[log] I Think We're Alone Now [semi-open]

[rubikscomplex]

Characters: Anyone in the Bunker!
Location: Bunker, Building 326 (high school), and Building 317 (hot shower house)
Date: Day 404-409
Summary: Goings on in the bunker post-event, and travel outside for House and Will. Brought to you by this cover.
Warnings: Please add them to subject lines, but likely body horror discussions, examination of vomit.

Comments

Bunker (Day 404-409)

[rubikscomplex]

((Make your own top-levels for mingling. Open to anyone in the Bunker! Bunker location descriptions.))

[rubikscomplex]

I. Day 404 (OTA)
[He's awake, he's alive, his throat hurts like hell, and he's back from murdering ants and mold. But House is fairly confident that the ants of the Bunker have been murdered. Thoroughly. They might have outlived the humans here, but they won't outlive... whatever the hell House and everyone else are.

Will had given him the basics on waking up, and House hadn't asked beyond those, just checking his tablet and explaining about Miller's message to the other man. Now he's hanging out in Room 08 after the ant murder spree, organizing his supplies and trying not to guzzle his water while his throat feels like sandpaper. House is feeling more sociable (marginally) than he has in the days since Wilson's death, though, so he'll engage with anyone who stops in.]

C'mere and take this.

[He beckons the person and holds out an item to them. What it is varies based on what he's trying to get rid of at the moment.]

II. Day 405 (Closed to Will)
Hand me the hedge clippers. I'm gonna crack this guy's chest.

[House motions for Will to set the light down a moment and fetch the tool. The doctor is in full autopsy mode, letting the comforting familiarity of an old practice settle over him. This is the second body they're examining. House had only examined the first from the outside, but he wants to take a look inside this one to see what there is to see.]

[ex_this_ismydesign36]

[ Obediently setting down the light, Will lifted the requested tools, studied the blades and then flipped them around to offer House the handles. ]

Anyone ever tell you, you could have been a fascinating serial killer if you hadn't gone into medicine?

[ He may be appreciating House's autopsy skills, with makeshift tools, a little more than is considered socially acceptable. ]

cw: graphic description of autopsy/dissection

[rubikscomplex]

[House is wearing a mask, so when he makes a face at Will, it's only his eyebrow rising as he takes the clippers that's visible.]

You know, you're the first one to mention it. [A pause as he looks up.] Actually, I think Foreman might've mentioned something like that. 'Fascinating' wasn't the word he used though. 'Psychopath' and 'sadist' were probably in there. He's hilarious when he's trying to prove me wrong. [And handy. Out of all his fellows, Foreman is the one he wishes was here the most. The other man is a good check and balance on his own ideas. He has been since day one. Even if it's fighting tooth and nail against him, the young doctor has a way of digging up new evidence that confirms House's more wild diagnoses or leads them in a better direction.]

What nickname do you think they'd give me? The Midnight Gardener?

[He inserts one end of the clippers in just below the sternum and makes the first snip. There's a satisfying crunch of bone as the handles come together.]

I.

[clowngirl]

[Harley's throat is still sore as well, but she just can't stop talking, which is undoubtedly impeding the healing process. When House calls her over, she gladly bounces over to take the item, and replies in a croaky voice:]

Whaddya want me to do with it?

[rubikscomplex]

[Congratulations, Harley. You are now the proud owner of a choker necklace.]

Eat it. [His tone is completely deadpan, in spite of the scratchy tenor of it.] What do you think, clownette? Put it on.

I

[godsspeed]

[ Castiel does so without question, turning the object over in his hands and examining it with a sort of detached curiosity. ]

You seem better today.

[rubikscomplex]

[Castiel has acquired a set of slippers to see what he'll do with them.]

Define 'better.'

[Not lying despondently on a bed, thinking about his dead best friend. Probably.]

1

[warriorscribe]

[Enoch's been waiting outside for Angel's response as long as he can stand, and even through the layers of clothes he's acquired he's fairly well numbed. On the outside. His throat on the other hand, is a lot worse now.

Worst of all the response didn't happen. So all he can do is wander back inside and poke his head in doors along the way and ask.

Except House here spoke first. His voice is a barely audible croak but if House is reading his lips or expecting to have to decipher that, he'll be able to hear:]

Why, what-...

[Well it can't hurt him to get out of the mold for just a little bit, though he'll want to go meet back up with Beckett. He steps inside, a glance over his shoulder betraying how anxious he is to get back.]

[rubikscomplex]

[Congrats, Enoch. You are now the probable new owner of an ugly cardigan. It's relatively clean, at least!]

You look cold.

