snowblindrpg | [log] Actual Real Adults Talk About Politics and the Economy [closed]

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[log] Actual Real Adults Talk About Politics and the Economy [closed]

Characters: America, Charlie, and Ginger
Location Building 22
Date: Daytime, Day 148
Summary: America and Ginger run into Charlie on their travels and stop to talk for a bit before moving on.
Warnings: a lot of cute probably

[The Building's description is as follows:

A frozen and cracked water pipe has rendered this house a bit soggy in places. The bathroom is very dangerous to attempt to cross, with its floor long-rotted by an apparently constant flow of cold water, and bits of the surrounding hallway are in the same dire shape. The kitchen is another story entirely. There's a giant hole in the floor that reveals a basement-sized sinkhole beneath the house, but there's nothing down there besides a damaged table. Some of the floorboards by the kitchen have been pulled up to reveal dirt underneath them. The rest of the house seems surprisingly free of water damage. There are two bedrooms, one decorated for a single woman and the other for a teenage boy; the room is covered in faded posters of unknown bands. There used to be a guitar here, but it's gone now. The house also has a dining room and living room. "ALPHONSE ELRIC, STEPHANIE BROWN, GREED, EDWARD ELRIC, DAY FORTY FOUR, TRAVELLING EAST." has been carved into one of the walls.

Write your toplevels as you will!]

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[It's not much of a secret that Ginger is a horrible navigator. She also gave Charlie probably the worst directions in the world when she arranged to meet up with him the day before. So, when she and America enter the building meant for their rendezvous, she's all but bursting with nervous excitement to meet her friend, hoping she gave him...the best and easiest to follow directions of all time.]

Hello? Anyone home? Hello, hello, hello?

[Of course, he could also just not be here yet. But it's not like she's going to be embarrassed either way.]

[Charlie has been rooting around in the bedrooms for the better part of the day, trying to keep himself from panicking about meeting Ginger and also on the lookout for more cool instruments. That Zell dude mentioned he'd found a guitar somewhere north of the school, and Charlie's willing to bet that it was in this house. The band posters make it seem likely, anyway.

He's digging through one of the bedroom closets, having successfully distracted himself, when he hears Ginger's voice. He rockets to his feet and smacks his head on a shelf, collapsing the closet's rickety innards onto himself as he tumbles back to the floor.

The sound of the crash--and of Charlie's swearing--is probably loud enough to tip Ginger off to his whereabouts.]

[And tip her off it does. She's heading to him right away, and she would be launching into a hug, but...then she takes a look at him, and she can't help but gasp.]

Oh no. Honey, are you alright?

[He looks like...well, like he's had a pretty rough go. But she should probably know that.]

[Charlie rubs his hands over his face, wishing he could just dissolve into the floorboards. He takes a second to feel the full force of this embarrassment before shaking it off and unearthing himself from the debris. He stands up and brushes off a few soggy splinters.]

Uhh, hey! Hi. Yeah. I'm good. [Or at least he's not in any worse condition than he was five minutes ago, at least. He's got his eyepatch bandaging game on lockdown now, but his neck is pretty much one big bruise thanks to both Beckett's jaws and Bucky's paranoia. His Norfinbury-issue coat is also covered in bloodstains all down the front. Whoops.]

Um. [He fiddles with the fringes of his poncho poking out from the bottom of his coat. What now? He offers her an unsure smile.] It's nice to see you.

Hi!

[Okay, now he's getting a hug. But she's careful about it, because she doesn't want to hurt him anymore than he already seems kinda...roughed up.]

I'm so happy to see you, too, it's like...official, now, we've met! Hooray!

[As she pulls back from the hug, Ginger looks at that neck of his.]

Is there anything I can do? For you, anything! Absolutely!

[When she moves toward him, he flinches before remembering that she's probably not going to hit him. Still, though, his heartrate skyrockets as she wraps her arms around him. Even on a good day, he doesn't love people touching him, and there's been a lot of that happening recently... But it's Ginger. She's an exception.

