seven devils all around you, seven devils in your house

[singmod]

JUNE 2024 EVENT

PART ONE — A SIGN OF THINGS TO COME: The Darkwalker claims another victim, and that is only the beginning of troubles for the Interlopers as they face a month of endless night and green gloom.

PART TWO — POLAR SUN: As June continues, Interlopers are faced with food insecurity as wildlife flees; tensions grow as they face hunger and the Darkwalker's continued influence. On the day of the Summer Solstice, the tension finally breaks and violent chaos descends upon Interlopers.

PART THREE — REPRIEVE: The end is in sight, and an ally comes to the Interloper’s aid.

A SIGN OF THINGS TO COME

WHEN: June 1st, then onwards.
WHERE: Milton area; Lakeside area (Carter Hydrodam).
CONTENT WARNINGS: death of playable character; supernatural death; mention of dead body; themes of death; supernatural beings; themes of terror; themes of peril.

The evening is quiet and still. May draws to a close and while the sun does not completely set, it dips low enough for the sky to grow a little darkdim with twilight. The midnight sun is almost upon the Northern Territories, the air is warmer than it has ever felt — even if it remains chilly. If this is summer, it is but a gentle brush of reprieve against the unyielding winter. The Interlopers wind down for the night, many turn to their beds to sleep, others sit awake and ponder their existence in this world. They think of home, of loved ones, of their predicament here in this place. The Forest Talkers, the strange beasts and monsters they’ve encountered.

The moon wanes in the skies, nestled amongst the stars. For those still awake to notice, they can see it: slowly, one by one, the stars begin to go out. Then the moon's light is swallowed whole, and a blanket of green gloom descends upon the Northern Territories.

The sky is dark and green and terrible. Many of those will recognise it, what this means and what will come. Others will not understand it, not know what it is that awaits them all.

They will soon find out: the Darkwalker comes.

Under a green sky, a cold fear washes over you — squeezing the breath from your lungs. Interlopers will find themselves overcome with that fear, and everything in their bodies and minds tells them to run. To flee. And so you run, heading for cover. Curtains will be drawn, some may hide under beds, within closets or wardrobes. Some desperately attempt to conceal themselves, make themselves small, unseen. Some Interlopers, in that fear, may rush to friends or loved ones to hide with them, others may simply cower alone — crawling and whimpering away from the night. The fear is irrational, unable to be overcome — even by the bravest or most stoic of Interlopers.

For those within Milton, it is further away but is by no means less potent: Interlopers will find themselves frozen with the constant loom of the Darkwalker’s arrival — even if it does not come to Milton. Those within Lakeside, however, will feel the true force of this presence: more like a knife edge — painfully gripping your heart as it draws close.

The Darkwalker howls: indescribable, unnatural, demonic. Low moans and groans. It comes from the east, the faint booms of footsteps in the distance growing ever nearer. It is coming, once more. It's coming for one of you. And still, you are powerless, unable to do anything. And it is an agony, awaiting its arrival. You cry, you whimper, you cower. Curling up for some shred of comfort, and finding none.

For those in Lakeside, through the fear, they may be able to note the path: a straight line from the east towards Carter Hydrodam. It seems to go on forever, building into a crescendo. Your heart beats so hard you fear it may burst from your chest, as if you might die of fright.

There is an almighty sound; the Darkwalker devours and even with the distance you can hear it. The sound of gnashing teeth, and… laughter. There is no scream, no bright light in the sky — Enola is silent this time. There is only that laughter, echoing off into the night.

The skies do not return to normal. The green gloom hangs in the air. It is done, but it is not yet over. While the overwhelming fear dissolves away, but a kind of… dread remains on the air — almost palpable.


The Darkwalker has devoured another. Braver souls who go out to investigate into Lakeside will find just who has been devoured once they reach the Hydrodam — although it may be a day or two before they will find the body in the medical bay.

