"It is really good James really outdid himself." Sophia said as she sat down at the table, she started to dig into the deer rather quickly as she started to enjoy the flavor of the smoked meat she looked up at Ms. Sally asking if they had seen Bridgette anywhere. She shook her head as she swallowed her food, she really didn't see her at all today at least what she could remember. Then Ms. Sally mentioned a leaky grease trap, she did have some metalworking experience before becoming a foreman in construction among other things that she had done before the outbreak happened. "I could take a look at it, I have some experience with that sort of thing." Sophia said as she looked towards Niesha and Kristina for a moment as much as she wanted to spend time with them, she did really want to help out around here for once.
"Though I may need an extra set of hands, it is kind of hard doing things single handed now." Sophia said softly, she looked around the room then she turned her attention towards Ms. Sally. "If you have any tools here, and show me where the problem is I could try and get it fixed up for ya." Sophia said as she started finishing up eating the rest of her deep, and then got up to put her plate away she looked over at Niesha and Kristina. "Would one of you two like to assist me?" Sophia asked.
Kristina Smith
Location: Building 2 (Mess Hall)
Kristina was already eating away at the deer as she looked towards Ms. Sally and then looked towards Sophia and Niesha for a moment when Sophia asked for some assistance with the reason why she needed Bridgette for. Kris gently gave Niesha a gentle nudge for her friend to go and assist Sophia. "I'm sure that Niesha could assist you Sophia." Kristina said with a soft smile, not that she wanted to go and help Kris had hurt herself earlier and she didn't want to make it any worse than it already is. "I'll be fine and i'll just wait here for the two of you."
It would be like a sort of little date for them Kris simply sat there as she continued to enjoy the deer that was brought to them, she moved her sore ankle up onto the seat next to her to keep it elevated. She looked towards Ms. Sally biting her lower lip for a moment before asking the reason why she had actually came here for. "I was wondering if I could have some ice for my ankle Ms. Sally?" Kristina asked softly giving the older woman a soft smile.
Meghna Kumar
Location: Building B (Zoie's House) -> Building 9 (The School) -> Building 7 (Rec Center)
"Well you know me, I have to watch over everyone and make sure everyone is okay." Meghna said with a smile as she stood up she was really grateful to hear that she could use Zoie's music player. "Thank you so much Zoie, I promise i'll bring it back to you once everything is done." Meg hated to ask that from Zoie taking away the injured woman's music. "If you are up for it you are more then welcome to come see Zoie, same for you James." Meg offered as she moved over to where the music play was plugged in, she pulled it out of the wall and wrapped the wire over the music player. "Hope to see you two later." Meg said with a smile as she looked towards Zoie once more. "And thank you so much for letting me borrow this." Meghna then started to leave Zoie's house closing the door behind her.
Meg picked up the box and headed towards the school where she knew that the kids had left some of the bowling pins in the classroom, as she walked past some Newnanites she would smile and wave towards them. When she finally had gotten to the school building Meg opened the door and entered it. She looked around as she headed towards the toy box that was set up in the corner of the room for the little kids to play with.
Meg grabbed several of the bowling pins and a few small balls that she had found in there, then she started to head out and made her way towards the Rec Center. Once she was there Meg opened the door seeing everyone in the room. "I got you all presents!" Meg said as she handed Tatiana the music player then she saw Jack and smiled at the man as she extended a hand towards him. "Hi there, I'm Meg it's nice to meet you." Her attention then wen towards Bazhooli as she handed him the box that had everything that he could do to entertain the people. "Here you go Bazhooli."
Building E, Kristina's room----> building 2 (mess hall)
Niesha nodded, having seen James walking on the deer throughout the day during the numerous times she'd been past there, she didn't recall what he had done when the shooting had started. All that was clear to her was knifing the dead teen in the head, knowing that she would have given anything to try and save him, but knowing the risk had been too great. She stared down at the deer, suddenly not hungry, as she tried to get the image out her mind. it wasn't that she hadn't killed walkers before. Hadn't killed people dead. It was that she didn't know if it had been the right thing to do, or not, even now.
She still didn't know the kids name, and that seemed important.
She looked up as Miss Sally approached, watching the interaction. She nodded, although she wasn't too sure what help she would be. She wasn't even too sure if she knew what a grease trap was or not. "I can help" She said, quite sure that Kristina was nudging them into being along together again. She shot Kristina a look, but didn't say anything. "Although I don't know if I can be much use" She said, a little sheepishly.
"Niesha..." mulled over Ash. He had received complaints about that woman, from a few different sources. He recalled meeting her for the first time, requesting entry into Newnan. She had mentioned that she could make some types of medications upon meeting their usual welcoming committee at the gates, trying to use it as leverage to gain entrance for an injured companion. The part where she sounded like a total frigging maniac aside, one thing that she said did stand out: She claimed that she could convert solid antibiotics to an IV solution. Now, in his years with the U.S. Army, he had seen what medical personnel and pharmacy techs could do when pressed into service. Even for them, the scratch production of anything in the "cillin" family was difficult, without an existing base to start it off.
A Doctor could identify the proper mold, that much he knew. Ash knew enough about it to know that the wrong mold could kill you faster than the infection would, and not to mess with it. But he also knew that if that bit was settled, all they would need is a more or less decent chemist (or God forbid, meth manufacturer) to run the setup, and a pharmacy tech to assemble/convert the raw materials into more sophisticated forms. He knew what had to be done, in theory, but nary a clue on how to actually do it. All he could do is try to assemble the people that might know. And he was short a chemist.
But all these thoughts were pointless in that moment. The conversation turned back to the more urgent business of the hour, not to mention that Astrid had already hashed out a plan and made the decision to follow through with it while in plain view of Ash, as if he wasn't actually there. Still, he couldn't fault her too much for her minor act of insubordination. She had been accustomed to making snap decisions like this for just herself and her sister Valkyrie since the beginning of all this unpleasantness. Out there, it would have been called Initiative. That, and it wasn't altogether a bad plan. Ash did want to foster a relationship with a friendly settlement, maybe even get more hands manning the walls and working the fields here in Newnan. It couldn't hurt. If Astrid wanted to take the risk, and Beni put himself up as collateral, he could work with it.
"Approved. Grab your shield and anything else you might need from Froggy or Tom, meet us at the Gate when you're ready." He turned his attention to Beni, "This is turning onto a lot more trust than I'm usually comfortable giving. We're both going to be a lot happier if I don't come to regret it. Now, we don't have a whole lot in the way of resources overall, but I'd hazard a guess that we're better off than your group. If you have any other pressing medical issues, have them brought over. I trust you will instruct your people to treat her with diplomatic courtesy?"
"Astrid! You haven't eaten all day. Grab something you can walk with. You won't be any good to anyone weak and tired. Beni, whenever you're ready."
Bridgette Vinters
Location: Within the Outer Wall, Livestock area - Stables
They were doing relatively okay, those horses. They just had a bit of mild neglect and, from the look of them, hadn't been for a good run in a while. Bridgette didn't really have the time to exercise them that night, but she made a mental note to come back tomorrow early, if it was at all possible. It looked like the bare minimum of care was being done for them, and she wasn't having it.
Luckily, it didn't take long to see to their nutritional needs, nor to provide fresh water. Cleaning their hooves and shoes weren't too time-consuming, either. But brushing the Four Horses of the Apocalypse would prove to take a bit more time. Also, the single most settling thing that Bridgette could do for them. A brushed horse is a happy horse. At least, a less nervous one. That's what she needed now. Bridgette started with the jumpiest one, a chestnut mare, and began smoothing and exfoliating with experienced, even strokes.
