dreaxbrandon

[dreaxbrandon]

Are you still weary of Ares?

I am and we don't interact , or more...I don't want to interact with him unless I have to.

[dreaxbrandon]

If you could go back and change any moment in your life, which one would it be?

I've watched enough movies to know that's just a bad idea. None. Good and bad, that's what happened to be here today, so...

[dreaxbrandon]

What's up with you and Mike? Do you like him?

After a year and half , I do not have any more creative ways to answer your question. So boring answer, we good .... though he has such power over all of you ...you all need therapy.

[dreaxbrandon]

"Intent has a lot of impact in these matters. But, sometimes better safe than sorry, if there's nothing it's just an extra step , if there's something, well who knows. " Drea stated.

"You could definitely kill a pretty girl with a wink, but I only will be lured by food and food only. It's my first , middle and last thought in life. " Drea laughed. "I'll be sure to give you an alibi though, you were with me aaaaall night , of course." she added, despite not really knowing the gal. "So that school, show me." she went back to the original thing they were going to do and joined a tour of the most boring colorful building in town.

"She was a fan of anything with the right vibe," Lucy sighed, dismissive as always on the subject of her mother. "I should probably be glad I wasn't Taurus Moonclover or something."

Surprised at the concept, Lucy glanced in the direction of the center. "Blessed? I don't know if Daddy Theo is chill enough to help with that. What if we just say we had it blessed?" Focusing with a pen... Automatic writing, right. Lucy believed that even less.

Leaning in, Lucy spoke conspiratorially. "Who do we think it's gonna be? The kitchen workers could poison us all. Orrr - oh, the Hunters... hunt us." Laughing at her own ideas, Lucy pulled her ponytail tighter. "Or I could do it. Lure in some pretty girl with a wink and a smile and then - oh no, another traumatized generation come morning."

[dreaxbrandon]

Kids, that was easier. Drea was one herself to be honest. So by the time Renee was done, the dinosaur discovery had turned into an epic dinosaure vs transformers galactic battle. It all arrived to a cliffhanger hold as dinner was served.

All in all, it was a good night. A night to reconnect and forget past mistakes. Drea knew that it was only the beginning of a road that would be bumpy both because of their past, but also because of their current lifes. However, for once, she was willing to listen and not play fuck up. She learned a lot that night, and left in the early hours of the morning, with the promise to get the boys from school the next friday.

"No bed bugs, promise. We have sanitation and pest control that takes care of any of that before people move into any of the available homes." Which, honestly, Renee was grateful for. She remembered the mice problem she had when she first moved into her place. Redwood was still getting pretty well established so they didn't have many people in way to handle it but even then, it still was sorted. Whosever cat that was had a fun time on the hunt.

Henry grew excited at the prospect of showing his Auntie Drea his dinosaurs. "I do! I do! Mommy, can we show Auntie Drea our dinosaurs?" Henry asked. Renee laughed and nodded. "Yes, you can, but don't get too much of them out. Dinner will be ready soon. Oliver, honey, why don't you go upstairs and bring the dinosaurs down so you three can play in the living room while I finish in the kitchen?" Oliver nodded and gave Drea one more big hug before he ran upstairs and Henry began dragging Drea into the living room, chattering on and on about the different dinosaurs.

[dreaxbrandon]

Ouija board when? 👀

Probably the day someone will gift me some real - will be afraid to shit after - hot sauce

[dreaxbrandon]

It felt good, being hugged and hugging someone. The most basic and simple human interaction. She kept him close maybe a bit longer than expected and smiled. At this moment she thought that maybe she could find a reason or two to stay. When she finally let go, reality settled back in. She took a step back. "Thank you, and thanks for the food and drink. I would rate this place 5 stars for sure if that was still a thing. " she joked "Well better get back to my shit hole. See you around Alden "

Alden isn't sure how he was expecting her to reply, but asking for a hug would've been his last guess. With a soft, surprised chuckle, he replies, "sure, kid." He opens up his arms and invites her in. He could use a hug too. She's doing them BOTH a favor by asking for a hug.

"For what it's worth, I hope you stay."

