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 Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2012 6:22 pm
Logan sat back against the tree as they left them both there. He would never see them again, he knew, and for once he was alone. The only sound that filled his ears was the sound of his own breathing and the crackling fire.in front of him. It took about 30 minutes after it starting boiling when he finally took out the thick metal bowl. He took the leaves out, now mushy and hot and let them cool for another twenty before sitting next to Nova. He took the wad from underneath her hand and place the leaves over her wound. He then wrapped her shoulder in bandages. It was the only thing they could do with so little they knew. She stirred as he finished, waking up and squinting up at him.
Looking down, Nova watched as he finished with her wrappings and smiled of at him lightly. It wasn't often that she smiled, but she did it more often as of late; trying to hold onto the little light they had in their lives. "Thanks." She sat up, feeling weak still but her mind was now clear. The head rush from her blood loss had overtaken her mind..and so had the pain. "Where'd the other two go." She looked around to find nothing but Logan, green, and fire. "And the girl.." Nova remembered the sight of the girl with spears in her. She was out not long after that and thinking about it made her heart hurt. She tried to do good..even though she often did bad..she had good intentions.
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Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 5:26 pm
 ◈ ◈ ◈ ◈ ◈ ◈ Ren paused, gazing down at the graves. They looked somewhat solemn, and just looking at the graves reflected bitter memories Ren had when he was younger. His own parents had died, their graves in his old backyard. He wondered how their graves looked, if they looked a lot like this. He set Rae down, her body making no effort to look comfortable as he placed her on the floor. She looked like a bloody mess, and Ren will regretfully remember he like that, but there was no way to change her. He bent to help Elodie.
"Then how will you survive?" He lifted his hat, his dark eyes gazing upon the mutant. Again, he felt somewhat uneven about being so close to a mutant and was just becoming comfortable with her. He stopped, noticing this was getting him no where and stood. "What did you dig your parents with? We can't possibly did a big hole with just our hands."
He seemingly forgot to look for Amory and Lenore. Right now, he only felt responsibility.
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Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 5:39 pm
Elodie stopped digging for a moment to answer Ren's question. TO be honest, she had always been dependent on Rae and their parents, and never thought about what would happen if they were to die. "I probably won't live." she replied, not exactly knowing the severity of her words. She tried to remember how Rae dug the graves. Even if it was just a few months back, she couldn't exactly remember how she did it. Maybe someone helped her? She didn't remember Rae ever digging it with a shovel either. Quickly, she glanced at Rae's mangled corpse. I need her... she thought, holding back every urge to cry. Elodie knew she wouldn't last very long without Rae by her side.
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Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 6:49 pm
"They left.." Logan ran a hand through his hair, knowing what was going to come next. She would yell at him, argue about letting that little girl go alone even though she wasn't alone; but Nova had a soft spot for children, even if she'd pointed a arrow right at the little ones face. She wouldn't have had the guts to shoot her. "The other man took her to bury her sister.."
Left? He let them leave and didn't even bother going with? Nova glared at him, sadness finally overtaking her. She'd felt so numb for so long that when an emotion did hit her she felt it in the fullest force. "You let her go? What if he kills her?" Her voice rose as she spoke, "You should've gone with her, Logan! Kept her safe, even take her somewhere where she'd be protected Like Miss Lenore did for me!" It'd been so long since she'd said Lenore's name. She hadn't said it since she died a few months back, but the pain still haunted her. It was Nova's fault that the woman was dead...but she died with pride.
"He told me to stay to protect you, Nova." He mumbled quietly, "and he's right for that. You are weak, I need to protect you."
"No!" Nova punched the ground, hard, trying to make a point with her anger and sadness. "She needs to be protected! If I die, so be it..I don't deserve to live but that little girl deserves a life." The on flood of emotion washing over her only made her angrier.
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Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 7:28 pm
◈ ◈ ◈ ◈ ◈ ◈ Ren dusted his hands to look at the little girl. She looked so serious even though she was so young. It was true that Ren believed everyone would die at some point, but this child, no matter what race she was...
Ren stood, patting the girl's shoulder. "I...Before I left your sister..." He moved away, resuming to dig. "Told her that instead of dying, she could choose everlastingness. I'll say the same for you." Ren looked up, searching the girl's face. He sighed before digging some more. "It means that you should live your life any way you can. By doing so, you can leave even the smallest trace of your existence and always be remembered, even if they never knew you. Your sister...Left her trace in her own way." He wiped his nose with the back of his hand, sniffing before pushing the dirt out of the gradually growing hole he was making. "You. She left you as her trace. So you have to live for your sister." He coughed and kept digging.
"I'm not usually so sympathetic, kid, but I'll give you this offer, and this offer only once. You can tag along, if you'd like. I can't help but feel guilty I left your sister to die the way she did and I feel that taking you in is my repentance." Ren looked to the grown, his face grim looking as he thought about it.
