[log] throw a neon t-shirt over the lampshade [closed]

[devoutish]

Characters: Alfie Solomons, Emily Kaldwin, Fiona, John Watson, Kesara Freamon, Quark, Royce Melborn, Tifa Lockhart
Location building 88, building 81, and the surrounding areas
Date: day of 152 through morning of 153
Summary: BIG DAMN MEET-UP
Warnings: n/a; will edit if anything comes up

Catch-all for EVERYTHING - visiting, bunking down for the night, etc. Top-level and tag as you see fit.

Comments

BUILDING 83

[devoutish]

A standard single-story house with a kitchen, living room, dining room, bathroom, and bedroom. This house obviously had a lot of cats living in it at one point. The furniture is all clawed up, and there are many large cat towers scattered around the house (but particularly in the living room and bedroom). The dining room is missing a chair, and the door frame separating the kitchen and dining room has ugly dents and chips in it. The splintered remains of part of an end table litter the living room, and some fabric has been torn away from the sofa and its cushions. There is one litter box in each room in the house. "ALPHONSE ELRIC, STEPHANIE BROWN, FREYA CRESCENT, GREED, BIFF, RHYS, DAY FORTY EIGHT, TRAVELLING SOUTH-EAST" has been carved into one of the walls. Finger-sized slits have been cut into the couch cushions.

[devoutish]

[During the day, Alfie goes along with Watson and Quark to 88 - but when it gets closer to lockdown, he heads back to 83, the house he'd spend in the night before.

Tonight's housemates - Fiona, Emily, and Royce - have all traveled with him before, and they know his routine. He doesn't deviate from it much now, but he does make a few allowances for the cold. His coat stays on longer, as do his gloves. He carefully checks over the skin on his hands, feet, and face, taking pictures of them with his tablet and comparing them to pictures from previous days to look for any potentially worrying changes in color. He rests more, and seems more tired, but that might have to do with his worsening sickness - it's not terrible yet, but the cough syrup Watson had scored for him doesn't seem to be helping much, and that's a little worrying.

Except for when he's praying in the dining room, he can generally be found on the living room couch - or, later, in the bedroom.]

[bywolves]

[ Royce is - jittery. He can't seem to sit still, and it's probably annoying to the rest of the people in the house, but he can't help it. At first he does a pretty thorough search of the house, making sure nobody else is there. But once that's finished, he doesn't sit. He paces for a while, and then tries to settle down, going through his things to make sure they're all there, and then he gets distracted by making sure all the windows in the house are actually completely shut.

And then there's Alfie, and Royce remembers that he should eat. He settles on the couch, looking kind of... ridiculous, in his plaid pajama pants, knee socks and long black cloak, but hey. He'd rather be warm and dry than look cool. He sits on the arm of the couch, feet on the cushion, and picks at his fingers absently. ]

The house is secure. [ Royce mentions offhand, staring at the door. ]

[devoutish]

[Alfie, sitting close and unconsciously leaning towards the warmth of Royce's knees, looks up.]

Something's happened to you.

[He's not sure what, but he's sure there was definitely something.]

What's got you on edge, mate?

[bywolves]

Nothing. [ He reaches up to push his hair out of his face, still staring at the door. ] Just not tired. There's a lot to do.

[plundering]

[Fiona joins Alfie not long after he finishes praying, sitting down next to him on the couch and plopping her legs into his lap without much ceremony.]

You don't look so great.

[devoutish]

MN poisoning.

[He rests an elbow on her knee.]

I've got it in the traditional way.

[plundering]

What's the traditional way?

[empireofrats]

[For once, she doesn't have anything for drawing in her arms when she comes to stand in the doorway of the dining room. There is a folded piece of paper in one of her palms, however.

But she stands in the open entryway without speaking and without moving either in or out. She's listening, and she has been listening as she was approaching, and she's watching with dark, curious and intelligent eyes at Alfie praying.]

[devoutish]

[Alfie had given her a warm greeting when she and Royce had arrived at the house - tossing an arm around her shoulders and smoothing a hand over her hair, if she'd let him. But he ignores her completely now, even though he's very aware of her presence. It's only when he's completely done that he turns around and gives her a nod.]

Doing all right, Emily?

for royce!

