Keep The Light Dim [Open]

[Emmy Robin]

Moving from place to place when the resources ran out had become second nature to everyone. It was like having a new little surprise every few days and it wasn't as bad as the surprise of bumping into a hungry Walker. And even though Rick's group had been here before this was all new to the crew who Emmy had brought and that had combined with the sheriff's. Though Rick and his wife Lori had made it very clear: They wouldn't be staying here long. On the trip back up to the mountains the eldest of the group, Dale, had shared the story of when lives had been lost because a Walker had found its way back to the mountain. A few lives had been lost and ones that left a significant dent on the group in particular Andrea who Dale seemed to favor. This of course wasn't the news that any of the newcomers wanted to hear but what choice did they have but to follow?

Already they had been at the outdoor location for a day and an evening. Nothing of immense value went down other than Andrea having to sneak off to be alone. Of course Dale had followed to tend to her. Emmy wasn't exactly sure what their relationship was but it sure was confusing. Everyone's seemed to be but could anyone really be blamed especially when considering the hand that they had been dealt: The impending apocolypse as it were.

But for today Emmy was determined to have a somewhat normal day. No breakdowns to deal with, no sobbing people to hold, no awful past thoughts, no worries, and most of all no Walkers to shoot at. That would be splendid. And to think, just weeks prior these would have been completely ridiculous things that she would have laughed at if anyone had brought up the possibility of them happening. Just goes to show you...

She had made it through the good part of the day with no event. She kept to herself as best she could but every once in a while someone from her old group would approach her just to talk even though she had made it quite clear that she had given all responsibility to Rick. Even so some people still came to her for advice or just to talk, Emmy was a good, supportive listener. But Rick was the leader and rightfully so. He was the right choice and she knew it. She wasn't made to be the guide. She couldn't handle it. She didn't want to. She didn't want to get attached to any of these people only to have them yanked away. Like Jeremy. Well, that was one failure for the day as once again she found her mind wandering from him to the possible whereabouts of her family. Never a good thing.

Currently she sat at the edge of the stream her toes digging into the tiny pebbles, dirt, and sand. It was a welcome change from the cold warehouse floor. It was nice to have some light. It was just past dinner and there was about an hour left of light to go. Dinners now happened far earlier than Emmy was used to before the Walkers came. The dark was about twenty times more unsafe than the day therefore food being cooked, which made a strong scent, needed to be done with light. Most everyone was winding down with somewhat full bellies, a welcome relief. But not Emmy. No, she needed to think.

Her hands ran over her upper thighs and gave a squeeze. Yep, she could still feel on the outside and luckily it felt a lot better than the inside. There was far too much going on there. Beside her were her green converse sneakers, untied and discarded along with her pokadotted socks. The cool air was a welcomed relief... No matter how short it would last.

**NOTES: This thread is open to any of Rick's and Emmy's group that have combined. It takes place after the explosion and after the warehouse thread (with Carl and Emmy). They're back in the mountains outside of Atlanta which was featured on the show.

This thread isn't necessarily just for one other person, though it could turn into that, it's for whoever deems that there character would be around and up for roleplaying!

[keegan]

Camping was a lot more bearable for Keegan than sitting in that stuffy warehouse. Enclosed spaces had lost all of their appeal since the infection spread- they were death traps. He would rather spend his time outdoors where there was almost always an escape if things got a little too intense. Unfortunately, camping also brought back memories of his childhood. There had been many trips to locations much like the one they were currently inhabiting. Dinner had been a quiet affair for Keegan, his mind had been with his family. He kept remembering his older sister Jennica and her reaction to their last family camping getaway.

“I’m supposed to spend four days without my flat iron?! Are you effing crazy?!!!!”

He wondered where his family was now. Had they made it out of Texas? The last he had heard from them- before cell phones lost service- they had been heading to the nearby air force base. It sounded like it would be a safe place, but after seeing tanks abandoned in the streets of Atlanta, he was not as certain. But he still had hope. As he finished his dinner, he wondered how Jennica was doing without her hair products now. Or if she was even alive to care about her hair.

With a full belly, Keegan turned to head back towards his tent and saw the kids waiting, looking at him with playful expressions. Of course they would want to play a game now that they were relatively satiated. Normally he would not have been found entertaining snotty nosed brats but everyone had to pull their weight nowadays. Still, Keegan wasn’t in the mood to deal with kids and he murmured that it was too dark to play Manhunt and they would have to find another way to pass the time until they went to bed. His ears full of their groans of disappointment, he started walking away towards the stream. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes- maybe the last pack left in the entire state. He had never smoked before the infection. Now it offered a small, cancer inducing getaway.