She seemed a different person, handling horses. The hard and sharp lines of her face softened somewhat, and she could even be heard (from extremely close range) humming a little, bordering on vocalizing a song. It seemed to help calm the horse, but more surprisingly, the horse seemed to calm the woman. She even let her hair down, allowing the soft, summer breeze to catch her long, blonde locks and let it cascade over her chain armor.
When the first horse was down, Bridgette went back out to check on her Cadence. The warm sun illuminated her face and revealed a very rare thing for the warlike, vulgar lady: An honest, broad smile. It amazed her, when she realized what she was doing. It was a feeling of competent euphoria, like she would get when working a properly equipped forge, but calming instead of energizing. Also, deep down - she really hoped no one could see her like that. It would damage her reputation.
Bridgette took a long drink from a bottle of water in a saddlebag, replacing it just after she was done. Cadence had plenty of water on standby, and a little bit of fodder. He would be just fine. After a few minutes of enjoying the wind and sun, she would be back to work, brushing down the other horses. But for now, she would have her moment. Damnit.
The Great Bazhooli
Location: Building 7 (Rec Center)
A box. Specifically, a box of old-school, wooden bowling pins and a few colored balls, some of which looked like they had seen better days. Well, it wasn't the most ideal of circumstances when putting together a show, but let's face it - nothing in the Apocalypse was ideal. It was a thing he had gotten used to, equivalent to favoring cans of Spam in the same fashion he would have a decent burger, just over three years ago. It's what you've got.
Optimism catching him, as it tended to from time to time, he realized that he had just offered up one hell of a Hail Mary, asking if they had bowling pins, of all things, in their settlement. It was unthinkable that anyone would hold onto something like that, as it had absolutely zero practical use for security or production of edibles. Somehow, these people had a set of polished hardwood, white with red band bowling pins. And here he was half-joking when he mentioned it. The Great Bazhooli had even trained with items like this. Following basics with simple, colored balls, bowling pins were adopted for use to get the juggler accustomed to asymmetrical, but uniformly shaped items. It acted as a bridge between simple stuff and the truly random, like juggling a seven piece set of alternating masonry redbrick and whole, fresh fish.
Bowling pins. Yes. Many people used only these to put on legitimate shows, though they were usually doing something else along with it, like unicycling or singing opera. The Great Bazhooli had even seen one particularly talented French lady who performed a very risque burlesque act while simultaneously juggling pins. The finale of that act resulted in her being banned from family shows in the United States for the remainder of her career, but from what Bazhooli heard she was still amazingly popular in Western Europe. For a moment, he wondered if that charming and well-endowed French lady had survived the Outbreak. Probably not, but it would be interesting to know for sure nonetheless.
Circus folk had to stick together. In recent days, just folk had to stick together.
It was several seconds of him staring into the box before he realized that he hadn't even acknowledged Jack's presence back in the Rec Center, nor had he properly extended gratitude for the mostly unexpected lending of exactly what he requested. The mention of food piqued his interest, until he realized that the Massachusetts native was speaking only to Tatiana. That, and he had grabbed a little something earlier, though it did not include that heavenly aroma he could only assume came from the dark gentleman manning the massive woodfire cooking apparatus earlier. This would demand further inquiry after a bit. But for now, he had a point of manners to attend.
"Krasivyy1, Meghna. Absolutely beautiful. It's no set of knives and lovely lady to throw them at, but is great. More than hoping for. Spasibo2."
1 = Beautiful 2 = Thank you
Black James!
Location: Building B (Zoie's House)
James didn't have a whole lot to say. He just wanted to drop off some food for his pre Outbreak friend, and had the good fortune to have it turn into a quiet bit of time, sharing a meal of decent grub in the early evening. It seemed like an occasion to turn back the mental clock to long before all of this death and dismemberment started, to when he could pop by Lee County and drop in on Miss Zoie and her family, get in on a basket of fried chicken and a slice of genuine, Southern Style Red Velvet Cake. Back in the day, it was a thing he would travel many miles to consume. These days, there was no manner of atrocity he wouldn't at least consider, were the option to grab a leg and a slice to present itself.
It didn't matter that he had little to say. He was with his friend. Life would never be like it was. A moment of calm civility over, James nonchalantly stepped into a bit of light business with Zoie. "You know, Ash doin' a OK job, keeping Security in line. We got some new faces in too, since you been stuck in bed. You wanna try to set somethin' up, so's you can get a good look at 'em? Make sure they ain't the Bad People what we been worrying about?"
Man, what I wouldn't give for a beer..." he breathed, looking down at his plate. It wasn't quite a subject change more than a mental tangent he felt the need to express. "There's a show tonight, two of them new people's putting on for us. Maybe I can wheelchair ya down to it. Meet the new folks, have some fun. Leastaways, I'm hopin' fun. What you thinkin' on that?"
Schrödinger
Location: Building 2 (Mess Hall, Roof)
From atop one of the central buildings, the Dread Feline Schrodinger surveyed the territory he now viewed as his. At least for the time being. So many new sounds and smells, new people with which to interact... and every so often, he would catch a glimpse of the one human he knew for a fact he could trust. Strange fellow, even as humans go. Likes those shiny, sharp things that humans usually carried, but a LOT more.
The chunk of meat and fat that Schrodinger liberated from the larger man earlier had long since been consumed. There was nothing left to do but lick his paws and clean his whiskers, perhaps give his chops a good once over to make sure he hadn't missed any spots of grease or the like. But maybe this wasn't the best place for it. The fuzzy orange survivor scanned his new home again, trying to sort out a suitable place to hole up for a while; a spot to come back to between bouts of eating and exploring.
"Meow.1" he stated flatly. Meow, indeed.
1 = Yes, Newnan. I shall suck and savor the sweetness of your scrap of human civilization, possibly growing fat and happy until such time as my natural passing or yours. In return, I offer the greatest gift my kind has been able to bless you with: The Power of Cuteness. You will grovel for it, Humans. You will beg and whine for it. And I, being a benevolent entity, shall acquiesce. Keep me fed and my Human happy, and you shall take great reward. Do this not, and the land becomes my own, personal litterbox.
“Yeah… he sounds like a badly written cartoon French villain too…” Amelia added as they had taken their food and were now moving to find some seats. Before this… all of this happened, Amelia had never tasted MREs. Her parents both were great cooks and in her family frankly they never even ordered takeout food. At first she found the taste of the MREs bad and disgusting, but now she kind of liked it. Either that or she just got used to it.
“Well I’ve been planning to see where I can help out tomorrow.” She said quietly, throwing cautious looks about the place.” I’m not really great at anything, but I can help out with distributing out the food or even simple cleaning duties. Wherever they decide I would be of use, I guess.” She said, slowly eating the food. Eventually she just let out a small yawn, covered with her hand.” Too much… excitement today…” She said with the clear show of fatigue that has been building up inside her.
She then looked around the place again. It was nice, a lot nicer than she expected indeed. At first Beni and the others gave her a rather... well suspicious appearance if nothing else, but she knew not to judge people by their looks anymore. This was the perfect example for it! It turned out that Beni kept this place together rather nicely and there were no signs of nay bad stuff going on at all.
@Oliver - "Well a cartographer is just what we need," Sana said in a kind voice. "I have some paper and such, and we could surely use some maps around here that showed us what roads were cleared and what ones we should avoid," she added before she took a step back and reached into her bag, pulling out a clean T-shirt. It was old and a bit big for him but it was better than putting the dirty one back on him. Handing it out for him she shrugged. "Grew up in Maine but spent a lot of time in Canada. Where I met Lyon," she said pushing her hair out of her face and then securing it with a rubberband. "Just kind of followed him when everything happened. He hoped he could get us back to France, only flight we could get to France was in Atlanta. So we were flying there, plane had to be set down on some farmers air strip Texas. We just kind of made our way from there to here, met Beni and Peaches over in Mississippi."