At least it is cold enough that the rot does not fully set in — but death will certainly be here.

And this is but the beginning of the Interloper’s troubles.

POLAR SUN

WHEN: The month of June, up to Midsummer’s Eve + Summer Solstice.
WHERE: Milton area; Lakeside area.
CONTENT WARNINGS: themes of survival; food scarcity/food insecurity; supernatural weather; altered mental states; mental manipulation; themes of violence; potential character injury; potential character death; potential NPC death.

In the coming weeks and days, and weeks, the green gloom lingers. From the Darkwalker’s attack, there is no sun. No day, no night. No stars or moon or sun. No Auroras. Just the gloom and biting cold. Life becomes increasingly hard on Interlopers: higher expenditure on fuel — fires and lanterns are imperative to keep the darkness and the cold at bay.

With the green gloom in the air, the wildlife becomes more scarce — as if it has been frightened away into the deeper parts of the wilds. It will be harder to bring in fresh meat in both Milton and Lakeside, and Interlopers will find that they will have to rely on whatever stores they have — and perhaps even rationing for a while.

And it’s not the only thing frightened. Even with the debilitating fear that comes with the Darkwalker’s attack gone, there is still a kind of fear that lingers on the air that slowly eats away at the Interloper’s resolve over time.

Interlopers will find themselves anxious, on edge. Some will be prone to anger in their fear, others prone to fits of melancholy: tearfulness and sorrow. Between the cold, the lack of fresh game and the fear on the air — it’s no wonder spirits are low. Bickering and minor upsets between Interlopers are likely.

They call it the midnight sun, the polar day. It's opposite is the polar night. This is neither and both. On the day of midsummer's eve, that fear on the air is even more palpable. The air feels a little stifling at times, as if the pressure is all off — often quite oppressive, a strange kind of tension. There is something brewing, a low burning thing that begins from the moment Interlopers wake — heavy and sharp in their chest.

’So, Interloper. What will you do now?’ A voice sneers in your ear. The very same voice that has haunted Interlopers since the very beginning. The Darkwalker finally speaks after all these weeks of gloom since its most recent attack. ’When all is gone, when even the sun does not rise? What will you do then?’

A nervousness sits within you as you remember the Darkwalker’s words. What will you do if the sun does not rise? If the darkness is all that is left? If the food runs out? Your wonderings will continue to gnaw away within you. The darkness is hollowing.

’Will you lean on others, like you have always tried to do?’ the voice continues. ’What bonds you hold with them, the ones with those around you. But how strong are they, truly? Can you trust them? Will it matter when your belly is empty and your heart is low? Perhaps it is time to see.

’Never forget, Interloper. I am the Rot. And I will rot within you.’

As the day progresses into the Solstice, that tension lingers in the air, and the wonderings within you continue to wear at you. You find yourself becoming more and more agitated as time goes on. Those feelings that have been brewing for some time now have started to grow close to boiling. You may snap at others, grow restless, become enraged at the tiniest of things — the upsets wildly out of proportion for the smallest slights or issues.

You find your thoughts wandering, too. Perhaps it is to someone you know in this place, or perhaps it is to someone previously unknown to you. Maybe you have an issue with this person, or perhaps the voice’s influence extends further — not only adding to your agitations but creating them, too. A slight, a grudge, a bias.

You feel a bitter gnawing within you. The nightmarish green gloom above you persists and everything bubbles up from within. From the dark, the anger within you become too much. The tension finally snaps.

For some, it might come out as a vicious argument where you air your grievances, or finally let slip the things you’ve been holding close to your chest. A verbal beat down, incredibly hurtful in nature. For others, things may be drawn to getting physical. A literal beat down where your fists grow bruised and bloody, or perhaps even worse. Whatever it is, you want to do damage to someone else — there is darkness here, and so many things come out in the dark, don’t they?

Like a ripple, all around you: all hell breaks loose. Chaos erupts, and the air is filled with violence.

