As Sharp as Knives

[rubikscomplex]

Characters: Gregory House, Ecks, Hannibal Lecter, Will Graham, Jared Rhys, James Wilson
Location: Building 327 and Building 326/Maintenance Tunnels/Building 316
Date: Day 311
Summary: House, Hannibal, Will, and Ecks meet up with Wilson and Rhys while conducting a few specialized searches.
Warnings: Typical House and Hannibal-related warnings, otherwise will add as they come up

Comments

Building 327 - Before Meeting Wilson and Rhys

[rubikscomplex]

[One small corner of a bus garage--the rest has been lost to time. Luckily, however, it seems like someone has built walls onto the structure. It's clear the walls are different because they're made of plywood and lack windows, unlike the more solid brick structure of the corner that remains. The long-faded remains of a map are drawn on the plywood: while the map itself can't be made out any more, "школа" and "туннель" remain as labels that no longer point to anything.]

[rubikscomplex]

[House is moving slowly today, more slowly than is his wont. Admitting that the stab through his chest is impacting him more than he thought it would isn't an option, though. Between that, his other accrued injuries, and the general sense of misery that's his baseline level of depression, he'd seriously considered just not getting up today, but that's never a real option.

When they make it to Building 327, House makes a beeline for the faded map before hooking his cane over one arm and moving carefully to pull out some chalk from his pack. He's going to be recreating the map that he imagines was here, even adding a few new labels as well as the building numbers. Will and Hannibal might at least recognize the words as Russian, even if Will won't be able to read them.

He's receptive to talking while he works, at least, glancing over at anyone who approaches.]

We got the ruskies first turning up in the Radiation Zone. The chick was keeping track in there. If anyone got this far, it might've been her on her own.

[ecks]

[Ecks has made for a sullen traveling companion since their disagreement in the shed, though it would be easy to mistake her quietness and obedience for indifference about it all. She's traveling with Doctor House again and he's not died on her yet. Those had both been major goals for a long time.

She comes up to watch him quietly, but when he speaks she'll reply.]

Why do you think she did not write on the walls in previous areas?

[rubikscomplex]

[He's been carefully ignoring her sullenness, really. It's not like he's going to be the one to change here. He's already bent himself for Davesprite. Ecks is... well, she has more leverage than she might think she does, but not in front of other people like when they'd been having that fight.]

Might be the Admin's just had better access to clean up the areas before that. Could be she and her buddy were dumped there first and he went looking north while she found her way over here. Could be there wasn't anything to document on the walls until they hit the radiation zone. Not enough information to narrow it down.

[ecks]

Maybe there were more people but she was the only one who wrote on walls instead of on the network. Like Alphonse Elric. He writes on all of the walls, but you and I do not do that.

Building 326/Maintenance Tunnels/Building 316

[rubikscomplex]

[The group gets more divided as the day rolls on, spreading out between the high school, the maintenance tunnels, and Building 316.]

Building 326
[Norfinbury High School is a fairly large building. All the windows are blacked out. The lights here work, but you wouldn't know at first--they only turn on when someone is in the hallway or in the room, but lack of attention means it can take anywhere between thirty seconds to a minute before they actually respond. The hallways seem to stretch, the shadows seem to shiver. Each door is decorated with a prophet symbol, and the walls are covered in graffiti honoring the prophet and talking about killing sinners. Sometimes the doors rattle as you pass, or someone knocks on the other side.

A couple of classrooms still look normal enough, except for the black and red prophet tapestries adorning the walls and covering the windows. Still, the desks are in order, there's a board at the front, and they look like you'd expect out of a high school classroom. The front office, too, looks normal, as if it was actually used for administration--though, of course, there's no sign of the computers that must have been there.

