exsiliumlogs

Entry tags:

OPEN

Date & Time: December 15th, during the zombie apocalypse rigamarole
Location: Up a tree, where else
Characters: TJ and whoever wants to join him up there!
Summary: TJ's no fighter, but he's not always the most sensible either. A normal walk turned into a scramble up one of Exsilium's "trees". There's not much left to do but wait it out, smoke a joint, and keep an eye out for salvation. Care to join him for a smoke at the end of the world?

[TJ wasn't exactly a warrior; not unless it was in a quote off of the content-edited version of Road Warrior they used to play in the old West Coast Video he hung out in as a kid. Needless to say, zombie uprisings weren't in his line of work or expertise. During the unfortunate period where he'd handled a gun for his daily bread, he shot rarely and the targets were pretty decidedly alive.

But he's a guy who likes a walk when he fancies one, zombies or no zombies. It took a band of what must've been ten of them to finally eliminate 'artful dodgery' as a feasible escape plan. One of the spiny, petrified trees served as shitty cover, but at least it was high. TJ scrambled up the trunk, gangly limbs scrambling to find purchase on the thinner, high branches. It was safe, sturdy, and for the first time, TJ could look out on the city for himself. The lily wasn't exactly gilded during their debrief upon arrival, but it was sure as hell better than this.

TJ reached into his pocket, fumbling around for a joint. No time like the present to get take a more elevated view on things.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Okay. So these things were contagious and turning people left and right into mindless dead killing machines. That was fine, and truly it was as long as there happened to be people around who could heal those who had been bitten.

Like she had been just the day before.

Thankfully Glen had been assured that she was clean of the sickness after being healed the day before. And hey, at least she wasn't totally useless in a fight and could handle her own dagger just fine. It made sense to attempt to help out and get others to safety. The worst that could happen is she'd get bitten and have to be healed again, so no big deal. Acting the courageous heroine would also serve to give her points in the eyes of her fellow Transports, too. It was win-win.

At least, it was until the small horde that had chased TJ up a tree ended up chasing Glen in the same direction. When she saw him up there, just chilling, she was at first surprised and then inspired shortly thereafter to do exactly what he'd done and climb up the tree to presumed safety. With the skill of a girl raised in a rural area and used to tree-climbing and other similar hick-like pursuits, she scrambled up the tree almost effortlessly, putting several feet between herself and the pursing zombie creatures.

Breathing heavily, she glanced over at TJ in a nearby branch. ] Hey. Fancy meeting you up here. Do you come here often, or just when there are killer dead things running around trying to eat people?

[TJ had a pretty good vantage point of the street, when he cared to look at it. The sky and its complete absence of stars wasn't exactly fascinating, so when the noise of Glen's pursuers gave him a chance, TJ took it. He fished his 9mm out from the waist of his pants, preparing to cover her when... ]

Tsk, you're quick, chica. [TJ adjusted his glasses, slipping his gun back into its place, quietly grateful he never brought it out in the open. He didn't particularly like people knowing he was packing.] Wish I could offer you a drink, but I seem to have left the mini-bar in my other pants.

[ Glen pushed the hair back out of her eyes, making it so she had a clear view again. The animals, despite looking like they'd have no trouble climbing a tree, being animals and all, seemed to be staying where they were. Odd. But good.

She leaned back against the trunk, shutting her eyes for a moment in relief before stowing her dagger away. ]

I don't drink that much, actually. Wouldn't turn one down right now, though. Shame about your other pants. Did they get eaten? [ She has a very sudden image of a bunch of undead animals shambling around, drunk off their rotten little asses, and laughs under her breath. How is this suddenly her life? ]

[TJ looked down, straight faced, as if to inspect if he still had pants at all. The little buggers were tenacious, after all. He was just grateful the bug they all caught managed to dull their animal reasoning skills enough to make a motherfucking tree a safe place.]

Guess I'll have to buy another pair. [And another mini-bar.] So... they train you how to handle a knife in acting classes?

No, that's a valuable street skill where I come from. A former sweetheart of mine taught me, actually. Self-defense. [ And the occasional offense. Very occasional. It probably wouldn't be easy to switch the subject around again, but Glen's was going to try. ]

Let me know if you need some help finding those pants again, though, yeah? In the mean time, though, what is that? [ She gestured to his joint. The smell was gods-awful, yet somehow very organic. It was definitely not a cigarillo. ]

[Well hell if TJ couldn't relate to that. He chuckled, the smoke loosening his lips a little more than usual.]

