snowblindrpg | [log] I'm Stuck in Hell [closed]

[A small shed outside the school, going inside reveals sports equipment is being stored in here. There are hurdles, various sports balls, giant mats, and the like. There's nothing that could be used as a weapon, though, unless you're going to try to hurl a basketball at someone's head. This is the only place on the campus it's possible to stay in overnight--if you try to stay anywhere else, you'll be made to leave at 7PM. The following is written on the wall in blue ink: "This is Building 46 on the composite map. Contact @CaptSteveRogers for details." Underneath is a fairly accurate map showing the shed in relation to the school and buildings 20, 21, 22, 25, 26, 27, 31, 34, 35, 38, 41, 42, 43, and 44. 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". Behind the shed is a small army of snowmen armed with sports equipment.]

[Wilson wanders into the shed, hoping that it will be a nice, cozy little house but is not surprised when it isn't. He wishes he could've just stayed in the school, but according to all the graffiti around here, that's not a good idea. Holing up in a classroom for the night would've been a lot more sanitary than sleeping on gym equipment, though. Eugh.

It doesn't take long for him to set up a reasonably comfortable sleeping area by stacking a couple of mats and folding up his labcoat to use as a pillow. It'll do. He considered laying down a few sheets of aluminum foil as a barrier between himself and the mats, but the crunching would be annoying. He'll just have to deal with the possibility of germs.

He settles in, wondering whether he should try to contact House or not. He hasn't responded to any of Wilson's messages in the past couple of days, and he's starting to worry... Though it's possible that he's just tired of playing charades. It's not like Wilson is reporting anything interesting, either. He was supposed to stay and explore the new tunnel.

Wilson will just have to be lonely for awhile longer. He opens up the network to see if anything interesting has happened today.]

[It's almost lockdown when the door to the shed opens and two people shuffle into the shed. House comes to a dead stop near the entrance when he sees that it's Wilson. God damn it. First Quark, and now... Why does no one listen to him? If this idiot were just over exploring the tunnel, he wouldn't be here now.

It's only a momentary pause because he'd really rather not have the Joker notice something's amiss beyond them having company.]

Wilson.

[The acknowledgement is offered in a casual, neutral tone. If anything, House's appearance is worse in-person than over the video, especially after spending the past two days in the company of the Joker.]

I'm sure you've heard of the Joker.

[He motions behind him, letting the nonchalance fall away for a moment to terror before rebuilding his mask quickly. No. House doesn't want to be here, Wilson. Yes. He's stuck here against his will. Don't piss off the clown.]

[Joker peeks over House's shoulder at the other man.]

Wilson? As in...

[He tries to remember the first name he'd seen attached to that on the Network. John? James? Something with a "J". The guy had immediately mentioned House to Zell, Joker had found that interesting.]

J Wilson?

[He bustles around House and offers a hand with a non-lethal joy buzzer to the other man.]

Charmed! Any friend of Greg's is a friend of mine.

[Wilson puts the pieces together quickly. The pieces he has, anyway. This is the Joker, the guy listed on the survival guide as a mass murderer. The guy House specifically warned him about. So why is House hanging out with him? From the look on his friend's face, he doubts that this companionship is voluntary, but he also doubts that he didn't somehow bring this upon himself. What happened to going to get his meds? Is this why he hasn't been answering his messages?

He does his best to hide his worry, but there's no point in hiding his confusion. What are they doing here? He offers House a nod, following his lead to play it cool.]

Nice to hear you talking again. [He says it sarcastically. The sarcasm is half true.

As for the Joker... Wilson sees the buzzer in his hand, but refusing the shake would be rude, and rude doesn't seem like the best course of action if they're going to be stuck together for the night.]

Wilson is fine. Pleasure to meet you. [He braces himself and grabs the other man's hand.]

[House's expression shifts to irritated for a moment at the use of 'Greg,' and he breathes out an annoyed sigh. While it's unkind and he is worried about Wilson, the doctor's first task is to get as far away from the Joker in this little shed as he possibly can. He's never wanted to be in physical proximity to another person less.]

Bet you could sell tickets to this place if people found it could shut me up, even for a few days. Personally, I'm expecting to use my new charades and pictionary skills to own it at the next holiday party.

