forum I'm in the mood for another apocalypse roleplay... (CLOSED for now, welcome to stalk)

Started March 06, 2021 by @Becfromthedead group

tune

Tohru was grateful to have someone to travel with. Even if it was just a kid. Even if the only reason was he was actually able to sleep some at night, knowing he had a second set of eyes and ears.
Of course, part of him worried a lot that he wouldn't be able to take care of this child forever. He hadn't even been able to keep anyone alive from the first group he'd traveled with, and they were mostly adults. It had been what? A week? Two weeks? He'd lost count on how long it had been since the last one of them died.
Anyway, now Tohru and this child were headed on to a survivor's outpost they'd heard about. It wasn't far at this point. They were just breaking camp for the morning, and this would be the last stretch. The only reason they hadn't made it the night before was because it had started getting dark, and Tohru refused to push on like that when he had another person to look after. Had he been alone still, it might have been a different story.
Tohru pulled the laces on his boots tight as he prepared to get going for the day. He checked his inventory again, making sure he hadn't left anything behind.
"You almost ready to go?" he asked Mori.

Meanwhile, Lilac was already at the survivor’s outpost. She was drawing to keep her mind off of everything that happened. Her drawing had a house, a hill, and a river. It also looked like she drew her family and herself. She blew a piece of hair out of her face. “There…I’m finished,” she smiled sadly.

Josefine looked over her shoulder, her eyes wide. “Yooo, that’s cool. I’m jealous.”
They hadn’t been at the outpost for long. They’d crawled their way there the evening before, just in the nick of time. Now was a time for resting while they figured out what to do next.
Lyn sat next to Lilac, writing in her notebook and documenting their journey. For a moment, Lyn glanced at the younger girl’s sketchbook to say, “Oooh, it’s beautiful, Lilac. Are you homesick?”
It’s not something either Lyn or Josefine could relate with, but it was understandable, of course. Despite how much they would deny it, they both wished to some degree they had at least some adult supervision, for at least physical guidance if nothing else. Lyn and Sef made a good duo when leading Lilac; but as always, Lyn put too much onto herself and was beginning to feel stressed, on top of everything else that had happened. Having an adult in the group would make things easier.

“Yeah…I miss them…” Lilac sighed. She was glad she found Lyn and Sef because they reminded her of her siblings. “And thanks…art helps me relax…” she smiled as she set her art stuff down.

Mori was injured at the moment. He had some bandages wrapped around his chest and a sling for his left arm from getting trapped under some rubble. He had been traveling alone previously, which was very nerve wracking considering his lacking strength and supplies. He was only seven, after all, and he couldn't remember what had happened to his parents. He was glad to have found someone capable to travel with, and he tried to be helpful in every way he could.
He looked up when Tohru addressed him, clumsily knotting the laces on his own tattered sneakers. He had a smudge of something dark on his cheek, although whether it was dirt or blood wasn't clear. He nodded a bit, finished tying his shoes, and got to his feet. "Mhmm! I'm ready to go, sir!"

Tohru grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder, a slight huff escaping him.
"You really don't have to call me 'sir,' you know…" he murmured, shaking his head, "Anyway, do you need any help? Need me to carry anything for you?"
His gaze wandered to Mori's face, and he frowned, leaning forwards to help wipe his cheek clean with the edge of his sweatshirt sleeve.
With that, he undid the deadbolts on the door of the abandoned apartment and peeked outside, making sure it was safe before they started out.

"Oh, sorry Mr. Tohru…" Mori pulled on his backpack and adjusted his hat with one hand, yawning a bit. He closed his eyes when Tohru rubbed at his cheek, huffing a bit. "No, I'm okay. I've just got the one bag, and it isn't too heavy… where did you say we were going?" He asked, keeping close to Tohru's side as they walked together. He didn't like to be too far away from the man, obviously uneasy with the thought of being alone. Alone was bad in this world. It wasn't safe. He was lucky to have survived so long on his own. "The… uhm… survival outpost or something, right?"

