maskormenacelogs | I'll take the long way 'round

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I'll take the long way 'round

WHO: Joel & OPEN.
WHERE: Various! Around both Heropa and Pennsylvania.
WHEN: Through July.
WHAT: Doing dead drops, smuggling drugs, being a dad, being a prick… The usual.
WARNINGS: Will edit if anything arises!

» coffee shop in heropa | open

[Joel has a long drive ahead of him to Pennsylvania. About seventeen hours if he drives straight without a break, which ain't gonna happen. He's picked up a rental car - something mundane and bland looking, something that doesn't stand out - and he's said his extremely reluctant goodbyes to Ellie, promised her he'll be back in a few days.

It's pretty early in the morning and so that means he's not going anywhere until he's had his fill of coffee. He's pretty miserable. Pretty grumpy and sullen-looking. Nothing new there. What's prompting it this morning, though, is leaving Ellie. He hates leaving her. It makes him damn nervous. He misses her like hell already and he's barely even a few blocks away from his apartment.

The secret life of a drug mule. It ain't easy.]

» in a diner halfway between heropa and pennsylvania | open

[Ten hours into the trip and he's had to stop for the night. He's paid for a cheap motel room to stay in overnight - paid in cash, of course, keeping things suitably careful and nondescript, so nothing looks suspicious - and he's now he's heading into a cheap, kind of run-down looking diner after having just filled up the car with gas. Not that it's run-down to him. Hell, run-down is like luxury to him, after twenty years of living in streets festering with dead bodies, rotted out cars and collapsing buildings.

If there's anything good about this smuggling job… It's a lot cleaner, a lot easier, a lot simpler than the smuggling jobs he did back in the quarantine zone. At least he can drive a car, not have to go trudging through rain and hail and sleet. At least he can take a break and have some decent food and some coffee. At least he doesn't have to run for his life from Clickers or wonder how the hell he's going to get around patrol outside of curfew. At least there are no kids to smuggle.

Shit, he misses Ellie.]

» calling ellie from his motel room | closed to ellie

[It's kinda late by the time he gets back to the motel room. He's tired and he's pretty grumpy, but he's had a decent meal at the diner and he's had a hot shower. And so now, he's reclining on the bed, propped up against the cheap pine headboard with a few lumpy pillows with the television on while nursing a beer that he's helped himself to from the motel's bar fridge.

He flicks through the channels and upon finding nothing that really grabs his attention, he tosses the remote aside and reaches across to his bedside table for one of his burner phones. He's got two: one with Jesse's number it in, and one with the number of the burner phone he gave Ellie. The last thing he wants is records of long-distance conversations with Ellie where he's got no cover to explain why the hell he's travelling back and forth between Heropa and Pennsylvania all the time. Not to mention he doesn't want to run the risk of talking anything to do with smuggling over their handheld devices.

He flips the phone open and presses her number locked into the speed dial, and holds the phone against his ear as he takes a sip of beer.]

» a bar in pennsylvania | open

[He's made the drops. Picked up the cash from dead drop points. Time to head home. Except it's late, it's raining, he's tired, he could really use a drink. Might as well stay the night in Pennsylvania and drive back in the morning.

Much like his stay overnight halfway between Pennsylvania and Heropa, he's paid for another cheap motel in cash. He'll call Ellie when he gets back there, tell her what's going on, but for now - he's sitting at the bar, dressed in a red flannel shirt and old looking jeans, sipping a Jack and Coke. Every now and again, he glances up at the television playing overhead.

It's only his first drink; as he finishes it off, he sets the glass down and shoves it towards the bartender with a push of his fingers.]

Another, thanks.

» back home in heropa | open

» option 1
[Now he's back home, Joel has got things he's gotta do. He no longer has the mundane looking rental car but his old red '57 Chevrolet, which rumbles loudly due to a hole in the muffler and looks like it needs to be stripped right back and refurbished.

