[IC] 🧚🏻‍♀️ The Walking Dead - Year 6 Part 1

[ONL]

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Alexander Polawski Location: Standing outside of the Chapel -> Moving through the streets of CMB with Freedman Skills: N/A

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Voices began to speak to Alexander, voices he'd heard many times before over his long and hard life. Voices he knew to be far away, or more likely, dead. The sound of raindrops hitting the concrete ground around him, the never-ending rattling of tiny drops colliding with the rooftops and his heart pounding in his ears couldn't drown out the voices that spoke to him. He wanted to tell them to stop, to go to Hell and leave him alone. The voice. One voice.

He recognized it through the rain, underneath the thin canvas of an umbrella protecting from the hail of rain from above. Freedman. Freedman? Why was he there?

Alexander didn't turn to face Freedman as the two men stood there, keeping his gaze out at sea just like his confessor was doing. He had the same distant voice he knew from fellow sorry sods who'd seen some shit, mostly from himself. Listening to what the good man with his words of wisdom himself confessed to Alexander, Alexander could naught but nod along, captivated by each and every word flowing in-between the raindrops. Death, murder, prison and scars. It was getting to him. Not only what Freedman revealed about himself to an emotionally wrecked Mugsy on one-and-a-half leg, but the fact he did reveal his story.

Alexander looked for a brief moment at Freedman at his side, taking a breath as long as a bad year of many bad years, before looking down at his soaking wet shoes, as if he as thinking to himself "Should have gone for combat boots or Wellingtons today. My feet are wet…" His thoughts were far, far away from that though. Everything he was just told all made sense, awfully good sense. "I know…I think I know. I've been living with this for nearly fourty years now, though I kept on picking up baggage along the way. Perhaps you're right, I hope it at least. Thana, Thalia and Manny, they're all I have, perhaps they see someone else that who I see every morning I wake up…"

Ol' Mugsy wiped his face clean of raindrops and tears with his already wet and dirtied hands from the ground, holding in a wave of emotions he knew he could cope with out there on the street. They were the type of emotions he dealt with lying in bed, tightly holding onto a pillow and crying himself to sleep. Now he was to follow Freedman back to his place and get changed. Why was this man so good to him?

Pity? Love for your fellow man? Devotion? Perhaps he as just a good man with a bad past, like himself.

"I really hope you're right about…about me, and about what you said about living with it. Some days I cope with it better, but other…other days I can smell it as if I was there. It clings to your nose, no matter how much you wash yourself or stuff smokes up your nostrils. Napalm…burning flesh…and the rain, not to mention the screaming and shouting…I'm just so fucking tired of it…"

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Nigel & Thalia Location: Gymnasium (K7) Skills: Hand to Hand, Hard Martial Arts

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Previously:

The sparring session started awkwardly for both Nigel and Thalia, resulting in neither being able to catch advantage. After a touch of light banter from both of them, Nigel was the first to inflict a meaningful, physical hit. First blood, as it were, goes to the Neo-Roman. But the blow seemed to bring out something more aggressive in Thalia, who is now pursuing the contest as such.

Now:

A light growl escaped Thalia's lips as she continued to push forward. As each jab and counter developed, she instinctively tilted her head slightly behind the lined-up shot for greater protection and accuracy. It was an effective technique in a marginal sense, but thusfar had not been able to penetrate Nigel's defense. She gave note to his footwork as she pressed on, her mind processing what his style and technique choices might be. But for the life of her, Thalia couldn't tell what she hell he was about. Then it came to her - he didn't have one. She was fighting someone who was moving off of instinct and personal experience. That changed things. Thalia was a pressure fighter, as were many in her family. She used to be pretty good at it, too. But what many people didn't realize about her before it was too late was that she was a switch hitter. It was this quality that she hoped to exploit. Moving with a series of nigh formulaic combinations, she kept the pressure on Nigel to hopefully react rather than act. The instant that it became predictable (and her more vulnerable), Thalia growled through gritted teeth, bringing her steel hand around to bear for a single, devastating blow to her opponent's body that, from the look of the setup, might be a sternum-cracker. Call the medics. Possibly court martial Thalia. Inform next-of-kin. But THAT blow never came.

This opponent was no mere street-thug mugging the well-to-do citizens of Rome. No, she was an Amazon, one-handed but still capabable of dealing a good blow to those opposing her. Nigel had to give it to her, for even though he'd gotten in a solid blow at her, she was still standing and ready to strike out at him. She focused herself onto him, clearly attempting to get a gauge on him so that she could strike. Nigel was not trained in this kind of combat, but he'd proved a worthy opponent at his first strike, and so was determined to keep up a good match. Stepping back and forth, arms raised as Thalia came in for the attack, he was ready for the strike at his torso...

It was a feint. A full setup for a punch that she had no intention of throwing. Instead, she tensed and leapt as high as her muscles would allow, finally giving her a height advantage on the much larger Nigel. Using the momentum of gravity reasserting herself, Thalia brought her other hand down in a devastating overhand right, kicking her legs behind her for momentum. Her hit was finally true, hard knuckles making formidable connection to the side of Nigel's head, right in front of his ear. It was only when she landed that Thalia realized she was roaring something primal, and her metal arm was already cocking back for a follow up.

The failure as not only a complete surprise, a painful surprise, but shameful. What his neo-legionaire soldierarly mind had expected to be a powerful punch at his body, transformed itself into a precision strike at his head. A bolt of pain jolted Nigel to the opposite side of Thalia's attack, his ear ringing like the roars of Carthaginian war elephants. He could see stars blinking before his very eyes in a world which rocked harder than the sea at the Pillars of Hercules.

Nigel brought in a long breath of air before counter-attacking, though his blow was ill-aimed. He'd aimed at punching her somewhere further down her torso, hoping to either deflect or obstruct the coming strike of her metal hand, but his blow failing to flank her defensive posture. He'd called himself a Son of Mars, and so far he was losing the war.

Inertia carried Thalia to a low stance, her metal arm still poised at the ready. The defiant, animalistic roar had subsided, a sort of purge of her frustrations that gave way to a colder, less emotional woman. Her focus seemed to sharpen considerably even as her muscles tensed, waiting for the appropriate opening. Then she saw it: the telltale contraction of muscles from her opponent that let her know an attack was coming. Keeping low, Thalia dropped even further. Her remaining flesh and bone hand trailed on the ground from where she was crouching, giving her a balancing point. She pivoted from this point, moving to Nigel's less defended flank. That's when she made her move.

Compressed energy erupted as the pixie-cut Mestiza streaked forward, her metal arm brought to bear on the back of Nigel's knee. Her smaller, leaner body didn't have enough power to compete with the man in a fair contest of strength, but she had two things working in her favor in this situation: 1) a metal arm, and 2) an unwillingness to participate in a fair contest of strength. As soon as connection was made and she saw the initial telltale wobble of Nigel's leg compensating for the sudden, involuntary shift in balance, she wrapped both arms around his calf and stood as hard as she possibly could. Their positioning was suddenly reversed as Thalia found herself high on her feet, whereas Nigel was now mid-air and horizontal, descending to become one with the floor beneath them.

It was true then, what people said. Humilitas occidit superbiam. Humility conquers pride, or the modern phrase of "Pride comes before the fall." In the case of Nigel "Sportacus" the Scholar, it came in a literal sense. Thalia's manouver had caught an already disoriented Nigel by surprise, and when he realized the world was turning on its side, it as already too late. The small but fierce Thalia lifted Nigel up to the point gravity did the rest. Nigel fell down hard onto the floor, luckily not hitting his head as hard as the rest of him did. More than anything he got the air knocked out of him, signalling the results of their first skirmish.

Thalia was the victor.

Nigel fought for a breath of air, coughing as his lungs no longer were deflated, looking up at Thalia as tall as she was. She was quite the woman, like no one he'd met, besides those medieval reenactors before the End. "I...yield. Are you not...entertained?"

[Lady Absinthia]

☠ 𝚃𝚆𝙳: 𝚈𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝟻 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝟺 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Location: Camp Mexico Beach Weather Forecast: Dawn at 5:53 A.M. - Dusk at 8:13 P.M. - High: 91F, Low: 80F - Winds SW at 4mph - Gusting to 14mph - Rain In The AM - Cloud Cover: 100% - Visibility: 9miles. Notes: Alright, that first round of people testing out using the skills without the Gm having to hover over you all seemed to go really good. I am really impressed with not only how smoothly it went but how good the read is. Sigil and ONL nailed it! Can't wait for more people to be in a scenario to use this. Should be a lot of fun and let us move fights along without having to go on personal counters as we wait for rolls and results. YAY US!

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Hospital (B): (Information for the scene will be located in Nikki's post below to keep things streamlined and together.)

Education Center (M): (Information for the scene will be located in Thana's post below to keep things streamlined and together.)

Quarantine (W): Guy looked over to Ash and gave a small goofy chuckle. "Yeah, well I think the cards have it out for me if you can beat me with that hand, damn..." he said with a shrug. At the mention of S.B. his eyes widened, which was something considering Guy already had eyes that were pretty large. "Oh god no!" he exclaimed before giving a full body shiver at the thought. "Not her, no. I want to stay living." The man nearly gagged. Not that S.B. couldn't be cool in her own weird, twisted, and very scary way, but she was not his type. He wondered if she was anyone's type.

Sitting there, Guy thought about what Ash said and nodded. "I know... It's just..." It was hard to put into words. No it wasn't but it was hard to put into words that he didn't think would actually hit a little too hard for Ash. Then again, he'd known the man for a while, maybe it wouldn't be as bad. "Well, what happens if something happens? Don't think I could take a loss, ya know, if'n my heart was more in it than just, well friends." There, it was out there. He'd seen what losing someone had done to Ash. What it did to others. Sure it sucked being alone but was it really worth it? Leaning forward he cut the cards as Ash pushed them towards him. He wasn't sure what else to say about it. "So, um how are ya settlin' in? How's them Officers quarters?" he asked, trying to at least partly change the subject.

Wayne headed out of the main room for Quarantine and headed to the bathroom, jogging a little as he exited the room. He had needed to pee but once he stood up he realized that he needed to really go much more than he had first thought. Jamie in the meanwhile looked at Riley with his big eyes. Tatiana and Riley weren't exactly getting along and this was the first time Riley had been allowed to hold Jamie and it wasn't cause of Tatiana. Chances were if she knew she'd had had a problem with it. She was darker these day and tended to hold a grudge far longer than was needed. She hadn't said two words to Riley really since they had been let out of quarantine, that was unless she had to because of a job. Jamie, didn't know all this, so when Riley tickled him he giggled and blew a raspberry with his lips. It was wet as he was teething and spittle went everywhere.

General Housing (X): "Yeah, if you get a chance you're going to want to see it. She has way too much fun with those but hey, everyone has ways to pass the time these days," Chase said as she tossed her book over onto the coffee table. Reaching up she put her fingers into her hair and scratched a bit, fluffing it out before brushing it back out of her face.

"Yeah, isn't easy to get settled but then again once you do, get hard to be unsettled." Sighing she shrugged a bit as she stood up and walked over to the window, pulling back the curtains a bit more so she could see outside. "Will give the town this, they are pretty good at making sure people stay fit and up to date on what is going on out there. And the classes. So if this place does crumble like others, maybe we'll be okay," she mused out loud.

Looking back over at Amelia she gave a thin lipped expression. "Well no worries, I'm never getting one," she assured Amelia before letting go of the curtain. It was still raining and at the mention of lunch she shook her head. "Nah, I normally skip it. Usually out on the docks and forget but yeah just going to hang around here for the day," she said as she flopped back down on the couch. Rubbing her face she looked over at Amelia and gave her a small smile. "Hey, want me to go with you to the court martial?"

Meanwhile, Freeman nodded as Alexander spoke. Keeping the umbrella over the man, not that it really helped too much considering that Alexander had been out in the rain for a bit before Freeman had stepped out. "I believe that is life. Everyone we meet in this world sees something different than what we see when we look in the mirror. Some people see better than others do, some see worse. I believe in the end we can only hope that one day we see what they see and learn from it, good or bad. I know my biggest problem is when I look in the mirror I see the man I was."

Shrugging he looked over to Alexander and gave a small smile from beneath the bushy beard he wore that was heavily streaked with white and silver these days. "We're lucky though, these kids see us as we are. Perhaps you would be open to a group session. Yourself, me, and the ones you traveled with. Let's find out how they see you. Maybe they need to hear how you see them as well. Struggles are easier when you have a shoulder," he added before moving to help Alexander get back to his own place.

As they walked, Freeman listened more. It was what he did. He listened. It was how he learned. He gave the occasional nod in understanding of what Alexander was saying as the sound of their feet splashing over the wet roads sounded through the constant white noise of the rain falling. "No, I understand. It's the same when you have blood on your hands. You can wash but you never stop seeing it," he admitted as he looked down at his own hand. As they approached the apartment, Freeman stopped outside the door. "Alexander, I want you do to something for me. I want you to take a moment. Not now. Wait. The next good moment you have, savor it. Stop and take it all in. The colors, the sounds, the scent in the air. Seer it into your memory. Then next time you smell the napalm and hear the screams, think back to that moment. Use it to drown out the rest. It won't be some miracle mind you but slowly it may just help you fight through it. I doubt it will ever fully go away but that's life. It's not forgetting, it learning to cover come and push you. You're still here, so you've already done the hard part for the last forty years. It's time to let go," he said with understanding yet there was no pity in his voice.

Reaching forward he turned the door knob and opened the front door for Alexander. "Go on, get warm and dried. I will see you later," he said before giving a pat on the mans shoulder and making his way back out into the rain and heading towards the Mess Hall. He could use a cup of coffee and something on his stomach. He would need to be at the court martial and that time was growing near.

Jail (AA): Cage nodded towards Hunter before heading out and locking the door at the top of the stairs. Standing there he rubbed his face. He hated court martial days. He hated having to go to each and every one of them because he was the so called warden of this tiny prison.

Walking into the living room area he sat down on the couch and checked the time on his watch. There was a little time left before he needed to start moving Hunter down to the Court Martial itself. It didn't used to be like this. Looking around the room he remembered back to why the place was converted into a jail. He remembered the night it went down, back when things were bad, even after the walls went up. It was hard back then. People were struggling still for food and supplies. The walls were put up not so much to keep the dead out but to keep the living out. People were always the bigger threat. And once the walls were up there were power plays in the beginning. It was to be expected, people did stupid, do stupid things when they are hungry and scared.

Leaning back on the couch he remembered how a small group nearly made the town turn into a war zone. He remembered basic rooms and guards not being enough. Slowly they got things under control and the jail was built. It hadn't been used near as much as it had been needed before hand but now when it was needed it was there. Sure it played the roll of drunk tank or temporary punishment more often than being needed for a real issue. Glancing back towards the hallway, Cage knew it was being used because it was needed right now, he just hoped that in the end that it wouldn't be needed again by the end of the day.

