MY THUNDER SHOOK HIM |open, double joining

[ajdawny]

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CRAIG M. 

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[div style="width:500px; text-align: justify; font-size: 10pt; color: black; opacity: .8; line-spacing: 1px; font-family: times"]He'd been traveling with this man for years now... almost a decade. And yet, every time he looked at Abdus' face it was like he was looking at it for the first time. He adored the man, loved him with every fiber of his being. He'd been a mere boy when the blackout had hit, and it had terrified him. His parents, both soldiers stationed in Iraq at the time had died a few years after the black out, and a seventeen year old, with no where to go had started his own life. He'd found a bunker, and made it his own, filling it with as much food as he could, and trying to survive.

Hours turned to days, days to weeks, weeks to months, and months to years. But then he'd found Abdus, a scared, lost boy like himself, starving, and scarred. He'd watched his entire town delve into anarchy, watched people he was close to die painful and terrible deaths. Craig had nurtured him back to health with what food he had left, and then the two had decided to travel away from this place. With nothing but a map, dimming flashlights, and travel gear, the two had set out into the unknown, and had conducted a decade long trek through the world, traveling east to China, through China to Russian, making a jimmied raft and sailing the Baring Straights, and then traveling to the United States, a place that Craig had only heard of.

The crumpled map stuck out of his back pocket, and he consulted the compass in his right hand before sticking it back into his pocket. At the words spoken by his love, he looked over and smiled, "Honestly Abs, I'd be surprised if I knew what day it was... let alone where we are." The man replied giving the hand a little squeeze. They were coming up on a large building, what looked to be... possibly inhabited. But were they friend or foe? He was amazed at the fact that the two of them were still alive. A whine caught his attention as the dog they'd picked up on their travels nudged his leg. She was hungry. "We'll find somewhere to camp Hannah. And I'll get you some food." The man spoke quietly, scratching her ears for a few seconds, before turning to his boyfriend.

"Well, we're in America at least... so, where do you want to go from here?" He was exhausted, he was sure that Abdus was exhausted, and Hannah was hungry and cranky.

[Shadow]

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a

[div style="text-transform: uppercase; font-size: 30px; font-family: GEORGIA; color: #b50018; text-align: left; letter-spacing: -2px; line-height: 95%; width: 420px"]nathan cardoso

✩[b][i] - misery loves my company

[div style="height: 137px; width: 422px; padding: 0px; font-family: arial; color: #292421; font-size: 10px; line-height: 100%; text-align: justify;text-transform:lowercase"]the sound of voices, albeit faint from his position leaning back against a wall of the cosco building, caught the attention of the teen, and in an instant he was scrambling to get his feet under him, dark eyes slightly unfocused from the sudden shifting of his body but scanning the area in front of him anyway. Grabbing his backpack and slinging it unceremoniously across his back, he gave a low click of his tongue as he stalked toward the noise.

The two men he encountered put him off a bit, and not because they were holding hands and walking closely as if they were lovers. The eighteen-year-old couldn't care less about relationship dynamics, and he wasn't one to judge others, anyway. In fact, the sight sent a small flash of warmth through him; it was nice to see that some people still felt they could trust each other in such an intimate fashion. It was sort of a symbol of hope in this world, even if nathanael was definitely not a believer in the power of love.

Sure, he had no idea if these two were already staying around this place with the others who made their home here, but he figured he might as well talk to them anyway. Allies were a good thing to have in this world, and nat had yet to truly gain any other than moose, his own trusty little canine companion--whom was currently attempting to get closer to the couple's dog but was held back by the leash around his neck, something that nate now deemed absolutely necessary after the fright he'd gotten with the trio of big dogs running around here.

A wary step toward the two began their interaction, and he silently hoped they wouldn't see it as threatening. He could take one of them on his own, sure, but both would surely overpower him. He had his knife on him, and god knows how many more in his backpack, but they would take too long to grab in case of an emergency such as being double-teamed. [b]"Oi, who the hell 're you?" he asked the duo, his tone only hinting at curiosity despite the wording of his question. He was constantly walking a fine line between being casual and being outright challenging, and one of these it was definitely going to get him killed.

[color=transparent]thes code

[Advay.]

[align=center][size=8pt]Advay's pack weren't quiet unless they tried. And boy were they quiet until Atlantis smelled another dog. Advay cursed and could be seen running towards the group with two dogs on his heels and running after a third, who was charging at the group. "Atlantis, for... god... son of a..." he wheezed, catching up to the dog as he rounded the group, doing quick circles. Advay wasn't sure what the husky had gotten into, but holy crap, he was way too hyper today. His other two dogs, a Samoyed and a Chow named Aruba and Africa, stood staring at Hannah and her owners, cautious and bristling. Atlantis straight up started barking at them all, curious and cautious as well.

"I... s... Who the hell," he repeated, swallowing hard and pulling his hood and scarf down. He was sweating hard, his mocha brown hair and their caramel highlights turned deep oak and a light brown with sweat around the edges. Luckily his bun kept him rather cool in the breeze. "What's your business," he sputtered, coming up next to Nathan and keeping a watchful eye on Atlantis.

