Sunflower

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There wasn't much to look at honestly, everything outside was hidden behind the thick blanket of darkness, so Rowena focused her attention on the man sitting beside her. She had brought another chair close and sat cross legged on it, her hands rested in her lap before the gun was held out towards her.

Her Dad had taught her how to shoot a gun when she was younger but that had been a BB gun and she was sure that the pistol was a bit different. Her Dad was a nice man who adored the outdoors. He was a good counter for her Pap who didn't know how to shoot anything when he came to Rosswood. Her Pap used to live in the city with Sam so there weren’t many opportunities for them to use guns.

Rowena grabbed it carefully before giving Joel a smile and resting the gun in her lap. He was a nice man, a bit quiet but she enjoyed his company. They sat in silence save for the snores and other noises that came from everyone else. She turned around to check on everyone before looking back out the window. A soft sigh escaped her lips before she adjusted in her seat. "What do you call a spaghetti noodle in lasagna?"

Rowena didn't mind the silence but there was something about the unnatural stillness of everything that was getting to her. Usually by now Sam would be up and making some coffee. They chose to share a place because neither wanted to live on their own yet, despite being in their mid-twenties. Sam was afraid to live alone, although he'd never admit it, and Rowena was a social woman, she needed the contact with another person to keep going.

REBELLION {Aims&Sunflower}

My post will either be up tomorrow night or the night after, depending on how long it takes for the fireworks to being tomorrow night~

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Sam felt pity for the boy, he was shaken up and it didn't help that he was being questioned. What really worried Sam was the fact that Jeff said that he couldn't see whatever it was. Well Sam couldn't even see beyond the windows but there was something eerie about the way Jeff spoke about the mystery creature.

"Rowena you stay with Jeff and Avery." Sam said as he gathered everyone else on the opposite end of the diner. They needed a plan and they needed one fast.

The woman sighed, she wanted in on whatever they were talking about but she decided to stay put and comfort Jeff. "It's okay if you didn't see whatever it was." Rowena said to the teen. "We'll find out what it is and how we can stop it."

Jeff scoffed and shook his head. He stayed quiet and eventually Rowena had coaxed him and Avery to fall asleep in the corner where she could guard them. The two brothers huddled under one of the tables; Avery's face was buried into Jeff's shoulder and the older boy had his arms wrapped tightly around his younger brother. Rowena sat a few feet away staring off into space. Her legs were crossed and she gripped the ladle loosely. It was easy to snag something when everyone else was preoccupied.

"How much food is left?" Sam asked. If they needed to stay here for an extended period of time they needed to ration the remaining food.

"A few days maybe." Vincent said, "I'll have to go check..."

"Barb you go check the kitchen with Vincent. And you," Sam said as he gestured to Joel, "We should take rounds watching tonight with the gun. Who else will volunteer? I can take the first watch."

"I'll take one of the watches." Bob volunteered from his spot. "I used to take the night watch back in my prime days."

Sam didn't have any idea of what to do and he was sure that the others had ideas of their own but they were all tired and he thought it would be better if they got a night's rest and some food. When Barb and Vincent reported back with the food supply Sam ran a hand over his face. They had enough for maybe three days and that was stretching it. They'd need to either leave or send one or two people on a supply run soon.

"We'll talk more tomorrow," Barb said finally, "Let's all get some food and some rest. We need it." With no way of knowing what time it was they had to make sure that they were well rested.

Lee crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes. She wanted to make a plan now, not later. Who knew if those things were going to wait to attack?

Sometime later they were served some left over pastries with water for dinner. Sam and Rowena sat at one of the back booths. Jeff and Avery's rations sat on the table between them. Valencia was trying to wake the two brothers so they could have dinner. When Jeff and Avery woke up they crawled from under the table and sat with Sam and his sister before moving to talk to some of the other people. Avery had taken a liking to Bob and the older man was telling the boy a war story.

The next morning, well what she assumed was morning; Rowena looked around the little cafe. She was the only one awake, save for the lone person doing their watch. She yawned before tip toeing her way over to them. "Hey." She smiled, "Why don't you get some sleep? I can take over." Rowena knew that it wasn't Sam because he had been sprawled out on one of the tables with his legs hanging over the side.

REBELLION {Aims&Sunflower}

It was a wonderful post~

I'm going to skip to the morning since I don't know what else to write! This post is going to be short.

REBELLION {Aims&Sunflower}

@Aims

Posted! Sorry for the wait!

REBELLION {Aims&Sunflower}

The prince didn't like the silence. It was unnatural and it made his stomach do loops. He didn't know what was going on, he didn't know if his knights were even still alive. It was a good thing that he didn't see anyone running from the trees ahead of them. They were in a small clearing, the path cutting it in half. He had taken his sword up in his hand when the twins disappeared into the trees earlier and now he gripped it with such force that his hands shook and his knuckles where white. His amber colored eyes scanned the forest for any sign of life and he caught the faint outline of something a few shades darker than the surrounding blackness. It moved before standing still.

