Apocalypse Killed the Podcast Star

[xthenasinclxir]

Name: Athena Sinclair Age: 36 Community Job: Radio Operator Previous Job: Podcaster Reside in: Little camper by the Junkyard How long have they lived in Redwood?: 16 months Family: Older brother, Apollo Status: Single Faceclaim: Elizabeth Olsen

Athena grew up moving around a lot. Her father was in the US Army so her and her older brother, Apollo, were forced to jump from school to school. It made making friends incredibly hard, although she got used to being the “new kid” at every school. Still, she felt like she couldn’t really fit in. Her brother became her best friend and the two spent most of their days as kids playing video games, watching movies and reading comic books. By the age of twelve, Athena had built her own gaming computer so her and Apollo could play the news games with the best frame rates. It might have been weird for a girl so young to be such a gaming nerd but she didn’t care. It was fun and she loved it. It also helped for her to escape from reality when a couple years later, her father was killed in action overseas. Unable to face the fact that her father was never coming home, she delved further into her computer and video games. Better to live in an augmented reality than deal with her father’s death.

Eventually her mother put her into counseling. Athena rarely left her room except when her brother forced her to go to school. Her therapist suggested that she start keeping a diary so Athena started recording her own thoughts onto a private blog. The use of tech was more comfortable than pen and paper. Maybe surprising to her, she found herself opening up a bit more and recording her talking about video games and comics. Thus was the beginnings of her up and coming podcast, Delving In Nerd Style. She would talk about video games she played, new games coming out, discussing upcoming tech, comic and movies reviews - everything a nerd could ever want. When she wasn’t podcasting she was streaming her playing various games on Twitch. From that point on, her career took off.

Her podcast soon became a hit with millions of streams and downloads. She even won a Listener’s Choice award two years in a row. She got a studio and a whole crew to help her take off and her name was spread across the podcasting world. It was weird to be considered famous. In fact, she felt awkward when she went on tours and met people. But behind the soundboard? She was a rockstar. She would have stayed there, if she could. But fate had other plans. Athena was recording one of her podcasts when one of her crew members came in infected and started chowing down on other members of her team. She escaped out the back and ran home to her brother. The two hunkered down in her brother’s home for a few months as everything collapsed but they couldn’t stick around. Apollo knew of a place further south so they headed that direction until they arrived in Redwood.

For the past sixteen months they’ve settled there. Athena used her podcasting skills and computer expertise to help man the radio and fix any of the equipment that was lying around. She still feels weird when she has to talk to people in town and is definitely more comfortable on the radio. She’s glad that her skills are being put to good work and that she can be at least somewhat useful in helping the town survive.

Headcanons:

When she gets nervous, she tends to talk a lot. She even speaks a bit fast, although she’s trying to get more comfortable talking with people face to face. 

She likes to scavenge around the junkyard and find broken junk to try and fix. She likes taking things apart and putting them back together. 

Athena is slightly OCD. Everything in her camper has its place and she doesn’t like when things are out of order.

[xthenasinclxir]

Colin had to leave early for his weekly tour, but he left something for Athena for her special day. It wasn’t much and it wasn’t really that well done but he had tried.

Next to it was a box, in it , were coupons . Each of them , Athena could use to get something from Colin , from a massage, to a meal, to random things between them he knew she enjoyed, but he did not always did or think of doing.

[graveseer-young]

"Not yet. It happened two days ago. I was planning to make her a grilled cheese sandwich, that always like seems to work to initiate a smile. " Colin replied, the bands momentarily forgotten. Her hand squeeze reminded him that it was just the two of them. "I think I was pretty clear in what I said. I even reminded her of my boundaries , of not using what she knew about me like my arm , my condition in this roasting. "

He was fidgeting with her bracelet, his body showing more of being nervous than his voice or eyes could and would. Yes, this conversation was bugging him, because it was frustrating to him not to understand what he had done. "She usually communicates her feelings to me in a way I can understand or stop or something - but she just ordered me to not talk to her like that and left . I don't know what was on her face, I don't understand, Thena. I cannot - " He stopped mid-sentence, as a wave of soemthing washed over him from this built up.

The realisation. His chest was tight, his heartbeat faster, this was pain, a lot of it. He felt hurt, that was the feeling. The reasons, were unclear, and multiple. They all however, rooted back to that conversation and he was not sure what do in this moment.

