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

[touchofcashmere]

[Stede is also wandering about town, looking a little lost, a little forlorn, but he perks up at the sight of someone else...and the sight of so feral a man well- it makes everything feel a little like home.]

Oh, I only wish I knew.

I'm just as new here as you are. Seem to be. [a smile and a proffered hand] Stede Bonnet, Gentleman Pirate.

[usarinpa]

[ Mizuki looks far better now than when she woke up here. She has come out of the room they've assigned her at the inn, spotting Joel at the back after making her way through the lobby, and she really doesn't think anything of it. When he pulls out that familiar looking parchment, however, she raises a brow slightly.

There's another pause before she finally speaks. ]

Yeah, I had to bury mine to get rid of it.

[ Doesn't know that not even that will work! She'll be in for a nasty surprise in a few days. ]

[twelfthsong]

[ The Doctor can and has been a suspicious man depending on the circumstances handed to him. And while he hasn't encountered this particular set of circumstances in this incarnation of himself, he had landed himself in prison once before (long story, but he did that one on purpose) and the environment there was 100% worse than wherever they are now.

All of that is to say that he's taking this better than most people probably are. He's holed up at a nearby table Joel pouring over several different books and scribbling down notes when he hears the war on paper happening at Joel's table. Should he know it's a rhetorical question? The jury's out on that one, but either way he'll speak up in a very dry, Scottish accent. ]

The answer to that question depends because I just saw a very sad attempt at trying to rip up paper that can't be destroyed. [ At that he waves his pen lazily in Joel's direction. ] But I'm guessing you aren't referring to that.

[starguy]

[ Peter's a lot less suspicious of strangers -- at least on a backwater planet where he probably won't run into anyone he knows. So naturally he's looking for a place to sit and information to grab when he spots a very irate-looking guy near the back.

Angry dudes usually know what's up, right? And he's got a piece of paper too, how bout that. Sure, he's got the look of a guy who might gut him, but that's never stopped him from striking up a conversation before. ]

Yeah, they've got some hardcore paper here, that won't work.

[ Peter smiles and sidles up to Joel's table, taking a seat across from him. He eyes his knife, but it sure doesn't stop him. ]

Your guess is as good as mine, though. I don't usually get kidnapped with a bunch of other people like this.

[ "Usually." ]

[grappler]

[Vi looks like she's been snoozing nearby when Joel walks in, chair on two legs as she leans against the wall with her hood over her head.

but then she hears the commotion, and an eye opens and glances over at Joel.]

Bullshit, that's what's going on.

[#deepthoughtswithvi]

[inemeraldfaith]

[Aerith has handled a good majority of this with what others will likely perceive as a dangerous amount of nonchalance. The day in which she's sharing inn space with Joel is probably going to be another one of those demonstrations on her part. She hasn't wasted much time in trying to chat up the locals. It's her own way of attempting to get information while making positive impression, which she still believes to be important, if not crucial for survival.

Of course, they haven't been... as helpful as she'd like. They seem very happy to talk about what they do, the various shops they run in town (peddling their wares, even), where they get food, and some of the areas that lie outside of the town (perhaps things to beware of?).

When she hears Joel's rough voice, she turns her attention from the inn clerk that she's been chatting up and gradually makes her way over to him. Folding her hands together, she considers frowning, but then settles for wearing an even expression instead. 'Smile and the world smiles with you' is probably not going to work on him.]

I'm trying to get some more information on that, but I can't say I've gotten any that most of us would consider useful. It'll be okay, though. We just need some time to get answers.

[Optimism might not work either, but she at least has to try.]