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Conparo
Jul 28, 2014 0:51:40 GMT -6
Post by ashestoApples on Jul 28, 2014 0:51:40 GMT -6
"Ah. Uh, Ste-- Conrad. Conrad." He rubbed the back of his neck, causing his dogtags to jingle a bit. "So, uh. Where are you... from?" He also wondered if she was staying or if she was just... visiting... if people did that in the apocalypse, but he thought she might not know yet. He had been kidnapped in the beginning, after all, and it was a while before he decided he wanted to stay for sure. He'd decided to travel with them in the beginning at least, so it wasn't too hard past that. He'd give her some time, but she was pretty and he definitely wouldn't mind it if she hung around.
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Conparo
Jul 29, 2014 21:02:26 GMT -6
Post by kryss on Jul 29, 2014 21:02:26 GMT -6
"Um, from California. And Washington. The state, not the... yeah I didn't live on both sides of the country." She laughed at herself a little. "How about you? Where are you from?" She looked him over again, Very nice arms. That underarmor certainly didn't hurt to define them. Whoever this was, he was toned, although she did know that since the apocalypse, most people had become that way. Most of them didn't have such cute faces though. With her snuggle buddy disappeared, she hooked her thumbs in her pockets. And her "pockets" were really just tears in her leggings at about hip height. She avoided the hunting knife strapped to her thigh with ease.
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Conparo
Jul 29, 2014 21:20:24 GMT -6
Post by ashestoApples on Jul 29, 2014 21:20:24 GMT -6
Becoming very aware of the fact that she was checking him out unabashedly he took a couple steps back, nervously looking off to the side. "Th-that's cool," he said after a minute, voice wavering a bit.
"I'm from, um.. Philly." Mr. Whiskers rubbed up against his legs, purring like a motor as he spoke. He tried to think of something cool to say- anything at all, but was coming up empty. The teen ran a hand through his hair as he abandoned looking for something 'cool' to say and instead thought about what normal people said to initiate conversation. Luckily for him, he didn't have to continue.
Lorna rounded the corner with food- among them being a can of fruit cocktail and a still-sealed package of beef jerky- and shoved them into Skylar's hands with a very old, very difficult to use can opener.
"Eat up. And you," she said pointedly to Conrad, "Don't hurt yourself. You were doing something."
At this, Conrad straightened up immediately and nodded before muttering a small, "Yes, ma'am," and dashing off to do whatever it was he had been doing. Lorna looked back at Skylar.
"When was the last time you had anything half-way substantial to eat?" she asked as she scrawled some things in her notebook.
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Conparo
Jul 29, 2014 22:05:00 GMT -6
Post by kryss on Jul 29, 2014 22:05:00 GMT -6
From the way she looked at the food and tore the top off of the jerky, "never" seemed a likely, though improbable answer. She began chewing hastily, swallowing hard before taking another huge bite. She ignored the can opener all together and sat right there in the hallway, jamming her knife into the top of the fruit cocktail.
"Who's the rabbit?" Skylar asked, jerking her head to where Conrad had been standing. "Your nephew or something?" She slurped up some fruit and ate more jerky, the mixing of flavors extremely odd.
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Conparo
Jul 29, 2014 22:31:35 GMT -6
Post by ashestoApples on Jul 29, 2014 22:31:35 GMT -6
Lorna continued writing, but after a moment she spoke. "No. Picked him up in Detroit when I picked up Rick. He's an ASAP. Rick's out right now, but.." she stopped for a minute, looking over at Skylar (who was still devouring what she gave her), sizing her up. She didn't need this out and about, but if she was going to stay, she could tell her. No, she decided. I can't take any chances.
"He's valuable." She snapped her book closed and replaced the pen behind her ear. When she looked back, Skylar was just finishing off the rest of the beef jerky.
"Still hungry?" she asked, unsure if she wanted the answer.
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Conparo
Jul 29, 2014 22:48:18 GMT -6
Post by kryss on Jul 29, 2014 22:48:18 GMT -6
She actually wasn't sure if Lorna was saying that Conrad was valuable or "Rick" was valuable, but either way she decided to shrug it off. Maybe Lorna was in love with "Rick", or a cougar. Or who even knew what, a lot of people worked very hard to be 'valuable' in these times.
At the mention of more food, and with finally getting a taste of it, Skylar's stomach gurgled loudly. She nodded a little sheepishly. She knew that it was greedy to actually ask for food nowadays, but if Lorna was offering, she couldn't really refuse.
