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Post by Deleted on Dec 26, 2016 1:20:56 GMT -5
"I don't like owing people," Isak said - perhaps in response to her 'truth'. "We're not playing the game, but I refuse to owe you."
He rolled onto his side so that he could get more comfortable, closing his eyes. He heard the creak of the floorboards, but decided that he'd leave it to Flint and Carey to deal with. They had pretty much dragged him into this, and he didn't particularly feel like helping, even if there was a danger.
"I used to be very close with this," he paused, squinting. Lies by omission were something he'd banned, but they weren't playing the game. "Person. This person meant a lot to me. I had no choice but to betray them."
- - -
If Flint was happy that Nathaniel was going to apologise to Isak, he didn't show it. Instead, he chose for continuing to cling to Carey, eyes flicking to Nathaniel as he took in the older man. He had to be in his thirties. Or forties? Flint was not good at ageing people, and his lack of ability to read facial expressions was not helping.
"No," he replied, "but I'm not paying much attention, Carey. Isak won't come downstairs for a while and I guess Reina's...I don't know, bothering him? Who knows."
He shifted his weight around until he was more comfortable, and leaned a fair majority of his weight against the other. He listened for a moment, but quickly gave up and settled for relaxing and letting himself go almost entirely limp. It was only a matter of seconds before he was in a half-doze - not quite asleep, but not quite awake.
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Post by Rivermagic on Dec 26, 2016 1:28:28 GMT -5
Reina pursed her lips at that, and she looked at her hands. "Okay." she said before she glanced over to him for a moment or two. It hurt a little that he was refusing, but she knew he was in a bad mood. That was clear enough.
"I'm sorry you had to go through that betrayal...you don't need to share if you don't want to." she said before taking the blanket she had given him last night and pulled it over him to make it look like he was sleeping. "I'll let you have some time to yourself." she offered as she was beginning to pull away.
She tensed as she heard movement. Of course she knew it wasn't the men since they were in a different part of the house anyway. She pursed her lips some more before she walked down the stairs while frowning. "Did you hear something unusual?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
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Post by floruit on Dec 26, 2016 2:25:08 GMT -5
"Yeah, actually." They should probably address this. And by they, Carey meant himself and Reina. "Get your gun. It may just be lingering paranoia about zombies or the fact we just witnessed how easy it is for a person to walk up to the house, but I really think we should check this out." He hated to leave Flint alone while he was feeling so miserable. Still, the safety of the group was more important. He would probably support Carey trusting his instincts for once. Moving carefully so as not to move Flint too much, he stood up.
"Watch him, won't you? He's kind of sick. I'm sure you can handle it," he said brightly to the older man before leaving to retrieve his pistol.
Nathaniel accepted the mantle of babysitter without protest. He had successfully taken care of a sick toddler before. How different was a sick adult?
Carey met Reina in the front hallway with gun in hand. "Alright, we're going to search the house. Do you want this floor, or the second one?"
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Post by Deleted on Dec 26, 2016 10:08:49 GMT -5
Flint shifted his weight and frowned when he was moved, before readjusting himself so he could call up in all but a tiny ball in the corner of the couch, chin resting lightly against the arm. His gaze followed Carey as he left, before it returned to Nathaniel. He took a moment to simply stare before he raised a single eyebrow.
"S-show me what you did. With Isak. How d-did you guess all of that?" he asked. It seemed that he'd be only a little trouble, but he'd always been a little awkward in that way. "He d-does it too, but yours was different. Better-t-trained."
If he was trying to listen out for the intruder or Carey and Reina, it wasn't obvious. To be perfectly honest, he didn't feel like he could do very much, and so he'd consider himself lucky if he could do anything of the sort. Now a little disheartened with the fact that Carey had left him, he stared somewhere into the middle distance, not quite focused on Nathaniel but not quite ignoring him, either.