He shook one out of the pack- a spoil of their last raid- and struck a match, lighting the cigarette. He stepped onto the beach and walked, enjoying the time to himself. As he passed a boulder, a person came into his line of sight. He dropped the cigarette out of surprise and jumped a little. “Shit Emmy, you scared me. I didn’t know you were lurking out here.” She looked as if she had a lot of the same things on her mind as he did, but he didn’t push the matter. He wasn’t sure he felt like talking about his family and he didn’t want to force her to speak about things that were difficult. Instead he smashed the cigarette under his heel and slipped of his shoes to join her, slipping his bare feet into the cool water.

---

notes: Not sure if you still want to do the Texas thing since you have a charrie out there now.
tag: Emmy [RAWR]
word count: 499
colors: Keegan - oo5dac

[Emmy Robin]

Turning her head around from where she sat she just caught Keegan's cigarette dropping to the shore. It burned for a precious few seconds before it died out. Still usable of course, you had to recycle nowadays and make do, but probably not as good as the first long puff that the man had hoped for. Not that Emmy minded. Weed she could handle (not that she partook in it regularly) but as a writer you were kind of surrounded by the stuff. Actors and designers partook in it like it was a damn hobby. Cigarettes? No, Emmy just couldn't understand that.

"Well damn it Kegs, you know me and my lurking. This is my usual hour slot of prime lurking time. Get with the times!" She teased showcasing her wit and sarcasm very easily around Keegan. In a way he reminded her somewhat of Jeremy... No! No. Don't think about that now. Don't think about that ever! In an attempt to divert her attention from such awful thoughts she bent down and in one foul swoop picked up the sizzled out cigarette holding it up between pinched fingers for Keegan to see.

"So let me get this straight: The apocolypse wasn't enough danger in your life so you had to take matters into your own hands?" She phrased dryly with a partially raised brow in commentary. That's something she had always been great at. Dead pan, serious, and very telling facial expressions. Many a time at a pitch meeting her fellow writers had burst out laughing when she chided them for their stupid ideas with just a mere, unamused facial expression and they all would have a good laugh about it. Keegan unfortunately wouldn't have it so easily.

Dropping the cigarette to the ground she watched Keegan smush it beneath his feet. Content with that, though she wouldn't show it, she sat back down dipping her feet back into the pool of water. "When'd you start smoking anyhow? Did I miss it? I miss everything." She let out a sigh not really revealing if she was kidding or not. Her knees rose up slightly and resting her elbows atop them she ran her fair hands through her messy brown hair. God she needed a hair tie which was an ironic thought in itself. Emmy had never been a girly girl: She left that up to her sisters but her admitting she wanted to put her hair up even if only into a ponytail was a big deal: Even if the admittance was to herself.

"So you ditched the rugrats?" Emmy gave him a sideward glance, her brown eyes studying Keegan's expression. "Too bad. They seem to like you." She stated simply before turning back to look at the water and then down at the sand, rocks, and mud near her feet. In a momentary moment of quirkiness she reached out and began to pile some of the clump together in a little lump. "I'm surprised they let you go. They're usually on my back for days." And this was true, the kids seemed to be a fan of Emmy (in particular Sophia and Carl) but the way Emmy presented the thought with ignorance and disinterest wasn't all together true. She actually rather enjoyed playing with them, it was a nice break from all of the seriousness in the world.

Then out of nowhere without looking up she spoke up: "You're set design right?" It was rare that Emmy asked anybody about their past, she never spoke of her own so this was surprising in itself. But also evident was the fact that she never referred to people by their real names: It was either a nickname, their profession (or what it used to be), or where they were from... Rarely did she use full name (with the exception of children and leaders). "That's what you did, right?"

[keegan]

A broad grin broke Keegan’s surprised expression. When people found out his name was Keegan they generally considered it unique enough to merit use. Not Emmy though- she had quickly nicknamed him Kegs. “So sorry,” he laughed “It must have slipped my mind.” He watched her pick up the cigarette and pink rose into his cheeks. “Well you know me. The zombies seem to be taking their time killing me and I got impatient.” The water felt amazing against his aching feet and he leaned back on his hands, staring at the pink twilight.

“Just recently,” he answered. “I always use to swear I would never smoke cigarettes. Especially after my grandfather died of lung cancer. But now-” he gestured around them to the new world in which they were barely surviving. “*Seems a little pointless to worry about something that can kill you in years when there are so many things that can kill you today.*” Keegan glanced in her direction and watched her mess with her hair. Emmy was lucky. The apocalypse had not taken her beauty from her yet. Not many women could pull off grungy survivor look but she could. As she looked back in his direction he averted his eyes.

