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Ash was careful. Not generally known for being the absolute pinnacle of human agility, he was more than competent to hoist a lady recovering from physical trauma into a passable piggyback ride, most especially if that someone was Thana. On the one hand, it seemed a little childlike, offering to carry someone on their back and have them steer you like a horsey, but on the other hand Ash didn't give a rat's hindparts what anyone else thought about it; he was going to make sure that she traveled as comfortably as possible and stayed off that leg. "I aim to please," he responded as she climbed aboard, and when given the destination and a rough direction, Ash was underway as swiftly as he could while still being careful with his precious cargo. Admittedly, there was something morale-lifting about playing personal transport for Thana. And he did like being useful.

Once they reached the building in question and Ash set her down, he took a more subordinate posture. He deferred to her direction upon entering and matching the speed of her pace; nearby in case she wanted help yet not insisting upon giving it. Moreover, he took to her example when getting food for himself. Moderation was something he was a big fan of, particularly as it concerned getting yourself too expectant about a food source. Hunters often went home hungry. It was just how things were. Plus, there was that event later in the evening. He'd said that he would attend and promised a dance. If there happened to be a crab or three that met an early demise, he'd feel obligated not to let it go to waste. It seemed that there was a lot that he could pick up from these people about food sourcing and energy production, and he had all the time in the world to figure it out.

What amazed Ash most was that, in the face of new surroundings and a totally new social dynamic, the people of his group saw fit to separate almost completely and filter into other knots of people. Considering the time they spent covering each others' backs, he might have figured that they would, for the most part, stay close to each other. He would have been wrong. Acclimation or a desire to fit in notwithstanding, the former Newnan group was splitting into component parts. Ash noted it with a sigh. New groups were being formed. It was interesting to see how they came together. Very notably in his estimation was the almost silent buddying-up of Wayne, Hank, and ...Thana's father? Wow, he did not see that coming. As for himself, Ash took a chair next to Thana, otherwise away from the rest of the Camp.

When the topic of securing permission to visit the gravesite was broached, Ash slowly shook his head to the affirmative. "Thank you," he said quietly, in response. "That'd be a hell of a nice thing, if he'd let us." It was a sad truth that they were denied an opportunity to say goodbye to those they had lost. Before he dug into the simple repast on the tray in front of him, Ash reached over and gave Thana's hand a little squeeze. For no reason in particular, he looked into her eyes and gave a warm, quiet, "Thanks." He was grateful for the moment and the circumstances that led up to it, ideal or not.

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Thalia couldn't glare quite as good as her father, or God forbid, her uncle. They were cut of a glare-worthy cloth that she merely adopted, ever the reminder that even though she was of the bloodline Thalia would always be something of her own person. The way they handled the Apocalypse was proof of this. Though it wasn't an entirely fair a statement to make, she was still alive and they were not. Hell, for all she knew, her father (the Father) was still alive down in Mexico. She still hadn't gotten the full answers she wanted from Army Captain about how Caesar died. That was something to readdress. A guy like that doesn't go down quiet.

But back to the point, the glare from the woman came more as a sort of potentially aggressive brood than an actual threatening expression. Perhaps that was for the best, though she didn't exactly want to give off the impression that she was somehow psychologically damaged from her time out in the world. It wouldn't be amazingly far from the truth, if she took to the idea with objectivity. It definitely had changed who she was. Well, shaking off the implications of who she used to be and who she was now, along with a rising body count that might have made half of her blood relations proud and the other half horrified, Thalia contented herself to getting in line along with everybody else and figuring out the best way to set up a tray with one working hand and one inanimate steel club (damn spiffy one though).

Joaquin was sitting with others of Mexico Beach. She recognized them all by sight, but the only one she had anything similar to a conversation with, aside from her flamboyant sibling, was Shears. Even then it was rather abbreviated. Thalia didn't talk a whole lot on her best days, and being in the new situation that she was it was even less than usual. But the guy did do a good job with her hair. First things first - She moved to Joaquin and, still standing, addressed him. "Sé que tienes ...negocios... de qué hablar.₁" She wasn't exactly sure which word to use to describe their discussion, but as she didn't even have a job there yet it probably didn't concern her. "Quiero que intercambiemos palabras sobre algo más tarde, ¿está bien, hermano?₂ Okay." There was a look of determination in her eyes. Not quite impatience, as she'd shown more than a fair amount of patience waiting for conversations to happen over the past week and was beginning to feel very brushed off and a little angry.

Barely stopping, she looked to Shears and gave an almost (but not quite) monotone, "Thank you," motioning to her hair with her metal hand, recently cut and styled into a very respectable pixie bob, "Literally, the best haircut I've had in years." She couldn't remember if she'd shown any courtesy at all after he was done, earlier that week. "Later, then," said Thalia to the table overall, eyes looking about for a decent spot to sit with her back to a wall.

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Don't let it control him. Alexander nodded silently to Thalia's piece of advice, something he had been told many times before and yet failed to follow. Somewhat. The old veteran knew how to contain them, his emotions, most of the time. Like when they first arrived at Camp Mexico Beach. When they first got to shower. To eat. To not be afraid of having an walker asshole or Edenwipe just behind your back, ready to KIA you. Alexander could contain his feelings, yes, but they? They could control him. Like when he cried himself to sleep the first night, or whn he blacked out in the Conference room.

He could win the battles, but he could not win the war.

In his effort to once again combat the Tet-offensive of tears that came from his memories, as well as Thalia's kind words to him - of which he didn't have any words of his own to thank her with - Alexander probably wasn't paying too much attention to what was going on. All that he registered was that Thalia suggested them go and stare at the locals while they waited for dinner, and that he started moving. He probably said something to her in an acknowledging tone as he stood up, marching after her like a sleep-deprived grunt into the jungle. In all of this turmoil of his mind, one question kept popping up in Mugsy's head, as he followed Thalia to the Mess Hall;

Would Judith have liked it there? If she was still with him? Still…alive?

Alexander came back to usual self once in the Mess Hall, not helping but finding all of it as familiar as the whole camp had been; Military, or something similar to the military style of minimalism. Standing in line for their light dinner, in due to the later seafood they would enjoy at the beach part, Alexander noted the seating of the General and Gunny, alongside Wayne and Hank. At first the old veteran would have liked to sit down with the General, The Dragon as he better knew him. The old man's presence calmed the usually reserved Mugsy, but with Hank and Wayne around him, he'd prefer to stay away. Alexander made his way over to a table near the wall, seeing Thalia look for a spot. He gestured for her to come sit down with him, quietly giving a prayer to thank The Lord for his blessing, before starting to eat.

If and when Thalia would join him, Alexander would look up at her with a smile for a moment, before saying something along the lines of; "Judith would like you; My wife…She knew how to put up with people like us…"

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Nigel "Hadrian" Cooper, not one used to being joked about by anyone else beside his colleagues and fellow reenactors, couldn't help but smile at Erica joke about him being included on the List. Whether or not such a list existed at all, didn't matter. What mattered was that Nigel laughed with her at the joke, as he began to walk with her. "Yeah, just walking around works. It's a big enough place that we can only cover so much ground in 20 minutes. About the size of a standard Roman fort, if you care to listen to me ramble?" Nigel asked Erica, talking with her as he followed her down the street and took in all that was to see; the buildings, the sky, the atmosphere, everything.

As Erica turned to the Mess Hall, Nigel diligently followed her, not saying much as he felt he spoke to much on a regular basis. Which was odd for him, the man who had told Robert way back in the swamp to shut up, not to mention his less-than-stellar relationship with Wayne who just would not shut up. But with Erica, Nigel spoke like a commander ordering his centum of soldiers when he was with her. She was different than Wayne and Hank. A lot, lot different. Nigel followed Erica to the Mess Hall, standing in line in relative silence as he too noticed Hank and Wayne sitting with The General and Gunny. "They never fail to amuse me. That, or surprise me." Nigel told Erica, holding his tray and following Erica to the table. "Can I sit here, or do you want someone else here? I feel like I've followed you around like a dog or something."

