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Ash has tarried too much, waiting on others to deal with the doctor first. It was possibly pride on his part, but despite having arrived where they were supposed to after a long time coming, he still felt the desire to leap in before anybody else in his group had to. Ash was not happy when the reins of leadership were forced upon him by the passing of Lt. Colonel Leann McCormick, but he accepted them because someone had to. Ash was always a better Executive than a Commanding Officer. He had done a bit more maturing during that time, however. These were his people, and they were supposed to join with the people in Mexico Beach. Granted, he didn't know it was going to be this well established. From the way Thana spoke about her father, she might not have, either. So what it came down to was a single question: Did Ash trust Thana's people?

A lot could have changed in the time that she had been back to this place. But her family was still in charge. Plus, they were being treated fairly so far. Well, in fact. As long as they were not being fattened up for the slaughter, literally or metaphorically, this appeared to be on the level. And being out in the world, losing all that they had lost, had made him a little more suspicious than the situation fully warranted. This is what he told himself.

Okay, he wasn't first. Nor second. But he was next. Fixing a mindset of protocol for a physical exam when being established to a new command, Ash stepped forward and behind the screen. He nodded to the Doc and acquiesced to the examination with full, detached compliance. Blood draw, check. Hair, face, teeth, skin. Heart rate, blood pressure, hernia. Standard stuff. The last year or so had been brutal, exacting a psychological and physical toll on them all, but at the end of the exam, Ash was apparently none the worse for wear, at least as could be gathered from an initial examination.

"Thanks, Doc." he intoned rather stoically, and accepted his lime green wristband. "Trade war stories sometime." He returned to the main group with a steady gait, taking note of those that were being separated from the rest. Amelia was one of them. Yellow wristband. From what the doctor had said, they were trying to keep parasites out of their settlement. There were a few that could be found out readily from an exam like that. He couldn't think of any that were outright fatal. Ash took a moment to lock eyes with the woman and give her a reassuring nod. They were going to be okay. One way or another.

As he was moving to his seat, Ash saw the hazel-eyed girl getting up to take the next spot. They both stopped, looking at each other for a second before continuing to their respective destinations; Ash to sit, and Thalia behind the screen. To Ash, it really looked like she wanted to say something.

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"Sold." Thalia spoke dryly but quietly in response to Beatrice's mildly sarcastic counteroffer. Continuing with a matter-of-fact tone, she continued, "We'll talk later." And why not? Access to a shower opened up options.

When Beatrice came back from her examination, Thalia noted that she had a green wristband which apparently meant that she could rejoin the rest of the group, unlike a select few of the others. Whatever they had, it wasn't enough to put them behind sealed plastic or booted out of Mexico Beach, so she figured it probably wasn't so bad. But she still wanted one of those green tags. To hell with whatever those people had wrong with them. She started to rise, eager to get it over with, but leaned back in her seat as she noticed that the Army Captain had moved just a little faster than she did. Luckily, his visit wasn't very long. Before someone else got the big idea to go next, Thalia made her move.

Army Captain took a little longer getting back to his seat than she expected. She managed to lock eyes with the man, just for a moment. She had questions. This was the only person still alive that she knew of that personally knew and associated with four people she had genuinely cared about; her cousin Alicia, uncle Caesar, Shieldbitch Bridgette, and teacher Astrid. Fine, talk later. Exam now. Thalia continued to the medical staff and kicked things off with a good, old-fashioned blood draw. After the physical punishment she had endured over her lifetime, and especially in recent years, a jab with a needle didn't even register. She then stripped down and allowed the doctor to give her a look.

Thalia wasn't really a self-conscious woman. Not usually. There had been a bit of a hit taken to her confidence since losing a hand and half of her forearm, granted, but she knew that there was going to be an adjustment period. In the world today, concepts like "an adjustment period" had a nasty way of getting one killed. So it was a problem. Mostly, it was the amount of damage that her body had taken - the same reason that she was a little hesitant to fully disrobe in front of new people (at first) in the shower room. Bullet wounds, stab wounds, poorly stitched cuts, all of which left scars. Some much older than the apocalypse, some more recent. From the look of the woman, she had lived a horrifying life. Add to that the missing limb, and one might mistake her for a victim.

Or just maybe, a doctor with military experience might see her scars and recognize the particulars of each and every one of them. They were from fighting. Many times, fighting for her life. The fact that she was still alive meant that she was a killer. She might be trouble, to someone else's observations. If she had to put a preference on it, Thalia would rather be thought of as "trouble" than "victim". All the same, she practically stared down the doctor as he did his fast and thorough examination of her. One mention of her scarring in a negative light, or a condescending one, and she was ready to do... something. Blow up at the man, uppercut him, she had no idea. Thalia was a bright-eyed, coiled spring for a moment there, almost daring him to say something. She was a damn good boxer, once upon a time. Used to train others in the Familia Gonzalez method of giving someone a beating. It was a pressure style and she was a switch-hitter, so her left would still be devastating.

But it never came. Doc didn't say a word until after the tests were over and she was pulling her robe back on. "Alright you can stop giving me the stink eye and get back to your group," Doc says with a light chuckle. Green wristband for her. She felt a little foolish. Unconscious defense mechanisms up for nothing. Thalia returned to her seat and flopped down next to Beatrice. "If this place is legit, chica, I could use a couple days to just sleep. Well, after."

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Wayne was usually the type to rush in where angels feared to tread, but the little lady with the accent that Hank usually heard coming out of the bad guys from those Cold War movies he was so fond of took the first go-around with the doctor. Well, good for her, getting her shit handled first and foremost. Then Wayne, who did not go to his exam without comment. Truth be told, Hank was damned curious about the contents of that black box, too. Especially since the platinum blonde lady that his PB was ogling earlier had been the one to bring it in, and it was apparently meant for him, specifically.

Was he getting something from his belongings back, like that younger guy got his dog tags? He couldn't think of anything that was an approximate size and shape to fit in the little black box that could be in his pack. Maybe he was Mexico Beach's One Millionth Customer, or something. Welp, only one way to find out. As soon as a break in the shuffle of people going up there manifested, Hank made his move.

For probably the first time in his life, Hank seemed eager to sit in the chair earmarked for people about to get stabbed by a hypodermic. Like Wayne, he was formerly a resident of a New York Loony Bin Mental Health Facility, so these tests were something that he had just gotten used to. It had been a while, but it seemed like old hat. Like riding a bike, except you don't get anywhere and no one has any fun. Ever. Well, except him, and right at that moment. After his blood is drawn:

Miss Mary picks up the box and hand it to Hank. "Daytona said to hand this to you." It is an old black plastic VHS case, on the spine is a white label that says Lazy Town.

Confusion hit Hank for about three seconds, until he remembered the words spoken by the Padre on board the bus earlier. It was at that moment that the former Sheriff fully understood the concept of the phrase, "Shit-Eating Grin". He bounded over to the doctor, VHS in one hand, the other ripping off his borrowed clothes. Hank was almost behind the screen by the time he had pulled his hospital gown off of himself, raring to go. "Heh... If we could, Doc?" He tried to remain calm and respectful, but the kid in him was begging to see what was on the tape. "Can we, ah, can we floor the pedal on the exam? I just found out I've got shit to do." The grin was still on his face and he was bobbing his head up and down in affirmation like a madman.

It wasn't as fast as he would have liked, of course.

Doc takes a step back. "Oh, that's fun. Been close to that Hadrian fellow?" he asks before sighing. "You got lice, going to need you to go join him and the others for now."

"Woah. Hold up there, Chief. Sportacus gave me head lice and now we're stuck together for a while?" He began to laugh a devious and not well contained laugh. "And it's... not even my birthday. Thanks, Doc!" He accepted his yellow wristband like a badge of honor and made for the separate group of people with like wristbands. On the way, he diverted a couple of meters to grab a wheeled AV cart that contained an older model television and VCR. He looked back over his shoulder, "You guys mind?"

The affirming nod from the Doc was all he needed. He rolled the unit over to the Quarantine Within the Quarantine and pulled a chair up right next to his good buddy Hadrian. Before sitting down, he called over to Wayne, "Head lice! No big, they'll probably just slather us down with mayo. Or shave us bald." Shrugging, Hank popped in his cassette and grabbed the remote. He thunked heavily in the chair and hit PLAY, anxious as a kid on Christmas.

Once the tracking leveled out and those annoying bits of horizontal static cleared away, Hank (and Nigel, and as a matter of consequence Hunter and Amelia) was greeted by the surreal image of the "Lazy Town" opening theme:



At first, the sheer seeming randomness of it all was more than a little confusing. That was, until he heard the line, "And Sportacus saving the day". Hank was shockingly amused, quite possibly beyond the capacity for facial expression for long seconds; point of fact all of them until the intro was over and the episode began. Hank tittered, chortled, scoffed, and or generall laughed in a manner so off, so ugly as to sound like he broke something. He leaned in to Nigel and exclaimed, as if claiming a great victory over life, "Oh. My. GOD. Worth it. Worth it. If Doc had just diagnosed me with Ass Cancer, it would still, totally be worth it there, Sportacus. Sit back and enjoy there, buddy. I think he's about to, ah... yeah, regale us with his oh so famous "Sportacus Move".

Wiping a tear away from his eye, he wistfully declared, "Man, I'm just sad I had to go through an apocalypse to see this. Jesus-Horatio-Zaknafein-Gutierrez-Fucking-Christ, this is awesome." Smiling back to his survival buddy, Hank informed him, "Oh, don't worry. I think there are at least four more episodes on this tape. Are you not entertained?"

Reflecting upon it ethically, Han was pretty sure that, if there was indeed a Hell, he was very likely going there when someone (probably Nigel) killed him. Reflecting upon it logically, he really didn't give a rat's fuzzy hindparts right then.

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Riley looked towards S.B. for a moment as she answered her little joke earlier, and she wasn't really sure if the woman was being really serious or not about that. But then she smiled awkwardly as Doc chuckled a bit, which she assumed that S.B. was at least joking maybe Riley watched as Tatiana went first, and then Amelia was next. "You will be fine." Riley said towards Amelia and gave her girlfriend a friendly smile. As a few others started to go next, Riley watched Ashton, Hank and then Thalia going through next, she sighed slightly to herself as it was now finally her turn now. Riley decided that she would go with Doc this time as she turned in her paper, it did feel like a little high school moment.

"Take my blood then." Riley said with an awkward laugh as she let S.B. take her blood, wincing as the needle went through her skin but didn't fight against it or anything. Sighing as the needle was removed, and Riley went behind the curtain for Doc, she started to strip down. "Alrighty ready to get this started." Riley said, she didn't really mind or care if she was naked at this point she just wanted to get it all done and over with. Riley let Doc, check her eyes, heartrate, and then started to comb through her hair like she had always did back in elementary school and middle school whenever the school did lice checks back in the day."Ahh, okay. You have lice. Don't worry we'll take care of it," Doc says quietly. "You'll need to go sit with Amelia and the others over there watching T.V." Once she comes out from behind the screen Doc will put on a Yellow Band on her wrist with her name on it.

"Lovely, thank you." Riley said as she made her way towards Amelia, Hank, Nigel and Hunter, seeing Hunter talking to her girlfriend she wasn't jealous or anything but she kept a close eye on him for a moment. "Looks like I got a case of lice." Riley said as she sat down next to Amelia. She watched the show going on, and rolled her eyes, looking over towards Nigel or his nickname Sporticus that the crazy man kept ranting on about feeling bad he was now being associated with the show Lazy Town.

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Erica watched the blonde girl go up next, as she leaned back in her seat and watched as things went on, Hank started to play Lazy Town on the TV, and he was rattling on about it. She did feel bad that he was with the guy now, as soon as the blonde girl finished Erica then got up. She was pretty much familiar with regular checkups back in her police and detective days, they would always do random drug tests and yearly physicals as well. Erica didn't flinch to much as the needle was put in and blood was drawn, as Erica remained fairly calm, and then it was her turn to go behind the curtain.

