[log] "I can't have cats around me because they try to steal my energy." [closed]

[mrcreamsicles]

Characters: Davesprite, the Cat, then Ecks, and lastly Alfie and Royce
Location: The grocery store (144), then the post office (141)
Date: Day 300
Summary: That awkward moment when your plans to meet up with friends turn into meeting up with a dude you tried to steal from once, but your other friend's still dead, and you picked up a golem at the store on the way over.
Warnings: Talk of anomaly death, and Davesprite will be on edge from the (event memory) time he decided not getting stabbed was more important than successful theft. Other warnings will be added as necessary.

144: A grocery store of decent size, it's stocked with fresh food. Even the produce and bakery have items available, and if you get here in the morning, all the bakery goods are still warm. Aside from that, there really isn't a lot here--it's a large building, and obviously receives regular cleaning, but all of its electronics are missing. Still, there's plenty of food to be had! This is a business that closes at night; characters will not be allowed to stay here after 7PM. If they try to do so, they will be compelled to walk out and will not be able to enter again until the next morning.

141: A post office, long-abandoned. There are a few empty white plastic bins where mail was once piled up, and the lobby area is still remarkably clean and polished. The back area isn't locked, so if you like you can go through the back and see the office with its locked safe and the back door that leads to the downtown area. Trees, impossibly tall men, and lots of Ⓧs have been drawn on the walls, along with ball-like things that are made up of tentacles and beaks and death and one circle in green crayon that's been scribbled over in charcoal. "ALPHONSE ELRIC, DAY ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY SEVEN, TRAVELLING NORTH. IF ANY ASSISTANCE IS NEEDED CONTACT @LELRIC ANY TIME" is carved on the wall. "ALPHONSE ELRIC, DAY ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY SIX, CONTACT @LELRIC FOR ANY ASSISTANCE" is written on the wall.

Comments

[devoutish]

[When the others arrive, Alfie barely acknowledges them. Just looking at them gives him a headache. He has memories of all of them (some more than others), and he can't even begin to figure out which, if any, really happened. So why bother trying?

It's easy to tell himself that what's happening right now is just another fucked up thing that will be over in a few days. But it's not at all easy to make himself believe it, or to deal with the knowledge that an untold number of his memories aren't real - can't be real, because so many of them contradict each other. It's a relief that he and Royce had already decided not to walk today, because all he wants to do is huddle on the air mattress and try to sort out his head. When he feels like he can't do any more of that without driving himself completely crazy, he tries to distract himself. He avoids the network completely, but he reads books, and he arranges and rearranges his supplies, and he pays attention to Royce - talking to him, leaning on him, just looking at him, whatever. Royce is a constant. Royce is here, and they're traveling together. He can't be a false memory.]

[bywolves]

[ Royce is having a hard time. He's got so many jumbled up memories - the ones that fuck with him the most are the ones where he and Alfie were never friends. Are they not friends? Were those the real timelines? He can't tell, and it's got his paranoia on high, high key alert. He keeps pacing, and then sitting down, and then getting up to pace again, and --

Towards the evening, Royce goes to Alfie and crouches down in front of him, and says, voice tense and on edge: ]

... I'm sorry.

[devoutish]

For what?

[He doesn't want his tone to be wary, but it is, just a little. Why is Royce apologizing? Should Royce be apologizing? Has he done something wrong that Alfie just can't remember?]

[bywolves]

I - for the tower.

[ He says, reaching to knead at his eye socket, his head aching. ] For what... for what I did. When I was one of the - the converted, during the four days of torture, I --

[ecks]

Alfie Solomons.

[Ecks did notice who else was in the post office, and she has a lot of feelings on the matter. They're confused feelings, though. She knows that she is generally irritated with Alfie Solomons, that he has a harmonica that doesn't belong to him -- except she has the harmonica and she needs to get Royce away from him so she can give it to Royce and protect her friend from a not-friend.

But that's not right, either. Royce is dangerous. He murdered Doctor House. She is upset right now, but she cannot decide what she is upset about.

So, she arrives in front of them with a shovel hanging from her remaining hand, and stands staring in indecision. She clears her throat and tries again.]

Alfie Solomons, I am unsure whether I am going to hit you with this shovel.

