saltburnt groupchat.

[doped]

YELLOWJACKETS

SHAUNA, MELISSA, MISTY, NATALIE, LOTTIE, VAN, JACKIE the wilderness, it hears us

Guys

Cute!!!

did you catch that??

dinner

shauna gross

You know, rabbits are very social creatures that live in groups!

what's up doc? 🥕

CODING

Comments

[katharma]

[ the blood oozes instead of flows, unlike the way it had when she'd made her mark into her skin. the bonds aren't still active but she swears she can still feel the cuts against her skin, only she's left cold instead of hot, because shauna's not living anymore. there's a second where the knowledge hits her again and there's a flash of despair that crosses her expression, but at misty's encouragement, she keeps at it.

her eyes go back to misty's when she speaks again, instructing her on what to do in order to get to shauna's heart. and she wants that part of her, of course she does. she nods to her once, her expression resolute as she adjusts her grip and takes the blade back up in the opposite direction, diverting to the diagonal left before repeating the process on the right. sweat dampens her forehead and underneath her clothing, cooling her skin when the wind picks up, but she doesn't falter. this feels like the most important thing she's ever done, will ever do.

once the cut is completed, she straightens, fingers still wrapped around the blade of the handle as she looks at misty. ]

How do we get it out?

[transponders]

[ Getting to know Jackie again has given her a lot to think about. It's not the same as Nat and Lottie, brought back somehow through the power of this place. The two of them, she'd at least seen as the women they became, tracked the progress from the things that fucked them up in the woods to way they'd go on to fuck up others. They're more familiar, even beyond their rightful graves. Guiding Jackie's knife is being hand in hand with a memory, a pleasant dream that shifts into a nightmare. ]

We cut through the sternum. Hospitals have saws for that, but...

[ They're working with what they have. She's got a chisel and a hammer to crack it open, and she squeezes Jackie's hand before reaching for it. This part, she handles herself, making sure the sickening crack that opens her up doesn't echo through the whole commune, that no valuable organs are damaged by shards of bone. ]

We pry this open, with a little effort, and there you go. Just cut around the veins.

apologies for the delay!

[katharma]

[ jackie withdraws her hands and the knife when misty pulls out the hammer and chisel, making herself watch as she cracks open shauna's ribcage. it feels like her own is being pulled apart as she takes it in. this shouldn't be her it shouldn't be her why was it her why was it nat. tears roll down her cheeks, but she doesn't look away, doesn't even blink until she looks back up at misty, nodding at her instructions.

she takes a deep breath to steady her nerves and her hands, then reaches back in with the knife. her hand is steady and sure, as if she's shauna preparing javi. preparing ben, preparing mari. it's simpler than she thinks it will be, even with shauna's knowledge in her head, guiding her hand with as much assurance as misty provides.

before too long the heart is free, and jackie hands the blade back to misty before reaching inside shauna's chest to pull it out. ]