[log] I now realise that I should have chosen a non-green vegetable. [closed]

[maskintape]

Characters: Jay Merrichristmas and Tim-tam Wright
Location Q4, Building 86
Date: Day 23, night
Summary: Team Marble Hobos finally meet up again. Tim finds mouthwash. Jay is an idiot.
Warnings: Nah. Will edit if necessary!

[ Everybody knows that first impressions are important. If you're meeting somebody for the first time - even if it's only the first time since they lost several years of their memory - there are plenty of things you should do in order to present yourself well. Dress nicely, for example. Be polite. Remember that navigating the minefield of social interactions is a tricky business, and that charging around like a stampeding rhino isn't going to help anyone.

It should surprise no one that Tim "Actual Walking Disaster" Wright does none of these things.

Talking with Steph has put him in a foul mood, and thoughts of the shadow creatures have put him on edge. When he reaches the building that Jay is in (should be in), he has his nail-studded chair leg slung over one shoulder so that it's ready to swing at the slightest notice. His shitty flannel shirt is rumpled as fuck. His beard is taking over his entire face.

And to top everything off, when he tries to open the door of the half-destroyed house? It sticks.

There are only ten minutes or so until lockdown, so Tim quite literally doesn't have time for this shit. He tries the door again, ramming it with his shoulder, and succeeds at opening it - though it does kind of mean that he comes barrelling through the door like a lunatic. A lunatic armed with a chair leg. A lunatic whose facial expression screams "I am more done with this shit than it is humanly possible to be."

He kicks the door shut, glowering at it like it's personally wronged him. ]

God damn piece of--

[ Hi, Jay!!!! ]

Comments

[genreblindness]

[Jay has spent most of the day sitting indoors, waiting for this meeting with no small amount of dread. He has no idea how it's going to go or what's going to happen, and it freaks him out.

What freaks him out even more is when there's suddenly a banging agaisnt the door like a goddamn wild animal is trying to get in, followed by the entrance of a bearded lunatic lumberjack with a chair leg.

Peering from where he's hiding behind the bed, it takes him a second to recognise the intruding psycho as the somewhat familiar possibly-psycho that is Tim.]

Uh. Hey.

[wow this is already going great]

[maskintape]

[ Tim looks at Jay.

And back at the door.

Then Jay again. ]

Uhhhh. Yeah, uh, hi.

[ Relief at seeing Jay alive and well again clashes with the immense levels of awkitude going on here. Jesus Christ why do they both have to be awful at this whole "people" thing, holy shit. ]

What - what are you hiding from.

[ At this point, Tim's brain helpfully reminds him that he's holding a weapon. He kind of just. Sets it gently on the floor with his bag. And shuffles awkwardly. WHAT A GOOD START. ]

[genreblindness]

You, uh. Kinda took me by surprise with the whole. Suddenly slamming in thing.

[THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID]

So. I was being careful.

[Though since the situation has been confirmed as more or less safe he stands up to his feet. He's staying on the other side of the bed, though. Having a bit of furniture as a buffer between them should make this less awkward, right?]

[maskintape]

I, uh - the door was stuck. So.

[ He closes it - carefully - and kneels beside his bag so he can start rummaging through the shedloads of crap in there. The best way to dispel the awks is to give Jay a peace offering, right? To show that they really are friends. Bros. Comrades. ]

Anyway, uh. Got you something. Catch.

[ And he tosses a juicebox in Jay's direction. IT'S CHILLIN' CHERRY FLAVOURED. THIS IS VALUABLE SHIT IN SNOWHELL OKAY JAYBLES ]

[genreblindness]

[Even with amnesia, Jay has been drinking meltwater for enough days that he appreciates the juicebox as the treasure it is. Catching it, he turns it around in his hands in surprise.]

I- Thanks. Where'd you get it?

[WHAT KIND OF TRIALS DID YOU GO THROUGH TO CLAIM THIS AMBROSIA OF THE GODS]

[maskintape]

Just one of the houses. Don't get too excited. I didn't even show you the pièce de résistance yet.

[ He zips his bag back up, shifts from a kneeling position to a sitting one, and holds his most glorious prize aloft. ]

Candy, man.

[ Well. One pack of fruit gummies. And he already ate two of them. But still, it might as well be fucking gold dust there's real sugar in these oh god ]

[genreblindness]

[And just like that, Tim has proven that he is the best boyfriend ever. Jay doesn't even like candy that much but holy shit.]

That's pretty much the greatest thing I've seen since I got here. All I've found is cat food.

[maskintape]

Cat food. When you say you found it, uh... that means you didn't eat it, right.

[ G R O S S. He has no special concerns about the state of Jay's mouth (no matter what Fucking McIdiot might be thinking), but he still really, really hopes he hasn't been eating cat food. Eww.

I mean, Jay is so obviously a dog food kind of guy.

Tim tosses the pack of gummies to Jay and stabs at his own juicebox with the dinky lil straw. Aww yiss. SYNTHETIC SUGARY CHERRY NEVER TASTED SO FUCKING GOOD, JFC ]

Are you going to need toothpaste?

[genreblindness]

No! I haven't been that hungry, okay.

[Sheesh, Tim. What do you even take him for.

Jay catches the gummies clumsily, and plops them down on the bed. He picks out the straw from his juicebox, but fiddles with it nervously instead of using it.]

I, uh- I guess. Not like it could hurt, right?

[Having a fresh mouth is always nice whether you're having makeouts or not.]

