Batten down the hatches

[rinremyyaguchi]

nicolippijimenez​:

Phase: Day Six

“So you know what’s in there? You have the full inventory of the place.” That was good to know. If he could ever find this girl again, he could figure out if someone was truly hoarding things from the store. Although now didn’t seem like the perfect time to check. She was a bit on edge.

At the mention of Tony, Nico’s ears perked up. “If they’re involved you’re going to want my help. Not as a backup, as something better. Much better.” Tony could be reasoned with. He knew that but a lot of people didn’t because you had to go about it the right way.

Didn’t seem to matter to Rin who was already crawling away. Nico lunged after her. “I’m serious. You’ll want my help.”

“I do. Mostly.” Sometimes she ate astronaut ice cream for funzies. It was her stash who cared. “You shouldn’t care. Because you’re not going anywhere near it.” She was really sick of not being listened to. This is why she didn’t use voice chat. Or talk to people. 

Rin barely managed to quiet her yelp of surprise when the boy followed her, nearly crashing into her legs. “How can you help? Why would you help? Are you friends with them or something?” Tony and Finn certainly acted like they had a lot of friends. Which was weird, because it felt like Charlie didn’t have any except for the weird blondes. Popular kids made zero sense, but she was really struggling trying to picture this mushroom boy as a popular kid. “Explain yourself. Or I’ll scream and bring your friends over here.” It was an empty threat, but maybe he wouldn’t know that. Things couldn’t get much worse. 

[rinremyyaguchi]

nicolippijimenez​:

Phase: Day Six

“Right that’s why I said the general they. I figured with the bunker, you were well stocked. I’m a little curious as to what’s in there, but now’s not the time.” There would probably never be a time. But if he did find out who the bunker belonged to there was a small chance he might be able to see what kind of food was kept inside. Probably cans. 

“If I don’t know them, how can I respect and stay away from them?” She really needed to practice her people skills. He had plenty of time to talk with customers and even though he wasn’t the best at it, he was a bit better than she was. But that would be impolite to point out. So, he’d stick with the audience. “I’m also very good backup.” 

“I am not telling you what’s in there.” Rin wasn’t sure she fully remembered what was in there. Of all her special interests, her bunker time always came in fits and starts. “It will never be ‘the time.’ I don’t know you, you random seed... guy. Spore guy. Whatever.” 

Rin sighed. People were exhausting. “You can respect and stay away from this land. Which, to be clear, is my dad’s, and is therefore mine. Once I figure out how to tell Finn and Tony that, they’re gonna be out of here too.” 

She paused. Had she mentioned them before? She probably hadn’t mentioned them before. Fuck. “I need to go.” She started to turn around on her stomach, doing her best to not rustle the leaves. 

[rinremyyaguchi]

nicolippijimenez​:

Phase: Day Six

Well he couldn’t really fault her there. He wasn’t sure what the rules for these things were. His was an honest mistake. These people could have assumed that the bunker was empty. But she probably knew more than he did, so he’d keep his mouth shut. 

Nico glared at Rin. “I get that some of you devolved into chaos, but I didn’t. We need to keep the store well regulated. If I let you guys have your ways then whole aisles are empty because you don’t know how to share.” He paused. “Sorry, not you specifically but the general one. There’s been a lot of taking more than people need. You might disagree with me, but I’ve seen the footage. People are just taking everything as though we’re going to get a new truck. We aren’t.” Although if they did, that would very be interesting. 

Two days was quick. He’d have to make up an excuse with Polly. For some reason, he didn’t quite think that admitting he’d been illegally growing mushrooms on land he thought was empty would go well. Especially considering she had a whole farm at her disposal and he’d just been two nervous to ask. “Okay.” 

Rin grimaced. “Don’t look at me. All my supplies are in there.” She nodded her head at the bunker, unable to keep her voice from breaking a little. It really wasn’t fair. She’d prepared so much for apocalypse and she’d missed the one thing she probably should have prepared for most of all: people being jerks. And having backup. Or maybe she just should have not had friends. 

‘Friends.’ She hadn’t seen Charlie since the incident. What kind of friend didn’t check in? Well, Rin hadn’t checked in either but that was just her way. Charlie had other friends so she should have known better. Maybe that was the problem. She couldn’t even complain to her Overwatch friends on voice chat anymore. Rin had gotten what she’d thought she wanted. She was truly, utterly alone. 

