<div style="text-align: center">《Jeb and Josh》<br/>
Location: Dryden<br/>
Present: Kennedy and Bec <a class="username" data-user-id="288" data-username="Flannel King" data-xf-init="member-tooltip" href="https://blackdahliaroleplaying.com/members/288/">Flannel King</a>​</div><br/><div class="bbImageWrapper bbImageAligned--left js-lbImage" data-lb-caption-extra-html="" data-lb-sidebar-href="" data-single-image="1" data-src="https://blackdahliaroleplaying.com/attachments/josh-michal-van-wyngaarden-jpg.134602/" title="Josh-Michal Van Wyngaarden.JPG">
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</div>Josh strolled alongside Kennedy, glad to have his joint to himself all things being told since there didn't seem to be any coffee coming his way soon. "Nah, don't apologize for being a people person. We need optimists," he said. "Optimism is a happiness magnet. As long as you're doing something to make things happen, it's not just a Pollyanna perspective."<br/><br/>In reality it was Josh who had most often been accused of seeing things to positively. Wasn't he the one who thought people could be brought back from that undead state? He remembered his brother's impatience when he tried to tie up their gramps and heal him, first with psychedelics, then with voodoo, prayers, and every other thing he could think of. He had even gotten 'holy water' from the Catholic church and tried to bring gramps back.<br/><br/>And in the end, it was Jeb who had to finally put the old man down. Josh didn't have it in him back then.<br/><br/>Had it not been for his big brother it was likely Josh would have gotten his own damn self killed half a dozen times, and not all of them from the living. It was Jeb who realized the bikers were planning on killing the and taking their crop. Jeb had been the one who saw through the boot-legger who tried to cheat them out of a sale, and Jeb who finally set Josh down with Miles for an old-fashioned talking to. After that, Josh learned to worry less about others and more about his own survival.<br/><br/>He stuck his hands in his pockets and tried to remember that this new influx of people might be temporary. It didn't make sense to make plans too far into the future. "Well…I suppose I hope this talk you have with that Sue girl goes well and that you find a good community here," he said. "Just don't get yourself killed over giving people too many chances to prove to you what kind of people they are.<br/><br/><div class="bbImageWrapper bbImageAligned--left js-lbImage" data-lb-caption-extra-html="" data-lb-sidebar-href="" data-single-image="1" data-src="https://blackdahliaroleplaying.com/attachments/jeb_james-hetfield-jpg.134603/" title="Jeb_James Hetfield.jpg">
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</div>Mrs. Minch's house was a place that Jeb never, in a million, million years, would have thought he would ever have a need to visit. He wasn't fond of Girl Scouts or their cookies, definitely didn't like their uniforms, and thought the girls reminded him of those creepy killer kids in 1980's B-Rated horror flicks.<i>'Girls were creepy in general,'</i>he thought.<i>'And most women were strange, too.'</i><br/><br/>But Bec was proving to be not your ordinary woman, and she seemed to have more balls than most men. She had a no-nonesense way about here that was direct but still female enough to remind him that she didn't pee standing up, and he was finding that she was easy company, too. Not bad for a chick who used to hang out with his little brother.<br/><br/>He raised his brows when she seemed like she was struggling between going hunting and worrying about the little commune she lived in. "I don't know if you're being retentive or not," he chuckled. "I just know you sound like you think this whole place will fall apart if you're not here to hold it together. It's like this place is what you're married to." He shrugged. "Makes no difference to me. There'll be other days to hunt. I don't need someone who's gonna daydream about what's happening here when we're supposed to be watching for game and rotters, no how."<br/><br/>His hand clamped on her shoulder in the way he would have with Josh. Firm, but not hard, giving her a good-natured shake of confidence. "Don't worry about it. Not like it's a date," he teased, releasing her. "You got responsibilities; got it." He paused as they reached the front stoop of the house.<br/><br/>"We'll swing by tonight and see if the place is still standing, and if dinner's still on the menu, we'll stop by."<br/><br/>Josh and Kennedy reached them a few steps later, and Josh glanced up at the house in time to see someone closing curtains who had been peaking at them. Jeb raised his chin in a "you and me" gesture as he started to take his leave. "Let's go see if there's some coffee before we hit the trail," he said to his brother.<br/><br/>Josh was still standing with his hands in his pockets, and he kicked at the dirt as he decided what to do. "I think I'll hang around a bit," he said. "Get Kennedy settled and all."<br/><br/>"What?" It was obvious that Jeb hadn't considered his brother would chose hanging out with the newbie over him.<br/><br/>"Yeah, you know. Make sure they're settled, find out what's going on with Abendblume…stuff like that."<br/><br/>"A'ight," Jeb said, combining 'all right' into one word. "You do you. I'll catch you later." He was keeping his eyes on Josh, but he was watching Kennedy. A moment later his eyes flickered to look at the bearded fellow before he returned to his brother's face. "Remember the first rule," he said as he prepared to leave.<br/><br/>Josh nodded, the first rule drilled into his head to the point where it was almost a feeling rather than words. Stay alive. No matter who, no matter what, the first rule was to look out for his own life. "Got it," he said. "Catch you later."