After the Desolation- Rebuilding the World

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C

Charlie Vasilyev

Guest
Plot Henrietta Gulyas Aiden Pyrel
  • Starting the early 2020s the third world war broke out only this one was different because most participants were building or had nuceal capabilities. It was long and bloody and in the end nuclear weapons were used. Many countries were wiped out.
    The USA had been building vaults and shelters during the war and many citizens survived hiding there. Still most of the country was left on the surface to suffer the consequences of nuclear fall out. Most died, but some survived burned and mutated. As year went on the nuclear wasteland that was once the US also moved on. Where cities once were grown over rubble now stood. The animals and humans thta lived mutated to survive. The climate even changed putting the US ever present extremes. Extreme heat or extreme cold with very few 'moderate' months in between.
    Years kept moving and things fell into a way of life. In the vaults people lived under the thumb of their director. Some were strict some lenient. Some vaults were evacuated because systems failed, revolutions ended others, and still other survived by harsh punishment and extreme control.
    There are roaming gangs and nomads that have been thrown out of or escaped vaults on the surface, but what the surface dwellers and shelter dwellers don't know is that the vaults were never built to last this long. The time will come when everything will stop running and working. Then it will be seen who will survive.


  • Name: Henrietta Sari Gulyas

    Nickname: Retta, Ri, Henri

    Age: 19

    Gender: Female

    Orientation: Straight

    Likes: People, water, drinking, music, her denim jacket(She likes the patches), colorful things, flowers,

    Dislikes: Feeling used, being alone, the night, her past, sleeping

    Why They're Out Of The Underground: She was thrown out of her vault for stealing alcohol.

    Personality:

    Impulsive- Henrietta is very impulsive. She tends to act without thinking and doesn't have the best self control. She has hyper-sexual tendencies and tries to hide problems by distracting herself and keeping herself busy with other things. She will get into fights, steal things, and make poor decisions and deals just to keep herself from having to think about her past or why she does what she does.

    Extroverted- Henrietta enjoys being around people which can be a problem in the wilderness where friends are hard to come by. She tends to get anxious and depressed because she has nothing to distract herself with. Being around people gives her energy and helps her keep her mind busy. Henrietta also cares for people a lot which is hard to see because of how jumpy her attention is, buts he truly does care for others.

    Energetic/Jumpy- Henrietta has a lot of energy. She tends to be hyper which helps her keep going for the days where it's dangerous to sleep because of gangs or mutants in the area. Her energy is very vibrant. When around others she talks a lot and is very jumpy and exciteable. She doesn't focus too well either so her conversations are very flighty.

    Lonely- Even when around others Henrietta tends to feel isolated and alone. Which is why she overcompensates with being high energy and very friendly. Because of her past Henrietta feels like she can't connect with others easily. She depression issues, but can hid it around others because people give her the energy to hide stuff. When alone she doesn't have that energy to care anymore.

    Bio: Henrietta was born in one of the harsher vaults. It was very strict about who was useful and who was useless. Her father, who was a nurse, was thrown out when she was 4 because he was stealing narcotics. This was also the time the twins were born.

    Kata and Abraham were born early and Kata was born with CP in her left leg. The director of the vault gave her mother a choice. Give him Henrietta or Kata gets kicked out because she was considered 'useless' due to disability. The deal was secret of course and required for Kata to stay hidden so that other families didn't try to cut deals also.

    Her mother chose to give Henrietta to the director. Henrietta lived with him until she was 15. A week after her 15th birthday it was discovered that Henrietta had been stealing alcohol from the small supply the vault had which was used to reward people the director favored or rarely as a reward when the vault was doing well. Stealing in the vaults was considered one of the worse crimes because of how limited certain supplies were especially as rare as some things were.

    Upon being thrown out Henrietta didn't have anything. She wasn't allowed to take any supplies to take with her. The vaults policy was if anyone was caught stealing they would be released into the wilderness with one pair of clothes, but no shoes and no supplies. This was discourage stealing even in the lowest class of the vault.

