Smeared With Ashes

[growl]

..a zombie survival RP between growl, senpai, and masagahara..​

xxxxxx[IMG]http://s23.postimg.org/pzppfc2qz/BYI19iz72_Cuz.gif[/IMG]

[IMG]http://s4.postimg.org/8v83mdlp9/Vztb_Pzv_VH0_SL.jpg[/IMG]xxx​

[IMG]http://s4.postimg.org/sklsl347x/Ir_B7f79_H8p_V4.jpg[/IMG]xxx​

xxxxxxxxxxx╓​

ＳＩＸ ＹＥＡＲＳ ＡＧＯ

xxxxThe infection first made its appearance after, you guessed it, some scientists fucked up. A mutation of a strain of a long-forgotten disease got around. It was classified as 'actually, who gives a shit' because suddenly Grandma, Mr. Parker, and Johnny from across the street were all bleeding from their ears. The panicked public turned to the government, and the government decided, "Hey, let's build a huge wall around all the cities with outbreaks, with no consideration for the populace inside who aren't infected." For some unfathomable reason, this didn't go over too well. People rioted and found ways to sneak their loved ones out, convinced that there was no way they could be infected, yet lo and behold, some of them were. The quarantine walls became pointless. Meanwhile, the government tried to play the 'we are all-knowing, and we say that you're overreacting' card, but turns out they were lying (duh).

ＦＯＵＲ ＹＥＡＲＳ ＡＧＯ

xxxxSo, your citizens are either raving from infection or raving in anger. What do you do? Set up safety camps across the nation and force them to leave their homes and move in, obviously! All cooperation with the government fell apart at this point. People had to be dragged from their homes and loaded onto trucks against their will. Some turned to suicide out of despair. All of the government's promises were negated by what people could see around them. However, many people slipped through the government's fingers and hid out. These people became the survivors.

ＰＲＥＳＥＮＴ ＤＡＹ

xxxxThere's plenty to go around, if you know where to look. Survivors group up-- very few travel solo. There's a bartering system, and even marked paths for nomadic groups to pass by settled groups. The nomadic groups number around 3-6 members on average, while settled groups are usually larger. If you're found by a government soldier, you're dragged into their camp, which is why survivors always make a wide berth around the camps when traveling. You've got your share of crazies, of course, and you should never completely trust someone on the spot, but it's still common courtesy to throat infected for someone else if you happen to pass by while they're being attacked.

ＩＮＦＥＣＴＩＯＮ： ＥＡＲＬＹ ＳＹＭＰＴＯＭＳ

xxxxA person starts experiencing symptoms just minutes after being infected. These minor symptoms include shortness of breath, uncontrollable shivers, and aches and pains. A day after the bite, the victim will start experiencing more severe symptoms. These include vomiting, hallucinations, coughing blood, bleeding from the ears/eyes/nose, and deliria. The infection takes over and the victim lies in a stupor for around an hour before rising as a Packer.

ＦＩＲＳＴ ＳＴＡＧＥ： ＰＡＣＫＥＲＳ

xxxxThey're called packers because they travel in packs. Packers are arguably the most dangerous stage. They still resemble humans but move sluggishly when they're not in chase mode. They seem to be able to smell blood and can find uninfected humans this way. They are extremely sensitive to noises. Their method of attack is to charge, knock down their opponent by flailing, and then clawing/biting. They will attack anything but other packers, even charging Greenies and Screechers. Pain is less potent for them. Because of this, they will usually continue attacking until they're killed. The best way to kill them is to knife them through the throat.

ＳＥＣＯＮＤ ＳＴＡＧＥ： ＧＲＥＥＮＩＥＳ

xxxxGreenies are the least dangerous stage. Their skin has a green tint, and they crawl. Once a Packer reaches the second stage, they leave their pack and scavenge. A Greenie will not attack unless attacked first. They consume the bodies of dead animals and humans. They move faster than Packers do, and their attacks involve sudden lunges and bites. There is a theory that when Packers become Greenies, their body is actually succumbing to the infection, and they are dying.

ＴＨＩＲＤ ＳＴＡＧＥ： ＳＣＲＥＥＣＨＥＲＳ

xxxxScreechers are much fewer in number than the Packers and Greenies. Their skin is still tinted green from the second stage of infection, but they are significantly more hostile. Screechers have open sores on their bodies that ooze pus and viscous black blood. They travel on all fours like Greenies but in an animalistic way. They make terrible screeching noises before they attack. Screechers move the fastest of all three stages, but are also very flammable.