It's weird, seeing her in person like this. Feeling her. The tablet didn't do her justice. She's different than he expected, but he can pinpoint how, or even what he expected in the first place.

After taking a moment to be utterly stunned, he hugs her back a little too tightly than is probably acceptable. He's not quite ready to let go when she pulls away, but he's too awestruck to not just follow her lead. It takes him a second to realize she asked him a question.]

What? Oh, uh, that's really nice, but I'm alright. Watson said I should be good as long as I keep the bandages clean. [He motions vaguely to his whole above-the-shoulders situation. He wishes Ginger didn't have to see him like this. He's not exactly looking his best right now.]

Well, Watson's a wonderful and super-good doctor who knows a lot about a lot, so if he says that's so then...that's just how it is!

[She's not about to argue with someone so nice. And also super smart. But she bobs her head in a nod as if this is all very wise and she completely understands.]

I want to make you something, though. I should make you something! Like, a get-well-soon present? Yeah!

Yeah, he's pretty cool. [He sounds decidedly lukewarm about Watson, but Charlie can't argue that the guy knows what he's talking about when it comes to doctoring.]

You don't have... You're probably like, super busy with making stuff for people. [He laughs and looks away, embarrassed. He'll never understand how or why Ginger is so nice.] But I mean, if you want to... What'd you have in mind?

Hmmm...well...

[She gives this some very deliberate thought as she looks him over. But of course, her eyes land once more back at his bruised and beat up neck.]

How about a scarf?

Hey, that'd be pretty nice, actually. Thanks. [He smiles, but puts a hand to his neck when he catches her looking at it. He hasn't really looked at it himself since his whole "altercation" with Bucky, but he's sure it looks pretty gnarly. It feels pretty gnarly, too.]

That bad, huh? Sorry. It looks worse than it is.

No, no! It really isn't that bad.

[She looks down, feeling sorry for staring, and pouts a little.]

I didn't mean it that way. It makes me sad you're so hurt though. Someone nice like you doesn't deserve to be treated that way. You're sure you're okay? You definitely promise?

[Huh. He hadn't really thought about whether or not he deserved it. This kind of stuff just happens to him.

He shrugs.] It's okay. I'm kinda used to it at this point. [That's... half true. He's certainly used to being a punching bag, but he's gone through a lot of blood in a short amount of time. That's new.] But, yeah, I definitely promise. I'll be okay. [Slightly changing up the wording there, but maybe she won't notice...]

Um. How are you doing, though? How... What's it like outside? [He's heard by now that the outdoor hallucinations are a town-wide thing. Come to think of it, he's shocked she was even able to make it here.]

[Her whole expression brightens when he makes his promise. As if somehow, magically, that completely clears everything up. Nothing is wrong anymore, because Charlie won't get hurt anymore! Yay! He promised!]

Good! And...I'm good! It's, like, really weird outside? All, like...sparkly? And confusing, but it's alright. All I need is some happy faces and I can just hope that tomorrow will be a little bit kinder.

[Someone here has to be the optimist. Even if she's the only person in the entire town.]

[He did promise, and he's gonna try extra hard to keep that promise. Dude definitely needs more reasons to worry about self preservation.]

Sparkly? [He glances out the nearby window, which for him is splattered with rain. There's a streetlamp outside. Powerlines. Godzilla shadows roaming over the Philadelphia skyline. Sparkly would be nice.] That doesn't sound too bad.

[But, he remembers she said her and America could only stop by for a little while today. That's a bummer in and of itself, but then there's this weather. Weather? Whatever it is. Outside is bad.] Hey, you be careful too, okay? [Without thinking, he reaches up to stroke her arm, but then chickens out and plays with the zipper of his coat instead. His face goes red.] I don't want you to get lost and then, um, miss lockdown, or something.

Aww...awww! No, I don't want to think about leaving yet!