[Because they're totally going home. Ha ha ha. Right. House finds a corner away from the other men and drops his pack, pretending to kneel down and pull out food while he watches the pair of them like a hawk.]

[The other man's hand is buzzed but no shock comes from the buzzer.]

Oopsie.

Force of habit.

[Joker pulls the buzzer off and slides it into his pocket as he settles down next to Wilson and lays his fireplace poker across his lap.]

Sooo, how do you know House?

[At least he was expecting it. Wilson shakes out his hand and gives the Joker a tight-lipped smile. He eyes the poker in his lap. Yeah, House definitely isn't palling around with this guy by his own volition. Wilson would love nothing more than to join House over on the other side of the room, but there's no way to make that happen naturally. All of his stuff is right next to him and he was clearly planning on staying here for the night.]

We work together. At the same hospital.

[He hesitates for a moment.] Um. How do you know him?

He stabbed me in the heart. [House can, at least, offer some reprieve from the Joker's focus by being a distraction. Also potentially ruining a punchline, but so it goes.] Not a euphemism.

[You know those four deaths, Wilson? Yes, well, meet one of them.]

Yes, I'm such a heartbreaker.

[Joker does not look back at House as he speaks. He keeps his attention squarely on Wilson as he leans in closer.]

But he attacked me first.

[Wilson shoots House a look. On any other day, he'd think that was a joke, but...]

Ah. Um. [What, exactly, is he supposed to do in this situation?] Well you two appear to have buried the hatchet to some degree. That's, uh, good.

[House just snorts. Loudly. He's keeping up being somewhat petulant for Joker. He'd rather not have the clown knowing he cares what happens to Wilson the way he does for Quark.]

Yeah. Totes. Wouldn't be surprised if he's got a hatchet somewhere. Do you, Chuckles?

Buried in a man's skull.

[He touches the side of his head.]

Figuratively speaking. Of course.

Of course. [Wilson forces a smile.]

So what brings you to these parts? [Wilson tries to discreetly direct this question to House. Give him a clue. What's the plan, here?]

Food and a microscope. Gotta look at some blood because he doesn't believe the cough's MN poisoning. You know what I say? The patient always knows best! Like that comics chick. You were around for her, right? The homeless one with rabies. Pretty sure we got a cancer consult. That went places.

[Escaping and running away places, to be precise. House knows that's a vague reference, at best, for someone who's three years ahead of him, but his cases are nothing if not memorable. And she'd died in the end. Wilson would probably remember one of the ones who died, plus reminded him of his brother. Not to mention he couldn't exactly be more overt here.]

Edited 2016-07-28 14:09 (UTC)

Blah, blah, woof, woof.

[Joker doubles over as said cough overtakes him again. He hacks raggedly and hugs his arms around himself when he can finally sit back, grinning feverishly.

Annoying, but that was some comedic timing on the cough's part. He has to appreciate that.]

Probably is MN poisoning, Doc, but have you had the chance to examine the blood of someone this sick from it? I thought ya liked a good mystery.

[He has his doubts. If the poisoning is due to some sort of chemical secreted from the nanobots then he should be immune to it. What gives?]

Edited 2016-07-28 17:03 (UTC)

[Oh yeah, Wilson remembers her. He remembers accompanying Foreman on a wild goose chase around town trying to decipher her past... He also remembers her escaping the hospital and running away.

Thanks, House.

Wilson shrugs nonchalantly.]

You do love a good mystery, it's true. How'd you figure that one out, again? It had you stuck for, huh, a couple of days, at least. Didn't it?

Like one day. [It was more than one day, but he's assigning a timeframe for the run. Tomorrow.] I got up early to work on the case and everything. [Morning.]

It was the taser, though. Our little Jane Doe was a fighter when you buzzed her. Scared the big bad police who brought her in. That plus the hydrophobia, sensitivity to light, random outbursts. Oh, and biting Foreman. Who's ever gotten rabies from a human patient?

Would've locked her up sooner if we knew she was contagious. [Locking up the Joker is the plan.]

[The Joker looks back and forth between the two men.

They're talking and it doesn't seem like they're talking about him. How annoying.]

Yes, well, this story is terribly boring. Let's talk about something else. Like the number of times Greg here has kakked it.

It's more than zero!