​

ＳＵＲＶＩＶＯＲ ＳＬＡＮＧ

"the start"
refers to the time when the infection started making its appearance, about six years before we start

"the beginning of the end"
refers to the time when the government camps were being set up, about four years before we start

"survivors"
people who live outside the government camps-- the government prefers the term "scavengers"

"throat"
This term has the same meaning as the verb 'kill.' It originates from the preferred method of killing Packers, which is to stab their throat. A survivor might say "throat it" instead of "kill it." This term is mainly reserved for the infected, but can also be used in a threatening manner towards other people.

"inventory"
a general term encompassing all items a survivor would find valuable, like food and weapons (plural)

"the paths"
the marked paths that lead from city to city for survivors; they can be dangerous to traverse

​

ＣＵＬＴＳ ＡＮＤ ＣＯＮＳＰＩＲＡＣＩＥＳ

tba

ＫＮＯＷＮ ＳＵＲＶＩＶＯＲ ＧＲＯＵＰＳ

Small Fin//​

ＫＮＯＷＮ ＣＡＭＰ ＬＯＣＡＴＩＯＮＳ

xxxxtba

ＣＡＭＰ ＯＲＤＥＲ

xxxxCitizens living in government camps don't have it much better than survivors. It's a dog-eat-dog world in there. Families fight each other for housing and clothing. Soldiers turn a blind eye to these fights; they're far from helpful in most situations and often abuse their power. Those who are able to work do hard labor in shifts. At the end of each shift, they are allotted a number of chips depending on the work (usually along the lines of construction and clean-up). They can buy food with these chips. Chips are the currency in camps.

ＢＥＨＩＮＤ ＴＨＥ ＳＣＥＮＥＳ

xxxxThe government really believes they're doing the people a favor by letting them live in their camps. However, one objective is also to find a cure. Unbeknownst to everyone except those who are able to escape after witnessing the experiments, the government runs tests on uninfected and infected alike. Usually they will take a survivor from outside the camp or say that someone escaped from the camp to justify disappearances.

​

╜xxxxxxxxxxx​

 

[growl]

➳ ＣＲＡＮＥ​

17 - male - survivor - "lone wolf"​

xxxxxHe was watching and waiting. If there were such a thing as the three W's to not getting caught by Packers, they would be 1. Watch 2. Wait 3. Whisk. As in whisk your ass out of there before anyone or anything notices you. Of course, there were lots more to consider when you were being chased, like your scent and how much noise you were making, but Crane had found the three W's helpful for traveling in general. And he was always traveling.

xxxxxThe boy adjusted the straps of his backpack so that it clung tighter to his shoulders, and ducked out from under the house he'd been crouching beneath. He'd been planning on avoiding Small Fin altogether, but word on the paths was that the city had recently become the closest thing to a safe haven in the county. Crane had been expecting for it to be too good to be true since he knew that half the rumors out on the paths were bull, but he was disappointed by the state of Small Fin nonetheless. There were more survivors camping out here than he had seen in a while, yes, but with those survivors came hordes of Packers following the scent of blood and unwashed bodies. All of the buildings he'd taken the risk of breaking into had already been looted. Whenever another survivor spotted him, they either stared at him in an openly challenging way or straight-up hissed at him until he slipped back into the safety of the shadows. That was the thing about safe havens; they stopped being safe havens as soon as they were recognized as one. Crane had foolishly used too much of his inventory to make his detour here, so he'd chosen to go ahead and try to stock up rather than take his chances out in the cold with insufficient supplies.

xxxxxCrane darted through the neighborhood, keeping to the sides of the houses and sprinting when he wasn't resting. He was nearing the center of the city, where there were better odds of finding places that had yet to be picked clean. There wouldn't be as many survivors this deep in the city, but he knew from experience that the survivors that he did encounter would be bolder and stronger and therefore more likely to cause him trouble. As soon as this thought flitted through his head, he heard the unmistakable sounds of a struggle. Crane dropped to the ground and pulled his hood down to hear better. The conflict sounded dangerously close, but not close enough that he'd have to flee immediately. He crept around the house and poked his head out. On the front lawn of a house as the very end of the street, two survivors were struggling against a group of Packers. It wasn't a full horde, but with the noise they were making, it soon would be.