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Post by Rivermagic on Dec 26, 2016 10:32:02 GMT -5
Reina easily followed after Carey with narrowed eyes before she was gripped tightly onto her gun. "I'll take the second floor." she said to him while she was looking up for a moment or two.
Without so much as a glance to Carey, she walked away from him and proceeded to go up towards the stairs before quietly creeping up and loading her gun. "Hello?" she asked quietly as she was gently stepping around. "We were here first, so either come out and talk, or we will shoot." she warned.
Of course, she was counting on the fact that this...whatever it was...was ignorant of the fact Reina was more of a pacifist, and was terrified of the idea of shooting and killing an actual human being.
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Post by floruit on Dec 27, 2016 0:01:29 GMT -5
[ i'm gonna casually continue nathaniel's and flint's conversation because it doesn't involve any other characters. and if leo doesn't come back tonight or tomorrow we can just time skip n keep on moving. ]
"I can't exactly show you how I did it unless you want me to start making wild guesses about you or one of your group members, but I can try to explain the process," Nathaniel said, attempting to pull his attention away from the fact that a potentially aggressive person might have slipped into the house and focus on Flint. It wasn't as if he could do anything about it. All he had on him was a small switchblade, and it was more for the intimidation factor than anything else.
"Once you've seen so many examples of how people respond to trauma and fear, you start to recognize certain behavior as an indicator of specific problems. Everyone makes guesses and snap judgements about other people. I've just gotten enough experience that my guesses about insecurities and what have you are usually accurate. I'm not always right, but it's unusual that I'm completely wrong." He was no psychic, but he was the guy to go to if you wanted a comprehensive list of all your problems.
"The first thing Isak did was insult, so I assumed I reminded him of someone he didn't like. Not many people usually go straight to insults when they meet someone who might help them survive. He's still a kid, so I guessed authority figure—probably a father. And it seems like I was correct." He paused, looking thoughtful. "I'm not sure whether the apocalypse aged me a decade or if most people just aren't used to seeing anyone over thirty anymore, but it seems like people keep overestimating my age. Because I am nowhere near old enough to have kids that age."
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Post by Deleted on Dec 27, 2016 0:15:02 GMT -5
"Deduction," Flint said, in what was either an appreciative tone or a vaguely mocking one. It was near impossible to tell, with the way his head swayed and he didn't quite focus on Nathaniel. "Hmm, I can't blame them. Isak's a kid. Reina's a kid. I'm not much past being a kid and Carey's only a couple of years older," the I think was settled in his brain, but not implied at all, because he realised with a jolt that he did't know his boyfriend's age. Huh.
He passed a hand over his face and smiled sleepily, seemingly amused at the situation.
"Deduce me, Sherlock Holmes. Use your recognition of behaviour patterns to tell me what my conflicts are. Or my personality! People love trying that one," he spoke with the tone of a man who was used to psychologists prodding and poking, of a man who did not care if he was torn open. Perhaps it would kickstart his ability to care more about the end of the world.
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Post by Rivermagic on Dec 27, 2016 0:18:30 GMT -5
(Yeah, I kinda have Reina stuck since she would be the one to discover Confidence...)
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Post by floruit on Dec 27, 2016 0:37:28 GMT -5
[ honestly we can just say the noise was something else (lin has me on skype and suggested a random zombie in the backyard which i support fully) and so leo can still have her character in the rp if she comes back and we'll all be free to keep rping. ]
"More like induction, because it's not supposed to be an infallible system. Most of the time I'm only partially right, but if you phrase things vaguely enough you can still claim to have been correct." Which he had totally never done. Yeah, right.
"Anyway, it's hard to get a good read on you. You're sick. Sick people don't really act like themselves, they just act sick." Nathaniel could have left it at that, but Flint seemed pretty amused by the whole "detective" thing. He might as well give him something. "You're having nasty tremors, though, so it's probably related to drugs or alcohol. If it was contagious you would be staying away from other people, and most diseases that have tremors as a symptom would severely lower your ability to survive a bunch of zombies."
