ᴛʜɪs ɪs ᴡᴀʀ [ᴀɴ ᴀᴅᴠᴀɴᴄᴇᴅ ʀᴏʟᴇ-ᴘʟᴀʏ] discussion

There are little tents around that are camouflaged... it's a place to keep warm if you're waiting for game to pass by.

It's been a long day. Juliette had gotten up pretty early to check out the traps she had set in the woods just the day before. She wasn't expecting any animals to be caught in them already, but she dragged Valentine with her and they founds a rabbit caught in one of them. Unfortunately the rabbit got out and Juliette spent about thirty minutes tracking it down, which was easy and hard. Easy because it was wounded so she was able to follow the small blood trail, but hard because even though it was wounded, it was still pretty fast. Then there was a fox involved, and there were curses thrown everywhere, and maybe some kicking of trees, but in the end Juliette was able to get both the fox and the rabbit, though the rabbit has some bite marks in it. Nonetheless, it was food.

Entering one of the few hunting tents, Juliette took a seat on the ground to catch her breath. While she knew that they, they meaning her and Val, should head back to camp with what they had caught that morning, she needed a small breather. It has been a terribly long morning, in fact it was almost afternoon at this point and she hadn't even had breakfast yet. Hunting on an empty stomach, she would never make that mistake ever again. Looking over at Val, she sighed, "So. . . that was fun. Think this is going to last until dinner?" Even Juliette knew it wouldn't. The catch might last until lunch but then it would be back to hunting. While the girl was more than happy to be one of the hunters for the make-shift group, it was tiring. Moreover it reminded her of her father, which was a very sore subject for her since she hadn't a clue what happened to him, if he was safe, if Jillian was safe-- or what.

Normally Juliette was much more calm and relaxed during a hunt; in fact, she never lost her temper even if she wasn't able to catch something by the end of the day. However the invasion, her worries about her father, the high demand for food was eating away at her nerves, causing her to more shot-tempered than usual. It was sort of bad because if she was out hunting with anyone other than Valentine, they tended to get the worst side of her anger. However Jules would either go out hunting alone or with Vale and that was that. When Vale handed over his canteen, she took it gratefully and took a nice long swig from it before she passed it back to him. With a small chuckle, she nodded her head as she lied back and stretched out her arms. "I'm so sore, Jesus. That took so much longer than it should have," she grumbled, "stupid fox screwed everything up."

"I know," she sighed. "I know. . . We should probably go back to hunting. I miss eating meat too, but I don't see anyone else grabbing a gun and joining us out there. It's not easy doing this shit." Juliette never minded doing things for other people, but when they started complaining and acting like she could have done a better job, it made her not want to do anything for them. "Ungrateful assholes. I'm tired of this shit. I'm tired of hearing people moaning and crying about how they want things to be how they were once like. Like seriously? Shut up and man up. We're stuck out here, might as well make the best of it." And that was Juliette. She didn't mean to sound so cold, but like it's been said, she wasn't exactly in the best of moods, and it was worse because she hadn't eaten anything that morning. So far it was just a sip of water and that was it. Perhaps they should go back to camp, she could grab a bite and then they could head back out again. Yeah that would work. "Anyways. . . how you holding up?" She asked, looking over to Vale though she was still lying down on the floor of the small tent. "You know. . .despite this morning?"

When Vale joked about her going Hulk, she snorted as she grinned over at him. "I'm sorry, but are you implying that I turn into a huge green monster? Here I thought you were the nice one out of the two of us," she teased as she took a piece of the jerky from him. Letting out a sigh, she felt a little more at ease, her anger slowly dissipating, but that was mainly because Valentine was around. The way he talked and acted around her made her feel a little more at peace, possibly because he understood her and she understood him. They were best friends. Actually Vale was her only best friend, and she's always scared of losing him. After all, it wasn't as if Juliette was the easiest person to hang around, and while she generally means well, she was still a bit of a pain. Even she knew that. Nonetheless, Jules was happy that he stuck around despite all that. That meant he was a true friend, right? "Well I didn't want to waste the bullet on it," she explained with a shrug. "It was so small and already bleeding I didn't it would just run off like that. . ." Staring up at the ceiling of the tent, Juliette could only tense up when he asked her if she was okay. "Nope. But is anyone okay at a time like that? . . .I don't even know if my dad and sister are alive, Vale. I don't know if they're okay, or if they think I'm dead or what. . . So no, I'm not okay," she answered honestly, but didn't quite budge to look over at him.

