please lock

[Kendall Roy]

Dallas Winchester | The Rich kid | 19 | Homosexual | Feeling;Irritated but pretty
content| Location;Outside the church | Tagged;Jeremy/Kristian
Dallas huffed at the comment regarding smoking, he didn't care that it could eventually
kill him. He smirked back at Jeremy "Ya know drinking is bad for you, right." Dallas replied,
hitting the other male with his shoulder slightly. The rich kid flinched somewhat as he
heard a noise from behind them both; it was Kristian, one of the many, many people
Dallas didn't like so much. He nodded in a half hearted greeting, choosing to listen to
Jeremy and Kristian talk, not joining in himself. He shot the newbie a irritated glare,
telling him, clearly what he thought of him being there. Dal's gaze shifted back to
Jeremy, his concern was somewhat clear on his face, Jeremy didn't look to well, and
of course Dallas didn't want to see him like that. "You should definitely get some rest,
I'll fill you in if anything happens." He stated softly to Jeremy, not caring about what
Kristian may think.

He flinched again as Jeremy suddenly stood up, which Dal quickly guessed wasn't a
good idea, in his current health. He listened as Jeremy spoke up "If one of you gentleman
would be so kind as to escort me back to my estate so I don't pass out in the street...again".
Before he could reply Kristian stepped in to help, Dal felt a sharp pang of disappointment,
but decided to let the newbie go. "I'll come and see you later, if you want, just to check
up on you." He stated somewhat quietly to Jeremy, not trying to allow Kris to hear
everything. Dallas caught Kristian's scowl as the other two walked away, he shot Kris
a irritated look as he watched them both closely.

[alienbirb]

Riona Kurosawa | 19 | they/them | the Brain
Location: edge of the forest | tags: Autumn, Ezra, Quin

“Hey, silence isn’t always a bad thing. Forest critters are pretty shy of human presences, anyway.” Riona said, but there really was something strange about this situation. Under normal circumstances, especially given the season, one should hear at the very least a myriad of insect calls and some were extremely difficult to miss. They supposed at least there was a chance they wouldn’t have to worry about mosquitoes and the consequent potential diseases, but it was unnerving. Concerning, even to Riona. Casting a glance at Ezra, they laughed at Autumn’s joke, adding: “I don’t know about that. Ezra’s a bit scrawny, he wouldn’t be much for sustenance.”

They sobered up again as Ezra brought up his general lack of equipment and under normal circumstances, Riona would have preferred to send him back, but this situation was a bit particular and they had no intentions of camping out overnight so soon. Waving a hand at Ezra, they shook their head.

“Nah. For this trip, you should be fine. We’re going to go as far as we can and then head back as soon as the day is over. I intend on us going on a longer excursion afterwards, with Azul.” Riona said. “It’s a good thing it’s summer, even if the heat’s going to be a bit miserable to walk in. We’re going to have plenty of daylight.”

Riona was about to give the two a briefing on what they had in mind when another voice interrupted their thoughts. Raising an eyebrow, they turned to see Quin approaching. He seemed rather adequately prepared and Riona nodded in approval at his mention of walkie-talkies. It might not be wise to immediately split up, but should the occasion arise, they would be prepared. If the radios at Azul’s location were in operation, Riona supposed they could even keep in contact with him as well, if needed.

“Hey Quin. It’s fine. It’s been a rough two weeks.” Riona said, before turning to the forest and surveying it, rubbing their chin and pondering. It would be nice if there was a way to make a clearing into the forest to allow for vehicle travel – but the act of clearing a path for a car’s width would be far too inefficient and there was only so much time before vital supplies ran dry. Besides, people could only go so far on foot. Riona frowned and then thought of the town sports store – not everyone could ride a bike, but a mountain bike with some people riding tandem would be excellent for traversing the rugged forest terrain – and there wouldn’t be a need to worry about fuel, either.

On the matter of terrain, they would also need to see if they could do something about the expanse of trees ahead. Even if Azul could get his airplane running and be capable of covering considerable ground on full tanks (up to about 800 miles at best, according to him), he would need safe places to land to refuel and as far as Riona could see, the carpet of trees didn’t seem to let up at all, at least not within the next few miles. And if Azul couldn’t fly his way out of the massive forest, it was very unlikely for them to simply walk their way out of it. Riona had no strong feelings about living in the forest for the rest of their days, but they doubted the others would simply accept that as a possibility.

