[June 1 2006] Chicago

2006-09-14T19:53:45Z

I thought that Chicago have a good amount of people there, considering it's the nearest 'big' city, but all I found was a small family. There must have been something in the man's blood, because while his three kids made it, his wife didn't. He's with another survivor, a woman that has to be half my age, but at least it's something. Not only doesn't he have to sleep alone, but they're well on their way to repopulating the Earth.

But even if they can make the next generation, where does that one go to make the next? And the next? I told them about the last group I met, but they didn't seem very open to leaving the city. In a way, I don't blame them. They have enough food and supplies to last a few years, but I doubt all that packaged shit is healthy for you in the long run. But I got to take my share, in return for playing babysitter for a bit. I told them the story of the Temple of Doom, as I've started to call it, and they loved it. The kids, that is. When the grown-ups came back, they weren't too believing about the mine chase. Said it sounded like something out of a video game. (I never got into those things. Sure, it's amazing what advances were made, including the 'interweb', but considering the world went to hell before I got a good understanding of them...)

Still, I was able to restock. A new lighter and a can fuel for it...it should last me a good while, which is good, considering that firemaking with a pair of stones was the one thing I never got the hang of in Boy Scouts. A flashlight that claims to never need new batteries or bulbs, and some food. My bag's starting to get heavy, but not enough to weigh me down, which I'd prefer over the huge backpacks that were in the department store. I'm not going camping, I'm trying to survice. And a few cartridges of ammo. That's one thing they've improved on...the Webley got me through a lot of tough scrapes, but I'm enjoying the Glock. Wasted a few rounds getting the feel of it, but I've got some to spare. Never know when it'll come in handy, for hunting or, well...

It's not like I want to kill someone, but I doubt I'll have the choice. If it's going to be me or them, it's going to be me. Simple as that. In any case, I'm still keeping in practice with the bullwhip.

I'm going to head back on the freeway tomorrow...though it's pretty swamped with cars. There might be some with gas in them, but it'll be hard getting them out of the mess, which is why I'm going to stick with walking. Slower, but more reliable.

Besides, I need to break in the new boots. Nice and comfy.

Biography

2006-09-14T01:09:45Z

Character Name: Henry "Indiana Jones" Jr.
Character Medium (television, book, movie, anime): Movie
Character Fandom: Indiana Jones series

Indiana Jones was born Henry Walden Jones Jr to his father, Henry Jones Sr, and his mother, Anna Jones, on July 1st of 1899. His mother died at an early age, leaving him to accompany his father as he traveled throughout Europe. This exposure to so many cultures, so young, assisted him in learning to read, write, and speak over twenty five languages by the time he was an adult, but that's ahead of time.

At an early age, Henry Jones Jr. insisted on being called "Indiana Jones" (or Indy), after the family dog. One of the first acts of rebellion against his father, one could presume. In any case, this was how his peers referred to him, and only his father persisted in calling him by his given name (or Junior, much to Indy's chagrin).

In any case, Indy took his first step down the road to adventure at age 13, while trying to recover the Cross of Coronado from a group of thieves. In the space of an hour, he learned how to use a bullwhip, fell into a train car of snakes (and quickly developed a phobia to them), received a slash on his chin that would develop into a scar, and was given a fedora that he would keep throughout his life. Regardless of the way it ended - him being humiliated in front of his father as said father gave back the Cross to the private collector (not a thief) who had excavated it in the first place, the events would shape the rest of Indiana's life.

Less then five years later, he was on the Western Front of World War I. Here he was taken prisoner by the Germans, escaped, encoutered and lost his virginity to one Mata Hari, and made his way to Africa. He was commissioned as a lieutenant, though the fact that Jones couldn't read a map led him to losing his unit. Eventually (after his new unit, comprised of old men, blew up a giant cannon on a train) he was transferred to the French army, working as an intelligence officer and
a translator.

When the Great War ended, he returned to the United States, studying archaeology. He was involved with his Professor's daughter, Marion. But after receiving his degree, he left and would not contact her or her father for 10 years. This time was spent both teaching, and adventuring - well, archaeological expeditions, but many of them involved a great deal of adventure. Including the time he beat the Nazis to a mystical gem called the "Heart of the Dragon" from the tomb of a Chinese Emperor, immediatly after which he had to escape from a Cult of Kali with the assistance of a club singer named Willie, and his sidekick Short Round.

Less then a year later, he dealt with the Nazis again while trying to retrieve the Ark of the Covenant before they could. He was also reuinted with Marion - her father had died - who wasn't happy with the lack of contact. Circumstances had her tag along his quest to locate and recover the Ark, which wound up in the Ark getting stolen, and they were trapped in a pit of snakes. Suffice it to say they escaped, tracked down the Nazis with the Ark, but were captured and helpless to do anything but watch as the Nazis opened it. Thanks to Jones' quick thinking, they were able to survive while the power of the Ark killed those who kept their eyes open.

Over the next few years, Jones would take a few more infrequent missions for the government, but none matched up to the earlier two...or his next adventure, where he was united with his father, who had been kidnapped by the Nazis who were now after the Holy Grail. The two were able to settle their differences - somewhat - but it didn't prevent Jones's father from being kidnapped by the Nazis and forced to lead them to the Canyon of Crescent Moon, where the Grail was located. Indy followed, but wasn't able to stop his father from being shot, forcing him to get the Grail himself to save his father's life. He solved the riddles, and brought back the Grail, the power of which healed his father. But when one of the Nazis tried to take the Grail out of the Temple, it collapsed. Only four escaped, including Indy and his father.

Indy went back with his father, fueled by an urge to catch up on some of the lost time. This urge didn't last long, and he quickly repacked his bags. But before he could leave, the world...shifted. He and his father experienced radically different sensations as they both were thrown across time. After his father dryly remarked that he was certain the Nazis had something to do with it, the two attempted to find out what had happened to them, to the world...to find out it had, in a word, changed.

Jr. wanted to go out and find more about what could have caused this. Sr. wanted to stay in one place and get a better grasp of things. Indy was forced to stay and care for his father as he fell ill, and very quickly worsened. His last words were calling his son by the name he had called himself for so many years...Indiana. Or maybe he was calling for the dog, because he had started to hallucinate near the end. Indy wasn't certain. He tried not to dwell on it.

Taking up his effects, which essentially came down to what he wore and what he could carry in his tote-bag (and his bullwhip), Indy's prepared himself for a long road ahead. He's not about to lie down and die, though that in part could be attributed to the fact that he's drunk from the Holy Grail, which is thought to grant immortality (but so did his father, and Fate claimed him). Either way, for good or for ill, he's still alive. And he plans on staying that way.

Indy's a very independant man. While he's not exactly selfish, either, he does think of himself more then anyone else. He won't go far out of his way to help someone unless he needs them, but he will go out of his way. He's also the sort who looks ahead, and doesn't easily make a grudge...more then willing to live and let live...but he's not unwilling to wound and/or kill if it needs to happen. He's always had the urge to prove himself, and it hasn't lessened with the death of his father...if anything, it's grown, because while he doesn't have to prove something to his dead father, he has to prove certain things to himself.

He also doesn't like snakes. Really, really doesn't like snakes. Or Nazis. But what's the chance of running into one of the latter here?