@Morose - Lyon chuckled. "Ever stop to think that killer of children was a metaphor?" he laughed. "I was always hired to take out people who acted like children, not actual children," he explained in Eds native tongue. "Because it is who I am. That is why you are alive and why I act like this. My work was always to school people and if they didn't learn then to just end it. People who have the world at their finger tips usually don't understand the values and work needed to run anything, much less take over when they come of age. I'm the attitude adjustment. Some, I can't get through to, so they die because their actions cost more. Some learn and become valuable. Like Sana," he said before motioning for Ed to follow him. They had more work to do before they turned in for the night.
@Rivaan - Mike chuckled a bit. "I swear he reminds me of that skunk on Loonie Toones, what was his name?" Mike asked as he opened his rations and started to piece things together for some sort of meal. "You know, the one that was always all over everything that female that had a breath and never realizing just how much he stank. I remember watching those cartoons as a kid and finding it funny, then as an adult I was like... Fucking hell! He should have his own sexual assault registry!" he laughed before shaking his head. "Well don't worry. You're room is right next to mine and dads, so if anything happens just yell. I'll hear you," Mike said as he grinned over towards Amelia. "Oh and don't worry about finding something to do. There always is something going on here. Only reason you found dad and me playing cards is because we worked the morning shift today. Checking the fence, cleaning bodies away from it, that type of thing. Yesterday we were sweeping floors, the day before that we were out scavenging. So it rotates pretty regularly, that is unless you are like Medic, then well the infirmary area it is for you."
@Caits@Nallore - Miss Sally looked at the two girls for a moment before looking over towards Jack. "Thank you sweetie," she said before turning her attention back over to the girls. "Well if you two think you can handle it, I say what harm can come of it. Plus, last thing I want to do is go rile Bridgette up that something else is broken," she said as she stood up and motioned for them to follow her. "Come on when you're ready I'll show you what's going on," she added before heading back into the kitchen. The grease trap was clogged up quite a bit and there was a small leak at one of the joints that was leaking old cold grease right then. Miss Sally had set a bowl underneath it to catch it so it wouldn't fall all over the floor and cause people to trip into it. Walkers and Assholes were enough to try to fight to keep alive, a "I've fallen and I can't get up" commercial reenactment was not something else they needed on the things that caused death during the end of the world list. Once she had showed them what was going on she grabbed some ice and wrapped it up, taking it back over to Kris she pulled out a chair and handed the bag of ice over to her. "There you go, how is it feeling right now? You okay or do I need to get Astrid to make a stop to check on you when she is finished talking with Ash over there?"
@Morose@Nallore@Sigil - Tatiana stopped her dance as she heard the doors open and glanced over nervously only to have a bright smile break across her features as she spotted that it was Jack coming back. Rushing over to him she had to stop herself from sliding into him and just hugging the stuffing out of him. The food in her way. Slipping behind him she hugged him from behind and rested her head on his back for a moment. "You are sveetheart," she said sweetly before slipping back around him and taking one of the plates of food about the time Meg came back. Her eyes lit up when she spotted the CD player. "Dank you, vill vork perfectly," she said gratefully to the woman. Hearing Bazhooli she wiggled her nose a bit. She knew of the act, maybe not his but Circus was big in Russia, just like Ballet. Looking down at the other plates she picked one up and handed it over to Bazhooli. "You need assistant?" she asked quietly as she bit her bottom lip. It was obvious she was nervous but just moments ago she was strong and sure while performing, it was clear the woman knew how to handle a stage.
@Nallore@Sigil - "Sounds likes a right good time, wills tries to get downs there some how. And sure thing, glads to be helpin'. Be safe gal!"" Zoie said as she smiled over towards Meg before she left. Looking back over at James smirked a bit. "Oh I gots no doubt Mr. Ash gots everthang under controls but he ain't exactly as friendlies as yous are Mr. James. I worries abouts him. And don't wants him scarin' people, leasts nots the wrongs people. I met that new Russian Girl, thang is like a wounded bird she is. Mr. Ash libal to send her flutterings off right into a glass door if he aints careful," she said as she leaned back a bit and readjusted her pillows. "Thoughs a wheelchairs mights be good, longs as Astrid or Froggy don'ts see me," she laughed before the light left her features. "I needs to checks on one of the new comers. Ryan... He's in lock up."
@Sigil - "When am I ever weak?" Astrid asked with a bit more coyness in her voice than usual. "I will gather my things, report to Victor the situation and be at the gate soon as I saddle Edgar," she added before excusing herself and making her way out the door. She had work to do and quickly. A med kit was needed, Victor needed to be ready to receive Beni while she was gone, and so forth. Beni nodded towards Astrid and then turned his attention to Ash. "Yes, you and me both. Though Astrid being willing to go in my place gives us both a bit of security I would hope," he said before waiting to follow Ash towards the Gate. "With everything going on these days we need people more than ever, good people. I just want mine to survive as long as they can and perhaps live while they are at it. I mean what is the point of survival if you aren't living," he said as he walked, his hands laced behind his back as he uttered a familiar outlook. He looked to have lost himself in thought for a moment before sighing. "I am sorry, was remembering someone." Astrid gathered her gear from Tom, let Victor know what was up before jaunting over to the stables. "Didn't expect to see you here," Astrid said as she spotted Bridgette and got to work on saddling up Edgar.
As the door of the Rec Center shut behind him, Jack felt like he was in a different world. It was as if he had walked in on a sacred ceremony, a dress rehearsal, a collection of high school theater nerds. The death and decay had been banished, practically, replaced with gleaming bowling pins and the soft aroma of well done deer meat. And Tatiana, Tatiana continued to take his breath away. If he could only live in this single moment, for the rest of his life, he would have never been more happy.
"Sweet enough to rot yah teeth," Jack quipped, grinning at his solovey. As she took a plate for herself, and one for Bazhooli, Jack set the other plates off to side, except for his own. "There's more dinnah over here, if anyone's hungry." He nodded towards Meg, shaking her hand with his free one, smiling at the woman. She seemed to be nice--but so did most everyone here in Newnan. "Name's Jack."
"You doing magic tricks?" Jack asked. "The only trick I evah learned was how to make my bank account balance disappeah." He noticed Tatiana's apprehension, but he was incredibly grateful that she seemed to be getting along with the Russian man. Bazhooli was a good friend for her, as far as Jack could tell.
Édouard Riviere
Location: Following Lyon
Édouard took in the information, thinking it over carefully. Well, he supposed Lyon had been telling the truth. It wouldn't have been unlike Alisanne to lie to him and torment him--it was pretty much the entirety of his relationship with his eldest sister. No one ever really stood up to her, not even Darcey. He frowned, mulling it over. It was almost painful to watch him think, but eventually, his mind darted off in a decidedly different direction.
Sana, Édouard deduced, must have been a somebody. Lyon wouldn't waste his time with a nobody, and for a moment, Édouard dreamt of reestablishing the Riviere empire, with Sana at his side. He'd be the beautiful face of the administration, allowing her to do the dirty work. He had to stop himself from letting out a happy sigh at the fantasy, as Lyon continued to walk, and Édouard quickly followed after him. The explanation of Lyon's was too neat, too tidy...He couldn't help but have a gut instinct against it.
