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Post by ashestoApples on Dec 23, 2014 9:17:36 GMT -6
Lorna, though a tiny bit reluctant, knew she absolutely could not turn away a child and her caretaker now. She was already trying to calculate how to fit all these people in her house for good and knew that if they found too many more people would have to double-up or they'd have to also use another house nearby. "It's not a problem, no," she said after a moment. "I couldn't turn away a child." The thought of where the girl could have come from tugged at her heartstrings- though she would never admit it. Conrad was worried when she paused- he'd been afraid she was going to say no and then he was going to have to protest because wow you can't say no to a little kid, especially one that cute?
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Post by macxcheese on Dec 28, 2014 20:20:30 GMT -6
Jane relaxed her death grip when she heard Skylar's voice. Letting out a sigh of relief, she wiggled from under the bed and made her way to the door. As she removed the makeshift barricade, she put her full weight against the door. Who knew, Skylar might be held hostage at the moment. You could never be too careful!
After pushing the chair away, she carefully opened the door and peered outside. Seeing that it was indeed just Skylar, she opened it further. A sheepish expression sprung on her face and she leaned casually against the door frame. "So... what's up?" she laughed awkwardly.
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Post by kryss on Dec 29, 2014 1:42:46 GMT -6
Ace: He nodded his thanks to her.
"We don't mind wherever we sleep, but a private space would be preferred. She can be a little shy." he said plainly, indicating Alicia. "Are there any rules we need to know?" Many of the places he had stayed at had their own set of rules. Some had no weapons - sadly he couldn't stay at those, although he'd made one exception, as they were based in a church, but he had felt uneasy the whole night and had technically broken the rule by keeping a knife concealed on him - some had strict schedules to be followed, some had intense rationing (that usually wasn't a problem, as he only took what was directly given to him and tried as hard as possible to get Alicia to do the same.) He didn't mind most rules, but it was good to get it out of the way as fast as possible.
Skylar: "Uh, not much. I mean, new guy here, you know." she shrugged a little. "Lorna's letting him stay for a few days so we can fina-freaking-ly finish our perimeter mop up. It'll make it a lot easier for you and me, I think," she said with a wink. She stepped inside and leaned against the doorframe.
"Mostly I was just making sure you're alright. He seems like a pretty good guy, I don't know. Calm, definitely, didn't even blink wit Rick holding a gun to his head." She made a double hand finger gun, holding it out and squinting one eye like she was aiming at something. "Since he's gonna be here a while, do you want to meet him? You totally don't have to, obviously, but you might end up running into him sooner or later." She paused for a moment, tilting her head. "We can give him a fake name if you want."
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Post by ashestoApples on Jan 2, 2015 1:18:47 GMT -6
Lorna nodded understandingly and pondered where on earth she was going to continue finding the space for this. She had one bedroom left, but after this she was going to have to start putting people in the basement or making people double up. She actually ventured to shot Alicia a small smile- almost a twitch- before moving toward the staircase.
"You can bunk in one of the bedrooms," she explained, moving her way up the stairs. Normally, she'd send Conrad or Skylar to do this, but instead, she sent Conrad in to do damage control for Rick who had just left the house for some reason.
"Bathroom's here," she said, pushing the ajar door open a bit more, "and the bedroom is here." She opened the door, revealing a medium-sized room with one shelf of books, a nightstand and full-sized bed, and a couch. In the corner stood a very old TV that was rarely used nowadays, for obvious reasons, and the closet was almost scarily empty.
"Make yourselves at home."
As she hovered in the doorway she realized how odd it was to say that, but she knew it would probably bring some comfort to a couple war-weary strangers. She could only hope this wasn't some sort of trick, but something in Ace's demeanor seemed very truthful. And kids were good at telling that kind of thing- she wouldn't have trusted him if he wasn't trustworthy, most likely.
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Post by macxcheese on Jan 4, 2015 21:51:50 GMT -6
"Ah, really," Jane said, disappointed. That would mean staying in her room all day until he left and wearing her infernal bandana over her face. Ugh. Honestly, she was starting to wish she was a vampire right now. No need for sleep, food, or bathroom breaks sounded pretty good. And she was pretty sure she could rock the sparkly thing.
At least she wouldn't have to help with the perimeter, like Skylar said.