Erica only removed parts of the robe where they were needed to get the check up, she still felt a bit uncomfortable since the showers getting naked in complete strangers really wasn't her thing either. Checking her heartrate, as well as her hair, and so on, and she sighed in relief that she didn't have anything on her. "Everything looks good girl, just go rejoin the main group," Miss Mary says as she points back over to where Wayne and the other folks are sitting. "Thank you for your time." Erica said, giving S.B. a friendly smile.

She came out a few seconds later and joined back up where the others were, she felt bad she wasn't with Nigel, but at least she didn't have any kind of parasites on her anyway. Which was a good thing as Erica looked at Wayne and then the others who were cleared, she was pretty hungry at this point now as well.

Temperature: 94F (34C)
Humidity: Fucking High (Around 98%) - Raining off and on all day
Wind Speed: 7 MPH (11 KPH)
Cloud Coverage: About 62% covered with thick dark clouds

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Once everyone was done and taken care of Doc and Miss Mary went back to the table and seemed to be packing things up. Doc picked up a bag and pulled a walkie talkie out of it. Messing with the dials a bit before he hit a button and started talking into it. "Shears, you in?" he said before releasing the trigger and waiting. There was silence for a minute. "Shears?" he said again. Still silence. He exchanged a looked with Miss Mary before trying again. This time a lot louder. "Shears! Wake the hell up!" he barked into the thing. There was silence again and then static crackled through.

"Ah, yeah, I'm here, was busy. What you want?" a rough and breaking voice called back through it.

"Right, sleeping is busy work. I got three Yellow Bands. Need you to grab your kit and get over here," Doc said and waited for a reply.

"Uh, why you need me for bleeding? Someone rip a weave out?" Shears asked. Doc rolled his eyes and radioed back.

"Not red! I said yellow!" Doc said and waited again.

"Oh! Right, right! Okay, yeah, on my way." The radio went dead and Doc let out a slow sigh. Miss Mary chuckled and rolled her eyes a bit.

"That man ain't got the sense god gave a chicken," she muttered and Doc placed the radio on the table before he went back to packing up things. "You got them?" she asked and Doc nodded as he picked up a clipboard and wrote down a few things before handing it over to her. She looked it over and nodded. "Yeah, I'll get the meds for the kid and bring them back once I get these started," she said as she moved the small rack of blood filled vials into a pack.

It seemed like one group was watching the video that Daytona had brought it. Miss Mary didn't pay it any mind and grabbed her things before heading out the door and giving Panama and Major a nod as she left. Doc grabbed one of the smaller packs and slung it over his shoulder and hooked the radio to strap before looking back at the group.

"Alright, you all with Greens, just hold tight. Cook will be in shortly with your meal. Those of you with Yellow and Orange, follow me so we can get you taken care of, it won't take long, or at least shouldn't," he said as he made his way towards the door as well. "Major, with me if you would?" he said, it sounding more like a request than an order. She simply nodded and waited for the group to follow the doctor. Once they had the Doc would lead the "parasite" group over to what looked like it used to be sauna room. Though now it was set up with a barbers chair in it, a sink, a table, and had a floor drain. One wall had a long wooden bench built against it for everyone to have a seat on. "Just have a seat, Shears should be here soon." Major took post just outside the door.

Over in the Conference Room, Panama stood guard over the ones that remained. Leaning back against the wall near the exit door as he chewed on a toothpick. "No worries, Doc will bring 'em back toot-sweat. Well as long as Shears gets his ass over here, man ain't exactly what I'd call quick footed," he said with a bit of a chuckle. "And Cook will be in soon, knowing her ass she'll want to get in and out before Doc gets back," he added with a grin. "Shit, fuck, feel free to look around and find something to do. This'll be y'alls rec room slash mess hall until quarantine is over."

*Alright, all characters with a color band other than Green is to follow Doc out of the conference room, into the former sauna room, and have a seat. Those with a Green Band, hold tight where you are. Feel free to talk or look around. If you want to see what specifically is there as far as a book or music or the like goes - PM me here on RPG. You may only look over 1 ~item type~ at a time. IE: Books or Records or VHS. If you message me asking if something is in the room that was listed out previously I will tell you "no" even if it is. lol So double check before you ask!

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Tatiana, while sitting on a couch, didn't relax. She was sitting up and leaning over slightly with her hands between her knees as she kept watching as Jack and Jamie got their medical evaluations. She looked like a nervous worried young mother as Jamie got stuck with the needle but he didn't cry. She wasn't surprised. He was born into this world unlike the rest of them. He had been raised to be quiet, to hold it in. It was how he had to be. Kids couldn't just cry it out these days. In a way she envied her son. All of them were adults, they had to learn this world. How to survive after being raised with being able to live. Grown up with electricity, schools, training, a full belly. Some more than others but even with as bad as her childhood had been she still had had a better start than Jamie had. Then again, Jamie was born into this world and it was easier for a child to learn something than an adult. What was relearned for them was the first time for Jamie. Face eaters were a horrid thing to adults, to kids they would just be the norm. It would be easier for him. He would be stronger than they were. He wouldn't survive. He would live.

As Jack sat back down she nodded and took her son back, bouncing him on her knee as she waited for the rest to be done, ever so often using her robe to wipe his nose. As Doc told them what was what and lead the others out of the room she watched, still looking scared as hell and worried but watching. "₁Эта группа знает, что они делают," she said quietly to Jack as she started looking back around the room. The Panama piped in and let them know a little bit more. Okay, they were going to be seeing this room a lot. Meals and to spend time in, if they were going to be here a week that meant most of their time was going to be in here. Might as well figure out just what is in this room.

"Gonna valk vith Jamie," she said quietly before standing up. Putting Jamie on her hip she shuffled her slippered feet along the ground as she walked. Slowly and giving herself wide-berth from those she didn't know. Right now she only knew Beatrice, Ash and Jack in the room. Riley and Amelia had to go with Doc, and she had been in Newnan when it went down so she hadn't met Thalia. Granted Beatrice seemed okay with the one armed woman who she hadn't been introduced to as of yet but then again she hadn't seen Beatrice since she left Newnan with James. That was over a year ago. People changed, she had.

Finding a large tote of toys she sat down on the ground with Jamie and let him sit there. He did for a minute before leaning over and crawling over to the tote, pulling himself up into a standing position and bouncing up and down in excitement with a quiet babble before reaching into the box and pulling out small plastic and stuffed toys. Looking at one or another before throwing it hard on the ground and laughing. It was that pure babies laugh, even if it wasn't as loud as most would think a child would be, especially at that age. The boy had a bright smile, just like his dad. Tatiana's face remained scarred looking but she grinned at bit at him.

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Wayne kicked back and relaxed in the recliner, scratching his chest and swatting at the air every so often as Hank had his little personal time with the Doc. As Hank came out and shouted about head lice Wayne chuckled. "Guess the little bugger know your ass is sweet there Jelly," he teased. It didn't seem to bother him, Wayne was at Zero Fucks Given mode right then. He had had a shower, shaved, was resting back in a well broken in recliner in the air conditioning. This was great, he actually felt himself dozing off. That was until he heard the weirdest noise he had ever heard in his life. Hank laughing.

Opening his eyes he sat up slowly. "No fucking clue, he sounds like someone broke him," he said to no one in particular as he stood up and took a few steps over in the direction of the bug group. He stopped, a good ways from them as his eyes locked with the TV. His eyes widened a bit. Then it looked like a lightbulb went off in his brain. "OH MY FUCKING GOD! I FORGOT ABOUT THIS SHIT!" he said before he burst out laughing, so hard in fact he hit an empty chair and fell into it. He just kept laughing. You see, Wayne was actually a decent guy. Got married and even had a daughter. He hadn't thought about it but she had watched this shit when she was little. How the fuck had he forgotten about SPORTACUS? He didn't know but now he remembered and he sure as shit would never forget it again!

Wayne was still laughing as the group was lead out. Just giving them a wave. "Have fun there Sportacus!" he yelled out before slowly making his way back to his recliner, his eyes drifting towards Tatiana as she went over with the baby to the toys. "She's either tough or lucky and ain't no one lucky anymore," he said, again speaking to no one in particular as he sat back down in the recliner. Resting his hands behind his head he looked out over the rest of the remaining group. "So, hey there, Panama Jack? How long you been in town?" he asked with a shit eating grin on his face.

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Amelia was quiet as she was sitting there, waiting for others to either join her or get to the healthy group. Then there was someone joined next to her. It was that man that was alone with a dog... She already didn't like him already. She really didn't like dogs and people who liked and owned dogs weren't in her friends list anymore. Amelia gave him a frowny look, but didn't reply right away. Especially on what she got." Amelia..." In the end she only gave him her name. She didn't like him and certainly as hell didn't trust him. Then there was the older guy. She looked at him and gave a nod.

"Yes." Another brief reply, but she didn't know these people and there was no need to give them any info more than the bare minimum required. At least the Hadrian fellow didn't have the dog stigma in her mind, so he was a few steps above Hunter. Amelia also saw Ash who locked eyes with her and gave her a reassuring nod. She nodded in return, feeling just a tad better than before. It was nice.

What wasn't nice was when the old guy who seemed a lil cookie came over with a tv and then the nightmare started. Amelia was not entertained by watching lazy town. Not at all, she groaned a little and tried to ignore it as much as possible, focusing her attention on Riley, who arrived soon after with a yellow band of her very own. Amelia's face turned sad at this. She gave a tiny smile to her love. Since they were so close all the time it was only natural if one of them got lice the other to also catch them. Her hand quietly sought Riley's as she was trying to ignore the show on the TV. Only the Wobie, Gobie, Robie or whatever his name was guy was maybe the saving grace. Didn't mean she liked the show any still.

Eventually after a small eternity they were asked to move away to a former sauna room? She was a lil bit confused, but apparently they were to get their their parasites treated here and it was almost certain the ones with lice were going to get shaved. Just great... She was frowning as she took a seat to wait." They are going to shave our heads clean... aren't they?" She whispered.

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More separations of his group, more time apart. It was bound to happen sometime, even assuming that everything went spectacularly with these people. He would have to hand over the reins to a larger unit and incorporate himself within it. It was part of the plan, so long as he felt that he could trust his people with the settlement. Even then it would be their decision, not his, ultimately. They followed him because they chose to, not because they had to. That time looked to be drawing to a close. Naturally, Ash had some conflicting emotions about this. He'd been in charge for so long now, he wasn't sure what his identity would be like without that responsibility. Things were funny that way.

From his group, Riley and Amelia were shuffled off elsewhere supposedly for parasite treatment. Two of the older guys and the younger soldier were along for the ride as well. He couldn't say much about the quality of character of any of the others in the Yellow Band Club, but he knew that Riley could handle herself well enough. Someone would get a tooth knocked free of its moorings if they got too handsy with either her or Amelia. Also from his group, Jack and Tatiana were together, their nuclear family complete with little Jamie as they spoke quietly in Tati's native tongue. Ash smiled. They deserved a chance. They all did, but looking at things, those three especially. It was a damned miracle that they found each other again, safe and more or less intact. Even that fucking cat. Especially that fucking cat, now that he thought of it. It seemed to have taken a liking to Tatiana. Maybe it had a thing for Russians.

The thought occurred to Ash that their time together in the last few months had given them a true gift. Each of his greatly reduced group picked up the basics of the Russian language from Tati. It was not a commonly spoken tongue in this part of the world, especially now that most of the world's population was deceased. They could still communicate, albeit on a basic level, with some hope of privacy. After Ash congratulated the nimble lady on her Oscar Award Nominee performance thusfar, he was going to have to thank her for the tutorial. She was a goddamned treasure, that Tatiana.

So the only thing to do now was to sit and wait for a little while longer. Ash's own curiosity about the items at their disposal, coupled with an intense desire to force himself to relax a little, gave him motivation to move about the room. His feet wound up taking him to the collection of vinyl albums, stored next to a functional record player. After sorting through it for a moment, he froze. A sparkle of recognition glinted from his eyes, and he stood holding a short stack of compiled works of The Rolling Stones. One might even have caught a little smile form to one side of his mouth. Even if all this was some bullshit ploy and they had to try to fight their way out of Mexico Beach, damnit all, he was going to listen to some Stones.

