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Post by floruit on Dec 25, 2016 2:19:39 GMT -5
"I warned him when we found that stash of heroin and ecstasy, but he wasn't having it," Carey said with a shrug, pouring himself and Reina downs of stew. He paused. God, was he tired enough to be getting snarky? Apparently so. Time to explain himself. "That was a joke, by the way! I would not let my boyfriend do hard drugs. Or anyone else, for that matter."
Yet another example of why he shouldn't be allowed to interact with others when he was sleep deprived and not caffeinated. Oh well. He could get through the day. "I know we just met and you have a good reason to not fully trust me yet, but you can go ahead and ask me anything you'd like. I might not answer every question, but I'm not secretive about much." Reina deserved to know more about him, and he had to admit he wanted to get to know all of the group a little better.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 25, 2016 2:24:17 GMT -5
"Oh my god Carey," Flint inhaled sharply, something like a laugh but something rawer. Instead, he poked at the stew with a spoon before taking a nervous bite. Okay. Well, he'd probably destroyed his taste buds, but that was fine! Everything was fine. He just focused on the movements of eating.
He didn't pay much attention to the two, now, instead choosing to focus on not spilling stew over himself like a baby. That would be silly. He heard the soft movement of Isak upstairs, but noted that it was probably just him pacing. Isak had done that a lot for a while, but he doubted the kid would come downstairs.
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Post by Rivermagic on Dec 25, 2016 6:38:13 GMT -5
Reina had paused and glared at Carey when that joke had been made, then she tried her best to relax when she realized that he had been joking. Thank god... Her face softened at them while she was serving herself the stew.
How long had it been since she actually sat down and had a hot meal? God, it felt like ages. She smiled softly while looking to the both of the men. "Thank you, I understand that things are better to be private, and I appreciate you telling me." she said with a smile, "If there's anything I can do to help with it, let me know."
And with that, she actually bothered to start eating. She smiled as she was tasting it, and it was probably one of the best things she had eaten in the apocalypse.
"Carey, you practiced in medicine, right? Did you work in hospitals?"
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Post by floruit on Dec 25, 2016 11:24:11 GMT -5
Carey sat cross legged by the fire, surprised at how good the stew tasted. At this point, he was satisfied by basically any meal provided it was hot and properly cooked, but he was still occasionally shocked by how good canned food could be. "Thank you for your offer. I'll let you know if there's anything you can do," he said, sounding genuinely grateful.
"I wasn't working in hospitals often, because I was in school to get an M.D., but I was getting close to finishing my education and finding a job somewhere. I had a lot of practical experience, though, even if you don't count my classes," he said, then turned to Reina and began speaking with surprising intensity. "Do you know how many underage kids get drunk and hurt themselves at frat parties, then refuse to go to the hospital because they're nowhere close to sober? Way too many. I got woken up at four, five a.m. by friends who needed me to come and make sure someone wasn't about to wreck themselves by refusing to see a doctor all the time. Are you familiar with getting phone calls like that? Because they're the worst."
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Post by Deleted on Dec 25, 2016 13:05:12 GMT -5
Flint smiled as he listened to Carey, raising his eyebrow as he continued to eat. He inhaled softly and tilted his head back, half-closing his eyes. For Reina's sake, he decided to explain himself.
"I'm not doing hard drugs. Nothing hard, really," he hummed, "I was high all the time, though. Prescribed medication, so strong it numbed me. I had six month's worth from various hospitals, but it's produced to order with some left over, nothing more. I've run out."
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Post by Rivermagic on Dec 25, 2016 17:53:31 GMT -5
Reina pursed her lips as she was listening to both of the men explain themselves. If anything, she really appreciated the fact they were coming to trust her a little more.
"I've never dealt with drunken calls, I never hung around those kinds of people...and I taught second grade..." she admitted before she rubbed tha back of her neck for a moment or two.
soon enough, she finished her food before she clasped her hands together. "I'll bring some food up to Isak." she offered to them as she portioned some of the stew into a bowl before she bothered to stand up.
