A Post-Apocalyptic Picnic Party

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"Deserted cities are the most dangerous of all," Rida replied, continuing to walk. She waved off Aexis' offer. It was only a few rods. "They're never truly abandoned. There's plenty of shelter in them, and food if you know where to look. You're right in that she couldn't have been alone, but it's also possible she's recently abandoned. I assume you've asked and got no answers. Is there anything you know for sure?"

Something felt delicate about the situation, but she couldn't put a finger on it. It was a useless feeling.
 
Aexis staid quiet for a very long time. She hid her hands in the many folds and crevices of her coat, not wanting them to look useless. Hidden inside, she could wring and scratch at them as she tried to come up with an answer. Aexis never liked to admit that she did not know something, or worse, was confused. She was always adamant and all-knowing. She generally worked to never be in a situation for which she did not already know the answer for.

"To know anything truly I would need evidence." a shadow of a smile appeared in the corners of her lush lips, because as soon as she had said it, she realized the irony in it all. She had wanted to convince Rida in being on her side, but for that to succeed she needed the evidence she had come to look for in the first place. Perhaps in the end it would have been better if she had not engaged Rida in conversation this soon.

"But she did not act as an abandoned child. It makes the situation all the more mysterious."
 
"Not enough," Rida said, shaking her head.

They were nearing the camp now. Robin must have spoken to Daylily. Rida could see the challenge in her face. She could see the child too, diligently helping them build a rack to dry the fish on. That was a good sign. It meant Daylily had been successful in her scavenging.

"Welcome back," she said, touching the child's shoulder gently. "This is Lizzie. I found her earlier today, alone."

"I've heard," Rida replied, putting the rods on the ground.

"What did you hear?"

"Not much."

"Was it bad?"

"No. Just questionable."

"What was questionable about it?"

"Let her speak for herself."

The girl, not at all shy, walked up to Rida and held out a hand.

"Hi," she said. "My name is Lizzie. Nice to meet you!"
 
Robin had, indeed talked to Daylily about the whole situation and how Aexis was totally "trying to win Rida over". Before he felt threatened by the announcement that the group had gotten a surprise new member, remembering the last time he had had to beg Rida to let him stay with them. He had a feeling he would not be given a second chance if the circumstances were ever dire enough that they'd have to lose a member. The kid would've surely win over him. He could fend for himself, while the child could not.
Despite such venomous thoughts regarding the small girl, his demeanor had changed almost instantly upon entering camp. The two of them hit it off immediately, she was just too cute to hate. Robin had always been a little wishy-washy, so this was really nothing new. Now, he was spending his time helping the other two members of his party set up that same drying rack. He scowled a little when Day and Lizzie immediately stopped working in favor of talking to Rida, but continued on working not saying a word, hoping to appear a little more hard-working than he actually was. Of course, that didn't mean he wasn't listening in on the whole conversation, even if his opinion didnt seem to be of any concern to anybody else.

Aexis wasn't all to eager to resume work either. She felt she was a necessary component of this talk. Rida would need a reminder of what was right by her side. She did not even as much as glance at Daylily, instead her white eyes bore right into the small girl. Same cold, watchful gaze as it had been before. Her brows furrowed further when she heard Lizzie introduce herself, saying the exact same words she had just some hours before when introducing herself to Aexis. She shuddered. There was definitely something off about this child.

"This is Rida, shes our...leader. Would you like to tell Rida what you told Daylily earlier? About your situation." She motioned to the other woman as she spoke, even bending down a little to be more on Lizzie's eye-level as silly as it seemed from someone as Aexis. You would half-expect her to start doing baby-talk with how gently she was treating the girl.
 
"No, no, not the leader," Rida said, shaking her head and bending down to shake the girl's hand. "They just treat me like it. Nice to meet you, Lizzie."

In front of her the girl beamed. "You're much friendlier than that one!" she said, pointing to Aexis. Leaning forward, she whispered, "She doesn't like it when you call her the blue one."

"Why don't you call her Aexis, then," Rida smiled. She turned to her. "You didn't even introduce yourself? Be polite, Aexis." Then, she turned back to Lizzie. "Since Daylily has been quite good at finding food, why don't you tell us all about who you are and where you're from over some canned stew?"

"Okay!" Lizzie said, beaming. "It'll be like a picnic party! A post-apocalyptic picnic party!"