Let’s hope you might stop, or someone else stops you, before someone gets killed.

REPRIEVE

WHEN: Circa three days after the Summer Solstice.
WHERE: Milton.
CONTENT WARNINGS: blood.

All things must come to an end, even the most violent of deadly storms. In the midst of the seemingly endless violence of the night, you find yourself outside. Maybe you're fleeing from another Interloper, maybe you're desperately trying to reach someone you care for, maybe you're simply trying to find somewhere new to hide. Interlopers are hunting one another, blood lies on the snow, bodies too — some breathing, some not.

Perhaps it is a trick of the light. Perhaps it's the Darkwalker’s influence still warping your already frayed mind. Or it's the blood in your eyes, your battered and bruised body struggling to get through it all.

In the gloom, you see it. See her.

A woman, dressed in furs, stones and shells glimmering on her chest like armour, stands in the snow before you. Thin and pale, eyes sunken. Her chest heaves with each breath as she looks around with wide eyes. Her hands are bare and bloody. It drips slowly from her fingers. Is it her blood? Or someone else's? You cannot tell, but you cannot mistake how thick it coats her skin.

Her head turns to look at you. You are stunned, but not frightened. Even through the gloom, after a moment or two, her eyes widen in recognition: she knows you.

Slowly and silent, other than her noisy breathing, she draws close to you. Maybe in turn you draw close to her, closing the distance between you. Up close, her eyes are blue, and sad. You cannot mistake the sorrow in them. She is tired, weary. Her hair is dark, worn loose and long. For some, you feel as if you've seen her before, but you can't quite place her face.

Softly, she says your name.

For some, there may be no recognition. This woman is a stranger, who knows your name somehow. She has been silent the past couple of months, after all.

For others, hearing her speak brings a sudden, jarring realisation: this is Enola.

She’s here. Enola. All this time, she’s whispered to you in dreams, in static, in the very air itself.

She raises one hand, dark and dripping in the green light. Lightly, her fingers brush against your chest. You don’t feel the pressure of them, don’t feel the odd heat of blood — only the weight of her stare as she holds your gaze. It’s a long moment of peace in amongst the chaos.

You feel her exhaustion, a tiredness that sinks into your very bones. Apologies, too. You have never known anything like it. But there’s something else too, something that takes a moment or two to put your finger on. Defiance. A renewal. Something shifts in the air, a growing tension, different from the kind that’s been held on the air throughout the month. It’s the coming of a storm, the rolling clouds, the growing rumble of thunder before the first lightning strike.

Enola nods, her expression grave. She pulls away and turns from you — her head lifting towards the skies as she walks. Her arms raise, bloodied hands twisting and tensing before her. They curl, almost into fists, and she makes a gesture: the slow tearing of something huge and invisible before her — a shriek spilling from her lips. A battle-cry, a last stand, a wail of agony. It echoes.

The sky cracks and splits open before you, dazzling light and colours blinding your vision into pure white. The world tilts too hard below your feet, and you don’t remember passing out.

When you awaken, Enola is gone. The skies are clear and blue, the sun is high in the sky. As you pick yourself up from the snow, in the harsh light of the polar day, blood has never looked so red. The horrors of the night laid bare. Interlopers are dead, but the Darkwalker’s influence is gone. For now.

In the wake of Midsummer, all Interlopers can do is try reconcile. Bury the dead, rebuild, lick wounds. But that feeling in the air still remains — that different, new kind of tension that has come with Enola’s appearance. The first of the lightning bolts has struck, but more are coming.

FAQs

A SIGN OF THINGS TO COME

1. Alexander Hilbert has been devoured by the Darkwalker. His remains can be found in the Hydrodam. The following note has been left by Kates concerning his death: ‘Sveta gets possession of his research notes + blood samples + creepy lab journal because it's all in Russian, lmao.’

