rivaan

🧚🏻‍♀️ The Walking Dead - Year 6 Part 1

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Amelia Payne Location: Camp Mexico Beach's Beach Skills: N/A

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Six moths, how time flied when one was living a regular life after what felt like an eternity on the apocalyptic roads out there. Amelia could barely believe it’s been over half a year now since the day, they first arrived at this place. It was a bit of a struggle and took some time to adapt and get used to it. Her paranoia gradually lessened some after she got used to the place and while she still finds herself jumping at shadows at times, it’s a lot less than before and she got more used to the people as well now that she had half a year to get to know a number of them. Between her and Riley everything seemed to progress rather nicely actually. Sometimes it felt like they were an old married couple from a sitcom, but she enjoyed every moment of it and to Amelia’s absolute glee, Riley got back into music! Teaching kids how to sing and play the guitar while also leading the choir. It took no effort for Amelia to admit that she loved hearing her sing and seeing the joy in Riley of working with music once more.

Amelia also found herself teaching kids funnily enough. It was a rather curious experience for her. She always had thought she got along better with older people, a curious quirk of her social awkwardness when it came to interacting with people, but it appeared that it was about people that weren’t in her age group more than anything, because she actually got along with the kids rather well. They can be playful, loud and sometimes little daredevils, but their joy and innocence, brought always joy to her. She enjoyed her work as a teacher. She taught two age groups, one more of a side thing than the other, but it was fine. Amelia enjoyed the time she spend every day with them.

Initially early in their stay and plans for the future in the camp, she had wondered and considered the possibility of going for the away teams outside the walls, but after a rather serious discussion with Riley, the two of them decided to not risk it. For once since their nightmare at Newnan, they had a good thing going and even if it was bound to end eventually, they wanted to enjoy it to the fullest as long as possible. So both of them focused on their lives and newfound careers. Well it was weird to call it a career when there was no money really involved. It was more like ways of life and general goals.

And such is the reason why she was today here at the beach, overlooking a group of kids that were having their first real outing since the start of the rainy season a while back due to the mild winter so far south. Dealing with kids, that were growling restless from basically cabin fever, was not an easy ordeal. Now that the exams were over with, the decision to have an outing for everybody from education and the kids by the ocean was a nice change of pace and with the advent of the good weather, it couldn’t have come at better time.

Looking around, she could see many of her new colleagues. Manny was also here since they were colleagues too, with him teaching medicine. She looked at her other colleagues for a moment as well, before returning her attention to the kids. Kids on the beach? It was a recipe for trouble, they had to pay constant attention on the little ones and watch over them with an eagle’s gaze! So she stopped thinking for random things and returned her focus on the little ones and their games.

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Lisa Mason Location: Medical Skills: N/a

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Lisa covered her mouth with her hand, looking through some medical documents for the patients they had right now. It was an early morning for her and maybe she should have gone to bed earlier as well. Still, opening her eyes and doing a bit of a stretch with her arms and a few other small stretching exercises, brought her back to state of proper awareness as she returned to her job and categorized mentally the different antibiotics and medications she would be working on later on, making mental and then paper notes on what was used and when.

The last six months were rather eventful for many of the camp, she imagined. The new arrivals rapidly were getting sorted around the place, being put to work into their own niches and she herself wasn’t an exception. From the moment all those months back when Mary told her she was being reassigned till now, Lisa had been rather busy. Her lessons had resumed with new intensity and she was doing rather well when it came to the pharmaceutical side of them. Many of the new antibiotics had been made under her care. She had also moved to work directly under Mary in other aspects of Medical too. She was now a nurse, following a rather gradual on hand training with Hunter’s needs and exams over his sentence. Lisa was slowly put to do more and more of the nurse work when it came to him and she didn’t mind it. She enjoyed the challenge and the gratification from the job. On a side note she had gotten to deliver him status reports on his favorite dog, since she lived with her and Nikki now. It was a nice Animal even if she noted that Amelia seemed horrified of it, poor girl. Still Lisa actually enjoyed the canine’s presence immensely when she returns home from a long and arduous day.

