Knights In Shining Armour (Invite)

Aurelia had enough of traipsing through the blazing heat of the day with this goddam costume on, but the bad thing was that she had no other clothes that she could change into. Already she had ripped off the bottom of her dress so it no longer trailed on the floor, but came up to her knees instead. Of course that had gotten on the other girls nerves.

There was something that was bothering them and she thought that she knew what it was.

A while back they had come across another group, and, quite by accident Aurelia had decided to get involved with one of the male members that Chloe had a rather large crush on. Chloe was the sweetest girl you could have ever met and Aurelia wouldn't have done what she did if she had known her feelings.

Now she was upset, depressed because 'Aurelia always got all the boys, no matter how hard she tried...' it made her want to roll her eyes but...it was true. It must have been hard on the rest of the guys. Evangeline had no hope in hell of getting a man, the way she looked, and Luna was muted since the incident. Chloe was sweet but, most men didn't do 'sweet' in situations like this. 'Sweet' was a liability.

Aurelia turned her thoughts away from her annoyances and looked out into the woods ahead, for a moment she thought that she could hear people! Oh thank god people! Someone different from the people from the enactment society that she had been lumped with.

"Guys there seems to be other people up there!" she stated with a happy grin "Should we go and check it out?"

Without waiting for a reply, she went on ahead, to check it out anyway.

Chloe was walking slightly behind Aurelia with Evangeline and Luna, all of them were enjoying the companiable silence that was falling between them. Evangeline wasn't much of a talker and Luna certainly didn't, she hadn't uttered a word since they had left the camp site all those months ago and she was beginning to worry about her friend.

Every time she went to get her to speak it just...didn't happen. Chloe could see that Luna was trying but it seemed that her voice was just, just gone!

Of course Aurelia wasn't too worried about it, but then again she wasn't too worried about anything that didn't have something to do with men or sex or looting or...or something that wasn't really important in the end of things. The three girls had bonded well, apart from Aurelia, but Chloe didn't want her going off on her own that would just be cruel.

Sighing lightly when she heard there was a group up ahead, she wiped at her forehead, she was carrying her rather heavy blacksmithing outfit and her equipment she could move around with, although it wasn't as heavy as the others burdens it still wasn't the best to lug around on such a hot day in Atlanta;

"Alright, lets go and see what's what." she stated with a small sigh "I can't wait to sit down and get this bloody thing off me. I feel like I'm being microwaved."

Swiftly, she caught up to Aurelia and they broke out into a small tented area in what looked like an abandoned quarry. Immediately people were screaming for their leaders that there were strange people in their camp, raising an eyebrow, Chloe pouted softly. Did they really need to scream? It wasn't like they were zombies.

"Whoa hey hey!" she pleaded "We don't want any trouble we just wanted a place to sit down and rest for a few hours."

Evangeline was firmly on Chloe's side in the whole 'disliking Aurelia' department, to be honest she had always thought that the bitch was a little bit up herself but of course she hadn't said anything. Saying nothing was her best feature, well, Luna was joining her in that department. She felt bad that Chloe had nobody really to converse with apart from Aurelia, and perhaps she should try and speak up a little bit more to help her out?

She must be getting pretty lonely, even more lonely than she already was when the whole thing had started to go down.

Silently she stood by her two friends as they wandered closer to the group that Aurelia had spotted, hopefully there would not be a repeat of the last time they had gotten together with another group. Aurelia had spent the whole time flirting and sleeping with every male who would entertain the idea, which included ones who were married.

Rolling her eyes even at the thought, she muttered;

"Sounds good."

Her armour was thick and very well decorated, although it was roasting her alive in this heat, it was a good job that she was used to living in climates like this, otherwise she would have no chance of staying in her armour. Despite it being highly useful in walker fights.

Stabbing her sword into the ground to show she wasn't trying to be threatening, because she knew out of all of the people it would be her they were worried about, Evangeline held up her open palms and waited for this big 'boss guy' to get here.

Luna, was merely watching and thinking about everything that was happening like she had done since she had joined the group when they broke away from the camp. All of the ladies were nice, but two were nicer than one. She thought that she would much rather it if Aurelia had stayed with the other group, she didn't like her much, despite her few moments of kindness she was often very selfish and gave her less food, simply because she wouldn't and couldn't speak out against it.

