[network] @CaptSteveRogers; so many regrets; morning 57; video [open] [cw: illness, Clayton's toes]

[starsandtights]

[The entry opens to Steve looking like warmed-over shit.]

Do not. Under any circumstances. Set fire to— [Coughing fit.] —Do not set fire to the furniture. Or the floorboards. Don't do it. The wood's treated with... something. [Cough cough.] Nasty black smoke, it's—horrible, nasty stuff. Been sick every since we breathed it in. I haven't slept, not really. Coughing— [COUGH cough cough.] —coughing too much. Still feeling terrible. Other symptoms include— [He squeezes his eyes shut, and is silent for a few moments, looking deeply unwell.] Nausea. Dizziness. Coughing up black stuff. [He opens his eyes, and looks into the camera, shaking his head.] Don't do it.

Not feeling awesome about going for a hike today, but we're going to try to take a half day's walk up north of here. I'm told— [COUGH] —there's a house up there, west of the school, with hot water? [He closes his eyes for another wave of dizziness.] That sounds nice.

[Steve has a bit of a longer coughing fit, which he covers with his hand; nasty, body-wracking, wet-sounding coughs. When he's done he makes a pained/disgusted face and wipes at his mouth with his hand, leaving a blackish smear at the corner of his mouth.]

Nothing much else to report, except that we found some. Um. Severed toes in the corner of the room. So that's. Unsettling. [Cough cough.] Went outside earlier, dug a little hole, buried them. [He smiles humorlessly at the camera.] ...So, as you can tell, I'm having an excellent day today.

Try to have a better day, Norfinbury. Don't burn the furniture. [COUGH.]

[Transmission ends.]

((OOC: Rydia and Beckett are of course welcome to jump in with action comments/threads if they like. <3))

Comments

@Spoiler ; video

[spoileralert]

Well damn, there go my plans to burn this stupid place to the ground.

[ She's joking! Probably. Not even probably. She means every word. ]

permavideo

[starsandtights]

[Trying to laugh, but more like, coughing happily.]

Wait for a stiff breeze and stand upwind?

[spoileralert]

Or at least plan not to move for a day or two. Do I need to send Clayton after you?

[starsandtights]

Ehhhhhhh, I dunno, don't think I'm about to keel over quite yet.

[spoileralert]

You kinda sound like you are.

audio; @hotstud_xxx

[rubikscomplex]

[Toes, did you say?]

These wouldn't have been the toes of a burly, 30-something white guy who doesn't know how to avoid frostbite, would they? Just asking. For a friend.

Also, it sounds like you've got the same thing Count Dracula had. Good to know the mold's immune to burning. Thanks for taking one for the team, Cap.

audio

[starsandtights]

[Hey look, it's that Doctor Hot Stud guy everyone talks about!]

Uh. They could be. ...Oh hey, are those Clayton's toes? [Steve knows he had frostbite and a medical intervention by the admin, and those toes looked kinda... yeah. Frostbitey.]

You're welcome. [Cough cough COUGH.] ...Sorry, Beckett mold what now?

[Someone called him Cap! Steve has unexpected warm fuzzies about this.]

audio - @claytonator - threadjack!!

[dr_unconscious]

[There's a very gentle, quiet cough, out of habit for interrupting just as much as it is to ease his own nerves.]

Uh...yeah. Yeah, those're mine.

[Awkward.]

Sorry. I, ah--I thought we burned those. The corner a the room, you said?

audio

[rubikscomplex]

Can't even give your toes a proper funeral, Epps? [He mock-tuts.

Steve should really not feel warm fuzzies where House is concerned, though. No one should.]

You probably want to ask the vomitpire. He had a nice encounter with the black mold, too. Caught a weird sort of pneumonia for a while. Left before that cleared up, but I'm sure Epps here can play nursemaid again if we run into you.

permaudio

[starsandtights]

Uh-huh. Well, Clayton, I'm sure you'd be relieved to know that they are at rest now. And yep, the very corner.

...Huh. [Steve coughs a few times while he thinks about this.] I'll be sure to ask him. I dunno about black mold, though? I mean this place is kinda... damp, but the only mold I really see is on the couch. And the stuff we burned was pretty dry. You should've seen the smoke, it was like— [Sorry, hold the phone for a massive, wet-sounding fit of coughing.] ...Ugh. Sorry. ...The smoke was like burning tires or something. I can't imagine mold would do that.

action

[starsandtights]

Steve waves to get Beckett's attention, frowning and mouthing Mold?? at him.