“Alright, now that we’re all here, I’d like to say a few things before we head out.” Riona said, turning back to face the others. “There are several things I’d like us to do today. Of course, seeing if we can find any clues as to where everyone’s gone is going to be important, but I wouldn’t expect anything in particular just yet.

“Hopefully with enough luck, there’s no additional supernatural nonsense going on, and I can make a reasonable map of the ground we’re going to cover.” Riona continued. “Speaking of which, at one point into the forest, I want to test something out and see if we can reasonably make clearings in the forest that don’t just magically grow back on us. Now, I know you’re probably going to think – ‘hey, if you brought a chainsaw, this would go faster’, but we need to conserve fuel, and I know how to down a tree pretty fast with an ax anyway. Obviously, if there are already clearings in the forest we can expand on, that’d be even better, but like I said – don’t expect too much. The reason behind this is twofold: I want to know if I can make safe landing spots in the forest for Azul, should he get his airplane up and running. Additionally, the clearings could double as base camps and the wood gathered from the trees we cut will be extremely valuable as material for shelter and tools.

“Lastly, I’d like to investigate the fauna and look for a running water source. Food and water aren’t going to last forever, but if we can find something to rely on in the forest, it’d give us a leg up in survival. Once our initial surveys of the forest are completed, we can call on the others and lead a proper expedition out of town, and see if we can find a way out of this damn place.” Riona said. “Once we’re closer to actually officially leaving, we should regroup and form a stronger plan for everyone. I already have a rough idea of how that would look, but having more input from everyone will be better.”

Riona stopped for a breath and looked everyone over. They weren’t used to taking charge like this over so many people – but someone had to step up and do something. In a time of need, the seniors needed someone with a level head and clear mind to lead the way and find answers, and as daunting as it was, Riona was not one to stand idly and do nothing.

“I know that was probably a lot to take in, but time is of the essence. If all of you are ready, we will be leaving. Now.” Riona said, with finality.

[jacewy]

ᴇᴢʀᴀ ᴏᴡᴇɴ
the trouble maker | 19 | he/him |tags: riona, autumn, quin

EZRA SQUINTED AT THE BOTH OF THEM, PUTTING HIS HAND TO HIS CHEST IN MOCK-HURT. "My feelings!" He proclaimed. Crossing his arms tightly, Ezra hugged himself as Riona and Autumn recovered from the joke. As Riona continued, his arms slowly became more slack, though they remained hugged around his chest. He nodded slowly to their words, but it entered through one ear and out the other, and Ezra's mind only clung to some parts of information. Ezra' s eyebrows slowly crept closer together, furrowed as his gaze lingered on Riona and Autumn. His mind began to wander, just a small amount, before snapping back to an attention-high as a new voice broke through, and Ezra swiveled on his heels to turn to Quin. He unraveled his arms to wave again to the newcomer.

Ezra watched Quin and Riona exchange greetings, crossing his arms over his chest again. When Quin addressed him, he grinned, and flashed an "ok" hand by his head once more, though the action of saying a simple "hello" slipped his mind. With the rest of the people that were supposedly expected to come, Riona had began their briefing. And as irritable as it made Ezra, he found that there was a good reasoning and sense to their authority, and it showed that they had done their thinking and planning. Maybe it was foolish for him to build on a little grudge on as something as simple as that, but they way it reminded him of times he didn't want to remember made him irritable. He needed to eat something. Or at the very least, smoke something, as unhealthy as it was, Ezra didn't have anything else in store that served him as a well off coping mechanism. As Riona continued in front of him, Ezra begin to wonder whether if he had made a mistake coming here. The idea of entering the woods and exploring had entranced the childish mind of his, but the thought of doing it with other people, or more clearly, people he wasn't so well off with, made him slightly uncomfortable. His forehead furrowed again, and discomfort made him begin to shift his weight over both his feet repeatedly.

