release the doves

joanna parker call me jo twenty-four, hunter, survivor scars remind us where we’ve b e e n they don’t have to dictate where we’re g o i n g !please read!

[joannaparker]

clifford-beggs:

“No point in fighting if we’re just going to be miserable all the time. That’s not living,” he smiles weakly, shrugging his shoulders at the end as if to ensure his opinion isn’t too forceful should she decide to disagree. “I mean, we can pretend it’s for something greater, to reclaim the Earth, whatever. But at the end of the day, don’t we all just want some kind of peace and happiness before we croak? However we have to get it now.” 

“Yeah, well -- livin’ isn’t as important or relevant as it was before.” Jo began saying, shrugging her shoulders at her own words. “Survivin’ is. Day after day is what keeps us goin’, ain’t it?” Jo mused, her blue eyes’s attention now set on the taller man before her. 

[joannaparker]

nikki-ward:

Nikki would be lying if she said the view wasn’t amusing. At least to a point. When the knife she was carving with instead decided to carve up her leg, any entertainment Nikki was getting out of the scene wilted. Slowly, she made her way over to the girl, a single eyebrow raised at the irritation in her voice. “Then you can give it a rest, ‘cause I wasn’t going to say anything.” Her eyes traveled from the new cut on her leg up to the sling that was holding Jo’s arm. “What, uh, what happened?”

“Good,” the brunette said, her voice harsher than she intended to -- then again, everything seemed like that lately, both her words and actions alike. At the blonde’s question, Jo shook her head and looked at her feet before she painfully stood up, the little cut sending a small amount of shooting pain up her leg. Leaning her weight on her other leg, Jo dusted herself off. “Job hazards.” she simply said.

[joannaparker]

ezrakeller:

“Really? What made you decide to… what is it that you do again? Run? Hunt?”

Huntin’s relaxin’ for me. Besides, there’s people that handle themselves better at the dam than I would.

[joannaparker]

mslucymontgomery:

“Because I’m awesome, duh.” Lucy tease with a small chuckle. “I picked up a few things in a restaurant in Chinatown when my husband was stationed in the area. I knew what I’d need when it came along. I figured it would be nice to have something other then soups and casseroles for once.” Lucy said as she followed the girl. 

“That, you are.” Jo replied, nodding as she let out a chuckle, a small one nonetheless. “That might be one of your best ideas yet, Lucy” the brunette spoke, sending the blonde a smile as she looked at her while they were walking side by side. In an attempt to change the subject to anything other than her injury, Jo continued. “How are you feeling? And little Peanut?”

[joannaparker]

jackcevetine:

“Ain’t takin’ you for nothin’ but a fighter.” He tries, even if he’s relating to how she’s feeling. Sometimes all he felt was alive. But for nothing. Not really one for much hope or optimism, it was a surprise that Jack really believed that Jo would be just fine. But he believed it. After a while, maybe she would too. At her switch of topic toward him, he almost feels uneasy. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m doin’ fine.” 

The brunette nodded, pressing her lips together. She hated it; she hated talking about the injury, she hated thinking about it, she hated knowing that she’d have to walk around with it for the next weeks. At his minimal reply, Jo shrugged, looking away as she questioned. “You sure?”, though her question was as simply as one could be, it was almost as if she was trying to study whether or not she would indeed be fine -- or if she would lie every time someone would as her. And using Jack, who was in the same situation as her, as a study case couldn’t hurt. 

[joannaparker]

brookexcole:

I never really took things to heart before, not gonna start now.

I don’t know, people react differently to pain and shit. I’m not a therapist. Some loser men who thought I could use some stories. Smile, they say. Stab, I want.

Fair enough.

My arm hurts, I’ll get over it. Like always. There’s a third option -- tellin’ them to shut up, punch them and walk away. You’re not the town’s psychologist. 

[oliverrmac]

familiar face | joanna & oliver

[joannaparker]

oliverrmac:

“Are you that deep in denial or just plain stupid? I don’t know either,” he countered, annoyance clear in his expression as his frustration with the girl grew. He wondered whether or not the brunette was serious, and if she was listening to him at all. A roll of his eyes was followed by him taking a step back as she stepped forward, noticing how close he had gotten to the young woman in his half-blind frustration. The last thing he needed was being close enough to injure her further if things were to escalate to the point. He exhaled, giving an irritated sigh that seemed to take with it the fire that ran behind his outbursts. He held himself back, knowing full well that his position in the town was shaky. Doing something he couldn’t take back - hurting a woman, hurting someone in the walls would undoubtedly get him sent out. He knew that, so he backed off. “I ain’t sayin’ anythin’ about your dad. And I don’t know why she sent ‘em. I didn’t even know that she was!” His arms went up as his shoulders raised in a quick shrug, palms exposed to the sky as if he were surrendering to her. As if he were trying to show her that he had no part in whatever she had discovered, that he was as clueless as she was. “I just know that I ain’t ever looked anythin’ like Mackie ‘n that my aunt never liked him very much either. So I can’t help you - I can’t help us, ‘cause I got every right to know now, too.”