He selected one of his favorite albums, "Beggars Banquet" - it didn't contain his favorite song, but overall it was a better listen - and geared up the record player nearby. The first few percussion strikes alerted everyone within hearing distance who knew anything at all about the Rolling Stones that this was the immortal classic, "Sympathy for the Devil". In a manner that might have otherwise been considered uncharacteristic to the man, Ash began to, ever so slightly, bob his head in time to the music.

Aside from the obvious reasons of entertainment, to Ash's mind a little music to concentrate on might make conversations a little more private for those who wished to talk quietly. With that in mind, he drew his gaze over in the general direction of Thalia and Beatrice. They might have a little time now to speak. And yes, The Rolling Stones was reason in and of itself.

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Sleep would have been nice. Still promised to be nice after a while, if she could allow herself the luxury of letting down her guard in a new place, surrounded by new people. Even that was punctuated by the fact that she was in a place, and not up a tree or in a smallish, makeshift shelter like the back of a car or storage loft, or even a perimeter-staked camping spot on high ground with a firepit and various foot traps dug in (if she planned to stay for a while). She sure as hell would have felt better being back in Lola's TANK, but that ship had sailed over a year ago. The thought of it brought tears to her eyes. Not the full spillage onto her cheeks, but enough to obscure her vision before she remembered herself.

Thalia was not in peak condition, in a strange place in which she was not comfortable, surrounded by more people than she had been around in a very long time. Crying was a stupid idea. A sign of weakness. Her lack of an arm was already doing that nicely. She needed nonchalance and confidence when it was called for, not shows of emotion. Now, confidence she could muster. Even though she wasn't at her best, Thalia was no pushover. Nonchalance was a different story altogether. She needed to do something, otherwise she was going to crawl out of her skin. "Heya, Bea..." she started. Thalia was just about to continue her thought when strange noises issued from somewhere behind her. It took a half second to realize that it was music. Older music. Some of the stuff that her Mom might have listened to. Oh yay, another dad person to think about. Yeah, she had to go and find something to do, right about nowish. "Yah, I'm going to go give that Pac-Man machine a workout. I can't just sit down right now. Wicked fucking pent up. You good?" If she wasn't particularly good, maybe a rousing game of "Make the Yellow Circle Eat the White Dashes & Avoid the Multicolored Klansmen" might raise her spirits. Thalia let her hand linger on Beatrice's shoulder for a moment, but made her move to the electric glow of Pac-Man.

The bad news: It still needed quarters. The good news: There were a line of them on the glass already. She carefully picked one up and studied it. It was the first time she had used money to actually procure something since all hell broke loose worldwide. It was a little surreal. She carefully placed a quarter into the slot, listening to the click and clatter that resulted in a single credit for play on the screen in front of her. Okay, she could do this. It was a simple game, old as hell, and only required the use of one hand to play. She needed to train her left more anyway.

Pac-Man: Physical therapy in the Apocalypse.

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Hank and Wayne had been Apocalypse Buddies for a while now, even back before the apocalypse actually happened. Maybe it was an exercise in mental preparation, or a sign of their collective lack of faith in humanity. Okay, so maybe Apocalypse Buddies wasn't the best term for them prior, but it kind of fit now. They had heard many of each others stories, both in the nuthouse by means of therapy sessions and afterwards, purely through male bonding. Now that being said, Wayne's recollection of the show was something of a surprise. It probably shouldn't have been. Hank knew that his PB was a family man, back in the day. And Wayne knew that Hank was a family man once upon a time, too.

"Oh, my little girl never forced me to watch this cra..." His voice trailed off. A couple of seconds later, he stated flatly, "Well, shit. I've gone and made myself sad." Hank let out a huff and shook his head. Lucky for him, at that moment the Yellow Wristband Club was being led out and into a separate room, to await the attention of someone called Shears.

But today was a day to look forward, not backward. The past was part of what made him who he was. He was not bound by it. Boy, did it sting sometimes, though. But speaking of looking forward, Hank took the time to hit the STOP button on the VCR, as he was going to fully acquaint himself with this show (possibly for future conversational ammunition, a thing which was not particularly mentally healthy a practice but was just just funny as hell nonetheless), and fell into line toward the back of his group. "Bakc after a while, Maldonado! Save me a seat, huh?"

When in the former sauna, Hank found himself a seat and awaited what was likely to be one of the shortest haircuts in his life. It was a concept that he felt like sharing. Oddly, in a rather understanding and level voice. "Hey, it's alright guys. I mean, don't get me wrong; with a name like "Shears", I don't think they're coming with the mayonnaise treatment, but small price to pay, right?" He looked to Hadrian and gave him a quick thumbs-up. Even a supportive nod. Fun was fun, and the Sportacus stuff was really fun, but this was something of a slightly more serious note. To Riley and Amelia, he gave an understanding look. "Gonna be okay, girls. You'll be back to breaking hearts in no time, promise." It was almost fatherly, in an asshole sort of way. Quickly changing the subject to get minds off of the coming buzz, he opened with, "So what do you think they serve as a Welcome Aboard meal? I'd settle for a can of hash and some coffee, but fingers are crossed for Crab Boil. Hmm? Seafood fans?"

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Alexander didn't pay much attention to the tv being pulled over to the quarantine group, though he had to take note of the old guys clear amusement of whatever they were watching. Nah, watching children's tv wasn't anything that interested him that much, especially since he didn't know any of those that were put in quarantine. Thalia, Beatrice and Manny had clearly dodged the bullet of getting or spreading lice to one another. Thankfully so, since Alexander didn't want to shave his head clear off and he figured that was the easiest way. He'd fought for his country without proper hair on his head before, and he wasn't going to do that again.

When Doc told them to stay in the recreation room while the non-green tagged people were taken out, Alexander watched as the group was led out, trying to picture them without hair. He felt most sorry for the girls, even if he didn't know them. But that left him asking the same question he had asked Manny a few minutes earlier. "I wonder if..." Alexander began to question himself, finding himself standing up from his chair just as the Ash fellow went up to do what Alexander had been about to do; Search for some records.

Alexander limped up beside Ash, watching as he ended up with the very same records that Alexander would have chosen. "Well I'll be damned..." He couldn't help but say quietly, taking in the view of the Rolling Stones records that ol' Mugsy would have done a lot to get his hands on those days, and here they had four of them! Alexander looked back at Manny, whom he talking about this earlier, and back at Ash as "Beggars Banquet" was put on. Oh man, those notes really brought him back. "Good to finally meet a fellow Stones' fan out here."

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Nigel "Hadrian" wasn't angry at what Hank was doing then, ending up in the same yellow-badge group as him and pulling out that TV just to show the Gods-awful childrens tv-show that he was laughing almost hysterically at. No, Nigel wasn't angry; He was truly pissed off. Had he been in that very same show as the dreaded 'real' Sportacus was, smoke would be steaming out of his ears, nostrils and all. The very shame of it all, especially with everyone else able to watch this humiliation with their very own eyes, Nigel "Hadrian" felt a growing urge to do something stupid to Hank.

But he didn't punch Hank or anything, only breathing heavily as he sat down in a chair and hid his face in his palm. He had dealt with students like this plenty of times before, so he was good at not lashing out against them, at least not in a way that would get him fired. Not that he could get fired from any job then and there per say, but going full-on Germanic berserker on Hank would surely get him thrown out of the camp, or worse killed. With Wayne joining in on the fun, Nigel "Hadrian" slid further and further down in his chair, avoiding viewing the tv as best he could though sometimes having to see just how bad it was.

It was really bad. And Nigel "Hadrian" Cooper would have his revenge, somehow, some day.

"...May the powers that may be please give me cancer..." Nigel sighed back to Hank, trying to pay attention back to the red-head he has asked earlier. He didn't fault her for only giving him an feeble "yes", how could she trust him? Soon she was joined by another girl, so Nigel left them alone.

Then they were ordered out again, this time out of the recreation room and out to get their whole lice-situation hammered out. Nigel didn't waste any time getting out of his seat and following Doc out of the room and into what Nigel figured could have been a sauna before. He'd never been in one before, and he certainly didn't expect to have the pleasure of experiencing one in those times. The barber chair gave the room more logical sense though, and Nigel did as told and sat down at the bench. After Hank's earlier mocking, Nigel didn't know what to make of Hank's new and understanding tone. As if he wasn't a complete old asshole. Was revenge worth it, with him trying to comfort those girls? Maybe. Looking halfway at Hank, Nigel figured it was easier for him to talk rather than the strangers. "Not really. Unlike you, I'm not pickish."

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Quarantine seemed to be doing well so far. As far as Manny could tell they would all share at this this room together. Seemed pretty nice. Passing inspection himself he was able to rejoin the main group and felt revealed that he didn't have anything. Though watching as more and more people joined those who didn't get the green band, it was a bit saddening. He wondered what it would be like for them as they got an unknown treatment to deal with whatever they had. Watching what seemed like many people leave Manny realized, he knew none of them. Not one. It was two girls who were apart of the other group, a couple of men younger then Alexander and himself, and the boy soldier. Manny wondered how old he was when this all started. And if he was actually military. Those events were almost 6 years ago, and he still... seemed too young for it in some ways.

But they all didn't seem too down by the situation at hand. That was a nice sight. Alexander brought up the idea that being a dentist people didn't strip down as much as they did for these checkups. "Nah, we undressed all the time. We had a shared shower room and everything. Some people preferred their teeth worked on naked as well. Granted most were old and losing their minds, but still." His response was all absolute crap. He just wanted to see what kind of reaction his friend would have. "Which reminds me, if you ever want a checkup, let me know bud." He said with a stereotypical smiling doctor fashion.

Manny deciding he needed something to help pass the time went to the bookshelf he saw on the way in. Though he saw a few books, none that were normally in his preferred fields. Though a historical book called "The Bridge on the Drina" by Ivo Andrić seemed pretty nice from what he could tell. He would carry the book with him for a little bit and he would take time to read it when things calmed down. Between the foot traffic, the promise of food, and a kids show from who knows when playing, it was a bit much for a reading environment. When the people who weren't wearing green bands left Manny found a nice chair and decided to start reading.

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Hunter was getting the vibe he wasn't liked. Despite the questions he asked he only got a simple name from the redhead. Amelia. He was pretty sure he asked more then that, but whatever. Making friends was hard, and with how things were going, it seemed many people had already made up their minds on him. Allies here, might not be possible. Chances are if he made allies, they would be with people he hasn't met yet. Though one man who came into the infected parasites group was nice enough to introduce himself. Hunter. Nice to meet you Hadrian. Or... Nigel. Now he was confused on what name to use.

Before long another girl came into the mix. She seemed to know Amelia pretty well, and then proceed to sit by her. Now she seemed relaxed by this new girl. His best guess was close friends who had a lot of trust in each other. Now it was making sense to him, she already had someone she trusted in the room, so to her he didn't fit that gap. He'd need a new friend. But he wouldn't exclude her entirely from his thought process. But as things got moving again, some old dude came over with the TV set and put in a tape like that in his old school. Then came to life, a piece of his childhood that he thought had died many years ago. "Holy Shit I love this show!" He took his chair and got as close to the screen as he could. Despite the many ways he was forced to grow up fast, he was still very much a teenager at heart. And struggled a lot to grow up. And it showed.

After several minutes of ignoring everyone he saw the TV show get paused in favor of Everyone in non green wrist bands needed to leave. "....but I was watching that..." he would trail behind a little, but he would follow along without another word. He didn't need more people on his case then already were. In the treatment room as he guessed, it was a weird room that he had... no idea what it was for prior to the world ending. A fancy closet maybe? But it had a barber chair so that was cool. But it probably meant that a lot of these people with him had lice. Shaving was the easiest and safest way to get rid of lice. He could imagine how some people might not like that, though he personally didn't care if he had to. He would avoid it as a sense of self preservation, but overall if he had to, the army already did before so what if it does it again? So what. But he just had a tick. Fucking freeloader.

