[log] no shagging in the shag house [closed]

[mrcreamsicles]

Characters: Davesprite, Karkat, the Cat, and House
Location: Building 309
Date: Night 253
Summary: An overdue meeting to give House a bunch of stuff. Also, excessive shag carpeting and the removal thereof.
Warnings: Highly probable talk of drug addiction and torture in the trade thread with House. Other warnings applied on threads as needed.

309: A house, green on the Geiger counter, that probably should have been redecorated ages ago. Everything looks to be from the 60s or 70s, right down to the shag carpeting. There's even carpeting on the walls of the bedroom. It does make the room a little warmer, at least... There's a bedroom, living room, kitchen, and bathroom. The kitchen and bathroom aren't carpeted, at least. "зеленый" is written on the inside of the door.

(Until House tears the shag up, anyway.)

Comments

for House, warnings above apply

[mrcreamsicles]

[There is nothing quite as relieving as the feeling of finally when Davesprite reaches the door knowing House is inside the building. It's been, what, a month now that he's been planning this? With detours and side trips and other godawful happenings to delay, it's frankly taken too long just to get to him, and his bad will weigh lighter to the offloading of a few items in particular.]

[He's kept in contact enough to ensure the right path (including the fact that there actually is a building down this way to settle in), but he still knocks on the door frame before entering. His travel companions can settle to their own comfort; he has this to do before anything else.]

Sup, House. Santa Claws is here with his sack of way too much stuff.

[rubikscomplex]

Cry me a river, Tang. I'm carrying around a toolbox.

[The voice comes from the bedroom where House is currently lying on his side on the bed. He has his tablet on for the light, and he's only partially removed the shag from the walls, taking a break to rest for the pain in his back and chest.]

Give me the goods and the sparkle text is yours.

[If House looks like he's in worse shape than normal... well, Davesprite hasn't seen him in a while and everyone looks terrible. Half-rations for a while now coupled with the whipping, branding, and partial skinning have taken their toll, though.]

[mrcreamsicles]

[Davesprite follows the sound of the voice, eyebrow rising first at the decor—shag on the walls, seriously?—before turning to constrained concern once he actually looks at House.]

You look like shit, dude.

[Not for lack of reason, either, from what he's heard.]

[He floats over and unloads his tote bag and backpack to the floor. He took the liberty of rearranging things this morning before leaving to make them more accessible for this, so it takes little fuss to pull out the alcohol (one bottle Amaretto, one bottle absinthe), the bottle of Vicodin (not missing one pill), the doll shaped like House, and a guitar pick, each of which he sets on the bed.]

I've got a shot glass too if you want it. I already have a teacup. And a first aid kit if you haven't been able to patch yourself up.

[rubikscomplex]

[As Davesprite sets everything out, House sits up and picks up his tablet. He transfers the sparkletext app to the kid, and then reaches for his pack. He pulls a canteen off of it and reaches for the bottle of absinthe to pour into it.]

I've got medical supplies.

[A pause.]

How squeamish are you?

[mrcreamsicles]

[Davesprite would be happier about the app, but by now it's degraded to little more than an excuse to give House things that might perk him up, even if not all those habits are strictly healthy. He glances at the canteen as House fills it, but doesn't say anything. He never picked it up for his own benefit.]

[He figures House deserves a more honest answer than he might otherwise give, under the circumstances.]

I've seen more blood than I ever need to, but I put up enough with a stomach wound and a missing wing to finish my player's quest for him. I sure as hell won't like it, but I'll deal. Just tell me what I need to do.

[quadrangle]

[With no reason to accompany Davesprite on this particular trade and zero inclination to talk to House besides (seriously, fuck that guy), Karkat flops onto the couch the moment he hits the living room, backpack and bowling ball bag at his feet. He'll search the rest of the hive later, probably, but before he gets around to doing that, he's removing his gloves, wrestling off his boots, and closing his eyes against the garish interior. The historical context is lost on him, unfortunately, and it's lost further when, after discreetly checking that Davesprite's nowhere to be found, he hauls out Slammed in the Butt by My Eight Alternate Egos and starts reading.]

[... Look, this book isn't nearly as bad as the others and shut the fuck up, what else is he supposed to do?]