There was a clear annoyance in the girl’s blue eyes, one that only flared up when he spoke yet again. Absentmindedly, she raised both her arms to bury her face for a few seconds -- only, all she got was a groan of pain and her left arm wincing away; clearly, the anger and frustration clouded her mind enough to make her forget that her left arm was close to useless. Leaning forward, resting her right hand on the table and letting herself be quiet for a few seconds as she got used to the shooting pain in a smaller scale, Jo shook her head, reminding herself of what her father would always tell her when she started getting worked up -- breathe, count to five and then you can talk; it was like she could hear his voice echoing in her head. Granted, he never counted a painful injury in whenever he told her that. Letting a sharp sigh out through her nostrils she then looked at Oliver again. Calming herself down had been necessary -- he looked as clueless as she was, if not more; which only frustrated her further. “My dad kept ‘em. So, clearly, whatever the reason was for her to send ‘em...” she began talking. “She was right. Otherwise my dad would’ve thrown ‘em away.”

[joannaparker]

chip-yates:

And bacon?

You’re a terrible person, Chip.

[joannaparker]

nora-prescott:

Nora’s eyes darted to the leg and then back to her. She wasn’t a medic or anything, but it looked pretty deep. However, considering her own stubbornness against seeing medics, she couldn’t judge the woman for not wanting to go. “Yeah, well at least take this. It’ll most likely save you a lot of trouble later on.” Nora fished out a spare bandage she had and offered it to Jo.

Jo’s eyebrows furrowed for a split of a second, looking at the bandages on the woman’s hand. “Why do you have those?” she asked before she debated taking them for a second; at the end, she figured it wouldn’t hurt so why not take it and bandage a small cut? Extending her arm, she took the bandage Nora had offered her and only spoke a few seconds after. “Thanks.”

[joannaparker]

matthew-oshea:

Matt’s shoulders dropped of their own accord, responding to Jo’s seemingly relaxing posture. He nodded slowly at her question, eyebrows furrowing to try and organize all the words rushing around in is head. “You said you use to hunt a lot with your Dad,” he began, licking his lips. “It’s logical for us as humans to gravitate towards things that make us feel comfortable in times of intense stress. I grew up on a farm so I spend time with the horses when things get to me,” pausing briefly, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end—it happened every time he talked about his past, “You used to hunt so you spend your time around weapons. It makes you feel safe,” he shrugged, scratching the back of his neck in slight embarrassment. “Or something like that,” he finished lamely. For a brief moment Matt caught himself moving forward. He caught the wince that flashed across her face and on instinct had shifted to help, but his mind had caught him. It was not his place to bring attention to the injury. “Corn, broccoli, onions,” Matt listed off the top of his head, trying to keep the conversation on any subject but her injury. “Though the favorite seems to be strawberries.”

Jo’s lips couldn’t help but curl in a small, gentle smile upon hearing Matt’s words. He was right -- no matter how messed up it sounded, hunting things brought a sense of calmness to her that Jo never thought possible; not in a world like this. Hunting was, besides the photos she held in her nightstand, the only thing that would make her feel closer to her dad and, in a way, to her sister as well since they would talk for hours about what Jo and their father did on their little hunting trips. “You’re right. It makes sense -- what you said, I mean,” she simply replied, nodding her head whilst keeping the small smile on her lips; something that she hadn’t found herself doing often ever since she hurt her arm. Her attention elsewhere as she winced away the pain, she hadn’t noticed his urge to help -- and if she had, it would only end in one of two ways and they both knew it. “Strawberries do seem like heaven, though. Even though we have nothin’ to eat ‘em with. Like chocolate or whipped cream.”

[bellaarke]

[joannaparker]

brookexcole:

Gotta admit, that one almost stung.

In all seriousness, how are you feeling? And please don’t give me some elaborate backstory to go with the answer because I’ve gotten two of those today so the quota’s been filled.

Almost?

I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be? And who sat you down for story time, huh?