I

[ninjainviolet]

[ Sheena's awake, but exhausted, and "hoarse" doesn't even come close to how she sounds. Her throat feels beyond raw and severely damaged, and she knows she shouldn't talk, but this is Sheena... Talking and yelling are her trademarks.

Especially yelling--and she's now down to just a little bit above whispering.

She's passing by room 8 on her way to 24 to keep up Rhys' "fort" and get some more rest, when movement catches her eye and she steps in. Before she can say anything, House has called her over, and always helpful, she holds out her hand. ]

All right.

[rubikscomplex]

[Sheena is +1 Baseball Bat! Batter up!]

It's dangerous to go alone. Take this.

Night 406-Early 407, OTA

[warriorscribe]

[After over a year here, is it really so surprising that Enoch spends many nights sleepless? The pain of a torn throat and the disturbing events that just happened only makes it worse.

So he makes his way across the moldy hall to room 3, where the thoroughly disturbed corpses lie scattered from various searches. He fishes his Fruit of Wisdom out of his cloak pocket, barely enough light to cast a wan bluish glow on the first corpse he comes to as he searches the body for identification. He whispers to it, all his throat will tolerate.]

I'm sorry, I don't know what name to call you...ah, there. "Shearer" - could your ancestors have worked with sheep? How far away from that peace we've come. [He clasps both hands over the glowing blue orb he holds, as the closest to prayer he can manage without giving up his light.] I pray that if souls depart in this world that there is also a place to rest and that you have found it. May God, or whoever watches over this world, be kind and just, and protect you from further harm for all eternity.

[He arranges the corpse in as comfortable-looking a position he can manage and moves on to the next. Given that this isn't his world and he has long since accepted that, the prayer is stripped down to that basic form, may your suffering be over, and if you persist may it be in peace. He can be found here through the night, whispering his prayers to the dead over his Heavenly artifact and arranging them as respectfully as he can when he still has to stack some on top of others.

It's not particularly useful. But it's something.]

Day 409 (Closed to Zell)

[rubikscomplex]

[The world is probably ending. It's now or never on this, and House has mostly been avoiding it because he didn't want to deal with Zell's incessant perkiness. Or his pity following Wilson's death. That's behind them and House's throat is recovering, so he goes to find Zell.]

I wanna borrow your guitar.

[swatsflies]

[ If it helps, he just spent time outside screeching because ANGEL GOT LAID and also might watch people with her satellites at home. And he's kind of pondering on telling Beckett anyways.

Yeah.

So he's coming back in when he spots House. ]

Hey, man. Yeah you can, it's back in the bunk beds room.

[ He'll just wave him along as he heads there ]

[rubikscomplex]

By borrow, I mean I wanna take it to the high school or that meat hook shed so I can actually get my rock on over the network.

[Goodbye shadownet. And like hell is he standing out in the snow and jamming with as cold as it is.]

[bookofnope]

I. Day 405 - After-Event Awkward Feelings (Closed to Enoch)

[It's a definite work-don't-think kind of days, but the bunker is not conductive to those. Of all the things Beckett hates it for, this may be the worst.

There's nothing more he can do today if he wants to keep breathing. Always the mould. Always mortal limitations. He knows better than to go try a bunk bed - too many thoughts in his head, about Angel and Robert Miller and screaming and ghosts, to sleep, and he doesn't want to keep anyone awake either. He doesn't want company. Maybe he'd have liked to scream some more if he was the type, but he can't even do that. He retreats to the guard room, and paces. Back and forth, his stalking trapped wolf walk. A trench in the floor? He's going to wear a canyon.

At some point something will happen. Inevitably. Until then he just has to stay sane. Somehow.


II. Night 405 - the Rhysturn (Closed to Rhys)

[Sure, finding out that Angel was safe with her bandit buddy had taken a lot of the pressure off, but that doesn't mean that Rhys is off the hook. There is a reckoning to be had as soon as he shows his face in the bunker, no matter how sulky he looks. Beckett has been waiting. Lurking. Planning his vector of attack. He's on it as soon as Rhys is through the door.

It being a hug. An intense hug. It very possibly lifts Rhys off the floor just a little bit.

For the love of God, write a note on the jacket next time.


III. Day 408 - there goes the world (OTA)

[To lose one world may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose too looks like divine punishment.

There is plenty to do in the bunker. Exploration. Tinkering. Corpses to catalog, mould to inhale. But not today. Today Beckett's mind is elsewhere, and so, following, is he. He's been there since Angel's post. Outside, just by the door. Looking up. Looking up.

He thinks it should look familiar.]

I didn't think... [he murmurs to anyone who passes by, and if they linger, he completes the sentence, almost softly.] I didn't think it would be so overt.


IV. Days 406-409 - assume he's poking corpses and bring your own adventure!

1, of course!

