I did this bacwards but below is my first entry.... Give Penelope some slack ok? Shes just having a bad day. Also 4 context when she does the quotations it's because in the meeting when she was voted (against her will) to go save them they planned the whole escape super complex, so nobody knew they escaped and referred to Nadja and Halo as the missing variables. Then Penelope just did her own thing.
Penelope was beyond annoyed. Honestly, she was past the point of being “done.” Apparently, it was now her fault that the new girl had bolted like a scared rabbit into the woods, all because Penelope had made one tiny, perfectly logical joke about how easy it would be to slit someone’s throat. How was she supposed to know that normal people had a total meltdown over a little “death talk”? It wasn’t her fault the girl’s survival instincts were set to panic instead of listen. People were just so unpredictable. One second, you’re having a conversation, and the next, they’re causing a massive scene and getting themselves kidnapped. It was exhausting. She vented her frustration by kicking a stone. It flew off her boot with enough force to kill a bird, but instead, it clipped Leo right in the shin. “OUCH! Red, watch it!” Leo started hopping on one foot, clutching his leg and looking at her with those pathetic, wounded-dog eyes he always used when he wanted attention. Penelope didn’t even blink. She just rolled her eyes. Why did her favorite person have to be such a massive drama king? He knew she was in a bad mood, and yet he was out here acting like a pebble was a landmine. She ignored his pouting and kept walking toward the guard post. Taking out the guards was barely a workout. It took less brainpower than a basic addition problem. She moved through them with a cold, bored kind of efficiency. Two quick hits, a snap, and it was over. No drama, just math. When they finally found the “missing variables,” they were both a mess. Halo and the new girl were slumped against a wall, semi-conscious and acting like dead weight. Penelope didn’t bother checking if they were comfortable. She just grabbed them both by the ankles and started the long trek back to the base, dragging them across the dirt like two heavy sacks of laundry. Their heels bumped over every rock and root, but Penelope didn’t care. “This,” she muttered to the trees, “is such a colossal waste of my time. I could be doing literally anything else right now.” The second they crossed the threshold of the base, the peace and quiet died a violent death. Halo started screaming, something about “unnecessary trauma” and a “gaping head wound.” The noise was a sharp, vibrating headache that poked at the back of Penelope’s brain. Everyone was suddenly having feelings at her, and it was loud, messy, and useless. As the yelling got louder, Penelope felt that familiar, sharp itch in her veins. She needed a toxin. She needed a drop of something poisonous, just to numb the sound of all these people and their exhausting, overdramatic emotions.