On many occasions the other girls were there to stick up for her, but no, not all of the time. Biting her lip softly as she heard that there were others up ahead, she couldn't help but get her hopes up a little bit. Would they be able to stay with the group this time? She did hope so, Luna was getting tired of moving around and not having a place to call home.

It was nice to meet and listen to new people.

Even if she couldn't speak to them.

The people were running to and fro and the panic at them arriving here was not doing anything for her, her breathing was already getting more rapid and she clung to the waist of Evangeline, not caring that her suit was boiling hot she just needed the comfort that the other woman provided. She wasn't even sure why she was so attached to her but...but she was.

The gentle hand on her head made her relax and her breathing calm slightly, but still, there was no doubt she was having a panic attack, again.

Shane had been working on the barbeque, frying up some of the frozen steaks that Rick and the others had thoughtfully brought back from their trip into the town's outskirts. It had been about a week since Rick had first arrived at Atlanta and helped the scavenger group get back to the quarry. Shane had been worried his friend would have harboured some resentment over Lori's death, back home, but by the time he reached the camp a lot of the sparkles that had made Rick a bit too much of a Good Cop were gone.

Was it wrong of him to be unable to think of that as a bad thing?

As he was just about to turn the steaks over a loud cry rang out from some of the hangers on that he had never bothered to learn the name of. He immediately closed the lid of the barbeque at the same time as picking up his shotgun. Rushing from the RV where the food was cooking, Shane grabbed some shells from the box of them that Carl helpfully held up for his convenience as he rushed by to the point of contact.

Ever since Rick had gotten back they'd started the boy on skills he would need even more than Shane already had been doing.

Reaching the edge of the camp, he aimed his shotgun at... four incredibly strangely dressed women. Some of them were even wearing armour for god's sake! Not body armour like he'd worn as a police officer but metallic armour. Shaking his head, he only lowered the shotgun's sights slightly,

"Why are you out here?" he asked them with a frown, "What do you want from us... food? Water?"

Rick had changed a lot since before he had been shot and ended up in the coma that had probably saved him from becoming Walker-bait like so many other people had been in his sleepy little home town. As soon as he had woken up and seen the state that the world was in he knew that he had to get home, to try and find his wife and son. But arriving home there had been no sign of his son anywhere.

His wife on the other hand... he had found dead in the corridor in a mass of blood and guts, a gunshot through the centre of her forehead.

Of course he had wept. He had sobbed and he had cried for the wife he had always promised to protect and failed. It had taken him a long time to pull himself together enough to notice that his police issue revolver was on the table, a box of bullets by it and a note from his partner Shane. Shane had taken Carl to Atlanta, hoping to find safety there.

The rest, as they say, was history.

He had arrived in Atlanta, saved the group in the department store after they had saved him from a death inside a tank, and made it back to their base camp to be reunited with his best friend and his beloved son. But he was very much a changed man. There was darkness in him now that hadn't been there before and it wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. He came up next to Shane to confront the new group, his revolver held casually at his side,

"I think they really do just want to rest for a bit Shane." he told his friend, "I mean look at what they're wearing... not exactly summer wear."

Daryl Dixon was a man who paid his debts off as quick as he could, not liking the feeling of anyone having something hanging over him. By saving Merle and the others from Atlanta (mainly Merle), Rick Grimes had gotten himself a staunch supporter in the form of Daryl. Saving his older brother and proceeding to help kick the group's ass into shape? Yeah that was going to get Daryl on your side that was for damned sure.

Right now the leadership of the group seemed to be moving from Shane to Rick, with Rick being able to see to the needs of the group as a whole and make the tough decisions better. It was a surprisingly smooth transition; apparently Shane never liked being in command of anything more than one or two people.

Merle had accepted the leadership but he still mumbled about how it would be better if it was just Daryl and him again.

The group of strangely dressed women had been something that both he and Merle had noticed when they were out hunting for the group and they had proceeded to trail to the main camp. It was a strange mix of women that was for sure. Three of them seemed to dislike one of them, one seemed to skip slightly with hopefulness, another seemed indifferent but probably wasn't and the other... well the other was walking like she half expected people to jump out and attack her. She seemed to be either painfully shy or perhaps a little traumatised.

