Her morning started almost great. The way to wake up made her snap out of her sleep rather strongly as she panicked for a brief moment, before she got calmed down by the fact that nothing was happening and Riley was with her. After all, no matter what it was, as long as her love was with her and alright, it was fine. Following that she went over her own morning routine, preparing for the first day at work...' Thinking about it now, it seems so weird after all this time.' She had thought, heading for breakfast now.
Riley was also at Supply though apparently she reported to the pastor man. Amelia was going to be reporting to Auntie. After having the breakfast without rushing, but keeping a look on the time she headed over to Supply to report. While moving there, she thought about the suggested therapy. Honestly she to a degree refused to admit she had a problem, but... it didn't hurt to have a talk with someone. It was going to be an effort to adapt to this life after living on the road for so long.
Entering Supply, she was rather surprised by the way it was arranged. Made her think of a Good Will. Though admittedly maybe it was better organized. In any case, it was pleasant surprise to her. Order was nice to have, order had a logic and rules to it. She walked over to Auntie to politely greet her.” Good morning.” She said in as much as normal voice she could.” I was told to report here. My name's Amelia.” She introduced herself for both manners and because she wasn't sure if she had actually done so with this woman last night.” I'm not sure what are the procedures here however... do I have to sign something or... ?”
She also spotted Nikki here too. So she was working with that girl. She smiled, they had talked a little bit yesterday and they had seen each other in quarantine if nothing else.” Good morning, Nikki.” Amelia greeted Nikki as well. At least it wasn't all completely unknown faces here with her.
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Lisa Mason
Location: Medical (B) Skills: N/A
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All in while, Lisa woke up from her slumber come morning like always before. Not the most pleasant waking up, not the worst however. She had just a bit of after effects from the alcohol, not too much luckily, but she didn't waste herself either last night anyhow. She was alone in the bed as she had went to it. Going through the morning routine didn't take long as she was again dressing up by the end of it. Being alone at night had it's advantages, she slept longer.
Going to breakfast, eating somewhat quietly, spotting people, but not really interacting much. She ate fast and headed over to Medical in a hurry. While breakfast was indeed important, so was working at Medical. There was always something to do and well she usually ended up learning something every time no matter how minor it would be. Getting through procedures as usually she headed for where one could usually find S.B. It was just a tad hectic and Medical was always going to be a bit hectic. Having many people at a certain location meant there would always be medical attention required for some reason or another after all. Humans were fragile things!
“Morning, what's going on? Where do you need me.” Lisa asked as she finally located the woman. Today their new additions would be starting their road into becoming part of the place. She wondered if someone would end up here form the new people. Didn't pay that much attention on that so far.
Amelia smiled as Riley mentioned Ash and his goal to bring them to this place. It truly was the best decision that had been made back then. Admittedly no one could have been sure how it would turn out, but Amelia did follow him, she trusted him and the trust was well placed as usual. Unless he had to drive... better not let him drive. In any case, walking side by side, it was quite relaxing. She just realized it actually, they were literally walking down the street after a night party at the beach! There wasn't a danger on the street, no walkers to wander about... This was usually near impossible to imagine after so long on the roads when they had to keep ultra low at nights because well walkers made do better at darkness than them.
Getting to the Condo's they found whom Amelia supposed was the third person that lived at it. It was a blonde woman, Amelia didn't quite recognize her, but she smiled and nodded as the woman introduced herself. For some reason she told them the weather forecast and then went into her room and closed it before they could introduce themselves to her. Amelia was left a bit confused, but it was fine. Maybe she was just tired.” Let's get to our room then. Better get some rest as well. We will probably get a chance to meet and introduce ourselves to her properly tomorrow.” She smiled and followed Riley into their new home.
She looked at the bed and walked to it, placing the souvenir they found at the beach on the bedstand. She then took off the clothing she wore and then neatly folded it before placing it nearby, before finally laying down and waited for her lover to join her. She couldn't feel calm unless Riley was close at night. Both to protect the woman in case something happened and just her presence was calming. The only thing she missed was to have a weapon at hand in case of emergencies.” Time get some sleep, I'm feeling so tired tonight.” Amelia mumbled.
Hmm D&D, now that was not something she had done much of prior to the whole apocalypse madness, a few goes at it back when she was a teen. Nowdays here in the camp, it was more of available pastime, after all there wasn't cable or anything of the like and if nothing else D&D allowed you to do almost anything in a fantasy world so that was a near endless source of entertainment. D&D, THE go to entertainment in the zombie apocalypse! Who would have thought, it was a bit amusing.
“Well, if that's the case, I will be heading off then.” She smiled as she sat up and pulled away from the bar. Since Ada didn't need her help, she wasn't going to push herself into it, no need to be a bother. With a smile she started walking in the direction of the apartments when the final song for the night started happening and she nearly tripped on the flat sand, swinging her arms a bit to regain her footing and balance. She managed, but started laughing at the sight of it all. She gave a big thumbs up and after being amused by it for a bit, she resumed heading back home. It was a long day and she was alone tonight, so she was going to get a good night's rest!
She felt positively tired by the time she returned home. Long day, long night, pleasant night it was though. All in all it was a great time. She got undressed, crashed into the bed and huddled into the soft bedsheets. It was a good life here.
„Indeed!” Amelia nodded with very enthusiastic manner as Riley confirmed the seashell was the one they were looking for. It was truly a pretty thing and made her wonder how it came to be in that exact shape. However it was a short lived wonder as her attention was pulled back to Riley. She hurriedly took Riley's hand and smiled with a blush.” Alright, let's get going. I'm feeling a bit tired too.” She smiled as they started walking.
Overall there was a lot that happened tonight. She held her loved one and they had a marvelous night, filled with a fairy tale like wonder. Who would have believed. There was still hope and good things in this world. While their continuous survival would be a running question and would take a while to confirm, at least there was hope and better life here and that was all that mattered. It was so much more than what they had on the road where there was not any of it. As long as both of them were together it would be good.
