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Nightfall had approached the group, the majority of them exhausted from Jims' crazed episode that occurred only a few hours ago, nearly upping the Ed fight by a point. The only gleaming sign of hope they had received was when Andrea and Amy had returned from their fishing trip with full hands, enough to feed the group for at least two days. Adeline sat against the ground, her husbands sitting behind her on a wooden log - her body between his legs and back against the rough bark of the wood.
The bottomless pit in her stomach became impossible to fill, the only sounds being the crackling campfire and trays of fish being graciously passed around. Shane laid his plate on the surface of his knee, his left arm resting on her shoulder pressing his forearm against her collarbone as he leaned down to plant a soft kiss to the top of her head. A crimson blush surfaced to her cheeks and danced across the freckles on her face, nose scrunching at the feeling.
The silence was broken by Morales who looked to Dale with a smile, "I've got to ask you, man. It's been driving me crazy." he spoke while gulping down the rest of his food. "That watch." He informed, pointing to the item on the elders' wrist. At his words, the man picked at the cold metal - "What's wrong with my watch?" Dale pondered with curious eyes.
"I see you every day, the same time, winding that thing like a village priest saying mass." Morales put the old man on the spot, the group surrounding the fire listening curiously at his statement. "I've wondered this myself and unless I've misread the signs, the world seems to have come to an end. At least hit a speed bump for a good long while." Jacqui spoke up, sitting her now empty plate to the ground as the campfire cast shadows against her dark skin.
Adeline leaned against her husband in silence, her arms wrapping around his legs as her caramel eyes sparkled against the red flames of the fire. The man who had started the topic nodded, "But there's you, every day, winding that stupid watch." his voice was laced with playfulness. The conversation they all shared made a layer of calamity shimmer upon them - giving them hope for a peaceful night around the campfire without the worry of walkers creeping up in the shadows.
Leaning back into his seat, Dale smiled at the people around him. "Time - it's important to keep track, isn't it? The days at least. Don't you think, Andrea? Back me up here." He spoke, the blonde only chuckling at his request before taking a sip from her beer. "I like what, um, a father said to son when he gave him a watch that had been handed down through generations. He said, I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire, which will fit your individual needs no better than it did mine or my father's before me; I give it to you not that you may remember time, but that you may forget it for a moment, now and then and not spend all of your breath trying to conquer it." Dale finished his motivational speech, as Adeline nodded slowly at the amount of words he had spoken.
When she was younger, she always wanted to preform in the school plays. But, she failed desperately due to never remembering her lines and she envied every single person that could quote things off of the top of their head. In complete honesty, it amazed her. "How do you even begin to remember that?" Adeline felt a spark of confidence flow through her words, feeling herself slowly grow comfortable with the survivors.