[xthenasinclxir]

Athena stood and listened, keeping her hand firmly wrapped around Colin's so he knew she was there for him. Always there, willing to listen and ground him when he needed it. And right now, she could tell, he absolutely needed it. It didn't take much for her to sense it. To see the change. The rigidity in his posture. The heat from his skin. The way his words caught in his throat and kept him from finishing his thought. Athena gently tugged on his hand, pulling his attention to her. "Hey," she muttered softly, taking her free hand to rest against his face and guide his gaze towards hers.

For a single moment, she let her eyes do the talking. Sometimes there just weren't words that could accurately define or defuse a situation. This was one of them. He was trying to connect the lines, overanalyze every piece of information, looking for an answer when there wasn't one. More words would just confuse him. She would know. Her hand holding his brought it up to rest his palm against her chest so he could feel her breaths and follow it to bring him back. A method of soothing and grounding. He could focus on that and on her and silence the other thoughts that were overloading him.

[graveseer-young]

The man hesitated about the amount of detail he should give in his answer. Trust was his main issue with building a relationship with people, however, Athena wasn't at arms length for some time now. "Physically, I'm recovering pretty well. I can talk longer, and my ribs only hurt when I cough or laugh. " he explained. "I had a conversation that went sour with my sister." he added, his eyes went unfocused for a second, thinking back on what was said.

"And while that is not a new thing , and we had far more ugly words towards each other in joke or in earniest, she walked out on me , and that has not really happened before. " he admitted. He appreciated the grounding touch of her hand in his and just decided to explain to her what happened , because truly it was the only thing that had happened since they saw each other last.

"I've picked Mike in the pot of gold, and was telling Beth how I did not want to do it. I explained that I found Mike crude and couldn't think of anything kind to do for him , that I did not want to do anything with him. She said that this was not based on how kind or deserving a person was, soo I said that it wasn't about deserving , that I did kind things for undeserving people ... just using the same vocabulary she had." As they arrived near the lawnmowers , he let go and bend down to get the hood of one up. " I think that's when things got sour, because I've made a sarcastic comment about how kissing Mike at the booth gave her a concussion....mind you that was just to banter , joke... show my annoyance... but she took it badly and left. "

[xthenasinclxir]

Athena was slightly shocked when Colin gave her the news that he had seemingly had a fight with his sister. Although maybe it wasn’t actually a fight, per se. Sibling quarrels were always inevitable. Athena had plenty with Apollo, even now that they were adults, but this one seemed like more than a sibling disagreement. Athena had learned to read Colin’s mannerisms in the time they had been seeing each other. Maybe better than most, although Athena came from a familiar position to better spot these things - they were similar in more ways than one.

She gave his hand a gentle, reassuring squeeze so he knew she was right there and he could tell her what was bugging him. The Pot of Gold thing she didn’t understand and felt like she would have been too awkward or overthink it so opted out of it. People were having fun with it, sure, but she was okay watching from the sidelines. She also didn’t feel comfortable getting a gift to someone she didn’t really know. She didn’t know this Mike but from the way Colin was speaking about him, he wasn’t someone she felt like she wanted to know.

“Have you tried to talk to her about it?” she asked, tucking her hair back behind her ear before squatting down to look through the lawn mower. “It sounds like maybe it was just a misunderstanding. Beth seems reasonable. Maybe if you just tell her that what you said wasn’t meant to come off rude she’d understand? That always works with Apollo when I say something I didn’t mean in the way he took it.”

[harry-thompson]

Harry quickly glanced at the cabinets before looking back at her. "Yeah sure." He allowed, not really sure he was in a position to say no anyway. Leaving her some space, Harry took a seat on one of the stool. "You're guessing right, I'm Harry, nice to meet." He greeted with a smile but didn't bother to offer her a hand to shake, guessing it wasn't needed. "Do you want a hand for-" He started to ask after a moment, one finger pointing at one of the high up cabinets.

[xthenasinclxir]

Athena waited for his approval before rounding around the bar and crouching down to open one of the cabinets. She wasn't sure where Val had stashed it since the last time she was in here. The first cabinet she opened didn't have it but she paused anyway as Harry held out his hand. "Athena," she replied, giving him a friendly smile and wave. "Nice to meet you too....if you wouldn't mind. I'm afraid I might be just a bit too short to reach up to those cabinets. My brother got all the height."

[graveseer-young]

Her reaction like this was a bit confusing to him, however he also found it adorable indeed. He felt the need to clarify things. "I know what you meant. I was mimicking the game you started, following you in what you were joking about. " Colin explained. " I had every attention to check later , when there's only us. Please don't be embarassed, it wasn't my intention." he added. He looked around to make sure no one was really paying attention and pushed a kiss on her temple. He did not want Redwood to know, not out of shame, but just because he liked it private and treasured this safe space far away from the louder and spotlight characters this town had. They managed thus far, no one really said anything or knew.

