Freedom's Apparently All I Need [Semi-Open, Bendytimed to End of Shore Leave]

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

He's got his passport.

He's also got a fake birth certificate, a fake ID card, a fake driver's license and insurance card, and hopes for a brand new life. And he has the same for Orc. That and a suitcase for each of them.

He has to leave the cats. That is, he thinks, the only downfall to the planet. You can't import live things, and he doesn't know how to smuggle them in, so he's going to entrust them to Cedric. Between that and the food stash, the knowledge that he's leaving things behind, things that he'll never get back, hangs heavy on his mind.

He's leaving people behind too. He can't forget that. He wanders through the streets of Agrestic with his new papers and his suitcase looking for the people he wants to say goodbye to before he and Orc escape this war forever. He's not even thinking about what he's going to say to them, hoping that somehow the magic words will appear on his tongue. But he has to say goodbye before he goes.

Away from the Daligig. Away from Stacy. Away from missions and more importantly, away from the threat of the FAYZ. Scared and sad as he is, there is a little skip in his step.

[OOC: he's looking for his closer CR, so new people may approach him but he'll probably brush them off. If your character hasn't met Howard and would like to thread with me drop me a line and I'll set up something new!]

Comments

[splendid_roman]

Ian smiled when he saw Howard up ahead and picked up his pace to walk beside him. "Ready to go back to Stacy?" he asked, as if the suitcase didn't make that obvious.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Heading back for the last time. Got to pick up my travel buddy." He bites the corner of his tongue, trying to think of the right way to say it.

"I'm leaving." Maybe it just needs to be that simple.

[splendid_roman]

Ian frowned. "What do you mean 'leaving'?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"I mean leaving. Like, grabbing all my things and my best friend and saying bye bye to the giant space wart and the evil overlords and the stupid missions where I end up near dead. Not to mention the robots in the basement and the reavers in the attic and the not-being-able-to-tell-time and everything else I can't stand about Stacy. That kind of leaving."

He pats his suitcase. "So it's good I found you, because otherwise your last image of me would be me covered in Stacy goo."

[splendid_roman]

He was surprised to hear it - although when he thought about it he supposed it wasn't that surprising. There was no love lost between Howard and his home and things weren't looking that rosy back on Stacy either.

"Are you sure? Because if you change your mind I don't know if you'll be able to get back to Stacy."

[first_in_time]

"Howard!" Barbara smiled in greeting, and trotted to catch up. "I'm glad I found you. I've got something to show you! Come with me."

She's being very insistent and will take your hand if need be.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard keeps his hands in his pocket and on his suitcase handle, but follows Barbara. He smiles back but looks a little distracted. "What, you find something interesting?"

[first_in_time]

"Sort of," was all the reply she'd give for the moment, given that she was somewhat more occupied with finding her way back to the Sensoriums.

When they reach there, however, she picked up a carefully hidden basket before entering. She imagined them a lovely but casual setting - a simple dining room with a long, dark wooden table and tall backed chairs. It was warm enough to be comfortable and there was a light scent in the air which might be reminiscent of anyone who had, at some point, spent time baking.

Barbara pulled out a chair for Howard to sit and placed the basket nearby, chatting as she unfolded a small, colourful piece of material which covered the basket's contents. "I went exploring in the TARDIS the other day - it has changed so much since I was last there - and I came across a kitchen. It was relatively empty for my tastes but a little hunting and I soon pulled together enough to make a proper cake. I thought that perhaps you'd like the first piece?"

A tall, rich looking chocolate cake lay beneath the covering with two plates, a knife and cake forks. It had a solitary strawberry sitting on top as a kind of decoration. Finding that strawberry had been something of a challenge. In her quest for ingrediance, she had found a 'room' which housed a vegetable garden and several sour-looking rabbits. It took some negotiating and a few scratches but she got the strawberry.

"....did you buy a suitcase on the planet?" she asked with a curious glance, only just realising it was there.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard wasn't expecting that, nor is he quite sure how to respond.

"Thanks," he says, and his voice is choked with confusion and discomfort and the fact that he is, genuinely, touched by the gesture. Gifts mean a lot to him. But at the same time, eating in front of others is embarrassing, because Howard has only just gotten his sense of restraint back enough to eat like a normal person and not like a hungry animal. Even now, looking at the cake, he wants to tear chunks off with his hands and stuff them in his mouth and not let Barbara have any. It's hard not to feel as if Barbara is setting him up and testing him, waiting for him to slip up and do something abnormal, even though he knows, logically, that Barbara would never do that and that this is a gesture of friendship.

