The Lost and the Desperate

"Yea man!, We probably walked the length of the great adventure at least on our way thru the last year or so." Clara exaggerated while puffing out her chest in triumph as they passed through the door out of the gun store, The older of the two girls had firmly pushed her regret and sadness back into the depths of her brain at this point and had chosen to fully focus on the new member of their group and especially her new gun that hadn't left her hands since Aaron had given it to her. "Hey man, that your horse?" she asked in slight disbelief, The more time they spent with this guy the more he felt like he just walked out of a story book which caused Clara great amusement. As they neared the horse nearby and Aaron asked if one of them wanted to ride him while they began to make their way to the getaway in the woods it confirmed to her that it was indeed his horse which caused her to blurt out, "You got a horse too man? You're really out of a story book aren't ya?" Instantly bringing her free hand to cover her mouth, "Uhh, I didn't mean it as in that's bad, that's awesome, it's like you're some, uhh.. well, Ah! A true ranger of sorts." she finally found the words after rambling for a moment.

Reaching the horse the two girls looked up at the beast as it towered over Emmi, It intimidated the younger of the two greatly, the thing could practically take one step and crush her. At least that's what it felt to her as she looked up at the things head, hearing the man call it 'Agro' she jerked to look at the man as he spoke to her sister before turning to her. lady Emmi? What is this guy? she asked internally, she had to stifle a bit of a laugh even through the knot in her throat, "I'm not a lady... And I hate walking..." she muttered before looking back at the horse, she would have been lying if she said she had never wanted to ride one, she did, very much so in fact. "Fine.. I.. I can't get on him... By.. Myself though." she muttered before moving to stand in front of her sister, she was taking a huge step for her to trust the man to lift her onto his horse, a big gamble in her mind but it beat out the pain that walking long distances entailed and so she gave in. "You gonna ride that big ol thing Em?" Clara asked as she watched her younger sister move to stand next to the man, the two bags of rabbit jerky still grasped tightly in her right hand as she raised her arms slightly for the man to lift her up to rest on top of the graceful beast.

Feeling the ground disappear beneath her feet Emmi grabbed the bags of rabbit jerky even tighter, like they were going to catch her if she fell or as if the bags themselves would turn into her father if something happened and save her from any harm, as preposterous as that sounded. Feeling the saddle underneath her mere seconds later Emmi took a moment to balance herself before surveying the scene below her, she now towered over her sister instead of it being the opposite, the man that had helped her up was also slightly smaller, "He... He won't run will he? I.. I don't wanna.. I don't wanna get hurt or nothin dude...." she said as she grabbed onto the front of the saddle with her free hand. please don't do anything stupid horsey.. she thought before watching the man untie the horse and walk it a few feet, feeling the movement underneath her felt strangly relaxing, like she could find enjoyment in it if she hadn't just lost the rest of her family save her older sister, Maybe, maybe I could get used to this... she thought as they moved a few more feet she heard Clara shoot off another nerdy response to the man. "Yea man, I an't wantin to get stabbed by no wraith or nothin." she said with a chuckle. "But hey, if they come we got the .300 anti wraith fun times, Boom boom." she joked with a goofy smile on her face, "But yea man, I hope for grass, Lots of it. Oh! and tree's. A river might be nice too! I just want it all nature man." she said with another chuckle before watching him begin to lead the horse with her sister on it away from the parking lot, "Rightio Manio. Left, left, left right left." she said with a smile as she too began to make the journey towards their next destination 

Clara walked alongside Aaron as he began to lead the horse which her sister road atop, listening to the man begin to explain that he got the horse to look the full part during LARPing. Emmi glanced down at the man confused before shaking her head and returning to focus on the road ahead, trying her best to keep her mind off the images of her mother and sister that still lingered in her mind. Clara kept her eyes glued to Aaron as he spoke, "LARPing? What's that man? sounds Neat!" she said as they continued down the road, cutting into the woods a few moments later.