As the group approached Rick and Shane he slowly raised himself out of the bushes to their left so that they could see him and his crossbow,

"Ya'll seem te be dog tir'd..." he admitted before lowering his crossbow, "Wha' yer thin' Merl'? Shoul' we le' thes' chic's sit'a spell?"

Merle had to admit that the group he was currently in wasn't bad, not bad at all. The main problem, so far as he could see it, was that there were no hot women. Not a one. Well there was Andrea but Merle hated those law-types and she had either been a lawyer or a law student... one of the two, he'd stopped paying attention to her as soon as he'd learnt that.

But these new girls were all gorgeous!

He was having a hard time trying to figure out which of the four he wanted the most out of all of them. Unfortunately one of the girls was wearing some rather strong looking armour over her chest that really didn't let him get an idea of what she looked like without the suit. But at the moment he was very interested in the independent chick... she looked like she was hated by the others and she didn't give a shit! He could respect that.

Of course she wasn't really his type either.

No he was much more into the second girl. The non-punk and non-mute one, she was definitely his type of woman by looks alone. Smirking a little bit, he stood up from the bushes on the right of the group,

"Well I say we a' leas' le' te secon' on' stay..." he purred a little bit, giving Chloe a wink, "We hav' te be accomo'datin' te beautif'l youn' wom'n aft'r all righ' guys?"

Luna turned around swiftly when she heard the rustle in the bushes behind her and she clung even tighter onto Evangeline, if she could have screamed she would have, she didn't want to be surrounded by people who were going to pop out at her like walkers left right and center. Her heart was beating so fast now, and she tried to think about something else, tried to have her mind on other things but her feelings of illness.

She was clutched tighter to Evangeline, and that made Luna smile, the taller woman always knew when something was wrong with her and she always knew how to best deal with it. Very much to her surprise Evangeline swooped her off her feet and cradled her to her chest, supporting her under the legs with just one arm.

Gazing up at her in awe Luna wiggled her feet lightly in the air, smiling gently, Evie really was strong. She had forgotten just how strong she really was. She wasn't the top fighter for no reason she supposed but...to lift her up like this and still be wearing all of that armour, it must have been really hard for her.

Luna wasn't sure about the second men, and the first one to approach, he had that gun still pointed at them and she didn't like that at all. Wordlessly she clung to Evangeline's armour, and Evangeline clung right back to her, Luna's frightened features were slowly returning to their normal, merely startled expression.

Evangeline was busy silently taking in the appearance of all of the people who had gathered around them, she was not happy that they were being threatened so by the people and their weapons. They had placed their own weapons down so they posed no threat, would they really train guns on people who had no intention of harming them? It seemed that they really would. It was not sitting well with Evangeline.

Although they had not bothered to introduce themselves to the other group, the others had not done the same to them, besides, they hadn't really given them much chance to do otherwise. Keeping her rather solid stoic appearance up Evangeline merely passed her gaze from each man.

The first was aggressive, she could tell that much, he wanted to protect what was his in the camp and she could understand that to an extent.

The second seemed a lot calmer, a lot more willing to trust, Evangeline could see herself warming to him slightly if they were to ever have a conversation. The fact he was easy on the eyes had nothing to do with that fact at all.

The third and fourth men were obviously related, and obviously red necks. Which meant bad news for the rest of the group, especially that grey haired man, he seemed to be letching on everybody already and they hadn't so much as said hello.

"We just want to rest." she stated simply, in her low voice "It's been a long walk and we need to stop, we wont be no bother."

Glaring lightly at the older male she wrapped her arm around Chloe's shoulder, this man was bad news for the innocent girl.

Rick was humming to himself as the others interacted with their strange new arrivals. Honestly, who went around dressed like it was the middle ages? Sure technology might take a bit of a nosedive due to the Walkers and all but they hadn't gone right back to the middle ages. Well... not yet anyway. Give it a few years, when there were no more bullets, and they'd be closer than ever to that point but that was the future.

