Event | Turtle Dive | January 20 - 23 | Underwater zombies crave your briiiiiines

[ironwood]

Characters: Any and all PCs
Date: January 20th - 23rd
Location: All Sectors
Situation: Tu Vishan continues swimming along the ocean floor after his monumental dive, but it turns out there are a whole bunch of undead that want in on the party!
Warnings/Rating: Underwater situations, violence, potential gore; to be updated as noted.

>See the comments of this post for various situations and areas available for tagging.
>Each header will be set for a date and/or area.
>Feel free to start your own header for specific situations.
>The Palace subplot will be run in a separate log.
>Refer to the two OOC posts for further details. 01 | 02

Comments

closed → Astrid

[nolimitation]

[ An intelligent person with a sense of self-preservation would be barricaded in her home or headed to the palace to hole up right now. Olivia is... well, definitely the former - the latter is arguable - but the fact remains that when the zombies started falling, she was closer to Astrid's place than her own, going to check on her anyway, and at that point turning back seemed like a worse idea than going on ahead.

Still, by the time she makes it to Astrid's door, her hair's falling out of its ponytail, her clothes torn and slightly... scorched, and she's walking with no trace of a limp, carrying her cane in one hand more like a weapon than anything else. It has been an interesting day.

Her knock on Astrid's door is quick but light, not wanting to draw any more attention than necessary with the noise. The streets aren't exactly overrun with jiangshi, not yet, and most of the ones that are here are a bit impaired by broken limbs from their fall, but Olivia's had quite enough of them for one lifetime. ]

[thewaythatiam]

[ Astrid, for her part, has not exactly been enjoying the dive as a whole, but she did not initially realize anything new was happening until she went cautiously outside to do some shopping and one of the creatures had fallen from overhead and landed with a splat about six feet away from her.

She immediately turned back around, went inside, and locked the door.

Still, it stands to reason from what she's heard outside and what she's seen on her console that these things aren't smart enough to knock, and the length and volume of the knock suggests that it's someone trying not to draw attention to themselves by making a lot of noise.

Astrid is not exactly accustomed to using anything as a weapon, or fighting, but she picks up a rolling pin and unlocks the door before taking a step back. She was not going to risk something going at her face because she had opened the door a crack and put her eye up to it to see who was out there. You'd think she was genre savvy, but she's never watched a horror movie in her life. Not on purpose, anyway. ]

[ Just loud enough to be heard outside ] You may open the door. Please do not enter until I invite you. I am armed.

[ Yes, darling, awkwardly wielding a rolling pin at the doorway is really going to put the fear of god into whoever's on the other side. ]

[nolimitation]

[ Olivia lets out a soft breath when she hears the door unlock - Astrid's safe inside, which is something she'd worried about a little. Keeping a wary eye over her shoulder, she pushes the door open and lets it swing inward without making a move to step inside. She even holds her hands up, palms out, cane dangling from her fingers - though they drop a little as she realizes what Astrid meant by 'armed'. ]

Astrid. It's me. [ Her voice is soft and reassuring, a hint of a smile touching her lips. She is not mocking the rolling pin. Really. ]

[thewaythatiam]

[ Astrid is not prone to what most people would consider "normal" physical reactions to things by her very nature, but her relief is evident enough in the way she lowers the rolling pin and releases just the tiniest bit of tension in her shoulders. It's not so evident on her face, since she's still looking a bit like a rabbit caught in the sights of a cat, but still. Relief. ]

You may come in, Agent Dunham, please close and lock the door behind you.

[nolimitation]

[ Olivia nods a quick thank you before stepping forward, lowering her cane and pulling it quickly closed behind her. As soon as it's locked, she moves away from the door and the windows, eyeing the latter like she's trying to decide if they need to be blocked off. Maybe if they just stay quiet and out of sight... ]

Thank you. I'm sorry to come by unannounced in the middle of... [ She waves a hand toward the door. ] This. I just wanted to check in and make sure you're okay, and things got a little complicated on my way over.

[thewaythatiam]

I appreciate the sentiment and your presence, thank you.

[ she returns her rolling pin to the drawer in which it belongs ] I am glad you are okay as well. Why do you have a cane? Did you injure yourself?

Would you like some water? [ Apropos of nothing. ]

[nolimitation]

[ Olivia starts a little, looking at her cane like she's only just realized she's holding it. Right. That. She forgot, for just a moment, in the rush of adrenaline and fear and the certainty that she was going to die, that she was injured - and when she remembered, her leg didn't hurt anymore, her knee didn't give out when she tried to take a step... and she still doesn't understand how that happened.

Then again, she also doesn't understand how she lit a pack of zombies on fire (even when the obvious explanation, that Jones was right, keeps coming back to her), so maybe that's not the biggest question right now. ] It's a long story. I was hurt, but, um... I think I'm better now.

[ A pause, and a slightly tense smile. ] Water sounds great, thank you.

[thewaythatiam]

[ ...Yeah, Astrid doesn't understand "normal" people sometimes. She's not gonna ask about the reaction to the cane or anything, because she honestly doesn't know what the heck and there's only a 4% chance that it's significant at this time.]

I am glad that you have healed from your injury.

[ she gets a glass of water for herself and for Olivia, and glances around trying to figure out where to set it down before just presenting it (oh-so-uncertainly) to Olivia.

She's not used to having company. ]

Here.

[nolimitation]

[ Olivia accepts the glass with a warm smile. This Astrid's awkwardness is a little baffling, her clear lack of understanding of other people more so, but... she seems sweet. ] Thank you.

[ She pauses for a moment, studying her before she says anything else. ] I wanted to ask... are you okay here? Aside from- [ She gestures to the window. ] -whatever's happening out there... I know it's a lot to adjust to.

[thewaythatiam]

[ She'll understand better if she asks. She never had to, before, because she had enough of the other Olivia's memories left, and Astrid's Olivia knows her deal. Just ask, Olivia. It'll be for the best. ]

[ Astrid hesitates, though her expression doesn't change. ] I was attempting to settle into a new routine, though this most recent turn of events has made that more difficult. I have started to learn how to bake with a young man named Peeta he has similar difficulties with a lack of routine, stemming from different root causes. I think he is my friend but I am not sure.

[ she pauses briefly, then adds ] I am doing my best. I believe it will take some time.

[nolimitation]

Is there anything I can do to help, at all? I'm not sure...

[ She hesitates for a second, trying to find a way to phrase it that's not insulting or upsetting or... she really doesn't know. ]

My Astrid, she's... different. From you. I'm sure you know that already, maybe you've met her, but... What I mean is, I don't know what you need, but if there's anything I can do, all you have to do is ask. Honestly.

[thewaythatiam]

Yes. She is normal. I am not. It is actually quite interesting to think that the environment we were conceived in resulted in such differences.

[ Astrid hesitates, obviously not really sure how to proceed. She likes Olivia. Olivia doesn't understand her but unlike her father, she thinks Olivia would LIKE to. While she'd never needed it spelled out before, there was more familiarity between them, at least as far as Astrid's differences to normal people went.

She is quite capable of spelling this out. Yes. It is not frightening, because she knows Olivia only means well in asking. ]

I... do not think you can provide anything I require. I require stability, the ability to withdraw if I am over-stimulated, a routine. I do not require a schedule as I am very used to unusual working hours but I do require a certain sequence of events that repeat daily and weekly in order to feel secure.