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Post by floruit on Dec 23, 2016 19:52:30 GMT -5
"Luckily for you, I can handle that. I've dealt with far worse. Even when I was in high school and was only considering becoming a doctor, I was the person people came to first if they got sick and needed someone to take care of them. And I have taken care of far more nauseated drunks than I would care to recall." If there was one thing Carey could deal with, it was the grosser aspects of the human body. Even the zombies weren't too horrific to look at—although the smell was difficult to stomach. More than anything, it was the fact that you could easily become one that got to him.
"The group will help you get used to taking care of yourself. We can all eat meals together. And since we'll both be sleeping in here, I'll know if you aren't getting enough rest. And if you aren't taking iron supplements, because I sometimes take them too." This whole dating thing really was turning out to be really convenient. "You'll need to keep me updated if you need anything or start having symptoms you don't expect, but, if I'm being honest, we should be fine. Reina might be a little freaked out, but she seems tough. She'll handle it. And Isak and I know what to expect."
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Post by Deleted on Dec 23, 2016 20:03:35 GMT -5
"Lapskaus," Isak replied simply. "My grandmother used to make it often, and it was always really nice to have. Whenever I asked her for the recipe, she told me that I'd have to wait until I was older."
But she'd passed away before he could learn it, which both frustrated and upset him. He'd always been closer to her - closer than with his parents. When his parents had bickered back and forth, she'd take him to her cabin and sit by a campfire and sing songs with him - it was a piece of home that he wanted back.
"What was your family like?"
- - -
"People used to come to me if there was someone they needed to be injured," Flint frowned thoughtfully. "I was more violent in high school. Mellowed out a bit as I grew up. Never really got out of the habit of feeling stabby, though."
He fell back against the bed and smiled faintly, though the faint tremble in his hands as he crossed them over his stomach gave a clue to as how he felt at the moment.
"That would be nice. Yeah. Hm."
He rolled onto his side to look at Carey, frowning at him for a good few minutes.
"It wasn't hard to kill zombies," he said, out of the blue. "It's so easy to turn my brain off, even with the meds. It's just...fwip. A switch goes and it's almost like I enjoy it. I don't know why. They were just obstacles to get out of my way. It took me a long while to try to figure out why people were so upset over it."
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Post by Rivermagic on Dec 23, 2016 20:22:27 GMT -5
Reina nodded slowly at that before she soon sighed at the fact that he had also been close to his grandmother as well. "She sounds like a nice woman." she said to him before she smiled a little more before she ran a hand through her hair.
"My family is mostly Hispanic." she said to him as she looked to her hands with a small smile. "My parents were strict, but loving." she said softly before she looked out the window for a moment or two. Her eyes gleamed a little more before she realized that they were tears.
Last thing she needed was to have him see her cry. So she hastily wiped her eyes a little bit before letting out a small huff.
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Post by floruit on Dec 23, 2016 21:00:06 GMT -5
Carey stretched out as well and sighed. "I forgot how nice a mattress felt." It was weird being vulnerable like this. Flint could easily kill him. Even without the shabby comment, he knew he wasn't a good fighter. He supposed he could kill Flint as well, but that would be more difficult. Besides, he didn't want to do anything like that. The thought of hurting a sentient being—or, to be honest, anything that looked enough like one—turned his stomach.
"I can't do that. It's just—with zombies, I'm hyper aware of the person they might once have been. I know they're not really feeling things like I do anymore, but they aren't completely stupid. On some level, they can still think. I don't know. It's strange and overly sentimental,especially since I know damn well they want to kill me. I'm glad they're mostly gone." He turned his gaze from the ceiling to Flint, hoping he wasn't sounding too ridiculous. "Does that make sense?"
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Post by Deleted on Dec 23, 2016 21:06:31 GMT -5
Isak had no real response to the sudden emotional response of the woman. He was clever with emotions on other people and he knew how the brain worked, but he had never believed in false comfort. It wasn't okay and nothing was going to be okay, but it was entirely possible to survive. He doubted that was the response someone in distress would want.