As they continued down the trails that snaked their way through the tree's Clara continued to discuss the subject of LARPing with the man, Acting out scenes with people and dressing up? That sounds pretty darn sweet in her book, As they continued She heard Emmi stress a concern about Agro, A flash of concern for her sister appeared on Clara's mind before once again Aaron put her mind at ease on the matter, for some reason she found herself trusting him, maybe it was the urge to have another parental figure to fill the void losing her mother and sister had driven into her heart or maybe it was the fact that he seemed to think roughly along the same line she did when it came to interests. Either way as they made it further into the woods and the conversation continued Clara found herself with a small smile as they walked, concerned that she wouldn't ever truly get over the loss she and her sister had just suffered she decided to focus on what was right in front of her, which at the moment happened to be one of the goofiest looking members of society she had ever met, and she was alright with that.

They had been walking for while now, The longer they went the more Clara envied her younger sister perched atop the beast that accompanied them on their journey, "Hey man, I ain't one to complain about hikin or anythin but we almost there yet?" she asked as they started making their way to what looked to be a break in the tree's, Oh, hey, that it? She asked in her mind as they approached, as the light washed through the treetops the scene came into focus as they neared, it was indeed their destination, or at least it looked like it to the young girl "Hey that's..!" she started to blurt out before seeing the man's hand raise for them to get down as they neared the treeline. "aye capi-tan" she said in a lower voice as she raised the rifle to her eye, having switched the optic off her AMBI and onto her Petra during the hike she peered through it at the magnified image of a couple sitting on chairs on the porch, "Pa's got somethin." she said as she took notice of the weapon in the man's rifle. "Looks like that one my grandpa had, umm... Moosberg 5.. uhh..somethin?" she asked Aaron, assuming she was wrong but deciding to take a shot in the dark as she watched them talk for a moment, The group was concealed behind some foliage and pretty well hidden from view as they watched on.

Taking a few moments to watch the scene Clara stayed quiet as she watched them further, hearing Aaron speak about how he would have found somewhere else if he had known Clara looked over, "Nah man, Old people are the best! They always got candy, or at least mine did." she said with a chuckle before looking back through her scope, the duo on the porch where soon accompanied by a third, a man. "Op, we got three amigo's now Aaron." she said as she watched him take notice as well. "What's the plan ranger man?"

Aaron would have agreed if they were his grandparents, then again, his grandparents were still in Cochin. Aaron had seen the book of Eli though, and he had no intention to underestimate the old couple. Then the other guy stepped onto the porch, and he held his breath for a moment as he thought about what it was they were going to do. From the way the guy interacted with the old couple, he didn't look like he'd known them for long, which meant they couldn't be too bad. That guy though, he didn't really know what to make of him, he looked like a regular enough guy, but times like this that meant exactly jack and shit. 

"Well, I have part of a plan," he said as he lowered his rifle slightly. "Grandma and Grandpa don't look like they're really going to shoot us. That other guy doesn't look like he knows them well, so that means I'm sure they're willing to share. So I thought we pull the old walk out there and assume they don't shoot us. On second thought though, that's pretty stupid, so how about this? I'll step out there myself, the two of you stay here. If I don't get shot, I'll explain things to them and I'll give you guys a signal, and that's when the two of you will come out of the treeline?" He then looked at them for a moment, and then decided for himself that it was the best course of action. 

Taking Emmi off of Agro, in case the horse did anything stupid if things went south, he slung his rifle and began walking out toward the house itself. Aaron really hoped he wasn't going to get shot at, but really, he couldn't ask either of those two to go out there while he sat in the treeline. Right now he just had to hope that Clara was a good shot, and hope that he didn't take one to his dome and that if either the two oldies or the other guy started shooting they aimed for center mass. He had no plans of dying now...

Calvin heard him before he saw him, having been on his own for awhile the man had developed a keen ear for detecting other people, a fact that didn’t change as he soon saw a man approach the trio, rifle slung on his shoulder as he cautiously inched his way forward. Calvin should’ve been concerned, indeed maybe even panicking over this stranger coming out of the woods but truth be told, he wasn’t really feeling any sense of alarm. Perhaps it was due to the fact that it simply was too early in the morning for him to care or the fact that he held some slim hope that the person before them wasn’t here to cause any problems, but after a paused moment of just sitting there in the lawn chair, Calvin quickly jumped out of his seat and reached for his handgun.

The man soon coming up empty as he reached down towards his holster, just now remembering that both of his firearms had been confiscated by the old couple as an insurance policy last night. *Note to self, ask for weapons back before an armed guy shows up on your porch.* Calvin bitterly remarked in his head as he instead reached for another sling located near his belt, soon unsheathing his hatchet and leaving it at his side, deciding to tap it alongside his calf periodically in some show of force, although said mannerisms probably made for a pretty lousy show.