What else could he make a guess at? "Hmm... You don't really care what other people think about you. If you did, you wouldn't want to be seen like this. Also, you aren't easy to threaten. And you and Mr. Vincent are... dating, I assume." He doubted people who were just friends would be on top of each other eighty percent of the time.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 27, 2016 0:47:05 GMT -5
"Mmm, a cheater," Flint laughed softly, adjusting himself until he was comfortable.
Listening to Nathaniel's attempts only caused his smile to widen, but his fingers tightened against the couch in what could only be a more aggressive movement, or possibly defensive - itching to reach for a weapon because that, he noted, was far too close to the truth. He looked down at his shaky hands and laughed again, this time a harsher sound.
"You really are being vague," he nodded. "I'm not sick. I'm going through withdrawal. I was on anti-psychotics, but Reina doesn't know the full truth, so you don't need to tell her that," one shaking hand moved to his lips in a shh gesture. "If I stayed away from people I would be dead, because I'm not going to take care of myself in this state. I am, of course, impossible to threaten," a stretch of the truth, "because I've been threatened before. I don't care about what other people think about me, but I still get anxiety and paranoia over them hating me. You can call him Carey, and yes, we're dating."
He inhaled and tilted his head back.
"You missed so much, though, everyone else prods deeper. I'm a military man, but oddly," he squinted, "I was discharged months after entering the army, and I was in the sick bay for a month - so how am I a military man, Nathaniel? I'm handy with guns, I keep one on me at all times but now, now," he tapped his nose, "I've managed to make Isak and Carey completely overlook this, despite the fact that they have both been extraordinarily close. Carey has been close enough to feel it where it is, but he hasn't noticed. It's adorable," he exhaled and adjusted himself until he was sprawled. "I have a personality disorder, feel free to guess at which one. There's plenty of time. Am I truly Canadian? You're not going to find the answer to that one because there's no way I'm giving something like that away. I'm American, though. Ye olde American, as they once said."
His ramble was a panic reflex, because someone had dipped close to the truth and so it was easier to tell or hint at things than let them drag it out of him, kicking and screaming.
"Come on, Nathaniel. Surely you're better than this if you're qualified?"
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Post by floruit on Dec 27, 2016 1:39:50 GMT -5
Nathaniel sat quietly through the deluge of information and did an incredibly good job of not looking remotely shocked or horrified. Truthfully, he wasn't either of those, although he hadn't expected to get information like this. More than anything, he was thrown off. This was the talk that happened at least half a dozen sessions in, when a person finally decided it would look better if they addressed all their issues directly instead of waiting for him to figure them out through well placed questions. This was not information you gave out to a stranger unless you knew it was going to be forced out eventually, and he hadn't been trying to hit on any serious problems. Flint had done nothing to him, so he wasn't going to tear him apart without being prompted to.
"You asked me to tell you things about yourself, not to completely dissect you. And while I am capable of doing that, I don't really want to. I don't think you want me to either." He couldn't help with any of it now, so he didn't really want to know about it. Nathaniel had never been good at comforting people—he had a tendency wind up doing more harm than good. Coming up win treatment plans and therapies he could handle, but making people not feel miserable in the moment? Not the best at that, unless he was trying not to act like himself. And he had a feeling Flint wouldn't feel any better if he suddenly switched gears and started being incredibly nice. The more genuine he was, the worse things went. His best bet for actually helping Flint was to take a step back for the time being.
"I have a much better idea of who you are than I did a few minutes ago, but I don't think it's a good idea for me to try guessing at things you don't want me to know. If you want to talk about yourself to me you're welcome to do that later. I don't think now is the best time," he said, hoping that would be enough to put an end to the conversation without upsetting Flint.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 27, 2016 1:49:35 GMT -5
"I dare you to dissect me and you back away when you see a problem," Flint stretched his arms above his head and tried to pretend he wasn't shaking as badly as he was. Man. He needed to throw up. Real bad. "You must've been a real joy when the world was alive."
