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Ivy had slowly calmed down when he had set his hand on her shoulder's and listened, straightening as she sniffled and used her jacket sleeves to dry her face off.
''he treated me as if i was his own daughter..... i wish you could've met my uncle, you would have liked him'' she said.
she paused though once she heard the sound of him ripping up her letter, and started to reach out to stop him but it was already to late by the time she reached out to grab his wrist.
Ivy shifted around to where she was on her knee's and started looking through remains before grabbing a strip of the letter that remained untouched and pulled something that was folded up out of it, holding it close to her heart before stuffing it into her jacket pocket.

Elli observed her and silently wondered if he had made a terrible decision by ripping it. Serves me right for being too bold, he thought, blinking sharply when he realized that he sounded like his mother.
"Was your father... not in the picture?" He asked softly, not expecting a good answer.

---

''technically my uncle was the only one in the picture for a while.... my parents were always busy with work, my uncle was my whole world cause he was the only one there for me....... it was nice that they dropped they're work and started jobs that they could do at home after he passed away but...'' she muttered, growing silent as she looked down and tear's started trickling down her face again.
Ivy sniffled and trembled slightly, scooting closer to Elli before she hugged him and buried her face into his shoulder, just wanting to be close to someone to try and fully calm down.

Elli, surprised at how quickly things had escalated, reassuringly rubbed her shoulder. "It's alright," he said close to her ear, his voice low and soothing. He put a hand on her head and simply let her cry.

---

Ivy pretty much tuned out everything at this point except Elli, since being close to him was the only thing keeping her from breaking down completely emotion-wise.

Dexter soon came silently into the cave and sat Oliver's sleeping form down along with his shotgun, then glanced over at Elli with a questioning look, mostly just confused as to why Ivy was crying out of worry.
he already grew attached to all of them and considered them his friends, even if he didn't want to admit it openly, he just found that the nova and lux teens that he had met reminded him of his old friends in a way.
but he dismissed it and headed for his little safe spot inside the cave to be alone for a bit.

Elli raised a weak hand to greet Dexter as he entered, returning his confused look when he saw Oliver in his arms. Following them was Evie and Oliver and a tall stranger that he had never seen--his eyes were drawn immediately to the person's intimidating weapon, but the way that he held his face with a slight smirk and general laxness eased Elli's worry. He had an entire dead boar, but the fact that the normally cynical Evie was comfortable around the stranger spoke miles in comparison.
He looked down at Ivy to see if she noticed them. The stranger seemed to show concern but Evie simply walked passed them as if she hadn't seen in the first place.
"Quite the shelter you have here," he noted, looking for a place to set the food down.
"Better than the bloodfest out there," Evie replied.

---

''anything is better than a bloodfest Evie, literally anything but that'' Dexter chimed in from his little hidden campsite behind the boulder wall, a small glow radiating from around the accessible side from an old battery operated electric camping lantern he had to give him light.

Ivy had calmed down enough, though still sniffling and hiccuping occasionally, to finally tune back into reality to sit back up and rub her eyes.
''this cave belongs to Dexter...'' she muttered to Orion.

Evie simply rolled her eyes at Dexter, although she was warming up to his ways. In the past, hardly anyone would show any sort of aggression towards her, even just mild sarcasm as Dexter did--perhaps out of fear--but she found that nowadays she was getting more of a social challenge. It was a shame for Evie that she could only find that among people who were just as broken, if not more, as she was.
Orion stood close to Evie, simply because he was most familiar with her, but turned in surprise when he heard Ivy's tear-altered voice. "Oh, I see... is, uh, everything alright with you two?" He asked, looking at Ivy but finding it more comfortable to maintain eye contact with Elli.

---

''mhm.... i explained what my blackmail was to Elli and.... old memories surfaced'' she said.
Ivy got to where she stood up and picked her Sniper up, slinging it over her shoulder as she looked Orion up and down, still somewhat hesitant before she held her hand out towards him for a handshake.
''Ivy Flintlock'' she said simply, keeping her tone flat.

