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Devil in the Details
he/H.I.M.
- Joined
- Mar 11, 2021
- Location
- US
So, a bit about me:
Original Ideas
Specific Ideas
A quick note about Cannon Things. Unless otherwise noted, I'd probably rather play OCs in a cannon setting rather than actual cannon characters. Sometimes I'd rather play an OC x Cannon. It just depends but I thought I'd give fair warning.
Writing Samples
If you'd like to see more variety of posts, check out any of my writing in the Lost in Space group game here on Bluemoon. I have two different characters there, an anxious young orphan named David and a German aristocrat turned soldier named Erik.
- I've been writing online since the 90's in a variety of formats.
- I'm willing to play on the forums or private messages.
- I enjoy OOC chit chat but I am not comfortable with flirting or anything like that.
- On that topic I like to have a firm separation between our characters and ourselves. I find it uncomfortable for a partner to play as themselves or to use images of themselves in a roleplay. It feels a lot less like erotica at that point and more like veiled cybersex which I am uncomfortable with.
- Third person, past tense is a requirement.
- I have an F-list I made just for Bluemoon.
- If you see an idea and you want to make some adjustments, feel free to pitch them to me.
- Romance is a common theme in the stuff I write but isn't at all necessary for every story. I'm a huge fan of stories where the characters are forced together for one reason or another and over time grow to love each other as well. Love stories admittedly are my favorite though.
- I don't have preferences about post lengths. My reasoning is that sometimes posts are longer because your setting things up or maybe you're writing for more than one character, etc. Sometimes posts are shorter because of dialog or sex or something like that where you don't want to do too much before you let the other person respond/react. So long as you give me enough to work with and the post fits the scene, I'm happy. I'll never have a hard rule about post lengths.
- I'm mostly available during the week. I can usually get several posts in a day during the week. Weekends are really hit or miss depending on my schedule. Saturday nights and Sundays during the day are super sketchy but I'll still try to get posts out in between my real world commitments. I'm EST by the way.
- I'll admit that if my partner can't post at least once a week I'm likely to lose interest. That's not on you per se, it's just that I lose steam because it takes so long for anything to happen. That or things end up feeling rushed because so much has to happen in each post to keep things moving. There are exceptions to this but I wanted to be upfront and honest when it comes to slower moving stories and super infrequent posting schedules.
- Smut is great. It's why I'm writing here and not somewhere else. But stories that are super smut centered tend to be short lived. If you'd rather write something super smutty as a one off or a short term thing I'm fine with that. With longer term stories though I'm going to need more going on, some kind of conflict that just jumping from one bed to the next.
Original Ideas
- Slice of Life - There are a variety of pairings and scenarios that we could potentially do so rather than write them all out, for now I'll just say that a straight forward modern story about people doing what people do works for me. The usual older man/younger woman, older woman/younger man, tales of adultery, all the usual stuff. I will say that I love those beauty and the beast kind of pairings, where guys are romancing ladies who are "out of their league" or romances that from the outside don't make sense to most people but to the parties involved it's very real and very serious. If you like odd ball pairings feel free to hit me up, this is something I love to toy with.
- Zombie Apocalypse - A setting that really lends itself to all new reasons for run of the mill pairings. Whether you're talking about a student/teacher pairing, the beauty and the beast thing I mentioned before, the scumbag and the sweetheart, etc. People that normally never would have become romantic suddenly thrust together, trying to survive.
- Celebrity - The concept of celebrity is something I find really interesting. From how fame effects people, how they manage it both successfully as well as unsuccessfully, how it effects their relationships with others, etc. I enjoy using this as a modifier for what might otherwise be a pretty run of the mill slice of life story. I like stories of celebrities dating people they shouldn't according to their fans/publicists/etc even though there's real love involved.
CravingI - If someone would be interested in doing something with the idea laid out in my writing sample "The Soldier & The Archer" I would be thrilled. It's a zombie apocalypse setting with the idea that an older experienced soldier who has been surviving on his own for a while runs into a Japanese girl about college age who is skilled with a traditional Japanese bow or Yumi. I had pictured it as her being the daughter of immigrants who encouraged her interest in archery. At first they can't stand each other but they end up falling for each other. Would love to find someone interested in a slow burn romance/survival story.- General Craving - Recently I've started a handful of romance stories and I have REALLY been enjoying them. I have room in my schedule for one or two more stories depending on posting frequency and I'd love to do more romance stories. See below for details.