2. Information on the Darkwalker’s attack can be found here.

3. Usually, after the Darkwalker attacks, the sky would return to normal. This won’t happen. Instead, the usual atmospheric changes that occur during Darkwalker attacks will remain in place as June continues..


POLAR SUN

1. For an idea how the setting appears for June, it's like what you see in the game during the Escape The Darkwalker Challenge. Inside, there'll be a degree of green shades to rooms etc via what comes through windows but with it being lit up via fires and light sources, the gloom will be chased back.


2. Characters are free to use this event to kill NPC Interlopers. Methuselah and Young Bill are off the table, as are two marked NPC Interlopers. Please let Mods know if you intend on doing this for record keeping!

3. These acts of violence can be physical or verbal altercations, players are encouraged to work with the prompt however they'd like! However, anything potentially world-altering (ie. building destruction) must be first discussed with mods.

4. Interlopers under the Darkwalker's influence can be stopped in a number of ways. Showing genuine care and compassion in the face of violence is one way. Knocking an Interloper out is another way. Sometimes killing an Interloper may be needed, or simply restraining them and keeping them locked up somewhere so they can't hurt anyone else until the night is over would also work.

5. Talismans made by Heartman back in March with a Ward Sigil against the Darkwalker will come into effect during this prompt. It's been an ongoing process, with new Interlopers being offered them from their arrival. Players are free to choose what kind of talisman they received, or if they chose to get one at all. Their effectiveness is dependent on the type of blood used on the talisman.

— Animal Blood: Interlopers carrying talismans using blood from animals found in the world, such as deer, rabbits or wolves will find themselves more susceptible to the Darkwalker’s influence and disposition towards violence. They will be much harder to break out of the hold over them, and become almost frenzied state.
— Monster Blood: Interlopers carrying talismans using blood from any creatures or monsters that Interlopers have encountered in their time in the Northern Territories, such as the Serpent from December’s TDM will find there are no negative nor positive effects. The talisman is essentially useless. and Interlopers will fall under the Darkwalker's influence.
— Interloper Blood: Interlopers carrying talismans using blood for Interlopers will be offered protection/resistance from the Darkwalker’s influence and disposition towards violence. They may be slightly affected but will have their wits about them more compared to others. If the blood came from an Interloper with an Aurora Feat — this protection/resistance will be largely increased, an the Interloper may even feel braver, less affected by the fear in the atmosphere.
— No Talisman: Similar to the Monster Blood Talisman, Interlopers will be affected typically by the Darkwalker's influence in due course.

There are no additional affects with an Interloper using their own blood, just if they have an Aurora Feat or not.

6. Animals owned by Interlopers will be more frightened and will want to hide away in the build up — they will be disturbed by the world. Mostly lying down and whining/restlessness. They may display some signs of aggression on occasion, but not to the same degree of humans.

7. Forest Talkers are hidden away and will not be able to be reached during the Solstice.

REPRIEVE

1. Enola can only be met alone, but she will appear to all Interlopers in Milton.

2. Enola will be nowhere to be found afterwards, there are no tracks to be followed. She has simply vanished.

PLOTTING POST

Comments

[notarat]

...

Well, Billy is definitely putting 'never messing with Chloe' right on top of his list of priorities. It's not even like he was ever planning on doing so, but this display truly surpasses anything he imagined. Even when she said before that she was willing to fight any of the other members of the expedition if they would give him or Hickey trouble, Billy definitely did not imagine this.

It means he's only just managed to get back up on his own feet - initially in a feemble attempt to help her, only to be too late since Chloe already finished the fight - when she moves over to him, and that he's wearing a rather stunned expression on his face when he looks at her.

"Yes, I--" Rather than finishing the sentence, he nods. His throat still weirdly hurts, and he moves up a hand to rub at the angry red marks on there. And while he can definitely explain what happened here, Billy feels like he should first ask: "Are you?"

Sure, Chloe was incredibly tough just now, but it's not like Billy didn't see that she got hit as well in the process. And he cares enough about her to worry.

