and then there were none. [open and accepting]

[vordic.]

──────────────────────────────────────────────────
Ｖａｌｅｎｔｉｎ ． Ｍｏｓｃｏｖｉｃｉ
─── [| town member // thirty-two // cis-male // bisexual // 6'3ft // tom ellis |] ───
─── [| tags ;; Roden, Adeline || location ;; Front Gate || mood ;; Alert |] ───
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

Valentin nodded at Roden when he was asked to help open the main gate. The man leaned his AR against the fencing of the town gently. He picked up the wiring of the gate, and pulled it open with the help of Roden. Valentin picked up his gun once again, and directed it towards the now obvious girl, who said their name was Adeline. I looked to the side towards Roden with uncertainty in my dark brown eyes. The outsider, Adeline, seemed starved to a fearful measure, but that didn't seem to phase Valentin. Thoughts raced through his head about just shooing off the being, and go on their way for the night; however, he had little to no say in what happens to the outsider.

[slaughter beach, dog]

☾ 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝑫𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒆𝒚
──────────────────────────────────────────
female - 27 - physician
located Kingsdale? - tagging Joel - feeling cautious

When the man answered her question, she felt a bit embarrassed. Get it together, Margot. "Oh, thank you. For finding me, I mean.
I must've lost my consciousness," she spoke, as if thinking out loud. "I can't remember everything, but I think that the one who
shot me was just a desperate scavenger. He stole my bag," she clarified, as the man was clearly curious. Her lack of human contact
was probably showing, and when the stranger approached her, the instinctive tenseness returned. However, when he introduced himself
as Joel and offered a hand, she decided to take it, and used the opportunity to pull herself up from the floor. She avoided putting any
weight on her injured leg and instead leaned heavily against the kitchen counter. "Margot," she offered in return, her gaze moving from
Joel to the surrounding room. "Would you happen to have any crutches, or at least something to use as one?" she was determined
to move around instead of being confined to a bed. Or in this case, a couch. "I'd also like to meet this Rory, I imagine this is her house."
She would've asked for some painkillers, or at least some water, but right now she'd be content with simply getting out of this house and
seeing the sky again.

[keating]

↪ ʀᴏᴅᴇɴ ᴄᴏɴɴᴇʟʏ ✧
Tags: Valentin, Adeline

Roden's hand immediately flew to his gun when the woman began to step forward, though he didn't pull it out. "Don't come any closer." He would do what he always did when an outsider approached their gates. This time was no different. He walked forward until he was outside of the entrance gate. He knew better than to trust everybody who approached their town. He's had to kill people who claimed to be seeking shelter but ended up unraveling their facade and revealing their true intentions. It's a cruel world they live in, and he's willing to do whatever it takes to keep these people safe just as he's promised, and that includes execution if people choose to resort to attacking him and proving to be a threat to the town. "Who are you?" That was always his first question. It was a bit of a loaded one, but he always kept it up to them to decide how to answer it. The dumber ones and the smartasses tend to repeat their name while he stands there in silence and stares at them until they cough up more.

[rookfern]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ━ — - -
. sam silverhawk // . 27 years // . male // . pansexual // . location: outside town // . tags: latamer


━ Sam shifted his pack on his shoulders, staring down at the dead mourner that had just come at them. He had been happy to leave the killing to his younger companion. Sure, he knew how to fight off the shrieking brutes, but it was far from his favorite things to do. Latamer, on the other hand, seemed more than happy to cut them down.

He cast an eye at the darkening sky and then at the forest Latamer had pointed out. "Well," He intoned, worrying at his lip with his teeth. He wasn't eager to go tromping through the woods filled with mourners when the sun was nearly set. Killing them off before they became a real problem and tried to invade the town was a good idea, though. He sighed under his breath and gave a small nod. "Hell, why not. Let's try and make it quick, though."

Giving Latamer another glance, he unsheathed the hunting knife on his belt and started for the patch of trees. His fingernails dug into the worn hilt, and he waited until Latamer was in step with him before quickening his pace. He swung his head around, eyes searching the lengthening shadows. He twitched at every little sound. Experience had taught him that anything could be a mourner, and it was better to almost attack a frightened rabbit than leave his back turned to a strange noise.

The cold wasn't helping his nerves, either. Winter was closing in fast, and the crunch of snow underfoot was a constant reminder that things were only going to get harder. "What I wouldn't give for a nice cuppa and blanket right now..." He muttered under his breath, watching his breath swirl out in a whirlwind of white mist. If only the snow and cold weather would slow down the mourners, too; that didn't seem to be the case, sadly.