- Historical Settings - I'm a bit of a history nerd and I've only recently realized that I could totally do something in a variety of settings. Some of my favorites would be ancient Rome/Roman times (I can be more specific with eras and such if you're into that), the 1960s/Vietnam era, the firs and second World Wars, and quite a few other time periods. If you're curious just ask. I only have one limit and it's explained below.
- Sci-Fi - I am a fan and prefer settings similar to Mass Effect, the Netflix Lost in Space series, or Cyberpunk. Not saying I'll only play in those cannon settings but settings similar to those. If you have an idea feel free to throw it at me if you think I might be down for it.
I'm actually happy to include these things in a story but I have some caveats with them.
Ageplay:
Ageplay:
- I guess it goes without saying that it has to be within the site limitations with no exceptions.
- An idea has to be more than just teen girl and old man hook up. There needs to be a reason that they are together and there needs to be enough to work with to tell a story beyond them just having sex. As much as I love smut, stories that rely too much on smut rarely last past a handful of sex scenes.
- I can play stories where the older man is manipulative or predatory but I'll always be far more interested in a forbidden romance kind of story.
- On the topic of forbidden romance, my favorite would be more of a story where an older man and younger woman find themselves falling hard for each other and one or both tries quite hard to resist the temptation before finally giving in.
- Another thing that I think that helps is when there's a lot of risk involved in the relationship. A teacher dating a student is cliche, sure, but he has a LOT to lose if it were to get out.
- This one is going to be a little shorter only because a lot of the same rules apply to this that apply to ageplay for me. I need there to be a reason that it's happening and I'm not really interested in stories where incest is casual and no big deal.
- Parent/child play is unlikely to interest me without it being something like an estranged parent hooking up with a younger woman only to discover it's their long lost kid or something like that.
- I'm pretty open to pairings so long as the setup is something interesting.
I'm a huge fan of history and I've actually read extensively on the Holocaust. Anyone interested in the subject I highly recommend a few books...
I have zero interest in writing anything taking place amidst Nazi attempts to exterminate, among others, the Romani and Jewish peoples. There literally isn't a harder no for me.
While I will absolutely play stories set during WWII, those characters and events will never wind up in concentration camps, cattle cars, or in any of the towns and villages where entire populations were systematically shot and buried in mass graves.
- The Escape Line: How the Ordinary Heroes of Dutch-Paris Resisted the Nazi Occupation of Western Europe by Megan Koreman
- Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland by Christopher R. Browning
- Hitler's Jewish Soldiers: The Untold Story of Nazi Racial Laws and Men of Jewish Descent in the German Military by Bryan Mark Rigg
- Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen
I have zero interest in writing anything taking place amidst Nazi attempts to exterminate, among others, the Romani and Jewish peoples. There literally isn't a harder no for me.
While I will absolutely play stories set during WWII, those characters and events will never wind up in concentration camps, cattle cars, or in any of the towns and villages where entire populations were systematically shot and buried in mass graves.
Specific Ideas
- Soldier x Rock Star - I love the idea of a little culture clash between a tough, mature, professional soldier and a female rock star who loves to challenge norms and piss off conservative types. I have some different ideas on how they could end up meeting but they're both instantly attracted to each other and it goes from there. I think there's a lot of opportunities for fish out of water moments on both sides; her taking him to crazy parties and concerts, him taking her to things like NCO balls and so on.
- A Chance Encounter - YC was dating a cop who was a lot older than her but the relationship was going nowhere. She dumps the cop and he gets wildly jealous when he finds out that she's been going out with friends and trying to move on. One night she goes out and while at the bar she meets a guy who's cute, muscular, and kind. They spend most of the night dancing and having a good time with each other and he ends up going back to her place with her. Not long after they finish having sex, her crazy ex storms into her apartment and attacks the guy she brought home. She assumes her ex is going to hurt this poor guy when things take a huge turn...The guy who she took home beats her ex's ass without knowing he's a cop. They continue to date after that but the ex also continues to be a problem...
