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Who| Joel, Ellie, anyone else!
What| Joel shows up and gets tossed into the ring. Let's see how he does!
Where| I can put him just about anywhere in the museum you need - he'll be scoping the place out.
When| Mid-Week 1
Warnings/Notes| Joel is a highly suspicious dude and may assume anyone he meets is hostile until proven otherwise. This means he might punch first and ask questions later! I'll update this if anything else comes up.

Finally, please specify if you would like to meet Joel before he finds Ellie or after - if before, he'll be on his own, really worried about his baby girl, and slightly more prone to violence. If AFTER, you will probably get Joel and Ellie (two for the price of one!), and a lower chance of Joel trying to throttle you immediately.

"Put your hands in the air!" "She's not breathin'."

He woke with a start, phantom pain in his head and surrounded by - military? They were clearly military, but not any military he was familiar with. When they grabbed him, all sense went out of his head - normally, Joel would go quietly, because struggling tended to get people shot, but all he could think, all he could remember, was Ellie, her body so still. She's not breathin'.

"Where is she?" he demanded, over and over, landing a few punches but never able to break free. The pajamas they made him wear, the explanation given, all barely registered as he had only one thought in his head - find Ellie now. "What the hell did you bastards do to her?" he demanded yet again, attempting to yank his arm free when they came at him with a needle. Still, nothing. His shouts and struggles were in vain, and the next thing he knew, he was... in a parking garage?

With no one around to confront, and the knowledge that he was here to kill, or be killed, Joel quickly shoved his feelings to one side, dropping low and seeking a stairwell to climb to higher ground - it would take him a bit to realize the only way up was via elevators that actually still worked. They were far too slow and noisy for Joel's taste, but it became obvious that they were his only option, and he needed to get to higher ground, if he was going to find anything. Especially Ellie.

Joel moved quickly, quietly, and with one singular purpose: find the girl, and get the hell out of here.

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It was the damned elevator that got him in trouble. Just as he'd known it would on the first damn day.

Not because he was fool enough to ride it, oh no. He got caught in the open because it held something for him, another gleaming canister, winking playfully at him from between the doors. A siren call.

Thinking of Max, of the already increasingly wrinkled photo (in and out, in and out, folded and refolded, his hands on it again and again) tucked away in his bag, he went for it. Even though he hadn't secured the area.

Hadn't checked to make sure he was alone.

Edited 2014-01-23 00:55 (UTC)

The elevator banks were a death trap, that much was obvious right from the start. It was sheer dumb luck that anyone would survive a trip on them, so of course Joel and Ellie kept away from them as much as they possibly could, only getting close when it was necessary to scope out the area, or to potentially lay an ambush.

That ding really was like a siren call, though, and Joel kept low, peering around a corner to see if anyone else was about. Sure enough, there was someone fool enough to make a run for them. Joel tugged on Ellie's sleeve to make her aware, and possibly to ask: friend or foe?

Ellie ducked her head around the corner, squinting to make out the figure as she slowly pulled the bow from her shoulder - but instantly relaxed as she made out the silhouette.

Friend. Definitely friend.

She glanced back at Joel, still, even now, not entirely convinced that he was actually here and she wasn't just completely nuts, and flashed him a grin.

"Wyatt Earp," She whispered to him before she slipped out, determined to get to Wyatt before Joel could think better of it. She whistled at him as she replaced the bow back over her shoulder.

He'd snatched the silver can from the elevator and was looking for a place to take it, some corner to duck into where he could open it without worrying about a knife in his back, when the whistle came. For a moment, one lurching heartbeat, he wondered if he was already too late and nearly dropped the gift in favor of going for his crowbar -- but then he remembered that if someone really wanted the drop on him, they wouldn't have whistled first.

That's what friends did. That's what he did.

He still rested a hand on the metal bar, but he turned obligingly... and was relieved to see Ellie. Visibly, he relaxed, a smile edging around his mouth.

"Christ, girl, ya damn near--" The words died, and so did the smile, as his eyes landed on the other figure. The stranger hanging back in the shadows.

He looked between them, raising a careful eyebrow.

Edited 2014-01-23 12:58 (UTC)

Ellie was trusting, Joel knew this. Well, more trusting than he was, anyway. Even after all they'd been through, she was ultimately still a kid, still a girl who wanted to make friends.

Joel had gotten rid of that notion a long, long time ago. So he didn't prevent her from approaching the other man - she had, after all, been here for a while, and thus probably had a better idea of who could be trusted - but he kept close, wary, his shoulders still tense, every inch the overprotective papa.

He would never stop feeling downright naked, in the stupid pajamas, and without his fucking backpack.