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Post by floruit on Dec 25, 2016 19:13:14 GMT -5
Wow, it was good they had allowed Reina into the group. Or that Flint and Isak had, since Carey didn't have any real decision making power at that point. If you could deal with second graders calmly and actually teach them, you were either utterly terrifying or as patient as a saint. Plus, she was taking he drug withdrawal news very well.
On the down side, him talking so casually about frat parties probably didn't improve her opinion of him. Oh well.
"Make sure Isak is feeling alright," he said as Reina got another bowl of stew. He hadn't even properly talked to Isak yet, but he was already playing the role of concerned friend. Or maybe concerned parent. He and Flint had already basically agreed to adopt him and Reina. Anyway, that was typical of him. He couldn't go more than a few hours without fussing over whoever around him he even mildly enjoyed.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 25, 2016 19:28:38 GMT -5
Flint lightly set his bowl of stew aside and stood up, only to walk over to the dusty couch and flop down, curling in on himself and whimpering something that could've been 'night' or 'please kill me right now'. Either way, he fell asleep within seconds of crashing there.
It seemed that Isak, however, had mystical powers, because he padded downstairs and walked into the room, only briefly glancing at Flint before he stole his friend's bowl and refilled it with stew, sitting cross-legged on the floor and taking a bite.
"Morn'," he greeted.
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Post by Rivermagic on Dec 25, 2016 19:36:02 GMT -5
Reina was naturally surprised as Isak came downstairs just like that. Of course she didn't really want to question those abilities of his. She pursed her lips before setting some of the bowls away before attempting to organize the kitchen.
She couldn't help if her overly organized mindset was kicking into overdrive. She had already done enough with actually trying to ignore all the mess.
"Morning... I swear to god, I feel like Snow White right now...I'd kill for some animal cleaning friends..." she murmured.
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Post by floruit on Dec 25, 2016 20:42:24 GMT -5
Carey nodded politely to Isak—he didn't want them to have their first real conversation while he was tired and easily irritated—and went to see if Reina needed any help. He paused in the doorway as scanned the kitchen, looking to see what needed the most work. Everything was pretty grungy, but it didn't seem too bad when he considered the circumstances. It would take a few days if concentrated effort to get it looking nice.
"I'm afraid I'm not nearly as interesting as a singing woodland creature, but I can help. What do you want to do the least? I don't mind the difficult or boring jobs. Besides, I owe you for disappearing without warning last night."
---
Yesterday, Nathaniel had noticed that someone—or, more specifically, a group of people—had moved into one of the houses on the street where he was staying. He had been in the house he had claimed for himself when he heard voices outside. It was a group of four people, and although he didn't get a good look at them, they didn't seem like the type to shoot on sight.
So, of course, he responded in he proper way: by making himself look presentable and going to see them. It was the neighborly thing to do. He was fully aware that he risked getting shot, but at this point almost anything seemed preferable to living alone in a big house and talking to himself for lack of anything better to do. If he kept that up he was going to snap.
Their barricades hadn't been fixed yet, so he had no problem walking right up to the front door and knocking, a bag of food besides him and his hands already raised in case a particularly trigger happy person opened the door. Every ounce of common sense he had was telling him that this was a bad idea. And he really didn't care. It was frightening for him to realize how few precautions he was taking with his safety, but eventually that was also overwhelmed by desire to meet new people and the ever-growing apathy that had been his primary coping mechanism for the past few months.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 25, 2016 20:48:32 GMT -5
Flint snored. Loudly. He was a tired man with a single emotion: tiredness.
Isak, however, noticed the knock and was quick to move, setting his half-eaten bowl of stew aside and making his way to the barricade. He leaned against it, then, and took in the man in front of him. Taller than him, definitely older - he had to be in his thirties. His lips thinned slightly.
"Hey, look," he said, his accent thicker than usual (though it had always been thick) due to sleepiness. "Divorcee? Definitely. Thirties. Particularly polite, considering you knocked," he tapped the side of the door lightly, and raised an eyebrow. "What do you want? To greet us like the nice neighbour you are?"
