[log] Fighting Temptation [closed]

[thewarningafter]

Characters: Stephen, Alfie, Royce, and Sylar
Location: Building 31
Date: Day 249 (early afternoon)
Summary: Alfie hands off some supplies, and also something Stephen dropped a day or two ago.
Warnings: Embarrassed space wizard

31: This house is perhaps most easily recognized by the picket fence, paint worn off and wood exposed, that pushes up out of the snow and encircles the backyard. There's a half-buried doghouse near the main house, large enough for a human to crawl into--which is good, because the front and back doors are locked tight no matter the time of day. If you crawl through the doghouse, a large dog flap is attached to the house at the back, and you can get inside there; of course it's locked at night just like any other entryway. Inside is a standard single-story house consisting of a living room, kitchen, dining room, bathroom (though the shower doesn't work), and bedroom. All drawers and cupboards have been haphazardly opened and most of the furniture has been upended. Two black amorphous blobs have been spraypainted on the fence.. Written on the wall is "EMERGENCY RATIONS IN CUPBOARD. MEETING DAY 67, HOUSE TO WEST. CONTACT @CMDRSHEPARD" The following is written on the wall in blue ink: "This is Building 45 on the composite map. Contact @CaptSteveRogers for details." Underneath this is a fairly accurate map showing house 31 in relation to houses 25, 28, 31, 34, and 35, the funeral home, and the school and athletic shed. The funeral home is labeled "UNSAFE, DO NOT STAY HERE OVERNIGHT". House 34 is labeled "Medical assistance; hot, clean water. Contact Dr. Epps @claytonator". The school is labeled "School. Food available in cafeteria; DO NOT STAY HERE OVERNIGHT." The shed is labeled "Shed". "ALPHONSE ELRIC AND EDWARD ELRIC, DAY NINETY-SIX, TRAVELLING SOUTH. IF ANY ASSISTANCE IS NEEDED CONTACT @LELRIC ANY TIME." has been carved onto the wall. "ALPHONSE ELRIC, DAY TWO HUNDRED AND FIVE, FOR ANY ASSISTANCE PLEASE CONTACT @LELRIC." has been written on the wall.

Comments

[thewarningafter]

[If he'd known about the dog door thing, Stephen would have picked a different house for this meeting. There's nothing for it now, though -- the preparations have all been made and he's anxious to get this meeting over and done with so he can swing back by the so-called clinic and pick up the Vicodin he stashed there.

He has to take off his pack and push it ahead of him through the dog house, hoping he's the first one here.]

[devoutish]

[Lucky for him, he is. But the other three show up not long after, crawling awkwardly through that ridiculous dog house.]

Dr. Strange, hello.

[Alfie dusts himself off, muffling a groan as he stands. He's been in more pain than usual lately, and he has a nasty suspicion that it's MN-related.]

[bywolves]

[ Royce has been quiet, which isn't unusual these days. He stays close to Alfie as they walk as usual, though he'll have a conversation with Sylar should Sylar strike one up. He's distant, though. The poisoning is particularly bad for all of them today, it looks like.

Royce crawls after Alfie into the house, looking slightly sour, and brushes himself off as well. Great. Super dignified. He doesn't say anything yet, just keeps his hood up and lurks a bit away from the rest of them. He doesn't dislike Strange, but he also doesn't trust him. Doctors, you know? ]

[termineur]

[ Sylar, unlike the other two, has found himself chattier than usual. So often he ends up just talking to the air, but occasionally he asks Royce questions and gets him to talk.

He downright scrambles through the dog house, chuckling as he tugs his long limbs out of it. ]

Hey, Doc. Good to see you again. Hi, Levi.

[ He waves. The wave is for the Cloak. ]

[thewarningafter]

Hello yourselves.

[He smiles as he says it, though his eyes flick from one visitor to another with slight unease. He has just a second to wonder who Levi's supposed to be before his cloak flicks an edge of its hem at the third arrival.]

I, uh...brought a gift. Just, you know, thanks for the supplies.

[He doesn't quite seem to address any one of the three of them as he speaks, bending to slide a bottle of vodka out of the pack he's set on one end of the couch. Giving it to them was a sort of spur of the moment idea after he got here and found himself alone; he knows from experience that drinking while on pregabalin would be a mistake and he doesn't really want to carry the thing anymore...so why not ingratiate himself a little before they start asking about the Vicodin?]

[devoutish]

[Alfie glances at the cloak, then glances at Royce. What the fuck is that thing? What is it with Norfinbury and sentient cloaks? Why.

He won't comment on it, though. Instead, he moves forward and picks up the vodka, examining it.]