Temperature: 87F
Humidity: High (Around 83%) - No Rain
Wind Speed: 15 MPH
Cloud Coverage: Overcast

L5 (Mess Hall): Joaquin perked up when Thalia came over, standing from his seat and grinning at his sister. "Then let us talk, do not run from me and my friends in camp. Let us sit and converse about the past, the present and a future, my little sister," he said with a cheeky grin.

Shears chuckled. "Always a damn mouth full with this one. Like he's Shakespear in the park or something," Sheers laughed.

Roy just rolled his eyes. "At least he isn't drunk," Roy muttered before shoving a bite of food into his mouth.

Snickering Sheers clapped a few times as he laughed before looking back at Thalia. "Happy to but yeah, like the windbag said. Why not have a seat with us?" he offered before Roy pointed out that some else was already waiving Thalia over to him. "Oh looks like you got a dinner invite, hit me up if you want another. No needing to be waiting a year between cuts anymore."

"Yeah, just make sure your loud when you go into the barber shop, he's usually asleep," Roy quipped.

"Oh she does, well then, off to your friends and we will share a drink and a talk tonight my sweet sister," Joaquin added as he sat back down.

The table with Bass, Maddog, Panama, Volts, Atticus, and Auntie seemed to be done eating and were cleaning up their dishes before rushing them over to bus their trays. Maddog broke off from them and headed over towards where Nikki was sitting with Riley and Amelia. "Checkbook, need the supplies down at the beach now," he said before tapping his watch and walking off. The small group left the Mess Hall together.

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Thana nodded slightly as she reached over and rested her hand over Ash's, giving him a gentle squeeze. "Hey, he understands. Usually it's a monthly thing to go out there but special times they let others go out there. You got people out there, give ya a chance to say goodbye. Ain't something we get a lot of these days, so when you actually can you need to. He gets that," she said quietly as she leaned her shoulder against his. The people buried in the graveyard weren't people she needed to or even wanted to visit but what she needed for closure and what others needed were two different things. If Ash wanted to go out there, she'd put in the paperwork and talk to her grandfather about it. She'd go with him if he wanted. But they could talk about that more later.

Taking a bite of her food she looked around the room as people were grouping off. "Good to see some of them tryin' to get to know the others," she said motioning with her fork towards the different pairings off of people that had just gotten out of Quarantine. "I think dad made some friends from Quarantine," she added pointing over towards Gunny with Hank and Wayne. "It's going to be the CMB version of King Of The Kill," she chuckled quietly thinking on it. She could imagine them standing at the party tonight holding drinks and every so often just saying 'yup' or 'mmhmm' as they stood in a line watching everything going on. It was a pretty soothing thought to her, it was something normal in this world of chaos.

"Oh, over there, with Edna, that's Rosie," she said pointing towards the heavily tattooed and greased woman. "Her and Mizrahi built the truck I came in on, off your plans." It was a little bit of information. "The younger girl with them is Ada, she runs the distillation division in camp," she added pointing to the brunette woman sitting with Edna and Rosie that wore black coveralls.

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Nikki took a bite of her food as she waited to see if Riley and Amelia were going to join her. Chewing slowly as they came over and sat down. She invited them over, and they said... nothing. Okay, that was weird. But hey they joined her. That was something? No not really. Swallowing the bite she had taken her brow lifted when Amelia mumbled something about there being a lot of people. Picking up her glass of water she looked around and shrugged as she took a sip. "Well, it is dinner," she said before taking a sip. Shrugging she set the glass back down and looked at them. "Damn how long has it been since you like sat down with people?" she asked before shoveling another bite in her mouth.

The girl half chewed it before swallowing it down. "Cause this is the part we're supposed to make small talk. You know, hey, how are you, excited about the party tonight type of stuff. Or hey, thanks for asking, loved to join ya. It's easy, really. Try it," she said before shoveling another bite into her mouth and grinning at them. Her cheeks puffing slightly from the size of the bite she took. Nikki tilted her head to the side and crossed her eyes before giggling and swallowing the bite. "That is unless you're like the Seniors table over there and have developed old man telepathy," she said motioning with her fork over towards where Gunny and Wayne and some of the older men were sitting just exchanging glances.

Nikki had just shoved another bite full in her mouth when Maddog came over and told her they needed the stuff down at the beach. "Shit, right, two more bites and I'll be down there," she said as he started to walk off. Swallowing her food she stuck out her tongue towards the man's back before taking another bite and looking back at the girls she was sitting with.

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Amelia was a little bit startled by Checkbook's comments at first, she had always been bad with crowds of people around her. She got uncomfortable and nervous. Not to say she didn't like being with people, she just got embarrassed about doing anything cause she was sure she'd make a fool out of herself. Now though it turned out even worse, she was completely and totally out of communication practice. She took a bite as Checkbook was told that there was work to be done. Amelia felt awkward about her leaving without them having talked any after she had invited them to join her.

"Sorry..." Amelia said to the girl with a little bit of uncertain voice. She looked about before returning her eyes." It's been... a while. Since..." She couldn't quite bring herself to mention Newnan again. It showed on her face as a pang of bad memories, but she closed her eyes and pushed them away and changed the subject." I've always been bad at... communicating much, especially with many people around." She forced herself to explain, feeling her cheeks flush about having to explain what she was bad at. Given the world had nearly ended and all of them could be dead soon, shyness wasn't quite the most useful of traits to have, but she couldn't help it too much. She was at least somewhat better than before. If not, she might not have even managed to explain this right now.

She also couldn't help, but let out a chuckle when the topic was brought up about old men telepathy skills! She also swallowed a mouthful of food before she spoke up again." Maybe we could speak more later at the beach if you want... it would be easier to sit a lil bit away from the crowds." Amelia tried to suggest. Though at that point Checkbook would probably be already up with her own friends. Still it didn't hurt to try to build up good relationships at least! Good relationships helped keep one safe.

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Lisa stretched her arms and neck as she walked up to the entrance of the Mess Hall. It's been one hectic day today. With the new arrivals final discharge from Quarantine, there was simply a lot of activity happening all across the camp. Even now they were preparing for the beach party at the beach. She approved of the idea of a beach party. The beach was maybe one of the best parts of having your settlement be at the coastline. Having their very own beach to play at or simply chill at was a blessing. What's more ocean access ensured a lot of the food they'd need. All was good in the world! In any case, since the camp now had new faces, they were going to be meeting very soon. She'd get to see them from up close at the party.

And like that with a smile on her face she walked into the building, ready to get a meal for the day. She had skipped lunch for a few different reasons, but that didn't matter since they would be having more than enough of a hearty meal tonight. Inside the hall, she was greeted with the usual familiar scene of people milling about, getting their food, returning trays, chatting and so on. It was nice to experience the liveliness like this in such a world. Almost all the familiar faces to a degree after living in this enclosed community for this long. Then there were the few faces that she could swear she's never seen before. Yeah as she took herself the tray with normal amount of food cause she was hungry like starving wolf right now, she spotted Checkbook on one of the tables. There were two unfamiliar women with her.

Lisa calmly walked over to talk with the girl and see the two new ones in camp. Yeah thinking about it, this was their first night of freedom after the quarantine. Ahh the memories. She mused for a moment." Hey, Nikki. What's up?" She greeted and asked with a smile and looked at the other two." Hello you two. You must be two of the group. Nice to meet you, name's Lisa. Hope you will settle in well." She greeted them, as she studied them for a moment.

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Riley looked towards Checkbook for a moment when she spoke up and awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck slightly. "Yeah it's been a really long time since we were in a large mess hall space like this." Riley said, normally she'd be more perceptive when talking to other people, she didn't have any issues really. She started to take a bite out of her dinner, she was really enjoying the dinner still she was surprised how amazing the food actually was. "So, does everyone here have some kind of codename or something?" Riley asked, looking at Nikki as she had gone by Checkbook the whole time. She didn't really know everyone else's name aside from the nicknames everyone seemed to have gone by.

