FEBRUARY 2021 EVENT: PART TWO

[robbies]

 

CHAPTER TWO, PART 2: THE LIVING ISLAND

Everything you never wanted to see.

YOU CAN’T DO A LITTLE BECAUSE YOU CAN’T DO ENOUGH | JUST A DREAM FROM YESTERDAY | DARKNESS HELD ITS BREATH | YOUR FRIENDS WHEN THINGS GET ROUGH | COME AND PLAY WITH ME

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YOU CAN'T DO A LITTLE BECAUSE YOU CAN'T DO ENOUGH

Perhaps you’ve been on tenterhooks since you woke up to find that your friends, your family, your neighbors somehow went missing in the night. Perhaps you’ve been hitting the pavement and knocking on doors trying to find them. So far, your efforts have been for naught. There’s been neither hide nor hair of the missing, and every attempt to find them has met with a dead end.

Until February 13.

In the afternoon, a strange, unsigned message goes live on the network. What is the meaning of “Living Island”? Does it have anything to do with what’s going on? There’s no elaboration… until midnight, when every neighbor’s television set turns on at full volume, hissing static and garbled noise as the dials turn and adjust. Several disjointed clips follow, ending on a mural that depicts the same words from the post.

“Living Island.”

The following morning, you’ll find that stranger things are beginning to happen. Some of you will be woken up to the blankets and sheets being yanked off your sleeping bodies by a powerful force. Others will find that when they step out of their morning shower, a message has been written in the steam on their medicine cabinet's mirror. Depending on how quickly you shower, you may only be able to see part of the message — but running the hot water longer and allowing the steam to fill the room will reveal it in its entirety:

“LIVING ISLAND.”

As time passes, you’ll find that the same message shows up every time the bathroom steams up, whether you’re in the shower or not. The same force that turned your TV on seems to insist that you pay attention to what it’s trying to show you, and its behavior escalates the longer you refuse. Characters will find that books go flying off of bookshelves, drawers are yanked out of dressers and desks, and breakable objects are smashed. Trying to prevent the spirit from destruction won’t go your way: If you try to catch or grab something that’s about to be thrown, you’ll find it ripped out of your hands anew and smashed anyways. If you tried to take all of your chairs down from where they’ve been stacked on top of the dining room table, you’ll find they’re back atop it the instant you look away.

All that’s to say nothing of the rumbling. It doesn’t start until the end of the first day, but from time to time you’ll feel the house beginning to shake on its foundations, a dull groan as it struggles to keep itself from collapsing in under its own weight. As time goes on, this will get louder and louder until the house seems to roar of its own accord, an unyielding shriek that can’t be stopped until the force causing it backs down.

Attempts to make contact with the spirit will never go well. It does not seem to be able or willing to communicate with you beyond its own tantrums, and characters who try may find that the attempt rapidly goes out of control. Candles flare up and burn wildly, Ouija boards are ripped into pieces and planchettes go flying, offerings of food are knocked over or thrown, and the lights flicker manically in turns. While you may be able to get some sleep at night if you’re lucky, the only thing that will reduce the poltergeist activity is to pay attention to the message it’s sending you and figure out what it means.

