eternally confused

The nickname throws him off for a second, but he quickly regains his composure, doing his best to focus on the task at hand. "What do you need me to do?" The question is direct and to the point, it's not that they don't want to make conversation, they'd just prefer to have their attentions on one thing right now. When Ajita asks him how he's doing, he thinks on it for a second, trying to figure out how much he wants to share. "I've been fine. Doing my best to adjust to being here, it's a lot different from being out there, y'know."

Ajita led Hunter into the boiler room. “Oh, hear hear, I get that, it’s been an adjustment. I had plenty of time to charm all of you with my dashing personality, but it took a bit, and clearly I’m out of my game here.” She pointed at the boiler. “If you can take the pressure off at the pump, I’m going to hammer away on the valve, I should have it checked in a few minutes.” They got on the little stool and checked the valve. “Any gossip?” 

Sooyun looked up from her work, setting aside the dried spices she had finished chopping up after retrieving it from outside where it was left to dry beneath the sun's light for a few days. Unable to help but smile at Ajita's enthusiasm, even if it often came with a side of playful annoyance - she understood that a busybody is never too bad to have around, like herself. "Well, you're like luck!" She started with an almost cheerful tone, setting aside some mushrooms that were freshly picked from a certain gatherer's keen eye. "I need those cut up, while I take care of these.." Her nose scrunched slightly at the prickly pear cactuses she had in front of her before starting to get to work since most of them were soft - the others that were not were put to the side to see whether they could ripen later on in the week or not. She used the knife to trim the edges while handling these with great care, making a lengthwise incision that was shallow to avoid the inner flesh. With peeling off the skin, using her fingers to do so and then humming as she continued this routine once more after setting the flesh to the side. "Since we got that fire going outside, I thought we could make some skewers since we have a whole bunch of dandelions to make a big salad with, what do you think? I hope it's something more different that we can enjoy than the fucking usual canned bean soup." She let out a short laugh, glancing over at Ajita's work to see how she's doing so far.

Ajita didn't waste time, they accepted the mushrooms and started cleaning them the way their mother taught them. “Sliced or diced?” they asked, as they worked. There was something nice about being busy, about being useful, if their hands weren't moving, they weren’t doing a lot right. The end of the world wasn't anything odd to Ajita, in a way, their life was similar to what it had once been. They were active, they were working, they were making themself useful. The only difference was that they had no family to fall back on. But that was already, they were making a new family. 

Crouching down to examine the makeshift water distributor, she observed the situation with a thoughtful expression and then glanced at Matevos. "Well.. Pushing up the water pressure might work, but we also need to consider the balance. Too much pressure, and we might end up flooding the area," she mused. "The height of the hose could definitely make a difference, let's try adjusting it a bit higher and see how the water spreads?" As she spoke, Sooyun began to assess the current setup and her hands instinctively reached for the hose. "What if we rig up something to elevate the hose temporarily, like using some sturdy stick from the ground or typing it to a pole? It's not youtube, but we've got our own resourcefulness." She smirked with another glance at him.

Matevos smiled brightly. “Alright, that’s good advice, I’m going to do that right away.” He watched her reach for the hose while he got some sturdy sticks from the shed. This was like playtime, back when he was younger, where he remembered him and friends would be playing in the dirt, trying to create a cool looking ramp for their little hot wheels, using whatever they could find. Though now he was doing it more professionally, and a lot of it was working towards an important goal: yet, the feeling remained. 

Matevos grinned. “Are we missing that though?” he asked. He’d never been a fan of either, but he did like the idea of being useful to people, to run around and offer his help or his skill. In comparison to his life before the outbreak, he was far more capable here. Maybe because most of his skills were practical. And in this new world: who cared about taxes. “That, or I started a fashion trend,” he joked. He smiled happily when she agreed, holding his head high. There was a sense of contentment to his moves, to be with friends, to be able to banter after the world had gone to shits. “Not? Are you holding out for someone?” he asked, because he’d been. His someone was here now though. 

Status: Open

“Right’y’oh, Huntsman, two person job!” Ajita said as Hunter appeared in the hallway. “I need someone of your physical build to get this one working, and as much as I hate to admit it: I cannot do it myself.” They faked a tear, then threw an arm around Hunter’s shoulder, which was hard given they were taller than she was. “Not a lie, by the way, to get you here, I truly need your help because something is wrong in the boiler room and I need at least three hands to keep it from burning me or water from flooding this place.” She smiled. “Also, how have you been?”

꒰ open / outside prison walls.