He grimaced as his stomach growled a warning to him and stood up too suddenly for even himself to handle. Through some bizarre combination of determination and pure strength, he managed to stumble to a bucket that Isak had probably shoved in the corner earlier, emptying the contents of his stomach there before he slumped against the wall and groaned. So much for the stew.
"I don't wanna talk to you about me," he tilted his head back, "I wanted to compare you to psychologists and psychiatrists and therapists and whatever else that I've already talked to."
Broken them, too, but he decided that was irrelevant. After so many years of their prodding he learned that the real shock they got was when he spilled everything after a poke or two. It was always nice to see the blood drain from their faces - it distracted him from his panic.
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Post by floruit on Dec 27, 2016 3:55:43 GMT -5
[ also river, if you want me to go ahead with the zombie in the garden plot so reina and carey can be freed i can def do that! just let me know. or you can have reina find it. either works, honestly. ]
Nathaniel would have been more offended at what Flint was saying if he hadn't just watched the man have a small breakdown and throw up almost immediately afterward. That series of actions made it difficult for him to even start getting angry. Besides, being in the middle of withdrawals brought on by running out of your anti-psychotics in the apocalypse was a pretty low rock bottom. He imagined the man was not usually this much of a confrontational mess.
"You can go ahead and do that without me continuing trying to figure you out. I don't particularly want to contribute to making your life worse. You look like you're having a bad enough time as it is." What was he even supposed to do about the throwing up? He hadn't been aware of all of this when he signed up to look after Flint. Carey needed to hurry up and get back.
He supposed all he could really do was continue serveing as a distraction (albeit a somewhat upsetting one) and offer to clean up. "If you want me to take that and wash it out I can, as long as you think you can make it a few minutes without getting sick again."
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Post by Deleted on Dec 27, 2016 4:18:46 GMT -5
"Go away," said Flint, in a tone that was not kind, but not entirely nasty. Ragged. His throat hurt like hell, and he took a few more moments to throw up before he said the words again. His hands rested lightly on the floor and tears pricked his eyes, the tremors worsening because hell, this was hell.
The end of the world and he was sitting here probably dying from the inside not from zombies or sickness or starvation but from withdrawal. Hm.
"I want -" Carey was busy, so he scowled and let himself flop onto the floor. "You to leave me alone."
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Post by Rivermagic on Dec 27, 2016 12:52:41 GMT -5
Reina walked down the stairs with a small huff. "Nothing important." she said to the group as she looked with a sigh. "I don't think..." she pursed her lips before she saw what was happening.
"Oh god..." she tilted her head to the side before she ran a hand through her hair. "What's going on?" she asked them before she looked around. Damn. She was so worried about them now. She walked away for one moment and then Flint was having a breakdown.
It wasn't good. She looked around the place before she tensed at the sight of the zombie in the garden. "Dammit, one got in." she said as she locked her gun.
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Post by floruit on Dec 27, 2016 13:57:24 GMT -5
"Nothing too concerning. Don't worry about it," Nathaniel said to Reina, waving a hand as if to literally brush the question off. That was definitely a lie, because the past few minutes of conversation had been nothing but concerning, but none of it was his information to give out. Confidentiality was very important.
Also, zombies not getting into the house. That was also very important. As he looked out the window to the backyard, he suddenly and intensely regretted not bringing his gun.
Carey entered the room a few moments after Reina, eye widening once he took a look around the room. "Exactly what the f*** just happened here?" he asked, clearly more than a little distressed, then looked to where everyone seemed to be looking and saw the zombie. Alright. One live zombie was slightly higher in his priorities than Flint being curled up on the floor. Only slightly, though. "Reina, can you deal with that?" He was totally not asking that because he didn't really want to shoot anything. It was only because she had her gun and he didn't. Yeah, that was all.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 27, 2016 14:09:23 GMT -5
Everything was (metaphorically) on fire and nothing was fine, but Flint raised one hand sleepily to signal his okay-ness before he threw up again, seemingly completely oblivious to the zombie. Or not, considering he watched from the corner of his eye, nose wrinkled up slightly. He probably would've done something if he wasn't in such a state.
