devoutish: (Beeswax‚ Not Yours‚ Inc.)
Alfie Solomons ([personal profile] devoutish) wrote in [community profile] snowblindrpg2016-05-24 04:18 pm

[log] two assholes walk into an abandoned building and... [closed]

Characters: Alfie Solomons, Royce Melborn
Location building 102
Date: evening of 121 through morning of 122
Summary: Alfie and Royce run into each other by chance, and decide to travel together for a few days
Warnings: n/a; will edit if anything comes up

During his week in Norfinbury, Alfie has settled into a tentative schedule. He wakes early, searches the building he'd spent the previous night in, and gets an early start walking. He searches most or all of the buildings he comes across, only finding a place to stay shortly before lockdown begins. By then he's usually too tired to do much physical activity, so he takes care of various other things until he's ready to sleep through to the morning, when it's time to search the building. Rinse, repeat.

On the day of his arrival, he'd told someone - he can't remember who now - that he couldn't imagine having to fight boredom here. Now, seven days in, he's forced to eat his words. His days are monotonous and solitary, and worst of all, they feel pointless. Everything is based around day-to-day survival, and despite the theories and plans flying around, he doesn't feel like anybody is close to escape. He has questions to ask and potential clues to share, but with everybody else worrying about the Joker's bombs, he's holding off.

At least his hearing is back to normal. He's incredibly relieved about that.

When he arrives at his house for the night, he begins his now-familiar routine. His outer clothes (a big coat, and the trash bag that he wears under it) come off immediately, and are set out to dry. The boots are next, as is everything inside of them (socks, plastic sandwich bags, bits of fuzz and insulation). He dries any wet skin off with a piece of dirty paper towel, which is then set out to dry next to the shoes. Now that he has two bath towels, the one that he's been wearing around his shoulders all day (always under his coat and trash bag, but above his vest) gets switched out for the other. Finally, he sinks down into the living room armchair, stretching his legs out and shoving his bare feet under one of the couch cushions. His fingers are worrying him a bit - he's managed to avoid frostbite, but only barely. He's still keeping a close eye on them, tracking their state using his tablet's camera and hoping that the gloves he'd found the day before will help keep them from getting any worse. And that's where he'll be until lockdown - sitting alone, tablet in hand, taking multiple close-up shots of his hands to compare to the previous days' pictures.
bywolves: (sass.)

[personal profile] bywolves 2016-05-25 04:43 am (UTC)(link)
Royce has about the same amount, now - though, to be fair, Alfie and Royce are very different, cautious people.

"Not that I saw. May have been hiding them. Would've been smart." He doesn't think so, though, because he figures they're not worried about being attacked by people they can actually manage to hurt. Anomalies are indestructible, or so Royce has gathered - that's all anybody here is afraid of.

"I wouldn't say defenseless. Weaponless."
bywolves: (that's what you're wearing...)

[personal profile] bywolves 2016-05-25 04:57 am (UTC)(link)
"I don't have friends." It's offhand, and completely serious. He also doesn't linger on it - it's not something he wants pity for, nor is it really all that important to him. Just a dry fact.

"I've seen the condition. Not heard the name." It's not even the grossest thing he's heard of. "You still have both feet." So he's managed to avoid it, obviously.
bywolves: (shadows.)

[personal profile] bywolves 2016-05-25 10:33 pm (UTC)(link)
Firmly, and immediately: "No."

Alfie's feeling is correct. There's a multitude of reasons why: he doesn't know what the mints are, he doesn't trust that the mints aren't poisonous, he doesn't like to accept anything from anybody, he doesn't trust Alfie, and he's still angry at the guy for the dream business, despite it not being Alfie's fault. The short explanation is that Royce is paranoid.

"Who is 'we'?"
bywolves: (distant stare.)

[personal profile] bywolves 2016-05-25 11:22 pm (UTC)(link)
"Probably no war I've ever heard of," Royce says, pulling the blanket closer. "You don't have kings, do you. Military must work differently where you're from."
bywolves: (you're going to regret that.)

[personal profile] bywolves 2016-05-26 02:42 am (UTC)(link)
Normal people might ask or be polite about it, might carefully dodge around the question of war since it can be a touchy topic, but Royce isn't a normal person. He's not particularly interested, so he doesn't ask.

"England." A beat, and then: "Is that where your accent comes from?"
bywolves: (that's what you're wearing...)

[personal profile] bywolves 2016-05-26 03:38 am (UTC)(link)
"That's similar, at least." A beat, as he opens his mouth to say something - and then he closes it. He'd mention Gwen, and the remains of her accent, but he's trying really hard to make people forget she exists.

He appreciates the camera being pointed away from him, but: "Why do you keep... doing that? The pictures."
bywolves: (that's what you're wearing...)

[personal profile] bywolves 2016-05-26 04:16 am (UTC)(link)
"There's a map on the walls, like the other houses," Royce speaks up, finally finishing up his snack. He didn't eat much; he's used to working on a mostly empty stomach. "I was here two days ago."
bywolves: (that's what you're wearing...)

[personal profile] bywolves 2016-05-26 04:49 am (UTC)(link)
Royce is careful to stay away from anywhere he thinks the recording might get an image of him (look, he kind of thinks it's witchcraft, and he's still adjusting). But he does stand, does pull the blanket close, and gestures to the bedroom the map is in.

"That one. Rogers and a Shepard are on the wall as well. Never heard of the latter."
bywolves: (that's what you're wearing...)

[personal profile] bywolves 2016-05-26 10:16 pm (UTC)(link)
"Anywhere that doesn't seem to have been a house tends to not be an okay place to stay for the night," Royce chimes in, leaning against the door frame. Hopefully Alfie doesn't mind Royce's narration on top of his own. "I don't see the point of leaving your name and direction you're traveling."
bywolves: (smirk.)

[personal profile] bywolves 2016-05-26 10:53 pm (UTC)(link)
"I ruin a lot of things, or so I'm told." Royce sort of just grins at Alfie, not moving from his spot. He doesn't mind his voice being recorded - he speaks all the time on the tablets, it's just the video that bothers him.

"It does nobody any good now. As far as I can tell, that specific day was a long time ago."
bywolves: (that's what you're wearing...)

[personal profile] bywolves 2016-05-27 02:59 am (UTC)(link)
Royce lets him pass, and doesn't say much else. There is something to be said for leaving a mark - Royce could get into a long discussion about that. It's a desperate action, in Royce's opinion. Trying to carve your way into the memories of a crowd of people who don't care about what you do or who you are? Sad, maybe pathetic. Definitely not wise.

And for the people who would care, in this place? It's just a reminder that you won't see them again for a very long time.

He thinks about bringing it up, but then he remembers his conversation with Sora, and drops it. He's too tired for an argument. Instead, he follows Alfie back out, settles back into his spot, and pulls out his own tablet.

"Do you know what Morse code is?" Royce asks idly, not looking at Alfie.
bywolves: (distant stare.)

[personal profile] bywolves 2016-05-27 03:49 am (UTC)(link)
"I'd never heard of it before. Someone here mentioned it. Sounds useful." If only because Royce is always looking for more ways to be a sneak. "I have a bit of it here. Trying to learn it."
bywolves: (sass.)

[personal profile] bywolves 2016-05-27 03:59 am (UTC)(link)
Royce stares at it for a long moment. "Recognize the first letter and the last on sight. Still learning the others. Still, I assume it says hello. Based on those two letters."

He's a quick learner, and he's spent all of his alone time trying to practice.

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