This guy definitely wasn’t her friend, but she also didn’t want him getting wrapped up in this for several reasons. “Thinking you should get going though. But like, on your stomach. So they don’t see you. And swear you never saw me. This place belongs to someone you don’t know but you respect and will stay away from.”

[rinremyyaguchi]

nicolippijimenez​:

Phase: Day Six

“Should we be making value judgements on strangers?” He genuinely wanted to know if that was okay. In a non-apocalyptic situation, he would be against it. Here, he was trying to be open minded. If he judged every person that had messed with his shelves, he’d be thinking every was a bad person. It was a slippery slope. 

Nico’s brow furrowed. What did Japan have to do with anything? “I came from Bottle’s.” He gestured to his outfit. It was dark washed jeans cuffed at the bottom and a white-collared shirt. No one wore that in their every day life. It was a very common working outfit. “I’m not supposed to work overtime so I don’t think I should go back.” 

The rest of the stuff he didn’t know. He really shouldn’t have been growing his mushrooms here. Well, now he didn’t want to admit why he was here. And he didn’t have a good replacement idea either. “Okay. I’m sorry. I really didn’t know that was the case. I will make arrangements for things to be moved when there aren’t other people around.” But now how did he leave? 

“They stole my bunker. I’m going with them being bad people.” That was more of an admission than Rin had wanted to make but she was annoyed with his arguing. Plus, she had said that it was her father’s land, hadn’t she? It stood to reason.

Still, she would leave out the whole threatening thing for now. She needed to figure out the best person to tell first. She didn’t think she could talk to that football person. He was too tall. Much like mushroom boy.

Rin stared at him. “The grocery store? You’re worried about working overtime at the grocery store when we are in a literal apocalypse?”

Then he offered some semblance of agreement she could live with. “Fine. Two days. After that I’m making mushroom hot pot.” Man she missed going to her and her dad’s favorite shabu shabu place in New Haven. It just smelled heavenly all the time. They had a hot pot at home, but it wasn’t the same.

[rinremyyaguchi]

nicolippijimenez​:

Phase: Day Six

“Why shouldn’t they see anyone?” He was still trying to figure out who exactly they were. They just looked like strange blobs to him. Maybe he needed glasses. 

But then she was offending him. “That’s a very rude thing to say to anyone.” She was gruff, but she wasn’t entirely mean. He was giving her the benefit of the doubt. Clearly, she didn’t work customer service. “I am not doing that.” He didn’t think his body had enough coordination to do it. Who army crawled around here anyways? 

His dad. Well, that put a damper on his thoughts. “And if people shouldn’t be here, why are you still here? This is a public space.” Kinda. “We should all have the right to be here.” 

Rin lowered her voice even further. “Because they’re bad people.” That wasn’t a lie. Not at all. Whatever mistakes she’d made, she didn’t coerce people. And now she had multiple (and warring) voices for coercion in her life. Man, she wanted to be back in her bunker. 

While Rin was certainly intimately familiar with shame as a concept, she wasn’t going to accept it from some mushroom obsessed bean pole. “Ugh. I didn’t mean like that. I’d be in freaking Japan.” Which actually might be better. Even if her grandparents were judge-y as hell. The town where she was born was very pretty. And mountainous. And private. “Just where it’s safe. So if where you come from isn’t safe, fix that or whatever. But I seriously doubt it’s worse than here.”

Rin covered her mouth to keep herself from groaning too loudly at the boy’s assertion. “It is not a public space. This is my dad’s property up to the county line. He has special permission from the state of Connecticut to grow half of the stuff that’s out here but that definitely doesn’t mean it belongs to them. Unless you mean it belongs to everyone because we’re basically in The Purge. In which case I can totally take you. Let’s freaking go.” Sure her zombie apocalypse supplies were in her bunker but she watched plenty of Youtube tutorials. And Miss Congeniality. 

[rinremyyaguchi]

nicolippijimenez​:

Phase: Day Six

Nico was not happy with how his mushrooms were looking. They were falling to the side. No firmness was a bad sign. He didn’t have the internet to help him with that and he missed his forums. They’d been so helpful in the past. Maybe he could ask Polly for help, but he didn’t really want to do that. They’d been leaning on each other a lot lately. It was nice, but he didn’t want her to feel like he was monopolizing her. Friends didn’t do that. 

He’d just pulled on the front of his jeans so he could get into a squat when he felt the ground pull him down. The woods had done some weird stuff in the past, but he was relieved to see that it was just a hunting camo covered arm and not an actual tree. 