Aside working and studying she hadn’t done much over the last few months actually. Her schedule was as close as filled to the brim as it could be. She had managed to almost finish the manuscript on the eastern fairy tales. The initial mania over writing fast gradually lessened as she calmed down and began writing slower and thinking more on everything she wore and the wordings. She still wasn’t an poet or a novel writer, but with careful thinking and wording she was recounting the stories in as close as possible to the originals manner. There was also the topic of the teams venturing outside the walls. Lisa wasn’t really planning on joining them. For a meriad of reasons, but mainly she rather enjoyed her life in the camp and the fact that her position in Medical was rather important. She wasn’t stupid, there was a good deal of investment that went into her to reach her current point, if she ventured out and did something stupid and got herself killed, all that training and time spend teaching her would be wasted. So she didn’t want to do so. If they needed her on one of the teams, she’d go, but she wasn’t going to stupidly risk it all.

Now on her personal life, her relationship with Guy was almost a thing, however because of her busy schedule she never really openly stated it, so that was the plan for today. Find the guy, she snickered, and get him to figure out if he wanted them to give this whole proper dating thing a try. Maybe kiss him silly. They’ve been dancing around it for a while now and she wanted to try for more. She might have felt a bit bad about leaving him waiting so long, however it wasn’t like she wasn’t openly flirting with him during the time. She felt it’s time to try a more serious relationship. Who knows, maybe her hunt was about to end.

Frozen Darkness

"Well, thanks, guess I was just used to how it went back in myu old place, I mean servants and slaves who were mutants got even worse treatement than regular ones and even less rights if that is even possible..." She replied, hiding a shudder." That said... I was never completely sure, there was nobody to confirm or deny my suspicion, but after realizing that your senses are way better than anybody elses' you start to make theories and eventually figure it out." Cat stated flatly." Yeah, hope there's something useful for us there."

With that said, she refocused her attention on the tasks at hand which was making temporary shelter, honestly it wasn't even going to last as likely once they leave Underhaven for tasks and missions, it would get taken over by other of the people milling about at this place, but for the time being it would work. She was rather grateful of Dony's knack for building stuff, it woudl be a life saver in the long run. She was already thinking of possible hideouts for them to use and the one htey spend last night at came often in mind, it lacked sustainable fuel source, but they could solve that with some effort ofd carrying over burning materials if they wanted to and it was way more secure than this temproary gig, especially out in the wild.

After everything was over with and they took the acceptable given the circumstances privacy, they began talking trading and what they had as supplies. Donny naturally carried more stuff than her, she actually ahdn't picked too many things on their journey together, besides the rubber boots, the crowbar and the chemical lights. She took those out too, lining them up." Keep the underwear, it's gonna get better trade at a proper trading place not out here, maybe tomorrow when we get to the security office or whatever htey will allow us to access their proper traders. Same with these." She pointed out at the glowsticks." We can keep a few, but the rest we can trade away. I can indeed make a good trade with the bullets though, it is my area of expertise." She nodded, carefully securing away the .308 ammo. If they were lucky, she could well trade them for the same if not greater amount of .223 or 5.56.

"The MREs, we can trade away, every last one fo them would be way more valuable as a trade, we can grab a lot of supplies for each of them. Pretty sure if we make a good trade on one, we can get enough nutrient bricks for it to last us more than a few days from that trade alone and that's on a lesser trade. Given the spices packets inside, we can get even more." She pointed out to him." Knives we can trade away, we both have better ones, we should keep the flashlight for now, at least until we confirm getting batteries is too out of our reach or transforming it into a hand crank powered one. We should see if we can't find parts to convert it to a hand cranked flashlight."