"Everything's fine," he said, his voice wrecked from what was happening, "and nothing is burning. Especially not my throat."
As if to prove a point, he spat in the bucket and leaned back, tilting his head back and trying his best not to go back to the fetal position. He pointed at Nathaniel. "'m not done with you, f**kface."
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Post by Rivermagic on Dec 27, 2016 14:14:38 GMT -5
Reina knew she had to not feel anything as she proceeded to go to the back door and head into the garden. Her eyes narrowed while she soon aimed her gun at the zombie's head before sighing. "May God have mercy on you." before she fired once, straight into the thing's head.
She let out a long sigh as she glanced up to the empty sky for a moment or two. She didn't want to feel anything at the moment. All she really needed to know was that the barricade needed some working on. A shiver came over her as she realized she didn't have her coat on. That would be an issue if she was going to work on the outside.
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Post by floruit on Dec 27, 2016 14:39:34 GMT -5
A dilemma: go outside and get Reina out of he cold, or deal with the man who was currently cussing out the person who was supposed to watch him? It had to be Flint. Unlike Reina, he probably wasn't going to do much to take care of himself. She would come inside soon, and he could talk to her then. Not everyone could be heartless and efficient while killing zombies, and he had a feeling that she didn't like doing it. He was pretty sure she had even said something to it before she shot.
Anyway, back to the new most pressing problem: Flint suffering on the floor. Carey crouched down beside him. "Did I miss something important in the last five minutes?" he asked, clearly concerned and upset.
Nathaniel, meanwhile, was still dealing with this fairly well. Flint was being vaguely threatening, but he couldn't really do anything to harm him without upsetting the rest of he group. He stood up abruptly and started for the door. "I think I should excuse myself for the time being."
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Post by Deleted on Dec 27, 2016 14:45:29 GMT -5
When Carey crouched next to him, Flint flopped against him and squirmed until he was comfortable, closing his eyes and sighing through his nose in what was almost a content way. Very shaky hands curled against the man's shirt and he pulled him closer, but smiled as he did so.
"No" he said. "Everything's fine."
It wasn't fine and he wasn't fine, but it was easier than saying that he'd completely panicked and had spoken a lot without actually meaning to.
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Post by Rivermagic on Dec 27, 2016 14:55:49 GMT -5
Reina soon walked into the house again with a neutral look. "The zombie's taken care of." she said while she set her gun on the table as she was narrowing her eyes at the older man. Ugh. He was still here.
She looked away from them before she relaxed at the sight of Flint and Carey being close. Dammit, that was always going to make her be slightly immature, or at least more relaxed.
"Things are...calm?" she asked as she sat down on the sofa while she was patting Carey's shoulder before glancing slightly to the Nathaniel before she pursed her lips.
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Post by floruit on Dec 27, 2016 15:23:07 GMT -5
Yeah, this was definitely his cue to leave. Three out of four people living here didn't seem to like him at all. He shouldn't stick around any longer for the time being. Nathaniel gave a quick "goodbye" and slipped out of the living room.
Well, this had certainly been an eventful few minutes. He leaned back against the sofa and tilted his head up to look at Reina. "Calm? You think this is calm?" Carey asked, unable to hold back a laugh. "This isn't very calm, in my opinion. In fact, this is the wildest day I've had in a long while. And I don't think everything is fine," he added, glancing down at Flint. "I think something strange happened, and while I would like to know exactly what the hell caused this, you don't have to tell me now."