Thanks, mate.

[bywolves]

[ Ahhh, Royce super doesn't like that thing. Like, at all. He stares at the cloak, tense under his own. He watches Alfie pick up the vodka, moving even further away from the group.

He doesn't say anything still - though he does, if he can get Alfie's gaze, he'll sign pills in the little signal language they've got. Just to know what they're doing.

He'd do Morse, but Sylar knows Morse. Sorry, Sylar. ]

[termineur]

[ Sylar hasn't actually seen Royce interact with anyone else, except for that brief night when they'd first met and he was still pretending to be 'Zane'. It's interesting to see him drift away.

More interesting is getting the Cloak to wave back at him. He grins at that, although it disappears as soon as Stephen pulls out the alcohol. That's really not a good idea with these guys, right? And a 'gift'? Why? His eyes narrow a bit as he tries to piece together what Stephen's being so cautious about. ]

Does that mean I get some, too? If only I'd thought to bring mixers.

[ He shakes his head. ]

Maybe while we're both here, you can check me over. Make sure nothing's gone too awry with the procedure.

[ The one he'd failed to mention to Royce or Alfie? Yeah, that one. ]

[thewarningafter]

[Stephen offers the man closest to him a smile that's a little too tight, his gaze still flicking over to the other two now and then. He tries to keep the relief off his face when the third guy speaks up about a procedure and he can finally nail down at least one person's identity. Between the medication he's on and the death loss this is disorienting as hell, but he's pretty sure he's caught on to who's who. The guy with his hands on the vodka is almost certainly the gangster here to make the drop-off, and he suspects the silent one is the same guy who put up all that fuss about letting Stephen look at his broken arm. He still travels with the gangster, right?]

Absolutely. I wanted to check in with you about how you were feeling. Or, you know, not feeling.

[devoutish]

[Alfie does catch Royce's eye and his sign, and he gives a small, quick nod, and signs back wait. Royce will know when it's time. He'll make it obvious.

He's packed all the supplies save the Vicodin into a single bag, which he unshoulders now. The full list is:

- a mail carrier bag that holds a week's worth of food
- a bottle of hand sanitizer
- an empty syringe in sterile packaging
- an empty, unlabeled prescription bottle
- cotton balls
- a neck brace
- surgical gloves
- an empty bottle
- a medicine dropper ]

Here you go. That's all for you.

[bywolves]

[ Alcohol being a bad idea for Royce and Alfie isn't... wrong, really. They've fallen into some bad habits. But that's not what Royce is thinking about.

Alfie's got the trade going, which leaves Royce to glance at Sylar with a frown. ]

Procedure. [ Royce says, quietly. He looks back to the cloak (and Stephen by extension, but mostly the cloak), watching it closely, but it's clear he's talking to Sylar. ] Which procedure?

[termineur]

[ Oh, right. Stephen must still be dealing with his facial recognition thing. He's surprised the doctor would agree to see anyone.

He glances over at Royce, just a slight bit of guilt coming through in his eyes. ]

I got the NIMA procedure done to keep my traveling companions from looking like they'd be better off broken open. So far, so good.

Oh! Stephen, not sure if you'd want it, but while we're handing over medical supplies- you're welcome to this cane, and rubbing alcohol. I haven't really had a need for 'em.

[ The cane was fairly unwieldy, with its four feet for stability, but it'd been great for him while his leg was useless. He starts digging in his bag for the rubbing alcohol. ]

[thewarningafter]

[Stephen hadn't had a good excuse to decline the meeting, not when the exchange is skewed so heavily in his own favor on its surface. Anyway, this is going fine. His smile relaxes into something more real as he takes the bag and opens it up to check out the contents. He glances at his patient, considering the cane for a moment -- it'll be a pain to carry, but it's exactly the kind of thing that'll be needed sooner or later. He nods.]

Feels just like Christmas morning.

[The cagey guy's attention hasn't escaped his notice, but for now Levi's showing no further sign of sapience -- it just hangs passively from Stephen's shoulders as though to challenge Royce and Alfie to trust their own memories of it having moved in the first place. Stephen glances at the two of them, a little surprised that they hadn't been told...or at least, that his patient would bring it up now if he hadn't already gone over it with them.]

Yeah, uh, that. I agreed to be his sponsor after he came to me for a consultation. [Or forced a consultation on him when he came asking directly for the procedure, tomato tomahto. To...what's-his-face:] I'm glad you're doing well, but we should go over some things together, make sure it didn't do anything it wasn't supposed to.