Keegan knew that he was good with the kids. He was barely more than a kid at heart himself. Still, he found it difficult to deal with them for long periods of time. “Eh, they weren’t very happy about it. I though Carl might throw something at me. I just don’t really like kids. There so young and impressionable and I have no fucking censor button.” He slapped his hand over his mouth and gave Emmy a shocked look. “You see? It just slips out.” Smiling, he gave her a playful shove before returning his attention to the minnows swimming around his feet.

As the conversation turned to his past, the small smile disappeared from his face. “Yeah, I designed and built sets,” he answered. Like many other survivors he was afraid to get close to other people, in case they did not make it. For Keegan, sharing details about your past was the first step to getting close to someone. He scratched his head in thought. “Em- how long do you think we’ll be here?”

---

notes: I'll give you a cookie if you know what this *quote* is paraphrased from
tag: Emmy
word count: 381
colors: Keegan - oo5dac

[Emmy Robin]

"You're worrying me Kegs. You forget little things like that time will only make things work then you'll be of no use to anyone." She rattled off without thinking before blinking and casting her somewhat regretful expression his way. "Not that it would matter, in comparison with Carl and Sophia you can at least lift heavy objects... Including me."

Emmy could easily recall one instance just outside of New York City toward the beginning of their very long travels that Keegan had lifted her up so that she could reach a window in order to break in and get to the front door. Though the memory was vivid that was secretly one of the lower points of this whole adventure Emmy dreaded being picked up, for one it was humiliating and two she had body issues just like any other girl. She didn't need anyone having proof that she was a lard ass let alone for her to accidentally hurt them because they chose to indulge in some 'heavy lifting'.

"Yeah, and you think your grandpa would want you killing yourself *that* way?" Her blunt comment came out before she could even think twice. Suddenly feeling very apologetic over it her face tinted ever so slightly and she momentarily stumbled over her own words. "Oh god. Geeze, I'm really sorry. That came out entirely wrong. I'm sorry. Ugh... You can take the pitch meeting out of the girl but you can't take the bitter assholes out of the girl." Another halt and she backtracked again without even realizing that she had given some hint about her past. "Also came out very wrong..." Emmy murmured before guiding her gaze back out and straight ahead. Anything was better than looking at a human face filled with empathy. Even though Keegan wasn't exactly a cuddly, lets feel better kind of person he wasn't an arrogant asshole and that made Emmy feel somewhat self conscious.

As Keegan managed to joke around Emmy actually found herself in a familiar, comfortable territory: One previously held by her coworkers and even Jeremy. One she had been missing since he had disappeared. Perhaps Keegan could fill that void? But would he want to? Would Emmy want him to? Or did she even notice it? The young woman couldn't help but look back and smile. "Fuck. Shit. Cock. Balls. Good now that *that's* all out in the open.. You're a douchebag." And wouldn't you know it, she gave the man a shove right back.

Following Keegan's gaze she noticed the tiny fish swimming around his feet and seemed to get caught up in thought once more and, in a very uncharacteristic fashion: Shared. "I used to catch these things with my little brother at the lake Upstate. I was the best at it too. Beat all the boys." Emmy prided herself at beating boys which was childish but eh? Who cared when it was the end of the world? Her whole life had become about topping the boys even her career! Perhaps that's why she couldn't form a relationship with any of the survivors friendship or otherwise, not one that she could admit to anyhow. Who knew?

This bafoonery of playing around with Keegan and the memories flooding back was snatched away when he asked that ever constant question. For a long few moments she stilled and actually finally realized how uncomfortable the sand digging into her palms were. Lifting her hands she rested them atop her jean clad legs rubbing her thighs a few times. "People keep asking me that. How the heck would I know? Why doesn't anyone ask Rick? He's the leader now." With a sigh and a slight shift of her posture she found that she couldn't avoid the question. There was this little twinge of guilt within her from not answering that she just couldn't handle.

"Depends. If you mean this campsite? Until Rick decides to up and leave which may be soon with winter coming. This planet? Depends... Gonna keep smoking?" Casting a wry look sideways in Keegan's direction a hint of a sad smirk before she looked back at the water. "That's the answer for you guys... *I'll* be leaving in a day or two."

OOC: I am *definitely* still game to do the travel thing.. Lillian left after the one thread that you read and is in Atlanta so pretty much my characters are switching off, for a little while at least. Are *you* still interested?

Also I DON'T KNOW. But I'm also sleepy... SO GIVE ME A HINT.))