entrancelogs | [OPEN/EVENT] Anything can be a weapon if you're holding it right;

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[OPEN/EVENT] Anything can be a weapon if you're holding it right;

Who: Jo Harvelle & you!
Where: Throughout Abel Township.
When: August 9th & August 10th
Rating: PG
Summary: As an honorary Abel Runner, Jo is doing her part to help keep things going smoothly around town-- plus snooping.
The Story:

[The first couple days of the event, Jo doesn't stray far from Simon, helping out wherever he seems to need her, taking inventory of supplies and assisting in making sure things are being rationed properly down in the mess hall. By the morning of August 9th, she feels comfortable enough with the lay of the land to go her own way.

She starts out at the med tent, looking for any spare first aid supplies that they might be able to keep up at the farmhouse-- just in case. Once she's through there, she goes to take inventory in one of the supply caches, complete with a clipboard and a pen, same as she's prone to do concerning the resistance hideout's stash when Wonderland is just a little bit closer to normal. She'll stop in the mess hall to eat about mid-day, although the plate of beans and canned meet she ends up with looks seriously suspect on top of being meager, and she'll offer the second half of it to anyone who's hungry enough to risk it if they happen to be around. She'll spent the better part of the afternoon on top of the walls and playing lookout. She'd managed to find a shotgun locked away in the farmhouse on the first day and broken it out, although she's saving the ammunition in case of emergency-- can't have any Runners getting grabbed by zombies when they're just about through the gate. When she's not on watch, she'll be mimicking Simon and carrying a baseball bat instead.

On the morning of August 10th, she lets herself into the farmhouse again, without Simon this time. She's heard so much about its proper owner from both Sam and Maxine that it's impossible not to be curious, and while she'd resisted doing any prying and restricted previous use of the house to common areas and borrowing necessities, it's personal things she's looking for now. Simon has never talked about Janine if he could help it, but she knew enough from Sam and Maxine that even without having met her, Jo likes her-- she feels like they would have gotten on well, been great friends despite the occasional clash of wills, and that in itself makes her feel just a little guilty sometimes.

While she's downstairs and nosing around, she's careful to check over her shoulder and make sure she's still alone, slowly walking through and examining various items in what looks like it had once been a comfortable living area. Once she's upstairs, she's a little less careful-- especially when she finds her way to what must be the master bedroom. Once she starts looking through things there, she'll be too engrossed in her private investigation to hear if someone happens to come up the stairs behind her, particularly once she gets her hands on any photos.]

(OOC: If none of the above scenarios work for you, feel free to provide your own! Prose or action are both fine, I'll match you.)

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[It's eight flights of stairs from Jo's own room to the one her mother chose for herself up on the ninth floor, but only four from the bar, which is where she happens to be coming from on this particular afternoon, having left the bar itself in Cami's capable hands for the time being. Jo had done her best to fill Ellen in on all of the need-to-know concerning Wonderland during her first couple of days, given her a little time for the shock to wear off-- but they're nowhere near done. There's still a lot of catching up to do, and Jo's been taking care not to heap too much on her at once, even if some of the news she has to give is the good kind. It's a lot to take in-- she remembers how overwhelmed she'd been when she was new, even with Dean acting as tour guide.

She pauses outside the door to room 10, knocking sharply with her free hand while the other holds the top of a white paper bag from downstairs, folded over to keep its contents hot.]

Mom? You in? I brought you some lunch.

[Most of Rocket's work has been involved with Janine's shed, so he's been able to help out the town while investigating the effect this place is having on his mods, but only... one of those problems has proved to be an easy fix. Shy of emergency self-surgery, he might not have a fix and there's definitely no safe place to do that here.

Fortunately, it's mostly just his voice box. Not being able to lift anything twice his body mass is a hassle, but not being able to walk or massive organ failure would be worse. That doesn't mean he likes having to steal with static every so often, but it could be worse.