[Wilson nods as House speaks. Making a break for it early tomorrow is clear enough, and that bit about locking her up doesn't sound familiar, so that's likely the plan. The part in the middle... He's not so sure. Maybe it's irrelevant, just filler meant to distract the Joker, but this is also House. Does he have a taser? If his memory serves, though, a taser was actually part of the diagnosis...

In any case, he figures he's got the important bits.]

Ah, sorry. The practice of medicine isn't nearly as glamorous as one might imagine. It's an awful lot of paperwork, but sometimes clinic duty will shake things up. [He gives House as meaningful of a look as he can manage without attracted the Joker's attention. Listen carefully.]

You get all sorts of crazy things in the clinic. Stab wounds, overdoses, BDSM gone wrong... You know, one time I even had a patient that managed to accidentally mix ammonia and bleach. The idiot gassed himself. Can you believe that?

[His bag, House. Do not let the Joker get ahold of his bag.

He chuckles and shakes his head like he's remembering good times.] Anyhow, yes, I've heard House has been rather busy lately.

[Oh, Jesus Christ, Wilson. On the one hand, having ammonia and bleach is useful. On the other, he'd really rather not give that to the clown. The Joker hadn't looked through Quark and Luna's things, so House can hope he's just the lucky guy the Joker's decided to make his pet. Oh, joy.]

I'd believe it, but if we're talking clinic, the naughty nun was way more fun.

[That's mostly just to get the Joker's focus off the ammonia and bleach.]

And we want something even more interesting, how about we talk about that time America beat the crap out of you? I still haven't heard the full, gory details. I'm a horror movie guy. Call it academic interest.

[Call it also distracting by being petulant.]

He hit me with a bat. But that's just an occupational hazard when you're a clown.

Some folks don't get the joke. And bats hit you.

[Joker drops his head into his chin and smiles.]

At least I don't have an addiction that almost ripped the whole dang town apart, what was going with that?

[Wilson's not sure if he's supposed to get anything out of the nun reference. He vaguely recalls that case, but he doesn't remember the details beyond all the questions over whether or not House administered the right amount of epinephrine. Is that the clue?

He glances at the Joker. Hm. Medical mystery. The issue with the nun had something to do with allergies, he remembers, and the usual treatments for allergies didn't work. Wilson's not sure how that one shook out in the end, but the best he can guess from House's reference is that there's no point in worrying about the Joker's health. The usual medical approach isn't going to do much here.

Wilson briefly zones out of the conversation as he tries to riddle out the puzzle, but he figures House is done with clues anyway. It's not like Wilson would be able to pick up on subtle hints in references to events he wasn't around for.

At the Joker's mention of House's addiction causing some, um, tension, he checks back in. What's up with that? But Wilson doesn't say anything. Instead, he shoots a look at House. Do tell.]

[House's gaze flicks over to Wilson only briefly before focusing on the Joker.]

Ever been through detox in the middle of a winter hellscape while you're physically crippled in a way that already makes it hard to get anywhere? [There's an irritated edge to his voice.] Super fun prospects. Some asshole stole my Vicodin, taunted me, and didn't give it back when I gave him an ultimatum. I made sure he regretted it.

Aw, he's being so modest.

[He looks at Wilson.]

Housiekins shared someone's darkest secret on the network then a vampire beat the heck out of him. Folks have had issues trusting each other ever since.

I'm actually kinda impressed. He causes almost as much mayhem as me.

[Wilson isn't quite sure how all of this fits together, but all of it does sound like House... And he may as well use this opportunity to dig up some intel while they keep the Joker distracted.]

I see. This sounds like a very interesting story.

[House can't help the reflexive eye roll at Wilson's comment.]

You can read the whole thing on the network. In fact, why don't you do that? I'm hungry and about to eat dinner, thanks. I'm assuming you're gonna steal my food anyway, clown, so come get it.

[He can give Wilson a temporary reprieve from the Joker, perhaps, and it might give House a chance to claim the seat next to the other doctor while the Joker is preoccupied. House isn't actually hungry. He's never hungry these days, even with as little as he eats. With Wilson's arrival, he's been making more of an effort to eat anyway.

House turns from the other men and crouches down to dig school rations out of his pack.]

[A school that has begun to fall apart, bisecting the building. The only way to enter it is through the center, making it a bit difficult to properly search. It consists of two floors, both of which have scattered Ⓧs drawn on the boards in the classrooms:

FIRST FLOOR
Central Wing
The center of the school seems to have crumbled down the middle at some point, leaving much of it open to the elements. The office and what remains of the auditorium are muddy, wet, molding messes. The cafeteria just to the north of the divide has survived quite well, however. It receives power and has many tables with attached benches. More importantly, the cafeteria receives food regularly. Admittedly it's what you would expect from a school cafeteria: a lot of frozen meals with some fruit, vegetables, and other things mixed in, and there aren't any ovens in the cafeteria's kitchen to heat anything up with, but this is a good place to check for food if you need it. "ALPHONSE ELRIC, MAMI TOMOE, FREYA CRESCENT, GREED, EDWARD ELRIC, STEPHANIE BROWN, DAY FORTY THREE, TRAVELLING NORTH-EAST." has been carved into one of the walls. A hot rod has been drawn on the wall with the initials JW. There's also a motorcycle and a few penises.

Northeast Wing
There are six classrooms here, neatly arranged three on each side of the hall. These are kindergarten classrooms, judging by how all of them have small tables and chairs to go with them in place of desks, with blocky, colorful text on the walls and large alphabet or number or animal carpets on the ground. A few picture books can be found on the classroom, at about the level you would expect for a kindergarten class. The northeasternmost classroom has a large old wooden piano, but the strings have all been removed from the inside. At the end of the hallway is a staircase leading up. "I found a severed arm here, but it vanished. Restless spirit? - Enoch" has been written on the wall in one of the hallways. In the first classroom one comes across on this side, all the desks have collapsed in a pile, as if they were stacked up but then fell over. "JIM HAWKINS WAS HERE", "NORFINBURY SUCKS", "JH ZD ZF", and "JH <3 ZD" have been written in sharpie in the hallways.

Northwest Wing
There are six classrooms here, neatly arranged three on each side of the hall. These are the first grade classrooms, and they have small desks with ample storage space in them for children to place their schoolbooks. The desks are arranged neatly with one chair per desk and desks formed into small groups of four each, for a total of five groups in each classroom. There's a large, blank plastic board on the wall in the front of the classroom. There are a few books to be found here, though they are suited for first grade. At the end of the hallway is a staircase leading up.

Southeast Wing
There are six classrooms here, neatly arranged three on each side of the hall. These are the second grade classrooms, and they have small desks with ample storage space in them for children to place their schoolbooks. The desks are arranged in four rows of five desks each, with each desk touching the desk on either side of it, in front of a blank plastic board. At the end of the hallway is a staircase leading up.

Southwest Wing
There are six classrooms here, neatly arranged three on each side of the hall. These are the third grade classrooms, and they have small desks with ample storage space in them for children to place their schoolbooks. The desks are arranged in four columns of five desks, with no desks touching any other desks, in front of a blank plastic board on the wall. Every room has a simple multiplication table on the wall. At the end of the hallway is a staircase leading up.

SECOND FLOOR
Central Wing
The second floor of the central wing is essentially in ruins. There were probably rooms here at once point, but they've all crashed to the ground below.

Northeast Wing
There are six classrooms here, neatly arranged three on each side of the hall. These are the fourth grade classrooms, and they have small desks with ample storage space in them for children to place their schoolbooks. The desks are arranged in four columns of five desks, with no desks touching any other desks, in front of a blank plastic board on the wall. Every room has a multiplication table on the wall--it covers from the twelves tables to the twenties tables. There is a similar poster for division. At the end of the hallway is a staircase leading down.

Northwest Wing
There is a small teacher's lounge on the northern wall of this hallway which contains a table, a few chairs, and a counter in the corner of the room that may have once held coffee machines, although no longer. There's also a large room that only contains multiple rows of tables and computer chairs, though there aren't any computers to be found.

The south wall holds the library. There are books to be found here, but it's all fiction suited for an elementary school. The reference section is entirely empty. There's a large machine that looks a bit like a modern day movie rental machine--notable for that alone, but it's also receiving power. However, if you try to use it, you will be asked for ID, and will be denied if unable to provide it. If you have ID, it will give out a blank blue SD card. This card can be written on only once before becoming read-only. You can also insert a blue, written-on SD card you already own to make copies of it, but only twenty per day.

Southeast Wing
There are six classrooms here, neatly arranged three on each side of the hall. These are the fifth grade classrooms, and they have small desks with ample storage space in them for children to place their schoolbooks. The desks are arranged in four columns of five desks, with no desks touching any other desks, in front of a blank plastic board on the wall. Every room has a multiplication and division table on the wall--it covers up through 100, and also includes rules about fractions and decimals. The beginnings of algebra seem to be being taught as well. At the end of the hallway is a staircase leading down.

Southwest Wing
On the north wall is an art room. It's large and there are various art pieces in various stages of completion. That they're made by children is obvious, but not all of them are really that bad. Some of the kids really show talent! Arranged by date, it seems like while the art starts out fairly standard in topic the newer pieces are darker, muddier, and more distorted, to the point with some of the pieces it's impossible to tell what was even being painted. On the south wall is a music room. There's an area similar to a classroom with desks, but in the back are many various instruments. Most of them would be pretty cumbersome to carry around, except maybe some of the smaller woodwinds, but they are in working order.]

[House doesn't usually get nervous, not like this, anyway. He's used to dealing with life and death, making decisions that may go horribly wrong. But those decisions are made on behalf of other people, patients. Here? He's risking not only himself, but Wilson. Maybe the Joker's promised not to murder him, but he can imagine the pain that will be coming if this doesn't work.

But he puts on his air of attempted nonchalance - it's what he's been wearing since he ran into the Joker - and they head out for the school, first to the cafeteria to stock up on food, and then to one of the classrooms where House has claimed to have left the microscope inside a piano that has its strings missing.

This isn't going to be as coordinated as he wants - the Joker has made coordinating in any overt way with Wilson impossible - but he's going to have to trust that his friend can just follow along.]

Turns out if you play kids songs in this place, the little ghosts'll sing along.

[Just some idle chatter as they walk toward the classroom. House can feel his heartbeat beginning to speed up.]

Gee, that's almost interesting.

[The Joker walks alongside House. The other man is nervous, he can sense it.

But of course he's nervous.

Who wouldn't be in his presence?]

Does that make Twinkle Twinkle Little Star a multiversal jingle?

[It's been a tense morning, and keeping up the nonchalant small talk is really getting difficult. House has got to be up to something though, right? Unless Wilson misinterpreted the hint about making an escape in the morning.

He's been on the lookout for more hints, more clues as to what he's supposed to do now, but so far, nothing. The best he can do is just stay ready.]

I didn't think you believed in ghosts.

What can I say? The spirits moved me. [Enjoy your sarcastic tone, Wilson. Thanks for that.] Data ghosts. And it just means that we're boring enough as a species not to manage to come up with different elementary school songs in something like a 100 years. Or at least these guys weren't.

[All right, sneering makes him feel a little better. It's nostalgic, really! They enter into one of the classrooms with House leading. Showtime. House doesn't draw on his acting abilities very often, at least not to do more than pretend there's nothing wrong with him, but he's fairly good at it when he needs to be for other things.

He heads over to the piano sitting at the front of the classroom and raises the lid.]

Get a knife and bandage ready. I didn't bring my-

[House cuts himself off as he looks down into the piano, going very still.]

Someone moved it.

[He shoves the lid farther open and gropes around for effect inside the stringless piano. When he turns around to face the others, letting the lid slam shut, there's terror on his features - not all of that is faked. He's about to make the Joker very annoyed.]

They had to have moved it. I checked it. I stored other things there to start. It was safe. I... [House is wearing his very best 'at a loss' face, but flicks his eyes from Wilson and over toward the classroom door. It's only very brief, but he hopes his friend will notice it instead of the Joker. He lets his expression shift to anger.]

Crap. There's a science classroom. [He'll be moving to brush past the Joker, all but charging for the door.] It's in the next hall over. Lots of cabinets they probably put it in. There's a big table to work on in there, too.

[Please be already heading for or out the door, Wilson.]

Edited 2016-08-12 21:01 (UTC)

[log] I'm Stuck in Hell [closed]

Day 141 - Building 29

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Day 142 - Building 30 (the school)

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