[ajdawny]

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CRAIG M. 

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[div style="width:500px; text-align: justify; font-size: 10pt; color: black; opacity: .8; line-spacing: 1px; font-family: times"]Well, there were two kids looking a bit dumbstruck at their abrupt appearance. He squeezed Abdus' hand and gulped, he usually wasn't afraid, but there was a shred of doubt in his mind that these could be evil ritualistic slaughterers... part of a cult... or something. Licking his suddenly dry lips, the man looked down towards the dog, before looking at Nathanael and Advay. "Interesting question you posed." He said cheerfully, apparently unphased by the rude greeting that they were getting.

"I'm Craig Middlebrooke, and this is my boyf-... friend, companion, and travel mate Abdus Salam." He leaned his head against Abdus' shoulder for a moment before he turned his attention back dot Advay and Nate. "We're here to rest... we've been traveling for the past decade." He informed them, wiggling his free hand, it felt kind of full of stiffness, though he supposed being on the road for that long would do that to anyone's body. He let out a deep breath, and smiled. "I suppose we wanted to see if there was any form of civilization left, more structured and governmental opposed to anarchist."

[Shadow]

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a

[div style="text-transform: uppercase; font-size: 30px; font-family: GEORGIA; color: #b50018; text-align: left; letter-spacing: -2px; line-height: 95%; width: 420px"]nathan cardoso

✩[b][i] - misery loves my company

[div style="height: 137px; width: 422px; padding: 0px; font-family: arial; color: #292421; font-size: 10px; line-height: 100%; text-align: justify;text-transform:lowercase"][b]"dude, you gotta keep those dogs on a leash," nate grumbled towards advay, though it was more in a joking tone, punctuated by an indifferent chuckle. then he cast his attention back to the guy who introduced himself as craig, a smile sliding across his lips at the older man's seemingly slightly nervous initial reaction. He could understand why the guy would be anxious now, what with the three large dogs and two random strangers who had approached them. "well, craig and abdus, you're in luck. This place is st. peter's, and we're just 'bout as civilized as it gets out here."

After being told their names--which he was positive he wouldn't forget, simply due to the fact that these two were pretty memorable--the soldier figured it was only fair that he introduce himself as well. "name's nate. Where're you two from, anyway?" Craig middlebrooke may have sounded like a perfectly normal name for someone here, but abdus salam sounded different. Foreign. Sure, nathanael's own name was foreign, as he was born in spain instead of america, but he couldn't tell where the name abdus could have come from; his worldy knowledge wasn't the best, since he had been born after the blackout, when nothing really mattered except survival. Hell, he could hardly read, for god's sake!

[color=transparent]thes code

[ajdawny]

//awkward bump

[Number 1]

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foxwell made this bitch

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[Advay.]

[align=center][size=8pt]Advay stared quietly at Abdus, watching as each of his dogs kind of gave Advay a look to make sure it was okay. When Addy didn't outright say no, or call them back, each one made it's way to Abdus. Atlantis was first, sniffing his fingers warily and acting all tough. Aruba was next, happy to meet someone new, but looking up to Atlantis in the ways of being cautious. Africa, the best judge of character, walked right up and flopped down for a belly rub, tongue lolling out in the dirt. The sight made Advay laugh softly, his eyes crinkling to show his age. He'd had plenty people call him 'kid' here since he'd covered himself up with so many layers, but he was sure he was probably older than them all. At least, he'd not seen anyone older than around thirty six...he was thirty six, right?

Either way, now Jealous of what attention Africa might be getting, Atlantis flopped down too, which prompted Aruba. Lucky Abdus was surrounded by loving pups waiting for belly rubs.

// there are SO MANY A NAMES

[Shadow]

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a

[div style="text-transform: uppercase; font-size: 30px; font-family: GEORGIA; color: #b50018; text-align: left; letter-spacing: -2px; line-height: 95%; width: 420px"]nathan cardoso

✩[b] - misery loves my company

[div style="height: 137px; width: 422px; padding: 0px; font-family: arial; color: #292421; font-size: 10px; line-height: 100%; text-align: justify;text-transform:lowercase"]oh, boy. This guy loved dogs too, and he was acting like a little kid about it. Again, a small pang of warmth sparked through nate but he ignored it, opting instead to nod. Iraq? He could get that. The name definitely fit, he supposed, though how in the hell would he know? [b]"so you two have definitely come a long way. How'd you...y'know..." what word was he even looking for? Survive? Make it here? Get together? Meet? Find this place? He had so many questions; he'd have to hunt one or both of the men down later. "how'd you meet each other?" he couldn't help but let out a huff of laughter at the antics of advay's ragtag pack of dogs, but in an imstant he as back to being serious. "it's really no problem, letting you stay. We've got room."

//what even [i]is my muse

[color=transparent]thes code

[Number 1]

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foxwell made this bitch

[table]