sucks her belly in what little she can as her back shifts. "Nooot sure about that one..." she says through a slightly unsteady chuckle, her right hand rejoining the left on the steering wheel as she makes a point of focusing on her driving. Unfazed!
Jessica remains as she is, face pressed against Yan Sun's belly. "Mmm. Maybe you are right." she agrees, shirt draped partially across her head. "I am thinking that maybe it would be better... here." she says, wettening her lips once again before pressing another soft kiss just below Yan Sun's belly button. "Mmm? What you are thinking? Is better?" she asks before blowing gently on the spot she just kissed and allowing the combination of
Yan Sun lets out a flustered sigh as she squirms in response to Jessica's antics. "I'm trying to drive here!" she reminds. "A... really heavy truck! Trying to focus!"
Jessica snickers into Yan Sun's belly. "What is the matter, kitty cat?" she asks with a tone of mock confusion. "Why you are not able to focus? Mmm?" she asks before prodding the tip of her tongue into her belly and drawing a small circle with it. "Tattoos distract you too much, I am thinking."
Yan Sun shifts in her seat, an uncomfortable laugh slipping out. "H-... oookay, that's-... ha... ha." she mutters, gaze stubbornly focused straight ahead as her grip on the steering wheel tightens, body tensing a little.
Jessica seems to be getting a kick out of Yan Sun's increasingly flustered state, big, sinister grin plastered across her face. Baring her teeth, she bites at the waistline of Yan Sun's jeans and gives them a couple of tugs in a feeble attempt at popping the button free, but it doesn't last. Before long her head hits the pillow as a laughing fit overtakes her. "You are soooooo easy." she teases while settling onto her back once more,
Yan Sun mutters inaudibly in Cantonese under her breath, a highly unamused look on her as she jabs an elbow into Jessica's stomach without taking her eyes off the trail.
Jessica bends at the waist, feet and head lifting up to brace against the elbow attack. "Keep it up!" she warns through her continued snickering. "We are going to stop eventually. And when we do I am going to fuck you up!"
Yan Sun lets out a heavy sigh. "Not if I run us off a cliff before then..." she mumbles. Not that there seem to be any cliffs in view. But you never know! "Whyyy are you soooo... gh..." she trails off, shoulders falling as she fails to maintain even a veneer of annoyance in the face of Jessica's snickering, a big grin spreading across her face. "I'm hungry. Do we have any jerky left?" she asks as she feels her stomach growl.
Jessica's snicker continues until Yan Sun begins to posit a question, getting another rise out of her brow. "Soooo fucking awesome?" she attempts to finish when Yan Sun begins to ask about food. "Great?" she continues overtop Yan Sun's request. "Sexy?" she adds, playfully making as if she's going to go for the waistline with her teeth again but stopping just short. Drawing in a breath she reluctantly sits up, muttering a crass, "I
have something for you to eat..." through her grin as she does. She brings her legs in close, looking about for the half-empty bag along the seat. When she doesn't spot it she furrows her brow in confusion and leans to the side to see if it somehow ended up between her and the backrest. Nope, nothing there. Perhaps it's off somewhere partying with the pair of panties that mysteriously disappeared. In a last ditch effort she
lifts the nest of blankets overtop her lower body and begins to shake them. Two or three shakes later and out pops a bag of jerky! She shifts in place, bringing the blankets with her, and sits cross-legged beside Yan Sun, facing the windshield. She pops a piece into her own mouth before feeding Yan Sun. It's unnaturally warm after having spent the past couple hours tangled amidst a mess of blankets and tucked against her body,
Yan Sun scoffs quietly at Jessica's teasing, grin lingering for a while before slowly fading as Jessica busies herself foraging for food. Once the jerky is found and Jessica goes to feed her she turns her head to ease the process, keeping her focus on her driving as she does. "Mthlank you..." she says while chewing.
Jessica wordlessly steals the pillow from Yan Sun's lap, shifting it onto her own to rest her arms atop. Once finished with her bite of jerky, she repeats the process a few times. One for herself. One for Yan Sun. When she's had enough, she drops the bag into Yan Sun's lap and licks at her fingers.
The tracks they've been following begin to veer hard left. They've been angling more and more to the left for some time, but soon they'll be heading more south than west. Not exactly where Yan Sun and Jessica need to be heading.
Yan Sun hesitates a little, glancing over towards the holographic map. "I-... I think we need to pull off this track." she says, looking over towards Jessica as she slows down, perhaps not wanting to make that decision without her input. "Looks like it's going to lead us too far south."
Jessica gives a dismissive shrug of her shoulders. "We need to keep going west." she says, her gaze peering towards the tracks where they bend south up ahead. The only sign of intelligent life in roughly an entire day. "Just keep going." she nods west. "I am thinking it is much too windy for us to put the tent up out here." she continues, gesturing to the miles and miles of flatland around them. "If we do not find somewhere we can set
it up, then we are going to be needing to sleep in the truck again." she concludes on, her tone implying that's not something she's looking forward to.