Checking his watch again, he stood up. It had been a bit more than twenty minutes. Back to the hallway, unlock the door, head down the stairs. It was a wash, rinse, repeat scenario. Coming around the corner he looked over to Hunter before heading over to the cell itself. "Done with the tray?" he asked. Normally he wouldn't bother seeing if he actually wanted to keep eating or not but today was the court martial and if things went bad this would be the last meal the kid would have here.

Gymnasium (K7): Volts and Medic got out of the way and gave both Thalia and Nigel plenty of room. "I'm puttin' bets on the ginger," Volts said with a grin.

Medic quirked a brow. "Wager?"

"Yer leather duster, I'd look real sharp in it," Volts chuckled as he rubbed his chin and struck a poke.

"Fine, against yer hat."

"Fuck man, my hat? Ya know what, fine, you got a bet," Volts said as he held his hand out. The two shook on it and went to watching the fight. As the fight started, Volts grin began to grow. "Oh, this is easy. I'm gonna look so sweet in that coat this winter," he said smuggly as he watched Nigel land a blow to Thalia ribs.

As the fight progressed Medic stood there with his arms over his chest and just watched. Volts seemed to be running a constant commentary, that was until the fight seemed to shift. The smallest hint of a smile cracked on Medics lips as he watched Thalia turn the tides of the fight and take the high ground. As Nigel yielded, Medic looked over to Volts and finally smiled fully. "I'm going to look fine as hell in that hat," he laughed as he pretended to run a finger along the imaginary line of the hats brim.

"Fuck..." Volts muttered. He had not seen that coming. It wasn't that he thought women couldn't fight. He'd seen several in town put men on their asses. In fact he himself had been laid out more than once by Major. Thing was, he also had seen how Thalia was still learning to deal with the fact she only had one hand and she was still getting used to the prosthetic he and Tesla had fabricated. He figured that alone would give Nigel enough of advantage. Seemed it was wrong.

"They'll do well in class," Medic added as he picked up a towel and laced it over his shoulders.

"No shit," Volts said as he tilted his head to the side and looked down at Nigel.

Glancing at Nigel, Medic nodded. "Very entertained," he said before glancing back at Volts. "I'll want that hat before dinner." Volts grumbled and rolled his eyes but nodded. A bet was a bet. Medic held his hand out to Nigel to give him a hand up.

Volts glanced at the wall clock. "Fuck, later than I thought. Wanted round two." It was closing in on the end of lunch and then the Court Martial was taking place. "Who's up for lunch?"

Medic shook his head. He wasn't eating lunch today. He had managed to have a late breakfast. Volts shrugged. He was going to get lunch. The man was never one to turn down a meal, especially these days. He was trying to get some gains in, who knew when a time would come and he wouldn't be able to do so anymore.

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Thana Martin Location: Education Center (M) Skills: N/A

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Thana did not like the sound of what Atticus was potentially implying with those last words. Her brow hovered high above her good eye as she looked at the local preacher. Thana was not a reader but the words alone were enough to get someone's attention. Were they expecting problems within the camp because of the Court Martial? She had wanted to go and read up on previous court martials in town that were available to read but she hadn't had the chance. No, that was a lie. She had had the chance but any down time she had had over the last week had been taken up by Ash, or thoughts of Ash. Perhaps she should have gone over them but it was too late now. The Court Martial was but an hour away to begin and she needed to get back to the kitchen to finish up her shift for the day.

It felt weird to think that her shift for the day was just about over but Morales was taking over after lunch as Thana had started well before most others in town had been up. She had clocked her hours for the day and was not putting in overtime today. She could have but once again there was Ash. She wanted to be there for him during the court martial even though he wasn't the one on trial. And she had to admit a good portion of her wanted to see how this went so she could be better informed.

Lowering her brow she finished unloading the cart before leaving the council to eat and finish preparing. She didn't wait for them to tell her they needed privacy. She knew how these closed door things went. She had been on both sides of the door when she was serving back in the Navy. Stepping out into the foyer of the main educational building, Thana started putting the parka back on by the door as it was still raining. Hopefully today would go well and not turn into what she had witnessed her first morning in Newnan. She doubted she would ever forget the look of James dragging a dead body behind him and leaving a trail of blood in his wake.

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Nikola Warren Location: Hospital (B) Skills: N/A

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Nikki laughed a little. She didn't really think that Cheers would off her but who knew what people were capable of these days and for what reasons. "Well then I'm going to say something that I never thought I would say.... I'm all for more paperwork," she said before giggling. She hated paper work, probably not as much as cleaning but it was a close second and here she was giving paperwork her seal of approval. It seemed the world was full of surprises and more than just the dead walking kind. It was odd that she even surprised herself with that little bit of confession.

At the mention of her gum, Nikki stopped walking and bawled at her. Placing her hands on her hips she gave a smug look over to Lisa. "Hey, I'll have ya know that this gum is a life saver. Uh-huh, that's right. I chew this stuff so I don't bounce off the walls. Ya think I'm bad now you should see me when I run out. Oh, now that's some scary shit. Like a bouncy ball you toss against the wall filled with nitrous. Pew-pew-pew-boing-boing-boing-bounce-bounce-bounce-ding-ding," she said, making the little noises go faster and faster as she used her finger as a gun pointing it here and there and everywhere.

As Lisa started talking about whether or not she thought that Nikki could actually become more than just someone mopping floors and running supplies from one place to another she stopped her antics. She had been working with Maddoc and had only just had her first taste of working security and safety. She had been figuring that was what she would end up doing for the long haul. She hadn't really ever thought of doing anything else but here was her friend telling her seriously that she actually had a shot at it if she wanted. Nodding slightly, she wasn't sure what to say. In fact, Nikki was struck pretty moved by the whole thing. "Yeah... um thanks," she said with a slight sniffle. Blowing out the emotions she waved at her face to dry the tears that where threatening to come up. "So um, lunch?"

[rivaan]

Quarantine (W): Riley gave a huge genuine grin at Jaime’s infant antics while she was playing with him. It made her happy to see an innocent child like this having fun even if she and Tatiana didn’t get along for a while now. The kid had nothing to do with it though and she liked the lil guy. She just hoped this wouldn’t cause a scene later on, but there was a perfectly valid reason for this… hopefully that would be enough. Besides who else would Wayne leave the kid to right now? Well maybe a few others were a possible choice… Ohh well.

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Amelia Payne Location:General Housing(X)(Condo 14B) Skills: N/A

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“Well I’m not sure, I’d dare see it now. Everybody’s build these things up so much in my head now before I even saw one, I fear that either it’s never going to live up to expectations or it’s just too awesome to be described!” Amelia joked theatrically with a small chuckle at the end about Lisa’s tinkering with dubious engineering. Though admittedly Amelia did want to see an overly elaborate trap dropping a piano or something on a walker… or maybe a gagoyle if they were at a building with one of those.

She kept quiet for a moment, thinking over what Chase said.” I guess… we can only hope so. But I’d prefer to not lose another place.” Amelia replied, looking at and out the window from her sitting spot.” I don’t think, I’ll ever give another place a chance if it does.”

Amelia was suddenly surprised when the other woman asked her if she wanted her to acompany her.” Where did that come from? I thought you weren’t interested in attending?” Amelia asked after a moment.” I mean, I’d rather be grateful for the company, but I don’t want to bother you.” She admitted. This was the first time the two of them had such a great chat and she rather enjoyed it so far. She wouldn’t mind the chance to talk a bit more, Amelia knew she was not overly social, but she did enjoy being around people. Because of that the rare times she did get talking, she wanted to enjoy it longer and possibly make friends while at it.

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Lisa Mason Location: Hospital (B) Skills: N/a

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“One never knows doesn’t it?” Lisa mused with a grin.” Sometimes we make the most unlikely of alliances.” She chuckled. Sure enough nobody would ever expect they would be thankful and all up for paperwork’s presence. Lisa knew she didn’t like paperwork too much, sue she’d do it without protesting or complaining, didn’t mean she liked it much though. Paperwork was just a necessary evil in the end.

She only smiled amused at Nikki’s defense speech on the topic of bubblegum. Had to hand it to her, girl loved her gum. That was a good thing in Lisa’s mind. A well constructed argument like that spoke a lot about Nikki and it spoke of good things. That and they they were joking here so it was all good anyways, though it did make Lisa wonder how big was the gum supply exactly and where Nikki was getting more from. Now THAT was a true question for the ages.

She looked at Nikki who turned uncharacteristically quiet for a moment before smiling.” You’re welcome. Give it a good thinking over. Nobody's rushing you.” Lisa replied. She stood behind her opinion, the girl could be a doctor if she wanted in the future. Hell Lisa herself was just a housekeeper before the apocalypse… or as she wanted to be fancy about it – maid. Now she was working in the field of medicine. She wasn’t a doctor, but hey being a pharmacist, wasn’t something she imagined herself being when she first arrived in Camp, but she wasn’t going to replace it easily. She actually liked it, so she was all up for Nikki trying for a doctor.

“Sure, we are done here, I think. Sadly it took a bit longer than expected, but we can check with the young patient after lunch.” She sighed, sadly plans had to be altered. She really hoped they’d get the chance to check up on the poor girl before lunch. Well Lisa decided she was going to spend more time with her after lunch then. With that she headed to hang her white coat as to not get it dirty or wet and headed towards the exit, but not before going for the proper steps of leaving your post and well.. paperwork! Once that was done she walked to the front door.” Next time I should get an umbrella.”

[Shoe Thief]

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Emanuel "Manny" Newman Location: Apartment 1D Skills: N/A

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Manny now refreshed as he could be stood up, posture straitened, and figured it was time to set the day back on track. On his to do list now, the court martial for sure, a proper apology to Alexander, and if time allowed, lunch would be decent. If not, he would see what he could grab after the trial. He may just have to wait for dinner, which wouldn't be the end of the world. He then paused, realizing the irony of that thought.

He froze for a moment, hearing the sound of the door unlocking and opening. At first he was confused, had Alexander or one of his other roommates already returned? He supposed it wasn't too far out of the question, stopping by before the trial was to take place. Or maybe returning to avoid it all together. He turned to face those entering, only to be stunned seeing Alexander and Freeman. Giving it a moment's thought, he realized it wasn't too far out. Though Freeman seemed like his heart was in the right place, so it made sense he helped Alexander get back to his housing. Manny said nothing at first, letting them finish up what they were saying this time. And he waited for Freeman to exit before turning to Alexander.

It took a moment for Manny to gather his thoughts, but eventually he composed himself enough to speak. "I wanted to apologize for earlier. I don't know what happened, a lapse in judgement or... god forbid old age catching up to me. But, I messed up earlier. And I wanted to say sorry. If... you want to keep talking with Freeman, I can leave? And maybe you guys can talk here where it may be more comfortable? The recliners do seem pretty comfortable." It was a serious offer. Manny messed up earlier, and wanted to help however he could. "If it would be easier, I could run after him and you could take a moment to sit down? Or... Just sitting works. If quiet would be better right now." Even though Manny still struggled with it, he understood that sometimes a quiet moment helped more then talking it out. Sometimes a quiet moment alone did better.

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Hunter Monroe Location: Jail (AA) Cell B Skills:N/A

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Hunter ate his food in silence as he contemplated his situation some more. He found himself stuck with the same thoughts. What he would do if he lost Izibell. What he would do if he stayed, or how he could even hope to recover from the damage that had been done. Stuck with the same thoughts of how he could even hope to function as a member of society if there was even a place for him in it. He thought about his first day working, and wondered if a day like that was what he had to look forward to for the rest of his life. With Izibell, he could pull it off. How long would that be though? She was getting older now, though she didn't show it as obviously as many other older dogs there were signs here and there. The first being, she had been rather well trained long before she arrived to Hunter. She didn't have that same energy you get with young dogs either. The constant playing, the constant chewing. Her definition of play consisted of the occasional run, the even more rare tug of war, and playful chewing from time to time.

He looked at her and rubbed her head a bit. After downing her food she had made her way onto the bed again and started to rest. Though she was still rather active, she was still very much for her naps and rest. Rubbing her, it wasn't too hard to notice the few hairs starting to grey. Not a lot, and barely noticeable unless you're looking for it. He wondered what age that put her at? He had dogs growing up who were well over 10 years old with much more noticeable greying fur, and some on his family property that even at six years old didn't show any greying fur. So seven? Maybe eight? He wondered how much time that gave her if that was the case. It didn't help his problem solving that he didn't know if Izibell was pure breed or if one of her parents were. Realistically, he had seen dogs live up to 15 years if not a little older if they were well taken care of. He thought about that. Cleaning toilets and other public buildings until then. He figured that is something he could do. Then he'd figure out his next step when that time came, assuming he made it that far.

Cage returned at some point, but Hunter deep in his thoughts didn't notice the man at first. It wasn't until he spoke that Hunter nearly jumped off the bed in surprise fork in hand. Stopping himself part way up he sat back down looking at his warden. "Uhh... About yeah." Hunter took his fork and instead of using it as a potential weapon, used it to finish off his food. Once done, he put his items back on the tray and slide it out to Cage. Then. froze for a moment with more thoughts on his mind. "Anything else I gotta know before we go? Like... uh..." He froze. He knew little about trials, laws, or anything in those regards other then what high school history classes showed him. And most of that just focused on the constitution itself as well as specific laws. Here? He had little hope that would help. "Should I wear a suit or something?" He spoke it like it was a joke, but there was a look in his face where he was clearly wondering if that was the case if he should be wearing one. His expression died for a moment thought as he thought about that. "wait... I don't own a suit. Fuck." He thought about his uniform, the closest to a suit he owned. One of the few things he still owned actually. He figured it wouldn't work like that. But he was stressed and clinging to what little threads of control he thought he had left to try and keep himself calm. It was little help, but a huge choice was about to be made about his life, and he felt powerless to effect it.

[Sigil]

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Ash Holloway Location: Quarantine (W) Skills: N/A

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A vaguely amused look passed briefly over Ash's face, which was about as much as he could muster in usual in circumstances. The reaction that Guy had to his suggestion that he was crushing on S.B. was diverting, to say the least. Not that he knew the woman very well himself; she just seemed like the person least compatible with Guy working in Medical. But thinking about it, why the hell not? There were differences between the two of them, yes, but Ash also had to consider his relationship with Alicia - He was still the dutiful soldier, straight laced and clean cut, dutifully functioning within the chain of command, whereas Alicia had a problem with authority, was something of a wild card, and prone to acts of violence. They did not match in the classical sense. Maybe a Goliath/Scary Bitch union wasn't too far fetched. The apocalypse makes for strange bedfellows. He'd seen it before.

