roar

“I wouldn’t say heroic. Brave maybe, and well most of us have to be these days, don’t we? It’s the only way we’re going to survive,” Ema replied. She could tell that the female wasn’t letting her guard down; which while that meant more work for her, made it a task worth suffering through. She’d feel more accomplished in her mission if she actually had to work for it. It also was a good sign; if they had been aware of her presence in the area they would probably want to trick her into believing they would welcome her with open arms, and would lead her into a trap. That didn’t seem like that case with how the girl was acting.

“I was just outside of New York, in Weehawken, New Jersey. Had to walk along the highway to get to New York City, then found my way here. It was a bit of a walk, but luckily you can walk along the high way for the most part. I stayed just inside the woods, although it’s not like you’d see any cars these days anyways,” she replied. “But I’m originally from Florida. Not that you asked for my whole life story,” she replied with a small laugh. “How about you? Have you been here for a while?” she asked, nodding her head towards the hotel.

It was interesting, listening to the perspective of yet another survivor. But she wasn’t from the warehouse, but another settlement farther away. To think of the trek made, all by herself - it was insane to think about. But why New York, of all places? All her group wanted was to keep going north, off the once overpopulated city. Chances were there was enough food, considering how many people had lived there once, but that also meant it was a higher risk of hunters and a possible underlaying virus. To find a place that was free of it all, she wasn’t sure they would ever come across a safe haven. She knew, that one way or another, they would be met with something. She didn’t know what, but there wasn’t ever something as a good life post-outbreak. One did the most they could, but perfection was a bit delusional.

Unlike the stranger, Rowan remained silent about her origins. There was no need to tell detail by detail about her story life. All that mattered right now was that they’d moved from a highly toxic place to this new temporary housing, but even explaining that seemed like the wrong move to do. But after a while Rowan just simply nodded. “Sort of, if you can say that. Not even sure what day is it anymore.”

“Didn’t think you were…but it’s better to stick together these days,’ Ema replied. She knew the girl was going to make a comment about how she could say the same for her, but luckily she had a response already in store for that. She allowed on of her hands to drop to her side, her other hand continuing to rest on the bicep of her other arm as she watched the female before her. 

Ema noticed as she was giving a once over, “No I don’t…I’ve actually been traveling for the passed few days,” she told her, waving a hand at her bruised face. “The place I was staying with a group of people was attacked by some hunters and I managed to fight my way out and made a run for it. This is the first time I’ve run into anyone since then. Are you living in that hotel?” she asked. “That’s actually where I was running to until I crashed into you. Figured I could use it as a hideout until I figured something out. Looks so new, I didn’t think anyone had touched it yet.”

Rowan hesitated for a moment. A glance was given to the structure behind her, it was obvious that out of the rest of the nearby buildings, that it was everyone’s best bet at survival. Though, she hadn’t expected anyone to come barging in a few weeks after they’d settled in. Even if she had wanted to, those on security duty would have second guessed her, just like she was at the moment. 

“Sounds heroic and brave. Where was your settlement, any idea?” The girl wondered if by any chance if was near the warehouse, or maybe the remaining people left by it anyways. She was sure the fire would have attracted quite a whole of them. As for the latter question, Rowan remained silent not too trustworthy of the girl just yet.

Ema kept her hand raised, eyes surveying the female. This was the type of person she was counting on meeting out here, someone who would ask questions first. Of course that didn’t benefit the girl before her, and in fact she imagined it would be the cause of her eventual death. While she was talking, someone would take that as their chance to strike. “You can’t be sure these days,” Ema mumbled out innocently.

She pushed herself up off the ground slowly, her eyes remaining on the brunette although she didn’t imagine she had anything to worry about. Ema wrapped her arms around herself, taking a moment to look around. “It’s not a good idea to be out here on your own,” she said, eyes finally falling back on the girl. 

Giving the fact that she wasn’t one to take the first shot, Ema believed that the girl was either human or Inhuman. Judging by her lack of reaction to her intention to use her powers if she needed to, she assumed that the girl didn’t have any issues with Inhuman’s - obviously not enough to hurt them giving the fact that she was living in a hotel with a bunch of them now. Which meant she may be able to convince her to help her out. 

“I’m not a four year old, but thank you for your concern. I could say the same about you.” There was no one else in the vicinity, no one that she could clearly see anyways. Her best bet was to say the woman was also alone, at least for now. It was odd, to see strays around - usually people would travel in packs. Which is why Rowan was a bit alert, hoping not to come face to face with a mob. 

