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CHARACTERS: Jo Harvelle, Annabeth Chase James Potter and more
LOCATION: all over the place!
WARNINGS: can range from gore to psychological things to fluff
SUMMARY: these are my planned empathy links for October, taking place between october 11th through november 7th.
NOTES: this is closed to plotting, but I am still open if you would like to get in on this. my plotting post is here, so leave a comment there and we can make it work.

Because of how behind I am in general RP-terms, I am bowing down and kissing the ground you walk on and asking if you could possibly maybe PLEASE do the starter, if we have pre-plans with our characters. I know everyone's busy and everyone has a life but this would help me IMMENSELY like you don't even know.

HOWEVER, I have no problems with doing the starters if you're having problems with writing them up or coming up with something, so please let me know through plurk

disarmingly if you'd prefer I did the opener, which is totally fine! Really! I'm just so behind and I don't anyone to have to wait on me for the start of things.

Also let me know if I have mixed something up or if I misunderstood something with the plotting. c:

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[ the thing is, ric isn't exactly the best person to share memories with. he knows this, knows that some of his memories are messy and problematic and cause— more questions and problems than he ever needs to deal with. that doesn't change the fact that people seem to be sharing them with him anyway. buffy hadn't been so bad, he supposes, it's not like he didn't know what had happened to her. ( the joys of knowing who the hell buffy summers was, honestly. )

this, however, is different. ric almost thinks he's reliving one of his own death ( forget that he doesn't feel like himself ) before he sees the woman. he doesn't know her ( he feels like she is his mother but he knows that's not his mother, she's alive and this woman is dying ) and that clues him in. he doesn't know whose mother it is and he wants to shake it off before he gets a flash of a hunt, a sucessful one and—

ric knows there are very few hunters on board, knows that out of all of them he is the least like one and is— the most sympathetic to the ones he could hunt ( buffy doesn't count, not in the way he does ). he's been to jo's bar before, just for a minute here and there so he knows the way and yet he takes longer than he should to get there.

when he does actually arrive, he sits and clears his throat. ]

At the risk of sounding creepy, if I said I know things about you others on this ship might not courtesy of some weird brain connection, you'd say?

[ when the flashes started, jo had almost written it off as hormones. random flashes and urges and needs to do this and that and what the hell jo harvelle what are you doing. they'd been easy enough to ignore, because at least she could sleep through the night. didn't have the random nosebleeds. the perks had been better than the cons, so she'd ignored the urges and kept moving. it wasn't until the flashes started that she knew anything was even wrong, and suddenly she was thinking things and knowing things and feeling these overwhelming sensations that only seemed to manifest in a dull banging in the base of her skull.

she blames the ship, but after the first day she took off for the comfort of her room, she started to get restless. decided that while the headaches sucked, she could deal with them.

these flashes were a little different, only because they seemed so normal at first. some poor, regular guy (she assumed) lost on the ship who she know could picture where he grew up. boston, she thinks, seeing restaurants and streets and parks. there's a funeral, and the loss hits her so hard in the gut it's an almost physical pain, and then there's the rest. the vampire, the hunts, the friendship and the turning and jo's knuckles are white where she's been gripping the counter because it was so much all at once.

jo takes a shot of space liquor to dull the heartbeat in her skull and gets back to work, trying to separate herself from the thoughts and the feelings. sensations. there's a jerkiness to her movements for the rest of the day, because all she can think of is dean and he's the last thing she wants to think about. the last person she wants to be reminded of.

when ric walks in, she recognizes him, but only in the vaguest sense. he sits at the counter and she moves over to him, about to open her mouth and ask what she can get him when he says that and she pauses.

well. ]

I'd say that I'm disappointed you don't have more of a Boston accent. [ and maybe she's reacting lightly on the surface, but there's something in her eyes that ric should be able to read as guarded. sizing him up and trying to decide if he's a threat. ] And then I'd ask what these things were supposed to be.

[ the problem with trying to lessen your alcohol intake ( his first months had been so rough, and he knows he handled them horribly ) is that you can't make feelings like this go away with booze. he thought about it though, after the death flash. he shouldn't laugh at her comment, but in all the time he's been here on the tranquility, he's learned to take the joy in the tiny things. ]

Going to college at Duke and living in the South since then kind of made it die down. Get me drunk enough and I sound like a regular Boston boy though. [ he can read the look, he recognizes it as one people where on the the tranquility, that he's worn and he doesn't grudge her for it. what he does do is give her a look that's an attempt to make her feel more at ease. ] Stuff I imagine you didn't want me to see. Or experience. I'm not even sure how to describe it.

