<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'">
<div class="bbCodeSpoiler">
<button class="bbCodeSpoiler-button button--longText button" data-xf-click="toggle" data-xf-init="tooltip" title="Click to reveal or hide spoiler" type="button"><span class="button-text">
<span>Spoiler: <span class="bbCodeSpoiler-button-title">Mad Maia</span></span>
</span></button>
<div class="bbCodeSpoiler-content">
<div class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--spoiler">
<div class="bbCodeBlock-content"><div class="bbImageWrapper js-lbImage" data-lb-caption-extra-html="" data-lb-sidebar-href="" data-single-image="1" data-src="https://blackdahliaroleplaying.com/attachments/maia-jpg.16178/" title="maia.jpg">
<img alt="maia.jpg" class="bbImage lazyload" data-src="https://blackdahliaroleplaying.com/attachments/maia-jpg.16178/" data-url="" data-zoom-target="1" height="433" src="data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns%3D'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg' width='198' height='433' viewBox%3D'0 0 198 433'%2F%3E" style="" title="maia.jpg" width="198"/>
<noscript><img alt="maia.jpg" class="bbImage" data-url="" data-zoom-target="1" height="433" src="https://blackdahliaroleplaying.com/attachments/maia-jpg.16178/" style="" title="maia.jpg" width="198"/></noscript>
</div></div>
</div>
</div>
</div><br/>
Three hundred and sixty five days. One year to the day since life had changed for everyone in a big way. For some it had been <br/>
devastating; but for the woman who had become known as Mad Maia, it had been a welcome change. Little in her life had been affected by the fall of life as everyone had known had ceased to exist. She still rode, she still roamed. The only thing that was different was that she no longer had an address and her range had widened extensively. <br/>
<br/>
It was six of one, one half dozen of another if her moniker was an indicator of her geography or state of mind. Living off the land, stopping along the way at one village stop after another with  a six shooter on each hip, a long bone handled knife in her boot, and a rifle on her back, she looked more like a character from a   western movie or television show than an everyday person trying to survive the crash of civilization. Her father and mother, God bless their souls, had raised Maia and her brothers and sisters with the minds and skills to be riders and ranchers. She'd begun her sojourn in Wyoming, just outside of Smoot, where she had been born and raised, but the bitter cold winter forced her west to the coast where temperatures were milder and made odds better for survival. She'd left her siblings and their families there, while they knew how to survive, they had no mind or courage to embrace the new world as she had. With the Rockies far behind her, she'd settled into a nomadic path along the Mad River in California. <br/>
<br/>
The river started inland in Northern California, a day's ride east-ish from what used to be Eureka on the coast and its course offered a variety of terrains from the forests and foothills inland, to the grasslands of former ranches, on down to the ocean coast. Barter and trade had become the economy of the new old world and the game that she could hunt and smoke would be taken to the coast where the Wiyots of Table Bluff Rancheria, asmall tribal reservation that had also fared well for the loss of the modern world, would exchange fish and homemade goods for meat and furs. Being a quarter Crow, herself, she'd made quick friends with the people of Table Bluff and often made prolonged stays there. <br/>
<br/>
She had been enjoying a some time out of the saddle when a young resident of Table Bluff, Ahanu, came rushing in from outside shoutingto the adults sitting there that he'd seen a stranger on the coast and run all the back home to tell them. Out of respect, Maia sat back as those that were sitting aorund asked the boy questions. The strange was a man, maybe armed with a gun, but seemingly keeping to his own business from what the youngster describe, but two of her friends decided it would be best to have a look regardless. Table Bluff saw a lot of strangers pass by along the coast, but it was far enough removed from the main roads, that few people ever came in by road. Most vehicles and means to make and pump gas had been rendered useless early on and many people were now tethered to the geography they lived in.<br/>
<br/>
Mohigan and Vass, which was short for something that was much more of a mouthful than Maia could usually produce accurately, were two of her closest friends in Table Bluff and they invited her to join them as they went out to scout. She was well armed and had a scope on her rifle which would make checking out the stranger from a distance easier and more effective. When they arrived at the ridge overlooking the ocean, they spotted the stranger right where Ahanu had said he'd seen him. At first Maia offered the scope to Vass, who had the first look. Mohigan had the second, and then she took her look last.<br/>
<br/>
"Ahanu has good eyes and a good memory," she said to her friends. "He's just like the kid described."<br/>
<br/>
"He doesn't look like threat, we'll head down the ridge trail, you take the heather trail. We'll have him from both sides and find out what he's up to," Vass directed. It was a simple and safe plan and they parted ways to execute it. As the stranger took his rest at the edge of the ocean, Mohigan and Vass approched him on horseback from the north while Maia came from the south.<br/>
<br/>
"You there..." Maia spoke first, direct and succintly. "You're trespassing on claimed land. What's your business here?"<br/>
<br/>
[/Spoiler]</span>