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Conparo
Jul 29, 2014 22:57:44 GMT -6
Post by ashestoApples on Jul 29, 2014 22:57:44 GMT -6
She nodded, having been prepared for the answer.
"Follow me," she said before she rounded the corner, Skylar following after her. They wandered into the kitchen where Lorna opened up a couple (already opened and sealed with white, plastic lids) cans of food storage and placed them on the counter. She closed that cupboard and opened another that was pretty close to completely full before gesturing to it.
"Help yourself. You fixed my van, so scratch my back and I'll scratch yours." She looked back at her again. "There anyway you could take a look at my generator while you're here? It always takes probably a dozen tries to get it turned on."
In secret, she was hoping Skylar would stay- at least for a few days. That wasn't average intelligence that she showed and she was curious as to how far that knowledge went.
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Conparo
Jul 29, 2014 23:24:30 GMT -6
Post by kryss on Jul 29, 2014 23:24:30 GMT -6
Skylar stared in awe at the food.
"R-really? Just for that, you'll let me..." she almost felt herself getting choked up. No one had been this nice to her since she had began wandering. Absolutely no one. She was too used to getting shotguns pointed at her face and curses thrown at her retreating back. Pushed in front of zombies, robbed, assaulted... no one had shared so much as a kind word, much less their personal food supply. She gripped the counter, suddenly feeling weak, although the lack of sleep and food may have had a hand in that. "Thank you. Th-thank you."
Once she had gotten herself together a little, she straightened up. "Yeah, sure, I could look at it. I, uh, I don't have any experience with generators, though." as she spoke she walked over to the storages and picked out a couple of cans, poking one open with her knife.
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Conparo
Jul 29, 2014 23:48:35 GMT -6
Post by ashestoApples on Jul 29, 2014 23:48:35 GMT -6
Nodding, Lorna said, "It's fine, I would just like it if you looked."
Deciding to leave her to her devices (..mostly), she moved to the dining room table where her book had been sitting. Skylar was still in her line of vision, but she wasn't hovering over her shoulder anymore.
Ever since Lorna had almost put together something... something important... about Rick's tumor while they were going through the checkpoint that was infested with zombies, she hadn't been able to stop reading medical and biology textbooks. There was something big about his tumor, she knew, but everytime she got close, she hit a block. It was like something being on the tip of your tongue for weeks and it annoyed Lorna to no end.
Mr. Whiskers hopped up on the counter in the kitchen, meowing at Skylar expectantly while he purred like a motorboat.
"He's already been fed today, so just ignore him," Lorna said distantly. "He's still overweight as it is." She turned a page back and forth in her book and was engulfed in it within moments of comparing diagrams.
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Conparo
Jul 30, 2014 23:57:57 GMT -6
Post by kryss on Jul 30, 2014 23:57:57 GMT -6
Skylar looked at her feast - a can of pork 'n beans and another fruit cocktail. Observing the kitten that had begun vying for her attention, she reached over and poked his belly, prompting an indignant noise.
"Are you? Are you a fat kitty? A pudgy fat little baby kitty?" She wove her fingers through his fluff, skritching him lightly. Despite what Lorna had said, she fished a chunk of pork out of the open can and tossed it before him on the counter. He greedily ate it up, chewing it loudly and licking the remnants of sauce until the counter was sparkling. Skylar ate her meal, wishing for something to drink. But Lorna had already been so hospitable she didn't dare impose further for fear of getting kicked out. She set down the empty can, not seeing a ready trashcan anywhere (most people just threw litter wherever nowadays.) She scooped up Mr Whiskers, who had been in the middle of investigating the can, and walked over to where Lorna was reading some textbook.
"So... where's this generator?"
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Conparo
Jul 31, 2014 0:33:10 GMT -6
Post by ashestoApples on Jul 31, 2014 0:33:10 GMT -6
Lorna didn't acknowledge her existence for a moment- still reading her textbook very attentively. After a good thirty seconds, just before Skylar was about to say something again (and just as Mr. Whiskers was on the verge of getting fidgety) she closed her book with a snap and stood up rigidly.
"It's outside by the pump-house. I'll show you." Lorna took a moment to make sure one of her guns was loaded and ready before turning into the garage, beckoning Skylar in.