"Hm," he said. "My family was okay. My parents argued a lot and my siblings were okay, but I didn't really hang around them much. My grandparents were the most important part of my life, and my..."
He trailed off, but said no more.
- - -
Why was the man's reaction to being told that Flint was basically heartless to...lay down beside him? He frowned and rolled onto his stomach, half onto Carey, and rested his hands over the other man's throat. He stared down at him, eyes narrowed slightly.
His pupils were small, which meant that his medication had worn off.
"You have no survival instinct," he commented bluntly, "no. That doesn't make sense. They aren't sentient, they're dead. They're decomposing. Killing them again is normal. Pitying them is stupid."
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Post by Rivermagic on Dec 23, 2016 21:23:12 GMT -5
Reina nodded thoughtfully while she looked over at him for a moment or two. She didn't like the fact that she had showed weakness to him. Then again, it made her human.
"I know friends that have dysfunctional families." she explained to him before she pursed her lips for a moment or two.
"If anything, I really hope that this family we have will work out..." she explained to him, "I know it's a little silly, but I'm feeling optimistic." she added.
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Post by floruit on Dec 23, 2016 21:55:20 GMT -5
( i love reina's "i'm optimistic" as flint is upstairs in a position where he is 100% capable of murdering carey. a beautiful juxtaposition. )
Carey stiffened. For a moment he stopped breathing. Then, very slowly, he moved his hand to place it lightly on top of Flint's. Somehow, he wasn't completely panicked. He took a deep breath. "I've been told that before, but I'm still alive. Weird, right?" His voice was a whisper, and he was smiling faintly. It was a weird response to fear, but he didn't feel very afraid. Only... distant.
"Just because something looks dead doesn't mean it is. Zombies aren't properly dead, just on their way there. People are themselves for a while after being infected. Who knows when their consciousness actually dies?" He paused. "Not that any of that really matters if they attack you." Wow, this was a really bad time to be arguing about the potential sentience of zombies. That wasn't stopping him, though. He really did have godawful survival instincts.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 23, 2016 22:01:10 GMT -5
( reina: optimism! flint: im gonna kill carey )
"Flint's going to change soon," Isak pulled his knees to his chest and half-closed his eyes. "Relating to the thing I can't tell you about. It shouldn't be drastic. He'll just be wrong for a while."
He didn't know how to explain it, but he exhaled slowly.
"They're decent people," he had to keep a note to keep Carey into the equation. "Flint saved my life. Carey's..." he trailed off and squinted, "I've never really formed an opinion on him, actually. I owe my life to Flint and Carey's his boyfriend, y'know? I don't hate him, I just don't know how to feel about him, even after so long."
- - -
Momentarily, Flint's thumb brushed over Carey's Adam's apple. He leaned in so that they were nose-to-nose, maintaining firm eye contact. He looked down to where the other man's hand was over his, and gave what could've been something of a growl, and something of an annoyed whine. It was hard to tell.
"They're dead. You can't save them. There's no cure. It was made by the government as a war weapon, and it got out. F**ked up, right? You can't save them. They're too far gone. Stop humanising the dead, and kick your ass into gear. No matter what, zombies aren't going to spare you. All they think about is food, and they don't even need it," he bared his teeth in what could've been a grin, "they aren't sentient, Carey, and your survival instincts are going to get you killed if I let them, but I'm not going to."
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Post by Rivermagic on Dec 23, 2016 22:08:35 GMT -5
(XD, you know, drama is so much fun~ Think of the tension XD I had to)
Reina pursed her lips before she felt herself smile a bit. "I think my first impression of you was the fact that you're pretty quiet, but you're alright." she said to him with a slight smile. "Flint and Carey seem like pretty good people, hopefully it stays that way."
There was something nagging at her, but she tried her best to ignore it. Still, something seemed off about the whole thing. She tried not to dwell on it too much.