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JUST A DREAM FROM YESTERDAY

Living Island. If ever there were a first step to stopping this madness, it’s figuring out what those words mean. But starting is always the hardest part, and with nothing else to go by than two seemingly unrelated, nonsensical words left behind by a force you can’t see much less communicate with, an already arduous task seems even more impossible. This is furthered by the reactions you get when you hit the street and start asking people if they know anything about Living Island. Most of them can only look back at you blankly, as if waiting for a punchline that never comes. Others actually take you seriously enough to consider the question, and to their credit, they do take their time racking their brains to remember where they’ve heard that name before, why it sounds so familiar. But the most you’ll get back from them is a sheepish shrug of the shoulders and a reply that it sounds like something from TV. It gets to the point where their answers blend together, each one more unremarkable than the last. Save for the one you get from the last person you haven’t asked. Living Island. I’m sorry, what was that? What the fuck did you just say? Dale Harding and Rosemary Craven might be as far away from each other as possible, doing things around town that couldn’t be more different, but their reactions are the same. When they overhear you asking what feels like the hundredth person you’ve seen that day about Living Island, they look your way — Harding in the middle of his patrol or lunch break, Rosemary in the middle of grocery shopping. Harding looks honest-to-God surprised. Rosemary simply looks confused, even somewhat concerned. That's such a... strange name. Where did you hear that from? When they hear your explanation, they go quiet, mulling it over. Rosemary’s expression turns thoughtful. Harding’s, suspicious. If I remember correctly, that was a clubhouse the children around town used to play in. I haven’t heard about it in… goodness, I can’t even remember. Years, perhaps. It’s a play on “safety island” — another name for a bomb shelter — and the name of this… stupid kids show that used to be popular. I guess they thought it was cute, calling a place like that something fun. But where is it? Well, most of the shelters in town are still in use, and children aren’t allowed in them unless there’s an emergency. The only place I can think of is… The grade school. Administration ran out of funding before they could finish it, so they just scrapped it. Closed it off and just hoped for the best. Didn’t stop people from sneaking in. I used to bust them for playing down there all the time, the little shits. Harding’s mouth twists into a sneer that doesn’t reach his eyes, which are soft and miserable, while Rosemary waits patiently for any other questions and, when you have no others, excuses herself to go back to her groceries. Now you have something even better than an explanation: you have a destination.

Finding Santa Rosita Elementary is as easy as a fifteen minute drive from North Santa Rosita to Shadyside. Getting in is a different story. By day, the school is open for business and humming with activity, so you can’t very well go barging in and not expect to be reprimanded for disrupting class. This leaves you with three options: go before it opens, wait until school is over, or come in the middle of the night. Each have their own pros and cons, but all of them will get you the same result.

After hours, the school is desolate and still. The wind, the occasional slap of a naked branch against a window, and the squeak of your footsteps on the shiny, clean floors are the only sounds you’ll hear as you navigate the empty hallways. Most of the classrooms are locked, and the ones that aren’t don’t have anything any more unique or worthwhile to them than the occasional lunchbox left behind by a student or the classroom frog croaking in its tank. In a way, this is a good thing — it doesn’t leave that many places to investigate and makes your path that much more linear as you finally, inevitably and silently make your way downstairs into the bowels of the school.

The long corridor that awaits you in the basement is, in theory, not very different from the hallways upstairs. There are lockers lining both sides, dented and darkened with age and dust. The tiles are cracked, dirt and pieces of stone kicked up from exposed areas of the floor. Seemingly, this appears to lead to a dead end. But look closely at the wall and you’ll see the impression of a door, painted to match the walls. The lock is flimsy — in fact, depending on when you find it, someone may have already broken it. All that’s left is to enter and descend down the tiny room’s only feature: a ladder under a rusty steel hatch door, stretching down into darkness.

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DARKNESS HELD ITS BREATH

CW: gore, surgery

Stepping into the old shelter, the first thing that hits you is the stale, uncomfortably moist air. This first room is cavernous and dark, and your footsteps and whispers echo in spite of how quiet you might try to be. There’s a faint smell in the air, a trace of copper and rubbing alcohol that might make your eyes water, making your mouth feel unpleasant as it hits your tongue. As you get your bearings and begin to pick your way through the dark, you’ll notice traces of another smell — something simultaneously spicy and cloyingly sweet, a scent that seems to assault your senses and leaves you with a headache pounding at the base of your skull. Thankfully, there isn’t enough to do more than make you nauseous, but the smells warn of what’s still yet to be found.

As you continue through the labyrinthine warren, you’ll begin to find signs of human presence — some of the trashed rooms may be fitted with tables and supplies one might expect to find in a laboratory, meticulously labeled with typewritten strips. Several of these boxes appear to be old, covered in grimy layers of dust, while others are fresh and clean. All of them contain medical supplies. Eagle-eyed investigators might note that the untouched supplies tend to be the type contained in first-aid kits — acetaminophen, antibiotic ointment, simple adhesive bandages — while the ones that have been opened are for heavy duty surgical work — coiled IV lines and tubing, empty syringes, surgical gloves. One room in particular seems to have been fitted out for someone’s personal use, boasting a stripped-down bed, a chair and desk, and a comfortable recliner.