Orion gave her a sympathetic nod and firmly shook her hand. "That's a beautiful name. I'm Orion," he replied, bending down to scoop up his companion. The creature cooed at Ivy and wriggled its legs as a greeting. "And this here is Koji," he said, much more affectionately, with a quick kiss to the moth-cat's head.

---

at the sight of Koji Ivy's eyes, for the first time since they entered this killing game, lit up and she smiled a little, leaning closer as she took in each hand one of his first two paws, giggling a little as she played with the little creature'd paws.
her guard was finally down, seeming to relax in the presence of the strange little moth-cat.
''he's so cute...~'' she cooed, voice soft and affectionate as she gently squished Koji's little face.

the tone of Ivy's voice and the way she talked was what got Dexter's attention, stumbling a bit before he stepped out to look at her, practically staring unintentionally as his dual eyes gained a distant look, reliving a memory that fluttered through his head.
he was almost finished getting changed, having almost had the tank top on his arm's on before he had heard Ivy, and with what light they all had in the cave it was apparent he had the muscles to take even a fully trained soldier out, but what really stood out was the plentiful scar's that littered what skin that was in view.
the scar's that littered him covered almost every inch of his torso, and most of his arm's upper and lower arms, a sign that he had been through a worse hell than the teen's there in that cave would have ever faced.

Elli gingerly reached out and touched the creature's wings. He tore his attention away from Koji and Orion when he realized that Ivy had brightened up, which brought a pleasant smile to his face. Practically anyone's happiness was contagious to him, and seeing Ivy smile for the first time was more than enough to do so.
"I know!" Orion replied brightly.

Evie glanced over her shoulder and noticed Dexter, her attention first drawn to the alarming amount of torso that he was displaying--the scars were no surprise--and then to his facial expression. She opened her mouth to make a remark on how much older he was than Ivy, but stopped and narrowed her eyes in thought. The look in his eyes wasn't lust, nor was it anything that even hinted at romance despite what she thought at first glance. Evie was now far too curious to merely attack him with sarcasm.
She strode closer to him, although cautiously, and cocked her head ever so slightly. "What're you thinking about, Dexter?" Evie asked softly, her question genuine.

---

Ivy continued to baby talk Koji, too focused on the creature to notice anything else at the moment.

Dexter took a little bit to snap out of his thoughts, shaking his head a bit and covering half of his face before looking at Evie.
''um... it's just..'' he muttered trailing off a bit as he looked back at Ivy as his gaze softened, tears beginning to slowly well up in his eyes.
he shook his head again and disappeared back into his little hidden spot as he finished slipping the tank top on.
''she... reminded me of Adriane..... i'm just... reliving the good times.. heh.. Adriane loved animals, enjoyed being free, hanging out in the forest where it was far from war, it was like our little paradise'' he said, rubbing his eyes as he sat down in his literal mound of blankets and pillows.

Dexter rested his hand over the locket as he stared at the ground for a moment, then looked up at Evie.
''it's funny, but it breaks my heart whenever it crosses my mind... i can remember each and every one of my old allies name's like they were all still around'' he said.

Evie was now invested. Curiosity was dangerous, a lesson that she learned from her mother, but she couldn't help but become consumed by it in her daily life. She sat criss-cross by the mound, looking at Dexter and reading his expression when he touched his locket. It didn't take much brainpower to deduce that Adriane had been of romantic interest. "Tell me about them," she suggested lightly.

---

Dexter was silent as he listened to her question, pondering for a moment before he sighed and leaned back, kicking his climbing boots off and nudging them to the side.
''if it wasn't obvious enough... i loved a girl named Adriane Taylor, the locket and star earring i wear belonged to her, and the blood stained M49 i carry was also her's...... at one point she got wounded badly, she couldn't walk.. it's the reason why she... she killed herself, she felt like a burden even with every ounce of reassurance me and everyone gave her that she wasn't'' said, sighing shakily as he looked away a little bit, gripping the locket a bit tighter.
he took a slow shaky breathe and looked back to Evie.