[rubikscomplex]

[He also dealt with the organ experiments, which is perhaps the strongest mark in Davesprite's favor. House takes a swig from the canteen and caps it before setting it aside and reaching into his pack again. As with the last time Davesprite might have seen in, everything in House's pack is meticulously organized. He pulls out a roll of gauze a stained wash cloth, and a bottle of disinfectant.

It's a moment to psyche himself up before House rises and begins to peel off his top layers. It's a slow process, and the layers become progressively more bloodstained as he goes until he's down to a T-shirt featuring the Norfinbury power plant. It's more bloodstained bandage than shirt at this point. House turns away as he pulls that off, and if Davesprite ever wondered what it looked like for someone to receive 40 lashes, he doesn't need to wonder anymore.

House's back is a criss-cross of bruising and deep cuts. None of the cuts have been tended to except what he could reach up on his shoulders.]

I couldn't reach.

[mrcreamsicles]

[That he did. He fuckin' hates this town, and how much blood he's seen in life in general, but he puts up with what he has to.]

[Davesprite draws back, moving his things out of the way once House rises and starts to deal with his layers. He takes his first aid kit out too, despite what House has said. He'll rely on his things first, but it can't hurt to have extra if it's needed. There's enough blood for it. It's a lot easier to look at its case until he has to look up again.]

Oh, god.

[He can't even keep himself from cringing back in sympathetic pain. It's a different kind of injury than he's dealt with before, and even with what he has dealt with, it still looks starkly agonizing to have had to feel.]

Fuck. Okay. Clean it up and help bandage, right? I can do that.

[rubikscomplex]

Yep.

[He moves to grip one of the bedposts. Lying down might be more sensible, but the pain of the cleaning isn't going to be as bad this many days on, and lying down on his front hurts, not to mention he'd have to get up again. House also just has no desire to look at Davesprite and see whatever expression he's wearing.]

I got as much as I could off, but the only working shower I found had radioactive water. Wet down the washcloth and use that first to get the dried blood off. Don't worry if I start bleeding again. You just pulled up a scab. I'll live.

Once you get that off, use the disinfectant on anything that's not fully scabbed over or that you opened up by accident. There's petroleum jelly in my pack, too, I forgot to pull out. That goes over the deepest cuts, then make some pads with the gauze. Cover over the cuts, then bind it in place with more gauze or there's some duct tape in there. You can use that to tape the bandages to me.

[mrcreamsicles]

[He breathes in, breathes out, focuses on the instructions. Whip wounds are nothing he's ever dealt with before, but the principal isn't far from what he'd have to do for cuts and scrapes he's had in the past. At least House isn't asking for stitches.]

Okay.

[Duct tape, though. Fuck. He moves around House, not looking at him, as he goes to retrieve that and the petroleum jelly from his pack, then back to his first aid kit to pop it open.]

I've got extra gauze in here I can use if you don't have enough.

[Murmured explanation. He grabs some water from his bag next, then House's washcloth, and dampens in to start working.]

[He is, through the whole process, quiet. House doesn't need sympathy noises or fussing. Take it like cleanup after a strife, he tells himself, and his mind goes distant and fuzzy. Just cuts. He knows cuts. He's gentle still, he knows how wounds sting, but he doesn't shy from thoroughness because infection isn't worth the risk. He redampens the cloth as necessary, then nudges his shades up with his wrist—House is turned from him, after all—to make sure he doesn't miss anything when he starts in on the disinfectant. There's a clean cloth napkin he grabbed the other day; he pulls it out to pad over the scales and claws on his fingers when he applies the petroleum. And to cover it...]

Gonna wrap this across your back and tape it at the sides. It'll be a bitch later to pull off, but it will save more of the gauze if you need to re-bandage later.

[Should be less danger of reopening a wound if it's just at the side, too, he hopes. He cuts strips of tape first, sticking them by the very ends to the edge of the first aid kit, then strips of gauze, grateful for his scissors to make it easier. Bundled pads to the wounds, longer strips to stretch across and hold them, then fingers perfunctorily smoothing the tape in place. House might have to hold things for him at some moments, but in this way he covers from top to bottom, and only finally lets out a shaky sigh once he's done.]

cw: mentions of disordered eating

[rubikscomplex]

[House is silent throughout save for small gasps of pain and twitches when Davesprite hits a particularly tender spot. His head is bowed and he's shaking slightly by the end of it from the cold as much as the pain. This is almost as bad as when he'd nearly had his face ripped off. It might be more humiliating, really, just because he's relying on some kid instead of a nurse.

