001; open;

[aintyourdad]

Who: Joel and YOU?!
Where: Outskirts of Aldrip
What: Joel isn't pleased to be here. He's especially not pleased that someone knows a lot about him, and has it all written on a piece of paper.
Warnings: Nothing yet, aside from Joel's general assholishness.

[ Joel approaches the town carefully. It's long, long habit - infected are dangerous, sure, but people are what you really need to watch out for. People are capable of anything.

And this town? It's way too fucking good to be true. It's just... there. Out in the open, no defenses, no lookouts, no patrols. He doesn't trust it. And he especially doesn't trust whoever left this piece of paper on him, with his personal information, and some kinda crime he's supposed to have committed. The first thing he needs to do is find somewhere reasonably safe, and the second thing? The second thing is to destroy this paper before someone else gets their hands on it.

Then he needs to find Ellie.

No one is armed. No one tries to attack him, or shouts for FEDRA, or anything. Not even on the outskirts of the town, where he'd expect people to be particularly wary. Somehow, despite the tension in his shoulders, despite the glares he shoots at everyone in his vicinity, someone gets him to some sort of... inn, or something? What the fuck.

He finds a table near the back, with his back to a wall and all exits firmly in his sight lines. Then he pulls the paper out, unrolls it, looks at it a moment. Crumples it up in his hand, then goes to rip it up. Except, he can't. A line of frustration appears on his brow as he tries to tear at it, with his hands, his teeth, he even pulls out a blade at one point and tries to cut it.

The only thing he gets out of the exercise is a paper cut. ]

What the fuck is goin' on here.

[ His voice is incredulous (and also Texan). ]

Comments

[aintyourdad]

I can communicate just fine face-to-face. This place ain't even that big.

[ It's got to be a tracker, so no, he's not going to touch it. ]

[grappler]

[she wouldn't be surprised if it was, honestly. if it didn't keep coming back to her, she would've gotten rid of it herself.]

Depends on how far you wanna go, though. I see stuff in the distance, but I have no idea what's waiting for me out there between here and there.

[she's using her head, for once in her life.]

[aintyourdad]

[ Joel shrugs. ]

We'll need to send out scouts, at some point. Find the perimeter, see how dangerous it is, if there's anybody else out there. That's foot work.

[grappler]

I don't mind scouting if we need to. Just not knowing is the weird part.

[especially since she knew her home like the back of her hand...]

[aintyourdad]

[ Joel studies her for a moment. Maybe brings his mental assessment of her age down a year or two. For all her big talk, she's maybe not so experienced as he originally thought. ]

First time away from home?

[ There's no judgment in the question. He's just sussing her out, a bit. ]

[grappler]

[she's experienced in a lot of things, but being in a completely different place isn't one of them.

she snorts.]

What gave it away?

[she kicks her leg at the table.]

Kinda stuck in the same place at home, unless you're filthy stinkin' rich. People like me never crawl out of the gutters that they come from...so they know them by heart. Everything else? Not so much.

[aintyourdad]

[ That makes sense to Joel, who remembers a time before the outbreak, when money was a thing and it limited people's mobility. Nowadays, mobility is limited for other reasons, but still often limited. So he nods, accepting her explanation. ]

First thing you always do is get the lie of the land. You can't plan an escape route until you know your way around. A map of the area would be nice, if we could find one.

[ Yeah, he's going full instructor mode on you, Vi. Sorry. He defaults to it pretty easily these days. ]

[grappler]

[she nods.]

The first part is stuff I already know. [but on a grander scale.] Maps...

[she looks around, as if the bar might have some sort of clue.]

Government buildings or a library or some shit would probably have one.

[aintyourdad]

Mm, maybe. If they have something like that, and if we can get to it. They may not want us to have a map of the area.

[ A map might facilitate an escape attempt, after all. ]

[grappler]

Hey, I can sneak into places. We just gotta find out where something like that would be.

[that would be the hard part.]

But it's not like we can bust down every door in this place, either...unless we want the locals to get really pissed off.

[aintyourdad]

Nah, we gotta be smart about it. The locals seem helpful for now. We can ask around, long as we're not too pushy or obvious.

[ Joel isn't really a people person but many of the locals don't seem to mind, and are still perfectly willing to talk to him. Let alone other kidnapees. ]

[grappler]

[Vi and Smart isn't always the same, but no one's been all that terrible so far, so she supposes she can play nice.]

Not like they're noticing too much anyway. You notice they barely looked up when we first got here and they were partying?

[aintyourdad]

Yeah. They're used to bein' safe here. Don't have a reason not to trust strangers.

[ It's been a long time since Joel's been able to trust anyone he didn't already know intimately. He remembers the world before, though. He remembers the feeling of safety, of being able to just be in the world and not constantly be on guard or expecting violence at every turn. It's weird to see people like that again after twenty years. ]

[grappler]

Must be nice.

[the idea of it is so incredibly foreign to her. she grew up not being able to trust anyone, and looking out for herself and the rest of her family.

as good as she did at that, anyway.

she sighs loudly, putting her feet on the floor and leaning forward a bit.]

So you want to find a map, yeah? Anything else you need me to be looking out for?

[aintyourdad]

Weapons.

[ He says that immediately, no hesitation. ]

If they've got a stockpile, it'd be good to know what they have and where they keep it.

[grappler]

[she nods, getting to her feet.]

Got it. I'll keep an eye out.

[...she pauses, unsure.]

Good luck on your search, too.

[aintyourdad]

...Yeah. Thanks. You too.

[ For Joel, that is downright genial. Vi seems actually competent, unlike a lot of the other people here. Lucky! ]