Rapture

[Mistress of Whispers]

"Ooh," Wisperlee replied to Erin, "which house?" Closing her helmet and climbing on the bike, she gestured for Erin to get on as well.

"We'll have to retrieve the equipment when we get back!" she shouted over the din of the motorcycle as she started the engine.

"You're right that it will be valuable once main communication goes out!"

 

((Skip to the motorcycle dealer in your next post, Fangirl?))

Edited August 21, 2014 by Mistress of Whispers

[DragonSpirit009]

Once Nougat was fed Emily started to move through the building looking for blankets and pillows. Some might need to sleep on the floor but maybe she can find enough blankets and stuff to make a couple of decent beds. Sadly she didn’t find enough blankets for everyone so she decided to see if she can get some next door.

 

At first getting into the house next door was a challenge but she luckily found an open window on the side and snuck in. It seemed like a young couple’s home seeing some dirty clothes laying around and to tell the truth not very clean. With not wanting to stay much longer she quickly grabbed blankets and to her luck found two blow-up mattresses as well. Once she got everything she needed she returned to the pub.

 

“I found some extra blankets and stuff.” Emily spoke to whoever might have listened. “I’m going to set up in one of the large rooms.”

 

With that she heaved the things up stair and started making assorted beds for everyone. Sadly it will be first come first serve if someone wanted a nice bed but that wasn’t really her problem.

“I wonder if he has a blanket.” Emily thought wondering where James settled himself. “Maybe I should just check.” With that Emily left with a blanket in hand in search of James. She checked in some of the rooms only to have a quick peek. It took her about five minutes or so to fine him lying on a couch.

 

“James. You awake.” She whispered still standing by the door.

 

[Fortune86]

"No" insisted James without opening his eyes. "I'm fast asleep and do not wish to be disturbed unless we are moving on or Jaune has found more matches."

 

He cracked open an eye and peered blearily at Emily. She was standing in the doorway with a blanket in her arms.

 

"What's up? Looking for somewhere to bunk?"

[Fangirl05]

"It's ten or fifteen minutes away from the pub" Erin answered, practically shouting over the sound of the engine, "I'll point it out on the way back!"

[DragonSpirit009]

“Sorry.” Emily smiled. “I didn’t want to bother that why I asked first. Had too many close encounters with flying objects in the past. I’ve learned to stay a good distance.” Emily spoke stepping a bit closer still smiling remembering the times she tortured her brother.

 

“No I’ve made a couple of beds in one of the larger rooms. I had a couple of extra blankets and figure you might want one.” With that said she handed the blanket to James. Slowly she backed up towards the door again but paused for a bit. “If the cough is getting a bit uncomfortable there is an extra bed that I’ve made up just in case. Anyway sleep well.”

 

Emily then left the room but before she returned to their, for now, sleeping quarters she stood at the top of the staircase and whistled for Nougat. The dog quickly raced up the stairs with a wagging tail.

“We gonna sleep now okay.” Emily patted the dog on her head. Emily gave a little yawn and led the dog to the room where she made up the beds. She picked one near the wall and settled down on the bed. Nougat sniffed the area trotting over the beds leaving small indents on the blankets. Once she was satisfied Nougat took her place at Emily’s legs.

 

[Fortune86]

James took the blanket, but as he felt warm enough without a cover tucked it under his head as a pillow instead. Emily was okay he decided. Much better than that nutter Erin. When the girl had gone he rolled to face the back of the couch and tried to drift off into sleep once more.

[Mistress of Whispers]

Wisperlee stopped the bike and got off. Erin and she were at a local bikedealer, where she was hoping to find a sidecar. At least, that had been the original plan. Now that she was here, she debated getting a brand new bike combination. It felt somehow odd to drive vehicle that had clearly belonged to someone else, so maybe now was the time to pick up a new one.

 

Wandering around a bit, she studied Erin from the corner of her eye. The girl seemed more relaxed now - more agreeable.