    Henrietta hooked up with several gangs as she wandered using prostitution as her form of paying because she had no other skills.

    Looks: The young woman stands at 4'11" and is rather thin from her time in the wilderness. She has very small muscle definition from getting stronger but is also very spindly. Her curves though their are relatively small from malnutrition.

    Henrietta is part Hungarian, part Israeli, and part British. Her skin is a light brown and now after 4 years in the wilderness is deeply tanned and dirty. She has plenty of scars on her body. There are a lot on her legs and feet from her first weeks and months in the wilderness and also on her arms and chest from fighting and sometimes her form of 'trade' got rough.

    Henrietta has black slightly wavy hair that's greasy and filthy because of how little she gets to perform personal hygiene. She hacked it up with a knife recently because she thought it was getting too long and too nasty. It hangs over her ears a bit and unevenly around her neck and forehead. She has moderately thick eyebrows and rather thick eyelashes.

    Her eyes are a very deep blue with a star burst of gray near the middle and specks of brown in them. Her nose is a button nose and her lips are thin. Her right ear is normal, but her left ear looks mangled because when she was first out one of her 'clients' shot at her after he felt he didn't get a good enough end of the deal. It missed her barely, but ripped up her ear and deafened her in that ear.

    Henrietta's hands are small and by now well calloused and scarred. Her nails are bitten to the quick because when she gets anxious she bites them. Her feet are also relatively small.

    Wears: She wears a dingy tan t-shirt that used to be white, but now is more sandy brown if anything. Her pants are a set of faded desert camoflouge cargo pants that have rips at the edges and are getting threadbare at the knees and her boots are a pair of brown kids work boots she traded for years a go.
    She has a coyote tan backpack she also traded for also a few years ago. It's a military bag with velcro on the outside for patches and strips you can hook flashlights and the like too.
    She has a faded denim jacket with various odd patches in her bag she uses in the winter.
    She has a milk jug filled with water she keeps slung on some rope over her shoulders.

    Other: She is deaf in her left ear.

    Henrietta bites her nails when anxious.

    Her gear is a mismash of old military stuff and work type clothes. She got most of her gear during her first year in the wilderness.

    Most of her 'trades' now she still uses prostitution for because she refuses to trade her equipment for fear of losing her things.

    Most of her trades now are to use water filling places and get food.

    Henrietta never sticks around with one gang because despite it being her choice to sell herself she eventually starts feeling used and unable to form any deep connections will runaway and move on.

    Family:

    Mother- Riva Miriam Gulyas

    Father- Gregory Edvard Gulyas

    Sister- Katalinka Lily Gulyas

    Brother- Abraham Gregory Gulyas

    Theme Song(s):

    I Will Not Bow ~ Breaking Benjamin

    Creator: @Charlie Vasilyev


  • Name: Aiden Pyrel

    Nickname: Peacock

    Age: 18

    Gender: Male

    Orientation: Straight

    Likes: Being around others, Certain types of pain, Feeling useful

    Dislikes: Doing Nothing, Laziness in general, Deep water (he has a fear of drowning),

    Why They're Out Of The Underground: His father got kicked out, and since his mother left with his father, he joined them.

    Personality:

    Tolerant: He is willing to listen to the opinions of others and not degrade them for what they believe, especially there he knows there are questionable things about himself.

    Charismatic: If the mood seems low, Aiden is good at using words and action to pick up the mood and motivate those that are down.

    Selfless: This is not always a positive trait. In many cases, he will put others above himself, even at the risk of his own health. There are a few specific cases where he will put himself first when it means no physical harm will come to the other person.

    Prideful: It is this trait along with his looks that earned him his nickname of Peacock: the pretty boy with an attitude. Being prideful can be negative, but he tries to make it as positive as he can and only struts himself around someone he considers a friend.