What was starting to bother Ash was the fact that his oldest living friend was holding back because he was afraid of what might happen if he loved and lost. It struck him a little personally. But first, he had to address the awful attempt at subject change before talking to Guy with mostly serious, emotional honesty. "Officers' Housing is great. We have espresso machines and they figured out cable television." He looked at his friend with an expression that very plainly let him know that switching topics wasn't going to happen right that second. "Guy, there are a few times when holding back is good." He didn't ask for advice and Ash wasn't exactly an emotionally open person, but he was giving it anyway. "When you've got lives you're responsible for. Waiting for intel. When inaction develops an advantage. Hell, when you want to make someone nervous. It's even fun sometimes." Ash looked Guy dead in his eyes, letting the rest of the room filter away for a while. "There is no advantage to denying yourself a chance at being happy because you're afraid of what might happen. Lives aren't at stake. This is not an issue of security, nor of resources. You're talking about fear. I get it, fear keeps you alive. But goddamnit Guy, even if this was the world that used to be, there's no guarantees on anything. Every single thing that I went through, I would go through again." Then again, armed with a greater sense of introspective self awareness, that hypothetical second time would be a lot more stable than the first. He hoped.

Ash gathered back the freshly cut cards, looked at them for a moment, and slid them back into their box. He was talking more than usual again. If he kept it up, it might become a trend. If that trend continued, it might wind up being a full personality change, and Ash didn't know if he was ready for that sort of commitment. Going on a year-plus epic quest to find his girlfriend that he fell in love with after a very short span of time was a level of change he was willing to go through. Being more talkative? Not so much. Hopefully though, his newfound positivity might rub off on Guy. "I'm going to grab some lunch, Guy. I'd like it if you'd join me. It there's time after, maybe get you a date for the court martial. Or a walk on the beach. Whatever."

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Thalia Carmichael Location: Gymnasium (K7) -> C, Mess Hall Skills: N/A

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Thalia wasn't completely happy that bets were being placed concerning the outcome of the sparring match between she and Nigel. For that matter, she wasn't all that thrilled that it took place out in the open with people looking on, but these were the concessions one had to make when living around people, which she obviously did now. In truth, the whole thing felt a little uncomfortable. Things like this never used to bother her before. When she first learned boxing, it was in front of people. Matches when she was a kid, same deal. But time and circumstances had changed her in ways she hadn't noticed until it was done. Thalia glanced down at the metal analogue of her former hand and huffed out a sigh. That was a change she saw coming the minute the power saw got revved up and her friends held her down. The circumstances around this sparring session were ones to which she would have to grow accustomed. It was like the air conditioning. Things she didn't know she didn't want anymore, or that made her uncomfortable.

Still, her own sense of being a sideshow attraction aside, Thalia had to give credit where it was due. "Yah. Thanks, Hadrian. Good round." She hand out her steel hand to him for a fist bump, trying hard to avoid eye contact with anyone else in the room. When they got into weapons practice, unless it was a short blade, Thalia was pretty sure she'd be on the receiving end of a beatdown. Nigel might not have known that she was a damn good boxer prior to ...everything. Even damaged as she was now, her skills hadn't fully left her. Or maybe he did know, and stepped into the ring (metaphorically) anyway. Either way, he took his lumps (and gave a couple), remaining straightforward about it. Everyone else in the room could kiss her ass; Nigel earned a slice of respect from the lady. And the other guys a mote of annoyance for helping him off of the floor. To Thalia's mind, that was her responsibility. She put him there, she picked him back up. Like in a barfight - unless it was personal, if you knocked someone unconscious then you stuck around to make sure they were okay.

Thalia tilted her head to the side a little, pondering over that last thought. It was possible that she was raised under a warped sense of family ethic that somehow melded into the Boston drinking scene, which became as irretrievably scarred as herself by the circumstances of the last five or so years. Yeah, she was a mess. Moving on.

Without a word to anyone else, Thalia stalked back into the changing room and got back into her street clothes as quickly as she was able. She kept with the look she was sporting earlier, where she rolled up the sleeves of her button down shirt and tied it in the front like some post-apocalyptic sports bra. And thinking about it, Volts did have a good idea about grabbing lunch. So it was without giving notice to anyone else that Thalia slipped out of the gymnasium and made her way through the rain up a block and over another, across the street and into a building that had that fucking air conditioning making every drop of water that hit her a tiny dagger of ice across her skin.

Thalia didn't waste time getting all hot and bothered over the selection of food, merely content to grab a tray and find a corner to sit in while she stuffed whatever it was into her face with a minimum of ceremony. Or manners. Something was irritating her beyond that which was apparent, but for the life of her, Thalia could not figure out what it was.

[ONL]

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Alexander Polawski Location: Moving through the streets of CMB with Freedman -> General Housing/Apartment 1C(M7) Skills: N/A

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What what with this man, this man who was so free of judgement towards a stranger as Freedman was? Alexander did not know how to take it, the feeling that there was a man who, if not knowing what the old veteran felt, at least could imagine knowing it. There didn't seem to be a single harsh or judging word in the man's vocabulary, only understanding and words of wisdom. Help, encouraging words and suggestions. If Alexander did not know better, he'd thought he as the old father back in is family's Catholic church home in Chicago.

Alexander looked back at Freedman at his suggestion of a group session, though with a very special group. He nodded, wondering, hoping that it could be something. "Yes, yes that sounds like an idea. Haven't had my own shoulder for…God, years…" Was all Alexander said of the matter, refusing to tear up at the thought of the last person he carried him through their troubles times. He missed her, every day and night.

The rain showed no signs of letting up its campaign of bombarding Camp Mexico Beach with carpet raining, though Alexander paid it no head anymore. The damp feeling of his feet soaking wet didn't bother him, nor his wet hair messy and sticking to his forehead. His conversation, confession, session or whatever it was he had with Freedman, was all that mattered to him. Hands washed of blood, but the image never leaving your sight. He knew it all too well, much better than Freedman's following advice.

"I'll…" Alexander stopped himself from saying it, the same line he'd thought to himself perhaps has a defense mechanism. "I'll try." No, he tried but failed. He had to take a stand against his most fiercesome enemy to date. Himself. Alexander breathed in deeply, exhailing and repeat a few cycles, until he looked Freedman straight into his eyes, forcing himself to look into the abyss. "I will. I will find the next moment, remember it, and stick to it." A soldierly discipline was perhaps needed in this struggle, the same discipline which he was both haunted and supported by. Follow your orders, don't think. "Yes Sir."

The apartments were fast approaching, much to Alexander surprise at the slow pace he though they had. Everything looked the same in the rain, the streets and buildings. Alexander nodded to Freedman as he opened the door, feeling the pat on his shoulder. A warm pat, sending its warmth through his weary body only felt a few times the past weeks. Alexander looked at Freedman again, one last time before entering and leaving him behind. "Thanks…thanks a lot. God bless you."

Manny was standing in the common area, now noticing Alexander entering after his talk with Freedman. Alexander smiled a tired smile at his fellow Baby Boomer, his judgement not recalling the little incident between him and Freedman. Only partial images of the exchange appeared before him, as he'd stormed off out into the rain like the broken shell of a man he was. To his surprise Manny apologized, only half of Alexander actually understood the context for. A part of him wanted to tell Manny it was nothing, to live and let live, like he used to. No words were able to be formulated in his mouth, however, only a feeling of sadness of a friendship on rocky ground. Alexander approached Manny, not knowing what to say or to, but following an instict he had surpressed for years.

Alexander embraced Manny and gave him a hard hug, one long overdue. Only after a moment or two did Alexander actually say anything.

"You don't know when to shut up, Manny, but you're good…Thanks."

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Nigel Cooper Location: Gymnasium (K7) -> Towards the Mess Hall Skills: N/A

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The world was slowly but surely coming back to its correct balance as Nigel kept lying on the Gymnasium floor, with the stars disappearing from sight and his senses turning normal again. While defeated, Nigel didn't feel the shame of being bested in combat which he thought he had the moment he yielded. On the contrary, helped by what little he could hear and see from the others in the room, this had been a good fight. Most of that came from Thalia herself, looking down at him and giving him a fist bump while telling him it was a good round, but one thing tingled him.

Hadrian. She called him Hadrian. He could get used to that.

A smile cracked over Nigel's face, giving him the strength to return the fist bump to the one-armed Amazon while the others continued to comment on the fight. A hand reached out to help him back on his feet, though only after actually standing up did he realize it was not Thalia who helped him. Thalia was gone, and in his stead stood Medic with his hand. Perplexed at her sudden disappearence, Nigel wiped the sweat and few drops of blood of his face while listening to the talk of lunch. "Lunch? Yes, that would be good…" Nigel half-way mumbled, shaking his head to get the ringing out of his ears as he made his way to the lockers to change.

Soon Nigel was back into his regular clothes, looking fairly all right after getting a good beating as he probably made his way over to the Mess Hall alongside Volts in the pouring rain. "I have to give it to her, was not anticipating that last move of hers. I guess playing dirty is allowed in war, sometimes, though it was good fun. Any suggestions?"

[Lady Absinthia]

☠ 𝚃𝚆𝙳: 𝚈𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝟻 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝟺 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Location: Camp Mexico Beach Weather Forecast: Dawn at 5:53 A.M. - Dusk at 8:13 P.M. - High: 91F, Low: 80F - Winds SW at 4mph - Gusting to 14mph - Rain In The AM - Cloud Cover: 100% - Visibility: 9miles. Notes: This is the last round before the Court Martial. The next round we will move forward and begin. Set up is starting this round, remember which characters have to be there and which don't. If your character doesn't have to be there but you want them there make sure to include reason to why they would be going.

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Hospital (B): (Information for the scene will be located in Nikki's post below to keep things streamlined and together.)

Mess Hall (C): (Information for the scene will be located in Thana's post below to keep things streamlined and together.)

Quarantine (W): Coming back from the bathroom, Wayne pushed the door open and announced rather loudly, "Do NOT go in there, whooo!" he yelled as he fanned at his rear end. The man seemed to parade over to Riley and Jamie. "There's my little ass kicker," he said with a bright crazed grin as he held his arms out so that Jamie could be returned to him. Jamie cooed and laughed, holding his hands out towards Wayne. "Gotta get this bugger back to the day care center. Fuckers want me at the court martial, yeah, that's gonna go over good," Wayne said rolling his eyes.

Guy looked at Ash and his eyes widened. Guy was a good, well, guy, and he knew his job well but the thing was the man wasn't the smartest person walking around. "Really?" he asked about the espresso maker and the cable tv. "Like seriously?" he whispered as he leaned in. If that were true he was so signing up, he'd love to catch some new tv shows.

Then the conversation took a turn and Guy looked down. He got what Ash was saying. It helped and then again it didn't. At least not until Ash got to the end of one of his rare little verbal vomits. They didn't happen often but when they did his former boss knew how to let it fly. Slowly his eyes came back up. "Thanks boss..." he said. He tried not to call Ash that now since he wasn't the boss. Hell all things considered, Guy actually out ranked Ash in the camp. He was past the parole stage and was on a team that went on runs. It wasn't an officer or a council member but it did have its advantages. Still, he had called the man boss more than he had called him Ash over the years he knew him. It just slipped and right then he didn't care.

Putting his cards down he nodded. "Sure, could use some food. Was gonna swing by the court martial and see how that goes. Wonder how it compares to Newnan," he said as he stood up and adjusted his page boy cap. "Hey ain't yer woman in the kitchen today? Mean at least I thought I saw that on todays roster," he said before dusting his rear end off from sitting on the floor and waiting for Ash before heading out towards the Mess Hall.

General Housing (X): Chase chuckled a bit. "Yeah. Reminds of how I used to feel going to see a movie I heard a lot about. I would get so hyped up that pretty much no matter how good it was it just didn't live up to it and god forbid it was a shit show, then it was ten times more disappointment." That was how it went though. Usually she figured it happened more when a movie was crap, people wanted to make others suffer or at least justify that they had spent so much to see something horrible. Then again, there was that rare occasion that a movie was so bad it was actually good in some strange and twisted way.

Leaning back in her seat some she shook her head. "Hey, don't think like that. Figure places these days are like relationships. Make you nervous in the beginning, looking out to see what happened. Then you get familiar and settled. Then it all falls apart. After that you cry, you deal, you start moving again. Then it starts all over again," she said with a bit of a shrug. "Doesnt' mean it wasn't worth it while it lasted but don't think anything last forever. Probably a good thing if you think about it. People get too settled in anything they forget what makes it good."

There was another shrug from Chase. "Not sure, I guess it's cause I remember my first time having to be at a court martial. I was still new here and well didn't have a group. Well I did but they didn't come. Made me more nervous," she admitted before tossing her book down on the table. "Come on, I'm gonna get my shoes on, let's go ahead and head out. They should let you go if you want soon as they question you, maybe if we get there early enough you'll get to get questioned sooner and can get out of there and back to your character sheets," Chase said as she stood up before heading to her bedroom to get her tennis shoes. Pulling them on she threw her hair up to keep it out of her face. Coming back out she waited for Amelia so they could head out.

Jail (AA): Cage shook his head as he took the tray back. "No, no need for a suit. Think the last person that wore a suit in town was on Halloween," he said glancing at the dog. "Anyways, I'm going to bus the tray with mine and then be back to get you. She'll have to stay in the cell until this is over. Someone will come by and walk her if this takes more than a couple of hours," Cage said before sighing. "Take a minute and go ahead and tell her goodbye just in case this goes bad for you. You end up with banishment you'll be taken straight out and won't be coming back." It was a harsh truth but Cage wasn't going to not tell the kid. Sighing again Cage turned and headed back up the stairs. No one else was there since Hunter was the only one in a cell right then and he was going to be taken to court martial.

Upstairs, Cage set Hunters tray with his. About as much food was left on Cage's as Hunters. Stopping he shrugged and grabbed both trays, bringing them back down. "Just let her eat it," he said sliding the trays back into the cell and then heading over to the door of the cell itself. "I'm not going to cuff you to take you to the court martial but kid, you try anything security will shoot to kill so let's just get through this without incident or me having to fill out paper work to why you got the best of me alright?" he said before unlocking the door. "Come on, let's go," he said as he stood there and waited for Hunter to exit the cell so he could lock it back up so the dog wouldn't get free down there.

Gymnasium (K7): Volts got changed and noticed by the time he was done that Thalia was already gone. Medic was going through a series of forms of some sort from the look of it. Looking back over at Nigel as he came out of the locker room he grinned. "Dude, never underestimate a girl these days. But hell, guys been making that mistake for hundreds of years. Now, double that since she is down a hand. From what I've seen, those that have lost a limb that survived tend to a more badass than we might have though. We had a guy here in a wheel chair, he ended up moving to another camp since he wasn't meshing well here but damn he could kick a lot of peoples asses in that thing, talk about surprised," Volts said as he headed out of the Gym and towards the Mess Hall.

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Thana Martin Location: Education Center (M) -> Mess Hall (C) Skills: N/A

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Letting out a long breath, Thana finished putting on the poncho and headed back out into the rain. The streets were a bit more cluttered than before as people were heading to lunch or in other directions. She spotted Volts and Nigel as she walked and gave them a bit of a head nod. Volts stopped at the door and held it open for her. "Okay, next rainy day I'm working the damn kitchen if it means I get a poncho," he laughed.