Choosing to keep his mouth shut for now and let the couple do the talking, Calvin tried to look as intimidating as he could possibly be without a gun, tossing a glare the man’s way that admittedly was mostly hidden under the brim of his cap. He figured that the guns held in the hands of the couple were going to be enough to keep the man from trying anything funny. In the meantime Calvin turned away from the man as his eyes scanned the forest where said man had come from, checking out the area beyond for anything that stood out of the ordinary, a muzzle glint, unnatural sounds, and maybe even one of those bright orange vests, although Calvin doubt he’d luck out and find some idiot still wearing one of those this far into this mess.

Watching her newfound traveling companion march across the field to greet the other's that seemingly owned the little slice of paradise in the woods they had seen on the pamphlets in town Clara kept her eye glued to her rifle scope with her finger resting gently above the trigger, "This isn't how plans work man.." She grumbled as she watched the scene begin to unfold before her. As Aaron approached the trio resting on the porch Clara kept her eye on the older man with the shotgun as she confirmed to herself that Aaron was clear of the treeline and any bitters that might have been lurking around. 

Letting her scope sway to the old man she examined the weapon in his lap before moving her gaze to the mans face. "Please don't do anythin stupid pa, I really don't want to add murder to my childhood bucket list." Clara muttered to herself in a half joking fashion as she let her gaze fall to the weapon once again. As Aaron grew closer she heard a distant call that sounded vaguely like the mans voice which she figured was indeed just that as the trio perked up at the noise and began to look in his direction, as they did the older man brought the shotgun in his lap to point towards Aaron which in turn prompted Clara to shift her finger to the PETRA's firing mechanism and move her site to his head. A sigh broke the air as she stopped short of firing on the older of the two men as he saw him lower the gun and begin to move his mouth in unheard speech. "I really hope you know what you're doin there man." She said to herself as she once again moved her finger to rest on above the trigger.

As time went on Clara let her sights bounce between the trio and Aaron, It seemed that they had begun to discuss something which caused Clara's curiosity to peek, Taking everything she had to stop herself from bounding across the field just so she could hear what was being talked about she opted to tapping her foot on the ground in an impatient matter, Emmi sat still clinging to the bags of jerky that Aaron had given them back in town she paid no mind to her older sister and what was going on, In her mind however she began to blame herself for what they had been through in recent days, The arguments, the anger in her mothers tone, and now she was gone, not only her but one of her closest friends as well. A tear slowly made its way down her cheek, dripping off and landing on a leaf that had fallen to the ground some time ago. 

As the scene drove on Clara kept her eye bouncing between the members and Aaron which was swiftly accompanied by a whistle as Aaron turned to face in their direction, his hands rose and began to wave towards the tree's that surrounded them and as he did Argo began to trot past them and out into the open. "Hey! Horse dude, come back!" Clara called as she swiftly got herself to her feet and swung the rifle back around her shoulder, Grabbing Emmi's hand she began to chase after Argo and quickly found herself out in the open field heading towards Aaron and the trio on the porch. Clara continued to follow Argo as he trudged towards his owner completely ignoring her calls. "Come on horsey! I don't think that was the signal dude!" she once again called but it was too late, She now found herself standing near Aaron once again and the trio now looking her and her sisters way. "Oh! Um.. Heyo Old folks! Oh um.. That was rude.. Um.. Uh... Gramps? Maybe.. Please don't hate me." She said with a wave and a nervous chuckle before turning to Aaron. "Oh! Um.. Hey man... Horsey bro just sorta started moving and wouldn't listen to me, he just kept goin and um, I didn't know if that was the signal or not, Was that signal? That wasn't the signal was it? It was wasn't it...?" She rambled as her hands talked as much as her mouth, swaying every which way in sync with her words. Turning to face the trio she gave them an awkward smile as Emmi hid behind her slightly. "Um... Whatzup guys? Clara's the name, Hartmann's the game!" she half cheered as her greeting. Not concerned about first impressions as she quieted down slightly, waiting for someone else to talk she thought. Nailed it! internally cheering for herself for getting through introducing herself.