[color=peru][h3]Kim Marie[/h3][/color]
[@LovelyAnastasia][hr]
As the sun rolled heavy and slow across the sky, and dragged with it a cloak that rippled over clouds and pulsed warmly, the sobs beside Kim eased. Kin raised his head, and Kim said nothing, silence the medium and currency often exchanged between them. She didn't consider the boy unmanned for his tears. Only human. 

But people - friends, sometimes - died, and the Earth continued to spin on its axis, the trade continued to flow. And duty could not be neglected. Kim rose to her feet. Weariness rolled off Kin's skin in waves, and she said, [color=peru]"I can cover some extra shifts."[/color] lest he need time off his feet. Lord - or whatever deity that remained - knew Kim felt hollow for the deaths. But the emptiness was no new sensation, and perhaps there was some part of her that felt she ought to be penalised for such a callous lack of grief. Slipping her pistol out of its holster on her hip, she nodded to Kin in brief goodbye, and turned to make her way back to base.

The landscape was half-barren, with patches of dry grass weaving across sand. Kim trod through them, taking care not to make so much as a crinkle, pistol in hand. As she rounded to base, she spotted Shiba, stationed atop the roof to watch the perimeter. She sent him a curt two-finger salute, and caught sight of a ginger straggler approaching the shophouse. Her gait bordered on a swagger, and an eye-patch dominated half her face. She was armed, and Kim was wary as she scrutinised the girl and stood at the threshold of the shop - inside which Marion Dwight was managing two guests. One - a blond, scarred on the face - had bags draped over the countertop. The second, dark-haired one didn't seem to have brought anything for trade, his tattoos like a second skin. He was speaking to Dwight.

A pair of strangers in the shop - soon to be three. They might have a guard atop the roof, but...

Kim stood by the entrance, keeping an eye on their visitors with a stoic expression. But she regarded the girl with sharper care. She appeared to have lost an eye, and it was the infirm who still walked that were inclined to warrant Kim's caution and concern. When they had forsaken a part of themselves, what else would they be willing to risk in a scuffle? How loose were their canons? In a low voice that carried, she spoke to the redheaded girl, [color=peru]"Have you come to trade?"[/color]