"You can have it," Thana said with an eye roll as she stepped into the Mess Hall. Glancing around she spotted a few more people she knew, mostly Thalia. Taking the poncho off at the door, she hung it up on a hook next to the door and went towards the kitchen itself. She gave half a wave to Thalia as she went before going through the door to check on things. "Everythang runnin' smooth?" she asked those working the kitchen. There were several nods and yeahs from the staff. Morales letting her know everything was under control and she was good to go for the day. "Thanks, gonna grab somethan' to eat," she said before heading back out of the kitchen.

Grabbing a tray Thana went over to Thalia and sat her butt down across from her. "I swear yer ass was a feral dog in a previous life the way ya eat. Didn't they teach ya pinkies up back in finishin' school?" Thana said with a smirk before taking a bite of her meal. Chewing she swallowed her bite and a smirk came to her lips. "So how's yer day goin'? Anythan' happen?" she asked. She wasn't going to come straight out and ask out the little hunt she had Thalia on. She figured the woman would slit her throat by the end of it but would hold off in case she needed information for now.

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Nikola Warren Location: Hospital (B) -> Streets of CMB (C5) Skills: N/A

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Nikki looked over to Lisa and nodded. "Yeah, funny how that works. Doubt I would have ever spoken to half the people here if things weren't the way they were. Hell I'd probably be getting yelled at a lot more. Damn young whipper snapper and her skate board thing on the side walks!" Nikki said with a bit of a laugh.

Chewing on her gum she kept up with Lisa as they continued, helping where she could. It was nice being in the hospital when it was this quiet and there wasn't something emergency going on. Granted she might like to see one, not that she wanted someone to be hurt but she liked seeing what happened. Then again since Doc was out dealing with the court martial and it was Scary Mary in the place right now, it might not be the best time for shit to hit the fan. Could be entertaining though. God they needed some new tapes or tv shows to watch, this shit bouncing around in her head wasn't the bed thing.

Heading with Lisa back towards the front of the hospital she nodded. "Yeah, if I'm done with the whole court martial thing early enough," she said with a bit of a huff. She really wasn't sure she wanted to be there. She wasn't exactly sure just what they wanted to know from her but she just didn't have a good feeling about it. Stopping at the door she looked at Lisa and grunted. "Yeah, maybe should get Auntie to ass Umbrella's to the needed supply list. I mean would be nice. But um, just gonna head over to the court martial. maybe I can get a front seat and get this over sooner than later. Then I can get back here and visit the kid. Rather be coloring anyways," she said before stepping out the door. The court martial would be held in the Education Center's auditorium. She wasn't going to bother changing out of the scrubs. Maybe by the time the court martial was over so would the rain and then she could just put her normal clothes back on and they would be dry.

[rivaan]

Quarantine (W): “Here you go. He’s been the picture of best adorable behavior while you were gone.” Riley replied with a smile to Wayne as she very carefully handed the kid over. It was nice experience, even as brief as it was, but she wouldn’t want to push it. For better or worse Tatiana had the right to decide who interacts with Jamie and Riley was glad for this little chance. Who knows if she’d get another.” Sadly you are not the only one.” She sighed in reply.” Not gonna be my preferred way to spend the afternoon, but what can we do.” Riley added, she too didn’t feel too comfortable being there for it. She didn’t know Dog Bo… wait Hunter. Yes… she got too used to calling him Dog Boy because in any conversation with Amelia about the trial, she’d almost always avoid his name and call him that.

“Actually yeah, we should probably get going. I will be heading directly on to the Education Center. She grimaced, it was kind of a decent distance away of a run in the rain. Not that she regretted spending time to watch over Jamie.

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Amelia Payne Location:General Housing(X)(Condo 14B) - > Education Center(M)(L6) Skills: N/A

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“Weird how that now relates to real life experiences… I guess it was always so, we’ve just never had the reason to experience it in this capacity back then.” Amelia sighed. She’d call it irony, if it wasn’t that much of a tragedy really. The whole world was fucked up in so many ways and sadly while fall of society as it was fixed some, new ones cropped up. She supposed that they’ve at least don’t have to do taxes anymore. She knew her parents hated to do their yearly taxes.

Amelia turned her gaze to Chase who came up with a surprisingly philosophical approach to the topic. She couldn’t help, but stare at her for a good long moment before letting out a chuckle, one that surprised even herself.” Thank you. I think, I really needed somebody to tell that to me in some form or another.” She continued her chuckle. “ Guess I was a bit too edgy and moody about the topic. Yeah, you are right, as long as we live and don’t give in to the bad things, we can continue onwards and hopefully find a better life. Fall of the old doesn’t mean an end.”

Still taken by a mild surprise over Chase’s proposal to accompany her to the Court Martial, Amelia nodded.” Thanks. Yeah, just, gotta grab my stuff too.” She picked up her character sheets and neatly arranged them, before hurrying to the room she used with Riley and put them away before taking her own shoes and hurrying to the front door, putting them on. Now here in came one of the few nice things about the hair situation, she didn’t need to have it tied or dry it much. With it being so short now after mere few weeks after being shaved off. She didn’t know how to feel about finding a good thing in that, but in the end concluded that might as well take the small victory in it and be glad.” Alright, ready to go.” She smiled and stepped out the Condo, she waited for Chase to join her, making sure the door was locked and all that before they could head off. It was going to have to be a quick dash to the Education Center.

Running through the rain was a thing she did actually enjoy. She liked rain and after the quick spring when she stepped to the entrance of Education, she found herself running a hand through her VERY short hair, to wipe the water from her head.” At least we won’t be late.” She stated quietly.

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Lisa Mason Location: Hospital (B)- > Mess Hall (M5) Skills: N/a

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Lisa snorted at the lil whipper snappers speech, she couldn’t help it. It was so cliché and musing that it might have just happened, knowing Nikki’s habits. It’d have made for a nice sitcom if nothing else.” Hey the old argument still holds. You never know~” She whistled.” I know I for one would probably never have ended up doing what I’m doing now if things weren’t the way they are. I was rather content with my life prior to the… Grand Zombie Uprising.”

As they were about to leave the Hospital, Lisa threw Nikki a huge grin.” You’d get Auntie to ‘ass’ umbrellas? I’m going to be paying to see that. Will likely be the talk of the camp for ages.” She laughed jokingly.” But sure, I will ask her next time I see her, but first will have to talk with SB and Doc about it. They are obviously my seniors in here and I can’t take those decisions by myself even if they are good ideas. Don’t see them being against it though, having a few umbrellas around like we do spare scrubs would be rather useful in the long run.”

With that she nodded.” Very well, I wish you luck and hopefully you get off quickly.” Lisa wished to Nikki as the girl was heading off towards where Court Martial was going to be held. She waved her a goodbye and stepped out the door also, making a quick dash to the Mess Hall through the rain. Luckily it wasn’t too far from Medical, but she still got wet. Rain was pretty heavy after all. She stepped inside and after putting some wet hair behind her ear, she grinned around, skipping over to the line to grab some quick grub and hurry back to Medical.

[Sigil]

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Thalia Carmichael Location: Mess Hall (C) -> Education Center (M) Skills: Stealth

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Oh, Thana was a sarcastic little bitch, wasn't she? First thing out of her mouth was some comment about her eating habits, the entirety of which she'd witnessed while they were on the road. True, the situation was different out there, where you had to eat what you could, when you could, with as little ceremony as possible. Even when things were more secure, such as when they were in a cleared, locked-down dwelling with chairs and tables, forks and such, Thalia had retained fewer fucks to give than average on the subject of table manners. She had them, granted; it wasn't like she was raised by wolves out in the deepest of woodlands, even if she spent a huge chunk of the ongoing apocalypse out there. She was raised at first by a more or less decent mother in an upscale part of Boston until she was ten, then by her father (and his people), a Catholic priest operating near Monterrey in Nuevo Leon, Mexico. She knew manners. And makeup. She had a formal education, diction, and many would argue breeding. She was simply indifferent to it all. It gave her no advantage in this new world whatsoever, or at least it hadn't so far. In fact, it started out as a hindrance as she clung to her more urban ways, forcing her to adapt away from them for survival.

To wit, Thalia's response to being compared to a feral dog, when Thana knew full well that said comparison wasn't really that far away from the reality of her situation, was a simple, "Nnn." It was the same noncommittal, monosyllabic sort of noise she made to acknowledge someone speaking to her, or for any other number of reasons where actual words were pointless. Fitting to Thana's observation, it was very close to a growl. Thalia tended to do that. She didn't even bother to slow, let alone stop, her meal in progress.

The bit about pinkies out left impression enough, which did cause her to stop eating, if only for a moment. Slowly, her head tilted up from her plate so what she could lock eyes with Thana, mouth still working through what was already in there. Still staring at her, Thalia moved her hands, flesh and steel both, in front of her so that Thana could openly see her manually actuate the pinky on her prosthetic. She extended the artificial digit and locked it into place, then tried to return to her meal. Even this effort was in vain, seeing as Thana continued to press her for conversation. But this time, she got a response out of Thalia. She knew something. or suspected something. Thana was the one who put her on this dumbass quest that she would have been a lot happier not being a part of, but for the sake of sheer, morbid curiosity (and to better learn the layout of CMB) could not just abandon. So, how was her day? Did anything happen? Thalia's response was not within the context of the questions, though she felt it was in the spirit of the inquiry. "I'm thinking ahn getting a haircut, Navy," she started, swallowing hard. "Shave the sides of my head. Maybe tahlk to Shears some while I'm theah. He knows things, right?" Despite herself, Thalia started to crack a smile. The woman in front of her was like a sister to her, making the bullshit Dora The Explorer Scavenger Hunt she inflicted upon Thalia more of an act of love than anything else. An annoying, rage-inducing, I-want-to-strangle-this-woman act of love. Like a sister. Thalia shook her head, the smile still there. It did a poor job of hiding the anger that seemed permanently etched upon her face. She didn't mention the fight in the gym. If others wanted to share, that was on them.

After a little while, Thalia saw Ashton in the line for a tray. This looked like the perfect time to slip away unnoticed, hopefully to avoid whatever initial, half sickening declarations of squishiness the two of them would have for each other. That, and she had to be at the Education Center shortly for the Court Martial. Thalia hated to be the last person someplace unless she could get in unnoticed. Too much attention paid to her when she already stood out. So she gestured to the line of lunchgoers, observing, "Hey, isn't that your man, over there?" The moment she was sure line of sight with her was broken, Thalia rose and gathered up her tray, intent on blending into the crowd by the time Thana looked back. Unfortunately, her fork slipped off and clattered to the table. It was not enough noise to raise a general alarm, but certainly sufficient to disrupt her attempt. Playing it off, Thalia offered up, "I'm going to get a good seat for the trial. Hope we can hang out lateh on," before going about her way.

Soon enough, Thalia was entering the Education Center, looking around for indications of where she was going to have to go for whatever role she was to play in the proceedings.

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Ash Holloway Location: Quarantine (W) -> Mess Hall (C) Skills: N/A

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"Um... no, Guy." It was really the only thing that Ash could say to the fact that Guy somehow took him seriously when he said that Officers' Quarters had miraculously acquired cable television. If anything, the fact that Guy couldn't tell that he was being sarcastic spoke more to how long Ash hadn't quite been himself. Guy knew him before anyone probably anyone else who was still alive, and was fully aware of his once-proclivity for sarcastic comment in the face of any situation that wasn't professional in nature. "Sorry, haven't flexed my snark in a while." Or not enough, at any rate.

Just as much as Guy passed over the slip, calling him "Boss", Ash passed over it, too. It was a little comforting, like a reminder of things from years back. Working at the family's distillery long ago, when both Ash and Guy were much younger, much different men. "You should, you know. Sign up, I mean. You're a hell of a shot and never let me down. You'd make a stellar officer, Guy." It was a thing he wouldn't have said back in the day. But now, he meant it wholeheartedly, with one exception. The day that Maria Smith entered into the protection of Newnan and decided to assume duties in the watchtower without orders or even telling anybody in advance. Guy must have thought it was a legit shift change but didn't bother to confirm one way or the other, and allowed a first-day newbie to take over the primary watch/sniping position over the whole of the settlement. Oh, Ash had words for him. And he assigned Guy stable duty, shoveling shit on everyone's shift for the next thirty days, if memory served. But Ash also remembered how he took the punishment with humility and grace, accepting it, offering apology, and committing to his work without complaint. Guy would have made an excellent soldier, a superior officer, and he was an asset to any community he called home. "Let me know if you need a letter of recommendation," he said with a tiny smile. It was only half a joke, seeing as a LoR was one of those odd formalities that really didn't have bearing in the world today. But if it was to be done, Ash was the best person to give one for him. After all, Guy had worked for him three times - once for his family as Ash managed the floor of the distillery, and again when he took control of the Esmont community (prior to handing the reins over to Lt. Colonel Leann McCormick when their groups merged), and finally when he inherited command of Newnan following Leann's death.

All of that would be for another time, as things of this nature tended to be. Following along with Guy, Ash responded to his question about Thana being in the Mess Hall today. "Believe so, yes." It hadn't quite solidified in his mind, upon making the decision to get a quick lunch before attending the Court Martial, that he might get the chance to see Thana beforehand. The mild surprise reflected in his voice.

It looked like luck was with Ash. Entering the Mess Hall with Guy, the first thing he did was scan the room for Thana. At first, he expected to see her with the staff, even so far as getting ready to ask if she was in the kitchen someplace. That was unnecessary as Ash caught sight of her at one of the tables. Her hair got his sense of familiarity at first, out of the corner of his eye, and further recognition followed from there. But she was sitting with that mildly caustic Gonzalez woman. This might make for an awkward meal, like the last one they all had together. Ash bolstered himself with a more optimistic outlook, reasoning that just because something offputting happened once, it didn't mean it would again. They were all allies here, and some were as close as family. Plus, he wasn't about to be deterred from sitting with Thana based upon something that might happen, with little in the way of actual consequence even if it did. "C'mon, Guy," said Ash, moving to get in line for a tray and then walking to join Thana at her table. By the time that he got over to her, Ash was almost relieved to see that Thalia had already vacated the table, off to wherever she was going next.

"Hey. Missed you today," greeted Ash, taking a seat next to Thana. They didn't have a whole lot of time left before the Court Martial was slated to begin, but any amount of time to be with Thana, even just a few minutes to toss back a quick meal, was worth it to Ash. He said as much to her with, "Got to be at the Education Center soon. Glad I got a chance to see you before. How's your day going?" He might have gone for a more physical display of affection for greeting, but Ash wasn't sure if Thana was off duty or just on a meal break. Perhaps he'd get a better feel for the place with a little more time immersed in CMB. For now, he was playing it safe as to not damage Thana's credibility among her peers and/or subordinates. Though the look in his eyes held nothing but affection for her.