    Bio:
    Aiden doesn't remember much of his time in the vault. He remembers the people were fairly kind, at least to him, but they were also strict because they had to be. He was only there until the age of 5, since during that year his father, Seth, got kicked out for his lack of willingness to help. His mother was not willing to leave him, so she went with and so Aiden came along also.

    His memories of the vault are limited, whereas his memories of the surface are clear as day. The first year above ground was fairly uneventful, with the three of them wandering around, but after that, his father took control of one of the wandering games, and it was with that gang he lived for the next 11 years.

    Life for him was fairly simple. As a young child he made friends out of some of the other permanent members of the gang, and as he grew older he learned how to better survive. Unfortunately, as the years passed his relationship with his father started to crumble. The two of them began to argue about many things, the biggest one being that Aiden took pleasure in inflicting pain upon himself, something he figured his father would never understand.

    A chance at understanding would never be given since Seth was killed in front of him by someone he had thought was a friend of their family. The killer told him to leave unless he wanted to suffer the same fate. With no other choice, he fled. The seventeen year old quickly turned 18, and he spent his time trying to survive while hoping he would one day be able to return to the mother he had to leave behind, praying that she was doing ok.

    Looks:
    Aiden stands at 5'8" and has a weight (that used to be an average of 120 lbs) has been dropping since the incident that led him to being on his own.

    His hair is black and hangs down to his neck, expect for his bangs which hang down slightly passed his nose since it has grown and he has not taken the chance to cut it. It stands out against his paling skin, since most of his traveling has been done at night when he is least likely to accidentally run into the gang he was kicked from, fearing what might happen if he did.

    The middle of his irises are a seafoam green, the edges blending into a more darker blue. His eyes are soft, like the rest of his facial features. The right side of his bottom lip is pierced, something he convinced a friend to make for him as a way to spite his father. It hadn't been easy to get what was needed for the piercing, but he had managed to work out a deal.

    Clothing is whatever he finds to wear, normally a plain t-shirt and a pair of jeans. Shoes are another story as his recently became unwearable so he is looking for something else to wear, so as of right now his feet are bare. He was lucky enough to find a backpack so puts anything useful he finds in it.

    Aiden small

    Other:
    Aiden is a masochist, but he is anything but submissive.

    He wants nothing more than to return to his Momma, the person he loves the most in this world.

    He is not doing as well on his own as he thought he would.


    Family:
    Seth Pyrel- Father- Deceased
    Unnamed mother- Alive
    Adrian Pyrel- Uncle- Unknown

    Theme Song(s):

    Soliders ~ Otherwise

    Creator: @Icystorm
 
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Aiden blinked in surprise when Henrietta started walking back in nothing but her soaking clothes. That was not going to do her any good and only help her get sick. He swore under his breath as he began to follow her. The least she could have done was put something on. Who cares if it would have gotten wet. It would have helped her stay warmer and it would be easy enough to dry everything tomorrow so long as the sun was out.

Catching up to her, he glanced at his shirt that he was carrying and did his best to drape it over her shoulders. It was not much at all, but he could see how cold she was getting so she needed at least a little warmth. Thankfully they were almost there, so she could get warm in a few minutes. And then he would have to busy himself with warming her up, because it didn't seem likely she would do much for herself in this state.

Once the reached the cabin, he made her sit down on the couch. "Change into something warmer while I get a fire going. And wrap yourself up in the blanket when you are done. We don't need you getting sick." Hoping she would obey what he told her to do, he walked over to the wood burning stove in order to try to figure out how it worked. It was not something he had ever used before, so he didn't want to mess anything up and end up burning the cabin down.
 
Henrietta stood up from the couch and pulled off her underwear and bra before pulling her trousers on again and her t-shirt. She took her jacket out of her bag and put that onto too. She wrapped the blanket around her and sat back on the ouch. She was honestly starting to feel odd, tired, woozy even. Standing up Henrietta picked her boxers and bra up and went and tosse dthem into the bathroom to dry. She then went and stood next to Aiden,

"What ya doin'?" she asked him as she stared at the stove. The happy part of her intoxication was quickly sleeping away and it was replaced with extreme drowsiness and exhaustion. She could feel herself swaying slightly on her feet from it and, without waiting for Aiden's to answer her question she turned and walked back to the couch.

