Laughs-At-The-Storm [Bob] (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
finalizes) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
stormaktstiden2017-01-15 05:06 pm
finalizes) wrote in stormaktstiden2017-01-15 05:06 pm
Stone Street 460 and 461 both have pets. The drone family members living in the houses and the drone neighbours are delighted about the intelligent little parrot and the pretty little dog, and to Laughs's eternal frustration, no amount of ripping out throats or torturing them seems to change that they will be back the next day, try to feed him dog treats and pet him and call him a good dog and other insults.
After a few weeks, he has decided that it is a lost cause and for lack of a better place to retreat to in this perfectly manicured suburb tends to retreat to Torin's house when he gets tired of every drone that sees him around town trying to bring him back to "his owners". Mostly because while in 460 everyone but Laughs is a drone or was recently droned, Torin's house is full of non-drones, so they'll leave him alone, and also because whatever else he thinks of Torin it is relaxing to for once not be around nothing but human faces.
...Really, what does he think of Torin. The most necessary thinking, he has done: Torin is okay. He's stronger than him, he's kind of a friend. For the moment, that seems all there needs to be. But ...that's not the end of the questions, as much as it could be. As much as that complicates things. But they aren't pressing, so he hasn't addressed them yet.
Dodging a group of drone children playing hopscotch on the street - he really isn't in the mood to deal with comments about the Joneses' puppy having escaped again or attempts to pet him - he makes his way to Torin's house today, too, on the way back from the park, circling around the house to the area in the back where he knows that even if Torin isn't there, he'll find an open back door to let him in.
After a few weeks, he has decided that it is a lost cause and for lack of a better place to retreat to in this perfectly manicured suburb tends to retreat to Torin's house when he gets tired of every drone that sees him around town trying to bring him back to "his owners". Mostly because while in 460 everyone but Laughs is a drone or was recently droned, Torin's house is full of non-drones, so they'll leave him alone, and also because whatever else he thinks of Torin it is relaxing to for once not be around nothing but human faces.
...Really, what does he think of Torin. The most necessary thinking, he has done: Torin is okay. He's stronger than him, he's kind of a friend. For the moment, that seems all there needs to be. But ...that's not the end of the questions, as much as it could be. As much as that complicates things. But they aren't pressing, so he hasn't addressed them yet.
Dodging a group of drone children playing hopscotch on the street - he really isn't in the mood to deal with comments about the Joneses' puppy having escaped again or attempts to pet him - he makes his way to Torin's house today, too, on the way back from the park, circling around the house to the area in the back where he knows that even if Torin isn't there, he'll find an open back door to let him in.
This place is terrible. Terrible, and annoying, and he loathes it. More than anything he loathes the fact that the only place to sleep, alone as he is, are the buildings. He's tried to just head out far into the woods, but they are contaminated, and getting much worse in the direction of the weird cloud mushroom that went up around the time that he arrived, and being a lone Ragabash he has no way of doing much of anything about that. And they are full of the same tainted or at least unrelentingly hostile creatures that roam the streets of the city, a neverending stream that nobody seems to be able to make a dent into.
And he's nowhere in Gaia's realms anymore. That shouldn't be possible, but the longer he is here, the more certain he is of it. And it makes him unsure of what he is supposed to do about anything. There are no wolves here, no Garou, either. He doesn't seem to have any purpose. He's even unsure of what to do with all the humans in a place like this.
So he lurks around and scavenges and ends up sleeping in empty rooms of the floors and houses designated as safe, never claiming one of them - which one day leads to a new arrival wandering into the one where he's camping out at the moment, probably assuming that it is empty. Laughs, who went to sleep in a corner of the tattered living room, cold and miserable and just not wanting to deal with anything for a while, stayed perfectly still and thus invisible when Phillip entered, hoping that he was looking for someone and would go away quickly. When he didn't, though, and seems like he's thinking about moving in, Laughs figures that he'll have to deal with this after all.
So he sneaks closer, concealing himself in hopes that he won't be seen yet but get a good look of the intruder.
