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[h3][color=4682b4][i][b]Ash Holloway[/b][/i][/color][/h3][i][b][color=4682b4]Location:[/color][/b][/i] Beach (L11) N - Officer's Barracks (M5)
[i][b][color=4682b4]Skills:[/color][/b][/i] N/A
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[right][img]https://i.ibb.co/Wnnd0Wm/Ash-FC-5.jpg[/img][/right]
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	Ash's smile broadened. [color=4682b4]"Yes,"[/color] he agreed, slowly nodding once. [color=4682b4]"I am exactly your 'mode', Thawna."[/color] She seemed to show a touch of favor when the accent of his upbringing colored her name. In turn, it gave him a jolt of satisfaction to see her happy. He took to a knee in the street with his back facing her, explaining over his shoulder, [color=4682b4]"Wouldn't dream of getting let out of it. Hop on."[/color] Apparently, piggy-back was in vogue this season. [color=4682b4]"Home, or do you have a waypoint between there and here?"[/color] Ash was more than happy to play the role of Human Taxi. If nothing else, it helped Thana out during the tail end of her recovery period and allowed her to be very close to him, out in public no less. 

	The way Ash said her name, drawing out the southern accent, for some odd reason made her melt inside a little. She didn't know why, she hadn't ever been a big fan of her name. It was an odd name and it meant Death but Ash made her enjoy it a bit more. As he knelt down she laced her arms over his shoulders and waited for him to start standing to tuck her knees against his ribs. Resting her chin on his shoulder she smiled slightly. [color=0072bc]"Naw, let's just go home Ash. A shower and a bed is all I want tonight, well as long as yer there,"[/color] she said with surety as she waited for him to take them home.  

	As soon as Ash could feel Thana's weight fully rest upon him, he carefully rose and faced in the direction of the Officer's Barracks. A bed and a shower sounded amazing, he had to admit. Better than a swim in the Gulf with Thana, that was for sure. Before he took to putting one foot in front of the other, he made the observation, [color=4682b4]"Long as I'm there... we have to make sure not to waste water. Civic Duty."[/color] It would be easier to do so if they were both using the water simultaneously. Fringe benefit, too. He gave a smile and started on his way, giving only slight hesitance as he hadn't quite memorized the route yet. He remembered that, if one used the pier as a landmark, one could straight shot it to both Officers' and Enlisted housing. So that was exactly what he did. Ash gave thought to (among other, more present things) his and Thana's future here in CMB as he walked. He wanted to get involved in their military program, get into what the higher-ups were saying when they arrived. But not immediately. Ash had some quality catching-up time to spend with Thana, continuing on the immediate. He didn't even set her down until they were right in front of the building, and it was with a little reluctance. 

	Though Ash might not have set Thana down, she set herself down. Loosening her knees from against his ribs and sliding down. She needed to get the keys out to the building. It wasn't exactly one that was left open for anyone, especially at night. Sure Ash had a key now as well but she was quicker. Pulling the key out she unlocked the door and smiled over to him. [color=0072bc]"Come on, let's get home,"[/color] she said as she headed in. She wasn't about to let him carry her up the stairs. She could walk that, plus it was safer. Once she reached the apartment door she unlocked it as well and stepped in, tossing her boots near the wall so they were out of the way before going and opening the rooms window to let in a fresh breeze, even with the air conditioning it felt a little stuffy in there. 

	Even though they had just come from the outside, the breeze felt good on Ash's skin. He stood there for a moment, letting the evening air gently brush across him, even so far as to close his eyes and take in a slow breath. His two of three seconds of tranquility refreshing him as much as it may, Ash followed Thana's example, removing his boots and setting them to the side. [color=4682b4]"Feels good, having a home with you,"[/color] he shared, then turned to the bathroom. [color=4682b4]"Give me just a minute to set the shower and come join me, if you would, please,"[/color] he said with a smile. It was the ending of the first official day of his citizenship in Camp Mexico Beach, and it had been eventful. Already, several possibilities revealed themselves to Ashton, many to the positive and a few which might bear as warning. But none of those had any hold on his attention in that moment. It was a shower and then bed for the two of them; Ash couldn't think of a better way they could wrap up the day. 

	




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[h3][color=dc143c][i][b]Thalia Carmichael[/b][/i][/color][/h3][i][b][color=dc143c]Location:[/color][/b][/i]  L7 (General Housing (X), Condo 17B)
[i][b][color=dc143c]Skills:[/color][/b][/i] N/A
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	Maybe stepping into the apartment that she had been assigned (a thought which made her involuntarily growl a little; being [i]assigned[/i] her place to sleep) with a touch of aggravation wasn't the best thing in the world for Thalia right then. If she lived alone it wouldn't have mattered, but lodging with Joaquin had its own, very specific circumstances that made her angst counterproductive. Especially now that she had to have a talk with him. Maybe she didn't [i]have to[/i], speaking strictly, but she felt she owed him this.

	Thalia fumbled the keys into the lock, making more noise than she would have liked. There was no practical reason for her to continue honing her stealthy ways, being that she was both welcome and expected here. Still, there was no way she was getting out of practice if she didn't have to. Her left hand wasn't up to par with her missing right, a thing which she was reminded of several times just today, once at the cost of some blood from the side of her face. Once the lock yielded to her intentions, Thalia slipped through and inside of her apartment. 