In the back of her mind she knew she didn't want to steal the blanket from Aiden so she grabbed it and went into the bedroom collapsing onto the queen sized mattress. If Aiden wanted to join her they could both have the blanket and a soft place to sleep now! Henrietta pulled the blanket over her and curled up closing her eyes and quickly falling into a deep, alcohol induced sleep.
 
Aiden continued to inspect the stove, turning his head once to make sure she was doing as he told her. Satisfied that she was, he continued to look over the strange object but for the life of him could not figure out how to fully work it. He wasn't going to be able to work it on his own, and he became hopeful when he heard Henrietta speak next to him, but before he could answer she walked off. So much for that. They could go the night without a fire.

With a shake of his head, he stood up and noticed that she was no longer in the room. A quick search revealed that she had went to the bed and fallen asleep. With the blanket he had found. Whatever, she needed it more than he did tonight. He found himself staring at her longer than as necessary, but finally deciding not to worry about anything else, he went outside to grab his backpack that was still by the remnants of his earlier fire.

He ended up staying outside longer than first planned, and when he finally stepped back into the cabin there were newly formed marks on his neck, but he was also in a far more relaxed state. Smiling, he set his bag down next to the couch and collapsed onto the piece of furniture, wrapping his small blanket around him and falling into a deep slumber.
 
Henrietta woke up the next morning and sat up in bed. While she hadn't been black outd runk and did remember last night her memories were sort of hazy. She wrapped the blanket around her shoulders as she yawned and looked outside. The sun was rising, she hadn't been out for too long, but it was a longer sleep then she normally had. Standing up Henrietta walked outside and tossed the blanket on Aiden's sleep form before stepping outside.

Looking around Henrietta saw the jar and lid on the ground and the burnt out logs. Grabbing the bottle she went inside and put it on the counter, she could fill that with water later. While the young woman did have a small head ache she didn't actually have a huge hang over which was good for her at least.

Henrietta looked around the small cabin, they probably needed more wood if they wanted regular fires. She grabbed her bag and started to quietly search through it for her flint. Her knife would be the steal, maybe she could get a fire going before Aiden woke up maybe make up for being a total idiot last night. And then they'd at least have coals they could keep stoked for better fires later on. Finally finding her flint Henrietta got some wood from outside, some starter, a couple larger sticks, and a thick log. Arranging them in the stove she took her knife out and started to work on creating sparks with the flint and steal to start a fire.

It was colder this morning so it would be nice to a have going, maybe find some stuff to cook. They didn't have much in the way of dishware. Henrietta had the mason jars, though only one was empty. She didn't to inventory her bag later today or tonight see what she still had and she wat Aiden had. Then they'd need to know what they needed to make or find.
 
The sound of footsteps pulled Aiden's attention away from the large body of water in front of him. The setting sun cast a variety of colors over the water, but of course the peaceful moment had to be disturbed. He began to turn around, but before he could see who it was, he was pushed over the cliff he stood on and was sent tumbling into the now black water below. On instinct due to not getting much air after he was shoved, his mouth open and a rush of water poured in. His eyes widened in panic and he tried to search for a source of light, but there was none, only the dark abyss off the water around him. He began to swim in a random direction, hoping to reach the surface. It was all in vain, and he began to claw at his throat as his body began to sink farther into the watery coffin. He didn't want to die like this. Anything but--

Eyes snapping open, he sucked in a large breath of air and let his fingers drop from his neck. He continued to gulp in large quantities of air, only slowing down once he realized it had all been a dream. That he knew of, he was nowhere near a large body of water. He was with Henrietta in a cabin, and the closest source of water was some stream not too far away.