And he's nowhere in Gaia's realms anymore. That shouldn't be possible, but the longer he is here, the more certain he is of it. And it makes him unsure of what he is supposed to do about anything. There are no wolves here, no Garou, either. He doesn't seem to have any purpose. He's even unsure of what to do with all the humans in a place like this.
So he lurks around and scavenges and ends up sleeping in empty rooms of the floors and houses designated as safe, never claiming one of them - which one day leads to a new arrival wandering into the one where he's camping out at the moment, probably assuming that it is empty. Laughs, who went to sleep in a corner of the tattered living room, cold and miserable and just not wanting to deal with anything for a while, stayed perfectly still and thus invisible when Phillip entered, hoping that he was looking for someone and would go away quickly. When he didn't, though, and seems like he's thinking about moving in, Laughs figures that he'll have to deal with this after all.
So he sneaks closer, concealing himself in hopes that he won't be seen yet but get a good look of the intruder.
There are three things that stand out about the situation: He's underground. His pack is nowhere to be seen. There are weird Wyrm creatures around (and some humans and other beings, too). Oh, and he definitely wasn't here moments ago.
He's in a confusing place, he's under attack, and really there is only so much stress that he can deal with before rage takes the wheel. Luckily for everyone around, the 9 feet tall bipedal wolf-human hybrid shredding varrens on his way out of the colosseum is too busy contending with varrens to turn on anyone not actively attacking him. He's also leaving a trail of bodies behind that at least for a little time offer a free way out in the open, if someone dares to to follow the dreadful raging beast. Nobody else seems to be up to it; indeed, Ray will notice that those around who seem human either scramble as far away as possible form the wolf-human making his way out, or just freeze in fear and mutter prayers to themselves, or other extreme reactions.
He's in a confusing place, he's under attack, and really there is only so much stress that he can deal with before rage takes the wheel. Luckily for everyone around, the 9 feet tall bipedal wolf-human hybrid shredding varrens on his way out of the colosseum is too busy contending with varrens to turn on anyone not actively attacking him. He's also leaving a trail of bodies behind that at least for a little time offer a free way out in the open, if someone dares to to follow the dreadful raging beast. Nobody else seems to be up to it; indeed, Ray will notice that those around who seem human either scramble as far away as possible form the wolf-human making his way out, or just freeze in fear and mutter prayers to themselves, or other extreme reactions.
Edited 2017-01-15 17:36 (UTC)
Fortunately, Torin is home. He's out in the backyard tending to an apple tree he'd planted out there. It's something to do, and the way the passing drones comment on the way the family's pet parrot loves the tree kind of amuses him. Plus, it's nice to get fresh air when company comes around, as is the case today. "Ah! Welcome, welcome, did you want anything to drink? Anything to eat?" He's got to be a good host, and it's not like anyone stops him from getting things from the kitchen.
Phillip is not exactly enjoying himself either. He hasn't been here very long, but already he misses some pretty basic things- running water, electricity, the internet, the people he cares about... things like that. His teleporting isn't working to get him back home, which is annoying and kind of alarming, and generally he's stuck.
It's obvious pretty quickly that there isn't much in the way of takeout or even grocery stores around here either, so when he comes across Laughs he's scavenging. Phillip really isn't sure how much he needs to, has never had to test how much of him is human and how much is god at this point in his life. He might not need to eat- not eating probably won't kill him. But he'd rather be safe than sorry, because from what he remembers of being hungry it kind of sucks. ...But he's pretty sure that was back when he was like, ten, so maybe he was just being dramatic. (Spoilers, he's still dramatic.)
He stops in the room, looking around- in appearance, he's a human teenage boy, with a variety of hipster accessories that have become somewhat dirtied by the environment. His hair is a stark black, and his eyes... well. There's a faint hum of power around him, to those sensitive to it, but one look in his bright blue eyes will reveal how very not human he is. It's rather like being hit in the face with a sledgehammer of power, and it's more than a little disconcerting to most. Generally, people don't like to try and stare down Death, after all. (The smudged cats-eye glasses he's wearing help a little, but not enough for anyone to try and keep up eye contact for long.)
Phillip doesn't notice Laughs' presence, however, just looking around the room. He's always been shitty at sensing other people's power.
