[log] New Housing Developments [closed]

[rattlingthestars]

Characters: House, Jim, Kunsel, Zack and Zell
Location: 316
Date: Night 265
Summary: Exploring a new area & hanging out
Warnings: To be added to individual threads.

This was a house once, but all that's left is a living room. Still, it's lavishly decorated in blacks and reds, thick tapestries depicting the prophet's eye symbol covering the windows and a delicately carved eye drawn on the inside of the door that exits into the rest of the area. At least, with the tapestries, it's a bit warmer in here than in other places.

Comments

cw: PTSD/panic attack and probably mentions of torture, body horror

[rubikscomplex]

Arrival
[House is last to arrive in the building that night, having started at 303 and having to wander and map the tunnels. His sense of direction is excellent, but even he'd had some trouble once he'd gotten to the hub figuring out which way was south. He'd spent a good long while mentally retracing his exact steps until he knew which direction he was facing. Then, it was down and down and then a straight shot west.

He's been using his tablet for light, but switches over to his penlight as he opens the trapdoor and crawls out. He regrets it immediately when he sees a Prophet Eye symbol... and another... and even more after that. They're everywhere and they're staring at him. Two days out, it's too much.

It's irrational fear that drives him to walk over to the nearest tapestry and try to tear it down. The blood is roaring in his ears and his eyes are fixed on the symbol. He's completely oblivious to anyone else around and will ignore them until he's actually touched. It may be obvious what's happening to anyone watching that he's not entirely there as his breathing is ragged and his movements are stilted, halting.

He needs to destroy the eyes. He has to destroy all the eyes here.]


Later
[After he's settled down, House finds a corner and ensconces himself there, focusing intently on his tablet and trying not to think about the eyes all around him or how much of a traumatized idiot he just looked to these guys.

He goes back over the messages from the building, looking for more information, for anything they can use. If anyone approaches, he doesn't look up, but he does speak.]

Did you record the surgeries? I wanna watch them.

[Cataloging them as 'data' will help him compartmentalize, he hopes. If he collects the data, he can organize it how he wants. It's his, not theirs.]

Arrival

[deus_ex_phs]

[They'd arrived there before House, more intent on exploration rather than accurate mapping, and they'd been investigating the building when the other man emerged from the tunnel. The noise of his attack on the tapestry was more than enough to draw Kunsel's attention, though, and he quickly backtracked to discover the source.

He wasn't expecting House.

He's not sure he was expecting anyone. It's easy sometimes to forget that there might be other people close by, since for the most part they stay pretty isolated.

Doesn't take long for him to realize something's wrong, though.]

House? House!

[He'll reach out to grab the man's shoulder if he has to - whatever it takes to drag House's attention back to the here and now.]

[rubikscomplex]

[Grabbing him might not be the best option. House does whirl around, but it's to try to punch Kunsel.]

Get off! Get the hell off of me!

[deus_ex_phs]

[Kunsel may not have the enhanced abilities of a SOLDIER anymore, but he's still got years of SOLDIER training. Instinct kicks in and he's snapping an arm up to intercept that punch - to grab onto House's wrist if he can, or just to block it even if he can't.]

Whoa, hey! Calm down! I'm not trying to hurt you, House!

[rubikscomplex]

[When he's grabbed, House changes tactics, yanking away and backing up and into the tapestry until he hits the wall. He fumbles for the hammer attached to his pack and brings that out, brandishing it at Kunsel, not really seeing him.]

Yeah, sure! The Prophet just needs us to be humbled and helpless before we convert. But you're not gonna hurt us. Prophet forbid that.

[He'll have the good grace to be horribly embarrassed by this later. In the moment, he's just terrified and sneering.]

[deus_ex_phs]

[Kunsel's not aiming to pick a fight here, no matter what House might think. He doesn't try to keep his hold, though he does back up. Look, he's got no interest in letting House swing that hammer at him, even if he thinks he could probably take him down or disarm him. House isn't holding that hammer like he's had any training at all.

Though Kunsel does snort a little at that sarcastic jibe.]

Since when are you humble? And when have I ever tried to change that?

cw: mentions of surgery/stitches/tongue injury/body horror

[rubikscomplex]

[The unexpected response does more to draw House up short than anything else so far. He blinks a few times, eyes darting around the room. His body is telling him he's about to die, that Kunsel is going to attack him, drag him back to that operating room to stitch his limbs back together, finish the job Kid had start on his tongue. But the more rational side of him that is still there, if much smaller and quieter, says that's completely ridiculous. The reboot happened and Kunsel wasn't in the tower, anyway.

House just goes still and silent for a long moment, the hammer held up and ready to strike. His pulse pounds and the blood roars in his ears as his body shakes. He's in a full panic attack. Great.]

Space. Just... stay the hell away from me for ten minutes. Fifteen minutes. Or I swear to the freaking robot spiders I'll throw this hammer at your face.

[House's voice is thicker. There's a quaver and he hates how his body is reacting in ways he can't physically control.]

Later

[heroproceeding]

Can't say I have. You can ask Kunsel though. [ Knowing Kunsel and how he is, knowing how important he finds knowledge to be in any given situation, no matter how.. brutal the circumstances, yeah. He's got a good feeling it's what he did. Not that he's asked, himself. No, that's... not something...

Something House seems to like to get himself more than intimately acquainted with time and time again. Zack bites his lip. ]

I was just coming over to see how you were. [ He saw how he'd acted as soon as they'd come in. It was impossible not to notice. ]

[rubikscomplex]

[The admission isn't unexpected, but it makes House bristle and likely look a bit ominous in the cast of the tablet's light as he does finally look up at Zack.]