[Elillium]

xx
𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘦𝘥𝘭𝘦𝘳
x..x location: the front gate ╌ tagged: valentin, roden ╌ form ╌ wc: 257
_________________________________________________
x

adeline froze in accordance to the man's command. she kept her hands steadily out at her sides, away from her
weapon. she did not carry a gun, but on her hip she carried a rather large hunting knife, which was safely secured
in a sheath. her weapon was useless at this distance from them, they greatly overpowered her with their guns. she
was not fearful, she was not quite a threat to them. she kept her distance and kept her body perfectly still to
prevent either of the men from thinking she was reaching for something. she looked at them attentively over the
five our six metres that were between them.

who are you? one of the men called out. adeline thought about it for a second. she wasn't exactly sure what kind of
answer the men were expecting, but she knew that the question was intended to separate the intelligent from the
not-so. "i'm alone. i come by myself. i've been hiking from england for a few months in search of somewhere quiet
i could go, far from any city. my name is adeline staedler, i am nineteen. i was raised in germany before the outbreak.
i stumbled upon this place by accident, but i think what you have set up here is brilliant, and maybe i could be a
help to you guys?" she paused for a second, searching in their eyes to see if they were at least paying attention to
her. "i'm not sure how, but i can help" she said once more.

[keating]

↪ ʟᴀᴛᴀᴍᴇʀ ᴄʀᴇɢᴀɴ ✧
Tags: Sam

It was clear by Sam's tone that hunting mourners wasn't on his list of favorite things to do, and it wasn't on Latamer's either, but, like Sam, it was something that he felt was necessary, only for different reasons. Latamer didn't have any fancy kind of weapon. He mostly relied on his small gun and its silencer. If your main weapon was a gun, a silencer was almost always necessary to avoid attracting more trouble. They weren't easy to get their hands on nowadays though; Latamer got his closer towards the beginning of the apocalypse. He also had a basic knife; the only thing making it stands out is its leather grip, but that was added for own comfort. He held his gun out in his hands. He wasn't quite confident enough to go charging at a mourner with a small blade. At least not yet. He didn't want to be near them at all, honestly. They smelled foul.

Latamer quickened his pace a bit to catch up to Sam. The sounds of snow crunching under their boots was a dead giveaway that they were here, so if there were any mourners hiding out, they're waiting on the right time to strike. From Latamer's own experience, mourners tend to be more confident striking if you're traveling alone, which is why scavengers often travel in pairs or small parties. Too many people in one spot could scare them, but as long as they know where you are, they'll wait it out for as long as they need to for the right time to attack. While their attack strategies were impressive for a bunch of ugly monsters, they were still relatively easy to outsmart. If the mourner outsmarts you then honestly, it's just natural selection at that point.

Latamer flinched at the sound of rusting leaves. The sound was coming from above, which meant it was either a bird or a mourner. Mourners like to hide in trees sometimes if they're waiting. Latamer pointed his gun upwards, scanning the area above him for any more movement. For about 30 seconds, there didn't seem to be any sound or movement coming from the tree. Suddenly, a loud wail from behind caught his attention, followed by at least 2 more wails that sounded a little farther away. Great. He shot into the tree where the closest sound came from. The shots were silenced enough to where they weren't as loud as a regular gunshot, but the mourners nearby definitely would've heard. It didn't help that these things had to scream every 5 minutes, already alerting any creatures around them. By his third gunshot something fell out of the tree, and sure enough, it was one of the monsters. It was still alive since he didn't damage its brain. It looked like he just blew off a leg, but that didn't stop it from awkwardly crawling straight towards him. He swallowed a lump in his throat when he realized how small this one was. It was a boy, and it didn't look to be more than 10 or 11 years old. Just a little younger than his brother was.

[keating]

↪ ʀᴏᴅᴇɴ ᴄᴏɴɴᴇʟʏ ✧
Tags: Valentin, Adeline

Roden listened to the woman, trying to detect any hesitations or inconsistencies, which were both signs of lying. She seemed confident enough and didn't hesitate at all while speaking. She'd caught his attention, however, when she mentioned being able to help. Lord knows thy needed more help around here, and anybody eager to lend a hand was usually out of options and really wanted to stay. Accepting outsiders was a dangerous road to go down, even if they proved themselves to be helpful. Roden had no intention of keeping anybody prisoner in town, but it always seemed fishy when someone joined and then, soon after, wanted to leave. He couldn't take the chance that they'd run off and tell some other group everything they know about Kingsdale, which only makes them an easier target to attack. He had to know that these people were serious about staying. "What can you do?" He finally asked, after about a 15 second pause. He didn't take his eyes off of the woman, trying his best to scan her body and make sure he didn't see any injuries or she wasn't acting weirdly with any body part. They had to make sure that anybody they took in wasn't infected, and if they had any sort of mark that could look like a bite or a scratch, they had to get it checked out first to make sure it wasn't so.