This? Just some comforts from home. [He smiled, offering it without preamble.] Anyway, everybody's had a sweetheart like that once or twice. [There was something harder around the edges of that, as if recalling a memory both painful and nice.] What happened to yours, if you don't mind me bein' a busybody.

[ She took it without hesitation, though once it was in hand she eyed it for a few seconds before taking a drag. She smoked a little back home, so there was no coughing or gagging around the smoke. Besides, this was different. Lighter. Less abrasive. She actually holds it in for a few seconds before letting it go, and hands it back to TJ. ] Huh. Different.

[ She hadn't missed the implication that TJ had once had someone similar to her Kagan in his life, and her instincts told her to pry, but that wouldn't be fair without offering something up herself. The short and simple story will suffice, hopefully. ] He's back in our old home town as far as I know. Haven't seen him for about two years.

Edited 2012-12-16 02:08 (UTC)

[TJ raised an eyebrow, but didn't go as far as to ask different from what. None of his business what she got up to on Vaklyriala Island.] I'm guessin' that ain't a bad thing, you not crossing paths lately.

He wouldn't be happy to see me again. [ She could only assume. She'd left in a rush after her father had been murdered, after she'd been threatened out of town. Let TJ think what he wanted of that, though. It was vague enough that he'd probably think she had cheated on him or something.

She shifted in the tree, settling so she got better balance, and glanced up at the leafless branches. ] What about you? Seemed like you might have had someone similar to Kagan in your past a few minutes ago. Someone showing you the ropes.

[TJ laughed a little, shrugging. He wasn't too secretive about his past, but lies by omission were par for the course when trying to get somewhere without arousing too much suspicion. Still, there was no rush here, not stuck in limbo with every other poor fuck who got transported here. The weed and the setting relaxed his standards a little.]

Eh, yeah, just some dude who dragged me out of a rough spot. [He shrugged, trying not to make too big a deal of any particular piece of the story.] Looked out for me, taught me shit. Things were good between us for a while.

[Good enough to get himself tagged, a little blue spiral right on the inner cup of his ear.] S'all over now, but it's whatever. Not like it matters here.

Mmm... maybe it doesn't. Not really. People like that leave marks though. You'd be different if you hadn't known them, so in that way... it kinda does.

[ TJ's relaxed standards were applied to her, as well. From day one, though, he'd had that affect on her. From the sounds of it, he'd seen things, too. Done things. She wasn't at all sure what, only that it was stuff that most people probably hadn't seen or done. And that was enough for her to feel a bit of kinship, enough to let some walls down, for better or worse (she prayed not for worse). ]

Hit me again? [ She turned back to TJ expectantly, asking and not demanding. Might as well get comfortable. She could still hear some critters shuffling around in the grass below. ]

[TJ handed the joint over, obliging her request without a second thought. She was already proving to be good company for this; he wasn't about to bogart from a good smoking partner.]

Well fuck, that might as well be everything. [He reached up, gripping a branch above him for support as he leaned out past the nettled branches, peering down the road.] Ain't always for the better, though.

Hells no. [ She snorted. She wasn't really thinking about Kagan in particular, now. Just... everything else. The past few weeks in Grumall had been a mucking disaster piled on a mountain of reeking horseshit. Glen took another long drag, relaxing into it in an effort to keep the memories at bay. ] I don't know. What was I even saying? Something philosophical and ultimately useless. Kind of makes you wonder about the Initiative though, doesn't it? They can go back in time, right? Fix things. Makes you wonder where you stop. Do you go back and fix stuff to make it so it's just okay or do you risk it all and make it so it's changed completely, so that you've changed completely in the end? Where do you stop with that, you know? It's scary.

[ One more smooth lungful and she handing the joint back. Despite the rather somber subject matter, she felt better. Not upset as much anymore over stuff that happened in the past that she couldn't and wouldn't fix anyway, even if she could go back through time like the Initiative could. Sorry dad, you still die. Sorry Grumall, I'm never coming back again. Sorry Kagan, for leaving out of nowhere.

She'd found a new life and it turned out it had been pretty amazing, all in all. ]

It's not always for the better, but it's nice when it is. No second thoughts that way. [ One final thought. One loaded, complicated smile up at the sky. ]

[TJ listened more than he interjected, soaking in the girl's philosophy with nonjudgmental silence. She was talking about some heavy shit, a little too heavy for him, to be honest. Her points rang a little too clear and true to his current situation. Or rather, the situation he was in the middle of before all this. Funny, how he'd yet to start thinking of any of this as 'current'. It still felt like some crazy dream.]