He looked over the new arrivals and smiled a little bit when Shane lowered his shotgun to show he wasn't treating them as a threat. There seemed to be some clear roles in the group and some, what Shane would privately call, dead weight. The little blond girl and the strawberry blond one seemed to be a bit weak... perhaps kept alive by their friend, the tough looking punk girl? If so then it was a point in her favour to Rick and he too didn't think that anyone was 'dead weight',

"See Shane? They just want to rest." he told his friend as he slipped his revolver back into it's holster and took a few steps forwards. Pausing for only a second, he smiled as he held his hand out for the punk girl to shake, "Hey there, I'm Rick Grimes, my friend with the shotgun is Shane Walsh and the two from the bushes are Daryl and Merle Dixon, Merle being the older one."

He paused for a moment before shrugging and waving them towards the camp,

"Come on into the camp with us then guys..." he grinned, "We're having a bit of a barbeque so you'll be able to eat with us no problem."

Daryl was mentally berating his brother for his attitude but to be honest he himself was having similar thoughts when it came to the smaller blond, the one who was clinging to the woman Rick was talking too. She was shy and timid looking but she was no less beautiful for it. In fact she seemed to be more beautiful than any of the others to Daryl.

It was seeing Rick holster his weapon that made Daryl decide to sling his crossbow up across his back and come out from the bushes he had been standing in. A sleepy little butterfly didn't seem to want to leave his finger, having landed there when he had been hiding as best he could. He could just flick the thing off of him but instead he took a few steps forward and held the butterfly out towards the blond woman.

Seemingly taking the hint, the little butterfly flew over to the woman and landed on her hand for a few seconds before flying away.

He gave her a smirk and a casual salute,

"Hey... mah nam' is Daryl Dix'n... yer go'a nam' pretty lady?"

Aurelia was not happy that the other girls were getting the attention of the rather handsome males that had come to respond to the shouts of the other members of the group. Although the one that she had her eyes on specifically had not made any move to compliment the other girls, maybe finally they would get off her goddamn back about what had happened the last time they had met up with the group.

Now they had a guy each, so they could not fight about not having someone to 'occupy' their time with. It wasn't fun being disliked however she wanted to be able to continue to survive the best she could and the way to do that was by travelling in a group.

"Ah pleased to meet you all, I am Aurelia Lovelace, the albino is called Luna, the punk is called Evangeline and my other friend is Chloe." Aurelia introduced them all as she stepped to the front of the group, after all she was the unofficial leader, nobody had contested it when she had declared herself in that position.

"Oh I would love to have a barbeque I didn't think I would be able to have that luxury again! It already smells amazing...thank you so much for sharing your supplies with us." Aurelia stated with a wide smile on her lips "We were just going to use our own for food however, we'd be more than happy to join the rest of the group."

When the other, next most handsome man was showing an interest in Luna she rolled her eyes and waved her hand at the woman in Evangeline's arms dismissively;

"Good luck trying to get something out of her." she stated with a little smirk.

Chloe couldn't help but blush softly when she noticed that one of the men was complimenting her, her of all people! In fact she couldn't help but actually point to herself when he spoke, normally the men all flocked around Aurelia and began to fawn over her beautiful hair and her flawless skin and all that shit. However, it was nice to have an admirer even if he did seem a little rough around the edges and a little older than normal.

When Aurelia introduced herself for her, Chloe wanted to roll her eyes, she was quite capable of speaking and introducing herself to the group but no, Aurelia had the controlling element all down pat and did it for her.

"Yeah like Aurelia said, I'm Chloe." she introduced herself again with a shy smile "Chloe Watson."

The way that Aurelia spoke about the other members of the group made her angry, just because they didn't speak doesn't mean they couldn't get upset by insults that were thrown their way, especially poor Luna. A small frown appeared on her features and she resisted the very real urge to slap the woman about the face.

"Don't listen to her Luna." she stated with a small smile "Luna's mute, she's unable to speak, hasn't uttered a word in over two months now." Chloe explained with a small sigh, it was a deeply troubling topic for her.

Sniffing the BBQ Chloe hummed happily and rubbed her stomach;

"Awww that's so sweet of you guys, I'd be happy to offer some labour in return for the food if that's okay. I would feel bad taking it all for free." she stated with a soft smile "But I am pretty goddamn hungry, its been a long day for us."

Shane sighed a little bit at Rick's light-handed approach to inter-group relations but at the same time he obeyed his friend's suggestion and lowered his shotgun to seem less threatening. He didn't want to go around distressing others after all, he just wanted to be ready to defend both Rick and Carl should trouble arise. And some of these girls, beautiful and apparently innocent though they may be, could definitely be trouble for him.

