snowblindrpg | [log] Rub-a-Dub-Dub [closed]

A - Shower Power
[He probably should have waited until lockdown to actually try to shower, just to be on the safe side. But the cut from the courtyard still hurts a bit, and he aches all over from the cold. House orders Ecks to sit in the adjoining closet, triple-checks she has the door closed, and finally hangs the shower curtain he's acquired before undressing. He's found a bar of soap and another washcloth. His boots are set near the closet along with his pack, and the rest of his clothes are draped over the shower bar or lip of the tub.

If he were alone, he'd just soak for awhile. Things being as they are, though, he just turns on the hot water starts cleaning off the grime. This is probably his first proper shower in four months, and it feels amazing. Enough so that he even starts singing quietly.

The small bathroom warms with the steam and becomes misty.]

B - Leave the Wet Cat Alone
[Once the irritation and embarrassment of being caught naked in the shower by at least one stranger is over, House can be found hiding in the closet, himself, so that he doesn't have to deal with Frisk or Lutha. Or Ecks, for that matter. The door is open, though. His long hair is really in need of a haircut at this point, but he's not paying it much mind as he just checks the network, ears tuned to the others for their conversations. It's impossibly to avoid overhearing each other here.]

[Her foot still hurts. She and House have cleaned it, bandaged it, but the injury still makes itself known. So does the new hole in the bottom of her boot; she is fortunate that they are not under the open sky, where they would be trudging through snow. Ecks does not especially want to sit in the closet right now, but House was very firm about her staying in it while he washes. Her own pack is on the floor outside the closet, hastily opened so she could bring her tablet and her animals in with her.

She obediently keeps the door shut as she listens to him move about and as the water starts to run. After he is finished, she thinks, she will wash one of her pairs of socks. Not both pairs, because they might not dry by tomorrow, but one pair. That would be good.

Not so very obedient after all, she quietly unlatches the door and lets it hang open just a crack so she can listen to him sing.]

Edited 2016-10-29 06:49 (UTC)

[Spelunking through a rotting deathtrap, an unwanted companion STILL trailing on his heels even with how much the debris threatened to keep scraping up the both of them, and finding far too many destroyed spaces to use for shelter... yeah, someone is far from happy. It's getting too close to lockdown, and while they could turn right around and try to go back to one of the apartments they just explored, Lutha doubts their joint ability to make it in time.

And there is no way in hell he's freezing to death.

There's a bristled sigh of relief from the other side of the door when the handle actually turns, Lutha shifting his weight enough against the rubble underneath him to nudge Frisk with his boot towards the open space.]

Go already, get in there-- [Observation had never been Lutha's strong point, so he doesn't even take pause to the moisture in the air or to the increase in temperature until he's batted them both inside, aiming to throw his full bags to the ground...

Well. Until he sees just how much stuff already occupies the floor. And finally hears the singing behind the steady sound of running water.

Goodbye, Frisk, he's apparently abandoning you to this singing shower ghost as he abruptly opens the door right back up, steps outside, and slams it behind him.

He needs a minute.]

[Travelling with Lutha is an experience, and it'd be a lie to say they're entirely thrilled either. But Frisk is patient, if nothing else, and Lutha's hardly the first person who's been in a state of constantly angry at them that they've liked. They wore down Undyne, they can wear him down too.

Inside the small room, they do immediately notice the warmer, more humid air. It's a bit soothing on their sore throat and lungs, actually. The singing is noticed a second or two later. They're about to turn and comment on it to Lutha, but by the time they're looking behind them, the door is slamming shut. They sigh before pounding on it.]

Make sure to get inside before lockdown! It's really close!

[And then they turn back to the rest of the bathroom. Well.]

Hello?

[House has his guard down enough not to notice Lutha and Frisk's entrance. Lutha's exit, though, has him going immediately silent. The door slams, and he flattens himself again the wall of the shower, staring toward the curtain at the figure on the other side. The very short figure who is-]

Christ!

[He shuts off the water, anxiety spiking. Who had Frisk been with?]

Whoever the hell is with you, get outside with them. I need to get dressed.

