#ch:jolene

[lolipopchainscw]

Jolene & Open Starter for Anyone!

Jolene's raincoat sleeves were sewn for taller people, longer limbed people. She was petite, which made her the first-choice to send into tight crawl spaces for Scavenging. Black fabric, with its cuffs of faux fur, draped limply over her hand. It hid the bandages, crusted reddish-brown from a Scavenging accident that morning. "I don't want to join your club," she said, through clenched teeth. "I don't want to join your cause. And I don't need whatever the fuck it is that you're selling."

Jolene glanced back, her jaw set sternly and brows furrowed.

"I'm too busy for that shit," she said.

That was, of course, a lie. Jolene's afternoon plans consisted of gluing a model robot in the same bedroom she'd slept in since she was nine years old. Those plans were shot, however, until the nerves in her dominant hand could regrow. So technically, her afternoon schedule was cleared.

[lolipopchainscw]

"So did you do it?" she asked. "Fill the fake prescription? I think your issue is expecting a smile from people in line at the pharmacy. They're either already pissed off, sick, or in some kind of pain. Picking up penicillin or some shit isn't exactly...a joyous occasion."

                            “ you'd think after spending so much time underground, people would be more . . . bubbly? or smiley? i don't know . . . but for sure not so darn aggressive about everything. a customer told me to shove our pharmacy policies where the sun doesn't shine. and all because they were trying to fill a fake prescription, like, what has happened to pleasantries? ”

[lolipopchainscw]

Jolene & Seth || @all-cf-me

"You ever consider selling blood?" she asked. "Not donating, selling. The money sounds good, but what happens if you're patient zero for some new disease? Or worse, a cure? There's no way you'd ever see daylight again." It was a reoccurring nightmare for her: near-immortality becoming a snare, and she was trapped in some underground laboratory while scientists mined her blood for platelets and proteins. Maybe it was a childish worry. Maybe it was founded in the existence of a reluctant giver, a woman who was stripped of time, energy, and good health for the benefit of the masses.

[lolipopchainscw]

( devery jacobs, 31, cis woman, she/her) — Look who it is! If you take a look at our database, you’ll find that JOLENE FRIXELL is a SCAVENGER that works in SECTOR 1. According to the file, they’re a mutant with the power of HEALING FACTOR. That must be why they’re LOYAL and GUARDED. If you ask me, they remind me of a pink duffle bag full of guns, a pair of sunnies from the corner store, and a gap-toothed smile . They are affiliated with NOBODY. ( beanie, 25+, EST, she/her )

basic information:

character name: Jolene Frixell

nickname (s): Jo

face claim: Devery Jacobs

mutation status: Gen II

birthday: January 25th

sexuality: Lesbian

moral alignment: Chaotic Good

occupation: Scavenger

work sector: Sector 1

affiliation: N/A

3 positive traits: Loyal, resourceful, playful

3 negative traits: Hotheaded, guarded, lonely

questionnaire:

how do they feel about living in sol city? have they always lived there or did they travel from another settlement? 

Jolene has always lived in Sol City. Generally, she feels like the world is shitty enough that she’s trapped there like a goldfish in a bowl. You can’t get better than Sol City, but is it really that great to begin with? Or are the stories she hears from other settlements just shitty enough it makes keeping your head down and living here worth it?

do they trust the council’s leadership? why or why not?

Jolene is ambivalent about the council’s leadership. If there’s anything suspicious going on, she doesn’t know and she doesn’t want to know. 

if they chose their sector and profession, why did they make that choice? if they didn’t, why not? were they happy with their assignment or not?

Jolene didn’t choose her sector, but the occupation of a poet wasn’t the best use of her healing factor. If you ask her, she feels like she was guilted into the role of Scavenger in Sector 1. They filled her head with ideas of civic duty, that her mutation made her special. Apparently, when you have a healing factor everyone assumes that you’re self-sacrificing and willing to do physically demanding, dangerous jobs. For the record, touching burning shit with her hands hurts. 

what’s one object that they always keep on their person?

