JP - Tzeitel refuses to take Credit

Klaire nodded and looked over herself. Aside from the broken arm and the little dot on her breast where the tranquilizer hit, she seemed to have no real damage. Her tail shifted and tried to hide her lower half. “Maybe we should head to the Underground now…and…I think Cody might need you.”

Cody was standing there, breathing heavily as he glared at the woods, gun still gripped tightly in hand. What he had done, who he had shot, was finally hitting him. He had killed someone…actually killed someone.

Tzeitel would offer Klaire her jacket, but that had been left in the wine cellar. She nodded and went over to Cody. She set a hand on her son’s shoulder. “Cody? What’s wrong?” She asked.

Cody jumped at the touch and looked at Tzeitel for a long time. “I…uh…I think I killed someone…” No, he knew he killed someone. It had either been her or James and Klaire. “No, I…I had to stop the truck…”

Tzeitel looked back at the truck where Riven was taking a dead body out. She hugged Cody. “They were taking Klaire, you did the right thing…. James too.” Tzeitel could not remember the first time she killed someone, apparently she had made several MegaCorp soldiers commit suicide when she was still a kid during a failed escape attempt, but MegaCorp wiped her memory of that. “I know it doesn’t feel right.”

“I…I didn’t want them to take Aunt Klaire and James…I just…yeah.” He hugged Tzeitel back, finally relaxing just a little. “Ami…Ami’s okay. She’s with Lyle and the others…”

“Good.” Tzeitel hugged Cody close, she had heard that Ami was being taken to the Underground and was safe, but it felt better to have it confirmed by Cody. “You know what a monster Canestone was- you helped save Klaire… and I guess James… from that.”

“You’re the one that really saved them…” Cody said, staring at her. “You got your car totaled to save them.”

Klaire was bundled in blankets and the jacket Mark had given her. Walking over, she looked at them. “Yeah, she did, but cars are replaceable. I’m glad she’s okay…” She said as James stepped up next to them as well.

“I’ll see what I can do about getting you a new car…” James said, feeling bad as he looked at the poor destroyed thing. “I’m sorry all this happened and…thank you, Tzeitel.”

Tzeitel shrugged. “I didn’t know anyone else was in the truck, I just saw him getting away and wanted to stop him… I probably should get my stuff out of it.”

“Still, you saved us from him,” James said. “And I’m thankful for that, especially since she’s safe again.” He looked at Klaire as if she were the whole world to him. “The twins still have their mother thanks to you, Tzeitel.”

Cody looked at Tzeitel’s car. “I’ll go get it.” He said and made his way to it. He wanted to keep himself busy for now.

“I can-” Tzeitel trailed off, wanting to get out of this incredibly awkward situation. “I didn’t save you on purpose, dammit.” Tzeitel was glad that Klaire was saved and only had a broken arm, but she did not want credit for saving James. Even if he did not do what she remembered. She could feel a headache coming on like it usually did when the contradictory timelines clashed in her mind. She saw Frisk driving off in Trevor with Abe. “I need another ride.” Tzeitel groaned.

“Delilah is working on that,” James said and sighed heavily. “Why do you have to be that way? Can you at least explain to me why it’s so…impossible for you to be at least civil around me? I’m trying to be nice here.”

Klaire gave Tzeitel a look that said “please be nice”, ears twitching.

“I’m just being honest!” Tzeitel said, her nerves on edge and she could swear she could feel her brain pulsing. “I could lie and say I risked my life and wrecked my car just to save you and rescuing Klaire was just a bonus and didn’t care about stopping that sick twisted fucker.”

James flinched at the verbal anger and shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “I know you didn’t do it for me…but I’m still thankful. Can’t you just accept someone’s gratitude, even if you hate them?” His voice was calm, tired, and mostly just full of exhaustion. “I’ve done all I can to keep out of your space and out of your way, but the closer I get to Klaire, I know I’ll be spending time around you and I just want us to be on some kind of…leveled ground with each other, at least. We don’t have to be friends, but it’d be nice if we stopped calling each other nasty things all the time…”

Cody yelled loudly as he ran from the car, a very pissed off raccoon hissing at him from the back seat. “Go away, you fiend!”

Tzeitel was immensely grateful to Cody for shouting right then and helping her escape this awkward situation. She hurried over to her son. "How did a raccoon end up in my car so quickly? Are you okay? Did it bite you?" She fussed over him.

Cody was too busy having a yelling/hissing contest with the raccoon to really hear her, eventually having to run from it. In doing so, he grabbed Tzeitel’s arms and bolted away from the car. More raccoons soon joined the first and they began to take over the vehicles…

“You know, that’s not something I expected to see today…” Riven said, blinking.

“What the fuck? Can someone shoot them?” Tzeitel asked.

Riven rolled his eyes and chuckled. “Chill, si-er…Tzeitel! Yeah, chill.” He laughed and went to the car, using his ice to get all the raccoons out. He sent them running on their way into the forest, hoping they would find Clonestone and chew his dick off.

Tzeitel blinked at Riven, wondering what he was going to call her but thought life was simpler not knowing. She went to her car and started getting her stuff out. Seeing how badly damaged it was she was glad her kids weren’t with her, and she understood why Klaire and Frisk were so upset.

“Want some help?” Riven asked, staring at the mess. “My ice can, like, hold back dangerous bits of car if you want. It’s nice seein’ you again, by the way, despite the circumstances.”

“Sure… Er, I guess so.” Tzeitel barely remembered Riven during the time she was recaptured by MegaCorp with Colt. Riven had a key but refused to help them to escape. Colt told her to not trust him, Tzeitel thought he was just a coward.