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Post by Your Mom~ on Oct 7, 2012 9:05:57 GMT -8
Life had begun again, emerging from the ashes of the world that was destroyed. Olesya had found an abandoned house in Crow territory to call her own. It had been previously occupied by a family, from the looks of it. Parents, a little boy and a little girl. She didn't know what had become of them, or who they even were. Olesya hadn't planned for this house to become her home. She felt like a squatter: uninvited and unwelcomed. She only used it as a place to sleep.
Weeks went by, and the family did not return. There was a good chance that they perished in the end of the world. It was a disturbing thought. But still, Olesya slept in their house, taking respite in a place that was not hers to have.
Then Youichi moved in. Tired of sharing her living space with two boys, she took one of the spare rooms in Olesya's house. They existed in harmony, each doing their own thing, exercising their freedom. The cupboards began to fill with nonperishable food Olesya would find on her scavenges. She gathered all of the personal things of the previous owners, keeping them in a box in the hallway closet. Pictures, bills, papers, anything that had any sort of value to the previous owners...in case they returned.
This house still wasn't a home.
Four little girls ran up and down the stairs, shrieking and giggling as they ran. They played with the toys tucked away in the third bedroom, bringing to life the joys of childhood that had once permeated the house. Three of the four little girls were adopted by families in the Crow Territory, the fourth staying with Olesya and Youichi. Madelyn...Maddie. The little girl from Olesya's past, the little beacon of hope that healed the scars that life had spurred her with.
Drawings dotted the refrigerator, meals covered the table. Days weren't only about scavenging and scouting, but about talking and laughing and cooking and loving. Three strangers knitted together in the wake of disaster, pushing onward because they're too stubborn to give up.
And slowly, quietly, sneakily...the house became a home.
---
"Be good for Youichi, okay? I'll be home soon." Olesya picked up the girl's bowl frmo the table, setting it in the sink.
"Why can't I come with you?" Maddie complained, pouting from her seat at the table.
"It's too dangerous outside Crow territory, you know that. Maybe you can go into town and see the girls today. Maybe even Oliver!" She fixed her with a look that said 'we're done discussing this.' Maddie huffed, pushing back from the table and getting up. "Hey."
Maddie paused on her way out the door, turning back to look at Olesya. Olesya took a couple steps forward, resting her hand on the top of Maddie's head affectionately. "Love you Peanut." Maddie smirked at this. all hints of annoyance fading from her face.
"Love you too." Olesya smiled, her hand moving from the top of the girl's head to her back, gently pushing her out the door to the living room.
"Have fun. I'll be back later!"
---
All of the nearby stores had been tapped dry by this point, Olesya had taken to scavenging deserted houses. She gathered anything useful, from food and medical supplies to gadgets and gizmos that she could barter 'in town.' Town was the center of the Crows territory, where all of the business took place. It was too busy and high strung for Olesya, who lived about a mile out from 'Town.' It suited her just fine though.
She stepped out of a semi-destroyed house, having found a wind-up clock, some utensils, a couple cans of food and a cast iron frying pan. Everything fit in her backpack except the fry pan, which dangled loosely in her hand.
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Post by Mathew Amtrum on Oct 7, 2012 9:29:49 GMT -8
Life had begun again, emerging from the ashes of destruction. Like a phoenix's cleansing flame the strong rose from the ashes. Determined to rebuild back to their former glory. Seattle was strong, Seattle was his. Now he found himself back in California, looking for a dead man. His best leads pointed toward almost certain death.
He needed allies.
And so he has gone about building bridges. First with the God's that resided on Mount Olympus, and then reconnecting with the Dragons. A young member of the Sudeki clan now followed his lead, as well as two clones of his friend Leon. The man who was thought to be dead, but Mathew refused to believe that. Not without seeing it with his own eyes.
Today he was bringing a gesture of good will to both groups. To show he meant business and had resources. It pained him to give this stuff away as a donation. Medicine, machine parts, intact furniture, and sundry items. But he needed trust and loyalty. It was hard to put a price on that.
The sound of a large truck rumbled through the streets. The kind that used to make deliveries to grocery stores back in the day. Not quite a semi, but still large. The old Safeway logo was blacked out and on it instead a Green dragon was painted.
"Hold on right there Jerry. Gonna make sure we don't have raiders skulking about."
The possibly familiar voice of Mathew rang out as he hopped out of the truck. Hand running through his hair as he began to look around, ensuring they were not driving in to a trap.
