InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "It wasn't love."

Jesse Custer (i_seekgod) wrote in we_coexist,
@ 2008-11-05 16:41:00

Entry tags:

buffy summers, jesse custer, violet baudelaire, zoe washburne, zombies

Safety in numbers (Open)
His new neighbor had been kind enough to inform him that there were dead people walking around outside, eating other people. He wasn't sure if he would have noticed it before, as there hadn't seemed to be many of them when he'd first left the Manchester, but the longer he stayed out, the more they seemed to multiply. It seemed to him that every few minutes a dozen more of the things were shambling around in large groups looking for meat.

Jesse spent some time collecting what he could in the way of supplies, but he couldn't do very much he found. He got the very basics from about a dozen stores around the city. Everybody seemed to be collecting what they could, however they could. And he wasn't about to punch out a little old lady just to get his hands on one extra gallon of water.

It was all locked away in one of the only churches the City had. It was the biggest, and had actual pews instead of seats, which none of the others did. Big, heavy wooden doors, and no windows low down where they could be broken into easy. There was the added bonus of the choral balcony, where anybody could look out onto the rest of the city below. Perhaps a sniper could be set up there. The unfortunate thing would be the breaking of the stained glass. It wasn't the religious loss for Jesse, but the aesthetic one. As much as he might have disliked God and the church, he couldn't deny the beauty of the stained glass. But it would have to be done.

There was room enough for a lot of people there. Plus a basement they could hide in if it all came to that. There was a confessional for extra hiding, as well as the sacristy just in case. And a small hallway leading to the priest's quarters which had a kitchen, and an additional bathroom.

He could take care of people here. And hopefully they'd show up with additional supplies. There was just enough butcher's paper and paint in the supply closet for him to make a sign that he hung over the front doors.

It read, simply

"SAFETY"

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i_invent
2008-11-06 05:43 pm UTC (link)

That was when the group from the nearby youth hostel showed up. Violet had raided the tool shed and restocked her gear kit as well as her tool box and the little group was armed to the teeth (for teens of course). She and a boy about her age had taken charge when the hostel was over ran and they did a pretty decent job of keeping people from being eaten. "Throw that last trap into the street!" she called as one of the boys fired his handgun and set the trap flying.

"Got room for about 6 teens? We have weapons, food since we raided the hostel kitchen before splitting and supplies" Violet asked the older guy she spotted. "We're unhurt and nobody got eaten along the way but if there's a tool chest I can raid that will help with trap making"

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i_willcarry
2008-11-06 06:07 pm UTC (link)

The Amazon stood slowly, brow raised. Any gun vs. knife discussion would have to wait; those were always amusing and so...graphic. She watched the pair carefully, her attention focusing on this Jesse person for the brief moment they were alone. Zoe had the good grace to avoid cussing, outloud anyway. This was a really bad karmic joke.

"Do for me? Just need a place to stop over." Well, that had been the plan. "Course, looks like you'll need a hand. Name's Zoe."

Eaten. She didn't shudder; she didn't seem phased at all. Just yanked up her bag, set it on her shoulder, and headed to find a good spot to tuck in. If Jesse wanted to stop her, he could. She'd shoot to kill; she'd been trained to do so, and while they weren't exactly dead, a shot to the head seemed to do the job in putting them down, for the most part.

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	i_invent 2008-11-06 06:11 pm UTC (link)
	"Violet" as she sent the other 5 inside the church. "The youth hostel a few blocks from here just got over ran so we made a break for it, hid in one of the upstairs rooms till about an hour ago" as she sent another homemade booby trap flying down the street with the help of one grabbed crossbow. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

i_seekgod
2008-11-06 09:45 pm UTC (link)

"Jesse." He said, passing up Zoe and moving to Violet. He pointed at the pews. "Got plenty of room. Some blankets. Not much. But if y'all take turns or huddle up, should cover everybody. There's a fridge if you got perishables. Everything else can go in the kitchen if you want."

Jesse watched Zoe carefully. Certainly she could take care of herself. Something about her made him think of those warrior women tribes from where ever it was.

She had some rips though.

"Are you bleeding anywhere?" His natural need to be the one taking care of everybody was kicking in. It wasn't smart, by the looks of this woman, she'd likely be hell in a fight, but he couldn't help it. And now there were teens involved. His caretaker gene was in overdrive.

