(2021-10-19) Jo's Replacement Journal, Entry 8

Details

Author:	Alli
Summary:	Jo writes her next journal entry after a month of captaining, trying desperately to keep up with all the current events.
Rating:	T for Teen

Chain: Jo's Replacement Journal

Oh lights above, did I really not write anything here for a whole month? I guess I just… I was busy being a captain… and there were reports and letters and meetings and… I don’t know. It sort of feels like I’m juggling knives, but nobody ever taught me to juggle? All I can do is try to pay attention, and try to make sure nobody gets sliced. Maybe I really should try to keep up my journaling. It’ll at least help me keep things straight, because a ton has happened since I last wrote.

Let’s see… First I can follow up the things I mentioned last time. I’ve been trading letters with Tadget. She’s fighting Old Gods in Silithus. Is it weird that I’m less worried about her now than I was when she was hiding out in the wilderness? Anyway, I think I irritated her in my last letter, and I don’t really get why. I don’t think she was a lot irritated, though, so maybe that’s okay. I’ve got some interesting stuff to tell her now, so I’ll probably write again soon.

She seemed interested to hear what I thought about Kerlo, but I’ll keep that to myself for a while. Those thoughts are all tangled up in feelings, and I think detangling them is something I can do later. I met him for that second date. We walked around the loch together. He played the mandolin, and I gave him a robot. We talked some about the past, but that part hurt a little bit, for both of us. Then, I saw him again today at Gnome Gnight. I wonder if I sort of hoped he would turn up there? I was wearing one of his favorite colors. I don’t know if he noticed.

Anyhow, Gnome Gnight was an interesting thing. Penlee organized it, and in addition to Kerlo, there was Inkie, and, well, Timmet. I think Penlee is going to need more responsibility in the Company. I did send her to liaise with the draenei, so I can do more things like that, to help give her more visibility. Maybe next time Boopsie and Nish will make it to the meeting, too. Nish always makes things interesting, if you know what I mean. *wink* On that note, I suppose I shouldn’t have mentioned Boopsie in front of Timmet, since I know she’s kind of his ex? But then again, he doesn’t know that I know that she’s kind of his ex, so it would’ve been weird not to mention her. I think Kerlo would be a good mentor for Boopsie, better than I would be.

On the subject of mentoring, lessons are going well with Gwenivene. She’s really good at teleporting— I think she found her niche. Also, I feel a little bit bad about it, but I keep pushing her to learn combat magic. Maybe I should back off, and just let her learn what she wants? I just keep thinking, you know. Stormwind fell. Lordaeron fell. Gnomeregan fell. Even Dalaran fell. She’s not safe if she can’t protect herself. Sure, she can teleport out of a place in a pinch, but one can only run so far. But she’s safe now, right? So I guess there’s no rush. Unless the Burning Legion turns up tomorrow, which the draenei say could happen.

In other news, Ivri and Dane had a fight, and I think they’re not together anymore. The core of it was that Ivri asked Dane not to do something, and he decided he knew better and didn’t need to listen to her. I don’t know if they’re really done for good, or if he’ll apologize. It was a pretty serious thing she asked him not to do.

And that leads me back to work topics! Sort of. Ivri has a brother up north, maybe, if he’s not dead. I hope for her sake that he’s cleanly dead, and she never finds anything of him. The alternative is… I think I can imagine how bad that would be. Like a loved one’s face staring blankly from the body of a leper gnome. Then again, her brother betrayed them all before he died. So I don’t know how she feels, exactly? Besides bad, obviously.

Speaking of “up north”, that’s my current euphemism of choice for the Plaguelands, where we’re working with the Argent Dawn. Sev called in a favor, and brought the company in on what he assures me is not a lost cause. I’ve been mostly working with Ben, the Mistwalkers, and Sandy on getting intel on the cauldrons and marking places for troop movements. And helping run errands for ghosts and dying druids, which is kind of a new thing for me. Dane and the others have been fighting Scarlet Crusade, up in Hearthglen. We’ll see where that’s leading… maybe the sensitive political mission Sev mentioned.

And then, because of course we can’t just work on one thing, so I’ve got a few other jobs going. I sent a team on behalf of the Explorer’s League to a temple in Swamp of Sorrows, and I think we’ll make another sweep to see if we missed anything. I’ll go, this time. I want to see the dragons. I haven’t really seen big ones up close, and I feel like it’d help me make my clockwork ones more lifelike.

There’s also the Kirin Tor stuff. Gerhold had a meeting with the Company mages to talk about elemental problems in Blackrock Mountain, then sent an official job request later. The draenei I spoke with, Arguune, said he thought the whole continent might get destroyed if we didn’t do anything! I sent in Dane’s team to deal with that. I think Cress was probably better to go in than me, since they were fighting fire elementals. I’d probably just have made them burn hotter, but she and the others put them out.

I spent that time with Ben, Nellie and Sandy, rescuing a team of dwarven archaeologists. There were also some shenanigans there, with a secret cultist and some kind of a giant golem summoned with Twilight’s Hammer relics, but we put an end to it. Speaking of summoning, Sandy has some kind of giant demon ‘friend’ now. It’s kind of scary-looking? I haven’t seen Hex with one like that before. Maybe she just prefers her succubus?

One final side note — Sil got kidnapped by a night elf bounty hunter. But then Ben and Ismene dealt with it. They seem very capable! I think I’m just not going to ask too many questions there.