[Although Charlie abruptly took his arm back before committing to the action of touching her, and she definitely...didn't notice, because she's not observant enough to notice, she reaches for his arm with both her hands and all but smothers it against her.]

I feel like we just got here! I want to spend more time with you...

[Holy crap, he was just starting to get his shit together and now she's grabbing his arm and he's all flustered again. She's so touchy, but not like, in a bad way. Not in the way touchy usually means. Fuck, he can't think straight. Get it together, man.]

Oh, no, yeah, um, like I don't, uhh, I don't want you to leave yet either. Just, like, I don't want anything bad to happen, y'know? To you. If you do gotta go. But, yeah! I, um. [With his arm pressed into her like it is, he can feel her breathing. It's distracting.] I wanna spend more time with you too. God, sorry, I'm just--[He catches himself before he admits that he's nervous. He's gotta get better at thinking about stuff before he just starts talking.] It's just been a weird couple of days.

[He keeps his eye focused on her mittened hands clutching his sleeve.] This is so like, normal, y'know?

I understand.

[Ginger hums, thinking to herself for a moment as she looks down at where she’s taken command of his entire limb.]

Maybe we can, like, make a date to meet up again? I know it’s hard to predict the things that happen here and what the weather will be like...but we should make sure we see each other again!

[It’ll be another promise! Going downtown and finding more fabric is really important right now with so many people hitting her up for clothes, but...seeing people that make you happy is important, too!]

America and I are going downtown after we find England...which is really exciting I’ve never been there before yet! Yay! But maybe after we run our errands? What do you think?

[Charlie's heart skips a beat at the word "date" but that's not really how she meant it so he wills himself to stop freaking out. Man, what the heck is up with him? Why can't he get it together? It's not like she's The Waitress or anything.

Though... Huh. He hasn't thought about The Waitress in awhile. Or Dee, or Mac or Frank or Dennis or anyone, really. He's been too busy Ghostbusting with Charles and shooting the shit with Zach and, uh, getting beat up sometimes. Making other friends and doing important stuff. Singing songs for Ginger and being so excited to meet her that he didn't sleep at all last night and hoping really, really hard that she'll like him and he won't blow it because she deserves the best and he's not the best, he knows that, and he's trying to be better so maybe he should just fess up now, rip off the bandaid, because he's not all that nice and she should know.

Maybe that's why he's so nervous now. This is nice, this is really nice, but he's gonna fuck it up. He's gonna fuck it up and there's no way he's not gonna fuck it up because that's just what he does.

Fuck.

But, well.

That's also never stopped him before.]

Yeah. Yeah, that'd be good. Let's do that. [He shifts his arm just enough for him to close his fingers around hers. If he's gonna fuck it up anyway, might as well go for broke. He gives her a shy smile; he doesn't feel like he's gonna burst right out of his skin anymore but he's still a little jittery.]

I'll be hanging out up here for awhile, I think. Gonna do some recon for Natasha. But it's nothing I can't drop whenever, so just gimme a call when you're finished with your stuff, okay?

Recon? That’s, like, that big word people say in spy movies when they’re on a super secret mission, right? Ooooh, that sounds like something fancy!

[And for a hot russian redhead, too. Double score!]

I’m totally jealous--but I’d be really bad at it I bet because I like talking too much!

[She laughs.]

Gosh, if I was a prisoner I’d just tell people everything wouldn’t I? I’ll call you! And I’ll have a scarf with your name on it!

[Charlie laughs.] I dunno if it's supposed to be a secret. Maybe, so I guess don't, like, tell anyone? But I'm just going around collecting info and stuff. Like, checking out houses, looking for, um, clues. For escaping.

[He's way too scared of Natasha for the hot Russian redhead thing to register, but she did teach him how to tie people up. Also score...? He's hoping that won't be a skill he needs to use very often, but it's cool to know.]