The beach was getting emptier by the moment with more and more people leaving. She felt a bit more comfortable with less people around, but honestly she really enjoyed the beach party. While she didn't like having attention, she did enjoy having people around. Holding onto Riley's hand still, she stopped before they got onto the street and only then put her shoes on. She had taken them all the way back when they were by the waterline after all. Asphalt wasn't nice sand, so no way she was walking on it bare feet. She leaned into Riley while they headed towards the housing they were at. Honestly she was really looking forward to this night and it proved to be everything, no proved to be way beyond anything she thought it would be. All she wanted now was to lay down in bed and cuddle with her lover. She felt just so tired after everything today, but in a good way.
„Well, not like I can disagree with that point of yours.” Lisa smiled at Ada as they discussed the trainwreck that was Hunter's first social appearance in the new place! It was a grand event, a grand event of the NEGATIVE SCALES! She chuckled lightly at it, looking at Doggo Boy from distance. Ohh well, at least he was amusing enough to observe from afar. Maybe he'd settle down and start to fitting in after a good while. Who knows how long he was alone out there and everything he had experienced.
Gunny made his thoughts on the booze for the night known, but honestly Ada was ahead of him. Lisa noted she stopped serving a while ago now. She really started laughing again when Thalia started advancing the wild fucks lore even further! With their very own guild that is! The barkeep naturally joined right in, causing Lisa to continue laugh even more. Though eventually she managed to calm herself down enough.” Yeah I want a tshirt with that on. Talking to Tesla about it tomorrow as soon as possible so he fucking get working on it.” She grinned. Granted it wasn't something to wear out and about with children around, but ohh well.
Still it was about time to call it a night. She pondered it a bit, looking around at the different people already heading off to their homes and looked at Ada.” Need help cleaning up the place? I'm not all that tired and I could help.” Lisa asked, she wasn't lazy and Ada was good fun and while not best friends or anything, she liked the woman well enough to help out. What's more she could have another enlightement about Wild Fucks or something similar and no way she wanted to miss that.
„Alright then, let's find a souvenir before we call it a night!” Amelia nodded with a bright smile as she looked down at the sand at their feet. It wasn't the best light to search the beach, but it would and closer they got to the campfires the brighter it would be, but for now even here it was fine. Seashells stood out because they were big in comparison to the sand itself. In any case, finding a few small seashells shouldn't be a problem for them. Most beaches were littered with the things after all. Question was if they'd find a big pretty one.
Then again it was a beach as certainly as the sun rising in the morning, it didn't take much searching for her to crouch by this tangled mess of seaweed. In it there was this basically round thing. She tilted her head for a moment, fiddling a bit to pull it out of the seaweed. This was a seashell probably.” Is this the sand dollars you mentioned earlier?” Amelia asked, tossing a look at Riley. Honestly Amelia had mostly seen regular the more cliché sea shells. Then again she hadn't went to beaches much even before the apocalypse so her knowledge of marine life was rather limited to what science and nature tv channels would play.
“I think this will make a fine memento for this night.” Amelia smiled and looked at Riley. All in all it was starting to get late and she was starting to consider if they should be heading back to their home now. To rest so they are fresh tomorrow when they wake up.” Riley, should we consider heading back to our... place?” She asked, realizing how different it felt to have a place to call their own even if only temporary.” It's late and they will have us start our jobs tomorrow right? We should get some sleep.”
„I know, don't worry.” She grinned a reply to Ash with a gentle wave of her left hand and didn't press the issue any longer. Soldiers, they all acted alike. Not surprising though apparently how stuff was done in the army and habits were a hard thing to break and it might be beyond habit and more of a culture thing. In any case she had mostly stopped caring what she was being called. There were bigger issues at hand like zombies outside. She also didn't have to do taxes because well.. there were zombies outside. Truly a curious thing how much the world had changed by the simple fact that... there were zombies outside.
“Mm good to hear.” She smiled at Ada, well she looked well enough to not require medical assistance so that was good at the very least. It was going to be a bad night if someone had properly gotten hurt.” Tell me if you need help though.” Lisa informed the bartender with a smile and started to munch on her own food. At least for a brief moment, before she nearly choked when she burst into chuckle at Thalia's joining the Great Wild Fuck hunt apparently.” This is so turning into a thing for good.” She couldn't stop herself from laughing.
“Well decent variety to choose from indeed.” Lisa agreed with Ada and put another mouthful of food into her mouth.” Initially I was planning on 'hunting', but... honestly I was just checking out the new prey.” She grinned and looked at Ada.” Well anything as long as she's happy. Doggo boy fucked his chances up hard, though admittedly it was hilarious to watch.” On that note, she spotted Nikki dancing it off with Bass.
"Things will get better... after all eventually they simply wont be able to get worse. " - That even in the darkest moments we shouldn't lose hope.
⚘ Looking Inside ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Lisa's a very direct person who doesn't really like beating around the bush. She likes to tell people what's really on her mind, which admittedly often causes her more problems than benefits overall. Despite that small fact, she's always an optimist, preferring to look upon life in the glass half full kind of way. There's always something good about everything, even if it is the simple fact that things can go downhill no further. Her interaction with people usually goes between smooth because she doesn't really lie to them to stormy for the exact same reason and also because she can be one sarcastic bitch at times and she's not even subtle about it.
Still there are parts of her that she doesn't show to people as much, such as the fact that she does enjoy pain a little bit too much. While not gone far enough to willingly cause herself great injuries and pain, she's not really averse to suffering some within reason. She sometimes causes herself mild pain as a habbit and hobby though.
After the end of the fucking world came, it brought some changes to her as she survived in the new harsh reality. She became ever more careful in her planning and actions, tending to be on the side of precaution than anything else. She likes her plans and likes her safety to be ensured, usually by something that can blow someone's head off. On that note she also is not averse to killing people anymore. She's ready to kill anyone who proved to want her dead and no amount of begging or pleas can convince her otherwise.