It's obvious pretty quickly that there isn't much in the way of takeout or even grocery stores around here either, so when he comes across Laughs he's scavenging. Phillip really isn't sure how much he needs to, has never had to test how much of him is human and how much is god at this point in his life. He might not need to eat- not eating probably won't kill him. But he'd rather be safe than sorry, because from what he remembers of being hungry it kind of sucks. ...But he's pretty sure that was back when he was like, ten, so maybe he was just being dramatic. (Spoilers, he's still dramatic.)
He stops in the room, looking around- in appearance, he's a human teenage boy, with a variety of hipster accessories that have become somewhat dirtied by the environment. His hair is a stark black, and his eyes... well. There's a faint hum of power around him, to those sensitive to it, but one look in his bright blue eyes will reveal how very not human he is. It's rather like being hit in the face with a sledgehammer of power, and it's more than a little disconcerting to most. Generally, people don't like to try and stare down Death, after all. (The smudged cats-eye glasses he's wearing help a little, but not enough for anyone to try and keep up eye contact for long.)
Phillip doesn't notice Laughs' presence, however, just looking around the room. He's always been shitty at sensing other people's power.
Edited 2017-01-15 17:34 (UTC)
The first thing Ray realizes when she wakes is that this isn't the school. The second thing is that some horrific wolf thing is walking by her. She claps her hand over her mouth to stifle a gasp.
It must be another lingered, though it's like none she's seen yet. She sucks in her breath and hauls herself to her feet--lingered can't see you when you're holding your breath. Surely this has to work?
Now just to get out of here... except the only path she can see if the one behind this new "lingered." She'll have to follow it.
Her hand closes around the book list (gun) she woke up with. Though just a scrap of paper (in her head, as long as she doesn't think too hard), it's dangerous to the right people. She needs to hang on to it.
Ray keeps several places behind the monster, still holding her breath. She can already feel her lungs straining...
It must be another lingered, though it's like none she's seen yet. She sucks in her breath and hauls herself to her feet--lingered can't see you when you're holding your breath. Surely this has to work?
Now just to get out of here... except the only path she can see if the one behind this new "lingered." She'll have to follow it.
Her hand closes around the book list (gun) she woke up with. Though just a scrap of paper (in her head, as long as she doesn't think too hard), it's dangerous to the right people. She needs to hang on to it.
Ray keeps several places behind the monster, still holding her breath. She can already feel her lungs straining...
His very first instinct is to think something along the line of how his day just looked up because dinner just delivered itself to his doorstep, but looking at the guy more closely, he's clearly not human. He can't tell what it is - it could be anything, with his Gift he can only tell that there's something supernatural about him - not without getting closer and getting his scent.
But while he could just be possessed or one of those vampire minion human things, he could also be something else, and he should better figure that out first.
The question is how. Direct or indirect approach?
Both have their merits. Hm.
Phillip will find his foot suddenly catching on a long piece of wooden debris, something that probably was part of a chair or table originally. Was it there before? Who knows.
But while he could just be possessed or one of those vampire minion human things, he could also be something else, and he should better figure that out first.
The question is how. Direct or indirect approach?
Both have their merits. Hm.
Phillip will find his foot suddenly catching on a long piece of wooden debris, something that probably was part of a chair or table originally. Was it there before? Who knows.
Phillip glances down when he feels his foot catch. Huh. He didn't see that, somehow. With a shrug he steps over it best he can, walking a little further in the room. Caution is not really a thing he understands.
He hates having to rely on charity for proper food, but for some reason the drone family this place placed him with seems to assume that he prefers five times processed pebbles and refuse meat covered in gooey sauce over actual, proper meat. Or even other proper foods.
And while to a degree he can feed himself - there are "adorable bunnies" in the park that are surprisingly clean, and he can break into the butcher's at night without much of a problem - dropping by Torin's place makes things easier. But it's still a weird way of acquiring food. It reminds him unfortunately of his childhood. But he's found a way around that feeling, at least.
"Only if you're going to eat, too. I can wait."
He flops down on the ground, watching Torin bustle about his tree.