[joannaparker]

mslucymontgomery:

Lucy wanted to cringe at the sight of her leg, but she was aware that Jo would not be happy with her fretting over her. Even if it was against everything in her nature she resisted the urge and simply smiled instead. “Well you have to keep this to yourself because it would be impossible for me to make for the whole camp but I happen to come across the right ingredients for Chinese food.” Lucy offered. “Let’s get you cleaned up and fed okay?”

“Chinese?” Jo’s otherwise neutral or unapproachable expression lit up at the mention of chinese food; if someone asked her what she missed the most about her old life, it’d be the little things -- the food, the flavor, how easy it was to do everything compared to the current ways. “How did you manage?” the brunette asked before she nodded at Lucy’s next words and began walking, waiting for the girl to follow.

[joannaparker]

matthew-oshea:

Matt watched her move, made sure to remember that even with an injured shoulder she could still kick his ass. Diverting his gaze again so as not to make her seem uncomfortable, he nodded knowingly at her words. “I’m sure there’s other things you could do too,” he supplied. “Not that you should do other things. Making arrows is very… you.” Feeling her gaze fall on him, Matt looked up, clasping his hands together in front of him, fingers pulling at each other out of a nervous habit when put under attention. “Yeah,” responding, he nodded his head. “We’re getting all the winter vegetables harvested.” Looking up to the sky, Matt let a light breeze wash over his face, the warm air a welcoming temperature. “We should be able to start planting new crops soon.”

Jo couldn’t help but let a smile curled her lips, even if it was just slightly -- a small smile is better than none, right? Shaking her head, a chuckle escaped her lips as well and, momentarily, she looked down at her shoes before her blue eyes were back on the boy before her. “Very... me?” she asked, furrowing her eyebrows a bit, yet the rest of her expression was relaxed, the smile still on her dry and cut lips. Jo watched the boy; she wanted to cross her arms, let her posture rest -- but she couldn’t and she had only realized that when she moved her arm a bit and slightly winced and clenched her jaw at the momentary and shooting pain. “Oh, yeah? What other crops?”

[andrewxbaker]

the fix ⊰:: jo & andrew

[joannaparker]

andrewxbaker:

Truthfully, Andrew wasn’t entirely sure if “Plan B” was much of a plan. It was more of different precautions he would take— and Plan C was in case the worst was to occur. “Plan B is for me to worry about, that simple.” It was clear to him that if things were to go south in the next few minutes, that Plan B would be a lot more than just for Andrew to worry about. The man did his best to separate himself from Doctor Baker— and while he was still the expert in the room, he couldn’t help but let his personal relations path the rest of this situation. Andrew was a decent man, a protective brother, and a hell of a friend. This is was made even more apparent as he let a soft nodded action is agreement to the girl sitting before him. Her touch tensed him— it was a natural reflex, but soon her hand became a resting and quite calming mechanism. His eyes glued to hers as he began to stutter, “Of course, no countdown—” and in that moment, Andrew carefully and precisely caught grasp of the top of shaft that was contacted with her skin, and jerked his arm back with great but absolute gentle force, while the towel remained to cover the puncture. He finished his statement with another sincere word, “Promise.” It was painful— even for him, but the worst of it was over. Hurrying, he slammed the bloody arrow down on the table, his arm quickly extending across the bench in order to grab the gauze he had already set out before the removal. He set the gauze on her thigh, letting it rest until he was able to proceed. Taking a deep breath while keeping a good amount of weight on her wound, he stammered, “Is there any intense sharpness? Is there a lot of change in pain, or was it minimal?” Andrew knew being a patient was far from easy— keeping calm and collected was a difficult task. But so was being the practitioner. The unknown and being unaware of the unknown— it was a hell of a job, and Andrew let that burden seep across his face. 

Jo tilted her head, pressed her lips and sent him a glare at his lack of a reply -- or rather, a reply that would let her know more than the little she knew already, which again, wasn’t much. Curiosity -- yet another trait she had inherited from her father, something that he mentally smacked himself for. If only you were more like your mother, I wouldn’t have had as much trouble -- words that he said over and over again, a loving look on his eyes and a grin on his lips, two things that she prayed she’d never forget. Jo kept her eyes on his; there was a certain sense of control that came with never taking her gaze away -- and control was what she wanted and needed the most at that very moment. And not only that, but it was a distraction --  a distraction that had eased her just enough before she felt the sharp and tearing pain radiating from her arm as he pulled the arrow out. Though unwanted, a shout that created the feeling of someone clawing at her throat, sounded loud and clear as she gritted her teeth, the towel between her lips acting as a suppressor. Clenched fists, uneven breath --  and for a moment, she felt lightheaded, the shock of the second long pain making her feel like she was about to faint. Fortunately, she didn’t. Breathing sharply and quickly, with each exhale a moan left her lips and before she could do it herself, the towel fell from her mouth. Gritted teeth, eyes shut tightly, she gave herself a few seconds to get used to lightheadedness before she opened her blue eyes and looked at Andrew, as if she was ready to kill him on the spot; and she could swear her eyes were the slightly bit teary. “It’s fine! It’s fine, you just -- you just fucking pulled an arrow out of my arm... consider that,” she began saying fast, giving herself time to regain her breath for a second before she carried on. “My arm’s peachy. Burns a bit, hurts a bit less.” Then, Jo let her head fall back as she leaned her weight on her right hand, fists clenched as she rested it on the bed. “Fuck.” Jo spoke, letting out a breath.