“Uh…hi.” He realized if they were on the ground he should probably be whispering, so he lowered his voice. “Sorry. Hi. I’m not normally averse to being tall but I’ll lean into what you’re doing right now. Why are you doing it?” 

This was the problem. What to say what to say... Explaining who they were and why they were there  involved explaining why she was there and Rin was nothing if not an extremely private person. Plus she’d killed someone. But she couldn’t exactly lie.

“There’s people over there that shouldn’t see you. Or me. Or anyone really.” Well, it wasn’t technically a lie. She peered through the grass to the open hatch. “You should really go back where you came from. But quietly. On your stomach like this.” She mimed an impressive soldier crawl. 

[wewerechildrenwerenotnow]

Phase: Day Six

Britt didn’t wake up. Up to you how you feel about that. Or if you expected it. Some might’ve. Would’ve made about as much sense. 

But she’s in the ground. The party’s over. Secrets are out. The work’s begun. But some started early, and others don’t like that very much. 

But Fern doesn’t know that yet, and she’s about to invite everyone and their mother (if there were any adults) to the table. 

So press play, and go.

[rinremyyaguchi]

Rin had heard something about an election today, but she really didn’t care. Her world had already been rocked once this morning. She didn’t need it crumbling any further with any new government conspiracies. 

Finn Beaumont and Tony Alessi were taller than she’d expected. She knew she’d probably end up talking to Finn at some point if she kept hanging out with Charlie, but they’d been very early in the hanging out stage when... that happened. The thing she’d been trying not to think about. The dead man. 

But Finn and Tony made her think about it. They’d asked her questions she didn’t know the answer to and decided she did. She’d never imagined herself to be any sort of badass spy, so she’d crumpled like a used aluminum foil. They’d taken her bunker. Her home. Well, the closest to home she’d ever felt in this stupid town. She wondered, frankly, what they were going to do with it, so when she was certain they’d left her house, she’d put on her camo and snuck through the underbrush in search of answers. 

The boys weren’t even bothering to hide their movements. They drove that poor car straight up to the entrance at the back of her dad’s property. Finn popped the trunk and Tony put in the code on her dinky little keypad. Rin felt the most uncomfortable mix of fear and anger as they disappeared into the most private space she could think of.

But she didn’t have long to mourn, because she heard another sound to her right. Far too close to the bunker. It was that gardener kid. The one who kept picking wildflowers and collecting seeds on her property like he was Bambi or something. Sure she considered him a trespasser, but nobody deserved the treatment she’d just gotten. She crawled over to him, her belly on the ground. 

“Seed...person!” she hissed. She grabbed his arm and pulled him downward. “Now is not the time to be tall!”

@nicolippijimenez

[rinremyyaguchi]

delilahseraven​:

Phase: Day Eight

“He’s n…” The trailed off as Rin decided to mention violence. “We’re hoping to not have to use that.” They didn’t want anyone using guns. They didn’t want to think about how things could escalate. It didn’t instill much confidence in her that even the most remote member of their community didn’t believe they could carry out their mission. 

She nodded her head as Rin ran through platitudes and offering help. They were starting to feel out of their depths. No matter what was in their future, they needed some recuperation time just to sort through it all. “I’ll keep that in mind.” She wasn’t sure what she was referring to. Her neurons were moving too quickly and she was struggling to follow each string down it’s myelin sheathe. 

“I…is there anything else?” 

The community maintenance person looked even more overwhelmed than Rin felt. “Nah. I’m good.” That was a bit of a lie, but Rin knew when to get out of the way. It was how she’d gotten away from Finn and Tony. Leave them to their homoerotic subtext and skedaddle.

“Thank you. Really. And I’m sorry.” She finished, before turning and vanishing into the crowd.

@cricketmarston​

[rinremyyaguchi]

delilahseraven​:

Phase: Day Eight

Del blinked slowly. They were confused over what was happening. Had the systems of communication already broken down around them? “It’s alright.” There was nothing else for them to say. They couldn’t help people that didn’t want help. What had their dad always said? Never work harder to meet someone than they were meeting you. 

“I’m not sure.” Rin had introduced themselves as an outsider but they knew more than Del had realized. Their brow furrowed as they tried to work through what Dante was doing, searching for some sort of answer. “He cares about community. It would be…redistributed.” Dante was walking a difficult line between civic responsibility and pushing things forward. Del didn’t envy his position, but she struggled even more with articulating what made his approach so unique. “You’ll see it again and personal items are still yours.” It had to be enough. 

She nodded her head. “Of course.” It was never their intention to push boundaries but they weren’t sure how else to help here. “Do you want anyone else to know?” 

