kindredqz

well ain’t that a bitch. he scrunches his face and looks somewhere out in the distance to hide his disappointment. he understands, with that many infected so close to the perimeter, fire was really the only way to get rid of them, but damn - each trap takes hours to make. “i think i might still walk around there, see if there’s anything i can salvage.” he’ll push it back to another time, though, like next month. “thank you. were you part of the group that had to get rid of them? can’t be easy dealing with that.”

"you're probably going to need clearance for that." he shrugged, trying to make light of the situation as best he could. the mention of the ones that passed soured his mood, but there was nothing he could do to change the outcome so he tried to play it off best he could. "i was. another day at work, i guess." another seemingly forced shrug as he looked at him. "it's a day by day thing, i suppose it's easier for others to cope." that was true, his officer buddies had already basically forgotten the whole thing; but he hasn't. the night terrors still haunt him but he'd never let anyone know that out of fear they'd think he wasn't up for the job. "but if you want to go look at your traps i can go with, for protection." leon chuckled, the guy looked like he didn't need his protection but the offer was there nonetheless.

"you're probably going to need clearance for that." he shrugged, trying to make light of the situation as best he could. the mention of the ones that passed soured his mood, but there was nothing he could do to change the outcome so he tried to play it off best he could. "i was. another day at work, i guess." another seemingly forced shrug as he looked at him. "it's a day by day thing, i suppose it's easier for others to cope." that was true, his officer buddies had already basically forgotten the whole thing; but he hasn't. the night terrors still haunt him but he'd never let anyone know that out of fear they'd think he wasn't up for the job. "but if you want to go look at your traps i can go with, for protection." leon chuckled, the guy looked like he didn't need his protection but the offer was there nonetheless.

closed starter for @endureqz / location: front gates by its very definition, lux was a wanderer. even in the qz, she took spells away, sometimes just for days, other times for months, but this time? a year and a few months. it wasn't that she didn't like her time in the qz, it was just she was always taught to keep moving forward. the qz had become her home base, but when she got the urge to go, she did. however, this time, she left for another reason. her and theo. they'd been together for years. even to the point where they lived together. but, lux wanted more. she loved him, loved him so much it could be pain her, but theo wasn't capable of giving her what she wanted. or at least, he didn't want to give her what she wanted. whatever the case was, the heartbreak was too much to bare. after their very long and emotional conversation, she took off in the middle of the night. she grabbed only the things she could carry on her back and slipped out of the gates, not to be seen again. she told nobody, she said nothing, she just ran. she felt guilty about leaving her friends, her home behind, but she couldn't be there anymore. couldn't see him, couldn't feel the millions of things she knew she was going to.

theo was doing what he did best— talking. he was chatting up some fedra officers about what the last month was like, trying his best not to start an argument but strongly disagreeing at most of what they were saying. just as he was about to really piss them off, he glanced over to see someone that looked oddly familiar. it took him off guard, assuming that he was just seeing her in someone she wasn't, and turned around. he couldn't help but look again, and again, just in hopes that it really was lux. he had a lot of history with her, and a lot he needed to get off of his chest. more or less he was hurt, and looking for answers. staring off into the crowd his eyes stuck on her as soon as another walked away. 'oh my god.' he thought to himself, immediately void of any conversation and making his way to her. "lux?!" he yelled out, picking up his pace to catch her. "where have you been?!" his tone was angrier than usual, and face stern.

location :  theo's  place  ✧  @endureqz

with life at the qz finally going back to normal, if that's what they'd call it, theo was becoming overwhelmed with all of the gun orders. since the famine made everyone freak out, fedra demanded more weapons be made to uphold against the next disaster that could potentially come their way. what better way to unwind then to hang out with love, so he sent a message for her in hopes she'd see him.

It had happened. Again. Waking up in the middle to check on her gran and her being no where in sight. So once more, there the blonde was in the middle of the street frantically searching for the confused woman. "Grandma", the girl called out in a hushed tone, that was when she was spotted. With a sigh, she turned to the familiar officer with puppy dog eyes. "No please", she spoke louder. "Don't write me up. It's just my grandma. She gets confused and leaves our apartment sometimes. I'm trying to find her."

there she was. the girl leon had been keeping an extra eye on for a few weeks now. she wasn't in trouble or anything, he just liked to watch her sometimes go about her day. he didn't ever go out of his way to try to talk to her, he was always too nervous. his fellow fedra officers call it a crush, but leon wouldn't admit that to anyone, not even himself. as he walked closer to her, he heard her words and his eyes softened at the state of her. "grandma? what's going on with your grandma?" racking his brain, he tried to think of a solution to make her feel better. "i won't write you up— we can go and look for her." he looked down to her, with an eyebrow raised. "is that okay?"

as she trailed behind him, doubling her pace every now and then to keep up, a smile spread on her face as they reached their destination. it didn't dawn on her how fast he was, until she was panting trying to catch her breath. "you could've at least said 'go'." she teased, grabbing onto the ladder. once she reached the top, she stared around in awe. it was quiet, and the view of the qz was actually beautiful from this view. she'd been on many rooftops, but this one she must've missed. "it's so peaceful up here. you've been hiding this from me!" pulling out the gift from her pocket, she continued with a smirk on her face. "the perfect place for the perfect smoke. you have a lighter though, right?" turning to him, anticipating he wouldn't disappoint.