His heart began to race and his hands shook. What had he been taught to do during a situation like this? He had no time to think as an arrow flew by his face, the feathers scratched his cheek during their passing. Triver's eyes widened and he opened his mouth to scream but no sound came out. It was like his vocal cords refused to work. The prince knew that if he stayed still any longer the marksman would get a direct hit. Then suddenly the prince was flying through the air. The horse under him reared up, an arrow sticking from its chest.

He had hit the ground harder than he had expected. The wind was knocked from his lungs and he gasped for air. Triver rolled onto his belly, nose down in the dirt, trying to catch his breath when something landed close to him. It was an arrow and it had been dangerously close to the prince.

"Come." Ser'deni gripped Triver's hands and pulled him into a crouching position. There was a bit of blood on her face and he looked back to see that her horse had fallen as well. Her priority was the safety of the prince. The man would run out of arrows soon enough and then he would be easy pickings, or so she thought. The final arrow landed a few inches into Triver's side and the man fell to the ground. He let out a cry of pain before twisting to clutch his side.

The shadowy marksman grinned from his spot. "Got him." They would be easier to rob now, the woman didn't look quite strong and he doubted that the man would be able to fight. His poison dipped arrows always won. The poison was imported from the north and it was highly prized due to its paralytic effects. He disliked seeing his prey die so easily. Their struggle was what made his heart race with excitement, robbing them was only an added bonus. He slipped his bow over one shoulder before drawing his dagger; perhaps he could have a little bit of fun with the woman before he killed her. Her companions were as good as dead; there was no one else to help her.

Ser'deni gripped the arrow as close to Triver's body as she could before pulling it out. She clamped her hands over his wound as the blood began to trickle through her fingers. Triver groaned and tried to wriggle away from her hands but his body felt sluggish and tired. "You better not die on me, brat." Ser'deni hissed at the prince as she began to heal him. She couldn't take the effects of whatever poison had been on the arrowhead but she could control his bleeding.

The bandit’s grin grew wider as he approached the woman from behind; he smelled the winged beast before he seen it. The smell of rotting flesh made him gag. The winged beast circled overhead, giving warning caws before diving down. The man had narrowly missed the sharp claws of the putrid beast. There was blood mixed with dirt in his mouth as he scrambled away from the bird. It dove again; this time its talons embedded themselves in the soft flesh of his upper arm. He screamed in pain as the bird began to rise higher into the air. Whatever this best was, it was certainly stronger than he had initially thought.

This bought her some time to focus all of her energy on the prince and his wound. Her brow furrowed as the flow of blood grew less and less but by no means was the woman able to heal him entirely and the poison was still in his system. Her birds wouldn't last much longer; she lacked stamina when splitting her magic into two very different areas. Rean was the best mage of the king to utilize two or more forms of magic at a time without tiring as easily as the others. No doubt the other mages would be on the hunt for Inaris as well.

With the blood stopped, Triver let out a small sound that she took as a thank you. The vulture was still having its way with the man - dropping him from various heights before picking him up again and repeating the process. The birds were far smarter than most realized, she simply controlled them on tight leashes but given enough space to do as they pleased they showed their true worth. When Ser'deni was unable to keep the contract open with the vulture, it simply faded into a white light. The broken body of the man lay in the middle of the path. He was still alive but badly injured.

The woman rolled Triver onto his back before smoothing his hair away from his forehead. She still had no idea where the twins were. They needed to take Triver to a healer as soon as possible; there was no way she could do much more on her own to help him and if one of the twins was also injured then she couldn't help them either. "Daryn! Daelyn!" The mage shouted as she tried her best to move Triver to a safer spot. Her movements were sluggish and she wanted nothing more than to sleep.

Triver stirred a little bit. "He...y." He tried his best to grip the woman's hand but with the poison in his system his grip was weak. Triver was tired but he knew that he couldn't go to sleep.

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The ladle was more of a security blanket for the woman. They all needed something to keep them calm - for Sam it was the buttons on his shirt sleeve, for people like Bob it was the memories they carried, and for some like Ruth it was the bottom of a bottle. When Jeff had come into view most in the diner hurried to the doors.

Sam was in disbelief that the kid had gotten the gun when it clattered to the ground. He was one of the many who were congratulating the teen. His eyes flickered from the scene before him to his sister. She was standing with her back to them, hands clutched around the handle of the ladle until her knuckles were white. "He's fine. He made it back." Sam understood her fears. He knew all too well that in a small town like this, where most of the people knew each other, it was hard to detach yourself from certain situations. He was a teacher for crying out loud, he knew that he had been worried about the kid. It was in his nature for fuss over kids, that's part of the reason why he became a teacher.