Of course one of them seemed to be slightly better than the others.

She was the one who had introduced herself as Aurelia and while she was beautiful like the others, she was distancing herself from the members of the group that clearly were too weak to survive on their own. Kind of like the hangers on around their campsite, he assumed that the mute and perhaps even the Chloe girl were dead weight, attachments to people who would only ever drain and sap at your strength and your ability to protect the group.

A little bit of his masculine pride inflated at the reaction to his barbeque... and Rick had said that no one would want any of his famous barbequed steaks and Walsh Sauce Ribs and Burgers! Everyone knew he did the best barbeque,

"Well if you have anything that will go with the barbeque food then chuck it on in there." he encouraged the unofficial leader, Aurelia, with a small smirk, "I'm in charge of the barbeque... you can get extra if you can help me with it."

Merle purred a little bit in the back of his throat when Chloe seemed to be flattered by his attention; it was a good sign that was for damn sure. Chloe was her name huh? Well now that was a pretty name to go with a very pretty face. Of course she seemed to be at odds with the Aurelia woman but that wasn't his problem. Aurelia seemed to be styling herself as the leader so she would only really be talking to Rick and Shane.

Most likely Shane if Rick's interaction with the punk, Evangeline, was anything to go by.

Moving over to Chloe, he put his pistol away again and adjusted the rifle on his back slightly so that it wasn't sticking out at an awkward angle. Smirking confidently, he gave her a wink when she said that she could repay them in labour,

"O' I'm sur' yer wor' very har' at somethin' yer commit'd to." he agreed with a smirk as he stood next to her, "Bu' tis tim' how bou' we say it's our trea'? A ma' shoul' always be willin' te trea' a beautif'l wom'n to a meal... an' I person'lly caugh' te salm'n stea's tha' we've bee' cookin' if yer wan' som'."

As the two groups made their way back into the camp itself he smirked a little bit to himself as the rest of the camp slowly began to return to normal. Was it bad that he enjoyed being one of the only lines of defence to these helpless little people? Probably but he didn't care too much. Thinking of how she defended the little albino mute girl, Merle nodded towards Luna,

"So wha's her' story?" he asked with a small frown, "She ain' go' te inclinat'n te spea' or can she no' spea' ev'n if she wan'd te'? Can' imagin' no' speakin'... stron' girlie."

Luna could hear Aurelia being mean to her and she couldn't help but kick herself free of Evangeline's grasp, she didn't want to seem like a baby to the new group and she certainly didn't want to let Aurelia get away with saying what she had said. Picking up a rather handy smooth stone, Luna threw it, aiming it for the girls back, and it hit there with a very satisfying thud, earning a little bit of a squeak from Aurelia.

Merely giving the girl a jaunty wave, Luna shook her head with a glare.

Just because she couldn't speak didn't mean that she didn't have feelings, and she basically just told everyone to ignore her because she couldn't articulate what she wanted to say. Sighing softly, one of the only noises she seemed to make these days, Luna was cheered by the little butterfly landing on her finger and she turned to look at the man, Daryl, who was talking to her.

His accent made her want to purr softly, it was really rather hard to understand if you didn't pay attention, but he had her eyes on him already.

Giving him a little nod, and a bright smile, Luna decided to hang back and walk with him, it was nice for someone to actually want to talk to her, it made her want to speak back to him. Maybe she would give it a try again? Although she wasn't really optimistic about anything being able to happen, she had tried before and nothing...why would it change now?

Picking up her pack she had dropped, Luna carried the heavy weight with only the slightest sign of difficulty.

Evangeline was enjoying speaking with some new people, it was not often that people wished to speak with her out of the group, once they were settled in however she assumed that it would go back to normal, that they would decide to converse with the altogether more dainty and pretty women in the group. She was rougher than most, strong, and she was ready to do anything to protect her friends.

Taking the hand that the man, Rick held out to her, Evangeline shook it firmly, her leather gloves that were covering her hand squeaking slightly as they shook hands. Dropping the gesture she let Luna down from her grip and once more picked up her sword from where it was wedged into the ground with no difficulty at all.

"Pleased to meet you." she murmured as she began to stalk her way to the BBQ with the other members of the group, deciding to remain quiet for now as she took everything and everyone in.

