vorebefore

[vorebefore]

" i got it . " she wasn't expecting too many pleasantries after what happened . copper looked back out at the community for a moment , only looking back at beta what he spoke . " yeah , tell me about it . " granted, it had been worse for beta than for her but that didn't mean she liked any of this .

beta nodded his head, " I'd say it's nice to meet you, but... you know. " maybe in other circumstances, copper would be a breath of fresh air. she was beautiful and strong, and a little scary. that was his sweet spot. he tipped his head back, blowing out a cloud of smoke, " what a fucking day? "

[vorebefore]

boomi offered a soft smile , " i try to be . " he looked back at sol , nodding his head , " thank you . " he knew in the long run , distance wouldn't exactly matter but boomi knew these people . he was friends with them and what happened wasn't going to be swept under the rug any time soon .

he nodded his head, " you're a real clever kid, you know? " sol reached out, patting their shoulder, " so glad I got you back, but m'sure you want some distance for now... " solaris straightened up, " but you're welcome here whenever you like, alright? "

[vorebefore]

lincoln nodded her head , moving out of the living room to instead retrieve the bottle of whiskey where hawk said it was . she eventually emerged , moving into the kitchen to grab two glasses before coming back out . " here we are, " she hummed , offering a glass to hawk .

hawk pondered for a second before letting a sigh of defeat and turning back, planting herself on the sofa, " ok, you get it. " she didn't see much use in going home, she spent a fair few nights here anyway, at least it was quiet here. she looked down at their pictures, he really was a sentimental old thing. hawk had tried to keep him at arms length at one point, she'd been outright cruel but he'd worn her down. he'd softened her to the point that she even kept things in her own house, keepsakes, pictures. she'd been foolish enough to get sentimental and now she'd lost a friend.

[vorebefore]

boomi nodded his head , " whatever happens , happens . " he didn't think his dad having to play the bad guy was a new thing and he was sure they could handle whatever happened . boomi almost chuckled , " uh , not sure . never heard him be called anything else . "

sol chuckled, " you know, I like your dad a lot, I don't need to be his enemy either, but things should be different now. he took the job as my right hand, which means he's gonna be the bad guy to the people you've grown up with, but -- it'll get better in the long run. " he leaned back, " beta? s'that a real name? " he questioned, thinking back to eric's throw down with simon, " oh, the big guy. " he was quiet for a moment, " dalton ain't usually the problem, in my experience, it's what everyone expects of him that will make him do somethin' stupid. "

[vorebefore]

copper nodded her head to beta's words . she didn't say anything for a moment , taking a drag from the cigarette before resting it between her fingers . " and eric's inclined to do whatever's best for boomi . " she figured that would be the same for beta . " copper . "

he nodded, looking down at his hands, " I'm inclined to do whatever eric says, " beta looked back at copper, " sure he'll probably vouch for that. " he'd been blindly loyal for some time, but even he was a little disheartened by the turn of events here. bets blew out a cloud of smoke, " beta, by the way. "

[vorebefore]

kieran's lips tipped up at the sound of josh's laugh , allowing him to peel them out of their clothes . they nodded , " boomi's fine . eric's alive and well . there's some ... i don't know . history there between eric and this other group but ... haven't really bothered to ask . "

josh laughed, peeling kieran's damp clothes from their body and tossing them aside. he pressed himself back against the tile to look them over, sighing softly, " who's alive? " he asked, " I mean... " he paused, " is boomi ok? " he did have other ideas at first but it was hard not to think of the few other people he cared for too.

[vorebefore]

eric perked a brow but stayed quiet , moving up the porch to move inside . he shut the door behind him before heading into the room sol disappeared into . he moved to an empty chair pausing at what he said . " that doesn't surprise me . " eric never made the attempt to change how boomi viewed solaris . " i assume it wasn't a bad conversation . "

sol looked him over, lips twitching ever so slightly as he nodded back into the house and turned to head inside. link was settled in the house across from him, eric and boomi in the house to his side and eli was no doubt sleeping somewhere in a tree nearby. he was content, at least for now. sol sat down at the table and lifted his head when eric made his way inside, " boomi came by. "

[vorebefore]

kieran gave joshua some time . busying themselves before eventually moving up the stairs and into the bathroom . they didn't have time to strip out of their clothes before josh pulled them under the water , receiving an immediate groan in response . " you know i did until about right now . " they were sure their smile gave them away though . they had missed josh while he was gone .

josh shoved the other to the side, " shut up, " he protested, although they had a good point, he'd been bathing in rivers for over a week now. he made his way indoors and dropped his bags, sighing softly and cracking his back, " give me five and come join me? " he questioned, refusing to touch them until he was clean. just because they were casual didn't mean kieran didn't deserve some common decency.

