Nightfall, Children of the Elements Part 1

A young girl opened the barricades, staring wide-eyed at Suzume and Manda. She quickly slammed them shut, running off. A few minutes passed, and the barricades opened again, and Isaac was standing there. His lip twitched upward for a second. "Morning, ladies. Come on in." he said, stepping aside.

"Who was the girl that slammed the door?" Manda asked as she walked inside.

Isaac chuckled. "Her name is Amanda. She's only seven." he said, glancing back. Amanda was hiding behind a desk, peeking out at the girls. She got up and ran away a few seconds later. Isaac laughed again. "She's really shy." he explained.

"Amanda... that's like my name!" Manda chirped. "Hope we can be friends..."

Josephine hadn't slept well, or at all, really. Her light had been flickering on and off all night, keeping her awake. It was probably a good thing, Daniel might have tried to slit her throat while she was sleeping or something.

Isaac chuckled. "Maybe. If she gets used to you, she'll love you." he said, watching the little girl run off. "If you bring her something sweet you'll be her best friend." he whispered, smiling slightly.

"Got it." Manda nodded. "Um, where's Mr. Acu-Acu..."

"Aculeus," Suzume finished for Manda.

"That guy," Manda nodded. "He invited us to tea."

"Last I saw him, he was in his room with that little ginger chick. She ran off though, so I'm sure he followed her." Isaac explained. He shrugged. "No clue where that would be though." he said.
He turned his gaze to Sparrow, raising an eyebrow. She sounded irritated. He thought about saying something, but figured that holding his tongue would be a better option. "If you two want anything to eat, the food's all on the second floor. It has 'food' scrawled on it, so it's difficult to miss. You're welcome to help yourselves."

"Thank you Mr. Isaac." Manda nodded.

"What the hell are you looking at?" Suzume asked him, folding her arms over her chest. Just in case.

Shantak flew above Manda and Suzume, circled around them a few times, and did it's business (barely missing Suzume) before flying back to Kari and landing on his head. Kari slowed down to a walk when he saw the barricade and the people around it.

"Waah!" Manda yelled, moving out of the danger zone.

Isaac smiled at Manda. "You're welcome." he wanted to say something else, but was taken aback by Sparrow's outburst. "I uh," he said, stepping backwards.
"I..." he didn't know what to say. "Nothing. You just looked irritated is all." he said quietly. She was pretty intimidating. "Just...Come on in. Get something to eat or whatever."
Isaac was avoiding eye contact with her now, though he jumped a little when a yellow bird flew over the girl's heads. "The hell is that...?" he muttered

"A bird," Suzume said, not amused by the bird, or by Isaac.

"Who's it it, though?" Manda questioned.

"Don't know. Don't care. Doesn't matter." Was Suzume's answer.

"Oh...hey, don't worry about it." Jim said, after the girl ran into him. "Are you ok." He asked, concerned.

That's when Aculeus showed up, and introduced himself. "Um, hey, I'm Jim." He said, shaking the guy's hand. "She with you?" He asked, reffering to the girl.

Isaac stared blankly at Sparrow, then quickly averted his eyes. "Sparrow's right. Doesn't matter. Come on in." he said, pulling the barricades shut behind them.


Sam shook her head furiously. "No. Not with him." she said, trying to hide behind Jim. She was still flustered over what Isaac had said, which Aculeus had apparently misinterpreted. "Go away please..." she said quietly to Aculeus.

Kari walked up to the barricade, pouting. "Too slow..."

Ray roamed the hallways with a roll of bread sticking out of her mouth, writing in her notepad as she walked.

Manda decided to follow Isaac, deciding that it would lead to food.

And of course,Suzume followed Manda.

Isaac led the two up to the food storage room. He walked through, checking what was there, mainly to take inventory rather than to look for something to eat. "There's not much, some canned food and MREs we scavenged, and there's also some pickled stuff we made in the spring. Like I said, help yourself." he took a seat against the wall, opening up an MRE and pouring water into the heating pouches. He propped it up against the wall, and pulled open a package of pears. It wasn't the greatest tasting thing he'd ever had, but at least it was food, and it was filling. He found himself looking at Manda often, and continually forced himself to look away. She's pretty cute...

"Don't even think about it," Suzume warned Isaac after his fifth or sixth look at Manda.