"Is it my turn to ask you a question? What's the one material thing you wish to have in this time?" she asked him while tilting her head.
(SHHHH... I SMELL BOYS BEING GAY (if you know this reference I will adore you))
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Post by floruit on Dec 23, 2016 22:48:20 GMT -5
( i don't, alas, but honestly it sounds like something my suitemates would say if someone tried to interrupt us watching our Nice Queer TV Shows. )
Carey let out a breathy laugh. This whole situation should have been setting off every red flag for him. He should thinking about how to escape: knee to the stomach of groin to get himself free, slam the door behind him, warn Isak and Reina on his way out. His backpack was by the door. He could certainly run fast enough to get out of sight before he could be shot at. And although he briefly considered all of this, he didn't dwell on any of the thoughts. Instead, he met Flint's eyes and blinked slowly as he listened.
"So, I'm going to stop being so soft, and you're going to protect me? Is that it?" This was ridiculous. Here he was, ignoring his best instincts instead of clawing and scratching and doing anything he could to escape. Being too passive in response to danger. And Flint was one movement away from strangling him, talking about keeping him from dying. He was shaking slightly but covered it up with more soft laughter. This was definitely not the correct response to the situation.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 24, 2016 3:54:35 GMT -5
( i do Not understand the reference )
Isak made a see-sawing motion with his hand (something he'd honestly picked up from Flint, but he wouldn't tell her that) and crossed his legs. He squinted thoughtfully at the question, before shaking his head lightly.
"Try a different question. I don't have any wishes for material things. They're just - well. They're just material things, so I'm not bothered," it was just one of those things that other people might have cared about, but he didn't. The brain worked in so many wonderous ways.
- - -
Seemingly bored with threatening Carey, Flint removed his hands from the other man's neck and simply flopped down on top of him lightly, either too shaky to hold himself up or not bothered to; it was hard to tell, at this point. He turned his head to look at the door and frowned, wondering, only briefly, why Carey hadn't defended himself.
"You don't have to stop being soft. You just have to learn to have some sort of survival instinct," he said in a voice that was definitely too strained. "I can protect you regardless. As long as you don't do anything stupid."
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Post by Rivermagic on Dec 24, 2016 6:05:51 GMT -5
(Dang, mkay, lol)
Reina rolled her eyes at that before she leaned back into the stupid couch before she giggled at the hand motion. What was that even supposed to do? She figured it was best to ignore it in the first place.
"Fine." she said to him before she tapped her chin slowly and carefully, "Hmm..." she was trailing of, feeling pretty lost in thought at the moment, "Scariest point in the apocalypse?" she tilted her head to the side for a moment or two while she was trying to fix her hair.
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Post by floruit on Dec 24, 2016 15:31:07 GMT -5
"I don't plan on doing anything stupid. My instincts aren't great, but my logic can partially compensate for that," he said, allowing himself to relax slightly now that the possibility of death no longer seemed eminent. That has been weird. Oh well. Time to put it in the part of his mind he reserved for things he didn't want to think about at that moment and move on.
Carey propped himself up on his elbow, trying not to move so much that he would disturb Flint. "Do you want to sleep? I can leave you alone if you want and go see how Reina and Isak are doing. I can bring you food as well, if you want to take the risk that it might not stay down all night."
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Post by Deleted on Dec 24, 2016 15:38:41 GMT -5
Isak squinted thoughtfully. Scariest part of the apocalypse? That would...he'd have to lie by omission. Second scariest part of the apocalypse seemed like the best one to go by. Sorry, but the truth game was coming too close to personal issues.
"The beginning of it," he decided, tone soft, "because I didn't understand what was happening. People were attacking people and people were retaliating, in my view."
- - -
Flint gave a soft hum and rested his nose lightly against Carey's throat, listening to their breathing. He took note of how quick his breathing was compared to how normal the other man's was, and grimaced slightly. He felt shakier than before, and he shifted his weight so he was sitting up as Carey moved up, now back to being nose to nose with him. His gaze flicked down and then back up, studying Carey's face carefully.