 

"Hey, I'd like to ask you something," she said after a moment of hesitation "and I don't want you to be upset, but... Well, you have been a bit quick to react -" that was one way of phrasing it. "- and I was wondering if you're always like that and we should accept it about you, or if we're catching you at a bad time?" And that was another way to phrase it: are you always this angry, or is the end of the world throwing you off? She felt almost silly for even asking, but the truth was that all of them were stuck with each other. If Erin was simply snappy by nature, it was best to know that about her.

Edited August 22, 2014 by Mistress of Whispers

[Fangirl05]

"A little of both" Erin answered, absently turning over a helmet she'd found in her hands - she just liked the look of it better than the spare Wisperlee brought along, "Like I told Ari, I come from a long line of redheads. But, like I also told her, I'm stranded in a foreign country with all signs pointing to the fact that my entire family's been sucked off the face of the Earth." She raised her eyebrows at Wisperlee. "This may shock you to hear, but I really had no friends back in the States. I figured all I really needed was my family, so I never really tried for friends." She sighed. "Boy, that really came back to bite me in the ass." She sat down on a nearby boulder. "I don't exactly mean to be as nasty as I have been, it's just... I guess I don't really know how to act around people I'm not related to. Plus when I woke up to the Rapture I had no idea how many Juanes I was gonna find-" She nodded at her knife in explanation, "so I guess I'm still a little on edge. And not for nothing, but I've never been afraid to use violence if somebody slights one of mine. I beat some ess-oh-bee to hell and back for trying to jack my sister's bike when we were kids." She averted her gaze thoughtfully. "I'm pretty sure he still walks with a limp."

Edited August 22, 2014 by Fangirl05

[Mistress of Whispers]

Wisperlee raised an eyebrown on Erin beating a boy into the hospital (at least, that's what she presumed if he still walked with a limp). Her eyes briefly darted to the knife hanging off Erin's belt - the combination of a temper, capacity for violence and a weapon, did not put her at ease. However, it was easy to tell that Erin meant well.

 

"I'll go on record saying that, despite popular meme, haircolour has no relation to temper," she finally commented, "but I'll accept that you have a fiery disposition."

 

Then, in a more serious tone: "I'm sorry about your family." She wanted to say more, but remained silent. Really, there was nothing to say other than sorry.

 

Changing the subject, she ventured: "What brought you to the UK?"

 

Walking through the bike hall, she stopped as she saw a bike complete with sidecar. It even had broad tires, which meant she could go off-road with it (though presumably not with the sidecar still attached).

 

"Perfect," she whispered as she approached her new bike-to-be.

 

A short search in the office yielded the keys, two new helmets, a matching jacket, saddle bags and goggles for Cujo. She even took the first aid kit from the manager's desk and plopped it in one of the bags.

 

"You ready?" she Erin.

 

((I'll be afk this week. I have internet on my mobile phones, but those are awful to type long replies on. So expect my replies to be slow and/or short. Fangirl, you're free to have Wisperlee take Erin to that house and examine the equipment there.))

Edited August 23, 2014 by Mistress of Whispers

[Fangirl05]

"Yeah" Erin heaved herself off the rock. As they walked she got to work answering her questions:

 

"My mom and I had managed to score a little time off from work, so I suggested we treat ourselves to a vacation overseas. Lori wanted to see the Motherland, but she drew the short straw. I told her I'd take her as her graduation present." She shook her head to clear the glaze from her eyes. "As for that look I saw you give me, you can relax. All I did was give him a black eye, bloody nose and busted lip. I accidentally dislocated his hip when I jumped on him; I tagged along to the ER and it looked like they didn't reset it 100%. And this here knife is just to warn off anyone who might be looking for trouble; Escalation of Force and all that. And thanks" she smiled a little at the end. "Now," she said quickly, "I believe I owe you a basement chock full of tech stuff."

 

...

 

"Welcome to Techie-Land" she said with a sweep of her arm, "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna look around and see if I can find a HAM or anymore CBs. I just grabbed the first thing I saw and bolted."