Feeling more relaxed now, he closed his eyes to give himself a few moments to hopefully stop shaking. He knew he had been moving in his sleep, at least enough to clutch at his neck, but he had no clue if he had done more than that or had made any noise. It was embarrassing to think about, especially if Henrietta was near enough to see or hear him. It probably would have freaked her out, yet for some reason that made him smile inwardly. Why he did not know, and that disturbed him.

Deciding it was time to see if she was near, he opened his eyes for the second time, sat up slowly, then took a look around. When he found her, he gave a small smile. "Hey. What'r you up to?" His voice cracked and also sounded hoarse, as if he really had been drowning.
 
Henrietta looked up from where she was working on starting the fire. She glanced at Aiden noticing the new marks on his neck and how his voice was hoarse and kinda of screwed up. Going back to working on the fire she finally got it started and blew on it gently before checking if the flew was open and then shutting the stove door,

"Starting the fire. By the way sorry about last night...I get stupid when I drink." she admitted. She went and grabbed her bag dragging it over,

"Anyway I figured we should inventory what we have and figure out what we need to make. We're gonna have to get food and probably something to cook it in." she suggested as she opened her bag to start going through it. She pulled out the other two mason jars of alcohol and put them down setting her knife and flint next to it. Getting up she grabbed the empty mason jar and set that with her stuff. She also pulled out an extra pair of pants and t-shirt she had, the soup and crackers she'd found yester day, the medical supplies she'd found yesterday, a tiny package with an unwrapped scalpel in it, and a small ziploc with a needle and loose thread.

"I used to have more crap, but it got stolen during a bad...." she paused for a few moments trying to think of what to say, "Trade...yeah a bad trade a little bit before I was with my last gang." she explained not giving details, but still the undelrying tones of it having been a horrible experience were there.
 
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Aiden's smile widened at hearing what she was doing. A fire would be great, especially since he couldn't figure out how to work the stove last night. Sometime soon he would have to have her teach him how to work it, but for now he would enjoy someone else creating a fire. Especially after his hard work last night that only ended up being pointless. He didn't have any hard feelings about it anymore, though.

"Don't worry about it." It is not like he could say he would be any better when drunk. He wasn't sure he wanted to figure out what he was like. Grabbing his bag, he brought it over to Henrietta and began to take the few items he owned out of it, figuring he might as well do inventory while she was. He pulled out the wrappings, shredded socks, a knife, his bottle of water, the rope, and the can of food that he had found while in the vault. He was still curious as to what was in it, but he knew they would find out later. There was also his blanket, but that was on the couch. It wasn't a large supply of items, but it was better than what he had a couple days ago.

Items all out in the open, he looked up and finally responded to what she had said. "Sorry to hear about that." He truly was. Whatever had went down, her voice was enough to tell it had not been fun. His voice was also still hoarse, but it was getting better the longer he spoke. "But you are right. We are going to have to get more food. Did you noticed any animals or signs of animals while you were bringing in wood?" He wasn't so sure about his traps, but if there was a larger animal around then perhaps he could spear it. It was hopeful thinking, but hopeful was better than nothing.
 
Henrietta nodded at first and watched him pull his stuff out and lay it out.
Most of the stuff we have here is useful. The rope would be better if we could use it, but Aiden needs that. she thought as she watched the inventory being laid out. She rubbed the back of her head and glanced at Aiden, his voice was a bit rough and she noticed new marks on his neck.
We can make ropes with vines though and use that for traps. We'll have to do a lot of jimmying and making stuff for the winter. she continued to plan out in her head. Henrietta shrugged when Aiden apologized for her having a bad trade as she put it. Most of the time she tried not to think about the bad stuff that had happened to her,

"It's fine, crap happens." she muttered as he moved on to talk about future plans. "Nah I haven't really looked. There probably is some here though. Squirrels and birds will be the easiest probably, though birds are gone by now. Small mammals might be a good idea so traps is probably our best bet. We can make some traps with vines or whatever I guess." She suggested kind of muddling through her thought processes. She started to fold up her gear and put it away leaving out the other two jars of alcohol, the rag/bandana she had, and her med supplies.