(He is babey…)
Tohru couldn't help chuckle a bit at the slight adjustment in how he was addressed. It was weird being treated like an adult when he barely felt like one, but it was endearing. He'd give the kid that.
"Yup. The survival outpost," he replied, "We'll get some more food there, and maybe join up with other people. It's hard traveling with just the two of us."
He kept an eye on the kid, but with as closely as he was following, he wasn't really concerned with getting separated. Tohru made sure to keep at a comfortable pace so Mori wouldn't struggle to keep up at all.
"How are your injuries?" he asked, "You feeling okay?"
Tohru distractedly fidgeted with one of the hair ties around his wrist for a minute before tying his hair back into its usual low bun and out of his face. He hated the silence that sometimes sat between them. He never knew how to talk to a child, much less actually look after one. At least they would make it to the outpost. And at least, when this child died, it wouldn't completely be on him. In fact, it might not even be on his watch.

Mori put on his bird mask as he left the apartment, fastening it firmly behind his ears. It was similar to a witch doctor's mask in the manner that he could put herbs in the beak. He often did so to mask the smell of rotting flesh and other unpleasant things outside, as such things often made him feel nauseous.
He glanced up at Tohru when he was addressed again, running his free hand over his injured arm to see how it felt. "Hm… it's not too bad. Still pretty sore, but I can walk and stuff okay. I think my rib is still cracked, so it hurts to breathe sometimes." He kept walking, occasionally adjusting his large hat so it wouldn't fall into his face.

"Okay, well, let me know if you ever need to stop and rest. We'll be at the outpost by noon either way," Tohru replied.
Although better-rested than he had been in a while, Tohru was still exhausted. Before he found Mori, he'd been through several sleepless nights, and he had yet to recover completely. He looked forward to making it to the outpost finally, so that maybe he'd finally be able to get his poor, overworked body back up and running.
All things considered, though, he was lucky. He got away from what was essentially a massacre with only a few cuts and bruises that had mostly disappeared by now. Of course, that wasn't accounting for any of the emotional pain that still stung if he lingered on it too long.

“Yeah…I miss them…” Lilac sighed. She was glad she found Lyn and Sef because they reminded her of her siblings. “And thanks…art helps me relax…” she smiled as she set her art stuff down.

Lyn wrapped an arm around her shoulder in reassurance, murmuring her understanding. She let go, turning her notebook to a different page to show Lilac. Scattered on the lined paper were doodles of Josefine and Lilac, doing random things and in different poses. “I made these last night,” she said. “Art is an escape for me too.”
After a moment, she went back to writing. “Sef,” she said over her shoulder. “You might want to check on the laundry.”
“Fine.” Josefine pulled her dreadlocks behind her shoulder. She had been tired of sitting still anyway. “I’ll be back, minhas irmãs.”
She went back inside the in the building (they were sitting on the porch).

Lilac smiled when she saw the doodles. “These are amazing!” She definitely cheered up a little.

"Mmkay, Mr. Tohru." Mori kept walking alongside Tohru, trying to keep up the pace so he wouldn't be cumbersome. He kept his uninjured hand on one of his backpack straps to support the bag, not wanting it to bump against his back as he walked. His possessions were meager, and of bad quality. He just had a couple extra outfits, a toothbrush, a comb, a refillable water container, and a few little tools to help him build things. He seemed to be growing a bit tired after a while, his breathing more labored and his pace slowing.

Tohru was quick to notice his companion's exhaustion.
"Why don't we stop for a bit?" he suggested, "There's a nice shade tree over there."
Truthfully, he could use the break, too. Maybe he'd nap for a little bit if the circumstances allowed.
"Do you mind if I sleep a bit while we're stopped?" he asked Mori, "You can wake me up if you need me, or if I fall asleep longer than I'm supposed to."

"Mmkay…" Mori followed Tohru over to the tree and sat down in the shade, taking the opportunity to catch his breath. "And yeah, that's fine with me, sir… I'll wake you up if something happens. Or… in about an hour if you aren't awake, I guess." He took his hat off for a bit to run his fingers through his hair, keeping his mask on to protect him from the nauseating smells around him.

She gave a light smile. “Thank you.”
Lyn once again was rather amazed that they could say these things now. Before they had made it to the outpost, there had been little time for pleasantries or looking at art. Rarely any time to relax. How long would this last? How long before the long, fearful nights and the days with little rest return?
She expressed these sentiments in her notebook, then closed it and took a breath. “What will we do?” She wondered aloud. “I don’t know how long we’ll last with just the three of us. Our supplies were nearly out when we got here… Should we stay? Should we go?”
She wasn’t really asking Lilac, but at the same time she was.

“I…I don’t know…” Lilac muttered, visibly shaking. “I always thought my family would be here by now and we’d be able to pull it off but…” the young girl trailed off. She hadn’t seen any sign of her siblings since they were separated.