paradisa | Carolina blue [backdated to 30th]

Only if you want to hang out with a depressed guy. Don't think I'd be very good company right now.

Sounds like the perfect reason to have company.

Edited 2013-05-01 22:46 (UTC)

Well.

[...Okay, point.]

You want to come up to my room, or you got a place in mind?

I didn't have anyplace particular in mind. I can go there if you'd rather.
You've put in enough miles lately.

[Church is good with whatever York is comfortable with.]

Come on up. I need to key the locks to you anyway.

[Cause, well, yeah. Guess who's redoing his security while someone's being a psycho bitch?]

On my way... do you need anything from town?

[This is your chance for "take out" bro. Since someone has been saying in town instead of the castle to avoid said 'psycho bitch'.]

[Those are the magic words. Of course he wants take-out.]

There's...actually a place at the edge of the merchants' district that makes passable Chinese food. Think you could pick me up some lo mein?

Done. I expect a decent tip this time.

[He'll pick up the lo mein and get to the castle before it get's too cold.]

[~~Don't trust Freelancer woman~~ oh wait he probably means a money tip. Once York verifies it's Church outside his door, he'll pop the holographic lock and let him in.]

Hey, man. Thanks for grabbing that for me. How much was it? [Cause York'll probably just give him double Caisos. Hey, he figured out a long time ago how to maximize the system here.]

[Church only inflates the price a little.]

Not like it was really out of my way.

[He'll make himself comfortable at the kitchen table while York eats.]

Doesn't mean I don't appreciate it. [It's almost like living in a place with real deliver food. Almost.]

Was it pretty quiet here while we were gone?

[He shrugs casually. He's just going to deflect your thanks because he's still trying to deny this whole "friends" thing. He's an asshole, he doesn't need your appreciation.]

Yeah, if anything interesting happened. I missed it.

[He and South had a nerf gun fight.]

You guys got all the excitement. Some kind of big alien bug guys.

[York takes off his helmet to eat, cause he's not Wash.]

Yeah, it was kind of weird. We found a whole village out there that'd been blasted by the aliens, but we didn't even have any casualties.

[Dude, you're wearing your armor in your own place. Which is obviously a bad sign to start with. Oh well, helmet off is a start.]

A village? Like giraffes or first gens or something?

[well shit... that by itself will ruin up your day.]

[Honestly? The only time he goes without it anymore is to the Dead Zone. It only takes one accidental death when you're caught without it to learn the hard way that the castle's not as safe as it seems.]

First Gens. We got all the bastards before they got to the giraffes, which is why they gave us a lift home.

[He chews thoughtfully.]

Man, we could map a lot more out there if we could move that fast all the time.

[Honestly, he still thinks it's a bit paranoid. You need someplace you can actually relax. And no, "in your armor" doesn't count. Of course Church is still enjoying the fact that he actually has that option now.]

No shit. I had no idea giraffes were that fast.

Talking, juice making giraffes... so ok, there's that.

[Yeah, he used to have that back when he lived with Carolina. Not so much anymore - even in a room as secure as he can make it, York ends up sleeping in his armor as often as not.]

You know, I'm pretty sure a normal giraffe doesn't. But then, they're pretty far from normal. Except for the spiders, they're the first actual group of people out there we've met.

[York falls silent for a moment as he thinks about it. The spiders, Goldfleck, the giraffes...there sure are a lot of talking animals here. The only ones who hadn't been animals were either known former residents or Doctor Fog, and who the hell knew what he looked like under that mask?]

[bleh, he read about those in that report thing that chick wrote. Creepy spider people, creepy alien bug people, Giraffe people... this place is fucked up.]

Did they know anything? Like did they even know about the castle? Are they stuck here like the rest of us?

[There hasn't exactly been a lot of good information available.]

They had a...they called it a Mirror Room. Looked like surveillance, so they knew about the castle. But I don't know if they were just stuck there or always lived there.

[He'd been distracted by other things.]

[One hell of a distraction too.]

Hmm... oh, Mark mentioned a teleporter that goes out to the Well.

I should probably find out what we have here for emergency situations. Since I'm the 'stay on guard duty guy' until further notice.

[He's having no luck writing that letter. On the plus side he had the emergency plans thing covered, if you guys couldn't handle the bugs.]

Yeah, big old crystal out in the gardens. Don't touch it, Mineas Well is in the Dead Zone.

[York winces a little at "emergency preparations". Surprise, it's another sore subject with Carolina.]

You're on the seventh floor, right? Same as South, but she hasn't been living in her room. The way we had it set up before, each person would make sure everyone on their own floor got out safely. The ballroom is a safe zone - not only big enough to hold everyone in the castle, but also it's been magically protected. [He sounds dubious about that part, but hey, some people think it helps.] If the ballroom's compromised or the danger is coming from the castle, the alternate evac is usually the TARDIS, but she's--well, needs some repair at the moment. So there's that big tree on the grounds that we can use as a meeting place. There's also teleporters in the basement that lead to the outposts that are at the Dead Zone.

That Clint Barton guy said he'd work on an alternate out-of-castle type place. Right now that's out big weakness. We do have the hangar and the Danger Room, but neither one is big enough for a lot of people.

[Right. Eggshell. And he stepped right on it. He makes a quiet throat clearing noise at the mention of not living in the castle.]