"Here you go, kid." Barb, a waitress for another small diner across the street, handed Jeff a cup of water to help calm him down. He took it from her with shaky hands and took a drink. He clutched his brother tightly with one arm and he handed the cup back to Barb before wrapping Avery into a tighter hug.

"Well what happened?" Bob, who had nearly broken his back when Jeff came, tumbling into the diner, asked. He was glad that the boy had made it back in one piece but he was now nursing a hurting back.

Sam and Rowena wanted to know as well. Jeff had been so confident before stepping out of the diner doors, what had happened to the boy to make him whimper like a scared child.

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He'd been gone a lot longer than Sam or anyone else was comfortable with. Sam's eyes flickered to Avery; the poor boy had cried himself to sleep after his brother walked out of the doors. He was feeling a little guilty - okay really guilty that Jeff had gone out there and Sam had been all for it. Jeff and Avery had Ruth, their late cousin's wife. She had come to the diner with them and their parents and at the moment she was all the boys had left.

Ruth was too busy sleeping with her head pressed against the table. Her late husband had been one of Sam's co-workers at the small burger shop at the end of the road and later the two had worked together as fifth grade teachers. It had hit the community hard when he died a few years back. After the death of her husband, Ruth took a downward spiral and developed this intricate story that she was a model who worked out of Rosswood, Ruth had also developed a drinking problem; she still smelled of alcohol hours after Sam had found her sneaking a drink or two in.

Sam was sitting next to his sister. She was focused on looking out of the window trying to look for Jeff or anyone. "None of this feels natural." She whispered. Sam nodded in agreement.

"What would it be then?"

"I don't know but you know that feeling when you watch a horror movie and you know something is off but you can't place it?" Rowena smoothed down Avery's hair before moving him into the small bench across from them.

"Yeah." Sam didn't know where she was going with this. "What about it?"

"This feels a lot like that, you know? I hope nothing's happened." Rowena got up to use the bathroom and on her way back to the booth that Sam and Avery were at, she managed to sneak into the kitchen to take a ladle. It wasn't much of a weapon but she'd be damned if she didn't help in the slightest.

"Keep an eye on Avery." She said to her brother before heading over to the front windows. She would help look for the boy; Rowena remembered when she used to babysit Jeff on the occasional date night and she couldn't separate the image of the teen from her past experience with him.

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He could hear things fumbling around in the dark. He hadn't even heard a dog bark in hours so it was a little unsettling to him. Even though the gun couldn't do much to protect him at the moment, Jeff still felt better knowing that it was in his hand. Gone was all of his confidence and cocky attitude, in its place was fear - pure, unadulterated fear.

The urge to run was strong and he counted to ten, giving ten reasons why he needed to run, before taking off through the darkness.

REBELLION {Aims&Sunflower}

@Aims

Yay~ I'll try to have a post for you in the next few days.

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She had to agree with Bob. Glancing at the little boy next to her, the woman couldn’t help but speak up. "They've already lost their parents to this darkness...Avery doesn't need to lose his brother too."

Sam looked at his sister before shaking his head. He didn't want the kid to go out there either but he was their only option at this point; he had to side with the others. "We need someone to go. I do not agree that it should be a child but he probably is the fastest out of us, unless someone is holding back just to save their skin." Sam wouldn't take kindly to someone who lied in order to save themselves.

Avery ran to his brother. Fat tears rolled down his cheeks and he begged Jeff not to go. Jeff sighed and rolled his eyes before bending down to his brother's height. "I'll be fine; I am on the football team after all."

"B-but Mom and Dad…" Their parents had been some of the first to leave the diner. They wanted to get their car so they could take their kids home but they never came back.

"They're fine." Jeff said even though he couldn't believe those words. He knew better, he knew that they were orphans now.

Sam got up from the table to talk to his sister but she shook her head. She would have no part in sending a kid out there. He knew that it should have been someone other than a kid to go and it pained him that things had turned out the way they did but they had no other option.

Jeff took a deep breath before moving away from his brother to allow Rowena to grab the boy. He didn't look back as he walked out of the diner and into the darkness with a small flashlight in hand. The flashlight had been Bob's and Jeff had strict orders to 'bring it back'.
I'm doing this for Avery He thought. His brother was the only thing filling his mind as he fumbled through the darkness. It was hard to see the cars through the unnatural blackness that cloaked everything, even with the small flashlight.

It took him what felt like forever to find the right car and he fumbled with the keys and flashlight. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up and he began to feel uneasy. Jeff stopped what he was doing and turned around to look into the darkness. There was nothing there but the feeling of being watched never left him.