- Z-poc: Outlaw Biker x Good Girl - With this idea I was thinking MC was an Outlaw Biker before things started going to shit. He was trying to survive with his club but like a lot of big groups, they fell victim to attacks. Eventually finding himself on his own he runs into YC. She comes from a radically different background, and is the kind of person that normally would never have associated with someone like him. But circumstance pushes them together and they not only start surviving together but find themselves falling pretty hard for each other.
Cannon ThingsA quick note about Cannon Things. Unless otherwise noted, I'd probably rather play OCs in a cannon setting rather than actual cannon characters. Sometimes I'd rather play an OC x Cannon. It just depends but I thought I'd give fair warning.
- Cyberpunk 2077 - I know this game has really pissed a ton of people off (mostly console players) but I LOVED it and am still enjoying it. Would love to do something in this setting with an OC solo, navigating Night City. We could toy with the plot of the game or we could cook up something of our own. My favorite cannon ladies would be Panam and Judy but would be completely cool with an OC x OC story.
- Shadowrun - A setting VERY similar to Cyberpunk but with magic and elves and such. If you're not familiar I can help out but it's a lot of fun and something I'm totally willing to play if you'd rather have an Elf running around with a sub machinegun, taking on corporations.
- Star Trek - I'm a big fan though I'm a little behind on some of the newer series. Would love to do something in the prime universe and have a few little ideas that could be built into fully fledged ideas with the right person.
- Mass Effect - I'm a big fan of the series though that last one was so buggy that I never finished it. I'm up for playing an OC Shepard pairing with Jack OR if you wanted to play Shepard I would be up for playing Garrus, Wrex, Grunt, or even an OC. I'm also open to original stories with original characters in this setting.
- The Walking Dead - I'm a huge fan of the series and would be happy to do something in this setting. I'm not really interested in playing any cannon males and Maggie and Rosita are pretty much the only cannon female I'd want to play opposite of romantically.
So, something that exists in the pen and paper version of Cyberpunk that they left out of the video game was the idea of bio-scuplting. With this idea I'm looking to play a guy who got a full bio-sculpt to turn himself into an anthro wolf. Most people don't care though from time to time some teenagers might tease him for being a furry. He has a simple job working in the back of an electronic's shop, doing repairs on a variety of electronics and stocking the shelves out front.
He knows your character because they live in the same mega-block on the same floor. They see each other in passing, sometimes getting dinner from the same noodle place.
I'm thinking that she becomes curious about him and after a friendly conversation one evening he gets brave enough to ask her out on a date.
She could be a fairly successful solo merc. Mostly working on her own, pulling jobs, earning street cred, blood and chrome a regular part of her life. I'm open to a variety of ideas for her as I'm mostly interested in the idea of their romance blossoming in the setting of Night City. Trouble could come from all sorts of directions to keep things interesting!
He knows your character because they live in the same mega-block on the same floor. They see each other in passing, sometimes getting dinner from the same noodle place.
I'm thinking that she becomes curious about him and after a friendly conversation one evening he gets brave enough to ask her out on a date.
She could be a fairly successful solo merc. Mostly working on her own, pulling jobs, earning street cred, blood and chrome a regular part of her life. I'm open to a variety of ideas for her as I'm mostly interested in the idea of their romance blossoming in the setting of Night City. Trouble could come from all sorts of directions to keep things interesting!
So this idea would be based on the first game but don't let that scare you off just yet if you never played it.
Your character and mine grew up around each other (we can figure out the archetypes as they're almost endless) inside Vault 13. Life in the vault has been mostly good until they're called in to speak with the Overseer. I'm thinking one character has a tech or engineering background with the other is security but we can play with that a bit.
In the end they are told that they've been chosen for a secret mission. They are to go out into the wasteland to Vault 14 to retrieve a parts needed to keep their water purification system running and return. It should only take them a couple of days to travel there, get whats needed and return.