[plundering]

[After lockdown, everyone settles into their separate corners of the house. Alfie takes the living room, and Emily, Fiona thinks, is in the kitchen, so Fiona settles down in the dining room. She's doing her best to relax, since she actually can relax now, except... Royce keeps wandering from room to room, checking the windows. The first time, it's just good sense. The second, it's paranoia. The third, Fiona drops her tablet with an audible clatter and sighs.]

You gonna do this all night?

[bywolves]

Yes. [ Royce responses after he... you know, jumps about seven feet into the air at the clatter on the table. He's skittish, like a cat, staring at Fiona from under his hood with a sharp expression. ] Does it bother you?

[plundering]

Yep. The windows aren't going to magically open.

BUILDING 88

[devoutish]

A two-story A-frame house. The first floor has a living room, dining room, kitchen, bathroom, and two bedrooms. The second floor has a master bedroom, master bathroom, and balcony. This house has a working wood-burning fireplace in the master bedroom, but no wood to burn in it. The armchair in the living room has been torn open and all of the foam inside and pieces of fabric outside have been removed. A sign reading "DAY 58. REACHABLE SHELTER ALONG SNOW BLOCK TO SOUTHEAST." has been placed on the table in the kitchen. "ALPHONSE ELRIC, STEPHANIE BROWN, FREYA CRESCENT, GREED, BIFF, RHYS, DAY FORTY EIGHT, TRAVELLING SOUTH-EAST" has been carved into one of the walls.

[jumpthegun]

[John's grateful they're only going so far to split up the larger group tonight. He knows he's going to need to his strength to carry Quark all day for the longer haul tomorrow. The kid is coming with him for now. It wouldn't be practical or fair to anyone for Alfie and Fiona to try to carry him into Kesara's tunnels. That's just an accident waiting to happen for everyone involved.

He's set the boy down in the most comfortable place he can find, wrapped him up in blankets and is just making the rounds, searching the house and approaching some of the other arrivals in the house.]

A - Investigations
[John's main interest is the balcony, just because it's a unique feature. It's off the master bedroom, and he can be seen sweeping the snow off of it and to the ground below with his foot. He's going about it quickly given that outside is very much colder than inside.]

B - Check-up
[When he's not investigating, John's trying to make sure everyone else is doing all right. He offer's an apologetic smile.]

Haven't got any blankets, but we'll make do tonight. Master bedroom's probably the best place if no one minds sleeping a bit close.

[averytinyparticle]

[Quark is frustrated. He's sullen and quiet and brooding in the place where John set him up, knowing that the only way he can move around the house to look for items or do anything is with help. And since he's been carried to-and-fro since the previous day when they found him in the Graveyard, he can't bring himself to ask. He feels so weak and helpless. It's awful. Although he tries to erase the look from his face when anyone gets near, it's obvious how he's feeling.

And now more people are seeing him like this. He just wants to know how long he's not going to have his leg. Occasionally, Quark tests them, prodding at them almost aggressively with his hands and cursing under his breath when he gets no result.

Other times, he just lays facing the wall and tries to pretend he's disappeared. It's easier to do that than to wonder how many people are going to look at him with pity. Or talk to him like House did, remind him that he's an idiot for letting this happen to himself. He's not sure which is worse.]

[heavensreader]

[Quark is alive. Somehow, he's alive. And Kesara has no idea how to talk to him about it.

She keeps her distance for most of the evening, glancing out of the corner of her eye, making great effort to avoid being noticed. She knows it isn't kind, but she also thinks - knows - fears that she would say the wrong thing. All the questions she has. Some of them she knows are bad and some she isn't sure. She doesn't want to be told off or dragged away and watched closely by worried adults.

And she doesn't want to hurt Quark. When she sees him gather himself up like that, face to the wall, refusing people's eyes - she understands, beyond just feeling an echo of that pain. She thinks to herself that she'd have wanted to do exactly the same thing.

It takes her a long time to finally decide on her angle. Formulate her strategy. She comes up when Quark is in one of his wall-facing moments, and settles to a crouch next to his head. The elbow of her bad arm in its sling is just a few inches away from his face, and she heaves a sigh as she starts to rub it.]

This is a right bother, isn't it? Look at the two of us!

[averytinyparticle]

[Quark looks. It takes him a decent amount of effort to allow himself to turn around and face her--but he does, and he tries to shake off some of the deadness in his eyes. The hollow depression he’s been trying so hard to hide or to run away from. It’s been hard this way. Being a burden, being unable to do anything by himself or for himself. Being depressed is almost all he can be.

