004 { A life you don't live is still lost

[tobeclosetohim]

WHO: Jo & THE COMMUNITY AT LARGE
WHERE: The Pub & Inn
WHEN: July 27th, Midday through Night
OPEN TO:Everyone was invited personally
WARNINGS: Jo's Better At This Than She Means To Be
STATUS: Open To All; Threads w/ Jo, w/ Others & Threadjacking Welcome

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Jo told everyone she saw yesterday to come by the Inn & Pub today.

Anytime after midday, and to pass on the message to anyone and everyone else they saw. That it wasn't a meeting per say so much as something everyone was going to need everyone's help with and something everyone should probably get in on. But without clarifying much else.

She spent the rest of yesterday stealing nearly a half dozen curtains from houses that hadn't been claimed by anyone, and then acquiring enough charcoal to fill two small baskets. It's not paper and pens or pencils but it's going to have to do until someone has a better idea or finds better supplies.

The morning of the 27th, Thorfinn helps her get them tacked to two different walls of the main room of Inn & Pub using her knives to cut holes and then sharpened bones, from earlier meals in the month that she hadn't been aware had been saved even, banged into the wall to make them hold high and sturdy enough.



On one side of the room, three curtains line the wall and it says at the high top MAP & LANDMARKS. In the center most piece there are sketched bits for the buildings they can all recognize, the center most being the fountain, and in the distance the river, certain bits of forest, canyon wall, but there's a lot of white space in every other direction, too.

On the other side of the room, one curtain goes up, marked only at the top with FOR TRADE. For the moment that one is entirely blank, but sooner or later she going to end up writing Fresh Meat, with her name and Thorfinn's next to it. There's a second curtain for that wall folded behind the bar, for when and if it's needed.


For now Jo's sitting on a table, again, feet on a chair, elbows on her knees, hair loose on her shoulders, looking at the maps' ocean of white, waiting to see what else might get filled in by those who show up today. Or at least having a better idea of where they should still be looking that hasn't been covered half a dozen times already by everyone else.

Comments

[notabirdcostume]

Sam hadn't been aware the air wasn't clear, but he holds his tongue until Frank says his peace. After all, unlike most of the people he seems to go toe to toe with, Sam knows when to keep his mouth shut.

He's not necessarily surprised when Frank reveals he knows about Sam's current occupation. Sam hadn't exactly kept a low profile back home and Peggy had already been proof against what Jo had said. Jo made it sound like other people being here from your home world was rare, but Peggy had already proven to him that it was likely to happen. Granted, she was from several decades before he'd even been born, but that was beside the point. No, that wasn't so surprising -- even if the chances did seem slim in such a small group as it was.

No, the surprising bit came when Frank said his last name. Sam lets the name roll around in his head: Frank Castle. He frowns, because like the man's face the name is familiar. However, Sam had been through a lot before coming here and now he'd been here for a month without access to the internet or even a damn newspaper. Frank Castle. It was something big, or at least, big for domestic news. Maybe he'd been hanging out with the big leagues too long.

Finally he admits, "The name's familiar. You'll have to forgive me if I don't remember...even before we got here things were a little crazy on the whole Avenger front." And that wasn't even counting his whole side quest of locating Barnes for Steve.

He is looking at Frank more closely now, not necessarily studying him or anything, but just trying to place the face. His thought about the news does seem like the right track though, "You were in some kind of news story...I thought I recognized your face from somewhere when I first saw you, though at the time I wasn't sure if it was from back in my active duty days or not."

[dnr]

Frank shakes his head. "Nah, I was Marine Corps," he says with an understated fondness in his voice. Wouldn't that be nice, if they were just military buddies, if he'd stayed in the field and never come home to watch it all turn to shit. But that isn't what happened, and the fondness twists bitter on his lips.

"The news, they— they gave me one of them dumbass code names. Started calling me the Punisher."

That, he's guessing, will ring a bell. But in case it doesn't, or— what? He doesn't know what he wants to say here, still doesn't know how to talk about the things he does except to throw it out like barbed wire and let people cut themselves on it trying to fit it into a neat little box. Because it doesn't matter if he's conflicted, if he feels guilty, or whatever bullshit his lawyers are selling this week, he doesn't want anybody's sympathy.

"Guess because I put down a couple dozen pieces of shit in Hell's Kitchen," is how he decides to put it, because being an asshole has always worked so well for him before. He doesn't sound proud, exactly; more like he's letting that brutal honesty be his armor.

[notabirdcostume]

Punisher. Okay, now that reminds him of something. Even in all the madness of finding Barnes and dealing with normal Avenger missions he'd had the time to read about that trial. He doesn't remember the exact details, just that some guy (Frank) had killed several people in the name of justice. They'd tried to get him off on insanity, but Sam remembers he'd plead guilty. Probably against the advice of whoever had been representing him.