You did good on the hunt. [ a beat. ] And— death isn't exactly something I'm not well-acquainted with.

[ she watches him more closely than she meant to, trying to see if she could read her own memories in his face. it wasn't like he seemed like he was going to hold them over her, but she could list a few things she'd rather not have people looking in on. experiencing. but in that same way, she's got his life in her head, a vamp named damon who she already doesn't like, despite the connection she now feels with him.

but even then, jo finds herself smirking a little as her eyebrows lift up her forehead at the get me drunk enough comment. her hand finds her hip, then. ] That a challenge?

[ but the lightheartedness of it drops a bit, even if she tries to force it there. to hold the smirk. ] That doesn't narrow it down. Went on a lot of hunts. [ when he mentions death, her eyes drop down to the bar, and she immediately busies herself with something she was doing there. it's not like she was really hiding the fact from everyone else, but it's still a little hard for her to think about at times. ] Not gonna lie, it's a little messed up how many people on this ship already dead. [ she looks back up at him as her fingers wrap around a bottle - planning on pouring herself a drink. ] Want one?

[ unless ric hates you ( and ric hates very few people, dislikes and holds grudges against, yes, but he's not a man who hates by nature ) he won't use things like this against you. he could, and he knows this, it's the same sort of thing that applies with knowing a vampires weakness, only this time, he doesn't really need to use it against her. ]

That depends on if you're willing to call up my fiance and tell her to pick me up.

[ my vampire fiance goes unsaid because he's is not stupid enough to mention it, though, honestly, everyone knows jenna's a vampire. ] First one. The one you did good one. [ he doesn't say anything until she offers him a drink and even then he punctuates it with an exhale before he nods. ]

Sure, why not. [ a beat. ] You get used to the dead thing eventually. Or seeing them. I'm starting to think some of us collect them. It's weird to think about, being alive when you're dead at home. Coming back to life.

[ obviously bro. ] What did you— see from me, anyway?

I'm not gonna be the one nursing a hang-over the next day.

[ meaning that when it came down to it, it was up to ric. you ready to get plastered with jo, bud? because she's filling two glasses already. not like he had much of a choice, even if he had said no. she fills the glass and slides it over to him before taking a drink of her's before her eyes come back to him.

first one is all she needs to hear before she's smiling a little into her glass. that was a good one, wasn't it? but then he's off talking about death, and jo's taking another long sip before she shrugs. ]

Not supposed to be something you get used to, but I'm not complaining.

[ she leans on the bar on her elbows, thinking back and trying to sift through everything she learned while still looking calm about it all. no use talking about how much the memories of damon were affecting her. ] Boston, mostly, and then a- guy. Damon. [ her eyebrows shoot up her forehead, giving ric a look of yeah, I saw everything. ] Real charmer, that one.

Wouldn't be the first time. Nothing more fun than teaching with one.

[ the sarcasm is so strong with that sentence, he can't even pretend. he doesn't even raise an eyebrow when she sets the drink in front of him. when she takes a drink, he ends up taking an answering one.

welcome to conversations with him, jo, they sometimes cannot stay on happy or bad things. it's messy. ]

Only the insane ones ever do.

[ that's mostly a joke and then when damon's mentioned, ric sort of winces and lets out a sort of harsh chuckle. ] I'd say he gets better in person, but he doesn't really. He's not the easiest to get along with. And I'm saying that as the guy's only real friend.

[ she actually laughs a little at that, looking at him like she's fairly impressed, hand on her hip. ]

You know, I'm pretty sure you were my favorite teachers in high school. For that, you can have one on the house. [ that's accompanied by a grin. ]

Or the ones that have something to go back to. [ dude, you're talking to someone who has one of the longest standing voluntary relationships with the winchesters. she's no amateur.

she notices the wince, and waits for him to explain, her hand wrapped around her glass- waiting for that next need for a drink. ] Dunno if that negates it, most of my friends aren't- [ finger quotes ] the easiest to get along with. And I'd say n- most of them don't want to rip my throat out.

[ she's just saying, ric. also, there goes that second drink. ]

So how'd you end up a vampire's only friend?