[dreaxbrandon]

Laughing back at her reply, Harry was starting to like her, her mood was nice to deal with. "I get you, yup." He approved before chuckling once more before adding some new drinks on the table. "To the lowest expectations." He gently joked during their toast, hoping deep down those ones could finally improve, just a bit.

[dreaxbrandon]

"Jury's still out on that one, Harry. " she joked back. "No system was ever perfect, I just hope this will not become a I'll be fucked system if you know what I mean. " She pointed at him. "That's the way to live Harry, lowest expectations so you never be disappointed , and maybe amazed at something being less sucky. Give us another drink to toast to that, then I'll be off, gotta unclog some drainage before sun down."

Harry couldn't help it but chuckled at her words. "Have you only met anyone of sound mind those days?" He joked. "But yeah I get you. I'm not sure four people are enough to deal with a group like this one but it's already better than dealing with a one party system or no leadership at all." He thought before chuckling once more when some memories resurfaced. "I went into a few groups before, most of them were a mess, they tried but... yeah... I really lowered my expectations after that."

[dreaxbrandon]

The firefighter was listening to the served bullshit Fleet was giving her. She nodded, not really convinced by what he was saying. Drea cocked an eyebrow, perplexed. "I arrived a month ago, dude. Why the fuck would I be the lead to a 4 season series?"

Coming from money, she didn't need it, big bucks like he was saying, only met sorrow, nothing more to her. However that she wouldn't say. " I think Ike is the main character, talking in a desperate housewive voice over , and sometimes just looking at the camera to explain things like the Office or Fleabag. " she thought out loud, munching on her piece of fruit. She moved around, looking at the tree line, and checked the clock. "Nice, my shift is coming to an end. " she finished the fruit and picked up her stuff. She would be able to take a shower, some lunch and sleep. " See you around Fleet. " she saluted him and went down the ladder , firefighter style.

That was a question that Fleet knew the answer to: the answer that most people generally wanted when they asked. In actual entertainment industry circles, anyhow, which meant there was a good chance that Drea didn't want that answer, but he wasn't going to tie himself into knots about it.

"Why, you'd be the lead, of course," Fleet said easily. "Dye your hair purple, stick on some more of the attitude you've already got going naturally, and boom! Instant crowd appeal."

He snickered a little, saying, "...means you make the big bucks. Anyone would be crazy to turn down being the lead if it was offered to them."

[dreaxbrandon]

What's your worst firefighter story?

Anything with kids ... from house fires, accidents in the house or on the road. It sticks with you.

I don't think I need to go into details, but the worst was a massive accident with 7 cars , a water truck , damages structures and freezing temperature. That was a hard one.

[dreaxbrandon]

Do you get along with your sister?

Which one ?

Renee, when I was little yes , young adult - very complicated , adult - no contact until the outbreak. So Renee and I are building our relationship again, mostly because we became strangers to each other, but there is no bad blood, she has not done anything wrong .

As for my middle sister ... we were very close ...I wish I would know where she is now. I hope she's okay.

[dreaxbrandon]

Why are you getting close to Mike?

You really have an obsession with Mike, like this is not normal , people.

I don't know how you picture the sanitation area of Redwood, but it ain't the Ritz. I have to get close to him for his and my safety.

If you mean relationship wise, I wouldn't say we're close, we just work together a lot between sanitation and booze making. He's very meticulous in how we're doing the moonshine.

[dreaxbrandon]

"As most political systems " Drea pointed out. "I've been here for a month now, and to be honest, I just think - even on the council - they have no idea what they are doing. They just pretend like they do to be able to focus on some sort of line of conduct to keep this place in order. But really, everyone here is just traumatized af ... Redwood Asylum. "

"I'll let you know if the donkey has a terrible accident and needs to be put down." He joked before thinking about the question. "Well, I do like the town, clean sheets, electricity and heat... What can I say? I'm a simple man." He chuckled before being a little more serious. "The structure tho, the people..." He shrugged. "I don't know, and they kinda lost me with their 'political system'." He quoted, emphasizing the term with a movement of fingers.

