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

Started March 06, 2021 by @Becfromthedead group

tune

Aspen sat quietly, her head slumped lazily against a wall as she tried to overcome the dreadful feeling of being back in the hospital.

Its not about you, we're doing this for the others, so they have a safe place to sleep and get supplies she thought to herself, she fiddled with her shirt, the hem coming undone intensely.

She then started picking at a loose string hanging from her pants.

Mori held the plush bird he'd been given close to himself, his eyes shining with tears. "I…" He began, swallowing nervously and avoiding eye contact with anyone. "I-I'm sorry…" He whispered. "For… uhm… c-causing problems…"

Lilac hugged him close. "Don't worry about it…" she smiled, ruffling his hair. She wiped his tears.

Lis leaned down next to Mori and held his hand.
"Baby, you're alright. You're not causing any more problems than the rest of us. I promise that. And if you're worried about feeling useless, we can teach you some survival skills, or cooking, or something like that. None of us were born knowing those things. And being as scared as you are is okay. We’re here to back each other up. And I mean everyone is willing to do that for everyone else here."
She gave a bright smile, leaving her hand outstretched over his.
"We've found this town to stay in for a bit. We'll have the time and safety to let everyone get better. Things will be okay."

(Oop-)
Mori looked up at Lis with tears welling up in his eyes. His face was still rather pale, and his trembling had never stopped. His insides still felt tight and twisted with fear, and he could hardly think with the state his head was in. His vision was blurred, although he couldn't say whether it was the tears or the concussion, or some combination of the two. After a few seconds of processing everything, he tightly gripped Lis' hand and hiccuped, a couple of tears rolling down his pallid cheeks. "T… T-Thank you…"

"Of course, love," Lis replied softly, leaning in to give Mori a hug.
"If there's anything you need, you can ask someone here. Heck, you can ask me. That's what we're here for. And if you ever need a hug or someone to hold your hand, or anything like that, you can come to me. You don't even need to ask."
(Read: I'm your mother now <3)

Levi shifted even closer to Tohru, "Hey, that's okay. We, uh, we can work it out together if you want. Or we can just sit here together. That's okay too." He said softly, lifting their held together hands onto his lap.

Tohru closed his eyes, trying to focus on the touch of Levi's hands over anything else he might be feeling.
"It might be for the best that I let it out, so I-I… I'll try…"
Once again, his mouth felt horribly dry as he tried to search for the words to say. Yet, he found himself able to recount some of his story- at least the parts that mattered:
The group he'd started out with started getting ripped apart, his boyfriend of over two years at that point becoming infected, being left behind by the rest of the group who thought he was insane for trying to save a dead man, and him watching Noah deteriorate, then ultimately having to off him.
By the time Tohru finished explaining, he was in tears again. He distractedly rubbed circles into Levi's hands with his thumbs.
"So that's… that's what happened," Tohru whispered, "Not that anyone can do anything about it now that they know."

Aspen sat quietly, Arlo nuzzled his head into her hand, then nipped her in the finger with his beak.
"Ow" she said quietly, her voice extremely throated and low.

She outstretched her two index fingers then Arlo fluttered up and rested on one, a few seconds later her flew to the other, and then repeated the process over and over, maybe doing a slight trick in between the distance, Aspen watched this in awe, giving small giggles as he tried to show off.

Mori nodded and buried his face in Lis' shoulder, hugging her tightly in return. He was still crying softly, but he was more relaxed. He felt a bit calmer. Safer. "I-I just… we… w-we keep finding more p-people and they're— always h-hurt and— I c-can't— I just don't… who's gonna get hurt next??" He hiccuped, trying to form coherent sentences. "A-And the zombies— keep chasing us— and I-I'm useless and just dragging— everyone down…"

Bean leaned her head against Aspen, smiling softly. Lilac rubbed Mori’s back. “You’re not useless,” she told him, trying to comfort him. “And people get hurt…that’s life.”

Aspen watched Arlo continue to flutter, her smile widening with each jump.
Arlo soon stopped and fluttered to the ground, nustling his head against the hand Aspen had laying on the ground.

"Awh does someone want affection?" she asked the small bird quietly.

She scooped him into the palm of her hands and brought him closer to her face, here he nuzzled his beak into her cheek, she gave a soft giggle.

Levi visibly shivered, "Oh-" Not knowing what else to do, he grabbed the back of of Tohru's neck and pulled him into a hug. "That's awful. I can't even imagine what that would feel like. We can make sure it never happens again." Secretly, he was crying behind Tohru's back but he wasn't going to let him know that.

(it's pretty weak but it's the best I can do)

(It looks fine to me!)
Tohru sank into the hug, almost at a loss for words. He just about went limp in the other’s arms, not able to handle all the emotions he was feeling.
"Never happens again…" he echoed softly.
Biting back another sob and trembling violently at the effort, Tohru said, "I don't mean to burden any of you. I just- I needed that off my chest… I'd not spoken to anyone about it until today. A-and I'm still trying to make sense of it all."

"I don't want… d-don't want people to get hurt, though…" Mori whispered weakly, curling in on himself a bit more with his eyes trained on the plush bird. "B-But I'm not strong enough to prevent it at all…"

Lis shrugged a bit.
"No one can protect everyone," she said, "People are going to get hurt here and there. But we've got each other's backs to make sure people don't actually go out there and get killed. It takes more than one person to prevent all that. Trust me, kiddo. It makes me feel powerless all the time. I used to feel horrible about it, too, and I'm a grown-up. I think what you're feeling, a lot of us have felt, no matter how strong we may seem. None of us want people to get hurt, and we try to stop it, and it just doesn't always work. Or the person trying to stop it gets hurt instead.
She leaned back.
"It's a whole mess, really. I happen to like you guys a lot, though, so I'm going to put a lot into keeping everyone safe. Even if it's as simple as taking an extra watch or looking after the injured."

Mori nodded tentatively, huddling a bit closer to Lis and Lilac. He still seemed pretty nervous, and not entirely convinced, but he was at least a little bit calmer than before. "This all just feels like a big scary nightmare… b-but it doesn't end. It just… keeps going…"

Lilac held him close, rubbing his back. She stayed quiet as she nodded in agreement. She didn't know what to say, after all. She sighed before finally speaking. "I know…"

"Hey, hey it's okay." Levi whispered, "You've got us now, you've got me." He pulled Tohru in even tighter. "You're not burdening anybody. I'm honoured that you shared that with me. And I'll do anything to help you through this."