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 Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2012 12:24 pm
Location: Moore Haven, Florida  Time: 6 pm Weather: cloudy, warm, wet Tad slunk along the wreckage, the riffle he’d looted from an old gun store held firmly in his hands. There was a small gang of thugs that regularly trolled the area. They were the kind that you either joined them or you died. If they weren’t the dangerous type, Tad would have joined them a long time ago. Heck, if it were just him he would have joined them just for the protection, but it wasn’t just himself he had to worry about. He had his sister. The gang had one female in their midst and she was treated like an object made for the sole purpose of pleasing them. He wasn’t about to let that happen to his sister. He would fight to the death to prevent that from happening. The sound of rocks moving sent Tad immediately into a small nook. He heard voices, joking rather cruelly about the woman. In silence, and poised to attack if he needed to he waited for the men to pass. He had just gone on a rather successful hunt for supplies and he needed to get back to his sister, who was hiding in their makeshift home. She was good at listening to him; she would stay in the old vault on the ship until he arrived. He’d managed to figure out how to recode the thing in the two months they’d spent hiding out in the cruise ship. There had even been others with them…at first. Slowly but surely they had all died off from sickness or injury. It was just him and his sister left…and the darned thugs. Eventually the sound of them men talking faded into the distance and Tad continued on his way. It was another two hours of sneaking about until he finally reach the old half beached cruise liner. With the keys he unlocked the hatch and made his way in, making sure to lock it behind him. He walked more comfortably now with the danger out of the way. Weaving his way through the halls he eventually reached the vault and immediately punched the numbers in. There his sister sat, an oxygen mask snugly strapped to her face while she played solitaire. The vault was air tight so the oxygen mask was a necessity. They had pilfered several tanks from an old hospital and they were proving to be quite useful. “Hey,” He smiled, motioning her out of the vault and into the area where they spent most of their time. “Come check out what I found.” His sister quickly removed the mask and turned the oxygen off before following him out. “Anything interesting?” “Well,” He dropped the large military backpack on the ground and sat down to start pulling things out of it. “I found some sealed jerky and some mylar packed chicken. And these…” He set down a few small cans of food. “They’re either mandarin oranges or mushrooms; the labels came off in the water.” “Oh! You found real oranges!” She exclaimed finding the large mesh bag tied to the side of his main bag. “Yeah,” he started, “The tree was half buried in the water. It was going to start dying so I grabbed as many as I could.” She immediately grabbed one and started peeling it. “What else did you find?” “Oh!” He suddenly remembered something, starting to pull things out of the bag faster. “I found this!” He passed over a small sealed tupper-ware and grinned. She had already begun stuffing her face with the orange and with slightly sticky hands grabbed it from him, “What is it?” He chuckled, “Well, for one, it’s tupper-ware and two; it’s got packets of seeds in it! If we can find a nice, safe place to live, we can start growing our own food. They even have instructions on the packets on how to grow them.” “Awesome!” she grinned, passing over a few slices of her orange. “Here, try some. It’s so good! I never thought I’d miss the taste of oranges.” Tad smiled and took the slices from his sister. It was like heaven in a bite. He didn’t remember oranges ever tasting this good but, oh, they were damn good. Tad couldn’t help but let out a small noise of enjoyment. This was the best moment he’d had since the whole disaster. Then came a crackling from the radio they found on the ship... Posh Pyro "HELLO, is anyone there? I'm making my way to Florida in search of other survivors, I'll be there tomorrow." (They heard) a crash and then a splash. "Damn, there goes the wind vain." (Once again they heard) static. "Please, meet me in West Palm." As quickly as it came the voice vanishe(d). Tad and his sister immediately stopped moving. Together they slowly turned toward the old radio. Tad stared as it for a moment before finally standing and moving over to it. He picked up the handset, looking at his sister before finally speaking into it. “Hello? This is Hextor. Do you Copy?” Silently he waited for a moment then continued, "West palm is completely under water, over." There was the small possibility of this guy being one of the thugs, but there was also the chance of him just being a normal guy. He had to take the chance, but he would have to proceed carefully, for his sister’s sake. He looked at his sister, "Hey, how do you feel about stealing a boat?"