That was the most she's said about the whole damn thing since it started. In the beginning Juliette kept quiet and acted as if nothing affected her, mainly because she wanted to stay strong for her brother Jared, but he seemed to be doing well on his own, though she has noticed some strange girl in the camp bothering him a few times. Pushing thoughts of him out of her mind, Juliette finally moved to look over at Vale when he spoke again. She waited until he was done before replying with yet another sigh. "I get it, I do but still . . . they better get the balls to shoot because life isn't all rainbows and cupcakes anymore. What if the Koreans find us? Find this camp? We need more people to learn how to use a gun so they can defend themselves. It's not like there's hundreds of us to go against all of them. We need to teach them. . . Well, I'm not teaching anyone anything." She made a face as she chewed off a pretty big piece of the jerky. "Did I tell you what happened two days ago? One of the idiots that went hunting with me because you were too busy, yeah he almost shot me in the foot. I seriously can't deal with these morons. I'm a hunter, it's not my job to train people how to hunt. . ." Her brows furrowed as she thought that over. "Though. . .I wouldn't mind teaching some of these idiots how to properly hold a gun so they don't kill me by accident, or anyone else for that matter. . ." Just the thought of teaching someone how to do something made her cringe internally.

When Vale said that no one was like her, Jules wasn't sure if it was a compliment or just a fact. "Yeah well. . . I'm tired of hearing people moping around camp when they're supposed to be doing something useful. This is war. We're hiding from the people who not only invaded our town, but this entire fucking country. This isn't a time to just sit around and cry all day long," she grumbled, clearly unhappy about the actions of a few people back at the camp. Nonetheless, when Vale went on about how he felt, though he didn't really say much, but it was enough for Jules. She reached over slowly and took his hand in hers, which was funny because his hand was twice as big as hers, but she squeezed it gently, not letting go of it right away. "Yep, gotta make the best of it. . ." Looking back at him with those strangely colored blue eyes of hers, Juliette simply smiled. A real smile. "I'm here if you want to bitch or cry. You know I won't judge you."

Juliette kept her hand on his, not really thinking about it since it was sort of something she just did to make sure Vale knew he wasn't alone; her fingers seemed to have a mind of their own because she hardly realized that she intertwined them with his. Like it's been stated, Vale was her only friend, and she wanted to make sure that he knew she was always there for him. This meant holding his hand, hugging him, and occasionally punching in the gut for being a moron. Tough love. Though at this point, she was sure he knew that she would always be there for him. After all, after his father passed away, she made sure to be there for him, she understood what it was like to lose a parent; they had so much in common that it sort of wasn't even funny. Well it was amusing but sad at the same time. It wasn't as if Jules wanted anyone else to know what it was like to lose a parent, but it was inevitable. . . It was a part of life. And life was unfair. However, Juliette made sure to be there for Vale, for his family, when he needed her the most. She had let him cry, she had held him, and she had made damn sure that no one messed with him at school. Think of Jules like a mama bear, when she was protective of someone, you should never provoke her.

Jules smiled, a laugh escaping her lips at his first comment. "Uh huh, it's always the quiet new you have to look out for," she laughed, her hand slipping out of his so that she could sit up properly. Instead of going on about how much hunting was a pain that day and how annoying people were in the camp, or even how much she hated those people that basically took her life away, Juliette sat up and moved closer to Valentine. There was no need to worry about her father because Vale was right. Her father was smart, smarter than most so she was sure he was safe and so was her sister, but that little nagging voice in the back of her head wouldn't leave. Her heart wouldn't be at ease until she saw them again. Though no one would know just how much she worried about her family when the only person she would talk about things with was Vale. And she knew he wouldn't ever bitch or cry about things were going, he wasn't like that, though she wasn't sure how he was able to keep it all in and still act so cheery. Nonetheless, seated next to him now, Jules threw and arm around his shoulders and rested her head on his shoulder with a small sigh. "Well you know my dad, he sort of doesn't go down without a fight. . . but who knows. . . And you know, I'm sure your mom is okay. I mean, I can't promise anything-" Do you see how bad she is with the whole comforting thing? "-but knowing my dad, he'd probably go check on her first when the new spread about the invasion. I'm sure they're all together, watching out for each other. . ." She bit her lip and looked up at him, trying to stay hopeful for him.

It was hard. Being hopeful was never an easy thing for Juliette, but she tried. For Valentine, Juliette tried so hard because she just wanted to be a good friend. Did she understand the meaning of how to be a good friend? No. Vale was her only friend and he was always too nice to point out her flaws. He just always put up with her and she never understood why at first, but slowly realized that it was what friends did. At least that was what she learned over time. So Jules put up with his friendliness, his patience, optimism, and so on, because he was her friend. Friend. They were friends.

"We should probably go out hunting again. I think if we make up a few more traps we might just catch some more rabbits," she muttered. "But this time, you can get whatever little critter gets trapped instead of standing back and laughing at me." At this part, Juliette decided it was a good idea to tackle Valentine to the ground in the really small tent. The girl might be small but she was strong, stronger than what most people would think. Basically straddling him, which wasn't all that uncommon, she went on to exclaim, "I can't believe you just stood back and watched me chase after a freaking little rabbit. What kind of friend are you?" She smacked him in the chest. "You really aren't as nice as you seem are you? You just pretend to be nice to get people to like you, then you just sit back and watch them be miserable while on an empty stomach."