Daylily smiled. It wasn't an acceptance, but it was a start. She had known she could have trusted Rida to at least give the newcomer a chance.

"Thank you," she said quietly, when the others were nearer to the warm flames.

"Please don't do this again," Rida sighed.
 
Aexis rolled her eyes at Rida's correction, finding her constant denial of the obvious completely unnecessary. As humble as she liked to play, that was still the role she played the most. By the time the two got to talking, Aexis was already shooting daggers with her eyes at the small child. She called her 'that one' again! Her blood was practically at boiling point just thinking about what an incredibly rude insolent child the little girl was. She was shaken enough to only reply with a low grumble of " I'll be sure to remember that," when Rida addressed her, calling her the rude one for not accommodating the kids needs and wishes.
She wen to sit with the others in relative silence, favoring a spot opposite of Rida and the other two girls across the fireplace.

The occasional crack of branches and loud huffs reminded the party of its one still working member, Robin, who had just decided to wait until he was invited, or finished this thing. He was, actually, almost done.
"You guys want me to get you some bowls or somethin' over there?" He shouted over the clearing of their camp, seeing as they were all settled in and ready to eat and he just so happened to be near all their supplies. He was still mostly against getting involved in the whole Lizzie situation, which he was sure would soon turn ugly and loud, so really, he was happy to just keep working and as far away from the quarreling women as possible.

So, he fetched the bowls and spoons for them, bringing them over fairly quickly, and, just as quickly, being gone back to his old spot at the other end of the camp.
Begrudgingly, Aexis set on to fill the bowls, so as to at least have something to do. If someone had thanked or as much as acknowledged Robin, it definitely hadn't been her.
 
"So Daylily told me she found you all alone," Rida began, stirring the bowl of stew in her hand while it cooled. "You must be real tough to be able to wander around like that by yourself."

"It wasn't that long," she said.

"Well, tell us all about it," Rida said, encouraging her.

She wasn't sure what she expected the child's story to be. When she had told Daylily that they were simply gone, it had been true enough. She'd lost her parents months ago, and had hopped from group to group. She'd been separated from the last one during the storm they had all been caught in. They'd told her to wait, and hadn't returned. Then she'd found Day.

There was enough minute detail in the story for Rida to assume it was true, but the biggest gaps, revealing the largest questions, remained vague.

How had she managed to become accepted into all those groups? She knew very well that some people could be dangerous.

Why did the other groups keep abandoning her? If she escaped from them, why didn't she say so?

She had spoken about people, but as if they were old classmates. She didn't seem to miss anyone severely, yet now, she seemed to look at Daylily like a sister, if not a mother.
 
Aexis felt conflicted. Now, not only was this child suspicious, but there was also a high possibility of another group of scavengers roaming around here somewhere. And if they had the guts to leave this helpless child alone, who knew what they were capable of. Before, she had thought the child had been alone for a while, but now it had come to light that it was only yesterday that she had been orphaned.

The deeper they dug, the more dirt came up. This was definitely, definitely not good. She looked to Rida with a firm look, almost a glare, trying to look for any signs of what the older women was thinking and which way she would sway.

"It's not safe for us to be here." She announced, since nobody else was wishing to speak, instead buried in their own thoughts or bowls of stew. Aexis, personally, had not touched hers at all. The bowl lay in front her as she sat crosslegged on the ground. She glanced at Lizzie from the corner of her eye, hesitating a moment, before continuing," If Daylily assumes full responsibility of Lizzie, we keep her, there is still danger of retaliation from this other group. Especially if the child has only been lost."
 
"It is for now," Rita said, looking up. "But we'd better put out the fire after it gets dark. It may not be completely safe here, but starting to travel so close to night, and without Aaron and Erin, is risky."

Those two were also wildcards. Aaron had been brought along to be the buff one, and they'd met Erin soon after they had left. She'd pulled her weight and more, but more and more frequently, they kept disappearing off together without any regard for the group. When she'd arrived to the group earlier to find them gone, she hadn't even bothered asking; It had almost become normal for them to be absent. Still, both were capable fighters and hard workers.

"We're more hidden under a bridge than out in the open," Rida continued. "It's impossible to know where they'll look, and choosing disguise instead of distance might be a better option in this scenario."

"But," Lizzie said, interrupting, "Why would they be looking for me?"
 