Riley looked up as Maddoc came by, motioning for Nikki to take some supplies over towards the beach just as all of the other people who looked like they were leaders leaving the mess hall. Riley turned her attention when she heard a newer voice looking over seeing a woman approaching and gave a slight smile. "It's nice to meet you i'm Riley." Riley said offering a hand to shake lisa's before turning her attention back over towards Nikki. "If you'd like have any kind of guitars laying around I could play something, or just talk about music in general as well." Riley offered.

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Erica took a moment as she found a spot and sat down looking over at Nigel and smiled slightly and shook her head slightly. "I don't mind you company at all really." Erica said motioning for him to take his seat next to her, he was probably the only person that she really did connect with as well. Erica started to eat her dinner and looked around the room, as everyone was having their own conversations, as Erica turned to look back at Nigel. "I don't mind listening to you ramble on about Rome either if you'd like to talk about that, since I know you like to a lot." Erica said with a slight laugh.

She leaned back looking at the group where Wayne and Hank were, it seemed like they were getting ready to leave now as well. "Seems like the two have made best friends already." Erica said motioning to where Hank and Wayne were as well, she was curious what they all had going on at the beach party later on in the evening as well. She was pretty eager to get to know the other residences that lived here as well.

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In one way, it was nice to see the former Newnanites getting to know the people of their new community. He could say that now, "their new community", as the selection process was over and they had made the cut. The loss of his once trusted confidant, Victor, was a bit of a blow. But to look at things, he had lost Froggy some time ago. Perhaps time would change things for him. Ash could only hope. It was no longer a thing to dwell upon; he had a new life that required his attention. On mustn't forget the old entirely, hence the visit to the gravesites outside of the walls. But visiting the fallen to pay respects wasn't hanging on to the past. Ash did hope that they didn't completely lose the stamp of identity that marked them as being survivors well acquainted with one another prior to coming to this place. Depending upon each other as a ragtag, extended family should not be a thing so easily brushed away. Dwelling in the past was not healthy. Forgetting it completely was as well.

Ash did enjoy the comforting weight of Thana's shoulder against his. Part of the human condition that he had almost given up on was physical contact with someone he cared about, or in this case, loved. It was so easy to write off, once it wasn't a big part of his life by necessity. Now that it was back, Ash didn't want to take it for granted.

He tried to make mental notes about the people that Thana was pointing out to him. Edna, Rosie, Ada. Rosie and Mizrahi were grease monkeys. Moreover, they could read engineering specs and build using them as a guideline. That was an important distinction. Ash smiled gently and nodded when Thana pointed out the younger lady, Ada. That was the official distilling lady. They might have things to discuss later, one professional to another. "If it's convenient, maybe introduce me later." Maybe at the party, or another time down the road a bit, it was all the same to Ash. Nice and all but he was more interested in the present, and present company.

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Thalia gave a quiet grunt and waited for the short conversation around her to flare up and die out of its own volition without offering anything of her own into it. The offer to join was nice and all, but she didn't know any of these people and didn't feel like being the popular kid and sitting down with the earnest intention of making new friends. She said what she came over here to say and that was that. People in groups who were eager to have a conversation with her made her a little wary, regardless of their actual intent. "Yah, maybe next time," she said, already turning to see what they were talking about when they said that she had someone waving her over. Oh yeah, Alexander. Great. He gave a preset excuse to make herself scarce. Otherwise, she might be in for an awkward meal in which one or another party would be struggling to ask questions or get her to talk about herself, and she really didn't feel the need to have that type of conversation.

Instead, there was a different sort of conversation waiting on her elsewhere in the established Mess Hall. Or if not actual conversation persay, the beginning of one that distinctly ambushed her with sentimentality. It took her a moment, as if she was translating Alexander's sentence from a language in which Thalia could only claim competence, not fluency. First off, Judith? Okay, he explained that one. Hell, he was pretty sure he mentioned in conversations prior to now, anyway, at least she thought he did. Wife. She wondered what that was like, having a spouse. Well, probably not for her, ever. Anyway, pretty name, Judith. Moving on. Thalia had no idea why his wife would have liked her. She was a woman socially crippled by her circumstances and now sported a big, metal hand. Maybe Judith liked broken people, back in the day. It even took Thalia a moment to realize that Alexander meant it as a compliment. While she was figuring this out, she eyeballed the older man quizzically. Finally, it was like she had to remind herself that yes, manners were a thing, and she needed to extend at least a sliver of them back to Alexander, or she really was a socially crippled young woman. "Thanks, Mugsy. Wish I could have met her. She sounds like a patient lady." Wait, was that an appropriate response? Should she have said more? No, if she just fucked something up, she shouldn't keep talking and make it worse. She and Alexander had been "survival buddies" for well over a year now. He'd know she didn't mean anything. She thought, anyway.

Thalia offered a kind of lopsided smile and started to eat. It wasn't the most refined sight ever, watching her consume pasta with her left hand while she leaned on her right elbow, the artificial arm below it hovering near her tray. It looked almost prison-ish when one noticed that she kept an eye on the people filling the room as she ate, keeping tabs and instinctively looking for anything that might be considered a threat. Perhaps that was a compliment on her part to Alex, that when she ate now or was in a potentially compromising position, she didn't put her attention on him, like he was accepted as a comrade, excluded from her steely gaze as a potential threat. Her nonchalance to his presence demonstrated trust. It was a hard fought for commodity these days.

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Alexander guessed that Thalia was not used to this kind of talk, the way his fellow amputee looked at him a quizzical face. Alexander hadn't really been the type to talk about his wife or what she would have liked, not after what happened on the island when the world first ended. After she…Judith, was no more. He would have liked to say that something changed in himself that day Judith died, but in reality, Alexander didn't change; the world around him. Judith was the element that had brought order to his life, a shining beacon to guide him through the mist. But without her, he once again became the young man who came home from the war, without anyone.

It probably didn't help that Thalia was not the person he'd spoken with about his life and past. That honour went out to Manny, but tonight Alexander wanted to say those words. Alexander pulled the side of his mouth to a smile, nodding gently to Thalia talking back. "Me too, me too, Angel. She was patient, yes, ever since '75. She saw the good in everyone, even a broken Vet." Alexander continued, letting the ending words flow away as Thalia began eating. He began to eat as well, sitting in silence and enjoying the light meal and the silent company of Thalia. His friend, almost like when they first met. From a snowy street, a tank and a hot cup of cocoa, things had changed. Some for the good, not all, but some. And for that, Alexander was grateful. He had kept moving forward, leaving his past behind him, and come out better on the other side.

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Nigel wached as Erica shook her head and gestured for him to sit down next to her, glad that she had not rejected him even after having spent so much time together. Some people didn't like that, too much company. Maybe Nigel was that kind of person, the one who enjoyed spending an evening with a good friend but not the whole week. Growing up on a farm in the middle of nowhere, maybe the lack of neighbours made Nigel that way. Erica certainly fell into the category of a "Good friend", and so far Nigel didn't mind her company either. Would the good time keep rolling, or was the cracks yet to reveal themselves?

"Well, thanks for listening regardless. Not used to people like you who like that." Nigel thanked Erica as he sat down beside her, smiling at her before also looking around the room. Hank and Wayne were their usual selves, not caring. Perhaps it was that attitude that made them sit with the higher-ups of the Camp on their first night of freedom, while Nigel stuck by his usual partner. Nigel turned to look back at Erica, before he began to eat a very, very good meal. "Some time I'd like to hear you talk too. About something you like a lot. I much better prefer dialouges over monolouges." Nigel continued, before finally turning quiet and enjoying the light meal of the night. Since they would be eating more a the beach party, he'd limit himself as best he could, which was harder than you'd think; a week in quarantine and a relative ambundance of food worn down the tolerance to hunger faster than he expected. But life was good for once, and it showed in Nigel and his smile.

