If I Have to Lie, Steal, Cheat or Kill [Semi-Open]

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard hasn't gotten a full night of sleep since a little before they landed on Galilee. The events of that particular mission certainly haven't helped. Recently he's taken up to squinting to combat the way his eyes feel as if they're covered in dustbunnies and sand, and his usual skittishness has turned into an unconscious twitch and tremble.

After spending at least a few hours of the night pacing the Warehouse, now otherwise devoid of life except for him and Emergency Rations the Cat, he finally sinks to his anxious instincts and pulls open the hidden closet to reveal the cans and cans of non-perishable food. Then he closes the door again, places back the wall panel. That's for emergencies. That's for starvation.

He checks Albert's room again to see if his business partner has magically appeared back in his bed, but the immaculate, orderly room remains empty. It's not even as if he liked Albert. If pressed, he might even admit to hating him. But Howard doesn't like that someone in his life has vanished without warning. He's had bad experiences with that.

Emergency Rations follows him to the front door. She brushes up against his legs while he puts his shoes on, and for a moment on the floor he pulls her to his chest and breathes into her fur. Then he fills her bowl up with more kibble, taking a handful for himself, and locks her inside the house while he heads to Hydroponics.

He passes the beer tree, passes the carnivorous plants, and finds a quiet little nook with exactly what he's looking for - fruit trees.

The fresh, strange fruits within arm's reach don't last him all that long - partially due to his relatively small stature and their slick, unclimbable bark. But there are some on the ground, if rotten. He's not picky. He gathers them from around the surface roots of the trees and sets them in one sloppy, oozing pile.

He sits with his back against one of the trees, resting his head on a loose knot and swallowing pieces of overripe fruit while barely chewing. It's a temporary comfort. Just because people disappear on Stacy doesn't mean she's about to put them in some death trap. Stacy's always been like this, taking people when it makes sense to her. It's just never been someone close to Howard.

Thinking about how he's the only person from the FAYZ still awake here sends a shiver down his back, but the sweet juice in his mouth does well to remind him that he's not back home, not in the FAYZ, not buying time from death, not going to go hungry again.

[OOC: Due to the tone of this post I'd like to keep this limited to a few threads; hit me up in PM or AIM if you want to tag here. I'll be having a less wangsty open post for Howard up in a few days for those interested in getting CR with him under different circumstances.]

Comments

aww, it is a cute icon.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"I'll give it another try, then. I didn't like it because it was so dark and depressing last time, but I don't know, I guess I've sort of grown out of the good always triumphs part of superheroes." Even before the FAYZ, although that would have certainly kicked it out of him.

Howard nods, noting Tim's hands, the way the fruit has turned from food to an object to mull with, and he decides not to push Tim any further in that direction. He takes another bite of his own fruit. "Okay. That makes sense. I was just...I don't know, I feel like some people here assume everyone needs a parent and I didn't want someone to try and take me in." And now he's not so sure.

It feels strange, unloading these thoughts on a relative stranger, but maybe exhaustion has just let his guard down.

[battorch]

"Fair enough," Tim said, grimacing a little bit. "I prefer my heroes clean, over all, but..." He shook his head. That wasn't much of a train of thought he wanted to get into after all. Even if he was done with grey.

Tim nodded to that, taking a bite of his own fruit as he considered it, listening. "I know what you mean," he decided on eventually, giving Howard a little bit more than he had intended to originally. He wasn't exactly going to explain his fake uncle, after all. "I didn't want it at first. I didn't want to be taken care of or whatever. But it was the best option and..." He shook his head, taking another bite, then said, "I appreciated it, in the end. It just took a bit to warm up to the idea, I guess." There, that was a more reasonable version of the story.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"I mean, they don't stay clean. In real life, I mean. So it's nice to see them all perfect in the comics, but after a while you start getting jealous, I guess. Jealous of something that doesn't exist, if that makes sense." And the superheroes on the ship have done little to change his mind.

Howard bites his lip again, giving Tim a bit of the side-eye. As much as he's digging for his own answers, he can tell a measured answer when he hears one, and Tim's is just vague enough and precisely obtuse enough that, to Howard, he might as well have lit up a giant "I don't want to talk about it" sign.

If Tim hadn't kept him company and been so tactful about the bingeing, Howard might press the issue for the sake of being obnoxious, but instead he respects that and lets it drop.

[battorch]

"I guess so," Tim agreed, but he frowned, unsure if he really wanted to consider that too much. With all the crap that had happened to him, to many of the others he knew, the things that had happened or been done... well. Yeah, maybe it'd be nice if things were 'perfect' or whatever. "I guess they're only human, too, though. Well, most of the time."

On one hand, he is thankful Howard didn't push too much into the uncomfortable territory, on the other he was disappointed to lose the opportunity to delve further into Howard's mind, too. Still, at least he had observation.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Yeah. Good old humanity. We do an awesome job killing each other even without the aliens." He shakes his head and finished the last piece of fruit. He smears his fingers across the grass trying to sop up the last bits of juice - when that doesn't yield much in the way of results, he uses the edge of his shirt to mop some of it up and sucks on the fabric. He feels as disgusting as it looks.

"I guess I should go home. Um. Try and sleep and all that." Probably do a lot of pacing and tossing and turning. "You look like you could use it too."

[battorch]

"Something like that," Tim mumbled, fairly non-committal. He makes a point not to watch Howard too closely as he finished off the fruit, instead focusing on the last of his, acting as if to pretend there was no big deal about how Howard was acting. It made sense, after all, given the rest of the behaviour and experience.

He nodded, and moved to straighten himself up, pulling himself to his feet. "Right, that sounds like a pretty good idea, actually." He flashed a kind of smile, reaching out a hand to offer to help him up, watching for the reaction. "Maybe at least one of us will have better luck this time."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

He doesn't take Tim's hand, but he doesn't shrink away from it either, which he probably would have done an hour ago. He just pretends in vain that he didn't notice it as he gets up and tries to wipe his sticky hands off on his shirt and pants.

"Yeah. Chloroform's like, carbon, hydrogen, chlorine....three. Or something." He's still kidding. Sort of. "Make sure you put up a mosquito net for Stacy's tentacles."

[battorch]

Tim just let his hand drop silently, not bothered by it, and also not pushing it in any way. He saw what he wanted to, anyway.

"Sounds close enough to me," Tim agreed, because 'Tim' didn't have any reason to know if it was right or wrong. Of course, Howard knowing it... He smiled a little and said, "Yeah, sounds like a plan. I'll see you around, then." He cast a wave, and ducked out.