" Not you...but any idiot smart enough take you from 'em..." Came Robin's voice in a gravely tone. He even looked pale, and had stopped his working when he heard the group mentioning 'danger' and "risky", and "retaliate'? He barely knew what that even meant, though he also had no intention of finding out. "Oh God, were doomed!"

"We are not."Aexis seemed a little peeved when she had to raise her voice just to overpower Robin's whimpering, which, despite the interruption continued on about all the terrible little things that may happen to them and how they could never fight off any attackers with the way they were now and oh god, they must've already gotten Erin and Aaron. "There is equal chance of this group having been trapped or damaged somehow by the storm. They may have simply vanished. Even left the girl. It is simply precaution."

"Well, somebody should stand on watch tonight! I-I'm not sleeping if there's a bunch of killers after us!" Robin had practically jumped the several steps towards the fire and the group, now standing and looking frantically at the four women. "I mean, maybe," He later added, stammering a little with the embarrassing cowardice he had just displayed, and adding that just seem at least a little less jumping to conclusions that he had just shown.
 
"Calm down, Robin," Daylily said, gently patting him on the shoulder.

"Robin, shut up," Rida said, tossing her empty soup bowl at him.

He fumbled, but caught it anyway.

"If you're not sleeping tonight, then you get first watch," Rida said. "And make sure you salt the fish, since we won't have time for drying it. Day, you too. Keep him awake."

Useless shit.

With a sigh, Rida stood up, found her blanket roll, and lay down with her back against the bridge. Some of the others favoured a sleeping bag, but she didn't like how restrictive they were. In any case, the weather was still manageable.

"Wake me when Erin and Aaron get back," she said. "I need to speak with them."
 
((sobs. i luv rida so much))​

Robin looked down at the empty clay bowl. He never felt good when Rida talked to him. It never meant anything good. Even as she continued giving orders, he simply stared at the bowl and the bits and pieces stuck to it on the inside. He looked guilty, like a child being scolded, like he'd actually done something wrong, though for once, he knew he had actually been right! He had to have been otherwise Rida wouldn't have asked Day to do it too. Oh, crap, Day... Look at what my big mouth has gotten us into again, he thought miserably to himself as the leftovers sloshed around in the bowl. He supposed he should just comply with her orders. He also guessed that clean-up was on him too. At least he had managed to gobble down this own stew while the others had talked, so he wasn't hungry.
"I'm sorry, Day..." He said softly, too embarrassed to look her in the eyes. He extended a hand towards her. "I'll wash the dishes." He stole a glance towards Aexis, unsurprised at this point, to find her bowl still full. She never ate heated food. Only cold. Well, whatever. She could just wash her own bowl later, Robin decided.

Aexis, meanwhile, had taken out her book again. It was still light enough to see something, especially by the fire, and especially with her eyes. Aexis generally always stayed up late, sometimes even later than Erin and Aaron, who, when not off on their little adventures, liked to talk long into the night.
She was always reading the same book. Back in the day Robin had tried to be friendly with her and ask what it was, but she'd never given a straight answer. Once, he had even grabbed it from her, that one time, when they found that box of wine some months back. Even then she had silently ripped it away from him before he could read anything. He'd only seen a blur or very small, very tightly hand-written letters. Since then Robin had been convinced it was her diary, though he'd never seen her write in it. He was sure she knew how, at least.

Aexis glanced from her book minutely, to respond to Rida's order with a "Yes, Rida" and taking a small survey look around.
"I do not think they will be back for some time. Lizzie can take one of their sleeping bags." She quickly returned to her book after she said this, not wanting Day start suggesting that Aexis should show Lizzie where they are, or even worse, help her and tuck her in for bed or something else just as asinine. To bond, of course. Still, Aexis was the only one at camp not doing anything.
 
(hehe, thank you. I love how fumbly Robin is :D)

"Sleepytime!" Lizzie said enthusiastically, tossing her bowl to Robin as well and scrambling towards the sleeping bag. She didn't seem to need any help.

Daylily laughed softly, patting Robin's shoulder as he awkwardly caught the second bowl. "Fast learner," she said.

"Don't worry about it. I don't know how you've never realised, but you never really keep watch alone." She leaned closer to whisper into his ear. "You know, once I woke up when you were on watch, and Rida was wide awake. Still lying back against something, but awake."