[Mistress of Whispers]

"Great find," Wisperlee said as she examined the equipment. "We need to find a way to power it when the lights go out, but I think we can set something up with a car battery." 

 

Checking the power entries for the set, she began thinking of a way to hook it to a battery without blowing it out.

 

"So what did you do before?" she asked when Erin came back. "You seem to know your way around equipment."

 

((They should probably leave the set in place and take it with them when the group leaves tomorrow? That seems safer than loading it into a sidecar.))

[Fangirl05]

((Good call.))

 

"I was a Psych major with a focus in Abnormal" she answered, "I was gonna be a cop. I had my Civil Service exam scheduled for a couple days after we got back." She sighed. "As for the know-how, I studied up on anything I thought might be useful to my career: encryption, some programming, a couple different languages, different kinds of law." She plunked the HAM she'd managed to find down on a nearby table. Her hopes weren't very high, as it had been stuffed in the back of a closet. "Let's see if anybody gets back to me this time" she muttered. She flipped the switch, hunted around for a clear channel and held down the talk button.

 

"This is Erin Evans, broadcasting live from Stanleytone, England. Anyone with the capabilities please respond."

 

She repeated the message through every clear channel she managed to find, all without success. She flipped it off to converse battery life and rubbed her forehead in frustration. "Fantastic" she growled. "Hey, eh," she said off-handedly, "I'm sorry about that 'cyber-crook' comment earlier. In retrospect I get that you probably didn't mean anything by it, but at the time all I heard was 'I look at you and see a killer and a rapist.'"

[Mistress of Whispers]

Edit: cross-posted with Kestra so time-tag: May 1st

 

"That's ... not what I meant, actually, but no harm done" Wisperlee said with a light shrug. She wasn't angry with Erin to begin with, she had merely made the decision years ago not to remain in the presence of people who annoyed her - which was why she'd left the room at that time. Still, maybe Erin's earlier behaviour was a fluke (or maybe Jaune had gotten to her), because she was very nice right now.

 

"Let's head back," she suggested after Erin's failed attempt at sending a message. "I think I can work out a system for a repeat broadcast when we settle down in our new location."

 

Back at the inn, Wisperlee saw that quite a few people had turned in already. She doubted that there were any beds left, but that was fine as someone had made camping beds in a corner.

 

"Thanks for looking after Cujo," she said to Petra as she picked up the dog.

 

Setting down her bag near one of the empty corner beds, she settled in for the night.

 

((P.S. So far, Wisperlee has merely shown to be good with computers and 'works in IT' would be a much more normal conclusion than 'must be a cyber criminal.' /sidenote))

Edited August 25, 2014 by Mistress of Whispers

[Kestra15]

((GM Note: Anything left over from May 1st, please do so as flashbacks or with a time-tag. Welcome to Day Two. -KM))

 

1st May 2014 – 2300hrs

 

The bar was empty. Mak, never one for sleeping overlong, was sat behind the bar again nursing a bottle of Coca Cola (he’d always found it tasted best from glass bottles) as he looked over the dim room. Outside their vehicles were stocked and ready to go; James and Wisperlee’s motorbikes, his ambu-taxi stocked with medical supplies and some of the heavier kit, and the Land Rover that had belonged to the prior occupants which Mak had finally found the keys for. The Land Rover was laden with food and crates of bottled water, the back seats lowered to allow for more storage, while his ambu-taxi carried the spare fuel and space for the electronics they would pick up in the morning. All were fueled up and ready to go come morning.

 

Taking a sip from the bottle Mak surveyed the bar in silence and solitude. He’d left the ambiance lights from the bar on, suffusing the place in the warm glow that all establishments seemed to bathe in after hours. Enough to dispel the deeper shadows but easy on the eyes. The doors and windows had been locked and bolted, and every human and animal was now scattered through the pub and settled for the night. There was a stack of dirty plates on one table, the results of those having a bit more to eat before bed. Petra had mentioned about putting them in the dishwasher overnight, but that idea had been nixed by those pointing out they could do without a disturbed night’s sleep. They would do it in the morning, though Mak couldn’t see a reason to do so. Maybe to stop them getting too mouldy in case someone else decided to use this place as shelter?

