Samantha nodded looking at the fire. The story had been exactly what she hoped for. Something to let her escape the fucked situation. She kept the smile on her face before she spoke, “Thank you.”

“Hey, anything that makes Vincent look like the dumb shit he is, is more of a favour to me than anything else.”

“Still thanks, takes the edge off the day. Having to stand around Jeb for an hour put me in a bad mood, it wasn't your fault. Sorry about that,” Samantha replied truthfully, “If I thought I could kill him and make it stick, I'd have gutted him a long time ago…” She shook her head and sighed, “Sorry, I'm bringing down the mood again, need to stop that, this is supposed to be for fun right?”

Scarlet shrugged. “Far be it for me, do what you want, say what you want. Just stop apologising for it. You do you, but don’t start saying sorry for your actions. Own them.” Scarlet shifted, being careful to still allow Samantha to rest on her shoulder and threw another log onto the fire. “How useful is he really? What if it were an accident? Far be it from me if he were to accidentally choke or had a heart attack.”

“Jeb has been blessed with immortality. One time I snuck a knife in when he was set to punish me, and I fought back. I got him in the throat. A few minutes later he got back up and well, it took me a couple of months to recover from that beating, I swore that was it, he was going to kill me,” She shuddered. She shook her head and said softly, “He's shit in a real fight, but he is the perfect endurance predator. He will win, it just takes time.”

Samantha felt Scarlets grip on her shoulder tighten. “Well yeah, if you have an attitude like that he will. He’s immortal, so what? Everything can die.” She paused, and repeated the sentence, it held a heavy weight Samantha didn’t understand. “Everything. Can. Die.”

“Join the Cult. You don't look like you belong with the Hand. You talk more like the priests and Aerith. You'd be happier with us, and I'm sure the Dark Daughter would be more than willing to accommodate you. I mean…” She looked at her hands for the way to say what she wanted to. She wished she had Aerith's silver tongue for this moment, “All the cult wants, is to point out the hypocrisy that suffocates society. They want people to be free, free to pursue their paths. I think you’re almost there yourself, but you seem to hold onto something. Like you can't let it go and you drag it with you…” She stopped and shook her head, “And now I'm preaching...which isn't right. Thayne bless it…”

“If you’re an example of what to expect, it doesn’t sound a thing like what you say.” Scarlet said bluntly.

Samantha shook her head softly, “I am paying off my Father’s sins against the Dark Mother, because he refuses to pay for them himself. I am the insurance that she will ascend, and that my Father will have no means to interfere. I suffer because once again, he insists on staying out of the cult’s hands and paying off his debt. It's why I'm the Warden, it's why they treat me so badly, it's why I did everything I could to spruce up my cage. I know my situation looks like a shit show Lady Scarlet, but I will make the best of it. I will endure it, and when it's done I will move on and close this chapter of my life. It will not be the first time I left a place and never looked back.”

Samantha expected some sort of snide remark from Scarlet, about her situation, and about her choices, but credit to the redheaded woman. She didn’t say a thing about it. She kept her eyes on the fire, the golden filaments in them almost seemed to glow in the flickering warm light. “I see.” Her words held no tones of judgement, they didn’t sound as though the woman pitied her, it was...it sounded like it was some sort of acceptance, as though Scarlet understood and was simply acknowledging this was the path that Samantha was taking. “It’s getting late.” She said, not questioning Samantha further.

“Yeah, night fell while I was outside, that must have been and hour or so ago,” she said softly. The change in Scarlet put her off slightly, and she was genuinely afraid she had put off the woman. She shifted off the woman and got up, carefully moving the extra logs to where errant embers would not spark them. Task finished she grabbed her pack and put her change of clothes atop all the harder items. She yawned, her body used to this ritual and looked to Red, “Sleep where you will Lady Scarlet. I -” she stopped herself from apologizing and shrugged, “If you wish you can snuggle up to me, I'm a warm body if nothing else.”

“I don’t feel the cold.” She shifted herself, and was close to Samantha, pulling her own sleeping bag from the pack she had worn, she unfurled it. “You can do as you wish.” A small smirk crept up onto her features, “I’d avoid killing me in my sleep however. More for your sake than mine.”

“Kill you? You're the first watcher I actually like,” Samantha scoffed. She moved closer to the woman and snuggled up to her, Scarlet lifted her arm to allow Samantha to come in close. “Promise I won't get fresh. I just worry that the fire will die and I'll end up a stiff body for the morning. We don't need me trying to limber up in the morning, we should just go and finish this, before I cry about how my parents didn't treat me like a princess or some crap.”