"Alright, you keep low here and I will see what trades I can scrounge up. Will take one of the MREs and 2 of the glowsticks just in case something good shows up." She told him as she picked up her trading items of choice. The bullets were secured in her pockets, the MRE inside of ehr jacket along with the glowstick. The knives and bat were now secured inside her backpack and the bat on a strap. In any case she vetured out, noting the horder that was trading in bullets and headed in that direction, mostly to see what stuff he had and also see who else she might get a good trade on bullets with. If they were lucky too, she'd trade this MRE for a good stack of Nutrient bricks to last them a couple of days, but she knew not to count the chickets before they were even hatched.

"Hey there, noticed you trade in goods and accept ammo. You do ammo trade too? Looking for specific types to exchange." She pointed out to hte horder and started the task of bartering. Goal was more ammo for her rifle than the 308 one. Was hoping for 1:2 trade, but 1:1.5 would be acceptable.

Frozen Darkness

THe hair on the back of Cat's neck stood up when the mutant woman looked at her like that and then she revealed what Cat honestly knew, but kept mostly hidden. She was a mutant or at least one with not too extensive mutations and had retained her human looks, like a result of adapting to it as a baby. In any case, she kept her tongue behind her teeth, avoiding looking at Donny as the woman was giving them the rundown of the different tasks they could be doing. Sure enough wires was one, she chuckled at her current partner's regret of not listening to her, will learn for the next time, she supposed." Very well, we can deal with that. In fact we might even work on the two main ones and the third one as a side thing depending on where the mutants' have fled to. Will probably start with them first htough, the seeds should be retrieved faster, feral mutants wouldn't really eat seeds, but you never now, better save than sorry. We will give you the precise rundown of our plans before our departure tomorrow then" She nodded in confirmation of the tasks ahead and turned to Donny as their escort had left and the mutant woman had also, leaving them alone.

"Yeah, we should get rid of the things we don't need for something more useful in the long run at least." She nodded, knowing they were carrying a few thigns that might be of great interest after all. So walking with him towards the improvised camp in search of traders of some kind, she stole a glance at Donny." So... you don't mind, you know... me being a mutant?" She asked him eventually." I'm well aware that I'm not the most obvious mutant out there and I do tend to keep quiet about it for a multutude of reasons most of hte time. It's saved my hide many a time, so for what's it worth, I never really planned ot lie to you if it even came up, I just prefered not to bring the topic."

"Anyhow, I suggest we skip that quack doctor that may be here in the refugee camp. I can help you deal with a sprained ankle. Basic first aid requirement as a soldier and all that. She was talking shit about keeping it wrapped, but it is a very important part of the healing process and something hard to do on your own. So later when we go to rest tongiht, I will rewrap you foot myself, making sure to secure the ankle properly, though for hte next few days, we might have to take it easy, especially when we are out in the wilds. If you aren't careful, you could worsen it. For now I suggest we focus on trading some goodies, maybe resupplying ammo and some food and then finding a nice spot to rest. I think we can make an improvised tent over there by those crates at that side of the camp. Will not be anything fancy, but should keep the curious gaze away at least. WHat od you say?" Cat looekd at Donny, eyes filled with expectation.

Frozen Darkness

"Huh..." Cat made a sound of mild surprise at the revelations that had transpired around Underhaven. Well she didn't actually knew they were 'officially' searching for settlers. She had just gotten the rumor that there was a place outside of the bounds of the current networks that seemed like a good place to go hide and lay low at, without the danger of getting discovered by regular patrols. Then there was the other news." So... radiation, a bunch of morons... Well, already been doing it, found a few of the buggers frozen solid someways down the tunnels, made sure to snap them to pieces just in case they wake up after defrosting which was a possibility I didn't want to risk."

"Yeah." She nodded at Donny." Alright, let's go meet this Head of Security and see what he's got to say about the whole thing, maybe at least get us some better number estimations of the ferals numbers and we can trade some while we are at it. Not like we expected to just settledown and do nothing, you got to work to eat and all that. Worst case scenario, we can hole out somewhere for a hideout and scavenge and survive off it while trading with Underhaven until they decide to allow us inside the laws." She shruged and turned her attention away from Donny and at the ghoul.

