└ 1x1 ─ Pyra Ilver & peppersdots ┘

[Pyra Ilver]

тнeodore 'тнeo' parĸer - 22 - tagged: ophelia, joeseph

She clearly hadn't had much human contact lately,with all her fidgeting and rambling speech. And Theo generally speaking considered himself to be very easy to talk to, or at least when people got to know him.

Just as he was about to answer him, someone else popped up. He hadn't even heard him. Though, he didn't look unfriendly. He nodded to the newcomer. "I was part of a group," he said carefully. "We had no camp." He ran his finger through his hair and sighed. "Last week we were attacked, I was the only one who made it out."

He wasn't used to being in the inner city yet, they had always stayed on the outskirts where there were less people to compete with. The moment they had started pushing in after a lack of resources they had been attacked.

Vɪᴠɪᴀɴᴇ 'V' Tᴀʏʟᴏʀ ~ 19 ~ tagged: ophelia, joeseph, theo

Her attention piqued when she heard the word camp. This meant those two people were alive at least, survivors like her. V wanted to be part of a group, but there were very few of them around the area, besides she moved too quickly to find one. But if one did come along, they could surely use someone like her?

Then came the news from the man that there was no camp, there was no group and there was no safety.

She was just about to go before someone thought to check for the food she had gathered, when another voice piped up. Hastily she ducked back down. How many people were in here anyway? V gathered her nerves again and stood, stepping around the shelves into sight. "Hello," she said, feeling awkward all of a sudden.

[peppersdots]

✿ ophelia 'kitty' winters
22 years ⋗ exhausted ⋗ talking ⋗ tagged; all

ophelia nodded as soon as he revealed that his group was gone, her eyes cast down to the floor. that was what happened now. the dead or the living picked you off until you were on your own, group or not. she felt a tightness in her chest, a pain not just for herself or the people with her at the moment, but for the whole world and the pain it must be feeling.

"i'm sorry," she said, letting out a breath that she had been holding onto. "i really am."

then she remembered. "have any of you checked the refugee centers?" she asked, looking around at the three figures that surrounded her. "they were supposed to be safe. there was one at the mall downtown." she could see skepticism written on the second man's face, so she let out a little sigh and rolled her eyes. "even if it's gone, don't you think it would be a good place to find some supplies?" she explained, holding her hands out.

♞ joeseph 'joey' dane
19 years ⋗ alert ⋗ watching ⋗ tagged; all

joeseph watched another girl pop up, his eyebrows shooting up in surprise at her appearance. his gaze was drawn back as the other man replied in answer to the first girl's questions. "i had a camp," he offered, drawing their attention to him. he swallowed hard and cleared his throat before finishing his thought. "same thing happened. it's the only reason i'm out here."

he nodded as the first girl offered her apologies. those were a dime a dozen these days. things happened. they always happened.

then she mentioned a shopping mall. he raised one eyebrow, not entirely convinced that it wouldn't be a bloodbath that they were walking into. she immediately picked up on this and addressed his concern. "i mean," he said with a little shrug. "as good a plan as i've come up with so far." he looked around at the four of them, a small smile pulling at the corners of his mouth. "i'm joey by the way," he said the smile growing.

[Pyra Ilver]

тнeodore 'тнeo' parĸer - 22 - tagged: ophelia, joeseph, Viviane

Theo shook his head at her apologies. There was no time for being sorry any more. "Thank you, but people come, people go, that's just how it is now," he said, regret evident in his tone.
If anything the thing he missed most was the safety. He had never gone in for the camp idea, it didn't seem safe to him to stay in one place for an extended time.

"The refugee centre could be possible, if there's no one there already," he said. He doubted it was empty, probably filled with the dead or the living, or destroyed. Places that once seemed like refuges were now desolate. At the start people had flocked to hospitals and apartment blocks, but now going into into those sorts of places was a death sentence.
"I'm Theo by the way." he tagged on the end, after Joey introduced himself.

Vɪᴠɪᴀɴᴇ 'V' Tᴀʏʟᴏʀ ~ 19 ~ tagged: ophelia, joeseph, theo

V nodded when the other woman mentioned the refugee centres, and the others their scepticism. "The refugee centre is actually quite quiet most of the time. It's the area around that you have to be careful of." she said. "In the mall your probably looking at three or four groups at any given time and occasionally a large group of corpses. But if you go in the middle of the day it's usually empty around there, I've never actually been in the shelter though."

V spent a lot of time downtown. Lots of easily accessed buildings and plenty of places to scavenge from. It was pretty open so from up high you could see most of the area. "Viviane, by the way," she said.