After all, what sort of mobster would be a guidance counselor to rich kids? He scoffed at the idea. While in his hotel room, before his trip to America had become a disaster, he learned about what Americans called those who looked after rich kids. They wore suits and were called Moseby, and assisted in driving instruction. Félix had translated most of the dialogue for him, and by the time they were done, he felt well versed in American culture.
But Lyon, Édouard was certain, was no Mr. Moseby.
"C'est un travail très stupide," Édouard remarked. "Qui se sent concerné par l'état d'esprit?" He shook his head slightly. "J'était le meilleur de mes sœurs et moi. L'état d'esprit n'importe pas."
C'est un travail très stupide = That's a stupid job. Qui se sent concerné par l'état d'esprit? = Who cares about attitude? J'était le meilleur de mes sœurs et moi. L'état d'esprit n'importe pas. = I was the best out of my sisters and me. Attitude doesn't matter.
Ciel's eyes gleamed in gratitude as she expressed interest in having a cartographer. Maybe he could be useful after all. The last thing he wanted was to be a liability and a burden on the community. Young as he was, he held himself to the same expectations as most adults were held to. If he couldn't perform as well as someone twice his age and size, he was a failure in his own eyes. He adjusted the shirt Sana had given him to put on him. It was a bit large, but it was relatively clean and a fairly non-offensive shade of dull blue, so he was more than grateful to have it.
"Wow, you've done a lot of traveling in your time." Said Ciel, slowly warming up to Sana. Usually he wasn't much for talking to people, but Sana was pretty easy to converse with. "You and Lyon are from France? My dad is French... a lot of Frenchmen around these parts, aren't there?" He paused to give her a chance to speak. A few seconds later he flinched suddenly, a pain-stricken expression crossing his face for a brief moment as a sharp jolt of nausea ripped through his stomach, just beneath his ribs. He suppressed the urge to gag and retch, fighting to keep a straight face. He needed help and there wasn't much he could do about that, but he wouldn't let himself give in and complain.
She didn't hear Raymond come in and jumped at his words. She smiled, though, afterwards. She put a hand on the kid's forehead to feel his temperature. "He seems to be doing ok, for what it's worth. His leg is going to need lots of time to be fully healed, I imagine. I'm no doctor, but it looks bad. Then again, could be worse. His could be cut off too." She winked at Ray to let him know she was fully joking.
She turned her attention back to the boy. "I was just thinking about how I wish children didn't have to go through with what's going on in the world now. It seems unfair that they can't grow up and be kids, they almost have to be little adults. It got bad where I came from, they had kids working the farms, watching the walls with guns around their shoulders. It was terrible. I'm hoping this little guy can at least enjoy what time he has here doing something fun."
Sophia smiled at Niesha she was really grateful that she agreed to help her fix it up, she grabbed a small slice of the deer before heading back into the kitchen watching Kris for a moment until she was out of sight. When they were in the back of the kitchen she looked at the grease trap that was there smelling the grease already. She knelt down to get a better look at what she was dealing with, it looked like it was clogged as well as a broken seal or joint which caused it to leak.
"I'm pretty sure that Bridgette would have been mad either way, knowing how she is." Sophia said softly remembering all those physical therapy sessions for the last month when the woman came in. She turned her attention towards Niesha. "I'll need some buckets." Sophia said as she stood up and started searching through the drawers until she found a scraper.
Sophia then started to scrap off the sides of grease watching it fall to the bottom of the large flowing pile of grease, she had seen people doing putting one together when she worked on building a restaurant in her old life. "It looks like its just clogged and a broken joint to it." Sophia said to Niesha as she looked over her shoulder and smiled softly at her as she started to finish scraping off the excess grease from the sides. "It's going to probably get a bit dirty, but we have to clean it that way we can get a better look. Also try and search for something to seal the joint off, anything that will hold a seal."
Kristina Smith
Location: Building 2 (Mess Hall)
Kristina looked up at Niesha as she gave her that look, she quickly made herself look innocent and smiled slightly as she watched Niesha and Sophia headed off towards the kitchen together. She smiled to herself as she went back to eating the deer, her eyes scanning the room as she watched Astrid and Ashton continuing their conversation with each other. She then stared over at the man that was named Beni and the three of them had left the Mess Hall. That's when Ms Sally came back carrying the bag of wrapped ice for her, she gently took the bag setting it down onto her ankle wincing slightly at the cold sensation.
"I think i'll be fine, besides I think Astrid sort of has her hands full with that guy that they were talking to." Kris said softly as she leaned back slightly she finished her plate as she pushed it to the side and looked over at the older woman and smiled slightly at her. She decided to make a little conversation with Ms. Sally and she wanted a little bit of company while Niesha and Sophia were in the back of the kitchen tending to the grease trap. "So, who was that guy talking with Ashton and Astrid anyway?" Kristina asked, there seemed to be a lot of new people coming in today, and she wasn't sure if they had something to do with the shootings earlier in the day.
Meghna Kumar
Location: Building 7 (Rec Center)
"It's nice to meet you Jack, i'm Meghna." She said with a soft smile as she noticed the plates of deer that he had brought in for everyone, which she grabbed the one that Jack had set aside which she knew was hers and started to dig into the food that was on her plate. Closing her eyes as she savored the taste of it, she now knew what Zoie and Black James were talking about back in her place. She looked over towards Tatiana and gave the shy little bird a smile and nod. "My pleasure, like I said if you need anything just approach me anytime you need me." She looked over towards Baz and nodded towards the large Russian man she was glad that she was able to help him find something for the show.
Then a little thought came to her mind and seeing as the three of them were the newest editions to Newnan and maybe Jack would be more than willing to help out as well. "Jack was it right? If you'd like maybe you would like to be apart of it as well? Maybe some comedy or you could be Bazhooli's lovely assistant if Bazhooli here wouldn't mind?" It was just a thought it would be really interesting to see Jack be apart of it as well.
Raymond Mendoza
Location: Heard County High School - Infirmary
Raymond smiled softly towards Tiffany and laughed slightly and then started to cough slightly causing him to groan loudly. "Well I wouldn't mind having a peg leg and he could be like my little brother or something if that happened." Raymond said jokingly despite losing a leg today and being in a whole world of pain right now, he didn't want that to dampen his mood. He was grateful for everything Tiffany had done and if Beni didn't come when he did, he and Tiffany would probably have been walker chow by now, or he would be one himself now as well. He then looked towards the injured kid that Tiffany was comforting as she talked about the kids living in this world.
"I couldn't imagine how a kid could grow up in this world." He remembered covering some stories when he was first starting doing a few stories here and there around the world with kids doing what they shouldn't and reading reports in Africa where they used children as soldiers sometimes. "I know how you feel, but if they don't then they would most likely be given a fate worse than death. I wouldn't wish to see children turn into walkers as much as I want a child to live a normal life they need to grow up quick." Ray said softly as he moved slightly in the bed groaning loudly again.
Niesha followed Sophia back towards the kitchen, shooting Kristina another glance that said she wasn't buying the innocent route, before looking back the way Sophia was going, and trying to figure out what Sophia was looking at and how she could figure out what was even wrong. She nodded at Sophia's request for buckets, searching for some, and then coming back with them, she made sure they were in reach for Sophia, and then tried to do whatever she could.
What would hold a seal?
Perplexed a moment, Niesha stood there, not sure. The only thing she figured that would hold a seal was sealant, but she doubted they had any here. She blinked, looking about, clearly at a loss. "Ah. I'm not too sure what you mean..." She said, figuring that it was important enough that she could ask, and that it was necessary for the trap, or Sophia wouldn't have asked for it. She glanced into the trap, grimacing at the grease, but she had to admit it was a heck of a lot better then blood and guts.