We know that it's going to take SO MUCH MORE.
I think this is a fun chance to play through some cannon story elements while doing a love story between the two characters. Adventure and romance in the wasteland.
Your character and mine grew up around each other (we can figure out the archetypes as they're almost endless) inside Vault 13. Life in the vault has been mostly good until they're called in to speak with the Overseer. I'm thinking one character has a tech or engineering background with the other is security but we can play with that a bit.
In the end they are told that they've been chosen for a secret mission. They are to go out into the wasteland to Vault 14 to retrieve a parts needed to keep their water purification system running and return. It should only take them a couple of days to travel there, get whats needed and return.
We know that it's going to take SO MUCH MORE.
I think this is a fun chance to play through some cannon story elements while doing a love story between the two characters. Adventure and romance in the wasteland.
Golm Takra the Skullcrusher had been the Warchief of the Orcs since his father had passed away and Golm had defeated his brothers one by one in single combat. Since then he had earned the respect of his people by uniting the warbands and forcing the other races and their kingdoms to respect and fear the orcs like they had centuries ago. Now, he was taking another huge step in increasing the power of his people by marrying the human princess Tiyana Vyrwel. It wasn't a marriage that was the result of any courtship but one born out of desperation.
A year and a half ago, the demon worshiping cultists known as the Black Brotherhood had marched on the Nine Kingdoms of Man. Tiyana's father, Ayrn, had pulled together all his vassals and their armies but were no match for the fanatics and their dark magic. Three of the nine kingdoms answering to Tiyana's father had fallen and that was when he started looking for non-traditional allies to save his people.
While humans and orcs had only ever been enemies, the fact was that the Black Brotherhood were the enemies of every living thing and Golm knew this. If the Brotherhood went unchecked and were allowed to take the human lands they would have the resources and positions to launch attacks into the Dwarven holds, the Elven spires, and the scrub lands that Golm and his people called home. With all of that in mind, Golm wasn't going to help Ayrn out of the goodness of his heart and had demanded that Ayrn prove his intent of peace between their people once the Brotherhood was dealt with by allowing Golm to marry Tiyana.
Tiyana was well known all around the world. She was the daughter of the Emperor of men. Her beauty and grace were known even to Golm's people. She had a reputation for being kind and gentle, she cared for her people in a way that was unusual for human nobles. She seemed like everything that Golm wasn't but the orc warcheif loved his people too and felt that she had the attributes of a good queen.
It was late afternoon on the day that they were to be wed. Golm was wearing his armor and furs, the skulls of human generals he had defeated hung on his belt as trophies, and his body had been rubbed down with herbs as was their tradition, giving him an earthy smell. The warchief wanted a moment to speak to his bride to be before the wedding and had gone to the side of their camp where the humans were staying. Stepping into the tent that had been provided to the princess to get ready, her handmaidens clustered around Tiyana, one of them saying, "It's our custom that the groom doesn't see the bride until the ceremony...it's bad luck..."
Golm cocked his head slightly at the implication before motioning for the handmaidens to leave. "That is not the custom of my people. Now go...I wish to speak to my bride."
It took a few moments as well as Tiyana assuring her handmaidens that it would be okay before they finally left the bride and groom alone. Tiyana was clearly scared but she stood tall and proud nonetheless. She had no idea how much Golm enjoyed that fact.
She was dressed in a beautiful white gown made from the finest silks with strands of actual gold and silver woven into the accents. Golm assumed that it had cost a fortune, and it looked like it offered little protection from a blade or club. Humans seemed so strange, so obsessed with luxury that it was no wonder their armies were being crushed.
"What is it you wish to speak to me about?" Tiyana asked, sounding so formal, a slight quiver in her voice.
"Why do you do this?" Golm asked bluntly.
Tiyana was hit by the question as if poked in the chest. Confused, she said, "It has been arranged by my father. I'm to marry you."
"So you do this because you were told to do it?" Golm asked, slowly walking over to where she was getting ready. He picked up the little brushed that had been used to apply her makeup and sniffed at them. Touching his finger to the bristles and tasting the makeup curiously.
"I do it because it's my duty." Tiyana answered curtly.
