Trisha keeps to herself initially, watching Fernando as he wanders about, sniffing over the graves and marking against every raised headstone. Her eyes drift over to Ashley and she considers joining her and whatever bleak, philosophical monologue she is likely to be spinning for Mina. Though she would usually jump at the chance, she has other things on her mind.

Instead, she takes it upon herself to approach Nicole. It is perhaps the first time she has seen the girl willingly separated from Ashley. Without that cloud of jealousy overhead, Trisha can suddenly find fewer reasons to hate her.

Without a word, she walks over to lean against the side of the truck bed next to Nicole. She is silent for a brief moment, unsure of what to actually say.
"You doin' ok?" Trisha asks softly. "I know don't really talk much, but it's ok if you did want to." Despite her best attempt to reach out, she is feeling increasingly awkward. "Only if you wanted to or whatever. Sometimes it makes me feel better about like, bad stuff."

Near the Truck

Nicole eyes abruptly shifts to Trisha when she realizes Trisha had engaged her in a conversation. Its clear that she isn't expecting this.

"Y-Yeah, I'm doing okay. I mean, I think I am doing okay." She replies. "There were three of us when we ran... Angie, me and..." Nicole tries to recall the name but was unable to do so. "That... foreign guy, you know who I am talking about? He died because I... I was too scared to run." She looks down, devastated. "Its all because of me and I don't even remember his name..."


Cemetery Stroll

Mina seems to be strangely attentive to Ashley's explanation. Its hard to tell how much the girl understands, but she's clearly interested.

"We all got it? So if I die then I'd come back." Mina states. "Does that mean my dad will come back too? He has this, virus, and he is dead." The girl looks to Ashley with gleaming eyes.


The House

"Rosedale, huh." There are no further reply from the man until Ivy asks a follow up question.



"Little girl, I don't see how that's relevant to you if you're just passing through." The man says. "If you need parts, there's nothing left in town, its all picked clean. I suggest you find another vehicle, or salvage one for the parts you need." The man pauses briefly. "But there is another option..."

"What do you mean?" Ivy asked.

Mary frowns. She doesn't mind his paranoia; there's plenty of reasons not to trust strangers, and she doesn't take that personally. His trailing implication, however, strikes a nerve. There's no reason to be coy unless he's about to ask for something truly outrageous - or at least, that's what she assumes after years of straight-talking negotiations in her former life.

Without saying anything, Mary shifts from her current position, creeping towards another window while keeping her back close to the wall. If this goes south, she doesn't want to be wherever he thinks she is.

Trisha rests her head in her hand as she listens to Nicole.
"His name was Chi. At least I think it was, we ain't talked much." She shrugs, seemingly unfazed by the grim revelation. "I guess I can't really get mad or nothin'. I barely knew him."
Though she isn't quite ready to make friends, Trisha sees no harm in a little encouragement.
"You'll get over it. Just don't be a wuss about it. Ain't like it's just you was killin' people on accident."
And with that, Trisha has said about all she can come up with and her attention starts to wander.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:02, Tue 21 Apr 2020.

The House

For a while, Ivy didn't hear a response. The group did hear footsteps of the man moving closer to the door.

"Why don't I give you some directions instead." Finally, the man speaks. "Keep going down route 448 with your car, you're not far, Regina, Mary." He states your names. "And Ivy."

"Stop being cryptic and just tell us what this 'other option' is," Regina snapped, having begun to tap her foot impatiently. Being told to go somewhere and listening -- without asking for clarification -- would have been idiotic.

"Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but... yeah, that's pretty much it."  Ashley shrugged, a tired acceptance of her fate.  If she could've given any other answer, she would've much rather done that, but it would be best for the kid to know the facts of (un)life.  This new world had no room for sugar-coated fairytales.

"I lost someone... important, too."  Her expression became distant, looking through Mina rather than at her.  It felt like a million years ago, but the wound it left still hurt like it was yesterday.  She cast a glance back to the rest of the group; to the truck, and to Nicole, before returning her attention to Mina.  "Now she's one of them, because I didn't have the guts to... y'know."  She once again mimed a finger-gun at the side of her head.

"That's why you -- that's why all of us -- need to be careful now.  You need to learn everything you can: how to run, how to hide, how to fight, how to survive."  This topic, at least, found Ashley in a somewhat better mood; she was much more comfortable talking about this sort of thing than she was at talking about her feelings, her failings.

The House

"I don't think you're in any position to demand anything out of me, Regina. I don't owe you people anything." The man respond in kind. "That's all I have to say, take it or leave it."