Nah, you'd be great! Talking is fine as long as you're still looking around. And you're like, good at everything, so you'd be totally awesome at spy stuff. Like, hey. [He snaps his fingers. The ones not currently occupied with hers, that is.] James Bond? He's always got the like beautiful lady spy hanging out with him that goes in and one-ups all the guys because they don't see her coming, y'know? She's like, the best spy because she's so undercover that no one even thinks she could be a spy.

[Of course, he's not really sure about the plot to like, any James Bond movie, so this is mostly wild speculation. But the girls always seem pretty badass and he's always super surprised when they're also spies, so... Close enough?]

That's you, I bet. You'd swoop in and do all the cool spy stuff before anyone knew what hit 'em.

Well I know I’m no James Bond. Cause that’s England, he’s totally one-hundred-percent James Bond. But I wouldn’t mind being a leading lady…

[That would mean she’d get to sleep with England too, probably, and she’s super down with that if she’s being honest.]

You’re so sweet! Don’t get into too much trouble looking for clues, okay?

Edited 2016-09-29 16:18 (UTC)

[Charlie frowns thoughtfully.] Huh, you think so? I guess you know him better than I do. Cool dude, but he didn't really strike me as the James Bond type.

[Man, he wishes he could go three for three on promises here, but he's had a lot of shitty luck lately. He shifts his weight, feeling awkward.] I'll try. "Trouble" is kind of my middle name around here, though. I keep messing stuff up.

Oh, totally! Like, England's super James Bond! Trust me, you'll see it when you've known him longer.

[Because he's all regal and polite and suave, but he's a total badass! She can just imagine him in a tux with a gun and doing super secret spywork. He'd definitely be good at it. She just knows.]

I just don't know how he likes his martinis...I never thought to ask...

[Ginger purses her lips as she ponders the idea, but then takes herself out of it as Charlie keeps talking.]

What? No way! Like, you could be doing way worse, trust me! I can think of at least one person who used to be here who really messed stuff up for himself big time. Saying you messed stuff up to get into trouble is like, victim blaming right now, I think? Like, oh my God, totally not okay!

[Charlie makes a face.] I'm not really sure how worse is possible... [But then the rest of what she just said clicks.] Wait, used to be here? Like, he's dead now? Permanently?

[Okay, scratch that, worse is possible. Worse is very possible.]

Yeah...

[Her easy demeanor chills as she looks down at her hands. It's nothing Charlie said, of course. It's just not the easiest subject. Part of her wishes she hadn't brought it up.]

About a month ago or so, I think. That was when he died. He was really popular here for a really long time, but he started saying all these mean things to people and being really unfair...in the end, I think I was one of the last people who still wanted to be his friend. He called Angel and Rhys manipulative--and, like, I know that you've had some trouble with them yourself and I'm not defending them or anything--but at the time, they were working really hard to do something against the admin. He blamed them for everything that happened as a consequence and said they were coercing people, but everyone who helped volunteered. It was really bad.

[Sometimes it's easy to forget that Norfinbury existed before Charlie got here. People were here before him, and all this crazy shit was happening then too, and Ginger has been here for a long time, and she probably had friends who died and didn't come back. Like this guy. He sounds like a jerk, if Charlie's being honest, but Ginger sounds so sad. He's must've been alright if she liked him.

He winces at the mention of Angel and Rhys. She knows about all that? Well, that whole disaster with Beckett did get broadcast live on the network, pretty much, so there's no reason she wouldn't have seen it all. Up until now, Ginger has felt so distant from all of that.

But, she's not. She's been paying more attention than he gave her credit for, and she's smart and she's kind and she's hurting and that's not fair.]

Oh. I didn't, um, know about any of that. Sorry... About your friend. This place messes with you, y'know? It kinda gets in your head and can fuck stuff up in there sometimes. Maybe, um, maybe he got scared and didn't know what he was doing.

