[log] If Looks Could Kill (You Would Be Dead) [closed]

[thewarningafter]

Characters: Doctors Strange and House
Location: Hospital (building 131)
Date: 197 (afternoon / evening)
Summary: Dr. Strange wants to find out what's going on with his cloak. Dr. House dies again.
Warnings: Dr. House is going to die. Again.

131: The hospital is eerie in its silence, and snow presses in against many of the windows, keeping much of it in sterile darkness. It still smells like a hospital; the antiseptic is fresh, and there isn't much dust. Someone must be cleaning it, and yet it's clear no one is here. The hospital is four stories high with one basement, all connected via the elevator lobby and staircase. Unfortunately, the wall of the elevator lobby has been torn open all the way down, exposing it to the bitter air outside. While you can explore and remain on most of the floors of the hospital at night, you cannot travel between them until it's daytime once more, as the lobby seals itself up at curfew. The staircase is its own separate enclosed area, but it too seals itself off from the lobby at night, so you'll be spending an uncomfortable night on the staircase if you get stuck there.

Comments

[rubikscomplex]

It's taking up room and weight in my pack. And I'm not using it. I'd rather not have her thinking it's a gesture. She wants to play bleeding heart, she can do it better with this crap and people won't bother me.

[There is a selfish logic excuse for you to hang your hat on, Stephen, don't worry.]

Fine, you didn't find it. Someone else gave it to you. Elric. He's been here from the start and probably has a crapton of supplies.

[thewarningafter]

[More like he's displaying classic signs of suicidal ideation, giving away valuable things because he's not using it. Stephen can make up excuses for Claire if it comes to that, but he's not buying the selfish logic.]

You might not come back this time.

[rubikscomplex]

No risk, no reward.

[House stares up at Stephen over his reading glasses, aware of the fact that they make him look professorial and, therefore, more authoritative. It's something to check if Strange responds to it.]

[thewarningafter]

[The glasses don't hurt his case, but Stephen's never been all that good at deferring to authority. The argument itself is actually what's more compelling, though he's still not buying it yet.]

And you think the reward's going to be worth it? I would have thought that you of all people would be aware that dying kind of sucks.

cw: suicidal ideations that will probably continue for the rest of this thread

[rubikscomplex]

So does life. Death sucks for a much shorter period of time.

probably best to assume, yes.

[thewarningafter]

[Not a sentiment with which Stephen can empathize.]

...Have you considered therapy.

[rubikscomplex]

Have you considered screwing yourself?

[thewarningafter]

[This really isn't helping his general feelings of helplessness. Time to redirect it into a joke.]

As a matter of fact....

[rubikscomplex]

You and Holmes are basically twinsies, right?

[House slides easily into the joke. It's familiar territory.]

[thewarningafter]

Gross, House. Anyway, he tried to set me up with John. It was weird.

[rubikscomplex]

[That pulls House up short.]

Dude. Seriously?

[thewarningafter]

He was a little addled at the time. But yeah, seriously.

[rubikscomplex]

[The jokes write themselves. He's a little at a loss for what to say.]

Huh... Well, now I'm picturing a threesome. Let's talk about something else. Like downstairs. I need you to help me set a few things up before lockdown.

[thewarningafter]

...Frankly I'd rather talk about the threesome. What makes you think I'm going to help you get yourself killed?

[rubikscomplex]

I'm gonna kill myself either way. You can sit up here and chill while I do it and not get the livestream. Or you can help me do it faster and more efficiently and get looped in.

[thewarningafter]

I could try to stop you, too.

[He doesn't sound any more convinced that he will than he expects House to be.]

[rubikscomplex]

[House purposefully pulls his glasses down the bridge of his nose and gives Stephen a long elevator stare that ends in a flat look.]

You're funny. I'm gonna go find one of those hovering gurneys. I can use it for a step-ladder.

[thewarningafter]

[He could, though. There are any number of ways he can think of to sabotage this plan...but they all end in House trying it again as soon as they part ways. Stephen is the first to break eye contact.]

What are you planning? Specifically, not just 'hit it with something.'

[rubikscomplex]

I've got a mallet covered in rubble dust I ground down and mixed with some bug spray I've got. I'll be rigging that so I can pull it to hit where the thing comes out. I've got a jump rope and some sheets for that. Figure I can run it over the struts in the ceiling.

Also planning to put a message for Wilson on the opposite wall from where it comes out, along with a Prophet Eye symbol. Spaghetti Principle. [Throw everything at it and see what sticks.]

[thewarningafter]

You know where it comes out?

[Oh. Right. He's seen it before.]

You're confident it comes out in the same place every time?

[rubikscomplex]

It did the first two times. Third one's the charm.

[thewarningafter]

This is a stupid idea.

[But he's already slinging his bag onto his shoulder, getting ready to go downstairs.]

[rubikscomplex]

No, it's not, or it'd take more than a tap to make you roll over like that.

[House collects his own things and it's only a few minutes for them to find a floating bed. Maneuvering it down the stairs to the morgue is probably the most challenging part of this endeavor.

Once they are there, though, the doctor starts unpacking supplies.]

I'll need you to hold the platform steady while I put things up. Think you can manage that?

[thewarningafter]

Keep pushing me and we'll see how steady I hold it.

[That's a yes. Stephen shucks his bag, looking around.]

Where's it come out?

[rubikscomplex]

Breaking my neck before I kill myself would be counterproductive, don't you think?

[Just saying, bro. House grabs up the mallet he has an attaches a long, thin bed sheet to the end before walking over toward the body lockers.]

It comes out here.

[He taps the wall paneling, then looks up, gauging the distance and what he'll need to do to get the arc of the swing in the right place.]