⚘ A Brief History ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Growing Up: Lis was born in Colorado, at a town called Lake City. Her parents were firmly middle class and she had a rather average childhood and even teenage years. She didn't excel at anything special nor was she lacking in anything. She as pretty enough and smart enough, but didn't seem like she had any special talents. Some of her friends had become programmers or engineers or doctors, but she just didn't seem to click well with any of those dream occupations of theirs. Eventually she dropped out of highschool and settled to eventually getting a GED instead. While it wasn't the greatest decision according to most people she knew, she had decided it was an apt course, all thigns considering.
Adulting: With the lack of idea on where she wanted her life to go, she decided to somewhat follow in her mother's footsteps. Her mother was a housekeeper and it didn't really take long for Lisa to join into the business and first start to help out, then properly get into the business. In the end she had went a step further even and became a live in housekeeper or more or less a maid really. She did everything a maid would be doing. She was cleaning the house, washing things and so many other lovely tasks that repeated every day. It wasn't the brightest job, but she enjoyed it well enough. The uniform was nice enough and the fact she was provided with actual living space was great cause she didn't have to pay rent! All in all it was a sweet job that she didn't want to lose, especially when the market was overly saturated with foreigners.
Still she did her job well enough and kept it. She even got to learn a lot of curious things in the years she spend as a maid and before that when she was helping out her mother. She learned how to use chemicals for cleaning, what to not mix and what to mix. She had also learned curious lifehacks or the so called folk remedies that could serve for everything from how to clean bad stains to how to fix certain maladies. All things learned by common people during the ages with experience and were now part of her repertoire too. At the end, despite not living a glorious highlife filled with glamour and money, she was rather content with it. She had a stable job, a nice home to live in and could enjoy her freetime as she saw fit. It was an ordinary life, but a good one. She didn't really need to or even had to ask for more.
Your First Walker Encounter: Lisa's first walker encounter happened at her workplace where she was a live in maid. The owner of the place she lived in, her employer had returned injured at the outbreak. Since everything back then was sort of a chaotic mad nightmare and no one quite knew what was happening aside people killing other people and the dead were rising or so the story had went. Since her employer was injured, Lisa as one of the few who had remained at the estate, had taken to helping them out. She had went to pick up the first aid kit and returned to clear and bandage their wounds.
The wounds she had seen on them were incredibly nasty ones. They were human bites and by the way the man spoke, he was bitten nearly to the bone by some crazy person outside with other crazies like that also wandering. Lisa herself was taking it as a miracle that the employer had returned home with such a wound, but she was told that the hospital looked like a complete mess also. Apparently the entire town was going to hell. The man was turning delirious and feverish so she had helped him to bed and left him to rest. Come few hours later when she heard some crashing noises and she went to see what had happened, she saw her employer shuffling towards her in really unsettling manner with gaping mouth. He didn't look normal anymore and attacked her. The man had turned into a walker after dying from the infection. She struggled free, just before he can bite her and then sturck him with the closest thing at hand... which happened to be a table decoration nearby that was really pointy on one end. She had managed to pierce right through the right eye and bury it deep into his head. After that he stopped moving...
Those First Years: After the outbreak, Lisa spend a lot of time in the place she lived at since it was a well stocked mansion and had good set of walls also. She and some of the other people who had happened to be there at the outbreak spend a few weeks, a few stressful weeks while they slowly ran out of supplies and had to decide on how to progress from now on. Eventually they split into a few pairs and went out into the dangerous world in hope that they can scavenge some supplies and survive.
Her partner died pretty much right away, after they got surprised by a walker in a house. Lisa did survive by escaping though. She knew her partner was already dead, they just didn't know it yet. The walker had bitten them and also stumbled them down to the ground when a few more showed up, following the sound. From there she was really careful where she scavenge, when and how. She made sure to always secure herself a way out and have a plan to escape should things turn sideway.
From there on she started traveling, never standing at one place for long. She traveled a lot and settling at a few different settlements, but never stayed there for long. Mostly because many of those had absurd requirements or things there simply were going worse as time progressed. In this wrecked world, supplies were limited to only so much that you can scavange, especially when it came down to food. That said she had become adapt at cleaning water, but food was another matter. There were many supplies located at malls or warehouses, but to get there you had to usually enter parts of cities that more ofthen than not were filled with the dead. Thus she generally avoided delving too deep into big cities.
On a few cases she also traveled in a group for safety, but at the end of the day, Lisa knew that she can only truly trust herself in those cases. Especially case after case when one of the people she was traveling with tries to kill the others and steal their things, her included. Or other cases when there were some people who acted like bandits. Seems like with the fall of society, humans reverted back to their primal ways. Things didn't always turn out good for her though, sometimes she was on the losing end, surviving by sheer miracle. All in all, she decided to move south east, and then head up the coast. She surmised that if there were going to survivor settlements, it was going to be near water and who knew, maybe there could be places where people lived on ships instead, being save from walker surprises at night.
To her surprise she had ended up meeting a hunting party from CMB last year sometime between Holloween and Thanksgiving. As things went from there, she joined them in returning to the Camp and in her mind proved her idea that there would be indeed settlements near water.
Camp Mexico Beach: She went through the initial evals and was given a rather cushy job(for her at least) in the Supply dept. and more precisely doing cleaning for the hospital and lab. She got the job mainly because of her prior work experience in the field of cleaning so to speak. Still to her surprise the more time she spend in those areas, she actually got more interested in it and especially pharmaceuticals. She actually seemed to have a knack for it and after a few months she began studying in that area of expertise. She spend quite a bit of her free time studying from books and the rest from Mary whenever it was possible. She actually hit it off with Mary quite well from the very start. In any case, after putting in the effort and the time, after about half an year she transfered out from the basic cleaning duty in Supply and joined Parmaceutical, helping out Mary with the job. Taking stock of the medicine, crafting drugs and salves, how to apply different medicines and so on. It tied quite nicely with her previous occupation in a way and she did quite enjoy the work process and company.
