[hr][hr][center][h1][i][b][color=4682b4]Ash Holloway[/color][/b][/i][/h1][img]https://i.ibb.co/9nVT3Qs/Ash-Happy.jpg[/img][/center][hr][center][color=steelblue][b]Location:[/b][/color] L11 (Beach, Bar)
[color=4682b4][b]Skills:[/b][/color] N/A [/center][hr][hr]

	Ash couldn't help but smile as Thana leaned in and kissed his cheek. [color=4682b4]"Yeah..."[/color] he said quietly, his tone colored by both his smile and his Virginian accent, [color=4682b4]"I miss the peach stuff, too."[/color] Spurred on by her mention of counting down from sixty, Ash recognized the intent. The last time he had peach moonshine was the night of the wedding; the night that he and Thana shared a perfect evening together. 

	Ash noted the old man with the prosthetic leg sauntering up, so much as he was able to [i]saunter[/i], persay. He was part of Thana's group, when they had split up last year. Ash didn't recall offhand seeing the man with a fake leg then, much like the familiar looking girl had both of her hands back then, too. They must have had a hard time of it. In any case, far be it for Ash to get in the way of the old man - Alexander, yes that was his name. He returned Alexander's nod and make a token show of gesturing toward Thana, indicating his lack of problem with the interruption. The mention of Eden definitely got Ash's attention. He hadn't heard much of the story about what went down there, only that there were heavy losses and the result was that Eden was just as demolished as Newnan. Ash still wished that he could have been there. He had trained for it, only for him to be denied by the earth itself, splitting open while he was on the wrong side of the chasm. [color=4682b4]"Thank you, Alexander. I said something to Thana, and your angry one-handed friend, but it was all of you. You finished the mission I couldn't. You saved lives. Thank you."[/color] 

	It was then that he noticed Manny. Also in Thana's group, though if memory served he mentioned back in Quarantine that he was a rescue from Eden. Another life saved by them, and he probably returned the favor often enough. It was how people survived anymore. He gave Manny a polite nod. They hadn't talked very much, he and the dentist/apocalypse doc. Maybe he'd strike up a conversation after he and Thana had their words. It occurred to Ash that the Eden group were keeping relatively close together, in comparison to his people from Newnan. They were integrating or sticking to themselves, while Thana's team had more of a shared identity. In the Mess Hall, too. He found it interesting. Alexander's mentioning the Rolling Stones gave Ash the barest hint of a smile. [color=4682b4]"For the record, I'm an Alice Cooper fan, too. But he never did 'Sympathy of the Devil'."[/color] 

	The mention of music seemed to cue the actual tunes on stage. It him a little by surprise. It wasn't his kind of music, but [i]any[/i] music, this day and age, was a blessing. Ash poured two more shots, one for him and Thana, and slid her glass over to her. [color=4682b4]"Two to get things rolling, then I'm slowing down,"[/color] he promised. Whether anyone knew it or not, that was a sign that he was loosening up in a fundamental way; a habit going back before the Outbreak. But what really got him was the song selection as the eclectic group of CMB dwellers began to belt it out. [color=4682b4]"Hey, I think I know this song,"[/color] said Ash. [color=4682b4]"Yeah, James used to play it in his truck..."[/color] And with that, he just made himself sad. James was a good man who died right in front of him, the same day Newnan fell. He was a good friend and marvelous barbecue-er. 

	Still, Ash chose to smile. He looked to Thana and tilted his head to the side, inquiring, [color=4682b4]"Want to wait for a slow one, or would you like to dance?"[/color] He smiled a little bigger. [color=4682b4]"Long as I'm with you I'm good, either way."[/color]  



[hr][hr][center][h1][b][i][color=dc143c]Thalia Carmichael[/color][/i][/b][/h1][img]https://i.ibb.co/D9f1NPS/Thalia-Irritated.jpg[/img][hr][b][color=crimson]Location:[/color][/b] L11 (Beach, Fire Pits)
[b][color=dc143c]Skills:[/color][/b] N/A [hr][hr][/center]

	It was impulsive. Not really the kind of thing that Thalia did, just go up to one of the main people in charge of an installation and make a request like that. Too much of a presumption, too much of a risk. For all she knew, that would have been a one-way ticket to garbage patrol for the next five years or so. Thalia felt the weight of that when Gunny crossed his arm and shook his head. Great. Dumpster duty, here she comes. She narrowed her eyes and looked at him for a half second before realizing that he was actually pointing her in the direction of the man who led the team that picked them up outside the walls. Okay, so there [i]was[/i] something in place for just such an occasion. 

	And something else: Thalia instantly and internally scolded herself for feeling bad about the more direct nature of her speech. No, this was [i]exactly[/i] the kind of thing that she would have done. Doing so in a larger social setting was what initially threw her off. It was still something that she would have to get used to. She wasn't in the wilderness anymore, she wasn't with a small group either, and she sure as hell wasn't with her Shieldmaidens in their primitive, log-walled village. It was an adjustment, like eating left-handed. 

	Mizrahi seemed talkative. Four or five words were more than she had heard the man personally say, so any sort of encouragement on his part seemed misplaced, as if Thalia herself had donned a cheerleading outfit and began rooting for the local baseball team. Not that she couldn't pull it off, metal arm aside. She had excellent physicality and she wasn't even back to her fighting best, yet. And one might be able to hide a blade behind a pom-pom. In fact, that might be one hell of a decent ploy, back in the day. But to the present, Mizrahi mentioned that there were [i]others[/i] like her, missing limbs? No, she didn't want the frigging Special Olympics version of soldiering. She wanted every piece of the obstacles that a normally able person would have to overcome. To hell with abbreviated training. Or maybe she was reading too much into it. Anger was her comfort zone sometimes. Maybe Maddog had a good setup without pulling punches, or helping them adjust to combat and the like with fierceness. That would be more like her. 

	[color=dc143c]"Looking forward to it,"[/color] she said simply, still staring into the fire. She would have to move when the real cooking got started, but for now she had a fire to meditate with, and it was all good. [color=dc143c]"Do yah know when he takes on new recruits?"[/color]