The Fight to Live and the Will to Fight (Just jump in!)

ooc;; no sign of zombies yet, but I guess anything could happen ;3 i'm not sure whether or not Whisper wants it to stay within the realms of realistic or not~

ic;; Mik stopped alongside her, taken aback by her sudden silence. Too tired to bother arguing, he simply nodded.

"Where should we go? We're in the middle of nowhere."

ooc;; I'm up for anything :]

Ic;; Mik plopped down onto the ground in the spot that she had pointed out, relieved to be off io his feet.

"Alright," he agreed, sitting forward on his elbows. "What kinds of things?"

Given the day's events, it was weird to think that he was even able to relax; however, he felt relatively at peace, even if they were sitting out in the open.

Mik blinked at her in the darkness, slightly taken aback by her words. She had obviously grown up surrounded by a culture entirely different from his--but he certainly hadn't expected that she would've had to go through an arranged marriage. If the world hadn't gone to hell, that is.

"Well actually, here in America, we choose who we want to marry," he explained. He paused for a moment, thinking. "But...Well I did have a girlfriend, back before...well, the end of the world." A grim expression crossed his face, but he managed to force a smile. "She could be a difficult person at times, but I never blew a dart at her or anything."

Mik felt a pang of sympathy for the girl. He couldn't imagine what it must be like being forced to date someone against your own will. What if the two of you were polar opposites, and didn't get along at all?

"It must have been hard," he murmured, his tone apologetic. He had never appreciated his parents more than he did right now for not pairing him up with a random stranger at birth.

Mik glanced up at her request to know more about his girlfriend. He hesitated, not quite sure how he felt about talking about her. He hadn't really had the chance to talk to anyone about the people he had lost when the outbreak happened. The miners couldn't care less about what his life had been like before, and aside from them, Elspeth was the first person he'd come in contact with. He was silent for a few moments longer before letting out a breath. It wouldn't hurt to talk about her.

"Well...her name was Ari," he began, a little awkwardly. "She was a few months older than me." He paused for a moment, thinking. "She had long, jet-black hair, and the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen. They were a deep grey. Like...a storm, or something." He realized how stupid he must sound, but he couldn't help it. He wasn't used to talking about her in this way.

He went silent for a few moments before speaking up again, smiling slightly. "Ari was the most stubborn girl I ever met. As I said before, she could be a pretty difficult person to get along with. It took a while for me to warm up to her. In fact, I'm pretty sure she couldn't stand the sight of me when we first met. I think the day I finally managed to make her laugh was the best day of my life," he remarked with a small laugh. His smile faded some, though, after a few moments, and he looked at the ground.

"She liked to act tough. She hated to be underestimated, or to appear weak. She didn't care what people thought about her, and wasn't afraid to let a person know how she felt about them. I think that's one of the things I liked most about her." He fell silent once again. "If anyone, I expected her to make it through this," he said quietly. A few moments passed before he looked up at Elspeth.

"You know...you kind of remind me of her."

Mik smiled slightly at her words, shaking his head.

"Not because of the way you look," he said. "It's your personality. Remember earlier when I asked you if you were one of those girl who tried to act tough all the time?" He smirked. "Ari was the same way." Actually, Elspeth and Ari were a bit more alike than he initially thought; however, he didn't feel the need to point that out.

"And for the record," he said, leaning forward some and flashing her a sleepy grin. "You have very pretty eyes."

Mik tugged at a stray lock of his hair, glancing up at his frayed bangs. It was true; his hair had grown far past the length he usually kept it at. It wasn't quite shoulder-length yet, but still long enough to get in his eyes with the slightest movement, not to mention the fact that it seemed to remain in a state of perpetual dishevelment, making him look as if he had just rolled out of bed. He had never wanted a comb and a pair of scissors more than he did now.

He couldn't help but laugh at her display, a wide grin spreading across his face as she attempted to look at her own eyes.

"I'll try to find something reflective enough to give you a good look at your eyes," he reassured her, still grinning. "As long as you promise not to make that face ever again."

Mik's smile faded some at his words, and he glanced at the ground. He felt almost guilty, even though he was consciously aware of the fact that all of this was far from his fault.

"Yeah...you would have," he agreed in a somber tone. He tried to think of something that might make her happier. There had to be some things still in America worth seeing, right? It couldn't all be a deserted wasteland.

"Tell you what...As soon as we go back to get Jasiri, I'm gonna give you reason to love America, despite all of...this," he said, motioning to the land around him. In all honesty, he wasn't quite sure how he could make her feel at home here--he certainly didn't anymore, and this had been his home all his life. Still, he would try. Besides, it would make him feel like his only purpose wasn't to aimlessly wander and spend each day searching for just enough resources to get by. It would make this whole disaster just a little easier to deal with.

A smile crossed his face as he planned out their next few days together.

"We're gonna go sightseeing."

Mik shook his head, laying back on the ground and crossing his arms underneath hiss head.

"But that's the nice thing about the US," he said, staring up at the sky. "There's so much here to see that we're pretty much guaranteed to stumble across something magnificent--as long as we keep walking." He glanced over at her, flashing her a small smile.

"What do you say?"

"Great," he mumbled around a yawn. "Now, maybe we should get a bit of sleep before morning rolls back around. If I don't, I'll be like the walking dead in the morning." Mik had always been a morning person. He had no problem getting up early, and typically awoke in a relatively good mood. However, it was a different story when he was sleep deprived. It was nearly impossible for him to function on less than four hours of sleep.