You don’t look up when the hut’s “door” swings open behind you. You know it’s not Shauna: She’s made it pretty clear you’re not worth following after. You hadn’t even said anything wrong, just pointed out that the firewood wasn’t stacked right, but that’d been enough to set her off. When you snapped back, you became the problem.

Shauna can throw a punches, draw blood, and everyone just blames it on her grief. You raise your voice once and somehow you’re the one who needs to go “cool off”.

“Wow,” Mari drawls from behind you. “You really pissed her off, huh?”

You glance over your shoulder, eyebrows raised. Mari’s standing just inside the doorway, arms folded, with the faintest twitch of amusement at the corner of her mouth. It’s a little surprising to see her here at all. Mari doesn’t usually do…comfort. She drops onto the edge of the shared bed anyway, nudging your foot with hers.

“I mean, you asked a question. Not even a stupid one, which is fucking rare around here!”

You scoff. “I don’t even know what I said wrong this time.”

“Welcome to the club” Mari shrugs. “Shauna gets moody and suddenly it’s everyone else’s problem. You remember when she spat in my food? And somehow I was being dramatic for caring? Like, sorry, I didn’t want someone’s disgusting post-trauma spit in my soup. What a monster I am!” She glances at you then. “If it helps, I don’t think she’s mad at you. She’s just pissed that someone finally said something she couldn’t brush off. You’re not the first, and you definitely won’t be the last.”

The two of you sit in silence for another moment, listening to the footsteps of the others moving outside of the hut. Oddly enough, Mari doesn’t seem in a rush to leave, which says more than she probably means it to.

Finally, she shifts her weight and leans back on her hands. “Anyway,” she mutters, “I figured you’d rather hear all this from someone who also thinks she’s kind of full of it”