[b]Rudy - Outpost[/b]

The gates of Outpost stood before them. Reggie signaled to the men on the wall to remove the wooden latches from the inside. After a few moments of stillness, the wooden gate began opening outward, allowing them access beyond the ten-feet high walls. Even fitted with their own ramparts, the wall surrounding Outpost wouldn't have been that impressive before the world turned to shit, but Rudy remembered Outpost before serious work had gone into the walls. The community's builders had somehow managed to gather everyone for the common goal of walling off their community. Outpost went from a ramshackle collection of buildings into a true home.

The gates closed behind them as they entered, signaling what seemed like everyone to come over and ask how things had went. Most of them gathered around Reggie, who had somehow acquired leadership of the scouts and respect of most of Outpost in little under a month. The man liked to talk; Liked hearing his own voice. The guy was just a fucking show-off, in Rudy's opinion.

Parting the crowd as if it was the Red Sea came Myriah Bay, the town's spiritual leader. She was certainly a sight to see; A stunning middle aged woman with soft brown hair and a pair of round rimmed eyeglasses. If just about anyone was asked who the leader of Outpost was, they would most certainly point to Myriah. At one point in time, before the walls were complete, Myriah had led the community through some major hardships. However, after the attempted mutiny, Myriah had insisted on a council to run Outpost in her stead. Reggie had earned himself a spot on that council by quelling the mutiny almost entirely on his own, a bloody event in an otherwise spotless history for Outpost.

Rudy sighed wistfully and crossed his arms. Much like everyone else, Myriah was speaking with Reggie. Luke was gone, having assimilated into the milling group of people. No one wanted much to do with Rudy, not nowadays.

But then Rudy saw Elliot approaching from the group. He gave the older boy a sly smile and raised his hands. [i]"How was your first day on the wall?"[/i] he asked, in what he knew was a mangled attempt at American Sign Language.

Elliot grinned back, having apparently got the gist of what Rudy had said. He signed back with, [i]"Pretty bad. I'll tell you about it later."[/i] Or at least that's what Rudy thought he said. Elliot sometimes went a bit too fast for him to keep up. Aside from Elliot's own brother and Wonder Woman herself, Myriah, Rudy had been the only one to take the idea of learning ASL seriously. With only one deaf person around, no one thought it was a huge deal. Elliot read lips extremely well, but as Rudy understood it, that had only been a necessity of a life lived amongst hearing people who never bothered to learn sign language.

As the crowd started to disperse, Reggie realized the only ones still standing around were Myriah, Rudy, and Elliot. With a sort of awkward laugh, Reggie told Myriah that he would talk to her later and left. He had always found it uncomfortable around Elliot, for whatever reason.

Myriah turned her attention toward Elliot. "I heard there was an incident today on the wall," she said, her hands signing in sync with what she was saying. Rudy shook his head, jealous of her ability to take to the language so much more easily than he had.

[i]"I really don't want to get into it right now,"[/i] Elliot signed. [i]"Just wanted to say hi."[/i] He gave Rudy a sad smile before leaving.

"Your signing's really improved," Myriah said, turning to Rudy now.

He shrugged at her. "It's pretty fucking bad."

Myriah's smile didn't wane at his foul language. He knew she was used to it by now. "I wanted you three to know that there will be a meeting later. The council is going to discuss a few things beforehand, but make sure you attend the meeting afterwards, alright?"

"Like hell I would. Nothing else going on around here." Rudy grinned at her and started to leave. "I'm totally starved Myriah, so excuse me." Myriah nodded graciously, excusing him to go.

Rudy made a beeline for the cafeteria. He would totally kill somebody if there weren't any meat and potatoes left.