Wildlands (rskde & BurningWillows)

[BurningWillows]

Dakota~

She nodded, guessing there was little else to say. Standing up she kissed his forehead before walking out, deciding to track down the youngest girls and chat with them. She found Nicki in the kitchen making a snack, seeming a little off but otherwise fine. They talked for a few minutes before she found out Willow was hiding in Dakotas room. Supposedly the girl was shaken, disturbed at seeing her brother so angry and the whole gun display. Nicki suggested leaving the 16 year old alone for a bit to settle down.

Shrugging, Dakota waved as she left, seeking Vanessa out, wanting to see the blonde goddess.

 

[Risky]

Vanessa is in the master bedroom, deciding to catch some extra sleep since the morning had been exhausting and she doesn't have much to do anyway. Of course she is sleeping with only her t-shirt on, sleeping quietly, curled up under the covers.

 

[BurningWillows]

Dakota finds her sleeping and slips in, locking the door behind her. Everyone seemed to be settling at their own pace and she didn't want to talk to Collin until he had cooled down. It hadn't even hit noon yet so she set up the alarm clock to go off at 4 and crawled in with Vanessa, snuggling against her as she passed out, wanting to catch up on missed sleep.

 

[Risky]

Vanessa cracks her eyes open before wrapping her arms around Dakota, nuzzling into the redhead's neck before sighing and falling into a deep sleep, almost never wanting to wake up as she is super comfortable next to Dakota.

 

[BurningWillows]

Willow sat inside the room, listening to music and trying to relax. Sure, what she had seen had bothered her and yes, she had started crying when Nicki was comforting her. Not that she would admit it though. She was already embarrassed for crying when Collin was missing, and now she didn't want the adults thinking that was all she did. Willow just felt overwhelmed, and her parents were missing, not to mention Collin and his sudden urge to wave a loaded gun at himself. All of it felt like too much, so the 16 year old had locked herself in Dakota's old bedroom, trying to calm her nerves and get a handle on the situation, before she lost it.

 

[Risky]

Collin finds Nicki and bites the inside of his cheek before speaking. "Sorry for spooking you guys." He says to her, rubbing the back of his head. "I'm a Marine, I'm crazy and I get really cranky when somebody fucks up." He explains to her. "So yeah.. Sorry." He says. "Do you know where Willow is? I gotta explain to her the same situation, unless she doesn't want to talk.. Which I can understand."

 

[BurningWillows]

She's sitting eating some soup when Collin approaches.

"Yeah she's hiding in Dakota's room. She's a bit overwhelmed so she wanted to hide out and calm down. Um hey, Collin? Sorry about fleeing last night. It's just, uh, you kinda sprung that on me. And while I totally...well I do think your hot, I'm not sure I'm what you are looking for. Uh...I'm sure Willow will or already has explained."

Getting up she took her soup into another room, letting Collin mull over her words and find his sister.

 

[Risky]

He watches her leave before sighing, running his hands through his hair before standing and walking to the guest bedroom, which they had started using as an armory for the couple of weapons they had scavenged. He grabs an AUG A3 from the bed, the only other guns were both L85's and one of them was for border watching. He walks downstairs and grabs his backpack, hoisting it over his shoulder before leaving the property, jumping on to Dakota's bike and driving off.

He remembers hearing about a supply truck moving through their area, which he easily finds and stops his bike, jumping off and firing two shots, the passenger and driver both lay dead on the side of the road by the time he is done disposing of the radio equipment and storing the bike into the truck.

He drives it back to the house and unloads everything into the garage, not looking up at anybody if they were even looking. He then walks inside and tells Andrew to strip the truck for parts before going into the guest bedroom and restocking the weapons and ammo in there, now having a couple more rifles and a lot more ammo.

 

[BurningWillows]

Dakota comes flying into the guest room, cornering Collin.

"Who the fuck do you think you are?" She snapped, looking none too pleased. Behind her is Nicki and Iris and across the hall Willow opens her door to find out why there's a commotion. Andrew had tipped her off that Collin had used her bike, and she was not impressed.

"Did you ask to use my bike? Did I give you keys? You know you just stole property right?! Mister big shot marine - you think you can just come in here, write all the rules and do as you please while the rest of us bow to you? Fuck that Collin."

She turned, grabbing her sniper rifle from off the bed, "this is mine. It shouldn't even be in here. Matter of fact neither should these," she grabbed the duffle in the corner with her weapons, items she had collected over the years, "I get your all military and shit but your flying solo in a group of people, commanding order and not following it yourself. You are going to get someone killed. And I'm not hanging around for that."

