StV: Florida Man, part twelve

Florida Man stared at her for a long moment, until Cloudburst gave a little shrug. 

"Y'know what, kid? You are stupidly convincing. Honest to God, you just made that sound like a good idea. Thing is, though, I'm not going to jail. I don't have the patience for it." 

Cloudburst sat back with a small nodding motion. "Understandable. You got a plan? Beyond just 'hang out here 'til you run out of beer'? Hoping they won't be looking as hard when you come back out?"

He glared at her for a moment, then shook his head. "No, that was about it. And now you're really harshing my buzz."

"Sorry, sorry," she said, spreading her hands. "Let's talk about something else. Araktul, here... is he some sort of god? Or ancient nature spirit?"

Florida Man nodded. "Something like that. We don't talk talk, but I know he remembers when Florida was completely wild, before all the buildings and roads and whatnot."

"That's... old." She turned that over in her head. She did not want to end up fighting a god, or even a centuries-old nature spirit. It had never even occurred to her that that was a thing that could happen. Especially here, where she didn't think they could call in backup. "All right. You've been pretty straight with me, I think. If you don't want to call me 'kid' then you can call me Cloudburst."

He studied her. "What if I do want to call you 'kid', kid?"

She shrugged. "Go ahead, then. It's not like either of us is using legal names anyway."

"Good point. You're a sharp kid, Cloudburst. You sure you don't want a beer?"

"You know what? If you don't mind, I'll take one. You'll have to open it, though."

Florida Man pulled a bottle out of his cooler, popped the top off with the opener he wore on a leather thong around his neck, and handed it to her. 

"Cool. Be right back." 

"Whatcha doin'?" he asked. 

Cloudburst stood up, stepped to the side of the alligator's back, and called up a column of water to ride back down. "I think we owe Araktul an offering. For letting us be here, y'know?"

"Oh. Good idea." 

She slogged around to the front of the giant alligator, stopped in front of its mouth. "Hey there, Big Guy. I come bearing an offering. Open up? In a not-eating-me kind of way?"

Araktul stirred, and its mouth cracked open. She reached in, wondering if she was about to lose an arm, and poured out the beer. "Thanks for letting us be here."

Then she pulled her arm back out, and slogged back over to the airboat. Steve was staring at her. "Any luck?"

She shook her head. "Not yet. I tried selling him on turning himself in, but he says he doesn't have the patience to go to jail. So now we're on Plan B, where I let him drink until he passes out." She looked at Rachel. "You said you packed some supplies. Did they happen to include a deck of cards?"

Rachel grinned. "As a matter of fact, yes."