entrancelogs | Well. Shit.

Entry tags:

Well. Shit.

Who: Michonne + 2 closed starters (for Regina Mills and Rick Grimes) and 2 very open starters!
Where: Open sections = beach and bar. Two best things that start with a B.
When: Around the month of December
Rating: PG-13 to start? Yeah, sure.
Summary: Michonne gets the 411 from Regina, confronts Rick, then takes to the beach and drinks at the bar. Typical.
The Story:

☠ Closed to Regina Mills

[ Things really have a way of fucking up at the exact wrong time, and how is it that after a couple years of being here and being alone, two people Michonne loves are suddenly here at the same time, one right after the other? She knows what she's about, she knows where she stands, knows what she isn't going to do (leave Andrea), but it's still a situation. One she's been avoiding. She hasn't even faced Rick because what's the point? He doesn't even know her which should make it easier, but instead she sent a text to Regina asking to meet in a tea room.

It's definitely not tea in the (hypothetical) cups, but she doesn't want to talk about all of this and possibly (maybe?) upset Andrea, and she doesn't want to go to the bar where Rick might be or intrude in Regina's space when she knows her kid is around, so. Tea room. And nothing too hard this time, just a pack of Stella to split between them. ]

Wonderland has the shittiest sense of humor I've ever seen.

☠ Closed to Rick Grimes, post talk with Regina.

[ Well. She can't avoid this forever. Or maybe she could - until Rick got sent home and returned and the situation was even more comically complicated when he came back again. If he came back again. If he ever left at all. After this long with no one showing up and staying longer than a week or two, now it seems like people are sticking and she's remembering, telling herself, she asked for this. For the people from home to stay.

Michonne actually can't decide if him not knowing who she is, is good or if it's making her feel like she's been punched in the gut. It doesn't matter either way, and right now maybe it's good. He doesn't know what's coming. He doesn't even know about Lori, if his initial message is any indication.

Outside of his door once she finds it, she knocks, katana wisely left at home for now, and when he answers, she tries to smile but it comes out a little wobbly. He never looked this unweathered, not once from the moment she met him. And now his hair is more gray in places back home but not in Wonderland because he hasn't lost and lost and lost. She knows she's been looking at him too long so she clears her throat. ]

You don't know me, but. Wonderland's a weird place that brings people from the future, people from the past, even dead people. I'm someone you'll meet. Eventually.

[ This isn't awkward at all. ]

☠ Open; beach

[ Michonne can be found on the beach doing one of two things: running or standing and staring at the water. Sometimes she comes to a dead stop when she's running and finds herself looking out at the water, squinting like maybe she can see something on the horizon, but of course she can't. When she's running and sees someone she knows, she'll veer toward them just to chat, but otherwise, she'll go past unless someone calls out to her.

At some point she winds up sitting, taking off her shoes and digging her toes into the sand, resisting the urge to talk to ghosts. ]

☠ Open; bar

[ The bar is a good place, a safe space, full of her apocalypse family most nights. So, that's where she is now (now that the fear of an awkward run-in has gone away), sitting at the bar and still not going for the hard stuff, just sipping beer. The nicer Stella was for Regina, now Michonne's drinking whatever's on tap. It's development, she's not dealing with this issue at least by getting totally shit faced! ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Shit.

[ Yeah that definitely means she's gone and if she comes back, probably won't remember anything. ]

I'm sorry. And you're right. There's a bright side and everything. But sometimes the bright side doesn't always mean the happy side.

[ Michonne pauses, contemplating how much to tell a kid, but decides to start small. ]

Someone else from our home showed up. His name is Rick. He's from Atlanta. He's good, so if you ever meet him, Rick Grimes, he's a good guy.

Yeah.

[Clementine says in response to that shit. It's exactly how she feels about it, but she nods, appreciating the apology for what it is, what it means. The bright side here is that when people are gone, they're not dead or walkers, but it's still sad.

It's the kind of weighted understanding which sticks with Clem and makes her relax a bit. She only looks up at her when she speaks and then she manages a small smile at the good news. She's never heard of a Rick before, but it doesn't matter. Zombie apocalypse survivors have a kindred connection.]

Good. If he's here, it means he's safe... more safe than usual. It's good to have one of the good guys safe. [She doesn't like to think of one of the bad ones showing up instead. Not that- In order to survive in a zombie apocalypse, no one can really be purely, wholly good anymore. Some are just a whole helluva lot worse than others.] Are you two close?