Honestly, a few years ago Sam would have been wanting to distance himself from this. Even as a former VA worker he wanted to make excuses for the man before him and what he had done. Before the Avengers and the Accords the world had been pretty black and white for Sam. Then Captain America had shown up on his door asking for help. First, it had been help against HYDRA, but that had turned into helping him save his best friend. A best friend who had hands probably stained redder than Frank's.

Sam is quiet for a long time, processing this. He keep his expression neutral. Frank is admitting to this for a reason instead of waiting for Sam to put the pieces together and finally recognize him on his own. There had to be a reason.

He sighs, "Right. I read about that case. Think the news was a bit more graphic than how you just euphemistically put it." He levels his gaze at Frank, eyebrows raised, "You're not planning on repeating that now, are you?" It's the best way he can figure how to ask 'why are you telling me this?' without being so blunt about it.

[dnr]

Euphemistically earns a begrudging grunt of acknowledgment from Frank. Yeah, all right, fair enough. Somewhere, some altar boy in a red suit is yammering on about meathooks.

"Not planning on it," he agrees, which. isn't actually any kind of promise that he won't, but, "I only hurt people who deserve it, alright. The people out there," with a nod back out into the pub, "They got bigger things to worry about right now than killing each other."

And if that changes, well. That'll be an interesting day. But he doesn't miss the broader implications in Sam's question, either.

"Look, the way I see it, you and I got bigger things to worry about too. But I don't get to make that decision for you. If who I am and what I do is going to be a problem for you, that's a problem we ought to sort out now, not another month from now when we're in the middle of the next shitstorm and you figure it out on your own."

[notabirdcostume]

Sam's at least a little reassured that Frank isn't planning on a rampage. He answers most of Sam's unspoken follow up questions as well.

"Okay. Well, we're in agreement there. I'm not too concerned right now with what you did back home. To be honest, I just finished rescuing a wanted terrorist and getting on the U.N.'s shit list before getting here so I don't think I have a lot of room to judge other people at the moment. Besides, what am I going to do to you here? This place has us both locked up if you think about it."

Sam may not have put people down in the streets, but he has a feeling a lot of people back home aren't exactly seeing him and the Captain as heroes at the moment either. Not after what happened with Barnes. As for this place, Sam is so far out of his jurisdiction and league it's not even funny. Even if he WANTED to put Frank away or whatever where would he even do that? Not to mention he probably wouldn't get any support in the endeavor.

Besides, Sam could tell Frank was good at surviving. They'd need people like him to make it through this mess. And, like he'd said, he didn't have a whole lot of room to judge. Frank hadn't killed nearly as many people as Barnes had, whether Barnes was brainwashed may be a different matter but still.

"Basically...it's not going to be a problem. At least not right now."

[dnr]

That Sam Wilson is on the UN's shit list is news to him, but Frank manages to keep a neutral expression about it. All told, this is going better than he'd expected — and if part of him is a little disappointed by that fact, he doesn't take the time to analyze that fact.

"Not right now," he repeats, agreeing. It's a tenuous sort of truce, based as it is on necessity more than any kind of common ground, but maybe necessity is common ground enough. They both understand the impracticality of locking him up right now, and, he hopes, the need to keep everybody here safe first and foremost. Frank can help with that.

"All right." He nods and raises his hands palm-out in an understated That's it. "If that changes, you'll know where to find me." He's not planning on hiding, is what he means. Fugitive or not, he's not interested in behaving like one.

[notabirdcostume]

In this sort of scenario it's common ground enough. Sam doesn't have the backing, the jurisdiction, and a heck of a lot bigger problems than The Punisher at the moment. If some of the other Avengers get here or that Devil of Hell's Kitchen, well, they can come back to this bridge and cross it. Hell, even if you didn't count Barnes they still had an ex-con on the team, even if Scott Lang was only put away for burglary.

"Sure. Glad we could have this chat," Sam says, because honestly what are you supposed to say?

[dnr]

The Avengers don't have any members who intentionally and unapologetically murdered more than seventy people in the last three months, but Frank doesn't have too many illusions about earning a membership card here. Being taken at his word instead of labeled a mass-murdering psychopath right out the gate is a nice enough change from the usual, he appreciates it, even if it's out of necessity more than anything else.

Frank nods, with a slight, sympathetic quirk to the corner of his mouth. "Yeah." Sorry about this is crazy-ass situation, Sam. Except how he's apparently not sorry enough to try to make it less weird.

"You need any food, either, turns out I'm all right at hunting animals, too," he adds as he moves for the doorway again.

if you wanna wrap here i think that works?

[notabirdcostume]

Sam isn't sure he likes what he's agreed to. But, again, he doesn't have much choice and he has to keep reminding himself of that. Maybe that's what he'll have to tell himself to get some sleep tonight. He just hopes he doesn't come to regret it. So far they've gotten along as a community and Sam hasn't heard anyone say anything negative about Frank. It might not last though, there was no telling who could come through that fountain and this was evidence of that.

He pulled himself out of his thoughts in time to catch Frank's parting words. Sam tried not to think too much about that statement. "Not sure if that's reassuring or not," but he's reminded of how few options they have here and adds, "but thanks."