[warriorscribe]

[The guard rooms, of course, house the computers necessary for the last file that Rhys has taught Enoch and Castiel to work on. Though, mostly, it's Jim or Junpei doing the work once the basic commands Enoch and Castiel have been taught fail them.

So the hacking team really isn't losing very much when Enoch notices Beckett's restless pacing. He's been distracted, himself, anyway. For his own reasons, ranging from perfectly justified to utterly silly. On the perfectly justified side of things, there's the existential breakdown Beckett had managed to spiral into. And then he recalls, on top of that, that he never told him that Angel had responded to him. No wonder he's all tension right now.

He gets up and approaches with a soft, apologetic smile.]

Beckett? I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier. She's safe. They both are.

[bookofnope]

What?!

[Regardless of anything else, Beckett thinks he will be forgiven for whirling on Enoch at the sound of that, wide-eyed. Not alarmed - nothing to be alarmed about, apparently - but suddenly bursting as the gathered tension is given direction and an outlet. Like a pin in a balloon. He grabs for Enoch's arm.]

You talked to them? Where are they?!

II: i melted

[headjacked]

[ You know what Rhys is expecting? An ass-kicking. Which is just something he's come to expect all the time, because if you expect it it can't catch you off-guard. It's. Foolproof logic! Y-yeah.

That's why he's tense as well as sulky when he sees Beckett, and even tenser when Beckett subverts expectations by grabbing him in a hug. A hug. A vampire-initiated, non-bitey hug that melts the tension in Rhys' muscles and bones and he's pretty sure he's more liquid than solid.

Until he hugs Beckett back, of course, letting out a relieved, breathy laugh. ]

Am I grounded now?

[bookofnope]

No, just sent to your room with no supper. For God's sake, Rhys. [Apparently the idea that he has the authority to ground this fully grown independent adult however noodly is a little alarming. But Beckett does clasp the hug a little tighter when it's returned. As he moves back again he pats Rhys on the back, there's-a-good-chap adult-like. Totally adults.]

But I'm serious about the note. For a bit there we thought Miller had you. Did you just head back on your own?

[Angel might be grounded for letting him do that akshually.]

Outside the Bunker (Day 406-409) (Closed to House and Will)

[rubikscomplex]

[rubikscomplex]

High School (Night 406)
[It feels good to be outside. House hadn't thought he'd ever miss trudging through the endless snow, but after being cooped up in the Bunker for more than a week with only brief breaks outside, the world is positively alight with color and interest. One thing is missing, though, the shadow people. He'd seen mention of it in Watson's update, but having the familiar black figures just... gone makes the whole place feel even emptier. Given the close quarters they've been shared, though, it's almost a relief.

They make it to the school with an hour to spare before lockdown. House leads the way to the class room with the microscope and tosses his pack and other things on the floor while he gets the equipment down.]

You notice our shadow buddies are gone out there?

Shower House (Night 407)
Rock, paper, scissors for who gets first shower?

[A shower. God he misses regular showers. They'd at least been able to wash up in the high school last night, but sink baths aren't anything like the same. They'll have a chance to wash themselves and their clothes. House is going to make the most of tonight on that front. Everything else has been work, work, work. Kill the ants, clear the mold, check the bodies, check the vomit. Discuss strategy. Tonight? Shower and relax. As much as anyone in Norfinbury can.]

Shower House

[ex_this_ismydesign36]

Unless you want me in there with you, you'll let me go first.

[ Do not call his bluff on this House, he's not bluffing. Will rarely allowed his needs to show, distracting himself with work, strategy, work, theories, work, experiments, work.

He'd managed to put the state of his clothes and himself out of his mind for their time in the bunker and then in the high school. But now? With the shower right there? Will felt like his skin was crawling and had to get out of these clothes and wash, everything; probably twice.

Bro code was not going to keep him cooling his heels. In fact, he was already starting to strip out of his layers. ]

High School - Night 408 - open to House and Will

[motherserpent]

[Coming back this way might have been a mistake, but at this point Tess is pretty sure there's no move she can make that will mitigate the level of fuckup she achieved the last time she was at the bunker. At least the worst she did after this last death was to be an asshole; if she'd gotten more people killed....

But maybe she can do something to help now. Something that isn't making a bunch of people into anomaly bait.

She isn't expecting company at the high school, though maybe she should since it's a bit of a transport hub. She arrives in the evening and goes about making herself as at home as she's likely to get, not bothering to unpack much aside from a few things she can arrange into a semblance of a bed. It's the feathered snake, Roygbiv, who first notices they have company; Tess tenses and turns sharply when she notices he's watching something behind her.]

Shit, dude! Make a little noise, will you?