 

Finishing the bottle Mak rolled it in his hands, elbows propped up on the counter before him as he spun the bottle on the metal surface. Just twenty-four hours ago this would have been a vibrant country pub, just closing for the night, bartenders cleaning down tables and washing glasses as they closed off the pumps and made small talk with the last few patrons. Someone would have cleaned, locked up, and made their way to bed. Would they have watched TV first? There was a Freeview box connected to the overlarge TV in the living room and there wouldn’t have been much chance to view anything during work hours, so maybe a quick catch-up on Dave +1? Or perhaps it had been a wearying shift and the couple had slumped straight into bed, especially given that they had guests staying overnight? Micah may know, but somehow Mak wasn’t interested in finding out what the last act of a couple of strangers would be. There would be plenty more mysteries in the days to come.

 

The first mystery would of course be when the power would finally start failing, and if they could rig up a generator of their own. Cambridge had extensive libraries and Mak was certain they could go looking for something there to help them. Man’s greatest gift to Himself was to write down so much knowledge for everyone to see, and it would be that gift that could give them life. Could, because Mak knew that reading did not mean understanding, and moreso did not mean competence. But James seemed like the type who could work with his hands and Wisperlee had the technical know-how to navigate electronics, and Mak’s own background gave him a well-rounded view on the basic applications of science to the natural world. Between those three alone they could sort something out, let alone the rest of the group pitching in.

 

He tried to call up what he knew about the larger power-plants. Unlike many of the general public Mak was not afraid of large mushroom clouds appearing overhead and multiple nuclear detonations laying waste to the landscape. It took very specific, engineered circumstances to develop a nuclear weapon that acted as such. If anything happened to the reactors it would be closer to the effects of a dirty bomb; radioactive waste would spill into the environment much as it did in Chernobyl and Fukushima, leaving the surrounding landscape close to uninhabitable. Winds would perhaps pick up and spread particulate further, but it would not be the nuclear winter feared and perpetrated in TV shows. Besides the East of England only had a handful of small reactors.

 

Fossil fuel plants…they would no doubt run out soon, with no-one there to oversee automated procedures or intervene when safeties noticed that the reactors were unsupervised and carried out emergency shutdowns. If his memory served, fossil fuel plants would most likely be safely shut down as fuel would run dry and turbines would freewheel to a halt, and in the worst-case scenarios the fuel depots would be flooded as per emergency procedures and leave the plant dead, a massive concrete monster that housed nothing more dangerous than ash and water.

 

The question was, how long did they have? Days? Weeks? Hours?

 

Mak put the bottle down and swung off the stool. He had no answers here and now, and so much had occurred the last fifteen hours that trying to figure it out was beyond his capabilities right now. Perhaps come morning he would have a clearer head and a better shot of understanding. For now…for now, he needed sleep. Pausing at the edge of the bar his hand hovered over the light switch; looking back over his shoulder Mak considered the warmly-lit bar, and how dark and empty it would appear if he killed the lights. He shuddered, the irrational fear that had gripped him that morning making itself known again, and he dropped his hand from the switch.

 

- - -

 

To the casual observer it would seem like there was nothing amiss in Stanleytone; the street lights suffused the village in an orange aura, denoting it as a human refuge in the darkness of the surrounding countryside. The local wildlife found themselves with an abundance of food – the predators discovering new and interesting prey which seemed lost out in the wilderness, while the scavengers had access to entire larders of food they had only ever been able to smell.

 

The world turned, oblivious to the loss of its passengers.