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Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2012 9:17 pm
Character: Gabriella Lillian Jacobs
Location: A beached cruise liner in Moore Haven, Florida. With her brother.
Condition: Apprehensive but curious.  Abby Jacobs stood just behind her beloved older brother, leaning around him in order to stare at the radio as her brother spoke to the person on the other side. Her hooded, grey-green eyes were low with trepidation. She could hardly believe the transmission and even if it was a real person on the other end it'd gone quiet so quickly. Abby tried her best to hide her anxiety over the message when her brother turned to look at her and she went so far as to force a little smile. She brought her hands together over her sternum and began to weave her sticky fingers together; a clear sign that she was bothered about something, but attempting to hide it. All that was heard on the other line was static, maybe if the person didn't respond they'd be able to stay here? Where it was safe.. She had no idea how long they'd be able to stay there and she was afraid to even think about it. In a way she was ashamed of how scared she was. Her brother went out into the horrible new world every day, after all, and even though he was fully capable she was still left here with orders to stay put. It was only a month or so earlier that she'd finally taken two steps forward and gathered the courage to try and be more useful. But now, since the apocalypse, she felt like she'd been pushed back seven.
After all, she wasn't completely ignorant to what was happening outside. She'd seen a small example of the chaos first hand when the other survivors had died. At her brother's side, she'd helped him gather together whatever survivors they could find and rescue from their dilapidated homes. Those first days were full of hope, but one by one the others had all died of disease or injury. Some were so sick that they had to be quarantined from the group. The first to die were the other girls, females. At the end when even the strongest and youngest had all died too, Abby was left wondering how she'd survived. But in a way her survival was no mystery to her, she was sure that her brother had had something to do with it. She just didn't know how he'd managed to do it all. In the time it took for the others to fall ill and die, she'd been witness to an interesting and terrifying change in them. At first they were nice and everyone worked together, with little complaint. But as time went on and the females of their group started to die the nastier sides to these people started to show. If the experiences of their small group were any example of the current condition of the other survivors like them; Abby knew that the ones left over from the apocalypse were probably worse.
She didn't want to go outside. She didn't want her brother to go outside either, but she had to let him go. As she returned her brother's gaze and tried to steel herself in order to answer his question, her imagination was working in overdrive; creating various nasty pictures of the new version of Earth that was waiting for her outside of the safety of this ship. Keeping a very forced, tiny little smile on her face she tried to lie to her brother. Tried to encourage him. "S-sounds like fun." After such a horribly failed attempt, Abby's next words lumped together and became stuck in her throat. Crap! She hadn't meant to mess up that badly. Quickly, she tried to think of something to say that would belittle her failure. "I-I mean, if there are other people out there then we should go. B-besides, it'd be fun to hijack some jerk's boat. I'd like to meet the guy who could survive out here. I wonder if he's alone?" Her face flushed pink with her embarrassment, but she kept her nervous smile and feigned eagerness up.
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Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2012 10:22 pm
Tad couldn't help but smile softly at his sister's stuttering. The girl was a terrible liar and he knew it all too well. He knew her better than he knew himself, she was his sister, practically his daughter in a weird sort of way. She didn't like the idea, that mush was clear and she was just trying to be brave for him. He grabbed her hand gently and dragged her back over to where they had previously been sitting. When he took his hand back their hand stuck together briefly from the orange juice and he chuckled, "Okay, that's gross." He motioned for her to stay put and moved off to another area of their 'home'. Over in their little makeshift kitchen, complete with tiny folding stove run on fuel cans, he grabbed a rag and one of their many bottles of water. He poured a bit of water onto the rag then moved back over to his sister, wiping his own hand as he went before offering the rag to her and sitting down in front of her. Patiently he waited for her to take care of her own sticky hands before he snatched them up again. "Okay, I know we haven't talked much about our plans for the future, so maybe we should do that now?" He gave her the most comforting smile he could muster. They had spent so much time just focusing on surviving, they hadn't really thought of what they needed to do to LIVE. There was so much they had to do, and while surviving was all well and good, they would eventually need to leave. "You know we can't live here indefinatly. Yeah, there's lot of places to loot, but the gangs make things dangerous and we can only live on canned goods for so long. We need to get somewhere with replenishable foods where we don't have to be terrified for our lives everyday. We also need to find some people...good people. There's strenght in numbers and I swear, I will die before I let anyone lay a hand on you. You know that right?"He knew she knew he would do whatever it took to keep her safe. If anything, he was a bit too overprotective, especially now. He knew that. But with how things were, with the gangs and they way they treated the one woman the had, he couldn't, he could jut let his guard down, but at the same time, he knew they had to take some risks, or they would die in this old ship. He looked square into his sisters eyes, searching for the understanding he was hoping to find. He knew why they'd not spoken of this before, both of them were scared, scared of what lay before them, what threanened them daily. They had been through so very much together, survived so much. If they were going to survive this, then like everyhting else, it would have to be together.
