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[h3][color=4682b4][i][b]Ash Holloway[/b][/i][/color][/h3][i][b][color=4682b4]Location:[/color][/b][/i] Mechanics (K)
[i][b][color=4682b4]Skills:[/color][/b][/i] N/A
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[right][img]https://i.ibb.co/9nVT3Qs/Ash-Happy.jpg[/img][/right]
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	Ash took the time he had in the relative quiet to fully understand and appreciate the fuller, myriad definitions - literal, colloquial, and metaphorical - of the term "shit work". He appreciated the conversational hiatus between himself and Hunter. They didn't have a lot to say to each other as it was, and unnecessary talk meant that he would have to have his mouth open more than he absolutely had to in this place. To Ash's thinking, this was was better all around. 

	As sweltering and disgusting as it might be in that bathroom, there was at least an end in sight. Accomplish the job, be done with it. Move on to the next. Probably a men's bathroom that was just as awful. Still, it was worth it. Do a good job, and consistently, maybe get moved to a better one. It's how it was in the Army, and this was a settlement run by former military. It stood to reason. Or to put it differently, Ash had his fingers crossed. It didn't help his morale that the ambient funk that permeated the air seemed to taint the very sweat coming from his pores, making every bit trickling down his skin seem like fat, septic drops. 

	The pair was relieved from their position by the simple utterances and hand motions of Mizrahi. Ash was grateful, though he was a little curious about the reason why as it wasn't time for their lunch break yet. Nonetheless, he followed where he was led. When he saw the table with bottles of water, patio umbrella, and (best of all) the waterhose, he looked to the taller Mizrahi and gave him a frank, direct, [color=4682b4]"Thank you."[/color] Ash procured a bottle of water immediately and took a long, slow sip for himself, then set it down and pulled his shirt over his head and peeled it off of himself. The marks of his journey so far stood out, the freshest of these being a scar left on his torso from a firefight. Ash had taken a bullet, but they got Tatiana and her baby boy back. Fair enough deal as any, these days. He pat his face with a more or less clean part of the shirt, and looked to the hose. Then to Hunter with a raised eyebrow. Then back to the hose. 

	[color=4682b4]"If you want to go first, I'll spray your ass down,"[/color] he offered Hunter. Ash even took a step toward the hose when he heard something strangely familiar echo between the buildings of Camp Mexico Beach. Someone was yelling [i]with his accent[/i]. A little deeper of Virginia mountain inflection than what Ash presented unless liquor was involved, but there it was regardless. [color=4682b4]"Impossible,"[/color] he said, turning around in the direction of the voice. Apparently, it was not impossible. [color=4682b4]"...GUY!"[/color] he finally yelled, taking a few stunned steps in his direction with his arms stretched out to his sides. As Guy got closer, Ash exclaimed, [color=4682b4]"Oh, you shifty son of a bitch! It's damn good to see ya, man!"[/color] The color of his own accent deepened to match that of the man approaching - quite possibly the only two left in the world with that selfsame native inflection. 




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[h3][color=dc143c][i][b]Thalia Carmichael[/b][/i][/color][/h3][i][b][color=dc143c]Location:[/color][/b][/i] Administration (A) -> Mess Hall (C)
[i][b][color=dc143c]Skills:[/color][/b][/i] N/A
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[right][img]https://i.ibb.co/4MQGYbk/Thalia-Portrait-III.jpg[/img][/right]
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	Stupid mistakes. Like the one that cost her an arm, or part of one due to a botched stabbing attempt at a Zed and a shield that somehow refused to function when it was crucial. As she pressed the heel of her hand to the fresh laceration, Thalia's eyes went back to the offending piece of plastic and metal that did her this new injury, be it relatively minor. [color=dc143c]"Bowling trophy. That's embarrassing as shit."[/color] Far be it for her to ruin a shirt, now that manufactured clothing was a finite commodity anymore, Thalia stuck to blotting the blood away from her face with her hand, and then wiping it onto a suitable scrap of something or another that was destined for the trash, anyway. After a couple of minutes it was good enough for her to continue working without having to worry about streaks of crimson running down the side of her face.  