Her eyes locked in the girl, scanning her from head to toes. For now she seemed innocent, but she knew people always had secrets under their sleeves. “Do you live near? Are there people with you?”. Granted no one knew if the stranger would answer truthfully, but it was worth it to just ask. 

Aida couldn’t help the laugh that escaped her lips when she noticed the reaction her abilities had gotten from the female. She waited for her to take the spear before looking towards the tree. After surveying which way was the best to climb, she hoisted herself up onto the first branch. “When I shout, you might want to look out unless you want to get whacked on top of the head with an apple frozen in ice,” she warned, before continuing to move up the tree. It took her a few minutes, but finally she had reached halfway up the tree, where the hole was located. She straddled the branch to keep herself sturdy before she started to grab out the items, grabbing a handful of frozen food before looking down at the girl below. “Hey,” she said in a shout, quiet enough that only female by the bottom of the tree would hear.

Even with gloves on, the cold crept through them, the spare in her hand not making it any easier to forget the weather that surrounded them. But it was either have something for her to defend herself with or nothing. Rowan watched as the woman climbed up the tree, the wind blew against her face as she tried to visualize the woman’s every move. Her warning made her take a few steps back, the least she needed was for something to land on her head after trying to keep herself alive, how ironic that would be? Rowan hadn’t thought much of it, but to find food in the middle of the winter didn’t seem likely then how in the world did this woman do to stock herself up with it?

“We’re not. I’ve been here for long enough and needed to get out of that hellhole enough times to know where I’m going,” Aida retorted. She finally stopped walking when she reached the tree, she eyed the female before opening up her jacket and digging through a secret compartment of her jacket. She grabbed out the pair of knit gloves that were in there and held them out to her, “I’m about to do something and I need you to remember I’m not the one trying to kill you. So don’t punch me in the god damn face,” she told her before remaking a spear with her free hand. “I have to climb the tree to grab the food. Put the gloves on and use this for protection. The gloves aren’t going to protect you from how cold it is, but a little frost bite never killed anyone. It’s obviously going to melt but hopefully I get up the tree and back down with the food before that happens. It’s better than being empty handed.”

Shaky hands took grasp of the gloves. Almost in a desperate motion, she began placing them on, battling to get each finger inside it all while she trembled. Her hands were rubbed together as she heard the woman’s plan, and nodded in response. But what happened next, she didn’t expect. Wide eyes stared in shock at the spear in her hand, it wasn’t there before. Somehow, she made it appear. Rowan would never really understand how they did it, or how it felt like to be an inhuman, with powers and all. It seemed rather surreal, like things you’d watch at the movies but this was all very real. She couldn’t grasp that now, she was just a mere sub-specie about to fall into extinction, probably. “You - you go do that..”

Aida lifted the girl off the ground with one quick pull of her arm before pulling her hand back and dropping it to her side. They started to walk, and she occasionally glanced over at the other female. She wasn’t sure why she was, maybe she was waiting for her to faint or something. Afterall she had been deprived of food and had been moving around a lot in an attempt to stay safe from the world around her. “I know. I was being sarcastic-…” she replied, but she supposed the girl was too tired to understand it. She scanned the area, trying to find the tree she usually frequented near the pond. “Almost,” she replied, before her eyes finally fell on it, a bare tree with a hole in the trunk about halfway up it. They would have to climb, a job she knew would be up to her. “Over here,” she said, turning in the direction and expecting the girl to follow.

Rowan could feel eyes on her. Every passing second, she could feel her stare and while it wasn’t done in a bad way, she couldn’t help but feel a bit fidgety. The brunette tried her best to appear as if everything was okay. As if she wasn’t in the brink of passing out, as if her head didn’t hurt in the slightest. All she could see were trees, left and right. There was no sign of a refugee, or anything at all. But she didn’t say anything, not because she didn’t want to, but because she was tired. She followed along, wondering for how much they would walk. “For all I know, we could be walking in damn circles..” She muttered out.

Aida knew the girl had a point, hell she didn’t trust ninety nine percent of the people at the warehouse and they weren’t exactly strangers. Still though, she had tried to get the point across to this girl several times that she wasn’t going to hurt her. She wasn’t sure what else she wanted her to do. A sigh passed her lips and she bent down to be at eye level with the female who still sat on the ground, “I don’t have friends, I have one and her mind is a little preoccupied with worrying about other matters than to be involved in any of this. Just because I live there doesn’t mean I agree with everything that goes on, I live there to survive and before you give me any of that ‘you live there you could put a stop to it’ bullshit, just remember that you tagged along with a hunter because you thought it was safe.” Aida stood back up but kept her eyes on the girl, “I’ve had three chances to kill you, but I haven’t and I won’t. If you don’t want to believe that and you want to stay here than fine but you should realize that you were lucky attacking me. Try that on any of the other Inhuman’s and you’ll be dead in seconds. That’s what makes me different than them.”