"No I haven't planned anything, I think I can manage to help you maybe find one...or two if it 's a wider one , you can cut to make two. " he replied. "After you."

[xthenasinclxir]

Athena was still incredibly flushed, even as Colin explained his sentiment. Maybe that was what she found most endearing about him. The two of them were very similar, although she was sure that Colin was more sociable than she was. He could hold up a conversation with other people a lot less clumsily than she could. Athena never really mastered that art. And yet Colin liked her and all her clunkiness. While her face remained warm the awkwardness fell the second his lips touched her forehead and she smiled a bit more of a natural smile. One that few, if any, people got to see.

"Thanks, Colin," she offered, keeping her hand in his although keeping it as discreet as possible as they walked over to the lawn mowers in question. Although no one really was around, it seemed hot gossip travelled fast in the small town. "So how are things with you?" she asked, her fingers tightening around his knuckles as the remembrances of worry of him being at the Ranch set in.

[graveseer-young]

Colin was relieved, only one of them injured at the time , was kind of an unspoken promise he had with the people close to him, so one or the other could take care of the other. And while his face showed only little or mild expression, her question, did make him smile and relax a bit. "I do not think you want to get naked in a junkyard, by this temperature in front of everyone. Unless I am now discovering something about you. "he replied, willing to just go with the same words and terminology even if it got him in troubles before. "You'll just have to add it to your collection of unexplained bruises I think. " he then concluded.

"A belt? Hm ... I think there are two or three landmowers over there " he pointed a bit away. He only know because Vi had taken things out of those engines for the RV once. "Have you checked those ?"

[xthenasinclxir]

Athena's brow furrowed for a second before her face went from slight pink to a vibrant shade of red. "No...no, that's not what I meant," she laughed nervously and awkwardly. "I just meant if you wanted to see if you could see....you know what? I'm going to stop talking now before I put my foot even further down in my mouth." She felt like any further explanation would only push her further into the hole she had dug for herself. She knew Colin wouldn't mind and probably found this all a lot more adorable and less embarrassing than she did.

Athena followed his finger and spotted the lawn mowers. "I actually hadn't seen them yet," she admitted sheepishly, "goes to show how well I'm paying attention. "You want to help me check those guys out? Unless you had somewhere you needed to be or not feeling well which, in that case, is totally fine. I don't want you hurting yourself more."

[graveseer-young]

"Redwood thanks you for making sure we won't fly away." Colin replied in a shush voice. Even if she had not asked, he would have helped her up. He had to be a bit creative between his arm and his healing ribs, but he got her on her feet. He then carefully proceeded in dusting her off, and took what seemed like wire out of her hair.

A discreet hand remained in hers. "You are sure you did not scratch yourself on the metal ? " he asked again, more to make sure that she was alright. He looked back at the pile she had slid from. "What were you looking for anyway? "

[xthenasinclxir]

Athena knew that Colin was still also recovering from what happened at the Ranch so she tried to stand up on her own without making him have to lift her weight too much but she also knew Colin would go full throttle regardless. As soon as she got her feet under her she was dusting the grass off of her pants and froze just a bit when he pulled something from her hair. THAT made her cheeks blush a soft shade of pink. The hand still holding hers? That made her skin warmer.

Athena looked down at her lower body and legs and tried to see if any spots had been cut. "I don't think so?" she replied, not completely sure herself. She would think she would feel a little slice but, then again, she was known for waking up with new bruises and cuts she didn't remember getting in the first place. "You want to double check? I think I'm still dealing with the residual pain from landing on my ass." Was that too blunt? That might have been too blunt. "I was looking for a substitute for a new belt for a record player I found. The one it has is pretty far gone so I wanted to see if I could find a new one in the junk pile."

[xthenasinclxir]

Animal in You .... Penguin

Now you see it, now you don't. Aggressive yet gentle, outgoing but shy, stable yet flighty - everyone sees the penguin in a different way. It's that black and white thing: the penguin only reveals the side that it wants to you to see. So whether you like this darling-devil or not, you have to concede that it's a fascinating and enigmatic individual.

Penguins are birds condemned to live out their days on the ground. Unable to fly, their excess energy has no outlet save their creative talents and emotional outbursts. Penguins are poetic, artistic, and intellectually gifted, and as writers penguins have no equal. But, if unable to channel their impulses in a positive way, the resulting turmoil proves damaging to their relationships and careers.

Penguins are deceptively intelligent and are particularly animated when intellectually challenged. They excel at word games and puzzles but are modest about their abilities and are generally underestimated by others.