Stomping into the hallway she notices the entire household is watching the spectacle, "Hope I entertained you all. I'm leaving. Good luck with Collin."

"Dakota don't do this," Iris begged, and Willow looked horrified, "splitting from the group isn't safe."

"Neither is staying here. Collin has no idea what it means to be a leader and I'm not having him get me killed cuz he's too foolish to get it. I'm not staying."

She caught sight of Andrew and walked right up to him, hugging him hard and whispering in his ear, "stay here. Watch over Iris and them. Collins getting reckless and I need you here. I'm...I'm going to find mum and dad."

Storming down the stairs she found Vanessa and hugged her too, the anger dissipating when she looked into those beautiful eyes.

"I have to do this," she murmured, "here."

She handed Vanessa a Small portable radio.

"It's set to a frequency and it's working. I'll find one on the road so we can communicate. If you need me Vanessa I will come. I just...I need space from Collin. I don't like how he's handling this. And I need to find my parents. Maybe I'll find all of ours."

No one was in the room so Dakota pulled her in and kissed her. Most of the group didn't know of Dakotas sexual orientation and she preferred it that way.

"See you soon," she whispered and with that she fled, grabbing her bike and racing off into the night.

 

[Risky]

Collin just stares at her as she leaves, anger starting to well up in him, but he keeps it suppressed.. For now. He shakes his head and goes back to sorting through the ammunition and weapons he had acquired from the supply truck.

Vanessa kisses her back, tears welling up in her eyes. She takes the radio and watches her walk away. "Please don't go.." She whispers, as if knowing that trying to stop her was impossible.

 

[BurningWillows]

She hears her plea and pauses a step, but can't turn back now. Butting heads with Collin would only get someone killed. If Collin was smart, he'd know that. And he wasn't going to stop playing leader, even if he was terrible at it with this crowd. Maybe on the field he'd make a good general, but these weren't soldiers. They were civilians, scared and worried civilians.

What she could do now was gather information, try to find their parents, and maybe one day come back. It's what she wanted, to see Vanessa again, Andy, Iris. But she wasn't putting their lives in jeopardy, not because of Collin. She could watch them, protect them from the shadows, like the sniper she was.

"I'll come back," she whispered over her shoulder to Vanessa, "I promise I'll be back. Watch my brother for me, and stay safe."

With that she was off.

Iris was quick to turn to Nicki and Willow and usher them into the room, telling them not to come out till everything had died down. Willow looked shocked at what had happened, and Iris was worried for the poor teenagers sanity. Everything was being whirled at her, with barely enough time to process it.

After dealing with the two of them, she grabbed Andrew's hand and dragged him into the front yard, seeing Blake looking rather confused on the deck still playing guard.

"Hey," she waved, feeling a little awkward after their last run in, "Still guarding huh? Did you...uh hear what just happened inside."

She realizes then she's still holding Andy's hand and lets go, muttering an apology, obviously feeling awkward for holding her friend's hand too long.

 

[Risky]

Andrew smiles slightly when she grabs his hand, trying to lighten up his own mood. He bites the bottom of his lip softly when she lets go, his eyes settling on Blake.

He nods before handing the rifle off to Iris, signaling it was her turn to watch before walking back inside of the house to rest, laying down on the couch and falling asleep.

 

[BurningWillows]

Iris watches him leaves before staring down at the gun in her hands.

"Everything is turning to shit Andy. Collin's throwing out rules then disappearing, we have a teenager whose overwhelmed and two new girls we barely know. Then there is Blake now sulking, and you and me seem to be in the middle of all this trying to sort it out."

Sighing she sat down on the ground and handed him the gun, rubbing her head.

"I'm not adversed with that gun. My parents never pushed me to learn. Sure they wanted me too, but they never pushed as long as my grades were high. I know how to use a handgun, but not that."

She stared at it, cocking her head, "Guess we will all have to learn, huh? With Dakota gone that only leaves two out of seven who are properly trained. But you have some training right? Maybe you could teach me?"

 

[Risky]

He takes the gun from her and nods, offering her his hand. "I can show you a few things." He says to her while standing, unloading the gun and stuffing the magazine into his back pocket. He shows her on himself how to hold the gun and all before handing it to her, often placing his hands on her body to adjust her positioning and all of that.

"Of course we can't actually shoot.. But expect recoil, keep the butt of the gun tucked into the pocket of your shoulder firmly, that way you'll just absorb the recoil." He explains while pushing the butt of the rifle into the pocket of her shoulder, as if explaining how tight against her shoulder it should be.

"You get it?" He asks her quietly, his hands still on her hips as if he was adjusting her, without even realizing it.