[ Clementine has no way of knowing how hilarious that question is right now, and Michonne tries to think about her answer. A kid - even a mature one - doesn't need to be in the know about zombie apocalypse relationship drama. So she goes with half of the truth. ]

We were. At home we are. But he's from a time now where he doesn't even know me at all. We've never met. Which kind of sucks.

That can happen?

[Clementine should have thought about it. People come in from different worlds, from different times. It happens, but--]

I'm sorry. Must be hard. Not like it's easy to let people in. [Especially people from their world, they learn how to hold their cards close. It's how to survive, how to be safe, how to make the choices that need making.]

If Wonderland is feeling like it has a hilarious sense of humor that day, for sure.

[ It hurts her heart a little, that Clementine has already learned this lesson, to not let people in because either they try to kill you, or you wind up losing them. Michonne only got there after her family, her baby, were all taken away from her. It was Andrea that pulled her back from that, and after Andrea, Rick. ]

Here, it's...maybe everything is like a second chance. Away from walkers so we all have a fair shot at something. Living again.

[ Even with the events, maybe. ]

[Clementine makes a face because Wonderland has a terrible sense of humor, and they're caught up in it. It's still preferable to back where they're from. It's better by miles and miles, and she folds her arms across her chest, pulls her knees up close.

Living. What does that even mean? Don't they get so screwed up by the world that they forget? It's not living. It's survival. She remembers far more about survival than of living. Her parents' faces feel far away. Can she learn how to live instead of survive? Or is she just broken?]

A second chance to know each other without death around every corner, without having to go into every situation thinking someone's gonna stab you in the back? Yeah.

Bet that will shift things too. People get to know each other differently where we're from. Did you tell him you knew him before? [she wouldn't know how to handle that situation]

I went and saw him. He had a lot of questions. Didn't feel like I could lie to him, so...I answered every question he asked me, but maybe I shouldn't have. I don't really know. Don't think anyone knows how to really handle the situation.

[ Telling him the future doesn't have quite the same implications it could if he remembered everything when he left here and went back. So really, that means telling him only served to hurt him. ]

If you're ever in that situation and you don't know what to do, you can always come find me. I'll back you up.

[ Not that Clementine has expressed needing that but it feels right to offer. ]

I think we don't get many choices where we're from. He asked. It was right to tell him. We should get to have those choices here. There's a pamphlet for Wonderland, but there's not a book telling you how to handle any of it.

[Maybe there should be. Maybe someone that's been around the bend a few times could write out their experiences. Talking to Georgia makes her think more about that. Information. How is it spread? Where does it spread?

Clementine lifts her head up to meet Michonne's gaze, and she smiles.]

Thank you. Someone once told me that's the one thing everyone was after where we're from. Someone you can trust. Someone who'll watch your back.

I've got yours too.

Maybe that's just life. You can get advice here and there but for the most part? We're learning as we go.

[ That's the most philosophical Michonne can be right now, and it's wholly unoriginal even if it's true. Looking at Clementine, there's a smile on Michonne's lips too. ]

I'll always take more people from home.

[ Even if they've never crossed paths. She's still from the same world. ]

Are you still in Georgia when you're not in Wonderland?

[Clementine smirks at Michonne's philosophical perspective. It sounds about right, and it's not like she lived much of life before the zombie apocalypse. Her parents told her what to do. Her teachers did too.She hadn't experienced the figure things out part without the zombies yet, but it's good to know at least that part maintains.]

No, not anymore.

I'm with a group who are trying to move up north to Wellington in Ohio. There were rumors there's a community up there and that it's safer up there because of the cold.

[Of course, she doesn't exactly trust communities. Look at the one Carver had.] All I know is it's really cold.

[ There was always a rumor about a place being safer, in the beginning, it seemed like. Even as late as Terminus and as it turns out, no place is more safe than the next.

Well. The rumors aren't wrong about the cold. Slows the walkers down because whatever liquid's still in them freezes, makes it hard to move.

[ Still dangerous if you got too close and they could simply chomp down, but not as apt to shamble around, at least. ]

That's something. Good to know we weren't just going into the cold for nothing. They're already pretty damn slow though.

[It's hard to say if it'll be worth it if there's no food out there to find. Most of them at least. Some of them can get faster. Walkers are pretty easy to deal with though. It's people that are more difficult.