[Shoe Thief]

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Emanuel "Manny" Newman Location: Apartment 1D Skills: N/A

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To say Manny was surprised by what happened would be an understatement. Manny froze for a moment as Alexander hugged and embraced Manny. Manny found himself at a complete loss of words as he processed what was happening. After what seemed like an eternity, Alexander spoke up. Manny gave a slight chuckle when Alex mentioned he talked too much. Almost making a comment about it, he stopped himself seeing the irony in that. And simply replied "No problem." When Alexander thanked him. Manny returned the hug and embraced his fellow Baby Boomer and friend. He had trouble remembering the last time he hugged someone other then to say... Good bye. He thought it funny in a way how far their relationship had gone. Not too long ago, Manny was being held at gun point by the same man who he embraced now. Then soon after the two would act as the rear guard for the raiding party as everyone else pushed forward. Manny would later save the man's life, and Alexander being the man he was took his injury and made the most of it still being an experienced protector of the group. They had relied on each other, helped each other in areas they were weakest in, and emphasis their strong points. Despite the short time knowing each other, it felt like decades. And they had finally made it.

Manny held the man for what seemed like forever before finally letting go. "You're a good man Alexander Polawski. I don't know where I would be without you." He let out a relaxed sigh and smiled. He found himself very fortunate to have a friend like Alexander in his life. Despite the many complications Manny faced on his own he now had someone he could lean on in times of need. He hoped he could do the same thing for Alexander whenever he needed it. "The trial will be soon. I think we're both required to go, so we should probably get on that before it gets too late." He wasn't sure how much use he would be there. He barely knew the boy, and he didn't know how he would be relevant beyond maybe some of his own experiences around the boy's age. Even then, they didn't compare too well. Manny for all intents and purposes at his age wasn't much more then some street thug. The boy despite how he comes across, and his outbursts. He didn't come across as someone like that.

If Alexander decided now was a good time to leave, Manny would go with him. Or if he wanted to go somewhere else first, he would stay with him and help him however he could. Hell, at this point if Alexander didn't want to go at all, Manny would go with him and do everything in his power to get him out of trouble later. Though there was apart of him hoping he wouldn't. Manny wasn't the biggest fan of getting in trouble.

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Hunter Monroe Location: Jail (AA) Cell B Skills:N/A

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Despite how pointless some of Hunter's worried banter was, Cage still went along with it. It was a small thing, but Hunter seemed to relax a little. At the very least, it showed that there wasn't a total disregard for his concerns. He felt acknowledged. He did find the Halloween comment pretty funny none the less. He wasn't sure if it was meant as a joke or not, but he found it funny none the less. Cage also before leaving with the trays explained to Hunter the situation. His smile more or less died at that point. After Cage left, he simply moved tot he floor and would find a nice spot to lay down. Izibell came over like old habits and would find lay down right next to him. "Good girl." He rubbed her gently as she rested. She rested a lot, even before they arrived at camp. Yes, she still could run for hours and would go hunting, playing, and overall be active. But she rested a lot even on days she didn't do as much. Granted, it could just be she was easily satisfied with life and was ready to relax and enjoy the good life now that the two of them weren't fighting for their lives.

Cage returned soon enough with both trays and their leftovers. Offering them to his best friend, Izibell would have herself a rather great lunch. She soon lost interest in chill time with Hunter as she went after and devoured the food. Hunter chuckled with a lite smile at Cage's comment. "That would be a pretty funny report." He chuckled at the thought again. ""Well after the 100 pound dweeb over powered me..."" He spoke with a mock tone before standing up. "Though I haven't figured out how to get over my allergies to bullets inside of me... So we'll save that report for later." He had a thinking face on, as if he was debating the seriousness of the idea to himself. On the plus side though, no cuffs.

Hunter walked out of the cell without any additional fuss. On his way out giving Izibell a friendly rub trying to avoid showing any more sign of worry towards her. "Good girl." Letting her go he left the cell and waited for Cage to lock the it behind him. He was ready to get this and everything it entailed over.

[ONL]

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Alexander Polawski Location: General Housing/Apartment 1C(M7) Skills: N/A

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His fellow Baby Boomer was not the only one who thought their turbulent relationship to be quite amusing when one thought about it. They had come a long, long way since their first encounter in the Hell that was Eden. Arms held tightly around Manny, Alexander had no trouble picturing the scene from so many months ago; the group descending the stairscase, having just lost their beloved Kiwi moments earlier and now pressing forward. Out of the whole group, Alexander had been the one to keep watch over the self-proclaimed prisoner, or as Thalia so-well put it, "bitch detail."

Manny had grown to become more than mere "bitch detail." The fellow old man hugging Alexander back, perfectly answering back at ol' Mugsy's remark, was the damn best dentist in the world he knew. He'd saved his life…and was his friend, through bad or worse. Freedman's words echoed in the back of his mind, intermingleling with Manny's words of friendship. Pulling away, Alexander returned the smile to Manny, taking a deep breath and looking at him. "Probably somewhere practicing experimental dentistry on someone a whole lot uglier than me, if you ask me." Alexander answered as serious as he could, before chuckling at clapping him on his shoulder, shaking his head. "Nah, our paths crossed for a reason, I hope. But we're here now, and that's what matters."

The Trial, yes, it was fast approaching. Alexander sighed, remembering the very thing that had brought him to the Chapel in the first place. No, he had to be there. For who? He didn't know. "Give me a minute, and I'll tag along with you. Got to get into some dry clothes first. I'm looking like a wet cat thrown into Lake Michigan."

Alexander was quick - well, as quick as an old-ass man with one good leg - in changing into something dry. He looked quite modest as he reunited with Manny, his hair drier after applying a towel in all haste. Compared to how he looked not fifteen minutes earlier, he looked quite presentable. "Okay, let's get going. Got an umbrella or something, or we're making a run for it?" Alexander asked Manny, not keen to head outside again, or any of the following events of that day. He would have to steel himself, become the barrier within himself once again, toughen up his defences and so fourth. Whatever may lay in that trial, Alexander would follow Manny there.

The point of no return.

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Nigel Cooper Location: Towards the Mess Hall -> Education Center (M) Skills: N/A

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Nigel had to nod along to Volts as they got out of the Gymnasium and towards the Mess Hall for a well-deserved lunch. "You can say that again. Well, both of those points. Women are ferocious warriors when they are allowed to, and arrogance the folly of Man. I'll be careful to learn from her, and perhaps my fortune will be better once I've got a good sword in my hand." Nigel commented to Volts, as if they were in the middle of a highly academic discussion on the topic of Eastern Mediteranian trade in the post-Alexander era. Hopefully Nigel's outward portrayel was not too theatric as had pushed away many a layman before.

From the sounds of it, Camp Mexico Beach had had their fair share of disabled survivors, at least those able to put up a good fight regardless of their weaknesses. A wheelchair-bound gladiator? "Sounds like he'd be quite the show for Caligua back in the day, but such a man garners respect from me. Deception is a powerful card to hold in war." Into the pouring rain would have been a pleasent change of climate after their time in the Gymnasium, had it not been for the temperature being a fiend that day. "…I'm not sure I'm getting soaked or sweating in this weather. Come on, better get to…Oh bother, I'm supposed to be at the Trial soon! Maybe catch said lunch later? Thanks for the fight, Volts, will look forward to our sparring next time."

Nigel began a steadfast jog through the rain, making his way towards the Education Center, hoping to get more time inside to dry himself. If that was realistic or not, only time would tell. The same went for the Great Trial awaiting them later on. Nigel was unable to refrain from picturing what the trial would look like, his only reference points from TV and his studies of Roman law. Military law was another matter all together. Where would Nigel be placed in all of this? Only time would tell.

Soon Nigel stood inside, a roof keeping the treacherous rain from launching onagers of liquid death upon him. Nigel was dripping with rain water, or sweat, or both. He had no idea which. Clearly he was not the only one who was called fourth to attend this important event in CMB. He recognized Amelia and Thalia also standing inside, one he had a much more intimate relationship with. Literary. Running his hand through his not-so-bald scalp after having it shaved first day of Quarantine, Nigel approached Thalia out of habit. "This will be an interesting day, don't you think? Good fight, thanks again. Next time I'll pay it back."

[Lady Absinthia]

☠ 𝚃𝚆𝙳: 𝚈𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝟻 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝟺 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Location: Camp Mexico Beach Weather Forecast: Dawn at 5:53 A.M. - Dusk at 8:13 P.M. - High: 91F, Low: 80F - Winds SW at 4mph - Gusting to 14mph - Rain In The AM - Cloud Cover: 100% - Visibility: 9miles. Notes: As you are bound to notice, this post is going to look a little different. I will not be doing both my characters separately. The Court Martial is promising to be slightly complicated with the amount of characters that will be interacting together and being questioned. To try to keep things a stream lined as possible I will be posting for my characters in their locations instead of giving you two more full posts for characters to have to read and keep up with during the court martial. I am hoping this will keep things from being missed and simplify things some. I will go back to posting for them individually once the court martial is over with.

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Streets Of CMB: Volts laughed and nodded. "Shit... I forgot I gotta be at the damn thing..." Volt laughed. He had totally forgotten he was summoned as well. Looked like there was no lunch for him either. Instead he turned and at a jog, headed towards the Education Center behind Nigel. He gave a slight nod towards Thalia. "Yo," he said in passing.

Hospital (B): Nikki looked over to Lisa and chuckled, the thought of ass umbrella's was funny to her. Taking a breath she looked at the rain before glancing back to Lisa. "Yeah thanks but knowing my ass I'll sit through it all just to see what happens. Rather see than hear about it later," Nikki said before popping a bubble with her gum. Pulling the back of her shirt up over her head she darted out the door and headed for the Education Center.

Mess Hall (C): Thana smirked a bit. "Shaved and braids? Gonna look like a viking b'fore ya know it," Thana said before taking a bite of her food. There was a slight nod that came from her as she chewed. "But yeah, Shears knows a thang or two." There was a cheshire grin that started to curl at the corner of her mouth. That smile turned from mischievous to honest as Thalia mention Ash. Her eyes darting over to him. "Yup, that's my man, god help me," she said before chuckling a little bit. Turning her head she looked over to Thalia and quirked a brow. Seemed a little off that Thalia was darting off but she didn't think too much on it. "Sounds good," she said before giving Thalia a little wave with her fork.

Guy looked over to Ash and shook his head. "Thanks but naw. I'm happy werkin' where I'm at. Get to get out and do runs on the sea a bit, fishin' is nice. Don't want to be back on a wall. Had enough of that in Newnan, especially when it came down...." Guy said before shoving his hands into his pockets. He never wanted to have to deal with that again. He got in line with Ash but his eyes went elsewhere. "Um actually, catch ya later boss," he said as he grabbed his tray. Taking a deep breath, Guy walked over to where Lisa was. He gave her a slightly nervous smile. "Mind if I join ya ma'am?"

Thana looked over to Ash as he took a seat. She leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder. "Miss ya too," she said softly as she slipped a hand under the table and rested it on his knee. She had missed him today. It was one thing to work with weapons or in the garden for her, it was another to work in the kitchen. It let her mind drift more than she had wanted. "It's goin' a'right, better now, and don't ferget, I'm comin' with ya, so eat up, we gotta get movin'," Thana said as she straightened herself up and went back to her meal. "Would ask how yers is goin' but considerin' ya ain't havin' to werk today I'd say yer bored not havin' shit to do," she said with a bit of a chuckle. Finishing up her meal she waited for Ash before heading over to the Education Center.

Quarantine (W): Things quickly wound down over in Quarantine. At least for those that were headed out for lunch and/or the court martial. Wayne was glad to have Jamie back in his hands and he thanked Riley for watching over the baby for him before heading out. Wayne tucked the little one under his shirt before making a dash over to the hospital. He would need to drop Jamie off at the Day Care Center. The Day Care Center was usually located in the Education Center but as it was locked down due to the Court Martial, the day care was over in the hospital today.

General Housing (X): Chase waited for Amelia and nodded towards her as she came back ready to go. "True. Just relax. These things aren't bad. Just usually long. Never liked sitting in court, always seems like too much talking for things in my mind, but they are thorough here," she said in an understanding voice before heading out towards the Education Center.

Jail (AA): Cage laughed, an hones to god laugh. "Man, I'd never live it down. I'd have to leave camp and go to the Mill to get away from the shit talk I'd get," he said before laughs as he locked up the cell. Shaking his head he looked over to Hunter. "Okay, simple enough, we're taking a cart over to the Education Center. I'll be with you the whole time. Need anything, water, take a piss, just let me know. I'll be keeping you in holding there until they call you. It's just another room. Just stay calm, keep your emotions in check, be truthful. Seriously, some of them are walking lie detectors," he said as he lead Hunter upstairs.

Heading through the house, he went out onto the porch and pointed to the golf cart waiting. Roy was in the driver seat. It was a double rowed cart. "Okay kid, in the back with me," Cage said as he took Hunter by the arm, firmly but not roughly, and lead him to the cart. The rain was light but still enough to get damp in a few feet between the porch and the cart. Sitting down, Cage rubbed his balding head. "Roy."

"Cage, Hunter," Roy said as he waited to make sure that Hunter was secure before pulling out and away from the Jail and down the road. (They will not arrive at the Education Center this round.)

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The Court Martial Of Hunter Monroe Location: Education Center: Auditorium (M) Charges: Food Waste - 7.22.2012 | Drunken Disorderly - 7.22.2012 Failure To Report To Duty At Designated Time - 7.23.2012 | 10-886 Absence Without Leave - 7.23.2012 Failure To Administer Animal Sanitation - 7.23.2012 | Gross Insubordination - 7.23.2012

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Outside of the Education Center stood two men at Sentry Positions, just general guys from Safety and Security. They were armed. The double doors for the building were propped open. Inside was another standing there, armed as well, it was Joaquin. As people entered the building. "End of the hall to the Auditorium. Take a seat in the stands and wait to be called if you are on the witness list. You may leave after questioning. Those here by choice, up the stairs to the balcony. You will have a chance to speak if you so choose before closing arguments."

The Auditorium was simple enough, like many older school auditoriums, a main sitting area with wooden folding chairs bolted into the ground. There was seating in a balcony section above. The stage itself had been cleared out. Tables and chairs were set up much like a court room. A place for the council to sit where perhaps a jury would have sat, a chair and table in the center for the 'judge', a desk to the side with a type writer, and another seat to the left of the judge for the 'witnesses'.

As Thana was not required to be there, she gave Ash a quick hug. "I got your six," she said quietly before heading to the stairs. Walking up to the second floor she followed the signs to the auditorium and entered the balcony. Finding a seat just at the front, she leaned forward and looked to see where Ash was going to sit.

Jack and Tatiana entered the Education Center and headed down the main hall towards the auditorium. They took a seat beneath the balcony together. Neither looked like they wanted to be there. Wayne wasn't far behind. He grabbed a seat in the very back as he slide down in the seat. Tesla was already in there, sitting back with Mizrahi and Ted towards the left hand side of the room. Volts headed over to them and had a seat. Daytona was sitting with DoLittle about midway towards the front in the center of their row. Bass was sitting alone, watching the door.