She giggled and patted him on the back again. "You do the dishes, then put out the fire. Aexis, read quickly. The sooner that fire goes out the better. We're leaving it for now because the bowls wash better with warmer water." Then she found a spot beside Rida, kneeled on her feet, and wrapped the bag around her like a blanket. She didn't lie down, knowing she'd fall asleep. "You cover the other side," she called to Robin. "Rida, you next?"

"Sure," she said.

"Great," Day smiled, shifting her weight for more comfort. "Oh, Robin; try to pack up whatever we don't need for breakfast tomorrow." She turned to Rida. "Better to be as ready as possible to leave, right?"

"Right."

"Awesome! We'll be off tomorrow. See, Aexis? Everything will be fine."
 
((theyre all just a lovable ragtag group of misfits smh.))​

Robin seemed to only become more miserable as this went on. He'd almost had a heart attack catching the other bowl. He really didn't want anything breaking and drawing any more attention to him. He practically half-sobbed half-whimpered in response to Daylily's fun-fact regarding Rida, thinking it must've been some time that he had slept on the job or something equally as terrible and as much of a great reason for Rida to punish him as any. He must've looked at Day with the biggest glassiest puppy-dog-eyes he could've before sighing and scurrying off to fetch another pot and boil some water for the dishes. He stole a worried glance at the pot of stew, but found it not entirely empty, so thats at least one dish he would not need to scrub till exhaustion. Not that any of them were that dirty.
He really envied Lizzie there. She didn't have a care in the world, and she could sleep. Meanwhile, Robin had been working all day fishing with Rida( even though it was more sitting and waiting than working) and he felt the self-pity in him growing. He sure was tired... He could use some sleep too. And most of all, he just wished Aaron and Erin would come back already. At least then there were too many people buzzing around the camp for anybody to bother or even notice Robin.

Aand of course. Another chore. Day wanted him to pack all their stuff too. Wash the dished, salt the fish, pack the bags, stay on guard duty all night- it's like they were doing this on purpose! Robin only grumbled in response to this, which hilariously enough was in unison with Aexis, who didn't even raise her eyes from the book, neither liking what Day was implying, nor caring enough to explain she was not that worried in the first place. Just theorizing.

And so it all fell into place, just as any other night. Quiet and calm. Some hushed words escaped the mouths of the nightguards, but only on occasion. Robin still worked and was packing up food, looking rather miserable and seemingly chewing something, though it was rather hard to tell. Aexis had curled up with hers and the other remaining sleeping bag by the now extinguished fire, using the material as a makeshift pillow. There was no breeze and even the river across lay still, only the growing moon reflecting in it's dark waters. At a time like this, you really couldn't imagine this place being anything but a lush,serene haven.
 
Daylily took a deep breath in peace as the others slept, and Robin worked away. He was carefully salting the fish. She'd found another box of salt a few days ago, but it hadn't been pure enough for long term preservation. She watched as he carefully packed them away, though mostly to make sure he didn't mess up. She worried about him, but it was hard to deny that he was the heaviest weight in the group. He did his best, but his best could easily be replaced by anyone.

She kept an eye on him through the night, only sighing to herself when he sat back against some bags and promptly fell asleep. She woke him with some tossed stones before she shook Rida awake for the next shift.
 
((ok uh...sickness is sort of,kinda, somewhat in the ending phase... its the weekend... im like a whole week late.... time 2 finally reply to this.
god im so sorry ive been rly shitty with this ;____; ))

Robin was jerked awake by the pelting of stones, most pebbles landing on his feet and mostly waking him by noise, rather than pain of any kind. Still it left him quiet shook up, especially when he realized he had fallen asleep. Watching the poor boy wake and panic, it was probably surprising he hadn't screamed or yelped when realizing his mistake. There was certainly a lot of fear and shame in his eyes when he searched for Daylily and Rida in the dark of the night. His sense of time had never been the best, so when he saw Daylily move towards Rida to wake her up, he was sure it was not to switch shifts, but instead to tell on Robin. It was funny of him to jump to that conclusion, really, considering in what high regard he held Daylily. But still he did, and it stung.​
"Please dont!" He sort of half-shouted, half-whispered, wanting to be heard, but not wanting to wake the others( and God forgid, Rida herself). He got up quickly from his post, obviously determined to stop Daylily himself if she wouldn't listen, mumbling about how it had only been a moment, he was just resting his eyes or anything of the like. Even though it really had been only a few seconds, still his first movements had been sluggish and disorientated.​
 
(You live!! I am glad you are feeling better :D )

"What?" Daylily said softly, looking up. Most of the time, she felt sorry for Robin, but this was one of the times she wanted to gently slap him for being stupid. She had only touched Rita for a moment, but the woman was already stirring, so telling Robin to look like he'd been awake was out of the question. "Our shift is up, you can go sleep now," she said, trying to convey the secondary message with a wide-eyed look.