And then, all of a sudden, it just stops. The entire box shorts out and he can't talk, and that's when he gets desperate. Genius intelligence or not, being able to communicate is important to him- it's whats separates him from the dumb animals of the world. It's desperation that leads him into the farmhouse and where Jo will hear a sudden clanking from the kitchen as Rocket goes through drawers.]

[It's bizarre being back in Abel. Easy to settle back into things, but not at the same time, not when none of the people from Abel are there. He misses them. It's a deep ache in his chest. And he still doesn't want to be here.

He heads up to the farmhouse out of habit in the morning. He'd normally be going to pick up the day's roster for the Runners, see if Janine needed anything. The door is ajar when he arrives, and that concerns him. It shouldn't; there's no-one here and he's been pretty insistent that no-one gets to use the farmhouse. It feels wrong.

He enters the building. No-one. Climbs the stairs quietly. It annoys him, that someone would come in here without permission. It's Janine's home.

There's someone in the bedroom and-]

Jo?

[She freezes, her back to him. Of all the people who could have found her here, Sam is just about the worst-- trumped only by Simon, maybe. She exhales, setting down the clipboard she'd found-- supply notes, mostly, proof that Janine was a painfully organized person. She turns towards the door, folding her arms across her chest to close herself off pre-emptively. She doesn't have a good excuse, none that she imagines will be good enough for Sam, but already she feels the need to defend herself.]

Sam, hey, I--

[She sighs.]

I'm sorry.

[The sudden racket is enough to make her halt her investigation within moments-- it's easily loud enough to grab her attention, and Jo heads back towards the kitchen from the living area at top speed. It's not the first time someone would have wandered into the house looking for something, seeing as it seemed to be the very heart of the base, serving as its command center, but there's something urgent about the rummaging that urges her to check sooner rather than later.]

Hey, what are--

[Oh.]

Looking for something, Rocket?

[Rocket tenses so hard that his tail bristles, and given that's about all that is sticking out of the cabinet right now, it's still enough to show he's in more of a mood than usual. He drops down onto the counter, scratches his ear awkwardly as he struggles to find a way to explain it without words, and realizes he can't, so with a animal noise of agitation, he jumps off the counter and waves her off.

Without a word.]

[There is a flare of hurt when she turns to look at him. Not quite betrayal but... but this is Janine's house. It's her farmhouse, her home, the heart of Abel and someone else poking around, it- it stings.

He shifts his weight, looking truly uncomfortable.]

She- she's a very private person. She doesn't trust easily and... and there's reasons for that.

But none of us would be alive if not for her.

I know. She's important to all of you.

[That's been made abundantly clear over the past year, in bits and pieces.]

That's why I-- I was just curious.

[She knows that doesn't make snooping right, but...]

She always sounds like someone I really would have liked, but I'll probably never get to meet her.

[She puts her hands up, taking half a step back.]

Whoa, whoa--

[Yeah, clearly in a mood-- and it's then that it hits her that he's not talking. That's damn near unheard of, the way she understands it. They might not know each other well, but she knows enough of him to know Rocket's always got plenty to say.]

Is something wrong? Do you need help?

[ The distance between herself and Jo was intentional, even if it was sometimes painful. It didn't take long to see that Jo had set up a life for herself here in Wonderland. Ellen would be a part of it, there was no question about that, but she knew better than to think that she needed to be tripping her daughter up with her presence.

As much time as she'd needed to wrap her head around this place, she was also trying to wrap her head around a Jo that had survived here for so long. More than that, a daughter who had managed to build a family here. She was as proud as a mother could be, but she was also unsure of how she fit.

That didn't mean that she didn't frequent the bar often enough. Or that she hadn't taken it on herself to get behind the bar a time or two. She hadn't quite gotten around to asking if Jo needed a hand, it looked like things were running well enough without her, all things considered.

She opened the door and glanced at the bag in Jo's hand. ]

Lunch, huh? You trying to butter me up for something?