	Her perceptive eyes caught something out of place - not that anything in here was fully comfortable or committed to memory as of yet - though something wedged in the door to the room provided for her stood out. Ignoring most everything else in the area as unimportant or benign, Thalia beelined toward the object and snatched it from its perch. When she saw it, she gasped. 

	The sharp intake of breath was the prelude to a silent emotional reaction. Tears welled up in Thalia's eyes as she looked over the image of her youth. This picture was taken not too long after she was in [i]Preparatoria[sub]1[/sub] Catolica[/i][sub]2[/sub], and couldn't be older than 16 at the time. She had gotten into her first initiated, outnumbered knife fight not a year prior, coincidentally falling near to her highly eventful Quinceañera[sub]3[/sub], a thing which was spoken of in shudders and hushed tones only. Even among her father's people. This photograph was a piece of her past that she had forgotten up until this very moment. It's continued existence at all was miraculous. 

	Emotion of a positive note quickly turned to guilt. Horrible, reaching guilt that threatened to drag her down with as much surety as the loss of her arm almost did many months ago. She needed to talk to Joaquin NOW. The picture still between her fingers, she stalked over to the man. Thalia's tears had spilled from her eyes, rolling hotly down her cheeks and stinging the still raw wound on her face. She paid it no mind. Still able to enunciate around her mounting stresses, Thalia forced her voice into something direct and addressed her brother. But first, the image of their youth found its way onto the nearest flat surface to them both. There was no way she wanted to damage it. 

	Thalia spoke to Joaquin, a man with whom she shared a father but only a little in the way of familial feature, and opened up to him. The words spilled out as plainly as she could make them, without giving excuse or softening the story. This was about Gavin Comfort, a man she met the day that he died, and unbeknownst to her, Joaquin's once-partner when they were Texas Rangers. Every so often her words came out in Spanish, befitting a fluctuating level of solidity on her part, and sometimes her Boston accent took her words to amazing reaches of diffused culture. Such was the nature of her mixed heritage and emotional state at the time. But she was open with her tale, regardless of what it might mean for her later. Joaquin deserved to know, and she needed to get it off of her chest to someone. 

	First, she spoke of the attack on Eden. Why they went and the plans they had. Her part in this. How she stepped into the role of an assassin masquerading as a soldier, under Thana's lead. The use of blade and bullet, stealth and fortitude, and the body count she racked up which easily surpassed anything she had done previously or since. She spoke of the feeling of cold righteousness as she took life after life, her own injuries serving only as fuel in her pursuit of ending them once and for all. Then she spoke to the meat of the discussion: Gavin. How he acted as a hero, preventing Thana from dying in a hail of gunfire by taking it himself. His body, still clinging to precious seconds of life and sucking in ragged, bloody breaths as he fell to his knees. And then, Thalia's biggest regret of the battle: When she used his dying, kneeling form as cover to maneuver into position, then as a human shield when she returned fire and took the Edenite defenders out. 

	The last thing Gavin experienced was a Mestiza chick he didn't know use him to gain a temporary advantage in a firefight; moreover propping him up in kneeling position with her boot to his back while she fired two 9mm pistols on either side of his head while he continued to take more bullets, himself. Thalia didn't know how long Gavin was alive during this piece of combat opportunism, only that he was gone before she was able to drag Thana out of the hallway after the bad guys had been put down. [color=dc143c]"The thing is, hermano, I know this is something I'd do again. Without hesitation. I did it without thinking or batting a fucking eyelash 'cause shit was going down hahd and heavy, I saw an opportunity to win, and I took it."[/color] Thalia learned a lot about herself in this battle, and not all of it was shiny and noble. Some parts of her were downright chilling. [color=dc143c]"It's just... I'm sorry, Joaquin. And I'm sorry about your friend, I guess is most of it. I know theah's something dahk in me. I didn't want you to think I was hiding something from you. This is who I am now. Prahbably always was. But... I thought you deserved to know."[/color] Thalia wasn't soulless, but she had a sense of brutal and unforgiving practicality as it came to the application of violence. 

	She hadn't even gotten to the part yet where she kicked a bucket of eyeballs, and [i]hard[/i], for use as a distraction before making the air in front of her perilous with spent ammunition. Thalia still remembered the mesmerizing way they flew about, bouncing off of walls and the floor, some still trailing bits of optic nerve like macabre streamers. Another time, maybe. 

	Shaking this off, she wrapped things up by saying, [color=dc143c]"I know it's a laht, bro. If you want me to find a different place to live, I'll put in for it first thing tomorrow. Anyways, thanks for showing me that picture. I'm going to try to get some rest now. Love you, man."[/color] It was a hell of a day. It might be a hell of a day tomorrow, too. But for now, sleep, if she even could now. 

	

[hider=Translations]
1 	=	Mexican equivalent to an American High School, grades 10 to 12. 
2	=	Catholic, in this case identifying a Catholic School
3	=	A young lady's presentation party to the community as a marriageable woman on her 15th birthday. Usually a big deal. Google this or something. It's huge. 

[/hider]