It was so tempting to give everyone in this goddamn camp the finger as she walked by them, why did they have to stare so much? It was appropriate gear to wear in times like this, no monster could bite its way through steel. It was great protection and it meant she didn't have to worry about being harmed while fighting to protect others.

"You have a nice area to live." Evangeline commented as she walked, her sword flung over her shoulder effortlessly as she carried the packs with her other hand "Thank you for allowing us to stay."

Rick had to admit that Evangeline was far and away from what his wife had been back when she had been alive but perhaps that was part of the reason why he was beginning to form an attachment to her. She was, to be honest, a heck of a lot prettier that Lori had ever been and her attitude was completely different as well. Whereas Lori would talk for hours at a time about NOTHING, Evangeline only seemed to speak when there was some kind of purpose to it.

He grinned when she shook his hand, noting that she had a strong grip that could match his own if he was honest. Probably from using the sword all the time and having to grip it tight to ensure that it didn't slip out of her hands or something. He wasn't very clear on the use of swords considering he had spent most of his adult life with a pistol or revolver,

"Don't mind the people in the camp." he told her with a grin, though secretly he enjoyed how she didn't seem at all bothered or cowed by how they were acting towards her, "Most of them are just idiots who seem content to complain but never offer to so much as help with anything that the group does."

He frowned at the interaction between Aurelia and Luna before smirking lightly at the way Luna got her own back on the nastier woman. When Evangeline commented on the area he grinned a little bit and nodded,

"Yeah it's a good place for a camp I admit. Fish in the quarry, in the river nearby and dear too. Not to mention being close to Atlanta." he told her before tapping a section of her armour that seemed to have very faint teeth marks in it, "I see that it's very practical for today's world... why did you have it on in the first place if you don't mind me asking?"

Daryl was a little bit surprised when he was told that Luna was a mute and he glanced at her in surprise when Aurelia first told him. While he had had her pegged as shy he had never thought that she might be mute. But he smiled softly to her when she looked at him immediately after the revelation. It was... strange to see that she wanted his reaction to be either a positive one or a supportive one,

"Hey now tha' don' go changin' who yer ar' an' wha' yer can do." he told her with a grin, "Yer jus' got'a use wha' yer've go' an' soo' yer can coun' yersel' as bett'r tan any'a yer bullies an' shi'... tha's wha' mah momma tol' me anyw'y. Yer kno'... jus' in cas' it migh' mak' yer feel bett'r an' all tha'."

Why had he mentioned his mother?

Daryl NEVER mentioned his mother.

And yet there was something about her that made him want to give her that life lesson that his mother had given him when she found out that he was being bullied at school. It was a little bit confusing. Why would he do that?

He was broken out of his 'heavy' thoughts when she threw a stone at Aurelia's back. He burst out laughing and grinned, placing an arm around Luna's shoulders as he led her towards the barbeque,

"Ah tha' was legen'ry!" he told her with a grin, turning to her, "Hey yer' thirs'y? I go'a lil' stac'a drin's in a cool'r if yer wan' som'... alcoh'l an' jus' sof' drin's."

Aurelia was thoroughly enjoying the fact that Shane was paying her all the attention, he hadn't even looked at the other girls and for that she was very thankful, she didn't want to have a sit down and chat with the woman that he was interested in that wasn't her. If it was Luna or Chloe it would have been alright but Evangeline would have told her where to go in a very violent manner if she too had feelings for Shane.

Honestly, during the whole time she had known Evangeline she had never mentioned a man that she had liked, a man she had been intimate with, been an item with...nothing. She had always thought that she might be gay if she had to admit it.

"I would love to help out with the barbeque, I haven't had a chance to cook in a long while, Luna normally takes care of that and she is an amazing cook." she admitted begrudgingly "But give me a few minutes and I'll be able to rock that grill."

Giving Shane a cheeky wink, Aurelia squeaked unhappily when she felt the stone connecting with the small of her back, turning and glaring at Luna, she had to remind herself that the woman could still hear what she had said. Obviously she had gone too far with that comment, but she wasn't about to apologise. Scowling at her she shook her head;

"How goddamn childish. You would never guess she was a 19 year old woman the way she acts sometimes, honestly she has almost no use." she hissed through gritted teeth, before sighing and rubbing her nose "I'm sorry about that but...the only reason I'm with that group still is for safety measures...for some reason they just...seem to hate me!" Aurelia admitted to Shane with a growl "I'm sorry I shouldn't be dumping all this on you, it's just so aggravating."