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Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2012 12:22 pm
Character: Gabriella Lillian Jacobs
Location: A beached cruise liner in Moore Haven, Florida. With her brother.
Condition: Intrigued, eager, still a little afraid. Something in Abby's eyes betrayed the sharp pain in her chest she felt when her treasured brother once again seemed to read her mind. Looking at the soft and loving expression on her brother's face, she felt so ashamed of herself. She'd tried her best to hide her fear and even though she could imagine what was out there, she'd never had to experience it for herself. Her brother saved her from that, making her stay in the safety of the ship's vault each time he ventured into the dangerous world outside in order to provide for the both of them. She'd been figured out so easily by him and on some level she knew that her dearest brother had always been able to tell what she was thinking. Aware of this on a subconscious level, Abby's anxiety started to melt away in the warmth of that smile. Her forced little smile was suddenly not so forced anymore. Taddie usually had that kind of affect on her. She followed after him obediently, some of her abated fear and anxiety returning as they moved. When her brother commented on how gross their sticky hands were and laughed; she couldn't help but laugh at the silliness of it too.
When he motioned for her to sit down, she obliged curiously. As she watched him walk away, she wiggled in place to get a better look at him. She was also trying to figure out where he was headed and she couldn't help but wonder what he could be up to. Is he going to try the radio again, without me? She asked herself inwardly, her other hand overlapping the hand that her brother had held. She didn't want to think that he intended to leave her out of it, she knew that he wasn't that kind of person. Before the apocalypse, at least. For the most part, that was true. But she had confidence in her brother and she knew that he wouldn't start treating her like a second-class citizen just because she was acting like a coward. When her brother returned, she saw him wiping his sticky hands with a cloth and the corners of her small, puffy, mouth tugged upwards in a little smile that brightened her face. She took the cloth when offered and cleaned her hands as he had. When he spoke to her of making plans for the future, she was visibly tense. Abby's droopy eyes flashed up from their hands to look at her brother, and she was obviously unnerved by the topic. The gentle smile he was giving her looked a little out of place. She knew that he was trying to be comforting and with her assumptions about the condition of the outside world in mind, this effort frightened her a little. She stayed quiet though and did her best to conceal her fear as he continued.
She nodded a little as he said that they wouldn't be able to stay here forever, agreeing with him. She really wanted to stay here, where it was safe. But she also knew that, just as her brother said, this place wouldn't be safe forever. Mention of the gangs also had her scared, very scared. She'd come into contact with some bad people before, her mom had had a lot of bad friends when she was alive. But gang members were different. They were very, very bad. They weren't afraid of going to extremes in order to get whatever they wanted, even when the police still existed. Now that everyone was just left to their own, left to protect themselves.. She tried not to think about it. She wished that this place would remain safe forever and that she and her brother would be able to survive here for as long as they could. She wished that a lot of things were different. But, she knew better. She was too smart not to. As Tad finished speaking, stating without hesitation or fear that he'd lay down his life if only to protect her; she knew that he meant it. He knew their situation better than she could understand and that was something else she wished she could change. If only she could be the one to protect him instead. If only they didn't need to be so afraid all of the time.