Jane looked up at Skylar and assured her that she was fine. She reallyyyyy didn't want to meet him. Her stomach felt like a pit at the thought of meeting someone else. She just couldn't afford to get attached to another person. So she shook her head side to side and gave Skylar a small smile. "I'll take the fake name though."
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Post by kryss on Jan 8, 2015 2:11:23 GMT -6
Ace: He carried Alicia down the hallway, taking note of the places Lorna pointed out.
"Thank you, this is... incredibly generous, actually." He felt his guard go up a little. Generous people in the apocalypse often wanted something from you. But he would give them the benefit of the doubt, for now. He had another thought, suddenly. They had a bathroom, apparently, and it was so unlikely. But he had heard something about a generator. The two weren't exclusively linked, but... "Do you have... water?" he tried to sound casual, but they hadn't had fresh water in so long, and hadn't bathed for longer. He was aware that they probably didn't smell like flowers, especially since Alicia spent the better part of each day inside of a motorcycle compartment.
Skylar: "Um, yeah, okay," she responded to Jane's insincere sounding reassurances. When she confirmed that she wanted a fake name, Skylar cocked her head.
"Hmm, how about... Lilian?" she suggested. It was the first one that popped into her head, "Or whatever you like. So, if you're planning to stay in here a while, you want me to bring you anything? Like... I don't know, food? Or water... I could bring some books from my room?"
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Post by ashestoApples on Jan 8, 2015 2:35:02 GMT -6
Lorna: As much as she was aware that water was a commodity in this day and age, she had settled into the comfort of having it so much that often she forgot about it. It wasn't until new people came that she realized: she really had a nice set-up here. She could sense that he was nervous, even though his exterior was much like a brick wall and she had a fleeting feeling that the child was one of the few on the planet who ever saw any form of emotion on his face. Even that might have been a stretch.
"Yes," she said after just a moment. "We do. One moment."
She moved past them briefly to look over the banister and down at the seating area below before calling, "STEDMAN! GENERATOR!"
"YES MA'AM!" Conrad had grown used to being ordered about, and immediately moved from one room to the next, even jumping over some seating to get to the door more quickly. He jumped over the railing on the deck and rounded the house and the garage to get to the generator. He revved it once, twice, three times to get it going more properly and waited until the light flickered on in the utility room- the telltale sign that everything was running. He dashed over to turn it off, as per the norm, before making his way inside with a bit more leisure. They knew it was on now, no need to hurry.
Lorna turned back to her guests, eye smiling a bit now that the lights were on and she could see how wide the child's eyes were. "Follow me," she said, deciding to give them the initiation- if it could be called that. She opened the door to her room and then opened the bathroom door, setting towels on the bed.
"Bathroom's all yours," she said- three little words that had meant nothing before and now meant permission to wash away weeks of grime and muck, filth and blood, and who knew what else. "Clothes..." She looked them both up and down before nodding. "I think I can find something. They'll be on the bed within the next five or so minutes."
She headed toward the door, though hadn't completely left by the time she said, "Enjoy."
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Post by macxcheese on Jan 11, 2015 20:40:18 GMT -6
Jane crossed her arms. She didn't know if Skylar would understand why, but she just couldn't make herself go out there.
She nodded her head at the name. She wasn't sure if it would suit him, though she didn't think any female name would suit him. She was ready to ask for some water whens she saw them coming up the stairs. Quickly she spun around the door frame, flattening her back against it in hopes that they wouldn't notice her. She'd almost slammed the door in Skylar's face, but Jane didn't think the other girl would appreciate that.
"Please tell me when they're gone!" she hissed quietly.
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Post by kryss on Jan 19, 2015 20:31:54 GMT -6
Ace: He waited patiently as they fired up their generator - he was still quite impressed they had a generator - and looked down the hallway. He saw a glimpse of the purple girl down the hallway, standing in one of the doorframes. She seemed to be talking to someone in the room, probably the small frightened girl from earlier. When Lorna led them down the hall and into the master bedroom, he kept a sharp eye out for any red flags, but didn't find any. The bathroom was impressive, and that absolutely had to do with the fact that he and Alicia hadn't been inside a proper one the entire time they had been together. Ace himself hadn't been in one in months, and even those were small, cramped military showers. He thanked Lorna crisply as she left, then set Alicia down and suddenly felt uncertain. He'd helped her take half-sponge baths before, wiping off the worst of her grime with dampened rags and towels they had found along the way, but he had never bathed a child before. Was she old enough to take care of it herself? As long as the water was low, there was little danger of her drowning, as long as he was on the other side of the door. Could she take a shower? He ruled that much out, she was probably too short to reach the shelves or water controls. It wasn't that he minded washing her, but she didn't want him to look when she so much as went to the bathroom. He wasn't sure if she'd be willing to bathe in front of him. In the end he decided that he would simply ask, considering she had already provided him with helpful information about her habits in the past (and tried to slip a few fast ones by him, but he usually caught those.) "Alicia, would you like me to help you take a bath, or would do you do that on your own?"