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Beatrice chuckled slightly - she hadn't been certain what Thalia's reaction to her quip would be, but the results were entertaining at the very least. She smirked a bit, not saying much in reply. She was too busy looking around the room, sizing things up as best as she could. The color coding system on the wristbands was interesting - she wondered if they had a color for those they suspected of lying on the intake forms. The shouts for someone named Shears, though, that was interesting.

"Codenames - and very obvious ones too," Beatrice mumbled under her breath. "I wonder if yours will be Lesbian," she quipped to Thalia. The groups were separated more, with those who didn't have green wristbands going off to another room. It was almost sweet to see how people instantly started trying to entertain themselves - Thalia included. And Beatrice had to admit, as soon as she heard Pac-Man, she was tempted to give it a whirl as well. It had been so long since they had been able to even contemplate doing things for fun.

And while Thalia hadn't invited her, Beatrice got up and followed her over to Pac-Man anyways. "My entertainment is going to be watching you play this with this hand," Beatrice said with a cocky smirk.

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Jack nodded in agreement. These people - they really did know exactly what they were doing. Newnan had been pretty decent when it came to taking in newcomers, but compared to this, they practically had let people waltz inside, no questions asked, and gave them leadership positions as well. It was intimidating as it was comforting - leaving Jack with a paradox of emotions. If these were good people, they were exactly the types he wanted protecting his wife and son. And if they weren't... Then they had just waded into a new level of hell.

"Khorosho, solovey,"₁ Jack said softly. He watched Tatiana with Jamie for a moment, before his friendship signals started tingling and he realized he most likely needed to talk to Ash. He still had no idea what had happened to Thana, if she was alive and if she was here somehow, and having spent what felt like an eternity searching for Tatiana, he could relate to that pain and uncertainty. The wounds were fresh, not even really formed into scars just yet.

He saw a man with a limp head on over to Ash. He figured it would also be a good idea to get to know the rest of these people. Jack made his way on over as well. Sure, he loved music and this record brought a grin to his face, but mostly Jack just wanted to be there if Ash needed him. Besides, he could see Tatiana out of the corner of his eye. This room wasn't too big. "This place... it's somethin' else," Jack said, once he reached the two men. He then looked at the old man with the limp, the one he didn't know. "I'm Jack, by the way," he said, his Boston accent thick and obvious.

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Riley felt Amelia reaching for her hand, and gave her girlfriend a soft smile and leaned forward and kissed her on her fore head. "Its going to be fine love." Riley said, giving Amelia a friendly smile, she didn't like the idea of having to shave her head but Riley had cut her hair recently as well. While they were getting supplies a walker tried to grab her hair, the only thing that she could do was to use the knife she had at the time and cut it free. She looked over towards the guy named Hunter, she did feel a little bit bad for the kid, and made a little note to talk to him a bit later.

The Nigel fellow seemed to be a bit annoyed with Hank, as the little kiddies show went on she was lucky that Riley didn't watch it when she was younger. Then she looked at Doc as he started to talk into the radio and then yelled into it to get someones attention by the name Shears. And then a few seconds later they were ordered to get up and leave, so that they could get the lice out of their hair, now she knew why her head got really itchy now as well.

Riley got up and followed the rest of the group towards what looked like a sauna, looking over at the woman named Major who was watching them like a hawk still. "So, which branch did you serve in anyway?" Riley finally asked Major, figuring that she could get to know her a bit more as Riley found her seat and sat down. Looking over at Hank, and gave the guy an awkward smile trying to comfort them in his own little way, and then asked what kind of sea food they could be serving. "I'm hoping shrimp maybe." Riley said shrugging slightly as she looked towards Amelia and gently rubbed her girlfriend's back.

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Erica looked at the others as she watched Doc talking to someone in the radio by the name of Shears to get their attention, eventually by yelling through the radio. She wasn't sure why they let someone in, if they always slept on the job, but it wasn't really her place to judge anyway either. Erica watched as the group started to leave the ones with the yellow wrist bands, She felt bad for Nigel who looked like he was getting visibly annoyed by Hank with the show as they left.

Then she watched the group she was with starting to spread and do their own thing, a woman's couple went to play some Pac-Man and then the woman with her son watched him play. She gave a slight smile remembering her own daughter for a moment, sighing ever so slightly she got up and stretched slightly. Then three men went over to the record player, and could hear The Rolling Stones play over the room she wasn't a fan really of them.

Erica then turned over towards the pool table that was in the room, she hadn't played it in such a long time at all, she used to play it when she was off duty and at a bar she usually frequented in Detroit as well. She decided that she could play a round, and started to get it set up as well, occasionally looking over at everyone in the room.

Temperature: 94F (34C)
Humidity: Fucking High (Around 98%) - Raining off and on all day
Wind Speed: 7 MPH (11 KPH)
Cloud Coverage: About 62% covered with thick dark clouds

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The Major stood there, keeping her post as Doc came in and leaned against the back wall, checking his watch as he kept track of the time. He let out a bit of a huff as he glanced over at Major. "I hope there is a cart near him otherwise we might be here all day," he said with half a chuckle. Major smirked a bit and then shrugged. Doc looked over to Hank and rubbed his temples. "God I hope the fuck not, I doubt any of your systems could handle it but knowing Cook.." he said, letting his words trail off. It was obvious this wasn't the first time he had worried about what the cook was going to bring in the new comers.

The Major seemed to keep her finger close to the trigger and even though the group had made no signs of being aggressive towards the town or anyone in it thus far she still hadn't let her guard down in the slightest. Her head only turned when she was addressed. She gave the girl a once over before replying rather dryly. "The Army," she said flatly. "WAC unit," she added. "I'm no nurse." That was obvious from the way she carried herself. At least to anyone paying attention.

The door swung open and a heavy set man with a hell of a graying afro stepped into the room. "Shears is here!" he called holding out his clippers, which were in one hand, and an old looking doctors bag in the other. "Who am I shaving?" he grinned as he hit the one switch. They didn't turn on. Hitting it a few times, it still didn't turn on.

"You have to plug the damn thing in," Major muttered under her breath.

"Oh right," he said with a laugh that was a bit over the top before walking over to the wall and plugging it in. When it finally came on he grinned brightly. "So, who gots the bugs?"

Doc rubbed his face before pushing off the wall. "They do, this one I need to remove a tick from. Give them the option," Doc said in a voice that hinting on this was a warning. Shears nodded.

"Right of course," he said clearing his throat. "Okay, um, right. You do gotta choice. Choice one, I buzz your head, smooth like dolphin's skin. Or two, we go the oil treatment. Now I know you girls are gonna be like 'oh give me oil, don't cut my lovely locks. They blow in the wind!'" he said doing the worst impression of a teenage girl. "But, that's gonna take time and a lot of combing, and days, in a separate quarantined room, alone. And by alone, I don't even mean just away from that main group you came in with. I mean each other. Keeps you from spreading it back to each other. So if you can handle three days in a hotel room, by yourself, taking meals alone, no interactions (or updates besides the occupational food drop off) I will be happy to smother those little buggers down. Otherwise, snip snip. Hair grows back," he said as he patted the chair.

Doc just shook his head and Major rolled her eyes. Looking down at his list, Doc went over it for a moment before looking over at Hunter. "Monroe, how about we get that tick off you and then you can return to the main group," he said as he motioned to the kid to come over to the sink. The Major just kept her post.

Over in the Conference room, Panama chuckled a bit as he looked over towards Wayne. "Oh long enough." It looked like the man had more to say, he always looked like he had more to say but he didn't get a chance as the door flung open and he nearly got hit in the face as a large cart was being pushed into the room, followed by an older woman with a classic 1950's style apron on, and then a second cart being pushed by a middle aged Hispanic looking man in a really loud Hawaiian shit. "Fucking hell Mae, nearly knocked me out."

The woman stopped and looked back over her shoulder. "Oh sweet child, I am sorry, in a hurry you know," she said and the room quickly filled with the smell of home cooking. Not your typical any day of the week cooking. This smelled like Thankgiving on a Sunday at the beach. It was grand. "Gotta get in and out before Doc gets back, you know him. 'Mae, they can't handle it. They need to get used to solid food. Gravy is not a food group'. Blah blah blah. Sorry but a soul need to heal after it's been out there and ain't no faster way to heal the heart than some home cooking," she said with a grin as she started pushing again.

"Amen to that," the man following her added. "Hey y'all," he said to the group as they moved to the front of the room where the medical team had been set up.

"Hey, what'cha bring um?" Panama asked licking his lips.

As Mae and the man laid out a table cloth over the folding table they started moving things from the carts. "Broke out Sunday 1," she said with a devious grandmotherly grin on her face and Panama's jaw dropped. She looked over to him and dusted her hands off. "Yup, Doc ain't gonna be happy."

"Doc can suck it," the man pipped in before moving a large carafe onto the table and setting up some mugs next to it.

"Indeed," she said before looking at the group. "Hey everyone. I'm Mae, can call me cook and this handsome lad next to me is Moralez."

"I'm The Goat," he laughed and then baa'ed.

"You're somethang'," she chuckled before looking back at them. "Know you all prolly been through hell, anyone still living has. I got you a full spread, so eat up and enjoy it, come on, don't be shy. I promise, it's good," she said as she waved her hands towards herself hoping they would bring themselves over. It was quite the spread. Newnan had had it good but this was something else. There were fish fritters, clam chowder, mashed potatoes, gravy, freshly seared fished, boiled crabs, fried shrimp, a large pot of coffee, there was orange juice and some little jam tarts that smelt of lemons, even fresh grapefruit. It was a hell of a spread, that was topped off with freshly baked bread rolls and even a bowl of salted butter sitting there.

"Oh god Mae, that smells fucking fantastic! Docs gonna pissed," he said laughing and she just shrugged.

"Wouldn't be the first time," Moralez laughed as he picked up a plate and held it out. "So, who's hungray?"

*Alright peeps - those with Yellow bands drop me a pm on your last one for your notes for this round and let me know if your character is going for 3 days of oil or a shave. Orange bands, let me know if your character is going to let Doc do his thing. Those in the conference room, you are free to grab food. There are plates, bowls, and glasses. The cutlery is forks and spoons and they are plastic.

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It seemed that the group at large was leaving Tatiana alone with her son and she was glad of it. Yet, her eyes darted about and took in what everyone was doing. The loud man seemed to be talking to their guard. Ash had put on music and been joined by another and her husband, Jack. Jamie was laughing and playing with the toys, every so often trying to crawl off but Tatiana was quick to move him back over to her side, even when she didn't look directly at him she just kind of new when to lean over, scoop him up, and move him back. There was music in the air now. One was reading, others were playing as well. Not with baby toys but their own version. Some arcade game Tatiana had never played but had heard off, and one was shooting pool. The only real game she knew how to play these days was Monopoly. That was her and Jacks thing, they could even play it without fighting. At least they used to be able to, they hadn't played since Newnan fell. It could be different now. They hadn't done a lot since Newnan fell.

As the door swung open, she jumped a bit and pulled Jamie closer to her. She looked on edge. She already had but she looked even more so, that was until she smelled the food. It did smell good and her stomach growled. Jamie cooed and started to try to crawl over towards where the smell was coming from. Scooping him up in her arms she cradled him on her hip and listened to what was being said. Some of the food she recognized as she stepped slowly closer, some she didn't but that didn't surprise her. To her it looked like a Vegas Buffet and she bit her bottom lip. These people did have their act together that was for sure.

Walking over to the group by the records she nodded towards Ash and then the older man before glancing towards Jack. "Ve find something soft for Jamie?" she asked him softly, in a scared voice. "Help me?" she added, in that same timid voice she had right then. There was a passing glance towards Ash before she started to slowly move over towards the serving table. She could use a hand, getting a plate for herself and the baby was going to be a deal since she only had one hand free at the moment with Jamie being on her hip and needing support to stay there. It was obvious she wasn't putting him down. Though, she wasn't first to the table.