"Take your boots off, we need to check on your foot before you go wandering around more." she told him signalling over to her with her finger.
 
Crap happens was right, but since the subject wasn't a good one he let it drop, the new topic far more favorable. "I'm hoping we can eventually find a larger animal, like a deer or something. That would give us a lot of meat, but I guess storing it would not be easy. Alright, you might be right about the small animals being our best bet. It would be easy enough to make traps if we can find good vines." How come he didn't think about using vines yesterday? He could have collected some while out.

Aiden was deep in thought planning the best traps to make, so his stuff was still laying where he left it when Henrietta spoke again. Looking down at his foot, he dismissed it for a few seconds to give him a chance to put his supplies away. Once that was done he set it aside and focused on his foot.

"I almost forgot about the injury." he said while removing the boot and then the sock. He was curious to know what it looked like and if he had anything to worry about -it felt fine to him- but instead of looking, he held his foot out for her. "Does it look ok?" A part of him wanted her to have to pour more alcohol over it, but he felt he made himself out to be crazy enough without her knowing he enjoyed the burn from it.
 
Henrietta sat down and took a look at his foot. It looked OK for now. She wasn't sure it'd need an alcohol cleaning, but then again it might be useful because it had been exposed to a lot of stuff in the bunker and had been wrapped up and probably sweat on.

"I'm probably gonna clean it up again with the alcohol and then we'll just a keep an eye on it." she explained gently feeling around the edges to check if it was warm and it was slightly warm and red. She opened the jar of alcohol and taking the rag she dipped it in and started to dab it gently. She cleaned it for a bit and then used the other end of the rag to dry it before wrapping it up again. She looked at the bandage, it was cloth and she didn't want tow aste it,

"We should dry to clean that up too...not waste stuff." Henrietta suggested getting up she went to the bathroom and grabbed her wet clothes and picked the bandage up. "I'mma go up to the lake and clean these up." she told Aiden.
 
Aiden's eyes lit up at hearing that, so he looked around in order to hide the sudden excitement he felt. "Alright." He would try not to forget about the injury anymore since he would rather not have anymore situations like the one in the vault. Just thinking about what he had been stepping on made him feel sick.

Closing his eyes, the same thing happened as last time; he first winced and then smiled softly when the burn of the alcohol became bearable and enjoyable. It was over too quickly for his liking, but instead of complaining, he finally decided to look at the bottom of his foot. It looked fine to him, a little red but nothing to really worry about.

He agreed with Henrietta about not wasting stuff, it was hard enough to find anything of use as it was, but when she mentioned going to the water, his smile dropped. "Do you..want me to go with you?" A hint of fear crept into his voice, remembering the nightmare, and he told himself not to be such a coward. It wasn't as if they were going to the ocean. No one was going to push him off a cliff, and he wasn't going to drown.
 
"Nah, I can clean up the stuff on my own. You can go find vines and junk for traps...also more wood. We're gonna need a lot more wood to make it through the winter without freezing." Henrietta suggested as she picked up the bandages. She went to the bathroom and grabbed the clothes from there. "I'll help when I'm done cleaning up stuff I'll come back and help." she promised. Henrietta was a bit more subdued, but would would get more energy as the day went along. She didn't have any particular feelings about last night, honestly she knew she probably should be ashamed of her behavior, but she wasn't. Henrietta had had plenty pf nights like that and from what she remembered nothing too terribly bad had happened.

Henrietta headed up the little path too the stream and kneeling by it started to wring out and scrub the bandages. They didn't have soap, but she used sand and water to scrub at it. She also cleaned her under clothes from last night and wrung them out. Coming back and hung the bandages and underwear on the porch rails. Finding some rocks she put them on top to hold them down and then went to find Aiden and see how he was doing.
 