Nikki came into the Education Center and headed to the auditorium. Seeing Bass as she entered she went and sat alone nearly as far away from him as she could. Bass turned around in his seat and slide down as he pulled his ball cap down. He didn't look happy. Freeman was sitting front center row with his briefcase sitting next to him. He had not been listed on the posted list but it made sense that he was there considering he was the towns mental man. Rolodex came out from behind the stage curtain and had a seat in front of the type writer. The council was not yet in the room. Atlas was standing there in front of the stage on the floor, leaning back against the stage some. He was armed as he stood there and his eyes kept sweeping the room. He turned as he heard Rolodex clear her throat. Looking back at the room he said, "we're gonna start soon. Keep your mouths shut until called on."

[Shoe Thief]

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Emanuel "Manny" Newman Location: Apartment 1D --> Education Center Skills: N/A

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Manny chuckled at Alexander's joke. He tried to hold it back but when Alexander laughed as well Manny found himself enjoying the moment with as much expression as he could bring to bare. "We've made it this far, further then most. I don't think we would have made it this point if we weren't meant to do greater things." He thought about some of the things he had to do to get to this point. Those he had lost along the ways, those he chose to let die to save others, and those he held at gun point and pulled the trigger on. That last one hurt the most. Not because it was hard, but because each time he had done it he found it easy. But here? It seemed he was finally able to serve a purpose greater then just self preservation. And he had a good friend doing his part to do the same. And there was not a much better feeling then that.

Alexander needed to get into something a bit more dry before moving onto the trial. "Don't take too long. They may have questions for us. Or... want us to ask questions. I am honestly not sure but we'll see when we get there." Though some details have been shared, Manny was still wondering how things would end up working. He had been to his fair share of trials before the end of the world, and he wondered what they were like now. Seeing it today he'd know and he was both excited to see the differences, and scared about how things were likely adapted to fit the current needs of the post apocalypse. When Alexander returned he looked rather well cleaned up despite the lack of supplies for it and lack of time. "You clean up well." Little compliment, but the little ones tended to mean the most. "Sadly no umbrellas. Tried to see about them earlier, but seems it's in rather high demand and not enough supply as is. So let's make this quick." He said with a smile that showed he wasn't looking forward to being soaked, but was ready for it none the less.

The rain sucked to say the less. Manny was still a bit wet from before so not like he could get much worse? He noticed much of the town's foot traffic was heading to the education center too. It made sense for a few reasons. A lot of people had the day off, and for whatever today was, it was probably the most interesting thing going on today. Add that to the people who had to be there, and remove essential staff, that left much of the camp rather empty. Inside the education center was different as people made their way inside. Though many of the required people hadn't arrived yet, many others had started to arrive filling out the up stairs. Manny would find a seat near the middle close to the front so he could pay close attention to everything going on during the trial. It wasn't until he sat down he noticed Freeman a few rows in front of him. He debated getting up and moving to a new seat, but decided against it.

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Hunter Monroe Location: Jail (AA) Cell B --> CMB Streets Skills:N/A

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Hunter was taken back by Cage's reaction to Hunter's joke. He looked like Cage had just taken a shit on the floor and was still trying to understand what was happening. Hunter getting over his initial shock of the man that he had met on rather hostile terms also soon joined in the laughter. "If it makes ya feel better, not sure I could overpower you in my current state. Four, five years ago, sure. But now? hate to say it you're safe from me in that regard." He continued this fun little joke. But it was a truth, he couldn't strait up over power Cage. The thought had crossed his mind a few times in the week on how he would deal with Cage should it ever come to that. And he came more or less to the conclusion it would end with a rather bloody fight. Seeing the man now, the thought made him feel a bit about that. So for all intents and purposes, no realistic way to take on the man without taking rather extreme measures. "ooh yay, another locked room. Cool." His tone had energy to it, but it was hard to tell if it was overly sarcastic or just strait up disappointment. But he ended it with a shrug and would go with it.

He listened to what Cage had to said, and he thought about it for a few moments. "You ever watch those documentaries about lie detectors? They're not perfect, and are flawed. Coincidentally, just like people. Heard they're not even allowed to be used for evidence, though I heard that from Zeke... And Zeke was... Hmm. A questionable source." He paused with that thought on his mind as he followed Cage. "I get your point though. I'll keep it in mind." It was easy to be honest about most things. But there were areas he struggled with. Some of it was shame of the things he did to survive to this point, some of it was lapse in memory. In other cases it was he would look back at a situation, and the same situation would play out different ways each time he thought about it. Though he could normally tell which one was the real one.

His rather short attention span jumped back to an earlier comment of much less importance. "Do you people grow your own coffee? Or have you just been good at finding the grinds?" He had noticed it a few times, and knew coffee beans couldn't grow up north where he was from. And he had been offered a few cups since he had arrived. Though he knew of a few places to find coffee that were commonly overlooked, this was a rather large settlement. And the amounts of coffee he could find even between all of those likely places wouldn't be enough for the usage here. Though if they had gotten control of the local supply of it really early on and or traded for the rest that might make sense.

Outside Roy was waiting with the golf cart. Hunter climbed into the back with Cage and held his hand on the frame for just that bit more personal security. "Sup." Was all he responded to Roy when he was addressed. He was outside again, and should he choose this was probably his best chance to escape with Izibel. His armed guards were sitting in a moving vehicle with no doors, and if he got one of their guns, he'd stand a fighting chance no matter how slim. Cage even had the keys. He had a few ideas on how he could get past the walls should that point come. But it would be a fight none the less. He let out a deep sigh. Though the thought crossed his mind to try and escape, he wouldn't go for it. He just had to get through today, and figure that out. Then he had to figure out tomorrow.

[rivaan]

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Amelia Payne Location:Education Center(M)(L6) Skills: N/A

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Arricing at the Center was a bit nerve wracking with all the security alright, even they weren’t being late for it. She gulped silently as they were informed that those there for witness duty were elsewhere from the rest. Yeah not surprising, but yeah, she didn’t like it too much.” I guess, I will be fine, Chase.” Amelia told the other woman with a smile, Chase was being directed up to the balcony.” If I’m lucky, I’d be among the earlier ones to be called and leave early as well after all.” She had no plans for sticking around the Court for too long. As soon as she was allowed to leave, she was going to leave. She didn’t have any attachments to Dog Boy and while she hoped he wouldn’t be put two feet under, that was about it.

“See you later.” She added, waving a bit to Chase as she headed in the direction she was pointed at or in other word the stands. Yeah this was a court room alright. A bit different from what you’d see on TV back in the day, but a court room non the less. She took a seat as she looked around, noting that people from their time in quarantine already gathering up. She was alone for now and she took a deep breath. This was just a regular event, she repeated to herself silently. It would pass without danger and without chaos surely. At least people she trusted were here so that soothed her somewhat strained nerves. Again she repeated to herself that this wasn’t anything too bad going on really. No executions or anything of that nature it seemed by what she was hearing.

In the end she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Riley who had also just arrived. The former musician took a seat by her as they waited for this whole thing to start.” It shouldn’t be too long now. I think almost everybody’s here. Think the questioning will go fast?” She whispered to Riley, noting the faces around the stands. Her answer was similart to what she herself felt, uncertainty. Who knew how they will proceedw ith this Court Martial case.

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Lisa Mason Location: Mess Hall (M5) Skills: N/a

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The line for the food wasn’t quite as hectic as always, probably because not everybody went for a food rush with the rain being what it was right now. That and quite a few people were actually involved in the Court Martial case going on, she supposed. She had grabbed her tray and food and headed for a nice empty table a bit out of the way with a good vantage point to observe people in hope of getting to see something silly happening. You never knew when bad luck would strike. Besides some incidents bad luck cases were a pure inspiration material in her opinion. A sheer streak of unlikely coincidences were technically a rubegoldberg conceptual machine after all.

Her people observing quickly caught some familiar faces, be it Thana and apparently her beau Ash. There was also Guy. She suspected Ash would have to bail any moment now to get to Educational. He will have to rush getting there, likely running in the rain, but overall she gave him a silent seal of approval. It seemed like he wanted to see Thana more than he cared about getting drenched by the rain. At least that’s how it seemed from where She was looking, without hearing anyways. Putting food in her mouth, she noted Guy walking over.” Hey, sure. It’s free and empty after all.” She smiled at him and gestured towards the empty seat.” Did they give you a case of adorable lovers aura poisoning or something?” She asked him jokingly, seeing how he bailed on Ash.

“Anyways, how have you been? Terra Firma treating you alright?” Lisa asked, taking a bite from her lunch and swallowing it before continuing.” It’s been a bit hectic the last week with all that’s going on and the weather’s not helping really helping is it.”

[Sigil]

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Ash Holloway Location: Education Center (M) Skills: N/A

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It was possible that Ash enjoyed the quick hug from Thana a little more than the situation had called for. Then again, he had to make up for lost time. The remainder of the situation, in contrast to many of the faces he saw around him, was actually somewhat comforting. This was a situation that struck with familiarity with him, being a career officer in the United States Army. A Court Martial, if it went more of less by the standards of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, meant that he could observe and predict proceedings to one degree or another. In truth, Ash was more than a little curious as to how this was going to deviate from the standard.

Ash took a seat toward the front and, almost reflexively, looked back over his shoulder to see of he could locate Thana on the balcony above. He was happy to have spotted her immediately, sharing a look with her and a little wave before trying to settle into his seat to await the start of the proceedings. It was a satisfying feeling, knowing that she was looking down on him from on high. If Ash were in a forward position on hostile ground, he'd feel the same sort of reassurance knowing that she held the high ground someplace quiet with a sniper system, covering his ass. Even if it was all metaphorical at the moment.

The moment that he focused his attention back around to the front, Ash was startled to see that there was a face hovering close to his, attached to an older guy sitting right next to him. Ash's muscles tensed before he could tell his body to stand down, that this was not a threat. Hank Wright. He hadn't been a threat yet but Ash was convinced that if he was assigned him as a survival buddy, he might have to scratch an itch in the back of his head with a bullet before too long. Or until some kind of personality-based homeostasis could be achieved.

"A little jumpy there, Debra Do-Right?" Hank whispered, not wanting to draw much in the way of attention but still wondering exactly why he didn't want to draw any attention. Maybe it was courtesy. Maybe he liked Ash, just a little. Hell, maybe he respected the guy a lot. The more he'd heard of what Captain Holloway did over the past several months, the more he sounded like some kind of folk hero. Seriously, who the hell goes on a epic quest to reunite with a woman they'd almost immediately fallen in love with, stayed true to quest for a year and a half, and helped survivors along the way? Then pulled it off? Not to mention the rumors about him. This was shit from bad television or good literature, depending on how much he'd had to drink. No, that last part might just be it: Ash had his name on a bottle of clear mountain whiskey and that was very much alright by Hank. Must be it.

But getting to business, Hank was really looking for Wayne and just happened to come by Ash. So as long as he was here... "Hey. Look um, man to man here; what's it like being with a warrior woman, huh? That lady looks fierce in all the right ways, am I right?" The flash of anger in Ash's face came and went in a fraction of a heartbeat, but Hank caught it. The man was apparently good at practicing the manly art of observable stoicism. Hank heaved out a mildly sarcastic sigh, followed by, "Fine. Be a gentleman about it, jackass." He then immediately switched gears with, "Hey, you and me need to get some fishing time in, what do you say? Maybe get the other quiet man, um, man who interviewed me. Mac! Yeah. He's a good guy. What do you think? Put some poles in the water? In a totally hetero way, I promise."

Ash looked at him coldly, his face carved of cold granite but seething with annoyance underneath. He did give Hank a nod, though whether it was in earnest or just to get rid of him was debatable. Hank seemed to take it positively, telling him "Great! I'll try to set something up," and slapped him on his shoulder as he rose from the seat. The moment that he placed strain to move to a standing position, he involuntarily allowed a low, honking amount of methane based vapor to escape his posterior. He had a half-second of embarrassment on his face, then shrugged it away and announced to Ash, "You enjoy that." Looking up to Thana on the balcony, Hank raised his fingers in an OKAY gesture for no other reason than to sow confusion, a mischievous smile upon his face. He finally spotted Wayne and wandered off in his direction.

His mood thoroughly thrown, and now having no idea what he really, truly just nodded an acceptance toward, Ash sat dumbfounded. The man (Hank) hadn't bothered to speak to anyone in his presence in a week, and now busts out with this nonsense. His lead-in to the conversation gave Ash a serious piece of consideration to hitting him as hard as he could - just once - as a preventative measure in case he got any more foolish ideas for conversation. Still, what came to mind mostly in this instance was the same thing that he wondered aloud, annoyance clearly marking his voice. "What the hell just happened?" Then, of course, came the call for quiet. That was fine. Ash didn't have a lot to say anyway.

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Thalia Carmichael Location: Education Center (M) Skills: Stealth

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While idling in the front of the Education Center, Thalia was surprised to get a "Yo" from Volts as he passed by on the street. The thought was something of a hindsight realization that she was in a community, putting down permanency with cumulative actions, this last one being that she involved herself in a fight in the gym. In enough time, people might consider themselves friends of hers, a circumstance which Thalia did not give due consideration. A thing which she hadn't really thought of until just then also was Thana's advice on her hair. Were they actually getting domesticated enough to start trading grooming tips? Thalia hadn't considered braids before. Her pixie cut was easy to maintain out in the world and kept the hair from her face. Now, shaving the sides? Thalia had meant it as a joke to begin with, just some excuse to say to follow up on the lead. Now that she was really thinking about it... she had a maybe going on. If she didn't like it, there wouldn't be much of a wait (so far as hair growth went) before it grew back to an acceptable length for her usual, shorter style.

But even this turned into a thing she would have to put on the back burner. There were things to do, questions to answer, and from the look of Nigel who had just entered, more people with whom socialization would have to be attempted. To give him credit, he was right about the day being interesting. In the coming near future, probably. For Thalia, it was already pretty odd. This was just heaping more onto the pile. She didn't address potential interest in the coming hours except to nod, and even her response to his camaraderie was stunted. Though she did acknowledge him. "Yah, thanks. I'm sure you will." Not merely pleasantries, she was pretty sure that if it didn't involve hand fighting or a short blade, he would probably kick her ass in a fair fight. And what was training other than a series of controlled, fair exchanges? Thalia was going to re-learn humility, she could just tell. Maybe she needed to.

Okay, introspective bullshit done. Thalia had somewhere to be and moved to get there. The sooner this got started, the sooner it would be over. She caught Joaquin's eye and nodded, for some reason surprised to see him here. It was not a very bright assessment on her part, seeing as the guy was working security for the settlement and this, while not walking a patrol or bodyguard duty, was nonetheless part of it. She should know. That was her profession, once upon a time. Perhaps she was out of practice. Things had been a little weird with Joaquin since she had confessed to him the deal with Gavin. It could be her imagination. She knew this was not simply a forget-and-move-on scenario. Still, a little confirmation from him might be nice. Admittedly, now was not the time. He was on duty and she needed to be inside.

