tushanshu_logs | rough winds do shake the darling buds of may

Entry tags:

rough winds do shake the darling buds of may | open, with starters

Characters: ~~Eyebrow Squad~~ Gene, Jackie, Deon, and you!
Date: Throughout May
Location: Keeliai and the rest of the shell
Situation: General May drama and doings for Eyebrow Squad.
Warnings/Rating: None initially, but subject to change.

A. [Gene] Midnight Hotel | May 2 | closed to Tony

Gene hadn't taken the disappearance of the new influx of Foreigners well. But he'd taken it better than he'd expected; he'd always known, in his heart, that Bianca being back had been too good to be true. And Amelia hadn't returned, either. He'd been seized with a rather unusual and rather unfortunate sensation of missing all his friends who'd come and gone from Keeliai.

And it occurs to him that Tony might be feeling even worse. Howard had been swept away too. Gene hadn't been particularly heartbroken to see him gone - he still isn't too sure where he stands with the man - but he knows Tony's devastated by it. So he's tried to be as supportive as possible. He doesn't like seeing Tony upset.

B. [Gene] Sky Sector | early-mid May | open

Gene's been going around the Sky Sector and helping finalize some of the construction, making himself known among the kedan in the area, checking out the stalls in the artisan area. Sometimes he's putting the finishing touches on the little house he'd built for himself and Tony, and if he's not actively using tools - or secretly using the orange ring to manipulate matter, honing his control of it - he's probably open to talking.

C. [Jackie] Teahouse in the Water Sector | early-mid May | open

When he's not doing Snake stuff, Jackie's become quite fond of hanging out in a little teahouse in the Water Sector. Most of the time he has his Snake badge off, not wanting to intimidate any of the kedan, and just enjoying a quiet cup of tea. Tea had never really been his...well...his cup of tea, back home, but here he was starting to enjoy it.

D. [Deon] Metal Sector | early-mid May | open

Deon, meanwhile, is scouting out any technology he can find, buying up scrap wherever he can find it and writing out code by hand in a cheap notebook. Even if he can't test it, it's at least a decent exercise.

He's been dissuaded from dismantling a console - but he really wants to know how they work. Not worth pissing off the kedan, though; he's heard they don't take well to that.

But it looks like he knows what he's doing, or at least what he's after, either sitting on a bench and going over his handwritten code, the end of a pen in his mouth, or haggling with some kedan over some busted piece of looted Foreigner tech.

E. [Deon] Fire Sector | May 16 | closed to Shay

Deon's tired, and in need of a drink. He doesn't normally drink, but he's interested in seeing more of the kedan culture, and he figures that's worth the price of a beer or the local equivalent. Thus he sits at the bar, drinking an oddly sweet concoction that still has a mildly alcoholic fire to it, occasionally writing in his notebook as more ideas occur to him.

F. [Gene] House Iron Dragon | May 8 | closed to Tony

Tony's been acting weird the past day or so - more cagey than usual. Something's up, but Gene hasn't deduced what yet.

"You okay?" he asks, setting a mug of tea down in front of Tony, some concern in his voice. Still mopey over Howard, perhaps? The grief happens in waves, he knows that well.

G. [Deon] Stark Industries | late April | closed to NPCs

The staff at Stark Industries has been busy of late, but not too busy to finally see Deon for a job interview. He hasn't had one since college, so he's a little apprehensive, and visibly fidgeting.

H. [Deon] Wood Sector | mid-May | closed to China and Shay

Deon should really know better than to cut through gang territory by now. As it is, he's been cornered by some kedan from a smaller gang who are pushing him around and demanding his juulan. For someone so tall, he's a bit shit at defending himself or being at all imposing.

I. [Gene] Sky Sector / Earth Sector | early May 9 | closed to Skul

Once Gene manages to get his heart down from pounding like hell in his head, he grabs his radio and makes a call to Skul, like he'd promised Tony.

"Skul? I know it's late, but I need your help."

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Tony thinks he hears the door slam open and Gene calling his name - then again, he's been hearing Gene calling his name a lot in the past couple hours, and and only some of those were radio calls. He's having a hard time keeping a grip on what's real and what's hallucinations, at this point.

But just in case it is real, he groans weakly. He can't manage anything more than that, but at least Gene will know he's not dead yet.