"Pff please, as if she's in the need of any encouragement." - Commenting to Ada about Nikki's readiness to steal booze
Lisa's relationship with Nikki is actually quite great. She enjoys all the time she spends with the younger girl no matter what they are doing. Be it simply sitting somewhere exchanging information about interesting stuff they've seen or heard during the day, observing and joking about people or simply chilling on the beach chatting while doing something calming like playing in the sand or the like. The younger girl is someone Lisa likes a lot. Sometimes Lisa even ponders if this is what it would have been if she had a younger sibling. Lately she has taken to compare Nikki to the bunny that's the mascot of that battery manufacturer. It's oddly fitting.
Emanuel Newman
"Hey,Manny!!!" - Enthusiastic greeting.
Now this was a friendship that probably shouldn't have been much of a surprise, but Lisa and Manny did click. Since their first day at work, they got along rather well and even when Lisa was moved over to the higher floors to start up a proper apprneticeship in Pharmaceuticals, she'd still do her old work whenever time allowed it or just more people were needed and with their lunch break conciding more or less, they got a lot of time to chat in those too. So without any surprise there a friendship was formed! Then Manny seemed to be getting into boats at some point and then boat puns came about. A lot of boat puns.
Thana Martin
"You know, maybe I should ask her collaboration on a stabbing manual." - Lisa thinking to herself.
Thana and Lisa actually get along well enough. Met and interracted while she was helping Thana with her meds for her recuperation from her injuries. Lisa has to admit she might have been a tad too interested in Thana's state and the degrees of her pain and that could have been the reason for their slight tension between them. Still afterwards they got along well enough in the occasional times they've had any interractions.
Ashton Holloway
"Ahhh reconnection of old flames. They make cute couple!." - Lisa describing Ash and Thana.
She hasn't had much reasons to chat up Ash besides curiosity and greetings here and there. Still given he's Thana's boytoy... or more like proper boyfriend, he looks good enough sort and he had managed to keep his own group of survivors together and going through some serious shit and that in Lisa's book is worthy enough of respect.
Thalia Carmichael
"Holy hell, I like her." - Her overwhelmingly positive reaction upon her first meetign with Thalia.
Lisa fucking likes THalia and her general attitude. It just clicked with her from the very first meeting and while Thalia's attitude is very standoffish and maybe it was something Lisa said, she's not sure, but she does like the woman. Her reactions are fun and she is planning on going out of her way so they can interract more for whatever outcomes comes out of it, she does hope they buddy up eventually. She'd enjoy having Thalia as a friend.
Nigel Cooper
"Ohh yeah Centurion guy" - How Lisa recalls Nigel
Nothing much to be said on their relationship if one even exists really. They've barely spoken to each other, but nothing really hostile is happening between them either. She finds him as a curious anomaly more than anything and would probably enjoy to get to know him eventually.
Hunter Monroe
"He's magnificen, I can watch his antics for a whole day and not get bored." - Lisa's opinion on Hunter and his almost drama worthy experiences so far.
Lisa doesn't really have much interractions directly with hunter. She knows him of course, at this point there's no person in the camp who doesn't. Still in difference from most people in camp, she actually likes him in her own and weird way. She loves all things human and stupid and his antics and the negative consequences that followed are like a playbook of greek tragedies. Everything he has done so far usually ends in disaster. Still she's gotten to chat with him some at Medical when they cross paths briefly after his... forced temporary confinmed and public service work, since his dog now lives with her and Nikki and she knows he'd appreciate some updates now and then.
Amelia Payne
"Cute couple number two~ in fact might be more adorable than Thana and Ash" - Lisa describing Riley and Amelia.
Amelia and Riley are the second new couple that arrived with the lastest batch of people. Both were rather adorable and together they made for a very nice on the eye pairing that gives in Lisa's eyes this innocent puppy air about them. Still she knows they've seen some serious shit happening before they arrived. Given everything she loosely knew of how they got to CMB and from where they started. Now with Amelia especially she does like hte girl, she's a bit too shy and quiet, but once you get to know her, Amelia seems to loosen up somewhat. They've chatted here and there and are on good terms overall. What makes her most curious however is Amelia's really curious talent of calculating some rather exotic problems and equations silently in her mind. THAT she could really put to use with her traps and not everybody knew it, but Amelia has a really mean swing on her if you give her a proper weapon to use.
"Everything is math..." - From a defennse on why Math is Special Skill
⚘ Looking Inside ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Amelia is a very gentle and friendly person. At least after one manages to break through the barriers she often builds around herself out of her shyness. She also wants to have friends, but whenever she meets someone, she would get too shy and embarassed to say anything most of the time, thus making it really hard to find friends. This doesn't dishearten her though, she had long since realized that those whom she does befriend despite this, are people whom she can really put her trust and friendship in.
After the fall of Newnan, Amelia started to change again. She who had just started to open up more towards others, closed off once again. Amelia started to become increasingly protective of her friends and those whom she trusts to the point she might have become slightly overprotective. In addition she started to display sure signs PTSD. She has difficulty sleeping, is constantly jumpy and often paranoid about their surroundings though she's adamant she's fine. She's not willing to trust strangers as easily anymore, she's always suspecting everything and anything of potential danger, never stopping to be careful of their surroundings.
⚘ A Brief History ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Growing Up: Amelia was born in a loving family of 2. Her parents were middle class, but they made sure to provide their daughter with everything she had need of. She herself didn’t really have many things she wanted while she grew up, for even then she understood her parents were already trying the best they can, so she just was content with what they provided for her and the occasional wish she would make for Christmas.
When she was ten, her family had to move to Little Rock, because her parents found better jobs there. Her father was a gardener and her mother was a highschool teacher. Since then she grew up in Little Rock. It was hard at first as she had moved to an entirely different place, where all her hard created friendships were gone. With her shy mentality, she had troubles adjusting at first, but eventually managed to gather a small circle of friends so could trust.
