Tenma Tendo

Among the Ashes

Nino unconsciously flinched when Giovanni forced his hand to a grinding halt and told him not to wipe his face off with the inside of his hood. He tried to give the other the most questionable look a sick person could when he was instead given a female's shirt to wipe down his face. Knowing he had no room to argue and that if he didn't do it then Giovanni would probably do it himself, Nino nodded guiltily, patting down his forehead and cheeks with an embarrassed frown. Hopefully Catrina wouldn't mind...

Glad that Joe was compliant in helping their new allies, Nino watched as he took his leave, nodding silently to his words before closing his eyes and attempting to get at least a hour or so of sleep before they were forced to move on.

---

Still looking at the contents of the fridge, Catrina placed a hand under her chin, apparently deep in thought. This moment of concentration was quickly lost when she looked over at the sound of clapping.
"I thought you were gonna stay with Nino." She mused before hearing out what he had in mind. Was a feast really the right way to go? They're in the middle of a pretty bad situation, and received pretty bad news a few minutes prior...a feast just felt too festive. However, they would be wasting a lot of food otherwise.

"Um...sure. I think there's enough to make meatloaf and I guess a stew on the side? There's also some eggs too we could hard boil?" She said, scooting over slightly so that Giovanni to have a look inside the fridge. "B-But I don't know how to make any of it by myself. Usually my mo--" Na cut herself off before lowering her head, a shaky sigh escaping her mouth before she silently proceeded to pull out all the ingredients they could probably use.

Among the Ashes

I know right?? I'm super excited for the Tangled world and the Big Hero 6 world (especially since they haven't shown it yet). Yeah, when I saw Aqua, I was so sad because i knew we would probably have to fight her, not to mention it'll take longer for the gang to get to Ventus with Aqua all 'Norted' like that.

Among the Ashes

Sorry if my post seems very lack luster or anything. I was watching the Microsoft e3 press conference and the KHIII trailer made it hard to concentrate for a while.

Among the Ashes

Despite thinking Giovanni was such a sleaze upon the first encounter, seeing where he came from and putting his brother in such such a dangerous position, she couldn't help but congratulate the guy for making the right call. Even imagining what Italy was like in her state of mind was hard to do...how could she imagine a place like Hell, let alone living in it?

Catrina suppressed a scoff bubbling in her chest when Giovanni compliments their choice of housing, but before she could comment on his words, what he had to say next had the redhead look up with wide, teary eyes.
"W-We..?" She whispered, her tone shocked and hushed. "You'll s-stay with us? R-Really?" She continued before nodding dumbly at the rest of his questions. Knowing her parents, there had to be at least a few backpacks and a sewing kit lying around in case someone's clothes teared.

The redhead was startled when suddenly Alistair stood up, claiming he needed to do something alone before hurrying off without a response in return.
"Wait, A-Al..." Na slowly shuffled up to her knees in attempts to hurry after the boy, but before she could get to her feet, Giovanni stopped her. It sounded like he was talking from experience whether it be him or someone else.

Shaking her head quickly to try and focus, Catrina hurried out of her room, murmuring that she'd look for everything he asked for. As she passed any windows, Na shakily pulled at the curtains. She wasted no time collecting four medium sized backpacks, a sewing kit, non-perishable foods, and even some blankets. What had her stumped was the meat, protein and other perishable foods that would go to waste if they just left it all here. Her eyes moved to the stove wearily before looking back at the open fridge.

Meanwhile, Nino remained rested on his back, looking at Giovanni with a small frown.
"...You should go help her." He sighed out, pulling his hoodie collar up to wipe the sweat forming on his face.

Among the Ashes

"...I hate the both of you." Catrina said to the two able boys in the room, her tone more playful in Al's case while it being more serious in regards to Giovanni. She was, however, grateful when the later quickly put an end to the bickering, showing that he could at least act his age when he wanted to.

"Nuh-uh, nope, all animals are spooky in some way and you know it." She chided with a small nod before she was promptly given a run down of what the outside world was looking like. Ever since they separated from their parents, Catrina made a strong effort for them not to leave the house unless it was an emergency or with their parents. So hearing that so much has already gone to shit was extremely unnerving. Giovanni had every right to tell her off at this point; he and his brother knew a lot more then she could ever...