[ there's a moment where ric just has to look at jo after she laughs before he grins and does a bit of a bow in his seat. ]

If it gets me free alcohol, I will let you think I was that favorite teacher. It's a mark of pride, being the chaperone teacher that's complete shit at. [ he shrugs. ] Speaking from experience, move a little further in a timeline and sometimes you realize you might not have all that much to look forward to.

[ somehow that's code for, i die later, so i like my space horror ship with my pretty much wife thank you very much. ] I'd say Damon doesn't usually want to rip my throat out. Just maybe snap my neck. Acted like I spooked him when he I think gained new memories here. Not like this.

[ as in they were his own memories. but moving along and good lord yes maybe please second drink. ]

You want the short version that makes me still look like a cool teacher, or the long version that makes me a little mortified to think about? You might have already saw most of it but— [ telling it as a story is even worse. ]

You're in luck- everything's free here. Or the shit stuff is, at least.

[ because the barter system is still cool and jo's got her fair share of not shitty stuff. but then she shrugs at his timeline comment, because dude. dying. you know that's her thing. ]

Twenty four years is so much to look back on, after all.

[ have a toast, right before she throws back her own shot of shitty space alcohol. she cringes a little, shakes her head, then goes back to the conversation. ] Ah, sounds like the vampires I know. Thought I'm pretty sure most of them aren't patient enough to snap anything.

If I saw long version do I need to keep giving you alcohol? I've got a limited stock and all.

You mean most of the stuff. All the alcoholics are in such dire straights here.

[ trust him, he knows how he just drinks the good shit sparingly as he can when the ship gives it to him. ]

Depends on the person. I'm not that old and I've got some shit.

[ and knocking back his own if you don't mind. ] Damon's— that's about maybe the only thing he has patience for and snapping my neck doesn't actually take as long as you'd think. Vampire speed and all.

Nah, it just requires you to maybe promise you won't look at me differently tomorrow.

Most, but not all. Don't underestimate my need for decent alcohol, I've been around enough to know the difference.

[ oh, she believes you. but she's also got her secret stash. not that she plans on sharing.

jo rolls her eyes at that. ]

Yeah, but you've still got more. [ but seriously, this argument is annoying. let's move on to the toasting and the drinking. she ends up shrugging when they move on to the neck snapping, already pouring herself another. ]

I guess mine tend to go straight teeth to neck. Ripping and tearing and all. But guess it's different for everyone. [ and then a slight chuckle. ] Let's just say I understand where you're coming from, so you don't have to worry about the weird looks.

Been here since the first jump, don't do the same with me.

[ secret talk for occasionally slips into alcoholism oops.

but yes moving on. ]

Nah, Damon's a fan of that when he's throwing a tantrum. He's a mature vampire, Jo. So mature I don't even know what to do with him. [ so very deadpan. ] So, once upon time, I was married, woman named Isobel, we were in love, or so I thought. Then one night, I catch said vampire best friend eating her. I, like an idiot, decided to go on some vengeance thing once I researched and everything.

That was stupid, for the record. [ dai i am lazy good lord read his history or somehow know about the vampire diaries i don't want to write out the whole story. ] And then— he just sort of. Crept up on me. He's a dumbass but he's good company when he wants to be.

[ yeah but you see, she likes alcoholics. alcoholics keep her in not-business slash keep her busy. ]

Oh, I see. I guess I've never met a mature vampire. [ she has a hard time keeping a straight face even when she says just that. ric deserves a prize. but she listens anyway, her eyebrows shooting up her forehead when he gets to the end.

and you're in luck ally I've actually watched the first three seasons of vampire diaries we don't get any more ric backstory than that, do we? ]

I'm sorry, but what? You go on a vengeance trip and become his best friend? After he eats your wife? What kind of hunter are you.

[ only kind of kidding. ]

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[ closedish ]

I DO NOT KNOW ROLL WITH IT.

THAT I CAN DO

REASONS I LOVE YOU TBQH.

LOVE YOU MOREEEE

LIIIIIIIIIIES

I WOULD NEVER TELL A LIE

I DON'T KNOW YOU MIGHT

NOPE

YOU'RE NOT GEORGE WASHINGTON DAI

I COULD BE IF I WANTED TO

WRONG PARTS THO

SHHHHHHHH DETAILS

IMPORTANT ONES THO

SHHHHHHHH