She lowered her gun even more, within safe posture, stil in hand just in case ferals or other dangerous mutated creatures show up, but relaxed enough to not be ready for a shootout with the Ghoul." Alright, I assume you gonna lead us to the place so we can meet up with your Head of Security? THen we can do some trading to stock up on supplies of immediate needs so we can go back out." With that seh skillfully navigated the trapped corridor the rest of the way so she's out of it. They had things to trade indeed and because of the poor family they found, they had potential scavenging locations they could visit also. There might be a good deal of thigns there too, given they were far enough from the regular settled area so the scavengers around here probably haven't stripped the area baren quite yet.

Riv's RP dreams!

*sets a snare trap*

Frozen Darkness

She grinned at the raspy reply and lowered her weapon a bit so it wasn't pointing directly at the man...ghoul...mutant anymore. It was a more neutral posture and a sign of goodwill than anything. She hadn't seen anyone quite in his condition in a long while, once she had met a traveler on an expedition to the surface, but they had gotten chased by her 'colleagues'.

"Not as much as you probably think, I've always been good at spotting things when others don't. A bit of a talent and a gift." She replied in turn with a well meanigng smile towards the man. Name was Hunter, huh. Well made sense, given he was trapping and hunting in an area by the looks of it. She heard Donny introducing himself behind her and she tossed him a glance.

"Well, name's Cat... well Catherine, but nobody really calls me by the full name anymore. I'm from 'Fourth Kingdom'." She made air quotes of sarcasm at the name of her former 'home'." Soldier and a scout more or less." She finished her introduction as she looked at the man from Underhaven." Figured the same as Donny, that Underhaven might be a good place to just start anew without all the imposed slavery." She added, her feet precisely positioned around some of the traps so she can easily at least do a sidestep or lean outo f the way of an arrow without stepping into one of the traps. Survival habbits.

Frozen Darkness

"As much as logic that might have, look at what they are wearing..." Cat gestured at the shattered remains of the ghouls." They wear practically nothing and as far as I'm aware even most mutants require clothing to preserve warmth in this hellhole we live in. No... these seem too bare to be would be settlers of any kind. Ghouls do wander from time to time so it might be just that, but we better be on guard just in case." She shook her head as they resumed walking.

The more they traveled the more Cat went on edge as she started spotting the traces of a lot of traffic and likely the traces of a horde. Now that was concerning. A group of ghouls could be dangerous enough in tight spaces and a horde was downright horrifying. Her old place had dealt with one horde while she was on duty a few years ago. They basically holed behind layers and layers of fortifications and obstacles like razor wires and spikes, delivering non stop hail of bullets until everything stopped moving and afterwards lit everything ablaze just to make sure and even then they still lost a guy to a ghoul that somehow jumped through the last set of the obstacles. Unlucky sod... GHouls appeared stupid, but they could be damn spry if a human meal was on the line.

"That's the best defense against ghouls... lack of human presence means ghouls won't wander down that path and the traps would cause them to stop advancing after a while. Ghouls might be with intelligence akin to or lower than animal, however I've observed that without a reason to venture in specific direction if a few of them die, they will just go another way. SO it's not ismply crafting, that's smart." She stated and already started walking and navigating the traps.