It wasn't until's Al's little outburst that it finally dawned on Na what probably transpired. What felt like invisible weights began pushing down on her shoulders, forcing her chest to tighten involuntarily. All she needed was one look from Giovanni to know what to expect. Complete crestfallen, mixed with an indescribable despairing look, Na began biting on her fingers, almost as if she couldn't control it. It hurt like hell, but it definitely felt better to feel pain then to feel whatever she was a few seconds prior.
"We...w-we need to find some p-place s-safer. W-We c-can't live here on o-our own. B-But...we c-can't...I-I c-can't..." Na couldn't hide the now heavy stutter in her words as heart began to beat wildly in her ears, knowing that what she was saying is pretty impossible if Giovanni observations were true; heck, they probably wouldn't even be here if he was wrong.

At this point Catrina was biting on her fingers so hard, they began to bruise and draw a bit of blood, tears quickly welling in her eyes, but she didn't seem to care. The only thing on her mind was how she was gonna take care of Alistair by herself. She could babysit, yeah, but take care of a human being on her own? She'd have to try for her brother's sake.
"Wh-What about Italy? H-How bad was...i-is it?" Catrina questioned, her eyes hidden by her bangs as she stared hard at the ground, forcing Al to sit next to her once she looked back up.

Among the Ashes

"OHMYGODBOTHOFYOUJUSTSTOPTALKING!! ANDALISTAIRGETYOURBUTTUPHERE!!!" The Irish girl snapped, her expression clearly annoyed with the both Al and the other man that her words began to slur together. This was a serious situation and both of them were being too silly for their own good; with Alistair she totally expected it, but this other guy had to at least be her age if not old and he was acting like a little kid! Fortunately, both Catrina and Nino were high enough up the stairs that neither could hear the barking coming from the lower floor. Also being a good thing was that her bedroom door had been wide open and out of use for quiet a while, so she simply slid in and let Nino lay down on top of the sheets.

Removing the thermometer from his mouth, Na could only frown at the temperature before setting it on the dresser next to the bed. She quickly got to work and began searching for the fever reducing pills, only to stop once she thought about it. She didn't know if water would be safe to drink on its own right now and the time it would take to boil would probably make Nino's fever worsen. Shaking her head a little, Na continued to look through the kit, sighing in relief at the sight of a drinkable fever reducer.

Na was grateful that Nino happened to be extremely compliant and take the medicine without even making a face, but the moment was short lived as both Alistair and the other guy hurried into the room just as she was putting away the medicine.
"Dogs have always been mean little beasts..." She murmured before moving on to more pressing matters. "Uh, fine I think. I gave him a fever reducer so he should be good after a while...oh, and it's not 'strangers' mind you. I'm Catrina and that's my little bro Alistair. This is OUR vacation home." She put emphasis in her words before narrowing her eyes. "Did the though ever cross your mind that maybe, just maybe, someone lived in this house and you could knock on the door like a normal person? If anything I should kick you out right now!" Catrina ranted with an angry scowl. "What are you even doing in this area in the first place? Shouldn't you have gone to, oh I don't know, a hospital?" She then questioned, pointing to Nino, who had been looking at looking at Giovanni, noting the tired look in his eyes.

Among the Ashes

No need to worry about length. Quality over quantity I say. Thanks for letting me know in advance though! :)

Yeah, that sounds like a plan. Something really horrible could go wrong prompting Joe to enter his badass mode, I can't wait!

Among the Ashes

Gosh this guy was getting really annoying, almost to the point that she wished Alistair hadn't missed the first time. This guy really thought he was in the right in all of this? Get real...however, if it helped get him to shut up then Na would roll with it. Just as she was getting use to his voice and having it act as white noise as she checked over the other boy, the sound of barking had her look over quickly. She was never a fan of dogs, or any animal, in the slightest, often relying on Al to drive them away of grab their attention so that she could be at peace.

Meeting eyes with the older man, Catrina could see the familiar sense of dread that normally came off of her when any animals were involved. Catching the javelin with ease and holding it with both hands tightly, Na furrowed her brows as she watched the man move over to the collapsed door in attempts to fix it. He was still going on about how this was his home now and that he got to choose where he slept and would let them stay if they brought Nino upstairs. It took all of Na's self restraint not to scoff and kick this guy out, but seeing that he was willing to comply under rules that didn't mean much and that kicking him out would probably mean she'd have to kick out the sick boy too, Na nodded quickly, knowing he'd have to talk to this guys once they were out of any danger.
"Yeah, sure, just hurry up okay?" There were three bedrooms in this house, that being their parents room which could go to this guy for now, and two smaller rooms that went to both herself and Al. She would give her room to the sick kid and just sleep in Al's room on the floor like she has been ever since the outbreak occurred.