He goes grocery shopping - and hell, walking around a supermarket is still a pretty surreal experience, seeing all those shelves of food at his disposal, all that fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, meat, alcohol, Christ it's still all so overwhelming even a month after being here. And as for being surrounded by people, well, that's one of the perks of doing these drops between here and Pennsylvania, he supposes: way less people to deal with, as opposed to the supermarket and the mall, where there are far too many people, as far as Joel is concerned. Too many untrustworthy, unpredictable people. Though he keeps it very carefully concealed, he still heads around town with a pistol tucked into the back of his waistband. Just in case.]

» option 2
[Most afternoons, when he's not busy doing a drop, he waits outside the ice cream parlour where Ellie works to walk - or sometime drive - her home. He can be found sitting on a bench nearby, or standing against a wall near the shop with his arms crossed over his chest, just waiting. He does a lot of people watching while he waits, always keeping an eye out for danger. And, like when he goes shopping, always has his pistol concealed in his waistband. Just in case.]

» option 3
[He's got more money than he knows what to do with now. He's hardly spent any of it. Some days, though, he'll go down to the electronics store to browse through the movies and music. Movies he wants to show Ellie, music he wants to introduce her to. He's bought a big TV and a DVD machine, that he's crammed into the small bedroom they share; there are nights when neither of them can sleep and so they stay up watching movies together.

Sometimes, with DVDs or CDs clutched in his hand, he'll head over to the section in the electronic store where they sell pianos and guitars and instruments. He tinkers on the pianos, pressing keys here and there, and sometimes gives the guitars a quiet strum and a longing look as if debating whether to take one down and play it. Damn it, he's missed playing music.]

[[ooc; If there's anything else you'd like to do with Joel, feel free to set up a thread!]]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[The time she spent in Heropa without Joel are a distant blur. She remembers hating being on her own, hating that urge to both reach out and hide away from people. She remembers the paranoia. When he leaves for work--the work you got him, Ellie, don't forget that--she puts on a brave face and goes about her day as usual. She picks up more hours at the ice cream shop since she's not doing summer school, though a part of her wonders why she bothers if Joel is going to be making bank.

She heads "home" and slinks into the bedroom she has to herself in the evening, eating a burger and fries she picked up on the way back. The only good part about Joel not being around is that she can claim his bed for her own. The mattress feels nicer for some reason--maybe him weighing more than her has something to do with it. She's careful not to get any crumbs or blobs of ketchup on the blankets, and before she knows it she's fallen asleep with the TV on and a full belly.

The sound of the phone Joel left her has her rolling off the bed and onto her own situated on the floor, scrambling for her jeans she'd tossed aside before switching into her pajamas.

(Joel's not around to complain about her leaving her shit all over the place, so you bet that's exactly what she's doing.)

She fishes the phone out of the pocket and clears her throat before answering, trying to both sound like she didn't just wake up and that she didn't rush to answer.]

Hey! Hi.

[Phones are still strange and new to her. Her voice might be juuuuust a tad too loud.]

Hey, whoa.

[A brief jerk of the phone away from his ear. Jeez, that was kinda loud. But then he settles it against his ear again with a small smile that Ellie can't see. There's affection in his voice when he speaks, though, soft and deep.]

Hey there, kiddo. How you doin'?

Whoops. Sorry. [She figures out too late that she might be a little loud. Ellie takes a moment to sit up, carefully holding the phone against the side of her face, and kicks away a dirty sock as if he might be able to sense it.]

I'm doing good. [Her usual response. She has to be doing good, or else he'll worry more than he already does. Can't have that.] How 'bout you? Where are you right now? Jeez--what time is it?

Yeah, I'm alright. Tired.

[He's wiping a hand over his face as he says this. Yeah, he's alright. He has to be alright. He doesn't want Ellie to worry.]

In a motel in Pennsylvania. Gonna stay here for the night. And it's, uh... [He looks over at the bedside table.] Almost eleven.

You know there's a clock on your phone, yeah?

Yeah, you sound it. Everything going smoothly? [Driving and whatever. A part of her is still a little miffed she's not allowed to tag along. It's fucked up--they're partners. They're a good team. They stick together.

... just not with this, apparently.

Sigh. Ellie briefly pulls the phone away from her face to confirm the time.]

I know, I know. It's just annoying to have to pull it off my ear to check. We need a clock in here.

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