Respect is Earned. Loyalty is Returned.

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The first day of their journey was uneventful. Their scout kept them out of danger, and they hadn't seen anything that looked like it could be promising for hundreds of people to live in when the nuclear reactors melted down. It was too soon to lose hope, but Bryan kept thinking back to the conversation he'd had with Nate before, about if they would ever stop fighting. It didn't look like they would. At least not yet.

Bryan's leg was hurting like crazy after a full day on a horse, but he ignored it as they set up camp for the night. If he was honest, all he wanted to do was crawl in his tent with Nate and sleep wrapped up in his arms, but that wasn't an option yet. The group hadn't gotten much chance to talk amongst themselves before heading out, and he needed to get to know his team better. The Arkers, anyway. Why had they come on this mission, when neither appeared to have been involved in the fighting before? Did they trust him, or were they among the handful who opposed Pike and therefore would oppose him?

Bryan decided to start with Macallan. He seemed less uncomfortable, less nervous, than Thalia. He might be easier to start with. Bryan found him near the fire and sat down next to him, holding in a groan of relief to be off his leg as he stretched it out in front of himself. "Long day," he said in greeting. "How're you holding up?" That sounded like something Pike might say, and even if today was uneventful, that didn't mean the stress of their situation wasn't on everyone's mind. That took it's toll too.

Tag: @macallan

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Macallan wasn't used to this. And ordinarily, he would never volunteer for this kind of mission. But he felt enough was enough. He had to stop hiding behind the walls of Arkadia . . . otherwise, there would be no Arkadia. Not that he believed he held the power to save them all. But he had to at least contribute, somehow. His knowledge of technology, though not as extensive as some of the geniuses among the Arkers, was adequate to man the small machine given to them. He was still familiarizing himself with the group he was assigned with . . . but they all seemed pretty good. Strong. Macallan wasn't exactly a good fighter so it helped that at least two of the members looked like they could handle themselves in a fight. Despite Macallan's tall height in comparison, he would definitely be ducking behind them if a fight came to them. Or an attack. Or ambush.

Damn it! It was night and Macallan was trying to ease his mind, not draw more panic to it! He was currently sitting on a stump of a tree, two sticks in his hand as he hit a rock in front of him, as if the sticks were drumsticks and the rock a drum. His head was bobbing along to the random melody he was trying to create, hearing it in his head. Though not singing it out loud. Music of any kind helped him to calm down. It brought peace to his soul. He was so deep in the zone that he didn't even hear their leader approach until he spoke. Macallan jumped a little, his head jerking toward Bryan as he immediately dropped the sticks . . . as if a child caught doing something he shouldn't be doing. Though he supposed there was no harm in the makeshift drum. Maybe he was just extra jumpy considering he didn't exactly spend a lot of time out in the woods.

"Alright," he answered truthfully. "My butt is sore. From the ride, but I guess that's normal?" He had never ridden a horse before. His ass was sore from the unfamiliarity of the position. "Though that's probably not what you meant . . . " He added, knowing that Bryan could be asking him on a much deeper level how he was holding up. Or, not? "I don't get out much from Arkadia," he admitted with a bit of a sheepish smile. Knowing that there was no good in denying or ignoring that fact. "How are you holding up?" He asked him. The gossip mill told him plenty about Bryan, Pike and farm station. But he didn't know the man personally. And he would much rather do that before pre judging anything.

Tag;; @bryanbryanbryan

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Bryan held a laugh at the way Jay jumped, acting like he'd been caught doing something he shouldn't, but when Jay answered that his butt was sore, Bryan couldn't help but chuckle at that. "I hope it's normal, otherwise we both have a problem," he replied, his voice just a little teasing. He only shrugged when Jay said it probably wasn't what he meant. He hadn't been specific, and intentionally so, and he wasn't going to complain that Jay just got him to laugh, even just a little.

He nodded as Jay said he didn't get out much, then asked how he was holding up. "Good, all things considered," he said, gesturing at his leg. His leg wasn't his only worry. He was worried about the rest of his team trusting him. He was worried about his own emotional state, given they'd had to go on this mission before Pike's body was even cold, and he hadn't had a moment to grieve, to process. Oh yeah, and then there was the possible end of the world to worry about. But he couldn't dump all that on Jay. Leaders didn't do that. "So why now?" he said after a moment, looking back over at Jay. "Why leave Arkadia now?" Staying behind and waiting for others to find them safe place to go would have been easier.

Tag: @macallan