His tone was dry and he most definitely was being rude.
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Post by Rivermagic on Dec 25, 2016 20:53:56 GMT -5
Reina wanted to joke a little with Carey, then she froze when she heard something at the door. She narrowed her eyes a little bit before she looked around for that handgun she had. Better safe than...
Wait, she didn't hear any moaning. That would have been a dead giveaway to there being a zombie breach.
She looked over to see that Isak beat them to the greeting. She wasn't sure if that had been the best idea, but it wasn't like her greeting would have been any better. "Who's that?" she asked while she walked over while setting her gun away before she looked to the man. She wasn't sure if it was the fact he was clearly older, but he sure gave her the heebie-geebies.
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Post by floruit on Dec 25, 2016 21:12:35 GMT -5
Nathaniel's composure slipped for a moment, eyes widening in shock at both the rudeness and accuracy, but he regained it quickly and forced a smile. "It's defeatist to allow your poor relationship with your parents to continue affecting how you interact with people. They're out of your life now. Any power they still have to influence your behavior comes from you," he replied in a soft, measured voice. If this was how this young man greeted others, he shouldn't be too surprised to have it thrown back in his face. Of course, he didn't know anything about this stranger's family history, but he was a very good guesser. Lots of practice helped with that.
"Anyway, I came to meet everyone living here. May I speak to an adult, please?" he added, shifting his attention away from Isak as Reina appeared behind him. "I'm Nathaniel Eldridge. I live across the road, about three houses down from this one. I wanted to introduce myself before one of you saw me on the street and tried to shoot me. I brought some food, since I have more than enough supplies for one person."
Carey had followed Reina out of the kitchen, wishing he could have grabbed his pistol beforehand. When he saw there was only one person outside he relaxed slightly, although he kept his guard up. "Carey Vincent. Do you mind if we check you for weapons before you come in?"
Nathaniel shrugged lightly. "Go ahead. Be sure to check the bag as well." He wasn't getting shot just because he reached for a can of fruit and someone assumed he was going for a weapon.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 25, 2016 21:27:42 GMT -5
"Hahaha, wow, f**k you."
Isak crossed his arms and rested his weight on one leg, eyebrows raised. His swearing was moreso because Nathaniel had read him like an open book, despite the fact that he was generally impossible to read. What has his previous psychologist said? Something about him being impossible to deal with and a little too good at hiding things. Nathaniel, it seemed, completely disregarded that.
His gaze flicked to Carey before he glared at the newcomer and walked off, presumably to wake up Flint.
He did so successfully, but had retaliation in the form of a loud, angry yell and a dull thud.
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Post by Rivermagic on Dec 25, 2016 21:58:20 GMT -5
Reina pursed her lips before she narrowed her eyes while she was trying to look over this stranger. She glanced to Carey, glad he was there to actually try talking to this man.
"Well, please do not try to..." she pursed her lips before she ran a hand through her hair. Strangers were one thing, but older strangers made her weary. Her eyes narrowing some more as she was she was trying to not freak out too much. Then again, she was an open book in the first place.
"R-Reina Brookes." she stated as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Where did you come from?" she asked while tilting her head to one side out of curiosity.
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Post by floruit on Dec 25, 2016 22:35:46 GMT -5
Nathaniel accepted the insult without seeming too upset about it. That was the usual response he got when he tried to guess at someone's buried insecurities and was at least somewhat correct. He watched Isak walk away and heard the not so muffled sounds of someone being woken up. From the sounds off it, they hadn't wanted to be disturbed.
He frowned slightly as Reina spoke, noting that she seemed unusually nervous. That was probably his fault. Honestly, he didn't like upsetting people who had done nothing to warrant it, but he wasn't sure what he could do to help her calm down.
"Er... I came from a house down the street. Or do you want to know where I was before the apocalypse hit?" He wasn't sure whether she meant the latter or had missed his previous comment. Either way, he didn't mind explaining.