"I'm going to do something very stupid," he told him firmly.
He didn't say 'before I'm too busy throwing up and feeling gross to do so', or any of that. Instead, he simply leaned in and pressed his lips lightly against Carey's, wincing a little as he bumped noses with him. Damn. He'd never done this before; he was completely inexperienced.
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Post by Rivermagic on Dec 24, 2016 16:02:10 GMT -5
Reina nodded slowly, "I agree, the whole fact that we didn't know what the heck was happening was probably the scariest." she said while she watched him for a moment or two. She didn't know that she stumbled into personal territory, but of course it wasn't like she was too ignorant.
"Come on, I think it's your turn to ask a question." she offered to him before she moved over to actually sit next to him. "Are you still cold? I have a spare blanket in my bag if you want." she offered to him. If they were going to live like this, she knew that at least one of them had to make efforts of kindness.
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Post by floruit on Dec 24, 2016 17:24:17 GMT -5
The effects of the withdrawal seemed to be manifesting. The weird behavior was only to be expected—everyone coming down off of long term psychoactive drugs took a while to start feeling normally. The apocalypse probably made it a lot harder to handle. He placed a hand on Flint's back, frowning as he felt how shaky he was.
Something stupid? Carey tilted his head slightly, looking for some sign of what Flint was thinking of doing. "What are you talking abo—mff!" He was cut off by the kiss and responded without thinking, closing his eyes and pulling the other man closer. A moment passed and he pulled back, heart pounding and face flushed. "What—" he began, staring at Flint in confusion, "—what was that for?"
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Post by Deleted on Dec 24, 2016 17:37:59 GMT -5
"I can't think of anything," said Isak, eyes half-closing. "I just....hm. I think I'm going to sleep soon. It feels like I should sleep."
- - -
Flint mouthed at Carey's neck sleepily, nuzzling him and wrapping his arms around him. He closed his eyes and exhaled softly.
"You're cute as hell," he murmured softly. "And I wanted to kiss you. I'm glad I decided to fake-date you."
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Post by Rivermagic on Dec 24, 2016 17:44:18 GMT -5
Reina chuckled slightly before she simply walked to her bag before she took out the blanket. "Okay, well... If you're set on wanting to sleep, then you may as well take this." she said to him while she draped the blanket over his shoulders and pat his head gently.
"I'll do some scavenging and cleaning down here, you may as well get first pick out of the rooms...aside from the master bedroom." she tried to make a little bit of a joke out of that.
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Post by floruit on Dec 24, 2016 18:40:05 GMT -5
Carey was glad Flint was too busy cuddling up to him to notice how disheveled he looked. He might have also been glad for the closeness, but he was trying not to focus on that. He shouldn't be doing anything like this with a man he had met just yesterday, even if they were pretending to be dating. He casually changed the subject, uncertain how to react to being called cute. He wasn't accustomed to people complimenting him.
"Don't you want me to leave so you can sleep?" he murmured, figuring this was his last chance to go and help the other group members tidy up the house. Flint might say no, though. He seemed pretty comfortable.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 24, 2016 21:52:13 GMT -5
Isak scowled when his head was pet but shrunk down and closed his eyes, head tilting to the side. For whatever reason, this felt...almost safe, in a way. Reina wasn't a danger and Carey was probably being handled by Flint, who knew when danger was about. In all honesty, the two probably hadn't ever been dangerous.
He exhaled softly and got to his feet, arching his back in a stretch and adjusting the blanket on his shoulders.
"No doubt, no doubt, no doubt," he murmured sleepily, and began to head upstairs.
- - -
Flint half-closed his eyes as he rested his chin against Carey, all too aware of how badly he was shaking. He felt awful. His head hurt. He wanted to cry. He felt way too emotional, his mood stablisers, everything keeping his psychosis in check - they were gone, gone, gone, and he couldn't handle it. It hurt so badly, he wanted to curl up. Clinging to Carey felt safe, almost like he had clung to a new coping mechanism already.
