[log] Turn, Turn, Turn [closed]

[rubikscomplex]

Characters: Gregory House, Jared Rhys, Flynn Carsen, Ecks, and Stephen Strange
Location: Building 74, Building 79, Building 296, Building 316
Date: Day 283, 284, 287, 289
Summary: Meeting up with a flesh golem, and then a shady doctor, then a less shady doctor, and House regaining his memories
Warnings: Discussion of drug abuse/addiction is a possibility

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Day 283 - Building 74

[rubikscomplex]

[There's only one empty bedroom remaining of this house. The walls and floor are all covered with writing--complicated mathematical equations fill the entire room. It looks a little frightening and intense, but to someone who can decode the math, it's kind of sad; every equation is wrong. It's not even the complicated parts that are incorrect--whoever wrote all of this has mishandled things as basic as addition, subtraction, and the order of operation. The equations aren't at all novel, as well, instead being equations that are already well-known in the modern world. The equations have all been corrected in pen and chalk. Some of the zeroes in the equations have had black xes put through them, and smiley faces and other silly things have been drawn among the equations in bright green crayon. There are dried blood splatters on the floor and walls.]

[rubikscomplex]

[House is fascinated by the equations on the wall. Less because of their existence and more because of the multiple corrections and other things drawn around them. He's counting off the different people he thinks have been through here based on the different writing utensils and apparent styles.]

At least five.

[It's announced proudly to the room at large before he goes to fetch one of the bright green crayons out of his pack and begin drawing more smiley faces. Maybe someone will come along and be able to tell the difference. But he'll try to be subtle.

And hey, if everyone else was drawing on the walls, it's probably okay.]

[ecks]

[Ecks arrives quietly, slipping inside the remains of the building and quickly scanning the room before she shuts the door behind her and lowers her duffel bag to the floor. She's quite the ragged figure; she came to Norfinbury outfitted for espionage and while her mottled gray clothing and leather armor remain, she's long since given up on camouflage. She wears a tablecloth as a skirt over her trousers, as well as a bulky pair of mittens. The one on her right arm rides too high up; there's no hand inside it.

Her eyes are on Doctor House as she slips off the pack from her back as well. She's not sure what he's doing.]

The math is wrong but someone already made it right.

[ecks]

[Ecks came this way for one reason and one reason only. When she has spoken to Doctor House -- or not-Doctor House -- she settles in for the night well enough, but she's always watching the men in the room with her. At some point she gets up and comes to stand before one or both of them. Her gaze is steady, her expression blank, and her voice devoid of emotion.]

What are your intentions regarding Doctor House?

[cahooted]

[Flynn is busy digitizing one of the books he found shortly before he joined up with Rhys and House. Hunched over, he's carefully taking pictures and numbering them accordingly, and it takes him a moment to react. When he glances up from his tablet to see Ecks standing there he blinks, then glances left and right, looking for Rhys to see if this was actually meant for him.]

Intentions? I'm sorry, I don't understand. [He pauses.] I'm... here to teach him hieroglyphs?

[sleight_of_fate]

[It's not a total surprise, especially since Rhys remembers Ecks mentioning that House was her friend, back on that hellish night of the bathroom. It's direct, but Rhys's can deal with direct.]

Intentions? I'll stick around till he feels better, then...I don't know. It's up to him, but if he wants me to stay and keep him company, I'd be happy to do that. Stay and be his medical officer.

Day 284 - Building 79

[rubikscomplex]

[A standard two-story house with a basement. The first floor has a kitchen, living room, and dining room, while the second floor has two bedrooms and a bathroom. Each bedroom has a mattress. Small, finger-sized holes have been cut into the couch cushions.]

[rubikscomplex]

[House has decided to occupy himself in the kitchen for the moment. He has his Rubik's cube out and is playing with it, solving it, looking away as a he mixes it up, and solving it again. It's not going to keep him entertained for very much longer, though, and he gets up to explore while absently continuing to mix-up and solve the puzzle cube. With Dr. Strange joining them, he's more subdued and won't actively approach anyone or start a conversation, but he'll watch others, quiet and curious.

He's surprisingly light-footed for a man his size, so it might be a touch startling for anyone to glance up and find House eyeing them from nearby.]

[thewarningafter]

[Perhaps unfortunately for House, Stephen seeks him out almost immediately. He doesn't look much like a doctor in his tabard and cloak, but his voice should be familiar even if House didn't already know they were meeting him. His hands are bare, revealing multiple layers of scars culminating in eye symbols carved into the flesh, should House look, though the rest of Stephen's skin below his beard is carefully covered even now that he's indoors. Stephen hesitates in the entrance to the kitchen, gaze flicking to the rubik's cube in House's hands.]

You like puzzles?

[Dumb question. He was never great with kids.]

[cahooted]

[Flynn has taken refuge in the living room, flipping through his notebook. At some point he loosens his tie-made-into-a-bad-improv-scarf and uses the fabric to clean his reading glasses. They're already pretty battered and he's rubbing carefully, breathing on them regularly to avoid additional scratches.