Rin was more than a little dubious. “I hope he’s not making that redistribution of wealth your and the quarterback’s problem. That doesn’t seem fair at all. And, you know, to be indelicate, you’re very much outgunned.” She knew she shouldn’t care. She wasn’t very good at caring. She tended to let people call her friends because they occupied her space long enough for her to get used to them. Like Charlie.

She swallowed. But Charlie’d chosen a side. Or rather, she’d chosen to hide and let her brother make her point. Which felt a little bit like being broken up with by text, but hey, she’d never been in a relationship so how would she know?

Del really was trying. She felt bad that she couldn’t help. And for creating a problem. It seemed like a good time to play main support in OW for a few hours in the bunker, but she had no internet and no bunker. “Oh you can tell anyone you want. Probably better that way. I’m sorry that it’s you. You seem very nice, really. Do you need anything else? I’m not really good at people but fortifications and stuff, A+.” She swallowed again. “To be clear, if I had been in the bunker when they came, I wouldn’t be bothering you. Because they’d still be waiting outside it. Like idiots. If they had even known where it was. Which they wouldn’t have. If I was in it.” 

[rinremyyaguchi]

delilahseraven​:

Phase: Day Eight

Del smiled. “Thanks. We’re staying as unbiased as we can.” That was an integral part of the schema they were building. They couldn’t do this if they were being passed between the two sides as a political prop. The community deserved better. 

They placed their pen to paper and waited. Rather than writing, their hand stilled. Breaking and entering. Confiscating private property. Intimidation and threats. It was more than what happened with Shannon. In this exact moment, Del’s neurons were working overtime and she felt herself hurtling towards something she couldn’t see. She was a meteor knocked out of its original trajectory and speeding towards earth. 

“I…thank you for telling me.” They had a statement. Her hand shook as she started to write down the details. This was bigger than what she and Drew had been working on. Shannon’s case was supposedly just intimidation but this raised that into question. They might have to speak to her again. “The list is helpful. We can replace things.” They would probably have to enlist Nora for that. Tony and Finn likely wouldn’t give the items back. “And we’ll…um…start making a plan about the bunker.” 

They had worried about this the second Tony had tried to leverage Del’s position against her. He was too comfortable with his power which meant separating him from it would be difficult. Her mind was whirring and she needed things to slow down. Half-finished solutions were playing their way out in their head. “What…what is your ideal outcome?” 

Rin nodded a few times. “Cool cool cool. Absolute power and shit I get you.” It seemed weird to imagine any teenager with absolute power, but Alessi and Beaumont certainly seemed to think they had it. Yet there was some strange force to the person before her that seemed to have more bearing than those gelled assholes could ever conjure.

Man. Maybe she was a little gay.

But then they asked her ideal outcome. “I don’t think that matters. Sorry. That was rude. But I mean it nicely.” That counted, Rin hoped. Meaning it nicely. “I don’t want you to feel like you can fix it or whatever. I don’t need things replaced since they were for the apocalypse and this is the apocalypse so I feel like Dante would have taken them anyway. He is going to take everything right? I just got a vibe.” She probably should have been more upset about it but now that she’d faced both raiders and an apocalypse, she was beginning to feel that her Youtube doomsday prepper videos had been very off base about the way humans generally behaved. Which was bad. Because that and Reddit had been her main frame of reference.

She sighed. “Anyway. Like I said, I just want someone to know in case, um.” She just let the words hang in the air a moment. Funny how killing a guy made you no more comfortable with your own death than making a Thanksgiving turkey made you comfortable with being cooked. “You know?”

[rinremyyaguchi]

delilahseraven​:

ingarojas​:

cricketmarston​:

Phase: Day Eight

Cricket had promised Del very recently that no one was going to convince him to walk away from them at any point, but she had handed over authority to the weird newcomer and he’d also agreed to give Del the room to do their job, even if it scared the shit out of him. “Well then.” 

He held his hand out to Ingrid like they were in a Jane Austen novel, doing a rather good Reg impression. “Miss Rojas would you kindly let me escort you to the pasta salad?”

@ingarojas​

“I…” No other words were coming out. This rando had just dismissed her. Well, she wasn’t entirely random they were in the same year but still. Who did this person think she was? Ingrid waited for Cricket to object but he didn’t. 

She took his proferred hand. With her free hand, she grabbed the hem of her skirt and fanned it. She curtsied. “Of course you may, Lord Mar…Cricket. Lord Cricket of the London Crickets.” Her accent was terrible but she’d known enough about period dramas to mostly get things right. And she left out the last name he liked to pretend he didn’t have. 