The nurse's office, meanwhile, seems to have been converted to a surgical unit. There's long-dried blood everywhere, as if no one ever bothered to clean up. Indeed, footprints can be seen scattered around, implying people just wandered through while the blood was still wet. It looks like some people were even barefoot. The cafeteria has had all its tables attached to the walls, some covering the windows. The chairs are scattered around, some knocked over and some sitting quietly. There's no food to be found here. The library has been emptied of books, and all the shelves turned to face the wall, with eye symbols drawn on their exposed backs. The gymnasium has had its floor cut into, with eye marks carved all over. There are bleachers, but they're stuck closed, so it would be difficult to open them.

As for the rest of the classrooms? They're filled with thick blackness. Going inside causes all the symptoms of suffocation, and any light shone or brought in is immediately swallowed up.]

Maintenance Tunnels
[Cold, dark, and empty. At least that's what they look like for the moment. There's a stretch of maintenance tunnel running from the high school to Building 316.]

Building 316
[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]

[There are too many eyes everywhere, watching him, getting into his head. Even still, the non-empty black space classrooms in the school are some of the safer places to relax as long as you're not doing anything to piss off the data ghosts. House has left Will and the others to run off and investigate the tunnels--the thought of climbing up and down the ladder makes his chest and side hurt just thinking about it. He'll have to eventually, but for now, he's just going to be browsing his tablet and pulling the rubber bone toy he'd picked up from his pack to gnaw on.

The compulsion is problematic and House is recognizing it as a sign of MN Poisoning, but soothing the obsession to bite and taste with something that isn't going to injure or kill him is probably safer than continuing to lick knives and decades-old paint. He's keeping an ear and half an eye on the door, but someone lightfooted might be quick and quiet enough to spot him before he whisks the bone away and out of sight.]

[sleight_of_fate]

[Unfortunately for House, Rhys is one of those soft-footed people, even in his boots.

In the high school, where he's already managed to make himself very unwelcome, he treads lightly, and finding familiar company is a rather welcome surprise. It's better than...well, Rhys is cautious around new people in Norfinbury. He'd rather find people he knows, first, and deal with strangers later.

Speak softly and carry a big fireplace poker.

But House, for all his flaws, has become oddly comforting company, and...well, they might have a couple of things to sort out. So Rhys leans in the doorway and watches for a few seconds, a grin on his face, before he politely coughs to make his presence known.]

Hey, if you got your hands on some mollies and aren't sharing, I'm gonna be sad, you know.

[rubikscomplex]

[It's one smooth motion that carries the rubber bone from House's mouth to pocket. He's used to hiding things he shouldn't have, this just happens to be one of the more unusual and distinctly innocent-looking ones. It registers that he's already been caught, but it's still nothing the doctor particularly wants to talk about. Maybe especially with Rhys.]

Sharing is for losers. [Might as well be direct so they can avoid talking about that.] MN Poisoning. It's fine, before you start.

[House has his eyes still on his tablet, not quite having the resolve to actually meet Rhys' eyes at the moment. Unlike Beckett, the memories from the fake alternate future with Rhys are still very sharp. Uncomfortably sharp, even if they didn't technically happen. Which means they shouldn't matter. And yet...]

[sleight_of_fate]

[Rhys just raises his eyebrows, and then shrugs, taking that as an invitation to come in.

Sorry, House.]

Hey, as long as you aren't chewing lead paint or, I don't know, frozen corpse fingers, it's not the worst habit you could pick up.

[He's being helpful. See how helpful he's being? Then the memory of House with his tail in his mouth comes rushing back, and Rhys feels heat flood through him.

Oh, wow. That's an interesting wall. And nope, they aren't talking about that.]

Just wanted to check in. And, we picked up extra stuff at the store on our way through, if you were running short.

[onlytwothings]

[ Wilson's not really lightfooted, exactly, but it's almost by accident that he comes up on House. He's just been exploring the school a little bit at a time, but when that gets old, he decides to look for a place where he can sit, hole up, and gather his thoughts a bit.