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Wayne laughed and nodded. He was going to pipe in but then the food came and everything else seemed to fade away as he watched it get rolled in. He was already standing up by the time it moved passed him. "Oh sweet mother Mary I might cry..." he said before biting the back of his knuckles. Looking at nothing he nodded. "I know, it smells so good," he said before looking back in front of him and watching Mae and Moralez start to set up. Apparently there was talk about the Doc not liking the fact they had brought in his type of meal. He wondered why at first then he put two and two together. It happened in hospitals and after cops got shot. Limited foods to keep your ass from turning into Vesuvius.

Walking over to the table he took the plate offered and grinned. "No worries here, got an iron stomach. Just call me Shaggy," he said with a toothy grin before he started grabbing food. Thing was, he wasn't as animalistic about it or as greedy as one might think. Sure he was excited about there being food, real food, but in the end, the man only ended up grabbing a small portion and it was all mushy foods. He then took another plate and loaded it up, again, not a huge portion but enough. Grabbing some utensil's he turned around and spotted that Tatiana had come up behind him. "This work?" he asked.

Tatiana looked at him shocked and took a step back, only able to nod barely. "Awesome, come on," he said before finding the couch she had been sat at earlier and setting the food down on the coffee table before it. "Coffee? or Juice? Juice?" he asked as he sat the food down. Tatiana sat down slowly with Jamie in her lap.

"J...juice..." she said in a shaky voice and watched as Wayne nodded before moving back towards the serving table. That time he fixed another plate, a bit more food on it and grabbed some coffee. Balancing the cup on his personal plate he got a glass of juice and dropped it off. He was half way back to his recliner before Tatiana managed to squeak out a "Dank you," in his direction. Wayne didn't bother with a you're welcome. His mouth was already full off food and he was groaning as if he might have just gotten laid. He threw a hand up and nodded in her direction as he kept chewing. He wasn't a total asshat, just mostly.

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Sure flipping enough no amount of encouragement by even her love could change reality. Eventually a man did show up, the one called Shears and damn if Amelia wasn't feeling twitchy already. Yeah they were given a simple choice oils and solitary confinement or well shears. Frankly if she did go for the oils, she'd probably lost it by the end of the first hour, being forced to stay in a room alone. They way they described it, it was more or less pure prisoner like treatment and no matter how he spun it, that simple fact didn't change. Anyways, there was no way she was being cut away from her group... even if what she was about to do, was about to bring her to tears.

"I will take the cut..." She stated with shacky voice as she walked to the chair. She closed her eyes." Just get it done..." Amelia mumbled, tears almost making way onto her face.

Shears took a look at the girls head as he snapped on a pair of latex gloves. He moved quick and before she would know it she would be bald as a new born baby. He applied an oil to her scalp and gave her a good rubbing with a towel before taking a step back. "Alright Red, you're good to go. Just have a seat over there," he said pointing to the other side of the room away from those that still needed to be shaved.

As the procedure finished, she just nodded, didn't speak. She hated this, hated him... actually aside Riley and the rest of the Newnan crew, there wasn't many things she didn't feel hatred towards. She ran away to where she was pointed at, she took a seat and hid her face in her hands, hiding her building up tears. Her hair was the only thing she had left... even if it was to grow back, this made it in no way less degrading in her mind. Sadly it was the lesser of the two evils. That fact too didn't make it feel any better. Never in her life was she without her hair and now she really hoped they would have a hat of some kind to give her, otherwise there was going to be an issue...

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Ash hadn't expected company while he was picking out music. Not from one of the other groups, anyway. So when the older man who had given the cryptic answer concerning military service hobbled up to him, he gave the man a thoughtful look before responding to his statement about the Rolling Stones. "It was my Dad's music. Grew on me. Really classic stuff." His words were stoic, even dry, through his ragged Virginian, but in his defense it had been a while since he had met someone new that he hadn't either shot at or hidden from. Not to mention, Ash had attempted to make conversation first, back at the showers. Relenting against his kneejerk desire to stay on the defensive, if just for the moment, Ash returned with, "Likewise." He extended a hand to the older man, "Ashton Holloway. Ash."

He seemed more relaxed with Jack as he approached, which made full sense as he was one of the few constants in his life over the past sixteen months. He nodded in agreement with the man's assessment of Mexico Beach, or what they had seen of it so far. Some restraint in his voice remained as he spoke quietly, "Yeah. Yeah, it sure is." He eyed his surroundings, took stock of who of his people were back, what they were doing, and the locals who were around for their introduction to the community. He wanted to stay give this place immediate and complete trust, partially for the sake of Thana (wherever she was, and why wasn't she around?) but mostly because of his Newnan people. If they saw him open and comfortable with everything, it might make it easier for them to do the same. They had followed him this far, after all. He was just a little too wary, probably from the road and the loss they had all suffered as of late, to succumb to the relative opulence of the settlement. "I really hope this works out for us, Jack."

Though he didn't say it out loud, Ash had already made up his mind about one thing. If this place was fully legitimate and his people weren't good enough for it, he was going to take his leave as well. The reciprocal though? If he was the odd man out, there was no way in hell he was going to support anyone (especially Jack, Tati, and little Jamie) leaving with him. This place had resources and they had a baby. Ash was tired of seeing a wide sea of orphans and surviving parents of dead children.

With that particularly depressing thought firmly in mind, the doors opened to admit two carts, both being pushed by individuals that looked significantly more personable than those they had been dealing with so far. They were being treated fairly, even kindly, but these people seemed downright hospitable. The fact that they had a ton of extremely tempting eatables did nothing to remove Ash from that assumption, either. Ash felt the need to abstain from the spread, however. Temporarily, of course. Oh he could eat, no question about that; his stomach even began to make conversation with him on the topic. There was still a hint of group solidarity that motivated him to restraint. He did make one concession.

"Excuse me, guys." Ash moved over to the tables and poured himself a cup of coffee. Actual coffee. He hadn't had that in quite some time, and here it was freshly brewed, waiting on him. He then took a few steps back so as not to be in the way of anyone else filling their plates. Until the last of his people had a turn, that was as much as he was taking for himself. Still, coffee? It was worth it. Ash nodded politely at the woman, Mae, and the more animated Moralez. "Thank you much." he said politely. Motioning to the coffee, he deflected with, "I'll be back when this settles."

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Beatrice might or might not have been entertained by the lefthanded attempt at Pac-Man. Arcade gaming wasn't exactly Thalia's area of expertise, and it was a safe bet that she hadn't usually done so with her left hand thoroughly on the few-ish occasions that she access to a machine such as this one. She had repaired items like this before, and the controls were amazingly simple besides. Nonetheless, turns were missed, power pellets grabbed too early and/or too late. She was marginally okay at best, even when she got her timing on turns down right. While Thalia played, she responded to her friend and fellow survivor, "Nah, I'm mostly straight, Bea. Just got a thing for angry cunts is all. And yours is the most disagreeable cunt I've seen in long time. Shit." The last syllable was reserved for the arcade game, as her yellow protagonist was just run over by a ghost. It was her last life on that quarter.

It got her thinking, though. While she hadn't had any overt inclination toward her own gender prior to Zeds eating the living, she didn't have any problem with the concept. It just didn't happen that she acted on any opportunity of that nature until afterward, and even then, it wasn't until she spent some time with the Reenactors from Castle Town in Fairburn, GA. She might have gone with the excuse of "any port in a storm", or "biological urges", but it wasn't exactly a choice that required a lot of convincing. Thalia stared blankly at the video game screen, giving passing memory to the woman who had made the shield she now carried, or had carried until it was taken by these people earlier. It was purely a passing thing, but she was a good friend and trainer to Thalia. Regarding the thought with a raised eyebrow, maybe she did have a thing for angry cunts. Go figure.

Now, if she did have a weakness, such as it was, it was the presence of food. Thalia could go for long periods of time without feeling hungry, or being able to ignore it well enough to push on with whatever she needed to accomplish. But when she sat down to eat, the girl could put food away like a pro. Opportunities were scarce to do so out in the world, unless she managed to spear a passing animal or come across another overtuned truck of Campbell's Thick & Fugly Stew, but the ability and willingness was still there. Coupled with a metabolism that she had to have inherited from her mother, she was dangerous to the continued survival of any holiday spread set out for just anybody to take from.

When the meal was laid out on the table in front of everyone, she had quite forgotten about playing another round of Pac-Man. Instead, Thalia found herself instinctively raising to the balls of her feet and bending her knees slightly, shifting into something of a predatory stance. Eyes dilated and she took in a quick burst of air through her nose, identifying the nature of the prey before her. Fish, crab, potatoes. Shrimp. Citrus. And something else she couldn't place... but wanted to. Her early terminating arm was held close to her torso, while her more ready left began to slowly raise in front of her centerline, a motion indicating the coming of an attack stance before she realized what she was doing. She needed to hold back, stop herself. There was obviously plenty for everyone, and for once in a long time she didn't have to kill anything or compete with local fauna for foraging rights. This was civilization. She could handle it. (#wishfulthinking)

Without saying another word, Thalia forced herself to walk calmly over to the spread. She looked to the providers of the feast, and tried as best she could to smile at them. Like Pac-Man, it wasn't exactly dead center in her skill set. She then gingerly picked up a plate and set a couple pieces of shrimp onto it. Then picked up one, biting into it as if sampling. She probably should not have done this. Whether it was a polite "Mmm." sound, reserved for someone complimenting the cook, or a wolfish growl of claiming territory was up for debate. Five more were unceremoniously tossed onto the plate before her eyes locked onto the bread. A roll was scraped across the surface of the fresh, salted butter and crammed into Thalia's mouth while her dish began to be laden with whatever was nearby. A fish fritter or two, more shrimp, a couple of those lemon thingies, and the mashed potatoes. Oh dear sweet heavenly whatever, the mashed potatoes. They took up about half of her plate and she stacked them high, splatting them down with direct, tactical strokes of the serving utensil as if she meant murder.

The lady who introduced herself as Mae did instruct them not to be shy. Miss Carmichael did not want to disappoint.

The roll was still hanging out of her mouth when she realized that she might be attracting gawkers. Rather than tone it down, Thalia opted to keep the roll exactly where it was, having only one hand to properly maneuver her plate around, and instead raise her eyebrows and glare at whomever looked like they needed a good glare. Obstinately, she carved out a huge hollow in the center of her mashed potatoes and, in a fit of ingenuity birthed of hunger, filled it with as much clam chowder as it would hold. She was a Boston girl, and oft sounded every inch of it. Like she wouldn't go for the chowdah.

Thalia looked over in the general direction of Mae and Moralez, made a sound that kind of sounded like a "Thank you." through the roll, and carefully backed away from the service table. She found a spot with her back to a wall, hunkered down, and began to put a solid hurt on the contents of her plate. Maybe she really had been outside for too long.

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This was an excellent thing to get over with, and quickly. There wasn't much of a reason otherwise to be there, and as soon as everything was handled from their end of it, Hank could rejoin the rest of his group, hopefully with lots of yummy things to eat. Not like he was going to tell any of them this, but they were kind of okay. Even Sportacus in his own condescending way, he at least meant well. He thought he meant well, anyway. There must have been some reason that they stuck together after finding their way into the next piece of civilization, seeing as their plan was to work on vehicles and be on their merry frigging ways. Separate merry frigging ways, that is.

But they stuck together. And now he and his new buddy Nigel were going to look a whole lot more alike, held together by the bonds of total baldness. Unless he went for Option B. But that might deprive Nigel of Hank's company. Surely he wouldn't use it as an excuse to be rid of Hank for three days? Well, whichever way he was going to play it, Hank had no desire to hang around any longer than he had to. "Don't you worry there, Sportacus. I've got next." He nodded smugly and rose, striding over to the man referred to as "Shears". He was considering the standard handshake introduction, but was unsure as to whether it was a great idea, on account of the whole "infestation thing", and so instead plopped down in the chair.

Hank raised a finger into the air, paused for a second, and then pointed at his head while giving a knowing nod. "Need you to snip it, Shears. Snip it good, snip it hard. Scorch the earth if you've gotta. My dance card ain't exactly full these days anyway, and I hear there's something yummy showing up in the other room soon. Let's do it."