[Elillium]

xx
𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘦𝘥𝘭𝘦𝘳
x..x location: the front gate ╌ tagged: valentin, roden ╌ form ╌ wc: 384
_________________________________________________
x

adeline knew she had gotten the man thinking. he paused between the end of her speech and the beginning of his.
she anticipated what his next question was going to be, maybe about how exactly she could help them. she wasn't
sure of what they needed; maybe their people were sick, or starving. she kept her body still, as she thought for a
second about his question: what can you do?

"i can teach, it is important to keep children educated, even during hard times. when i graduated high school i was
set to attend teachers college" obviously she hadn't actually attended the college, the outbreak had happened that
year after she graduated high school. but she had spent most of her childhood with dreams of becoming an early
grades teacher. adeline was particularly intelligent with language, as well as logic and practical skills. adeline knew
that it was important for children to still grow up with some form of education. in her religion it was typical for
children to stop learning at ten or eleven years old, and after that they worked for their families. she had been
privileged enough to have enlightened parents, who valued education as much as they did farming. with farming, she
had another thought. "if it is food, that your people need, i can help you. my family was mennonite, a traditional
religion." she thought that maybe they had at least heard of it, and would be able to understand how it could be
helpful. if she had grown up without the use of technology, she could survive now without it. "i can help your people
grow food out of nearly nothing, even in the winter months." she thought for a second. "i can scavenge, make use out
of the things that grow naturally here, and turn them into crops that could feed hundreds" she thought back to the
small german town she lived in, where everyone farmed for each other. "i can teach your people how, also. it is not
hard to learn. that way they can all be productive"

she hoped that she appealed to the man, maybe her skills would be useful to them. she hoped that they didn't already
have great farm, and that she hadn't just wasted her breath only to dissatisfy him.

[keating]

↪ ʀᴏᴅᴇɴ ᴄᴏɴɴᴇʟʏ ✧
Tags: Valentin, Adeline

Turning back for a moment to look at Valentin to study his expression and see if the other man was thinking what he was thinking, Roden paused again, but this time for only a few seconds before turning back to look at Adeline, finally deciding that she looked fine and didn't seem to have any injuries. He's never seen anyone act this calm who'd been bitten or scratched by a mourner, so they were probably in the clear. He was interested in her farming abilities; as winter rapidly approached them they sure as hell needed some more assistance in that department. Most animals were going into hibernation so hunting wasn't of much use, and farming was a lot slower during the winter, so they often had to rely on whatever they had left until the weather got a bit warmer. Any knowledge this woman had could be helpful, but there was one last thing he needed to make sure of. "Okay," he said finally. "Have you killed any people up to this point; if so, how many, and why?"

[Elillium]

xx
𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘦𝘥𝘭𝘦𝘳
x..x location: the front gate ╌ tagged: valentin, roden ╌ form ╌ wc: 391
_________________________________________________
x

adeline watched the men look at each other, trying to rehearse answers for his next possible questions. as she stood
there, perfectly still, she began to think. she had survived at least six months now completely by herself. she didn't
even know if she actually needed anyone's help. but at the same time being alone was really starting to become tiring,
pacing forward for days, days turning into weeks, weeks turning into months. but then again, she had only been traveling
because she was seeking asylum. somewhere safe and secluded, far away from any city or mass populous. maybe,
subconsciously, she had actually been searching for a place like this. something bigger than just a farmhouse, but just
as safe.

his next question as a bit of a shock to her, but she knew it shouldn't have been. obviously, the man was just looking
out for his community, and the meant not allowing murderers inside. still, the thought of it brought a lump to her
throat. she sighed discreetly before she began talking again. "one," she said, "just one." she knew it would be hard for
them to believe, but it was the whole truth. adeline had been traveling alone since about six months after the outbreak.
"it was my friend, back in england still. it was in the first week of the outbreak, her and i were traveling to the northeastern
coast so that we could take the last ferry across the river to get here." she paused again, her stomach began to feel sick
with guilt when she thought about it. "only one day our car ran out of super, (gasoline/petrol) and we were stranded on
the highway. one of the grievers, the monsters, came out from the woods and attacked us. i wasn't hurt, but she had
been bitten all across her forearm. she asked me to shoot her before she turned into one of them so i did" she paused,
looking to see in the men's faces if they needed any more detail. "so she sat back in the passenger seat of the car, and i
shot her through the windshield with her own gun." she thought for a second. "i left the gun with her, i didn't want it. i am
unarmed." she stopped, quietly praying in her head, hoping that the men believed her.