[peppersdots]

✿ ophelia 'kitty' winters
22 years ⋗ exhausted ⋗ talking ⋗ tagged; all

"you're not wrong," she said with a nod at the man's words. the second man introduced himself, then the rest and she gave a little smile and nodded once. the little things, that was what she missed. meeting new people was just an everyday thing before. now it was something to be fear almost. "ophelia," she said with a short nod. "my parents loved hamlet."

"it could be a gold mine," she said, looking around at the people near her. joeseph countered and she nodded once at his point. "maybe one person could slip through..." she thought aloud, slipping her backpack off her shoulders and kneeling down to unzip it again. she looked up at the people standing around her. "i'm not staying out here any longer."

♞ joeseph 'joey' dane
19 years ⋗ alert ⋗ watching ⋗ tagged; all

he smiled a little again, the smile disappearing when he heard viviane's description of the refugee center. then ophelia's comment. "or it could be a death trap," he countered raising his eyebrows at her. maybe she isn't thinking this through, he thought looking her over as she knelt down to open her pack again.

"one person would get ripped to shreds or completely taken by surprise if viviane's right," he countered again. looking down at her. she pulled out several cans of soup, what looked like a photo album and a small teddy bear. ophelia was carrying what she could of her old life along with her, just like joeseph was, just like he assumed everyone was. when she looked back up and spoke again, there was a little heartbreak in her voice. she had lost people out here. who hasn't? he reasoned, letting out a long sigh.

[Pyra Ilver]

тнeodore 'тнeo' parĸer - 22 - tagged: ophelia, joeseph, viviane

Theo took a step closer to the woman. "Lets not make any rash decisions here," he said, holding his hands out in front of him, wincing at the thin layer of dirt lying over them. "No one's going anywhere alone, especially if it's as she," he nodded at Viviane. "says. Joey here is right, we need to stick together."

The urge to take charge was almost irresistible. Theo had always liked being in charge, he found it natural. He liked keeping people safe, he liked people listening. And he didn't like people rushing off and suggesting people were left behind.

Vɪᴠɪᴀɴᴇ 'V' Tᴀʏʟᴏʀ ~ 19 ~ tagged: ophelia, joeseph, theo

She rolled her eyes at the man's speech, Theo. Someone was used to being at the top of the food chain. "Actually, Ophelia is right. There is no way four people could get through undetected. But someone could go in alone, unlock a backdoor for the rest." she suggested, just catching sight of the teddy from Ophelia's bag. It had been a long time since she had seen something like that.

"The roof tops are actually quite accessible, one person could go up top, then another through the front. Keep each other honest," she gave a wry smile. It had been a ling time since she had trusted someone completely, and she wasn't about to start with three total strangers.

[peppersdots]

✿ ophelia 'kitty' winters
22 years ⋗ exhausted ⋗ talking ⋗ tagged; all

"thank you viviane," ophelia smiled at the girl, pulling a handgun and separate magazine out of her backpack. she zipped the bag shut and threw it back over her shoulders, checking the amount of rounds in the magazine before slamming it into the gun and slipping it under her belt. she picked up her machete again and stood tall.

"look, i'm not asking any of you to come with me," she said, eliciting a scoff from joeseph. she smiled a little back at him letting out a sigh. "only if you want to," she said, looking around at them all, still gathered in one spot. "it could be a goldmine. food, medicine, weapons. maybe even shelter."

♞ joeseph 'joey' dane
19 years ⋗ alert ⋗ watching ⋗ tagged; all

"thats crap and you know it," joeseph scoffed as she tried to tell them she didn't need help. he pointed to theodore. "you asked him if he had a group, a camp. you're looking for people." he gave her a little smile though, as he didn't want her to take his words as too threatening. "i'm in," he said with a short nod.

he turned to viviane next, his smile disappeared. "you sound like you know the city," he said, his left hand gripping at the rifle strap around his torso and holding it tightly. "you could get us in and out?"

[Pyra Ilver]

тнeodore 'тнeo' parĸer - 22 - tagged: ophelia, joeseph, viviane

"I'm in as well," he said. If nothing else, he needed a group, and he needed the supplies that could be found downtown. He had a gun, so did nearly everyone else, Viviane had yet to pull out any visible weapon, but from the slight bump on her hip he suspected a knife, possibly more than one. Everyone could defend themselves. "It's worth the risk."

Part of him wanted to take control of the situation, but with a new group like this he probably needed to consider testing the waters first. There looked to be some quite dominant characters in the mix here.

