<div style="text-align: center">《 Armando and Anise 》<br/>
<i>Location: KOA campground<br/>
Addressing: Kennedy, Ezra, Rachel </i>​</div><br/><br/>"Those are not<i> my</i>men," Armando said to Kennedy. "We don't work together. I don't give them orders. Hale usually has me handling things inside. If I had been given an opportunity, I would have picked a team for this. I would not be making reckless decisions as I have been. Those men don't answer to me, though, and they can cause me just as much of a problem, probably more, than I could cause them all things considered when we return home." Kennedy seemed to think he had power over them, or that they were largely familiar with one another and each other's work styles. They weren't, which left quite a bit of room for error and miscommunication.<br/><br/>"The three of us are just skating by on Hale's whim to allow this. Working together the best that we can." They were hardly an operational and reliable trio, but most had probably figured that out by now.<br/><br/>Armando shrugged at Kennedy's next question, walking the water back up to where the fire was going. Pots had been brought over and he handed off his bucket to get the first batch going. They emptied the other buckets and Armando turned back to the river to retrieve more, waiting for Kennedy to fall in step beside him again. While they were gone, others were finding containers to store the drinkable water once it cooled.<br/><br/>"Hale is not going to be happy. I doubt he's going to hear any further thoughts and suggestions on this situation, be it my own or Rebel's. I was hoping to return home to renegotiate with him on moving forward with this. I wanted to offer training, a transition period, to those being forced out. Hale thought it was too dangerous to do it at Abendblume, but here? Not that I think he would listen to a word I say right now, given how badly I just fucked up." Armando had wanted to offer some sort of solution but all he'd done was manage to dig himself deeper.<br/><br/>"I knew. I knew what he was going to do some time ago," Armando admitted, "I didn't know who. Not the entire list exactly, though I know his thinking and why he chose who he did. If I had said anything, warned anyone, I would be right here with you, along with Marcia and the two kids." Now that it had happened, people would understand it was a possibility. They would work harder. Perhaps even seek out new skills, just in case.<br/><br/>Anise was waiting beside Eddie and the fire when the two returned with their next set of buckets of river water to be sifted and filtered before boiling. She'd been worrying over her brother's answer, or non-answer. She figured something had happened when he went back inside. Had Hales guards done something to him when he went to retrieve their things? She wished he'd never gone back for any of it, or put himself in that situation. Without Ezra telling her anything, she could only speculate. She was pouring off water for Rachel like she'd said she would do. It was cooled enough to go into a plastic jug, but still hot. Watching Armando come up, she narrowed her eyes at Hale's right hand man.<br/><br/>"What happened when Ezra went back into Abendblume? Did you or the other guards do something when he went for my things?" her tone was accusatory.<br/><br/>Armando narrowed his eyes at her.<br/><br/>"<i>I </i>didn't do anything. I think you mean the altercation between Hannah and your brother," Armando corrected. "Why would you need to ask me?" He looked over Ezra's direction.<br/><br/>"Hannah did something to my brother?" Anise seemed confused.<br/><br/>"She had a good reason," Armando said sympathetically. Maybe Ezra was too ashamed to even admit any of it to his sister. To him that only made it seem like the young man knew what he was doing was wrong. "Not for me to tell you the whole story. I suggest you ask your brother." He held his hand up to signal that he didn't want to get involved in it.<br/><br/>Anise blinked back her retort and headed off to bring Rachel the water she needed before she got carried away. This time she didn't knock, instead just dropped the plastic jug of water inside, letting her know it was still hot, before shutting the door again. She busied herself while being stoic with her brother. Now very likely wasn't the time, but it still hurt when he kept things from her. Especially things other people were evidently already aware of.