Turning her attention back to said sick boy, Nino was his name apparently, Catrina pressed the javelin between her arm and her side before pressing both hands on his cheeks to have him look at her.
"Hey, can you hear me? We need to go upstairs, can you walk on your own?" She questioned, trying to get the boy to pay attention what she was saying. Instead, she got a dazed look and a slow nodded that wasn't very convincing.

Bringing her attention to Alistair who approached with the medicine kit, Na's eyes immediately moved to what the older man was doing to keep the door up.
"Sis, whats that idiot doing? Does he really think something like that will stop someone busting in? And even if it did, wouldn't they just come in through the windows?" He had a point, blocking the door with something like that wouldn't stop anyone from just bursting through. "...You're right Al, but blocking off all the windows would impossible at this point. We got his brother so let's put at least a little bit of faith in him, yeah?" She tried to explain while coaxing Nino to stand up, cringing faintly at how badly he was hallucinating, mumbling nonsense about not wanting jelly on his nonexistent sandwich.

They were almost immediately cut off by the older man telling them to hurry up.
"This is a lot harder than it looks, you know." She groaned as she wrapped her free arm around his waist and slowly began their walk to the stairs across the hall. Al's next statement had her halt her steps, bringing Nino back with her. "Let's trade. And don't be mean, he's trying to help." She scolded lightly before handing out the javelin and grabbing the medicine kit in the process. "Hold this." She prompted Nino, who managed to follow the directions. Not having enough time to worry about being sanitary, Catrina pulled out the thermometer and shoved it into the boy's mouth, mumbling quickly to keep his mouth shut before taking the kit back into her hand.

And with that, Na began the steady trek with Nino up the stairs and into her room.

Among the Ashes

yeah, Giovanni is definitely...a character. Got something up as well ^^

Among the Ashes

Catrina didn't mean to flinch back at the taller male's shriek, but she did anyways, dropping the butter knife in the process. If this had been any other pair of people, Na would have scrambled to grab her 'weapon' for safety, but watching the brown haired man wrongfully rant at her for not letting them freely intrude her family's home made her think the guy was just some nutjob that needed some help.

"Don't scare me like that! There's this thing called manners you know, people tend to use them when they first meet people to make a good first impression! Some people, am I right Nino?" Na directed her attention to the other boy, who nodded sleepily before letting his head rest back on the couch. Judging from both of their actions, it didn't look like they were going to leave any time soon... "Uh...sorry? But you do realize that you've walked into ou--" Before the redhead even had a chance to voice the rest of her thoughts, she was cut off by the man's unnecessary rambling.

"No idea of how to be polite… Still, I'd say I'm a gracious host, so I'll forgive your rude introduction, on the condition that you apologize. After that, you can feel free to live here in my home. I'm not a monster, after all." This guy couldn't be serious, could he? While this wasn't actually her home, she's been living here longer than him! What did she need to apologize for?! She opened her mouth again to counter the deranged male, but an awfully familiar cry had her look over curiously. "Get away from my big sister, ya pasta-munching shits!"

The girl could only watch as the oh so familiar javelin she remembered seeing upstairs flew through the air and into the wall a few inches away from the brown haired man's face. Although it was quite comical seeing the other freak out from the weapon coming out of nowhere, Na couldn't help but facepalm at her little brother's language. While her parents were perfectly fine with Alistair cursing, it always made the redhead a little uncomfortable.
"Language, Al! And didn't I say to stay put?" She called out over the man's whining, seeing the boy had yet to make himself seen. She only looked back at the intruders when the older one mentioned that he was only trying to help his brother, which she could admit looked like he wanted to puke. Poor boy...having such a weird guy for a brother.

Speaking of brothers, Na looked down as Alstair approached with the most uninterested face she's ever seen. It was quite adorable, if she did say so herself.
"Hey, sis. If society is really collapsing, it's ok to hit this guy until he stops talking, right?"

"Normally it would be, yes, but they look like they need some help...well at least that boy around your age does." She smiled, ruffling the boy's messy crimson locks before making her way to the two brothers. Okay, you, stop talking. You're making it hard for me to want to help you. Actually, could you go and fix the door? Leave the kid to me, alright?" Catrina frowned as she tried to separate the two before placing a hand on the boy's sweaty forehead, frowning at how warm he was. Glancing back at the brown haired man, Na spoke up again. "Is he infected? You touched him earlier so I wouldn't think so..." She questioned before asking Alistair to raid the medicine cabinet for something.