She thought for a moment, bit her lip. Surely there had to be some type of glue around here? She looked around the kitchen a moment, hesitating. Maybe she could ask Miss Sally? "Hold on, I'm going to ask Miss Sally"
@Oliver - "Yes, I was born there but raised mostly in Canada. Lyon has a long history there but well, here we are now. Father didn't want me tied up in politics so he sent me to live most of my life with extended family up in Canada," she said as she leaned back against one of the cabinets in the room, shrugging to herself. "Not that it matters now, not a lot of work for the Duchess of..." she began before brushing it off and waving her hand in front of her face as if to clear the thought. Sighing to herself she pushed off of the cabinet and stepped back over to Ciel, moving to attempt to help him over to the cafeteria to get some food and then settled down some place for the evening but the look on his face seemed to tell her moving him right then might not be the best idea. "Oh wow, you aren't looking so good. Those pecans not settling right? How long had it been since the last time anything solid was on your stomach?" she asked as she helped him up onto the table and tried to get him to lay back as she grabbed a bucket just in case.
@Morose - Lyon glanced over towards Ed and shook his head slightly. "Attitude is everything. Had your attitude been more accepting and less pompous when you arrived you would still have your hair and no wound on your face. You would have taken over for your father years before this outbreak occurred instead of being sent of to the U.S. You would be in France right now, leading people, instead of praying I don't slit your throat tonight," he commented coolly before pushing the door of the school open and stepping out into the back where Rodger was standing with a selection of tools. "And you wouldn't be about to dig graves with Rodger over there to bury Walkers because we can't risk burning the bodies." Chuckling he smacked Ed on the back before giving him a shove towards Rodger. "Maybe if you had come in here with the proper attitude you would be in the infirmary right now having Sana tend to your wounds instead of having to deal with me over your shoulder. Now get to work," he said before turning to Rodger and switching over to English. "Hand him the tools he can do this, you go check the fence please Rodger." Rodger did as he was told and handed the tools to Ed before glancing over to Lyon. "Right away boss, before I go though, wanted to talk to you if you don't mind," he asked.
@Caits@Nallore - Miss Sally is over in the main area of the Mess Hall, when asked about glue she shrugged slightly. "Not really something we keep over in here. Might be some over in the infirmary or you could check with Meg, she is in the Rec Center with our new arrivals. That girl knows where everything is," she will tell Neisha before turning back over and looking at Kris. "Actually, hadn't met him yet but from what I hear there is a group of his people just outside the gate. We haven't been put on high alert again and no shots have been fired, so seems okay. I over heard him and Ash talking about a trade. Maybe they have some supplies we need?" she asked as she took a seat, walking all over the place was fine and dandy but damn it, the woman is like a thousand years old, her knees aren't liking her too much right now.
@FantasyChic@Nallore - The child is asleep and he is getting a slight fever but nothing alarming as of yet. Roy on the other hand, a wave of pain hits him and he breaks out into a cold sweat. Seems the activity is not what he needs right now as his bandage starts soaking in blood once again.
"I... ah..." Ciel struggled to respond, half because he didn't really know what the answer to the question was and half because his stomach was twisting into painful knots, seeming to turn itself inside out. He brought a hand to his mouth, doubling over with his other arm clutching his waist. He'd been sick before many a time, but nothing like this. He desperately needed food, but his digestive system seemed to reject even small amounts. A stabbing sensation pulsated through his whole torso, making it impossible to discern which organ was causing the problem. The infirmary seemed to spin in dizzying loops, tilting back and forth and wavering as if he were underwater. He couldn't hold himself back anymore and his hand quickly became drenched in bile, and he quickly removed the arm from around his waist to grab the bucket from her and he held it in his lap as he began to retch and vomit. Purging the contents of his stomach only made it hurt worse, and by the time he lifted his head he was fighting not to burst into tears. Starving to death was an agonizing process, and he was further down the trail than he thought.
Location: Building 2, Mess Hall -> Outer Wall, Main Gate
The Captain decided against speech as Astrid responded to his earlier admonishment about taking some food with her. While this place was run in the manner of a military outpost, he was fully aware that he could not treat everyone as soldiers under his command. At least not all the time. Little provisions and caveats had to be allotted for individualistic behavior. So long as work got done, the place was kept safe to the best of their ability, it didn't cross the boundary into disrespect or insubordination, Ash was willing to give a bit of latitude. These were colorful people. It was, perhaps, their differences from workaday folk that kept them alive certain intangibles that the veteran military man did not want to squash in them.
Work gets done, orders are followed, everyone able works, everyone able fights. It is how they survived. Difficulties with their neighbors to the east aside, it was how they flourished.
The man, Beni, seemed optimistic. Even insistent upon cooperation, despite Ash's minor attempts to elicit an emotional response from him. A quiet desperation, possibly. Hopefully, more noticeable than his own, which was (also) hopefully buried beneath a convincing poker face. He surely did not want to get his hopes up just to see this turn into a horrific mistake. The moment Astrid left the gates, it would be too late to go back, short of bloodshed. And Ash certainly had enough of that today.
He listened to Beni quote someone close to him, as he mentioned, someone he lost. "Yeah. We've all lost people. Hits us different. I've lost a few recently that will be answered for. But that's another day."
They neared the front gate, escort in tow. The two armed men remained below as Ash ascended the post, motioning for Beni to follow. "If you would please, talk to your people, explain our arrangement. Grain of salt with Astrid. She does her own thing, but she's extremely capable."
Bridgette Vinters
Location: Within the Outer Wall, Livestock area - Stables
Of course, the concept of a warm, shiny, smiley Bridgette wasn't going to last long, especially when her battle-sister starts saddling up her draft horse and preparing to leave the city without so much as an explanation. There had been a bit of a communication lapse, starting with her time fixing the damaged section of wall to the east, and continuing with her unexpected jaunt to the stables to find out that the horses were basically ignored all day today. This, like so many chunks of her daily life, required profanity.
"Didn't expect? Yeah, that's fucking rich. Means you were planning to ride off into the goddamn sunset without word fucking one to little sister, huh? Look, I've been down here with the feed and shit and unkept fucking equines here in horsey-town because someone else couldn't do their mothershitting job right. You mind telling me what the actual fuck is going on?"
So, she didn't seem quite as content nor fuzzy. More to the point, she was worried about Astrid. It's just that worry, like most of her other observable emotions, presented as anger. And sailorworthy uses of colorful language.
The Great Bazhooli
Location: Building 7 (Rec Center)
Wow. The Great Bazhooli hadn't expected the other new guy, Jack, to bring him anything. Let alone bring him a plate of freshly smoked venison. This day was looking better and better every second. "Da, da... Am thanking you. Very nice of you." He accepted the plate Tatiana held out to him, but tried very hard not to go too overboard. While enjoying the fruits of Newnan's labors, he had no desire to overdo and make himself a burden. But he was still hungry. Had been for a long time before pulling into this settlement. While it was probably another reason not to overdo it, the smell of seasoned, smoked meat was intoxicating.
"Assistant... little ballerina, vhat you do is art. Is poetry. Vhat I do is entertaining. Literal circus, yes? At least, if I juggle. Give me knife, give me five or six or eight... I make poetry. Songs generations long. Most I can offer is part of lovely assistant, da? You dance in, you motion to things, you throw pins and balls to me. Not poetry. Not at all vhat you are capable of. But if vant, I can use Lovely Assistant. Just did not vant to insult by asking."
He turned his attention back to Jack, who had just recently given him semi-formal introduction. He did not want to appear rude, not did he want to begin cramming his face full of deer and start things off badly. Then again, if viewed through the objective lens of their overall reality, starting off a conversation with a face full of good meat was really low on the list of worries.
