Cleaning crew

[kimp]

:: Liberty takes an infinitesimal step closer to Sally and in a voice that is only for him ::
I'm backing off now. Wrong place. Right time. I have some other things I can say to you that aren't really for present company as they might offend, but they can wait. A little bit. But, the next time you start questioning yourself or the choices you *had*
:: strong emphasis on the last ::
to make to survive? I am going to take you behind the woodshed and hit you with some hard truths. Deal?

:: She steps back two steps and cocks her head at him ::
I had money on you wetting yourself in the hot sauce challenge. Or someone wetting themselves. It was a little disappointing that no one did.

:: At this she turns more fully to the remainder of the room. She points at Dallas ::
I like comics.

:: Then she turns towards Alice ::
I like books.

:: To Lou, she gives a thumbs up and says ::
Cleaning. Great. Though I think we should help you get a hobby.

:: Finally she looks to Eden. Her expression goes from a grin to dead serious, the slightest call for reassurance in her gaze. As in, I'm pretty sure I just royally screwed up and I have no experience fixing things and why should I fix things? And why am I feeling compelled to fix things? My stomach hurts. People are confusing. Yep, all that was in that single serious/panicked/angry look ::
Movies are good. They can have a lot of subtext-slash-deep meaning or fart jokes.

:: then to the room at large, she says ::
If we are looking for a community activity, I'd also say board games are good. As long as it isn't Scrabble. When people play a word and you ask them what it means and they say "I don't know, but I know it is worth 3-bazillion points" it makes me want to shoot them. And, apparently, shooting members of the community is 'wrong'.
:: The last is said in a mock-conspiratorial tone that begs the others to join the joke ::

:: After a moment, she turns back to Sally ::
Before I forget, my survival horror stereotype is definitely the 'mysterious loner' antihero who appears in the town and is, confusingly-enough to themselves, turned into a hero/rescuer by their interaction with the rest of the community.
:: She goes for a wink. It seems a little weird. Like maybe she's never tried one before ::

[Eden Jones]

Eden smiles encouragingly at Blue, picking up on her cue.

"Indeed, it's considered gauche to shoot people over Scrabble, although the rules are a bit fuzzier on flinging tiles at people. Still, it's probably best you stick to some other board game." She grins, "We wouldn't want to have a vocabulary throwdown; that could get ugly."

Taking out her notebook, Eden starts scribbling. "So, we have movie night, board games -- we could make a pitch for people to bring ones they like to the diner -- and baseball. We've got cookouts, a potluck, and a dessert contest. No more hot sauce swigging for Sally, although if someone else wants to burn their throat, I won't stop them. Books for Alice. Books for all of us, really, and Dallas? I wouldn't mind some reading recommendations if you feel like it. Maybe we could improvise our own style of book club where everyone brings a favorite and lends it to someone else, then they have someone to talk with about it.

"Sound good so far? Mind you, we don't need to get this all planned out right now. The wee hours of the morning are not always when I make my best decisions.

"Speaking of decisions," her voice loses its levity, but stays calm, "It may not be my place to volunteer an unrequested opinion, but I wanted to pick up on what Blue was saying." She turns to face Sally, "No one was in there with you and, to put it bluntly, I don't think it's fair to armchair quarterback your torture. We all like to talk about what we'd do in that situation, but none of us really know until we're in it. You do what you have to do to get through it, whether it's pleading, cursing, or singing the Loveboat theme. Personally, I'm more concerned with where we go from here. You've got my help if you want it, but you're not obligated to take it.

"There are some people here who want to go the lone wolf route. That's their choice. As for me, I agree with you that we'll need to rely on each other in this odd little town."

[Sally]

Sally looks down at Liberty, the girl's eyes flashing with that same unblinking intensity as before, and he gives her a little nod. It's not like telling her 'no' would do any good- that girl's gon' say what she gon' say.

"It can be like back home- 'Sally, go cut yo'self a switch an head out b'hind the shed...'" He seems lost in thought, almost hearing the whip-whap of said 'switch.' It's right up there with clack of hard-heels stomping on a wood floor at a barn dance, the creak of an old rocker on a porch, and the scuttley sounds of chickens under foot, in terms of Back Home sounds.

At the thought of 'wetting himself' Sally's face is smacked with incredulousness, "I keep a tight lid on my fa-cul-ties, I'll have ya know!" With a shake of his head, Sally will second or third the motion against Scrabble, "That game is pre-jud-iced..." he mutters.

Looking to Eden, he says, "T-thank ya kindly, Ms. Jones," his voice growing small for the moment, "I ap-preciate the sentiment."

Very quickly, he'll speak up to Lou, "Hey, yeah, at tha very least, even a Workin' Man gets a Sunday afternoon every now'n then. Tell me ya got some way to kick-back? Makin' them little ships in bottles, whittlin', snarin' bullfrogs..."

Unsure of what an "anti-hero" is, Sally will listen to LIberty's explanation of her loan-wolf status without the benefit of also known what "meta" means, and with the burden of a certain degree of self-obliviousness, "Well, that, that sounds like a right good thing." At her twitchy wink, he'll pat her on shoulder and look over to Dallas, then back to his own shirt,

"Hey, we match! Check this out, Chickadee..." he'll turn to Alice and half-grin, half-blank out as somethin' occurs to him.

"Whadda we call ou-selves? I mean, we ain't locals. We outta towners? Squatters? Va-cation-ers?"

