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[ ACTIVE / SEMI-OPEN ]
Who: John Sheppard & various (& maybe you!)
What: Various Stages On The Grief Arc: An illustration of John Sheppard being a disaster
When: Mid to Late November & Early December maybe
Where: Olympia & Dranbu
Warning(s): Some arm injury gore in one thread!
1. OLYMPIA -- Mid November
John is pretty sure he looks a mess to anyone who knows him, but that's precisely why he's avoiding most people who know him.
He's called out of work to give himself a recovery buffer and is taking a walk with Seren, who is completely oblivious to his problems. Seren is still a puppy, and her excitement for everything in their surroundings and for him to play with her is a good distraction -- even if he wishes she understand the word 'chill' on occasion.
The little German Shepherd is starting to grow up quickly, though. She's smart, smart enough John suspects to know exactly when she's just ignoring John's instructions. Old enough to know better, young enough not to care. Off the leash, she's skipping ahead of him with her nose to the ground -- sniffing for traces of other dogs who might have come this way. At this time of day there aren't too many, mostly people, and although she mostly just runs up and down finding things then bringing them to John (or John to them) occasionally she gets curious and bounces toward another human. Either because they smell interesting or have something with them that smells interesting.
Seren shoots toward the new person and bounces curiously while John jogs to catch up, jacket loose and unzipped over his plaid shirt and jeans.
"Hey!" he prompts sharply, and the puppy stops and looks over at him. "We talked about this, manners!"
Apparently bouncing at people is not a good display of puppy manners.
2. DRANBU -- Late November/Early December (specify before or after people change back!)
After having pretty much been holed up in Olympia drowning his sorrows for most of the month, once he finally makes it out to Josa Forest (initially to help Ianto, but then staying to sate his curiosity about what's going on) John realises he does... feel better. He probably should have come out sooner to give himself something to do, instead of just skulking around avoiding everything, but hindsight is 20/20 and all that. At the time he hadn't felt like he wanted to do anything.
Once he's there, though, actually exploring Josa Forest again after his initial trip out with Phoenix helps take his mind off things. The tree villages are interesting, and John picks through them as much to satisfy his own curiosity as to give him a reason to be --
To be away from things that he's absolutely not avoiding but also, is avoiding.
The markets of Dranbu, he notices, are very animal-focused. So after a long moment picking through things he catches the attention of someone and hesitantly asked:
"Do you have anything for dogs...?"
They point him further a long and John lofts an eyebrow curiously, turning and padding in the direction he's been pointed -- bumping into someone near a different stand along the way and setting his good hand on them apologetically to steady them. The marketplace is busy and also, not designed with space in mind. He supposes that's what comes of not normally having this many visitors.
"Sorry," he says with a wince, and bends to try and pick up whatever it is he made them drop. "Here, let me --"
What: Various Stages On The Grief Arc: An illustration of John Sheppard being a disaster
When: Mid to Late November & Early December maybe
Where: Olympia & Dranbu
Warning(s): Some arm injury gore in one thread!
1. OLYMPIA -- Mid November
John is pretty sure he looks a mess to anyone who knows him, but that's precisely why he's avoiding most people who know him.
He's called out of work to give himself a recovery buffer and is taking a walk with Seren, who is completely oblivious to his problems. Seren is still a puppy, and her excitement for everything in their surroundings and for him to play with her is a good distraction -- even if he wishes she understand the word 'chill' on occasion.
The little German Shepherd is starting to grow up quickly, though. She's smart, smart enough John suspects to know exactly when she's just ignoring John's instructions. Old enough to know better, young enough not to care. Off the leash, she's skipping ahead of him with her nose to the ground -- sniffing for traces of other dogs who might have come this way. At this time of day there aren't too many, mostly people, and although she mostly just runs up and down finding things then bringing them to John (or John to them) occasionally she gets curious and bounces toward another human. Either because they smell interesting or have something with them that smells interesting.
Seren shoots toward the new person and bounces curiously while John jogs to catch up, jacket loose and unzipped over his plaid shirt and jeans.