"We should get away from the elevators," he pointed out, addressing Ellie. "Someone else mighta heard that."

A grin split across Ellie's lips and she mouthed 'It's Joel' at Wyatt before turning to look at the man in question, the grin disappearing instantly to be replaced by her rolling her eyes.

"Yeah I'm not a complete idiot," She said to him, shifting the bow on her shoulder unconsciously. "Come on, the taxidermy exhibits are pretty good for a breather if you don't mind creepy animals staring at you all the time."

Sharp blue eyes swung quickly from Ellie back to the man, taking the measure of him with interest. Joel. The Joel?

Wyatt didn't know whether to happy for her or sad. To be with those you cared was a great gift, but to have them here....

His eyebrow arched higher, chin lifting in a small gesture. A question, as the man stood there, tense and wary.

Was he going to let Wyatt come along?

Wyatt Earp. Jesus, was this place going to get any weirder or what? Not that Joel was about to say that to the guy - he looked like he could give him a run for his money. The fact that he wasn't, though, was a big point in his favor. The fact that Ellie knew him, the way her face lit up with a grin at the sight of him - that was another big point in his favor.

Joel shrugged. Tag along, if you want, it said.

"Since when have I ever called you an idiot?" he asked Ellie lightly, gesturing for her to lead the way. Hey, he wasn't an idiot, either. She had clearly already scoped the place out, like he knew she would.

"Dude, I've only spent like months with your voice in the back of my head. Check the perimeter, Ellie," She says in her best impression of him, which is, in fact, awful. "Only way you're going to take down a dinosaur is a knife to the neck, Ellie. I've felt like a moron this entire time."

She's grinning though, unable to completely hide the pure joy from having him back again, despite everything. Despite where they were, despite what they had to do, despite what they had done. He was back, and they'd figure things out again. Everything was going to be alright.

She flashed that grin back to Wyatt again.

"He just worries a lot, don't let him fool you. You get something?"

Wyatt fell in, a careful distance between himself and the new pair, watching them as they got on. He knew Ellie, and she'd certainly talked about him enough - one of her favorite subjects - so Wyatt felt like he had a grasp on the man, the edges of him, but it was an entirely different beast to have the man in front of him. To sized up in turn.

Measured as a threat.

"...Reckon so," he replied, realizing after a beat that she was speaking to him. "Seems that's how their sendin' supplies in this time 'round. Gotten a few things that way."

You're goddamn right I worry, he thought, but didn't voice it aloud. There wasn't any point to it, especially not now that he'd found her again. It was easier to fall into his usual gruff sort of persona - they both knew how to do that, how to banter and bicker and work together like that without too many feelings getting in the way.

The feelings could remain unspoken, at least for now.

"What kinda supplies're they sendin'?" he asked curiously. He was still working through all of this new information, after all. Tributes, and games, and fights to the death for an audience.

"Not sure, I haven't gotten any this time yet. Wyatt gets loads since he's BFF's with one of the Mentors and everyone loves them. First aid kits, food, knives, whatever. Not like it really does shit when everything is out to kill you."

She takes Joel's gruffness with the same stride she always did, slipping back into his familiar presence like an old wool sweater. Perfect fit and utter comfort.

Not that she would hesitate to chew him out if she needed to.

She looks at Wyatt thoughtfully. "It's good to know that's how their sending them, I guess, but it sounds really risky. Maybe I have been sent shit and just didn't know it."

"The noise's different," Wyatt explained, shifting his bag on his shoulder. The one he'd won at the Cornucopia and the sleeping roll that had come later from Max tied to it with string. "It makes one for tributes, one for gifts."

But she wasn't wrong, of course. The noise was every bit as loud, making fetching the canisters just as dangerous as taking a ride.

...He just wasn't going to see something from Max end in someone else's hands.

He slanted a look at Joel. "Got the sleeping roll, a hand lantern, an' this," he said, gesturing lightly with the crowbar.

This guy was clever - that much was obvious to Joel right away. Good job with this one, Ellie, he might've thought to himself. "That's good to know," he said by way of thanks. He hadn't been around long enough yet to discern the different in the sounds, but now that Wyatt had pointed it out, he would be paying a lot more attention to them.

"That's useful. So you've got friends in high places, huh?"

Boy, he sure could use a crowbar.

"Oh awesome," Ellie said, mentally marking it down as they made their way into a large hall full of taxidermied animals in large dioramas.

She didn't say anything else though, more than happy to let the men talk. She was still acclimatizing to having Joel there at all, let alone there with her and Wyatt. Her two worlds had collided so heavily, and she really couldn't bring herself to mind.

She didn't even mind that Joel was here in a death arena now, because really, it wasn't that much worse than when they were home, was it? If they died here, they both just ended up back in the Capitol, with warm rooms and plenty of food.

