Her ears perked up and her tale began to wag with excitement. Evelyn had always been a social butterfly. She stole one of Rose's pieces with a smile. "So then, what are the other girls here like? Are they all as young as you are?"
Rose shook her head as she saw Evelyn perk up. She countered and stole Evelyn's piece right back, "No, I'm one of the youngest here. A lot of them are either really reallllly old or younger."
"Oh? Are we talking grandma age or�" She asked knowing that younger kids perceive things differently than her. She sighed as she stole another 2 pieces with ease.
"Mmm nope!" Rose responded frowning at the board. She brightened up as she managed to take another 2 peices back, "They're not ancient."
"Well then what's the average age here hm?" She said as she moved across the board and got crowned king.
"25 I think," Rose responded humming. She got one of her pieces to the other side and flipped it over, "At least that's what they tell me."
"Alright so around my age. Good." She nodded as she continued to play, watching them barter back and forth, though her ears stayed high and alert, listening to the chit chat of the other girls.
One of the girls got close and entered the hut. She stopped for a moment looking between the two and spoke to Rose, "She's new right?"
"Yep! Dawn this is my new friend Evelyn!" Rose responded beaming.
(Sorry I was going through some life stuff, I didn't mean to leave ya hangin')
(It's fine!)
Evelyn smiled and waved, and continued her checkers match. She ended up loosing, and got up. "Jeeze, guess you're to good for me!" She said with a laugh.
Rose was beaming and she popped up running over to Dawn. She grabbed Dawn's hand and dragged her back over to Eve, "Eve, Dawn, be friends."
Dawn let out a slight laugh and offered a hand to Evelyn, "Hey there stranger."
She rolled her eyes, and shook Dawn's hand. "Likewise." She said with a smile, her ears flicking off some bugs casually.
Dawn had a grin on as she put her hand in her pocket after the handshake, "You just get here I'm guessing? Who brought you in?"
"Chyrsa." She said with a shrug, leaning on her baseball bat a bit. "But yeah I just got here. Interesting place here."
"Chrysa? Okay," Dawn nodded along and she took a step towards Eve, "It's interesting, but it's home to a lot of us."
"I hope to make it home. Better than where I used to live." She said with a shrug, twirling around her bat. She flinched a bit when Dawn took the step forward. "Sorry, instincts."
Dawn gave Eve a sad nod and slowly reached out to touch Evelyn's shoulder. Moving slowly so Eve could stop her at any moment, "I completely understand. Most girls here do."
She smiled softly as the hand rested on her shoulder. "Thank you. Anyone I should be in close contact with or keep away from?" She asked, surveying the other girls around her.
"No, everyone here is about the same," Dawn responded mirroring her soft smile, "We've all been through trauma and no one gets or stays in if they don't respect the rules."
"And what are those rules?" She asked softly, her smile growing a bit more. Already she was beginning to feel at home here.
"You'll figure them out," Dawn responded with a sly grin, "Trust me. Though I'll tell you the big two, consent matters and never hurt someone who can't fight back."
"Got it, and of course consent. Wish more people would learn those things." She said with an eyeroll and a huff, kicking a rock in annoyance.
"That's exactly why it's a rule," Dawn smiled, "So you said Chrysa brought you in? Do you know if she's still around?"
"Maybe. I saw her walk off somewhere. I wasn't really paying attention. Someone gave her false information and I guess she wandered off to go deal with it." She shrugged.
Dawn nodded a tight frown appeared on her lips, "Got it. She probably went back to her base on the other side of the city."
She shrugged. "Probably. So then. What's there to do around here anyways?" She asked curiously.
"Cook, clean, build," Dawn shrugged as well, "Play games, get info, kick some guys asses if need be."
"So usual kick assery. Cool." She smiled and nodded a bit, observing the other girls with care.
Dawn nodded and smiled, "Yep. So what did you get away from?"