[desperate_times_right]

“Yeah. I'm a little dizzy and I might have a black eye tomorrow, but I’ll be fine.” Chloe sighs, trying to expel the post-fight adrenaline jitters.

“That guy was going to kill you!” The marks on his neck look awful. “Everyone’s been going crazy since the hydrodam.”

[notarat]

The extent of her own injuries definitely don't sound too bad if she's right about them - so that's a relief. Especially when he knows it could be so much worse. Like she's pointing out, which is only truly dawning onto Billy in this moment now the adrenaline levels are slowly lowering themselves again - that man really was going to kill him. If Chloe hadn't been there to pull that man off him, Billy likely would have been dead. There's no way he would have been able to wrestle that man off him, even if he had tried.

And.. over what? Absolutely nothing. It makes Billy feel sick to his stomach as he tries swallowing again, only to reminded of his injury.

".. you saved me," he slowly says. Like the full extent of that thought is still slowly hitting him. He was in trouble, and she came to help him, like she had promised.

[desperate_times_right]

“Of course,” Chloe says like it's not a big deal at all. “We had a deal, right?”

And even without that, he's her friend.

“Let's get out of here before he wakes up.”

[notarat]

She's right. There's no time to get all confused about this now. Billy looks at the man Chloe knocked out, and it doesn't necessarily look like he's about to stir any time soon, but Billy also doesn't want to stick around and find out.

"Right," he says, like he's also trying to pull himself back together as well as he can in this moment with that word. He's still a little shaky, but he isn't going to let that stop him. "Let's go to my house, it's closer."

Billy already starts moving to lead her along. Maybe he should just have let her be on her way again, but-- selfishly he wants Chloe to stick around a little longer, especially with how that encounter shook him up, his head and neck still in pain. There's something comforting about having her here.

"The entire town is going insane," he manages to say as they walk through the relative darkness. If she hadn't stepped in-- "I almost used my ability."

Which wouldn't have ended well, he's sure. It may have saved him from getting strangled by that guy, but still..

[desperate_times_right]

“I’m glad you didn't have to.” And not just because he might have burned himself. Chloe’s killed a lot of people, but not everyone can live with that, especially in a small community like this. At least most of the guys she fights at home are strangers.

“It's been…” Chloe walks quickly, talking faster and faster. “I don't know. Everyone’s fighting. Kate Marsh of all people pointed a gun at me! And I'm just - I'm so angry - I feel like something inside me that makes me who I am is rotting.”

[notarat]

It's an apt description. Even if the anger doesn't come to Billy as easily - but he's felt it too this month - he knows that he's been feeling just as emotional. A constant anxiety playing up within him. It's not a great position to be in when you know that any of your emotions can quite literally spark a fire. It does make him a little worried about being around Chloe, but-- It's fine, right? She makes him feel safe, even in the middle of this mess. He can control himself. He wouldn't hurt her.

"A gun?" He asks. The idea of it being Kate - that seemingly innocent girl that people tend to get so worked up about, someone Billy avoids if not just for the overly religious tones that give him the creeps - feels strange. It emphasizes there's something deeply wrong with this place.

But what he's more worried about in the face of that is-- "Did she hurt you?"

Chloe doesn't seem like someone who got shot. She's still walking around, after all. But Billy would definitely put Chloe high up on a list of people who are enough of an idiot to keep walking even after getting shot.

Which means there's concern.

"Are you alright?" Physically, anyway. Emotionally none of them are right now.

[desperate_times_right]

“No, no. I'm fine.” As impressive as it would have been to fight off Billy’s attacker while shot, that's not what happened today. “It was a flare gun - I don't even know where you'd get one of those here - so when I saw it indoors I freaked out a bit and disarmed her.”

Actually, after that fight, she should probably clarify: “She’s fine. Probably nursing a black eye, though.”

It's kind of sweet that after seeing all that he was still worried about her, though.

