His ears twitched as he heard Nellie coming, and, instead of turning to look at her, he replied, [color=f26522]"Just as surely as this city will. Might die young, might as well get some enjoyment out of life."[/color] He smiled and turned to face her, then gave a nervous laugh and ran his hand through his hair. [color=f26522]"Sorry, that was a bit morbid. But, you're right, I shouldn't smoke as much as I do. I'll try to tone it down a bit for you, if it'll make you feel better."[/color] He took another long drink of his coffee, then set the empty mug on the counter.

[color=f26522]"Never heard of it, huh? It's kind of an older game, early 2000's, was about these four people who were trying to survive the apocalypse. One of the character's names was Ellis, was a real country hick. I expect Murphy over there to get it, so it was a word of warning to him, mostly."[/color] He was honestly surprised she hadn't heard of it, however that was beside the point. [color=f26522]"Er, sorry, didn't mean to bore you with some dumb game reference."[/color]

[i]Wow, Ellis, smooth,[/i] he thought, letting out a sigh. He wasn't good talking to people he didn't know well, and tended to either ramble about something stupid or not talk at all. It was hard to find a good middle ground, but he didn't want it to fall into an awkward silence. To fill that void, he'd just ask a simple question. Get her to do all the work and talk. [color=f26522]"So, I missed a bit there. Care to fill me in on what the other's are like? Or, if you don't feel like gossiping, just something about you. I totally understand if you don't want to talk to a stranger about yourself, though,"[/color] he added hastily, beginning to get flustered again.