"Oh…" Desmond frowned a little, thoughtfully chewing his lip. "You don't have anywhere that you stay? No where to sleep?" The thought of someone like her sleeping on the streets made him nervous. That was incredibly dangerous for anyone, much less a young woman. It didn't matter how tough anyone was. Sleeping on the streets was practically asking to get killed, kidnapped, or raped.
It seemed like a bad idea, but… "There are extra rooms in my house," he offered warily. He didn't want her to feel pressured to accept, because he knew that accepting help from strangers was dangerous– and he didn't want her to think he had bad intentions. "You're welcome to stay, if needed– but don't feel obligated."
She wasn't really thinking about it much at the moment. Yeah it was dangerous, but she never got a ton of sleep. So it was fine. She was always on guard and on the look out. She was smart with how she hid and where she slept. She would even go up in a tree if she had to.
"it's fine. Sometimes I stay at the abandoned and broken houses every now and again. The basements are really useful too." the girl waved it off. She had been kidnapped and raped a multitude of times, before and after this hell hole happened. But was she going to tell him? Nope.
"Ya know what… I think it's fine" she smiled "I can find someone much less of a pervert…somewhere hopefully. And if anything, I could climb a tree or something" she teased. Obviously she wanted to take her offer, but she was going to have some fun.
Desmond's eyes widened slightly. "Oh– No– That's not–" His face reddened again, and he looked uncomfortable. "I–I didn't mean–" He spent several seconds fumbling over his own words before he finally managed to string a coherent sentence together. "I'm not a pervert," he said somewhat defensively– though he didn't look directly at her now, as if he were afraid she'd think he was looking at her disrespectfully.
Truth be told, he was somewhat innocent for his age. And most definitely a virgin, despite how uncommon that had become these days. Before the world went to crap, he only ever had one girlfriend– and that only lasted a couple weeks because she was using him to make an ex jealous. So his experience with women was a bit minimal, and apparently his efforts to seem nice had backfired.
She stood there with her arms crossed below her cleavage, she smiled. Suppressing a laugh of course.
"Its fine. I know you're not. And even if you were…I wouldn't be surprised. All men are these days. The only thing they take from unrobbed stores are the cigarettes and magazines." She rolled her eyes because she started to walk again.
"You're cute. Dont change that. And dont become a pervert or else I have full permission to stab you" she says increasing her arms and twirling a knife in her hand.
"Anyway …..are we almost there yet?" She asked after about a moment of silence.
Cute. It was definitely a major upgrade from pervert, but he wasn't necessarily happy about it. In the world before this one, he would've likely taken it as a compliment– and here he does some, because the blush on his face lingers– but nowadays, cute doesn't get you anywhere aside from abused. Cute things, soft things, vulnerable things– those things are always corrupted and destroyed by twisted and dark-hearted individuals who would take advantage of them. So Desmond wasn't so sure if he wanted anyone to think of him as cute, either.
But the good news was he was a little too pure to likely become a pervert anytime soon, which meant if she did decide to stab him, it'd be for a totally different reason.
"Almost," he promised, trying to pick up the pace a bit. It was difficult, considering his soreness, but he concealed it well. "Are you familiar with forests, or do you spend most of your time in cities?" he asked casually.
She studied his expression, trying her best to read his emotions but not quite getting there. But he didn't seem too happy about what she said. But she said a lot so she wasn't sure what he wasn't to happy about it.
So when he changed the subject, answering her question, she let it be. Not mentioning it, though she probably wouldn't have mentioned it again in the first place even if he did stay quiet.
The small girl shrugged, a small skip in her walk as she talked. "Both" she smiled "it's a 40/60 you see. So I know the forest a good bit. But I spend more time in the cities. I mean, that's where the people are but I have supplies to gather and sometimes I find people in need and hurt in the forest." She says with yet another shrug, a bit awkward when it came to explaining things. She's always been really bad at that.
"Neat," Dez replied, unsure of what else to say. "I don't like the cities much. Too many thug gangs everywhere. I prefer the forests. They're not much safer, but I'm more used to the terrain, so it makes things easier on me." He smirked. "And I can climb trees better than most of these beef-heads, so I have the advantage. They never know what to do with a guy who can shimmy up one of those like a squirrel," he said, pointing at a towering tree nearby. He limped along a few steps further before he gestured to a little tree-covered incline before them. "It's right up ahead. Right over this bank."
(Hey, I'm so sorry I haven't been on. Things have been…..busy to say the least. I'm so sorry. I'm going to try to be on more starting today! Its nothing against you! My life just got a bit weird and hectic. I absolutely love this roleplay, I'm sorry I left for such a long time!)
She listened to him talk, though keeping a lookout as best as she could with her one good eye. Still thankful it wasnt too noticable as both of her eyes were so white. Shes been mistaken for a zombie of some sorts a few times. Which actually hurt a bit. Especially considering zombies were even real. But hey, it's the apocalypse so she didnt get all butthurt over it.
"Well alrighty then. Let's get going!" She smiled up at him, trying to be as positive as possible, blowing a small strand of curly white hair from her face. "The sooner we get you home, or whatever this place is, the sooner you can rest."