I'm fine. Go away.

[He's not interested in talking about his feelings right now. Certainly not to these people. They want to talk, they'll need to bring something more interesting to the table.]

[heroproceeding]

Brandishing a hammer at Kunsel? Acting like he was about to drag you in for another round of torture? I don't think that's fine.

[ Pointed and blunt but not cruel. House might look ominous, but Zack's always been bold. He folds his arms, but he doesn't get any closer to House. He's never been one to care for him, no. He doesn't care for what methods he's tried before and he's certainly not crazy about what it'd cost Kunsel lately never mind countless others. But he knows well enough that everyone chose to do that knowing there was risk. People in town sure tend to throw themselves into risk so recklessly these days, don't they.

But this wasn't about risk. This wasn't choice. ] Can't say even I would be after what happened.

[rubikscomplex]

[The bristling before turns to something almost palpable as House shoots daggers with his eyes at Zack. He has no desire to have another panic attack, and he's terrified that even just talking about it will set one off. Zack will be able to see the stitching scars around the doctor's eyes as he narrows his eyes.]

Nice of you to show some concern after the fact. Don't remember you having much of anything to say while it was happening. Way easier to pet the poor, broken puppies once they break out without you having to lift a finger.

[heroproceeding]

[ He can definitely see those scars and that's more than telling that what happened wasn't just some hallucination. That he's more than not fine both on a mental and physical level, even if spiders or whatever have recovered them. It doesn't erase that it happened.

But then House has got to go and be like that.

Zack flinches visibly one second like he's been slapped across the face before gritting his teeth. ] Just because I didn't say much doesn't mean I wasn't trying to figure out a way! We all were out here!

[rubikscomplex]

Yeah. You were out here. Doing nothing. Did you even contact Eve when you had the chance? Did you try to convince her to help get us out? Did you talk to any of the converts to try to break through the mind-control? Did you talk to any of us when we were all going insane and suffering?

No? Then shut up and leave me the hell alone.

Later

[swatsflies]

[ House needs to thank Watson for keeping Zell occupied to miss out on commenting on the action. He has been looking up from his exchange every now and then to check on where the Grinch is.

After a while, he decides to finally approach him.

House's voice causes him to almost drop his own tablet that he's using as light. ]

Whoa. [ And after a second he answers. ]

Yeah, I do. There's not much to glean from them.

[rubikscomplex]

There's not much for you to glean from them. [Implying he'll see something... right.]

Send them to me.

[swatsflies]

[ Rubbing the back oh his head as he looks at what remains from House's earlier mood. ]

I'm thinking much more clearer than you are. Besides, you don't get much other than the obvious from 'em. You can't really see the rest of the room well.

[rubikscomplex]

[House absolutely bristles.]

You have no idea how I'm thinking, Tats. If you're not gonna be useful, get lost.

[swatsflies]

I have a pretty good idea. [ He managed to keep himself from mentioning the MESS AROUND THEM, but he's looking over at it. ]

I do have something else for you.

[rubikscomplex]

[House doesn't even dignify that first response with a verbal reply. The iciness in his gaze and tone just increase.]

What?

Later - cw ptsd and possibly body horror/torture discussion

[rattlingthestars]

What?

[ Jim had been shuffling around, idly trying to pull up the tapestries and examine each of the eye symbols. He's almost certain it's not going to reveal anything - too easy - but it's better than sitting around and thinking about the past few days.

Or the past few hours, for that matter. He'd recognized something of House's reaction. He hadn't wanted to, but he's never been able to avoid putting together pieces that are in front of him. ]

You wanna watch that crap? Why?

cw ptsd and possibly body horror/torture discussion

[rubikscomplex]

['Why?' is a better answer than 'there's nothing there,' at least. It might be incredulous, but House does have an answer.]

Information is power. I have the Eye App on my tablet. I wanna see if anything comes up when I run that while playing the vids. I also just want them on my tablet. Might be able to use 'em for something later.

probably blanket warning for everything

[rattlingthestars]

Yeah, okay. Maybe you'll spot something different.

[ Jim's not handing his tablet over right away, even though House does have a point.

Still: ]

You think you can handle that right now?

[rubikscomplex]

[The look House gives Jim is icy.]

I'm fine. Send me the tapes.

[rattlingthestars]

[ Jim gives him a wary look in return, but then shrugs with one shoulder and sends the video over. It's not complete - Jim hadn't made it through all the surgeries himself - but there's a lot of footage there. ]

Knock yourself out.

[ Jim will just be... keeping an eye on him while he does, is all. ]

[rubikscomplex]

[Good boy, Jim. House doesn't say thank you, just goes back to focusing on the screen... where America is cheerily torturing people. He makes it through the first surgery/torture session, gripping his tablet hard enough to break a regular piece of electronic equipment. His breath comes quicker, and House is aware that he's reacting very poorly to this. The next few sessions are tolerated with a growing sense of terror. It's an hour or so later that he hears himself talking to Kid and-

House turns it off. He can't watch his own. The whole point was to watch his own, reclaim the moment somehow. And yet, here he is, shaking and ready to start crying. And there's nothing he's learned from this except that everything was even more sick and twisted than he first thought.

He curls himself up into a ball and just sits there, holding in screams that was to be let out again, reliving the moments with Kid holding his mouth open. When words do come, they're quiet.]

The machine they used... it has to be NIMA.