Joel (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
aintyourdad) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
thecapitol2014-06-30 10:22 pm
aintyourdad) wrote in thecapitol2014-06-30 10:22 pm
Entry tags:
open;
Who| Joel and OPEN!
What| Joel's (not so) auspicious return to the Capitol. The arena messed him up pretty bad, and now he's got stuff to catch up on here.
Where| Various; see starters.
When| Week 6, possibly into week 7.
Warnings/Notes| Lots and lots of manpain. Probably some cussing, possibly discussion of child death and zombie violence.
[ 1: D8 suites; ]
Joel spends the better part of three days after his return in his room. He's got a stash of food, and he's used to not bathing for long periods of time. He can't bring himself to leave, regardless. Not after all that happened. Not after Sarah. He couldn't save her, again. He couldn't save Riley. He couldn't save Clem. Clem. Christ. And now Ellie's alone in that hellish place, and he can't face it.
He can't.
[ 2: D8 common area; ]
When he finally emerges from his room, bleary and sleep-deprived and thinner than before he went into the arena, Joel makes a beeline for the kitchen area. It's one of the things that he can always do to calm himself down here - cook. Fresh food, good food, is in abundance here, and Joel takes advantage of it. It's almost therapeutic for him.
Of course, there's no avoiding the multiple television screens that are always on in the common area, proclaiming the latest "news". A news report catches his eye, and for a while he's enraptured, unable to look away as the anchor details the plague, the quarantines - and an entire district, blown off the map.
Joel's face darkens, into a scowl, something tight and disgusted but not surprised, not horrified. If anything, it's all too familiar. No wonder it's so quiet around this place.
"Jesus Christ," he mutters, and then goes back to his cooking.
[ 3: Training Center; ]
Eventually, by the end of the week, in need of something else to occupy him, Joel ventures to the training center. He doesn't think training really does him much good - his skills were all acquired through long practice. But it gives him occupation, and it can be a good idea to check out who else is around, and what they're doing
Size up the competition, so to speak.
[ 4: A coffee shop; ]
By the end of the week, with the quarantines lifted and the fear of disease essentially gone, the city is getting back to normal - well, normal by Capitol standards, anyway. It's strange, to see a place recovering from a disease. Joel's world never recovered. It just fell apart, completely.
But there's no point dwelling on it. If he does that, he'll just start to think about things better left alone. His old life. Sarah. Hell, even Ellie. At least getting out of the Tribute Center gets him away from all the screens for a while. He watches sometimes, to see if they're following Ellie at all, but just as often he can't, doesn't want to, doesn't see the point. So he finds a coffee shop, a secluded one, away from the big touristy areas. Good strong coffee is what he needs.
What| Joel's (not so) auspicious return to the Capitol. The arena messed him up pretty bad, and now he's got stuff to catch up on here.
Where| Various; see starters.
When| Week 6, possibly into week 7.
Warnings/Notes| Lots and lots of manpain. Probably some cussing, possibly discussion of child death and zombie violence.
[ 1: D8 suites; ]
Joel spends the better part of three days after his return in his room. He's got a stash of food, and he's used to not bathing for long periods of time. He can't bring himself to leave, regardless. Not after all that happened. Not after Sarah. He couldn't save her, again. He couldn't save Riley. He couldn't save Clem. Clem. Christ. And now Ellie's alone in that hellish place, and he can't face it.
He can't.
[ 2: D8 common area; ]
When he finally emerges from his room, bleary and sleep-deprived and thinner than before he went into the arena, Joel makes a beeline for the kitchen area. It's one of the things that he can always do to calm himself down here - cook. Fresh food, good food, is in abundance here, and Joel takes advantage of it. It's almost therapeutic for him.
Of course, there's no avoiding the multiple television screens that are always on in the common area, proclaiming the latest "news". A news report catches his eye, and for a while he's enraptured, unable to look away as the anchor details the plague, the quarantines - and an entire district, blown off the map.
Joel's face darkens, into a scowl, something tight and disgusted but not surprised, not horrified. If anything, it's all too familiar. No wonder it's so quiet around this place.
"Jesus Christ," he mutters, and then goes back to his cooking.
[ 3: Training Center; ]
Eventually, by the end of the week, in need of something else to occupy him, Joel ventures to the training center. He doesn't think training really does him much good - his skills were all acquired through long practice. But it gives him occupation, and it can be a good idea to check out who else is around, and what they're doing
Size up the competition, so to speak.
[ 4: A coffee shop; ]
By the end of the week, with the quarantines lifted and the fear of disease essentially gone, the city is getting back to normal - well, normal by Capitol standards, anyway. It's strange, to see a place recovering from a disease. Joel's world never recovered. It just fell apart, completely.
But there's no point dwelling on it. If he does that, he'll just start to think about things better left alone. His old life. Sarah. Hell, even Ellie. At least getting out of the Tribute Center gets him away from all the screens for a while. He watches sometimes, to see if they're following Ellie at all, but just as often he can't, doesn't want to, doesn't see the point. So he finds a coffee shop, a secluded one, away from the big touristy areas. Good strong coffee is what he needs.
no subject
no subject
How to explain it to her? That it's as much luck as skill, and luck usually runs out, for even the most skilled survivors. He's not sure that would really make her feel any better, though.
no subject
But they have, a whole city -- no a whole country of people have seen her as a Walker.
no subject
Joel has no illusions about what kind of man he is, but even he has contempt for the kind of person who would do something like that to a child.
"I knew you'd come right back here and be fine again," he says, a bit of a white lie to make her feel better. "So did everyone else. It wasn't your fault."
no subject
"I-I guess..." Knowing theoretically that she'd come back to life had been one thing for Clementine, it was hard to say if she'd ever truly believed it until she'd woken up in her bed. "I didn't want to hurt anyone."
no subject
He racks his brain for something he can do to take her mind off it - get her attention on something else, so she's not beating herself up about it anymore.
"You wanna go somewhere, get ice cream maybe?"
no subject
But she's already realising that for all she came to apologise to him this is turning about her and she doesn't want to do that. She'll make Joel feel worse by continuing on about it, so even though it's an offer she might have balked at before for the child she tries so hard not to be she nods against Joel's shoulder to the idea of ice-cream.
Not because inside she really, actually, would like that.
no subject
She shouldn't have to look that way.
"C'mon. Tell me your favorite flavor and we'll get a great big bowl of it," he says, because not talking about things is his preference, whenever possible. Things happen, and we move on.
no subject
"It's um, rocky road." she says quietly, slowly sinking into the role she so often denied herself.
no subject
no subject
Which she did soon after arriving here, not that she ever told anyone.