[bookofnope]

Someone just had to bring up the mold. From his own little corner of unhappiness - less cold fear this time, more resigned frustration - Beckett just offers a shrug. Yes that happened. No he is not talking about it. Especially not where the Good Doctor Hotstud might hear him.

[starsandtights]

Steve gives him a Look, but goes back to his conversation.

Later, when the Docs are off the line, though...

"...So, what the heck was he on about with the mold?"

Steve's nosiness powers cannot be stopped that easily, sorry Beckett.

[bookofnope]

"What?" Is this conversation still happening? Does it absolutely have to? Beckett opens one eye where he sits, back against a corner. Might as well get it over with.

"They told you. I explored a house that was overgrown with black mold. It made me ill for a week or so. That was six days ago. Then yesterday you two wanted a fire."

He hates you both so much.

voice; @blacksuit

[luckystarlimit]

Sorry you had to find out the hard way but thanks for sharing. Try not to travel too far if you can, but hopefully the fresh air will help. Better than sticking around in a house full of fumes, anyway.

voice

[starsandtights]

Yeah, we're definitely not going to stay here. I'll leave the door open so hopefully— [Cough cough.] —hopefully the air will clear itself out.

I fully expect the hike to be awful, but hot water will be worth it, I think. We'll be sure to take it easy for a while once we get there.

voice

[luckystarlimit]

That'll help until nightfall, at least. And hot water definitely sounds like something worth travelling for.

permavoice

[starsandtights]

It's a small room, and the chimney's in good shape, a few hours oughtta do it.

[He sort of cough-chuckles weakly.]

Oh boy. Now that I know the hot shower exists, there's no illness or monsters or blizzards that could stop me, let me tell you.

audio; @standardissue

[deus_ex_phs]

[...oh. Oh. The toes. In the wake of that incredibly awkward night, he forgot...

Kunsel's voice comes through the feed sounding completely chagrined.]

Ah... Sorry about that. We found those after the doors had locked, then... things came up. [Awkward things.] I guess I forgot to deal with them.

Wait, was it that house that you burned the floorboards in?

@Mnemosyne; text; inevitable threadjack

[bookofnope]

You could at least have left a note. "Not an important discovery", "later addition to the site", "property of Dr. Clayton Epps". At least "sorry for the toes".

text

[deus_ex_phs]

[He is gladly going to switch to text to match.]

I didn't know whose toes they were.

And I intended to deal with them in the morning. I just forgot. I'm sorry.

[bookofnope]

I suppose ignorance must be an excuse. We can't be expected to keep track of all the loose body parts around this town. Although in this case you might have asked - I'm sure Clayton would have appreciated knowing what his toes are doing with strange men while he isn't there.

audio

[starsandtights]

[Cough cough cough.] Not a problem, Kain. What's a couple of severed toes between friends? [He's grinning weakly; the amusement should be clear in his voice.]

Yep. Fireplace, only one room, moldy couch? There was some real firewood too but not a lot, so... [Short pause while he rides out a wave of dizziness.] So we started looking for other things to burn. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

...But hey I found a nice fireplace poker, so there's that. Silver lining?

[deus_ex_phs]

[Steve gets a weak answering smile in return, though he won't be able to see it.]

Bet you still wish I hadn't shared.

I'm wondering if it's something all the houses are treated with, or just an issue with that house. The floors were soft. Might be that whatever made them like that was the real problem.

I'm willing to bet that someone else has tried burning furniture here before. Could be worth it to compare notes.

Threadhacking with Steve's permission. Sorry?

[blessedmaiden]

[She actually smiles a bit when she hears the name and leans on Steve's shoulder to look at the camera. Hello Kain, enoy the sight of a woman who has the messiest green hair, a pale skin and a running nose, because in snowhell we're ugly and proud to look like trash. She waves her hand in direction of the screen.]

Just... [Cough cough] If you want to try and burn forniture do it outside [Cough] You could check house by house like that. I'd love to have some valid tool to see if it's not the metal but whatever [Cough cough] created this smoke that keeps the monsters away.