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Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 7:46 pm
 "Amory! Amory!!" Lenore darted to the dusty hole Amory fell through, peeking through it to see where the boy had landed. He had hit the old wooden floor with a pained grunt, and laid there groaning. "Amory! Are you okay?" She watched him with a concerned look, feeling responsible. Amory slowly got up and gave her the thumbs up. Lenore sighed with relief and moved away from the floor. The second floor was weak in some places, and after Amory's incident, Lenore would have to be careful where she placed her step. She shifted to the other side of the old house they were ransacking, but found nothing of incredible use. Nowadays, houses were clean picked and useless. They were only good for traps, and for that Lenore had to remain cautious. She sighed and went downstairs, finding Amory dusting himself off.
"I only found a few lock picks. Lets go. It's not worth staying here any longer," she motioned, going back through where they came. Coming to the neighborhoods were a mistake, and Lenore cursed herself for losing time. But she knew that if she didn't risk it, there would've been no hope to find food. Lenore knew Amory was hungry even though he wouldn't admit it. She bit her lip and trudged on. If the houses were no good, then they'd have to move on to find a water source.  Amory rubbed his hip with a pout, his dark eyes following Lenore as she constantly worried about their well being. Amory knew going to the neighborhoods would be risky and that finding something of value would be difficult and rare. Amory knew their only option was to try and find water. Knowing Lenore, she would want to camp there for the night and possibly hunt for something.
Their progress was slow, partly because of him, and Amory felt slightly guilty. He followed silently, head bowed. He was hungry. And tired. And lost. And he felt a little restless. Ren wasn't there to provide and protect them, it being already a little over a half a year since he died, and lately, Amory had been feeling uneasy. Lenore was constantly stressed and Amory felt bad for being so burdensome. The fact that visiting the houses did not help them also made matters worse, if only because they wasted part of their precious daylight and they received nothing as result.
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Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 9:17 pm
"Well, it's too late, Nova!" Logan yelled at her, frustrated with the many emotion she bared. She was so quiet and uncaring, but then she could be the most emotional person in the world at times. Logan hardly got a grasp of her at times. "They're gone! Him AND the little girl! If she's dead, she's dead and there's nothing we can do about it!" He watched with frustration as she turned her head away from him without saying another word and he sighed, running his hand through his hair. The walls she'd just so recently let down were up again and he damned himself as she refused to speak; bearing her pain in silence.
"Nova," The dark haired man sat next to the blonde, "We have to get up and move. We've been here for a while, people will come across us sooner or later." He grabbed her hand but she slid it away. With a sigh, Logan stood. "You have one hour. Make as many arrows as you can." He stuffed out the fire with his foot, stomping out the embers then gathering their things in their only bag. Nova was shocked when he'd suddenly yelled at her and she felt hurt by it. She turned her head away, thinking to herself..thinking of her life and everything that'd happened to her. She felt no closer to what she wanted to accomplish, but she didn't know what she wanted to accomplish anymore. An hour had passed in silence, but she could feel Logan's eyes traveling towards her every once in a while. She refused to pay any attention to him and let her mind wander when he suddenly knelt next to her; taking her hand. She took it away and instant later, which seemed to anger him but she didn't care. Why should she right now? He was right, though. Finding camp somewhere else would be better.
So, she started working on her arrows. She completely indulged herself in making them, letting her mind wander to dark places as she sharpened the heads and attached them. She'd made twenty in an hour, which was a decent amount, but now it was time to go. Putting them in her quiver, she stood and swung it over her head to hang on her back before slinging her bow over her right shoulder. Then they walked and Nova caught game as they stepped through the woods. Two rabbits and a squirrel. She tied all their legs together and held them as she walked. It wouldn't be until camp that they'd be cooked.
The moon finally hung overhead, and Nova couldn't help but admire it's beauty. "Y'know.." Nova finally spoke to Logan, "When I was little, Miss Lenore would always tell me 'Most people think sunshine is the most beautiful thing on this earth because it's light - pure and good; but I think the most beautiful thing is the moon. Unlike the sun, the moon felt pain, anger, and vengeance.' " Nova shook her head a little and looked at Logan, "I asked her how that was beautiful and she told me 'Because, like you will little Sparrow, it overcame each and every one of those obstacles; and whats more beautiful than that?' " Nova looked away, quiet for a moment before she spoke again "It's kind of stupid, i know, but I've held onto it for years."
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Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2012 5:14 am
At first, Elodie didn't know if what she was hearing was true. He wanted her to come with him? But what about the two people he was looking for before? Even though Rae trusted this man, Elodie wasn't so sure. However, as much as it didn't seem like it, she wanted to live. "Yes, sir." she replied as she got back down on her knees and continued to dig. Rae always taught her to be polite to people she didn't know well. And then, it hit her. She got up and walked towards Rae's corpse. She carefully searched her body for anything she could use, and there, strapped to her skirt, she found something. A gun. Elodie's eyes widened as she saw the familiar ebony pistol. She carefully unhooked it from Rae's skirt and examined it. No bullets.