Old 2-liter soda bottles filled with water lined the floor all the way around the garage, the only exception being a place to get down the steps and in front of the garage door (which was boarded shut). Food storage was stacked high near (and on top of) several shelves in the corner right next to their entrance, and a toolbox lay next to it. Lorna reached over a few rows of water to pick it up and set it beside her before unfastening her canteen from her belt. She then proceeded to fill up her canteen with one of the 2-liters, finishing off the bottle. She tossed it into a nearby bin where dozens of other empty bottles lay before fastening her canteen back on her belt and holding out a hand to Skylar expectantly. She held her hand out as she opened another 2-Liter, as if to say, 'give me something to fill up,' assuming (wrongly) that Skylar had a canteen or something. After a moment, she turned to see that Skylar hadn't moved and tried really hard not to roll her eye.
"How've you made it this long without a canteen?" she asked as she rummaged through a box on a nearby shelf. Her hand closed around something round, aluminum and solid, recognizing without seeing it that it was an old bottle that had a broken clip on the top, which was why she stopped using it. Beggers can't be choosers, right? Not that she was begging.
After filling it up and handing it off to Skylar, she remarked, "The clip's broken, but I figure you have worse problems than whether or not you can fasten a water bottle to-- nothing." She had noticed as she finished speaking how poorly dressed Skylar was for a survival situation. She would have to try to deal with that later- besides, she didn't really know where to begin.
The tool box jangled as Lorna picked it up and made her way back up the steps and out the door, making her way for the front door that Skylar had come in from. She rounded the corner and made her way around her (surprisingly nice) house, approaching on a generator around the back of her house near a deck that overlooked a drained, unused, underground pool, a two-person, very old-looking swing-set and a small pump-house.
"It works like a charm when you can finally get it to turn on," she explained, setting the toolbox down next to it. "I'd just like to hear what you make of it."
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Post by kryss on Aug 4, 2014 0:04:35 GMT -6
Skylar followed Lorna, gratefully accepting the water bottle.
"I don't... drink very often." was the only response she could offer. Consequently, she downed the entire bottle on the spot. She followed Lorna again, this time out and around the house. She looked hesitantly at the generator. It was probably not much more complicated than a car, but she still had no idea how it worked. Nevertheless, she bent over it and grabbed a screwdriver, carefully removing the outer shell.
Once it was off, she examined the mechanism for starting it. There wasn't much of it she could see - it was a wire connected to a handle on the outside, and on the inside spooled around a metal axle that revved the engine of it. That was really all she could focus on; the rest of it was out of her league. She gently touched it, messing around until she found something. One of the bolts attaching it to the main pistons was so loose she could wiggle it around with her fingers. She reached into the toolbox and found a wrench, but it didn't fit. It took her two more wrenches to find one that would. She tightened the bolt as far as possible, which admittedly may not have been as far as someone who was actually strong.
She replaced the cover and gripped the handle, taking a breath before yanking on it hard. Nothing happened. She tried again, and nothing. On the third pull, though, the thing revved to life, and at least two lights flickered on inside the house.
"Yeah!" she yelled, pumping her arms in the air, gripping the fishnets on her palms with her fingers.. She lowered them quickly and turned back to Lorna, clearing her throat. "Um, there's obviously something else messing it up, but at least it's better now, right?"
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Post by ashestoApples on Aug 4, 2014 0:08:31 GMT -6
Lorna couldn't help but smile a bit at her enthusiasm, but by the time Skylar turned around, she was all serious again.
"Yes. Good work. Thank you." Lorna bent down and turned the generator off. At Skylar's confused face, she explained, "I turn the generator on for an hour every night for as long as I have an ample supply of gas left. 80% of the gas I find goes toward the generator." She made a few notes in her notebook before flipping it closed and looking back at Skylar.
"Alright, you've helped me twice now. What can I do for you?"
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Post by kryss on Aug 4, 2014 0:13:50 GMT -6
"Um," Skylar tried to think of what she needed. Food? Clothes? Water? Weaponry? Everything? What she really wanted was some rest, some peace for like two seconds, if it wasn't too much to ask.
"Ah," she rubbed the back of her head, trying to think of how to ask this. "Maybe, if it's ok. Could I stay here a couple days? I'm pretty tired from moving around constantly." And her food supplies were nonexistent, but she didn't want to say that out loud.
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Post by ashestoApples on Aug 4, 2014 0:25:51 GMT -6
As if it were a compulsion, Lorna opened her book again to write for a moment, face unchanging, saying nothing at first.
"Yes," she said as she neared the end of her entry. She snapped the book closed and started heading toward the pump-house. "That's fine. The only other people here are Conrad and Rick, who, as I said before, is out scavenging, so I have room. I will warn you that I expect you to do chores without complaint." She looked at Skylar very seriously and without breaking eye contact, she asked, "Do I make myself clear?"
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