InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Once more, with feeling!"

Brian Cruz (seehowtheyrun) wrote in devolve,
@ 2011-02-04 11:19:00

Entry tags:

brian_cruz, cruzlings, jimmy_proudstar, kitty_pryde, pete_wisdom

Who: Jimmy, Kitty, Pete, Brian and the Cruz girls (NPCs)
What: Make their way to the colony.
Where: The Gatehouse.
When: Thursday Midday
Rating: PG-13 (for safety)
Status: Incomplete

They'd been so close. But the ice storm had forced them to hunker down and hold out. The weather had only made the girls worse. Now Lourdes was also wheezing, and Brian could feel the strain pulling at him like tearing paper. He tried not to think about what may have happened if they'd never run into Pete. The man knew the area well, knew where the safe spots were, knew where to find supplies. The most promising thing about being in the town had not been the shelter, it had been the food. Brian made sure no one ate too much too quickly. Hungry as they were, he knew he couldn't just let them eat until they were full. He'd known about it before the outbreak. He'd seen it happen after. It was a painful way to die.

They'd kept warm, waiting out the weather until they could safely make the final leg of their trip. As the wall came into view, Brian could feel something go tight in his chest. He couldn't name it, but he thought perhaps he remembered what it may be. Relief. The paying off of nothing but hope, faith and a gamble that was all in, or no return.

He shifted in the snow, staring up at the gate. Alicia to his left touched his arm. It was hesitant, as if she wasn't sure if what she was seeing was real. He leaned in her direction slightly and her hand closed about his arm, squeezing briefly. With her free arm, she hugged Isabella tight and they both rocked wearily into Brian's back.

He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, looking to Pete. "We're here?"

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	seehowtheyrun 2011-02-04 09:02 pm UTC (link)
	She nodded. "For my youngest sisters, we are parents," she replied with a slight accent, gesturing toward the door. "They will listen." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	set_to_stun 2011-02-04 09:08 pm UTC (link)
	Kitty nodded in return, "Thank you." She looked back over at the younger girls, "When you're done, I'll need one of you to hold Ynes so I can shower, too." Kitty gave what she hoped was an encouraging nod towards the showers, "Let's get started." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

seehowtheyrun
2011-02-04 09:25 pm UTC (link)

Alicia undressed Lourdes while Isabella helped Josefina. Lourdes began whining as soon as she was undressed, and Alicia murmured softly to her in Spanish to keep her from crying outright. Undressing and washing with others was not strange to any of them at all, though Alicia at least could remember it differently once, what felt like long ago.

Herding her sisters into the shower, she made sure everyone got cleaned as best as they could. She took Ynes from Kitty, so the woman could shower, cleaning off her baby sister last. Ynes cried from the moment the water turned on and would not stop, which worried her eldest sister, because her breathing on average had become so difficult, she was afraid Ynes would cry until she couldn't breathe. Quickly, she dressed her, then herself, supervising the others as she tried to calm the hysterical toddler. Sick, cold, wet, and also ignorant of what a shower was, Lourdes also began to cry.

Alicia, barking soft orders and gentle encouragements, could not help but continually look over her shoulder toward the door. She may be her sisters' mother now, but even she had been young when Mami and Papi died. Brian was as much father as brother to her - horrible as it sometimes must feel for him, she thought - and she was reaching her coping limit with him so far from sight.

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set_to_stun
2011-02-04 09:39 pm UTC (link)

As Kitty heard Ynes's cries added to those of Lourdes, she piped up from the shower stall where she was quickly squeezing water out of her hair, "We're almost done. Jimmy is cleaning up outside and when we go outside, Brian will be there."

She toweled off quickly and put on the basic garments already waiting for female members of scouting teams. Kitty stepped out of the shower stall to see the girls, in various states of damp dishevelment and dressed in towels, the two littlest ones making their unhappiness known. She knelt and checked them quickly, one at a time, for scrapes and cuts, trying to keep them calm by asking them to show her any place they were hurt.

Once she stood, still waiting for Jimmy's all clear, she frowned just slightly as she took in their damp heads. Still with warmth in her eyes, she regarded the sisters, "We can dry your hair if you'd like, it would warm you up--" She nodded towards the two hair dryers mounted on the wall, undoubtedly wrenched from some unsuspecting locker room, "But it's a little loud."

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	seehowtheyrun 2011-02-04 09:46 pm UTC (link)
	Alicia nodded "That will be nice, thank you," she said with a little excitement. She remembered hair dryers, but she hadn't used one in a while. It would be best to dry all their hair as much as possible, so they wouldn't get any sicker. Besides, she could possibly even get Ynes and Lourdes curious enough about the machine to forget about crying. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	little_jim 2011-02-04 10:23 pm UTC (link)
	"All clear," Jimmy said from the entryway. "Hank and Josh should be on their way." There were small cuts and scrapes on all of the group, even the white man called Pete. It was to be expected, if they'd traveled far to get to the colony. That was Josh and Dr McCoy's department and call, not his. Hopefully, the worse the girls were suffering was pneumonia. (Reply to this) (Parent)

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