[log] Charlie Says a Bunch of Dumb Crap and Ginger Likes Him Anyway For Some Reason [closed]

[mightyratslayer]

Characters: Charlie, Ginger
Location: Building 46
Date: Day 200
Summary: Charlie and Ginger are meeting up!! WOW!!!!
Warnings: gross cute stuff

BUILDING 46: The front door has been blocked from the inside by piles of debris that have fallen from the storage room above after the floor in that room buckled, but by searching around the house, a slippery-looking ladder can be found on the west wall leading up to an open second-story window (although it seals up at night). The first floor is inaccessible due to the fallen debris blocking the stairway, but the second floor has a master bedroom and bathroom with ten minutes of hot water. The storage room's floor has completely given way, so it's too dangerous to enter. "ALPHONSE ELRIC, TADASHI HAMADA, STEPH BROWN, MAMI TOMOE, FREYA CRESCENT, EDWARD ELRIC, DAY NINETEEN, TRAVELLING WEST" and "ALPHONSE ELRIC, STEPH BROWN, MAMI TOMOE, FREYA CRESCENT, EDWARD ELRIC, DAY TWENTY-NINE, TRAVELLING WEST." have been carved into one of the walls.

Comments

[mightyratslayer]

[After spending a stupid amount of time putzing around outside trying to figure out how to even get in the house, Charlie throws his backpack onto the floor and sprawls out on the bed. He shot Ginger a message like immediately once he found the ladder, but he should've done it sooner. Now he's gotta wait, and waiting sucks, especially waiting for Ginger. He's all nervous. He knows he shouldn't be--they met up in that crazy maze place and she wasn't weird to him or anything--but he can't help it. He said so much stupid stuff the time they talked before that. Or... well, it was a couple of times ago now. Still!

He got all sappy and told her he loved her. God, who does that? He'd only met her twice before then, and one of those times was spent fantasizing about gutting her, and they've talked a bunch of times, but still. It's weird. He knows it's weird, even if she's being nice about it.

And that's the point of meeting up, after all. She said they could talk about it in person. He was kind of expecting her to bring it up in the maze, but maybe it wasn't the best time or place for it. But that would be better! If they had just gotten it over with! Aurgh!

Charlie sits up, too jittery to stay still for very long. He digs in his backpack for the combination lock he got from the school and fiddles with it, just for something to do. Every now and then, he glances at the window. Waiting sucks!!]

[lacecase]

Brrr!

[It's so chilly. Of course, Ginger always knew it was very cold outside. Still, there's something to be said about the difference that company makes. It's been a long, long time since she walked around by herself. It's not a terribly very journey; once she gets Charlie's message it's mostly a matter of assuring and reassuring and re-reassuring England and America (America in particular) that she'd be able to handle it cause she's a big strong girl! And then a hop, skip, and jump, and she's hoisting herself up into the window. The second she sees him, her face, pink from the cold, splits in an ear-to-ear grin.]

Hey, babe!

[mightyratslayer]

[Charlie thought he would hear Ginger as she started to climb the ladder, but the house must be more soundproof than he thought. She startles him as she crawls through the window. He rockets up from the bed, the lock falling to the floor with a loud crack. Oops.]

Oh! Uhh, hey! Hi. Um. [He takes a couple of steps toward her, picking at his nails awkwardly. What... What do now? He's not usually this shy. He should've gotten over his butterflies around her by now, but it feels like they get worse every time they see each other. This is annoying. Argh!!]

You make it here okay? I guess I shoulda swung by and picked you up. I think I saw the house you mighta been in on the way over. My bad. Sorry.

[lacecase]

No, no, this is fine! It's perfect!

[She grins as she dumps her backpack off with huff. And then she hardly hesitates before bouncing off of the bed and toward Charlie, putting her hands on his arms.]

But I'm so shivery! I could use a nice warm hug--do you think you have one to spare?

[mightyratslayer]

[Charlie laughs and wraps his arms around her. She's still cold from being outside, but he hugs her tight anyway. Everything's always cold here. At least this is a good kind of cold. Temporary, too.]

It's, uh, good to see you again. [He rests his chin on her shoulder and listens to her breathing.] Like, outside of all the crazy shit that keeps happening.

[lacecase]

[It's such a natural position that it's easy for Ginger to lean into his shoulder too. He'd be able to feel her smile against him. Not that she wasn't already smiling, but she's clearly happy to be here. With him.]

Yeah. I'm happy to see you again, too. Especially now that I'm, like, back to my old self again.

[Relatively speaking, of course.]

[mightyratslayer]

[Charlie feels Ginger grin as she settles against him. It's a good feeling. He hasn't been this close to anybody in a long time. Well, before Ginger, anyway. They met up that one time and held each other kind of like this, but it was also different because neither of them knew what was up, so to speak, and now they do. Charlie figures they will get to talking about that whole pickle at some point. For now, he tries to force away the embarrassment. Focus, dude.]

Back to your old self?

[lacecase]

[Ginger nods as she settles into their hug further, sighing.]

I've been all manic and crazy for awhile because of the, um....MN poisoning? And suddenly...poof! I feel so much better now. I think I'm still a pretty energetic person, maybe it wasn't so easy to tell.

