Sore, tired and used didn't really begin to cover it, but at least he'd made it back home alive. Disarming his own traps on his place after the night he'd had had been an interesting experience, and for once in his life, he'd fallen asleep without actually setting them back up again. He would have kicked his own ass for that if he'd not been so completely out of it. Having been used in just about every way it was possible to be used, last night had been a lot. Both physically and mentally. That's not to say it wasn't one of the hottest and strangest things that had ever happened to him. His body though, was clearly protesting this morning.
Despite having slept soundly for hours, he still felt drained, exhausted, every thing hurt... he needed to replenish what had been taken. He was sure he could come up with some sort of elixir that could do just that, he had yet to do so, and so would have to put in the work before he was able to get some relief. However, he had his own version of what he liked to call coffee, he had no idea if it was the same as what other people called coffee, but it was dark and strong and smelled amazing, and gave just the right pick me up in the mornings. It would do for now.
He was brewing himself a small pot when his perimeter alarm sounded and he looked up out the small industrial window and saw a familiar figure making their way through his many traps and defenses, all of which were off, which he could see River figuring out and looking more than a little alarmed. He chuckled and headed out to great his friend. "I'm fine, rough night is all," He promised and waved her inside. He knew he must look like death, he hadn't bothered to glance at a mirror, but he was sure he'd be paler than normal and possibly bruised, he knew he'd have bite marks in various places and had no intention of bothering to hide them, not from her. She'd demand to know what happened to him anyway. There was no point in lying.
Running from something that I can't really explain
It'd been a few days since River last check on her friend, and figured that it was about time to stop in. Not only to make sure that the man was still "alive", but every so often they traded supplies and she needed a few things. That particular day she'd woken up around 4 in the morning having only slept a few hours, which was pretty typical for her after the whole waking up without her memory ordeal. She lay there alone and stared at the ceiling for a while letting her mind wander. Soon as the orange sunrise began to creep in through the broken glass windows of the abandoned building, she decided to heave herself up off the floor and get the day started.
One knee crunched painfully and her back protested as it always did when sleeping on hard surfaces. "What I wouldn't do for some coffee... and eggs. Holy shit... eggs." She groaned, wondering how long it'd been since she'd had an actual breakfast. Way back in the day her family had a little farm, well, it was more like a garden and a few chickens but that was more than most people had. They used whatever they didn't need to barter for things. One of her favorite things in the world growing up was a scrambled egg and some hotcakes. It wasn't often that they had coffee, but when they did... oh how she loved it.
With a sigh, she rolled up her sleep sack and put it with the rest of her things, and grabbed a leftover crusty piece of bread from a loaf she'd baked the other day. "Bag, where are you.." Again talking to herself she searched through sleepy morning eyes for her empty backpack and filled it with the things she meant to bring to Dan. His place wasn't that far away down the road so she would have to walk, not like she had a car anyways. Before setting out she took a moment to look up and down the road, waiting for the military patrols to move along. It wasn't like she was afraid of them or anything, she just didn't want the hassle of explaining her destination.
Keeping out of the shadows and creepier areas, she managed to reach Danial's place. Being the mad little genius that he was, the moment she got anywhere near the place alarms went off. Of course, she knew where they were, having tripped them more than once for various reasons. Choking down the last of her "breakfast" she let herself in, quickly finding him looking a little worse for wear. Her eyes searched him suspiciously, ignoring what he said about being fine. "Uh, fine? Are you sure about that?" She walked up to him and gently prodding at the marks on his skin.
"Dan, someone made you their snack, dinner, AND dessert. Do I need to beat someone up, cause I will..." She sure a shit wouldn't be picking any fights with whoever did all that to him, but it was the thought that counted, right? With a furrowed brow she dropped her bag on a nearby table and fumbled through it in search of something. There had to be a salve or cream inside to ease his obvious discomfort in her bottomless bag of tricks.
Danny chuckled and batted away her probing fingers. He tutted and shook his head, moving to pour her a cup of his special coffee, it was made from the beans of a plant he'd spliced together himself, and was almost the real thing, it just didn't, sadly, have as much caffeine in it, and was slightly more nutty than actual coffee. It was strong and hot though, so it did the job.