 

May 2nd 2014 – 0800hrs

 

When the first of the group work up the next morning they found a feast was ready for them in the bar; hard-boiled, soft-boiled and scrambled eggs, toast both white and brown, boxes of cereal with bottles of milk, bacon and sausages and hash browns under plates covered with foil, a metal bowl of baked beans with a ladle, with cutlery and crockery stacked on another table. Bread, butter, jam, chocolate spread, marmalade and honey took pride of place on a third table next to a pot of tea and an urn of hot water, coffee granules and hot chocolate powder sat ready to be added into cups as preference demanded. Bowls and saucers of food and drink for the animals were scattered along the base of the bar. Clearly someone had been busy.

 

Outside Mak worked on the vehicles, reordering and restocking to make sure there was room for all passengers. A blue backpack sat at his feet, maybe no more than fifteen litres in capacity, water bottles in both side pouches and clearly well-stocked. An impressive kitchen knife in a leather holder sat on the waist-strap, though given the uneasy glances Mak gave it from time to time it was clearly not something that sat naturally with the young man. Only vaguely aware of the others rousing from slumber Mak was lost in the rhythm of manual labour in the bright morning sunshine.

[Fangirl05]

May 2nd 2014 - 0815 hrs

 

Man, there was no better way to wake up than without an alarm. She'd opted to sleep on one of the rugs in the common room, and had woken up with surprisingly few aches and pains. But then the rug was pretty thick. Maybe shag.

 

Dingo stirred next to her with a soft purr-like noise. "Good morning, Dingo" she smiled at him and scratched his head. He leaned into her fingers and started up another session of his famous purring. He stretched in that bizarre, impossible-looking way cats stretched when he'd had enough and let Erin drape him on her shoulder. "Let's go get breakfast" she suggested.

 

...

 

Erin piled one of her rolls with scrambled eggs and some bacon, then tore up the last of her chicken and put it on a plate for Dingo. She left the rest of her meat on the table for the dogs and other kittens, poured herself a cup of coffee and went to investigate the noises outside.

 

The noise turned out to be Mak fiddling with the cars. "Morning" she greeted him, "Were you the one who set up that breakfast buffet?"

[Marcus Pheonix]

May 2nd 2014 - 0000hrs

 

Jaune was seated in one of the chairs in the bar. He had watched as everyone slowly drifted off to sleep. Even Juni was curled up in the hood, Jaune could feel his breath on the back of his neck, it was regular and deep, indicating the Ferret was asleep.

Jaune sighed, he had hoped that a ferret would be more nocturnal. He was someone who stayed up all night and then slept during the day, particularly when there wasn't any work that needed doing. He stood up off the chair and walked outside. It was quite cold, he noted hastily zipping up the jacket. He reached down into the jacket and pulled out an mp3 player, he had no use for an ipod as the music was all he needed.

Picking he placed the attached headphones over his ears and lifted up his mask then began to wander the area, not really moving to any specific area just getting lost in the sound of the music.

 

May 2nd 2014 - 0400hrs

 

Jaune looked up as the sight of the bar came into view. Even though the moon was down, the electricity wasn't and the lights would allow someone to see the location easily... the white ambulance didn't hinder that either.

He looked curiously down at the mp3 player, it was currently playing a Robbie Williams song, he raised the volume slightly. In truth the music simply allowed Jaune to detach his mind from the present, he would walk around for hours and return without any memories of where he had been or what he had seen unless it had been significant enough to rouse his subconscious from its thoughts. Some had confused his antics as sleep walking but he was physically awake, his mind was just in its own world.

He scratched his head thoughtfully and walked over to the side of the large building that he knew the majority of his company would be sleeping in. He looked at the drain pipe that made its way from the ground to the roof. Clasping his hands at either side of it he slowly climbed up the pipe, pressing his feet up against the wall of the building. After a short climb he reached the roof and pulled himself up onto the top. He scuttled upwards, Juni, who had awoken half way through the climb scurried along next to him. He paused when he reached the centre of the roof and stood up, placing one foot either side of the peak. He then sat down and proceeded to let his mind wander, his eyes fixed towards the east.

