"Survival Instincts," Lucas Answers. "Passed Down From Our Ancestors To Help Us Live On Through The Ages

where: colony house when: Halloween night whom: @horrorismx Erin

Adrien is flush with adrenaline and some alcohol too. He finds a quieter area of the house to catch his breath and chug some water.

He almost jumps in surprise but then grins when he finds Erin being chill.

"Hey! I was wondering if I'd see you tonight. How's the fan working out for you?"

He slumps on the couch next to her, smiling like an excited though sleepy puppy.

— Mary Kate Teske

— Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment

Lucas raises his hands and takes a step back.

"Okay, fine. Is there anyone else you can think of that would take advantage of the storm to pilfer booze?"

He decides giving her the benefit of the doubt is better than strong arming his way in. Everyone is still on edge since the storm.

" LUC, YOU CAN'T JUST GO AROUND GOING THROUGH A LADY'S THINGS !" cherry replies brows raised as her jaw drops in what's mostly a show . " that's an invasion of privacy !" her brow arches as she points a finger his way . " and i'm pretty sure you read a warrant for that ."

Lucas nods, though he doesn't quite understand what he's saying. He does understand the emotions, though. They're feelings a lot of people here feel.

"They didn't leave a body," he explains. "Just a blood trail that disappeared into the woods. I didn't... get to say goodbye."

His breath hitches as he cries. Everything that's happened in the last few days has just opened old scars he was sure had healed.

Hollis watched Lucas silently, glancing down as the bouquet was placed. His fingers twitch at his sides.

"No," he answers, the word barely audible. He shifts awkwardly, unsure if he should say more, but, choosing not to feels like denying their existence.

"I mean...not here." His gaze dfits to the empty space beside the grave, trying not to dwell. "Not...here, exactly. But close."

Lucas nods and places a handbon Mara's shoulder, gently guiding her away from the loud part of the party and toward the stairs.

"So, when do you think you'll be convinced to actually dress up for this?"

He asks it teasingly, not wanting to hurt her feelings, though he doubts he can, at least about this.

she was grateful lucas knew that she wouldn't understand the reference, but even with his explanation, she was still lost. sometimes she hated how little she knew about the world outside of this place. what was it like to watch tv and movies? "oh, okay," she says simply because she doesn't know what else to say to him.

when he offers to take her somewhere quiet, she nods enthusiastically, wanting nothing more than to get away from this party. "yes please."

He's nursing a barely healed sprained ankle, his town is basically in shambles, his ex/friend is going through an emotional collapse and trying to hide it, his friends are struggling to lead this town of scared people, and all Lucas wants to do is curl up onto his bed and cry. So...

"As good as can be expected," he says, trying to keep his tone as neutral as possible. "Lots of things to do and people to help. How about you? How's the non-dead side of the infirmary?"

"right," carrying out the syllables a little too long, erin sent lucas a grin and tightened her grip on the rather large branch. on three, she pulled and kept pulling until it was back out of the way where it needed to be. dropping it onto the rather large pile of branches and debris from the storm, she sighed and wiped her hands on her worn jeans. "how are you holding up?" she normally wasn't one to make conversation but it seemed right to ask him now that he had helped her.

Lucas looks up and smiles at Ana, which quickly turns to a grimace at the mention of Cameron. Lucas has heard all about that rocky relationship, and he knows even making sure the town is okay isn't enough to fully distract from that.

"At least she's still here. Not everyone got so lucky. We found Kina and... yeah, I'm gonna check up on Rae later."

He looks back down at the supplies.

"We're okay for now. I just don't know how best to ration anything in case something like this happens again. Is it too much to ask for a semi-truck full of survival supplies to come into town?"

He gives a weak chuckle at the old joke they've shared probably a hundred times in the years since he became a sheriff.

The sky feels too bright for what last night was. It shouldn’t be this quiet, this deceptively calm. Anastasia pulls her coat tighter, as if that could keep out the weight of exhaustion. Her hands still smell faintly of rain and the damp clothes she sorted, her mind circling back to Cameron more times than she’d like. She finds Lucas by the sheriff’s post, bent over a table littered with supplies—medical kits, rope, lantern oil. Seeing his familiar face pulls a tired smirk from her, brief and fleeting. “Hey,” she says, stepping up beside him. She breathes out slowly, "I just came from Colony House." Her words are low but steady, like it’s a confession that only Lucas can hear. "Saw Cameron." She waits a beat, rubbing a hand over her face as the memory settles like stones in her gut. "It went... like it always does." Her voice softens, brushing against old wounds. "She’s holding it together. But she's fine, thankfully." The silence between her and Lucas is easy, a quiet understanding built over years of shared burdens. She glances down at the supplies, her gaze flickering across the bottles and bandages with the detached focus of someone always on edge. “How bad is it? I know we lost some people... How're we on supplies?” she asks finally, her voice edged with exhaustion. @patroclusblossom

where: colony house | when: utp | whom: @rcmpcrt Marley

Adrien is just wandering through the Colony House. Officially, he's looking for anything that might need some fixing. Unofficially, he's just looking for something to pass the time with.

He wanders into a room and pauses in surprise to see someone already inside.

"Oh, sorry," he says with a sheepish smile. "Didn't mean to interrupt... huh, what's that you're working on?"

"Ah." Adrien deflates a little though it's understandable. No real point to a phone without service. He shakes his head and smiles again. "Well, I'm sure we can find some good stuff from it, not just the battery. Thanks."

He takes it over to El's desk, certain that they already know of some use for the parts or can give Adrien some ideas on what he could do with it.

He turns back to Charlie. "Is there anything else I can help you with? I'm really only supposed to be cleaning up but I'm sure El and Noah won't mind me helping you out."

Honestly, he really just wants people to talk to. He's spent so much of his life not getting close to people, but now he kind of has no choice because he can't just not be a part of the community.

charlie walked inside the shop and glanced around. she knew it was useless to fix the phone, there was no point, there was no service here, no internet. it was just a broke brick at this point. it was weird, she spent so much of her time on her phone back home and now it was nothing. "well, i threw it at a tree so i don't think it's really worth fixing even if we had service here. but you might be able to use the battery or something. i don't really know. just thought it was better than going in the trash."