InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "ALL OF YOU GO AWAY"

Sam Guthrie (_rocket_butt_) wrote in devolve,
@ 2011-02-09 19:05:00

Who: Sam, Brian, the twins, the Cruzlings and DOGS
What: Welcoming the Newcomers
Where: Hall outside the Cruz's room
When: backdated to last Thursday night after their arrival
Rating: probably PG max
Status: Incomplete

Sam was getting changed into something that wasn't quite so grease stained now that he was done in the garage for the day, and the twins had bounced out into the hallway to look for Cooper while they waited. He'd promised to take them and the dog for a walk down to the lake shore after, and help them look for animal tracks in the snow and slush near the bank, which meant they had to find the dog first, obviously.

They'd expected him to maybe be holed up next door with Jay or Jeb, or maybe one more door down with their sisters, but when they got into the hall they heard the unmistakable 'tick tick tick' of nails on hardwood...coming from the room to the other side of the one they shared with Sam. The door was closed, so they figured poor Coop must have gotten himself locked in somehow. Obviously the situation needed to be remedied.

"Race you!" Annie announced, darting for the door with Lew a heartbeat behind due to the late start.

"No fair!"

It wasn't like it was a long trip for their door to that one and she was already there and throwing it open by the time he complained. "Coop-" she started, ready to chastise the good-natured mutt, then stopped in surprise at the sight of the room's actual occupants, Lewis running right into her back and knocking her into the room.

"Oh." She blinked, eyes going wide, and elbowed Lewis to get him to back off a bit. "We didn't know anyone was in here." She glanced from one child to another to the much older boy and the big white dog presiding over it all...and back to the other kids. Girls. Lots of them. Close to their age, even.

"Hi!" Lewis piped up suddenly from behind her, evading another elbow to step up next to her and grin. "I'm Lew an' this is Annie an' we live right next door an' we didn't know no one new was here an' do you wanna play?" he babbled enthusiastically.

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seehowtheyrun
2011-02-10 07:20 am UTC (link)

Brian watched them go, feeling bad for the boy. It wasn't his fault Ynes latched so firmly to females. It was entirely Brian's. A survival skill that had saved them in the past, but one he may need to rectify, if not augment at the very least.

Hoone followed the kids lazily, trotting by Lew's side for the male kinship. Ynes was rambling a mile a minute, too young and too well protected to be daunted by her past.

"I wouldn't have risked everything if I hadn't thought it might be," he replied, as Ynes started introducing Annie (and Lew by association) to her sisters. Only Alicia was talking however, thankfully in English. Greeting the pair and translating Ynes' jumbled language skills. With some minor editing, of course. "Still, it far exceeded my expectations."

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_rocket_butt_
2011-02-10 07:32 am UTC (link)

Sam watched for a moment, to make sure that Lew wasn't going to get completely lost in the shuffle more than anything, then turned back to Brian. His answer said just about everything Sam needed to know about what it had taken them to get there.

"You ain't gonna regret it," he assured him quietly. "It...well, it ain't that it's never hard, but it's prob'ly as close to what it was like before as anyplace left anywhere."

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	seehowtheyrun 2011-02-10 07:38 am UTC (link)
	"Does the wall work?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	_rocket_butt_ 2011-02-10 07:43 am UTC (link)
	"Has so far. Not like they couldn't just climb over each other t'get over it, but we've got more defenses than just that, an' it gives us time to get to where we need t'be if they do get to it." Sam shrugged and then leaned a shoulder against the door, slouching a bit almost reflexively so as to loom less. "Don't happen so much anymore as it used to." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	seehowtheyrun 2011-02-10 07:44 am UTC (link)
	"Then it's more than good enough." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	_rocket_butt_ 2011-02-10 08:00 am UTC (link)
	"Yep," Sam agreed. "Ain't had nothin' or no one get through since we got it finished. Don't let the kids go nowhere near it, just in case, but-" He shrugged again. "Guess there probably ain't nowhere safer." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	seehowtheyrun 2011-02-10 08:26 am UTC (link)
	Brian nodded. "That's good to know." After a moment he added, "Thank you." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

_rocket_butt_
2011-02-10 08:44 am UTC (link)

A door creaked opened in the hall and the quiet 'tick tick' of nails on wood approached, followed shortly by an inquisitive whuffle as Cooper stuck his head in at the door. Sam looked down at him and held a hand out. Tongue lolling, the spaniel mix padded over to Sam's side, where he sat down directly under his hand and observed the new additions to his domain with obvious interest.

"Hey Coop." Sam ruffled his ears gently but didn't give him permission to go any farther. "Were you in with Jeb an' Jay or the girls?" he asked, as if the dog could actually answer him, though the slow sweep of his tail across the floor was a response of a kind.

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	seehowtheyrun 2011-02-10 08:52 am UTC (link)
	A bark from the other side of the room - non threatening as it was - had Brian making a hand gesture that sent the German Shepherd to his belly. He rolled over, exposing his throat only to be pounced on by Ynes. They rolled aside and Hoone licked her face. Lourdes wandered over and hugged her brother's leg, eyes on the new dog. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

_rocket_butt_
2011-02-10 09:05 am UTC (link)

Sam just kept his fingers moving gently at Coop's ear as the other dog barked what probably amounted to a greeting and Coop's tail did another slow sweep of the floor. He was suitably impressed with the control Brian exercised over the dog in response.