“Did you ever hear about the ghosts some of us saw in town? Not the house, but other ones.”

[notarat]

Of course Billy has no idea what a flare gun is, but it doesn't feel important to ask right now. Some variation of a gun, that's enough context for him to work with here. The most important part of it all is the fact that Chloe was unharmed by it anyway.

What Chloe says about Kate is just as easily dismissed. Billy doesn't know Kate. He's only going to extend his concerns to the people he knows-- and even then only truly to the people he actually cares about, like the woman he's walking with right now.

"No," he answers, wincing due to the ache still in his throat as he swallows. "I only witnessed the fire in that house. Was it a more widespread problem before?"

Billy might not be entirely sure where this is going, but he trusts Chloe to not tell him anything unnecessary. He can hear her out while they're on the move.

[desperate_times_right]

One thing that spending most of your days climbing ruins does for you is make it pretty easy to walk fast and talk at the same time. Chloe’s squared up, too, in case anyone is thinking about coming at them for round two.

“I think it was wrapping up right when we got here. On aurora nights, people were seeing these ghosts - I guess - living out the moment of their deaths in a loop. I heard some of them killed each other too. Like this.”

[notarat]

...

Well. That certainly isn't great news. Especially while they're still out here, and while the cover of darkness makes it really hard to tell whether or not there's more threats nearby. Billy's hands move to wrap his coat a little tighter around him, despite his fire powers.

"So what happened to the inhabitants of this place before us was.. this? They were all driven mad into killing each other due to the Darkwalker's influence?"

That thought sure doesn't bode well for them, Chloe! Billy doesn't like it!

[desperate_times_right]

“I don't know.” Chloe shrugs. “Maybe. If they all felt like this, I get it.”

She still feels like she's on the verge of snapping. It's lucky she's not the one with fire powers.

[notarat]

So Chloe is feeling it that intensely, huh. Maybe it's got something to do with her specific power or something, considering Hickey also seemed particularly affected by the darkness that has come over town. And while Billy can't say he isn't feeling it himself, he thinks that the way it mostly seems to manifest as anxiety within him at least means he's not quite as likely to lash out as others.

.. even if his ability definitely complicates matters, since it doesn't really seem to discern specific emotions as much as it just goes by emotional intensity.

"If you are worried about being around me," he starts - not sure if it's really necessary, since Billy feels that if Chloe was worried about that, she just plainly wouldn't be here, but since it's her he feels like he should at least have said it - "please don't be. I have been able to withhold my ability so far, and I will do everything I can to ensure I won't harm you."

It should be fine in short bursts, anyway. Billy has been going out of his way to avoid a lot of social contact this past week or so because he's afraid of his powers activating.. but if his powers can withstand Hickey in short bursts, surely they can withstand Chloe in short bursts too.

[desperate_times_right]

“Yeah,” Chloe says. “If you didn't set that guy trying to strangle you on fire, odds are we’ll be okay.”

Sweet of him to bring it up, though.

“Aren’t you angry?”

If anyone here has a right to be, she thinks, it's Billy.

[notarat]

"Anger does not come easily to me," he explains.

Or that's what it feels like, anyway. Maybe it's why the Darkwalker doesn't have as much influence over him. (The talisman he's carrying is a far bigger reason, but-- Billy is not thinking about it right now, with it stuffed away deep inside his pockets.)

"It never has. It is not as if anyone would listen to me even if I were to get angry." Billy knows the sort of man he is, and it's not the type who can intimidate anyone else. So why get angry if it doesn't help? Why hurt someone if it won't change anything and will only get you into trouble? "Instead I have just felt.."

His words trail off for a moment into the air.

".. just incredibly nervous. Scared, I suppose. I keep feeling as if something awful could happen at any moment in this darkness. To me, to Cornelius-- even to you." Because she's definitely included in the category of people Billy cares about enough to give a shit whether they're alive or dead.