Aiden was relieved to hear that she would go by herself, and he was more than willing to go and gather wood and vines. Giving his foot one last look, he put on his socks and boots. It would be a relaxing task, so he waited until Henrietta was gone then left in a different direction than where they had gathered wood the day before. The good thing was that the surrounding area was full of good wood to use, and he had spotted at least some vines while out and about the day before. It helped him forget all about his nightmare, and instead he took time to enjoy the nice day.

Arms full of wood, he brought the first load back and set it down before heading out again. This time, he spent a few minutes gathering some vines before collecting more wood. After dropping off the second armful, he spent more time searching for vines, and managed to bring back a third armful of wood by the time Henrietta returned from cleaning. He met her just as he she was coming to search for him. "I started gathering some vines, there is a bit more inside next to my bag, but the more we can find, the better."
 
"OK. I'll after some vines. After I'm done I'll make a little soup in the free jar and we can eat. It'll be heavily watered down soup cause we have to ration for now until we trap some stuff." Henrietta told him as she walked past into the woods. She gathered vines as she checked for animal tracks. Henrietta figured if they could find an area where animals frequent they'd be more likely to get game.

After an hour to and hour and half of gathering Henrietta went in and stoked the fire a little bit. She got the jar to use for soup and going up the creek filled it most of the way with water. She sat it on top of the little stove top to let it start boiling and pulled out the bag of dried soup. Opening it she sat it on the counter to use when the water was boiled.

While Henrietta waited for the water to boil she started to straighten up the little cabin. She took the blankets and lay them out on the bed in the other room and took the wet things in from outside and lay them on the tub in the bathroom to dry. As the water started boiling she added just a couple pinches of the soup mix. It only colored the water and added some chunks of dehydrated vegetables. It wasn't a lot of sustenance and practically only add flavor to the water, but at least it was something. She wrapped her hand in the ace bandage as a sort of oven mit and moved th ejar to a cooler side of the stove so it would heat, but not boil over.
 
Aiden thought that sounded like a good plan, so after dropping off the next load of wood, he went off the gather more, this time not worrying about vines since Henrietta was collecting more for them. He continued to take his time with the collecting, sometimes stopping to climb a tree just for the joy of it. He was a young male, and while he valued hard work above almost everything else, it never hurt to take some time to enjoy life, especially in the world they lived in.

While he was out in an area far from the cabin, he thought he found signs of an animal, a squirrel maybe, so he marked the area in his head as a place to set a trap then continued on. After an hour, being out and about collecting wood grew boring, and by the time he felt they had enough for the time being, he was sweaty and knew he would need to rinse off in some water, a thought that made him cringe.

Aiden dropped off the last handful of wood and made his way into the cabin. Taking a quick look at how it was going with Henrietta, he then lay down on the floor, letting the floor of the cabin cool his body. It wasn't hot outside, but hard work had a tendency to heat one up. Feeling a bit better, he turned his head to watch his companion. "How is the soup coming along?"
 
"Heating...I mean it's pretty much flavored water. Trying to ration it out until we find out if our traps are working." Henrietta told him. She glanced over at Aiden who was relaxing on the floor. She'd noticed he'd gotten quite a bit of wood which was good. "After this we can start setting up the traps..." she suggested as she took the soup off the stove her hand still wrapped in the ace wrap as an oven mitt,

"I figure it's done now." she said. The dried soup grains and dehydrated veggies had turned into a thin broth with some veggie chunks in it. Not attractive, but it smelled good. Henrietta set it on the counter and taking the ace wrap off tossed it at Aiden, "When it cools enough drink half then I'll finish it." she told him, trusting him to not be a jerk and leave her half.

Henrietta lay back on the couch and stared up at the ceiling. Setting up traps would be useful, but Henrietta also didn't want everything to be about work. She glanced at Aiden squinting as she watched him. She wondered if his...preferences would get in the way of them having...fun. Would he even wanna do that with her? He seemed a bit disgusted when he found out what she did to survive.
 