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Post by Your Mom~ on Oct 7, 2012 9:57:02 GMT -8
Olesya had just about moved onto the next house when a foreign sound reached her ears. I rumbled in the air and shook the earth like a small earthquake. Olesya's heart jumped into her throat, remembering the earthquake that had shook Long Beach years ago. But...the rumbling in the air sounded more...mechanical than earthly. Mismatched eyes glanced up in the direction of the sound. It was a truck.
Goodness...was she so out of touch with the old world that she didn't recognize a truck as it approached?
Olesya narrowed her mismatched eyes; one hazel and one electric blue. She tugged the bandana over her head, hiding her stark white hair. Both were results of the experiments Sean Barker had subjected her to all those years ago. Luckily, she'd gotten her mind back under control, for the most part. She still woke up some nights screaming, haunted by her own memories.
Her heart beat loudly in her chest as a voice permeated the rumbling in the air, still a bit muffled from the mechanical noise. A man jumped out of the truck, scouting out the area. Olesya froze to the spot, too exposed to find a good hiding place in time. Her grip tightened on the frying pan instinctively. Hopefully they weren't Barker's goons, she was leaning toward 'no' due to the dragon painted on the side of the truck. But it could be a ruse...
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Post by Mathew Amtrum on Oct 7, 2012 10:04:34 GMT -8
It seemed peoples instincts were to run or hide upon hearing the truck. That was good, though he doubted that would last when these trucks became more common, especially after it was discovered that they carried goods. That made this trip a good practice run.
He continued to poke around the area looking for trouble, or places where trouble could be set up in the future. That's when he saw her, another ghost from his past. One of the former pillars from back in the day. A girl that part of him was still fond of. At least from nostalgia.
"Olesya is that you over there?"
He chuckled and waved her forward.
"Come on, lemme get a look at you."
Unlike with Shugo, he was happy to see her.
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Post by Your Mom~ on Oct 7, 2012 10:10:26 GMT -8
Olesya was torn. Should she run? Should she satiate her curiosity? It looked like she didn't have a choice as the man approached her, waving her over...calling her by her name. It had been years since she last saw him, the last of which he took her on e date to some hole-in-the-wall restaurant with amazingly tasty food. It was the last she'd seen of him. It was after that her madness set in.
"Mathew?"
Olesya frowned, stepping forward until they were an arms-length from each other. She gave him a once-over, her mismatched eyes narrowing slightly as she analyzed him. After a long minute of silence, her frying pan hand came up and whacked him hard in the shoulder.
"Where the hell have you been?!"
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Post by Mathew Amtrum on Oct 7, 2012 10:18:18 GMT -8
Earth dragon nulls used 1/3
He watched as the pan came flying and slammed him in the shoulder. He didn't even flinch. Instead he just met her mix matched gaze with his own blazing emerald one. A small smirk tugging at the corners of his lips.
"Seattle, I had some friends up there. Moved up to help them keep order and now after a couple of years. There is only one source of power there, and now we are rebuilding."
Three guesses as to who is in power.
"Glad to see you have been doing well, and alive. Eating enough?"
Mathew looked like he hasn't missed a meal since the world ended.
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Post by Your Mom~ on Oct 7, 2012 10:31:06 GMT -8
"Without so much of a goodbye? You ass."
Clearly Olesya was still a little bitter about the hit and run years ago when they were in high school. Granted, the rest of her friends had seemed to disappear as well, aiding in the madness that set in and made her forget who she was.
"I'm well enough...now."
It was obvious that she had changed, with the tufts of white hair poking out from under her bandana and her mismatched eyes. She was still skinny, but not as skinny as she had gotten when she was at rock bottom. She had started self-medicating to try and make the pain of her own madness go away. She eventually got picked up by the police for sleeping on some old lady's stoop and taken to a 'mental health ward.' They detoxed her and sent her to a halfway house for treatment of her madness. The doctor had tried some unorthodox treatments to cleanse her body of the chemicals Sean Barker had injected into her system in his mad attempt to create the perfect super soldier.
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Post by Mathew Amtrum on Oct 7, 2012 10:35:36 GMT -8
"I didn't say goodbye to a lot of people. When there are gang wars abound I find it's better to keep people guessing if I am there or not. Gives my side more time to prepare themselves after I vanish."
