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

Started March 06, 2021 by @Becfromthedead group

tune

Kas picked up a bag of chips and carefully lowered himself down to sit on the steps so he could eat. Mori, while still asleep, definitely didn't have much interest in eating at the moment. He wasn't convinced he could keep anything down.

Aspen waited for everyone else to grab food before she grabbed some for herself, she waited patiently on the steps, handing Kas a bottle of water, and picking at a thread on her pants.

"I appreciate it. Really. I'm not sure I'm ready to confront all of the things that have happened, but not all of them were so long ago, so it could be quite some time."
He sighed softly and shook his head.
"When my grade school teachers asked where I pictured myself ten years from now, I can assure you this wasn't it."
Of course, he had no intentions of sharing Earl's secret. He didn't know whether Rachel knew about it or not, but he figured it would be a sore subject for both of them either way.

"Fair enough. I get what you mean though. Things I could probably never get over." Levi said, he didn't want to push Tohru to share something he wasn't comfortable with. He almost laughed at Tohru's 'ten years' statement but he felt it wasn't the time and bit his tongue. "Well, I thought I'd be on the moon so there was no way that was gonna happen, Zombies or not."

Tohru chuckled slightly at Levi's last statement.
"Okay, that's maybe a little more far-fetched than what I wanted to do at that age. I mean, sure I was damn convinced that I was going to be doing art for a living. And making lots of money doing it. You know what? Maybe going to the moon doesn't seem that outlandish after all," Tohru replied jokingly.
Levi was really lifting his spirits, even not fully knowing what was going on in his mind. He was certainly glad for that, though.

Lis grabbed a bag of chips as well, and she sat in one of the chairs, watching everyone else closely. Her gaze fell over to Mori and locked on.
"Oh, gods… That poor kid. What do I…?" she murmured to herself.
She shook her head a bit and approached Lilac, who had been looking after Mori the closest.
"Hey, do you know what we can do for the poor kid?" she asked, gesturing at Mori, "He looks pretty rough."

Lilac looked up at Lis and sighed. “I don’t know…I’ve been trying to get him to talk for a while now…” she muttered. “He won’t eat either…” she choked up, wiping her tearful eyes.

Kas ate his chips contentedly, looking around from where he was sitting. He kept his weight off of his injured leg, clearly still tender on it. Mori shifted a bit in his sleep, but didn't wake or make any sound.

"Oh, you do art?" Levi said, his curiosity getting the better of him. "I've tried before but it definitely isn't up to standard." He laughed at himself, memories of his dumb pictures of Lorelai and him and even Mori crossed his mind. They were all in a box, at his parent's house, halfway across the states behind them somewhere. He didn't want them back anyway. "What kind of things do you like doing?" He asked.

"Oh, well, all I can do nowadays is traditional. Mostly just sketches, and if I find paints or something to make pigments with, that's always nice," Tohru replied, "But before, I was leaning towards digital graphic design shit so I could maybe make a living. Didn't like it as much as painting out a nice scene or self-indulgent fanart, but it's not like I can draw erotic art of Mario and Bowser for a living."
He stopped himself.
"That's a joke, by the way. I mean, I've taken commissions almost on par with that, but money's money, right?" he laughed, "When I say self-indulgent, I mean cute ship art mostly."

Lis nodded at Lilac.
"It's okay. We'll figure it out. He's at least resting right now, which is good. We can get him to eat when he's ready, and I'm sure eventually he'll get to talking again. It makes sense that he's scared speechless."

Lilac nodded. "I know…I just…" she looked away. "I miss his smile…"

Levi laughed, "I heard artists get weird commissions but I never thought they'd be-" He paused, trying to think of how to put it tastefully, "-that."

"You'll have to teach me, so I can draw more than a stick figure with scoliosis." He joked, giving Tohru a light nudge. "I definitely didn't have a stable income, I kept moving around. Between friends houses mostly. I could never keep a job for very long. I just thought I'd found one, and a place to stay, then everything turned to shit."

"I know, I know," Tohru laughed, "The weird-ass commissioners tipped the best though, in my experience. Like I said, money is money. I hardly had a stable income myself. I did art commissions, and I worked as a bartender part time, plus I was in college. I'm the only kid whose education my parents refused to pay for, so I was on my own in terms of bearing that good old student debt."
He frowned a bit.
"I'm sorry about all that, though. Must've sucked. And well, now we're here. But uh… sure! I could give you some pointers sometime, maybe. I've never really tried to teach anyone before."