With their misunderstood personality, penguins find writing an ideal tool for expressing their true feelings. They have a natural aptitude for languages and penguin personalities dominate the world of publishing as writers, editors, and journalists.

[graveseer-young]

The last interaction with his sister had left him really perplexed. Conflicts between them happened, but usually he understood the cause. He did not know why his safe space felt foreign now, or why he did not feel trust to say what he thought without a visceral reaction. All he knew , was that it hurt a bit. And as it usually went in his life when something unexpected happened and he needed to adjust, he stepped back and closed himself off. Less social interactions, more shifts in the cemetery or helping with archives or going on treks , just to disappear for hours on end. He just wanted to be alone and escape in a way.

For once not really observant or paying attention, he just was even more confused where he saw an upside down woman at his feet. He traced where she had come from and deducted she must have fell. "Are you okay? " he asked in a lower voice. "Do you need help getting up ?"

[xthenasinclxir]

It took Athena a moment to recognize that it was Colin she had accidentally landed in front of. She laughed awkwardly as she brushed her hair out of her face and tucked it back under her beanie. "Yeah, I'm okay. Just checking to make sure gravity is still working. Good news - it is, so we don't have to worry about floating off into space anytime soon." She laughed nervously, feeling silly but it seemed a better answer than this is pretty normal for me.

Athena cleared her throat and nodded. "If you wouldn't mind. I probably could use a hand up." Although Athena was sure that she could probably stand up on her own volition, Athena was not the most elegant of people. Balance was not her friend and she was simply clumsy at the best of times. She didn't feel like falling like an idiot in front of Colin again.

[xthenasinclxir]

open starter!!

location: junkyard

Athena was on a mission. After finding a pretty rough looking, mostly likely broken beyond repair record player, Athena had made it her mission to try and get it put back together and working. It was high time she had a project that wasn’t simple and required some creative thinking for how to fix her up. This could very well be her Pieta. Of course, she definitely needed some spare parts. Well, not just some. A lot.

Her current venture to the junkyard was to try and find something to serve as a belt. The one in there was frayed and ready to snap the second it would be turned on. Thankfully there were a lot of things that could serve to replace the belt - so long as she found one in good-ish condition and short enough. She wanted to avoid cutting the belt as much as she could, although she would if she had to. A potential candidate caught her eye and she tried to step up some of the pieces to reach it, given her short size but her foot slipped and she slid down to the bottom and at the feet of someone who had been passing by. “Oh….hi,” she waved awkwardly before sitting up.

[harry-thompson]

Okay it was a lot of information and Harry wasn't sure he could follow everything. But also, did he knew her? She felt familiar, kinda, it was hard to tell. Maybe she was at the precinct during their jail time? Maybe it was older? No clue. Anyway, he tried to focus on what she was explaining; a radio? They had a radio? In a bar? People were still broadcasting? This idea made Harry so confused. He also frowned when she started apologizing, again, not really getting it. "You didn't?" He tried, a bit amused and left the counter. "I'm not gonna lie, before you came in, I've never heard of that radio so... feel free to look around I guess, you probably know this place better than I do."

[xthenasinclxir]

"Oh, okay, good," Athena replied with a relieved expression before she pointed to the bar behind him. "It's normally hiding in one of those cabinets when it's not being used. Do you mind if I come back there?" Yeah, sure, he said she could look around but she was also used to people being a little uncomfortable with people being in certain spaces. It was better to be safe and double check before just having her way around the place. "I'm guessing you're new, right?"

[xthenasinclxir]

Who would you be in a fantasy society?

the guy who died from plague

you died. "from the plague?" you ask. yeah, from the plague.

[bethyyoung]

Beth listened attentively, but a hopeless smile grew on her face. Eventually, she passed a hand over her own head with a -whoosh- sound. "I believe everything you just said, but you're talking to someone who doesn't really even understand how human beings figured out radios to begin with." She trusted that Athena would be willing to explain, but didn't want to impose on the woman any further than she already was.

Lordy, but it was nice hearing people talk fond memories. "That's wonderful, Athena. I'm so glad he was active in your life and shared his feelings with you." A laugh and she added, "Even the bits he hated."

Beth held the door for Athena, sweeping into a brief bow. "After you, boss."

