Avenues That Reek of Time to Kill [Closed]

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard made sure they arrive to Med Bay early, not just because he doesn't want to be late but because if he impresses on Orc to hurry up, Orc might not have time to get completely smashed before they do this thing. Howard would rather not deal with blackout-drunk Orc, but at the same time he doesn't want Orc sober enough to be obstinate or miserable, so they did a stop at the beer tree before coming here.

He invited Barbara and Ian because they were very game for the food excursion, despite is propensity for total revulsion. He invited Anwei because he wants to be close with her again, at least, as close as he gets to people who aren't Orc. And because she brings a new perspective to Stacy, one that's been proven to be more viable than he presumed.

He wanders through the hospital beds and sets up the coffee pot. No reason not to go into a brand spanking new adventure caffeinated. The Medical Bay is large enough that meeting here doesn't even register on the people working actual shifts.

"You want coffee?" He fills up a mug for himself and glances over at Orc. He hopes they aren't waiting long enough for Orc to get impatient or lose interest.

Comments

MEETING UP

[meat_mooks]

[Orc, then any order.]

Re: MEETING UP

[paidinbeer]

Orc was very well lubricated by now and in fact, starting to lose interest in the situation as Howard predicted. He shrugged inn a non-committal manner and sat on the floor because there were no chairs that could support his massive frame.

"sure...whatever." He slurred unable to remember if he'd ever had coffee before.

Re: MEETING UP

[first_in_time]

Barbara walked to the meeting point feeling herself worry over a few things. The biggest of which was what may or may not happen to them all in the next couple of hours. The next was the probability that Ian was going to be with them. And that wasn't bad as such...just a little awkward after the mess she'd made last time.

However, upon entering the Med Bay, all of her worries were pushed to the back of her mind as what appeared to be a talking boulder sat on the floor. Barbara didn't say anything, just watched for the moment.

Re: MEETING UP

[anwei]

Anwei was feeling considerably relieved as she entered Med Bay. Her locker was still here, so she had reclaimed her camouflage jacket and heavy fireproof pants. And she was happy to be with Howard again.

She nodded at the people waiting, but her attention was on the rough-skinned figure. This must be Orc. She was glad that Howard had a friend with him again - a real friend, someone from his world.

Re: MEETING UP

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Hey Barbara. Hey Maw." Howard finished making a pot of coffee and pours a cup for Orc. Styrofoam. Nothing Orc can break easily. He hands it over. "Careful man, this is hot."

He keeps the coffeepot for himself. Yes, he is going to drink that whole thing. Someone try and stop him.

"Where's Teach?" he asks Barbara. "I thought you two got surgically attached at the hip."

Re: MEETING UP

[splendid_roman]

Ian had heard Howard's comment from just outside, but decided to pretend he didn't.

"Hello everyone," he said, as he came in. He wondered if Orc had been drinking, but he didn't know him well enough to tell by looking. "I'm Ian," he said, introducing himself to the only person here he didn't recognise.

Re: MEETING UP

[paidinbeer]

Orc sat quietly and tried the coffee. It was bitter but not awful. He slugged it down savoring the burn in his throat. Barely paying attention really.

Re: MEETING UP

[first_in_time]

Barbara was about to reply when Ian wandered in, so remained silent, still and simply smiled at Howard and the woman she didn't recognise.

The way in which Howard talked to the boulder, she assumed it was Orc, or Charles, his best friend and alcoholic. She watched as Orc finished the cup of coffee in a mouthful and almost cringed at the scolding he could very well have been experiencing.

Re: MEETING UP

[anwei]

"Hello, Ian. I'm Anwei Ayles; I just got back from a podnap." She smiled. "Or whatever people call it."

She turned her smile to Howard. "So, who are your other friends?" An eyeball-flick indicates Orc and Barbara.

Ian, Orc and Anwei

[splendid_roman]

Ian started off down the tunnel without looking back. "I wonder how far back these tunnels go?" And what they were for. Although Anwei's omnicomm hadn't shown anything down the other tunnel, the door must have been unused for a reason.

Re: Ian, Orc and Anwei

[anwei]

"They could go very far back." She tries to lay a mental image of where the Med Bay was in Stacy's bulk, calculate how much unexplored space there might be, and fails.

This would all be so much easier if someone would go outside during a stopover in normal space and do a 3D scan of all of Stacy's interior architecture - but she would probably block that. Somehow.

"What do you think?" she asked Orc, watching him carefully. It was near-impossible to read his features through the stones that coated his skin, but she wanted to be certain that he was all right with this little exploration; that he had fully recovered from the threat of Punishment.

On the other hand, she wasn't certain that Howard had fully recovered.

Re: Ian, Orc and Anwei

[paidinbeer]

Orc was currently resentful that Howard had sent him on his own. He hadn't intended on doing any real thinking on this mission. But at least these two adults seemed smart.

But then one asked his opinion and he had to think of something to say...

"...I think we should walk stright and turn around so we don't get lost." He said after a pause between her asking and him answering. He instantly regretted it because he was sure it betrayed how young he really was to have something so simple pop out of his mouth.

Re: Ian, Orc and Anwei

[splendid_roman]

Ian was worried about how much Orc had had to drink and how much use he was for anything other than brute strength. But he wasn't about to let Orc doubt himself. So he smiled and clapped Orc on the back. "I agree," he said, although he wasn't sure Orc had answered the question Anwei had asked, and he was ignoring half of Orc's answer. "We should take the simplest path. How much string have you got?" he asked Anwei. "If we come to a fork we don't want to get lost."