 

May 2nd 2014 - 0601hrs

 

Jaune looked up, his mind returning from its journey as he saw a red line appear on the horizon. He watched silently as the line slowly grew, averting his eyes slightly so that it wouldn't hurt. He let out a loud sigh and gently patted Juni's head. He turned up the music some more, not entirely sure what song was playing. Moving fluidly he slowly began moving around the rooftop, if one were to see him they might call it dancing. Jaune lost himself again as the sun's light began to shine.

 

May 2nd 2014 - 0800hrs

 

Finally returning from his trance Jaune let out a loud yawn and stretched. He could hear noise from below, indicating that some had woken. Walking to the edge of the roof he looked down and saw Mak, he appeared to be working on the vehicles. Jaune bent over slightly and looked down as he saw the figure of Erin emerge from the building, walking towards Mak.

He let out a short, but quiet whistle towards Juni. The ferret scurried up Jaunes outstretched arm and perched himself on Jaunes shoulder. Jaune rubbed his eyes slightly as he walked over to the side he first emerged from.

Slinging one arm around the drain pipe he slid down, maintaining his pace so that he wouldn't drop too fast and get a friction burn.

With a soft thud his feat touched the ground. He reached up and removed the headphones leaving them around his neck, and lowered the mask.

He walked back around the building so that the front came into sight. Ignoring the two people present he walked inside and quickly helped himself to the bacon, passing a couple to Juni. He stuffed the large quantity of bacon in his mouth and began poured two cups of tea. Finishing with what he deemed a perfect cup he grasped each cup in hand and moved out to the others.

His eyes were fixed, glaring, at Erin; although, the impression was probably lost considering he had a mouthful of bacon. He walked up next to Mak and carefully placed one of the cups down next to him.

He then quickly grabbed the bacon in his mouth and tore the half inside off, chewing it. He then took a sip of his tea, the drink was just short of boiling and the sensation was the last thing that got his mind out of the journey it had been on that night. Sighing with appreciation he nodded towards the cup he'd placed next to Mak.

"It's deemed impolite to refuse a drink," He said, his french accent briefly resurfacing. Pausing in shock at the sound of his own voice he took another bite of the large clump of bacon in his hand.

Edited August 26, 2014 by Marcus Pheonix

[Fangirl05]

Erin whistled in impressment. "Damn," she smirked, "I didn't think accents got that thick off of TV."

 

She dropped said smirk at the sound of that low, menacing meow cats made when they were trying to warn off or threaten a potential enemy. Dingo stood in the pub doorway, flicking the tip of his tail back and forth and staring obsessively at Juane's hood.

 

Erin lowered her eyebrows at him sternly. "Dingo!" she scolded him, "Be nice. The humanoid's done nothing to antagonize me and the weasel's done nothing to antagonize you." She raised her eyebrow at the latter two. "Not yet, anyway."

 

She snapped her fingers and pointed sharply at the ground next to her feet. The kitten, understanding the command, padded over to her and let her pick him up and hang him off her shoulder again.

[Mistress of Whispers]

"Oh wow, someone went all out on breakfast," Wisperlee commented as she saw the laden table. Still, despite her obvious appreciation for the unknown chef, her own breakfast consisted of extra strong coffee, black.

 

"Morning, Erin," she greeted the other woman.

 

Coffee mug still in hand, she set about fixing a meal for the two dogs.

[Fangirl05]

"Hey" Erin smile-and-waved at her. She raised her eyebrow at Wisperlee's meager breakfast. "Kind of a waste, don't you think?"

[DragonSpirit009]

Emily stretched in her bed noticing that the quite large pooch wasn’t there so obstruct her in any way. Then the smells of food reached her nose and Emily could only smile. Nougat must have been down stairs stalking the tables full of food. Still lying in bed cuddled in her blanket her stomach started to growl. Emily could only sigh. She wasn’t in the mood to get up just yet but she was rather hungry.