''moving on, there was Crysia.. heh, she didn't trust me all too well considering i was a stranger to her, probably would'a offed me the second my back was turned if it weren't for the fact i was with Adriane.... the moment she found out i was a Lux that was it, she went off on her own with some random girl'' he said, leaning back now as he crossed a leg over his knee and crossed his arm's.
he thought for a moment, thinking back a bit before he continued.
''she did join back up with the group after a while... then we all got air-lifted to the ruins of my old hometown and got separated into groups of two, we all eventually grouped back up in the end'' Dexter said.

''next there was Venom, now he was a bit more understanding.... still cautious but wasn't rash about things, he was more the peace maker of the group i guess? there was also Jade, god she didn't deserve to be in such a hellhole as a survival game... Lyra was another one who, in my opinion reluctantly, was accepted into the group once more.. she caused trouble the first time, but i don't care about her dying as much as i did my friends so... there was also Fox, Justin, and Quinn'' he summed up.

Dexter looked down, now thinking as he laid his head into one of his hands.
''i think i managed to at least send Justin and Quinn back to the Nova territory.. they were the only one's who survived when they were with me...'' he rambled off, trying to remember if anyone actually did survive years ago.

(THIS IS MY BIGGEST POST YET JESUS-)

Evie sat and listened to him in silence with her cheek cupped in her hand. She nodded occasionally, not making much of an effort to conceal her genuine interest. She skimmed his face as he spoke, and while she was paying a majority of her attention to actually listening, she used his exposure of raw emotion to analyze his character. It wasn't a conscious decision; her brain did it by itself, and she merely thought of it as learning more about Dexter. "What about Fox?" She asked in the same light and open voice as before, figuring that mentioning the possibility of his other two friends still being alive was a bit of dangerous territory.

---

''hmm... Fox was an interesting guy, he knew Venom rather well since he kept calling Venom by a nickname... he had shaggy, fox-red hair and sly golden eyes, His thin lips were usually smiling slyly at his target, and his sharp white teeth were usually exposed, He was about my height at the time, just a tiny bit taller, His skin was a bit on the paler side, and at the time he wore a white and black plaid shirt along with ripped jeans... i guess you could've called him somewhat attractive in a way..?'' he rambled off.
Dexter thought for a moment and tilted his head slightly.
''think he had a bit of a thing for me back then....? don't quite remember'' he said with a shrug.

Evie nodded and looked at Eli. She hadn't seen many naturally red-haired people in her days, and he was the only one that she could recall even being allied with. Wonder if he reminds him of Fox, she thought to herself. It was around this point that her people skills had reached their peak; Evie was left not knowing what to say in response. "Seems like a unique group," she commented softly, looking over at Oliver and wondering how long it would be before they should be worried about him.

---

by the time Evie had looked at Oliver he had already stirred awake but was glancing around a bit groggily, rather confused on what had happened, but was ultimately fine.

''oh it was definitely interesting'' Dexter chuckled, soon getting up and stretching a bit.
he knelt down and rummaged through a box that had a faded food brand label on the side, pulling out a small jar of metal polish and held it out to her.
''here, it may not be much considering this is a survival game kinda thing goin' on outside, but it'll be worth having if you make it out alive, i got a ton of this crap so i can spare a jar or two'' he offered.

She looked back at him and gingerly took it in her small hand, curtly nodding in appreciation. There was a slight pause before she added a 'thank you' for good measure; Evie wasn't used to generosity. She knelt down next to Oliver and tapped his shoulder lightly. "Hey, hotshot. How're you?" She figured that food would be good and opened the can before weasling it into his hand.

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