Of course, Flint wasn't really even obligated to tell him later either, but he did want to know. Whatever had happened while he was out of the room had caused a seriously bad reaction.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 27, 2016 15:27:40 GMT -5
"Maybe I'll tell you later," Flint reached up lightly to push a hand against the other man's face, a childish gesture. He was quick to drop his hand and settle comfortably, curling his legs up to his body and sighing softly, shakily. His gaze flicked over to Reina and he rose a hand in greeting.
He then pushed himself away from Carey in order to empty the rest of his stomach into the bucket, because there wasn't much else he could do. Damnit.
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Post by Rivermagic on Dec 27, 2016 16:38:52 GMT -5
Reina smiled to the men, now she could relax as Nathaniel left the group and the living room. "What should we do about him?" she asked quietly before she narrowed her eyes while focusing.
Of course she grimaced when all Flint could do was throw up. Ugh, great. She shook her head before closing her eyes as she let out a long sigh through her nose. "Geez, you're probably right." she murmured, "It's been crazy enough." she muttered as she was running a hand through her hair to try calming herself down.
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Post by floruit on Dec 27, 2016 17:00:15 GMT -5
Carey leaned forward and brushed Flint's hair out of his face. It was good for the both of them that he didn't have a weak stomach. "I mean, it seems like a good idea to pool our resources as long as we're both in the area. He seems... strange, but not untrustworthy. I don't think he's a bad man, just a little messed up. And that's pretty standard for people nowadays." He shrugged.
"Anyways, he said he wouldn't be here very long. He's looking for his daughter. Apparently she was staying near here before the end of the world, but the weather has been too bad recently for him to leave the city," he said, pausing to consider how truthful the man had been. "It didn't sound like he was lying about that. Flint said she was probably dead and he kind of just... shut down for a second. That's hard to fake."
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Post by Deleted on Dec 27, 2016 17:13:44 GMT -5
"He's not dangerous," said Flint, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand before he leaned back into Carey again, tilting his head back to nuzzle into the man's neck. "To us. Not dangerous to us. It won't hurt to let him stay, is what I'm saying. He doesn't have bad intentions."
He exhaled slowly and tilted his head up to look at the ceiling. Once again, he could hear Isak moving around - from the sounds of it, moving furniture. Interio design complex?
( short as Hell post bc im writing a starter for smeone )
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Post by Rivermagic on Dec 27, 2016 17:19:50 GMT -5
(It's all good)
Reina pursed her lips while she was looking down at her hands for a moment. "I don't like the looks of him, a lone wolf like that usually doesn't come to others." she stated coldly before she clasped her hands together.
"I guess that's just me anyway." she murmured. Then there was Isak. She was pretty sure he would support her opinion, for different reasons anyway. If he was able to cause trauma to Flint, she didn't want to know what else he could even try to do in the first place.
"We'll have to do some work in the back barricade...a zombie got in, it's dead now."
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Post by floruit on Dec 27, 2016 17:48:05 GMT -5
[ it's all good! ]
Not dangerous was a good assessment as far as Carey was concerned. He didn't want to take in anyone who would be harmful to the group. He also didn't want to reject anyone with decent motivations who wanted to join. "I don't think he's a lone wolf, exactly. I think he wants to be in a group. He probably just hasn't run into any sane people yet. Hell, I didn't meet anyone I would risk staying with until I met Flint. And we were alone for quite a while before we found Isak." He paused. That fit with the backstory they had agreed upon, right? He was pretty sure it did.
"Anyway, the more people in the group, the less work we'll have to individually do on the barricade. We can lock the doors tonight, just in case, and start work on them tomorrow."
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Post by Deleted on Dec 27, 2016 18:01:46 GMT -5
"Mmm," Flint nuzzled Carey absently and curled himself up again, clearly content that he wasn't going to need the bucket at the moment. "I've had groups, but I think Carey has been the most permanent. Him and Isak," he nodded, reaching up to flick Carey's nose gently.
"I'm sleeping tomorrow," he said, despite being strong enough to deal with it even in his weakened state, "good luck on the barricade."
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