Jolene glides everywhere on her pink heelys!

(mutant only section)

what is your character’s ability (or abilities)?

Healing factor: Rapid, unconscious healing of wounds

are they gen i or gen ii?

Gen II

what can your character do? what are their strengths?

Jolene can recover from physical wounds, given a little time. While she won’t permanently die from her injuries, she’s usually down for the count until they heal. Scavenging has mostly caused a few severed fingers that her friend, Wade, has retrieved to reattach to her body. 

what can’t they do? what are their weaknesses?

Apparently, her healing factor does not extend to colds and stomach bugs. It’s also never been tested if she could regrow an entire limb or survive being vaporized. Right now, she does rely on reattaching a severed finger from Scavenging back to her hand for the tissue to regrow. The injuries are still painful, although she has a high pain tolerance due to her occupation. Tattooing has been difficult since her mutation works on its own, healing wounds that she does not want healed. It resets the gap in her front teeth, closes her earring piercings, and repairs any attempts at getting a sweet tattoo. Jolene can be a loner, since she feels the world helps itself to people with healing factors to do shitty jobs. She’s somewhat aware of the city’s factions – namely, because people have attempted to recruit her for them. The emotional isolation from feeling that people want to use her has affected her negatively. 

is there anything else you’d like to specify about them?

DON’T GET FEELIES, SPEED ON UR HEELYS!

[lolipopchainscw]

"You're going to have to live without her," she said. "You can't die, Skeeter." A harsh truth, but its soft delivery blunted the pain. Damn, that pathetic whimper did her heart in like a knocked-down house of cards. "I don't know why you're asking me to help," she said, crossing her arms. "What's the point of us working together? What am I supposed to do if you lose an arm, huh? Pick it up and slap someone with it? Skeeter, you don't want my help. Find someone who's actually into all that hero shit. Or better yet, someone with a useful mutation. Find someone who can shoot lasers out of their eyes or read minds or -- fuck, I don't know. Just find someone else besides me."

fuck, he's really exacerbating the problem or he's really caught jolene on a bad day. he holds his hands up, ignoring the invitation for fucking himself. ( it doesn't work anyways, no matter how hard he thinks about unicorns while wearing his red rubber crocs ) "I don’t want to fight you, peanut." ( peanut, because she's tiny, a little nutty and a cookie you don't wanna crack ) "just listen okay."

he takes a bite at the vulnerability thing, nerves shaking and voice cracking, the whole nine yards, and get this, it's real. "my world has gone to shit without her, and yeah, maybe her soul did run away from me, and maybe i am god's perfect idiot, but i'm not living another day without her. I need you, okay?"

[lolipopchainscw]

Jolene stopped in her tracks. It was her words that snuffed out the joy in his eyes. The dejected glance down at the carefully held poster made her stomach drop. "Why do you always have to be an asshole, Jo?" she thought. Jolene stuffed her bandaged hand into her pockets. With slow, awkward steps held out her good hand for the poster. "Let me see what you've got there, big guy," she said. "A game, huh? I'm not making any promises, but I might know a few nerds into that sort of thing." Jolene knew one nerd and his delusional girlfriend, who would no doubt be excited to throw a whole, goddamn soiree. Then there was Skeeter, who could be bribed to go anywhere with a blunt and would make himself feel at home. Even among her extremely tiny band of weirdos, Jolene was still the wallflower of the bunch. "Sorry," she said, "Uh, about what I said. I, um, thought you were another one of those people trying to sell me phone upgrades."

"oh," fins answers, smile faltering. it's a little disappointing that he doesn't even get the chance to speak, but... not anything new. he shouldn't have been smiling. people don't like it when he does that! he'll be kicking himself for this for weeks. "okay, sorry." clearly deflated, he steps aside to look over the poster in his hands. the very same one that ren had made down in the tunnels. he's been looking for a place to put it, but also... been hoping a few other people might like to join. it's just too easy to forget that he's a big, lumbering beast. "i didn't mean to offend you. it's for a game."