Golm set the brushes down and looked at the girl. "And that's important enough to you to marry me?"
"I would do anything for my people." The girl said, pushing her chest out a bit.
The corners of Golm's mouth bent into a slight grin. "I'll let you get back to..." Golm gestured at the makeup. He didn't say goodbye before leaving, but turned and placed his helmet back on his head. Walking out of the tent, Golm was certain now that he had made the right choice for him, his people, and likely for the humans as well. He would get a strong queen, and then they would crush the Brotherhood.
A year and a half ago, the demon worshiping cultists known as the Black Brotherhood had marched on the Nine Kingdoms of Man. Tiyana's father, Ayrn, had pulled together all his vassals and their armies but were no match for the fanatics and their dark magic. Three of the nine kingdoms answering to Tiyana's father had fallen and that was when he started looking for non-traditional allies to save his people.
While humans and orcs had only ever been enemies, the fact was that the Black Brotherhood were the enemies of every living thing and Golm knew this. If the Brotherhood went unchecked and were allowed to take the human lands they would have the resources and positions to launch attacks into the Dwarven holds, the Elven spires, and the scrub lands that Golm and his people called home. With all of that in mind, Golm wasn't going to help Ayrn out of the goodness of his heart and had demanded that Ayrn prove his intent of peace between their people once the Brotherhood was dealt with by allowing Golm to marry Tiyana.
Tiyana was well known all around the world. She was the daughter of the Emperor of men. Her beauty and grace were known even to Golm's people. She had a reputation for being kind and gentle, she cared for her people in a way that was unusual for human nobles. She seemed like everything that Golm wasn't but the orc warcheif loved his people too and felt that she had the attributes of a good queen.
It was late afternoon on the day that they were to be wed. Golm was wearing his armor and furs, the skulls of human generals he had defeated hung on his belt as trophies, and his body had been rubbed down with herbs as was their tradition, giving him an earthy smell. The warchief wanted a moment to speak to his bride to be before the wedding and had gone to the side of their camp where the humans were staying. Stepping into the tent that had been provided to the princess to get ready, her handmaidens clustered around Tiyana, one of them saying, "It's our custom that the groom doesn't see the bride until the ceremony...it's bad luck..."
Golm cocked his head slightly at the implication before motioning for the handmaidens to leave. "That is not the custom of my people. Now go...I wish to speak to my bride."
It took a few moments as well as Tiyana assuring her handmaidens that it would be okay before they finally left the bride and groom alone. Tiyana was clearly scared but she stood tall and proud nonetheless. She had no idea how much Golm enjoyed that fact.
She was dressed in a beautiful white gown made from the finest silks with strands of actual gold and silver woven into the accents. Golm assumed that it had cost a fortune, and it looked like it offered little protection from a blade or club. Humans seemed so strange, so obsessed with luxury that it was no wonder their armies were being crushed.
"What is it you wish to speak to me about?" Tiyana asked, sounding so formal, a slight quiver in her voice.
"Why do you do this?" Golm asked bluntly.
Tiyana was hit by the question as if poked in the chest. Confused, she said, "It has been arranged by my father. I'm to marry you."
"So you do this because you were told to do it?" Golm asked, slowly walking over to where she was getting ready. He picked up the little brushed that had been used to apply her makeup and sniffed at them. Touching his finger to the bristles and tasting the makeup curiously.
"I do it because it's my duty." Tiyana answered curtly.
Golm set the brushes down and looked at the girl. "And that's important enough to you to marry me?"
"I would do anything for my people." The girl said, pushing her chest out a bit.
The corners of Golm's mouth bent into a slight grin. "I'll let you get back to..." Golm gestured at the makeup. He didn't say goodbye before leaving, but turned and placed his helmet back on his head. Walking out of the tent, Golm was certain now that he had made the right choice for him, his people, and likely for the humans as well. He would get a strong queen, and then they would crush the Brotherhood.