Lis gave a sad smile. She had never seen Mori smile to begin with.
"Yeah. There will be a day, though. I promise."

(Back from the realm of the dead)

Earl looked at Mori. He couldn't help but feel guilty. He was full of it at the moment.
The first time he met Mori, he scared the poor kid.
Now that he thought about it, Mori was always scared. He never wasn't.
Described a lot of people right now…

Rachel picked up a bag of chips, crunching away with a hanger. It had been a minute or two since she had had some…at least, this bag of off-brand Lays.
"Status check. Who's hurt, and who's not. Kas, don't answer that, I know you're hurt."

Kas stuck his tongue out a bit and shoved another handful of chips in his mouth. "I'm not that hurt. It's just my stupid knee. See?" He put a bit of weight on his knee and inhaled sharply, quickly lifting it up again from the pain. "I'm f-fine." Mori stirred a bit and whimpered, holding tighter to Lilac. He clearly wasn't doing well after everything that had happened. He was only seven, after all, and he wasn't prepared to handle these kinds of traumatic events.

"What did you study in college? I didn't get to go, my parents wouldn't pay either." Levi smiled, "At least you don't have to pay the debts now." He shrugged, "Wasn't too great but I wasn't the only one going through stuff."

"I'm sure you'll be a great teacher, it's not like you're teaching rocket science." He looked down at Tohru's hand, he kind of wanted to hold it but wasn't sure if Tohru would want him to, so he held himself back.

"I did pursue art in college," Tohru replied, "Graphic design and illustration. That's why they wouldn't pay. They were upset I wasn't going to be a doctor or lawyer or engineer or some shit. They paid for all of my other siblings gladly, though. They just never approved of my, uh, my lifestyle, so they weren't going to 'enable' it or whatever."
He scowled a bit at the thought, then shrugged. Upon the mention of debt, a smile crept up his face.
"That's right, no more debt."
He flexed his hand a little, his gaze also falling to Levi's hand. But he didn't want to do anything too awkward, not to mention he was still getting over a lot concerning Noah's death.

Luka crossed his arms. "You shouldn't do that again," he told Kas, sighing. Lilac nodded, holding Mori close. She took off her hoodie, as she had a t-shirt underneath, and covered herself and Mori with it. She stayed quiet as she tried to comfort the kid.

"I- uh-" Levi stuttered, forgetting what he wanted to say. He swallowed and gave himself a moment to collect his thoughts. "How many siblings did you have? It was just me and Mori's mother." He paused. "I miss her."

"I was the youngest of five," Tohru said, "On the one hand, I wish I could say the same. That I missed them. But… I'm not so sure that's the case. I was the only one who ended up being- well… a 'problem child,' I guess they would've said. Not that I ever did much of anything wrong. At least I never felt like I had to go searching for my family in this hellscape."
Tohru ran his hand back through his hair and took it down from its bun, letting it fall freely over his shoulders.

"I never thought about my parents after this started. And Lorelai was already gone. I guess I thought Mori was gone as well." Levi admitted, rubbing his eyes with one hand. He froze and stared for a second when Tohru undid his hair. He shook himself out of it rather aggressively and looked away.

(Omg relatable content)
Tohru brushed out a few tangles with his hands, but left his hair down, as it was more comfortable that way. He let out a heavy sigh. Talking about his parents actually made him kind of sad. It was hard knowing that being himself made him basically unwanted in their eyes. And it was hard knowing that he sort of abandoned them. They had called for help at the beginning of the pandemic, but he ignored all their messages. His mouth went a little dry, but he chose to share it anyway. It would probably feel good to get it off his chest. Especially if it was to Levi.
"A-actually, I wasn't completely truthful there. They asked me to help them, and I refused," he whispered, "I hadn't heard from any of my siblings, as they all moved away. But my parents… I feel like a traitor. I feel really bad about it sometimes. But I don't feel like they really loved me except when I served them some purpose."

Kas rolled his eyes and looked away, quietly massaging his injured leg. "I'm fine." He insisted. "It's just been a lot today. I'm sure I'll be fine in the morning." Mori stirred a bit more and opened his eyes, looking around blearily.