When they seem clean enough he puts them on for a test, looking up; and straight at House which makes him flinch back in surprise.]

Oh hey, I didn't see you there. [Chuckling, he slides the glasses down his nose to glance at him over the rim.]

Are you bored? Wanna do some hieroglyphs? [A promise is a promise.]

[sleight_of_fate]

[Rhys is on his way up to the furthest room of the house... One of the bedrooms, or maybe the kitchen, he's not sure...to try and sneak a smoke when he notices that he isn't the only restless one tonight. It's a little surprising to see House creeping around, particularly with such care, and it makes Rhys's divert, turning to strike up conversation instead.

Rhys is probably setting bad examples by demonstrating how to smoke tea bags out of a cut up soda can, anyway.]

Hey, kiddo. House feels like it got crowded suddenly?

[cahooted]

[Flynn is cold.

Okay, yes, stop the presses because who in Norfinbury isn't but he is consistently miserable as soon as he stops moving and it's starting to get to him. His clothes are not made for this weather, none are of fabrics that keep you particularly warm or insulated and he has yet to find more layers. Even inside it seems like he can never fully drive the chill out of his bones.

Huddled on the couch he has taken the cushions to cover himself, building some sort of bizarre pillow shell around his body in an attempt to warm himself up while he works. He really doesn't care how it looks.

He's typing away on his tablet for a while to keep his mind busy, continuing with his book digitizations, but at some point his head tilts back and he just stares at the ceiling, quietly muttering to himself.]

[sleight_of_fate]

[It's a chance to take a breather, for whatever that's worth. They're still moving, but for right now, they're not moving, and that's a few hours to relax.

And meditate on how cold they are, but that's a given. Rhys came dressed for winter, and he's lucky in that regard. At least he had good boots... And a couple weeks' worth of scavenging in his favor.

So it's a small, soft, slightly fuzzy blue bundle that hits Flynn in the side of the head, while he's not paying attention... Because Rhys is kind of a dork that way.]

Hey. If you want to share my big blanket while we're traveling, you're welcome to, but you can keep that. Get you started on a better winter set.

Day 287 - Building 296

[rubikscomplex]

[A half-ruined convenience store which shows up as green on the Geiger counter: part of it has collapsed, but it's still enclosed enough to seal up for the night. The shelves are a ruined mess and, perhaps because of its dilapidated state, it doesn't stock food regularly, but it may still be possible to find useful things here.]

[onlytwothings]

[ The building doesn't look like much, but its lack of overall outstanding appearance doesn't bother Wilson that much. It's shelter from the elements and the anomalies, and it helps that he's passed through it before. He doesn't have much to do except peruse the network and take stock of his inventory, which has grown somewhat since his arrival in Norfinbury.

He still doesn't have that much, and most of it is small enough to be stuck inside coat pockets and that kind of thing, but what he does have is spread out in front of him. It's not taking up too much room, but it's enough to allow him to take easy inventory of it.

When he's not doing that, he has his tablet out, and he's browsing the network, in case something interesting or noteworthy happens. ]

[rubikscomplex]

[House has had a chance to peruse his old messages and the network at this point and discovered that their newest addition is his 'friend.' Apparently one of the ones he actually deigns to call that when he's older. He's not sure what to make of the other man from where he's standing when House, Rhys, Flynn, and Stephen enter. He avoids Wilson at first, but eventually approaches him with a peace offering. He has a couple of magazines clutched in his hands that have monster trucks on the front. His posture is more timid than it ever usually is, as is his voice. His distinctive New Jersey accent is also mostly absent.]

Hello... Dr. Wilson. I have an extra magazine if you were interested in reading anything.

[It's mostly a ploy to start up a conversation, but if he wants to just read them in peace, House will let him.

Provided he gets those back.]

[cahooted]

[Despite his friendly outward impression, Flynn isn't used to traveling in large groups. Especially not for an extended period of time and as the days pass and their numbers increase he can feel himself getting antsy, fidgety. He likes them all well enough but with each passing day he doesn't know what to do, where to look, keeping himself occupied with either the library project or teaching House hieroglyphs - which is more fun than he expected and more fun than it probably should be because he knows it can't last.

It's a weird, almost paradox notion, throwing himself into conversations whenever he can so he doesn't have to deal with himself and hanging around awkwardly in some corner, not knowing what to do or when to speak.]

Hi. [He approaches almost meekly, with a smile and small waving gesture of his hand.] Dr. Wilson? I think we wrote on the network once. Black Forest, traveler's guide, Hawaii?

Day 289 - Building 316

[rubikscomplex]

[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.]

[rubikscomplex]

A - Closed to Wilson
[House is up before lockdown. They're into a new area. They're going to finally be proper explorers today! He's too excited to sleep, even knowing, logically, that they're probably not going to find anything particularly new. The eye symbols are interesting and hold none of the terror they probably should; he'd found one that looked like it was branded into his chest so he's up and examining the carved one on the door when his memories return.

