[log] trying to keep you close to me [closed]

[devoutish]

Characters: Alfie Solomons, Fiona, John Watson
Location outside while walking, and in various houses
Date: throughout the Shimmer event (148-149) and into 150
Summary: hallucinations, biting cold, and possible hypothermia, oh my!
Warnings: n/a; will edit if anything comes up

Catch-all for EVERYTHING - wandering in the snow, settling in various houses, etc. Top-level and tag as you see fit.

Comments

OUTSIDE - morning/day 148

[devoutish]

BUILDING 79 - evening 148/morning 149

[devoutish]

A standard two-story house with a basement. The first floor has a kitchen, living room, and dining room, while the second floor has two bedrooms and a bathroom. Each bedroom has a mattress. A cardboard sign on one of the mattresses reads "DAY 60, REACHABLE SHELTER TO EAST, NEARBY. REACHABLE RESUPPLY POINT TO EAST." "ALPHONSE ELRIC, TADASHI HAMADA, STEPH BROWN, MAMI TOMOE, FREYA CRESCENT, EDWARD ELRIC, DAY SEVENTEEN, TRAVELLING SOUTH" and "ALPHONSE ELRIC, STEPHANIE BROWN, GREED DAY FORTY SIX, TRAVELLING EAST" have been carved into one of the walls.

[devoutish]

[The extreme drop in temperature had been noticeable even inside, but when they step out into the snow, it's still a shock to Alfie's system. -4°C had been unpleasant, to be sure, but it hadn't been impossible to deal with. But -34°C? That's completely outside his realm of experience, and he can't help but gasp when he feels the cold hit him. It's enough to hurt.

He bundles up well as a general rule, but today he adds some extra protection around his exposed areas, wrapping his extra hat (luckily, it's made of felt, and floppy) around his neck as best as he can, and covering as much of his face as is possible with paper towels. It's better, even though it's still not enough.

When he opens his mouth to try to talk, the cold rushes in and stings his throat, but he manages to get out a few words through chattering teeth:]

Short walk today. Or we take rests.

[devoutish]

[Inside is still much more uncomfortably cold than usual, but it's at least better. Alfie still changes out his underclothes like he normally does, but he wears his big coat over his bathrobe, and he wraps his feet up as best he can under his slippers. He takes pictures of his skin, like he always has on the days when he's worried about frostbite - he wants to be able to track how it looks from day to day, and take note of anything worrying.

When he's not up and walking around, he cocoons, hunkering down inside a pile of pillows and blankets. All in all, it's absolutely miserable.]

[plundering]

[Fiona has been slowly getting used to the cold. Sort of. She's lived her entire life in a desert that got disgustingly hot at times and only chilly at night, and the cold here seems to seep into your bones. It's better inside, out of the wind, but she still wraps her blanket around her shoulders like a cape as soon as they get inside. She looks miserable.

She's jumpy, too, and very pointedly not looking at the windows, because they've been seeing... things all day. Hallucinations or not, they're still unsettling, and god, she just wishes they could get a break for a solid week maybe.

Fiona finds Alfie and sits down beside him, pulling her knees to her chest, wrapping her blanket more tightly around herself, and then pressing her shoulder into his instinctively. She can't stop shivering.]

I never want to see snow again.

[jumpthegun]

Yeah. Short walk.

[This really isn't good for his ear. The healing tissue has been slathering in petroleum jelly to protect it, but he's not sure even that is going to stand up. He has a baseball cap... and that's pretty much it on his head apart from the sweatband and the bandages. He does have part of what remains of a mesh jersey, and that gets tied around his face much like Alfie's paper towels. The throw pillow he has also gets stuffed down into the front of his jacket.

John doesn't want to be the one to slow them down, but-

He blinks, brow furrowing as he looks toward the distance. Okay, perhaps a bit more conversation is in order.]

Are you... there. [He points off into what may appear to be random snowy nothingness to the south.] There's a lawn there. Is there? I can... what? [John shakes his head. Hypothermia can't be setting in already, can it? No. That's stupid.]

