Nimble fingers ghost over the spine of the book, feather light as they trail up, feeling each groove and tear. A brow raises, half in disbelief, and half in confusion. ❝ Never heard of ‘em. ❞ She’s toying with the paperback in the palms of her calloused and bruised hands as she speaks, testing the weight, the worth of it. This would rack up a hefty price was her current mindset, but she put those thoughts on the back-burner for now. Holding up the book, her head gestures to it, hair falling loosely around chiselled features, almost to say ‘take it.’ ❝ The buyer flaked on me, his loss. ❞ Besides, there was too much military presence around to start bringing her smuggling business into the conversation. Sometimes a loss was her gain.
He wasn’t certain which direction the conversation would steer, though the end game of him walking back to his flat with yet another addition to his collection? Now that hadn’t been predicted. A gaze drops, studying the literature in the younger’s possession, and brows find themselves raised in question. “ There are Germans in Boston? ” He begins, keeping his distance from both the paperback and the brunette. “ I’d have no use for it. ” Her plans of selling weren’t questioned by Archie, mostly due to his lack of desire to KNOW. The less involved he was in the lives of strangers, the better. “ Keep it. Might come in handy. ” Corner of his lips curl, eyes leaving the woman ahead.
“ It’s … definitely not preferred, but it keeps me in business. ” The attempt at sarcasm-fueled lightheartedness is punctuated and then defeated by a sigh, followed with the nervous twiddling of thumbs. Guns always made her nervous, as did almost any form of weaponry – it wasn’t the aftermath, the blood and the bullet holes that scared her. That was science and logic and fact — the power someone held with a weapon in their hands to steal life or spare it was TERRIFYING. “ God help us all if it stays like this. ” She frowned, glancing over at the older, brows furrowed. “ We should be teaching kids — even teenagers like him — for a better world; not training them for a worse one. Hope for the best and prepare for the worst. Next you know they’ll have me give them knives at birth. ”
Her words bring out a crooked smile, one so faint it would go unnoticed by the most perceptive of civilians. The sight of youthful faces carrying armed weaponry was burned into his skull. And his duty to teach them how to operate their new firearms was a task that he wished to ignore. Turning to face the younger, he remained propped up against the doorframe. “ I’m not so sure they don’t already do. ” The brunet confess, concern piercing a stoic expression.
“ We’re losing people everyday. ” He continues, and there it is: the glimmer of diplomacy in a coffee-tinted gaze. “ Just wish this isn’t what we had to do. ” Had to. In the eyes of the military, an inadequate defence was the same as one non-existent. And in the eyes of Archie, he supposed he had to agree. And there it was again, had to.
Literature hadn’t interested him twenty years ago, and though his gradual obsession with the matter wasn’t embarrassing – he still felt the need to keep it in the dark. His apartment had begun looking like a library and visitors would see the clear interest. Though, outsiders would be none the wiser. And that’s the way he preferred it. “ I'm familiar with "Hogan's Heroes" and "Castle Wolfenstein", but beyond that my German is a little rusty. ” He jests, eyeing the worn paperback in the younger’s hands. It wasn’t unusual to find personal items thrown out onto the streets, but foreign literature? That was a tad more unique of an event.
CHILDREN WITH GUNS – Archer had never been fond of the sight. He’d been a few months shy of sixteen when his own had been handed to him, but as the male grew up – the sight began to horrify him. The state of the world was unnatural and so were their approach. Of course, not many shared his views. “ I have issues of Guns & Ammo magazine that are older than him. ” The older muttered, his gaze locked on the fourteen year old ahead.
prepare yourselves for a bomb ass introduction post. cool, cool, cool.
the name’s jayden. i’m a cancer sun, virgo moon. twenty-one summers old & i enjoy long spontaneous walks in the woods that wind up with me getting lost and having to phone a friend. i’m lactose intolerant and a pescatarian because fishes don’t have feelings. my pronouns are they/he because i wish to become cam gigandet one day. and that’s it on the mun portion.
MEET ARCHIE !
archie enjoys long walks in the confines of the safe zone! he’s almost as cool as his mun, but not quite.
he’s thirty-four, which means he’s ANCIENT. he was [ counts on fingers ] fourteen when the world ended. most likely rubbing one out in his bedroom to scarlett johansson at the time. sad.
he’s a soldier boy but he’s hella soft and just wants everyone to be friends. mostly he just wants everyone to follow the rules! lawful good in the house.
he’s a capricorn for no other reason than i saw a cap pin on pinterest and proceeded to add it to his board.
he collects literature because he’s a huge ass nerd who misses the way the world was. he’s the only one i’m sure.
there’s a pupper outside the safe zone that he constantly tries to win over. one day he’ll smuggle it inside. lawful who? he feeds it daily, don’t @ me.
he has a younger sister who he’d give his life for. the feeling probably isn’t mutual given the fact that her mun is pure evil.
“ you fucked up a perfectly good monkey is what you did. look at it. it's got anxiety. ”
unfortunately very patriotic. it makes me wanna barf.
a little depressed, a little anxious – just like me! and just about every other writer in the world.
he’s very skilled with guns! obviously. but he’s surprisingly good. and now i don’t mean like ‘ uwu he’s the best in the world! ’ NO. i mean, surprisingly as he’s very anti using it.
BISEXUAL KING.
MEET CASEY !
she nuts at the mention of fireflies. the military can’t get fucked. no printer just fax.
her dad was in the military, tho, don’t bring that up.
he died a couple years into the outbreak. never came back home. went out for milk, maybe.
there’s a kitter running around town that she WANTS and she’s gonna get it. y’all watch her win its love. she’s gonna do it with tuna and tummy scratches.
knives are cool but she’s not very good at throwing them. will, mayhaps, slit your throat though. WHO KNOWS? not me.
her favorite food is deer. malia tate is quaking.
she’s a chaotic stupid. chaotic neutral. chaotic bisexual.
casey is super quirky, as if you can’t tell that by the fact that her name is literally CASSIOPEIA.
she likes denim and converse. find her some, win her heart.
literally tho, she loves fireflies. don’t you forget it.
she is moana. she loves the ocean, she wanna go back to the ocean, even if it’s filled with freaking corpses D:<
will fight literally anyone for anything, aries sun, bitches.
her hair is perpetually in a ponytail and she can’t write for shit. this is a sad life she’s living.
