Pandemic Roleplay

Moby found himself even more confused now. This Viola girl must still be fairly naive. But he couldn't exactly blame her. After all, she said she'd only been here a couple weeks. "I—I have my post office," he told her. "Thank you, though. And... Don't offer to give away anything, including shelter. You have to be selfish."

Moby sighed. "Look... Everyone within a ten mile radius is gonna find out about you sooner or later. They'll know you're new here. If you start helping people for no reason, they're gonna take advantage of you. They'll take away everything you have. Trust me..." His eyes became distant for a moment before he sighed again and looked up at Viola.

Moby opened his mouth to answer, but shut it on second thought. She was right. And she looked thin, like she hadn't been very successful in finding food. Not that he was much better off... He crossed his arms, shifting his weight from foot to foot. He couldn't believe he was actually going to do this. Closing his eyes, he said, "I could... I could help you, y'know..."

He thought a moment before nodding. Her offer could certainly be useful, especially if there ever came a time when he was injured badly or got an infection. He'd had a bad one about a year back and he shuddered at the memory. He'd been sure he was going to die. With another nod of agreement, Moby mumbled, "Yeah. Yeah, that sounds good. It's a deal."

"Dinner?" Viola's question took him by surprise. It'd been a while since he'd heard that word spoken. "Um... I have a few packs of Fig Newtons in my backpack..." he offered, rummaging around in his bag and pulling one out. It was a bit squashed and the wrapper had mud on it from being dropped, but Moby was sure the cookies inside were still edible. At least, he hoped they were.

"O-okay..." Moby took a small, uncomfortable step back. He glanced up at the small piece of sky visible through the canopy. It was starting to take on soft shades of orange and pink. It was getting late. Moby cringed as he heard the shouts again, further away this time and muffled, but still enough to spook him.

He glanced behind him in the direction he'd come from, towards the old post office. Moby supposed he'd be leaving it behind now. In a way, he'd miss it. After all, it had served him for over a year. At the same time, maybe the farmhouse would be better. Truthfully, Moby was getting tired of being drenched every time a thunderstorm came through. The farmhouse was likely better shelter, and warmer too. He sighed. "Alright... Let's go..."

Moby followed behind at a distance, ducking and dodging to avoid the branches snapping back into place. His mind wandered as he walked, only half thinking about where he was putting his feet. The past thirty minutes had felt surreal. Meeting another person who didn't want to rob him, agreeing to help them, and now following them back to their "home", presumably to take up residence with them. Moby never thought he'd ever do something like this. It was crazy.

Moby looked around, the eerie silence making him uncomfortable. Everything seemed...dead. He was used to living by the forest, where he could still hear the insects, birds, and frogs that were thriving without the presence of humans. This was just unnatural. He wondered if they'd reached the farmland Viola had told him about. Surely this couldn't be it. All of what Moby had heard of farms had made them out to be lively places full of all sorts of creatures. He figured things were bound to have gone to ruin after the owners had died or abandoned it, but he had expected there to be feral pigs and chickens still rooting around in the grass. Many species seemed to be bouncing back since the pandemic. After all, it had given nature a chance to reclaim the urban areas and there weren't anymore people hunting, fishing, or polluting on a large scale. This just didn't make sense...