xxxxxCrane started making his way towards them. One part of him reasoned that those survivors must've been in that house for a reason. Maybe there was inventory inside. They could keep the Packers busy for him while he checked it out. The other part of him screamed to stop being stupid and to get away from there before he got himself killed. He ignored this part of himself, and in less than a minute he was behind the house. Crane lifted the back window and pulled himself into a kitchen. Bingo. He ignored the fridge and opened the cupboards. He stuffed a small bag of cereal (it would most certainly give you a stomachache if you ate it, but maybe he could barter with some idiot), a jar of peanut butter (total score), and a bag of white rice into his backpack. Shame there was no honey or beans, but he still had the basement to look through before he could high-tail it out of here.​

 

[senpai]

[BCOLOR=transparent] [/BCOLOR] [BCOLOR=transparent] [/BCOLOR]

.:.Stein, Kai & Nina.:.
{{Collab with @masagahara}}

​

[BCOLOR=transparent] They no longer knew how to live without fear in their hearts, after the apocalypse began. For Stein's and Kai's heart to beat as rapidly as it did, in that moment where they were trapped between a wall of the infested undead and a hard place, the two of them were synchronized in their adrenaline. They no longer felt as they should. As they used to. [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent] Without batting a single eye, Stein threw the head of his iron-nailed bat to the zombie's skull like pitching a home run, bashing it in the process as gore spilled and a screech from the creature erupted from it's gut. The teenager barely dodged the flying particles, a piece splattering on his face which he clicked his tongue at out of a small annoyance. [/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=transparent]He attempted to at least groom himself by wiping the grime off from his cheek; but it only smeared, much to his disgust. There was no time to waste anyway because there was another hoard of Packers coming at him. Stein spat flecks of blood on the ground, then patted his weapon in a challenging gesture, his scowl deepening and eyes burning with a fiery glare. [/BCOLOR]

Bring it on.

[BCOLOR=transparent] A couple feet away from Stein stood another silhouette in the darkness, a middle aged woman by the name of Kai who fought with a strong, if not bulky, build, and a powerful swipe as she sliced into a zombie's neck using the dull edge of a combat knife. The two of them worked separately, but in a harmony; a sort of rhythm that developed through fear and blood rather than a natural connection between personalities. Kai was slower than him, stomping repeatedly on a zombie she slammed to the ground, but made up for it in pure endurance. The horde was thinning significantly, but she turned to Stein and saw that he was taking the bulk of what was left. Making her way over to Stein, she didn't yet know that it was too late for her to be able to make a difference in his fate.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent] Stein twirled around on his boots to whip his bat at the zombie that lunged at him, and although it was effective, it earned him a vulnerable position at the back where another made its chance to attack. [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Shit—" For a fleeting second, oxygen left his chest when the foreign hand grazed his shoulder. But he forced himself to swallow the lump in his throat and kicked the enemy's shins and slammed the butt of the bat on the thing's crown, dancing in an exhilarating whirlwind with two opponents and[/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=transparent] Christ, [/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=transparent]he'd be [/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=transparent]damned [/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=transparent]if he gets bitten. [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Kai!"[/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=transparent] He roared, unable to look for the older woman when he was too occupied with the crowd surrounding him. Groans became deafening to his ears and for the first time, he panicked as he fought to stay alive, ignoring his shaky knees that could drop at any moment.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]In what he thought was to be his last moments, a blunt shot, a sort of chucking noise that couldn't quite have come from a gun, rang out from the house behind him. Still struggling, it took him a moment to realize that the creature that had been attacking him ceased moving, ceased struggling alongside himself. His breath heavy, he gasped for air and both him and the astounded Kai turned their attention to the window in which it had to have come from.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Nina…" Kai started, then began chuckling as Stein dropping his jaw in utter disbelief. Little Nina leaned out the bottom floor window and waved with one hand while shouting an indistinguishable greeting. But in Nina's hands was…[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"What is that thing?" Stein furrowed his brow.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"I know what it is." Kai was still unable to contain herself, then answered. "It's a potato launcher."[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Nina threw down a sack of what must have been ammo for her weapon, and immediately the stench of mold slapped both of their senses. "I found it in the kitchen! It shoots [/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=transparent]way [/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=transparent]faster than I thought, too. It almost ripped that dude's head off! Did you see it, mom?" Nina smiled, jumping down to the yard where they were standing.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]The two adults were in a strange holiday kind of mood, where practically anything could happen past that point: aliens could appear, zombies could dive in from the sky like rain, the tectonic plates could open up and drag them all down into the pits of the underworld, but they would not bat an eye, as it might as well happen after today. Kai embraced this feeling fully, while Stein did everything he could to reject it in favor of a more reasonable reality. Nina, of course, felt completely fine, and, if asked about the particular scenario that just occurred, would wonder what else could have possibly happened but her finding that fateful launcher, and almost ripping off a zombie's head with it.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]And Nina's unique state of mind was exactly why she was the first to spot the shadowed figure spying on them from a distance, and squint her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing things.[/BCOLOR]

