exsiliumlogs

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.]

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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.

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