Yan Sun nods a couple of times, drumming her fingers against the steering wheel. "Yeah... let's just... hope we can find somewhere, I guess. Would be nice to have room to move my arms." she agrees with a small snicker. She starts to accelerate again, turning off from the track and breaking into untouched snow. "Anything on the map that looks promising?" she asks with a quick glance toward it, realizing as she's speaking that it's unlikely
The undisturbed snow can be felt as the truck's wheels power into it, making the relative smoothness of the past couple of hours much more noticeable. The vibration returns to the steering column and there's an occasional bump as the wheels deal with uneven snow. Thankfully the snow doesn't seem to be quite as deep as it was near the mountains. And with that, the tracks are left behind. Who were they? Where were they going? Did they make it to
Jessica leans forward and opens the map once more, furrowing her brow. The region isn't exactly bustling with activity. They could probably reach Adrasteia if they powered through a bit after the sun came down, but Jessica doesn't seem to deem it worthy of mention. It wasn't too long ago that she returned to Adrasteia without a care. Even dragged Yan Sun along, knowing damn well what would happen if she had been caught. The thought
causes a pang of guilt in her chest, but she's quick to push it down. There's a few farming communities surrounding Adrasteia, but what are they gonna do? Knock on their door in the middle of the night? Jessica doesn't look like the friendliest soul in the world, either. They're more likely to get shot than to find a place to sleep like that. She gives a shake of her head as she settles back into her seat. "No." she sighs,
Yan Sun once again nods a few times. "Yup. Going." she says. "Just gonna... drive this way. Straight ahead. Through endless snow." she adds with exaggerated boredom. "Why is everything on this planet so far away...?" she adds in a half-mutter.
Jessica cocks a look Yan Sun's way, "Why you are always complaining?" she counters. "You are in a truck with me for all of a week. You should be happy." she explains, allowing a moment to pass before adding, "Slut."
Yan Sun can't keep her bored expression very long, a smile inevitably creeping into her expression as she glances Jessica's way. "I do like that part." she concedes, drawing in a deep breath and letting out a happy sigh, making no more attempt to deny that she's really enjoying doing this together, just the two of them. Even if driving isn't her favorite activity. "I thought of something else to show you when we get to Hong Kong!" she says
Jessica gives a confused glance Yan Sun's way, a little of her enthusiasm rubbing off on Jessica as she turns her body and rests an elbow against the backrest- hand against the side of her head- to better face her. "Mmm? What is this?" she asks through her grin.
Yan Sun blinks. "Oh! It's-, uh... they've all sorts of stuff. Simstim theater, a lot of retro setups... and full VR suites. Think they might've even finished construction on the Armax place now? Holo-arena. I'm not really a sports person but still pretty cool. First location on Earth, I think." she explains with obvious enthusiasm, a shrug accompanying the last part.
Jessica understands what some of that is! And she does her best to nod along and feign being knowledgeable, the focus wiping her smile away. "Mmm. Yes. I hear of this place." she lies, pretending to be oh so worldly. "Is very... good... place."
Yan Sun furrows her eyebrows, looking over towards Jessica. It doesn't exactly take the most astute person to pick up on Jessica's attempt at faking knowledge, and it's far from her first exposure to it either. "Yeah...? Anything specific you'd like to try, then?" she asks, a smug grin crossing her lips as she watches Jessica after a brief glance to make sure the path ahead is still, in fact, just plains of white snow.
Plains. Check. White. Check. Snow. Check. Everything seems to be in order. There's the odd tree every now and then but, for the most part, it's open driving for now.
Jessica opens her mouth to speak, but it soon closes. She makes another attempt, getting as far as, "I-..." but then trails off. She stares at Yan Sun. Hard. And then the stare turns into a glare. And the glare into a scowl. She lifts her right hand, putting her middle finger right in Yan Sun's face. "Fuck you. Watch the road." she grumps.
Yan Sun allows an evil giggle to slip out, eyeing the road once more briefly before looking back to Jessica. "It's a lot of fun, promise. Have-... have you ever played a VR game...?" she asks, expression turning back to excitement.
Jessica grumpily slumps her head a bit heavier against her hand, glare remaining leveled on Yan Sun. But her excitement seems to be contagious enough to cause Jessica to drop the act, a semblance of her previous smile returning. She gives a small shake of her head against her hand. "No. Because I am not a nerd." she says, getting a quick dig in when she can, though it's not hard to see that Yan Sun's enthusiasm has rubbed off on her
even if she won't admit it. Of course the truth is that the culture of Adrasteia was just very different. Music. Drinking. Dancing. Parties. All things she's very familiar with. But VR games? Just getting current hardware and software to Adrasteia would require jumping through plenty of hoops. Pile that on top of the fact that most of her childhood was spent dealing with local gangs and helping her family to keep food on the
Yan Sun nods a couple of times, her grin growing when Jessica confirms that she hasn't tried it. "Yeah. It's-... oh, you're gonna be blown away. I-..." her eyebrows furrow as she realizes she's not even sure if Jessica is familiar with the concept. "I don't know if you know how-... okay, you hook up to the rig, right? And... it's all digital from there. Immersion factor is pretty crazy, but you need a lot of space... and power, for a setup
like that. Not to mention the hardware. So usually only arcades carry them." she explains, enthusiasm still firmly in place.
Jessica is absolutely not familiar with the concept but, despite her obvious confusion, seems to maintain her enthusiasm throughout Yan Sun's rant. She gives small nods the whole way through, as if she's following along. But it's not until Yan Sun has finished that she speaks up. "What you are meaning, rig?"
Yan Sun blinks. "Oh! Right. It's-... most places these days use full-body pods. You just... lie down in it and it... hijacks your brain's signals, pretty much. Feeds it virtual impressions instead of real ones, yeah? I know there's some methods that work without pods, but that'd require some pretty invasive implants." she elaborates. She may have forgotten to watch where she's going while discussing this with Jessica, but hey, it should