She nodded again, eyes watering and shedding a few tears as she imagined her brother living up to his promise. It was certainly possible that he'd die that way, she knew that. She knew that she was weak. She couldn't fight her way out of a wet paper bag, that was undeniable. Before the apocalypse, when the two of them were just kids playing pretend, it was something her spirited brother frequently told her after defeating her for the umpteenth time. Even though it was a reality that she wished she could change, she knew that she wouldn't be able to. She nodded her head with more energy as if trying to shake away the emotion she was showing. She bowed her brow in order to angle her face in a way that her bangs would hide her eyes from being viewable her brother. She pulled her hands away from his and wiped her eyes before sniffling a little. She nodded again and looked up at him. Her eyes were red and her face was also flushed with emotion but she was much more determined now. "Yeah..." She said quietly, agreeing with him again. She tucked her hands into the two zipper pockets of her leather jacket and wiped them on the lining before she grabbed her brother's hands. "Okay.. You're right." She blinked, tears beginning to form but she stubbornly fought them. "Let's leave. We should leave."
Eyes lit up with mischief, Abby grinned up at her brother. Her full lips spread as far as her small mouth could muster, cheeks now full of color for a different reason. "I think it's about time we got off our butts and actually started up Shangri-La ourselves. Let's put those seeds to good use!" Abby paused for a second, thinking and she focused her eyes on a piece of metal behind her brother's head. "Hmm.." Her lower lip rolled under her upper lip, into her mouth and she frowned in a way that much resembled a fish. It was a habit of hers when she was in deep thought, a source of much ridicule from others in the world before the apocalypse. The only person she didn't mind teasing her about it or anything else for that matter was her well-loved older brother. Her fingers curled around his a little, it was another of her subconscious concentration rituals and her fingertips tapped against his fingers. She was thinking deeply about this problem of theirs, considering what they needed to do first. After a few moments of deep thought and unwittingly silly behavior on her part, Abby's eyes refocused. Her grey orbs returned their inexhaustible gaze to the the pretty face of her older brother and her grin reformed itself. "Where do you think we should start, though?" She asked, having obviously come up with something herself. She was just waiting to see what he had to say before she spoke of her ideas, as she usually did.
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Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2012 7:42 pm
Tad's heart sank when he saw her begin to cry, it was taking everything he had just to keep up the strong face because of it. He hated seeing his little sister cry. He always did everything he could to keep her from ever wanting to shed a tear and he'd sure been doing a pretty wack job at it, between the global catastrophe to becoming friends with all those survivors just to watch them die off one by one. And now this, but he kept his cool, he was the strong man of the family, he had to be, he had always been and he wasn't about to stop now. Tad listened carefully to his sister, he knew she was terrified. He knew she was trying her best to be brave for him and more than anything, he knew that she really was more brave than she knew. Just in agreeing that they needed to move on, she showed her bravery, she showed how strong she really was. He smiled with pride at his little sister, he truely felt that she would surprise herself as the days went on. She was capaple of so much, he just needed to help her to see it. As she began squinting up her face he chuckled reaching a hand up to pinch her cheek, "Need me to get the fish food?" he teased jovially. He knew it was just her thinking, but it was so silly to look at and as her big brother, it was his obligation to tease her mercilessly about it. When she finally piped out her question he smiled, "Well, I don't know, might be a good idea to check out this guy on the radio, but in the long run, we should probaly go somewhere where there's a lot of open land. Or, maybe we could just go find a deserted island and live like jungle people. I can be Tarzan!" The last few sentances were obviously a joke as he pounded his chest. He didn't do the Tarzan cry, fearing it might attract unwanted attention, but the pounding made his point just fine. "Seriously, though. I think you should pick." He told her with a smirk, "I've been making an awful lot of the decitions lately. Mostly, because I'm paranoid and just want to protect you. But, I know you're perfectly capable of making important decitions and it's only fair that we start to make this relationship more equal." He explained, the last thing he wanted to do was stress his sister out or push her toward a rebellious state of mind. He needed to keep her safe, he couldn't do that if she was getting angry about being locked up of not haveing a choice in anything. He really did want her to be a part of the decition making process, to help her grow up, and to keep her close and safe. "But, if I tell you to get down or hide, I still expect you to listen, I'm the brawn, your the brains, can we agree to that?" He watched her then, waiting very carefully for her thoughts. He wanted to make sure they were on equal footing, that things were going to work out and that they would work them out together.