"The blond was Buffy, in case you see her again. Hopefully you will." Mostly he meant that Buffy wouldn't die outside.

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i_invent
2008-11-06 09:56 pm UTC (link)

"We raided the hostel before spliiting so we grabbed whatever we could" as Violet's little group came inside the church. She sent one boy to put away the perishables they had grabbed and one of the girls unloaded a pile of sleeping bags and blankets they had grabbed. She sent another girl to grab some pews for the group and one of the boys went to stash the pile of weapons they had. "We've got a few crack shots in the group and I cooked up some booby traps we can set up as needed".

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i_willcarry
2008-11-06 11:52 pm UTC (link)

"Caught it the first time." Zoe looked over at the girl and her band of would be warriors. War was hell, and these kids, no matter what they thought, were not ready for it. She had barely been, and she'd been trained ahead a time.

"Look after the kids. I've seen worse." She paused before looking for the way upstairs; her hair was in the way. While she wasn't vain, she wasn't ready to hack anything off just for convenience, so she gave it a quick braid and tuck. A helmet would have been useful right now, especially with the crack shots running around.

She'd have to get a look at the wounds eventually, but right now, she'd stick with playing guardian of the gate, from above. As she finished her hair, her hand dropped to the leather tie at her neck. If she got through this, she'd have to add something to it to commemorate all she'd been through.

"You got a medkit, I'll plug up any leaks." She might have let the fact that they were still working with 21st century medicine slip her mind.

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i_invent
2008-11-07 12:02 am UTC (link)

One of the boys from Violet's group tossed over some med supplies they had grabbed. "It's not much but its something right?" he called. The hostel group set up base in one set of pews since they wanted to stick together, Violet and one of the older boys acting as unoffical leaders. She then slung her homemade crossbow across her shoulder along with fresh bolts, just in case. One of the older boys had a handgun and one of the girls was mean with a slingshot.

The hostel group was a ragtag band of runaways, recent arrivals to the City and a couple waiting to unravel guardianship (Violet among them). But they had fought the zombies as well as they could for 3 days before running from the hostel. Violet then took charge again and called plans to the group,"We stick together, power in numbers!" the young inventor's brain was racing. She then set up a few booby traps outside, having tested them on the zombies at the hostel. Violet decided to text Ace and Gert, they needed brains and some serious firepower.

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i_seekgod
2008-11-08 07:06 pm UTC (link)

"Hey now." Jesse stepped up to the young girl, holding up his hands. "This ain't no war in here. There won't be any of you goin back outside, you hear? Y'all might have handled yourselves just fine before, and that's great. But now you're here, and you're under my care. Far as I can tell, ya might be geniuses, but you're still kids."

He gestured to Zoe. "We've got someone who's a crack shot, from what I can tell. She'll take care of things from above. There ain't no other way in. Just those front doors. Any traps need to be set, they'll be set by one of us."

He just wasn't going to budge on this one. He might get his ass kicked by the warrior woman, but he could take care of these kids.

"Between me, Zoe and Buffy, you've got plenty of people capable of keepin you safe. So you guys just have a seat, stay inside, and find a way to while away the time. Hear?"

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i_willcarry
2008-11-08 08:46 pm UTC (link)

Zoe smirked slightly, listening to Jesse. He was one of those good ole boy commander types that learned the hard way that this particular shipborn female could take care of herself, in the air or on the ground.

The Amazon climbed up to the window, setting in a few weapons. There was a pause as she looked at the window; thankfully, she could pop out a few panes of colored glass without having the whole thing come crashing down on her or anyone else. Just a little space for any size fire arm and another to see through..she hoped that was all she was going to need.

She fired off a few test shots, judging her position as well as the zombie reaction. Okay, the zombie reaction was what she expected; there wasn't one. Setting everything up, she reached the ground floor, gathering up her bag to start working on other weapon placement.

"Need a quick hand to check my shoulder and back."

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	i_seekgod 2008-11-13 02:00 am UTC (link)
	Jesse jumped on that. "I'll help." He scooped up the nearby medical supplies from Violet and her friends and made a motion to Zoe that he would follow. Unless there was something that needed stitching, he could work while she worked. Any bandaging might look ugly, but it would be sound and keep her wounds protected. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

i_willcarry
2008-11-14 12:58 am UTC (link)

Zoe, without thinking, stripped off the jacket and vest; she hadn't felt any soreness as she moved, so she didn't believe there was anything to worry about. Her lips thinned as she saw that a corner of her jacket was closely resembling what some would call ruined, blood and rips, her leather vest beneath it was scratched by what she could only guess had been tips of the finger bones. The muck on both suggested that what had gotten her wasn't alive.

She didn't say anything just tried to twist and see how much damage she'd actually taken. This had been the shirt she'd worn upon arrival, and now it was probably gone, the pants too. There was no way for her to tell how bad it had gotten, and she hadn't looked close enough to see that she'd actually taken hits than she felt.

Her sides and other places would be bruised, and she probably had more than one set of scratches from fingers and nails. It was wasn't good, but she wasn't going to die. From the way she turned her attention to loading guns, she'd had to be mended up like this before.

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i_seekgod
2008-11-14 06:13 pm UTC (link)

If she wasn't going to be shy about any of it, neither was Jesse. She moved, he worked. Checking her over, making faces at some of the wounds. Wishing that his powers weren't being weird so that he could just heal her up quick like and be done with it.

But he couldn't risk melting Zoe.

"It ain't so bad." His voice was soft. Caretaker. He hadn't expected the warrior to ask for help, and it opened him up to all kinds of problems.

Not to mention that she was mighty attractive. That never helped things any. It was probably a good thing that so many kids were around.

Most of it was easy to clean up, but there was one scratch that Jesse thought might need more than just a bandage.

"I think this one needs to be sewn up." He winced. "It ain't gonna close on it's own."

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i_willcarry
2008-11-14 09:31 pm UTC (link)

Jesse might have had a problem had they been alone. If he had even thought of doing more, unless he was some sort of love god, in the Cupid/Eros sense, things would have been very problematic for the good ole boy. Zoe was married, and it'd take a helluvalot to get her to break her vows.

Of course, there had been a few hisses and breathy intakes, but the administrations hadn't stopped Zoe from making sure everything was in working order and loaded. She looked at Jesse, brow raised.

"No luck you got some foam? This bein' Earth That Was." She didn't wait for him to answer; she couldn't be that lucky. Then again, she'd dealt with the bad out in the field before..she could do it here if she had to.

"Fine." She stood; the adrenaline had worn off enough to give her an inkling of the damage the undead had dealt, but she could keep going. "Kids, stay way from the guns." She didn't threaten them, she didn't warn them, but the way she held her baby, the mare's leg, everyone could guess that something would happen if anyone did as she didn't like.

"We'll make it quick. Gotta get back up there."

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i_seekgod
2008-11-14 09:40 pm UTC (link)

Jesse rummaged around in the things he'd picked up. There wasn't any thread, but there was floss. It wasn't ideal, but at least it wasn't mint flavored. He figured something like that might sting more than it needed to.

There was a needle, and he felt like it was some kind of little miracle. Considering there wasn't any sewing kit.

He threaded the needle with the floss.

"It ain't likely to feel good." He felt bad for that, but there wasn't much he could do about it. But he could, at the very least, sterilize it. Jesse pulled out the flask he carried, glad that it had recently been filled. He poured a little on the wound and let it sit a moment before he started to stitch.

He went quickly, but carefully. It wasn't going to be a good fix by any means. He'd only ever done this sort of thing on people who didn't care about scarring. But he couldn't leave it open like it was.

When he was finished, using as few loops as he thought would be alright, he made a little knot and cut the floss.

"Sorry." He'd refrained from saying it over and over again while doing the work, but couldn't keep himself from it now.

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i_willcarry
2008-11-14 10:15 pm UTC (link)

Zoe'd only made a few sounds as he worked on the cut. Her head tipped forward, and she did her best to not think about the pain. There were children here; they didn't need to see one of the adults breaking down, not that Zoe made it a habit of breaking down. Of course, she might have said a foreign curse word or two. Maybe even cursed those ruttin' assholes outside for doing this to her.

She waited for a moment once Jesse had finished the stitching, but soon she stood, slowly, yet straight. The Amazon looked around her.

"I'll need another shirt." The pants would do for now, but she couldn't stand around in bloody things if she didn't have to - she didn't need an infection.

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