[She gives a small laugh. All that really matters is that she's rested and optimistic and everything is fine and she's with Charlie!]

I'm so glad you got here safe.

[mightyratslayer]

Oh, really? [That takes Charlie by surprise. He never felt like she was acting out of the ordinary. She does seem a little... calmer, maybe, but he just figured she was tired. The town has been super uncool to them recently. He's tired, too.]

You never seemed crazy to me. That's, um... Well, it's good that you're feeling better. That's really good.

[He shrugs.] I know the residential area pretty well by now. Getting here wasn't hard or anything.

[lacecase]

[Pulling back so she can look in his face, Ginger beams, her cheeks still flushed. Clearly, she likes those sweet words coming out of his cute mouth!]

I bet it helps that you're a big strong tough guy too, huh?

[mightyratslayer]

[Charlie laughs.] Nah... Well. I mean, I guess I'm pretty tough now. I think anybody that's been here for as long as me is probably pretty tough.

[Which means...]

So that makes you, like, double tough.

[lacecase]

You think so?

[Well, gosh...when he puts it that way, it has to be true! Still, Ginger can't help looking bashful about it.]

I don't think I'm very tough at all...but...I suppose I am tougher than I used to be! I can tie my shoes and everything!

[That last part is a joke, because Ginger is a very funny young woman.]

Have you been here very long? I hope I didn't keep you waiting.

[mightyratslayer]

Sure! Yeah. You're really tough. [He's still smiling, but he pauses for a moment and then gets a little serious. Just, like, a little.] It takes a lot of guts to be all optimistic and positive and stuff through everything we gotta deal with here, y'know?

[He squeezes her arms. Her optimism is one of the things he admires about her.] Nah, I didn't get here too long ago. I probably shoulda called you sooner anyway. You're here now, so that's all that matters.

[lacecase]

[Giggling, Ginger takes one of the hands he has on her arms and pulls him down so they can sit together on the bed.]

You're just too much!

[She says it in such a way that it's probably meant as a compliment.]

Gosh...I don't even know where we should start. Like, talking, I mean. I feel like we have a lot we should be saying.

[mightyratslayer]

[Charlie lets her lead him to the bed, but what she says makes his pulse quicken. Is she going to bring up what he said? She said they would talk about it. Maybe he should bring it up. But what is he even supposed to say? He doesn't quite have the guts for that, not yet.

For now, he tries to laugh it off.]

Yeah, I get what you mean. Uh... Oh! You said you were heading downtown to, like, find fabric and stuff, right? How'd that go?

[lacecase]

I'd say it went pretty well! The clothes you can find there are mostly made out of thin fabrics meant for the summer, but just having that is better than having nothing at all. If nothing else, we can use it for lining to make other clothes warmer.

[Deflection accepted, Charlie.]

I hope you don't mind, your scarf isn't quite ready...I want to find more yarn for that, because, like, a knitted scarf would be nicer than one made of, like, chiffon...

[mightyratslayer]

Oh! [Truth be told, he had forgotten she was making him a scarf.] Hey, that's totally fine. You got, like, a buncha people that want stuff from you, anyway. They probably need it more than I do. [There's a beat. Wait. Time to backpedal!!] A scarf would be really nice, though! Just, I don't like... I mean, it's no big deal. It not being done. No rush, and stuff. But it's really nice of you to, like, make something for me.

[Goddammit. He's messing this up. But this conversation reminded him of something. Deflection number two, engage!] Actually, I found something that might be kinda useful. [He reaches for his backpack and starts to dig, eventually producing a thick curtain.] Would this work? For like, clothes and stuff. I picked it up 'cause me and Charles were gonna put Quark in a hole, but we didn't end up doing that. We found this neat house buried in the snow, which had one of those dolls in it, so we got kinda sidetracked. The house was really nice, though. We stayed there for a while. It had a bunch of hot water.

[lacecase]

[Ginger gasps when he pulls out the curtain, excitement brimming over.]

Oh, it's just fantastic! This is going to keep someone so warm!

[Clapping her hands together, she takes the curtain and runs it carefully through her fingers. She totally doesn't seem to notice anything about what he said concerning lowering small children into dangerous pits.]

I bet I could make, like, a nice cape out of this. Like a cute sort of...

[She trails off, grinning but looking sheepish.]

You don't wanna hear about all that design mumbo-jumbo though, do you? A whole bunch of hot water sounds so good.

[mightyratslayer]

[Charlie lights up as Ginger gets all excited about the gift. Yay! He's done something good! Nice work, Charlie. He's so hype that he almost misses that thing about the hot water.]

Oh, yeah, it was pretty sweet! I just kind of holed up in the bathroom for a day. We filled up the tub with hot water and it made everything kinda warm as long as we kept the door closed. Uh... Didn't you say this place had hot water too?

[As if he's just now remembering. He isn't. He's been wondering how that little detail was gonna go down since they planned this meet-up.]

You can go ahead, if you want.

[lacecase]

Oh, yeah! I got so excited I totally forgot.

[Ginger nods as she starts to fold the curtain back up again, nice and neat.]

Are you sure? I don't remember how long it lasts in this one, but they're usually only for like...ten minutes or something like that. We really should savor it if we have the chance.