When she entered highschool, Amelia quickly found out that even those few whom she trusted there, may not always have had best intentions. She was used into petty schemes and got burnt by it on multiple of occasions. Some people tried to bully her, while other just ignored her because she was a quiet girl. Finally there were those few with whom she actually forged friendships with. Those who got to know her, realized how good mannered and friendly person she actually was. Needless to say, rumors about her continued to be spread as a form of bullying, but she didn’t really pay attention to that, or at least tried to.
Adulting:
Your First Walker Encounter: Amelia’s first encounter with a walker was the day she left her home for the first time after the outbreak began. She was trying to reach the highschool her mother worked at. She had already given up hope for finding her parents alive. After all they would have came back home if they were, but she still held some hope that maybe the school had isolated itself and there were surviving people there. Truth wasn’t such sadly. When she saw the building from distance she could already see the open wide front doors and the figures moving about the place.
She tried to approach as much as she can, but alerted a walker at her. He started moving quickly towards her and then others followed him. She had left without any weapon back then so she just ran, nearly tripped twice while attempting to do so. She did get away, by throwing a rock at a car she had noticed had a blinking light from earlier when she passed by it. It took away the attentions of the walkers for long enough that she managed to escape and get back home. Since that day, she at least kept her father’s baseball bat always with her.
Those First Years: Amelia was still in Small Rock when the outbreak started. She had decided to take a year before going to college, work as a waitress to gather up some money and make things easier on her parents. She had barely started her first week as a grown up working adult when the panic spread. When the first case of death from the outbreak happened in Little Rock, she ran straight to her house and locked the door. She hoped her family will get home right away, but that never happened as the panic spread and the city was swallowed by madness and death.
Her house was decently supplied with food and bottled water. Her parents never drank water from the sink. Thus she spend the first week after the outbreak, quietly staying in her home, alone. Slowly once by one the modern luxuries started to fail. At first she kept informed on the situation outside by watching to the news channels via headphones she plugged in the TV, but only a few days later the TV stopped receiving any signals. By that point the internet was out, eventually electricity stopped also. Like that Amelia found herself in her barely defended house at that point, alone with quickly dwindling supplies.
Maybe it was luck, but her house was never attacked by the walkers. She had seen them wander about the place, but she never really descended to the ground floor unless she was sure the area around was clear and she was extremely careful to not raise any noise and attract their attention. Still by the third week, she found herself nearly all out of supplies, no food and bottled water. Amelia also had gotten sick of staying alone in silence, she missed her family. Thus taking a back pack, she left her house one morning. She had to venture out and seek out what happened to everyone. Her house seemed to be in a relatively empty zone for there were barely any zombies around. She sneaked around a few houses, tested their doors if they were opened. She had some luck and managed to enter a few so she at least stocked up on canned food and bottled water. She then slowly made her way towards the local highschool where her mother worked. She didn’t even get close to it.
After another week, she couldn’t stay at her home anymore. She realized it wasn’t safe as some zombies had started moving around it more and more frequently. The very morning after that, she fileld her backpack with everything she can carry without getting overloaded and left her home.
She headed east towards Georgia, but her journey wasn’t as peaceful as the time spend quietly in her home. Her movement was slow because she was extremely careful. She would often hole up in well defendable houses in silence for days, waiting for a chance to run to pass. Even her meetings with other people were chaotic and scary most of the time. One group shot at her before she even could mutter a single sentence. She was lucky they got swarmed by nearby walkers while she managed to somehow escape. Another group outright captured her at one point. She managed to escape luckily when a fire spread out through their shelter when she threw herself shoulder first at a torch. That’s where she got her scar on the shoulder from.
After that event she spent a lot of time alone, trying to just survive in peace, but she could never spend too much time at one place. She tried to settle down at a settlement that appeared well protected enough on the border of Arkansas. In fact spend just over year and a half there, helping out by cleaning around, cooking and so on. It was a nice place, though it she left it the moment they were approached by a small group claiming unless they submit and give them all their food in 3 days a larger force would come and destroy them. She didn’t want to take chances so she left and continued her journey east.
Newnan: Newnan for Amelia was a keypoint in her life especially after the apocalypse. It was the first time she ever felt secure and comfortable anywhere after she lost everything in the initial outbreak. Having been parts of a few places in the past, she wasn't expecting it to become a real second home. She found friends and purpose in Newnan. The stability she never expected to find was there. She had a not too complex, but enjoyable enough job and most of the people were very good to be around with. Some were bad apples in a way, but she had tried to keep away from them. Not interracting meant no troubles.
In fact she even found love in Newnan. Riley, someone with whom she arrived there as part of another group that joined up. It was a relationship that took a while, but from friendship to closeness and love, it was an experience she didn't think she'd get in this world anymore. Sadly the realization of said love had to be put on the test as right after that the settlement was destroyed by the most dangerous and unpredictable of foes - mother nature. A veritable cataclysm of their very own turned everything that so many people had worked towards into naught, but rubble and death. She was lucky to escape alive.
Searching: The journey or rather the search was a stressful period for Amelia as it probably was with all those that she traveled with. All of htem having survived Newnan, they couldn't reunite with all the survivors. Tati was missing and they had to search for her. It was a long journey, they lost people, but eventually they reunited with her and her son. There were tackles with some bandit type folks at that point and a storm... tornado even. Hell they had even lost the horde buster, their trusted mobile home. The constant life on the road without any security only increased the stressed she felt on top of her lingering trauma from Newnan, that was luckily not too serious, but never the less still there. In any case, she followed Ash and ash pointed them to Camp Mexico Beach.
Camp Mexico Beach: The group had successfully managed to get to Camp Mexico Beach. Some rocky mentally strained start aside at the initial Quarantine, it appears to be a stable place. A possible new home for them to live at. Some left others stayed behind. Still she and Riley could lead a stable life here, baring any unforseen cataclysmic events due the fact it's a coast settlement. Still they have a nice place to live in, stable food and even electricity within reason!