Temperature: 87F
Humidity: High (Around 83%) - No Rain
Wind Speed: 15 MPH
Cloud Coverage: Overcast

L5 (Mess Hall): Everyone is either eating, or heading out. Milling about and talking a bit to each other. No big changes here this round within the mess hall other than what is in posts.

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Thana gave a slight smirk and shook her head. "Oh don't put that on me. Last time I even tried to mention anything booze wise she told me to shove it where the sun don't shine. You wanna deal with that hornets nest that is all on you and I ain't gonna be in fall out range," Thana said before pushing her food around on her tray a bit before finally getting a piece on her fork. Taking a bite she chewed her food quietly and looked around to see what was going on before having to remind herself that she was basically off duty. There was no ever full off duty, even here, but she was as off duty as she could get and she was in the mess hall, there was no reason for her to be on the look out other than just habit. It was a good habit to have in this world but then again if you were so focused on everything else you missed the here and now as well.

Turning her head she looked over towards Ash. He really wasn't saying anything or giving her anything. Well, his presence, which was nice, but two people sitting in silence with only one really giving anything wasn't exactly a great dinner conversation. Out of everything she had said to him, he only half responded to one thing. Picking up her napkin, Thana wiped her mouth before turning slightly and rested her elbow on the table as she leaned her head into her palm. "Anyone ever tell you that you talk to much?" she asked him with a hint of sarcasm in her voice and a sly smirk pulling at the corner of her mouth. Hopefully that little verbal poke would get him to talk a little more or at least be aware that she wasn't going to hold a one sided conversation with herself while he eavesdropped.

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Nikki looked over towards Amelia a little confused as she chewed her food. Wanted to get away from the crowds? Pursing her lips as she swallowed she shook her head. "Beach area where you can go is limited. Everyone's gonna be there. Better get used to the crowds. Unless you're home, this is about as quiet as it gets," she said waving her fork around the room to the people sitting down and eating before adjusting the grip on her fork and stabbing a piece of meat on her plate. "Nah, not everyone but most if you have been here for more than a couple of years. Some come in with some, mostly things just stick. Like Checkbook. Writing checks my ass can't cash," Nikki said with a grin as she popped her fork in her mouth and pulled it out clean with a grin and a wink. "Talk to the band tonight, maybe they'll cut a deal with ya," she said with food in her mouth to Riley mentioning the guitar.

More would have been said but Lisa came over as she was chewing. "Hey girl. Just shoveling food before running. Gotta get shit down to the sands before the party," she said after she swallowed. Standing up, she grabbed her tray. "Here, take my seat. Watch out though, these two will talk your ear off," Nikki added sarcastically with a giggle before she turned and started skipping off. Bobbing her head as she bussed her tray and went to go grab her cart. It would have been nice to sit and talk for a while but Maddog had already basically told her to get her ass in gear once today, she didn't want a repeat. And she did want to have fun at the party tonight.

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Amelia was just a tad bit surprised when a new person appeared and called out to Checkbook in such a friendly familiar manner. Turned out to be another woman. Frankly Amelia wasn't sure quite what to think of her from the get go. She was dressed in what would amount to a casual regular style for the world they live in and had a few different accessories on her. The way she spoke, meant that she and Nikki were probably on rather good terms though.” I see. I won't venture into the forbidden parts.” She replied. This was going to take a little while to get used to the new numbers of people constantly around. If most of them were nice as Nikki, it might be easier to do so.

“Hello... Nice to meet you too. I'm Amelia.” Amelia replied quietly as the woman greeted them, so she did so in return. Riley went as far as to offer a hand to shake, a hand which was taken. Amelia quickly followed suit to do so as well, though a little careful. She was finding being among so many unknown people a little bit nerve straining. Still the friendliness they were shown so far from Nikki and at least the tone of this new woman made things appear slightly better. She also looked at Riley who offered to play something on a guitar if they had any. That... was actually a good idea, one that Amelia approved off. She hadn't had the chance of hearing Riley play in an eternity.

“See you later, Nikki.” Amelia said as she watched the girl bolt away, leaving her and Riley in the care of the new woman, Lisa. Amelia didn't take the sarcrastic comment to heart. She was partly at fault for it after all, being too quiet and all when the girl went out of her way to invite them to sit with her and chat.

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Lisa smiled at Riley as she took her offered for a handshake hand. She also took the other girls. It was obvious the two of them were among the ones who had to shave their heads upon arrival at the Quarantine. They were alive and well, that was all that mattered though.

“Ohh? You play the guitar? Professionally or...?” Lisa asked of Riley when she heard the woman propose to display her skills later. She wasn't too into music, she didn't really follow any bands or specific styles of music back in the day, still the skill to effectively play a music instrument wasn't something just anyone had. It was probably a skill worthy of preserving honestly just as everything else. Survival skills were of great importance, but the simple act of making music was as well. She wasn't really interested in learning it though.

“Righto. Pay attention, I'm sure someone will screw up royaly and do something dumb at some point or another.” Lisa grinned to Checkbook as the girl bolted away. She then calmly took her seat, setting down her tray and taking a few bites from the food.” So you two are quite chatty?” She asked clearly joking here.” No worries, I'm a good listener!” Lisa proudly proclaimed, looking at the two hairless women.

“So, the two of you are new here. I assume you got your tour about the place. How do you like it so far?” She asked, chatting them up with a friendly smile, but then decided to not ask that.” Actually scratch that, answer that question after a few weeks here. Why not tell me about yourselves? I got that you play music, got any other hobbies enjoy even now?” She asked Riley and looked at Amelia who was still quietly eating, trying to not stand out presumably? Was she shy or just bad with people? Maybe both or maybe she just didn't like talking?” What about you, Little Mermaid? I know the evil witch didn't take your voice.” She added since she had clearly heard Amelia speak up earlier even if it was brief and queit.

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Riley smiled towards Nikki and nodded towards her she was going to jump at the chance with it, she was really aching to get back into music again. She did have that metal guitar pick she managed to find several months ago, which was back in the apartment with all of her other things that belonged to her. "I'll certainly do that, thanks." Riley said towards Nikki and smiled towards her, aside from all of the others in Quarantine it took her a bit to open up to. "We can certainly talk more later alright?" Riley called out to Nikki as she got up and left to do whatever she needed to do.

Then the new woman took up Nikki's seat as she asked about what she did. "I did music professionally before everything happened, I was just finishing a band tour when the outbreak happened." Riley answered, she still remembered that day very clearly as well she shook her head slightly. "Song writing mostly, I did a shit ton of partying back in the day as well." Riley said, she was going to say partying, but the way they lived right now they couldn't really do much of that really either, that much she was interested in doing over the years before the outbreak.

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Erica turned to look at Nigel as she took a bite out of her dinner and smiled towards him, she didn't mind his company it was always good and nice to have someone to talk to who you could trust. She leaned back a little bit as she looked at those in the room, before looking back at Nigel when he said he'd like to get to know her some more. She smiled slightly Erica didn't open to much, but she felt she could trust him enough as well, and they were behind walls now as well and weren't busy fighting to survive either. Though she was scared of opening to much about herself as well.

"NASCAR, I grew up watching that a lot actually, I always though those race cars looked really cool." Erica said smiling a little bit, she thought about mentioning her family, but quickly shook her head slightly it was still really painful for her to talk about as well. She kept the photo of her family on her still which was in the apartment now as well after they had gotten their own things back, except for weapons anyway. "What about you? Other than your Neo-Roman fetish thing you got going on?" Erica said with a slight laugh at her little joke towards him.

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It took Ash a moment to realize that Thana was operating with the understanding that he had asked her to only introduce her to the one person. Perhaps it was something in his delivery that as off. So much as it might be a thing worth note to discuss the wondrous art of turning various recipes containing simple carbohydrates into that glorious, glorious C₂H₅OH within a liquid matrix by means of the appropriate applications of time, heat, and basic engineering, he already knew as much as anyone did anymore. Hell, he was born into the trade. It never left him. But so much as that, were it to get into the realm of a conversation of any depth, might be fulfilling in a professional sense, it wasn't really what he meant.