"absolutely!" kourt shot up from her seat, taking a quick bite before throwing her food back on the table. it'd been so long since she actually did anything, she was eager enough to see what the night would bring. "what are you thinking? whiskey? vodka?" she winced slightly at the v word. "oh god— anything but that." a chuckle escaped her as she followed behind the girl, eager to get to her rooftop of paradise. "yanno, i wouldn't have thought my day would go like this." a light shrug to signify her doubt, she continued. "i mean— i thought i'd just have to go home and wallow in self pity."

maya let out a sigh of relief. leon didn't have a presence that made her nervous, just the looming thought of getting in trouble always made her be on her best behavior. "no, i know, it wasn't anybody's fault, i didn't want fox to have to clean up the mess in the morning by herself. i was just trying to help, that's all." she explained, tucking her hair behind her ears. "right, i won't make a habit of it, i really do try not to. after everything that happened...we gotta be extra cautious." maya often still thought of the loss of the three, how she'd just seen them days prior and now she'd never see them again. her being an already paranoid person was only magnified by the incidents.

"you're so kind." leon smiled at her, it was nice to know not everyone in the qz only thought about themselves. she stayed out past curfew just to help out another worker, he admired that and made a mental note of it. "i'll remember that next time i see you sneaking around." he joked as he glanced around, making sure there wasn't anyone else lurking in the meantime. thinking of the ones that passed sent a chill down his spine. "exactly." he muttered before adjusting himself, showing his discomfort. "not only that, but not everyone is nice like you— if they see you out here alone there's no telling what might happen." shaking his head at the thought, he tried to rebuttle to not scare her. "i mean— i'm sure you can take care of yourself but..." he trailed off, hoping not to offend her anymore that he might have.

Khari was glad for the attention shift toward her companion, it took eyes off of her and what she would eventually have to say aloud. A large grin reaches her face as Kourt praises Pres, who is soaking up every inch of affection he could get. "He's the best," she admits freely. Her face warms when her sister thanks the animal, she knew why. "Good, I need any help I can get," she lets out a gentle laugh. Always on the quieter side. "Um, I don't know. They gave me these," she pauses as she reaches into her bag, fumbling for the stack of papers she'd shoved inside. "It's... It's confusing," she then offers the papers to Kourt and begins to bite at the skin around her nails in idle.

taking the paper, she scanned it to see where her sister would call home. it was still all so shocking, there she was and she had a dog?! too much to process all at once. kourt tried to keep her composure, as she knew this would be something to take on day by day. she just had so many questions and concerns about where she'd been, she felt like she could just blurt them all out at once to get it over with. once she saw the building number, a wide grin spread on her face. "oh my god, you're in my building!" she squealed. "you're like.... two doors down from me." with the good news, she grabbed her sister by the hand and began to tug. "let's get you settled in and then i can show you my favorite place?"

"But what if something happens to you? Then I would be stuck out there all by myself."

"nothing is going to happen! you're freaking out for nothing. it's not even that bad out there, just a few infected here and there but it's not that bad. it'll be fun!"

"because i just asked you to hand me the knife, and the knife still is not in my hand. i'm gonna cut that life short if i have to ask you again."

"you're so snippy, here." theo laughed, placing the knife in her hand. "a princess in a gremlin kind of world. or are you a gremlin in a princess world? plot twist!"

closed starter for leon ( @endureqz​ )

leon was talking to a fellow officer when he heard atreus call out to them. he quickly scanned to see who he was speaking to before figuring out it was actually him and turned to look. "what's up?" a welcoming smile formed while he gave him his full attention. he tried his best to tend to every resident the best he could, even if it was just with a helpful hand; that's what he believed fedra was about. hearing his question made him wince a little. he was apart of the group that had to extract them from the area and he was still working through that burden. clearing his throat, he gave a nonchalant shrug to hide his memories. "uh— i think it's clear, yeah." he looked to him. "your traps? probably burnt up, to be honest. we had to torch the whole area."

"uh—how do you know?" theo couldn't believe it— he wouldn't believe it. there was no way in his mind that this was possible, not in these conditions. everytime she said the word, his mind went deeper into the depths of fear but he tried his best not to show it. he was shocked, that was written all over his face, but he didn't want her to see how scared he was. all he could do was sit on this information and do what he'd seen others do on tv; be there for her. "so what do we do now? i mean, what do you want to do i guess is the right question to ask?" he glanced over to her, scared to look into her eyes and see that she's telling the truth. "i don't know how to go about this..... what do i do?"

"I-I've spent my whole life behind the walls really. I've never even seen the infected in real life. Really, I'm not sure I'd be of much help."

"better reason to get out of them! see what's beyond the wall. plus— i'll be there and i'm a damn good shot. you're in good hands, c'mon."