CLIW

Lost Royalty

"Let's say--hypothetically--that that stranger really was after my blood," started Drest. "If I were to take the asylum you have so kindly offered, what's to say that this evildoer won't find me at you and your father's home? What's to say he wouldn't bring harm to you for sheltering me?" These thoughts brought up his heart rate and his tanned skin pale and cold, though it wasn't very discernible in the darkness blossoming around them. He wondered if he'd have enough time and light to build a shelter at this hour. If not, he could always turn into a leopard and snooze on a sturdy tree branch, but it always made his back hurt in the morning.

Grunting softly, he untied a torch from his belt and held the shaft in his teeth before lighting it with a spark from a small piece of flint and a pathetic bit of iron. The warm flickering firelight that enveloped the two relaxed Drest, if only a little.

He offered the torch to Laila, wordless. He had his answer.

Last Man Standing

*vomits words and moves to the next thread*

Last Man Standing

Diana closed the bedroom door behind her and leaned back on it, taking a deep breath. She heard a different door slam and flinched. Shit, she thought, suddenly feeling very tiny. I've caused strife or something. Maybe I should pack up and go while I can. Men. She wondered briefly with prickly neck-hairs if either of them had been "into" her, but looking at a shard of mirror she'd taken with her at all the grit and bloodstains she'd collected, she decided that this was the farthest possible thing from the truth she could get.

Summoning her courage, she opened the door a crack and peeked out down the stairs. She caught an angry sounding "The last thing I'm going to worry about is getting laid!", wrinkled her nose and closed the door again, wondering what the hell was going on. Were they talking about her? The thought that the words "getting laid" were in their vocabulary right now, minutes after she'd revealed her presence, disturbed Diana.

Another, stronger surge of courage went through her, and she swung the door open fully. If she was going to be allowed to stay here for any length of time, she'd probably have to prove herself, and she guessed that it would have to start with asserting that she wasn't some whore. She went down the stairs, holding her head high. Don't panic. Do not panic. Diana, you idiot, don't panic. Halfway down the stairs she stopped, took a moment to collect herself, and looked Liam straight in the eyes.

"So, what was this I heard about getting laid?" she asked coolly. "Because, just to be clear here, if you're talking about me, I'm not available."

City of Darlow - Modern/Urban Dark RP

@RumikoOhara Feel better soon. :(

Last Man Standing

Diana's muscles loosened visibly when Liam said that she could stay. Sure, her instincts had only a minute before been screaming at her to get out of this place, but now that it was clear she wasn't moments from losing the majority of her brain to a shotgun blast, logic was creeping back into her. It wasn't safe out there; anywhere and at any moment she could be ambushed by a walking corpse or jumped and robbed by people desperate for supplies or used to repopulate the Earth or cut open and fed to someone's starving children... The bottom line was that the world outside this house was a mess. The young men before her seemed fairly rational (whether they were psychopaths was a hurdle she decided she'd jump later) and hadn't slaughtered or try to enslave her yet. With any luck, that was a good sign that they wouldn't.

One foot returned to the main floor while the other stayed, unsure, on the step. With a quick look-over at Liam and Isaac, Diana decided that they were probably trustworthy. Or at least there was a reasonably good chance that one of the two would be. Judging from the mess the world was in and their merciful attitudes (she was willing to forget the gun part) these seemed to her like pretty good odds.

"Thank you," she told Liam. "I swear I won't make any noise and I'll pull my weight, and all that." She nodded gratefully at him and then at Isaac. Then, finally losing her nerve, she hurried up the stairs.

City of Darlow - Modern/Urban Dark RP

I'm down with that then

Last Man Standing

Oh. Shit. What incredible luck that Diana lacked. The one safe-looking house for miles that doesn't look occupied, and it was occupied. At least there weren't guns pointed to her face anymore, for now. But she didn't know how long that stroke of luck would last. She kept her eyes on Liam since he seemed much kinder and more understanding than the other dude, who didn't seem to talk much at all. In fact she didn't think she'd heard him speak yet since the start of this... encounter. Cautiously she slowly lowered her hands to her sides and took a deep breath.

"I've only been here since yesterday," she started, her tone apologetic. "But I'd had my eyes on the place for..." she counted on her fingers. "Three? I think three days, and no one went in or out so I assumed it was empty." She hated the sheepishness in her voice, but it was better than her I'm a journalist and don't care about your personal boundaries attitude, so she kept the fear-tinged tone at least for the moment. "Seen lots of people... What does your family look like? How many people are in it? Dress sharply?" More questions threatened to tumble out, and she stopped them.

She backed toward the staircase like she'd just seen a grizzly bear eating a person. "Listen, I'm sorry I'm in your house, and I'm sorry I can't help either of you, so I'll just scoot now, alright?" She laughed nervously and cast a look at Liam that asked silently You're not going to murder me and have my liver to keep the meat on your bones, right? One foot went up one step. The other followed. At least she felt a little taller now.

City of Darlow - Modern/Urban Dark RP

So did I.

Last Man Standing

It wasn't exactly a pleasant experience to have a shotgun and a revolver pointed straight at her, but somehow, Diana managed not to wet her pants. She put her hands in the air, unsure if it would placate the two men, and swallowed back a lump that had formed in her throat. Their house? No one had been in here for days before she decided to take up residence! Annoyed as she was, she couldn't find enough breath to retort to Liam. His tone of voice was short and angry, and there were still a couple of guns that would do more than the job in case either of them decided to paint the walls red.

Finally words tumbled out as Diana eyed the revolver and then the shotgun. "Ran out of supplies, and someone broke my window back home. I had to wander, I don't have much to defend myself with... and this looked like the most in-tact place there was. Can you please lower those? I'm close enough to cardiac arrest that you don't have to waste ammo on me." She wasn't quite sure if cardiac arrest was looming, but it sure felt like something was wrong.

"Can I just go back up and get my stuff? I was going to be on my way soon anyway." That was a complete lie. It didn't show.

Last Man Standing

Diana woke up to very dim, blurry light and faint voices from behind walls. Wait... voices? That wasn't right. She sat straight up and bit her lip, a little nervous but also excited; it had been a while since she'd had any human company. But the house had been empty when she'd gotten here, and she didn't like to entertain the thought that whoever was talking knew of Diana's presence here. She pushed a tangled clump of hair out of her face and looked down at the newspaper she'd put over her head while she slept in this warm cozy bed that didn't belong to her.

She glanced miserably over the paper. One of its articles was authored by her; it was the last one ever issued. She really should have thrown it out at this point, but for some reason it felt... important. Like it was a burden that she was somehow meant to carry. The headline still made Diana shudder as hard as it had when she'd typed the thing up: Infected Individuals Close to Outnumbering Healthy Population.

Her mind zoomed back to whoever was talking. They weren't very chatty, luckily, but now that she knew they were there she didn't want to ignore them. A faint warning issued in her head: They could be dangerous. She paid it almost no mind and made her way down the stairs, pushing more stray hair out of her eyes and munching halfheartedly on a piece of dense, gritty bread that she had been forced to bake herself. It wouldn't be the best first impression, but a full arsenal of makeup wasn't exactly her top priority so hopefully her just-woke-up face would be forgiven... or ignored.

There were two young men in the living room, one of whom was sitting on a couch. She stayed quiet for several moments... trying to plan her greeting. No doubt it would be something femme fatale like, "May I help you?" or "Boys, I'm afraid this house is occupied. Shame." Instead, her mouth betrayed her. Lack of human interaction, she supposed, had done a toll on her ability to talk coherently.

"Um...hi?"

As soon as she said it, she knew it was that she'd just woken up. Should have waited a few minutes.