And while to a degree he can feed himself - there are "adorable bunnies" in the park that are surprisingly clean, and he can break into the butcher's at night without much of a problem - dropping by Torin's place makes things easier. But it's still a weird way of acquiring food. It reminds him unfortunately of his childhood. But he's found a way around that feeling, at least.
"Only if you're going to eat, too. I can wait."
He flops down on the ground, watching Torin bustle about his tree.
The creature leaves the colisseum with an unerring sense of where "out" is, but once on the street, with no further varrens around and the initial walls all around gone, stops and for a long moment just stands there, staring ahead.
Then he growls, shakes not only his head but his whole body like a dog trying to get all the water out of his fur, and warps, until finally only a wolf stands in the middle of the street.
He's on the windward side of Ray, so unless she makes a sound or he catches sight of her, he might fail to notice her. Now if she can hold her breath just a while longer while he tries to get a handle on where the fuck he is, and how to best proceed from here...
Then he growls, shakes not only his head but his whole body like a dog trying to get all the water out of his fur, and warps, until finally only a wolf stands in the middle of the street.
He's on the windward side of Ray, so unless she makes a sound or he catches sight of her, he might fail to notice her. Now if she can hold her breath just a while longer while he tries to get a handle on where the fuck he is, and how to best proceed from here...
Something (a tattered wardrobe) collapses in the adjacent room, wood and metal noisily crashing into the ground.
Still concealed, Laughs peeks his head around the corner from that bedroom, trying to gauge how this guy will react. Haunted houses weren't his idea originally, but once Ilka brought it up, he picked up on them quickly. You can gauge a lot about the reactions that a person will have to a number of things.
Still concealed, Laughs peeks his head around the corner from that bedroom, trying to gauge how this guy will react. Haunted houses weren't his idea originally, but once Ilka brought it up, he picked up on them quickly. You can gauge a lot about the reactions that a person will have to a number of things.
Laughs may or may not be disappointed, because mostly Phillip looks... vaguely confused. It's hard for him to get scared, exactly, since so much of fear is rooted in it being an eventual cause of death. Still, he glances around, frowning as he takes in the sounds. "Hello?" he calls out, walking into the room the wardrobe crashed in, looking around for the cause.
Not quite.
It is a reaction, after all, and a fairly telling one, even.
Hm... A number of things that he would do normally don't work in this place, simply because it is so lifeless - not a single spirit in sight, no umbra, and so on. But there are still options.
There is a crash in the kitchen this time, and when Phillip enters it, a big, heavy cupboard will come crashing down right at him.Nobody says that he is the most inventive with haunted houses. Some things humans are afraid of just make no sense.
It is a reaction, after all, and a fairly telling one, even.
Hm... A number of things that he would do normally don't work in this place, simply because it is so lifeless - not a single spirit in sight, no umbra, and so on. But there are still options.
There is a crash in the kitchen this time, and when Phillip enters it, a big, heavy cupboard will come crashing down right at him.
Phillip steps into the room, and as the cabinet falls... suddenly he's on the other side of it. What? Just because he can't die or be hurt he could still get stuck. Well, as stuck as someone who can teleport can get, anyway.
He's definitely frowning now, glancing around. "You can cut this out already." Mostly, you're just annoying him.
He's definitely frowning now, glancing around. "You can cut this out already." Mostly, you're just annoying him.
...Okay, that wasn't more revealing than the other things. So this guy isn't afraid and has some kind of power on his hands.
He considers his options - leave, continue or reveal himself - and then chances leaving the room to take his human form. It's not like he ever runs around like this if he can help it, so it's not like he's risking much at a later point of time in revealing himself like this.
The guy who shows up in the door behind Phillip, apparently having come from the living room, still doesn't look too human. Sure, he technically does (for a Talon, Laughs is actually quite handsome, so physically he doesn't stand out that much, but...). But his posture is off. He's hunched over, but not in a way that looks like a teenager slouching or a hunchback but more like someone who is either decidedly unhappy about having to walk on two or ready to attack. Either way, there's something wild, predatory in it, and the way in which he watches Phillip from under the hood of his hoodie adds to that impression.