[xthenasinclxir]

// END

[harry-thompson]

open starter

location : bar area

He felt like a kid, seriously what the fudge was happening? Go take care of the bar they said. Harry didn't even try to make them doubt their decision, he just went for it. A bit lost but happy, the bartender was busy trying to find his feet behind the counter when a customer arrived. Maybe customer wasn't the best word to use, but hey, baby steps. "Hi." He greeted. "What can I get you?" Seriously, the hell was happening? When was the last time he served someone? Probably four years ago? It couldn't help it, it just felt funny, so he tried very hard to stay professional and not laugh. Don't be weirdo on your first day he said to Frank, maybe following his own advises was an idea.

[xthenasinclxir]

Athena wasn't really that much of a drinker. Yeah, she had the occasional cocktail when she was forced to go to big events for her podcast but that was normally to help calm her nerves down when it came to interacting with other people. Crowds were just....not her thing. Needless to say, the fact the town had a bar was shocking to her when she got here over a year ago and while she didn't frequent it much, she did visit every now and again. But she wasn't going to the bar to drink - she was going to the bar because she had been asked to test the radio that was in there. Apparently it was making a buzzing noise when it shouldn't? Probably just a signal issue but she was going to check, nonetheless.

When she walked through she was shocked that there was a new face that wasn't Val behind the bar. Huh, weird. She awkwardly smiled and waved. "No, thank you. I'm actually here because I heard the radio was having issues. They said it was buzzing at odd times when getting some transmissions and I'm probably guessing it's a signal issue but I wanted to take a look to make sure it's receiving like it should be." Was that rude? Did that sound rude? It might have been. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound rude or anything. Did I sound rude? I really didn't mean it if I did."

[bethyyoung]

Athena tossed off phrases like, "Frequencies are all around us," like it was a bland statement of the mundane and not some segue to a Bill Nye segment the teacher would show in elementary school.

"Hold on," Beth reached to pause Athena. "I'm about to ask something that might make you judge me. I kinda thought scrambling frequencies was like... made up movie stuff." How could someone intentionally manipulate things literally surrounding and permeating them? Beth reckoned that's what television was; manipulating something intangible, but wasn't it more copying the existing concept and imitating it to send information?

Lost in her own spiraling thoughts for who-knew-how-long, Beth came back to Athena and asked, "Did he enjoy it? The military, I mean." Had he let Athena play with the gear and it inspired her curiosity? Beth hoped if he had it had just been the safe gear.

[xthenasinclxir]

Athena paused as Beth held her up. Her preface to her question was a little confusing. Athena? Judge? That seemed odd on many different levels. She had no room to judge people considering how awkward and weird she really was. Why would she judge anyone? But Beth's confession made her laugh just a bit and she shook her head. "It's not, actually. It's not so much as scrambling as frequency hopping. So what you do is you set your radios to to hop between different frequencies and then you transmit. The other radios scan the various frequencies and when it picks up on one being used it tunes in to that transmission so you can hear it."

Athena finished setting up her receiver and was packing her bag. The memory of her dad brought a smile to her face. "He did, yeah. I think there were parts he hated, like being away from his family and constantly moving us. That was always hard. But he felt like he was doing something that meant something. Except motor pool Mondays. He absolutely hated those."

[dreaxbrandon]

"Nah...I'm just..." Drea breathed out and put a finger put to signify for Athena to wait a second. "I'm not...a runner jfc." she finally finished her sentence and straigthened up, a hand on her side. Her cheeks were red, she looked like she was about to pass out . "M'okay....okay.."

She took some deep breaths and felt her heart beat also calm down. "So I was in my room okay, and I got thinking and then...I had the idea of the century , but ironically it won't get me rich -at all. " she started explaining. "You know how I love the paranormal, ghost hunters ... but also murders and mysteries ... I thought back on stories that Mr Ballen was telling.... " she spoke with her hands. "What if ... there was a podcast for that on the radio ?? "

[xthenasinclxir]

Athena stood there awkwardly as Drea caught her breath. She was a bit confused and unsure of what she should be doing. Obviously Drea was in distress and Athena felt like she should be doing something to help, even if Drea insisted that she was good. So she waited for Drea to stand up. "Do you want to come inside and sit down? I can get you some water or something."

Drea seemed to get a bit better and started explaining what had her running to Athena. She could follow Drea's train of thought, for the most part, but maybe she was mishearing her. She waved at Drea to follow her in so that they could sit down. This seemed like a discussion better left in a comfortable seat. "You want to make a podcast? I mean, it sounds fun but it might be hard to do. We'd have to make some recording equipment and then find a way to broadcast and then we don't know if we would even be able to broadcast on the radio."

There were a lot of mechanics she wasn't sure they could pull off, although the thought of building some recording equipment was a bit exciting. "It could be done, but do you think people would want to listen to it?"