"Bren, we are at the edge of what's considered known world, there are NO traders that make their way here. At least no traders from our areas. If anything, any traders who travel between Underhaven and our known settlements are likely to be from Underhaven so they know any and all secret routes that this place has and uses so while there might be another entrance, I'd bent it's heavily masked and hidden from view." Cat stated and swiftly walked around some beartraps." I'm actually wondering where they got the bear traps... some of those don't look makeshift, bur rather properly made ones. Myabe they found a pre-apocalypse hunting store of some variety or something." She stated and suddenly raised a hand and gestured to Bren to stop as she staretd peering into the darkness and listening. They had walked a good deal inside hte trapped tunnel and now something was off. She readied her rifle, eyes locked into the darkness further down the tunnel outside of the light radius of the weakening makeshift torch." I know you are there, if you are sentient and from Underhaven please show yourself, we mean no harm, but I'd rather deal in person instead of a lurker in the shadows." She stated, preparing herself for a fight in a frankly uncomfortable for fighting place such as a corridor filled with traps. But hey, she could probably hook one of hte bear traps and kick it off with a kick in their direction if she had to.

Frozen Darkness

Through the frosty underground air they steadily walked. Cat's nerves were filled with tension at every crack of the frost covering the ground, the detriment and benefit of better hearing she supposed, still at least for the time being nobody nor anything would be able to ambush them easily if every movement caused sounds like these. Still she was taking point, walking with her gun at the ready and the sparkly new crowbar at the backup, her breath misting out in front of her face even through the makeshift scarf she had on.

"Hmmm..." Cat made a sound, eyes narrowing at the sight of frozen figures standing. Her trained eyes quickly took the surroundings and their getup and all manner of red flags flashed in her mind." Those aren't people, Donny." She told him as she pulled the crowbar in her right hand swug with all force at the closest one's neck, sending the netire thing tumbling down and a bunch of things from it breaking off, including a cracked from her strike neck that shattered from the impact." That's ghouls..." She explained and proceed to do the same to the other standing one without pause.

"Considering that unlike most mutants ghouls don't seemingly have improved bodies to maybe wait out the flast frost with only their outer layers freezing over, or dig or anything to protect themselves from it, I wouldn't put it past these things to restart 'living' after thawing out well enough. So better make sure just in case. I might not be right, but considering that ghouls are still a thing despite the cold waves, it's a decent logic, no?" She asked him, proceeding to shatter off the heads from the fallen ones.

"Problem is... if there are four... there might be more around the place. We are supposed to be somewhat close to this Underhaven place, so I don't think their presence should be regular occurance. No settlement or shelter would keep dangerous mutants close." She pointed out and readied her gun again." Now, from this point on expect ambushes. Remember for ghouls, it's like with most humans, you got to take out the head, it's by far the fastest way." Cat added and began walking.

While a group of four ghouls wouldn't be unusual, their presence this close to a supposed survivor settlement raised questions and Cat knew that Ghouls often flocked in groups, sometimes big groups. She had heard of one that a squad from her former place had encountered which was 15 ghouls packed in a single building. They had only 1 survivor out of 20 since they got surprised and swarmed, not expecting such numbers. So standard protocol since then was assume the worst.

🧚🏻‍♀️ The Walking Dead - Year 6 Part 1

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Amelia Payne Location: Mess Hall→General Housing Skills: N/A

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In the end Riley and Amelia continued their meal in peace, not minding the chatter of the people that had more than gathered by this point. They didn’t dally too much and ate a bit fast, but it wasn’t rushed. They talked a bit about what they expected from their life in the camp from now on, given today’s events at the trial. A few points were made that a place with running legal system was a rather huge deal. Law could be said to be the greatest of human inventions in a way. Though in Amelia’s silent humble opinion, the ways to abuse laws was way more ingrained in humanity’s mentality.

“So, what do you think will happen to him now? After all, I know we will learn for certain later, but still.” Amelia asked Riley, as she was eating her food rapidly. She was hungry and wanted out of the gathered crowd.

“Well… they wouldn’t kill him… I don’t think they will anyways.” Riley replied.” I hope it’s exile or basically observation. Though whichever is chosen, I mostly hope it doesn't come back to bite us in the ass.” She replied.