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Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2012 12:04 am
Character: Gabriella Lillian Jacobs
Location: A beached cruise liner in Moore Haven, Florida. With her brother.
Condition: Scared, emotional, stubborn. Abby watched her brother with a tight-lipped smile and an overall bemused expression on her pink-tinged face. She couldn't fight her laughter when he imitated Tarzan and she reacted by giving him a light punch on the shoulder. She wasn't very strong to begin with, being someone who preferred to spend her time infront of a computer or at her drafting desk. "You dork!" She interjected, fighting continued giggles caused by her sibling's random silliness. With a small little nod and a coy little smile, she agreed with him when he stated that she should be the one to chose where they went first. She had a good idea of where they should start. She'd thought about it a lot and she was fairly confident that the route she'd decided upon had the scarcest chance of encounters of the thugish kind. Her expression fell a little as he explained to her about why he'd been making most of the choices for them. Hearing it brought her back to their current, scary-terrible reality. She couldn't deny it to herself that her brother had every right to be paranoid. That he was stating something which was an obvious lie, at least by her perspective, she felt unnerved by it. The corners of her mouth started to angle downwards, but she caught the frown quickly. She forced a little smile again, continuing to listen to him as he talked. You really sound like an older brother when you start talking like this.. She thought to herself, fairly unhappy about it.
Seriousness doesn't suit you at all. The many differences between them stated to occur to her the more her mind lingered on the responsibility and her own confidence in her ideas started to plummet again. Her brother had always been someone great. He wasn't just someone she alone admired and there were many reasons why he should be admired. If it weren't for him she knew that she wouldn't be here right now. The others wouldn't have lasted as long as they did either, if not for Tad being there. Her forced smile started to fail. But as for herself? Abby knew that she wasn't as strong or as capable as he was, that much had been painfully obvious to her for a few years now. Could such an important choice, which could get them killed--or worse--really be made by her? She, who had always come up short, even in art competitions when she was at her most competent? How could she decide what they'd both be doing with their lives? She, who knew so little about people in general? She, who'd never even gone on field trips? Who'd never even been farther than the park? How could she be sure that the route she'd decided upon was really the best one? Nine times out of ten, when she'd been the one to make a serious decision in the past; it'd failed her. And now with their lives and freedom at stake? A little tremble ran across her lips and the corners of her mouth turned down a little helplessly.
She felt her tears returning and ducked her head a little, feeling ashamed. She didn't want her perceptive brother to see her cry again, especially when she'd just shed a few tears only minutes earlier. Closing her eyes tightly, she tried to ignore her growing anxiety. Though she felt increasingly uneasy, she still tried to keep paying attention to him as he spoke. This time, she had a little more difficulty understanding him. Huh? She thought to herself, head snapping up to look at him. She squinted a little as she attempted to comprehend what he was saying. It took a few seconds of silent effort on her part until she was able to concentrate on what he'd said. When she finally understood, her surprise showed. Her mouth hung open, her eyebrows came together and she stared at him. Then she shook her head very quickly and clamped either of her hands onto either of her cheeks. "Mm-mm!" She disagreed and fixed him with a very stubborn look in her eyes. The expression was somewhat of an Abby classic. One she'd given him many times growing up. "I'm not agreeing to that! I don't want that!" She shifted, bring her hands down from her face in order to stuff them under her armpits in an attempt to further the undebatableness of her words. "I don't want--I won't let you fight alone." This was said with a little less certainty, though she was doing her best to keep up her intimidating appearance. Again, reminded of the areas in which she was lacking including physical strength. She knew that he was right. The best way the two could work together was for her to stay out of his way should the very likely need to defend themselves arise.