Finally, after Riona had finished their little speech, Ezra's head was spinning. His mind hurt from battling itself over noisy thoughts, and he tugged his earlobe to lessen the noise in his head. He made himself focus, shaking his head. Pulling himself back into his body, Ezra's hand flew to his head in a salute to Riona, and he smiled. "Sure thing, you're the big cheese," Ezra stopped, tapped his finger against his cheek, then finished: "I'm ready, if anyone else is!"

[monism]

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[galaxy,]

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xxxＡＵＴＵＭＮ ＪＯＲＤＡＮ!
team captain ✦ eighteen ✦ female ✦ loc. edge of forest ✦ tagged riona, ezra, quin
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autumnautumn allowed herself to a small laugh at ezra's fake offended expression but the mood vanished with a quick breath of reality. that was what, in part, the girl had become to hate about the new west haven they were living at: good times were limited. whenever she was having fun (primarily on the first week that the teenagers had been by themselves in the town) guilt washed over her thoughts and she was forced to stop herself. it seemed as if enjoying their life was somehow a betrayal. how could they be happy when all of their families were missing, when food was slowly but surely running out, when everything around them had changed and they didn't know when it would go back to normal? uncomfortable, autumn started to chew on her lower lip and tried to make her fingers stop dancing inside the pockets of her hoodie, but it was useless. if she was restless or anxious, it just happened. thankfully another figure joined the group so she could concentrate on something else rather than her inability to stay still, and nodded back at quin when he addressed her.

autumnas riona talked autumn tried hard to concentrate on their words but as they continued speaking she found herself more and more lost with what they were saying. instead of biting down on her lower lip she started to play with it with her left hand, thinking on all the information that had just been thrown at the three of them. autumn had just thought it was a general recon party or something, but she found out she was extremely wrong. on the other hand, she didn't mind that much either. whatever would make her get away from town and stop thinking about their loneliness and imminent death at the hands of hunger or - much worse - someone else, was better than sitting around waiting.

autumnwhen they mentioned water, autumn's attention sparked up. i know for a fact that there are small rivers and trails around the forest, and i'm sure you know that as well, i guess? autumn said, remembering those camping trips where they did get water from a river somewhere. it was a few seconds before the girl realized the flaw in her own words.oh but... uh, never mind honestly. if the forest magically grew all over the roads that lead out of town so that we can't get out, the river is probably also gone.

autumnthe leaves of the trees moved with the light breeze that had begun just now, all at the same time, which seemed just a little bit creepy. as riona finished her speech autumn nodded slowly but her attention was almost exclusively concentrated on the forest that looked as if it was waiting for them to come in. the leaves moving were luring them in, and autumn had a bad feeling in her gut about this little expedition they were going to conduct. a slight chill went over her body, and it was not cold. trying not to look as if she was uneasy with the situation, her eyebrows furrowed in a frown and she pursed her lips, watching the others' faces. her lips tugged upwards at ezra's 'big cheese' comment, but she agreed with the second part of his statement. i think we're all ready. autumn confirmed, and quickly put her head up in a ponytail for practical reasons.

[alienbirb]

Azul Tian | 19 | he/him | the Outsider
Location: old airfield | tags: Kristian, Jeremy

Of course, someone – multiple someones, in fact – had to interrupt the peace and quiet. Moving his arm from his face, Azul slowly sat up to aim a glare at the newcomers – his quiet fury was something that earned him quite the reputation among the other seniors and student body overall and tended to thoroughly shake most people who were unfortunate enough to witness it. But when his gaze first fell upon Kristian, his expression almost immediately softened; not completely, but there was a notable shift in Azul’s demeanor. This almost immediately changed again when he noticed Jeremy standing behind Kristian, and his expression hardened again.

“... hello, Kristian. You’re looking... fine today.” Azul normally would’ve called him ‘Kris’, except a certain nuisance was here as well. “And what are you doing here, Jeremy?”

His voice carried barely any inflection, even when posing the question. He had the habit of maintaining a monotonous voice when around most people, something that tended to further shake other people. Azul always took it as a ridiculous instinctive response, but he supposed that was simply the common nature of others: easily frightened by something they simply didn’t understand. Not that he cared to be understood, people could all go sod off for all he cared. Except for Kristian. Kristian was actually decent – good, even in his own way, and-

Azul shook his head suddenly, catching himself staring off into the distance in Kristian’s general direction. Sighing, he slowly rose from where he was sitting and stretched, cracking his back loudly. He casually strolled over to the two newcomers, hands in his pockets.