[ She's joking. She steps back, opening the door wide and giving her daughter a small grin.]

Let me guess. Pancakes.

She makes you feel like the future is a real thing. You're going to survive, and rebuild, and live.

[He looks around himself at the room. It's oddly cosy. You don't normally expect that from her, but it is. Everything looks well used and comfortable. There's a stack of military biographies next to the bed.]

You could have asked. I would have told you and-

I think you would have got on. As much as she gets on with anyone.

[Jo just smiles at her in reply. It's been a careful balancing act, letting Ellen adjust without completely smothering her, but the fact is that even if Ellen is worried about not fitting, Jo is more than happy to make room for her. After how they'd left things--

Not having her mother in her life while she has the chance just isn't an option.]

What, you think I want somethin'? You have to eat, don't you? [She holds the bag up, dangling it.] Burger and fries. Pancakes are more Simon's territory, but I think he got it out of his system.

[There had been a lot of pancakes the day Ellen turned up, honestly. Jo grins back at her, stepping through and taking a moment to close the door behind her, affording them some privacy.]

I just wanted to check in, see how you're doing. I know it takes a little while to adjust, even for a quick study like you. I've been here awhile, but-- I haven't forgotten how off-kilter I felt the first couple of months.

Considering how bad things are... I'd say that's a hell of an accomplishment.

[For Janine to convince anyone that there really is a future they're working towards when the world is literally falling down around their ears? Yeah, that takes some doing. Yet more evidence that she'd been one hell of a lady, by all accounts.

Jo shifts uncomfortably, arms still folded.]

It's-- not the same. I wanted to see.

[Maybe even find a photo, see what this mystery woman looked like.]

... I didn't mean anything by it.

You really believe it when she says it. Don't know how she does it.

[How she stands strong in the face of everything that's thrown their way.]

I know I just... It's Janine. It took so long before she trusted any of us enough to talk about herself. And even now... only when she absolutely has to.

I didn't-- touch anything personal.

[It's been a sort of half-hearted snoop. She's not completely disrespectful of other people's boundaries, and there's also the fact that this place isn't real, she hadn't even been sure she'd find anything at all, but...]

Don't be pissed.

[It's complicated. Simon knows all about the major players who came before him, knows what he's getting into, but-- she doesn't know much at all about him and Janine, other than the fact that they were together, and it was real. As real as it got for Simon before they met.]

I'm not pissed off I just-

[He takes a breath, holds it for a moment and then looks away.]

It hurts being back here. But not having them here. It's like it's a horrible game instead of our lives and I hate it.

[He's silent for a moment.]

Simon called her Jenny. And I know somewhere there's a picture of her in a bikini. There's photos.

[She looks down at her shoes. It might be the first time Sam's see her be this far from confident, and she swallows hard.

She knows how important Janine had been to Simon. She'd put it together. Janine had meant a lot to all of them.]

I know. It can't be easy, being back here. I know how I'd feel-- if Wonderland took us back to where I'm from, but it was empty, all wrong.

[She sighs.]

It's just-- hard, not to be curious about her. She's such a huge part of all of your lives, and-- Simon and I are getting married, and I can't help feeling guilty.

[That at least makes him smile a bit, even if it's weak.]

Oh good, he did propose then. Thought I'd have to kick him to get him to admit it.

I think she'd like you. I mean, she wouldn't show it, because she's Janine and emotions are not a thing that she does. And she's not here. And things are a mess at home when it comes to Simon. But I don't think she'd want you to feel bad for it. She's not that kind of person. I keep trying to tell him hat she... she forgave him, at the end. As much as she could. Don't think he believes me, but she did.

[She smiles, just a little bit.]

He told you, huh?

[That's-- it's good. It means they're another step closer to being real friends again, maybe.]