"No," he half-whispered, "stay. I'd like it if you stayed."
It was less of a demand and more of a request, less demanding than he had been earlier. There was the option for Carey to leave, because Flint never really stopped someone from saying "no" if they weren't comfortable.
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Post by Rivermagic on Dec 24, 2016 23:04:04 GMT -5
Reina watched him walk off before she shook out her hair for a moment. Dang. Guess she was left to her own devices. She hummed for a moment, murmuring some little Spanish tune before she was trying to sweep up what broken glass was by the windows. No doubt that the family had perished when things hit the fan. Still, there was that nagging feeling in her that was making her feel a bit uneasy.
But what did she know? She shook her head before pushing some of the debris and set to lining the fire with some old bricks so that it wouldn't escape and burn everything up.
Then she got curious. A smile came to her face before she walked up the stairs and slowly stepped towards the entrance of the master bedroom. Of course it was polite to knock, she didn't dare look to see if the door was open or not, she simply kept her eyes to the ground as she knocked tentatively on the frame. "Carey? Flint? Everything alright?" she called to them gently.
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Post by floruit on Dec 24, 2016 23:34:37 GMT -5
"Of course I'll stay." Isak and Reina could handle themselves. He would help clean up and make breakfast tomorrow morning to make up for disappearing. He probably wouldn't be sleeping much tonight, anyway, since it was only a matter of time until Flint got really sick. It wouldn't be any trouble for him to wake up early.
If he was going to be awake all night, he might as well be comfortable. Carey had reached back to grab a pillow and was about to lay down on the bed when he heard a knock at the door and Reina speaking softly. Oh god. "Sorry, sorry," he murmured, moving Flint off of himself gently. "Be there in a moment!"
He finished extracting himself from the bed and hurried to open the door. "Everything is..." What would Flint want him to say? "... fine." Yeah, that was slightly too long of a pause. Oh well. "Did you need something?" he asked, standing in the entrance so Reina wouldn't easily be able to see Flint curled up on the bed behind him. As he waited for her answer, he realized that he hadn't bothered to make himself look presentable before opening the door. He started fiddling with his wrinkled clothing, hoping the blush on his face wasn't embarrassingly obvious.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 24, 2016 23:43:14 GMT -5
Flint made a soft, childlike sound of annoyance when Carey moved, reaching out briefly before he simply laid there, eyes half-closed and staring towards the door. He felt ill already, but he felt like the nausea wouldn't truly set in for another ten, maybe twenty minutes. He squinted narrowly and pushed himself so that he was sitting up, eyes half-closed and head tilted back slightly.
He listened idly to the voices, and swallowed back some bile. Yuck.
Instead of interrupting as he felt like he ought to have, he chose to remain silent, instead looking around the room. It was nice, he supposed. He didn't know.
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Post by Rivermagic on Dec 24, 2016 23:49:05 GMT -5
Reina could tell already from Carey's blush that she had interrupted something...interesting. A smile crept onto her face as she looked at him. She didn't care if she was being childish, at least he was getting somewhere. Of course, she knew that she needed to try and be a little more serious in the first place.
"Things are fine here, Isak went to sleep, and I'm probably going to do the same." she told him before patting his shoulder. "Tell Flint I wished you both a good night." she said gently to him before she pulled back to head down the hall and walk into the other empty bedroom so she could actually find some rest on the old mattress.
(Happy Holidays you guys, I'm all game for a time skip to morning if you want)
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Post by floruit on Dec 25, 2016 0:35:47 GMT -5
[ happy holidays to you too! and heck yeah i am down for a time skip. ]
Carey sat in front of the fire, taking this opportunity to warm himself up before he started on breakfast. He had already set out the food he was going to make, but the lack of sleep he had gotten last night made lounging by the fire too good of an opportunity to ignore. He was surprisingly functional for having slept at most a couple of hours, but he had been studying medicine before the world ended. All nighters were just part of his life now.