	Nobody really cared about dirt. Dirt didn't hurt anybody. And sweat was just the price of doing a hard job. But blood? Blood would draw attention, and she wasn't an amazingly huge fan of unnecessary attention. The mark on her face would attract that quite enough without adding more to it, as would the heavy, metal arm. If she was lucky, it would leave a scar that she might tell people about later: [color=dc143c][i]"Yah, it was rough. Friggin' Zeds crawling around, making life wicked pissah. Lost my hand to one of 'em. Got shot a few times. Dropped a couple pints of O-Positive in knife fights. But worse? Took me a bowling trophy to the face. Ah, it was hell..."[/i][/color] 

	The bleeding did stop, and Thalia did get back to work, trying to ignore the new source of stinging on her cheek. Things did go rather smoothly past that. Sorting, tidying, bagging; while it didn't have the glamour of fire-hardening pointy sticks or foraging for edible bark, it was easy enough work with far less of a risk factor than to which she was accustomed. Getting involved in her work made for a faster transition of hours, which was indicated to Thalia by the reappearance of their taskmaster, Gunny. She wordlessly waved away the idea of going to Medical for something as minor as this and simply kept to her job as efficiently as she could with only one functional hand. 

	The mention of lunch was a personal pick-me-up, though. As was the fact that they only had to wait a little longer for it. Thalia wasn't particularly peckish right then, but she was promised sushi, and that was all she needed to want to get down there ASAP. [color=dc143c]"So what'ah you thinking, Mugsy? Tuna casserole, or sushi?"[/color] They hadn't spoken much over the course of their work so far. While that was just fine and frigging dandy with Thalia, she didn't want Alexander to feel like she was giving him a cold shoulder. [color=dc143c]"Yah, 'cause I'm getting a plateful of raw, blood-red, saltwatah [i]pescado atún[/i]."[/color] She didn't seem to be aware of the sudden dip between Boston and regional Spanish, or if she was, she didn't care too much. 

	It didn't seem like much time at all until, just as Gunny had mentioned, the next bell rang. Thalia stuck around with Alexander in case he wasn't up to moving in any quick hurry (if in fact he was taking lunch at that time and didn't have something else better to do), but in time appropriate to events Thalia found herself back at Mess. Her perceptive eyes latched onto the target of her desires as her body continued ever closer toward it as the line got a little shorter and shorter, until she was face to face with the gatekeeper of her destiny. [color=dc143c]"Sushi. Um, please."[/color] Yes, people used the word "please" here, even if she did say the whole thing with a bit of a rasp. When she got the plate, Thalia couldn't help but smile. Of course, it did raise a question for her, which she spit out without much tact, [color=dc143c]"Jeez, did they squeeze the roe themselves?"[/color] She gave a little giggle, imagining whose job it might be to wring out egg-bearing fish like a dishtowel, complete with squishy, spurting sounds and the occasional metallic ping of roe hitting a steel bowl with force. [color=dc143c]"I mean, thank you."[/color] Manners. Yes indeedy, manners. One day, Thalia might remember that she was taught them as a child. 

	But that day was not today. She found Thana, for the first time since arriving here without Ash, and beelined over to her. Without asking or waiting for an invite, Thalia took a seat near to her and crammed a piece of tuna and rice into her mouth. Chewing with as much obvious [i]happy[/i] as she might muster, Thalia opened conversation around her bite, [color=dc143c]"Hey, girl! Long time no see."[/color] She nodded, at first, for sarcastic emphasis considering her understandable preoccupation with Army Guy lately. But then she stopped, possessed by what might be building into a genuine foodgasm. [color=dc143c]"Oh my [i]Gahd[/i] that's some good stuff."[/color] She gripped the side of the table, closed her eyes, and added, [color=dc143c]"Don't touch me for a sec. I'm having a moment."[/color] After swallowing her bite, Thalia breathed heavily, shuddered a little, and smiled at Thana. [color=dc143c]"Hooo, I needed that. Ahkay, where were we? Yeah - how you been, girl?"[/color]