...He isn't, is he? Would he even know it if he was? If their 'souls' really do stick around and get re-corporealized... maybe he's stuck in some kind of horrible dream limbo, waiting for somebody to figure out how to put him back in his body. That's an awful thought. If this is what limbo feels like, he thinks he'd rather be dead for real.

Edited 2015-06-19 02:44 (UTC)

Gene rushes to the bed when he hears the groan, finding Tony sprawled out in a mess of covers. It looks like a blanket bomb went off, and Tony looks like hell. He tries to push down the panic and move, his hand still clenching the soul gem tightly, painfully, his arm half-numb from the shocking. He forces his numbed hand to release the bracelet; he's not the one it's meant for, and it's hurting him because he's not good enough, because he failed.

"Please be okay, please," he says, slipping the bracelet onto Tony's wrist.

Gene grabs Tony's hand and slides something onto his wrist; Tony figures that probably means he's real.

"Gene?" he mumbles, blinking groggily. The light still hurts when he opens his eyes, but he can already feel his head beginning to clear. He looks down at his wrist and sees his bracelet, pretty beat up, but intact. "You found it." He sighs in relief and summons up a smile for Gene. "You're the best."

He shifts in his tangle of blankets until he can prop himself up on one elbow, and runs a shaky hand through his hair. "Wow, that works fast." Like, intravenous-morphine-fast. His headache and the weird hot-cold feeling of a high fever are subsiding, and he doesn't feel dizzy anymore. He still aches all over, but that's starting to taper off too.

Edited 2015-06-19 06:10 (UTC)

When Tony opens his eyes and smiles at him, Gene sags in relief (and exhaustion), finally letting himself relax for the first time in days. What Tony says barely registers to him, but he's alive, he's looking like he's going to be okay, and that's all that matters.

"I'm sorry, I tried to find it faster, but we kept running into these dead ends, and..."

His hand still hurts where the gem had been shocking him, and he flexes his fingers, trying to bring some life back into them. "I'm sorry," he says, hanging his head, half-collapsed on the bed.

"Hey, it's okay," Tony says, even though talking is still kind of a lot of effort. "You found it. I told you it would be okay." He sits up a little more and puts his arms around Gene - his muscles are too weak to make it much of a hug, so it's more like he drapes himself over Gene's shoulders. "It's okay."

Now that Gene's finally allowed himself to relax, he's not about to try and argue with Tony. He's barely even about to try and move. It's okay, Tony says, and for the first time in days he lets himself believe that. He's still got a little more strength than Tony, and awkwardly hugs him back.

The gem had hurt him - he was clearly unworthy to handle it - but at least Tony didn't seem to hate him for taking so long.

As awkward a hug as it is, Tony makes no attempt to extricate himself from Gene's arms. It's a comfort that he's sorely missed over the last three days.

He waits for his head to clear some more, and then murmurs, "Guess neither of us has gotten much sleep or food for a while, huh?" Tony's been too sick to rest or eat, and he doubts Gene had been taking good care of himself while looking for his gem. "You hungry?" Tony isn't, really, but he thinks he's starting to feel okay enough that he could stomach some food, now.

Edited 2015-06-20 04:35 (UTC)

"Not really," Gene says, but he knows he needs to eat. He'd been too anxious to think about eating or sleeping, and his other usual method of gauging when it was time to eat - watching the people around him - had fallen through. As a living skeleton, Skul had no need for food, and so the thought had barely crossed Gene's mind, except when he'd found himself beginning to get dizzy.

Just then, his stomach growls, as though reminded of food's existence. "I guess I am, actually. You?"

"Sure," Tony lies. Whether or not he wants to eat, he needs to: he hasn't had anything substantial in more than a day. And maybe he'll rediscover his appetite once he starts eating.

"Maybe just... some toast, or that oatmeal-y stuff, to start." Something bland at first, definitely. He'll see if he's up to anything more once he's gotten that down.

"I'll go get some," Gene says. Hell, he'll even toast the bread with the fire ring to make it go faster, just so Tony eats.

"Do you want me to get it now, or do you want to wait a bit?" He's still scared that this rally is only temporary, that the moment he leaves something terrible will happen again.

"Yeah, now's good." Tony reluctantly disentangles himself from Gene, and flops back down on the bed to await the coming of toast.

"Make some for you, too," he reminds Gene. Knowing Gene, he'll probably continue to starve himself unless Tony bothers him about it.