[Heather N]

Dallas nodded to Sally.

"I played a few games in the past. Also a lot of running...but I think I get plenty of that in this town."

She gave a weak laugh as she grew quiet again. The events of the night Penance took Sally were racing through her mind. She didn't know why she followed them to begin with. After thought made her question what the hell she was thinking. When they had finally found Sally he was locked in a building being tortured. The three of them were stuck just standing there in a silence only broken by Sally's screams. She wanted to leave, but if there were just one second, just one opening she would have run into the building and tried her hardest to grab him. She knew Lou shared the same thought. That is why she stood there waiting. If that possibly arose and she had left, she would have never forgiven herself.

"My biggest concern is if he is coming for anyone else..."

She sighed and shot Lou a glance.

"Yeah, you think Lou maybe you would walk me back to the apartments. I think I am ready for bed...Tomorrow morning I will see if I can dig up some good reads to leave out at the library."

[PoeticJustice]

Alice read her book, disconnecting from the world by losing herself in its pages, putting it up like a shield between her and the world. But the words of the others seemed to strike her regardless, occasionally raising a flinch or swallow.

None of us were in there with you.

Sally, go cut yo'self a switch an head out b'hind the shed.

My biggest concern is if he is coming for anyone else...

Even Sally's call of "Check this out, Chickadee!" doesn't get her head to raise. She just swallows and turns the page, although her eyes seem stuck in the middle distance, not actually connecting with the words despite how hard she tried.

It would be the third time she read this chapter since Friday Night. Maybe the next time she'd manage to actually take it in.

[Sally]

And the notion of Penance coming back for someone else, for dragging some one else into that shack like he did Sally, the man's fists snap shut.

"Imma bury that Big Knife square inta that Thing's Big Face 'fore I let that happen to anyone else," Sally says, through nearly gritted teeth.

A wild glint rolls over in his eyes, and the cords in his neck stand out- "And iffen that don' work-" his fists shake, "Iffen I gotta get word to folks that still deal in heavy ordnance- I got a friend er two with stars on they sleeves still- or if I got go crack some of them Blackstone grunts in they head and take they toys, so fuckin' be it..."

Sally speaks with his hands, pulling both up in front of him like gnarled claws:

"But... I .... will... KILL... that Thing."

Sally shudders for just a moment, and the glint of mania fades right out of him. He forces his hands open, then back to his sides. He'd felt like this one the battle field, when that Big Knife was in hand. One of them eco-whackjobs had looked him in the eye... and then started backing up, mouth agape and face run to white. If a half dozen folks handn't pounced on Sally then and there and shoved the little bottle of Jim Beam down his throat, he would have taken that Hippie's head clear off his shoulders. What did that little granola eater even do? Was he the one that had Jacob on the ground?

Was it the one that had Gus pinned down? The one that had laid Jackal flat- did it matter?

Shaking his head, Sally with throw up a big, crocodile smile and say, "Maybe we should pack in it fer the night. L-let them brew some fresh coffee and such. May-be re-con-vene during sunlight hours with a chalk board er a checklist er somethin..." Sally looks down to the bucket of sudsy, bloody rags and peroxide and says, "An' I got a finda sewer fer this mess."

Hoisting up the bucket, Sally will start for the door, and then pause and say, "T-thanks."

"Come on' naw, Chickadee, let's see 'bout haulin' this here load n' not gettin' mauled by bears..."

[Eden Jones]

Having finished cleaning and reassembling her firearms, Eden starts packing up.

She looks over at Sally, "Give me half a minute to get squared away, neighbor, and I'll walk with you two. I'd just as soon avoid getting smacked around by unpleasantness on my way back to bed."

Gazing around the room, she asks, "Anyone else headed to Main Street?"

[PoeticJustice]

At the beginning of Sally's rant, a pained noise, laced with surprise, crosses Alice's lips as she looks up in surprise. And then it's swallowed, all of it swallowed, pushed aside and it's like she's another person. The book is closed and slipped into the bag as she rises, putting a hand on Sally's shoulder, over the hand that curls up into a fist. She shifts until she's in front of him, looking him in the eye.

Wordlessly, she pulls the hematite cross over her head and holds it out to him, her expression unreadable beyond smooth, calm, focused. She takes his hand without asking, her gestures firm and precise, and wraps the chain around it. After that is done, she takes a step back and gathers her rag and the book he'd thrown.

[Sally]

Sally will jerk to a stop and swing the bucket some to avoid spillage.

"Sure thang, Ms. Jones," he says, eyes on the door.

His shoulders shrug relaxed some, as he'd stopped next to Alice, who had a whole mess of familiar items in hand.

"Now, I'm j-just throwin' this out there," Sally will say, "But it ain't all that strange to be met on the road from here ta there by some nutty-ass Fey-aries when you head up main street with us."

He almost smiles some at that.

Last time they'd wandered up the way, JD'd gone nuts and cracked a croquet mallet over the back of Sally's head. That hadn't gone so well for JD.

Ah, home.

[Eden Jones]

Eden shrugs and grins. "Well, one of those Fey is an old friend of mine, so if he's there I'm not worried. If he's not, I just try to be as boring as possible, which is not a big stretch for me."

Hoisting her bag up on her shoulder, she grabs her baton and starts to head towards the door. "Good night, everyone. Stay safe and sleep well."