"Mmm-mm," he grunted in an manner to express a misunderstanding discovered, then swallowing a bite to continue, "Meant all of them; Edna, Rosie, Eda." he motioned vaguely with his fork as he spoke each name, thought with a sense of subtlety. "Eventually." The last thing he wanted as the new guy was to start calling out the established personnel, especially while they were sitting down to supper. Scratch that, the last thing he wanted to do as the new guy was make Thana think he only wanted to speak to the younger woman with whom he had something in common. That was a ugly thought, and patently untrue.

Ash let his arm trail down a bit and slowly wrap around Thana's waist. It was a fairly subtle move, considering that they were already leaning against each others' shoulders. He was giving himself a second or two to phrase and answer Thana's question about anyone ever telling him that he talked too much. Obvious sarcasm. Taken literally, that would be preposterous. Not a man of extremely few words, it could be easily said by many who knew him that he was a little frugal with his verbiage. "I apologize, Thana. Processing a lot of stuff. Still just soaking up being here with you, besides. I'm being rude." He gave a touch of thought to what she was saying earlier, one point of which stood out in his mind. "Sorry, were you saying 'King of the Hill'? Like that 'Beavis and Butthead' guy, 'King of the Hill'? Love that show." He gave a quick assessment of the seating around the older people, clustered over that way. "Your, ah... your father doesn't seem like much of a talker, either. I didn't know any better, I'd say they were all actually telepathic." He nodded his head in the general direction of the group again, "Question for you: Which one do you think is Boomhauer?" Probably Wayne. Even odds, maybe.

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The way Thalia blasted through a meal, you'd think that she was starving. Not that it would matter if she was; experience taught one who might be studying the eating habits of the semi-feral pixie-crested Mestiza that, when lacking in abundant or reliable sources of food, one of this genus and species actually had slight tendency to eat slower, thus maximizing the sating effect of said nourishment. Such actions could never be taken as definitive, however, as more often than not any food set in front of her for personal consumption would become a belch and an afterthought in a matter of short, frothing seconds. In any case, Thalia was not starving. She had eaten better in the last week than she had in the past year, one or two instances of finding a relatively untouched convenience store or previously unlooted house aside. Even then things had to be rationed. So yeah, most reliable food in a long time, she still attacked her plate like it owed her money.

Yet, despite her struggling to hold a fork properly with her left hand and throw the food into her mouth, Alexander looked like he wanted to get something off his chest. Maybe just get a few words out. Hey, no problem. She could sit and listen. Relating was a different story. Thalia was never a soldier. Not like he was. Or like Army Captain was, or Navy, or seemingly half the people that ran things in this place. Still, a single serving size packet of reassurance might not hurt. "I think we're all a little broken now. Just a question of how much. I'm definitely not what I used to be." She shrugged. It was true enough. Maybe the next generation, the one that grew up with this, would be more reasonably well adjusted. Alexander would be right in his assumption that this was not the kind of talk she was used to. Given the status of the world, maybe she should start trying to get used to it. The world had a lot of people like her and Alexander - scarred inside and damaged outside.

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For Manny he found the tour overall very exciting, though surprisingly after a week of being in quarantine he just felt tired out. Leaving the tram he made his way tot he mess hall and was surprised to see the number of people in there. It reminded him of how much things have changed since this all started. Nowadays? This was a ton of people, but he could think of times where he could get as many people as patients over the course of two of three weeks. He wondered what the meal schedules for people who worked outside of normal hours were? He imagined that at least a couple people had to be working on different schedules. At least for guard duty. He also wondered what the other settlements were like? But that was a question for another day.

Manny grabbed his food and took note of everyone in the room. It all felt so... Normal. He saw that everyone in quarantine had broken off into mixed groups with the people from camp Mexico beach. He was honestly expecting everyone to group up together with some integration. Though it was a good sign none the less that things were working out. In his moment of thought, he hadn't really realized how long he had been standing there with his thoughts roaming. He grabbed his food and looked for somewhere to sit. Despite his very outgoing nature he was still getting used to culture here, and so he wasn't really sure where to sit at the moment. He noticed Alexander and Thalia sitting by the ends of one of the tables. He figured out of anywhere
it was somewhere as good as any. He made his way over with his food in hand and let them finish up their current conversation before speaking. "Mind if I sit here? Still getting used to people here I guess." He didn't imagine that they would say no, but he wouldn't sit until they did. If someone had something against him there at the moment he wouldn't blame them. Thalia and Alexander were reserved people, and Manny had pushed that more then once without realizing it. And he could always find other places to sit.

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In his moment of processing everything he realized he missed his chance to pick up Izibell. When that moment hit him on the way tot he mess hall he stopped to register it, then spoke in a brief but sharp tone. "Son of a Fuck Bucket." He cursed his poor attention span in the moment, and decided to move on with things and find Atticus. Maybe dinner first... He went in and noticed the amount of people. Yes, he knew that there were 300 people. But damn... seeing so many in one place was... a lot for him. Considering every group he has been apart of since things fell apart has either been hostile, or wiped out rather soon after his arrival, or both. This was a lot for the former soldier to take in. "Huh... people..." He got his food quietly, and sat down trying to block out the world. He sat with his back to the wall and decided he should find somewhere else to have meals. Even if it was just less people, this was a lot. Plus he knew he was on a lot of people's shit list, and he still wasn't sure how all of them may react in situations. Sure, they seemed nice. But that threat of being shot was his first impression of the place, and it was lasting.

When he finally finished his food he looked around. Things were still... calm. Though he noticed Atticus finishing his food up and cleaning things up. Rushing to finish his food (Sometimes with a fork sometimes with his hand) He made his way at a rather speedy pace to Atticus. "Hey, .hey, hey. Uhhh... is it.. To late to pick up Izibell? She like... Uh.." Guns, explosions, simple engineering tasks, and animals. All things he could handle. But words and people were a lacking skill on his part. But trying to catch him before he left, Hunter pulled together the words he needed to speak. "Yeah can I uh... pick upisha-" He stopped himself again. He took another deep breath and calmed down. His words were twisting up and he was struggling to speak again. "Can I please pick up Izibell." He spoke as if he was plotting out each word. But he seemed to be polite about it still none the less.

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Alexander looked up at Thalia again after shoving a piece of food in his mouth, fighting the urge to talk with his mouth still gnawing on it like a dog or uncultured protestant he used to know. The world had perhaps ended, but table manners was not something Alexander had forgotten easily about, especially not when they for once were in the comforts of civilisation. But Alexander did give Thalia another smile, nodding at her words. True words, they were all indeed broken, not the same they used to be. Ol' mugsy didn't say anything though, just nodded and continued to eat after a while. He sure wasn't himself anymore.

The question was who 'He' was? Young Alexander rebelling against his father, Private Polawski with the big-ass radio on his back, PTSD-ridden Alex', loving husband of Judith or Alexander 'Mugsy' the survivor? Perhaps all of them at once, or none. Thalia, he thought, she probably knew him best. Now that Beatrice was gone, she had been with him the longest. Manny knew most about him, but not of him? Perhaps it was The General…did he know himself anymore?

Alexander was pleasently surprised when he looked up to find Manny standing with them, asking if he could sit and eat. Looking over to Thalia again, as if to ask her for permission, Alexander turned back to Manny as he took a sip of his drink. "I don't mind, was wondering when you'd show up. Not sure how much time we have before the big party starts, though."

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Nigel "No Visigoths in sight!" switched between eating their small dinner and looking up at Erica, waiting to learn more about the woman closest to him in that big place. He couldn't really recall knowing much about Erica, not the least about her past except for her being a cop. Nigel hadn't really asked in the first place, he was cautious like that with strangers. But now? They weren't strangers anymore, were they? Nigel was in the middle of drinking his glass of water when Erica dropped the bomb, making him raise his brows to her. "NASCAR?" Nigel asked her, putting down the glass as he continued to look at her amusingly. "Well they do look cool, nice colours and high speed. If you like watching cars going left, left, left and more left." Nigel teased Erica, letting his words hang for a moment before he playfully punched her shoulder with a "Just messing with you, Erica. It sounds fun."