[devoutish]

[Alfie is aware of Royce and Sylar talking about the details of this "procedure" thing behind him, but he doesn't pay them much mind. If it's something important, something that he needs to know, Royce will tell him. His attention is fully on Stephen now.]

We did find one more thing - a very curious thing, actually. In house 52.

[The house where Stephen had dropped the Vicodin. That's Royce's cue to get ready.]

[bywolves]

[ Well, that's super horrifying, that Sylar just went ahead and let Eve fuck with his brain. Sure, it's to stop violence - sure, it's to stop the very unique problem that Royce knows Sylar has, he just. There's something that sits wrong about it. Royce pulls his own cloak closer and maybe keeps his distance from Sylar. Just for now.

As for the rest - Royce hears his cue. He's ready - he's got the pills on him, not in his bag, so he can bring them out whenever. ]

[termineur]

[ He was going to mention the mania- he really was- but Alfie and Royce are up to something. It makes him glance back at Royce for a moment and- did he move even farther away? Sylar raises an eyebrow and keeps a lid on his chatting, for the moment. ]

[thewarningafter]

Fifty-two...?

[And Stephen would normally be very interested to hear that he's gone manic since the treatment, but at the moment he's busy with the sinking feeling in his gut as he pretends not to have any idea what the guy's talking about. Fifty-two wasn't -- okay, he's pretty sure it was that house.

Shit.]

[devoutish]

Fifty-two, yeah. Awful house, but it's got hot water.

[He locks eyes with Stephen.]

Have you ever been there?

[bywolves]

[ If anybody is looking, Royce looks very faintly amused under his hood. Times like these are always so dramatic - not that he doesn't appreciate it. ]

[termineur]

[ Sylar's looking, because he was mildly concerned Royce hated him now that he'd learned about the NIMA thing. 'Faintly amused' isn't something he expects to see. He looks over to Stephen and just shrugs at the guy. He's curious about whatever this is, too. ]

[thewarningafter]

[Stephen swallows; his own gaze tearing away to glance around at the others yet again like he somehow expects help from either of them -- he never had a face for poker. For just a second he considers denying it. Admitting he hid the Vicodin is admitting that he was afraid, that he got himself in over his head by meeting them at all. Denying it, though -- that just gives the guy an opening to pocket the pills for good, because if they're not Stephen's that makes them fair salvage.

Stephen huffs out a hollow laugh, mouth twisting into something that isn't really a grin.]

Alright. Alright, you caught me. What do you want for it?

[devoutish]

[Afie raises an eyebrow, looking at Royce.]

I don't know what he's talking about. Do you know what he's talking about?

[He gives another little nod - time to toss Strange the pills.]

We found these. Quite a lot of them, actually. It was a very odd thing, because pills like this don't show up anywhere but the pharmacy. Someone must have left them there on purpose, but that's not a very smart thing to have done, is it? If you ever run into them, mate, you really should warn them to be more careful.

[bywolves]

No idea. [ Royce answers Alfie mildly. He pulls the pills from his pocket, bringing them out from under his cloak. He tosses the bottle up and down idly in his gloved hand, watching Stephen closely. ]

Now hold on a minute, Solomons. [ Royce says, with a measure of thoughtful surprise in his voice. ] Do you think it might have been Dr. Strange who left them there on purpose?

[ He underhand-tosses the pill bottle to Stephen. They're good samaritans, really. ]

[termineur]

[ The sheer melodramatic way they're both going about this is delicious, and Sylar bursts out laughing. ]

You have to admit, you both have something of a reputation. I'm not sure if I should even be seen with you.

[ He grins wide, clearly joking, and puts the rubbing alcohol and cane down in front of Stephen. ]

If pills were what this is about, though? I don't think it's going to be a problem. I've got some too, that I'm not using. Thought I'd shove them towards the people out east that don't want to 'waste' prescriptions, but if you could use 'em?

[ He shrugs. He'd tease Stephen more, but he doesn't want to run up against the whole 'death loss' thing right now. ]

[thewarningafter]

[Stephen feels himself coloring, and he's unprepared enough -- and, frankly, his hands stiff enough -- that he fumbles the bottle of pills that comes flying his way, snatching at it only for it to clatter to the floor. He stoops quickly to retrieve it, his mouth drawn out into a wide, flat line as he endures the goading. He still doesn't quite believe it; he's still waiting for some kind of demand, or the revelation that the bottle's only half full or something.]

That's -- okay, that just happened. That's...that's great. Super. Real glad you found those; I'll just...with the other stuff. Yeah.

[Help him out here, serial killer friend, don't just stand there and laugh and shove more pills at him.]