 

[BurningWillows]

She moves with him, letting him guide her. She's not sure why but a blush creeps into her cheeks, possibly shy over being held by the hips. When the lesson is finished she smiles over her shoulder at him.

"Thanks Andy. Hopefully I can aim now. Hey, would you like some supper? You keep watch and I'll run in and grab something."

Giving him the gun she jogged inside, just in time to see Nicki serving food.

"Since everyone seems to be in different stages of shock, including me," Nicki ranted as Iris stepped into the kitchen, "I decided we all needed a cooked meal. Powers still not working but Blake was able to set a fire in the grill out back. So he's making hot dogs and I've tossed up a salad an some cold beans. Everyone's had their firsts so I suggest to hurry and grab some."

Asking for two plates -one for her and Andy- Nicki gives her two paper plates with helpings of salad and beans and two buns each for the hot dogs. Iris swooped out into the back, smiling softly at Blake.

"Heard you had hot dogs for me? I didn't know you could cook."

 

[Risky]

He looks over at her and just smiles. "Yeah, I've learned a few things in my time." He admits as he serves her. He rubs his lips together for a moment before speaking. "I'm sorry about the way I've been acting Iris.. This whole thing has me going crazy." He admits to her, his eyes locked with hers.

 

[BurningWillows]

Iris ~

She shrugged. After what she'd seen today, everyone was acting out of character.

"Your forgiven Blake. Seems everyone is on edge. But a word of advice as a woman. No girl likes to be demanded to kiss someone. We all want to be swept off our feet. Even the most stubborn of us."

She held both plates up then, asking for the hot dogs.

 

[Risky]

He nods and serves her the hot dogs before going back to cooking, biting the bottom off his lip softly in thought as he thinks about her words.

 

[BurningWillows]

Iris returned to Andrew, offering gifts.

"Nicki and Blake made food."

They talked as they are. She gobbled hers down in seconds, grinning as she jumped back up before Andrew could finish his meal.

"Be right back. Getting seconds."

She zipped back, stealing two more hot dogs.

"You the best," she grinned to Blake, kissing his cheek, "there's your kiss. You just had to earn it."

Winking at him she returned to Andy, settling in and polishing off her last hot dog.

"I'm stuffed. You,"

 

[Risky]

Andy looks up at her as she leaves and comes back before shrugging. "I'm not a hungry kind of guy." He admits. "Listen... I gotta go strip down that truck, can you keep me company? It's boring just doing it myself." He admits as he places his paper plate aside, not worrying about it for the current moment.

 

[BurningWillows]

Iris~

Wrinkling her nose she grabs his empty plate, hating littering. Nodding she lets him led them inside, disposing of their plates before joining him in the garage. The truck didn't fit properly so they had to open the garage door and push it out into the street to work on it. It amazes Iris they had even wedged it inside in the first place.

"While you play with that I'm going to fiddle with the terminal," she stated, running inside and coming back moments later with the gadget, "so why is Collin having you scrap our only means of transportation?"

 

[Risky]

Andy gets working on the truck, he raises his eyebrows at her before pointing at the van in the garage. "We still have the van." He says to her as he keeps working, pulling the engine out of the truck with a huff, placing it on the ground before stepping back into the hood area, stripping the truck some more.

"I can do a lot with this stuff, and it makes the house less conspicuous, less cars means less people which means less of a threat, so military will just pass us by." He explains as he works, wiping so sweat from his brow.

 

[BurningWillows]

"I guess," she shrugged, lost in her own thoughts before blurting out, "is Dakota going to come back? I mean she just left you. And me. I just worry she won't come back. That I won't see my best friend again."

 

[Risky]

"I dunno." He says while continuing to take apart the truck. "At this point I'm just focusing on my job.. That way I can keep my head up." He says as he throws a large piece of metal on to the ground, the sounds of him tinkering and messing with bolts and screws evident from inside. He pokes his head out, a small Karambit knife held in his mouth, as if his hands were busy, which they are. He reaches up and grabs the knife, grunting as he cuts a large wire, a large section of the truck falling off.

"What about you? Do you think she'll be back?" He asks, leaning against the bed of the supply truck.

 

[BurningWillows]

She just shrugs, looking a little upset, "I sure hope she does, but honestly I think it might be awhile. Dakota's smart, she knows butting heads with Collin won't help the group so she left. Returning too soon and it will just create more drama and chaos amongst us. She's probably gone for a couple weeks...you aren't worried at all about your twin sister Andy? Is there something I'm missing here? Last time I checked you two were as thick as thieves."