"Mr. Jack, zdravstvuyte1. I am The Great Bazhooli, formerly of..." His voice trailed off and his face took on a bit of a "lightbulb moment". He looked over to his armed escort, possibly a man who was quite forgotten about by the higher ups. He still carried Bazhooli's great bearskin coat, which was currently wrapped around his rifle an all of his knives. "Hey there, Man-Who-Carries-My-Stuff. You are hungry? Have they let you eat yet?"
He immediately began to wave the man over, vigorously.
1 = Hello
Black James(!)
Location: Building B (Zoie's House)
It seemed to James that lockup was an odd spot to put someone that needed checking up on. Then again, Zoie was their Security Lead. Ask James about sweet potatoes or peanuts, he was your man. Handled agriculture. Zoie, she handled threats, both internal and external. They each had their place in keeping Newnan going.
"Look Miss Zoie, soon as we done here, Imma run these plates back to Mess an' get you one o' them wheelchairs. Now, if'n you ain't wantin' Doc Froggy or Miss Astrid knowing about it, that's gonna be a much taller order, okay? They like keepin' tabs on apsrins and wheelchairs and stuff."
James began eating with renewed purpose, given something of a task to perform that might make things a touch easier for his friend. Between mouthfuls, he could be heard exclaiming, "I see what I can do. Hell, I can carry yo' ass down there if need be, long as you got hands on my rifle for me." James knew that he really should be encouraging Zoie to rest. But he was a realist. The woman would do what she wanted to, period. The best he could hope for was to run alongside and make it easier for her, this time to make sure she doesn't blow a stitch and reopen something important. He was hoping to get a nice, leisurely meal in, but like his momma always told him, "You can Hope in one hand and Shit in the other, see which one fills up first." Truly a sage, that Southern lady.
“Thank you…” Amelia quietly replied with a smile. It was reassuring to know that she had someone she could probably trust in this place. Mike and his dad seemed like decent enough fellows at least. They didn’t seem to have bad intentions going on or at least none she could pick on, so there was that going on for her. She found herself some friends for the first time since this nightmare began really. At least it was until/if they tried to screw her over or something. It wouldn’t be the first time such thing happened. Last time she thought she had a ‘friend’, she got abandoned the moment he got a better offer for food with a bigger group cause he was very good shot.
“Well… I’m pretty bad when it comes to medicine.” Amelia admitted to her new friend.” I’m just somewhat better in more hands on menial tasks such as cleaning, cooking, washing and so forth, I guess. I used to be part of another settlement a while back so I got a taught needed for survival skills such as purifying water.” She explained, wondering what happened to that place after she left. Back then Amelia had the hunch the place was doomed when the bandits fellas appeared and since she doubted they had enough weapons to survive and REALLY doubted the bandits will leave them alone, she simply left. Now she wondered if they were all dead now or maybe they all joined the bandits?
“Anyway, I will simply ask to be given something to do tomorrow, be it cleaning or anything really. I just don’t feel right not having worked in any way for my part.”
Jack's eyes nearly popped out of his head at Meg's suggestion. Him? Perform? Sure, he did goofy little things to make Tatiana smile, but he figured him performing would be like someone's dad doing standup at the graduation party. No one really wanted to see that, and hardly anyone could handle that without cringing enough to pinch a nerve. His form of entertainment was bad enough to make the Joker look SNL worthy, at the very least.
"I uh...I dunno if I'd be the best 'lovely assistant'" Jack replied, almost apologetically, to Meg. Dancing and doing parlor tricks hadn't been in the requirements for the police academy, and he spent most of his time helping out his mom growing up. The little he knew about performing was from watching her give tours around Boston, always in character.
He grinned a bit, hearing Bazhooli compliment Tatiana's work. Her dance really was something else. It was almost the most beautiful thing he had ever seen (the most beautiful, of course, was Tatiana herself). The backdrop of the apocalypse only made her dance that more powerful and enchanting. He couldn't help but think quietly that if Tatiana did assist Bazhooli, she would steal the show.
"Parents must have hated you if that's yah name," Jack chuckled a bit. Of course, he knew the man's name wasn't Guy-Who-Carries-My-Stuff, but he couldn't resist the opportunity. Hopefully, he brought enough plates over for everyone, but if not, he could always double back to fetch some more.
Édouard Riviere
Location: Following Lyon
Édouard scoffed slightly. He wasn't religious in the slightest. There was no reason for him to kneel and pray. The Rivieres hadn't been religious in a century--the last time they went to the Catholic church, they still included the accent in their name, going by Rivière. His ancestor, Dorian, had seen to all of that. Of course, that was the only aspect of his ancestor's history that Édouard cared for. Dorian had been more British than French at heart, deserting his country and insisting that l'Unione Corse conducted meetings in English.
Édouard tended to selectively forget that tidbit.
"Waah....Kers....?" Édouard sounded out, squinting slightly. "Comment dit-on....Ah, oui. Les morts vivants!" He chuckled slightly, proud at himself for figuring out the word. Félix and he had never switched over to the shorter abbreviation for them. Les marcheurs was a term he hardly ever used. As soon as he finished congratulating himself for understanding the phrase, he recalled the rest of what Lyon said. He would have to do more work. He shuddered slightly, feeling incredibly exhausted after his moping around in the infirmary, and then cleaning the blood and gore. Truthfully, his whining had been more effort than the actual cleaning.
He flinched as Lyon hit him on the back, stumbling forward slightly towards the old man. Closing his eyes, Édouard counted to ten, a technique he recalled his sister, Alisanne, being forced to learn when they were small. She always had issues with anger. At the mention of Sana, a perplexed look came over his face, but his blush betrayed him, underneath the blood and gore on his face.
And then, to make matters worse, a shovel was shoved in his face. He grasped it, fantasizing for a moment turning around, and beating Lyon and the geezer to death with it. The blood would make a bit of a mess, but someone else would come around to clean it up. Lyon probably had beaten everyone in Franklin until they grew to love cleaning and having fucked up haircuts. He closed his eyes, counting to ten once again in his mind, first in French, and then in Italian. He still couldn't quite manage it in English.
He straightened up, prepared to give some sort of scathing remark to Lyon, but in truthful, all of his fussing and whining was becoming tiring. He wasn't sure how much longer he could defy Lyon on principle, and he had questions still to be answered. Lyon, clearly, wasn't telling him the truth. Sana would likely explain why he was pretending to be a Mr. Moseby. Perhaps all of Franklin was held hostage by him, and Édouard could become a hero by saving them from the tyrant.
Still, he wrinkled his nose at the old man. He smelled of death to him, which was saying a lot, as they set Édouard at the task of building graves. Humming a rather explicit French song to himself, Édouard got to work, showing surprising strength as he started to make some graves.
Comment dit-on....Ah, oui. Les morts vivants! = How does one say....Ah, yes. The living dead! Les marcheurs = Walkers
@Oliver@FantasyChic@Nallore- "SHIT!" Sana muttered as Oliver lost everything he had eaten and what seemed like a lot more. Glancing around she rushed over to the counter and grabbed a 3 ring binder that was there and running back over to him. Setting it down she kept one hand on his shoulder to make sure he didn't fall off the table and her other started flipping through pages. Her eyes scanning frantically over the chicken scratch writing on the pages. After a few minutes she darted over to the cabinet once again and started rummaging through the vial quickly. Gathering a small glass vial, and a few other things she rushed back over to Oliver. "Fucking hell I wish Medic was here, I'm not exactly a gentle touch kid. Hold on, this is probably going to hurt," she said as she drew a few milliliters of clear fluid from the vial and then stuck him in the arm with it before pushing down on the plunger to inject him with something. It wasn't the best place to inject him but she wasn't going to roll the boy over and give him a shot in the ass right then. The medication would help with the vomiting. "Someone get Lyon!!!" she screamed as she turned her head to the door.