Why let the enemy know one of their strongest opponents were gone? Seemed like bad tactics to him.
"Glad to see you are doing alright."
He didn't pay the hair much mind. He wasn't unscared either. His chest now had several bullet wound scars, and his stomach showed the now finally healed scar from almost being gutted in Japan.
"Where you camping out these days? Just out of curiosity."
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Post by Your Mom~ on Oct 7, 2012 10:44:39 GMT -8
'I find it's better to keep people guessing if I am there or not'
Olesya's frown neared a scowl at this. He didn't know that that statement rang true for just about all her friends disappearing. Him, Emily, Jon, Mitsuki, David, Stu...they all disappeared without a trace. At one point in her madness she wondered if she had just made them all up. If they were all just imaginary.
If she'd even had friends in the first place.
"You didn't stop to think how it would affected those unassociated with your stupid gang wars. Huh?"
Her blood was beginning to boil, her irritation with him tapped into the overall underlying anger she had at every horrible thing that had happened to her. Of course she had talked about it with her therapists at the halfway house, but she'd never gotten closure on any of it. Not even with David, who had also showed up out of nowhere after seven years.
"You don't need to know where I live."
She spat, entirely defensive at this point. She had no rational reason to be so angry with him, but when she was tweaking, there was no rationalization, period. She was a ticking time bomb.
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Post by Mathew Amtrum on Oct 7, 2012 10:50:57 GMT -8
He nodded slowly.
"That's a good point. I honestly never thought of that. I'm sorry it has caused you this much distress."
He said, pressing his lips together as he kicked his foot backwards. A pillar of stone rising up where he kicked. He shrugged his coat off so that it would fall and hang on the pillar.
"Punch me. Right here."
He tapped his chin.
"It'll make you feel better."
He said with a wink.
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Post by Your Mom~ on Oct 7, 2012 10:59:31 GMT -8
And that was it. An invitation to take out her anger on him. And who was Olesya to refuse? She dropped the fry pan, it made a loud 'clunk' as it hit the ground. She shrugged off her backpack, a muffled thud echoing off the ruined buildings.
Olesya stretched her hands, balling them into fists and rolling her shoulders. Her heart thudded in her chest, pumping adrenaline throughout her body. Her skin flushed slightly.
"You asked for it."
Stepping forward she drew her arm back and socked him right in the jaw, and she didn't pull the punch in the slightest.
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Post by Mathew Amtrum on Oct 7, 2012 11:03:14 GMT -8
And it was a solid punch, his head moved with the blow, and he could feel a tightness in his jaw. A dull ache. She still had that good arm he saw. That was good to know, that she didn't get soft. If anything, she probably got stronger.
"Again."
More of an order than an invitation. Time to see if she would comply or not. Probably depended on how pissed she was, and how long she held that grudge.
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Post by Your Mom~ on Oct 7, 2012 11:08:46 GMT -8
'Again,' he ordered. The order stung more like a taunt. She couldn't refuse, not with her anger burning in her chest, all the years of hardship eating her away churning, threatening to be unleashed. It wasn't all his fault, only partially. He didn't know this, and she wouldn't tell him.
Instead, she moved in and punched him again, first with one fist straight on followed by a hook with her off hand.
He was winding her up, and he knew this. Lighting the fuse to a whole lot of trouble. If spurred on, she would fight until she could no longer stand. No longer see straight. No longer think. People had handled her with kid gloves since she returned to Long Beach. Even Unfettered had hardly said two words to her, and he was the one that sought her out.
That ended now.
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Post by Mathew Amtrum on Oct 7, 2012 11:17:51 GMT -8
He took the next two punches, barely letting out a grunt before he was done giving her free shots. She was a tough, girl, at least she had been back then. It was time to treat her like one again.
His fist lashed out, seeking to slam right in to the middle of her face. Her wouldn't pull his punch either. She still could throw a punch, could she still take one?
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Post by Your Mom~ on Oct 7, 2012 11:21:13 GMT -8
She turned her head at the last second, his fist colliding with her cheek as opposed to her nose. A broken nose was a bitch to heal, her cheeks were stronger. She felt her cheek bruising, she'd probably go home with a shiner. It didn't bother her though. She was strong, she could take it.
Olesya dropped, bending her right leg and using her left leg to sweep at his feet. If she managed to knock him off his feet, she'd push off with her right leg, pouncing on him and throwing a punch at his stomach.
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