Re: Chapter 4 - The Past & The Pending
The ambient sound of a light breeze shuffling the nearby foliage and the hum of friendly chit-chat was occasionally interspersed with the splashes of soapy water, as one of the less familiar faces amongst the Caravan worked in one of the far ends of the courtyard. It was a rather warm day, at least comparatively speaking, and Nevada wasn't one to waste the opportunity to do something productive. Their blankets and sheets had been needing a wash for some time, but the bitter chill of winter left them unable to clean them without freezing. But today, if it wasn't for the cool water on her fair face and slender arms, and the denim skirt she hadn't had a chance to wear much during winter, the petite brunette might have actually worked up a heavy sweat. The sheer number of sheets, blankets, pillow cases and the occasional shirt, jacket, and pants left a reminder that she'd been doing this a while. Some people just liked to keep themselves busy.
Though, if one were to ask some, others might suggest the girl had a reason to prove herself such a work-horse. Her start with the Caravan was a bit troublesome. A few weeks earlier, the scavenging party said they'd run into the girl in the Nevada jacket at a convenience store in town, hording some of the dried goods. Like a deer caught in the headlights, she froze initially, but as soon as the group tried to approach her, she yelled at them strangely and bolted for the rear exit. They managed to lose her in the ensuing chase as she disappeared behind a behind a narrow opening behind in an iron gate. However, after their scavenging run, they found the strange youth watching them from afar, trailing them for some time. A bit of clever tactics forced her to reveal herself and let them approach.
That's when they discovered the second obstacle; "Nevada", as her faded blue sweater labeled her, didn't seem to speak English. It lead to a fair amount of frustration as they tried to communicate with the young woman, but they got her to follow them to the Caravan, where a number of survivors struggled to communicate with her for several days. Just when they seemed to be getting the hang of it, and getting her to come around to them, she revealed that their added difficulty was for naught. She could speak English just fine, and she came clean that she was just pretending not to so she could learn what kind of people they were when they thought she couldn't understand them. She has apologized for the deception, but she had learned that they didn't mean her any harm, and were not looking to manipulate her, so she felt she could be honest with them. Understandably, there was still some annoyance lingering about the trouble she'd caused, amongst other hesitations, but Nevada has since promised to be honest and declared she will do her best to earn their trust, much as they had earned hers.
Nevada balanced briefly on tips of her sneakers as she adjusted the next sheet on the clothesline, but as it finally held steady to her satisfaction, pausing to step back and look at her handiwork. It had taken up most of the morning, several rows of cloths of different sizes, shapes and varying mostly drab colors waving lightly like the flags of poverty stricken regions, but nevertheless, a content-filled sigh escaped her lips. She didn't have long to appreciate it undisturbed, as a discerning echo came from the other side of the compound bit of commotion caught her eye on the far side, drawing her attention. Nevada picked up the ragged cloth she was using to dry herself, absently wiping the water and suds off her forehead and arms, as she stood herself up and watched a concerned Karen rushing off to deliver some kind of news to Bill and Izzy. The reverberations from the compound walls didn't exactly have good acoustics, so it was difficult to understand what they were talking about, but it was obvious it was something important, losing herself momentarily in thought-filled deliberation.
A door burst open suddenly, giving the distracted brunette quite a start, causing Nevada to actually leap briefly in fright, before she recognized the disgruntled cowboy, eliciting a relieved sigh from the small teenager, complete with her left hand coming to rest over her pacing heart. Not that a pissed off Benson was harmless in and of itself, but her instincts had trained her to expect less discriminating threats. She took a few moments to calm her lingering anxiety from the scare, and approached him, briefly sparing a momentarily uncertain glance to the snickering Tessa. "Morning, Mr. Bohannon." She called out, offering him a polite smile, presenting herself before him in her reserved manner, her bare-hands clasped before her lap. "Sorry to i-ahh...bother..." The girl paused a moment as if to choose her word carefully, obviously knowing she was treading on thin ice as it was. "...But seeing as you're up, would you mind if I adds your bed sheets to wash? I mean, I'm cleaning many of the others already, so it would be no trouble." She offered, as lightly as she could. Naturally, her almond-shaped eyes darted downward towards his freshly cast-free arm, but she didn't make any overt mention towards it.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:19, Wed 04 Mar 2015.