not much for solitude

[Amelia Casselman]

Amelia's sitting by the lake because it's as distant as she can be while still staying relatively safe. She thinks most people come out here just to think. Clear their head. Amelia's here to hide. The diner's too painful right now, too many hurt faces that she could only endure Saturday night because she was intent on keeping everyone away from Mason.

The halfway house is worse than anything. It's home, but it's home because Gus made it that way, he brought her in like Eden brought her to Whisper Hill. ...Who will be its proprietor now that he's gone?

It's too cold down here and she doesn't have enough layers for this, especially so close to the water, but there's no where else.

She just hopes Amarok isn't on the hunt. They've all been beaten down enough already. Pandora's still heavy on Amelia's mind, but at least there's that quiet reminder, a silver lining: Pandora's escaped before. She'll do it again. She'll come back to them. Unlike—

Amelia folds in on herself, arms wrapped around her knees, head hiding.

It's going to be a long, brutal winter.

[ronfiction]

A whistling can be heard coming down the trail to the water front and a jangling of a tool box could be heard as well. Lou was on his way down to start work on an ice fishing hut that he wanted to get finished before it got too cold.

As he came down to the beach he saw the figure at the lake and stopped for a moment. He announced his presence by clearing his thoat, not wanting to sneak up on anyone.

"Sorry mam, I don't mean to disturb you. Did you want to be alone? I can ah..."

Lou said and hitche'd his thumb over his shoulder denoting his willingness to leave if need be.

[Amelia Casselman]

The sound of whistling drifted to her senses long before much else, and was probably the only reason she hadn't bolted to her feet. She pulls her head out of its hiding space and squints at him before recognition passes through her gaze. She knows the name that goes with the face, but it's more secondhand knowledge than anything.

He's unfamiliar enough to her that it drops her back into a state of well-needed normality.

“By all means,” she gestures at the lakefront. “Continue with whatever it is you're...” She frowns at his toolbox. “Doing.”

[ronfiction]

Lou moves over to the removed docks and sets down his tool box. He recognized the woman as one of the townsfolk but so many new folks had moved in and out recently that it was hard for him to keep them all straight. He moved over to where she sat and offered her a hand.

"I don't know if we've met officially. Name's Louis Benniot. Call me Lou."

[Amelia Casselman]

She hesitates for the first time in a long time and it has nothing to do with him, then she shakes herself out of it and smiles, reaching out for his hand. "Amelia Casselman. It's hard getting names to all the faces. But, if people are still staying," you know, after finding out all the crazy horrors and knowing there's still likely more lurking in the shadows, "I think we'll all start getting more comfortable with one another."

Whether they want to or not.

"What're the tools for?"

[ronfiction]

Lou shakes the woman's hand briefly and motions over to some wood that is piled up on the shore.

"Well, winter around these parts is a huge chunk of time. Recently I've been criticized for not having much in the ways of hobbies."

He says and thinks back to a time he was cleaning a gutter and was talking with some of the other townsfolk.

"But, there is a winter activity I want to invest more time in."

Lou explains and then points out to the lake.

"Used to do a lot of Ice fishing back in the day. However, last year I was kinda stuck in the quarantine as it were and so I missed most of the season. This year I'm luck to be... less restricted."

He said and opened up his tool box and picked up a hammer.

"The wood's for an ice fishing hut. It gets cold enough up here for the lake to freeze solid enough for a hut to go out on it. Certainly beat freezing to death out in the wind."

He concludes and looks back over to Amelia.

"Like i said however, I can work on this any old time. You looked like you wanted to be alone. I really don't mean to intrude if you did."

Lou knew that a lot of folks were torn up about recent events. He was upset himself, but he dealt with it by keeping busy. People coped with things differently.