During this conversation, Carey had looked over the man and determined that didn't really have a place he could be hiding a gun, and he wasn't too concerned about confiscating small knife. Having some means of defending themselves made people less likely to act erratically in his experience. He had briefly considered going to see if Flint was okay, then remembered how he had thrown himself off the bed blast night. Yeah, he would be fine.
Currently, he was digging through the bag, impressed with the food he found. Some of it actually looked decent. "Damn, no wonder I never could find any decent food in stores around here. You already found the best of it."
Nathaniel nodded. "Yeah, I've been here a while. I know the area pretty well, and I've saved up more than enough food for myself."
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Post by Rivermagic on Dec 25, 2016 22:39:07 GMT -5
Leo (Awesome~ Glad to have you on board)
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Post by Deleted on Dec 25, 2016 22:42:34 GMT -5
To be honest, Flint hadn't wanted to be awake - but he was up now, and so he half-limped over to discover what was going on, pausing only briefly to stare at Nathaniel in one of the blankest manners possible. Awesome. Okay. This was another new son he had now decided to adopt. He exhaled slowly through his nose and wandered over to Carey.
There were a few things he could do, considering that Carey was busy, but instead he chose to lean over to rest his chin on the other man's shoulder, looking at the bag without much interest. He turned his head slightly to rest his nose against the side of his neck, huffing softly.
"We're confiscating it," he muttered, through no maliciousness but through a tiredness of having the same thing over and over.
Isak was probably sulking somewhere, from the sounds of footfalls upstairs.
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Post by floruit on Dec 25, 2016 22:50:02 GMT -5
[ heck yes leo!!!
EDIT: also if you need a summary of what has happened i can def give you one bc the first page isn't quite up to date. ]
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Post by Rivermagic on Dec 25, 2016 22:56:19 GMT -5
Reina paced nervously around the living room for a good couple of moments. None of this felt right to her. It had to be too good to be true. Then again, she had already been lucky with meeting this group, what possible harm could there by with in actually trying to invite this person?
Well, he could be hiding something, he could just be trying to steal from them... She bit her lip hard while she walked up the stairs to go and try talking to Isak. the grown-ups clearly had things under control.
"Isak...?" she called as she was knocking on one of the doors warily. She was aware that he would want some space, even then, she figured that it wasn't good to let him brood for too long anyway.
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Post by floruit on Dec 25, 2016 23:19:26 GMT -5
Carey sighed. Okay, so he was officially the only group member capable of making coherent conversation who was willing to talk to this new person. This was fine. Everything was fine. "Yep, we are confiscating it." He picked up the bag with one hand and wrapped his other arm around Flint, not wanting him to flop down on the outside steps. He was a little too out of shape to pick up the other man if he got on the ground and refused to get up.
"Come on in," he offered, trying desperately to look like he was still in control of the situation. Since no one else was around to offer their opinions (Flint didn't count; he was too tired), he had made an executive decision to let Nathaniel inside.
Nathaniel nodded gratefully and followed him inside. This was not exactly what he had been hoping for when he saw a strange group of people, but he was in no position to be choosy.
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Demisexual
Leo
Surviving off Thai tea and Miguel O'hara
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Post by Leo on Dec 25, 2016 23:29:40 GMT -5
(yes can I please have a summary :3)
Courtney "Court" Dahl-- 27 -- LeopardHeart A woman standing at 5'4" with butterscotch skin, sharp hazel eyes, a bright smile, freckles on her cheeks, and long messy dark brown hair that is parted in a way that makes it sometimes hang in her right eye. Her hair is so long that it actually still reaches her lower waist when tied into a high ponytail. She's quite thin in appearance with her long legs making her look even smaller. Her thin appearance emphasizes the lack of strength she has compared to other people. However, she makes up for it in quickness. She's smaller so she can fit into smaller spaces and move slightly faster than some other people. A long scar rests on her left arm from the top of her shoulder to end just before the knuckle of her middle finger. It twists in an ugly and mangled shape. The scar, when it reaches her forearm, wraps around her arm until it reaches the end of her hand in a point. Court is known for her kindness, patience, and sense of humor but also her very bad temper if truly angered. She is fierce in battle, hardly ever gives up, and has no tolerance for unnecessary behavior. People have described her as quiet because sometimes she doesn't speak during conversations. She's really just a watcher. A person who watches, gathers all the information necessary before giving her input. Though she's not usually, Zeno can become deadly serious.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 25, 2016 23:30:02 GMT -5
Isak frowned at the knocking but opened the door nonetheless. When he saw that it was just Reina, he raised a single eyebrow and moved back to lay on the bed he'd been laying on. He'd adjusted the room - shoved any pictures under the bed, emptied the wardrobe (also under the bed), and had generally put a lot of stuff under the bed because he didn't want to see it.