familiar face | joanna & oliver

[joannaparker]

oliverrmac:

He almost felt bad for her at hearing her threat, but the pity was overlapped by growing annoyance.”Threaten me again and we’ll see who ends up with - more - bruises ‘n cracks all over ‘em.” His eyes passed over the girl, taking in the cuts and bruises - the slung arm - and a part of him realized it hadn’t been the most sensitive thing to say. The other part - the three-fourths of his conscious that took the majority of all decisions he made - ran on impulse and didn’t care. A brief trace of concern for the brunette flashed across his face before quickly passing, his gaze going cold again. It was at the mention of the name, one he had been able to ignore for a month, that his expression faltered. ‘Ain’t my fault if you end up with daddy dearest down in hell, Ol’ those had been the last words the man had even heard regarding his father, and they had come from the most unreliable source in his life. It was a moment before his pause grew tense, anger in his stance crackling like electricity in the air. “My piece of shit dad.” His eyes locked on hers, throwing a silent warning - as if daring her to ask further about the name. “And the fuckin’ writing was my aunt. That picture was taken in Georgia, my twenty-fourth birthday. So I don’t think you have any place to be demandin’ here, Miss. Why the fuck did your dad have this?”

“I’ll threaten you as many times as I damn well please and you,” he said, taking a step closer. “Ain’t gonna stop that.” her stubbornness and impulsivity had come into play, something that she had definitely inherited from her father; he kept telling her that if she had been like her mother, then she wouldn’t have given him as much trouble as she had as an infant, a girl and a woman. “I’m in constant pain at the moment so go ahead,” Jo stated, without giving her brain that much time to think about what she was saying or doing. Every movement she did faster than she ought to sent a lightening of pain coursing through her arm but she’d be damned if she showed more than a little flinch or a pressing of her lips as a translation of the painful situation she had gotten herself into. Especially not in front of someone that she hardly knew or even trusted. Taken back a bit by his answer, Jo’s expression softened for a bit before the anger and the frustration that were present before made a come back, letting a sharp sigh escaping her nostrils, looking at her surroundings -- she was telling herself to calm down, to not throw a punch just because he was frustrating her, just because it’d be a quick and temporary way to distract herself from the stinging pain on her arm. Alas, she couldn’t. “I ask the questions here and you are not gonna accuse my dad of anythin’ you hear me? Anythin’.” Jo began saying before she carried on. “Why did your aunt send a picture of you to my dad sayin’ you look nothin’ like yours, huh? My dad had this locked up tight so it ain’t a mistake she sent this to ‘im. Tell me why.”

[joannaparker]

rainawest:

“It’ll probably snow any day.” Raina didn’t need to open her eyes to know who was in her company. She knew that Jo was upset that the pair of them got hurt, but there was nothing they could’ve done to prevent it. It was either falling down that hill, or taking an arrow to the heart. Raina saw no other choice— and the hunters certainly weren’t going to let them away unscathed. “How’re you feeling? I’ve been meaning to come by since they let me out, but you know,” Raina motioned towards the space around them, “it’s hard to go inside on a day like this.” After a moment, Raina finally opened her eyes and looked to her hunting companion. “We made it out alive. That’s all that matters.”

“That’ll give us somethin’ to do, I suppose” the brunette spoke; at least to her, since there wasn’t much she could do with her arm like that, not the usual things. “I’ve been fine. As fine as I could be,” she began saying, momentarily looking at the sling on her arm before she looked away, pretending she hadn’t just done that. “How are you feelin’?” worry laced her words, her mind telling her that there had to have been something that she could’ve done to avoid getting hurt and, most importantly, to avoid Raina getting hurt. Jo’s gaze fell to the ground, listening to Raina’s words and shaking her head. “We did. And so did they,” a bubbling anger and frustration lied behind her words. Soon after, her blue eyes looked at Raina.