[network] @hotstud_xxx; text [Evening 383] [open] (cw: mentions of murder, drugs)

[rubikscomplex]

[When House wakes up, it's panicking, trying to shove a broken, bloody Lisa Cuddy off of himself. She's not there, though. It's only the--depressingly familiar--inside zip for a body bag. He gets out of it and stands, staring around at the morgue he's in to figure out where the hell he is. It doesn't take long to work out that it's the Columbarium... and that's another depressingly swift conclusion. House has been in virtually every funeral home across the map for Norfinbury. At least this saved him some travel time?

A quick check of the network says that it really hasn't. At all.

Five days is a hell of a long time for him. He's usually back in one or two. Is Wilson worried? Will? Ecks absolutely is. Maybe Quark, too. Wilson's message confirms as much. The Obits yield some additional horror.]

okay
so apart from becky murdering watson and robodick
did i miss anything important?
sidebar: wtf, fangs?
mercy killing?
dude
you were with a doctor
get some freaking pills and dose him to death

Comments

@PetertheGreat, audio

[zunesareawesome]

Yes, you totally missed the zombie war. Admin provided tanks and flamethrowers and there were big speakers playing Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon on top of all the houses. Turns out Admin is a big fan.

We won, by the way.

[rubikscomplex]

[That actually makes him smile, genuine amusement running through him. It's... strange when he'd just been freaked by the whole Beckett thing, but whatever.]

wicked, bro
sorry i missed it
i'm so staying alive for the next round
whether or not it actually happens

@gravedigger; voice

[harlequinofhate]

Oh, sure, overdosing.

That's just as fun.

cw: suicidal ideations, drugs

[rubikscomplex]

yeah
considering i've od'd
or come close enough to it to count

[House frowns slightly as he realizes what he just typed. That's a little more forthcoming than he usually is.]

not actually that fun
but if you're gonna go...

@Enoch, text

[warriorscribe]

[Hope you enjoyed listening to the total shitfest that was the obituaries, House. Have one of those three people you just mentioned above.]

Welcome back, House. Has your penalty been a memory of some sort? You did just suggest wasting medicine that surely had some other purpose. We can't replenish those anymore.

cw: drug addiction

[rubikscomplex]

dunno, yet
thinking it might be mental, though
definitely not memories
i just think it's a nicer way to kill someone
put 'em to sleep
no pain
best way you could go
wouldn't take too many pills
they're not me or holmes

[There again is that uncomfortably candid response. House's brows furrow in confusion.]

@Summoner | Voice

[ninjainviolet]

[ GDI, House. Sheena had just been there four days ago! ]

I see you're still a ray of sunshine, House.

[ Hey, believe it or not, she realized she missed the guy! ]

[rubikscomplex]

it's basically been a year, babe
i'm miserable, depressed, barely eat
and pretty much run on spite
it sucks you woke up again

[Here's your ray of sunshine, Sheena.]

@tw; text;

[maskintape]

pff
five days
amateur
get on my level, scrub

[ HI HOUSE ]

[rubikscomplex]

well, look what the cat dragged in
sucks you're back
but good to see you, timmy tim tim

[HI TIM]

@magenta2; text

[himalayanyeti]

HAHA GUESS WHO DIED

BITCH!!!

i told james i wouldnt make fun of you to him so here i am also j is back so dont get cocky

[rubikscomplex]

well, i know you died
and i died
and a lot of people died
that's basically what they do here
pretty sure america might be the only guy who hasn't died from the start
think that means he's like mt st helen's
he's due

you also realize the joker replied to me before you did, right?
keep up, maggie may

@Ecks | text

[ecks]

you are alive
I am glad you are alive

but you are a dunce
I have a dunce hat that you can wear because you are a dunce

[rubikscomplex]

i have mixed feelings on being alive

[Just saying.]

and i'm not wearing a dunce cap, cone head

[ action ]

[ex_this_ismydesign36]

[ Will was watching.