"What do you want?" he asked, not unkindly, but not in a friendly manner, either. Sort of...blankly. He had wanted his space, but that was moreso because Nathaniel had read him like a book more than the fact that he was sick of being around people (which he was, to be honest).
--
Flint hummed softly as he clung to Carey, fingers tightening slightly in the taller man's shirt. He tilted his head to look at Nathaniel and watched him with narrowed eyes - both all too aware and off in his own world. Then, he huffed through his nose and tilted his head back to look at Carey.
"Your lack of survival skills both impresses me and annoys me," he told him.
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Post by Rivermagic on Dec 25, 2016 23:37:52 GMT -5
Reina sighed a little and simply shrugged at Isak before she was leaning against the frame of the door. She was soon realizing that maybe this wasn't her place. Then again, she also realized that maybe he wanted his space. It wasn't like she was too good at reading those things.
"Nothing really, I noticed how you reacted to that guy making assumptions about you..." she stated while she looked down at her feet. "If it makes you feel any better, I really don't like the look of him either." she admitted as she was clasping her hands nervously as she was trying to get a grip on her bearings.
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Post by floruit on Dec 26, 2016 0:01:22 GMT -5
[ SO HERE ARE THE LATEST APOCALYPSE FUNTIMES: - the group (carey, reina, flint, and isak) trek to a suburb and take up residence in a nice three bedroom house. carey and flint, who are real serious about convincing reina they know each other and have been dating for a while (they've known each other for two days), disappear mysteriously and reina and isak decide to go to bed.
- the next day, carey makes breakfast even though he was sitting up with a sick flint all night. flint admits to reina that he is so sick because he's having withdrawals, but he does not explain more than that.
- isak slams downstairs just in time to get in a spat with nathaniel, who came over because he noticed new people in the area and wanted to not be alone forever.
- carey lets nathaniel in because he is a polite man with little to no survival instincts. they're going to sit down and talk while flint flops all over carey because he feels gross. meanwhile, reina is trying to make isak feel better.
and that's about it!]
"Yeah, yeah. My lack of self preservation is truly wild. I know," Carey replied, closing the door behind him and leading the others back into the living room. He might as well get to know Nathaniel while Isak and Reina were elsewhere, just to gauge whether or not the main was trustworthy. Flint could help win that, as long as he remained slightly coherent.
He sat down on the couch, leaving plenty of room for Flint to lie down, and gestured for Nathaniel to take a seat. "So, tell me a little about yourself. Is there anything we should know about you? And did you come here because you wanted to join to group?"
Nathaniel sat down in a floral armchair, giving the two other men a slightly strange look before he just accepted it. He had dealt with stranger things. "I'm a psychiatrist. Not practicing right now, obviously, but I have the degrees to prove it. I don't plan on staying in the area for too long. The bad weather caught me, but I'm looking for someone." He debated giving more details and decides he might as well. "My... daughter. She was staying in this area before the world ended. Not here, exactly, but a more rural place to the northeast. I would be happy to join the group until I leave to look for her, though. I don't mind sharing my supplies, and I'll take whatever position needs to be filled. I play violin as well, if that makes a difference. It's helped me not die of boredom in the past few weeks."