Skylar: She nodded, and was about to exit the room with Jane when the new guy came up the stairs and Jane flipped out. She was about to speak, trying to comfort the other girl, when the whispered plea was made. She nodded instead, keeping a loose watch. Eventually she saw Lorna leading him to the bathroom and WAS THAT A CHILD IN HIS ARMS? ?? THAT WAS ABSOLUTELY A CHILD IN HIS ARMS!!!!! Distracted for some time, she eventually snapped out of it. They were taking their obligatory first showers, probably, so there would be time to discover and steal a small child later. For now she looked back to Jane. "They're busy, for the moment, but if you'd rather stay in here I can bring you some supplies! You don't have to come out until you're ok to, you know. I'll tell him we keep smallpox vials or tampons in here or something." she said. She couldn't help but feel worry and concern overwhelm her at the look of terror on Jane's face. She knew her own past was crappy as is, what must this sweet girl have gone through to make her so scared all of the time?
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Post by ashestoApples on Jan 19, 2015 22:11:43 GMT -6
Alicia: She struck what she was pretty sure was a 'cool girl' pose (she learned it from a kids' yogurt commercial. Either Danimals or Go-Gurt) and put her hands up and then to the side. "I got dis, Ace." She then turned toward the tub and was at a loss. "Okay I don't got it."
With Ace's help she was able to turn the water on, and from there she sneakily found a bottle of shampoo and began pouring it in the water. She didn't know why, it just looked like fun. When bubbles started to emerge, that was just a "jackpot," she was sure the word was. Now that Ace was distracted she could have the best bubble bath in the whole wide earth.
Having successfully dumped whatever was left in the bottle in the tub (thankfully only about a fourth of the bottle), she got in and did many things. She pretended she was Santa most of all. But also she shaved off the beard with her finger and played with a loofah and a weird rock. Luckily, she did manage to turn the water off before the tub overflowed, but it was a close call.
Unfortunately, all good things come to an end, and Alicia's did when she got soap in her eyes. She'd been about to scream! But Alicia was a little smarter than that. With a pang of sadness, she remembered her dad and what he did when Alicia got soap in her eyes and found a dry washcloth up on the window sill. She almost slipped trying to get it, but she got it! She had tears on her face by the time she was done, but she had just committed what she told herself was the perfect escape, whatever that meant.
Lorna, meanwhile, had managed to find what was the smallest shirt in the house. She wasn't sure where it came from, but it would do for the child for now. Ace was easier, and thankfully, though he was obviously ripped or something, he appeared to be roughly the same size as her husband. She laid out enough clothes for him to have an option of mostly plain t-shirts or plaid button-ups, a couple pairs of jeans and cackies and even a pair of shorts. Even underwear had been easy. She'd have to find Alicia more clothes, but she figured she could wash what she had on and she could lounge around in the shirt for a while. She hoped they wouldn't mind. Lorna left the way she came and made her way back downstairs, ignoring whatever was happening in Jane's room on her way down.
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Post by macxcheese on Jan 19, 2015 23:49:51 GMT -6
Jane looked away, kind of ashamed of how she was acting. "Please," she replied, trying not to meet Skylar's eyes as she glimpsed out the door. She sighed in relief for like the tenth time that hour and trudged over to her bed. "If you don't mind, I think I'm gonna take a nap."
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Post by kryss on Jan 27, 2015 22:13:17 GMT -6
Ace: After what he considered more than a reasonable time, he knocked on the door. The truth was he was starting to get nervous. He wasn't used to being apart from Alicia any longer than it took for him to scout a new area or negotiate for supplies, and while there had been lots of giggling and splashing at first, she had been oddly quiet for the last few minutes.