[maskintape]

[ There's something mildly off about Jay's response there, but Tim puts it down to this situation being pretty fucking weird for both of them. And it's not like Jay is only allowed to use his toothpaste if he has been eating cat food, right? Geez.

So he opens his bag again, takes the tube of toothpaste out - along with his pills - and throws them onto the bed so they land alongside the gummies. Jay's apparent nervousness is a little disheartening, but it's not like Tim can really blame him. Maybe taking the pills in front of him will help? It should stop any concerns that any masked awfulness is incoming, anyway. ]

So, uh.

[ He swallows his pills, grins, and casually settles back into his old habit of acting like he's a halfway functional human being. Just a normal guy. Ordinary dude, extraordinary sideburns. Yeah! ]

You been coping okay so far? Despite, you know. The terrible room service around here.

[genreblindness]

[And now Tim's taking his weird mystery pills in front of Jay. That's weird, but it's probably just a sign of how comfortable the guy is around him, right? It's a show of trust or something.

The joke gets a weak half-smile out of Jay, which it would even if he weren't so nervous. He's not big on the whole smiling thing.]

Yeah, it's- it's not the greatest, but. I'd say I'm doing pretty good. At least now I've got juice.

[He demonstrates the importance of this by sticking the straw into his juicebox and taking a drink of that delicious syrupy goodness.]

[maskintape]

Pff. Yeah, there's no problems that won't fix.

[ This is a little better, right? It's clearly still awkward, but at least they're both trying. Always a good sign.

It's still kind of stressful, though, and Tim is really lamenting the fact that he doesn't have any cigarettes left. TIME TO TWIDDLE THE STRAW BETWEEN HIS FINGERS TO GIVE THEM SOMETHING TO DO ]

You're still up for heading to the caves then, right? Looks like it's a few days' walk, so. If you're not feeling up to it we can put it off or whatever. We don't have to set off tomorrow.

[genreblindness]

Well, uh. It's not like there's a lot to do here.

[Unless Tim has ideas??? Question mark???

He finishes his juice in a long slurp.]

So I'm fine setting off as soon as possible. 'Sides, I was thinking we could also take a look at that school. Apparently it hasn't been fully explored yet.

[maskintape]

We - we've been to the school plenty. There's not much there.

[ Jay. Jay this is like one step away from I THINK I SHOULD FOLLOW ALEX INTO THE SPOOKY WOODS HERPA DERPA DOO. Jay no. ]

Didn't - has nobody shown you the tape you found there? Well, uh, SD card. But whatever.

[genreblindness]

I saw the video. And I mean- yeah, it's creepy as hell, but it sounds like plenty of people have gone to the school and nothing's happened. So maybe the thing's aren't there anymore.

[jay no]

And if we found one card there, maybe there are more.

[maskintape]

Sure, nothing's happened. Unless you count Clarke, Clayton and Enoch hallucinating and freaking out in there. I'm pretty sure that it's - it's like this place's take on Rosswood, you know?

[ That's. Probably not going to discourage him at all, is it. ]

...It was you who said we shouldn't go back there unless we have to. We've been a couple of times since then for food and it's the worst.


 

Plus school trips pretty much always end with spending the night in a sports shed.

[genreblindness]

[Talking about Rosswood doesn't mean anything at all to Jay because he doesn't remember ever being there, okay!]

I guess there's not much point in arguing with myself.

[Even if he's starting to resent the mysterious and all-knowing ~future Jay~ a little.]

[maskintape]

Right. You'd have to do both sides of the argument, things would get confusing, you'd somehow manage to lose track of which you was the you that you currently are...

[ Tell him he's wrong, Jay. TRY IT. ]

Plus, I - I want to get to the tunnels as soon as possible. So.

[genreblindness]

[Okay wow he is getting confused just trying to think about it. NO ARGUMENTS.]

Yeah, that's- that makes sense. Plus, there might just as well be useful stuff down there, right?

[maskintape]

Yeah. I haven't heard much about what's down there, so I'm guessing there's still lots of ground to cover. Lots of unexplored little corners to film, you know? Secrets to find...

[ Tim sure does know his fucking audience here amirite ]

[genreblindness]

That does sound pretty good.

[Jay is fully aware that he's being pandered to, but that's fine. Especially when it's about mystery shit.]

But it's not like we're getting there tonight. Or even tomorrow, I guess. So getting some sleep would probably be a good idea.

[Sleep is great. It involves not having to talk about things.]

[maskintape]

You're tired already?

[ He's pretty run down himself, but Tim has been travelling nonstop for days. Jay... hasn't. And it can't be long after lockdown, so... ]

Are you sure you're doing okay?

[genreblindness]

No, I'm- I'm fine! Nothing to worry about, I'm just- just feeling kinda tired, that's all.

[THIS IS SO FUCKING CONVINCING NO ONE IS GOING TO SEE THROUGH HIS DECEPTION]

[maskintape]

Yyyeah, not buying it. Look, is-- I know this is still weird, especially for you, but. If you don't tell me what's up, I can't help.

...You're not thinking I'm going to jump you and start pounding on you at any second, right?

[ Because that's a reasonable thing to think, what with Jay's experiences with Masky. And there is no way that Tim's question can be misinterpreted in any manner. AT ALL. ]

[genreblindness]

Uh.

[Give him a second to figure out how to respond to that one. Way to be forward wow.]

I wasn't- that's not- uh. I mean, I don't think you would.