[desperate_times_right]

Even being in Billy’s presence does calm Chloe’s anger a bit - this may also be the effect of his talisman, but she's attributing it to his calm presence.

“I don't blame you. I want to say that it's going to be okay, but I don't know. Everything that I was afraid of is happening.”

[notarat]

Honestly, even if she did say it was going to be okay, he's not really sure if he could believe her. Not under the current circumstances.

"There are far too many similarities to what happened back home," he says. That's what would make it difficult to believe. Especially since some of the officers sure at first tried to act like nothing was happening, as if the rest of them would somehow be blind to it.

Ever since then words like those have always felt false.

"The only difference is that I am not sick." Yet. Who knows what the food situation may do to Billy if it remains this way, especially since he apparently gets sick so easily under those circumstances. "I-- I can't get sick again."

Not with how that ended before.

[desperate_times_right]

That's another promise that Chloe can't make, and won't insult him by doing so.

“As long as we have packaged food, it's going to be different. We know a lot more now about what makes people sick, and how to prevent it.”

[notarat]

"That is what they also thought on the expedition," he says, his voice having dropped to something more quiet.

Billy glances ahead of them. Thankfully his and Hickey's house isn't too far off - they should be safe there, though their walk seems to have been luckily more quiet after that previous encounter.

"Until the cans went bad, against their expectations. A fact that they tried to hide from us. Cornelius happened to find out." Not really so much 'happened' as much as 'Cornelius is a sneaky rat who loves listening in on stuff,' but given how gossipy and nosy Billy himself is, that's one thing he can't really fault the man for. "It was already too late for me at that point."

[desperate_times_right]

Ugh, no wonder he is so ambivalent about the officers, in that case.

“Well, fuck those guys. Here you have other options.”

They might not be great options, or even appealing, but they do exist.

[notarat]

He's quiet for a moment, before adding, a little nervously: "I hope so."

Who's to tell, after all. With how bad the circumstances are getting, anything can happen, and what happened to him during the expedition hangs over him like a dark shadow. All he can do is hang onto the few things he has here that he didn't have back there, and--

Well, she's one of those things.

It's why, when they arrive at his house, and he opens the door, he turns back to her to ask: ".. Would you like something to eat? We don't have much, similarly to everyone else I suppose, but-- I know you need more food than most."

As much as Billy is afraid of dying, he doesn't want her to be on the line either.

"It is the least I could do in return for you protecting me just now."

[desperate_times_right]

The offer hits her like a punch in the gut. After all the talk about starving the runners, and being turned away from the hall at gunpoint; after describing how he himself had suffered while starving, he's still offering some of what he has to her.

“Are you sure?”

[notarat]

Billy slowly nods. It's not like it's the world's easiest decision to him. After all, he has technically withheld food from others back home due to everything they took along with them when they split off from the main group. He wasn't really thinking of the people he left behind.

His desperation to live isn't really different from back then. But maybe he's a little bit more eager to not live alone, now he's got a taste of what it can be like when he lets others in just a little bit.

"I don't imagine one meal will make the difference between life or death for me at this point." His nerves tell him something else.

Billy also knows at this point that his nerves are not always right.

"Besides-- Cornelius is out." And the town is violent. No one has yet broken into the house, but what if they do? What if Rorschach gets any funny ideas?

There's a bit of shyness about him as he admits: "I would.. prefer to not be alone right now, if you do not mind."

[desperate_times_right]

Ah. Okay, that’s something that Chloe can understand well enough, especially with how crazy things are getting.

“Yeah, okay. Let's have a snack and talk about something fun.”

probably a good place to wrap this one!

[notarat]

A little bit of tension seems to seep out of his shoulders when she agrees. There's even a very faint turning up of the corner of his lips. It's not a full on smile, especially considering the situation, but - it's the start of one, like this is the first bit of relief he's felt in quite some time.

"Thank you," he quietly tells her.