"Here, drink," He urged and then sat up on the shabby bench of his makeshift kitchen and sipped his own. "Okay, yes, someone had a little snack, but, I promise you honey, he was hot enough to make it worth the price." He smirked and shrugged a little, his oversized worn out t-shirt falling down over one of his shoulders so his delicate collar bone was showing, it too sported a rather impressive bite.
"He left an impression at any rate..." he muttered and rolled his shoulders. "gonna need to do some research though, like... a lot of it. I have so many questions, holy shit. Did you know infected, some of them, can walk and talk and pass as human? Until they very much don't..." He shook his head, he still could barely believe that the beautiful man from last night actually existed, but his body told him just how very real the creature had been. And he found himself wanting more.
"Anyway, enough about me, what ya been up too? Come to trade?"
Running from something that I can't really explain
Just before she had the chance to protest, Dan handed her a cup of steamy hot beverage. River was easily distracted when it came to food, especially coffee or anything resembling chocolate. Even the almost coffee that Dan made. "My hero." She took the mug between her hands and pulled it up to her nose, slowly inhaling the delicious fumes with a satisfied smile on her lips. When it came to growing and splicing things together, the man was a wizard.
As he talked about his encounter she sat next to him on the bench, listening while taking sips of coffee. What he told her was shocking information for sure, but those days River would believe just about anything was possible. Infected that could pass a human? Sure why not. "I mean, there's no telling what I know." She shrugged and tapped one finger against her head. There was a whole lot of knowledge locked away up there that she just couldn't remember. "So literally anyone could be one of those things? That's just our luck, isn't it?" She shifted a little on her seat, the idea of such a possibility made her extremely uncomfortable.
"Oh me? You know, I'm getting by. Same old really, just out here living my best life. She answered with a smile that looked more like a grimace. "Couldn't sleep again last night so I thought I'd come to see your sweet face and bring you this. Got ahold of some of that monkshood stuff. A guy on the outskirts needed a leg set, this was his payment." Heaving her bag up and setting it upon her lap, she pulled out a small sack of dried petals, being careful not to touch them. They no longer held their pretty purplish-blue color but had turned a brown tone in the drying process. The plant was also known as wolf's-ban, poisonous to humans and caused severe respiratory and cardiac problems, even death. DANIEL ATTHAPHAN
"Perfect!" He exclaimed and took the dried pedals carefully, putting them into a glass jar and safely on a shelf. He turned back to her and nodded, "It's wild though right? I was out scavenging, I thought I was alone, and then suddenly I hear footsteps, I was so fucking sure I was gonna die. In walks Adonis, I swear, he was so fucking hot it's ridiculous, and I'm like, okay, maybe I can die looking at that and it won't be so bad... you know?" He chuckled and sipped his coffee.
"Then the guy tells me he's out at night, cause he likes the moonlight... he wanted to take a stroll. I'm thinking, he's nuts, no one goes strolling through infected territory at night." The memory of the night before made him shift his still sore body. It had been a wild night, full of terror, pain, lust, the best sex he's maybe ever had... and having his blood drunk. And lord that should not have been as sexy as it had been. The memory pushed a shiver up his spine.
"If you ever find one of these special infected, you really should do yourself a favour and let them seduce you..." He shared, smirking at his friend. "Was there anything you needed by the way, I got a lot of good stuff last night, before my special adventure. Might be something you could use."
Running from something that I can't really explain
River stared at her friend as he went on about his night, intrigued, the needle within her internal compass was trembling. Should she stay the course and keep out of trouble, or risk all and find out what all the hype was about? "My luck I'd get the one who didn't just wanna play with their food." She did kitty claw hands as if she were a cat toying with a mouse. If her past encounters with men were any indication, trusting herself with a dangerous creature who could snap her neck in one swift movement wasn't the best idea. "But never say never, right?"
Finishing the cup of coffee, she stood and walked over to the kitchen area. "Actually, the reason I came was to extend an invitation. I'm gonna make an attempt at Rossdale Port if you wanna come along." There were still dozens of unopened shipping containers just sitting there for the taking. Sure, the Military patrolled the area regularly and it'd be hard as shit to pull off, but she figured if anyone could crack one of those puppies open it'd be them. "Just imagine what could be in those containers. Food, machine parts that'd catch a good price, medicine."
She'd seen the port from afar many times but never could work up the nerve to go into the place on her own. It was a bit of a death wish without a vehicle or an extra pair of hands or two. Maybe it was the lack of sleep, maybe she was losing her mind... but it seemed like a decent idea. "We'd be like those bank robbers from back in the day, well, without the getting caught part."
