Before he realized it he'd nearly drifted off. He sat up sharply, the bed creaking beneath him, the binder nearly falling out of his hand. He snapped it shut to grip it, and a loose page shot out, narrowly missing his nose in its flight. He snatched it out of the air with his other hand and turned it over, frowning at the writing. Notes on the townsfolk--a natural sort of thing to leave behind. He set the binder and page aside on the sheet and stood to check his soup, which was thankfully unburnt, though it was a near miss. He shut off the hot plate and wrapped the can in a towel as he spooned some into his mouth. The taste made him grimace, but he couldn't exactly afford to be picky. Seasoning was a sparse commodity, indeed.<br/><br/>He set the spoon aside. If it weren't going to be a good meal he may as well swallow as much as he could at once. And rather than sit alone and suffer through he decided to go and get his own reckoning of the townspeople. He'd heard a discussion not too long before his doze-off, something about someone wanting to meet him and another person insisting that they give it time. He left his rifle and heavy coat behind, wearing a somewhat archaic leather jerkin with metal pads tucked into pockets sewn along the leather. His rifle and other firearms stayed in the shack, but he left the hatchet on his hip, two feet of hardened oak topped with a blackened steel head. A reminder--to him, of his duty, and to them that he would be ever-prepared to defend them if need be.<br/><br/>He pushed the shack door open and stepped out into the daylight, holding his can tight as he sipped the contents. They pulled another grimace from him as he peered around the town, seeing what he could see from the very front of his shack. Small, and dwindling, he decided. They'd had it rough. He started to walk, idling slowly toward the nearest of the buildings, mentally mapping everything out as he went. He barely noticed the girl reading outside one of the homes, his eyes sliding across her and the shack behind her as he made note of location and populace.