But it's over and House sits back down on the bed, eyes closed, just breathing as he pulls himself together. Davesprite will get a view of his front, then where another bandage is taped over his chest. House's ribs are starting to show again on his chest, though it's not as bad as when he'd just pretty much stopped eating altogether a few months back.]

Thank you.

[Another breath.]

Don't tell anyone. Joker, Thomas, and Beckett already know. But don't tell anyone else.

[mrcreamsicles]

[Davesprite watches only briefly to see that House actually makes it to sitting alright, though he can't suppress a shudder to see the bandage over his chest. He catches the ribs, too, then looks away.]

I won't.

[He grabs up one of his bags and the water bottle he'd been using. His voice is a terse mumble.]

Gonna go scrub my hands. I'll be back. Go ahead and get your layers back on.

[He just... he needs a moment, and he has some shampoo in his things and he can make sure any last bit of blood or stray petroleum or whatever else is gone. He kept his hands as clean as he could throughout, but still.]

[Barring objections, he'll head off to go do just that, though he'll take longer than strictly needed just to wash his hands. It's more to pull his mind off things and back to reality, where he can think and focus on something else, before he returns to the bedroom.]

[absentconstellation]

[ The Cat hopes that Karkat isn't too embarrassed by that choice in literature, because he chooses this moment to take a seat on the armrest, his tail flipping enough to smack Karkat lightly on the arm.

He says nothing, only purrs. ]

[absentconstellation]

[ In a show of profound consideration for his housemates, the Cat has opted to do as much running around as possible during non-sleep hours. He bounces off walls and over furniture and on occasion stops abruptly to clean himself.

Enjoy the free entertainment, all. ]

[quadrangle]

[Karkat's been reading books like this in the Cat's presence for over a month now, so embarrassment doesn't even occur to him. Irritation does with his arm getting smacked like that, and sighing to himself, he adjusts his hold on the book so that he can reach out and scratch Pounce gently behind the ears.]

[absentconstellation]

[ He tilts his head, angling Karkat's fingers into the crease where his ears meet his head. His tail keeps flipping, but it can't hit Karkat's arm when that arm is over top of it. ]

[quadrangle]

[How is the cat so bossy when he's not even saying anything? It must be a talent.]

[Karkat sighs but redirects his fingers to where Pounce is very unsubtly urging them, his book momentarily forgotten.]

Not going to explore?

[absentconstellation]

I am tired. Later I will explore.

[ And by "explore" he means "run around in circles trying desperately to burn off his excess energy". ]

[rubikscomplex]

[House is fully dressed by the time Davesprite returns. He's looking at he doll Davesprite brought, illuminating it with his tablet. The sprite will be able to see the disgusted curl of his lips as the doctor fiddles with the toy cane his counterpart is carrying.]

Wondering what might happen if I lock a manacle around this thing in the other house and mention Andromeda. Think they got doll-sized whips?

[quadrangle]

[Sounds legit. Ish. It does make him wonder, though.]

Are there any supplies you've been looking for in particular, or are you just exploring to learn more about this place?

[Both are fine, of course, but he's almost certainly going to offer to help if the Cat needs any specific items.]

[mrcreamsicles]

[He pauses there by the door, then floats the rest of the way in, taking his bag back to the other one.]

I'll take that doll back if you're just going to run more experiments on it, House. You don't need to see if you'll get round two.

[And he puts the bag down.]

So why does the Joker know what happened?

[He seems an odd choice to inform.]

[rubikscomplex]

[House just tosses the doll on the bed, not replying to that for now. He's considering the question, honestly.]

Because I work with him sometimes. He's fine at a distance. I was transmitting to him and the others when it happened.

[mrcreamsicles]

"Fine at a distance"? He got Watson and Clint killed. Clint's still not back.

[He drifts over to the bed.]

You didn't answer the other part.

[rubikscomplex]

Yeah. That's why I specify at a distance. I mean I'm sure he could try talking you to death, but that's what the power button on your tablet's for.

You're also highly observant. Good for you, Tang.

[mrcreamsicles]

[Yeah, he's not even answering now. He's just reaching for the House doll, because if House is going to be that cagey, he would sooner trust himself to keep it safe.]