Abby hesitated, the emotion and her uncertainty showing itself in a few ways. Her eyebrows raised a little beneath her bangs, her lower lip quivered and rolled back into her mouth beneath her upper lip and her arms shifted a little. "I don't want to hide when the time comes... I-I don't want to." She was still afraid, very afraid, and should the time come she knew that she'd likely be totally useless. But it wouldn't stop her from trying. "I-I know that.. I've been hiding--and I can't really do anything to help--but--! I won't let that stop me." She choked on her words again. Her eyes were becoming glassy and she was struggling to keep herself from being emotional around her brother again. "I'm not going to go hide in a corner somewhere when someone's trying to hurt you. I have something I want to protect to.. you know..?" She sniffed, ducking her brow again to conceal her eyes from view of her brother. "I'm going to do anything I can to prevent that." She said this last bit mostly to herself, thinking of her brother's promise to protect her with his life--if he had to. Other than for the more normal reasons; he was all that she had left in this world. She knew that he felt the same way, otherwise he wouldn't have been protecting her like this. If she thought on the idea a little longer, she'd realize that many of the things he'd done for her in the past were protective in nature. For the past few weeks when everything was falling apart, she'd always been able to count on her brother being there with her. It had been difficult, initially. Learning to handle it when he first started going out to scavenge, leaving her alone.
She was still terrified and still wanted for both of them to just stay here, where it was safe. They could try growing their own food above, on the ship's deck. But, she knew that it was impossible. They had to leave this place in order to survive. They both had a dream to see fulfilled and it wasn't going to happen if they stayed on this deteriorating, beached cruise liner. As safe as she felt here, even knowing that in the near future it wouldn't be so safe..((Btw, do you get notified each time I edit these posts?))
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Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2012 9:50 am
Tad stopped to listen to his sister's words. As she began to cry again his own eyes began to tear up. Immeditatly he tried to push them away. He couldn't, he wouldn't let her see him cry. He was the older brother, he was supposed to be the strong one. He was supposed to be the strong one, the rock on which she stood. It was his job to protect her, to keep her safe and always be strong for her. To try and his his welling eyes he grabbed her into a tight hug, his arms holding her close and lovingly. He let her continue talking as he held her, his heart panging with worry as she expressed her desire to help in the fights he was sure would come. He wanted to keep her safe forever, even at the loss of his life. She was his life, the only thing that matter in this broken world. As her words came to an end he shook his head, "No, no, no, no, no. I can't....no. I don't want you putting your life at risk...I...I just couldn't..." He couldn't finish the sentance. He didn't want to tell her just how broken he would be if he ever lost her, how low he would sink...how worthless his life would become. He closed his eyes tightly trying to force back the tears that kept trying to come. For a few moments he just held her, trying to compose himself before he could speak up. "Okay...okay, I think... I think I have an idea." He took in a deep breath and finally released her, letting her pull back if she wanted to. "How about this?" He took in a second deep breath before speaking, "While we travel, after we steal the boat. We can hook some targets up to the boat. I can teach you how to shoot. You're an excellent artist, you have a good eye. So I think you would make a really good sniper." It was true. Tad was a decent enough shot, he'd had years of practicing with a paintball gun, but Abby, with her artist's vision, would probably easily surpass him with a bit of training. "If...when we are faced with having to defend outselves, you can hide, but you can still shoot. You can be my eye in the sky, my spotter..." He sighed, biting his lower lip slightly and bringing a hand up to his forhead to rub his temple. It wasn't an ideal arraingement. If he had it his way she would never have to handle a weapon. If he had his way, she would be safe and content for the rest of her life. She would never want for anything. But, as it was, he had no choice. The world had changed the entire equation and he had to make do with the things he had. "Look, Gabriella," He rarely used her full name, and when he did, he was usually pretty serious about whatever he was saying. "I know you don't want me to...to die." The word stuck in his throat, the very thought of her death, especially after all the death they'd seen in their life. From their mother's death to the people they had first been hiding out with. There had been so much death; too much for such young people. With a heavy heart, he continued. "But, I need you to understand that I don't want to lose you, any more than you want to lose me." His eyes were begining to fog up again and again he tried to force them back, "You're my little sister. I'm your big brother and I...I love you. I know I don't say it often, especially before this disaster, but you need to know just how much you really mean to me. I could never forgive myself if I let anything happen to you." It was difficult telling her this, but he wanted, no, needed her to understand just how serious he was; just how much she really meant to him. She was the only true family he ever had, he wasn't about to just let her throw herself into danger, "Is that something we can agree to? I know it's not ideal. I don't like you having to handle a gun, and you don't want to let me fight on my own. That's why it's a compromise, we can't both be happy with it, but we could be okay with it. Can we? Can you be a sniper? Not directly in the fight, but still watching my back?"((Nope, I don't see the edits. o.o))
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Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2012 4:12 pm
Character: Gabriella Lillian Jacobs
Location: A beached cruise liner in Moore Haven, Florida. With her brother.