By now, Rita was awake. She hadn't seemed to move, but there was an alertness in her eyes. She had the uncanny ability to tell her mind to stop being sleepy when she was awoken, though she could get as weary as any of them if they had been up late. "Hey," Daylilly said. "Nothing new."

"Ugh," Rita murmured. She didn't make any other sound. Just scanned the campsite, eyes pausing to glare at Robin for a bit, then sighed. Beside her, Daylilly wiggled into her sleeping bag, all alertness turned off with her shift.
 
((ye i guess lol. still coughin tho smh i have a feeling this isnt going to go away for a long while))

Robin looked absolutely mortified at the awoken Rida, forgetting even the thought of sleep as he saw her. The look she threw him made him feel so guilty he forgot all about the fact he really had nothing to feel guilty of. He felt like he'd done something wrong again and wasn't supposed to sleep. Not allowed to. He was tired enough to paint Rida crueler than she actually was, and expected her to say something like ' Robin, you need to stay up all night and stand guard!'. So, for a little while he stayed completely still and waited for something of the sort escape Rida's mouth. He stirred a little only when he realized no attack was going to come after all. Still a little confused on whether he should be crawling into his sleeping bag or continuing the endless chores, he decided to engage Rida in conversation, before she did it, in a manner much less friendly towards him, he expected.
"Erin and Aaron didn't come back yet, Rida," He informed her, " I packed our stuff though, and the fish, too."
 
(Lemons and melons and garlic and ginger!)

"If they had," Rida said softly, "Daylily would have woken me. Are you asking for a pat on the back for doing your share?"

It was no mistake that they disliked each other - in fact, everyone had a quiet resentment for him. She knew that Daylily did too, but she had forgiven him more than anyone else had. She hadn't forgotten, though.

Their departure from the prospering religious hamlet Rosswood had been secret and selfish. A haven for the old and the disabled, gatherers and farmers made up only half of the population. The rest made their contributions through useful craft. They had all wandered in over the years, uncomfortably athiest, and when famine struck, they planned to leave, just to own the fruits of their own labour. Hunger didn't easily let you share with old carvers and weavers.

Robin had been the neighbourhood brat: greedy and deluded and untouchable because his father commanded respect with an iron fist and a silver tongue. "I'm hungry too," he had said, "Take me with you or I'll tell my father."

They had, and in one week, they had all beat him to quiet submission. He had stayed because of the terror of being alone, and they had let him because of how hard he tried. Nothing more.

((ok maybe we should figure out backstory before we continue in case I should edit this; since Robin is technically your char at this point haha oops; but yes consider this a liquid post))
 
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(( wait, melon? Ive never heard of that one 8O whats that supposed to do.
and lol abt Robin. i rly cant see him as having been an important figure EVER. mby just used to the comfort of rosswood but otherwise eh.))

Robin mustered to answer, but the more Rida talked the more nervous Robin became and the harder it got to think up a good answer. "I-... I just... wanted to catch you up on everything." He mumbled apologetically. He shuffled from one foot to the other awkwardly, not quite sure what to do further. Was he free to go to sleep now?
He glanced around the darkness clad camp, killing time with the pretense of looking for either his sleeping bad or something new to do, depending on what Rida thought was what he's supposed to do. Though Rida's words to him were never sweet, he was still quite used to her disappointment in him and the bossing around. He hoped she'd get annoyed with him just standing there and tell him what to do sooner or later.

Camp was nice and quiet though. It had gotten colder as the hours passed, but it didn't seem any of the sleeping figures minded, though he saw Lizzie tossing once in a while. He wrote it off as just the type of thing a hyperactive kid would do. Aexis lay still by the firepit, an Daylily had now joined them both. Robin felt tired, too. Wasn't it Aexis turn now?
 
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