"Hey!" he prompts sharply, and the puppy stops and looks over at him. "We talked about this, manners!"
Apparently bouncing at people is not a good display of puppy manners.
2. DRANBU -- Late November/Early December (specify before or after people change back!)
After having pretty much been holed up in Olympia drowning his sorrows for most of the month, once he finally makes it out to Josa Forest (initially to help Ianto, but then staying to sate his curiosity about what's going on) John realises he does... feel better. He probably should have come out sooner to give himself something to do, instead of just skulking around avoiding everything, but hindsight is 20/20 and all that. At the time he hadn't felt like he wanted to do anything.
Once he's there, though, actually exploring Josa Forest again after his initial trip out with Phoenix helps take his mind off things. The tree villages are interesting, and John picks through them as much to satisfy his own curiosity as to give him a reason to be --
To be away from things that he's absolutely not avoiding but also, is avoiding.
The markets of Dranbu, he notices, are very animal-focused. So after a long moment picking through things he catches the attention of someone and hesitantly asked:
"Do you have anything for dogs...?"
They point him further a long and John lofts an eyebrow curiously, turning and padding in the direction he's been pointed -- bumping into someone near a different stand along the way and setting his good hand on them apologetically to steady them. The marketplace is busy and also, not designed with space in mind. He supposes that's what comes of not normally having this many visitors.
"Sorry," he says with a wince, and bends to try and pick up whatever it is he made them drop. "Here, let me --"
no subject
"I think she's got something else in mind."
Her eyes are following Seren's steps before lifting her gaze up to John. This would be where her husband, the animal whisperer her acts, would talk to Seren, trying and get her on side but River's never been as much an animal person. People are enough.
"She'll be an interesting guard dog."
Though River has no doubts that he'll keep training her before officially giving her that title.
no subject
John quirks an eyebrow up at river for that before focusing his attention on Seren, gently de-tangling her from the leash as she squirms before pushing to stand again. Sorry, little girl, there's no escape for you.
"Oh, she'll get there eventually. She's only a few months old, I can cut her some slack."
It's not like John didn't ignore adults when he was young, he thinks she's allowed a rebellious period of her own.
"Come on, don't show me up. Let's try it again. Seren, sit!"
This time, having inspected the harness and admitted she can't squirm out of it, Seren looks back up at John and follows the instruction. Alright, yes, she can do the 'sit'. Is this good? Is this long enough? Has she been a good girl now?
no subject
Her smile remains, watching Seren again. She sat, she stayed, though she doesn't want to -- or at least doesn't know how long to. In credit to her, she's doing it though for how long and what the rest of his training will be like...
"I'm assuming you found her here?"
no subject
Though mostly she's just a running buddy right now. That's okay, though, there's still time to go. John ruffles her fur for a long moment, thinking -- because there's a horrible muddle of feeling around the fact that John adopted her as much for Ianto as for himself and --
Anyway. He pushes to his feet and Seren leaps to her feet too, tail wagging. Are they going to keep walking? Are they going to run? She wants to know!
"Anyway, what are you out here doing? Looking to see if you can dig up a ship to crash?"
What is letting go? John has no idea.
no subject
"Actually, I was looking for information."
Something which she doesn't mind being public about -- she's been asking around enough that it could be very obvious to figure out what she's doing or what she's trying to find out just from overhearing one of her conversations.
no subject
"Nice of you to try asking first, people normally result to yelling and hitting me. What are you after?"
Presumably not his favourite drink or food preferences? Seren yaps impatiently, because she thought they were going to walk not stand still!
"Patience," John chides gently, but she doesn't know what patience is and tries grabbing the leash instead.
no subject
Though, because it's not wildly specific, she does give him something more.
"Anything about the planet, or the station. Things that you've seen or experienced here."
She wants to build a better picture about this place and what the people can really do.
no subject
"I mean, I've been here nearly 10 months now. You might want to specify the kind of thing you're interested in, since I'm guessing you're not looking for a list of the best places to eat. So -- what is it? Technology levels? Most suspicious people? Places to avoid?"
There's gotta be an angle, after all.