Holly Peaks Day 2

[hollypeaks]

[The sunshine of yesterday has given way to dark, grey clouds, and it’s sort of hard to tell if that’s rain or snow coming down, but since there’s no blanket of white, we’ll assume it’s slush. It makes arthritic bones ache all the same. There’s no way you’ll be getting outside today, which is a shame. Hope you enjoyed the good weather while it lasted.

Now, what could dear old Holly Peaks have in store for you this Saturday?]

[Craft Room/Cafeteria/Nurse's Station/Senior Prom]

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CRAFT ROOM

[hollypeaks]

[If it was at all possible, today the tables in the Craft Room are laden with even more things, not just threadbare art supplies but honest to goodness books to read and instruments to play and board games to chuck at your cheating opponent. Hell, somebody’s gotta have a deck of cards here somewhere, too. It's probably to make up for the miserable weather you can see outside.

As usual, Nurse Jessie watches you all like a hawk…behind her crappy magazines of course. She probably wishes you were all asleep.]

CAFETERIA

[hollypeaks]

[Today the chalkboard boasts MALCOLM’S SURPRISE STEW with a side of GREEN JELLO. If you happen to look in on dear Nurse Malcolm, you’ll see him chopping up things that…could be in a stew? Theoretically? Don’t chat with him for too long or he might really throw something in there that doesn’t belong. Just take the tea and blueberry muffins with your pills and leave him be. It’s safer that way. Really.

There are some staffers putting up cheesy decorations, too! But for what? Unless you’ve spotten the corny “Senior Prom” posters that seem to have replaced the Outdoors Day ones overnight, you should probably ask.]

NURSE'S STATION

[hollypeaks]

[The Nurse’s Station is empty yet again today, ready for use! But you don’t have a lot of time to rest. There are old folks to take care of!

Which means you should definitely slack off and plot mischief in here.]

SENIOR PROM

[hollypeaks]

[“Senior Prom”.

Ha ha ha. What a clever play on words. The cafeteria’s hasn’t looked this festive since Christmas.

It’s barely evening, and the weather’s not lifted – in fact, you can hear it thundering overhead, the booms cutting through the cheap records playing crooners and swing that your hips can’t quite move to like they used to. But the staff seems insistent that you try. After all, they wouldn’t have shoved you into your “formal” attire if they didn’t, right?

Anyone you want to dance with? A resident? A staffer?]

[bronwe]

[ Frodo is in the corner of the room seated on a hobbit-sized table with handwritten pages about him, looking much the same as he did in his adulthood. Even so, careful eyes would notice how tired he seems, appearing almost transparent with a faint glow about him. But that may just be a trick of the light.

His brow is lined with concentration as he writes each word onto the paper with care. It looks like a story. ]

[gottaknockhard]

[Spike is seated at a table by himself, in a chair facing the window, watching what he imagines to be rain. He's abnormally quiet today, not even whining about the ridiculous decaf coffee they serve here and how hard it is to get a cigarette. Usually when he's quiet, it means he's plotting something. -- Or maybe he's fallen asleep in his chair. It's hard to say.]

[not_mafia]

[When Tsuna notices the familiar face, he yips and comes over, then lifts a paw and places it on Frodo's leg.

Frodo-san!]

[bronwe]

[ The touch startles him a moment, but it takes him more time to find the cause to his surprise. The gaze that finds the puppy is distant, faded out, but he still manages a small smile when he reaches to ruffles its head. ]

Hullo.

[not_mafia]

[He's kind of used to the pettings by now.

He gives a soft, concerned whine though. Are you alright?]

[bronwe]

[ He mistakes that for a whine on behalf of itself. ]

Are you hungry? Bored?

[not_mafia]

[He shakes his head, then noses at his leg.]

[bronwe]

[ Did the dog just shake its head, or maybe it was just itchy? Frodo gives it another gentle pat as he pushes back from the table with painful slowness. Everything makes him tired. ]

Well, all right, a game it is.

[not_mafia]

[He gives a sigh, ears flattening. Man, he really misses being able to talk.

Still, he'll back away from the table if Frodo wants to get up.]

[bronwe]

[ Frodo has no toys for it to play with and he didn't want to trouble the nurses either, but he does step away from the table slowly to crouch with some effort in front of the dog. He moves as if he weighs tons more. ]

The weather isn't so nice outside, would you like to learn tricks instead? Like, sit!

[not_mafia]

[s;dlfksdf HE DOESN'T WANT TO LEARN TRICKS.

Disgruntled whine.]

[bronwe]

[ This dog doesn't even know "sit"... Frodo sighs. ]

How about roll over?

[not_mafia]

[He shakes his head.

He. Is. Not. A. Dog.]

[bronwe]

[ How is a dog not a dog? He does give up though, leaning back against his hand on the floor and contemplating his company. ]

Would you like me to just pat your head? [ He reaches for the dog's head. ] Like so?

[not_mafia]

[A big sigh because obviously they're just not going to get anywhere.

So he'll go ahead and just lay down next to Frodo instead, looking a little bummed. He wishes he could help his friends out, or at least figure out what was going on, but it was terribly difficult when nobody could understand you, save for the Easter Bunny.]

[bronwe]

[ A clue would be how terribly young Frodo looks to even be here at all, but he thinks such stories would be dull for a canine. He smiles a little at him, resorting to stroke its back gently. ]

[not_mafia]

[It's definitely odd, having his friend stroking his back, but it's oddly soothing too, so he doesn't fight it this time. He does look up at Frodo though.

Why did he have such a distant, tired look to him?]

[bronwe]

[ Because there is only so much yearning one can do before the world around him seems unreal in comparison to whatever haunts his dreams. Whatever is precious to him. ]

I should give you a name if you don't have one yet.

[not_mafia]

[A soft noise at that, and he reaches up with a paw to bat at the round dog tag on his collar. It had the number "27" engraved on it.]

[spongetastic]

[Peter is making his rounds when he sees Spike. He gets a little closer, noticing that abnormal quiet. Peter knows the "troublemakers", and he knows that quiet is usually the start of mischief]

Can I get you anything, sir? Maybe I can open the window?

[gottaknockhard]

[Apparenly he's not asleep, because he lifts his head and holds in a smile. All he ever has to do is wait for one of them to come around.]

If you wouldn't mind. Whenever I do it, they think I'm trying to break out. [--because he's sort of famous for that. But joking about it now means he can't possibly be thinking of trying that again.]