Wyatt hadn't been down this wing yet, so when he answered Joel's question, his voice was understandably distracted. Just like back in the bone hall, the back of his neck prickled as the glassy eyes following them along the hall. A lion leaping it's last behind dusty glass, a coyote stalked in the corner, a bear loomed, shaggy arms open and waiting.

But at least this one wasn't beeping.

"Got'a friend who won a couple rounds back," he murmured, meeting the frozen stare of a bobcat, it's stubby tail pricked, one ear twisted away, hearing something only it could. "He's out there now, tryin' to help."

He peeled his gaze away and looked at Joel. "Sponsors 'er for everybody though. They send things to who they like."

Whoever kept them entertained.

Joel, for his part, wasn't too bothered by the dead things. They were, after all, just animals. The danger was in the stuff that moved. Dead things, in his experience, couldn't cause harm.

"To who they like," he repeated, somewhat ominously. "So we really are puttin' on a show."

One of the things Wyatt had learned - the hard, painful way - was that things in the arena that should have been safe, rarely ever were. He treated everything with wary suspicion. Like a beat dog, he was always watching for the stick.

"All the time," he nodded. "They see everythin', an' show it all the time. Talk about it, bet on it..." He sighed through his nose. "It's a game."

Joel glanced around warily at that. It had been a long time since he'd had to concern himself with anything like electronic surveillance. That was way more unsettling than the dead animals, as far as he was concerned.

His gaze went back to Ellie, as though he could somehow shield her from it, maybe. It was already too late, though.

"Sick fucks," he muttered, almost to himself. It was pretty disgusting, even by his standards. He killed because he had to, after all, not because he enjoyed it.

Ellie had gotten distracted, wandering over to a display that showed two large, vicious tigers, and pressed her hands to the glass, seemingly oblivious. This was way better than the last arena, she decided. A real actual museum with (mostly) intact exhibits and now Joel was here.

The best.

"Yeah they have some crazy footage," Ellie called back, suddenly aware that Joel would soon have access to video of her being horribly murdered.

Woops.

"I would just avoid it if you can, really. It's pretty fucking bizarre. They have basically everything they could ever want and what they want is to watch a lot of foreigners and aliens kill themselves over and over."

She made a face at the tiger.

They past a pair of buffalo, trapped forever at mid-charge, great shaggy heads lowered, horns gleaming dully in the uncertain light. Wyatt could almost hear the thunder of their stride, feel it again in his chest as they raced with him to the cliff's edge.

"They call it a punishment," he said, reaching out to touch the glass - almost curiously - rubbing the grit that came away between his fingers. "There was a war some time back, between the Capitol an' the Districts. The Districts lost an' to make sure they remembered, the Capitol took their kids an' made 'em do this."

Wiping his hand on his increasingly grimy pants, he turned back to Joel.

"'Cept they never brought kids back."

Joel mostly just listened to the information they were giving him, while the rest of his attention was on their surroundings, taking stock, mentally mapping the place. If they were going to be stuck here for a while, he should get the layout memorized as best he could, after all. Knowing major landmarks, good hiding spots, high ground, likely places for ambush - all of that could be the difference between life and death.

But something Wyatt said gave him pause - as messed up as this was, he wasn't quite sure what he meant by his last statement.

"Brought back from what?"

Dammit. She'd been avoiding this part. She flashed a look at Wyatt as she turned around.

"From uh... From Death, Joel. This isn't my first arena. Or Wyatt's."

Wyatt's brows veed, slanted a look back at her.

How was he supposed to know she hadn't told him?

"When somebody dies in the arena," he added, taking over for Ellie, "they don't always stay that way. Most of the time the Capitol brings 'em back, so they can fight again in the next one."

Most of the time.

That brought Joel up short. Back from the dead? No way. No fucking way. That was impossible.

He thought of Tess. He thought of Sarah. Of all the wasted lives over the years, uselessly fighting against the infection, fighting each other for whatever was left, and his gaze landed squarely on Ellie.

His first thought - is this some kinda sick joke? But Ellie would never, never make a joke like that. Not to anyone, and certainly not to him. They'd both lost far too much. He couldn't wrap his head around it, but somehow, it had to be true. He saw it in her face.

A kind of sick anger roiled low in his gut at the thought - killing people for fun, but not just that - having the ability to bring the dead back to life? And using it for their sick idea of entertainment?

"What kinda fucked up place is this?" he heard himself ask the room at large, his voice low with that anger. It wasn't really a question he expected an answer to, but he had to say something. Had to get it out there, somehow, or he might otherwise explode with it.

Before or After, Up to You Two!

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