The trickle of water can be heard in the depths of the shelter, and as you emerge from one corridor that filters into a large chamber, it becomes immediately obvious where you are: This is an operating theater, with a table stationed beneath all manner of lights that can be adjusted and moved. A faucet drips monotonously in the back of the room, over a sink stained with blood with bits of grey, pulpy matter stuck in the drain. A bucket filled with blood and viscera ferments on the ground beside it. There are smears of blood, both dried and fresh, on the cloudy tiles, and a cabinet full of surgical instruments is slightly ajar. Looking at the instruments, characters will find that a couple of scalpels and a pair of tongs have dotted blotches where the metal was cleaned with water; whoever used these tools last didn’t dry them before putting them away. A small table near the operating area has a turntable sitting atop it, with a record already set under the needle: a single of Elvis Presley’s “Heartbreak Hotel.” There are a few other records sitting in the cabinet beneath it, including Big Mama Thornton’s “Hound Dog,” Frank Sinatra’s “Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely,” and James Brown and the Famous Flames’ “Think!”

In a separate area of this room, an oversized desk is piled with books and empty food containers that look as though they’ve been repurposed for one reason or another. These books are chiefly on anatomy and the medical sciences, though there are a number of books on psychology and how the brain functions. Though some of these books are water-spotted and dog-eared, there aren’t any notes written in the margins, nor are there any papers to be found. You can turn this area as much as you'd like, but all you’ll find is a couple empty cigarette boxes and some broken and bitten pens; the trash can next to the desk, filled with soggy ashes, seems to suggest that any papers that might have given you a lead were destroyed before you got here.

But the lab, with all its instruments, isn’t what you came here to find. There’s still at least one more room to be found…

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YOUR FRIENDS WHEN THINGS GET ROUGH

CW: gore, surgical trauma, amputation, lobotomy, brainwashing and interrogation, mouth trauma, eye trauma, ear trauma, body horror

The missing are being held in small, sturdy cages in a single room connected to the back of the operating room, dim and dank. The cages are placed equidistant around the room, ensuring that even if you try, you can’t reach out and make contact with your neighbors. The missing will find that they wake at approximately the same time, curled up on the ground in uncomfortable positions. Unlike your rescuers, your nightmare began far earlier than when you first awoke in this room, sore and disoriented. In fact, you could argue it started the moment you went to sleep on February 9th, leaving empty beds and concerned family members behind.

With no clocks or watches available to tell the time, you may not be able to tell how long you’ve been here. You sleep and wake, sometimes to a bowl of what looks like sticky rice lying in your cage that wasn’t there before. Sometimes, an overpowering smell will fill the room, faint at first; by the time you register it, it’s already overwhelmed you and sent you into a deep sleep. And when you wake, one cage will be empty. The inhabitant will be returned the next time you go to sleep and wake up, but not quite the same as they were before. They seem heavily drugged, discombobulated — or perhaps there's something visibly different about them. Whoever has taken you is doing a lot of work in their lab — and from the smell of things, meat work — and before long almost all of you will be sporting dressings of some type or other, fresh red seeping through the sterile cloth within a matter of hours.

Maybe you should try to keep each others’ spirits up. You don’t know how long you’ll be here, after all.

All of this goes on for a while — days, although it won’t be easy to count them given that there are no windows in the room. But nearly a week later… you wake to find that the front of your cage is unlocked. Unlatched. Open just an inch. Looking around the room, you’ll find that yours is not the only cage to have been opened — all of your cages have been unlocked.

Is it a mistake? Or are you really free?