He sets the suitcase down on the floor and takes the seat, folding his hands over each other and sitting up straight like a kid trying to approximate what they think manners look like.

"Did Ian or Zou tell you I'm leaving?" Something like this would be for an event, so that would explain to Howard just a little of why she decided to do something so kind for him. "This looks incredible."

[theboywhodied]

Cedric's taken the opportunity to round up supplies. It's good to have a steady store, he's learned. Food, drinks, tools, clothes...even a ball or two if he ever gets the chance to play again. He's preparing to fight, though, so it doesn't look too likely.

Somewhere on his third supply run, he spots Howard. The other boy's not carrying shopping bags like Cedric's, but suitcases. And that means...

Damnit. He steps forward, swinging the shopping bag over his shoulder.

"You're leaving."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"And you told me to say goodbye. So..." Howard spreads his arms. "Here I am."

And it stings how much he's going to miss Cedric. Maybe it's a good thing. Maybe Cedric will forever be the person Howard measures his future crushes against - kind and good-natured and understanding.

"Can I...ask a favor?"

[theboywhodied]

"I did," Cedric agrees. It doesn't stop him from feeling awfully sad about it, though. Somehow, the most unlikely friend has also become his closest one. And now they'll never meet again. "Thanks."

He fights with himself for a moment---should he argue? Should he show how sad he feels? This is right for Howard, sure, but what's going to happen to him?

Cedric knows it's selfish. He says nothing along those lines. "What is it?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard can see the conflicting emotions written all over Cedric's face. Ced's never been that good at hiding those sorts of things.

"I can't take my cats to this planet. Someone needs to watch them, and I think Zou's heart's promised to the bird forever and ever."

[teethofneedles]

Karis skulked her way through the city, ignoring any strange looks and just... trying to find something that was halfway entertaining to look at. Or someone to beat up. You know, one of the two.

She paused as she turned a corner. That looked like Howard.

"Hey! Howie!"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Fangs! I was looking for you!"

Howard runs up. "Where've you been? I figured you'd be stocking up on grenades or something."

[teethofneedles]

"Window shopping. Being bored. You know how it goes."

Karis shrugs and scratches at one cheek.

"Whatcha need, Howie?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"I feel you. You checked out those mechanical spiders? Might go good with your little robot dudes."

He bites his bottom lip. "I wanted to say goodbye. Since we're friends and all."

[thewunderkind]

Lash was going to do many things in the city but the last thing she had expected was to see a certain Howard walking with a suitcase which she had a good feeling did not have giant stashes of dollar bills.

"Huh. Never really pegged you as a guy who would run with his tail between his legs the minute things start to get tough."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"You didn't? Have you met me?" He rolls his eyes. "Besides, if I was gonna bail when things got tough, it would have been back when you were a crazy evil scientist with a bigger death ray than normal."

[thewunderkind]

"Yeah I thought so too," she agreed. "So why didn't you back then? Why now?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Because have you seen this place? Easy to find black market, legal age of adulthood is fourteen, agriculture everywhere..." Really, on paper, it's everything Howard needs.

[paidinbeer]

Orc sat very still under a tree. It was a strange tree unlike any Earth tree. Maybe like the trees i the Dr. Suess books he'd seen as a kid.

Howard had explained the plan to him simply enough, and Orc would miss the cats, and a few other nice people. He felt bad leaving Diana behind. After all wasn't she one of them? But Howard had an answer for that too.

And so there he sat, trying to imagine a new life. One where he wasn't Orc. One where he wasn't a murdering monster.

Wouldn't that be nice? Too bad he didn't deserve it.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

After having collected everything they'll need to at least have a decent start on this planet and procuring a six-pack, Howard finally meets Orc under the tree. He sets the beer down between them and hands Orc his new passport and birth certificate, under the name of Ben Grimm.

He gets there just in time that they can watch the last shuttle leave, without them, meet Stacy in the sky. And watch Stacy's great shadow lift from the clouds above.

"That's it, man. Time for our new lives." He pops a beer open and hands it to Orc. "How you feel about it?"

[paidinbeer]

He accepted the beer and guzzled it down before answering. It was familiar to him, but barely made a dent in his sobriety.

"Weird." He finally answered between breathes of air. "What's gonna stop us from screwing this life up too?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Well, it not being the FAYZ is one thing. And we're a little older now. A little smarter." Well, at least Howard is. He doesn't know how many braincells Orc's drowned by now.

Howard looks up at the sky and squints. Why does it looks like a shuttles coming down and passing the airport? Coming their way? Suddenly fear shoots up his body like cold lightning from the arches of his feet to the back of his neck. His mouth goes dry.

"...Oh no."