Not that he has anything particularly pressing on his mind, but the main thing he wants to do right now is sit, go through his tablet, and think. Of course, he's not sure what to think upon finding House. He doesn't see the bone, exactly, but he does see something being whisked quickly away. His eyebrows lift, but he decides to say nothing other than a greeting. ]

Hey, House. It's been awhile.

[rubikscomplex]

[House can't help it. A part of him jumps to fear at that voice, one he's been waiting and wanting to hear for days now. He knows there's no particular logic in it. As with Rhys, that imaginary time didn't happen. Convincing his lizard brain of that is just proving a little more difficult. He feigns indifference in his tone, but Wilson might notice the way he tenses up and turns his head so that he can watch Wilson from the corner of his eye without looking at him fully.]

Don't tell me you get all clingy in your old age.

[He leans back and finally does look up at him, expression purposefully neutral.]

What up, bro? Had a chat with Tats. How do you feel about arson?

[onlytwothings]

[ Wilson doesn't miss that response, nor does he blame House for it. He really doesn't like himself right now, and there's nothing he wants more than to just hole up in a room alone where he can't hurt or threaten anyone.

But that's not really a viable option here, unfortunately. ]

Clingy? Not really the word I'd use.

[ Certainly not now when he's got a sudden compulsion to just avoid all company whenever possible. ]

Arson? Why do I get the feeling this is along the lines of those plans that got people stabbed?

[ A pause. ]

Why do you want to know, anyway?

Maintenance Tunnels | OTA

[ex_this_ismydesign36]

[ Four people had been pushing the limits of his tolerance for sociability. Adding another two to the group and Will's already dodgy nerves snapped.

He didn't blow up at anyone, which he felt was a singular bit of forward progress, given some his meltdowns when Jack and the rest of the team had pushed him over the edge. But he had broken off from the group and made his way down into the tunnels.

Will wasn't interested in trying to backtrack to Building 316, but he was working his way around the edges of the tunnel. Ever since their trip to 327 he had a feeling that they were missing something, either down here or perhaps up in the rooms they couldn't get into. There had to be some way to make forward progress.

Had to be.

If he didn't keep believing that, he was close to sitting down and giving up entirely. ]

@hotstud_xxx; text

[rubikscomplex]

[It's not a human person there to bother him, but House does send Will a text after he's been staring at the walls in the school for too long.]

i'm bored
find anything worth coming to look at?

text

[ex_this_ismydesign36]

[ Will was in the midst of meticulously running his fingers along the walls down in the tunnel, trying to see if he could detect anything resembling a door. He was about to the point of giving up, but kept arguing that 'just one more foot'.

When his tablet buzzed, he marked his space on the wall (best as he could) and reached down to check it. Seeing the text, his lips twitched slightly; recognition that soon this would be his standard mode of communication with the older man. He had been trying to avoid thinking too closely on the reality of the fact that he and House were probably going to be headed in separate directions.

Though he could argue the logic of the situation, there was a part of him that felt conflicted at the idea. For all that he was cranky, mercurial, and occasionally given to shameless trolling, House had been a good traveling companion and ... a friend.

Not that Will was silly enough to use such a word aloud. ]

You'd probably enjoy watching me yank my hair out and scream in frustration, but other than that I've yet to find a big red easy button.

[rubikscomplex]

tempting...

[But not that tempting.]

just talked with ink rhys
he might be taking ecks and wilson back to the elementary school
get a couple of shadownet copies for them
if they can manage it

[Which leaves the small possibility that House won't be joining them.]

stiffi and her group won't be here for two days
i wanna take a look at the 27 tally mark house tomorrow
interested?

[sleight_of_fate]

[Rhys is out of cigarettes.

So the next best thing he can do is be useful. Or explore. Or wander around and bother people he hasn't really met yet. That's a good plan, right? Sure. He does it to ghosts all the time.