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COME AND PLAY WITH ME

CW: blood and violence

Whether you’ve released yourself from your cage, or were discovered by a well-meaning friend before you could, or you’ve simply had your fill of exploring the shelter-turned-laboratory, the time has finally come to leave. Unfortunately, if things were that easy, you wouldn’t even be around by the time the scuttling sounds begin — somewhere down the hall, in the room behind you, fleeting and sly. It’s not an animal sound, a creature picking its way through the garbage and debris littered around the shelter. No, with the way it stops and starts every time you start and stop walking, this is a very deliberate, human sound. And if you don’t believe that, you’ll see soon enough when you see the naked, bone-white figure walk into view at the end of the hallway as casual as you please, their body smooth and sexless like a department store mannequin. They turn (your) their head and stare directly at you with (your) their wide, glassy eyes crinkled in thousand-yard delight. You hear your voice echoed back at you, airy and chirpy and so indescribably wrong it makes your blood run cold.

"Hi!"

Much like the Doppelgangers you encountered in January, these ones look and move like dolls, their limbs connected with ball-joints. However, whereas those ones were near perfect imitations of you and your friends, these ones look like they just fell off the assembly line. Their faces are unnaturally flat and plastic, like all the imperfections have been ironed out of them, but they are unmistakably yours. And when they open their mouths to squeal at you before running with all the unnatural speed not having a pair of lungs affords them, you’ll find that even their voices are perfect imitations — and not necessarily of your own either.

There’s no way to tell how many of these Doppelgangers are down here with you, hiding in the dark. They’re stealthy and sneaky, only coming out to attack when they’re sure you’re alone. Even if you’re not, they’re intelligent enough to come up with ways to separate you from your group, calling to you from another part of the shelter, mimicking a voice from someone they know you’ll listen to. Even if there’s no possible way they could be in Santa Rosita.

"Help me!"

"Is that you...? Oh thank God, I've been looking everywhere for you!"

"Please, don't leave me!"

Other times, they’ll take a more aggressive approach, allowing their limbs to pop out of place so they can sprawl on the ground, imitating a heap of discarded doll parts. Once you get close enough or turn your back on them, they’ll pull themselves together and attack, speeding towards you on fours like a crab.

There are two ways out of the shelter. The first one is the hardest: go back the way you came. With the low visibility, the number of Doppelgangers, and the confusing layout of the area, you’re more likely to get turned around and go in circles than you are to find your way back to the ladder — a location made even more difficult to discern since the hatch door has been lowered, blotting out all light from the room above.

The second way is the longest but also the easiest: head deeper into the shelter, past the operating room, through the rooms filled with broken furniture and ruined floors that are very easy to trip on — especially when you’re in the middle of running away. Eventually, you’ll come to another ladder, this one leading to an open hatch that deposits you into a dark passageway. The air up here is more fresh, but not necessarily pleasant smelling. There’s only one way to go — forward.

After what feels like an hour of walking, you’ll see a light at the end of the passage. Follow it and you’ll find yourself exiting a storm drain that drops you into the heart of Old Growth, just outside of West Santa Rosita.

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OOC INFO

Welcome to the second part of February’s event! You can use this entry to top-level for the event, but feel free to utilize the log and network communities as well.

There will be a top-level posted for NPC interaction tied to the second prompt below, wherein you can request to play out your character’s interaction with Harding or Rosemary. If you would like to have your character interact with either one of them, comment to the top-level with the name of the NPC you would like to thread with. You may only thread with one NPC. The mods will respond to NPC tags until February 28th.

Any questions can go in our FAQ thread below. Try to check and see if your question has already been answered on the plotting thread first here.

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▶ NAVIGATION ◀
COMMS	logs | network | ooc | memes
OOC INFO	premise | rules | faq | taken | applications | hiatus/drop/canon updates | activity check | reserves | mod contact
SETTING INFO	calendar | setting | housing | npcs | death and tranquilizing | the story so far | event suggestions/engagements

Comments

Aftercare & Doing the Rounds

[fanoperator]

Huaisang is glad to help. Just like the makeshift shelter he and Daylight worked to set up at the Christmas Village to help with the worst of the teleportations to the lake, Huaisang wants to help with the victims because he knows it's only a matter of time before he's the one who will need help. If they're going to survive all of this, they need to be allies.