[Hope you recognize the snapping voice of one Gregory House, Frisk. He pulls the dry washcloth he has off of the rail for the shower and starts hastily drying off with that. He hates this intensely.]

[Ecks hears movement and scrabbles for her closet door, shoving it open and bursting out, too late to hold the door, too late to do anything about any of it before Doctor House is already in danger, this is why she should not sit in closets, this is how they get killed --

That is a very small anomaly at which Ecks is brandishing an ash shovel. Fortunately for Frisk, Ecks's comprehension kicks in as the sounds and words she heard quickly slot themselves into a narrative. She lowers the shovel, but glances around the room for any others before speaking.]

Friend Frisk. Hello. Doctor House does not want other people in the room when he is naked. He is naked now, so you should go outside or come into the closet with me.

[It'd be a squeeze, but...better than putting them outside so close to lockdown.]

[You have a very candid way of putting things, Ecks, and one that makes Frisk giggle in spite of themselves. Sorry House, you are being laughed at.

They consider the choice she's offering. Part of them feels like they should warn Lutha. And yet, after a day travelling with him, a bit of space feels long overdue. And it's the fact of who's doing the asking that definitely settles it. Frisk drops their bag and scuttles into the closet, grinning.]

Ecks? Is it really you?

[House swears under his breath. He has a pair of hand towels draped on the sink that he was planning to use to dry off with, but he waits for the sound of the closet door closing to peek out from behind the curtain and snag them. It takes him about half a minute to dry down everything below the belt sufficiently.

With his underwear and jeans on, House steps out of the tub and can actually calm down. It's his leg that he doesn't want... well, it's not like there's anything wrong with it anymore, but the paranoia lingers. If Lutha happens to step in now, he'll at least be dealing with a half-dressed man who's bone skinny and dragging on layers of clothes as quickly as possible.]

Edited 2016-10-30 02:50 (UTC)

[Why yes, this is indeed when Lutha barges right back in, shouldering the door back open with his scarf tightly tied around his face as he takes a look back to who else is occupying the room.

The gauntness doesn't strike him as odd, but dark eyes still narrow as they fall on where House stands, Lutha shrugging his rations bags into the corner with his good arm as he kicks the door shut. Great. Sure. Three people in this tiny space. That would work wonders.

But more importantly:]

...Where the hell did the kid go?

Edited 2016-10-30 03:38 (UTC)

It is really me.

[Ecks shuffles into the closet with Frisk, but there isn't time to talk before she hears someone else come in and opens the door once more to find Doctor House still half naked and a stranger in the room. She mistakes the meaning of the look and positions herself between Frisk and the stranger in the closet doorway.

This is too many people. She stares at Lutha, but he's not whom she addresses.]

Who is this, Frisk?

Um... I'm over here.

[Frisk ducks their head into a spot that Ecks isn't blocking, both the better to see what's going on and so they can more clearly be seen. Oh boy. Knowing everybody in this room... this was going to be tense. Maybe.]

Ecks, Mr. House, this is Lutha. He's my friend.

[Please don't kill each other.]

[That's a tall order, Frisk.

House all but ignores Lutha, anyway, in favor of getting his clothes fully back on. No one wants to see him naked, really. He doesn't want to see himself naked. Once he has his T-shirt, button-down, and suit jacket on, he slows and actually turns his attention to the other people in the tiny room. He takes a look at Lutha.]

You get hurt on the way here or you always stand like you got a stick up your ass?

[If the name didn't tip you off before, Lutha, perhaps this will.]

[Frisk's comment gets an instant, disbelieving sputter of a laugh, muffled as it is from the fabric around his face. Friend? No, nope, not going to swing words that heavy around, kiddo. Ecks, though, he recognizes instantly, shooting her a cold look but not bothering to advance on her. If the kid wanted to hang around with some sort of mishmash creature, that was their choice, albeit an awful one.

When House finally speaks back up, though, the redhead instantly bristles. He's not hurt, but he's still in a good deal of pain, and the fact that it's apparently so easily telegraphed has him tasting bile. Habit alone forces him to turn his left side away in an attempt to tuck his amputated arm back into his jacket pocket. Successfully, though? Maybe not.]