On the Walk

"It ain't fair." Mina protests. "They ain't gotta learn any of those things, why do we have to?" She picks up a small piece of rock and tosses it at one of the gravestones. "Ain't it better to be one of 'em? Then I can be with my dad, and you can be with your friend." The girl looks to Ashley.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:33, Wed 22 Apr 2020.

"Thanks for the tip," Mary says, then steps away from the wall. Reaching down, she gives Ivy a brief pat on the shoulder, directing her to follow, before stepping close to Regina.

"Come on," she says simply, then drops her voice so low that only Regina and Ivy can hear. "I don't trust him either, and we're not going to rob him, so there's nothing left here. Let's talk to Edward and figure out our options."

"Okay..." Ivy had been expecting a fun treasure hunt through an empty house, only to instead end up with a shady hint from some nameless stranger, which was almost obviously a trap. The girl couldn't hide her disappointment.

Ashley got that far-away look again.  "Heh.  I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought about it.  More than once."  A smile materialized on her lips, bittersweet in a way that a 15-year-old musing about death probably shouldn't be.  "But that's not how it goes.  They don't... recognize you.  They barely seem to think at all.  As far as any of us could tell, when you die and you get back up, it's not you up there anymore."  She tapped a finger against the side of her head.  "Or if it is, you're just a passenger.  Trapped in your own head, forever, while this... whatever it is, moves your body around like a puppet on strings."  She 'danced' her hands up and down like she was manipulating some unseen puppet, with more than a hint of morbid glee.

"That's why I'm fighting so hard to stay alive, anyway."  Ashley calmed her little puppet show, and paused to push herself up off the ground, standing with the intent of resuming her graveyard stroll.  "The world, the planet, wouldn't care if we all died off.  It happened to the dinosaurs, and the Earth's still turning.  Grass still grows, birds still sing, bears still shit in the woods.  None of it would care if all us humans, living and dead both, just vanished one day.  But... I think I'd care, if I stopped being me.  If I became something... less.  If I hurt people."  More than I do on a regular and daily basis, anyhow.  "We're responsible for whatever comes next.  You wanna paint a picture, play a song, build a castle?  Maybe even eat a good sandwich again some day."  God I could go for a fucking Hot Brown right about now.  "Or do you wanna--"  She stuck her arms out straight and stiff and staggered several steps forward, away from Mina, mimicking the zombies' unsteady gait.  After a few steps, she stopped and wheeled around on one heel to face Mina, lowering her arms and flashing the girl a toothy grin.  "That's why."

...Just when did you get all heroic, anyway?
This message was last edited by the player at 01:36, Fri 01 May 2020.

Trisha waits for a reply that does not come. 'What the hell, I was bein' nice that time. What more does she want!' She thinks as she rolls her eyes and pushes off the edge of the truckbed in a huff.
"What's Mary doin'?" She wonders aloud, stepping around the truck to get a better look at the house. After being left to herself for a short time, Trisha is growing fidgety and wishes to seek out instruction. She sees Mary turn to walk away from the house, without setting a foot inside.
"How come they ain't went in?" She asks, the question directed to nobody in particular. She walks up to the edge of the road, but deliberately goes no further, simply watching curiously from afar.

Mary raises a hand and gives a brief wave to Trisha as they approach the graveyard. It's a wave of acknowledgment, not of triumph or even friendliness. Her body language does not imply she has good news.

Near the Cemetery

"Yeah but, what if it happens again next time..." Nicole says quietly. "What if I kill you too."

A loud *thunk* interrupts the conversation. Edward wipes the sweat and grease off of his face after pulling his head out of the hood of the truck. He turns to the group.

"Ain't gonna be able to fix it here. This bad boy was on his last legs, some of 'em wires are fried." The soldier says out loud. "Why the sulkin' face kiddo?" He asks Ivy.


Cemetery Stroll

(!) Mina will remember that

After thinking for a bit, the little girl comments, "I wanna... eat a burger." She stops with Ashley and looks to to her. "What do you wanna do?"

"We didn't get to go in the house," Ivy grumbled. "Some creepy guy was there. He wouldn't tell us his name, but he said there was something down 'route 448' that could help us."

Near the Cemetery

"Don't take it personally kiddo, maybe he's just an grumpy old man. We ain't too far from that school Malcolm told us about. Goin' down this route will take us there, maybe we'll run into his friends." Edward glances over at the truck. "We're gonna have to go on foot." He states.

"Burger's a good choice.  I'd take a Big Mac."  Ashley paused with a frown.  Every so often, something reminds you of just how permanent the apocalypse is.  She drew a breath and released it in a heavy sigh.