“Besides, I thought you hated heights. Why are you suddenly interested in the airfield? I’d imagine you wouldn’t be too fond of airplanes.” Azul tilted his head. Upon closer inspection, Jeremy looked like a thorough mess: typical. He supposed Kristian was simply here to help him out, which was also typical. Azul sometimes thought – rather bitterly so – that Kristian was far too nice for his own good, especially around the undeserving, but he supposed it was appropriate, too. It was only fitting for someone who intended to walk a path in medicine to look after others in a time of need.

[doc .]

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ＫＲＩＳＴＩＡＮ
19 yrs / Exchange / Male / Tags: Jeremy/Azul
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Kristian hummed with distaste as he was called "mom" by the other. He really didn't want that to become a constant throughout the group. He wasn't a woman, and he wasn't a mother. He didn't even want to think of anything like that right now. Especially now that all the adults were gone, including the children and elderly. Everyone was gone. It was a bad time to say such things. He gave Jeremy a look, but that was all. He continued to take him back to his house in silence.
Yet his head was completely buzzing with questions after that was said. Was that normal for people to do that? He never was around kids who called other kids "mom" and "dad" back in Germany. Perhaps this was a new thing in this new culture. He'd have to ask later. He didn't realize how quiet it had gotten while they were walking until they were passing the garage. It was up until recently, a complete deadzone. Now it was a hotspot for the kids to run around in. Deface. All the normal kid stuff, despite what Kristian advised.
He was dazing off, sort of admiring the dilapidated structure before Jeremy moved himself. He was confused, and blinked back to reality. He turned his head and watched the man as he 'hid' behind him. Then, he spoke of someone smelling fear. What? That wasn't even possible. Why.. was this happening? Was there a reason? Perhaps he should...
Oh.
He lifted his head to where Jeremy was looking, and the figure rose from his chair and watched them with a glare. Kris was stricken with a chill. He stopped moving and stood rooted to the ground through his feet. He knew about Azul's quiet fury. It.. was simply breathtaking for someone to be able to do something like that. He admired Azul for it.
His eyes stayed locked to Azul, and he watched him with his lips pressed tightly together. The man spoke and a flurry of some sort of excitement shot through his body. Whether it was stressful anxiety or simply just.. excitement..
"Hallo, Azul.." he replied with a gentle nod, biting his lip with a quick intake of breath.
God this guy was so intimidating.. he .. admired him for that.
That and.. other things.
Azul came over and his breathing quickened, before leveling out and he realized Jeremy was still there. A bit longer and he probably would have walked off, leaving Jeremy to fall. He made sure to tighten his grip on the man while listening to the other boy speak
"I'm just taking him home.." he replied first, glancing to Jeremy and knitting his eyebrows together a little bit. He didn't understand the two's anger towards one another. If Kristian had known he would have laughed at how he was spiteful toward Dallas, and Jeremy was spiteful toward Azul. Yet nobody knew. Nobody but us, and yet we can't do anything about it.
"He had a long day yesterday.. so I'm going to prescribe von whole day in bed, before going out to do anyzhing again. Okay?" he asked toward Jeremy, patting him on the back for a minute. It felt so.. detached. He didn't return his hand on Jeremy's back.
He looked a bit uncomfortable as he tried to readjust Jeremy on his shoulder. It was getting tiring to carry this guy around.
"Um.. Ve should move on soon.. I haff to get zhis guy in bed.. uh.." he looked between the two for a moment, waiting for anything else to be said
x

[monism]

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[alienbirb]

Azul Tian | 19 | he/him | the Outsider
Location: old airfield | tags: Kristian

“Hm. It is admirable of you to look after others.” Azul said, the corner of his mouth lifting ever so slightly. He then raised an eyebrow at Jeremy’s insistence on taking care of himself. “Yeah, sure. Go collapse somewhere else, then.” Not like you’re the type to ever give a damn about what people do for you. Azul wanted to add, but decided not to add too much negativity to the scene. As Jeremy left, shooting him a dirty look, Azul simply watched with an unmoved expression. He didn’t have Riona’s muscles, but people still knew better than to mess with him and his history of breaking people’s fingers was a pretty good deterrent on top of his outward coldness. Flicking his head casually, Azul brushed his hair out of his eyes – the heat was starting to really get to him, if the sweat on his forehead was any indication and the hangars all lacked any sort of reasonable means of cooling.

