open; May catch-all;

[aintyourdad]

Who: Joel and etc.
Where: The inn's bar; the statue garden; on patrol; whatever folks want;
What: Catch-all for threads for the first half of May, leading up to the event.
Warnings: Nothing right now - apart from Joel being a doomer! I'll update if necessary.

Prompts in the comments! If you want Joel for something that doesn't fit the prompts, feel free to drop a starter or hit me up via PM, or frodabaggins or on the game discord!

Comments

An afternoon in the garden

[aintyourdad]

[ Joel isn't a fan of the statues that the locals put up. In fact, he avoids the part of the garden that has the statue of himself in it altogether - he won't even go near it.

But the garden itself is... nice? Peaceful. He's slightly less likely to be harangued here if he's eating his lunch. Though, maybe today will be different. He's on a bench, eating a sandwich, not looking at any of the statues, just focusing on his food. ]

You got something to say?

[ Oops, you've been spotted! ]

[laserguy]

[Scott's not entirely sure why he's been hanging out in the gardens so much, well okay, it's mostly teenage boredom because there's no mall or movie theater or anything exciting to go to. Maybe he should do the responsible thing and learn how to control his powers better, but sometimes he feels too frustrated trying something like that.

Which has led him here, giving attitude to a grumpy old man instead.]

Memorizing your face, I guess.

[He only stared for a little bit!! But guess the few seconds was long enough for him to react and after being called out, Scott had to react in some manner. Unfortunately, he had to react with the first thought that came to mind.]

[aintyourdad]

[ Joel snorts faintly. ]

I know there's better lookin' faces than mine around.

[ Unfazed, he takes another bite of his sandwich. ]

[laserguy]

You see them around now?

[Scott makes a sweeping motion with his arm, as if emphasizing there's no one around this part of the garden except for the two of them. Guess he can always leave him alone and go somewhere else, but whatever, guess he feels like talking to some random dude. Crushing loneliness or something like that, being far from home?? Feelings are dumb.]

Unless you're counting some of these statues and yeah, that one over there looks better. [He doesn't bother to really point out a statue, choosing to shove his hands in the pockets of his jacket.]

[aintyourdad]

[ Joel does sometimes wonder if he has a "please pester me" sign somewhere around his person that he just can't see. For better or worse, though, he's gotten used to this kind of thing here. People here just don't know how to leave well enough alone, so he sighs and resigns himself. ]

I'm sure it does. You just get here?

[laserguy]

Yeah.

[Scott answers with a small shrug, and he briefly wonders if this guy is one of the people that responded to him when he was angry about everything, but that's not a question he wants to lead with. He's still sort of embarrassed over it and he's trying not to call himself a freak in front of others anymore.]

Am I that obvious?

[At least wearing sunglasses right now isn't too out of the ordinary, but Scott still finds himself raising a hand to them, just... sort of making sure they aren't suddenly gonna fall from his face. Which. Is a stupid thought, but he can't help it.]

[aintyourdad]

[ Joel shrugs. Scott is lucky, at least, in one thing - he's talking to the one guy who has just never used the little gemstone network thingy. So whatever he got upset about, Joel is clueless. ]

I know most of the Chosen by sight. I was in the first group that got dumped here.

[ He's quiet, but he pays attention. ]

[laserguy]

So, you're used to this place and everything.

[As used to this place as one can be anyway. Scott takes that into consideration, almost like he's evaluating something, before nodding at Joel.]

Got any great knowledge to impart? [He briefly wonders if this guy has powers, but Scott figures asking that question to everyone he meets is probably not a great idea. Not right away at least.]

[aintyourdad]

Not really. Except I'd expect something to go wrong again soon.

[ Because something went wrong once already, and as the days pass - and he spends time in the statue garden - the more he's convinced it was a test. ]

[laserguy]

Geez, you sure are a fountain of knowledge.

[Scott's actually pretty uncomfortable with the thought of something 'go wrong again soon,' but might as well hide that behind some forceful sarcasm. He folds his arms across his chest and does his best not to fidget, succeeding only slightly in that endeavor.]

Y-you're pretty calm despite knowing that. Just eating your sandwich and shit.

[aintyourdad]

What should I be doing instead? Panicking? Preppin', for something I don't even know what?

[ Joel takes another bite of his sandwich. Chews and swallows - because it's rude to talk with your mouth full. ]

I'm as ready as I can be, for whatever happens next.

[laserguy]

No, but...

[Plan for something they have no idea about? As he pointed out? That sounds dumb even in Scott's mind.]

I don't know. Doing more than just pretending everything is normal. [Which on a regular day, Scott likes to pretend that things are normal or that he can be normal again, but right now, he's not in that sort of mood. Worry and responsibility and all that.]

Do you got a power or something? Is that why you're calm?

[GUESS HE'S ASKING ABOUT ABILTIES ALREADY...]

[aintyourdad]

I've been here for three months. This is normal.

[ Kids, honestly. Joel lost all ability to panic twenty years ago when the world ended. ]

When somethin' happens, I'll deal with it. That's life.

[laserguy]

[Scott sort of stares at Joel for a few seconds, his expression mostly unreadable behind his shades, before his shoulders sort of slump, his posture betraying any sort of stoicism. Whatever retort or come back he had is gone, and instead the mutant just sits down next to the older man with a defeated groan.

Hopefully he doesn't mind a sullen teenager taking a spot near him.]

So, that's what I should do? [......] Just deal with whatever life throws at me?

[Is he taking general life advice from this? Maybe.] How do you deal with uh, life, anyway.

[aintyourdad]

How?

[ Joel is used to teenagers. Well, one teenager. He's not super great with sullenness, though. He just looks kind of baffled by the question. ]

You just do. Or you don't, I guess, and then you have a nervous breakdown every time somethin' goes wrong, which is most of the time.

[laserguy]

[.......

He's going to take back any criticism he's held against Professor McCoy or Xavier after this. Scott feels like they had at least some sort of answer or suggestion that wasn't this. Of course, they're in charge of a school full of mutant kids and thus is required to deal with this sort of crap. This guy is probably just a... sandwich maker for all he knows.

Doesn't stop him from blurting out his next comment though.]

You kind of suck at this, don't you?

[aintyourdad]

If you wanted a shrink, you shouldn't have asked a random stranger your questions.

[ He sighs, and sits back on his bench, glancing up at the sky. ]

We're all stuck here, and it sucks for us all. When shit happens - I focus on what I can control. Right now, that's my lunch. And not panicking.

[laserguy]

I wasn't asking for one!

[He's totally not defensive what are you talking about.]

...But I guess I get it. [He can't control his optic blasts right now, can't control the fact that he's here in the first place, nor can he control the crime he's been accused of. That doesn't leave much for him, but no point focusing on that.]

I should make a sandwich too. [Guess sulking and being angry has made him sort of hungry.]

[aintyourdad]

Most things we can't control. We can control how we react to them.

[ Simple as that. And maybe Joel has just seen too much shit in his life to bother getting upset about most things. ]

You'd best get some food in your stomach. Easier to think.

[laserguy]

And hopefully not have a nervous breakdown, as you put it.

[Is that what he had when he first got here?? Who knows. Scott's not going to bring it up because they're talking about sandwiches now and how to handle situations. Sort of.]

Yeah, guess so. [Scott finally manages a small smile and maybe this old man won't care, but he's going to start talking about his new plan.] Thinking of making a monster of a sandwich just because I can. Like beyond what I used to pack back home.

[A sandwich full of meat and probably too much sauce.]