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Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 4:45 pm
◈ ◈ ◈ ◈ ◈ ◈ Ren patted her head. This child...she symbolized his failure to protect people was supposed to protect, even though he had only met Rae once. He couldn't protect Lenore and Amory and now he couldn't protect even a single stranger. Who could Ren protect? Himself? Was he that narcissistic?
Ren continued to dig until he noticed Elodie wasn't digging anymore. He looked up to see her holding a gun. He quickly stood, snatching the weapon from the girl. He paused and shook his head. "Sorry. Just...sorry. You caught me by surprise." Ren handed the gun back to Elodie, whereupon realizing the gun was empty. Ren wiped his brow and looked at Rae's body. "She didn't have anything else on her? Any bullets? Heirlooms?" Ren kicked at the hole they had made, thinking their small feat was large enough to place Rae in. He looked to the little girl and waited.
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Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2012 7:03 pm
Searching through her pockets, she found something small inside her front pocket. Quickly, she pulled what was hiding inside. A key. Small, a bit rusted, and started to smell of Rae's flesh. It also had a string going through the top end of it, so it could by worn as a necklace. Elodie didn't know why Rae would have such a thing, since Rae always thought that personal possessions were a bother because Elodie and herself always traveled around. "This." the little girl replied as she handed the key to Ren. Sadly, Elodie didn't even know what the key was even for. But the fact that Rae had this key on her when she died, it must have been special key. And Elodie was going to keep it special.
The hole seemed larger than their parent's graves, no doubt. Before she went to throw Rae in, she finished searching her body. No bullets. No knives. No supplies. Nothing at all. Just the empty gun and the key. Elodie let out a frustrated sigh and started to drag Rae towards the hole. She was starting to become a bit nauseous from being around the rotting corpse for so long.
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Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2012 11:34 am
◈ ◈ ◈ ◈ ◈ ◈ Ren's face darkened, and he twirled the key around in his fingers. He helped push Rae's body into the hole, before looking at Elodie, noting her look of distaste. He cleared his throat. "Here, hold onto the gun and to the key. We might find some bullets for it, and we might find whatever that key unlocks. Until then, keep them for your sister. You could sit somewhere and rest. I'll finish up," he explained before moving around the hole to push the pile of dirt over the mangled body that was Rae.
She surely didn't look very peaceful, and Ren felt a bit guilty for that.
His own parents went mad and killed themselves. While Ren was out hunting, His father killed his mother with a gun at the bottom of the stairs in their home. He had dragged the body into the bedroom, into bed, and shot himself in the mouth there as well. He had found Amory in the corner, horrified.
It was a solemn prospect. He remembered burying his parents, their faces bloodied, but they had this sort of sereneness. Ren didn't care much for his parents, them being paranoid people caught up in this house. When they died, Ren buried them, took whatever he found useful, and took Amory to leave.
Amory was always more delicate with himself. Ren presumed that it was because Amory was always babied by their psychotic parents. Ren was fully responsible for Amory currently, but now that Ren had lost him, he felt a mixture of anger, confusion, guilt, and desperation. Ren wasn't a very emotional man, and when he had such strong feelings, he usually let them pent up inside of him. He knew it was unhealthy, and that he'd probably turn out like his parents, but it wasn't like he could share it with anyone.
Ren scratched his head, finishing pushing dirt into the grave before dusting off his arms, hands, and pants. His fixed his hat, sighing wistfully. Ren remembered how he had taken the gun his parents' shot themselves with. He had used the gun for awhile, before disposing it when it was empty of bullets and no longer was of any use. He glanced up at Elodie. He wouldn't dispose of her like that gun. Just...not yet.
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Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2012 1:02 pm
Elodie searched around for a brief moment and finally plopped down next to the large clump of foliage that hovered over their parent's graves. Her gaze was still on the small key, how mysterious it was. And how much it intrigued her. She tossed it a few times, as if it was to magically turn into some creature that would grant her wishes. Elodie finally decided to wear the key as a necklace using the string at the end. Her eyes returned to Ren, who was burying Rae. Her face, it almost urged Elodie to vomit. She looked away, holding back the tears of sadness and disgust. She was still unsure about tagging along with Ren, but she was starting to like him. Trust. That was the word, the word she heard Rae say several times. But not in the ways Elodie thought. She had always hear her say 'I can't trust them' or 'Don't ever trust them, Elodie'. The fact that Rae trusted Ren was still a shock to Elodie, but something didn't seem right. There had to be a reason. There had to be. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Let's see what we have here..."The nasally voice came from the lone mutant, fishing through a dead corpse. He wouldn't call it scavenging, it was more like..taking from people who didn't need it anymore. One of his findings was a gun, a small shotgun, but it was loaded. This will due for now. he thought as he tossed the gun into his makeshift bag. Others were a few small bottles of perfume, a blank notebook and small bell. He swiftly tossed the items into the bag and went off on his way, tossing around the bloody knife he had slain his victim with. The killer is V Pierrot. He could steal whatever wasn't bolted down. If you happen to be one of his victims, you'd be lucky if he didn't strip you down to your clothes. He'd steal anything that was on you. As he strolled down what seemed like endless woods, he could see two figures from afar. Amory and Lenore. An evil grin appeared on his face as he embraced his knife and kept walking towards them. 