Ain't nothin' in my life so important that a government or goddamn Iniative would try to fix it. [He thinks, at least.] Figure I'm the person I was always meant to be. Why meddle with what's real, y'know?

[He took another drag, watching the girl smile in the glow of the cherry. The guy must've felt lucky, at least while it lasted. Poor asshole.] Why, you loaded down with second thoughts?

No. I've got pretty much the same outlook. Thought about it, once I learned what the Initiative could do... [ She rolls her head to the side, facing TJ again with a contented smile that's partially fueled by the weed and partially fueled by the realization that yeah, what she's saying is the truth, and she's sharing it with another human being for once.

...That will make her panic a bit. But later. Not right now. Right now, things are good, or at least passably decent considering the whole stuck up in a tree hiding from monstrous beasts thing. ]

I thought about it, but that sort of fix isn't for me. Maybe it's not for anyone, governments and piss-pot Initiatives included.

[Yosuke had no qualms whatsoever about carving up a few bunnies that had gone from cute and fluffy to dreaded puffballs of doom. In fact, if one didn't know better they might have suspected he was enjoying himself. At least whenever the blood didn't splash on his shoes.]

EUGH! Aw, come on, zombies aren't supposed to explode!

[He complained, probably a bit more loudly than the council would advise. Yelling over the headphones he was wearing, most likely. After coming to a tree, he stopped to take a rest, slightly puffed from the sheer amount of zombies that he'd had to evade and/or stab so far. He cleaned the blade off on a bit of mostly dead grass, and tucked his kunai away.

It was then that he caught a whiff of something funny. Huh? A grass fire? Yosuke whipped off the headphones, and sniffed a bit. Yeah, some kind of leaves were burning. Shit. Noting that the fire was nowhere he could see, he figured it would be best to climb the tree and have a look around. But as he grabbed a low branch and contracted his abs in the start of a swing up to the next branch, he noticed a vaguely familiar clump of something fuzzy farther up. Oh. It was that guy...TJ.]

Yo! What's up?

[Heh. Get it?]

Edited 2012-12-15 23:49 (UTC)

[TJ peered down, face illuminated by the joint's cherry. Well, whaddya know? Wired, pulsing energy was vibrating off the kid as much as his music was. It sounded tinny and stripped down from TJ's vantage point, but it was clear the kid was blasting it. Huh. TJ wouldn't have pegged the kid for an energy junkie.]

Not much, man. Just hangin' out. [He craned his neck, looking out for whoever or whatever was on the kid's tail.] You doin' alright?

Sure, I can handle it. I'm totally fine.

[Alright? Hell, he was doing pretty good if he said so himself. Yosuke swung nimbly up to the next branch and straddled it. He craned his neck, peering up at TJ. Was that a lit cigarette? Hmm. Could explain the smell maybe, if it was flavored tobacco or something.

He hopped to his feet, faltered and had to throw his arms out to catch his balance. Balance obtained, he continued to climb as if nothing had just happened. Though he clung a bit more closely to the trunk this time, he did his best to look nonchalant about it anyway.]

Watch out for zombie crows up there! Crows are always the worst.

Nah, see. [TJ pulled at his ribbon, letting his dreads fan out to their natural dandelion-esque state. He smiled, spreading his long fingers out like spindly spider legs.] I'm one-quarter scarecrow. You're safe with me, kiddo.

[He held up the joint.] Wanna chill? You look like you could stand to wind down, man.

Edited 2012-12-16 00:54 (UTC)

[Yosuke smiled even if he didn't entirely get the joke. Did scarecrows have funny hair in America? Or maybe he meant because mannequin heads get ratty after a while...hmm.

Either way, Yosuke ambled up until he was nose to sneaker with TJ, and glanced appreciatively around at the view-awful as it was, this was a great vantage- before he let his gaze fall curiously on the cigarette.

Chill? Wind down? ...Wait, what? Was this guy offering him drugs? No way! People never offered Yosuke drugs. His eyes widened a bit.]

Uh...I think I'm pretty high already.

[He joked, cringing a little inwardly at just how automatically those stupid puns slipped out these days. But he couldn't smoke that! Was it marijuana? It was illegal. His mom would murder him. And Shirogane would probably get pretty riled up, too. So he looked, curious and intrigued, but he didn't dare to actually reach for the thing.]

[Stupid or not, TJ looked amused in a gentle, more understanding way than the peer pressure pamphlets handed out to kids Yosuke's age liked to broadcast. He took another drag himself, sighing and letting his knees float up around his ears. Figuratively and sorta literally, his position in the tree was a little awkward.]