"Personally, I miss music.  I keep tellin' myself that one day I'll find a Walkman and some batteries, but I guess it's not the '90s anymore.  We have MP3 players, and those are all dead, because it's not like you can charge 'em now."  She paused again there, suddenly looking thoughtful, eyes narrowed slightly as she mulled over a new idea.  "...Y'know, there's gotta be some places with solar generators.  Those would still work.  But in the meanwhile, just hand me a guitar and I could at least entertain us a bit."

Ashley spotted the group reconvening, the house-explorers returning sooner than expected, and turned herself back towards the road to rejoin them, waving Mina along with one hand to accompany her.  Her little stroll was shorter than she'd intended, but she'd still had the chance to do some thinking.  Maybe the others might be interested in hearing her thoughts too.

"Well just-" Trisha's reply is cut off Ed as he pulls down the hood of the truck and gives his diagnosis. She stops to hear what he has to say, then turns back to Nicole.

"You just gotta make sure it don't happen again next time." She says with a slight grin, rolling her eyes playfully, as if it was so obvious she should not even have to say it. "I thought I was the idiot."
She continues to shrug off all of Nicole's concerns, the soundest method she has found for coping with life's dilemmas.

"Anyways, you don't even gotta worry none about that last bit. If I'm dyin' it ain't gonna be for you."
Now that Mary and the others had rejoined the group, Trisha can feel her attention begin to waver as she starts to listen in on the conversation.

"I dunno..." Ivy replied with unease. "Something about this feels weird."

Cemetery Stroll

"Daddy had a guitar." Mina replies. "He gave it to that man over there." The girl points at Edward, who's currently speaking to the others around him. "What songs do you play?" She asks Ashley.

Near the Cemetery

Nicole doesn't seem convinced by Trisha's words. She contemplates with her own thoughts when the conversation moved on.

"Ya think so? I could try askin' that guy in that house, maybe he'll tell us more if he knew Malcolm." Edward says, his tone is less optimistic than before.

"What do y'all think?" He asks everyone.

"Who was Malcolm again?" Mary asks. Was he the boy that went to the gas station with Elijah and me? No, that was someone else. He must have been one of the ones the started a fight in the church kitchen.

"Maybe Malcolm's the one who made him so paranoid," Mary says dryly, crossing her arms and looking back over her shoulder at the house. "It wouldn't hurt to ask. If he was going to shoot us, he'd probably have tried already."

"I could play the hell out of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star."  Ashley smirked down at Mina, forgetting for a moment that the girl may or may not catch her slippery brand of sarcastic humor.  "That... that was a joke.  I mean, I probably could."  She shrugged; she'd never really given it any thought before, but music was music, and she desperately wanted to not forget music.  Even if it was silly little childhood songs.

Maybe especially silly little childhood songs, some sentimental part of her said.

"I guess... I play a lotta songs, really.  I try, anyway.  Mostly rock, indie stuff, that sort of thing.  I'm not, like, a guitar god or anything."  Rest in peace, you beautiful bastard.  Or, hell, he's probably still out there kicking ass and not even bothering to take names.  Can you imagine that?  Meeting Lemmy in the motherfucking apocalypse?  ...Focus, Ash.  "But I like to think I'm alright.  I was in a band for like two weeks, once upon a time."  Less than six months ago, if I recall correctly.  God, I hope I don't lose track of time.  For the world before this to mean anything, someone has to remember it.  "I try to keep in practice.  Well, tried.  Can't do much without a guitar to practice on."  A devious plot suddenly hatched in her mind, and she leaned down to be level with Mina before continuing.

Well, it wasn't that devious.  It was pretty ordinary, really.  But Ashley prided herself on her cleverness regardless.

"Tell you what.  You talk Ed-boy there into loaning me that guitar, and I'll play you whatever song you want."
This message was last edited by the player at 10:37, Mon 11 May 2020.

Near the Truck

"He's one of the young lad that was with us. Blonde hair with glasses, real skinny." Edward describes the young man to Mary. "He was tellin' us about this place, said there was a community at the school and he helped savin' it." The soldier shrugs. "Dunno why he didn't come back here and went with us instead." He smiles at Mary, although it slowly fades into a look of revelation. "Ya know, maybe he did piss somebody off here..." Edward rubs his chin.

Cemetery Stroll

Mina considers Ashley's proposition for a while while looking down. She resumes the stroll with Ashley. Some time later, she speaks. "It ain't his, so I can get it back if I want to." She kicks a stone off the street as she walks.

"Dad ain't good with it, and he... he..." Mina sniffs. She looks like she's about to cry.

"Maybe...one or two of us could go check it out first?" Ivy suggested. "To make sure it's not a trap?"