And for a while, he just stands there and stares, and looking at him one would kind of expect him to growl. He's not, but the sentiment is still there.
He considers his options - leave, continue or reveal himself - and then chances leaving the room to take his human form. It's not like he ever runs around like this if he can help it, so it's not like he's risking much at a later point of time in revealing himself like this.
The guy who shows up in the door behind Phillip, apparently having come from the living room, still doesn't look too human. Sure, he technically does (for a Talon, Laughs is actually quite handsome, so physically he doesn't stand out that much, but...). But his posture is off. He's hunched over, but not in a way that looks like a teenager slouching or a hunchback but more like someone who is either decidedly unhappy about having to walk on two or ready to attack. Either way, there's something wild, predatory in it, and the way in which he watches Phillip from under the hood of his hoodie adds to that impression.
And for a while, he just stands there and stares, and looking at him one would kind of expect him to growl. He's not, but the sentiment is still there.
"Shouldn't be too much longer, then, I just want to finish my pruning." Torin examines part of the tree before snipping off a bit. There's a library book open nearby with pictures and instructions on how to care for the tree; he must have had one of his housemates get it from the library for him. "How has your day been?" he asks as he works. "It's been rather quiet here. Nothing to do but help one of the kids with a history report."
"Nothing new." He's been trying to track down ...anyone or anything useful for a while now, but been unable to find anything. No matter how he goes about it, he can't find anything. It's frustrating.
And not like there is anything else for him to do here. Nothing he ever does seems to have any effect.
"...History report?" He assumes that it is something unimportant, but maybe it isn't.
And not like there is anything else for him to do here. Nothing he ever does seems to have any effect.
"...History report?" He assumes that it is something unimportant, but maybe it isn't.
Ray stops several paces behind the creature. If she can stay out of sight, maybe she can slink away.
But when it changes, surprise and her aching lungs prompt her to gasp in a breath of air. She's sure that the sound was audible, and her whole body tenses. She sucks in more air and takes some tentative steps back. She knows she can't run and hold her breath, so she just prays that this thing can't see her.
Despite the fact that she's standing in plain sight. It worked on the lingered.
But when it changes, surprise and her aching lungs prompt her to gasp in a breath of air. She's sure that the sound was audible, and her whole body tenses. She sucks in more air and takes some tentative steps back. She knows she can't run and hold her breath, so she just prays that this thing can't see her.
Despite the fact that she's standing in plain sight. It worked on the lingered.
...Nope, not working on this wolf, who whirls around in alert at the sound.
A human. Just a regular human, he's pretty sure of that. He shouldn't be surprised, they are everywhere, after all, but... okay, he is surprised, because strictly speaking they are not. It just feels like it.
Which produces a number of questions of why: Why is the human here? What does that say about this place? And a whole tail of follow-up questions tacked onto those.
He's not in the mood for any of them, but considering that there is nobody else around to ask them for him, he'll have to do it himself.
Growling, he approaches the girl.
A human. Just a regular human, he's pretty sure of that. He shouldn't be surprised, they are everywhere, after all, but... okay, he is surprised, because strictly speaking they are not. It just feels like it.
Which produces a number of questions of why: Why is the human here? What does that say about this place? And a whole tail of follow-up questions tacked onto those.
He's not in the mood for any of them, but considering that there is nobody else around to ask them for him, he'll have to do it himself.
Growling, he approaches the girl.
It sees her? Ray fights the urge to run--unless there were a convenient door to slip into, she could never outrun the monsters in the school.
There's one more thing she's learned to do to hide from the lingered; though it screams against every instinct she has, she turns her face from the creature. The lantern lingered would come close, but so long as she hid her face from it, it couldn't do anything to her.
There's one more thing she's learned to do to hide from the lingered; though it screams against every instinct she has, she turns her face from the creature. The lantern lingered would come close, but so long as she hid her face from it, it couldn't do anything to her.
Phillip turns to face him, watching him as he comes in. There is something not right about him, but his world is... disjointed, at best. He's far too aware of the existence or at least possibility of multiple worlds, multiple mythologies, multiple literally everything, so he doesn't even know what he would even start to guess at. Not human. Or a very weird human. That's about all he can narrow it down to at the moment.