@Morose - Lyon cocked a brow when he saw the blush come over Ed's face. "Don't even think about it. She is way out of your league," Lyon said in a firm tone in French before taking one of the shovels and getting to work on a grave next to the one that Ed needed to dig; cutting through the hard red Georgia clay that lay beneath the overgrown crabgrass. The last thing he needed was for Ed to get some crush on Sana, especially with the way he acted right now. Then again, maybe she could get through to him in a way that he couldn't himself. Yet even if she could he still didn't like the idea of Ed being anywhere close to Sana. The boy had a lot to learn about real life. It surprised him that he had survived this long acting like this and no one had killed him. "So, how many people have died because you decided to play Peter Pan?" he asked as he tossed a shovel full of clay onto the pile next to the newly forming grave.
@Sigil@Morose@Nallore - "Tsirk, kak balet, zhizn'," Tatiana said to Bahzooli, telling him that Circus was like Ballet, it was life. It was something Russians held dear to their hearts if they loved it. Their profession was their life. To her, it was performing, just in a different fashion. "Teach me," she said in a nervous voice. It wasn't a request, it was more of a statement even if it was obvious that she was skittish speaking to him. Looking over at Jack she smiled slightly and rested her head on his shoulder. "You make great assistant lyublyu," she said to Jack, calling him love in Russian as her fingers curled around his arm, the small knoted ring easily seen on her left ring finger. Looking over to Meg she bit her bottom lip nervously and headed over to her, whispering in the woman's ear. "Can ve speak in private, have favor to ask."
@Sigil - "I will, thank you," Beni told Ash before going outside of the gate and walking over to Medic, Medic cocking a brow but nodding a bit as the situation was explained to him. "Oh I's can go piggy baking if needed Mr. James. I still got one right good arm here I can keeps a grip of your rifle with. We's be like Master Blaster," Zoie chuckled. "Yous gos on now. I'ma gonna gets some rest, wakes me for the big show! Then I cans check on old Irish in locks up," she said as she handed over her plate and gave them man a one armed hug before telling him bye and trying to get some rest. Over with Bridgette Astrid just smirks a bit as she starts to saddle up Edgar. "I am going to Franklin to help a group," she said before going into more detail. She was blunt and to the point, nothing but the quick facts. People needed help, their leader was staying behind in her place, she would be back quickly, Kris had hurt her ankle and wasn't able to tend to the horses since this morning, orders from Astrid to stay off it. "Holde seg sterk," she told Bridgette before mounting up and heading back towards the Gate, looking as much the Viking Warrior than ever. Beni turned to go back to Ash when he spotted Astrid coming up on her horse, a shield over her back and medieval weapons and armor doned over her person. "What in the hell?" he asked Ash as Astrid made her way over to the two. "I am ready to go," she said in a confidant voice as she looked down to Ash from atop Edgar. Reaching out to shake Ash's hand before she would leave. "You're riding a horse? Seriously?" Beni asked in disbelief. "I am? I thought it was a dragon," she said flatly.
@Rivaan - "Well I am sure we can find something for you," Mike before he heard the screaming coming from down the hall. "Sana... shit," he muttered as he got up and looked at Amelia. "Either stay right here or come with me," he said before running off in the direction he had seen his father and Lyon go earlier with Ed. Dashing down the hallways and pushing passed people until he burst out the back end of the school and looked around. His eyes taking a moment to adjust to the light outside fully before he spotted Ed and Lyon over in the field. He didn't risk yelling, not wanting to attract walkers to the fences. Running over gasped for breath. "Sana, Infirmary, needs you," he said in a breathless voice as he rested his hands on his knees.
Before she knew it, she had two nearby issues on her hands. Ray, whose activity made his wound open up again, and the new kid, who was currently vomiting. She had never been a fan of hospitals, who really was? She hated being surrounded by sick people, not because they were sick, but because she felt bad for them. Some of them came in hoping to get better and find out they can't, others are there and end up staying, or worse. In this situation, she had to bear with it.
Ray was first priority in her eyes, she saw Sana rush over to the boy so she quickly moved over to Ray "Shit Ray, your wound opened up again and you're sweating. Lay back down." She would push him down if it led to that and she looked at the bandage job the medics here did. She remembered that she wasn't well versed in medical knowledge and, knowing her recent patch job, didn't want to risk it. She looked over to Sana, "He needs his bandage changed and I don't know what else. If I help and go find Lyon, can you take care of him?"
Ciel's pain tolerance was usually far from impressive, but he was far too preoccupied with watching the room swirl around to notice the syringe prick through the skin of his arm. He only flinched slightly, breathing quickly and willing himself not to develop any new symptoms. Particularly, at this moment, trying not to pass out. Given that he was tired and sick and starving, it was very likely that he would, but fainting could be indicative of a lot of things and he definitely didn't want to send Sana into more of a panic than she was already in.
If he were any younger and any less experienced in being gravely ill, he probably would have been panicking himself by now. But as it stood, he had a lot worse things to worry about than just feeling like crap. Namely getting abandoned by these people for not getting better fast enough. He had no idea what their limits were. They seemed to have a lot of people, at least for times like these, and he was pretty sure they didn't keep everyone. Before his vision had gone so out of focus, he'd seen another boy in the infirmary who looked possibly even younger than he was. So clearly, they weren't entirely in the habit of eating all the young and useless children who came in. But then again, maybe the kid was a prodigy sharpshooter or just a really great scavenger.
Ciel, still halfway between consciousness and unconsciousness and held upright only by Sana's hand, tried to steady his breathing and seem as calm as possible. No use in making the situation seem worse than it was.
Sophia looked up at Niesha and smiled at her and nodded towards her. "I'll be here." Sophia said as she watched Niesha walk back out of the kitchen. She stood up and stretched slightly as she started to search around the kitchen to look for some kind of scoop or large cup, she found a large liquid measuring cup. It was the best way for now to get out all of the old grease, she would need help taking off the piping to try and clean out the clog. As she scooped some of it out she dumped it into the bucket next to her that Niesha had grabbed for, she would gag slightly at the scent of it. For some reason the smell was worse then a decaying walking corpse that were outside of the walls, but then again spending three years out in the open fighting off walkers on a daily basis she sort of got used to it.
After awhile she could finally see the bottom of the grease trap and grabbed the scraper that she found earlier and started scraping it off of the bottom of the trap and dumping it into the bucket. She wiped her right arm over her forehead from the sweat getting a small bit of the old grease onto her forehead and leaned up against the wall looking down at the somewhat clean grease trap before her. She would have to wait for Niesha to get back and help her with getting the clog out so it work properly.
Kristina Smith
Location: Building 2 (Mess Hall)
Kris watched as Ms. Sally took a seat next to her eyeing the older woman as she spoke about the new person that Ash and Astrid were speaking to. Right now she wasn't sure what to think of the stranger, the guy in here could just simply spying looking at the inner layout of Newnan in disguise as a simple trade deal. But no shots have been fired as of yet, so things seemed peaceful for now. "Well I guess as long as they don't start opening fire on us, I guess they seem like good people." Kris said as she looked up to see Niesha coming out of the kitchen, asking for something to hold a seal.
Kristina would adjust the icepack on her ankle when it got to cold, sighing softly as the pain started to stop once more she had sprained ankles before she came to Newnan, she of course would find a place to lay low and heal. Without painkillers or ice it was very painful, she was glad that she was safe though.