He knows some basic field medicine, so he visits rooms like a nurse, whether people need a change of bandages, a glass of water, or just someone to sit near them so that they don't have to be alone in the dark.

In between his rounds, he can be found in the dining room with watered-down coffee in hand, zoning out or half falling asleep in his chair. He hates the taste of coffee, but it's effective, and he needs the warmth and energy enough to be grateful for it.

[hoshikiri]

Huaisang may have caught a glimpse of Takame coming and going from the residence at all hours. He was no nurse or doctor, only knowing very basic first aid but he knew about gathering supplies and preparing. From his life as adventurer and soldier. Daylight requested his help long before the living island broadcast and he would do anything and everything to help the cause.

Though he's run himself just as ragged, taking stock of each bandage, water source, coffee bean and food source extremely meticulously and going out to the drug store when they seemed even the slightest bit low on anything. It's likely no one's seen him sleep not that it was very obvious unless one knew what to look for, the twitching tail and drag of his heels as he walked. He was either a master of masking pain or unable to process exhaustion. Recognizing Huaisang's face as being the closest thing to a chirurgeon they had, Takame approached him.

"Is there anything more you or the others require?"

[fanoperator]

Huaisang gives this new acquaintance a weak smile, looking up tiredly from over his cup of coffee. They've both been too busy to exchange niceties just yet, but Huaisang recognizes him as the useful helper who keeps the supplies stocked.

"Liquor," he requests, with a little quirk of his mouth to say that it's half a joke--but also not. "As strong as can be gotten. Disinfectant--" The word Huaisang uses is different, older. He doesn't know germ theory, but he knows to clean wounds with alcohol, vinegar, boiled water, or a variety of carefully chosen herbs. His knowledge is ancient and limited, but the core of it is good. "--Anesthetic, comfort. More vinegar, too, for cleaning things. Decent tea, though I don't think it exists in this place."

Patting around his pockets, Huaisang pulls out a little coin purse and spills the contents into his hand, holding it out. "Here. That's all I have." It'll help, at least, since he's been relying upon Daylight's supplies of food and coffee.

[hoshikiri]

"Mm." Jests aren't lost to Takame, but oftentimes he took them very seriously. He wished the case of finding liquor was one such time where he could. It wouldn't stop him from trying though, recalling what he's taken count of so far as Huaisang listed what was needed. What they were well stocked on and what they could use more of. His thoughts on the alcohol of this place were much like that of the tea: unfavorable. Though that was the last thing that was relevant.

"Understood." Said with a slow nod, the tiniest indicator of his fatigue. Words archaic to most were regular to Takame, so no matter what Huaisang described it was mostly familiar.

Seeing Huaisang pull out the handful of change, he shook his head. "'Tis kind of you to offer, but worry not. You may leave the payment to me." He'd already promised this to Daylight and he wouldn't break that promise.

[fanoperator]

Huaisang nods without arguing, tucking the money away again. His attention lingers on Takame, studying his face. Huaisang's good at reading people, though Takame's expressions are somewhat restrained. It's an easy guess that he's tired, though. They all are.

"Is there anything else you require?" he asks, echoing Takame's original words back at him. "Is anyone minding your needs while you mind the needs of others?"

Huaisang's exhausted, too, but he still offers. He knows very well that if the caretakers run themselves ragged, they'll all end up infirm with no one left to care for them.

[hoshikiri]

Again, Takame shook his head. But the upward quirk of his tail showed his surprise at behind asked at all. It was still new to him, having his wellbeing asked about at all.

"Thank you for your concern, but I am alright." Said not wanting to sound unappreciative, but still dodging the actual question. This was all he could do. He wasn't the most comforting man, nor did he have far reaching knowledge of healing. He was just doing the shopping. "It is you and Daylight who have been doing the majority of the work."

[fanoperator]

"You're doing plenty of work," Huaisang disagrees, brow furrowed with gentle empathy. "It's just a different kind. Be sure you're getting enough sleep. And... if you want a hug. I know how important it can be to have human contact."