"I didn't mean for that to happen alright!?..." - From Apologies on Medicine malpractices by Amelia Payne
The arrival at CMB was something that altered their lives in a very monumental manner and Amelia will be forever grateful for Ashton for seeing them through ti all. Despite everything, he was their leader when it mattered and she does like him and considers him a trusted friend, even if he wouldn't allow her near him for First Aid anytime soon more likely that not, and she already apologized! Still with a new place to live at and whole new set of daily challenges, maintain relationships is a good deal harder than it was when they all basically lived together in a cramped vehicle. Still Amelia does try to meet him as often enough, to chat and just keep in touch. Of course they all have their new lives to think of and budding families to look after, but still, friendships are important... And she trained in First Aid a lot just to reassure him!
Riley Ridgeway
"Keep it quiet will you!" -Ash trying to make Riley and Amelia keeping it quiet at night
Amelia and Riley met shortly before going to Newnan. They happened upon the same group of survivors and went from there, going through an attack on the shelter and eventually moving with the rest to Newnan. They started off as friends, Amelia having slightly more trouble to be open as usual, but they quietly formed a friendship non the less and stuff went uphill from there. By the time Tati and Jack were marrying, Amelia had fallen head over heels for the singer and after some alcohol boosted confidence on the night of the weddings she confessed and they finally got to be a couple. Short lived happiness given what followed on the next morning, but luck was on their side as eventually they reunitted shortly after escaping the ruins.
From there it was them living and traveling along the rest of the survivors in search for the missing people and heading south towards the supposed save haven there. In those darkest days Riley was the main reason why Amelia could bring herself to stay focused and struggle to survive and make it through every day as much better as possible. Having her loved one close to her, gave Amelia the needed willpower to struggle tooth and nail so they all could make it through. Now with them having arrived at Camp Mexico Beach, now they've got a home of their own. Amelia holds mixed feelings with moderate hopes for this to last. The track record of the past isn't too great, but even if it provides a few years of peace for her to enjoy with Riley it would be worth it.
Nikola Rose Warren
"So... we hunting that rat or not?" - Amelia inquiring with Nikki about a certain cartoonishly pesky animal.
Nikki and Amelia turned out to be getting along impressively well. Amelia for a shy and generally introverted young woman, does enjoy being around the energy bunny that is Nikki( as she had heard somebody at camp comparing her to). Nikki's rather outgoing and fun and Amelia really enjoys being friends with her. She might even get into mischief with Nikki if the Energy Bunny decides to drag her along for the ride. Amelia doesn't have many close friends, but the ones she has, she treasures a lot. Working with Nikki everyday and enjoying it? That's proof of friendship right there and it's enough for Amelia.
Jack Hudson
"Need any help? Ehh... okey, tell me if you do." - Amelia post Medicine Malpractices asking if Jack and Tati need help with the baby
Amelia really likes Jack as a friend. He's nice and quite kind all things considered. Ever since he met up again with Tati and Jamie he turned for the better and is now a lot more happier. She likes him like this, though she keeps her distance from Jamie. Never the less Amelia does laugh to all his dad jokes cause she actually finds them funny most of the time and she does try to help him with all the chores so he could spend more time with Jamie.
Tatiana Newnan
"She has changed..." - Amelia whispering ot herself after reuniting with Tati
Amelia frankly doesn't know what to think and do about Tatiana. On one end having yet another comrade from Newnan is a great relief to her and on the other Tati's very closed off to her. Amelia mostly understands why though, she herself took a little while to get used to having the other woman around after everything that went down. Still she tries to help with anything that she could to the other woman and hopes they can be friends one day. Friends are a rare commodity after all.
Nigel Cooper
"So how do you suppose a roman turtle formation should work in D&D?" - Amelia chatting up Nigel upon the topic of Historial facts in D&D
A rather unlikely budding friendship, Amelia found herself talking with Nigel a lot more often after the D&D sessions began. Him being somebody new to the hobby and actually knowing a weirdly huge amount about Roman culture and history. She actually found it all very fascinating and her inner creative writer and dreamer, took to listenign to his stories and facts about the ancient culture of his choice. Everything she says is usually very fascinating and inspirational, giving ample possibilities to put into a curious story narrative. Even if he tends to focus too much in the real history at times.
Lisa Mason
"She is nice enough, I suppose... if a bit weird at times." - Amelia to Riley when talking about Lisa
Amliea doesn't have a overly grand relationship with Lisa by any stretch. They occasional talk and cross paths and they have gotten to know a bit better because of Nikki. Still they do not have quite as many common points to grow into close friends. She wouldn't mind spending time with her though, if only to get to watch the overly ellaborate traps and pranks that Lisa can put into action when she feels like it.
Thana Martin
"So she's Ash's love." - Amelia to Riley on the new people they met in CMB.
There's not much of a relationship to talk between these two. Amelia's hasn't really had reasons to talk with Thana and vice versa. She knows her and they would've at least talked and introduced because of Ashton, but other than that, it's just on polite greeting in passing really.
Hunter Monroe
"Somebody more socially awkward than me... wow." - Amelia's description of Hunter's social tendencies and graces.
Not much to tell, Amelia's obvious bias against dogs struck from the first moment they've joined up in the same vehicle to arrive in CMB and the time in quarantine didn't help any with his way of acting and constantly putting his foot into his mouth. The fiascos after they left quarantine didn't help either, but at least she doesn't want him dead, just properly leashed and as far away as possible.
Emanuel Newman
"Hello." - Amelia greeting Manny on the street.
As with quite a few from the quarantine group, Amelia's only on passing acquaintance relationship with Manny. They've talked a few times, but things haven't progressed much beyond that..
Thalia Carmichael
"She's... loud?" - on what Amelia remembers most of Thalia.
Amelia has not really interractedm uch with Thalia over their time in quarantine or afterwards. She knows her name an face of course, but the most notable thign she can really recall are the time that the woman strangely pulled attention to herself in very loud ways without looking like she meant to.