Wishing to proceed unnoticed, Thalia broke away from the group entering with her and became as nondescript as possible, hiding her form behind whatever barriers or visual breaks she could without arousing suspicion to the fact that she was trying to make herself scarce. This was a thing she was good at. Or used to be. The past few attempts to remain out of sight and thought did not come to as excellent fruition as she once might have been able to accomplish. But this time felt different. She was moving with grace and nonchalance, nary an eye moving near her direction. This was what she was built for, by birth and training. She was a mist in the shadows, flowing effortlessly and unnoticed. Thalia located a seat that was in the approved area, off to the side yet not so far away as to draw attention, with good access to exits and room to slump down in the chair, and even a respectable view of the first row of the balcony above. Thalia was good at picking stealthy places that afforded good visibility for her own endeavors.

Thalia made her way down, over, and through, laying claim on her chosen place of rest until she could answer questions and book it for anything else that day. She quietly glided her lithe, toned form into place, and started to fold down the seat for use.

This was her big mistake.

The horrified young woman slipped her body into the chair as it was folding out, putting additional strain on a piece of furniture that desperately required oil, or graphite, or an axe to reduce the damned thing into firewood for the awful noise that it made. It was a loud, sustained grating of metal upon wood that didn't quite fit upon each other but was being forced to anyway; carpenters' materials that screamed their disapproval at being awakened to function in the manner of their construction. It was a protest of many decibels, cutting through the otherwise mostly quiet auditorium and drawing eyes of every sort present. Any hope of not being noticed evaporated with this piece of woodstained horror announcing to the world that THALIA WAS HERE. She might as well have gone around posting fliers and wearing a crown of lit candles.

But that wasn't the worst part of it. As the chair came to the last of its descent to becoming fully open, it seemed to hit a snag, which the weight of its user caused it to overcome by force. And she'd be damned if it didn't make a sound that was forever etched into Thalia's brain, until the day she gived up her mortal coil and leaves this earth: Mmkwack-squeakee! Seething with quiet rage, Thalia was able to hiss out, "Fucking chingado goddamn PATOS!" before restraining herself and praying that the chair was done blowing her position.

[ONL]

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Alexander Polawski Location: General Housing/Apartment 1C(M7) -> Education Center: Auditorium (M) Skills: N/A

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Made to do greater greats things. Manny's words resconated with Alexander as they rushed on through the hail of rain and humidty in the streets, akin to a wise phrase an elder grandmother would impart to her grandchild. He did not consciously know what part of him it touched so warmly, though it lit up a fragment of a feeling inside him. One chamber, basked in darkness for an eternity, now a glimmer of hope shining ever so dimly.

Made to do greater things. Perhaps Manny was right, perhaps something to happen in the future? A meaning, purpose, destiny? Grand words Alexande normally would scoff at, since only God knew their place in the world. Alexander had lost hope many times that he would do greater things in life, considering everything else he'd done. Did his Post-Apocalyptic Dentist friend know better? In the very least, Manny laughed at his jokes like he had no bad thoughts about him.

A true friend. A friend who sadly had no umbrella. Too bad, they had a court martial to attend to.

"At least we're waterproof, unlike our clothes."

Alexander's statement reflected the state of which both of them reached the Education Center in. Armed guards kept watch of the coming hearings, which was understandable. The military preffered to have things under as much control as possible, hence the guns. Entering the center, Alexander heard the clear-cut instructions; End of the hall, take a seat and wait for your name to be called. Spoken like a true member of the military. Alexander followed Manny's lead, finding a seat beside him in the middle and waiting for the hearing to begin. He would maybe have said something, but the voice of Atlas told them to remain quiet. Fair enough, Alexander thought, instead trying to make himself comfortable in his seat, still wet from their run through the streets.

The only thing Alexander did of notice, was to give Manny a reassuring nod and try to clear his own thoughts. This would be a hard thing for him to pull through, but Freedman's word gave him strength. So did Manny's. The question was if that was enough.

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Nigel Cooper Location: Education Center -> Auditorium (M) Skills: N/A

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Nigel, now inside of the Education Center and awaiting their turn to enter the Auditorium where he guessed the trials would be held, turned around upon realizing Volts had also followed suit. Had it been the rain which drowned out the sound of him behind him in the streets? Well, it didn't really matter, except it meant more people Nigel was semi-familiar with to make an unknown situation less unknown. "While we're waiting, what should one except? I have not had the opportunity to attend a trial before, nothing like this at least." Nigel would ask Volts, only giving a brief head to Thalia with her short reply. She thought he would give her one in return for their fight earlier. He was looking forward to it.

Soon they were shuffling into the Auditorium, ordered to divide their ranks by who had been summoned and who attended for leizure, Nigel being of the former. Alongside the people he had been in Quarantine with, Nigel followed the stream into the Auditorium and attempted to find a seat in which he would not be completely isolated. And somehow he managed to both see and hear two of his former 'comrades' from their trek through the swamps; Hank and Wayne. For some reason Hank had kept Ashton, the companion of Thana as far as he understood still, company with his usual 'friendy' personality. Nigel didn't need to hear exactly what he said, Ash's demeanour said enough.

Nigel shuffled through the seating arrangments to sit beside Ash or in proximity to him, when he heard the unmistakable sound of someone trying to be sneaky. Trying was the word, with a capital T. It had been Thalia, now seated and seething with anger out in the corner of his eye, prompting him to make a mental note; do NOT attempt to open diplomatic channels with her in the forseeable future. Even Nigel was not that social inept as to attempt that. Instead he focused on Ash, about to ask if Wayne was bothering him, when the call to remain silent came. So Nigel only give a quizical look from Ash to Hank, back to Ash, before seating, as if asking him "What was that all about?"

[Shoe Thief]

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Emanuel "Manny" Newman Location: Education Center Skills: N/A

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It appeared nearly everyone that needed to be at the trial had arrived. With the hush order, there wasn't much to say, so he kept quiet as he attempted to take in the situation. The stage was set both figuratively and literally to have a life changing choice made on the life of a young boy who probably didn't understand just how serious this was. Or worse, he knew completely and still felt the need to lash out at everything and everyone around him. Manny could really only take a guess as his time with Hunter was limited to a couple interactions in quarantine, and what little he has heard from the others in camp. What he could tell from quarantine though, Hunter acted like a cornered animal. Sometimes more relaxed when the pressure was taken off, but the moment it was reapplied he returned to a fight or flight mode with no way out.

Manny couldn't say he understood the feeling all too well. He grew up a lifestyle where the options were to prove you were the strongest, or be crushed by those who could prove it better. In his younger years he found it rather easy to prove himself as someone to not be fucked with, only to realize the problem with that life when pushing and shoving started to turn up bodies. Though he wouldn't learn from those lessons until well into his adulthood, he rarely let himself feel cornered generally taking arguably over aggressive actions to prevent this from happening. It wouldn't be until the world had ended where he found himself out of that mindset where he was in real danger. With the evacuation of his home he found himself stunned, and couldn't bring himself to initially pull the trigger on his gun. As time went on, he felt himself slowly returning to that more... Hostile mindset. One he spent decades pulling himself out of. He wondered if it was something like that for Hunter? He wondered what the boy was like before the world ended.

Manny's deep thought was interrupted with a sudden crashing noise. He turned to see Thalia rather frustrated with her seat, soon to realize the noise was not a crashing sound, but the sound of a chair in need of much care and maintenance. Manny struggled for a moment as he had to recall a language that for the longest time in his life he did what he could to forget it. He figured it might have been too far gone to recall passive conversation anymore as... Did she say something about ducks? No that must have been a mistake, and surely he was losing his mind or maybe his understanding of Spanish. Manny turned his head forward again, figuring Thalia probably didn't want the attention after something like that. "God what a strange day." Manny mumbled rather quietly. He turned to Alexander and gave him a look as if to say "Seems a lot of people are having a rough day".

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Hunter Monroe Location: CMB Streets Skills:N/A

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Hunter sitting in the golf cart stared out into the rain attempting to get a good look at the settlement as he passed. The streets were pretty empty by this point, and he found that unsettling. Like so many other settlements he had seen. Though he knew there were people out there, he found it unsettling. He had seen enough fallen settlements to start getting a good idea how they fell. There were easy signs, like a gap in the defenses that were forced down normally meant wiped out or overwhelmed. A well stocked one that was missing food or water implied their own. A well stocked one with whatever they called their medical ward crammed to the brim meaning mass disease and a total or near total wipe out. There were others, but not as easy to identify the cause for falling. Some that seemed rather well set up, but deserted with much of the supplies still in storage. Just... abandoned. Some where the defenses were still standing, but the inside was peppered with so many bullet holes, that it led him to believe maybe it was an internal problem. That's how Hunter's first Group went.

Road Block Back story

Hunter found himself pacing across the room as the girl he had learned to call June sat on the couch watching him impatiently. The small office they had decided to meet in wasn't the ideal place to do much of anything due to how crammed it was with the furniture inside of it, but it was private, and sound proof. "Are you done? You're giving me a migraine with your visible panicking." Hunter stopped mid step and looked at June, his hair a disheveled mess from running his hands through it over and over again. "You're talking killing them June. Not even counting the fact that there are like ten of them, but we are talking killing them June. Sure, they're shit bags. But they are still people dammit." The girl stood up from the couch and glared at Hunter dressed with his camouflage fatigued pants and a fall jacket with a simple hunting vest on over that. "We are talking thieves, killers, rapists, the literal lowest scum of the world. Or did you enjoy stealing from those people? Did you enjoy your little pillaging run with those fuckers?" Hunter froze, his expression in shock. "They would have killed me June if I didn't go with it." The audible snap noise his face made when her hand struck him was loud enough that Hunter for a moment worried that someone outside the office might hear them. "So that's it huh? Better them then us right? We are talking the literal lowest pieces of trash in the remaining world. You're a fucking soldier, act like it and do your fucking job. Protect people dammit!" Hunter threw his arms up to help emphasis his statement. "For three months! Three fucking months! And clearly not a good one at that!" Hunter got loud, not out of anger, but closer of fear of being misunderstood.

June shoved a finger in his face. "Don't you raise your voice at me. You saw what they did to Lucy. You see how broken up she is now because of what those fuckers did to her." Her eyes show pure hate, seeing Hunter as no better then those who she was plotting to kill. "Or is that not justification enough for you? You seemed more then fine when it was your brothers in arms?" She stood back, having made her point. Hunter stepped back too, leaning against the wall processing the information. "That was... different. They.. They we-" "Killers? Murderers? Selfish self destructing assholes?" Hunter found himself at a loss for words. June new just the right nerve to strike, and had hit it well. "...not all of them..." Her glare kept locked on Hunter's face. "But the ones who didn't have the balls to make up for the shitty things they did." Hunter went to protest, but stopped. She was right. There was Pete, who stayed with his unit until he was the last one left. There was Lieutenant Anderson, who rallied what was left of his company to buy time for those still alive to escape, there was the staff sergeant who's name he couldn't place who had dragged him and others back into the stadium to try and save as many people as possible. All at the cost of themselves and their lives for one last chance to do something right. Those who returned to the base, were those who chose to save themselves once things went south.

Hunter sighed. June had finally gotten through to him enough that morals wasn't an issue for him in this regard. She was right, and this was something that had to be done. "There's still only three of us, and ten of them." June relaxed, now it was down to the problem of how to deal with the fuckers instead of figuring out who was on her side. "Two. Lucy is barely responsive. And if we don't deal with them soon, they will likely just off her." Hunter stood up properly and ran his fingers through his hair again. "That's worse June. A lot worse." She shrugged with a look of contentment. "Defeat in detail." Hunter just looked at her still confused and concerned. "Uhh... Care to explain?" June seemed rather annoyed at Hunter. "Defeat in detail. Pick them off bit by bit until they are in manageable numbers." Hunter stood wide mouth but seemed to be finally getting it. "Kyle will be taking some guys out to check the police station for some more weapons and ammo. "Assuming you aren't going with him, we wipe out the fuckers who stay behind, and when Kyle returns, we fuck them up too. If we're smart, we can split them up even more. Make sense?" Hunter nodded. Defeat in detail. The idea made sense, and he was pretty sure he could take on any one of Don and his road block crew. The exception being Don himself, and Greg. Both men were significantly bigger then him, and stronger. Hunter had his brief training, and he was still rather strong himself. But in a fire fight, he held a pretty good advantage there. "When do they leave?" June smiled a rather toothy smile. As if the thought of putting the rest of the members of their group in the grave would be the most satisfying thing in the world. "Tonight." Hunter gulped. He'd be lying if he said June didn't scare him a bit. But for all intents and purposes, and for better or worse, she would be the one to push him to be less of a pushover from those who might cause harm.

Hunter shifted uneasily as the cart continued through town. Looking at the weather, if he was going to make a break for it, it would be probably the hardest to track him in. Sure, he would have no idea where he was going. But he could figure that out after he lost those following him. "If I ran. Right now. Got out of the walls. Assuming no one was seriously hurt, would you and the people in charge give chase? Or would you count it as a lost cause." He couldn't make eye contact. But they wanted honesty, and it would be a lie to say he wasn't at least considering it.

[Lady Absinthia]

☠ 𝚃𝚆𝙳: 𝚈𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝟻 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝟺 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Location: Camp Mexico Beach Weather Forecast: Dawn at 5:53 A.M. - Dusk at 8:13 P.M. - High: 91F, Low: 80F - Winds SW at 4mph - Gusting to 14mph - Rain In The AM - Cloud Cover: 100% - Visibility: 9miles. Notes: Alright everyone, the long awaited Court Martial has begun! As this is a first for this rp we are going to take it slow. I may change things up as we go to make it run smoother but I won't be sure until we get this thing fully underway. Either way, ready or not, here we go! Let the games begin!

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Streets Of CMB: Cage glanced over at Hunter. He didn't say anything but he smirked a bit. Roy on the other hand chuckled. "Dunno kid, don't to be sure of that. Under-estimating people ends up getting you killed," he said in reference to Hunter saying he could have taken Cage a few years ago.

At the mention of the lie detector, it was Cages turn to laugh. "Kid if you were good at keeping you cool you wouldn't be in this spot. I don't think I'm gonna question of one of our readers reacts to something you say." It was a pretty obvious observation. Hunter tended to react straight from the gut on things, it was why he was being court martialed. If he had managed to keep his emotions even just once he probably would have just spent a couple of nights in a cell to cool off and been back to business as normal.

Roy shook his head. "You'd be surprised what you can find and grow." He didn't say more on the subject. It fell under one of those need to know thing and while it wasn't exactly a town secret Hunter was on the chopping block as it were. Less information he had if things went bad the better. When Hunter spoke again, his brow shot up. Yeah, this kid didn't need to know anything else about this town as far as Roy was concerned.