He'd been watching, since there very first word, vacillating between emotions of relief, eagerness, hope and equal parts wariness and uncertainty. He fingers had drifted down to the buttons that would have opened a message to his friend (shush, F word applies here ) but each time he paused.

His instincts were shouting at him, overriding his desperate desire to make contact. It was just there at the edges of his awareness, the pieces of evidence starting to peel itself out of the shadows, just ...

There is was in the conversation with @tw. Some sort of raw honesty.

Confusion, realization, frustration and ... fear.

House fought against chinks in his walls, because he was a miserable bastard and also because he was afraid of that level of connection with other people. He felt beyond what he was willing to risk, and feared that intimacy. So he ran from it, built forts in order to protect himself; and now the forts were breached.

Rubbing his thumb and his forefinger across his eyes, Will weighed his options.

Part of him was gleefully eager to open the lines of communication; desperately curious and ... desperate for a kind word. Desperate for the connection he wanted to feel with House again. The connection that had been broken when he'd left; after promising to stay.

But the need was selfish, and would come at a price for his friend. A price that House would regret and Will didn't want something that would ultimately build resentment.

Taking a deep breath, Will forcefully lowered his tablet, even going so far as to shove it back into his pack. Given his own masochistic streaks, he'd probably read through what he could later, but for now he lay his head back and forced himself to focus on where he planned to experiment in next. ]

[ action ]

[rubikscomplex]

[Will--and House's--reprieve isn't long to last. House heads down through the creepy-ass skeleton tunnel and up through the trapdoor into Building 300. As soon as he lifts the trapdoor, he sees Will in his corner, Wilson, maybe some others.]

Shit!

[And down the trapdoor goes as House panics, struggles to maintain any semblance of composure in the face of people he cares about seeing him like this. As a child he'd only felt exposed after the fact, after he'd somehow managed to share more about himself with people by saying nothing than he ever would have thought possible. This, though? It's almost worse. His emotions seem to be dialed up to 11, and he can't control the expression of them or what he's saying.

There's no network to hide behind. There's only raw emotion and honesty, and he's seriously considering just... hanging on this trapdoor until he's back to himself.]

@hexappeal, text

[sleight_of_fate]

You might have broken a record there for time between getting ganked.

Welcome back. How're you feeling, and would you rather have vanilla, chocolate or raspberry coconut welcome back cake?

[rubikscomplex]

personal record
think timmy wins for the longest dead-dead

i feel like crap
which is nothing new

chocolate

unlock any new doors?

@clowncutie92; voice

[clowngirl]

You're kinda like a magic trick we've all seen too many times by now, huh?

[rubikscomplex]

okay
so it's been, like, a hundred days since the last time i died
i wasn't even trying for this one

@thebigc; text

[onlytwothings]

[ You bet your unnecessary cane Wilson is worried. But will he be saying that? Nope. ]

So you're back.

It's good to see you.

[ A pause. ]

How are you?

[rubikscomplex]

you haven't seen me
but it's good to read you
still bumming with graham?

[And then that question that makes House internally cringe, knowing he's going to be forced to be honest.]

i just woke up after car crash!cuddy murdered me
not great
are we talking, like relative levels here?
what's my scale?

@curiouschloride | text

[motherserpent]

I'm doing a cookout at the bunker tomorrow. That's pretty important.

[rubikscomplex]

isn't the bunker covered in death mold?
pretty sure it has a sprinkler system, too

@captaininvincible, text

[notaquaman]

u missed a conga line of hookers
it was a wild time
sorry m8

[rubikscomplex]

you're actually not that bad, kid

[Why? Why? He is amused, though. Undeniably so.]

sorry i missed out on the imaginary hookers

@Mnemonsyne; text

[bookofnope]

[He shouldn't rise to this but fuck you too House]

So you can cry at me later about wasting your precious painkillers? I don't think so.

[rubikscomplex]

the words you're looking for are "whine about"
and they wouldn't be mine
i've got plenty
sounds like we're gonna run outta time before i run through them
so i'm actually pretty good

although i'd still whine at you
i'm kinda a dick like that
so
fair