[devoutish]

[Alfie barely twitches when Ecks approaches. Royce will feel his body stiffen, instinctively preparing for a fight if it becomes necessary, but that's about it.]

We're all unsure of a great many things right now, Ecks.

[ecks]

[She starts to heft the shovel, but then lets it drop to her side again as she fixes her gaze on Royce.]

Royce Melborn? Does he have your harmonica?

[mrcreamsicles]

A. for the Cat

[The morning after is a hard experience. He slept poorly last night: little of it, and what he did get was interspersed with a predictable series of bad dreams. When he checks his tablet in the morning, there's nothing from Karkat, only a warning about system instability. Great.]

[It's as he's getting ready that he notices the problem: he's going west to meet up with Alfie and Royce, but isn't Alfie the guy he nearly got stabbed by that one time? Then again, hasn't he also visited them multiple times...? And last night he messaged them to tell them what happened, but why had he frozen up so much in front of John's anomaly when Clint had talked him through the time the other one showed up without any incident?]

Hey, Friskies, status report. Are your memories all jacked up or am I riding this train car to headache city by myself?

[For now, he'll fish out some aspirin to stave it off. He's got enough trouble with the grief and lack of rest without this making it harder.]

B. for Ecks

[Sooner or later the two of them get packed up and moving—a little more difficult than usual with the Cat's bag added, but better than letting his paws traipse through the cold unguarded. Which is of course why he cuts through the grocery store anyway. There's an employee door somewhere near the storage building they spent the night in, and it's warmer inside than out. Besides, this way he can grab something out of the bakery to munch down for breakfast without dipping into what he picked up yesterday.]

[He's drifting through, eating an oversized muffin, when he hears footsteps from elsewhere. So he does the sensible thing, stretches his wings up to wave from the aisle he's in, and calls out:]

Yo, who's here?

C. post office, open

[Here in the post office, everything is worse. His memories are still jacked all to hell, he can't shake the feeling that Alfie might want payback for that time he tried to take House's stuff back from him, and he can't decide if Royce is a solid friend who's helped him sort his shit out more times than he deserves or somebody he's pointedly avoided since that incident in the maze. He takes up a spot near the door for most of the evening, feeling near paranoid for the way he watches for movement and approach from anyone. If not for Alfie, it wouldn't be such an issue.]

[But sooner or later he's bound to ask to whoever's in range:]

So who's going where tomorrow? I've got a hospital to get to, and I'm not down for watching my back the whole way when I'll already have to watch for icicles.

[absentconstellation]

[ The Cat makes a sort of grumbling noise in acknowledgment, though with his eyes still closed it's hard to say if he just woke up or has been awake for a while already. ]

Davesprite. I seem to recall having been in many different places at the same time.

[ Which is a little weird. Not technically impossible, but not something he's ever done before either. ]

[mrcreamsicles]

Yeah, I...

[He trails off, taking a moment to rub the bridge of his nose as he tries to find coherence.]

We're going to Alfie and Royce today, right? But for the fuckin' life of me I can't remember why we've been visiting them when I feel like Alfie would stick a knife in my back if I so much as breathe wrong at him.

[Well, maybe not that bad, but the other shoe never dropped after that encounter.]

More than just that, but as soon as I think of one thing that doesn't add up, two more jump onto the pile and it just doesn't stop from getting taller.

[absentconstellation]

[ He considers this. ]

The solution may be not to think about it.

Alfie is a dangerous individual, but a frank one. I believe if you were to call him it would be simple enough to ascertain what sort of threat he poses you.

[bywolves]

[ He's a little fidgety around Davesprite. They're friends. He's pretty sure. He's pretty sure this is the real one, it's just that he clearly remembers a time where he went out of his way to avoid the kid that never apologized for calling him Elfagorn. He remembers a time where Ecks tried to hit Alfie with a shovel because he stole something from Royce, too, so he thinks that he can't trust anything.

He looks up from rubbing at his face, swallowing hard. ]

Don't know. We'll stay back, likely.

[mrcreamsicles]

[Royce is far, far easier to interact with than Royce. At worst they kept their distance. At best he's some he trusts. Here in the present, his impression lies warily in between; the worst lies in association with Alfie.]