Re: Ian, Orc and Anwei

[meat_mooks]

The path doesn't fork, but it does come to a large round chamber with something wet and gooey at the bottom. The top of the chamber arches up high. A tendril of something extends from the ceiling, holding what looks like a little Gameboy. The walls are some strange combination of flesh and earth, and small plants appear to be growing out of the side. A few have even flowered, and glow in the dim light, plants surviving against the odds and absence of sunshine.

More tunnels branch off from this chamber, but only one is large enough for anything besides a common housecat.

Re: Ian, Orc and Anwei

[anwei]

"The simplest plan is usually the best. Considering the way that Stacy's passages can twist and turn around..."

She reaches into her pocket and pulls out the string; it is fluffy blue with some stretch in it, bundled around a faded cardboard core. "It used to have," she squints at the bottom of the core, "twenty-five rods, however much that is? It's at least several hundred feet."

She stops at the sight of the chamber, eying that wet soft-looking floor. "Watch your step, Orc," she said; she didn't know how heavy he was, but she didn't fancy him sinking into Stacy's substance either.

Re: Ian, Orc and Anwei

[paidinbeer]

Orc didn't watch his step, because he was more curious about the item hanging from the ceiling. He trudged over feeling his weight sink into the wet gooey floor and reached out trying to reach for it.

It was like a nature documentary, and he was the big gravel covered gorilla going for a low hanging fruit.

Re: Ian, Orc and Anwei

[splendid_roman]

"That ought to be plenty," Ian said, just before he stepped into the chamber.

"I wonder where this lot came from." Given the choice he would fig into the earth in the walls, but they haven't brought a shovel, so he settles for touching the flowers. He pulled the leaf off one, so he could take it back and identify it later.

Barbara and Howard

[first_in_time]

Barbara bit her bottom lip as she watched the others head down the larger tunnel.

"Alright," she sighed and turned toward the other tunnel, ducking a little. "let's head down here, then."

Re: Barbara and Howard

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Cool." Howard pulls his flashlight out and turns it on. He pulls another from his pack and hands it to Barbara, ever prepared. He gets down to his elbows and starts to crawl into the hole. For twenty yards, all Barbara will see is his feet.

The surface inside is dry and papery, not unlike a wasp's hive. At times the floor caves in slightly under their hands, but not enough for hem to fall through. Finally they reach a big open chamber, which the lights reveal to be blue and red and flakey. Inside the chamber is a box.

"Good thing you're not claustrophobic, right?"

Re: Barbara and Howard

[first_in_time]

Barbara, who had been trying to crawl and light her way, though only really succeeded in making the torch light dance over the walls, replied: "not terribly. At least, not yet," and carried on crawling as softly as she could so that her hand didn't get stuck in the fragile floor.

"Did you know that something like this existed on board Stacey?" she asked after another moment of crawling.

Re: Barbara and Howard

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Stick around me long enough and you'll end up neurotic. I'm just saying." He flashes the light up at the ceiling, then, in the dim cast, looks surprised to see that there are lightbulbs installed up there.

"Nope." A hint of darkness creeps into Howard's voice there. He doesn't like not knowing what to look out for. That's the kind of ignorance that almost got him tortured. He gets to his feet and reaches up, still a few inches too short to touch the lightbulbs. "You wanna take a chance unplugging those?"

Re: Barbara and Howard

[first_in_time]

"I can try," the historian replied, getting up from her knees and reaching above her head for the lightbulb. A small amount of negotiating with her moderately nimble fingers and the bulb can be twisted loose. She showed it to Howard, letting him take it for closer examination.

"These don't look like anything I've seen on Stacey before. Usually the light sources are quite different." Unless they'd dreamed them up in the Sensorium, of course.

Re: Barbara and Howard

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard takes the lightbulb and looks over it, shining his light through it. The tint of the glass is purple. Weird. "Usually she doesn't have old-school tech stuff like this. I wonder if it's just light or if it does something."

He sets it over to the side, near the tunnel they crawled in, and investigates another tunnel branching off. "You want to go first this time? I mean, if you're game for being brave."

He flashes the light in her face to tease her.

Re: Barbara and Howard

[first_in_time]

"I think if it did something, there'd be wires or something similar sticking out from it. Something to have connected it to the rest of the ship a little more." But it wasn't as if Barbara was an expert.

Her hands went to her face. "Howard!" she scolded lightly and in good humour, a small smile giving her away. "I think I'd I can handle going first, thank you."

Barbara got to her knees and crawled forward into the tunnel, working her way down to shimmy on her stomach.

Re: Barbara and Howard

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Stacy wouldn't just put random lightbulbs somewhere if they weren't supposed to be used, right? I wonder what this paper material is." Howard gets down on his elbows and squirms after Barbara, giggling a bit and glad that they're comfortable enough to tease each other. It's how he relates to other people best, through teasing. It's an easier way to frame the relationship than thinking of how Barbara's taking over the surrogate mother position.

"Don't fart!" Sometimes Howard seems to exist outside of the fact where he's only fifteen and hasn't had adult guidance since he was two years younger than that, but he's still at the age where bodily functions are entertaining. He follows Barbara through this tunnel, which seems much much longer than the first one. As they go the sound of droning and humming seems to fill the air, which is getting increasingly sweet-smelling. "You hear that?"