People were starting to finish up their meals and leave the Mess Hall. The beach party was probably going to begin in not too long, but then again Nigel hadn't had a good sense of time for a very long time before they arrived in Camp Mexico Beach. He sure wasn't in any rush to finish, still trying to hold his hunger back. "Besides my excellent taste of mediterranean antiquity? Would it surprise you if I'm a wine-person? Or just watching a good movie after a long day at work. I really miss that. You have no idea what I'd give you if you could find a good bottle of wine out there." Nigel answered Erica, trying to show her that he wasn't just their garden-variety "Sportacus", but someone…normal, he guessed. "Or just a good hike in the woods, I guess. I grew up on a farm, so played a lot in the forrest. What about you?"

Temperature: 87F
Humidity: High (Around 83%) - No Rain
Wind Speed: 15 MPH
Cloud Coverage: Overcast

L5 (Mess Hall): Everyone is either eating, or heading out. Milling about and talking a bit to each other. No big changes here this round within the mess hall other than what is in posts. "Band" group has left, Atticus reaction to Hunter is in Nikki's portion of the post.

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Thana let off a little bit of a smirk as she sat there eating and listening to Ash try to act like a normal human being just having a normal lunch. She understood but it wasn't like this was the first time he had been quiet. Even back in Newnan, the little she had been there, it had taken a bit to get him to actually talk. At least normally. He was fine if asked direct questions but over all, he was not a come out and say things kind of person. Poking and proding had seemed to be needed with or without needing to process things. "Uh-huh, well you've been processing since I met ya," she said poking a bit of fun at him as she nudged him in the shoulder with her own.

Glancing at her dad she nodded. "Wouldn't surprise me if he was," she said before taking another bite of her dinner. Thing was, she didn't sound like she was joking at all. "Long as I can remember dad just seemed to know what people were thinking." There was a bit of a shrug. When she had met up with her dad after she returned, and Ash was standing there, she had barely said anything to him, they just seemed to look at each other and have a conversation. "Dad's a human lie detector. And where Grandpapi and Uncle Maddy are talkers, Dad never found it needed."

"Out of that group? God, I don't even want to know who is the promiscuous one. That is just a damn unsettlin' thought." Thana shuttered visibly at the thought. It was damn unnerving. Shifting her leg slightly under the table, she grunted. It was sore that was for sure but she had two steel pins removed from her leg yesterday. It was going to be a bit of a pain for a few weeks. There was nothing to be done about it and unless it really started to hurt pain meds were not something that were an option. CMB was well supplied to a point but one still had to only use what was needed, plus she didn't want to get used to a pain killer and then not be able to deal.

Thana thought for a moment before looking over to Ash. "Hey, at least yer processin' comin' in here is better than mine was," she said thinking back to her coming into Newnan. Being shuffled away to a house, informed her sister was dead, paraded out in front of everyone, the entire Richard thing, then being taken as a plus 1 to a wedding, thrown into a job she hadn't agreed to because he got ahead of himself, the gas leak, the hallucinations, Newnan falling, invading Eden, watching Gavin die in front of her. Her first two days with the people of Newnan hadn't exactly been smooth. He was already a week in without shit hitting the fan here. Hell her first week in CMB she was in a coma, and many weeks after that. Her first week after waking was spent using morse code to communicate. Yeah, as much as she understood she wasn't exactly sympathetic right then.

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Walking back to where her cart was, Nikki checked it for supplies just to make sure. Not that petty theft was a problem in the town but people could think part of what she had on the cart were things that needed to be put up instead of things she was taking from the kitchen to the beach. Simple mix ups did happen. While she was doing that, Atticus was busing his tray. He was about to walk out the door when Hunter came over and seemed to be having a hard time getting out what he needed to say. "Just take a breath," the Padre told him before waving the others off. "Be there in a minute guys," he told them before looking back at Hunter.

After going over everything, Nikki, took ahold of the cart and started pushing it out into the main Mess Hall area. Atticus seemed to be thinking when he spotted her and waved her over. "Yeah but hold on," Atticus told Hunter. "Nikki, can you come here?" he asked her.

Nikki quirked a brow but shrugged and pushed her cart over to the two guys. "What's up Padre?" she asked before blowing a bubble with her gum.

"Hunter needs to get his dog and I need to get down to the beach for sound checks. Can you take him?" he asked her.

"I gotta get this shit down there before Auntie has my ass in a sling," she said gesturing at her cart.

"Make you a deal, I'll take the cart down to the folks setting up since I am going that way and then you can take Hunter," the Padre offered.

Nikki thought on it for a moment and nodded. Padre was in charge of the Chaplin Department, which was in charge of tonight. So any request or order he gave her, well if something went wrong she could blame Padre. "Deal but Auntie yells at you, not me," she said as she pushed the cart towards Atticus.

He smirked and nodded, taking the cart and then looking at Hunter. "You're all hers, she'll take you over," he said before pushing the cart out of the mess hall and down towards the beach to catch up with the others.

Nikki rested her hands on her hips and watched the Padre leave before looking over towards Hunter. "Alright, let's go cutie. They go over the pet rules yet or ya need me to go over them with you?" she asked before she started to head for the door and headed outside.

*Note, for future reference - Meals are only in the Mess Hall unless special circumstances (Quarantine, people in the hospital, Event). So Hunter will not be allowed to have food elsewhere and cannot take his meal elsewhere. Food isn't allowed elsewhere. Was explained/in paper work already. Just reminding as he was thinking to find elsewhere to eat.

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Amelia was quietly eating, minding her own business, when the woman started chatting with Riley about the singer. Sure enough, Amelia herself wasn't trying to butt in the conversation, choosing to instead calmly and cautiously listen by the side, trying to judge if the woman may have had ulterior motives, but before she could get into that, somehow or other the chatter turned back to her as she nearly choked on her mouthful of food when she was called a little mermaid.

“... Smart joke.” She mumbled a reply, if she didn't get the joke, she might as well proclaim to never read a book again. With even her ears turning red, she looked up from the meal.” I like books and music.” Amelia replied, throwing a loving look at Riley, before returning to her food for another few mouthfuls of the meal. After those she spoke again.” I can't play music though, so no point in asking.” It was going to take a little bit of time to get used to people around the camp. She had mostly gotten used to the ones from the Quarantine and mainly Atticus. She liked the priest, he was a nice person. The others varied, but overall with a few exception she was at least used to interacting with them.

“What about you?” She suddenly had an idea how to divert the topic from themselves and turn it onto the woman. Riley had already introduced her hobbies and past. The woman so far seemed rather talkative and Amelia didn't really have a reason to hold it against her. Amelia actually did enjoy being around people, despite her getting shy easily around new people that is. In any case, they were going to be staying here for the long run, or at least she hoped it would be the long run. Better get to know the people. Nikki was nice and since this woman seemed like her friend, she shouldn't be bad either.

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'Wow, you've really got to pull the words out of her mouth with a hook.' Lisa thought as she heard Amelia reply to her question. Still it was more than she suspected she'd get, at least by some margin. She also didn't flip out at her way of calling her. So she seemed like a nice enough girl alright. Lisa nodded as she did get her answers though.” A fellow bookworm then! Not a bad thing!” She exclaimed, clearly pleased by what she had heard.” I myself do enjoy good books a lot. Always nice to have a great story to experience! Or a cheap romantic one!”

“Getting the feeling we will get along famously!” She added. Honestly she wasn't getting that feeling, but might as well hope and pray for the best! The more people who red books the better it was! They could chat about books and stories! Maybe even exchange knowledge about books.