[vorebefore]

eric kept an eye on things even from a distance . it seemed as if there wasn't another outburst and the others were able to choose their homes before everyone else had to fend for themselves . he moved down the road , looking up when he heard solaris' whistle before moving toward the older man's porch . " yes ? "

sol smiled warmly back at eli, nodding once and turning to make his way outside, whistling to link for her to follow. it felt right, being here with the kids reunited, all of them, he didn't imagine that would ever happen. he picked the first house he could and the group dispersed, then eli and the others let the rest of the community figure themselves out. solaris eventually stepped out onto the porch, whistling sharply for eric's attention.

[vorebefore]

eric didn't wait for spenser to take a seat himself and instead forced him down into one with a hand on his shoulder . maybe spenser would comply now but he knew that he would end up being a problem . he only seemed to look up when eli approached . " i'll keep a watch on 'em , " he spoke . " not much of an inside person anyway . "

solaris wondered if the other would push it, if eric would shut it down. you let one push against order, the rest would follow. he pressed his lips together, then glanced at boomi who seemed otherwise distracted. his expression briefly softened before he looked back to spenser, " is that right? you ain't gonna kick up a fuss now, are ya? you're lucky to be still standin', so how about ya sit down and shut up so more people don't have to die. "

[vorebefore]

Daryl refusing to give up Lydia

[vorebefore]

a chuckle escaped kieran when the man shoved them before shifting to the side to step out of their shoes . they looked back at josh nodding their head to his question . " yeah , " they hummed , " i'll come join you in five minutes . " they motioned up the stairs , " go before you start stinking up my house , " they teased .

josh shoved the other to the side, " shut up, " he protested, although they had a good point, he'd been bathing in rivers for over a week now. he made his way indoors and dropped his bags, sighing softly and cracking his back, " give me five and come join me? " he questioned, refusing to touch them until he was clean. just because they were casual didn't mean kieran didn't deserve some common decency.

[vorebefore]

copper almost chuckled at beta's response , letting him light the end of her cigarette . " that's good . " she had wondered if beta was going to be a problem and maybe she shouldn't have been willing to take his word for it but she figured if he was going to be a problem , he already would have . " i'm not gonna be a dick . not really a point for it . " some of the others were questionable but copper didn't see the point . they already took enough from these people .

" I didn't poison the cigarettes, I wouldn't waste a smoke like that, " his lips twitched as he sparked the end of his cylinder and then lifted to do the same for copper. he tossed aside the match and then buried his carton back in his pocket, " listen, you're not my enemy, I'm not interested in any of this. just trying to get through the days. this isn't my first rodeo and I'm not gonna try and be the hero. "

[vorebefore]

boomi happily took the drink , murmuring a quiet thank you before taking a sip . his lips twitched , " does that include my dad ? " maybe now wasn't the time to tease sol but he couldn't exactly help it . " beta will follow my dad's lead . dalton ... is a toss up . "

solaris nodded, " I appreciate that, can't exactly be too upset... I mean, I am, but it brought me to you. " he stood up and moved to the kitchen, grabbing them both a drink and settling down once again, " this ain't gonna be easy, but my priority will always be you an' link, everybody else can go fuck themselves for all I care. "

[vorebefore]

kieran looked back at josh , lips twitching slightly . " yeah , you do . you stink . " they were teasing , partially as they turned to head in the direction of their home . they were surprised it wasn't taken over but they weren't going to draw attention to that , eventually moving up the porch and pushing the door open to step inside .

he nodded his head, never really overly attached to anybody but still disheartened. these were good people. " glad you're okay, " josh murmured quietly, " house doesn't matter, but I do need a shower. you still got your place? " he asked, looking kieran up and down and offering a crooked smile.

[vorebefore]

" they kill our people and they get to just take our homes next ? and you're okay with that ? " maybe spenser had a point but it didn't really matter . eric was well aware that he would look like the enemy here but he also knew if he didn't shut it down that sol would . " yeah , " eric breathed in response , " but it doesn't have to get worse . " his eyes only shifted from spenser to sol when the man cleared his throat and spoke . he looked back at spenser , looking him over before patting him on the shoulder . " no , we're good here . "

solaris stepped to the side, watching as eric took the lead here, a role sol had always hoped he'd take. he lifted his chin as someone stepped up to eric, a hint of amusement rested on his lips. he didn't want to take any more from these people than he already had, but he'd kill every grown up in this room if he had to. he cleared his throat and lifted a brow, " we got a problem here? "

[vorebefore]

" couple of days ago , " kieran spoke as they glanced back at josh . " it was a take over . " maybe that was obvious now that josh could get a look around . " a lot of people are dead . " they chewed on their bottom lip as they looked ahead . " they're not going anywhere . they took a bunch of the houses , so ... guess we'll have to get you settled in a different one . "

joshua had the gun ripped from his hands all too quickly but nobody pointed their weapons at him from the moment it was taken. he eyed a bunch of the down, seemingly unphased despite his confusion, and moved towards kieran, grateful for the familiar face. he glanced over his shoulder as they walked away, making his way through the street, noting the lack of recognition of the people that seemed to have now made themselves at home, " when? "