[log] Is Your Conscience All Right? [closed]

[rubikscomplex]

Characters: Gregory House, Ecks, Brian Thomas, Jade Harley
Location Various
Date: Day 174 - 176
Summary: Unsuccessful dollquest fall out and some additional fun.
Warnings: House being House.

Comments

[rubikscomplex]

You're going off to trade with people. Get packed and eat breakfast. We're moving out soon.

[That settles that as far as House is concerned. He zips up his own pack and heads over to the restroom, leaving it with Ecks. He doesn't particularly trust Brian, but Jade should be fine and Ecks is fine once she's been told what to do.]

[ecks]

[She watches him go, frustrated beyond measure. He is being unreasonable. He does not even like the dolls and fake animals, but he is taking them all for himself, not even letting her carry one like he said he would.

She packs the rest of her things. She starts to get out food for breakfast.

She gets an idea.

It will not hurt anything. They are all going east together in the end. Ecks does her best not to disturb the rest of House's things as she deftly unzips his pack and slips a hand inside to feel for the dolls she knows are in there. She will be quick, she will be quiet, and she means to have a doll squirreled away in her own pack by the time he gets back.]

[rubikscomplex]

[The problem with House is that for all his apparent disorder and laziness, he's an incredibly meticulous person. Norfinbury has only enhanced that ever since Angel stole a portion of his meds. Ecks will have had time to get the ragdoll into her own pack by the time that House steps out of the bathroom again. He heads over to his pack and proceeds to unzip it to pull out his own breakfast now his hands are clean.

That's when he notes the way certain contents have shifted. He digs a little.]

I'm gonna pretend you didn't just steal that ragdoll if you put it down next to me in the next five seconds.

[House doesn't move, he doesn't turn to look at Ecks, and he doesn't name her. It should be very obvious who he's speaking, too, though.]

[ecks]

[She watches him more carefully than she should as she eats her peanuts, though she tries to pretend she isn't watching him at all. When he speaks she tenses, then hunches slowly in on herself. One hand goes out to her pack, which she draws to her side.

Five seconds.

Four seconds.

Three seconds.

Two.

One.

She does not open her pack to remove the doll.]

[rubikscomplex]

[He turns to look at her, staring her down for a few long seconds.]

Pull out your rule book.

[It's not a request. It's an order, said as if he's telling her to fetch him a switch.]

[ecks]

[It's as though the strain of disobeying one command makes it easier to break and obey the next. Ecks always knows exactly where her book is, and she has it out in a flash despite the knot she can feel forming in her stomach. Now her gaze slides away; she won't look at him.]

[rubikscomplex]

Open it to the page with your flow chart for stealing.

[This is not going to end well for you, Ecks.]

Show me how this is justified.

[ecks]

[She turns the pages obediently, but then her movement ceases. She sits with the rulebook open in her lap, face turned down and eyes on the pages, but she doesn't need to read it to know. There is no way through this flow chart that ends in justification.

She doesn't move and she doesn't speak. The sound that does come out of her sounds more like a machine than a person, just a long, toneless whine that slowly grows in volume.]

[rubikscomplex]

[House ignores the whine and just speaks over it.]

Yeah. That's what I thought. Give me the goddamn doll and get out of my sight once lockdown ends. You don't get to travel with me anymore. I'd rather be dead than has some brat who steals useful things from me around.

[If she'd stolen something that wasn't critical, he would have let it slide, but this? This makes him genuinely angry. House can feel the resentment building up already. He'd let her get closer than most anyone here, and this is what happens.]

[ecks]

[Her hands tighten on the book, wrinkling the pages as she finally looks up at him, her face still a blank. He has struck what feels like a fatal blow with his words; she can't comprehend it. Shaking hands cast the book aside and unzip her bag, thrust the doll in his direction as disjointed words bubble out of her.]

Five seconds pretend please, won't again.

[rubikscomplex]

[House takes the doll and stuffs it in his bag just as the telltale click of the doors unlocking goes off.]

That ship sailed. Get out, Ecks.

[ecks]

[She can't -- she can't handle this. Something inside of Ecks shuts down and it's like she's just watching herself as she puts her book back in her bag and does exactly as ordered.]