It's people that complicate it all. Walkers aren't smart.]

You're with a group back there, right?

[ She has a point, walkers are slow and people want to stay where it's warm. The cold is a repellent for both the living and the dead, maybe. ]

Yeah, a group that started on a farm in Atlanta, then we made our way up to Virginia. Thought we were heading to DC but that turned out to be bullshit.

Cause people lied?

[It's the one reason she can think of. People lie a lot especially if they think it'll save their skin, if they think it'll give them power]

Guy in our group - and don't get me wrong, he's not bad - lied so people would keep him safe. Said he was a scientist who knew how to cure whatever the sickness is back home that turn people. Told us we had to get to DC. But he was lying, the entire time.

[ Michonne doesn't hold it against him now, and she sighs softly, not sounding upset at Eugene as she tells the story. Just weary. ]

Everyone does what they feel like they have to. He lied.

Why would he lie about that? Did he want the safety of a group?

[It's not that she can't believe he would lie. People lie. They do it all the time. They do what they have to to get what they need, but- She can't wrap her head around this. Did he just want to go to DC? Big cities are dangerous as hell, and he- he acted like he could cure it. She feels her hand become a fist. Her jaw locks in anger]

I don't get it.

[ Michonne nods. ]

Figured as long as we all thought he was important he'd be protected. If he knew how to cure everything and he died, then our hope for a better world died with him. It worked. For a hell of a long time.

[ Longer than it should have. Abraham should have asked more questions but he never did. ]

Secret's out now, though. He's just a scared guy.

[Clementine swallows, letting the pieces of it all settle in her head. If she really thinks about it, she can understand. With the way people are, they can't trust anybody. It's shoot first, ask later. If he said that, wouldn't people take a chance? Wouldn't people be willing to trust despite the risk?]

People want to believe in hope.

[Otherwise it's just survival and that's hard, that's hopeless.]

And he's still alive?

Still alive. Someone nearly killed him, but. In the end, all we're trying to do is survive, right? He's not bad otherwise. Can't even kill walkers. Well, he couldn't then. Now it's different. He had to learn, had to change.

Yeah. If you don't, you die. [Even after people change, they still run a risk of dying. The risk just goes down when they learn how to survive.] Most people now don't seem to believe a cure's possible. Haven't heard anyone mention doing anything more than getting from one day to the next in a really long time.

[ Michonne can't help but think, had it been her and Rick that Eugene met first, they wouldn't have fallen for his shit. But there's no way to know that for sure, either. Maybe she's wrong. Maybe they'd be desperate enough to believe him. ]

We have a good group now, and he's a part of it. No one's in 'hope for a cure' mode anymore. Now, it's just...try to avoid the next asshole that wants to kill us and take what we have.

Good. Hopefully you guys stick together. Harder for someone to use you then or get the drop on you, but they still can. Is this the first group you've been with?

[Clementine finds herself wondering how long her current one will last because of how completely her last one broke up, one death at a time.]

[ Michonne nods at the question, then shakes her head slowly, contradicting herself. No one else from home knows this; not Rick, not Andrea. ]

I was with my boyfriend, our best friend. [ She pauses for a beat. ] And my two-year-old. Then I was alone. Until I met the group I've been with ever since.

[ Clementine knows about loss, though, young as she is, and Michonne knows she won't have to go into more detail than that. ]

[Clementine lifts her gaze up to Michonne and then she- she reaches over, resting a hand against her arm, because I'm sorrys sure as hell don't cut it, and she gets not wanting to talk in detail about something that hurts so damn much. The understanding is in her expression even as her head lowers. Her chest aches in that funny, distant way that warns there'd be more there (too much) if she ever really pulled apart the feeling.]

I was with a babysitter when it all started. My parents were gone on a trip, and then a man found me. We ended up with a group. Then I was with one person and we got separated, and I found another group, but the same thing's happening all over again.

How long were you alone for? Was it easier?

[ She didn't even have her family when everything ended. Fuck, how shitty. She wants to slip an arm around her, just...be something for her, but she refrains and sighs softly, letting herself think about the question. ]

I was alone about...four, five months. Then I met Andrea. Saved her in the woods. Met up with her group when she and I got separated and I've been with them ever since. Been a couple years now.

[ There was a time when Andrea died, when Herschel died, that Michonne thought she'd be alone again, but in the end she'd found Rick and Carl. Her family. Her home. ]

Well. Shit.

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