Gene makes a noncommittal noise and gets up from the bed to go make food. He's not certain he'll eat; he's not really feeling up to it. But if Tony can stomach food, then he surely can, too.

He returns after about ten minutes with both some toast and some of 'that oatmeal-y stuff'. Hey, if Tony'll eat it, then that's reason enough to have made it. He needs to get his strength back, after all.

By the time Gene gets back, Tony still feels crappy, but normal hasn't-eaten-or-slept-properly-in-a-day crappy, not dying-from-horrible-soul-disease crappy. So, definitely an improvement. He eats the oatmeal first, without much enthusiasm, but it doesn't upset his stomach, so he moves on to the toast.

Once he's polished that off, he still doesn't feel hungry - but he doesn't feel sick or full, either, so he says, "I think I could eat some more. Do you want to make real dinner?"

Gene's opted to leave all the oatmeal to Tony; he has no stomach for it on his better days, and right now it seems appalling. And he does eat some toast, though maybe not enough to get Tony to stop worrying. It's hard to eat; his stomach is in knots, still.

"I'm not that hungry," he demurs, "but I can make you some."

"I'll only eat it if you eat some too," Tony insists, giving Gene a stubborn look that tries to be a glower but ends up more like a pout. He is worrying about Gene, now that he has the energy to be worried about something other than dying. And he's not going to let Gene get away with not eating.

Great. Now Tony's got that stubborn set to his jaw and Gene knows he won't get out of this one. He doesn't really have the energy to, anyway.

"I'll try. Come on. What do you think you can eat?"

Tony makes a dissatisfied "Hmph." That'll have to do for now, though: he can pester Gene more once the food is actually made.

"Dunno. Whatever's around. Everything you make is good." He may not be hungry, per se, but he's not feeling bad enough that he'll turn down Gene's cooking.

Gene smiles, a little wanly. "Thanks for the compliment." He doesn't have the energy to make anything complex, but something with protein will probably do the both of them some good.

"Do you want to come with me?" he asks. He doesn't want to leave Tony alone, but if he's not feeling up to it, it's not like Gene won't make food. He'll just be worried while he does it.

He's just stating the facts, Gene. You're a good cook.

Tony thinks about Gene's question for a couple seconds, assessing how he feels, before deciding, "Yeah, I'll come." He stands, slowly and shakily, but under his own power. Once he's up, though, he reaches out for Gene to steady himself - he's not sure he can make it all the way to the kitchen on his own.

"Okay," he says bravely, "good to go."

Gene reaches for Tony in turn, helping to steady him. It's a good sign that Tony's at least able to get up under his own power, even if he can't quite get to walking yet.

"Let's go," Gene says, and leads him to the kitchen.

Once they're there, he pokes around for something easy to make that will still be good. He is actively avoiding the entire concept of a sandwich for reasons of his own.

Or they could just scavenge leftovers. "You think anyone's especially attached to this?" he asks, indicating half of a roasted version of the local chicken analogue.

The walk to the kitchen had been a little much: Tony's muscles feel watery and he's lightheaded. Nothing serious, but he's glad to be sitting again.

"Not if there's no label on it," he says, peering around Gene into the fridge. He's been operating on the principle of 'no name = up for grabs' for the past few months, and no one has left him angry notes or tried to poison him so far.

"Right. I'll replace it in the morning," Gene says, going for a knife to carve it up and portion it onto plates. He also finds something that resembles a potato salad, and doles that out too.

"You want it hot?" Much like roast Earth-chicken, this stuff is pretty good cold. Anyone who says otherwise is lying to you.

Wow. That's so conscientious of you, Gene. Tony never does that. Though that's probably for the best, since if he did, people would probably think he was trying to poison them.

"Cold's fine." Cold chicken is easy on the stomach - and he thinks food will help the shakiness, so the sooner he eats, the better.

It's a wonder you haven't really been killed yet, Tony.

"Okay," Gene says, and slides a plate in front of Tony, along with a fork. "Let me know if that works for you."

Tony smiles gratefully and stars nibbling at the food. The approximately-chicken tastes approximately like chicken, so no surprises there, but the potato salad is unexpectedly tasty. Once the first few bites have settled and he's sure it's not going to make him sick, he eats with more enthusiasm.

"It's good. What are you gonna have?" Don't think you're getting off the hook, Gene.

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