Meghna Kumar
Location: Building 7 (Rec Center)
Meg smiled and nodded slightly towards Jack it was understandable that he may not know of a way to entertain a crowd. "Don't sweat it, was just an idea I can't force ya to do something that you don't to or something that makes you feel uncomfortable." She looked towards their armed escort, he hadn't left their side since the shooting happened, and he was most likely starving. "Why don't you go ahead and get something to eat, I don't think he is a threat at least to us that is anyway." Meg said as she waved the man off, if Ashton got pissed she would take the blame for it. "If Ash asks why you aren't with us tell him to come and talk to me." Meg said as their escort finally left the Rec Center. Meg took out her radio decided to let Ashton know that anyway as she looked at the two men in the room. "Its Meghna, i'm letting our escort get some food. Bazhooli seems fine enough to me." Meg said as she clipped the radio back onto her belt.
Meg turned her head slightly when Tatiana came up and whispered into her ear to speak to her about something privately. "Sure thing." Meghna said as she looked at Jack and Baz. "Going to step off to the side with Tatiana here, just don't leave yet." Meg said mainly towards Bazhooli as she wrapped an arm over Tati's shoulder and started to step off to the far side of the room, out of earshot of Bazhooli and Jack. She looked over towards Tatiana and smiled at the woman. "So what can I help you out with Tatiana?" Meg asked with a smile as she would occasionally glance over at the two men.
Raymond Mendoza
Location: Heard County High School - Infirmary
Raymond closed his eyes tightly as he would get out a loud yell in pain as main shot up through his entire lower body, Tiffany came over and gently pushed him back down to a laying position as he started to sweat. He remained very still as he could feel the bandage starting to soak up in his blood. Ray reached out to hold Tiffany's hand as he tried to calm himself down and for comfort. Knowing if he panicked right now it would just get worse. "I guess I am a bad patient huh?" Ray said jokingly as he tried hard not to look at the stump seeing the blood soaking it
When Tiffany asked Sana to stay and watch him, Ray held Tiffany's hand a bit tighter, it's not that he didn't trust anyone else here, he just felt a bit safer with Tiffany next to him if anything happened. Ray would look up at Tiffany with the look asking her to not go, and hoped that someone else came in.
Now that was interesting. Unexpected. Possibly even more unexpected than finding another Russian speaker in central Georgia, was to find an actual Russian. Further, one who was tipped off that, while Cossack, he was as much American as most anyone else in the area. He just happened to be raised in an actual, fully functioning Russian Circus operating within the United States. Hell of an upbringing. Close to adulthood, it broke up. But the family stayed together, as family does. Just now as independent contractors with one hell of a respectable background in their field.
Russkiy Bazhooli Semeynyy, in the Motherland. Here, the more familiar "Russian Bazhooli Family", as led by generation after generation of the most qualified member of the clan, given the title of Velikiy Bazhooli, or The Great Bazhooli. He liked the English version of his title better. It seemed to have more of an air of circumstance about it.
But back to his chunk of the unexpected: Bazhooli had not imagined a future in which a ballerina would be asking him to learn his craft. He was a touch awestruck by the idea. It wasn't the same as the close-knit, one generation teaches the next method that had worked for his people since the Impalement Arts were a thing, but he did want to ensure that his skills did not die with him. The old ones, or the new.
Tatiana's words pressed into him. "Teach me.", she had said. The Great Bazhooli looked back into her eyes, looking for a hint of dishonesty or ulterior motive. In the end, he did not speak, merely nodding his head slowly. Yeah, he would teach. They weren't family, but let's face it - he was the last one left anyway. Family would have to be redefined.
Black James(!)
Location: Building B (Zoie's House) -> Building 2, Mess Hall
A one-armed hug was the best offer that James had gotten all day. He was careful not to even touch the area side that was operated on earlier that day. I mean, it's not every day that you get shot, receive emergency surgery from a man in the middle of his own pillowed half to death by an overtly racist boyfriend, then get served smoked venison and cabbage by one's oldest living friend prior to getting ready for a show put on by what might be the last two Russian performers left alive on the continent.
Or to put it differently, Black James wanted to take it easy on her. She's been mostly dead all day.
He accepted her empty plate and walked towards the door. "How's about you really get rest, little lady, and don't just tell me you gonna. I's be back later. You be good, now." James flashed a broad grin as he closed the door behind him. It was just his way. James was going to be James, Zoie was going to be Zoie. Way of things.
James chuckled, off and on, all the way back to the Mess Hall to drop off the plates.
Bridgette Vinters
Location: Within the Outer Wall, Livestock area - Stables -> Following Astrid
Bridgette listened as she got the Reader's Digest condensed version of what was going on. Some other community needed help, apparently. Some other community that they hadn't discovered during their travels in and around the American Southeast on horseback. Must be new. Or out of the way. From the sound if it, they weren't very far away either, if Astrid had promised to be back home quickly.
"Holde seg sterk." repeated back Bridgette. "Hells yes I'm going to holde seg fucking sterk..." She looked to her horse, Cadence. Fully armed, saddled, tacked. Perfectly taken care of, only on light duty today, and rested besides. Fed, provisioned, and more importantly, ready to go. Bridgette watched Astrid ride off toward the gate, apparently go ride off with total strangers on some mission of mercy. It was going to be dark fairly soon. No, she didn't like this at all. Her plans for the day had been pretty much destroyed from the get-go. No sense in ruining a streak.
The contemporary Valkyrie pulled her hair back and took up her shield, slinging it across her back. She deftly swung herself atop Cadence, and urged him forward at a trot. It wasn't until Astrid had gotten back to the main gate that Bridgette caught up, immediately exclaiming, "Hey! You aren't riding off into any goddamed sunset without me, Sis. We're doing this."
She looked to Ash, "You're all good at the stables. Oh! Two horses could use a brushdown. Don't need, but... Well, fuckit. If it ain't done when we get back, it's on me. So! Where are we going?"
Ash Holloway
Location: Main Gate
Captain Holloway looked to Astrid, curious as to the extension of her hand. She didn't do physical contact. With the smallest amount of skepticism, he reached out and took her hand firmly, and released it. "No matter what else happens out there, you see to you first. Help if you can, but getting back safe is your priority. Got me?"
It was about then that Bridgette rode up, in a classic demonstration of being herself as bluntly as possible. Ash wasn't too keen on letting more people ride right into uncertainty, but before he could say anything about it, his walkie blared to life. It was Meghna. And she was making a vein pop out in Ash's forehead with every word she spoke. So much as he tried to rein in the stricter, more rigid elements of his background of military command, when something along these lines crept up, he very clearly felt a need to remind people exactly who was boss. Ash had no intention of saying it with flowers. With obviously restrained anger, he thumbed on his walkie and spoke in an enunciated growl, his native Virginian accent prominent.
"Everyone who can hear this needs to stop what they are doing, and listen as hard as you can. Security details, and to be clear, this includes security personnel on escort duty: You respond to two people - Your Security Lead, Zoie Crawford, and your Commanding Officer, Captain Ashton Holloway. If the Chain is altered, you will be informed. Under no circumstances, I repeat, NO CIRCUMSTANCES, will you take orders from anyone else, unless some massive shit has hit a massive fan. Anyone who doesn't understand this is welcome to leave."
Now, escort duty: I have not interviewed nor vetted our most recent arrival petitioning for entry. That's on me. Shit happens. Did, in fact. If you abandon your post on orders from our Domestic Lead, you are going to wish you were just shoveling shit for a month."
"Meg: Fetch a meal for our man. Immediately. Then make yourself extremely available."