Chloe found herself zooming closer to Merle as soon as the group broke up to walk towards the barbeque, it was of course not so she could flirt with him some more, it was of course to just learn a little bit more about the group and everyone else already had paired up. It didn't help now that she was so close she was already beginning to have her cheeks heat up a little bit, although he was older...he was really quite rough and chiselled.

Biting her lip she flushed softly again;

"Well if you are sure you don't want me to do anything in return...then I would love to be treated to a lovely meal." she stated with a small shy smile "Oh really? I...I just so happen to love salmon steaks, what a coincidence!"

The flirting of course that Merle was doing was making her ego swell a little bit, but it had been deflated for weeks and so she was happy to have someone beginning to pump her up again; "Do you normally make it your business to flirt with all the new women that come into the group, or, am I just extra special?" Chloe asked with a cheeky grin on her lips.

Walking alongside Merle, Chloe bit her lip softly and shook her head when he asked about what had happened with Luna, to be honest she could understand why she had gone mute, the things they had seen down there in that campsite were horrific, really really horrific. The girl was so sweet that she really had been traumatised by them.

"She can't speak even if she wants to, I...I've been trying to help her but, nothing seems to be working to bring her back to normal." she stated with a sad smile "She is very strong, me and Evangeline try and help her as much as we can. It gets lonely though, what with Luna not speaking, and Evangeline hardly talking either, Im left with Aurelia and...well...I don't like her." Chloe laughed softly.

Shane was beginning to see that this woman liked to have attention on her but then again that characterised quite a lot of women if he was honest. Quite a lot of people seemed to enjoy attention even though he wasn't one of those people at all. He chuckled a little bit when she said that she would rock the grill. That was assuming he let her use his grill. He had to go through eight Walkers to nab a grill this good after all!

Ah but he'd let her use it no problem, to see just how good she really was if nothing else. He smirked a little bit,

"Oh I'm sure that you're a wiz on the grill and we'll see which of us is a better griller soon don't you worry girl." he teased her with a wink of his own, "I'm currently working on the stuff with my own family recipe in it so we'll see how well your group likes that and see if we need to make some extras for you guys."

He frowned a little bit at the action of throwing the stone at Aurelia's back, and at Daryl's reaction, he sighed a little bit. Moving her towards the grill, he sent a disappointed look at the others as they broke away from them,

"It's understandable... people hate those who can do better than them." he told her with a smirk as they moved away from the others, "People used to hate me because I was the leader and kicked the most ass... we have that in common it seems."

Luna was still walking beside Daryl, she was enjoying being around him very much, he still talked to her even though she would not be able to reply, she loved listening to people talk around her. It didn't even have to be about anything special, just random everyday things, moaning, venting out their anger with her there as a sounding board. Luna hoped the more she listened to people talking the more she would be able to speak herself.

Hearing what Daryl had to say, Luna blinked up owlishly at him before she cracked a brilliantly wide smile, she was so happy that he didn't think that she was useless just because she didn't talk. There were so many things that she could do, so many things that she was good at besides that one skill, and one day she would get it back. Nodding her head with a soft smile, she let Daryl know that it did make her feel so much better.

It seemed nice that he was so open with her, telling her about his family who these days were more often than not dead, she didn't know if her family was, she just assumed that this thing was confined to America, not overseas in Britain.

Gasping softly, when Daryl wrapped his hand around her shoulder, Luna grinned happily and clasped her hands together as she followed him over to the cooler that he was leading her too. Peeking inside she pointed to one of the soft drinks, not wanting to take it out herself in case she wasn't allowed to have that one.

"Thank you." she mouthed to Daryl as she sat down nearby and began to take off her chainmail that was hanging around her body to protect her, underneath it was seen how slim she really was, not the strongest frame but yet she was incredibly strong herself in mind and spirit, her long black tshirt was soaked with sweat from the heat but you couldn't tell as it was black, and her little khaki shorts were exposed. Fortunately she was cooling down rapidly now her armour was off.