Stripped of at least some of his overcoats, he's exactly as he appeared on the network, though the network didn't quite capture his slouching posture, alert blue eyes, nearly midnight in the dark of the tunnels, and the whipquick lash of the fabric-wrapped tail dangling from the back of his worn Army jacket. There's a black stocking cap pulled down over his scarred brow, covering the short crop of black stubble on his head and sporting a brilliant yellow smiley face on the front edge.]

Safe to come down, or is this the part of the movie where the dumb white guy gets eaten?

[ex_this_ismydesign36]

[ Will was focused on the wall, drawing his fingers along it, trying to find some hint of a seal or even a brush of air that could suggest a joint.

At the sound of a voice from behind him, he jumped slightly and cast a quick, flat lipped notquiteaglare, glare over his shoulder. ]

Nothing has dumped ketchup on me yet, but no promises.

[sleight_of_fate]

[Rhys chuckles quietly in the shadows.]

ACtually I was talking about me, but I guess with the two of us, now we're both the dumb white guys in the tunnels, huh.

[He watches Will work, thoughtfully, then offers:]

If you use your tablet as a light, it might show any seams or cracks. The shadow.

[He gestures, indicating a line that might be shown by cast light.]

If you're that desperate to kill time, I mean. I don't know that there's anything down here.

Building 326 (high school) OTA

[sleight_of_fate]

[Yes, Rhys will probably forever be known in Norfinbury as 'the guy with the devil tail'.

It's the most noticeable thing about him amid the layered coats, the black stocking cap, and the quick blue eyes, wrapped in layers of gold and red satin and swaying fitfully behind him as he walks or stands. The spaded tip is bright red, its natural tone in spite of the rest of his pale Irish complexion.

Other than that, he looks like a workman who's lost his way: Shaved head, Army jacket, lots of pockets, workboots and jeans on a lean frame a little under six feet tall. Softspoken, though quick to smile, and in spite of his friendly demeanor, he carrier the fireplace poker at his side with casual ease. Armed and comfortable.

And, if you want to talk to him, he'll be happy to chat. He's not exactly thrilled to be in the high school again considering he's kind of worn out his welcome here.]

[ecks]

Doctor House is still stupid.

[That's the closest Rhys will get to a hello as Ecks comes up behind him, duffel bag in hand and her own weapon of choice, an ash shovel, hung through the handle of the backpack she wears.]

[sleight_of_fate]

[Don't sneak up on people Ecks, geez]

But he can't help but laugh anyway when he realizes it's her.]

He is. And snow is still cold and the sky is still blue.

How are you, Ecks?

Building 316 | evening | open to first claim

[ecks]

[Climbing the ladders is very difficult when one has only one hand and a duffel bag to carry, but Ecks isn't interested in spending the night in the school when there are so many people clustered there -- not even when lockdown has already started by the time she makes her way down the maintenance tunnel to the building full of tapestries.

She pauses at the bottom of the ladder for a long, long time, gazing blankly upward like a robot gone dormant until she finds her resolve and starts to climb. It's slow, slow going, but she's making this happen. It's not like she wouldn't have to deal with this exact same thing if she were to go back to the school, anyway.

If no one catches her on her way up, she'll eventually reach the trap door and start trying to nudge it open from below without dropping her bag or falling down the ladder.]

Building 316 | Later in the evening

[sleight_of_fate]

It hasn't been a good day for Rhys.

After everything is said and done, he's wandering the halls like a ghost, tail curled desultorily around his leg and smiley-face stocking cap pulled down over his shaved head.

He did have a mission vaguely in mind, to see if anyone else needed some rations from his backpack, and he's still sort of doing that, but as he wanders, his mind is clearly somewhere else. His fireplace poker drags with a thin scraping sound on the floor tiles, and in a low, clear tenor, he sings the broken words to an old Everclear song to himself.

If the ghosts don't like it, tough shit. And if anyone else is listening, hopefully they'll recognize it's friendly company and not stab him. Again.

"I just wanna see some palm trees, I will find a way to shake away this disease..."

OOC: I can do brackets or prose as requested!