"Are you feeling up to food?" he asked Flint (who he had successfully convinced to come downstairs so he wouldn't have to make breakfast alone), pouring some beef stew into the pan. It wasn't exactly a breakfast food, but he doubted anyone would mind. "You know, I think Reina thought we were messing around last night. She was too giggly when she came to wish us goodnight." Honestly, he wished that were the case. Most of his night had been spent holding back Flint's hair as he dealt with withdrawal.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 25, 2016 0:44:55 GMT -5
( happy holidayssssss its been holidays for like nearly 6 hours here LOL )
Flint was still extremely shaky, head tilted to the side slightly. He clearly wasn't quite there, but he wasn't gone, either. He just...was. It wasn't living, to be like this, but he was alive, and he would be for longer with the care he was getting. It was oddly comforting to know that he was being looked after.
At the question, he assessed his condition.
"Yes," he said, "I don't want to bring up my stomach lining," it was the truth. That was too painful. He blinked as he watched slowly, but his gaze unfocused and he went back to staring somewhere into the distance. "Hmm. Would've been nice if we had been."
Instead, he'd spilled secrets about his family and had been busy throwing up. At least it had been with someone nice.
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Post by Rivermagic on Dec 25, 2016 0:55:53 GMT -5
Reina sleepily walked down the stairs, and looked at both Flint and Carey before she walked over to the kitchen for a moment to try straightening things up.
"You guys look awful... Guess I was wrong about my assumptions..." she felt her pale face become pink at the realization. Dang, so she could guess that the awful retching sounds from last night were real. She pursed her lips for a moment before she looked back over to them.
"You may as well tell me what's going on. I don't like being out of the loop when it comes to the well-being of our group, okay?" she huffed out, feeling a bit frustrated already.
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Post by floruit on Dec 25, 2016 1:37:03 GMT -5
"Agreed." Normally he didn't like talking about more... personal matters so casually, especially when someone could just walk in, but no one could say it was less desirable than having emotional discussions between holding someone's hair back.
He straightened up as Reina walked in, trying to look as though he was awake and refreshed after a nice nine hours of sleep. She didn't seem to buy it. Damn. He looked away from the food to Flint, unwilling to give out any information about him that he wasn't ready to share.
"I couldn't sleep well last night, but it was no big deal. It usually happens when I find a new base. My nerves were too bad to let me rest," Carey said, pleased that he hadn't actually lied. Nerves had kept him up, but the new house wasn't the source of them. And he did tend to be uneasy after moving to new places. "By the way, do you want some stew?" Expert subject change. Perfect execution. Flawless.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 25, 2016 1:43:53 GMT -5
When Reina walked in, Flint didn't seem to notice until Carey spoke, and then his gaze flicked to Reina. Oh. Oh dear, okay. He frowned a little and looked at the stew, gaze still unfocused. Damn it. He'd have to just say it was a bad day, right? No. It wasn't so much the lying that got to him (he was a compulsive liar; it was in his blood), but moreso the fact that he had no idea for how long he'd be like this.
So, with a wave of his hand and a shrug, he put it as simply as he could. "I'm going through withdrawal."
A fun time, the sarcastic part of his brain said. Marvellous and fun-filled and man, he'd told Carey way too much last night. Why had he done that? God knows.
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Post by Rivermagic on Dec 25, 2016 1:51:20 GMT -5
Reina pursed her lips for a moment before she walked over to serve some stew into a stray bowl. That nagging part of her was saying that it wasn't withdrawal on medications. But that was ridiculous. She had heard Flint and Isak talk about some kind of medication anyway.
"Okay." she said to them as she gently placed the bowl into Flint's lap, and handed him a spoon.
Trust went both ways. They trusted her enough to have her join the group, and now, she needed to trust that they were not involved in bad drugs. Besides, it wasn't like they would pressure her into that kind of crazy.
"Stew would be great, you can just portion some out for me, and I'll get some for Isak when he gets up." she said while she looked away from the both of them.
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