It's like something explodes behind his eyes, and House is on his knees, curled over, and clutching his head as a tumult of memories spanning more than three decades pour in. He's surprisingly quiet through it, just grunting as he goes down near where Wilson happens to be resting, and breathing in sharp gasps otherwise.]


B - OTA
[House is back to himself, his head is still pounding, he feels nauseous, exposed, and generally foul. But he's himself again. He's found a corner of the horrifying building and wedged himself into it to wait for the end of lockdown. It really can't come soon enough. There are too many people, he feels humiliated after the way he's been acting, and he just wants to be alone.

He can't, though, because Stephen has his drugs and Wilson is... Wilson. A part of him wants to part with his friend still, just to put distance between himself and people for a few days... maybe a week. Another problem with that is that some of them are proving that they're actually somewhat useful. Rhys is handy for some survival crap that House can do, but doesn't want to bother with, and Flynn actually has interesting information. Still, they need to go. Probably. Or he needs to go.

Anyone approaching will be purposefully ignored as House reorganizes his pack. It's clear from the way he tenses up that he's aware of them, though.]

B

[cahooted]

[For someone whose life revolves around making detailed observations

or who can tell you the exact time and history of a mossy stone by one faded remain of an engraving

or who can spot the activators of Mayan death traps in a fully overgrown temple

Flynn can be ridiculously tone-deaf to body language sometimes.

He's tired and a little achey all around but the adventurer in him is upbeat and excited about the new area. His voice is cheerful and buddy-buddy-like when he approaches House to see what he's up to, the typical tone adults use on kids when they want to talk about 'cool stuff'.]

Morning! You ready to go out and explore?

B

[sleight_of_fate]

[even without his empathic abilities, Rhys is good at reading body language. And even without the snippy exchanges and change of tone, Rhys can tell that this isn't the friendly 11 year old House anymore. Pissy, bitter adult House is back, but Rhys at least wants some resolution before he walks away. He'll give him his way, but not without making him, at the very least, look him in the eye first. It's not a high price to ask, after everything.]

Looks like you're feeling better.

A

[onlytwothings]

[ As far as rude (or at least completely unexpected) awakenings go, this one takes the cake. Wilson's learned that sleep around here is a valuable thing, especially since there's no shortage of nightmare fodder to ruin one's sleep. So when House's memories return, even though the other man isn't making a lot of noise, it's enough to jolt Wilson awake.

For a moment, he stares around wildly, as if unsure of where he is. But then it comes back to him that this is Norfinbury, and- That's House on his knees next to him. ]

House! What's going on?

[ He hopes this isn't some unexpected side effect of House's withdrawal. In his opinion, House has been through enough already without some other adverse effect being thrown in for good measure. ]

Rhys, in the morning

[sleight_of_fate]

The change is enormous, stressful, and impossible to miss, but for all that, Rhys seems to take it in stride. He wakes (amid commotion), he quickly wolfs down an energy bar and a bottle of juice mixed with water to make it last, and he puts on the few pieces of clothing he bothered to take off overnight. Then it's just a matter of airing and rolling his sleep gear before he's ready to go.

Or stay. Or go. Or whatever he winds up doing. It's still up in the air, but he has a few people to talk to and a few decisions to make.

Wilson

One of those, and to of his list, is Wilson. Once things have quieted down and neither of them are engaged in discussions or arguments, Rhys saunters over quietly to see what's on the older man's mind.

"I don't know, but I think that went better than expected, even."

It's only a little bit wry. Really

Day 284 - building 79 - for Rhys

[thewarningafter]

[Stephen comes away from his conversation with House feeling deeply disturbed and more than a little bit guilty even though he doesn't know what he did to scare the kid. Right now, while it's happening, he feels for the kid House used to be. In a broader sense, though, he can't help but wish he hadn't been granted this insight. He doesn't want to feel sorry for House, of all people, and he's pretty damn sure House won't be any more thrilled about Stephen feeling bad for him once he's back to himself.

It seems prudent to give House some space after Stephen's efforts to reassure him just made things worse at every pass, so he retreats upstairs with his pack and tablet. The bedrooms here have mattresses on the floor (what luxury), and it's on one of these that Stephen sets up camp, poking listlessly through recent network posts.]

[sleight_of_fate]

[Normally, Rhys minds his own business when he can. And currently, he does not possess his empathic powers, which affords him at least a little more quiet than he'd normally have in such a crowded house.

It's still not that big a house, though, and he's perceptive. Especially with as closely as he's been watching out for baby!House. So when things go south and Stephen flees upstairs, Rhys waits for a few minutes, sucking uncomfortably on a front tooth, before he finally decides to go up and see what's going on. His lean frame poised in the door, he looks down at Strange, eyebrows raised and a thoughtful look on his face. Though most of his winter gear is stowed, his stocking cap is still pulled down snugly over his scarred brow.]

That didn't sound like it went well.