His smile is sad but optimistic nonetheless, studying Takame as he looks up at him. "I'm Huaisang, by the way. It's a pleasure to meet you."

[hoshikiri]

Once again, his tail spoke more than his expression did, raising in slight surprise at the offer of a hug of all things where his face didn't shift beyond a pursing of his lips. Not in discomfort, his sister was the affectionate sort ready to embrace even someone she's just met. He was used to that. But rather that someone besides her would offer such a thing so readily. Something in his eyes softened at remembering her.

"You are most kind." Once again, dodging the request and the offer. Not out of aversion, but lack of time. "And you as well, Huaisang. My name is Takame." He didn't bow fully to avoid falling over, just lowered his head to reflect the gesture. "My apologies for not introducing myself sooner..." He trailed off, wordlessly implying that they didn't exactly have time for formalities given the situation.

[fanoperator]

"It's all right," Huaisang nodded, giving him a gentle and reassuring smile that mostly covered the fatigue underneath, and the perpetual deep loneliness in his eyes. "We've all been busy. I won't keep you any longer."

Curling his hands around his mug once more, Huaisang settles back in his chair, trying to decide for himself whether he can bear to get up and make another round among the patients at this time, or if he still needs the rest.

[sunborne]

"You okay?"

Approaching Huaisang, making sure he's not waking up the poor guy from a nap or something, Daylight awkwardly offers a ham sandwich he quickly slapped together. It may not be the most appetising in terms of appearances but it's hefty. Daylight clearly did not skip the ham or the cheese for this one - He even went as far as to toast the bread slices so it's warm and crunchy.

After all- "Feel free to consider this a token of thanks, Huaisang. The many I gotta give to you after this." He grins down at his friend as he pulls out a chair, carefully folding himself into it. He has to resist the urge to throw himself onto it, exhausted or not. Most of the furniture in his house still finds his new height and weight ungainly.

"Noticed you were helping out a lot since I made the announcement on the network," Daylight continues once he's comfortable. "It means a lot to me and the others who are bunking down here."

[fanoperator]

Huaisang sets down the coffee mug promptly upon the offer of better sustenance. Reaching for the sandwich with both hands, he flutters his lashes with pleasure at the warmth of it, biting into it with a grateful little whimper.

Smiling timidly at Daylight, he chews shamelessly, grateful enough for warm sustenance that he's not about to be shy. The return of his golden core, even at the limited function that it has, means that he burns through food all the more swiftly. "I know I'd want the help if I were in their position. Just like out at the lake. Having a rescue station out there helped us all. You especially don't have to thank me. You've already helped me. You've done so much for everyone here."

Huaisang's not actually selfless by nature. He's deeply generous because he loves making people happy, though that generosity is steeply sloped depending on how important someone is to him. Back home, he was a protective and practical leader who cared about the well-being of his people and ensured it mostly through quiet bureaucratic means. Here, his people are the fellow new neighbors. Keeping them all alive and making allies among them will ensure that they're ready to help him in return.

[sunborne]

“It’s the least I can do for you guys,” is Daylight’s immediate reply, painfully honest as he tries to stretch out his arms to try and keep himself awake. The chair creaks in protest but it stays strong. ”I hate feeling like there’s nothing I can do, if I can be frank. Especially if you guys are involved.”

Considering their situation — trapped in a strange town, outnumbered by people who proven to not only capable of doing serious damage to them, but proven to not intervene if asked for help — it’s important they stick together. Working together with others, trying to overcome odds is something that Daylight is used to by now. Working on a fire team and working on missions to help those in need does that for you..

Granted, it was never as… perilous as this. Despite the looming threats, known and unknown, he tries his best to be confident and certain when speaking with his friend— He flashes a big smile, adding cheerfully, “If if there’s so much as a hint of being able to do something, I’ll do it! You’ve done a lot of us too, you know, so you deserve recognition for your work.

“I don’t know much medical stuff, practically at least, so you giving a hand here? A big boost for us here. So yeah. I wanna say thank you. Only fair, you know?”