He shot her a curious look, listened to her idea and nodded, it was... a decent prospect, though he'd always avoided the area because it was beyond dangerous and he wondered what was going on with his friend that had her ready to take such a risk. Still, they were as close to family as he got these days, and he was ready to run head first into the fray with her if that's what she was going to insist on doing. He sure as shit wasn't about to let her do it alone. That was basically suicide and he was so not into that idea.
He considered the logistics as he put away the monkshood and nodded again. "Okay, so, you have a plan, or just a whim so far?" He asked, because they would need a plan, a good one. And ideally they needed a couple of other people who had varying talents to compliment their own. That however, might be a luxury they weren't able to obtain.
"Know anyone who might be trustworthy and useful? He asked, his mind flashed to the infected from last night, lord knows that fucker would be useful as fuck in a pinch, but he knew that was a pipe dream, not only had they fucked without exchanging any personal information at all, he doubted the man would have any interest in helping them scavenge shipping containers. Judging from his clothes and the way he had smelt, he had money and plenty of it.
Running from something that I can't really explain
When River thought about it, like really thought about it... no she didn't have a plan. It was indeed on a whim. Maybe she had a death wish, perhaps she was bored. Either way, she'd had the idea stuck in her head for days, and for anyone who knew the woman, knew that meant one thing. It had to happen. "No plan. And maybe that's the problem. Everyone who's tried has failed because they overthink the thing. Sometimes you just gotta go in and hope you don't get blown up. Ya know?" She scrunched up her nose and shrugged, fully aware that it was quite possible she was losing what was left of her sanity.
She thought for a moment about his question, did she know anyone trustworthy and useful. Again she came up empty-handed. There was that one guy but after that one thing, they weren't on speaking terms, not to mention he wasn't altogether trustworthy. Useful, yes. But he'd steal the shirt off your back if you weren't careful. "You. Everyone else I know would snatch and run, or leave ya for dead the moment something went wrong. Maybe I need to get out more. meet new people." The idea was horrifying. She'd rather take on an infected over socializing any day.
"We'll put a pin in it for now. I've planned on casing out the area first. Last time I was out that way things were a little dicy and I had to get out." She swallowed, the last time she'd been anywhere near the area was the day she'd woken up with a nasty headache and very little memory. It was a day that she rarely spoke of, but thought about more often than she would like. A few times soon after the incident she'd gone back looking for answers, never quite finding what she was looking for. That happened to be how she met Dan. After days with no food, she'd snuck into his place and stolen a few vegetables from his garden.
He laughed and gave her a fond but slightly exasperated look. "I like to blow things up River, not be blown up." He pointed out, but there was no heat to it, just amusement. He also added, cause he was a dirty little shit, "Or be blown, that works too." He smirked and hopped down from where he was sitting on a counter and moved to look through his jars of dried herbs, wondering if any of them would be useful in what he had planned to start work on shortly. He was always like this, unable to sit still and relax, his brain was always wired, always ten steps ahead in three different directions.
He was spontaneous and unpredictable and hated doing the same thing twice, when it came to most things in his life. It was one of the reasons he was still alive, he was very hard to pin down.
"Asshole's, everyone." he agreed with a chuckle, and then, more as a joke than anything serious, he added, "I call always invite Mister Bitey from last night... he'd sure as shit be useful, no idea what his deal is though, so can't say he'll be trustworthy, but while we're winging it, why not huh?" It had started as a joke, but by the end of the sentence he'd almost convinced himself it was a solid plan... mostly, the thought of being bitten again had his spine feeling like molten metal and he had to clear his throat and shake himself off to stop becoming all kinds of awkwardly aroused.
"Lets scout it out for a few days and come up with at least the bones of a plan yeah?" he suggested with a grin as he moved out his back door and into the small make shift garden he had built himself on one of the lower roofs of the power plant. It was safe from infected, and couldn't be seen from ground level, so safe for the most part from scavengers too. Other than River, who apparently was more determined than most. He'd found her sat in his garden, unable to move due to one of his many non lethal traps. He did, when possible, try not to kill humans. And infected couldn't reach the roof garden. So all traps here were harmless but effective.
Posted 04-22-2021, 03:33 PM
This post was last modified: 04-22-2021, 03:37 PM by Daniel Atthaphan
Home sweet home