No. [Not exactly a lie, as far as he's concerned.]

Nice to know you're just as charming in person, "Doctor".

Edited 2016-10-30 04:48 (UTC)

[The fabric around this Lutha's face could very well be for the cold, though that seems moderately less likely given that he is still not taking it off in the wet warmth of the room. While Ecks is not normally one to care much about the clothing of others, she has spent enough time with her own face wrapped to consider that he could be hiding his face for a reason.

She continues to stare him down, whether or not his gaze is turned on her, whether or not that gaze is cold. Her hand drifts to touch Frisk's shoulder, acknowledgment of their presence even while she keeps her focus on the big unknown currently sharing the room with people she cares about.]

Do not fight.

[She addresses the command to Lutha...but also to Doctor House, gaze flicking to him. That is probably a mistake. She still has the shovel in her hand, but she does not raise it.]

[Lutha you should have guessed by now, if only by their choice to attach themselves to you, that a lot of their choices on who they hang out with are bad ones.

That being said, their hand reaches up to meet Ecks' on their shoulder. Both because the contact was nice and also a sort of show of solidarity and support. Which seemed important with everybody so tense.][As if to accentuate the point they're trying to make, their sentence is interrupted by a small coughing fit. They wheeze a couple times once it's over, before trying again.] It's been a long day. We should just try t' rest 'n eat 'n everything.

[House does break his stare-down with Lutha to glance past him at Frisk when they devolve into a coughing fit.]

I'm taking it you're out of cough syrup, and mommy being dead means Unka Lutha doing a piss poor job of mentioning it to anyone.

[He grabs the rest of his clothes and goes to move past the other man so that he can get to his pack.]

Move or I'm throwing my wet towels at your face and then filling up the tub and dunking you in it.

[Go big or go home on threats.]

[He inhales sharply, uneasily, shoulders drawing up with a panicked flare in the .2 seconds of hesitation he gives before bodily shoving House into the nearest wall, grappling for a hold on his neck.

What was that about not fighting.]

[Hey, Lutha? There's a golem with a shovel in her hand right there. In one smooth motion she lifts the shovel, steps forward, and jabs at the side of Lutha's torso with its blade. It's not meant to kill or even seriously injure him. It is meant to hurt like hell.

Only after she attempts the blow does she speak, voice raised.]

Stop.

Stop it, all of you! Don't fight!

[Their voice is loud enough to tear at their throat, but they try not to let it show. They know none of present company is going to particularly care.]

[Wow, Frisk! What did House do apart from be the victim of an attack? He's slammed into the wall.]

Shit!

[As Ecks jabs, House shoves. If Lutha's not quick on his feet or doesn't have a good grip on House, he may find himself toppling backward into the tub.]

[His one-handed grip clings hard, but the blow to the side is enough to make him crumple with a grunt of pain, fingers loosening in reflex enough that the shove from House knocks him backwards, stumbling into the tub.

It only takes a moment for him to go grossly pale.

There's not much moisture left in the bath, but even what is there still soaks through portions of his clothes, touches his skin - it doesn't matter that it isn't burning the fabric or causing him pain. It's still water, and it's enough to bring Lutha to a panic, choking out a yell under quickening breath as he frantically tries to squirm himself upright. It's on his hand, his only hand, he needs that--]

[Lutha is down, and that is mostly what Ecks cares about in the moment. Lutha is also moving without coordination and making enough noise that it would be hard to see that he isn't panicking. Once again Ecks sees the signs but mistakes the meaning -- assuming that he is afraid she will keep hitting him, she lowers the shovel and instead grabs for Doctor House's shoulders to yank him away from the vicinity of the tub, moving to turn and force-march him toward the other end of the room -- she isn't especially strong, but then, she thinks, neither is Doctor House. She contorts her face into an approximation of a snarl and tries again, voice loud.]

No more.

Stop it!

[Okay this is enough. They don't know why but Lutha's scared, and people are still threatening him. They shove their way out of the closet a bit more roughly than they squeezed in, plant themselves in front of the tub, arms outstretched.]

No more fighting.

[Their voice has a lot more bite than usual.]

Edited 2016-10-30 19:47 (UTC)

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