“This is horrendous,” Ajita commented, as they touched the gun. They weren’t made for this type of thing, and they certainly hadn’t expected being told to use one. They’d come up with plenty of ways to deal with walkers, none of them involving long-ranged weapons like these. Then again, they’d rather use anything but a gun, even a crossbow would be more appropriate. Guns were weapons of war and destruction. 

Annaliese felt that she'd been walking a daze whenever she wasn't working. She'd been taking extra shifts when she was needed and had been on her way to the infirmary when she heard someone call out.

Ajita shrugged. “Hmm, I’d probably just try to screw it back in, maybe see if there is anything rusting,” they answered the question quickly, because they’d been thinking about the exact movements to make when they got up there, even before realising that it wouldn’t be so easy. “Even if they were last replaced before the outbreak, lightbulbs will expire eventually.” 

Matevos hadn’t expected to end up in prison, well, at least not this way. As a criminal in his life before the outbreak, he’d never been worried much, he’d always managed to get out of the worst of it. But this was a good place. No matter how much he’d thought of it as some kind of trap when he got here, it had been three years, and he was happy. Sure, there was something going wrong again now, but he’d lived in places where shit in the fan every six months. It felt like three years was pushing it. But not that that scared him, it hadn’t, very little scared him these days, he’d seen the worst of it all and he was simply happy that he got another year on his life. For a lot of people it was cut short so quickly. 

@whqstarters for: open! where: prison rooftop

Matevos funnily enough ran into a lot of smoking people this past week, he figured it was because of the circumstances, people needed something to blow off steam. And in this case, they literally did. Or well… smoke, not steam, but close enough. 

Ajita nodded. “There is always a way, you’re a smart one,” they stated, not as a compliment, but just as fact. They put a hand under their chin and surveyed the scene once again. They tried to imagine putting a ladder up on a bureau. It might help, or maybe it was still too short. They were old enough that they should reconsider that they could get hurt if they tried it… but they weren’t. Sometimes their ex would joke that Ajita should identify as a boy, because just like stupid boys she got into so many painful situations just because she felt like experimenting. “That could work! Do you think we can borrow a bureau from the library?” she asked. 

Where he’d just made a small gesture, Elspeth sunk into him, and he gladly welcomed them there, hugging them to his chest, his arms embracing them. The warmth of it was so nice, sure, he’d hugged people over the years, he’d found some comfort with others, but none of it sexual, none of it romantic. Because for one he’d been too busy surviving, and he’d been too hung up on the idea that she might still be alive somewhere. In a way, he was like a loyal puppy, he was basically hachiko. 

He gave them an odd look at the mention of secret passages before shrugging. "There's gotta be a way to get it inside. How else would they have changed the lightbulbs? Ladders?" Daniel didn't really want to help, but he felt obligated, and he wasn't exactly hiding it; the 'please' was hard to ignore though, even for him. He sighed and scrunched up his face as he looked up at the light. "There's probably a roll-up door somewhere for machinery or whatever. We can try the receiving dock."

“Jet packs,” Ajita said, with confidence. “Probably they used ladders, though… yeah, the presence of a cherry picker does give it away a bit, there should be an entrance big enough.” And they were willing to find it. Perhaps if they found a way, they could check the other lights as well, just to be sure. They felt like this place could use a good look-after. They’d ran the inn for years, and they’d always made sure everything was up to date. 

Matevos grinned, allowing the shove, almost moving into it and then shrugging. “Yeah, you’re right, smart. I can never turn down getting stuff for other people, I’m like a walking bodega.” He licked his lips abstend-mindedly and gazed out over the field. Then returned looking at her with a frown. “Hmmm, I can’t say my fashion sense has changed much, I think I always dressed in post-apocalypse chic,” he joked. He extended his long legs and turned back to face Shan, letting the mischievous grin take over again. “Because I am great to talk to, I’m an amazing listener, and I get you smokes.” 

Daniel didn't bother with anything that wasn't his problem, but this was, at least somewhat, his problem. "Aw, shit," he commented while looking up at the stray bulb; hopefully there wasn't anything wrong with the outlet itself, and it was just a bad bulb that needed replacing. He then looked from the offending light to the person in front of him— they were one of the new people, it seemed.

“A cherry picker?” Ajita frowned for a moment, then shrugged. “No way we’re getting that inside, right? I’ve not seen doors big enough to host it, or maybe I haven’t been looking right. Any secret entrances and passages I should know about?” It was a prison, but that didn’t mean Ajita was’t going to treat it like the white house. Surely there were things they were yet to find out about the place, and talking to people was the easiest way.