Aiden caught the ace wrap, and his eyes followed Henrietta as she walked over and lay down on the couch. "That sounds like a good plan to me." He was much more willing to set up traps than going and washing the sweat off his skin. He would have to do that before sleeping tonight, but at least setting up traps would help him procrastinate it. That and he was excited to see if they would be able to catch any animals.

Stretching his arms above his head as far as they would go, he held to position for a few seconds before relaxing and standing up. Hoping it was cool enough, he used the ace wrap to pick up the jar, carefully put it to his lips, and took a tentative sip. When it didn't burn his lips or tongue, he drank more with more need, stopping when he finished half the jar. It may have been mostly just water, but he wished he could have drank it all since it was something he hadn't tasted in a long while.

Setting the jar back down, he walked over to Henrietta and passed her the wrap. "Thanks. It was pretty good." Trying not to think about how much better it would have been with a bit of meat, he sat back down on the floor to wait for her to drink the last half.
 
Henrietta got up and wrapping her hand grabbed the jar. She chugged down her half of the soup hungrily. She wished that there was more to it. It tasted better than just water, but it wasn't very hearty or calorie packed. Hopefully they'd catch some animals in the traps they made.

"Let's go get those traps set up." She suggested putting the jar out and unwinding the wrap on her hand. "Did you happen to notice any parts of the woods that looked like there were a lot of animals there?" she asked as she tossed the ace wrap down. Heading outside Henrietta grabbed some thick, smaller sticks and some vines to go set up traps. Henrietta wasn't sure what she was doing when it came to traps. She knew some simple designs she'd seen with her gangs and figured out on her own, but didn't really know anything for big game. Hopefully either Aiden knew bigger game traps, or they'd be able to catch a lot of small game.
 
"Not sure about a lot, but I noticed an area or two that might be promising, at least with small creatures." But if there were bigger game about, then surely they would be in the same area as the smaller ones. He made a mental note to look more closely around that area once they got there, because he could think of nothing better than spearing a deer or something else with a good amount of meat on it. Although, that was saying he would be skilled enough to kill one with a spear in the first place.

Getting up, Aiden followed Henrietta outside and grabbed his backpack while passing it. He wasn't sure if he would need it, but it was better to be prepared just in case. Stopping by the pile of sticks, he looked through them until he had chosen about ten that looked like they would serve a good purpose then nodded at Henrietta before taking the lead in the direction he had found signs of life. Once there, he dropped his pile of sticks, tore off the outer bark of a tree to get to the inner bark, collected some of that, then sat down with the supplies. "Do you want to help with this or look around for some good places to set up the traps?" While waiting for a response, he began sorting through the sticks, Some with small branches sticking out he set aside, while other he began to carve notches into.
 
"I'll look around and set up a couple more. Probably gonna go up by the creek for a couple" Henrietta answered. She gathered enough supplies for three traps from Aiden's pile and went off to find a couple more areas. She wasn't going to go too far, but spreading out the traps would be a good idea. She made her way towards the creek setting up one trap in a clearing, another near the creek and then crossing a narrow area of the creek placed another there. She made sure to remember where she set them, though they were all in a relatively straight diagonal line of Aiden's first trap. Her traps were a rougher looking than Aiden's, but they would work. THey were along the same design because it was easy for Henrietta to remember.

Henrietta came back to the creek, she was a little sweaty from hiking and setting traps off, but knew she'd cool off pretty quickly. Since it was almost winter the temperature didn't get to high. Standing at the creek she looked into it and squatted down watching the water run. She wondered it if there were fish in the creek. It was deep enough in some places. Probably only small fish. They'd have to make traps of a net to catch anything if there was something.

Henrietta walked back along the trap line too see how Aiden was getting along. She assumed he'd finished or was almost done setting up traps, she left him with enough materials for more four traps, but he'd been going fast er and seemed to better know what he was doing so she figured he was done by now.
 
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