“I know, I was for keeping him around and even now I feel off agreeing with that opinion, but it felt like the right thing to do.” Amelia quietly replied, receiving a hug. The two then continued their chatter for a bit more before finishing their food in haste and proceeding to put the trays away. It was a very quick meal, but with Amelia already having her fill of crowds today, it was probably better to leave early. In the end once outside, they headed to their new home, walking side by side and holding hands. All Amlia could think off while they walked on the peaceful street was the hope that this was peaceful living would continue for a long long while.

“Home sweet home.” Amelia said quietly once they entered their place.

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Lisa Mason Location: Mess Hall Skills: N/a

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“Indeed. Probably the one animal I’d love to have as a pet. Besides their quills make for excellent prank materials. Ever sat on one?” She asked with a huge grin.” Nearly the same as sitting on a spiky cactus… well not that I’ve experienced it, but on hand observations of others who have, collaborate with the theory.” She chuckled.” I should really talk with the expedition groups to keep an eye out for one if we could get one around here by some sheer miracle. Would be great to have around if for nothing else but as a nice communal pet for the kiddies. I doubt they’ve seen a live one.”

Lisa chuckled loudly at the ninja comment towards Thalia. That she was for some weird reason. The followup choking up at food brought her attention back to Guy with a raised eyebrow. Took her a moment to realize it was about the fabled Great Fuck Hunt. She started laughing aloud at this point.” Ohh yes, I forgot, sorry. No boys were present at the girls’ chat back then. It’s a girls’ only topic.” She found his expression incredibly amusing and kid of adorable, so innocent.” Alright, alright, it’s nothing too big, just a bit of an inside joke now.” She grinned.” Well… mostly anyways.” She added in teasing voice and narrowed her eyes on Guy in predatory manner.

“Hmm, you might just learn the meaning of the inside joke eventually at this rate.” She quipped and returned to finishing her meal with a very pleased and amused expression on her face. She closed her eyes and thought about the happenings from today, a more gentle smile graced her lips.

Frozen Darkness

"Another one will not come soon... Cold waves hit with rather big interval between one another." She replied, but nodded and stood up." I see your point though. Sooner we make it to a town the better it would be in the long run." With that she started to make sure her jacket was well closed and secured. She wasn't as heavily dressed and armored as Donny, so she had to make sure as much as possible of her body was covered and the least amount of heat could escape, thus the zipper on the jacket was pulled all the way up including the neck area.

"Thank you for the breakfast." She replied to him, getting to it and adding the water right awya." I could have used the one in my own cantine, but this's better and saves on my water alcohol mix." She chuckled and pulled a small spoon and began eating... rather devouring the food. She ate fast and big mouthfuls. In the end she was done before long.

"Alrigth, let's go." Cat stated and walked over to teh frozen door, knocking on it with the knuckles on her right hand a few times, just to confirm something then she pulled hte crowbar and with a well placed nudge, pull and push, the cracking of ice could be hearda as the frost gave way and soon the door creaked slightly open, then she pushed harder and harder until it was open enough so they could pass through which was admittedly ab it harder than she initially suspected, mostly because Donny's profile was a lot wider than her own. There was a distinct lack of something in the air as they made their way back into the metro tunnels proper. The cold wave had frozen everything, including whatever old sewege had cloged pipes in teh metrostation because the air was incredibly clear! Even for the underground, the incredibly cold air was very fresh and clear, one of the few times a person could find clear air. Still, breathing it was hard with the low temperatures it was at, so she pulled a piece of cloth and wrapped it around her mouth and neck, making a makeshift scarf to breath through and it made the cold air just a tad more bearable.

"We shouldn't be too far from the Underhaven place, maybe by tonight we should reach it, though we might meet scouts or perimeter guards first. Given the cold waves, they are likely completely isolated, so it must be formed within a place underground that they had completely closed off, so it should be easy to spot, unless it's even deeper hidden with tiny entrances instead."

With that she once more took point mostly because of better sense and also because with Donny at the rear since he was more armored, it would make any back ambushes less dangerous overall.