The scent of gun-smoke still seemed to cling to the skin of Mercy LaCroix as she rested nearby. Dust still clung to her coat, hat and skin where it could and she'd peeled off her gloves to wipe away the dirt and grime that coated the revolver in her hand. To anothers eyes, it might almost seem a senseless vanity to be attending to cleaning a weapon that was functioning perfectly almost to a 'showroom' finish before one had even taken care of themselves, but it was more than that; reflection. Prayer.

She'd come to the group recently, her wandering travels having aligned with the larger caravan as it had been. They were good people, people she'd wished to help and protect using the abilities she'd been blessed with.

Now so many of them were dead.

In the fight, she'd been a blazing ballet of lead and gun-smoke cutting down raiders and avoiding bullets, but it hadn't been enough. She couldn't put all the raiders down, she couldn't protect everyone she wished and as she'd been grimly reminded of later there was only so much healing she could provide. Even an Aasmir blessed as she was couldn't lay hands on the wounded over and over again.

Drained as she was from the efforts of healing, she'd been sitting there in that 'prayer' nonspeaking for almost half an hour before she finally holsters the weapon and seems to come back to reality.

[color=00aeef]"We're hurting,"[/color] she speaks evenly, reaching to retrieve her gloves. [color=00aeef]"Those that hit us and took what we have would know it. We should check to see if there are any trails that show some broke away. It might well lead us to where any backup they have is holed up, or maybe even water if they've been haunting and hunting around here for a while."[/color] A pause, she pulls the leather taught over her right hand and then reaches to glove the left. "At the very least, we'll know if they're more likely to come back while we're still licking our wounds."

Of course, Mercy wasn't a tracker, but it was a suggestion the others could use. Not quite the plan Zim was asking for, but it was a start!  S'Hraa's return with his small prize earns a frown, but she nods none the less. Anything that wasn't cutting into what they had was one step further from starvation. She still had water in her canteen, but they'd need more soon enough.

With an exhaled breath, she finally reaches for her hat where it had rested on the rubble beside her, placing it atop one knee while she worked to re-secure the ties that kept her hair pinned out of the way. [color=00aeef]"Moving is a good idea when we can, but in the mean time we should make sure we're as safe as we can get and look to see if we can find supplies of any kind. Scraps are still something." [/color]