 

[growl]

➳ ＣＲＡＮＥ​

17 - male - survivor - "lone wolf"​

xxxxxCrane quickly picked through the rest of the house. He found a bunch of rags under a threadbare blanket, a can opener, and a flashlight in the living room. So someone lived here, or someone used to. Was it the two outside? He stuck the can opener and a few rags into a side pocket of his pack. There weren't any batteries in the flashlight, and it was too small to be used as a weapon anyways. This was already more inventory than he'd gotten from anywhere else in Small Fin. He edged up the stairs, fiddling with the hilt of the the knife in his pocket (one of the many) (he had many knives and pockets). When he reached the top step, a sickeningly sweet odor made him freeze. A fly buzzed by his ear. He reached up and squished it between his fingers. Crane couldn't stand flies. They always reminded him of things he didn't want to be reminded of. The sound of buzzing flies and the stench of rot had already triggered a series of images that flashed behind his eyes: Aren and Eileen's intertwined hands, the blood on the gravel that had led him to Lark, the teeth embedded in Jaden's skull-- he blinked and look down at his left hand. He'd clenched it so hard that there were bloody half-moons in his palm.

xxxxxHe went back down. While others did it without a second thought these days, the prospect of corpse-robbing had always repulsed him. Especially looting a rotting corpse. Crane snapped back to attention when a particularly loud shout from outside rang through the house. It made him recall that he was in trouble too. He had to make sure there wasn't anything else of value that he could take, and then he had to get the hell out of here. He opened the door to the basement and descended. The room was dark and smelled strongly of dust. The half-light spilling through open door didn't penetrate the gloom further than a couple meters. It would take him a long time to search the room if he couldn't see what he was searching for. A loud noise from the floor above him made him drop into a crouch. A gunshot? If the survivors were desperate enough to be using guns, that meant they were close to death. The shots would attract every zombie that had heard it. He should just play it safe and clear out.

xxxxxCrane ran back into the kitchen and nearly tripped over a drawer that was sticking out of the bottom of a cabinet. It definitely hadn't been open when he'd first entered. So either there was someone else in the house or the survivors from outside had retreated indoors. Either way, he couldn't stick around. He dived out the window and rolled to a stop on the grass outside, head cocked to listen for danger. Grunts and moans, ripping and dragging, the sounds that accompanied death and zombies. To his surprise, he didn't hear a lot of it. Instead, he heard voices. The other survivors were still alive, but had they been bitten? Only one way to find out-- besides, bitten survivors wouldn't mind handing over what inventory they had. They might even ask him to put them down in exchange, before time took its toll and the people they had once been disappeared under the weight of the infection. It wouldn't be the first time he'd put someone down, and it probably wouldn't be the last.

xxxxxAs an extra precaution, Crane went to the house next door and peered out from behind its far wall. There were three survivors now, which made sense; the third one must have been the one inside the house. The fight looked like it was over. There was still twitching and crawling going on around them, but the trio weren't in immediate peril. They were just really close to it. His eyes narrowed as he tried to distinguish each survivor's weapon. The man held a baseball bat bristling with nails. It wouldn't be the most efficient weapon for agile Crane, who was all lean muscle and didn't have a lot of brute strength in him, but it was still a valuable trade item. The woman held a knife. Crane had enough of those, so his eyes skipped to the smallest figure in the group. She (he was assuming it was a she, though he couldn't be sure from this distance) was holding some tube-like thing. Its barrel was way too wide to be that of a gun. Crane stiffened when he noticed that the girl (yep, he was pretty sure it was a girl) was squinting at him. Shit. He ducked back behind the wall and pulled his hood up.