There was no way to describe the way they walked off other than flouncing. As soon as they were out of earshot, she whispered to Cricket, “Please don’t take me to real pasta salad. I’ve never had it but I don’t think I’d like that.” What she did have was news she might be able to bring to Shannon. How very interesting. 

@delilahseraven​

Del watched Cricket and Ingrid walk away, the smallest smile on their lips. The cargo pants weren’t as bad once you’d finally solved the mystery of what was underneath. The thought alone brought the blood straight up to Del’s face, but she did her best to focus. That rush of dopamine and oxytocin would be better served some other time. 

“Thank you for approaching.” They moved towards an empty picnic bench. Del pulled out her notebook and got ready to take any notes. Her neurons were already racing at the possibility of yet another Tony situation. “I’m happy to take down any details.” Drew was better at talking to people, but she was the one with the schemas for this. She should be fine, but a prickle of nerves went down her spinal cord. “All information is confidential unless you want that changed.” She brought her eyes to Rin’s, “This is a full consent thing.” 

They adjusted their posture to keep one hand on the table, holding the journal down and the other at their side. Openness was one of Jude’s primary methods of setting people at ease. Del smiled softly. “What do you want us to know?” She paused, “Us being Drew and I. We’re…um…unaffiliated with…any branch.” 

“Thank you for listening.” See? Rin could talk to people. She talked to people at least 5% of the time, Dad. (Where was her Dad anyway?)

She took a deep breath as Del sat down. It hadn’t even occurred to her that checks and balances might be an issue. But then again, they weren’t the police. “Oh. That’s good. I don’t trust institutions, but your shit is cool.” She wasn’t even going to go to the election but she was worried they were going to make something illegal she didn’t know about. 

Now this was the delicate part. Don’t mention murder. Don’t mention Charlie. Yet. She reminded herself of the rules three times before holding Del’s brown eyed gaze. She didn’t want to look like she was lying. “So, um. Tony Alessi and Finn Beaumont broke into my house, asked me what I had of value, and took the key to my bunker.” It wasn’t a lie, just an omission. “I have an itemized list of everything in there so I can track expiration dates, but I don’t know what anyone’s supposed to do about it. I guess I figured...” She couldn’t look at them anymore. She was scaring herself. “Someone should know.” She had to tell someone and Del seemed quiet. Like her. 

[rinremyyaguchi]

delilahseraven​:

Phase: Day Eight

Del stifled a laugh against Cricket’s shoulder. Each strand of him was beyond unique. You could recognize him anywhere, because he was always this perfectly himself. Her smile started to dim as someone else approached. They’d never see this person before, which meant they must be younger. 

They could feel Cricket holding them closer, but this person was hurting. Del moved her head off his shoulder and reached down to squeeze his hand. They were still tethered, but she had to stand on her own here. 

“I’m listening.” Del straightened their posture, conveying a sense of openess her dad had talked about nearly a million times. “Do you want to go somewhere or…” Their eyes shot over to Ingrid. As far as she knew, Ingrid was someone that liked to share gossip. “Ingrid, please respect this person’s privacy.” They waited for Ingrid to give a little nod of her head. Then, she turned her attention back to the person in need. 

“Um…I’m sorry you had to experience that.” They cleared their throat. Remy looked to fall more into the weird category but any dealing with Tony was taxonomically classified as jerk. She glanced around for Drew but didn’t see them. 

“Would it be alright if I asked you some more questions? I…you are more than welcome to decide how public you want this to be. We can find somewhere more private or…” 

“Thanks.” Rin said, doing her best to keep her smile alive. “It sucked. Sucks, actually. It’s a nice bunker. Oh.” She turned to look at the other girl. Ingrid. “Yes. Please leave. Sorry.” She blinked, rephrased. This is why she didn’t leave her bunker. “I’d appreciate if you weren’t here. I mean.” She turned to Del. “I’m okay to be in public. It’s better if they see me talking to you.” That was the whole point. 

She had realized it very suddenly in the middle of that Reese Witherspoon-y person humiliating him. The best way to defy Tony Alessi was in public. That way, if you got Jimmy Hoffa-ed, people would still my documentaries about you later. 

“But maybe it should just be the two of us.” She eyed the person draped around Del. “If you could go. That would be great.”