Rowan searched for any indication of lying. Through her voice, choice of words and expression. But despite eyeing the woman several times, she couldn’t come up with anything that would work against her. It was evident, she wasn’t really into killing her or torturing her. And hell, if she did - then she was very good at lying. But now, at this stage, what was there to lose? Her sanity was already in jeopardy, she was already famished, dirty. “Fine.” The words left her lips, already convinced that yes - it was a bad idea - but what other options did she have? “I hope it stays that way, the no killing I mean.” The brunette muttered, while making an effort to sit down and finally stand up from the cold ground. It wasn’t until then that she realized how weak she felt, she had been driven by adrenaline, by the last bit of energy stored to do anything and she was nearly drained. 

Aida loosened her grip slightly when the girl finally dropped the rock from her hand. “Yeah, but it was more for your sake than mine. Like I said I don’t want to kill you but I will if I have to,” she told her honestly before releasing the girls wrist from her grip and slowly standing up. “I’m going to help you, but that means you have to trust me. There’s some food hidden in a tree not far from here. I’ll bring you to it if you want,” she said.

Rowan was left there, on the ground. The girl have had the guts to let her leave, even if she wouldn’t have done the same. As much as she said that she was going to help her, she couldn’t get her mind to think that she actually would. After being captured, it’d been a series of unfortunate events one that could possibly end in death. “How can I trust a stranger?” She asked, unsure whether to believe her or not. “What if this is a trap and you’ll take me to your friends or something?” Rowan had no problem voicing her thoughts. “What makes you different from the others, why should I trust you?”.

Aida could tell the female had no intentions of letting go of the rock or of her off the ground. So she decided she had to take matters into her own hands - she couldn’t play this girls game anymore. She reached up and grabbed the females wrists and held them in a firm grip before flipping them over, so she was now ontop of the girl. She still held tightly to her wrists, not wanting to give her the chance to use the rock against her. “Drop the rock and I’ll show you. You don’t and I’ll just leave you for dead. I came out here to get the fuck away from people like I usually do and I’m not about to have someone else’s life rest on my conscience,” Aida told her, wondering why she had allowed herself to tell some stranger something so personal.

Hands held her wrists and as much as she tried to resist, she couldn't get herself off the grip. Next she knew, the roles had been reversed, to her dismay. She was now the one at the bottom, being held captive by the weight of the girl in her. The rock had been her only form of defending herself, and she was now forced to let go off it. Hands opened up and left the item roll away from her palm. "Is that what you wanted? What are you going to do now? Are you going to take a chance and kill me or actually help me?" Rowan ranted, the annoyance in her voice was clear. She just hoped this girl unlike her childhood friend, had some sense in her. But unlike, the previous encounter she wouldn't beg, she would take matters into her own hands if she needed to.

A sarcastic laugh passed Aida’s lips at the girls words. “If I wanted to kill you I would have done it a long time ago or did you forget who tried to help you avoid this mess?” she asked, not dropping the spear. She didn’t necessarily need it, but she wouldn’t drop it until she knew she was safe - it was more to let the girl know that she was ready to defend herself if it came to that. Eyebrows raised as the girls hands started to trail her body, she was clearly out of it - and knowing that it was due to lack of food and shelter Aida couldn’t really blame her. “I’ll drop the spear when you drop the rock,” she said, nodding her head towards the object. “I don’t have any other weapons on me,” she told her honestly. She knew the girl wasn’t in a joking mood, how could she be when her life was on the line. Joking was just what Aida did when she was in an uncomfortable situation and didn’t know how to handle it. A frustrated sigh passed her lips as she felt the female press down against her body even harder. Aida finally dropped the spear, and held her hands up infront of the girl to show her she was no longer armed. “I could still hurt you. I don’t need a spear, but I’m not going to and maybe if you trust me - I can help you out.”

Frenzied eyes glanced at the spear and how it left the woman's grasp. She hadn't expected her to drop it so easily, but she did, which was a surprise. Deep in her mind, Rowan battled with herself, debating whether dropping the rock she still had in her grasp or not. The girl below her could be tricking her, and she had to remind herself that she was the vulnerable one. "How will you do that? How will you help me?" She asked, dark eyes focusing on hers. Rowan had no intentions of standing up or leaving the girl just yet, not until she served of some help. She had to understand that this was no stroll through the park, she could genuinely die.