Cage looked at Hunter as if he had just been smacked in the face with a trout. "What the fuck is wrong with you kid? You're about to go up in front of the town. Brought up on charges and you ask that. I swear you are trying to get yourself shot," Cage said indiscriminately.

If Roy hadn't been driving he would have face palmed right then and there. He nearly hit the breaks to do just that. Instead he kept driving to the Education Center. "Kid if you run, I'll put a bullet in your skull," Roy said without any hint of emotion. Cage just huffed slightly and just stared at Hunter as Roy pulled up to the front of the Education Center.

Everyone else was inside by now, save for the guards at the front door. Joaquin was standing there just outside the front door underneath the awning. He held some papers in his hand that were on a clip board. Cage slipped out of the golf cart and stood waiting for Hunter to get out. Roy turned off the cart and got out as well, stepping over to Joaquin. "They are about to begin." It was probably the simplest sentence to ever leave Joaquins mouth.

Hearing this Cage looked at Hunter. "Looks like we are skipping the holding room and going straight to court kid," he said quietly.

Taking the papers he looked over them before nodding. Joaquin took them back and the guards opened the front door. "Hunter Monroe, your court martial will be held inside in front of the council, all those that have worked or been associated with you since your introduction to Camp Mexico Beach, and any member of our community that wishes to be present. Joaquin here will be your mirror. If you try to harm anyone inside, he is under orders to shoot to kill. Do you understand?" Roy asked as he stood there. Cage taking point behind Hunter. After what the kid just asked and had been saying Cage hoped the kid would just stay quiet or answer a simple yes instead of going into yet another episode of diarrhea of the mouth.

Mess Hall (C): Standing there Guy smiled a bit nervously as Lisa told him he was free to sit down. Setting his tray down, he still hadn't removed his hands from it when she followed up with some more. Guy looked at her, his head tilting to the side some. He looked confused. Very confused. "Uh..." was the only thing that left his mouth.

Lucky as his brain was trying to come up with a response she kept talking and changing the subject some in the process. Sitting down slowly he was grateful for this. "Oh, um, it's been good. I mean I like it out on the water. Peaceful out there but it's nice being back and seeing you.. I mean, seeing people." Picking up his fork he quickly shoved a bite into his mouth and chewed slowly. Swallowing hard he nodded. "Yeah, we got some of it when we were out. Made fer some really big swells," he said before continuing. "So how are you doing? I heard yous got moved, well yer job did. Not out of the hospital I mean but the job changed." He was stumbling over himself as he spoke. Taking a deep breath he tried again. "I means, congrats on the promotion, you enjoying it?" Yeah, that was good.

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The Court Martial Of Hunter Monroe Location: Education Center: Auditorium (M) Charges: Food Waste - 7.22.2012 | Drunken Disorderly - 7.22.2012 Failure To Report To Duty At Designated Time - 7.23.2012 | 10-886 Absence Without Leave - 7.23.2012 Failure To Administer Animal Sanitation - 7.23.2012 | Gross Insubordination - 7.23.2012

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Everything seemed to be going smooth so far but right now it was only people taking seats. Thana leaned forward in her chair and rested her hand over the edge of the balcony from above. Her eyes were on Ash and her brow quirked as she spotted Hank was talking to him. She didn't know the man but word was that he was a bit of a smart ass. At least that was what she had heard from a few that had been keeping guard during the groups time in Quarantine. When he gave her an okay sign she looked confused. It seemed to be going around.

Wayne on the other hand didn't question anything as Hank came and sat down next to him. He had turned around to look around and saw the signal to Thana and the look on her face. It made him chuckle. He didn't know what Hank was up to but whatever it was it was enough to make Scarface up there look like she might fall over the balcony for a moment. Sliding down in his seat he grinned over at Hank. "Ahh the P.B. to my mother fuckin' J.," he said with a grin before swatting at the air. "Fucking sit down and shut yer bucked toothed face up before I sit on you," he said to no one in particular.

Volts looked over at Nigel and got comfortable. "Ain't nothing really. Like any other court. Council will come in, they'll bring in the kid, charges will be read, people will be called, testimonies given. Then the audience will be given a chance to speak. After that we're dismissed, kid will be taken to a holding place in the building, council will go deliberate. An announcement will be made when a decision is made, you can come back if you want, verdict will be given and then sentence if there is one. Pretty mundane shit," Volt said distantly. "That is unless someone shows their ass but that's only happened once," Volts added as he laced his fingers together and rested his hands in his lap.

Atlas just stood there, letting people have their little settle downs. He was about to open his mouth, that was until Thalia the harbinger of squeaky squeak made herself known. "Heard quieter air strikes," he coughed as Rolodex stood up with a sheet of paper and started to looked at each person in the main part of the room. She seemed to be going down a list and checking it off to make sure the right people were there. After a moment she cleared her throat and tapped on the edge of her type writer with the end of her pencil. "Right, we're going to begin."

Taking a seat, Rolodex put the paper down on the table next to her and picked up her two way. "We are ready sir," she said into it before setting it back down. After a moment the council walked in from the side stage, the sound of a door closing could be heard. General, Gunny, Maddog, Major, Doc, Rivets, Padre, Professor, Cook, Auntie, and Panama all took a seat at the long table set up on the stage, with The General in the center and his sons on either side of them. The only seat empty was the seat for Roy, who was outside with Hunter at this time.

Clearing his throat, the General stood up and addressed the room. "Good Afternoon everyone. We are here today to conduct a Court Martial as you know. For some of you this is your first time here so let me go over procedure while we await the defendant to be brought in." Moving a paper to the side in front of him he continued. "The Defendant will be brought in shortly and we will read the charges. From there, those that filed each charge will give their testimony to why each charge was filed. Each of you here on the lower level of the auditorium will be called in turn to answer questions and if you wish give your own personal testimony either for or against the accused. You needn't do either if you do not feel the need. After each of you have been called we will call on the defendant to do the same and speak on his own behalf if he chooses. Then we move on to a free forum where any in attendance here may voice any questions or concerns. All that we ask is that you keep quiet while others are speaking, do not interrupt. Everyone that wishes to speak will have the chance. We will not adjourn until each has had that opportunity. Once everyone has had a chance to speak, we will adjourn. You all in attendance either by requirement or by choice will be dismissed. The Council and myself will go over what was said, what evidence that is presented, etc. A decision will be made today and it will be in the best interest of the camp as a whole. Once it is, we will make an announcement and you are welcome to return at that time to hear it as well as any sentencing made at that time, which will be carried out immediately. Unlike other courts, there is no appeals here. The decision is final."

The General took a seat and looked over at the other council members. At this time the Professor stood up. "Now, before we begin, are there any questions?" she asked dryly.

"Yeah, I got one." It was Wayne. He was raising his hand and grinning. "What if we gotta take a piss? We need a hall pass or something?" Nikki slapped her hand over her own mouth to soften the cackle that left her lips. Thana on the other hand just closed her eyes and counted to ten.

The Professor gave him a look and pursed her lips for a moment before answering. "Mr. Maldonado... If you need to take a piss, I suggest you go find a bathroom, that or we can retrieve a diaper from the nursery if you would prefer."

"Nope, all good," he said smugly before sliding back in his chair and lowering his hand finally.

"Anyone else or are we good to proceed?"

[rivaan]

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Amelia Payne Location:Education Center(M)(L6) Skills: N/A

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Many events could be seen happening around the Education Center yet a confusing one happened around Ash it seemed. She couldn’t quite catch what was on, since with a lot of people around it was kinda noisy for the most part, but whatever it was Hank was talking with Ash. Ash did his part by making rather interesting expressions and it all ended up with Hank signaling with a gesture to probably Thana. Why, how, those were questions Amelia had no answer to and honestly she wasn’t sure, she wanted to. There were some things better left unknown in this world. Well… that was until something VERY noisy happened and her attention was drawn over to Thalia… and the less that was being said about it, probably for the best. Instead Amelia quietly returned her attention forward to the call of attention and silence.

Soon after the council walked in and Amelia silently gulped at the lineup. Alright they had indeed by the looks of it gathered some of the scarier people in town. Admittedly they weren’t dangerous scary, but when somebody has a lot of authority, Amelia tended to be nervous. Gather all those in the same place and she got really nervous. More nervous than the time she had her end terms exams at high-school. Though she had to be fair that at least the other half of the council had a more managable presence. Thus, she took a deep breath to calm her breathing. She could do this, she was getting somewhat better with her shyness. ‘Deep breaths.’ She reminded herself.

Amelia listened as the way the court was going to proceed was explained. Alright, her initial hope that it would be quick and she could leave as soon as she had said her piece was crushed. It was crushed and dashed into dust. They had to stay until everybody had the chance to testify and then afterwards all questions and concerns by the public were posed as well. She squeezed Riley’s hand silently for support. She could do this, once she was done with her testimony and what not, she’d just keep quiet and all will be good with the world. Her eyes snapped to the side at Wayne’s comment. She could hear Riley’s stifling a chuckle. Amelia instead just sighed, but did smile at his antics. That alone boosted her mood and lessed some of her stress and nerves.

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Lisa Mason Location: Mess Hall (M5) Skills: N/a

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Lisa had to fight a snort of amusement seeing the expression on Guy’s face at first. It was absolutely bloody priceless. In fact, that was a fight that she lost as she couldn’t help it and eventually did let out a slight chuckle at least. Well it was hella amusing to her after all. True to herself, Lisa found her fun in the good things in life, one of which was looking at people acting funny or doing dumb stuff. The man’s current reactions were rather up there on the short term amusement scale and he was a nice Guy. Pun completely intended and the mere thought of it brought a smile on her face.

His next comment made her raise a single eyebrow as she looked at him, smile still on her face. He was acting honestly quite adorable there. It’s been a while somebody acted that way when it came to her. She might have been a somewhat weird person with her own quirks, but she wasn’t completely oblivious and dense. Cleo chuckled once more.” Well it is nice to see you too.” She confirmed, playing along.” Always good to have a friend back from long journey. Even if ocean is devoid of the walkers, unless the fuckers learned to swim while I wasn’t watching, I’d imagine that the mere day to day life on a boat would lead to some very nice and enjoyable stories to tell?”

“Yeah, I didn’t expect it, but apparently Mary was keeping an eye on my progress I suppose.” Lisa stated, eating some of her food.” I have to admit that I do enjoy it. Job comes with quite a bit responsibilities, but it’s rewarding in it’s own way. Who knew that the world would make a pharmacist out of me in some variety or another.” She grinned tossing him a mischievious yet thoughtful look.” Say, since you are back after a good long while and all that, wana meet up later? A walk down the beach or something? Chat, swap stories and the like...” She asked. Lisa would have to be blind to miss the clues after all and she decided why not give it a try. Live is short lately and every opportunity counts.

[Sigil]

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Ash Holloway Location: Education Center (M) Skills: N/A

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Ashton's goal was to try and put the oddity that was Hank out of his mind for the present. Compared to many a goal that he had set for himself over the years, this seemed very minor. But the annoyance factor was high. Not just because the man was blunt, forcing a mostly one-sided conversation where he wasn't asked for one, but because part of his rant was right. It was true, Thana was, as the older man had put it, a "warrior woman". Not like his last romantic involvement, who was more of a clannish rogue type; but a woman who had sworn an oath not unlike his own, and seemed to strive to keep it even though the entity to whom that oath was given no longer existed. Honor in the wasteland, as it were.

And to be quite frank, getting in some time with a fishing didn't sound bad. If only the man who suggested it wasn't an asshole.

In any other given circumstance, Ash might have responded immediately to Nigel's nonverbal question Circumstances had him reeling from the sudden assault upon his sense of hearing coming from one side of the rows of chairs, followed by swearing in two languages, however. Ash looked back, noting who was responsible and giving an odd thought that this particular apple might have fallen far from the family tree. Shaking it off, he turned back to Nigel and responded, like the initial query, nonverbally. It looked a lot like a cross between a shrug and a had shake, indicating both "I don't know," and "I'm not sure I want to know." He made no objection to the man taking a seat, and why would he? This was an open proceeding for all to attend, and Ash wasn't really the antisocial type, if he did have a tendency toward stoicism.

Almost a a relief, the Court Martial geared up to begin. It all sounded very much like what Ash remembered of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Orderly, simple, subject to the judgement of a council of assembled officers. Maybe it wasn't the Military that he remembered from years past; this looked adapted in a few details to account for the circumstances of their reality. His memory glossed over a few incidents where he had to attend a Court Martial; as an officer he was occasionally called upon as witness or to help arbitrate (usually in the form of having the minimum numbers of bodies present to make things official). This was all pretty basic.

Then Wayne had to toss his two cents in. Fair enough question, he supposed, for someone not familiar with military protocol on such matters. And being truthful with himself, one advantage to surviving out in the world was a nigh endless amount of places to urinate at a moment's notice. Like a long-term hunting trip, except you were rarely the top guy on the food chain. In any case, when all of those present were asked for words or concerns, Ash remained quiet, giving but a single shake of his head to signify that no, he indeed had nothing to add. Not until called upon.

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Thalia Carmichael Location: Education Center (M) Skills: Stealth

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Thalia didn't like being looked at. Attention was really not her thing, even if all of the people in the room were her close friends and family, which they were not. Okay, one family member. And a few friends. None of which were near her, as it was her intention originally to keep out of the way of people and sit unnoticed. That plan flopped in a massive, previously unforeseen way, thanks to her making a questionable seating choice. Oh, she had lost a lot of who she was when she was maimed, but sometimes, somehow, it felt like an angry god was staring down upon her, doling out perfectly random pieces of failure in response to things she could do flawlessly a year prior. Was this supposed to be some kind of all-purpose trial? If so, game on.

The more survivalist nature of Thalia kicked in as she scanned the room. Maybe it was the occasion of having so many eyes on her at once that was making her a little paranoid. No one was within striking distance of her and there were clear paths to exits; lighting was regular and adequate to her needs. Also, she could spot Thana up on the balcony. Whether she had the ability to cover or not, it was a comfort having someone in an elevated position that she could trust. It was the same drill she would put herself through, among other little rituals, over the course of her time out from behind the relative safety of community. Silly, perhaps. But the habit kept her alive so far. And it was a comfort during a time that made her feel a touch insecure. Once eyes averted from her and the important people started talking, she felt better.

She bore a little genuine interest in what was being said. She was part of the community now and wanted to know how things were run here. Also, despite her history with the Company, she was not military. Things were different. Any legalities she was involved in, and admittedly there were a few, ran through civilian courts. And of those instances, the vast majority took place in Boston. A Court Martial was a different sort of tribunal than to which she was accustomed. Fine. New stuff. It even looked like a much simpler process than civilian law. Thalia stayed quiet and hoped, for this reason more than anything, it would at least be short in duration. Thalia slumped in her chair in an effort to get more comfortable and a little less noticeable, then waited to see what was happening next.