forum I summon thee @Young-Dusty

Started May 08, 2019 by @amber_is_in_a_loop

tune

(Oh lmao I just realised we stopped writing Jessie and Slash)
She nodded, wiping her face clean of emotion before pulling ahead to take a seat next to Jessie, who smiled up at her and silently turned back to what she was hearing up on the fire.

(Oh oops we did, I forgot about that ahaha ^^;)
Rick gave the younger pair a cheerful smile as he joined them. "We're back! Anything happen while we were gone?"
"Not really," Slash said. He wasn't about to mention the almost-heart-to-heart discussion he'd had with Jessie, it was much too embarrassing. "What about you guys? What did you find?"

"So, there's a possible entrance other than the main, minimally guarded, but there are also snipers on guard. Discretion will be the key here, and I think we need to get to Axel on our own terms," Charlotte rattled off, still tense with the thrill of strategising.

(aww pfff ty >w<)
(yeah, keep me posted! And yes, let's!)
Rick nodded. "We're hopin' to sneak in, carry the element of surprise as much as possible. If we have to split up for any reason, Slash goes with Charlotte and Jessie goes with me, since both you girls can navigate th' building. Sound good everyone?"
Slash shrugged in a 'yes' kind of way. "What happens when we find Axel?"

"Don't kill him. Hurt him, but only to neutralise. The smoother this goes, the better. And if it comes to killing him…" Charlotte flicked a strand of hair from her face, set her jaw. "Well, the kill is mine. But the main goal is to find out where the two kids are with as little casualties as possible."

"Okay." Slash looked satisfied with that answer. "What about the other people in there, the ones that work for him? Do we spare them too, or does it matter?"

She flinched clearly, but shook it off quickly. "It matters. Don't kill anyone if you can help it, okay?"

"Okay. Just checking." Slash sat back and scratched his ear with his hind foot. "Why, are they friends of ours?"
(I gotta go have supper and watch a movie with my fam, seeya later!)

(Have fun, see you!)
"I– no. But he couldn't have kept a lot of people on. The most dedicated were in after us and so they'll all be… young. They'll only be kids."

Slash pulled his ears back. "His kids?"
"I doubt that," Rick replied dryly, shaking his head at the thought of Axel hiding behind a bunch of children. "All the same, I reckon we'll have to be careful. Kids or not, they're bein' trained as soldiers, right? We don't want to underestimate 'em and get overpowered at the wrong moment."

Charlotte nodded. "Correct. I don't even know if the experiments are still on. If they are, the soldiers will be aggressive and extremely quick. But yes, either way, no matter how young they look they'll be vicious. So watch your back."
Jessie sighed, and added on. "They won't listen. Once they're fighting, they aren't thinking. It's like someone will have flipped a fight to kill switch." She looked up at Charlotte. She wore a carefully crafted, tired expression that only truly anguished grown ups should bear. This expression had no place on a thirteen year old girl's face.
"I know you don't want to seriously hurt them. But you might have no choice."

"Okay….." Slash studied Jessie with a frown, not liking how weary she sounded. "Well, I guess we'll just have to find Axel quick then, so we don't have to worry about the others at all." He made his voice confident, trying to make her feel better so she wouldn't look at them like they'd already lost the battle. "Once we deal with him and find the rest of your family, we can just leave, all right?"

Jessie looked over at Slash, along with Charlotte. Although the latter was taken aback by this perfectly sensible plan, Jessie felt a swell of affection for the Deorn boy. She beamed at him, totally reassured by his words.

Slash smiled proudly, satisfied that his plan had worked. "So. Anything else we need to talk about, then? And when are we gonna do this? After dark?"

Charlotte stuttered for a moment before focusing. "Uh, well we don't know much else, so no. Rick, anything to add?" she asked him, looking over in his direction.

"Just that I think we should all go into this with a healthy dose of belief in ourselves and a clear picture of a successful mission in our heads," Rick replied peaceably. He had to admit, he was quite pleased to see how their team was shaping up, and even dared to hope that maybe this wouldn't be such a difficult challenge after all. In his opinion, as long as you surrounded yourself with good, reliable people, you could overcome any obstacle. "On that note, let's all eat and rest up some before we figure out when we're movin' out. Agreed?"

The girls nodded their approval, and Jessie scooted nearer to the fire to start stoking it again. Charlotte let herself sink back into her thoughts: she had no idea what to expect. Would Axel be expecting them to be here? Would he lower his defences, or increase them? Should she be more worried than she was? She hadn’t been around in years, let alone fought anyone— fighting scarecrows wasn’t quite the same experience. She fell back into the grass, staring up at the sky in silence wonder, trying to rid herself of the negative energy.

Rick glanced over and offered her a slight smile. "You all right? I s'pose you could take a nap if you wanted, maybe that would do you more good than food. You look a little worn out already."
(I'm working all day today, probably won't be back on until tomorrow)

Charlotte tilted her head to look at Rick, and nodded slightly. She offered a small sweet smile before closing her eyes.
"Rick?" Jessie called quietly. "What are cooking tonight?"

Rick turned his attention to her. "Well, let's see what we've got," he replied, scooting over to give Charlotte some space to nap. "Seems like there's plenty of fowl meat and venison on hand, now that Slash has been huntin' for us. I'll go get some water from the creek–I think I saw a coupla big ol' plantain plants down there earlier, so I'll get some leaves from them too and we can make salad." He stood, taking a carefully wrapped tin and tossing it to Jessie. "Spices for the meat. Not sure how much y'know about spice theory, but I trust your judgement. Add a little of everything if you want. Now I'll be right back."
"Don't put any of those spices on my food, okay?" Slash muttered quietly. "They make me sneeze a lot."