Shears got his gear together and went to town on the man. "With them eyes and yer age, you look like a retired skin head," Shears chuckled as he finished up. Hank was now bald and beautiful. Head and face were clean shaven. "Dolphin smooth, just glad I didn't have to shave your ass," he snickered a bit as he took a step back and motioned towards the row of others that were already done. "Got us a fine set of entries for the Sinéad O'Connor Look-alike contest."

Sadly, Hank wished that he had the opportunity to have used a Sinéad O'Connor reference first. Beaten to the punch by another older smartass. It was just the way things went sometimes, and it could be a lot worse. Still, he couldn't just let the previous statement go unaddressed. Okay, maybe Hank could, he just didn't want to. With just a dash of sarcastic color, he responded with, "Retired skinhead? Nah... if I was a retired skinhead, I wouldn't be so... Well, just so Gosh Darned Happy to see you there. Huh?" He rubbed his hand across his face and the back of his head. "Oh, now that's squeaky. Good job, there." Following the example of Amelia, sitting on the other side of the room, Hank did as he was motioned to do and found his way over.

"Hey, Red... I know it sucks, but it's really not that bad a look for you. Couple of months, you'll have one of those Tinkerbell cuts, right? And in a few minutes, you're going to have a full stomach. Not all bad." Hank sucked at cheering people up. Not really his thing. But this young woman looked like the only one out of the group having an utterly miserable time of it, he had to try something. Well, perhaps not that he had to, but it might have taken more effort to ignore the issue than address it, which kind of defeated the point of it all.

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Manny had gotten started on reading but didn't get too far before the door slammed open making him jump from his nice simple chair. "Holy Shit!" He screamed as he jumped up. and dropped his book. He was not a fan of surprising loud noises, and he had gotten a little too into this book to really prepare for something like that. But it was worth it to see an older woman walk into the room with a cart full of various foods. Foods Manny thought he never would see or be able to try again. "Holy shit...." he said again, but in a more calm surprised then an outburst. He watched as the woman who called herself Mae introduced herself and presented the large assortment of food stuffs.

Manny would wait for others to gather some food before he would grab some. When everyone else got their food, he would get himself a cup of coffee, some potatoes with gravy, and some seared fished. Once his plate was together he went up to Mae and Moralez to thank them both. "Thank you both very much for this. I don't think I've seen a meal like this sense..." He thought about it. Even before the outbreak, living alone presented few opportunities to do anything special such as making a decent meal like this. "Probably at least a year prior to things falling apart. So Thank you both very much. I'm Emanuel, but most people tend to call me Manny. How long have you both been here? What's it like?" Manny figured this would be a good chance to get to know some of the people here, and get a grasp of what life might be like here. Mostly, everyone seemed happy, but he wanted a chance to see if things were really that happy. So far these people have been nothing but hospitable to them, but it didn't hurt to learn a few things.

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Hunter wasn't too amused by the wooden room. He admitted that it looked nice, but he couldn't understand the purpose. What he did eventually get, is that ever new comer in this room other then him had lice. All he had was a simple tick. He chuckled thinking about the odds of things happening like that. His history normally he got the short straw compared to the people around him. The laugh itself was brief but his grin stayed put. Especially when the poor people with lice were given the choice between being shaved or being stuck in isolation. The more he thought about it though, the more he regretted smiling and chuckling. His grin quickly turned into a face of guilt, especially seeing how the girl who more or less ignored him seemed upset by it. Amelia her name was as far as Hunter remembered. He felt bad for her, though she seemed panicked and stressed about a lot. Paranoia maybe? A loose guess would be that. Though how it related to hair he didn't know. The choice wasn't given to him because he didn't have lice, but if needed he would be fine with it. His hair was getting pretty long anyways. For now, Hunter made a move on to catch up with Doc so he could get the damn freeloader off his head.

Doc pulled out a small jar and filled it with rubbing alcohol, setting it near him. Pulling out a Sharpie Permanent Black Fine Tipped marker, he motioned Hunter to come closer. "Okay, hold still, just going to mark the area before I remove it. I'll check daily to see if any of the redness spreads to make sure no rash spreads and if you get feverish at all let me know right away. Chances of you getting Lyme Disease down in these parts is slim to none but better to be safe," Doc said as he drew a small circle around where the tick was. Capping the pen he slipped it in his pocket before taking a pair of needle nose tweezers and getting as close as possible to the head of the tick he yanked it off fast and dropped it in the liquid to drown it. "Old wives tales tell you to paint it with nail polish, or cover it in petroleum jelly or burn it off, never do that," he said as he cleaned the area and then washed his hands before capping the bottle and slipping it in his bag. "Alright, all done, just have a seat over with the done group."

Once done Hunter did what he was told with a slight thank you to the doctor. The Doc didn't cut his head off or slit his throat while he was open to being attacked, so he figured that was a plus. He made his way to the seating area and waited trying to not draw more negative attention. Probably the best way to do that would have been to shut up entirely, but Hunter has issues with that. So he spoke his mind and dealt with whatever consequences there were. Both Positive and Negative. "Hey Shears, you think you'd be up for trimming me too? Something short like what the army used to do before they... You know all died. Then Undied." The words made sense in his head. He figured trying to correct or explain more would make him seem more foolish.

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The thoughtful look he was given by Ash didn't go past Alexander, who anticapated an brewing awkward silence. It felt oddly similar to an episode from long ago, over a year. When he had first encountered living, friendly people after that harsh winter, he had shoved his foot so deep in his mouth that he couldn' really blame their weariness towards him; Thalia and Lola. He wasn't good at first-impressions it seemed. But Ash did talk back to Alexander, he was hesitant to say anything wrong. "Really classical, yes."

But then Alexander was surprised to hear Ash say those lasts words and giving him his hand. The old veteran pulled the side of a smile as he accepted the hand, giving Ash a good, firm handshake worty of a soldier like himself. "Alexander Polawski. Pleasure to meet you." Ol' Mugsy said back to Ash, letting go of the hand and looking down at the record playing. "Can't deny your father's taste. My own couldn't stand to listen to this when it came out in...'68 was it?" He continued, suddenly finding the situation of speaking about his father after so many years to be...unfamiliar.

While Alexander Spoke with Ash about the record playing, another man had joined their ranks of classical rock-listening, another one that Alexander didn't know. He'd seen him on the bus to the camp, in the showers with the baby, and he thought he'd seen him with the foreign woman. As he spoke it wasn't far fetched to guess Ash and Jack knew each other, so when he too introduced himself to Alexander, another fearful lump of repeating the first TANK meeting dissappeared. "Alexander. Good to meet you, Jack." Alexander had to agree, this was really something, even if he wouldn't get what Jack and Ash could be meaning. "Already said this to my group, but if someone's going to weather this storm, it's the military. So yeah, its really something."

The foriegn lady then came up to to the group, giving Alexander a brief nod that he returned in silence, though with a typical smile of an old man that tried to be nice. He gave her space to speak with Jack, as the food arrived. The arrival of the carts of food with much less fanfare that it truly deserved, brought Alexander's attention to the apron-wearing woman called Cook and her helped the Goat, as they pushed the two carts into the room. Ash had excused himself to go get started, but Mugsy wouldn't have thought twice about it; he wanted a piece of that pie too! Alexander wobbled over to the table on his peg leg, not as fast as everyone else who might go grab some food before him. Tatiana had gone to get something, while the loud-mouthed Beacup had in a surprising move helped her and the baby. Thalia had served herself in just the way Alexander hoped she would, she deserved it, while Manny was more modest in his approach.

Then as Alexander approached the table, he followed Ash's suite and grabbed a glorious cup of coffee, so much better than the instant-cup he had gotten from Thalia and Lola so long ago. And then it was the food; fish, crabs, shrimps and potatoes, all of which Alexander truly loved, but he still only took a more humble amount than Thalia, perhaps Manny too. "Thank you, both of you." He thanked Mae and Moralez, giving Ash a brief look as he stood with just his coffee, before bringing his cup of coffee and fish-plate over to a table and sat down there alone. He wanted to talk with his own people again soon, and Ash was a man he could see himself bonding with too. But first he did two things he hadn't done for a while.

"Bless us, O Lord, and these, Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy bounty. Through Christ, our Lord. Amen."

Alexander crossed himself, and then started with the meal. It sure was better than any chow or MRE he'd had in his life.

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It was quite the character that entered the already quite packed room full of yellow/orange-branded people, ready for the humiliation of the masses. At the one hand it was Shears himself, dramatically entering the room with clippers and a doctors bag like he was the main antagonist for this Greek play. Who knew? Perhaps all of them were unknowing actors in a tragedy about the fall of Humanity? Sure felt like it. Then at the other hand, as the shaving commenced, it was the redhead, who Nigel couldn't help but feel sorry for. A part of him sighed at her running to the other side of the room and hiding her face, since they had much else to worry about than one's hair those days.

Then again, she did seem scared and/or sad because of all this. It wasn't a pretty situation to be in. Surrounded by strangers and choosing to shave their head, it sure did feel like defeat.

Nigel "Hadrian" looked back at Hank as he told him he'd go next, then going in for the shave. Nigel looked at him as his old man hair and bear was cut off, even beautifully so when he thought about it. He smiled for himself at the sight of bald-man Hank, looking something like a really, really weird Japanese commercial one of Nigel's students had shown him back when the internet was still a thing. Or he looked like a Roman statue, but with more nose and sarcasm. Nigel "Hadrian" would probably look the same if he took the shave, and the thought of doing the oils for three days sounded tempting; three days with Hank and Wayne. Was it worth it?

It wasn't worth staying away from the others, especially Erica for three days though, so Nigel went up to Shears and took a seat, telling him "I'll take the full shave. Better get this over with." "Have a seat," Shears said before getting to work. It wasn't long until he was done. It was obvious this man had been at this a while. Going through the same process as he had with others, it became muscle memory almost at this point. "Next time hopefully I can give ya something you like," the old man laughed before motioning for Hadrian to head over to where Amelia had been told to sit.

"That would be good, my bald head fits me worse than the previous one you had. Thank you, Tonsor." He said to Shears, looking up at him in the end as he realised he might not understand. "...It's Latin for barber..." Nigel explained in case he cared, though only Erica had shown an interest to his - understandable eccentric - hobby, so he quickly followed suite after Amelia and Hank over to the other side of the room. Hank tried to comfort her, to which Nigel had to give the bald statue-man some credit. "Hank's right, for once. It's better this way. At least you can be with your people instead of being alone." Nigel tried to comfort her too, surprised to find himself doing with Hank out of all people.

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Riley leaned back in the bench a little bit as, and looked over at Major as she answered her question and nodded slightly, Riley didn't know to much about military stuff, but it was at least some information. Then in came the man named Shears holding his bag of supplies, and laughed slightly when he couldnt get his electric shaver to work. Riley then watched Amelia going first, she bit her bottom lip seeing her girlfriend get up first and just said to cut it. It would be hard to see Amelia bald, but she could understand Amelia didn't want to be in further quarantine then the rest were. Once Amelia was all shaved, and bald Riley could tell Amelia was really upset about it all and Riley couldn't blame her, as Riley watched the other two men getting their heads shaved. The Hunter kid seemed to luck out of it though and just got the tick removed and didn't have to get himself shaved.

"I guess it's my turn now." Riley said to herself as she got up, and moved over to the chair looking over at Amelia seeing her girlfriend Riley didn't want to be separated from her, or the others. And Amelia probably didn't want to be separated from her at all either, as she looked up at Shears. "Shave it off, it's just hair it will grow back fully in a few weeks." Riley's hair was shorter than when she had left Newnan, and shaving it off would at least have it grow back in normally after her messy cut a few weeks ago.

