The Outside [1x1 - romamaro & TheZanta]

Shepherd Ethel smiled warmly at Lukas. She fell down into one of the stiff, wooden chairs with one of those signature old lady groan-sighs. "Feels good to get the weight off the old legs." She said with a smile, dusting off her long skirt. She looked up at Lukas, then at the mixture in the heavy stone bowl. She waits a long while as she considers her answer. "It's all good things. Orange juice, lemon juice, little bit of lime. Then the flower petals from my garden up the back." She chuckles, a hand over her heart. "It might seem simple, and it might seem too good to be true, but that is what keeps everyone happy and healthy here. It'll clean your soul and body right out, get rid of all that nasty outside world stuff."
 
He looked back down at the mixture. "It does sound too good to be true, to be perfectly honest," he responded. He didn't really want to put the mixture anywhere near him, let alone ingest it. The smell was overwhelming from where he stood as it was. He didn't know what to say, he didn't want to stay in the house any longer but he felt certain that if he even considered it, he would get snapped on. He'd just rather be back on the road, passed out from heat stroke at this point. He'd only hoped Ruth wasn't about to get him detained, or whatever the hell they were going to do, or at the least was considering his words.
 
Shepherd Ethel chuckled. "I know, I know, but really, it works!" She pointed in the direction of the window, facing out onto the garden. "Ask anyone! They'll tell you about it. You'll only hear good things!" The old lady stood up and shakily lifted the bowl again. "I'll give you until the end of the day to think about it. If you don't have it at some point though, you'll get even sicker." She warned, shuffling over to the counter top. She sat the bowl down in the shade, running a hand over the lip. "Come and tell me when you're wanting to take it."
 
"I'll let you know, thank you," Lukas responded quietly. He took one last glance at the bowl before Ethel took it away. Something about it looked off. Something definitely smelled off, that's for sure. Couldn't they just let him get the hell out of here? It was going to get late and God knows an overnight stay was not going to end well for him.
 
Shepherd Ethel nodded curtly. She opened her mouth to say something, before someone walked in. It was a tall, strong-looking man, with long black hair and shifty stubble on his chin. He was wearing the same clothes as Lukas. He tilted his head slightly, then laughed. "I suppose you're new, then?" He said, sitting his duffel bag and backpack down by the door.

"Ah, Marlin!" Shepherd Ethel said happily, shuffling forwards. She took his hand and shook it in both of her own, almost like she'd just met him. "How was the market today, hmm? I do hope you managed to buy those new fabric, we need them for Lukas' clothes!"
Marlin nodded with a smile. "I did, Shepherd. I'm glad I managed to too, what with the new arrival." He dug into the duffel bag and pulled out three huge rolls of fabric, patterned and plain. He held them out to Ethel, who took them all herself and shuffled out of the room.

Marlin turned his attention to Lukas. He took a deep breath. "Was that...your stuff, outside in the field?" He asked tentatively, pointing his thumb outside.
 
Lukas smiled civilly with the new presence in the room. It was interesting, the man who walked in seemed nearly the spitting image of himself, if he were older, maybe. He twirled his own hair curiously, but with Ethel's departure, his smile faded. "What of it if it was my stuff?" He returned a question coldly. "I certainly hope you weren't planning on doing anything with it." He checked out a window briefly before returning his gaze to Marlin.
 
Marlin twitched his nose. "Shepherd Brennus took some weird looking stuff away." He admitted, deciding to do Lukas the justice of knowing that much. "No one'll do anything with it. Unless there's something really dodgy around it that one of the kids might hurt themselves with.
 
Lukas' eyes widened, "Took it where?" He pushed frantically, "I need all of that!" He could hardly contain himself, the anger, nerves, or overall confusion and fear in general. He was close to running out of the house, but now he was practically confined until he could find his belongings.
 
Marlin lifted his hands up in mock surrender. "Look, man, I don't know. Only the Shepherds know. You need to ask a Shepherd." He said, sounding distressed more than anything. "But you should calm down. You'll get sick being so frantic."
 
Calm down? Calming down wasn't exactly the most appropriate response for him. If staying wasn't in his plans before, it had to be now. Lukad would have let this guy have a piece of his mind, but really, what could he do? He heaved a heavy sigh, and his shoulders dropped in a sort of defeat. "Well, I guess that's that for now," he spoke in a strange resignment. "It isn't worth fighting, now." He fell back into the chair he was just in before, still unable to grasp what to do.
 
Marlin winced at Lukas' reaction. "I'm sorry. I get why you're angry about it." He said, leaving one chair gap and taking that chair. "You understand why we can't have it around though, right?" He asked while drumming his fingers on the wooden table.
 
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