Haiiii. Welcome back!

Last time Rylo did stuff. This time, he’s still doing stuff, and is getting increasingly independent (if that’s even possible).

Since his encounter at the graveyard with his first zombie Rylo has been getting braver about venturing away from the Madhouse. He’s set up a few little hidden spots around Moonlight Falls where he likes to come relax, play, and make small fires for cooking.

Of course, danger is always just around the corner, and he always returns to the Madhouse to sleep.

Lately Rylo’s been avoiding the basement. Every time he goes down there the other kids crowd around him and ask him what he’s brought them with large sad eyes.

He throws them whatever food he has and flees back up the stairs.

Rylo: Let go, get your own stuff.

He shudders as he walks out of the dank hole they live in, disgusted at how weak and dependent the other kids are.

He vows only to go down to the basement to check on the kids every few days. Then, he tries something new. He’s nervous at first that the pipe may be too loose to climb. It wobbles a bit, but seems to hold his weight as he clambers up onto the old rotted roof.

Once on top, Rylo carefully tests the strength of the roof for weak spots. As he steps towards the middle of the roof he begins to feel some give under his feet. It seems to be alright if he sticks to the edges though.

This quickly becomes Rylo’s new favourite spot to sleep, and he’s extremely proud of himself for having found it. No zombies can see him, and no adult could ever chase him up the flimsy pipe.

He spends the second half of his childhood uneventfully on this roof, watching sunsets and sunrises and tuning out the sounds of the pitiful lives below him. With his excellent trapping skills and extensive knowledge of Moonlight Fall’s edible plants, he never returns to the dumpsters for a meal.

And I just love him. Even when his hand sinks into the floor a little bit.

With noone to tell him, he doesn’t even notice that he’s grown into a tall, lanky teenager. The only difference he notes is the continuous need for new clothes, which is a huge annoyance in these circumstances. His recent growth spurt left him alarmingly skinny, but it’s not for lack of food. He is now much stronger, and able to gather much more and travel farther. His only regret is that the pipe up to the roof finally snapped, leaving him with a few bruises and the need for a new spot to sleep.

Oh yeah, here’s his face. I like it.

More face.

On the rare occasion he decides to check on the basement, nobody ever begs him for food.

The kids don’t seem to recognize him, and gaze blankly at him for a few seconds, and then look away. That suits him just fine, since he doesn’t know most of them anymore either.

However, he did take notice of the fact that shortly after he left they were suspiciously able to continue scraping some food together. He’s sure some other child took his place as the group’s provider, and stops visiting the basement.

It’s also gotten harder to continue his old habit of pilfering the Madhouse for supplies. Since he’s grown so much he’s become more and more conspicuous to the drugged out inhabitants.

Yikes. Nervous that their cold glares might turn into something a little more troublesome for him, Rylo slinks out of the Madhouse.

The loss of his ability to leech off the Madhouse doesn’t bother Rylo too much, and he sets to work on improving his hideouts. Using old mattresses, sawhorses, pallets, and whatever else is around Rylo is able to make a few small shelters around Moonlight Falls.

It’s nothing fancy, but the freedom and solitude are thrilling for him. Best of all is not having to sleep listening to the whooping and screaming of a bunch of junkies.

That doesn’t mean there’s never any rude awakenings, though.

Haha I love this zombie. Power donut zombie is best zombie.

Rylo bolts out of his shelter and sprints off into the forest. He’s very quick, and has never had to enter into a direct confrontation with a zombie. When his camps are infiltrated, and they always are, he simply heads to the next one.

He loves exploring the decrepit town, although he mainly sticks to the outskirts. Civilization gives him the creeps, and makes him feel claustrophobic.

Besides, all the best views are off-road.

I forgot to mention he gained the Brave trait. I picked it for him, cause duh. I don’t give a shit about randomizing traits, if Rylo isn’t brave then the sky isn’t blue. Look how brave he is, he just jumped off a waterfall into the river below.

That’s the best part about being completely removed from society. Skinny dipping- anytime, anywhere, anyhow.

He’s like, a male Pocahontas. But damaged and lonely.

Oh jeez, so I was just kinda scouting out the riversides to see where Rylo could go, and I found these. It’s a shitload of graves, leftover from the zombie raid that claimed dear Daniel. So of course I located Daniel’s grave, and now Rylo is carrying around his great-grandfather’s grave in his inventory. Cool huh?

Anyway, after checking out the riverside I set up this sweet new camp for Rylo (aka he built it). It’s quite scenic.

I’m really glad we’re finally out of the Madhouse, especially the basement. I was getting kind of sick of all the dark reds and greys that filled my screenshots. It’s time for some colour!

So, Rylo eventually did teach himself to fish, although he never did develop a taste for the stuff. He prefers to eat what he can trap, and mostly just fishes to pass the time. However, time is something he has tons of.

He can stand for hours on a warm day running sand through his toes and competing against himself to catch the biggest fish. He stares transfixed at the water running by him, and at the grasses of the opposite bank being blown by the wind. He knows the view better than his own face, which is why today he nearly falls over in shock at what he sees.

Rylo’s sure it sees him too. He stands motionless as the thing walks towards the water.

His skin grows cold and he drops his fishing rod when he sees what the girl does next. With not a care in the world, she strips down and carefully arranges her clothes into a neat pile on the sand. Rylo begins to panic, and backs away as the glisteningly naked girl lowers herself into the frigid water.

While the girl frolicks in the river Rylo cowers behind a boulder, trying desperately to slow his heart rate and stop his hands from shaking.

After a few moments of hiding Rylo gathers enough courage to see if she’s realized her mistake yet. Surely when she notices him she’ll be so embarrassed she’ll run off.

On the contrary, she seems perfectly aware of his presence, and stares right back at him.

This may be the first time Rylo’s actually made eye contact with another human in years, so when she flashes him a coy smile he just about shits a hole through the floor. He waits until her back is turned to sneak away. Unfortunately, he’s so agitated that he’s unable to be stealthy at all and breaks into an awkward sprint over the hill.

Aww, I’m super stoked about my little cutie pie turning into a man and doing man stuff. Catching fish, seeing boobs, man stuff.