Vɪᴠɪᴀɴᴇ 'V' Tᴀʏʟᴏʀ ~ 19 ~ tagged: ophelia, joeseph, theo

She let the others argue amongst themselves briefly. If they needed to blow of steam let them, better now than over a pile of resources. She didn't want to see another dead body today. In answer to Joey's question she nodded.

"The refugee centre is easy to get to. It's getting in that's the issue. Even I haven't tried. I've just spent some time around there watching the world go by," she said. "I know where people go and where they don't, I know how to get in to the mall, I know which doors work and which don't. But unless someone is handy with a lockpick..."

[peppersdots]

✿ ophelia 'kitty' winters
22 years ⋗ exhausted ⋗ talking ⋗ tagged; all

ophelia nodded as she listened to viviane, letting out a little sigh as she mentioned a lock pick. "well, i don't know how to pick a lock, but," she said, bringing the machete up and swinging it around in an almost playful manner. it was like an extension of her hand at this point, and she didn't even notice the look on joeseph's face when he saw her twirling it around.

"it's never failed me so far," she said with a little shrug, continuing her thought. she looked over at joeseph as he voiced his concerns about the noise. "well, anything we do short of picking the lock or just taking the doors off will be noisy. and if we take the doors off, we give the corpses a great chance to get inside, with the added bonus of making everyone inside want to kill us for sure."

♞ joeseph 'joey' dane
19 years ⋗ alert ⋗ watching ⋗ tagged; all

"i'm gonna be pretty much useless in that regard," he said, just before ophelia spoke up, swinging the big blade around once. the control she had on the object surprised him. she's used it a lot, he thought, his blood running cold for a moment at the thought of it slashing through the corpses.

"that could work," he nodded, looking back at viviane. "of it could draw out the dead ones." she knew the terrain, she knew the obstacles, he would defer to her on this one. he paused for a moment, considering the area around the mall. he knew it well enough, his campus was only a fifteen minute walk away from the big shopping center. "course, we don't really have any other choice," he said with a shrug.

[Pyra Ilver]

тнeodore 'тнeo' parĸer - 22 - tagged: ophelia, joeseph, viviane

Theo looked slightly sceptical as she waved her machete around. This had spiralled way faster than he had thought. He supposed that nowadays groups formed faster because they had to. "It could work," he said as he tried to resist drawing his gun. Normally that would be his natural reaction if a stranger was waving a knife around. "This could be the best chance we have."

Vɪᴠɪᴀɴᴇ 'V' Tᴀʏʟᴏʀ ~ 19 ~ tagged: ophelia, joeseph, theo

V bit her lip as the machete was produced. Ophelia clearly knew how to use it, and she didn't want to know how she had learnt. Sometimes it was better not to ask questions, especially when it came to sharp objects.

Viviane figured she probably knew the most about the area, she didn't even know if all of them had been downtown before. If she hadn't been able to get there up high she wouldn't have. At the start it had been a bloodbath, rich in food, water and medical supplies, then it became home to groups that stayed or just wandered through. Inevitably there was a fight every few months between meeting groups.

"It's quite possible, as long as it's not too loud or visible it should go undetected."

[peppersdots]

✿ ophelia 'kitty' winters
22 years ⋗ exhausted ⋗ talking ⋗ tagged; all

ophelia nodded at theodore's observance. "he's right," she nodded, looking around at the ragtag little group collected in the middle of the grocery store. "this may be the only chance we get to hit this spot." she rolled her eyes at joeseph's comment.

"well," ophelia said, swinging the machete blade up so it rested on her shoulder, dull side against her backpack strap, sharp side out. "confrontation's not something i've ever had a problem with." she let that hand in the air for a few moments before letting out a little laugh, trying to lighten the mood. joeseph simply looked back at her, paling at her remarks. "we goin'?" she asked, looking around at the other three.

♞ joeseph 'joey' dane
19 years ⋗ alert ⋗ watching ⋗ tagged; all

"or our last chance at anything," joeseph said, mostly under his breath. when ophelia rolled her eyes, he knew she had heard him and he ducked his head, embarrassed, then quickly looked back up at her. "sorry, you're right."

joeseph's eyes went wide at ophelia's little 'joke'. oh my god she's definitely killed someone, he thought, his heart starting to hammer a bit. then his mind changed gears. maybe for once it might be nice to be on the winning side. he made a mental note to not make ophelia angry and pulling on the strap of his rifle again. "well, we all came in here for a reason, so why don't we sweep this place and then head out?" he suggested. "just in case the honey pot turns out to be a death trap."