Condition: Scared, but trying to put on a brave face. Abby tensed up in her brother's arms as he disagreed with her and her lower lip rolled into her mouth again. Her arms tightened around her waist and she pressed her face into the collar of his shirt or jacket. In a way, she couldn't believe what he'd said. She felt as if she should've seen that answer coming, but at the same time she rejected that idea. She shook her head and pulled her face back. Her face flushed with emotion as she tried to think of how she could convince him otherwise. But, she couldn't think of any no matter how much she wanted to. She rest her chin on his shoulder, her cheek against his neck as she tried to wrap her mind around what had happened and what would happen. When she felt her brother's neck suddenly tense against her cheek. She was close enough that she could hear him gulp. This greatly confused Abby, and without her body moving her eyes shifted over to stare at what she could see of him. It was a while before she realized what he was doing, and when she did she felt so ashamed of herself. Her face filled with color and she hid her face in the collar of his shirt or jacket again. She wiggled a little, arching her back a little in order to free her arms and when she did she wrapped them around her brother instead. Just as she was about to speak; he let go.
She pulled back, though her much shorter arms were still clinging to him in hug form. She listened to him as he proposed this new idea and as she did so her expression gradually went blank. When a gun was mentioned and he suggested her learning how to use one, again she was a little confused. She'd never even thought of using a gun before, she didn't know anything about them either. When he spoke of her being his sharpshooter, again she couldn't really picture that scene. The compliment to her artistic abilities was also lost on her as she thought about his idea. The first thing she pictured was something like a scene out of a video game. Sniper's were always in buildings or on rocks-way high up while the others were on the ground in the heart of the battle. How, then, would this work? As she thought, her lower lip rolled under her upper lip and her thinking face returned. It signaled that she wasn't as worried as she had been before and that this new idea was something she had never considered. She wasn't a very big fan of shooter video games, having always preferring puzzle and hidden object games. The people on the ground also had guns, if she was remembering correctly. Does that mean Tad's going to use a gun too? Both of us?
Abby looked at her brother, noticing his frustration. Her arms were still on his sides in mid-hug formation and so she moved them. She was about to shove her pointer fingers into his mouth to make him smile, pull him out of his thoughts when he spoke again. She flinched when she heard him call her by her full name. She brought her hands into her lap, dejectedly. She knew that her brother was serious about whatever he was going to say, and she felt a little ashamed. She felt as if she were a burden in this situation and that her brother was letting her know that he felt the same way. Until he spoke words that expressed thoughts which were so similar to her own. Her expression fell and she lowered her head. She nodded, obedient and in agreement with him on several points as he continued. She began to pick at the ends of her jacket sleeves until he'd finished speaking. Could she really handle a gun? Again, she was filled with self-doubt and she had to struggle a little in order to just speak the words. "Yeah.. I can do it." She glanced up at him before her eyes returned to the ends of her jacket sleeve. "Okay.. Let's do that then.." Her eyes blinked slowly, and she focused on breathing evenly. It took her a moment until she was able to pull out of her anxiety enough to speak again.