Her attention shifted back to Riley as she nodded.” Honestly good to have more people of the arts present around here. While I myself haven't been too much into music, I do enjoy listening to it now and then. Looking forward to seeing your abilities.” She smiled to the musician.” As for partying, well hard to pull off on regular scheduled intervals nowdays. Worry not, even if we lack hard parties, there will always be ways to have fun. Especially when you don't have to run for your lives every single day and be alert at night.” Lisa reassured them calmly. They've probably been on the roads for a while, she herself knew what the life on the road was. Being in this camp was a blessing. Admittedly blessing with some rules attached, but a blessing never the less.

“As for the rest of your question, as mentioned I like books, and watching action movies! Also the beach area, I assure you, that you will enjoy the open parts of it.” She explained casually before returning to the food. She needed that food a lot right about now. Even if there was a sea boil later. She'd just eat less then at the worst case.

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Riley looked over towards Amelia and smiled towards her slightly, at Lisa's little joke mainly because of her red hair most likely as she leaned back a little bit. She didn't want to joke to much about Amelia, she did love her and she had a feeling that she was also having a bit of a hard time adjusting as well. Riley rubbed the stubble on her head, she hoped that it would grow in a lot quicker soon it wasn't the first time she had cut her hair. But it was the shortest it's ever been as well, looking over towards Lisa as she told her more about herself. Though Riley wasn't really into books growing up, she only really read them if she was bored or had the time to before the outbreak happened anyway.

"So, what do you do here usually anyway Lisa?" Riley decided to ask, she was going to be working at the Chaplain which was kind of still surprising to her, since she wasn't religious at all anymore. But she was pretty curious anyway as well, she looked around the room once more seeing some people were all getting ready to head out and leave for whatever they were going to be doing, before the beachparty which Riley was really looking forward to as well. She hadn't had anytime to actually relax and actually enjoy anything for a really long time now as well.

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"Hey, don't judge besides it was always really cool that they drivers would stop and do some repairs by the pit crews within seconds before getting back on the track as well." Erica said with a slight smile, feeling him punching her shoulder she looked at Nigel for a moment as he told her a little something about what he liked. Though she was really never a wine or champagne drinker, she thought for a moment, she didn't want to talk about her family right now either as her eyes wondered around the room. Seeing that some people were leaving while others were chatting still, wondering when the beach party would actually start now as well.

"I'm more of a beer person actually, never really liked wine or champagne, way to fancy for me anyway." Erica said as she rubbed the back of her neck and continued to eat her dinner she was pretty close to finishing now as well, and took another quick drink as well. "So, anything you are looking forward to during this beach party?" Erica decided to ask and change the subject as well, while looking back over at some of the other people who were from quarantine seeing the two bald girls talking to someone else she had never seen before as well, and assumed she was another resident of the camp.

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Social situations. Not Ash's thing unless he was in a position of authority. At least not anymore, though there was a time, long ago. He was a good soldier. He was an exceptional Executive Officer. And recent years had made him a fit commander. The things that made him good at these duties were also things that tended to make every other social encounter (that didn't involve drinking) a little difficult. The stoicism in both philosophy and demeanor allowed him to make decisions with critical thinking, not emotion, when the chips were down. He was disciplined and unwavering in pursuit of his goals. Even as a kid, he was a good student and labored unceasingly for his family, which transferred well when he signed his life to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; Sapper. Then the Apocalypse. Ash was going to have to learn how to be a more well rounded person again.

At first, he was being distant. Now that it was pointed out, he was trying too hard. He was never the type to try too hard to be sociable before. Ash wanted this to work, both with Camp Mexico Beach and with Thana, specifically. He'd been on an epic knightly quest for over a year and a half for her, for crap's sake. And now he was forcing nonchalance. Ash's eyes glazed over and he stared into the distance for a moment as this realization washed over him. Luckily, Thana nudged his shoulder and jostled him out of it. He would have to thank her later. She continued about the possible psychic powers of her father, which he was prone to believe after the past week and the few conversations, both had with the man and observed, such as they could be called conversations.

Then she said something that made him stop mid-bite. The promiscuous one? "Yeah, that is damn unsettling." Ash had apparently forgotten that aspect of the immortal Boomhauer, in all of his animated glory. It did give him a chuckle, though he tried to restrain it. "I meant talking constant and barely understandable, Thana. Nah, that other - scares me a little." He gave a small smile and hugged her around her waist as they sat.

Being as he wasn't one hundred percent sure what she meant by her next statement, he wasn't certain how to react. Did she mean her time coming back here, or when she entered Newnan just prior to its collapse? If she meant here, then definitely. According to the story he'd gotten, she came in mostly dead and had to be put back together by the medical staff here, after which apparently she had to go through whatever rigors one must go through to become an officer in this place, all while still being held together by surgical steel and good intentions. If she meant Newnan, well, that was unfortunate all around, though with some highly specific points that sucked for her. To throw her into the mix like that was less than ideal for her, to say the least.

"Yeah, it was easier for me, getting processed here." Except for the part where he thought Thana was dead. The initial reason for his coming here, prior to learning that Zebulon was destroyed. And the fact that management nor their guards did nothing to correct this belief, knowing the truth. Watching him deal with not only the death of someone he loved, but the collapse of already fragile hope from the past year and a half. Though Ash had braced himself for the very real possibility, it still struck him hard. He had learned that it was for a purpose, and he respected this decision. Purpose and reason over emotion. It was something he might have done, for the good of the people involved and for the community. "Your strength continues to amaze me, Thana." He spoke it plainly and genuinely, his tone stating a fact about how he felt rather than an attempt to butter her up or curry favor. It did amaze him. Ash heavily doubted that he would have been able to survive what she did.

"So, what's on the agenda between this and the beach party?" Ash looked to her with admiration, hoping there might be some time to be together, if only to contemplate each other's quiet presence.

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It had always amazed Thalia how, despite her training with weapons in each hand, and the fact that her style of boxing had her switching from righty to southpaw seamlessly, she had such problems doing anything else with her left hand. Ask her to stab, shoot, or hit someone, she was your girl. You want her to sign her name? Bring a snack. It's going to be a while. She wanted to insert food into her mouth and anyone with a camera might be able to win some money from the "America's Funniest" people. It was a little infuriating sometimes, but just as long as she didn't give a shit about what people thought about her, she was going to get that pasta into her facehole one way or another. Still getting used to the tiring concept of eating around people she didn't know, like someone might use the opportunity to launch an attack while her mind was occupied with levering spaghetti in her mouth.

The fresh fruit was a nice touch, though. Except for prying off the peel with one working hand. In the end, force replaced dexterity for the win. While Alexander was trying for manners in an otherwise mannerless world, Thalia was going for the silently impassioned but effective kill. It was amazing how many things required two functioning hands to accomplish. Improvisation was necessary, she reasoned, pinning the precious sphere of citrus down with her metal hand and perforating its thick rind with her thumbnail, over and over, working her way down and around to gouge a series of meridians that she could exploit to get at the juicy, pulpy flesh within.

Thalia held the fruit steady and raised her new steel fist above the condemned source of vitamin C, then sharply brought it down with a thwack. Her face twisted into a gruesome sneer as her artificial appendage made connection, snuffing the very life from the fruit as it contorted ans ripped open. A spurt of tangy juice splattered in a line across Thalia's face like the blood of her enemies, which she didn't bother to wipe away. No, she earned this victory and would wear it like a badge of honor. The fallen citrus didn't split exactly as she wanted it to, but it was well enough to use her left hand to pick through its remains and tear out the good flesh with her teeth.

Messy, but goddamnit, the atrocities she might commit for a grapefruit.

She barely registered the arrival of Manny, for that manner barely noted his absence until he spoke just now. Thalia glared up at him from behind a shard of citrus rind and gave a monosyllabic grunt of, "Nnn..." while motioning her head toward a seat nearby. There was a level of comfort in having the familiar cluster around her, though she had to open up a little, eventually, with some of these people. She'd start with her brother first, then maybe his friends. They were family, after all, and if she didn't know him quite as well after this time, that just meant that they could catch up.