I know things were a mess back home, and I know-- what he did, or what he's going to do, I know that changes things in a big way. But-- even if he doesn't believe that she forgave him, I do. Simon doesn't think it's possible, because he'll never forgive himself. But if she forgave him even a little-- if anyone did, that's... it's good.

"You know, I thought we were better friends than that."

Because yes, the food is seriously suspect, but Cami keeps her voice carefully lowered anyway. She knows that the longer this event stretches on, the more thankful they'll be for the very same food they can't quite manage to stomach right now. Until then, however, like Jo Cami's willing to offer up part of her portion to those with faster metabolisms and sturdier tastebuds.

It's a good thing she's run into the other woman though. Cami's very aware of the fact that she's not at all suited for an event like this. Sure, she can probably handle the psychological horrors, help someone else through them, but all that depends on surviving long enough to show up for therapy appointments--not to mention that with so many people putting themselves at risk, Cami wants to do more.

"Listen; I don't know if you've been assigned anything in particular, but if you've got some free time I'd love a quick run down of how to survive a zombie apocalypse." Because unlike Cami, Jo has been trained for something like this. Granted, even someone as good as Jo can only do so much, but Cami would much prefer to avoid her second death, and potentially third should she get too close to one of the shambling dead.

[ Simon's trip back from outside the walls comes earlier than anticipated and he heads for the farmhouse first, just to see if there's anything urgently needing his attention before he sneaks in and borrows Jenny's shower.

Which he feels sort of guilty about, but it's not like she's currently here to rescind his permission, so he's taking advantage.

Finding someone else in the farmhouse isn't something he anticipates, and hearing movement upstairs suddenly has his senses going on high-alert and his heart leaping in his throat as he makes his way upstairs to the bedroom. Her bedroom. For a little while, it had even sort of been theirs, even if he'd always kept his tent as a backup all the same.

He's avoided this room until now, but the sound of someone moving in there pulls him like a magnet and a moment later, he finds himself in the doorway, trying to remember how to breath.

It's not Jenny standing there. It's Jo. The dissonance in the images leaves him reeling for a moment before he musters a faint smirk and leans on the door frame. ]

Snooping?

He was overthinking things. I told him to get his act together because he's obviously crazy for you and overthinking has, historically, not been good for him.

[And he has the chance to be happy here. Happier than he ever was at home.]

Besides, you're good for him.

He saved the world, Jo. He stopped Five from... from dying, and did it himself. And Janine... it was a good death. That's what she said. It was a good death. And for Janine that- it's a lot coming from her.

[ Ellen takes the bag and moves towards a couch, pulling out two burgers and two fries and setting them on a small coffee table nearby. ] Your father's specialty was eggs. About the only thing he could cook, everything else ended up in smoke.

[ It's been a long time since she's thought about that and it comes with that same familiar ache, but Simon reminds her so much of Bill, it's no wonder that Jo likes him. She pats the seat beside her.]

Do you want something to drink?

[Yes, he needs help. He needs it bad, but this isn't something he would trust just anyone with and even if he had someone he could trust here, they still lack the tools until the freakin' mansion goes back to normal, and maybe this will be over by then.

Or not. He can't even be a hundred percent sure the short was even caused by the event- his body mods are pretty cheap in comparison to some out there.

He stops and rakes his claws over the top of his head in the animal version of mussing his own hair and then pivots to face Jo, pointing at his throat with an expression of darkest severity.]

Guess I should thank you for giving him a nudge.

[Her smile brightens just a little, difficult as the current situation makes it.]

He's good for me, too, believe it or not. [She's not sure if anyone ever will, but he's helped her just as much as she's helped him.] But-- I'm glad you think so.

[It means a lot to her, knowing she's played a part in Simon turning himself around.]

A good death. ... that's one hell of a compliment.

[She means that sincerely. She knows all about good deaths.]

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[OPEN/EVENT] Anything can be a weapon if you're holding it right;

8/01, Pre-Event, Closed to Ellen Harvelle

August 10th

August 10th

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August 9th - Mess Hall

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