xxxxxWhen Crane eventually emerged from behind the wall, he was carrying a crowbar. Cliche, yes, but also literally the only long-range weapon he had. He approached the group and stopped when he stepped in a puddle of guts. He curled his lip and wiped his shoe off on the grass behind him. One of the incapacitated-but-alive Packers was inching closer to him, dragging itself with its remaining arm. Crane raised the crowbar above his head and brought it down. The curved end of the crowbar sank into and stuck in the back of the Packer's head. It convulsed as it died, but he was already taking steps closer to the trio. They were maybe twenty feet away from each other. It was a sort-of safe distance for Crane, and he'd already made a statement of mostly good intentions by leaving his weapon behind. "You three from around here?" he finally asked. His voice was a little gravelly from lack of use.​

 

[mahasagara]

Stein, Nina, Kai
The Dynamic Trio
----
[BCOLOR=transparent]"[/BCOLOR]You three from around here?[BCOLOR=transparent]" Was the mysterious man's first question, something caught in his throat, but younger and friendlier than a typical hardened apocalypse survivor would expect. His question took them off guard, especially Nina who was trying to stuff another potato from the sack into her weapon before he made his declaration of peace, and she annoyed herself at the fact that all her work was for naught.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Stein squinted at him, and refused to play anything but cautious, "I could ask you the same question. Who are you? Do you have any--"[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Well!" Nina started as though Stein's voice was air in the wind, straightening her back from bending over. "Me and my mom, that's my mom, are from Hawaii, which is way out west, but obviously you can't drive a car through Hawaii so we'd moved to California before everyone started trying to bite our faces off and stuff."[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Nina." Stein gritted through his teeth.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]The little girl paused, staring at him incredulously, but a spark of vivacity still flickering in her eyes, so bright and loud in a world that was on it's last ember of flame. Him and Kai were both cold, yet Kai embraced her numbness, it seemed, with a calm acceptance, while he still fought against the death of his emotion with every last breath. He detested them, both so very opposite than him in every way, at times, but in that moment, just as a handful of moments had given way to, he envied them, who seemed to go through life much more gracefully than he ever could.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]She tapped a hand to her head. "Oh, right, duh! I'm Nina, and that's Mom, say hi mom, and over there is Stein. He's kinda weird."[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Stein looked over to Kai for support, but honestly he didn't think she could have cared less about the fact that this man was a potential axe murderer. "You can call me mom, but I'd prefer Kai… Or Miss Kamaka, but I can't get Stein to say it so you won't hurt my feelings if you're playin' the mule, too."[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent] "Okay!" Stein exclaimed, shaking the crows from their trees and up into desaturated sky. "This is very [/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=transparent]swell [/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=transparent]and all, but I'd like to remind everyone here that my questions still stand." [/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=transparent]He looked up at Crane, eyes cold and decisive.[/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=transparent] "Who are you, why are you here, and what do you want?"[/BCOLOR]​

 

[growl]

➳ ＣＲＡＮＥ​

17 - male - survivor - "lone wolf"​

xxxxx"Hawaii? Wow, that's pretty cool. I've never been," Crane said, ignoring the young man just as studiously as this girl was. "I'm from Santa Monica, but I can relate to the whole 'everyone trying to bite your face off' thing." He wiped his greasy black bangs out of his eyes (though they always fell back into place) and allowed the corners of his lips to curl in amusement. He liked the spark in this girl's eyes. He was glad there were still people in the world with eyes that could light up like that, eyes that flashed like firecrackers or shiny pennies.

xxxxxNina introduced herself and her friends. "Nice to meet you, Nina. Miss Kamaka... Stein." He inclined his head at each of them. In his opinion, Nina was the one who was kinda weird in the group. From what he'd seen thus far, Stein, on the other hand, was typical of survivors he'd met recently: cautious, aggressive, grinding out words from between gritted teeth. Stein then interrupted the friendly introductions by pulling out a bunch of questions and further convincing Crane that the other had a stick up his ass. His exclamation caused a few groans to rise from the spasmic bodies surrounding them. The noise reminded Crane that he should retrieve his crowbar, now that it looked like he didn't need to prove his peaceful intentions anymore. At least, not to Nina and her mother. He took his sweet time strolling back to the Packer and yanking the metal hooked into its skull free, backing away before the weak gush of brain matter and bone fragments could get on him.