[dreaxbrandon]

"Oh cool, thank you. " She wasn't sure what was going through the guy's mind. However, she had the feeling that he was just repeating it for himself, to anchor it as a reality. She could sympathize with that, but was not really willing to go down a rabbit hole she had no intention of sticking around for. Fleet had probably people for that.

"I disagree, everyone si meant for hair dye at some point, that and a shaved head, which you already did. " Drea pointed out. " I don't think I want to go purple just yet, been there done that, but you know things you keep for trading that you think maybe could be of use. " she shrugged. The firefighter nodded. "Maybe , or that season that shouldn't have been greenlit but did anyway because of fan petitions. It would prooobably have something with dead in it or momento mori or something. " She took her binoculars and did a sweep. "Who do you think would be the lead in this series ? "

"Yeah, I mostly make them. Won't be some for a little while now, until spring fruits start coming, but we've got enough till then. There's a huge glass jar in the community common room full of these -- help yourself anytime."

Drea's response to his comment about having to kill his dad was fine; Fleet hadn't really said it in order to kick off any sort of deeper conversation or swapping of war stories, he just ... wanted himself to be acclimated to saying it. Killing his father had been a necessity. These things were a part of life now and he didn't want to get precious about it. He wasn't gonna flinch or feel that lance of pain and anger and regret every time he thought about Cole, or when anybody mentioned him. And this was the way to begin building that callous.

"I don't think I'm meant for hair dye," Fleet snickered, "but if you need a hand making sure yours doesn't turn out lopsided and unintentionally ombre, let me know." Drea did an about face, probably discomfited by the Cole talk -- which would be understandable -- and tossed out a more frivolous question, which Fleet pretended to ponder. "Aren't we in Season 4?" he asked. "I mean, going by common knowledge, anyhow. I guess we'd be called ... anything other than one of those generic titles that are impossible to search for online. We can't be called 'Redwood', for example, because that would just bring up trees."

[dreaxbrandon]

"Well that's what I'm saying . Random channels at impossible hours of the night. Beatles ? That's ancient for a reference, she must have been a fan. "

"Yes and no , it has to be blessed or it could get possessed, or so they say. " she informed. "But theorically yes, a piece of paper with abc , yes or no and something to move smoothly is enough. Even just focusing and having a pen to paper is enough , although I'm not sure that's always the dead speaking. "

"The statistics are with you on that yes, communities usually eat themselves from the inside at some point. "

"Shark meteor tornado movie..." Lucy echoed the description. It didn't ring any bells. But after more than a century of films, it simply wasn't possible to be familiar with each. "Never had streaming growing up, so when you wanted to watch TV, it was kinda random local channels." Not the worst thing - it had given Lucy The Twilight Zone, after all.

She laughed merrily enough. "My mom named me after a Beatles song - I don't know if it would be better or worse if it had been for a saint."

Drea feeding into the Ouija board idea was awesome, and Lucy ran with it. "I don't know what that means. But it's just like... the alphabet and numbers and hello and goodbye - right? The little thingy - planchette? I think that's the important part. It needs to move smoothly..." In her head, Lucy considered and discarded multiple options.

"Hmm?" She'd forgotten the offer, taken by the novelty of the Ouija board idea. "Oh, ha! Haunted school is unlikely. It's way more likely that one of us would be killed by a neighbor." The information was given with a shrug. "We're surrounded by people who've killed people. Someone in Redwood's gotta have a cracked nut, right?"

[dreaxbrandon]

Drea smiled , a true appreciation for Alden right there. He had not pushed the family narrative but given her real points to make her decision or help her see that things in Redwood would be to her advantage. "Thank you, Alden. " she set the mug down , now empty. "I know we've just met, but could I give you a hug ? " she asked.

"I think you will. If not for the people, for the resources. It's nice to not have to worry about food and water and meds every wakin' moment. Besides here you can sleep without worryin' about potentially wakin' up with a walker chompin' on your legs." Lifting his arms above his head, he stretches briefly before letting his arms drop down to his side. "And if for some reason you don't you'll at least get a chance to get your bike in top top shape before takin' off. Doesn't really get better than that."