joel miller (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
shittybirthday) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
maskormenacelogs2014-07-10 07:21 pm
shittybirthday) wrote in maskormenacelogs2014-07-10 07:21 pm
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
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.» in a diner halfway between heropa and pennsylvania | open
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.]
[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.» calling ellie from his motel room | closed to ellie
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.]
[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.» a bar in pennsylvania | open
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.]
[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.» back home in heropa | open
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.
» option 1[[ooc; If there's anything else you'd like to do with Joel, feel free to set up a thread!]]
[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.]
no subject
[They had to know what kind of world Ellie came from, and that she'd be a little overwhelmed by so much choice of sweet food.]
Assistant in the Pagan Studies department at the college. Fucking ridiculous.
no subject
[He doesn't know anything about that kinda thing. He agrees; it sounds ridiculous. For different reasons that Kara would, though. He just thinks all that kind of shit is ridiculous.
A gesture at himself with his hand and a wry tone.] PR advisor for the FDA.
no subject
[And that only happened occasionally, in part because Kara didn't actually pay a lot of attention to religions and cultures aside from her own.]
No offense, but you shouldn't be a PR advisor for anyone.
no subject
[He sure as hell wouldn't want to be a PR advisor. For anyone. Especially the FD-fucking-A.]
And, heh. Ain't that always the way. People only agreein' if you listen to 'em.
no subject
[Not that this is the first time it's happened, but that was one of the harder adjustments as time progressed. Twenty used to be an adult, now she gets looked at as if she's still a kid.]
no subject
Should've threatened to cut their hands off.
no subject
Considered it, but I didn't wanna lose the job until I had something else lined up.
[While she can be a little rash, she tries not to make stupid decision.]
no subject
He'll stick with subjects he can understand.]
So, how'd you land this job with Jesse, then?
no subject
[It's not exactly a secret, and she doesn't care enough about anyone's opinions to be ashamed.]
He knew what I was, needed someone to do the job, and I was looking for one. All came together pretty well.
[She might've gotten it anyway, but it just seemed to work out well.]
no subject
Thought there was something goin' on between you two.
[Not that Joel cares. It's just an observation.]
no subject
[Just in case he's thinking there are like. feelings involved. because no.]
no subject
[He holds a hand up dismissively as if to say he really doesn't care.]
no subject
And you don't gotta be jealous, pretty sure he's still paying you more than he is me.
[Kara pls.]
no subject
[Shifting on his seat, a hand resting on his thigh with his other nurses his drink on the table, Joel gives Kara a look as much to say, come on, now at that grin she's giving him. That's probably one of the first times he's seen her smile, come to think of it.]
Why, does 'enforcer' not pay well?
no subject
[With a shrug, she kicks her feet up on the booth Joel's sitting on, though not too close to him. She's just getting comfortable.]
But it ain't as dangerous as what you do, not when it comes to the cops.
no subject
He gives the woman a quick acknowledging nod of thanks and reaches for a fry on the edge of the plate. He makes sure the waitress is gone before continuing the conversation.]
The cops here are nothin' compared to what I had to deal with back at home. Sure ain't nowhere near as dangerous. Don't gotta smuggle guns or medicine or explosives in and outta heavily militarised quarantine zones. Don't gotta run the risk of runnin' into Infected. Don't mean I ain't aware of the risks of doin' this job here, though.