Shears waited for Riley to get into the chair. Once she was all settled he got his gear ready, only to stop and take a closer look at her. Then he took her wrist and looked at the name. "Well I will be damn, we got a bonafide preapocalypse celebrity here," he chuckled as he looked over towards Doc. Doc rose a brow and looked kind of confused. "Don't you be telling me you don't know who the hell this girl is?" he asked a bit surprised but Doc just shook his head a bit dumb founded. "Whooo, you old folks not keeping up with modern shit. Girl was big back 'fore the world went to shit. Not no Hendrix big but hey, looks like you beat the 28 curse," he laughed, wheezing a bit as he did before he got to work initiating Riley in the Bald and Beautiful Club. "Girl, yous gots to jam with me once yous get settled," he said as he motioned over to Amelia and the rest. Doc had a look on his face that spoke volumes, it said 'ffffuuuuuucccckkkkkk'.

Riley sighed slightly as she ran a hand over her bald head, looking over at Shears and gave him a slight smile she hadn't expected anyone to recognize her. "If theres any spare guitars around i'd certainly be down for it." Riley said to Shears, it would make things so much easier, and hoped that it would help her stay along with Amelia. "Thank you." Riley said, as she got up and made her way over towards Amelia. And pulled her girlfriend closely, as she tried to comfort her, while looking over at Shears and the Doc, before asking hoping that they could give them a hat. "If any possible, could we maybe get a hat if theres any to spare?" Riley asked, she didn't really care if people judged the way she looked now with a bald head, but Riley at least wanted Amelia to feel comforted.

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As Erica started to rack up the balls together she would scan those around the room once more they all seemed to have their own conversations, as she was about to get ready and start the game by herself the door opened. And in came two new people Erica took in the smells as she started to pick them up, her mouth started to water rather quickly as she saw what they had in store for them. The people certainly had it great here, seeing Mae and the man named Morales smiled slightly hearing his nick name being the Goat.

"This is amazing." Erica said, as she walked over to the two people and accepted the plate and quickly started to fill it up but she made sure that the portions were small though. She hadn't had a real meal in months and she knew if she ate to much it would make her sick, and probably wouldn't make a good impression either. "Thank you." Erica said to them as she looked over at Wayne, helping out the mother and her baby for a moment.

She then decided to make her way over towards Wayne and sat down next to him, as she got started on her food she was starving as she shoveled some of the food down. "So whats with the name Goat anyway?" Erica had to ask while looking over at the two of them for a few seconds as she ate.

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"I'm flattered," Beatrice quipped. She could handle being called a disagreeable cunt - although she found Thalia's mention of angry cunts interesting. Beatrice never would have described herself as an angry person. She was rude, blunt, emotionally disconnected, apathetic, closed off, guarded, and violent, yes... but angry? That wasn't the way she saw herself. She had to wonder if Thalia saw her that way now and she stared at her friend for a moment. When Thalia went off to get food, the comment was still bugging Beatrice slightly. Part of what was annoying her, of course, was the fact that it bothered her at all.

She had gotten too close to the one armed woman. She needed to fix that. Waiting until the area had cleared out slightly, Beatrice then went up to the food and fixed herself a plate. She mumbled a thanks to the people that had brought it, since that hadn't been required of them and it was decent of them to do. It was quite literally a hand out - not something a girl from Justice was raised to expect. Her eyes darted over towards where Thalia had went off to, before she spotted Alex sitting at a table by herself and Beatrice took her plate, sitting down across from him.

Beatrice figured Alex wouldn't mind sitting and eating in silence, so she started to eat her own food without a word.

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"Good to meet ya too, Alexandah," Jack replied, putting a name to the face. He then nodded in agreement with Ash. He really did hope that this worked out for them. They had lost Newnan and while they had been able to survive outside of its walls, it hadn't been easy. They had lost a lot of people - good people.

Jack then nodded at his wife, hearing her request that they grab some food for Jamie. "On it, solovey," he promised her, before excusing himself from Ash and Alex. He headed on over to his wife, only to hesitate for a moment as a stranger started to serve her and Jamie. He wasn't sure how to feel about that. His primal instincts were screaming back off pal, that's my wife and son! and the more rational, non-animal part of his brain was touched at the compassion. And still just a little bit wary about it. Almost subconsciously, Jack puffed up his chest a bit and stood up a little bit taller. If he really was an animal, he might have been ready to do a special dance to remind Tatiana that he was there.

There wasn't a lot of self reflection ultimately behind the spike in jealousy. He noticed it had started to become a pattern, but he had dismissed it as paranoia. Hopefully that was all that it was. He fixed himself a plate, grabbing a plastic spoon and fork, and he headed on over to where Tatiana was sitting. He stood there for a moment, glancing around the room to see if there would be any further challenges to his masculinity essentially. Jack then sat down next to his wife, putting his own plate on the coffee table in front of him.

"He seems nice," he said softly to her.

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Amelia kept her face hidden as she curled up on the chair. Her hands and legs serving as her little barrier from everything around. She really hated this all. She no longer felt herself anymore... She hated not having hair, in fact she hated her looks right now the most. Why did they even arrive here for? The safety? Well great safety the only things happening so far were absolutely humiliating. She heard the weirder of the old guys arrive and just snuck a glance at him as he spoke. The corners of her eyes were wet as she was struggling to keep her tears. He was bald now too... He was trying to assumingly cheer her up, but it wasn't helping." Tinkerbell cuts... months." She just hid her face again, didn't even want to imagine it. She still knew she would have to live with this humiliation for months on end before there was any improvement. She just groaned and shook her head." Not that hungry..." Her appetite had dried up already. Not that she wasn't going to eat anything, just not much.

Soon enough another voice chimmed in, it was the other older looking guy. She wasn't sure how old he was, but he seemed the serious stern type. She just glanced at him too, noting he was shaved too." Not like it's a real choice... only a fool would go for the other." She growled a reply, her eyes filled with her negative emotions that were mixing up right now, between the anger and the humiliation. If it wasn't for the supposed safety of Riley here and her trust in Ash, she might have never agreed to any of this. Besides the solitary confinement they gave as 'alternative', was too suspicious. Anyways she just hid her face away, wiping the tears.

When the man began shaving Riley, Amelia looked up again and her expression was especially bad. If looks could cause damage, she might have clawed those eyes out already. So focused was her ire that she skipped the Doc's reaction. She stopped her glare only when Riley returned and held her close. She closed her eyes again and just leaned on her lover." Don't like him..." She mumbled, not specifying, but she clearly meant Shears.

Temperature: 94F (34C)
Humidity: Fucking High (Around 98%) - Raining off and on all day
Wind Speed: 7 MPH (11 KPH)
Cloud Coverage: About 62% covered with thick dark clouds

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Everyone that had come into what had once been the Sauna Room were now taken care of and Shears had a hell of a mess to clean up. A pile of lice infected hair on the ground was not fun to deal with. Everyone seemed to be dealing with it in stride, save one. The former read head. Shears looked over to her and shook his head. "Damn girl, you just came in from hell, don't even wanna know what your ass has been through. So what, you had a few bugs? So what, your bald. Would be worse. Could be dead, or have lost a limb, or more. A few bugs ain't nothing, so keep shooting me dagger but why don't get you suck it up Buttercup. I ain't be the one that gave you the crawlies. I just got rid of them. It'll grow back," he rambled off moving around as he grabbed the broom and started sweeping it up. He was rather animated about the entire situation.

Doc rubbed his face and looked over towards Shears. "Man, let it go," he said as he pushed off the wall and shouldered his bag once it was repacked.

"Shit, we got dead people walking and she's worried about a little dome shine," he snapped back.

"Shears!" Doc snapped and the older black man rolled his eyes, huffed and went back to cleaning.

"Tell you what, I can't deal with useless people," Shears muttered. Major kept quiet and pushed the door open, stepping out of the room and pinning it to where everyone could file out.

"Come on, let's get you all something to eat. I'll see what I can do to find you all some scarves to wear tomorrow. Would today but with that close of a shave I don't want your skin to get irritated and you to get a rash. Don't worry, you still look lovely and hey, like he said, at least the bugs are gone now," Doc said before motioning for everyone to follow him back to the conference room. Doc was sure he could find something for them to cover their heads with in the camp but he didn't want their skin to get a rash and then lead to something worse. It was best to let the skin air for now.

"Yeah I'll bring the boy over," Shears said before looking over at Hunter. "Hell yeah I can trim you up, let me get all this cleaned and then I got you. Get you all lined up nicely," he said grinning. "It's what I do," he added as he started sterilizing the chair and his tools to make sure no one else got the bugs. Doc nodded and lead them out of the room and back towards the conference room. He sniffed the air some and his eyes narrowed.

Meanwhile, the food was being served and it seemed that people were enjoying it. It made Mae smile to see it. Moralez looked over towards Ash and nodded. "Hey man I get it. That shit is my life blood. We're lucky to have it, think this place would shut down without it," he laughed a bit as he picked up a fritter and popped it into his mouth. Looking over to catch Thalia mumbling a thank you he laughed. "Sure thing girl, get your fill."

Mae in the meantime looked over towards Manny and smiled. "Nice to meet you Manny. Been here since the beginning. It's good. Was really hard the first three years but we've gotten into a routine and well... How to put this," she said, trying to find the right words.

"It's home," Moralez pipped in and Mae nodded, motioning towards the man and agreeing. "I've only been here the last two years, started out on helping build that wall. I was down in Miami when shit broke out. Oh man, that was hard, slowly made my way up the coast and then here. Ain't easy, even with everything we got, but it's home. Good group of people and you really can't ask for more than that," he said as he poured himself a cup of coffee. When he was asked about his name he grinned like a child.

"Oh, you don't want that story while your eating," Mae piped in and gave Moralez the stink eye. He just laughed.

"Aww hell, alright. Will fill you in later," he chuckled, heeding the look Mae was giving him.

Major followed the larger group back to the conference room. She would head back over to Shears once she had dropped them off with Panama and the others. As Doc pushed the door open and made a beeline for the table. "Mae! God damn it! How many times!" he started but Mae picked up a large steel ladle and stepped out from behind the table.

"Oh no you don't! Don't you be talking to me like that!," she said waiving it around a bit. Doc stopped in his tracks.

"You know how it goes! They need something easy and soft, their stomachs probably can't handle this!" Doc yelled back. It was obvious they had gone through this dance before.

"Oh fudge, then get them some pepto! What they need is warmth, comfort. This food, it's for the soul," Mae said waiving the ladle towards the table.

"Amen sista!" Moralez said throwing up his hands.

"Goat I will serve you up A La King," Doc said quickly. It didn't phase Moralez, he just laughed and walked over to Mae, wrapping an arm around her and keeping her from whacking Doc in the head with that soup server.

"Come on Mae, we gots other souls to heal, he's just jealous," he taunted as he lead Mae out of the room. Glancing over at the ones that had come back. "Looking hot girls," the Goat said towards the women and then he looked at Hank. "You, not so much," he chuckled before finally getting Mae out of the room. Once they were gone Doc rubbed his face and started digging through his bag.

"Woman is determined to make my job harder," he muttered under his breath as he flopped down in a chair behind the table. Looking over the food before planting his face into his hands.

*Okay, those in the conference room, you are good. Those with Doc, file back over to the conference room and grab a bite to eat. Hunter is good to stick it out with Shears for now.

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Tatiana looked over towards Jack as he came and sat down next to her. After spoon feeding some food to Jamie, she glanced over her shoulder towards Wayne and nodded a bit. ₁"Stranno, no khorosho. On ne o chem bespokoit'sya, ya ne dumayu," she said quietly, just loud enough for Jack to hear her before turning her attention back to her plate and taking a bite herself. She would go back and forth between giving Jamie some food, looking around nervously, and then taking another small bite herself. Jamie seemed to not be sure what to think of the food but even if he seemed not to like it, Tatiana would give him another bite. He would eventually get it down. "Food is rare, alvays eat vhen you can," she would repeat to him time and time again. She wasn't going to raise a picky eater or someone that snubbed food when it was around. She knew better, she had gone many a days and even weeks without what she needed. Jamie would go to bed tonight with a full stomach, even if his taste buds weren't sure it was a good idea.