(it was all over the place
idek
i just wrote
what did i write?
im so sorry Dx)

Now if anyone were to walk in at that moment, they would probably believe they were interrupting some sort of romantic moment between Jules and Vale. She was on top and Valentine was holding her arms, they were sort of grinning from ear to ear, so it was only natural to think they were doing something more than just playing around. However it wasn't like that at all. In fact, in Juliette's head, she didn't even see Vale like that mainly because she didn't see any guy like that. Well that wasn't true. There have a been a guy or two that have caught her eyes over the years, but with how she barely was able to make friends, trying to start a relationship with a guy was never going to happen. Moreover, none of that was important now with the invasion anyways. Romance and relationships were the farthest things from Juliette's mind, even as she straddled her best friend's hips.

"Oh?" She laughed in amusement. It was strange friendship they had, seeing how wrestling playfully like this was sort of part of their daily life at this point. "I'm sorry, but did you just say you're going to try to kill me? I'm sorry but maybe in your dreams-" Even though Vale was holding her arms to keep her from hitting him any further, she leaned down, her voice dropped down to a whisper. "-because we both know that you can't get one over me, even if you tried." Then she pulled back with a laugh, her cheeks burning up for some reason unknown to her.

Able to slip one of her arm's out of his grasp, Jules made sure to hit him again on the chest just because he called her Julie. Yeah it was stupid but this little blondie hated that nickname. Julie, short-stack, shorty, Blondie, short stuff --were just a few of the nicknames this girl hated. Why'd she hate Julie so much? It made her feel incredibly girly. Girly she was not. "And you know how much I hate it when you call me Julie. Makes me feel like a girl," she scoffed, her brows furrowed as if she was being serious. And she was. Juliette hated that nickname. It was just plain awful. Julie. Julie. Naturally Juliette was even more girly of a name, but Julie as the shortened version? Nope. Not gonna fly with her. Look at her weirdly all you want, but it was how it was. "It's as if you don't know me at all, Vale. Is our friendship a lie?" She was teasing of course, and she made sure he knew she was teasing with a small upturn of her lips.

"And I had to wake you up before God woke up," she sighed, sitting back but not getting off him. Juliette grinned down at him, forgetting the rest of the world for a moment. "I mean I just wanted to hang out with my best friend again. It's been a while since it's just been the two of us hunting. I'm happy for you getting the position of head hunter, or whatever your title is, but you know. . . you're so busy with the other hunters, training them and stuff that I barely get to see you much anymore. It's not fair." She pouted. "I miss my friend. You can't blame me for waking you up early." Despite being awkward around most people, Valentine wasn't most people, which meant Julie was more comfortable around him and able to show a different side of her to him. He was one of the few to see this different side of her. "I just wanted to get in a few extra hours with you." Then she smirked and shrugged as she added, "Also to punish you for neglecting me."

When he laughed, Jules practically had to hold on to him just so she wouldn't bounce right off. That's right, she was so small and he was big that when he laughed, she literally started bouncing on top of him. Not a dramatic high bounce or anything, it wasn't as if she was being sent up into the air, but you could clearly see her moving due to those thunderous laughs of his. She was actually surprised that his laughs didn't shake the entire world. The first time Juliet had heard him laugh she had thought that God was laughing. No joke. It sort of scared her. But at the same time, when he laughed she couldn't help but laugh too. It was ridiculous. Yet it was how it was. Placing a hand over his mouth, she chuckled, "Shhhh you're going to scare all the critters away with that laugh of yours. Who knows, your laugh might just reveal the location of our camp to those Koreans."

"And you so can't get one over me no matter how hard you try," she scoffed. The blush was long forgotten now, though her cheeks were still a shade of rosy red, probably from all the laughing. "I mean this is me we're talking about. When was the last time you got one over moi? Yeah never." Well there was that one time when they had gone out for a hike in the woods together, and Juliette had challenged Vale to a small sparring match to see who was stronger. Vale won. Juliette refused to talk about it ever again.

As for his comment about her being a girl, she wrinkled up her nose slightly. "Look I might have the body of a girl, but doesn't mean that. . .I am. . .girly. I don't like girly things. Being girly is just weird. I mean okay, I am a girl. But just no calling me Julie." She made a face unsure why she made such a big deal about it. It was probably because it was easier to be a tomboy than a girl. Being a girl required a sense of fashion, knowing how to wear make-up, and most importantly, having a boyfriend; at least according to all those magazines. Juliette never had a boyfriend, she didn't understand the basics of make-up, and she dressed in clothes that were comfortable, not clothes that attracted unwanted attention from guys. "You know I don't do the whole dressing up thing, or anything like that."

Juliette grinned when Vale spoke, his hand on her cheek for a little while. "Yeah well this is the only time I'm going to be sentimental, so enjoy it while it lasts." She knew Vale was busy, she understood why he was so busy, but she hated just how busy he had gotten. She wished things were back to how they were. She wished she could call him up at midnight so that they could go off driving somewhere, anywhere and just stare up at the night sky again. She wished she could walk down those school hallways again with Vale at her side, the two of them going over old hunting tales and whatnot. "Good to know you missed me too. I guess I won't punish you too hard now," she teased.