“You know... you don’t have to do this. For people like him.” Azul said, gruffly. “Sometimes people just expect others to take care of them without giving anything in return. It’s pretty disgusting, if you ask me.”

Realizing this might end up coming off as harsher than he intended, Azul quickly added, “For your sake, I mean. It’s good to care about others, but you need to look after yourself, too. Especially in times like this.”

Mercifully, a light breeze picked up, drifting through the open hangar doors and running through the place like a current of air sent by the gods. There was a quiet creak as a propeller on one of the older airplanes rotated once before falling still again and then the hangar was silent once more.

“Kris...” Azul’s tone was fully soft now. “What do you think’s going to happen? I mean. I’ve never given a damn about my folks, but... you have it different. It must’ve been a pretty bad shock to find everyone just gone.”

He reached out and placed a hand on Kristian’s shoulder, expression sympathetic.

“Do you... want to talk about it? I’ve still got a ways to go on this thing-,” Azul gestured at the 172, “but I’m pretty good at talking and working.”

[ℛσуαℓ ♕]

➶ 𝐐𝐔𝐈𝐍 𝐊𝐄𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐃𝐘
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form // feeling » resolute, earnest // where » forest edge // tagged » riona, autumn, ezra, jeremy
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‘Hopefully with enough luck, there’s no additional supernatural nonsense going on,’ Riona had continued briefing the group on their objectives but their voice faded out for Quin. He stared past Riona, Autumn, and Ezra and saw the roads out of town all grown over with trees again. That sight had shocked him to his core. It was something he wouldn’t ever forget.

Since making that discovery and a few feeble attempts at surveying the land himself, Quin was wary of the woods. He’d lived in West Haven all his life but it was like the town had somehow become stuck in another dimension. Nothing was the same even though it was exactly how he remembered. Quin swallowed and prayed the universe or whatever heard RIona’s words and that they wouldn’t encounter anything other. He tuned back in with some effort, glancing at the others furtively from the corners of his eyes. Autumn seemed preoccupied and Ezra honestly looked like he’d already checked out. Quin was really glad he’d thought to bring the walkies then because he couldn’t imagine taking two novice outdoorsmen off the beaten path without someone ending up seriously lost or even hurt.

Ezra saluted Riona and Quin fought the urge to roll his eyes. Quin didn’t blame the majority of his classmates for checking out in their various ways over the past two weeks but if people didn’t realize by now that this whole situation was real, it would only be a matter of time before true chaos began. This time Quin fought a shudder as he imagined kids he’d gone to school with all his life fist-fighting over cans of chili and evaporated milk in order to stay alive.

“I’ll bring up the rear if you want point, Riona,” Quin said, blue eyes peering into the woods to see what they might be hiding. He thought he saw Autumn shiver a little and felt a stirring of the air a second later. It was like the woods were breathing now which couldn’t help but bring images of watching eyes and gaping maws to Quin’s head. He needed to get moving before he psyched himself out.

Quin kneeled for a second to rummage in his pack and pulled out four small walkies. “The range on these is excellent and they even have a short-range locator function. Everyone’s already on the same channel and all you have to do to talk is push this button,” the blond indicated on his own walkie-talkie. “Keep ‘em turned off for now to conserve battery but if we somehow split up, just stop where you are and we’ll use these to find you.”

“I’d say it’s just trees and dirt out there but everyone needs to stay sharp because we all know something is going on. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there hasn’t been a single animal in town since we got back. Other than a few pets, I haven’t even seen birds.” Quin’s tone was level and calm without giving away the severity of his caution. There was no need to scare Autumn or Ezra, but they needed to keep their eyes open. Riona could handle themselves and had already taken charge. Between the two of them, Quin was hopeful they could find out something and if not, at least make it back by dusk.

Quin stood up and had distributed the walkies but turned his head at someone yelling. "Another latecomer?" Quin asked, looking to Riona with a raised brow.