Poking at her food a bit between bites she looked back over to Jack and asked quietly, "₂Kak vy dumayete, oni chto-nibud' znayut o Tane?" It was a legitimate question. Tatiana had kept tabs on things. It was why they were here. He had handed over the dog tags. One of the men they had met had the same last name as her and same eyes. Granted an answer might have to wait as the others came back into the room. Doc and Mae seemed to be at odds and Tatiana held Jamie a bit tighter. Listening she then looked down at the food and thought to herself. It made sense what the doctor was saying. Granted years ago she would have sided with Mae. Now, she wasn't so sure. Slowing down she paced herself a bit more with the food and kept tabs on how her stomach was feeling.

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Wayne seemed not to pay a lick of attention to anything. The man was sitting there and eating like he hadn't eaten anything in weeks. That wasn't true though. He had eaten. Granted it wasn't much, just enough to get by and it sure as hell wasn't anything like this. He'd take a large bite and just sit there, moaning a bit to himself and every so often saying something along the lines of "Oh god," or "I could die happy right now," or just variations of "mmm mmm mmm," and "yum, yum, yum." It was obvious that the man was enjoying himself and didn't have any interest in carrying on any real conversation. The only thing he did besides eating was to swat at something in the air every so often before shoveling another forkful into his mouth. Thankfully even with the larger bites, he was able to keep his lips shut when he chewed.

Then the Doc came back in and seemed rather upset by the spread that Mae had given them. He looked down at his plate for a minute as Moralez lead Mae out of the room. Wiping his mouth with the back of his robe sleeve he chuckled. "Don't worry about me Doc, I could eat a jeep and my stomach wouldn't care," he called out before shoveling another roll into his mouth and grinning broadly. It was true. Despite everything that was wrong with Wayne, and let's not kid ourselves there was plenty wrong with the man, having a sensitive stomach was not one of them. That man had dug worms out of the ground, dropped them in his mouth still wiggling, and kept going like he had just eaten a piece of chocolate. While his life was blessed with a grand amount of suck, his belly seemed to love him no matter what. It was a small trade off but one he enjoyed. It made this life, living on the run, a lot easier. He had never had to worry about an SSJ4 level over 9000 ass blow out in his life. Hell, the man had even eaten Surströmming at one point in his life and asked people around him what the big deal was.

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A prayer. It wasn't something that Ash had done himself in a while. He still had a portion of his faith from back before, though to be honest it had taken a hell of a beating in recent years. Some habits were hard to shake. For him, one of them was being a Methodist. It was hard not to, growing up in small-town Virginia. Not the type to slip into agnosticism when things got rough, even an apocalypse, Ash still believed. He had just been very quiet about it, both to and about God. All the same, he couldn't bring himself to do much more than silently acknowledge Alexander with a slight nod and a raise of his coffee cup. Maybe God was listening and maybe He wasn't. Ash just didn't know anymore. He wasn't about to fault the man, though. Even if he was Catholic. Let every man and woman find divinity on their own path.

The mildest of conversation was had with Moralez consisted of, from his end, "One thing I always miss when it's gone, coffee." Ash did have a fondness for caffeine, and coffee was one of his favorite methods of getting it into his bloodstream. He took a sip and regarded the last time he had a casual cup of the bitter black goodness. Then he attempted to forget immediately. It was the last time that he saw Thana, the last day that Newnan existed, the day that most of the people he knew or cared about were lost or killed. He didn't want to think about that right then. It would serve to muddle his wits in a new situation, which neither he nor the people for whom he was responsible needed. Instead, Ash concentrated on how lucky he was to have access to coffee again, and that these people were hospitable enough to feed his Newnan survivors.

Doc returned and wackiness ensued. It was practically set up, based upon overheard conversation from earlier. An old argument, else it was something set up for the entertainment of those in the room. Though he expected it was genuine, given the sudden flare of the situation and the ease with which it was diffused. Not unlike members of a family fighting. Two thoughts reached Ash with that exchange - firstly, with Mae and Moralez leaving the meal would be mostly unattended, and secondly, those pulled aside from the rest of the group should be returning at the present.

Ash took up a position near the table of goodies, sipping his coffee, ready to wave over the rest of his group. Somehow, he didn't think that they would have any problems finding it. On the other hand, as much as he wanted to wait until the rest of the Newanites got something before he partook himself, he didn't want to wait for any longer than he had to. The coffee seemed to aggravate his desire to fill his belly more than it did stave off hunger. Or it could just be the sight and smell of home cooking that overpowered the caffeine. Ash held up a hand as the now bald survivors rejoined them all, indicating the yumminess that was laid out for them.

He made it a point not to mention anything about their hair. There would be time for that after they adjusted some.

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The fact that soup was involved was the only reason that Thalia bothered using flatware at all. It was an interesting thing to behold; not a lack of manners specifically, though that was most certainly present, but a feeling of devolution. The young woman vaguely resembled a wolf with one paw gnawed away, piercing hazel eyes taking in the details of the room around her even as she systematically obliterated that which she had put upon her plate. She had found a defensible place along a wall, away from the others who had the sense and ingrained social desire to utilize things like "tables" and "chairs", and around other people, no less.

When the initial edge of her hunger (that she didn't really feel until she knew she was getting food) had abated, Thalia risked a more detailed look at everyone around her. There were painfully few people that she actually trusted there. Beatrice certainly, the two older men in her group as well, Alexander and Manny, and she had intended on finding out more about that Ash guy and the people who were with him. So many things unanswered. Just then, however, she had a plate full of food and every man, woman, and child in the place was under quarantine. Nobody was going anywhere. As much as Thalia was not overly fond of being confined, it did have the benefit of allowing her to pick her moment to talk. With a plateful of mashed potatoes and clam chowder in front of her, that time was most assuredly not now.

Then again, she was particularly alone at that point. Bea was well past due for some scathing remark or another at her expense. It was an interesting way to pass the time, out in the world. She could almost set her clock by it. Thalia spotted her at a table, sitting with Alex. Something might be up. It did occur to her that she herself was really the odd one out, hunkering down and eating like a savage. Maybe that was it. Or maybe she just wanted her space. They didn't have to rely on each other to survive right then. Whatever the actual cause, Thalia was oblivious. It wasn't like she had a lot of friends, and her nature didn't usually inspire the loyalty of the masses, nor the trust of strangers. She sighed, shrugged, and returned to her food.

There was the slightest bit of confusion as Thalia realized that her plate was empty. She glanced about for a half-second as if initially expecting to see that its contents had been misplaced a foot or so to the left, before common sense took over and she understood that the fritters, mashed potatoes, and chowdah had magically found their way into her gut without her full, conscious awareness. Autopilot speed comsumption at its finest. What was worse, she could still eat. Resolving to wait for a little bit before truly attempting to gorge herself, Thalia gathered her feet underneath her, moved the plate and such to the designated area for such things, and quietly walked over to where Tatiana and Jack were having their meal. She might want to try some of those recently nonexistent social skills, so long as they were going to be stuck together for a while. As she approached, she crossed her arms, partially out of insecurity over her right forearm.

"Heya, umm... everybody's keeping to their own little circles, yah?" A touch uncertain socially, her Boston was acting up a little. "I thought, um... I thought that I would say hi. I'm Thalia. I was - " She stopped herself from saying that she was with the group that attacked Eden, as there was some uncertainty as to how their hosts might take overhearing it. Instead she changed tactics. "I just wanted to say, I nevah saw something as brave as raising a baby out in ...well, out there. You guys are some next-level shit. If you don't mind talking, what did you two do, like, back Beforah?"

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Well, first Shears, then some guy he hadn't ever met. It made sense, Hank couldn't help it if he wasn't an optimistic thirtysomething with all of his original parts and a willingness to give a rat's ass about moisturizing. Hell, he was satisfied well enough that he still had the vast majority of his teeth, and definitely that he had all of his showcards in that way. This hair thing was just another bit that would blow over in a month, when his facial hair filled back in fully and he had an inch or two of fuzziness covering his skull. It still didn't stop him from giving the man a derisive laugh and contemplate supplementing it with "The Finger". He held off on that last part though, as logic dictated he was at least one of the people who might be providing them with food. Suffering the extremely mild irritation of a jab about his hair was a minuscule price to pay for a plate full of goodies. And my, they did look like goodies.

He could clearly hear the sounds of joy coming from his survival buddy, Wayne, prompting him to ask a stupidly obvious question (if only to indicate to him that he and the others had returned), "Hey, Maldonado! How's that grub treating you there, huh?" He framed his face and head with two big thumbs up, intentionally drawing attention to the fact that he was a bald as a plucked chicken in front of everybody. If Hank was very, very lucky, he might even get to see Wayne snort mashed potatoes through his nose. Fingers crossed. It was the little things that made life worthwhile.

Speaking to Amelia and Riley, Hank continued acting in a manner that was seemingly uncharacteristic for him. "Alrighty then; Red, Rock Star, I'd be a bigger asshole if I didn't let you go first. Just ahh... hmm... yeah, gonna ask you to leave me a little bit of that chowder. I think that's chowder... Or do you say it ChowDAH? Hmm? ChowDER. ChowDAH. DER. DAH. Yeah, no clue. Just save me some." Turning to the rest of the room, he inquired aloud, "Hey, how do you folks way chowder down here? Asking for a friend."

Well, it wasn't a crab boil, but he sure as hell wasn't going to turn his nose up to it. Oh no, not after slogging through sands and swamps, eating whatever buckshot could take down or scavenging cans of mystery meals, no... And softer food, too! Yes, this would do very nicely. But first, the girls. Hank came very close to speaking out to Amelia concerning her display and subsequent actions taken toward the barber, but opted away from it as Shears had, yet again, put what he was considering saying into the air around them before he could. Like he was psychic. Or like he was a fellow asshat who was just quicker to the punch than he was that day. Either way, whenever his hair grew back in, Hank wanted this guy to cut it. At least the conversation wouldn't be boring.

Hank got into line, regarding Ash nearby with a nod and a quick, "Heya there, That Guy." He then snapped his head back around to Wayne, requesting from across the room a bit, "Save me a seat, huh Maldonado? You know I'm a big fan of sitting. And apparently, Icelandic children's programming... Wow, go figure."

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Riley continued to try and console Amelia as best as she could while gently rubbing her back, looking at her Riley knew she was obviously distressed. Riley knew that Shears was only simply doing his job, and it was their community their rules but she was determined to try and stay. "Hey, Amelia it's just hair. It's going to grow back and you will have your beautiful red locks again." Riley said, trying to cheer her up a bit more. Riley had been bullied her entire school life, and considered an outcast pretty much she didn't care to much about what others thought of her, or what she wore or looked. Yes being bald was a bit humiliating but these days not to many people really cared what you looked like now.

Riley looked up at Doc and gave him a slight nod as she got up and started to follow him out of the room looking at Amelia for a second. "It's going to be okay, just stick with me." She said, trying to reassure her, at least she wasn't going to spend the next three days alone and confined to a single room for three days. "Thank you." Riley said, when Doc said he could try and get them scarves or something. As soon as she entered the conference room, Riley instantly picked up the scent of the food that was within the room she hadn't had anything real to eat in months now.

She turned towards the man named Goat, she didn't know his name but smiled slightly and gave him a slight nod. "Thanks." Riley said softly as she made her way over towards the table and grabbed herself a plate. Doc and Mae seemed to be butting heads over the food, she decided to just make herself a very small plate, and found an empty place and sat down closing her eyes as she started to enjoy the first real meal she had in what felt like two years.

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Erica gave Wayne a few stares as he continued to mow down his food, as she sat back and ate hers she was still in heaven as she enjoyed her food. It felt like forever since her last real meal either as she turned her attention towards Goat and gave him a slight nod and gave him a smile. "Well cant wait to hear it then." she said, as she looked over towards the door as one of them people came in it was the blonde girl, now she was completely bald.

She was glad she didn't have to get her head shaved off, as Erica finished up the rest of her meal, she was about to get up when Doc and Mae started to get into it. Erica didn't eat that much, and didn't want the risk of having to puke everywhere either as she watched them for a bit. Erica made her way over and sat them down on the counter, giving the doctor a slight smile. "Could always have them clean up the mess if some of us end up getting sick." She suggested.