[fanoperator]

Blushing and smiling happily at Daylight's earnest thanks and praise, Huaisang nods. "You're entirely too sweet. Just make sure that you take care of yourself, too. You might wear yourself out with too much selflessness. Remember to rest and feed yourself and care for your own hurts, as well. I'll try to keep an eye on you in particular." He points a warning finger at Daylight, playfully scolding.

"On which topic, how long has it been since you slept?"

[sunborne]

Daylight laughs but the way he looks sheepishly at Huaisang as he rubs the back of his head, it looks like he got called out, gently or not.

"I think... Maybe four to five hours, tops?" He adds quickly, knowing how that sort of answer will cause Disapproval with those with any medical experience or, you know, common sense. "I try to cover the missing time with naps, I swear. There's just so much to do, you know? People to look after. Things to supply. Plans to make in the wake of what happened."

The smile slips from his face, remembering the things he had seen down in the shelter when trying to get the others out. "Your map is going to prove really important, Huaisang. I want to go back down there. Not now. Not tomorrow. ... Soon, though, and having an idea of what is where is big."

[fanoperator]

"There is a lot to do, but people who are well-rested are more efficient than those who are fatigued. You get an extra four hours of things done because you didn't sleep, but it takes you three times as long to do them." Huaisang purses his lips scoldingly, and he's not about to be dismissed from this topic that easily. They can come back to the topic of their next steps. It's important, and they need more information, but Huaisang also needs to make sure that they don't make the situation worse by going in unprepared. "Here. Come and sit." Huaisang points a stern finger to the floor directly in front of himself. "Put your back to me. Let me teach you about the human practice of massage."

[sunborne]


Daylight laughs at the request and nods in acquiescent, shuffling off his chair and gingerly lowering himself to the floor. (Don’t notice the way he winces now and then, his muscles and limbs sore as hell.)

“Okay, okay, okay.” As he quickly learned from his time with Emer — before and after they got together. — is to know when someone is Not Asking For Something. Especially if they have an understanding or a profession in medical stuff. “Guess I should be glad I don’t have my winglets anymore. Last thing I want to do is smack you with one of them.”

[fanoperator]

"What are winglets? They sound cute." Pleased when Daylight settles in front of him as bid, Huaisang rests gentle hands on Daylight's shoulders and starts to knead at his muscles. He knows exactly what he's doing, having studied forms of massage and knowing a few things about anatomy, and his hands are stronger than one might expect from his slender form. Slim and lazy though he might be, he still keeps up with a minimum of his Sect's daily exercise routine, and much of that strength is focused in his arms and shoulders.

He's careful, knowing that he doesn't have any massage oil to smooth his grip, but he works the muscles deftly, seeking out knots in Daylight's shoulders and neck and kneading at them until they unravel.

the rounds, cw for potential 1930s-typical transphobia

[m1895]

Vasiliy enters the space with something that sits awkwardly between confidence and uneasiness - uniformed as he is, he feels some level of artificially imbued authority, but—to quote the spine of a bent-up paperback someone left on the counter of the Blue Moon Diner during one of his night shifts—he's a stranger in a strange land and acutely aware of it. They're probably cataloguing his height, his accent, his dark hair and eyes and brows, just like the occupants of the endless cheap American houses that encircle his.

The closest thing he sees to any kind of medical personnel is the individual in a day dress and apron, who seems to be holding his? her? own fairly well, all things considered, so that's who he approaches when he takes his own break, glancing down at the rather translucent looking coffee in their hands.

"Is there any more of that?"

[fanoperator]

Lifting his head with a tired but automatic smile, ready to be friendly and sweet even though he's exhausted, Huaisang nods at the question, studying this stranger curiously. "There should be, yes. I'll show you."

He rises, cup still in hand, and leads the stranger to the kitchen, pointing at the dregs of the coffee left in the pot. Though it might be polite to refresh the pot, Huaisang simply doesn't know how.

Setting down his own cup, Huaisang performs a brief little bow, arms lifted in front of him with his palms facing toward his own chest. "Huaisang of Qinghe greets you."

