shittybirthday: (▸ 028)
joel miller ([personal profile] shittybirthday) wrote in [community profile] tushanshu_logs2014-04-13 01:59 am

open to all!

Characters: Joel and open!
Date: Mid-April through to... whenever??
Location: All sectors.
Situation: Joel has arrived in Keeliai and is searching for Ellie.
Warnings/Rating: PG. Will edit to a higher rating if necessary!

If you want to do anything specific with Joel, feel free to hit me up at [plurk.com profile] spongebong!

Joel has been wandering lost through the city for what feels like hours.

Ellie. That's all he can think about amid the mess of bewilderment racing through his mind about where he is: Ellie. Finding Ellie. From the moment he woke up in that damn tub of water, groggy and feeling like he'd been heavily drugged and finding himself staring up at a severe looking man staring right back down at him, Ellie is all he's been able to think about. His immediate thought had been that he'd been kidnapped and that Ellie had been-- Shit, he didn't want to think about what had happened to Ellie, what they'd done to her. He just wanted to find her.

And so, with the stagnant taste of water from the tunnel still in his mouth, in his throat, with the mental image of frantically applying compressions to Ellie's chest while she lay lifeless on the wet, water-logged ground, as his strength slowly began to return to him and the heavy fog began lifting from his mind, he started to fight. He weren't gonna listen to any bullshit about some great evil or some asshole called Malicant. He needed to find Ellie, god damn it.

Where is she? The girl? he'd managed to demand, his voice weak and croaky as he was lifted out of the water. When none of the strange people around him were willing to answer his questions, he began wrestling against them with all his might. He threw clumsy punches, tried grabbing them and slamming them into the wall, tried throwing them to the ground to stamp as hard as he could on their faces. Where is she? WHERE IS SHE? All to no avail: he'd been too damn weak to do much more than grope and grab and listlessly shove at anyone who tried to come near him. He was easily overpowered. Soon, he was shoved outside, left to fend for himself with no answers to any of his questions.

And now, here he is: navigating his way through a bewildering maze of streets and crowds. He's dressed in ratty jeans and a dirty, threadbare blue denim shirt with the sleeves rolled up his muscular forearms; his skin is weathered and nicked with scars, scabs and bruises. On his left wrist is a wristwatch, the glass face cracked, the hour and minute hands frozen in time. Strapped to his back is a dirty brown backpack, laden with various weapons: a bow, six arrows, a metal pipe with scissor blades crudely affixed to the end of it with duct tape, a shotgun, a hunting rifle, a flamethrower and a military torch clipped to his backpack shoulder strap. His face is tired, world-weary, the wrinkles around his eyes and on his forehead deep and heavy-set. His dark hair is greying and there are flecks of grey in his dark beard. Not a shred of mirth can be seen in his expression; but there's a look of something resembling barely contained worry, if not panic, in his hard eyes.

It's the first time in twenty years that he's seen or been in urban civilisation. Civilisation, that is, that isn't overrun by martial law, isn't secured into quarantine zones, isn't surrounded by militia, by the constant threat of Hunters, by decayed ruin and despair. By Infected.

He doesn't trust any of it. As he walks through the streets, he keeps glancing over his shoulder in paranoia. It's all too much. Too overwhelming. Too much noise, too many smells, too much stimulation. He's grown so used to the dead, dank silence of a world torn apart by chaos and sickness and terror that a thriving civilisation is completely foreign to him now; much less a civilisation as strange and almost otherworldly as this. Sudden noises make him tense; sudden movements make him defensive; people approaching him or getting in way makes him itch to whip out his pistol from where it's tucked in his waistband and aim it point-blank at their faces.
akito: akito / gazelle (Default)

[personal profile] akito 2014-04-18 02:32 pm (UTC)(link)
Humming his acquiesce, Akito does one last quick check to make sure he has everything before hurrying past the man and doing exactly that - leading the way. Keeping the position of the sun in mind so that they can stay more or less in the direction they need to be going, Akito uses the basic knowledge he has of the layout of the district to find the alleyways they need to cut through.

He keeps moving fast, though not so fast that he'll tire himself out. Just fast enough that his short legs don't slow down his temporary intimidator.

"I'm Gazelle," he supplies eventually, while waiting for the traffic on a main road to abate enough so they can plow through to the next alley.
akito: akito (pic#1137835)

[personal profile] akito 2014-04-20 02:37 pm (UTC)(link)
"Mmhm," he hums, gaze following the traffic; searching for an opening. Spotting one, Akito plows forward. Weaving in and out of obstacles, he trusts that Joel will be able to follow without issue considering his size. Once safely in the next alleyway, Akito continues:

"Gazelle as in an antelope."

It suited the real Gazelle more than him, but he's grown fond of his alias. If he could be like a gazelle he would be that much closer to being like a bird.
akito: akito (pic#6620773)

[personal profile] akito 2014-04-20 03:25 pm (UTC)(link)
They're making good speed, and Akito estimates they should make it to the Earth district in another couple of minutes, give or take. The alleyways are narrow, but it feels safer than the busy streets do.

"It was my mother's name," he answers vaguely. Technically that means it used to be his name as well, in a way, which is why he doesn't feel so guilty using it. "And we should be there in a few minutes, as long as we don't run into trouble."