"Yeah.. I know.." The words sounded too awkward to her, she really wished that she hadn't spoken. But she knew that she had to say something. She was worried, but it was obvious that her brother was more so and he was much more important. Her lower lip rolled in, under her upper lip, before rolling back out and she looked up at him again. This time, she didn't look away, and she looked him in the eyes. "We can do this." She said, halfway trying to convince herself instead of her brother. She pat the side of his right arm and then forced a little smile. "We can do this. So don't look so bothered, bro!" Her grin returned, and she pat his arm again with more strength. Leaning back, she crossed her arms and put on what she believed to be a "cool" expression. "So let's talk business, eh?" She shrugged her shoulders in the way she believed a cool gangster like The Godfather would do in one of the movies. "Water's the best way to travel, yeah, but let's talk about where we goin' to. I think we should head inland. Those other wise guys will want to stay close to water-to fish-as food runs out." She gestured with her hand in the direction which she assumed the ocean to be and made a wise guy face. She puckered her lips and scrunched up her face while attempting to broaden her petite shoulders.
Then she folded her arms again. Though she still tried to keep up a little of the goofy persona in an attempt to lighten the mood and cheer her brother up a little bit, it was starting to fade. "Personally, if you ask me, I think someplace up north would be a good place to start up. Maybe Georgia or farther up. I'm not sure what it's like out there though.. I don't think that those.. people.. out there would go there. I think they would want to stay down here where it's warmer, so if we head north we might be able to avoid them."((That's a relief. My brain's kind of been reduced to mush lately thanks to the holidays, apologies for the delay.))
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Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2012 8:29 pm
Tad smiled at his sister's acclaimation of love, awkward sounding as it may have been, it was still just as important to him. As she offered a smile and agreed to his suggestion he felt a great weight lift off of his shoulders and he felt like he could finally breath well again. He watched her with a smirk as she put on her tought girl smile and got all excited. As she began to relay her idea he listened with great interest. Obviously she'd thought very carefully about this. And why not? She'd spent a lot of her days with her thoughts as he'd been going out scavanging every day. What else could she have done? Her logic seemed sound. The only trouble he saw was the trip there would be ten times more dangerous. They'd have to be very careful. As she finished he put two fingers to his lips in thought. His brows furrowed as his mind mulled everything over. North would be the better choice, the big problem would be getting through the Gang territory. He roughly knew the areas they patrolled so he had that to his advantage but what about other gangs further inland? It wasn't like he had other people to help protect his sister either. It would be all on him, he couldn't always get her up high if they were ambushed...they'd always have to act as if they were in a war zone, constantly at risk of being attacked. He stood and began pacing a bit. "Okay, that does sound like a good idea, but if we go over land we're going to be a lot more at risk for attacks. Do you thinkit might work to try and go around to the missisippi? Or do you think that would put us more at risk?" He wanted her to be as much in charge of the choices as possible. But he also didn't want to lead them into a death trap. Going by sea could be equally dangerous, especially if some thugs had taken to the oceans. He stopped pacing finally, "We'll go what ever way you want to. Either way we'll need to pack bags. If we're going by land we'll be a lot more limited on what we can..." He paused, thinking for a moment, "Well, that depends on if we want to take that industrial cart we found. We should still pack the most important things in our back packs though, in case we have to ditch the cart." He moved over to the small table they had and grabbed the pad of lined paper they'd been using to keep track of their inventory off of it and a pencil before moving to sit down with her. "Okay, we can take a few days to get everything prepared. We need to decide what we're taking and I can go out tomorrow to look for a map so we can try to chart a route. I know the lands changed alot but we need something to work off of." He offered the pad over to her before moving to the pile of stuff he had brought back earlier, "We'll definately need these." He slid the tupper-ware of seeds toward her. Sifting through some more of the stuff he separated the stuff into "useful", "nice-to-have" and "not-worth-it". He figured if he kept his mind on other things for now, he wouldn't have to think about the danger's that this trip would have. His sister...no, he needed to focus on preparing for their travel. With a sigh he moved over to the many back packs they had aquired and started looking for the two sturdiest ones they could take with them. Sorry it's so short. My brain's kinda piddly...trying to recover from the holiday lull.
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