It had been two weeks, three days, nine hours, and probably about a half an hour since Clay had last seen another living human being. Things had gone sideways so quickly that no one had been able to really adapt on a large scale. Rescue sites had been set up by the government but they had become breeding grounds for the infected, wasted, sickos, walkers, whatever you wanted to call them. Clay had started the apocalypse as Master Sergeant Clay Howard, 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment, Delta. When it became clear that the outbreak was beyond control, the First Lady had been on a book tour and was stuck in New York. Clay's team was selected to assist the Secret Service in getting the First Lady out of the city and to the bunker that the POTUS had already been stashed in.
Things were going smoothly until they were halfway to the pickup site and were notified that the First Lady had family with her that they hadn't been expecting. That put the chopper over weight but they had tried their best to make it work. To make matters worse, there were injured. Clay had their medic start working with the injured as the pilots tried to get them the fuck out of the city as quickly as possible. Looking back, Clay couldn't say exactly what order things had happened in. But what he could remember was someone jumping up and attacking the pilots. The next thing he remembered was waking up on the ground about 12 meters from where the wreckage of the chopper started.
That was, more or less, when he became just Clay again. Sure he had tried to make contact with and hook back up with the Army but every time he was given a place to go he would arrive to find it overrun. Eventually people quit answering the radio and he found himself on his own.
Two weeks, three days, nine hours, and whatever...
He had been walking most of the way and had managed to loot some survival gear that he figured he would need. Supplies were easy enough to come by now, but Clay was already thinking about the future. In time, packaged food would spoil, bottled water would become toxic, gasoline would spoil. Shit was going to get medieval if some kind of a cure wasn't found. He had personally witnessed the crumbling of government and wasn't certain a cure would ever be found. Not now...
The area he was passing through was a small-ish town. There were some shops and he figured he might be able to find some useful items there, or at least find a deer he could shoot while it munched on old boxes of cereal. Thanks to the signage still standing around the town he was able to find the grocery store pretty quickly. The thing that bothered Clay was the lack of infected. Where the hell did all the people go? Any time he wandered out of the woods to resupply like this he usually found them around every corner. Instead he was walking through a ghost town. The longer he went without any kind of contact, the more hyper-aware he became until every little buzz of a bee, rustle of trash in the wind, and so on seemed like a threat.
This was the sort of situation that his rifle wasn't useful for. Right after it became clear he was on his own, Clay had picked up a fairly sturdy machete. That along with his knife were usually enough to fend off small numbers of the dead. Creeping up on the grocery store, he could see that most of the windows were shattered which didn't bode well for scavenging. Climbing in through one of the broken windows, the crunch of the old broken glass under his boots seemed loud as thunder. The smell was the next thing, rotting produce as well as meat mixed with a musty, moldy cardboard sort of smell like potpourri from hell. Wandering into the store, he made his way to the canned goods area. It looked like it had been hit pretty hard, shortages had started even before they moved people to the camps. Still he managed to find a few cans of his favorites, beef stew and corned beef hash. While the store was pretty heavily picked over, Clay was pleasantly surprised by how much he was able to get and once his ruck had a more familiar heft to it, he was ready to go.
Clay's mind was firmly on the beef stew and the bottle of Tobasco he had. Dinner sounded good and all he had to do was get to a reasonably safe spot to eat. But when he stepped out of the store he noticed that while he was in the store, all those missing walkers had come up behind him. The street was suddenly full of the infected, stumbling and shuffling around. Clay froze and just gawked at the sheer number of them. There had to be hundreds, hell it might have been the entire town...
THWACK
A meaty sort of noise came from behind him and Clay spun around just in time to see a walker drop to the ground, an arrow in it's head. His eyes darted up to the roof of the grocery store where a slender Asian woman was standing. She had long hair that had been braided close to her head and was wearing layers of outdoors gear that made her look a bit like a living mannequin from an REI store. She was holding an odd looking asymmetrical bow and had a quiver of arrows attached to the side of a civilian rucksack. The girl raised her finger first to her lips then jabbed it in the direction of the back of the store.
Clay was more than capable of picking up on her message and quietly started making his way around to the back of the grocery store. By the time he got back there, she was just climbing down an access ladder and he got a better look at her. Up close he could see that she was dirtier than he had thought previously but then again he hadn't had a chance to bathe in close to a week so he guessed he wasn't doing much better. "Good luck" was all that she said before turning the hood up on her green poncho and starting off in the opposite direction of the herd that was waiting out front.