xxxxxCrane returned to where he'd been standing. He still wanted to maintain the twenty foot safety bubble until they got down to business. "Patience, patience," he finally replied in an absent tone, and rested the crowbar on his shoulder as he tilted his head back to watch a couple of carrion crows fighting over something. He seemed to mull over his answer for a few long seconds before returning his gaze to the trio. "I'm Crane. I'm here because I was curious about you three. And I want to trade!" He turned around to show off his backpack. "I might have some stuff you're interested in."

xxxxxThe cheerful notes in his voice was standard procedure. Crane always tried to be pleasant in negotiations, especially with people he was trading with for the first time. Even when he was the one being approached by a suspicious figure, and his guard was up, he smiled and played along. In this eat-or-be-eaten world, a world that was already half-eaten itself, an affable persona played a big role in what you gained and lost. It was only when he was interacting with old "friends" or overly hostile strangers that he dropped the act. He'd been alone for so long he felt like his soul had frozen over, and that coldness was evident when he wasn't trying to hide it. "So? Up for it?" He turned back around and scuffed a foot against the ground restlessly, trying to be inconspicuous in the way he looked them over for injuries, bite marks in particular.​

 

[senpai]

[BCOLOR=transparent]

[/BCOLOR]


.:.Stein, Kai & Nina.:.
{{Collab with @masagahara}}

​

[BCOLOR=transparent]"So?" Crane had asked. "Up for it?"[/BCOLOR]

​

[BCOLOR=transparent]The way the trio was positioned right in that moment, it could have easily been captured and put on the front poster of a family comedy, they looked so uniquely ridiculous. Stein looked as though he had just stepped in dog shit while tripping and falling out of the very building for which he just filed his fifth divorce papers, while Nina's mother Kai looked as though she had just exited an express spa to celebrate dreaming for 24 hours straight, and was in such a high from her good that she was able to accept any and all buillshit with open arms. Nina had a potato launcher, and needed no further explanation.[/BCOLOR]

​

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Trading?" Stein checked his surroundings. "I'm not sure if we have anything we'd be able to let go of that isn't junk, except if you think that potato launcher—"[/BCOLOR]

​

[BCOLOR=transparent]"You take this potato launcher," Nina looked Stein in the eye with the grave expression of a war veteran, and grumbled menacingly. "You die."[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]His jaw hung stupidly, unsure whether he should be impressed or baffled from the younger girl's blunt statement. He looked to Kai for support, but she only shook her head, as though he had it coming. "She means it." She confirmed. "I've seen it happen before, Sten—"[/BCOLOR]

​

[BCOLOR=transparent] His left eye twitched. "It's Stein," He corrected.[/BCOLOR]

​

[BCOLOR=transparent]"...Stein. There's probably something else we can let go of," She raised a brow to Crane. "Provided he's got something good to sell. Could all be one big ol' bluff-a-roo."[/BCOLOR]

​

[BCOLOR=transparent]Her good point was almost negated by the word bluff-a-roo, but Stein knew better at this point than to let her evade be successful. If he had learned one thing about the two eccentrics from his brief journey with them, it's that Nina's mother, whose wrinkles were written on her skin like the bark of a tree, and her back weighed over with the live she had lived before, hated nothing more than to be taken seriously. He tried his best to save his snark for Kai's actions, as, though it was much easier to find a spark of wit with her her daughter, who's bizarre and energetic nature made every action one of comedic opportunity, she appreciated it far more than her daughter ever could, as Nina hated nothing more than being treated her age. Really, it wasn't too complex to maintain his balance within the group as long as he kept these simple rules in mind.[/BCOLOR]

​

[BCOLOR=transparent]Stein releases a heavy sigh and rubs the back of his head as he was too exhausted for this unexpected outcome. He can only hope this'll be over soon. "Right." He nods. "With that said," Stein turns his face to the man who calls himself Crane, "We can't 'deal' if you don't show us what you got." [/BCOLOR]