[m1895]

Vasiliy follows him in silence, still not having decided on a place to set down his nylon kit bag, mind rapidly sifting through the information he's been presented with: the person before him, whom he is still not entirely sure if he should be addressing as sir, is clearly Southeast Asian, maybe Chinese or Korean, possibly another Communist. He doesn't speak in a way that matches the 1930s, but he doesn't talk like he's from any other point in time in living memory, either. From what he knows of early Asian history, chances are high he's a monarchist, and probably a risk on some level.

When his host speaks up and introduces himself, it confirms the suspicion that his time alive doesn't overlap with his own; from his limited familiarity with Chinese nomenclature—which is what this name definitely is—the name Huaisang, while not a name he's heard before, does sound to be male. He also doesn't extend a hand for him to shake, so Vasiliy awkwardly ducks his head in something resembling a trace of a bow and hopes his moment's hesitation won't be interpreted as rudeness.

"Vasiliy Yegorovich." A pause. This man may not have been exposed to Russian influence yet; there's no reason to assume he knows what a patronymic is. "You may call me Vasiliy."

[fanoperator]

Huaisang is from Northeast Asia, but he only barely understands the modern geography associated with that. When he points to his home on a map, people call it China, or speak of a vast and renowned wall in the area, and he's grown used to that.

"I am pleased to meet you. I'm sorry there is so little left."

Looking this new acquaintance over curiously, Huaisang wonders what has brought him here and whether Daylight invited him. "Are you a friend of Daylight?" he asks, since he doesn't see any obvious injuries.

[m1895]

"I have not met them. I am EMT. Emergency Medical Technician. I came to help with wounded."

Briefly, Vasiliy puts his hands on his hips, regarding the narrow spread of refreshments. They look like they've been pretty well picked over by now, and of course there's no tea; neither of these findings particularly surprises him. It isn't what he's used to, but Vasiliy doesn't mind coffee, so he opens a few different cabinet doors until he finds a mug and pours himself what's left of the pot, then sets it to the side and rinses the clear glass receptacle out in the sink.

"Does this Daylight have the coffee..." He squints, trying to think of the word, but he's too tired for his mind to successfully generate anything other than an image and a smell and the ghost of a damp grittiness against his fingertips. "Crushed beans. It looks like soil. For that machine."

[fanoperator]

"Oh!" Huaisang's eyes widen, impressed. He doesn't recognize the strange title, but it sounds important and the important word is medical. "Are you a real physician?" As compared to him, a mere field medic with almost no field experience. He lives in dread that he might be called upon to do one or more of the increasingly necessary surgeries to be done in the community.

Blinking briefly at the question and the description, Huaisang opens a cupboard and pulls out a bag of ground coffee. There's a design on the front of a coffee bean looking ready to burst into song, and in its hand is a steaming cup of coffee. Huaisang finds cheerful sort of cannibalism to be deeply alarming and yet completely expected for the world they're in.

[m1895]

Vasiliy rubs the back of his neck with one hand and takes the bag of grounds with the other. "No, no, not at all. I do not have skills and education to be doctor."

He was 27 years old when he learned algebra.

(But also, unlike the average American, he was raised to be humble, and this situation is hardly about him.)

"I am like... basic nurse. For emergencies. I ride in back of ambulance, I keep the patient stable until real medical providers come. It sounds more important than it is." He breaks eye contact then, returning his attention to the coffeemaker as he carefully removes the wet filter and saturated grounds. For a few moments his dark irises dart from surface to surface in search of a trashcan; he tosses the paper filter and opens up a new one upon finding it.

[fanoperator]

"Ah." Huaisang's hope deflates at learning that Vasily is not an experienced physician. "I am an artist, and much of my knowledge of anatomy is based in my knowledge of art. I was raised in a martial sect and so I know some field medicine, but I have very little practice with using it. I have also only ever been a support to the real physicians, and rarely that."

He watches Vasily moving around, and curls to sit down on a kitchen chair with a tired sigh.