"Well hold on now, do you have somewhere safe that you can go?" He asked, wanting to help her since she had helped him.
"Nope. There is no where safe anymore." She answered without stopping.
Clay started to pursue her, constantly looking around for threats which meant that he didn't notice how irritated she seemed that he was following. "Are you traveling with anyone else? I've been cut off for a while and would love-" She interrupted him by holding up a hand and stopping, then said, "I get it. You're cut off from your buddies and you need help. I don't want help and I've already given you as much help as I care to. So...good luck." That said she started walking again.
She thought he needed help? Shit. He had been an instructor at SEREs school, he was more than capable of surviving indefinitely on his own. Narrowing his eyes and starting after her again he asked, "What the hell is your problem. I can help you out here."
She stopped again and spun around to face him, pulling her hood down. The anger in her eyes caused Clay to pause for a moment. "Yes, yes...soldier boys are coming to save the day. That's what they kept saying on the TV. A lot of good you guys did anyone." She was clearly talking about the rescue sites that had been set up. Clay knew how poorly those had turned out as he had personally seen the aftermath of more than one. "I don't want your help and I don't need some white knight."
Clay sighed and scanned the area with his eyes out of habit. They could stand there and argue all day but if they got surrounded while they were busy arguing they'd both be dead. "Alright, fine." Clay said in a calm voice, holding up his hands in surrender. "I admit, I just want some company." The girls look immediately looked even more hostile and Clay groaned, "Not like that, for fucks sake. It would just be nice to have someone to watch my back while I catch some sleep. I'm sure the same is true for you, so what do you say...we don't have to like each other to just make sure that we don't get eaten while we're sleeping, right?"
The girl eyed him suspiciously for longer than Clay would have liked.
"Well?" He asked impatiently.
"Fine..." She finally relented. "But if you try anything, I'll kill you."
It was as good of an offer as Clay thought he would get. Offering to shake on it fell flat and she turned and started walking again.
It seemed the old Master Sergeant would have to work to win her over...
Things were going smoothly until they were halfway to the pickup site and were notified that the First Lady had family with her that they hadn't been expecting. That put the chopper over weight but they had tried their best to make it work. To make matters worse, there were injured. Clay had their medic start working with the injured as the pilots tried to get them the fuck out of the city as quickly as possible. Looking back, Clay couldn't say exactly what order things had happened in. But what he could remember was someone jumping up and attacking the pilots. The next thing he remembered was waking up on the ground about 12 meters from where the wreckage of the chopper started.
That was, more or less, when he became just Clay again. Sure he had tried to make contact with and hook back up with the Army but every time he was given a place to go he would arrive to find it overrun. Eventually people quit answering the radio and he found himself on his own.
Two weeks, three days, nine hours, and whatever...
He had been walking most of the way and had managed to loot some survival gear that he figured he would need. Supplies were easy enough to come by now, but Clay was already thinking about the future. In time, packaged food would spoil, bottled water would become toxic, gasoline would spoil. Shit was going to get medieval if some kind of a cure wasn't found. He had personally witnessed the crumbling of government and wasn't certain a cure would ever be found. Not now...
The area he was passing through was a small-ish town. There were some shops and he figured he might be able to find some useful items there, or at least find a deer he could shoot while it munched on old boxes of cereal. Thanks to the signage still standing around the town he was able to find the grocery store pretty quickly. The thing that bothered Clay was the lack of infected. Where the hell did all the people go? Any time he wandered out of the woods to resupply like this he usually found them around every corner. Instead he was walking through a ghost town. The longer he went without any kind of contact, the more hyper-aware he became until every little buzz of a bee, rustle of trash in the wind, and so on seemed like a threat.