There's also a teleporter to Aradia's outpost, which is inside the castle zone. I thought that would a good option for those of us who can't go into the dead zone.
Plus, I thought it might be good not to send everyone to the same place.

[he pauses thoughtfully.]

I wonder what Barton's thinking...

[he has a sneaking suspicion he knows.]

Yeah, that's a good idea. As long as each location is secure, splitting up might be a good idea. One of the places in town, Caritas, can hold maybe fifty - it's a sanctuary zone, so no violence.

[York just shrugs.]

Far as that, I couldn't say. Don't know the guy. You seen him around?

Sanctuary zone... how's that work?

[he smirks.]

Yeah, he's the Robin Hood I ran into on my first day here.

You know, the asshole who left me with an arrow in the face.

[Church's kind of adopted Barton as a replacement Red. A guy he can be antagonistic towards without actually disliking. And someone he'd rather have on his side than not.]

Oh, it's some magic bullshit, but this one I've actually tested out so I know it works. Every time someone tries to be violent in there, they just--can't. Also? Fully stocked bar.

[York snickers a little at the memory.]

So in other words, kind of an asshole. The type of person you're used to dealing with.

[Church chuckles, exactly the kind of person he's used to dealing with.]

He's kind of a broody bitch... you'd like him.

Hey! I am not broody.

Usually.

[Church laughs... god you Freelancers are the broodiest bunch of people he's ever run into. Not that he blames you for it. Heavy shit is heavy after all.]

Usually.

[He sighs. He really doesn't want to ask, but it's gotta' get talked about at some point. Get it over with so you can go back to the light stuff.]

So, what are you going to do?

[It should be obvious that "about Carolina" is the unspoken part of that... and by "you" he means "we", because York isn't in this alone.]

[York sighs and rubs the back of his neck. Yeah, that's the question, isn't it?]

Keep an eye on her, make sure she doesn't put anybody else at risk first. Then see what I can do about helping her not to hurt herself. [Since he's pretty sure nobody else is going to care about that part.]

She's not a bad person, Church. She just had bad things happen to her. Until she realizes that she's safe here, she's just going to keep freaking out, and it's only a matter of time before she gets hurt again.

[He listens and nods. He might not give a shit about Carolina, but he does give a shit about York. And York obviously still loves her... so.]

Right. So how do we make her realize she's safe?

In my case? Probably leaving her alone. Except I can't really, so I'll just be unintrusive. Make sure I don't have any visible weapons. See if I can remind her that we have real food and not just MREs. Maybe if she can talk to some of the kids--aw, hell, I don't know. Maybe just being away from the goddamned Director will help.

[He grimaces.]

As for you, well, first we have to figure out this filter bullshit.

Seems like getting away from him has been the best thing for all of you.

[Once again, Church is glad he never met that guy.]

It seems to be working fine as long as people use my full name. Unless she's doing a really good job of keeping quiet.

Well, that would be a pretty big part of why I left in the first place.

[As for the filters--]

--Yeah, I don't think she's capable of that level of self-control right now. Bizarre, though. I know perfectly well what her real name is, and it's not Church.

[~~Because he doesn't know the truth. Thanks, BurnieJoss.~~]

[Weird if it was though. Not that it's that uncommon a surname.]

I haven't found anyone who's ever heard of something like it happening either.

Maybe, it's a really fucked up loss?

[It totally is though. Never been anyone else in the castle named Church, anyway.]

You know, that might be it. Because she met you a little bit last time, didn't she? And she didn't think it was weird?

yeah... she just seemed kind of annoyed by it really.

Annoyed and bitchy.

[Annoyed, bitchy and psychotic.]

Well, I don't know what's got her goat this time, then, except that she's always hated Tex. Try not to take it personally, you know?

[York rubs the back of his neck.]

She got really...single-minded there near the end. Like she'd do anything to beat Tex, whether or not anyone else was even still playing the game. It was an obsession, really.

[being 'slightly obsessive' runs in the family.]

She's used to being in charge too I take it.

[He frowns thoughtfully for a moment then chuckles.]

You should have heard her when I told her I didn't have to take orders from her.

I thought she was going to have a fuckin' aneurism.

Got it in one. Kind of a common thread in the women I know for some reason. [Hint: it's because York likes them like that.]

Damn right. [He laughs.] And that's right, you know. You don't have to take orders from anyone here, unless we're in battle and you've specifically put yourself into someone's tactical command.

[Except, you know... he kind of does have to take orders from Freelancers. He's just subconsciously granted himself some generous 'loopholes' to that.]

Well yeah, in that case you guys have more experience than I do. But if you're just going to shout orders at me... fuck that.

I've got better things to do.

[Details, details.]

Nah, I'm not that much of an asshole. No matter what Carolina says about me.

Still an asshole though...

[In that way that all Church's 'friends' are 'assholes'.]

[York shrugs, though he's grinning a little.]

Hey, I had to take something away from the Project.

[he smirks.]

Hell of a consolation prize.

You got me there.

[Church will stay as long as York wants the company. Then head back to Stark Tower.]

Carolina blue [backdated to 30th]

Leonard Church

York

Leonard Church

York

Leonard Church/action

York/action to end

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wrap?

wrap!