You sure?

[Not doubt—or not entirely. He wants certainty more than anything, an okay to know he means it, that he won't have to be watching his back.]

[bywolves]

I haven't talked to Solomons about it.

[ He hasn't talked to Alfie much at all. He's having a rough time with all the memories at once, because a good part of them involved Alfie - or a very large lack of him. ]

You don't need to travel with us if you're going to be like this.

[devoutish]

[Alfie looks different now, compared to how he would have in some of Davesprite's memories. The memory of cornering and robbing him is months old, from Alfie's perspective - when he'd only been in Norfinbury for a few months. His beard is grayer now. The lines on his face are more pronounced. The light in his eyes is dimmer.

He barely moves when Davesprite asks his question - just gives a quick glance at Royce to see if he might be talking to him. But Royce is fast asleep, curled up with his head buried in Alfie's chest. So he answers, voice dull and heavy.]

North.

[mrcreamsicles]

[The fact that Alfie looks decidedly worse for wear does practically nothing to ease him. He remembers too well how tense things were in the house that night, and while that particular conflict is long since passed (and given up on), that doesn't mean he trusts the man.]

[Still, it's easier to plan if he knows where he wants to go. The answer is simple enough. It also tells him they'll have to go the same direction, sooner or later.]

Royce said you might hang back tomorrow, but I'm leaving it to you if you want to follow that. I'm keeping my distance either way.

[ecks]

[It has not been a bad week alone; Ecks has had 'new' buildings with which to occupy herself and she has made a few new inanimate friends along the way. She's uneasy, though, knowing that she is wasting time, has always been wasting time. If there was a chance to stop House's murderers she has likely given it up by delaying, but if there was a chance to stop House's murderers she likely already lost it when she murdered Mycroft Holmes.

Her footsteps still abruptly at the call as she goes entirely silent -- but she sees that wing and recognizes the voice a moment later and it is cause for joy.]

Davesprite.

[Except that's not the answer to his question.]

I am Ecks. Ecks is here.

[mrcreamsicles]

[He knows that voice! Even before he says her name, but the extra confirmation never hurt anybody. He caws from his aisle, folds his wings back down, and starts moving over her way.]

Hey! I'll come over there. I didn't know you were down here. How've you been, Ecks?

[She has... complicated memories too, in a sense—how long did he travel with her? where to?—but a question like that is a lot lighter than trying to figure out his standing with Alfie and Royce. He'll take it.]

[It doesn't take too long for him to come into view, and he heads over her way once he spots her properly.]

[absentconstellation]

As is his custom, the Cat begins his evening by crawling into the lap of anyone willing to pet him. His abdominal fur has grown back enough to keep him warm, though he still hates the look it gives him. The fact that he remembers having been with someone else before today doesn't weigh on him too heavily, though he does seem to be moving around just a little more slowly than usual.

[devoutish]

His lap is mostly full of Royce, but when the Cat pads over, Alfie obligingly pats at him - but it's distracted, like he isn't fully paying attention to, or maybe even fully aware of, what he's doing. He'll growl if he gets in between him and Royce, though. That he'd notice.

[absentconstellation]

[ He would never dream of it, as long as he's being petted. Which isn't precisely what's happening, but he can work with it. He rubs his head at the patting hand, forcibly running it under his chin.

Scritches, human. Give him the scritches. ]

[bywolves]

[ Royce doesn't even seem to notice, when the Cat crawls into his lap. He's staring up at the ceiling, thinking. He has so many memories of people he was never with. This is real, right? This, right here. He doesn't pet the Cat or bat him away, just stares, eyes distant. ]

[absentconstellation]

[ He knows how to deal with people like this. He begins kneading Royce's stomach and thighs. ]

[ecks]

Cat.

[Ecks, at least, knows what is to be done. Of the people here, the Cat is the one who elicits the least confusion in her mind. He'll have to make room among the armful of stuffed animals she is already holding, but she shifts as best she can to make it possible for him, freeing her hand to rub across his ears even if it means dropping one or two members of her collection.]

[absentconstellation]

Ecks.

[ What a good golem child. He settles in among the stuffed animals and makes himself comfortable. He wouldn't want to take her stuffed animals away from her, after all. ]