"Are you alright in there? Can I come in?" Getting an assenting response, he opened the door carefully and walked in. What he was greeted with was splashed walls and floors, a surprising amount of bubbles considering he didn't see any bubble bath anywhere, unless she'd dropped it into the tub, and a teary-eyed Alicia. She seemed to be doing her best to smile, but it didn't fool him. He was over to the tub in a second, examining her bloodshot eyes.
"What happened? Are you alright?" he asked, very concerned and willing to ignore her mess for now.
Skylar: She nodded and quietly slipped out the door. She'd tried hard to build a relationship with the former star over the past couple months, but things were tenuous at best. She was constantly afraid to make a wrong step and shatter what little they did have.
Seeing that the newcomers weren't done with their entry showers yet, she went to the kitchen She gathered up a lot of dried, easy to eat foods. She hooked some water bottles, then stopped, biting her lip. She dug into the limited stash she'd squirreled away, that she was fully aware Lorna knew about. Just as Lorna was fully aware that Skylar had discovered two of her stashes. What she didn't know was that Skylar had discovered six, and was fairly certain there weren't any left.
She took a (undoubtedly stale) chocolate bar, having a brief but intense internal debate before adding the entire thing to the stack. She also grabbed a couple of the drink flavoring packets she'd stolen on their Walmart trip. She stood over the rest of her stash of luxury items, teetering back and forth for a while before deciding this would hopefully be enough to keep Jane's spirits up.
She trucked upstairs with the lot and carefully eased the girl's door open. Seeing her still form on the bed, she padded her way inside silently and laid everything down by the nightstand. She darted out quickly, running to her room and grabbing a couple magazines and some books Jane had shown an interest in, before prancing her way back and entering the room just as quietly as before. She placed the reading material on the nightstand and gave one last look to Jane's reposed form, her pretty face slack and innocent in sleep, her hair splayed gently around her. Skylar backed out of the room, easing the door closed before moving back down the stairs, wondering where Lorna and Conrad were.
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Post by ashestoApples on Jan 28, 2015 23:31:13 GMT -6
Alicia buried her face back into the washcloth and nodded vigorously a few times. "I'm ok!!" she said determinedly. "Bubble in eye!"
She found the towel that Ace had set out and wrapped herself in it, bubbles sticking to the bottom of it as she got out. She didn't want to have a mishap with the bubbles again. They looked so soft but they hurt!!! "Aw done!" she announced, still dripping.
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Post by macxcheese on Jan 29, 2015 21:45:01 GMT -6
Jane fell into her bed, deciding not to change in case she had to escape. Her eyes stayed open though and she listened to the sounds of the house. She heard Skylar tromp down the stairs, heard the voice(s?) in the bathroom, heard the generator hum, and then feet on the stairs again. Her eyes closed just enough to make it look like she was sleeping. A blurry form about Skylar's size came into the room and she closed them completely. She heard some shuffling and finally silence.
Her eyes opened again, this time full of tears.
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Post by kryss on Feb 2, 2015 20:29:24 GMT -6
Ace: He looked her over, his mouth pulling to the side.
"Hmm." She had suds still clinging to her arms, hair, and legs, and he wanted to be sure she didn't have any soap residue in her eyes. He grabbed her, towel and all, and lifted her to the sink. "Let's get those eyes flushed out, then we'll work on turning you from a soap monster back into a little girl."
He carefully cupped water into his hands and lifted it to her eyes, flushing them gently. He did his best to get her to keep them open. Once he was satisfied, he carried her over to the shower. "Now just stand there, and make sure everywhere gets rinsed off."
He took her towel and, carefully standing on the other side of the curtain, not looking, he turned on the water. He had a feeling this would be the last bath where he didn't watch her. She was too much of a troublemaker. Once she was all rinsed off, he gave her back her towel and led her into the bedroom adjoined. He felt a twinge of gratitude at the clothes laid out, even though they were certainly too big for Alicia. At least they weren't hilariously too big.
"Alright, you get your clothes on. I'll be out soon." He left her to it, knowing from experience that she could dress herself, as long as the clothes were simple. He took his normal efficient shower, although it took a little longer due to the high levels of dirt and grime coating him. Seven minutes later he was out, and had a towel wrapped around his waist. Making sure Alicia was prepared, he went out and gathered the clothes that had been left for him. They were a bit snug, but he wasn't one to complain about gifts. Alicia let loose a large yawn. "You feel ready for bed?" He asked her with a smile.
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