[Charlie can relate. But...] I mean, it still sucks that he did mean stuff. That's not cool. I dunno if having a good reason means that what he did was good. [He squints, not sure how he feels about all of this. Some of it sounds like it was his fault, but some of it sounds like it wasn't. It's very complicated. How can Ginger keep all of it straight?

At the end of the day, he figures he doesn't really care about the guy or what he did. Does it matter? It's never come up before, so it can't matter too much. What matters is that Ginger is upset, and Charlie wants to do something about that, even if he's not sure he understands why she's sad. He's used to not understanding stuff, anyway.

He hugs her suddenly, because that's seems like the thing to do.]

I thought so, too, for awhile...but I found out he really did know.

[Except by the time he told her the damn truth, Ginger couldn't have tried to talk him off the ledge if she wanted to. She takes a deep breath--and then Charlie's arms are around her. She hugs him back right away.]

...sorry, I guess it's still hard to think about him. I thought time was supposed to make you feel better, but I think I feel worse about it the more I think about it, so I just try not to remember when I don't have to. Have you ever felt that way about anything?

Oh. [Well, shit. Charlie screwed this up somewhere down the line.] Sorry I brought it up. We, um, don't have to talk about it anymore if you don't want to.

[That question, though. God. He sighs and rests his chin on her shoulder.] Yeah. I think I feel that way about most stuff.

You don't need to apologize! It's fine, I don't really mind. It's better than, like, keeping it all in, right?

[Having Charlie so close is nice and warm. She doesn't want to pull away. Her arms squeeze him tighter.]

It can be hard to be positive, sometimes, but I know its all for the best.

I guess so. [Charlie's not sure about that, but he'll take her word for it. He's always dealt with stuff just fine by bottling it up and burying it.]

You make it seem so easy. Usually I just try not to think about the bad stuff. I figured that was how everybody who isn't grumpy all the time handled stuff, 'cause like, I wouldn't really know where to start otherwise, y'know? Trying to keep track of the bad stuff while still being happy.

[He's not really sure what he's getting at, but she's got him thinking about stuff. That's rare. Good job, Ginger.]

It's cool that you can, like, do both.

Well...you know...

[Ginger takes a deep breath and slowly forces herself to break the hug, her hands still holding onto his arms. And then, gradually, they slide down to take hold of his hands. She just doesn't want to let go.]

I've found that this place, like, makes us capable of a lot more than we would've thought.

[Although she's still smiling, her eyes turn sad.]

I guess we should probably get going. A lot of ground to cover before lockdown.

[Huh, Charlie had never thought of it that way before. She's right, though. Charlie's surprised himself a lot since he first woke up here. It's hard, being away from everything he knows, everything he's good at, but he thinks he likes himself better here. He's good at stuff he didn't think he would be good at. People appreciate him more. His friends act like friends.

He smiles, but then she says she has to go, and the smile fades. He squeezes her hands in his.]

Yeah, guess so... Um.

[He's not sure how to say goodbye to her. They were just hugging for a while, and that was nice, but if he does it again, it might be weird. Or he might not let her go. He realizes suddenly that he wants to kiss her, and his face goes red.]

We should, uh, hang out again sometime. For more time. If that's okay.

Is it okay? Of course it's okay! Why wouldn't it be, silly?

[She beams at him, determined that if they're going to say goodbye, it's not going to be on bad terms. This is just right now--just today! Tomorrow will be better.]

Next time we do, I definitely hope it'll be for longer. We can cuddle!

[Look, cuddling is like an Olympic sport when you live in the coldest place ever.]

Edited 2016-12-21 08:39 (UTC)

[Cuddle? Holy shit.]

R-really? Uh... [He's not sure what to say. Play it cool, hotshot!!] Yeah! Yeah. That'd be nice. Um.

[He scratches the back of his head, too embarrassed to look at her.]

I guess, uhh, let me know when you're headed back up this way? I think I'll probably stay in the area for a bit. Got sleuthing to do.

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[log] Actual Real Adults Talk About Politics and the Economy [closed]

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