[lolipopchainscw]

"My afternoon of peaceful tranquility and hot glue is ruined," she said. "I had to crawl into a tiny, flaming pile of shit for some kind of microchip. Then this huge chunk of metal fell off and--you know what, I don't want to talk about it anymore."

Jolene sighed.

"I didn't notice it was you," she grumbled. "Sorry to be such a grump. You just caught me a sucky time, alright? I'm in a bad mood."

⸻ "wow, didn't realize you were takin' time off from your thrivin' social calendar to bless us all with your presence. what's next, you gonna tell me you're too busy for oxygen?

he gestured dramatically at her raincoat sleeves, noting the way they gung off her arms like she'd borrowed them from a scarecrow. some people shouldn't be allowed to dress themselves. "and what's this look? you auditionin' for a spooky muppet show or just tryna look pathetic enough to get outta work?" squinting at the crusty bandages that peeked out, he clapped jo on the back. "oh no, wait, let me guess...you got in a fight with some dirt bag and lost. tragic, truly."

stepping back, he gave her a once-over with a mock serious nod. "y'know, all you're missin' is some shitty eyeliner and a my chemical romance patch. congratulations, jo, you're one bad poem away from being the most emo kid on the block."

[lolipopchainscw]

"It's not a goddamn doll!" she snapped. "It's a one-sixtieth scale of an RX-78-2..." Jolene quickly realized that her over-explanation wasn't helping her case. Eyelids fluttering shut, she took a deep breath. "Okay, you know what?" she said. "Fuck you."

Jolene stormed down the street. Deep down, she knew it was unlikely she could shake him off. Skete was a walking beanpole, and she barely scraped past the height limit to ride most rollercoasters. "Maybe her soul ran away from you," she called, over her shoulder. "Because you're god's perfect idiot, aren't ya?"

"not selling anything," skeeter's rat-like voice enters the fray, hands in pockets, baggy jorts that match the purple bags under his eyes. he's been crying, obviously. "and i'm in no clubs - " that he was aware of, aside from the owning a dead girlfriend club. first his mom, now gabs, what was he supposed to do? just hang out with his dad for the rest of his life? ( he'd get tired of sharing his weed the the old man, honestly )

"you're not busy, you're just going to go home and play with your dolls, and i need you jo." he would be as annoying as he could. "i know it's been awhile, but I don't like any other scavengers and it's part of your job to look for things anyway."

he sweetens the deal, "i'm sure giovanni ryu would offer a reward for finding his granddaughter's soul." there's a whimper, somewhere in there- a soft sob for gabs worldly departure.

[lolipopchainscw]

“Who cares about legacy when you’re dead?” she asked. “You know what we are when we’re six feet under?” The question weighed heavily on her mind as she entered her early thirties, yet still felt lost as a little girl. The only difference between her two selves, past and present, was that her mutation seemed to improve with age. It left her wondering about the future’s uncertainties, if making it six feet under was something she’d even be capable of. “Nothing,” she said, answering her own question. “And it doesn’t take long to become nothing. You get what, maybe five or six generations until you’re just a weird name scribbled in a photo album?” Jolene snorted in dark amusement, then stared into the bottom of her glass.

Seth knew his answer immediately, but he gave Jolene's question some space to breathe, brought the crystal glass of whisky up to take a drink as if lending it some thought: he'd found long ago that not everyone responded to the cocksure, face-value guy, and so Seth was sure to tailor the experience, made himself someone a bit more scavenger-cagey so Jolene felt she could let her metaphorical hair down. "Everything on and in my body has its price, darlin', but mine is fucking useless," Seth answered finally with a grin like a knife-edge, crunching on his ice. "So being the birthplace of the cure wouldn't be enough legacy for you, huh? Is there anywhere to go but down from there, anyway?"