 

After several minutes of fighting her growling stomach Emily gave up and got out of bed. She quickly went to the bathroom fixing up her hair and rinsing her face with water. The coldness of the water was a bit of a shock but luckily it woke her up which helped her not looking like a zombie. Satisfied that she was sort of presentable Emily went down stairs meeting up with a couple of the others.

 

“Morning everyone.” She spoke with a smile. Nougat quickly came to meet up with her owner but the dog didn’t stay to long. She quickly ran back to the table with food staring at it and hope she could get something.

 

“Not so fast girl. You know the rule. First do your thing and then food.” With that Emily took Nougat by the collar and led her outside. As she released Nougat outside she stood and waited by the door while Nougat went of sniffing for a spot.

 

“Hey Mak. Hey Jaune.”

 

[Fangirl05]

Erin frowned, a little slighted at Emily's apparently ignoring her. "Morning, Nougat" she nodded at the dog.

[Kestra15]

"I didn't sleep much," Mak simply replied to Erin. "And given that all the food is going to go to waste eventually I thought we should treat ourselves. We probably won't get another chance."

 

Mak was just finishing re-balancing the equipment in the ambu-taxi when Jaune arrived with a much-needed drink. Even as the young man spoke about the propriety of refusing drinks Mak was already scooping up the mug and took a sip of the tea, enjoying the warmth it brought. "Thank you Jaune," he said, turning to offer a small smile to the man before returning to the equipment. Satisfied that everything was in place, Mak stood up and closed the back door just as Emily and Nougat stepped outside.

 

"Morning," he offered back to the young lady. "Sleep well?"

[Salix]

The early morning air was refreshing, and her cramped muscles appreciated the exercise provided by walking through the village. Petra had suffered a night of disturbing dreams, dreams in which Josh and Thomas were calling for her and no matter how hard she had tried she could never reach them. She had woken feeling frustrated and upset, so she had quietly slipped out of the pub to let the early morning dawn air clear her mind.

 

During her wonderings she had managed to locate one of the land rover type vehicles she had noticed the day before, the one with the exhaust that was like a snorkel. After checking the car over, and deliberating with herself over the morals of taking the car, the possible hurdle of getting the car started was overcome very easily, as the previous owner had very kindly left the car unlocked and the keys under the drivers seat.

 

As she drove into the pub’s car park she noticed some of the others were up and about, and after parking the car she walked over to the others, smiled and said ‘morning everyone’ as Emily and Nougat came outside.

 

[Mistress of Whispers]

"Too early for solids," Wisperlee merely replied to Erin before the young woman went outside. She remained sitting for a while longer, enjoying her coffee, then picked up Cujo's leash to take the dog for a walk. "Morning," she greeted the people outside and on her way.

[Avialae]

Micah woke, still feeling tired. He'd had some trouble getting to sleep last night, either because of the remains of the jet lag, or the events of the last day getting to him. Or both. As he slowly came to full wakefulness, he brushed his teeth and washed his face, put on the fresh clothes he'd put on the night table before he'd gone to bed last night, got his Bible (not his sisters') and the old suitcase that he'd put all of the things he'd brought on the vacation he'd planned on taking that would fit. He'd managed to fit in almost everything.

 

The appetizing smells tantalized Micah's nostrils and made his stomach rumble eagerly as he entered the main pub area. He hadn't had dinner last night since he wasn't hungry for it, given the odd hour that he'd had his big meal. Now that it was the next morning, however, he was much hungrier than he'd normally be at such an hour thanks to the missed meal, not to mention his family were generally early risers.

 

Micah was definitely going to get some food, but first things first. He walked out of the bar's front door and put down his suitcase next to Mak's blue backpack. He wanted to make sure that it was brought along with them when they left. "Good morning, Mak," Micah said to the other man politely. "Do you need any help?" He really wanted to eat, but he also wanted to be useful, and the family's vehicle maintenance had often fallen to him back at home.