@cricketmarston​

[cricketmarston]

delilahseraven​:

Phase: Day Eight

Del wasn’t sure what boring information entailed. All of it would be valuable. There was something to learn in every single cell inside someone. Sure, her fascination was particularly fixated on Cricket, but it was beautiful to look at the different strands that made up a person. The interconnectedness of the universe was so apparent when you broke things down to that level. 

She was still thinking about it as Ingrid and Cricket bantered. Del wasn’t fully paying attention but she enjoyed the phonemes as they passed between the two of them. His touch was centering them, holding Del to this plane and this bench. They squeezed his fingers, wishing they could bring them to their lips and kiss them. 

“Hmm,” she looked up slowly. “I need to devise my tests first. Um….” she swiped her tongue across her lips, lost in thought. “Clean catches will be important, but everything else should be handled by us.” They looked up at Ingrid. “Don’t label them. I don’t want to know who they belong to.” Del kissed Cricket’s cheek and turned to rest their head against in the crook of his neck. They were done talking for the moment. 

“I would like to know who they belong to, on principle.” The principle was that Cricket had been horribly deprived of gossip lately and deserved some actual contribution from the community since he was being nice to them and everything. 

But before he could cajole Ingrid further, a haunted looking Japanese girl walked up to them. Cricket’s protective instincts fired without him knowing why. He pulled Del a little closer to him as his brow hardened. 

“You’re Del right? The community maintenance person?” She said.  “My name’s Remy. I’d like to report a crime.”

@rinremyyaguchi​

[rinremyyaguchi]

Rin had processed a lot by herself, but she was used to doing that. She preferred it, truly. It was simpler, it was easier, and it was safer. Hanging out with people meant drugs and killing people and having your most precious things in the world taken from you. She’d gotten along okay with Charlie but then she’d ghosted her. Or Rin had ghosted Charlie. There was mutual ghosting. 

And then Charlie’s brother showed up with Tony Alessi. It hadn’t been a pleasant conversation. She’d been forthcoming. They had not. She’d never been blackmailed before. It was far more mundane than she’d imagined. They told her to stay quiet, she agreed. She hadn’t planned to go around telling everyone she killed a random dude. She wasn’t even sure she did. That was her first concern. She wouldn’t let herself move beyond that, just as she couldn’t move beyond her bunker. 

“Sorry, um, yeah. Full name. My name’s Remy Yaguchi. I’m a sophomore. Tony Alessi and Finn Beaumont took my bunker. I would like it back.” She remembered she needed to look sociable. Sympathetic. Not a murderer. So she smiled slightly. “Please.”

@delilahseraven​

[wewerechildrenwerenotnow]

Name: Rin “Remy” (chosen English name) Yaguchi Face Claim: Lyrica Okano Played by: Lil Birthday: March 22nd Family: Toshiro “Victor” Yaguchi (single father) Friends: Mia and Young through Overwatch (not aware of her identity), but “friends” is just a label on the Blizzard servers here, to be honest Romances:  Ace and demiromantic - but she doesn’t know that because she doesn’t have any friends hey-ooooo (Adam asked her out once, she ran in the other direction, but that doesn’t keep him from saying she’s his girlfriend) Hobbies/Clubs/Social Circle: Gamer, Loner, Doomsday Prepper

Rin was used to being ignored. She liked it that way, which is why she didn’t give people her real name. She liked having a part of herself that was just her, especially after her father moved them from Osaka to West Ham so he could teach at Yale. (Botany, keep your jokes to yourself.) Rin liked winning and she liked being left alone. The internet was useful that way, whether it was gaming or forums or how to videos on Youtube. She could engage exactly as much as she wanted to. And she usually wanted to until she got tilted and had to go count her MREs in the bunker out back. Her dad knew about the bunker. How could he not? He did sometimes wonder where his daughter had gone off to when he wasn’t staying in New Haven or going on business trips.

Rin doesn’t remember when she started prepping, just that she did. Maybe it was sometime after finding out that her mom was in Japan and didn’t want her. Maybe it was when those “what if” Youtube videos started becoming “and then”s. Point is, she’s used to staying low and being as small and unobtrusive a target as possible. That’s how you truly last in the apocalypse. But the night before the event, Rin went to her first party. She danced with no one and she took drugs with Charlie Beaumont and she killed someone. She thinks. Or at least Amara told her she did. Then Finn Beaumont and Tony Alessi seemed to confirm it. Kind of. Rin agreed to stay small and she agreed to stay quiet. The whole body or no body thing made no one look good. Then Tony Alessi took her bunker.

And she is not happy.

Follow Remy here!