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Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2012 2:04 pm
Water.
Lenore pulled off her burlap bag, throwing it to the floor before walking to the river's edge with a look of slight relief. She bent, inspecting the water before standing, turning to Amory who had just came out of the brush. "Let's camp in the trees. I'll prepare some water, so go make a fire, she murmured. The boy followed her commands, Lenore watching him for a bit before going through her bag for a container. She was rather experienced in survival skills and knew well that this water was probably radiated. She glanced to Amory. She couldn't afford to harm the boy's body. And if she drank radiated water, well, her mutation would probably quicken the process.
She filled the large container with water from the river, carrying it to the now sizzling fire. She held it there, waiting for Amory to make another fire before stamping out the first fire with her foot. After, she began to dig up some dirt, throwing handfuls into the water. This was to ensure that the majority of the radiation would sink with the dirt. Afterwards, she got a small cup and carefully siphoned out the top surface of the water in the container, putting that water into another container. Though this was tedious, she wanted to make sure the water was clean to drink. Now that the majority of the radiation was dispelled, she had to make a filter. The filter consisted of rocks, dirt, cloth, sand, and the charcoal that was made from the extinguished fire's burnt wood. Once the filter was completed, she began to boil the water. Amory sighed, rubbing the back of his neck as he looked at the fire, the water looking like it'd take forever to boil. He looked to Lenore, who looked distracted. She was the type of person who was constantly thinking. It concerned him slightly, but he was used to her nerves. He hugged his knees, laying his head on them as he watched the fire crackle. He was tired of traveling but he knew well not to complain. It'd only burden Lenore.
Amory sighed and got up, pacing a little. It was by this time he noticed a dark figure. It seemed wary and was walking towards them. Amory turned to Lenore. "Who is that?" The older female glanced in that direction, before her face darkened, frowning. Newcomers always brought trouble, bad or good. Lenore quickly bent for her bag, grabbing the gun she always carried and kept it near her. Amory bit his lip. Already to that conclusion?
Amory had shot a gun before. Ren had taught him. Before long, they came across a rifle. A sniper of sorts. The big gun peeked from the top of his bag. However, unlike Lenore, Amory wasn't so ready as to shoot another person.
"Who are you and what is your business?" Lenore rang in a loud voice. Though she looked frail, her body was tough. She was prepared to fight whoever this dark figure claimed to be.
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Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2012 2:08 pm
◈ ◈ ◈ ◈ ◈ ◈ Ren paused and looked at Elodie's solemn face. He could do nothing to console her. His hand went to his gun. He could end her life right then, end her misery. But the eyes of Rae haunted him. "Save her." Ren moved his hand and turned. "Let's move on. It's best we put some distance before nightfall. I'd hate to have to camp in these parts with those men lurking somewhere or other," he commented motioning to go.
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Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2012 2:38 pm
 Elodie nodded her small head and gripped the empty gun. She got up from the ground and started to trot in the direction of where she first saw Amory and Lenore. Quickly, she wiped the falling tears from her face with her dirty sleeve. She didn't want Ren to see her cry. Not now, anyway. The key around her neck dangled aimlessly, clanking onto her chest several times. It annoyed her, but there was nothing she could really do with the key since she didn't have any pockets in her ragged skirt. Her shirt was covered in dirt and grime, and she roamed barefoot since she felt shoes slowed her down, and who could find shoes nowadays? A long stream stretched out inside the woods, which was a nice sight to see since the only thing Elodie had been seeing for the the last two weeks were trees and more trees. She sped up her pace and stopped once she reached the banks of the fast running stream. Elodie looked back at Ren and pointed to the stream. "Thirsty?" she asked. She was still a little embarressed about how she couldn't speak well. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  Fumbling around with his knife, he stopped at least ten feet away from the duo. "Nothing but a young traveler, ma'am." he responded politely, as if he wasn't going to make a violent move. The knife's material was a rare type of rock, ebony colored. The old man who raised V told him that this rock could pierce the hide of anything. Even humans.
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