This was the sort of situation that his rifle wasn't useful for. Right after it became clear he was on his own, Clay had picked up a fairly sturdy machete. That along with his knife were usually enough to fend off small numbers of the dead. Creeping up on the grocery store, he could see that most of the windows were shattered which didn't bode well for scavenging. Climbing in through one of the broken windows, the crunch of the old broken glass under his boots seemed loud as thunder. The smell was the next thing, rotting produce as well as meat mixed with a musty, moldy cardboard sort of smell like potpourri from hell. Wandering into the store, he made his way to the canned goods area. It looked like it had been hit pretty hard, shortages had started even before they moved people to the camps. Still he managed to find a few cans of his favorites, beef stew and corned beef hash. While the store was pretty heavily picked over, Clay was pleasantly surprised by how much he was able to get and once his ruck had a more familiar heft to it, he was ready to go.
Clay's mind was firmly on the beef stew and the bottle of Tobasco he had. Dinner sounded good and all he had to do was get to a reasonably safe spot to eat. But when he stepped out of the store he noticed that while he was in the store, all those missing walkers had come up behind him. The street was suddenly full of the infected, stumbling and shuffling around. Clay froze and just gawked at the sheer number of them. There had to be hundreds, hell it might have been the entire town...
THWACK
A meaty sort of noise came from behind him and Clay spun around just in time to see a walker drop to the ground, an arrow in it's head. His eyes darted up to the roof of the grocery store where a slender Asian woman was standing. She had long hair that had been braided close to her head and was wearing layers of outdoors gear that made her look a bit like a living mannequin from an REI store. She was holding an odd looking asymmetrical bow and had a quiver of arrows attached to the side of a civilian rucksack. The girl raised her finger first to her lips then jabbed it in the direction of the back of the store.
Clay was more than capable of picking up on her message and quietly started making his way around to the back of the grocery store. By the time he got back there, she was just climbing down an access ladder and he got a better look at her. Up close he could see that she was dirtier than he had thought previously but then again he hadn't had a chance to bathe in close to a week so he guessed he wasn't doing much better. "Good luck" was all that she said before turning the hood up on her green poncho and starting off in the opposite direction of the herd that was waiting out front.
"Well hold on now, do you have somewhere safe that you can go?" He asked, wanting to help her since she had helped him.
"Nope. There is no where safe anymore." She answered without stopping.
Clay started to pursue her, constantly looking around for threats which meant that he didn't notice how irritated she seemed that he was following. "Are you traveling with anyone else? I've been cut off for a while and would love-" She interrupted him by holding up a hand and stopping, then said, "I get it. You're cut off from your buddies and you need help. I don't want help and I've already given you as much help as I care to. So...good luck." That said she started walking again.
She thought he needed help? Shit. He had been an instructor at SEREs school, he was more than capable of surviving indefinitely on his own. Narrowing his eyes and starting after her again he asked, "What the hell is your problem. I can help you out here."
She stopped again and spun around to face him, pulling her hood down. The anger in her eyes caused Clay to pause for a moment. "Yes, yes...soldier boys are coming to save the day. That's what they kept saying on the TV. A lot of good you guys did anyone." She was clearly talking about the rescue sites that had been set up. Clay knew how poorly those had turned out as he had personally seen the aftermath of more than one. "I don't want your help and I don't need some white knight."
Clay sighed and scanned the area with his eyes out of habit. They could stand there and argue all day but if they got surrounded while they were busy arguing they'd both be dead. "Alright, fine." Clay said in a calm voice, holding up his hands in surrender. "I admit, I just want some company." The girls look immediately looked even more hostile and Clay groaned, "Not like that, for fucks sake. It would just be nice to have someone to watch my back while I catch some sleep. I'm sure the same is true for you, so what do you say...we don't have to like each other to just make sure that we don't get eaten while we're sleeping, right?"
The girl eyed him suspiciously for longer than Clay would have liked.
"Well?" He asked impatiently.
"Fine..." She finally relented. "But if you try anything, I'll kill you."
It was as good of an offer as Clay thought he would get. Offering to shake on it fell flat and she turned and started walking again.
It seemed the old Master Sergeant would have to work to win her over...
If you'd like to see more variety of posts, check out any of my writing in the Lost in Space group game here on Bluemoon. I have two different characters there, an anxious young orphan named David and a German aristocrat turned soldier named Erik.
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