[log] Noisy Black, Part One [closed]

[snowblindmods]

Characters: anyone who signed up for the Noisy Black event
Location: an office building
Date: Morning and Day 260
Summary: You wake up in a room.
Warnings: nothing of note for this part, please note any specific things that happen in the comment sections of your posts

Sinners Top Level
Converted Top Level

Comments

[thewarningafter]

[Stephen colors, but he remains perched partway up the bars as best he's managed so far, awkwardly pushing upward on one ceiling tile after another. It's impossible to do this and hold the gown closed at the same time, so he settles on a pointed avoidance of eye contact.]

Shut up. You want out of here, or not?

[rubikscomplex]

Oh, no, keep going. I'm enjoying the show. Bow chicka! [There's clear sarcasm, and House directs his attention to the ceiling tiles.] We're probably in one of the sealed buildings in the industrial area. Guess your cloak gets to wait.

[thewarningafter]

Gee, you think? Congrats on finding the way in, by the way.

[He doesn't respond to the comment about the Cloak. His initial reaction had been relief that it was still out there with Royce -- he holds no misconception that it could have saved him from this, not when it was just as easily paralyzed as him when the cloaked figure came to take his broken tablet, and he doesn't like to think of it falling into the hands of whoever has the rest of his things. Then, of course, he'd become aware that Royce is here as well, and the knot of worry over that hasn't left his gut since.

He finishes his systematic check and finds himself with a new problem: getting down. His hands are sweaty, the grip weak, and it takes him a couple moments of looking around and adjusting and readjusting his position before he figures out how to hop back down to the floor, trying to pretend the awkward movement didn't just render all previous efforts to keep covered moot for a couple seconds. He stands shaking his hands out and glaring at the ceiling tiles, then goes back to pacing the walls.]

[rubikscomplex]

Told you I would. [It's mock-triumphant before House falls quiet for a few minutes, just watching Stephen without really watching him, mind turning over what all of this is.]

Convert Purge dot E-X-E.

[His hand goes up to his chest where the brand is. It makes sense why he's here, but none of the others were marked, as far as he knows.]

The app. Hey! Did anyone use the Prophet App when those static things were following us?

[thewarningafter]

Abort failed. Someone was trying to stop this and couldn't.

[Stephen glances at him. He's no longer even testing the bars; he's been over and over them already.]

And no. I don't even have it on my tablet.

[rubikscomplex]

[House makes a tching sound.]

It does point to all of use being programmed, though. How would it pick out who to affect? Not all of us are in here. I've heard maybe ten of us. Might be a few more I can't see down the way.

[thewarningafter]

Well, what do we have in common? Let's look at that. All men, right? But not all human, not all adults.

[Superficial observations, not probing deep at all. But he's trying to start the ball rolling, reorient his thoughts to analysis because he can sense what he suspects House does, that figuring out why and how is the closest they'll come to having any control over what's happening.]

[rubikscomplex]

Think I'm the only one who was branded. Beckett and Stiffi were, too, but I haven't heard or seen them. Has everyone here died at least once? No. [House tsks.] One of the newbies is here. You weren't here on the murder night... Rhys is the odd man out, though. He was with the Prophet before. What about the lights? Did you get yours back from the anomaly?

[thewarningafter]

No, I didn't.

[Desperate not to be asked specifics about that, he goes right on from there.]

But you never lost your light. Did you? New guy wasn't here to smash tablets with the rest of us idiots, so that's not it. New guy wasn't here when we were observed, either.

[rubikscomplex]

Damn New Guy, that bastard, just ruining every connection. Okay, here's the plan, we get a tablet to him, smash it over his head to kill him, and sick an anomaly on him to steal his light while we're filming it with the Prophet App active.

[thewarningafter]

Brings a whole new level to manipulation of data. Leave poor New Guy alone, he can't help being an outlier.

[rubikscomplex]

[House raises his voice in mock-indignation.] Hey, New Guy, you suck for statistics!

[sleight_of_fate]

[Oh hey hi.]

Only if I like you, which I don't.

[rubikscomplex]

[That actually pulls a short bark of laughter from House.]

How about Strange? He's prettier. Just ignore the hands.

Cw sexual crudeness

[sleight_of_fate]

You know, it's okay to be into guys if that's your thing, but projecting isn't healthy. You're not a total loss, I could definitely seeing you finding a nice, strong leather daddy of your own to help with that repression.

cw sexual crudeness

[rubikscomplex]

Leather's not my thing, stud. Now, if you'd said circuit boy, then that might get the pecker up and jumping with all that repression I've got.

[sleight_of_fate]

Hey, there you go. So if I ever find a car battery and nipple clamps, I know who to think of first.

[He snorts quietly, then plops down on his bed cross-legged. His gown covers... Mostly everything, but he doesn't seem uncomfortable regardless.]

It's amazing what a little self-honesty does for a person, inside and out.

[rubikscomplex]

If you find a working car battery here, think of me, call me, wait for me, and then let's screw some of the crap around here up.

[sleight_of_fate]

[That actually stops Rhys for a second, and then he laughs. It's short, but sincere, a brief release of both personal and existential tension.

They are so incredibly fucked up, aren't they?]

Okay, good to know we still have some of our priorities straight, then. Sure. If that happens, MacGuyver will have his day.

[thewarningafter]

[Meanwhile, Stephen's just been chuckling to himself through all of this. It dies down now that they're back on some kind of rails.]

You know, I carried around a bunch of scented oils for weeks looking for a reason to make a molotov cocktail out of them. This place does things to people.

[sleight_of_fate]

[Rhys laughs quietly.]

Hey. Aromatherapy has proven psychological benefits, too. Not that it's on the list to open a spa or anything, out here, but...wouldn't be bad to carry around something, just for a pick-me-up.

Useful for candles, too, if you can find the rest of the stuff for them.

[thewarningafter]

Scented candles, even. I could've had a real nice night in. Maybe that's what I should be mad about right now.

[rubikscomplex]

I carried around a funnel I found for months. First thing I ever found here. Still never needed. They'd better give us our supplies back after all this bullshit. I've got most of a medkit and a virtual toolbox.

[Not to mention his Vicodin...]

[sleight_of_fate]

Hey. What's life if you can't take care of yourself a little? [He smiles, as wry as it is. After watching him a while, it might be clear that it seems to be his default expression, more often than not.

He sighs.]

No shit. My coat. My lighter. Things I had from home that I've had for...long as I can remember. I want that shit back.

[He rubs his fingers together as though he can still feel the smooth, cool touch of obsidian worry stones sliding through them.]

[thewarningafter]

My Cloak.

[He's been trying not to worry about it, but there it is. With Royce here it's harder to reassure himself Levi is still out in the residential area.