But, at the very least, this person is not quite the type of Thing that Phillip himself is, which are about the only types of people who freak him out anymore. So he gives the man a mock, somewhat cocky, salute. "Sup?"
But, at the very least, this person is not quite the type of Thing that Phillip himself is, which are about the only types of people who freak him out anymore. So he gives the man a mock, somewhat cocky, salute. "Sup?"
"Yes, on the building of the pyramids...all the library books were dreadfully inaccurate. I witnessed the undertaking, and I think my insights were rather helpful." Torin talks about being at the building of the pyramids in the most casual, matter-of-fact way possible.
That was not the reaction that he expected. She acts like a bitch cub, not a fully grown bitch; cubs, he's observed, sometimes think that what they can't see isn't there. ...And what else has she seen? She can't have gotten there in the almost no-time between him shifting and her gasping, so...
So he'll have to make sure to kill her, anyway, which means... He lunges at her at the same time as he starts to change and by the time that he hits her and throws her to the ground, coming to sit on her heavily, he's ...more human.
Decidedly not fully human, though, despite the hood of the grey hoodie he's drawn over his head obscuring most of his features. His face doesn't quite have the right shape, his teeth are too sharp, his gaze too predatory, and the hand that is resting against he throat wrong as well, the nails digging lightly into the junction of her chin and neck too pointy and sturdy.
His words are a half-growl. "What are you doing here, human?"
So he'll have to make sure to kill her, anyway, which means... He lunges at her at the same time as he starts to change and by the time that he hits her and throws her to the ground, coming to sit on her heavily, he's ...more human.
Decidedly not fully human, though, despite the hood of the grey hoodie he's drawn over his head obscuring most of his features. His face doesn't quite have the right shape, his teeth are too sharp, his gaze too predatory, and the hand that is resting against he throat wrong as well, the nails digging lightly into the junction of her chin and neck too pointy and sturdy.
His words are a half-growl. "What are you doing here, human?"
The last person she heard speak was the voice in the telephone telling her to come to the counselor's office--a trap. ...No, that wasn't even a person, as near as she can tell, and the experience of a voice crackling through a phone is different than seeing and hearing words come out of a living face.
The last person she heard speak was Wei, right before he died.
As her fearful eyes scan this new face, she supposes that he might not be a person either. But he's a speaking, flesh-and-blood face--and so she finds that she's more fascinated than alarmed. For now. It says something too that he hasn't clawed or strangled her yet, like the lingered would do.
"You can see me? And you can talk... You're not a lingered?"
The last person she heard speak was Wei, right before he died.
As her fearful eyes scan this new face, she supposes that he might not be a person either. But he's a speaking, flesh-and-blood face--and so she finds that she's more fascinated than alarmed. For now. It says something too that he hasn't clawed or strangled her yet, like the lingered would do.
"You can see me? And you can talk... You're not a lingered?"
Torin will get the blankest of stares at this. The way humans approach talking about what happened in the past has always eluded him and probably will always elude him a bit, partly because he doesn't want to look into it more - it's one of the clearest signs of just how deeply entangled they are with the Weaver. Before one even looks at electronics and all that.
And the way Torin talks about it is very human. Dates and it being important how the details were in truth and abstractions and pressing stories of the past into a rigid, unmoving system.
Thinking about it, he has never heard him tell a proper story of the past. Maybe he isn't that bad once he gets talking? And really, most of all he just wants someone to talk to him normally right now. It's been a long day. So he'll even accept a story that will put him to sleep, if that is how Torin's telling turns out.
"Who built them?"
And the way Torin talks about it is very human. Dates and it being important how the details were in truth and abstractions and pressing stories of the past into a rigid, unmoving system.
Thinking about it, he has never heard him tell a proper story of the past. Maybe he isn't that bad once he gets talking? And really, most of all he just wants someone to talk to him normally right now. It's been a long day. So he'll even accept a story that will put him to sleep, if that is how Torin's telling turns out.
"Who built them?"
Edited 2017-01-17 16:08 (UTC)
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