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Post by Deleted on Dec 26, 2016 0:12:29 GMT -5
"He didn't just make assumptions. The dude straight-up did what I did and psychoanalysed me, which means he's trained, which means I don't like him. He wasn't wrong," Isak frowned. "Which pisses me off more than I thought it would."
He rested one arm over his stomach and turned his head to the side, inhaling deeply. The air in here was stale but it was better than being downstairs with someone who could read him as easily as he could read them. He'd always seen himself as unreadable, and here he was, being read.
--
Flint followed without much argument, and all but draped himself over Carey instead of laying in the space. His chin rested on the man's shoulder and he stared in a rather fixated manner at the opposite wall for a good minute or two, before shifting his weight so he could watch Nathaniel from the corner of his eye. His shakes were getting progressively worse, but he tried his best to hide it by clinging to his 'boyfriend'.
"Y-your assumption that she's alive is baffling but almost h-heartwarming," he muttered, "welcome to the squad. D-don't like, mess with Isak again. He's an awful person but he's a good kid. He doesn't need to be r-reminded of the stuff that's happened in the past."
He shifted his weight and closed his eyes, lowering his head so he could listen to the heart beating in Carey's chest.
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Post by Rivermagic on Dec 26, 2016 0:23:56 GMT -5
(Dammit, Isak is just this precious little bean~)
Reina nodded while she walked further into the room, and sat on the floor while resting her back against the bed. Of course she really couldn't relate with him in the sense of having strained relationships with parents. She assumed that was the thing that had bothered him the most out of that interaction.
"You make a good point." she mused as she was clasping her hands together. "When I was seven, I remember nearly walking off with an older man I didn't know." she admitted to him. "I walked right to his van and got in." she shuddered slightly, "My mom went ballistic, and the man didn't even make it down the two blocks before the cops stopped him." she said as she glanced over to him, "I guess seeing an older loner like him is having me remember that time." she said as she was pursing her lips.
She figured that since he stated why he didn't like this person, it was only fair she would say her reasoning as well.
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Demisexual
Leo
Surviving off Thai tea and Miguel O'hara
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Post by Leo on Dec 26, 2016 0:45:58 GMT -5
(alright thank you ) Courtney shouldered the backpack slung over her shoulder. Her hair was a mess, her clothes filthy, and her feet ached. Suddenly, her stomach growled loudly causing her to sigh in return. Running a bandaged hand over her face she looked up to pick which house to raid for food. Settling on one she switched into sneaky mode. Careful to avoid stepping on anything that would make noise and alert any hostiles nearby. Courtney decided to go the side of the house and look into the window to make sure no one, if anyone was in the house, would spot her sneaking in. Confident that no one would see her she forced the window open and slipped in. Hallway She thought to herself befre making a choice of going left or right. She decided to go right. She didn't make it far without a board under her foot creaking causing her to pause and listen.
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Post by floruit on Dec 26, 2016 0:52:40 GMT -5
Nathaniel took a deep breath, obviously taking a moment to think before speaking. "I know it's not a realistic belief, but it's currently one of the only things keeping me from breaking down. I would prefer not to be reminded of that," he said quietly, taking great care that his voice did not break.
He was grateful for the subject change, even though he was being told off. He definitely deserved it. It had been more of a knee jerk reaction than a one of concentrated malice, but that was no excuse. The kid didn't deserve to have such bad memories dredged up. He had started the conversation with the comment about divorce, but he couldn't be held to the same standards as most people. The world had fallen apart before he had a chance to live. Of course that would make him bitter. "Understood. I was out of line, honestly. I'll apologize to him when I get the chance."
"Good," Carey said, glad that Flint had brought it up before he had to. He was surprised at how easy it was to have a serious conversation with a person flopped on top of him. Under normal circumstances he would have shooed Flint away before now, but he could feel the man shaking. He wasn't going to make him move if being close to him was helping him get through his withdrawals. "So, how are we going to tell the kids we just took in another person? Family meeting?" Before there was a reply, he heard something that sounded like a noise from downstairs. "Um, Flint? Did you hear Isak or Reina come downstairs?"
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