"This here's Cooper," he told the little girl as she came near. "An' he's gentle as can be. Pretty much like your boy, there." He nodded to where the shepherd was being loved on by the littlest Cruz.

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	seehowtheyrun 2011-02-10 09:06 am UTC (link)
	Brian translated and Lourdes' eyes took on a hopeful look. "Can she pet him?" he asked Sam with a sigh. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	_rocket_butt_ 2011-02-10 09:10 am UTC (link)
	Sam grinned outright, and crouched down to the little girl's level. Or as close to it as he could get. "Sure she can," he answered. "That'd make him right happy, seein' as how he loves kids an' all." He stroked his hand down Cooper's back then away. "Say hi, Coop," he told the dog, who promptly stood up and walked over to butt his head against the girl. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	seehowtheyrun 2011-02-10 09:13 am UTC (link)
	Lourdes squealed in delight and threw both arms around the dog, squeezing tight, even though Brian had taught her better. Naturally it brought over Ynes, who was tailed by Hoone. Brian scolded them gently as they clamored all over the dog, who took the attention with the calm, steady dignity of an animal well accustomed to young children. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

_rocket_butt_
2011-02-10 09:20 am UTC (link)

Sam laughed quietly and stood back up, watching as Cooper took the opportunity to slobber all over his new friends, tail going a mile a minute, and to discretely sniff the other dog into the bargain. Lewis and Annie were apparently much more interested in the older children than they were in the dogs or the littlest girls, or whatever the grownups were saying.

Sam turned his attention back to Brian while the littles were occupied again. "We're right next door here, if you need anything," he told him. "Me an' Lewis an' Annie just the one room over. Then there's Jay an' Jeb in the one after that, an' the rest of the girls are in the next one sorta right across the hall from you." He gestured out the door.

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	seehowtheyrun 2011-02-10 09:21 am UTC (link)
	"All yours?" he asked curiously. Sam had mentioned a 'tribe'. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	_rocket_butt_ 2011-02-10 09:25 am UTC (link)
	"Yeah, pretty much. There's-" He had to stop and catch himself before he could say ten, and his smile faded a bit. "There's nine of us. Lew an' Annie there are the littlest an' I'm the oldest." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	seehowtheyrun 2011-02-10 09:54 am UTC (link)
	Brian caught it anyway, all too familiar with it. "We're six in all. And Hoone." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

_rocket_butt_
2011-02-10 09:59 am UTC (link)

He wouldn't ask if there'd ever been any more, or what had happened to their parents. The latter he figured was pretty obviously, and the former...well, it hurt too damn bad for him to want to think about, he sure wasn't going to bring it up for some kid who'd spent two years keeping himself and his sibs alive through hell.

"You got the whole tour an' the rundown on how things work 'round here already?" That was much less charged than any more discussion of families.

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	seehowtheyrun 2011-02-10 10:01 am UTC (link)
	"Somewhat. To be honest, I'm not sure I understand this correctly. Because I'm seventeen, I'm colony bound? And limited solely to volunteering?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

_rocket_butt_
2011-02-10 10:08 am UTC (link)

Sam grimaced. He knew most of the older teens weren't fans of that rule at all, and he couldn't rightly blame them. Didn't mean he didn't feel better knowing that they were safe behind walls, though, even if he was well aware that most of them were well able to be more useful than they were. And more than willing.

"Well, you'd be stuck here for a while regardless," he pointed out mildly. "Don't risk lettin' new folks go in an' out 'til we're sure of them good and proper." He doubted he had to explain why to the boy, he'd come from out there. "But after that, we've got a few teams that go out on schedules an' get what we need, an' there's...well, there's just no reason for any more folks than needed to deal with what's out there. An' there's plenty in here to keep folks busy without any need to go past the wall."

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seehowtheyrun
2011-02-10 06:52 pm UTC (link)

"That I understand," he replied. They'd been new colonists often enough that he knew though each colony had different rules, what they all had in common - justifiably - was paranoia. "But you're wasting a valuable resource. Even if some don't want to, there are bound to be some that do. If they're not given the chance, they won't be prepared for when the time comes for them to assume the positions."

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_rocket_butt_
2011-02-10 11:30 pm UTC (link)

Sam shook his head, though not entirely in negation. "Hopefully ain't gonna be any need for most of them to ever do it. The ones as want to...they can get trained, step in an' help out." Not that he was a fan. He didn't like the idea of any more of them than already were going out into that hell, especially any of the younger ones, and he'd do anything he could to protect the rest of his sibs from it. Even Paige going out there still didn't sit right.

"This-" His voice lowered and he gestured vaguely, but it was meant to encompass the world around them, and especially beyond their walls. "It ain't gonna last forever." He looked back over at where the littles were still getting to know each other. "Hopefully someday the littlest ones won't really remember it."

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	seehowtheyrun 2011-02-13 12:16 am UTC (link)
	Brian nodded, eyes on their siblings. (Reply to this) (Parent)

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