But then, it’s a little bit easier when you aren’t alone. He tries to smile for Kesara, but it comes out a little on the forced side.]

Yeah. Figures we’d both be injured when we saw each other again. How are we gonna do anything interesting?

[They do make a good team, after all. A mystery solving duo of youngsters! But maybe not without arms and legs.]

[heavensreader]

[Kesara tries not to think that this may have something to do with being out of the tunnels, and yet for some reason she's in a sterling mood today. The haze has lifted; she and her companions are stocked up and well-supplied again; and she is heading West to meet Zach and his new lady, right after she finally gets to meet Mr. Solomons. All in all, she decides, it should be sufficient compensation for the delay in her exploratory endeavours. And she doesn't think the pass is going anywhere.

Despite the usual long march of the day, which always ends with her falling a little behind - short, easily wearied legs - and her arm aching, she steps into the house with head raised, and immediately turns to investigate what it has to offer, whether it is discoveries - or people. For the first time in what feels like ages and ages, she's in a truly talkative mood. And why not? she reasons. Now there are all these people to talk to, and some of them have never been East of the pass. She has so much to tell!


A: Srs bsnss

[Of course these are not simply stories that she has; they are findings, and should be presented in a suitable fashion. It is thus that before she goes forth and tells, Kesara picks a good spot - in this case meaning one that is comfortably visible yet not in the way - and settles down to organise her notes. Which she, of course, does out loud, in a steady murmur of instructions to trusty Alexander, annotating photos and putting dates on videos and musing out loud, sometimes loud enough to be heard clearly:]

And that was where I fell. I shan't forget that. I should have left a warning marker, Alexander, make a note on the map!


B: Nonsense

[Of course the task of investigating the house that they are now in is just as important as organising her notes from the tunnels, and Kesara steps to, despite being a little bleary-eyed and yawning by this point. Through meticulous investigation, she uncovers a pair of reading glasses, which are cause for great fascination due to their lightness and clarity. She puts them on her nose and all but chirps in delight.]

They're so fine! I almost wish I needed glasses!

[She does not need glasses. She currently looks a bit like an owl.]

A

[devoutish]

[As soon as Alfie arrives, Kesara is the first person he seeks out - he spots her with her nose buried in her notes and makes a beeline for her. Of course, this is important work she's doing, and he's not going to just interrupt. Instead, he stands and waits patiently for her to look up and notice him. When she does, he'll hold a hand out very solemnly, ready to give that handshake he'd promised her on his very first day in town.

It's been a long time coming. He may be hiding a smile.]

[heavensreader]

[Already expecting company as she is - why else would she be organising her notes so manifestly in public? - Kesara looks up as soon as she notices someone approaching. It almost takes her a moment to recognise Alfie. First meetings in person are always strange. But she can hardly mistake him, and her good mood bubbles over. At last! How long has it been? But he's kept his promise, and so has she.

She makes a show of putting aside her tablet, which also gives her the chance to smooth over her face from the wide grin it had assumed of its own accord, and hops up to her feet. When she offers her hand back it is with sublime seriousness, the sort that can only be managed when one is fighting not to laugh.]

Mr. Solomons, I presume?

BUILDING 116 - evening 155

[devoutish]

A two-story A-frame house. The first floor has a living room, dining room, kitchen, bathroom, and two bedrooms. The second floor has collapsed and is inaccessible. The house is rather plain, but at night when the wind blows through the rubble it sounds as if someone is moaning in pain just above the house. "House 93 of the map" is written on the wall in marker. Finger-sized slits have been cut into the couch cushions.

[devoutish]

[Very soon after this clusterfuck starts, Alfie tracks down Royce in an out-of-the-way room, away from listening ears. He hands his tablet over.]

Have a look.

[bywolves]

You know, every time you hand me that tablet I end up angry. [ Royce says, almost exasperated. But he does take the tablet, and he does look it over. ]

Maribor's bloody beard, there's a lot here. What am I looking at exactly? Did... [ A pause, and then a little angrier: ] What, exactly, did Watson do this time?

[devoutish]

It took me a moment to figure out this highlighting thing they're talking about. Did you see his notes? The blackened parts?