[jumpthegun]

[His ear is aching fiercely, even with Tylenol, his whole body hurts, but the hallucinations are the worst. Had been the worst. John's set on taking the living room floor or sofa again for the night, but god if he wouldn't welcome Fiona inviting him to share her bed. Christ, at this point he'd welcome Alfie. There had been a few disturbing hallucinations, but just the fact of them being there is a problem. It takes him back to Baskerville, to the Hound, and the fear and panic induced by that gas. Is that what they're using? Is this really all just one huge experiment like he's seen the others talking about?

John doesn't have a blanket. He just curls up around his throw pillow and shivers on the sofa as he tries to read through some of the network for the distraction. Although, he does pop off to the bathroom to tend to changing the dressing on his ear and might be heard hissing and muttering in irritation and pain as he fumbles to work with half-frozen fingers and ice cold water.]

[devoutish]

[Alfie has been hoarding blankets, so he has three of them by now, and he's very, very glad about that. Two are on the thin side, but when they're all piled together, they add up. He's happy to share with Fiona - when she sits down, he unwraps himself just long enough to pull her in, then burritos them both.]

We'll have to watch each other for hypothermia, frostbite.

[devoutish]

[Alfie spots him hunkered down miserably on the couch, and tosses him his throw blanket.]

You've been here how long, and you don't have any blankets for yourself?

[He would bet actual money that he'd had some at one point, but had given them away to other people.]

[jumpthegun]

[Well, he'd had a sheet blanket from the hospital, but apart from that, he's found nothing, really. That had gone to the cause of bandages for Charles and Charlie.]

I'm fine. If you're gonna take off your clothes, you need this more, y'know? Wrap it around your feet or hands.

[GOD HE WANTS THAT BLANKET. But he can't just take it from Alfie. It wouldn't be right when the other man is wearing less.]

[devoutish]

The clothes are sweaty. I'll put 'em on again when they've dried a bit.

[He doesn't take the blanket back.]

[jumpthegun]

[That's just annoying. John does have a bit of an ace up the sleeve, though. At least he imagines he does. He's not sure if Fiona told Alfie about the copy of the shadownet he'd given her, but...]

Mr. Solomons, take your blanket back and use it yourself, or I'm not giving you a copy of Winter's shadownet Ecks gave me to distribute.

[devoutish]

Right. Shall we call Fiona in here and have her weigh in on the situation?

[Alfie knows whose side she'd pick, and it wouldn't be the side that left John blanketless.]

[jumpthegun]

[Low.]

You always call other people in to handle your business, mate?

[devoutish]

Think of it delegating, if you like. Are you going to take the fucking blanket, or are we going to have a problem?

[jumpthegun]

[John is feeling absolutely mutinous after the day they've had, but he can recognize that it's an incredibly stupid thing to argue about. They're going to end up with no one using the blanket.

He glares at Alfie for a long moment before dropping his gaze and just wrapping the blanket around himself. His tone is curt, irritated when he replies.]

Thank you.

[devoutish]

Was that so fucking difficult?

If you don't wanna take care of yourself for your own sake, right, you can think of it this way - if something happens to you, then you are a liability to us.

[plundering]

[She presses closer, clamping her hands between her thighs to keep them warm.]

Can you handle snuggling up with John tonight?

[devoutish]

We'll put you in the middle.

[Which is a very weird situation in his mind, but he can deal.]

[plundering]

Then I'll be extra warm.

[She nudges him gently.]

You gonna be okay with that?

[devoutish]

I've shared sleeping space with men before.

[It had been kind of inevitable in the trenches.]

With a woman in between is a bit odd, but it's better than freezing, innit.

[jumpthegun]

[Self-interest is a motive John can stomach more readily from Alfie than honest concern or regard. It's also an argument John's made himself to difficult patients before. Or soldiers who were just being difficult, in general.]

Yes, all right. I get it.

[It's curt once more, and John keeps his eyes turned down toward his tablet, feigning interest in that. He expects Alfie to ask about the shadownet now he's brought it up, but he can stave that off for a bit. Probably.]

[devoutish]

[Unfortunately for Watson, that is absoultely next on the agenda.]

What's that about this shadownet thing, then?

[jumpthegun]

I've still got your blanket, don't I?

[Petulance never really worked with Sherlock, either, but it's satisfying on occasion.]

[devoutish]

And here I was thinking we weren't gonna have trouble. Was I wrong, Doctor?