Away from the crowd Amelia certainly felt a lot more confident. What's more with the relative darkness, it was was just a bit better for someone as shy as her. It's not like she could simply stop feeling that emotion out of nowhere. She was better nowdays, but it wasn't gone. She observed the sand, listened to the waves, admired the fireworks and enjoyed the presence of her love. Maybe she too would have been laughing at the chaos of the bar, but she didn't hear it, so she missed it. Maybe she'd get the rerun or in other words someone recounting it tomorrow?
With Riley's arm around her shoulder they got good distance away and then Riley spoke out.” Hmmm?” She wanted to ask what was nearly perfect, because Amelia's own opinion was about the same. Were they thinking of the same thing? Well Riley got her into a dance out here, in the edge of the light, clear of the others.” Well yeah... “ Amelia said quietly with a blush as they danced.” Very few things can make this 'perf...” She was about to get around to saying a kiss, when a kiss basically landed on her lips, stopping her midway. She blinked and closed her eyes. Yeah now it was perfect, like in a nice fairy tale. That was it the night was PERFECT.
“You... read my mind.” Amelia finally said in a whisper when the kiss ended and she was really glad they weren't close to the others in the beach. She locked fingers with Riley, smiling.” This was way better than finding a seashell...” The night was now perfect, everything that she wanted to happen happened! What was left was to return home, together! What's more Amelia had another thought, was it possible to get photos in the camp? She was going to have to ask about that too. Still with hands interlocked with Riley, she smiled and looked down with a blush, looking at the sand. There were bound to be a few seashells around. She wanted one as a memory of tonight. She'd put it on a string and all.
Lisa was rather curious as she observed the partner of Thana who arrived at the bar. She vaguely thought his name might be Ash if she recalled correctly. What was even more curious the way he greeted them. She started laughing at them all being called sirs or ma'ams. It was honestly hilarious, especially after the bit of alcohol she had to get a more merry mood without getting dead drunk.” Well not called Ma'am often, sounds weird.” She laughed, leaning on the bar.
Then Thalia joined up with them again and just in time to be present for Ada's little episode about wild fucks. Admittedly Lisa probably found it just as amusing as Ada was right at this moment as she was laughing aloud, leaning on the bar.” Don't look at me, I'm not the one who spiked it if that's the case.” She replied to Nikki with a grin.” Maybe it was the wild fucks who did it, to make things more interesting.!” Lisa laughed even more as the woman vanished under the bar. This was the stuff she wanted to see out of life. She leaned forward a bit as Ada was sitting up.” Ya okey there? Need any help?”
Weirdly enough though Lisa herself had initially been on the look out for a partner for the night, having this kind of fun happen, kinda made her mostly not care about it as much.” You haven't been sampling the good stuff in secret without inviting me, have you?” She asked, chuckling and looking Ada in detail.” Did you get injured?” Lisa was a bit concerned. She was well ready to help the barkeep at a moment's notice.
There were few things that were as reassuring as Riley's words to Amelia. She smiled at it, thought the thought of having to continue to venture out in the wildness was a lil bit scary, considering the dangers that they could face and Riley's well-being. In any case she nodded to her love, ignoring ALL of the nonsense happening at and around Hunter. She was right now a woman with her priorities in order! Said priorities were: Riley first and everything else depending on the situation.
She smiled at the additional fireworks on display. It was a magical scene to her eyes right now. Carefully she dropped the burnt out sparkler in the bucket and looked at the fancy lights for a bit. She wondered if those were homemade or they had scavenged them. Didn't matter really, Amelia quickly looked at Riley again with a smile. This was a magical night for her, but there was still more of it to enjoy. A few more things that could make it even better memory.
Making a really pondering face, looking down the both ways of the beach she finally pointed in roughly west direction.” That way!” Proclaiming with a smile, still holding hands with Riley.” We can get all the way down this direction and then sweep back towards here... and it's quieter there with less people...” She added with a shy voice and really bright cheeks. Maybe having something in mind... something like a kiss? She couldn't quite bring herself to say it aloud here with others around, but further away she was going to go for it dammit! The night was magical and she was just a bit of a romantic... like in the books. They had fireworks, now there was a need for a kiss.
„Nothing that can be done about it.” Lisa grinned as Cook was preparing her the food.” She's just my cup of personality to get along with. Besides, if she's hungry enough to snatch food from people at the bar, it's obvious she's in the need of some munchies. As a good buddy Imma happy to accommodate.” The chuckled as she took the two plates.” No one's going to let Nikki forget this one now, isn't it? You know Ada reminded her of it just earlier, the reaction was fun as expected.”
“Kids will be kids, nothing about it. Let her have this small thing, not like she's caused any major problems. She's going to probably settle down somewhat in a year or two. Might end up resembling a mini Thana by that point though.” She shrugged and followed Cook's line of sight to Hunter who started rambling again. Boy sure liked to talk it seemed, probably because he looked dead drunk. She sneaked a glance at Ada at the bar, wondering if they should just give him one or two more drinks and make him fall asleep before he could embarrass himself any further. He ended up angering Nikki who seemed to get along with him so far. Well that was a lesson learned about drinking wisely~ She very briefly considered the possibilities in making a funny public service announcement poster about it.” Well maybe the aftereffects will keep him from fucking up with drinking quite as much in the future. Anyways, thanks for the food, better bring it back to Ada now.”
With that sorted out she started skipping over to the bar again. She burst out in laughter as she neared and heard the last part of what Nikki said.” What's this about fucks I hear? You joining the hunt? What did I miss anyways? Who's Scarecrow? Dog Boy?” She asked, tossing a look at the still very drunk hunter, who was likely to stay drunk for a while and then the FUN part would start in the morning.” Annnnnnnd here's the food.” Lisa stated as she handed over the plate of food to the bartender.” As promised a plate of munchables."
Somehow Amelia found herself not caring anymore where they were tonight. As she was close to Riley, enjoying the tiny freedom and safety she felt tonight, the sense of normality they were experiencing, the surroundings were melting away, leaving just the two of them, a set of sparklers in their hands, a nice softy beach and the sound of the water. The rest was just background setting for a brief moment.” Yeah.” Amelia briefly replied as she was pulled closer by the musician by her side.