That we are, that we are. [The filter paper was damp from where his mouth had been on the business end of the cigarette, and TJ took the opportunity to pinch it tighter.] High as a kite, I just mi-ii-ght, stop to check you out.

[TJ clapped four times, in two quick bursts, then seemed to laugh out of nowhere. God, what he'd do for a fucking radio right now.]

Edited 2012-12-16 01:29 (UTC)

[Oh, hey. He knows this one! Sort of. And since TJ is politely ignoring the fact that Yosuke is a goofy two shoes loser, the least he can do is help the guy feel at home, right? He catches the rhythm off of TJ and tries his best to remember.]

Let me go on...I'm a blizzard in the sun.

[TJ snorted, nearly dropping his joint in the surprise of being jolted so firmly to the funny bone. He was about to correct the kid, but eh... his version wasn't half bad. Malapropisms and all. He picked up right from there, brushing some ash off his leg and proceeding to use his thighs as a makeshift drum pad.]

Lemme go OO-OO-ooon--!

[C'mon kid, take it. And not so wimpy, either! TJ may have been careful enough to climb a tree, but that's about where his concern for zombies ended. Dude was belting it.]

[He grins a little too, when TJ keeps singing. For a second there he thought he got the wrong line, but obviously not. Whew.]

Pink haaaaands I know you're my one!

[It feels good. Singing with a not-really-stranger-anymore at the end of the world. It beats the hell out of bemoaning their bad luck, anyway.]

Edited (King of the typoes!) 2012-12-16 05:09 (UTC)

[They managed to get through at least half the song before TJ couldn't keep it together (When I'm a-talkin' I strut my tough I don't even. Know. Guyyy. was his undoing). He clapped Yosuke on the back, coughing a little on the smoke he'd just inhaled.]

Bravo, you beautiful bastard. [He took another drag, chasing the burn of the last one.] Now you are a guy who needs to write a song of his own. That was some funky-ass wordsmithery I just experienced.

You think so?

[He's pretty sure that's a compliment, anyway. Yosuke grins.]

I play the guitar, actually. But I don't have any complete songs, just some cool riffs that I think up sometimes.

Cool riffs, huh? Like... [TJ went to tune his air guitar, making a face befitting a world class rocker (or rather, a ham impersonating one) as he power-strummed his way through the famous riff in Deep Purple's Smoke on the Water.] Duh duh dum. Duh duh duh dum!

[Just as quickly as he'd shifted into performance mode, he shifted back out.] Do they rock, is what I'm askin'. Like, capital-R rock.

[Yosuke makes a noise that can probably be best described as a giggle, though he quickly clears his throat to hide it. He seems to debate a bit before he attempts to answer TJ. Should he admit that he thinks up love songs sometimes?

...Probably not.]

Um. I think they might once I have some more practice.

[Oh this guy has the right idea. You're being joined by an expert in three climbing, who scrambles on up to the nearest sturdy branch. Elmer's clothes are covered in scratches and tears, but there's not a mark or drop of blood on him. He gives TJ a little wave.]

Hi there! I hope you don't mind some company.

[TJ looked up, his rolling mellow undisturbed by the cheerful dude climbing up to join him. Hey, he could roll with that. Nothing wrong with some pleasant company to keep things on the ups.]

Run into Dorothy in that tornado, man? [He took a drag, cherry illuminating his face orange for a moment.] You don't look so good.

Edited 2012-12-16 04:57 (UTC)

[Elmer grins at TJ, and shrugs.] A tornado of rabid squirrels and rabbits, I suppose, but I'm fine. Things have gotten dangerous down there. I hope we won't be stuck up here too long!

Who's stuck? [TJ smiled back -- the guy's grin was about as infectious as the zombie plague, and far more agreeable. Who was he to argue?] S'not so bad up here, a man could get used to the view.

[He gestured vaguely to the expansive though ultimately depressing view of the city. The zombie infestation wasn't really an improvement .]

I prefer being in high-up places myself, too. A good place to be on a day like today. The view will be a lot better once all the animals are taken care of.

Sounds like we're set to be two peas in a pod, my friend. [He paused, considering that a moment around another lungful of pleasant smoke.] Or two assholes in a tree. Sounds better the other way, though.

[Without preamble, he offered the joint to his new tree-partner. No expectations, just a simple offer.]

[Trees in Exsilium bear blonde guys as fruit, I guess. Elmer respectfully waves off the offer though. It's been a long long time since anyone's offered one to him though.

He does laugh at the remark though.] I suppose it could always be worse, eh? And you'll probably need that more than I will. So do you know if zombie outbreaks are common here? I'm still somewhat new here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

OPEN

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject