Olivia Jensen is on her way to ʀᴇᴀʟʟʏ ғᴀsᴛ (sprinted) wrote in remains_rpg, @ 2016-02-18 08:20:00 |
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Entry tags: | # 2019 [01] january, nick choi, olivia jensen |
Who: Olivia Jensen and Nick Choi
When: January 9, mid-morning (Day 2 of the LBJ Zombie Siege)
Where: The LBJ Department of Resources
What: Minnesotans - they get the job done.
Olivia hadn't slept very well the night before. Even though she'd moved her bed over to Maizie's side of the room once Savannah had clarified that she didn't need to sleep in the center of the Office, she'd never spent a night in the Oval Office without Maizie. She'd tried to sleep in her bed at first, but after an hour spent tossing and turning she'd pulled herself up and into Maizie's bed instead. She vaguely remembered thinking, her face buried in her girlfriend's pillow and one arm wrapped around the stuffed penguin they'd brought home after the carnival in October, too bad I can't tell her about how sappy I'm being right now. Savannah had filled her in on the plan to have outsiders drop off resources to the separate buildings -- if they could, anyway -- so as she woke up with the sun, she tried to take comfort in the fact that hopefully today Maizie would be able to get some supplies. And hopefully like, a phone charger. So although she really didn't want to go work with Nick that morning, at least things were like, looking up. Sort of. She let herself into his office a couple of minutes after their agreed-upon time and slouched into a seat. "Hey," she said, leftover grumpiness and grogginess written all over her face. She was trying, though, wasn't she? She wasn't still in Maizie's bed trying to read a book, wasn't she? Nick was like, super lucky that they had history. "You wanted help with something?" Although Savannah had urged him to get some rest earlier that morning, Nick had done the exact opposite. There was too much that needed to get done, too much going on. He couldn't sleep knowing that people, their people, were out there without supplies and he had lead those zombies straight to their doorstep. No matter what anyone said, no matter that there was every chance the zombies still would have come, Nick would forever see it as his fault that the LBJ was in this position. If he had forgone that supply run, or somehow been smarter about their return, maybe the horde wouldn't have found them. “No, you can’t think that like Nick,” he muttered to himself, shoving the dark thoughts out of his mind. Savannah had filled him in on the plan to get Cal and his DoR agent partner to drop supplies off for the people trapped within the residential building and the lending library. This plan would work. It was going to work, Nick couldn't allow himself to imagine it not working. So even if he felt responsible, even if he was responsible, that didn't matter right now. What mattered was that they focus on the here and now, not on what brought this horror down upon them….or more namely who brought it down on them. Olivia’s appearance was a welcome escape from the thoughts fighting for attention in his mind, so with the best smile he could manage at the moment Nick greeted her as she made herself at home. “Hey, I thought you could use something to take your mind off of things” he began gently, certain she needed the escape just as much as he did. “And apparently I kind of like your company and I could use it right about now, along with some help.” "Okay," she said doubtfully, bristling despite herself at the insinuation that she'd need a distraction. Like, did everyone think that just because Maizie was gone she was a mess? (She was totally a mess.) Had Nick actually requested for her to come down because he thought she needed to be looked after? (It was totally something he'd do.) While some might have shrunk back in the face of Olivia’s prickly attitude, Nick was used to it. He was also fuller aware that Liv had to know he was trying to keep an eye on her, it was his default after all. Shuffling some papers around on his desk, Nick leafed through them until he found his haphazardly scribbled notes - ones he had written up in the middle of the night when he hadn't been able to sleep. “I thought you could lend me a hand in planning ahead, putting resources in the other buildings and figuring out the best way to do that,” he paused and met Olivia’s gaze. “You in?” Her eyes narrowed as she tried to figure out what, exactly, he was talking about. "You mean, like, right now? Because there's definitely -- how would you even get out? Or do you mean after this?" There was a flicker of something across Nick’s features, a mix of regret and guilt. It came and went quickly, his expression going back to normal in mere seconds. “After this,” he clarified, adding. “I promised Savannah I wouldn't do anything stupid or leave this building.” As much as every fiber of his being wanted to do something more proactive than this, Nick would never break a promise and he couldn't subject Savannah to another loss this year. "Good," Olivia said, slightly mollified for now. "Otherwise I'd have to yell at you." In retrospect, it seemed like a huge oversight that there wasn't anything stored in the other buildings. Especially the other residential building; despite her current biases, Olivia had to admit that it wouldn't seem super necessary on paper to stockpile stuff in the lending library. Still, she couldn't help but retort: "Kind of sounds like it's a little too late, don'tcha know?" “Much as I enjoy when you yell at me, I promise I'm staying right here and I’ll be around a long time to drive you nuts with my sunny outlook and occasional moments of big brother type behavior,” he assured Olivia, sincerity woven through every word he spoke. And then he was tilting his head and giving Olivia a look that always reminded him a bit of his dad, Nick sighed. “It is,” he admitted, having no argument for his oversight in keeping resources in the other buildings. “But that doesn't mean we can’t plan ahead so this doesn't happen again.” Life was such that they couldn't guarantee that zombies wouldn't be knocking at their doors again, plus planning ahead at least made him feel like he was doing something more than sitting on his ass after he brought this problem straight to their front door. She was silent for a moment, considering this, before she nodded. What else could they do just then, anyway? And if Maizie was going to keep working at the Lending Library after this, there was no way Olivia was going to feel okay about it unless they had something there just in case. Or like, built underground tunnels or something. "Okay. I mean, it sounds like a good idea, so we should probably do it." Nick shifting, rising up from his own chair to grab a binder from a shelf, the binder held a larger inventory list and would give them a better idea as to what to stock in the other buildings. As he passed by Olivia, he settled a hand on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “‘Course it’s a good idea, it's one of mine,” he remarked with the barest of grins. Nick was going to ignore the fact that this whole siege had started because he had had the bright idea to head out on a supply run, the less he dwelt on that fact the better. “So can I take that as you agreeing to help me?” Nick continued as he moved around his desk and dropped back into his chair. "Yeah, I guess I am." She'd watched him the whole time, though; after like, seven years of knowing the guy, she was very familiar with the way his emotions could sometimes make themselves present in the way he moved and acted. She was grateful for the reassurance he gave her, but she couldn't help but wonder if he needed some of it, too. Before she could speak up, though, he was already talking. Nick smiled. “Good, because I didn't want to have to search out someone else to help me,” he remarked, keeping up the ruse that he had asked Olivia here simply to help and not at all because he had wanted to give her a distraction, something to focus on that wasn't the fact that Maizie was trapped in a building without food and water. "Yeah." Olivia was terrible at bringing up this kind of stuff. She wished Maizie was there to do the asking, but it was just her left to carry on her legacy, or whatever. She took a deep breath, cracking a smile that felt false even to her. "After you tell me what's bothering you. Like, the zombie stuff, right?" After years of knowing each other Nick should have seen this coming, should have realized that if anyone would notice his mood or the guilt he felt, it would be Olivia. “You drive a hard bargain, Liv,” he commented with a smile that felt a little tight. “And yeah, you could say it's the zombie stuff. I mean you know that Jeremy, Nadia and I were the ones who brought them straight to our doorstep right?” Nick paused and narrowly avoided sighing heavily. “None of this would be happening if I'd just given that supply run more thought…” "And what else could you have possibly done instead of come home?" As much as Olivia hated the situation they were in, she wasn't sure if she would've preferred the three of them dying out there. Jeremy could suck it, but Nick and Nadia were pretty much indispensable in her eyes. She pursed her lips, trying to ponder the alternative, and shook her head. "Either situation sucks hard, and maybe you guys shouldn't have gone out yesterday if that's what you're trying to imply, but, I mean. Staying out there with that many zombies would've been so dumb. And you don't know that they wouldn't have found us eventually either way. If it wasn't the three of you, it could've been someone else." And weirdly enough, realizing that she preferred the way things were now to the three of them dying out there sort of made her feel better about the whole situation. What else would he have done? Nick knows his answers. He also knows that Olivia won't like it, regardless of that fact he's never shied away from being honest with her and he wasn’t going to start today. “I could have found somewhere to hunker down and ride things out, let the herd pass before coming home,” it wasn't like it would have been the first time he had opted to stay in some decaying building instead of heading back to the LBJ. "Yeah, because they wouldn't have followed you wherever you ended up going, and you know it," she interrupted, fixing him with a challenging look. “They would have,” Nick doesn't wither under the look Olivia gives him, neither can he argue against the point she just made. “And like you've already pointed out, either situation was a lose-lose situation,” he paused, offering her a bit of a smile before adding. “Plus, if I was out there who would keep an eye on you?” This was his attempt at lightening the mood, for whatever it was worth. Nick still felt responsible for all of this, probably would for a while. Olivia had made valid points though, ones that he couldn't argue. Who was to say that this same herd wouldn't have found them eventually? Or that their fences wouldn't have been taken out in another manner? The reality was that even in a shelter like the LBJ you couldn't guarantee one hundred percent safety - not in the world they were living in now. She was sure everyone in the LBJ was feeling the tension the two of them had around them in spades, even if his little joke had done a bit to release it. "Probably Savannah," she allowed, even as she frowned at the thought of not having Maizie or Nick at the LBJ -- and if Nick wasn't around in this horrible, hypothetical situation, Nadia probably wasn't either. "And I'd be so mad at you." Olivia paused, her expression and her tone shifting into something a little more vulnerable, then added: "I'm glad you're here. So don't feel guilty about being here, okay?" “Your fury is what keeps me from doing stupid shit,” Nick replied, trying to continue the joking tone of the conversation. Though he sobered up when Olivia told him she was glad he was there, because in all truth he was as well. As much as he disliked the fact that he had lead the zombies straight to their shelter, he hated the idea of Olivia going through this without him there to support her. “Still probably going to feel guilty, but I'm glad I could be here, if only just so that you weren’t stuck facing this alone,” Nick paused. “Or with only Savannah around to make sure you don't entirely go off the deep end. And don't act like I haven’t heard about your cannibalism concerns, because I have.” "Hey. Those are totally legit concerns." And frankly, the longer things went on without word that Savannah's friends had successfully dropped food off to the Lending Library, the more she worried about it. Her eyes lifted to watch Nick, trying to assess whether he was still preoccupied with guilt or feeling bummed or whatever, before her gaze dropped back down to the binder again. "But let's get to work on this stuff, then talk about my theories later." While Nick still felt the nagging traces of guilt over all of this, Olivia’s words had made enough of impact that it was no longer at the forefront of his mind. So offering her a smile, he couldn't help making an amused noise. “Might be legit, but I swear it won’t come to that,” He had faith that this wouldn't last nearly long enough for the people trapped in the two buildings to resort to cannibalism. To be quite honest Nick hoped that this ordeal wouldn't last past today. The DoR agents would do their part, the guy with the explosives would do his and they would be able to wake up tomorrow morning and put all of this behind them. “Focusing on the task at hand sounds like a damn good idea to me,” Nick agreed while shuffling papers around. “So let’s get to it.” They could tackle Olivia’s theories later, though Nick knew her well enough to know that nothing would likely dissuade her from the worry she felt - someone she loved was trapped in one of those buildings. If he were in her shoes he might just come close to worrying about the same things. |