The thoughts of Newnan briefly entered her thoughts, in a melancholy way as she just stood there, close to Riley, playing with the sparkler.” Who would have thought, we'd end up in a place like this.” She added, half musing, half in disbelief, but never the less still emotional. Doing circles with the sparklers again she had a small smile.” It will be fine... probably.” She corrected herself halfway, darkening her expression for a moment.” Nah it will be fine. If they've been around so long, then it must mean things are stable enough.” She reassured both herself and Riley.' Might need to learn how we can get a emergency life raft or something just in case though.'. She also thought, but didn't quite voice it, not wanting to allow negative thoughts to linger too much.
She watched as the sparkler was eventually starting to run out.” Hmm... I suppose we should of to drop those and start shell hunting.” She smiled, a bit shyly. They were some distance away from the fire pits so she couldn't quite get what was happening there and more importantly, she was enjoying the sparkler show looking in the direction of the waterline with her love! Like this she sadly missed the Drunken Confessions of Dog Boy. The much anticipated sequel to Awkward Socializing of a Dog Boy. Well he was the last thing in her mind right now anyways.
She stood up, taking hold of Riley's hand that was holding her close while they were sitting earlier, to help her up and well... walk hand in hand! It was important to her!
Lisa was already grinning and chuckling at the Drunken Confessions of a Dog Boy! This was priceless, it's been ages since she had such good material to enjoy!” Not that I blame ya, it's quite amusing.” She nodded, looking mischieviously at Ada.” Quality show right there, I call good skill on giving him the right amount. Any more and he might have been out cold instead by the looks of it.” Lisa grinned, she was always up f or amusement of people making the fool out of themselves. It was the human nature after all.” Well I'm sure they will be fine after sobering it up some by tomorrow.” She smiled.
“Alright, food's incoming, ohh beware a storm's arriving.” She nodded with a grin and walked away, passing by the Hurricane Nikki that was on collision course with the bar. The girl seemed quite furious right now, so Lisa only smiled at her in her usual friendly way in passing as she headed for the foodstuffs! Well maybe she didn't end up finding herself a prey for tonight, but ohh well. She had fun, she had booze and she was not hungry. It was perfectly decent night so far with the possibilities of even more improvement in what time remained till they would start heading back to their homes.
Walking onwards, she noted that the Rome guy was trying to settle Hunter down before he did even more of a fool of himself. She casually made a slightly detour as to not collide into them and arrived at the place where Cook was giving out the munchies.” Hey, Cook.” Lisa greeted with a smile.” Get me two portions, please. Promised Ada I will drop some munchies to her at the bar since she's busy there tonight and stuff.” She grinned and tossed a look at Nigel and Hunter, wondering how doggo boy would react to people trying to get him to stop drinking after already being drunk. This usually ended up in comedic gold.
Amelia gave a nod of greeting as Roy passed by as well, following Riley's and looked a him as he walked away from them. With a very slight thinking expression, she tossed a glance at the woman by her and nodded.” Yeah, good thing.” She confirmed, feeling somewhat reassured. After all they better be! She for sure didn't want to wake up someday to a barnicle or seaweed covered zombie dragging itself from the water to shore. That would be a very bad thing to happen, admittedly, she wasn't even sure if walkers could properly operate underwater. Maybe she should ask the people here if they've confirmed that. Though she did try to push those thoughts aside for the moment. Quite the mood killer those were.
“Mmm, okey.” Amelia replied as she skipped to where Riley was sitting and carefully sat down, after confirming there wouldn't be anything hard that would be uncomfortable to sit on like a rock or the like. Still as trend of not quite believing this is happening continued as once more she never expected she'd chill on the beach at night with someone. After the apocalypse, she had the feeling that beaches wouldn't be a safe location. You were easy to spot and all that. Though admittedly, with recalling that running on sand was hard, she wondered if zombies had hard time moving about on it as well.' No, no, no, no, no! No walker thoughts for tonight anymore! I'm going to forget everything and enjoy it with Riley!' Amelia repeated to herself, steeling her mind and will for this and just in time as she looked with surprise at Tesla who delivered some sparkles for them to have fun with.
“Thank... you!” Amelia said with a bit of excitement in her voice as she looked at the things and took one from Riley. Her eyes were probably big and round at the sight of the sparklers like that of a child. She held on the thing for a moment, watching the sparks and then started moving it in a circle, smiling at the sight. With a chuckle, she looked at Riley who mentioned sand dollars. Amelia spun the sparkler in circles in the air for a bit.” Let's see if we can find something after this thingies burn out. We might be lucky even though it's dark.” She proposed with a slight blush and just leaned softly on Riley's shoulder, still playing with the sparkler.
She listened to Ada grumble displeased and nodded.” Well, can't fault you there.” She grinned, rocking her empty beer bottle for a moment. Apparently her moonshine request wasn't registered, ohh well maybe later. She noted as the music switched to Paint it Black. Well decent cover there, nice song. They made it sound good, though admittedly with the state of the world they weren't free to choose their performers. Still the current group were doing good job.
People were now moving about, her eyes trailed across the adorable couple that was playing like children with sparklers that Tesla handed over to them, then at Shears and the kids, the crew at the waterline with the flashlights, checking for unexpected visitors, to the people at the food and the ones at the stage. This was living! This wasn't survival, survival and living weren't always the same thing. Survival was what could be taken on the road, live day by day with the bare minimum if you had to. No luxuries, no safety, always vigilent to scrape by. No this here was a proper living, they had food, they had enough freedom, they had entertainment and the right to relax. With this her eyes spotted a certain kiddo that was with her new kiddo friend. Hunter seemed like he was talking with Nikki, this was nice.
“Hmmm...” She made a sound as she rocked her empty beer bottle a bit more with the tip of her finger.” Well I will come back for more drinks after getting something to eat. Hey Ada, want me to bring some for you as well? Or you planning to take a break from the bar at some point?” Lisa asked as she stopped leaning on the bar and tossed a look over to the bartender.
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