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Manny was glad to be accepted into the table. Alexander had greeted him in with comments about the oncoming party. Thalia's response... was a more interesting one. Once she finished defeating the spaghetti monster with her hands and face she turned her attention towards him. Sure, they had traveled a while together, and they had plenty of meals where forks were not an option, but seeing that now when they were an option surprised Manny. What also got the old dentist turned medic was the Orange remnants crushed against the table, and the juice sprayed on her face, and the grin she gave as it rested there. The look of surprise on his face was far from hidden, but he gave a polite nod to the seat offer.

It reminded him of when he was younger. Though instead of getting into fights with spaghetti and oranges it was other kids in his neighborhood. He wondered if Thalia's life was like that prior to things falling apart? Or if she was a well behave child outside of being a table monster with no mercy for dinner? He just smiled at that thought though, this place was somewhere they could feel comfortable and if that is what made the badass girl comfortable, he was happy with that. "Mind if I ask what you two were talking about before I showed up?" He didn't want to be intrusive, but he also didn't want to make things awkward by suddenly stopping a conversation.

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Atticus had stopped Hunter a couple times so the former soldier boy had a chance to catch his tongue and spit his words out properly. But he was getting his girl back, and he could soon feel at ease for the first time since he was here. Sure, he had been stripped off all his gear, weapons, and had been given a list of rules he would struggle to remember, but he had his dog at least. He would have Izibell. He found it interesting how much Nikki was calling him Cutie in the last week or so. Prior to Nikki he wasn't ever called cute. Handsome by his mom sure, but never cute. "They probably did, but before I fuck up it's probably best to hear them again if you don't mind." When it came to his dog, it was better safe then sorry. It wasn't unlikely that someone here may look at her and decide she'd make a great stew.

He would follow Nikki for as long as it took to get to Izibell, and and do his best to listen intently to the rules. He wondered what the party would be like, he hadn't really gone to any before the world fell apart. Granted, there was a lot he was doing here that he didn't have to do prior to the world ending. Like function among other people. Regular paper work. Not being allowed to leave a half mile strip of land. No... this would be different for him, and he wouldn't adjust easy. But he figured as long as he behaved, worst that could happen would be he leaves someday. Hopefully he could learn to like this place. But he wasn't a fan of the rules of the place. Felt too strict for what it was. Sure it helped survive, but he felt it was over the top. And it may cause more problems later down the line. But he never led a group, so maybe there will be more to learn.

Temperature: 87F
Humidity: High (Around 83%) - No Rain
Wind Speed: 15 MPH
Cloud Coverage: Overcast

L5 (Mess Hall): Shelved Characters are heading back to their homes for now. Other wise, holding pattern since there is no movement outside of what I need to respond to for my own two characters.

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Thana really didn't want to go back to the conversation about King of the Hill and the people at one table in particular. She was starting to regret bringing it up with certain thoughts coming to mind she wished she had never thought and was seriously thinking of raiding supply for bleach to drink at this point to try to get rid of some of those mental images. Wayne, in a set of leopard print Speedos should be in no one's mind. Ever. In the history of man kind. She half gagged at the thought and shook her head. "We ain't ever speakin' of that again. Ever." Thana cringed and shook off the hee-bee's and gee-bee's as a shiver ran down her back. She still really wanted to bleach her brain.

Taking a gulp of her water she moved on from that very uncomfortable topic onto the next one at hand. Ash was mentioning something. It took her a moment to swim out of the shit storm of leopard print speedos swimming around in her mind to realize what he had said. Yeah, she deserved a damn Medal of Honor for not vomiting at the mental image in her head that was soaking through her like a plague. "Thanks," was all she could manage to say. She was about to take another bite of food but she just lowered her fork and pushed the tray away.

"Get the hell out of here and find a way to get that image out of my brain," she said snatching up her tray. "I feel like I gotta either bleach my brain or take a shower, somethang," she added before she started limping over to bus her tray and wash her hands of the meal. Left over would get composted or used in other ways. Thankfully she hadn't gotten much at all. Heading towards the door she glanced over towards Ash to see if he would 1) be joining her and 2) giving her a lift (Akapiggy back ride)

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There was a slight nod as Nikki chewed her bubble gum and bopped about as Hunter explained that he probably needed her to go over things again. "Yeah, better safe than sorry ya know," she said as she started heading east out side of the Mess hall, and a little south. She didn't seem to watch where she was going so much besides a casual glance up every so often as she bopped, skipped, and twirled about. "Well it isn't a lot. Pick up food fer the dog once a week from supply. Vet will have papers on how much is her rationing a day, along with a map where she can go outside of your home each day with hours she can go there."

Nikki stopped and finger gunned towards Hunter. "Other than that, clean it up when she craps and dispose it where your supposed to, and keep her indoors otherwise. Oh and clean dog hair out of your home once a week - like fully. And de-dog hair your clothing before turning it in for a wash if ya want to save yourself a headache lecture. If Auntie starts getting stuff with too much dog hair on it, she'll go nuts. And trust me, few things worse than getting stuck listening to her go on for five hours about just what dog dander does to her nasal cavities," Nikki said with a bit of a laugh and a very exaggerated expression as she held her hands up. "Rather be forced to watch Morales model a Speedo," she said as she gestured towards The Goat as he pushed another cart down towards where the beach was.

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Alexander too took notice of Thalia's war criminal handling of the poor Floridian fruit, though he didn't comment on it, only giving her a chuckle as he continued to eat. Thalia was forgiven in his eyes, she was the type of girl that neither cared or had time to behave like the old veteran did, and he wasn't going to force her. So if she wanted to absolutely murder the fruit, he would let her do so in peace. Alexander looked up at Manny though, giving him the confirmation of what Thalia probably meant. "Take that as a yes."

It was good to see ol' Manny again, having been gone for a little while now and leaving Alexander conversing with Thalia instead, which honestly had been a good change of pace. The old veteran was quickly approaching the last piece of food on his plate when Manny popped a question; a rather uncomfortable question when Alexander thought about it. Should he be honest and tell him, them talking about his wife and themselves being broken? Alexander spent what felt like an eternity picking after the last meatball with his fork, throwing the mental ball back and forth. They had talked about lots of things, but this?

Alexander finally pierced the last meatball after having chased it around his plate, holding it up to his mouth as a gave Thalia a knowing look, then at Manny as he smiled. "Nothing special, just what we'll be doing here in the Camp. Thalia thinks I should become a radio host now that I might be put in Communications, but we'll see. What about you, Manny? Where do they want you working?"

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It was a peculiar concept that Nigel and Erica were particepating in right then and there; not just talking like they had done after they first met on that swampy, desolute road alongside Hank and Wayne, but chatting. Chatting about the non-important things in life, not Nigel having a lecture on Rome. It was normal, and it was a nice change. Nigel returned the smile as he shook his head in defeat upon hearing Erica's justification for NASCAR. "Okay you got me there, I won't judge. I doubt anyone can fix a car as quick as they did back then."

Nigel did raise a brow to Erica with the mention of beer over wine, though as promised, he wouldn't judge. "And here I thought you were a fancy girl. I guess you're lucky though, probably is easier to make beer than wine these days…I didn't think about that." Nigel said to Erica, his smile slowly fading into one of slight disappointment as he realized the gravity of his words. Wine wasn't the easist drink to produce indeed, and such production probably wasn't one Camp Mexico Beach prioritized either. And so the Roman Nigel took a sip of his glass in defeat.

He would be thankful that Erica continued the conversation about tonight's beach party, which gave Nigel other matters to think of. "Not sure, haven't really thought about the party all that much to be honest. As long as it's fun and safe, I'm just looking forward to unwind for once. Perhaps getting to know some new people, which we probably should do sooner or later. What about you?" Nigel answered Erica, finishing his meal as he too looked around the mess hall and seeing Hunter leave with the girl from earlier. Still so many people to get to know, but hopefully they would the time they'd need.