All we want to do is eat your brains

[250mhzwabl]

Who: Jack Holden, Simon Lauchlan, Eugene Woods, Sam Yao, and anyone they can tempt in
What: Basically a slumber party
When: November 1st afternoon and evening
Where: One of the villas in Luceti's housing area
Summary: Luceti's residents of Abel Township have landed themselves under house arrest. But even if they can't go to the parties, who's to say they can't bring the party to them? (Or at least some takeout, geez, this punishment thing is hungry work.)
Rating: PG? It's just some post-zombie-apocalypse dudes and their houseguests, it's not really gonna be racy.


Maybe Halloween Land hadn't been the best destination for a small cluster of survivors of the zombie apocalypse.

In their defense, they hadn't known when they'd walked in that literal zoms would be all over the place. Even as placid as the things were, all it took were a few too many of the shambling dead in one place, strained nerves and the wrong line of conversation, and one poorly-timed jumpscare to set off the powder keg of their collective neuroses and send them sprinting for the nearest defensible position between them and the exits. And sure, all weapons had been taken to the battle dome. But where they came from, all that defined a weapon was a favourable combination of weight, length, sharpness, and maximum velocity. Where they came from, they'd all learned a few behaviours on an instinctual level.

It was sort of lucky, actually, that they only had managed to get themselves landed under house arrest for the remainder of the day. It meant that they still had contact with the outside world - or at least the portions of it that wandered close enough to the open windows.

Comments

[voiceinthedark]

I'm not sure that's entirely a good thing.

[tryit]

Why not?

[voiceinthedark]

it's embarrassing. [He is pretty sure that it makes him look like a child and really awkward and not things you want to be displaying when in front of an attractive woman.]

[tryit]

Well, I think it's sort of charming.

[She winks at him before taking another sip of beer.]

[voiceinthedark]

Oh. Uh... [He manages a sort of awkward but pleased smile.]

Thanks.

[tryit]

[She shrugs, playing it cool.]

You're welcome.

[voiceinthedark]

Don't think I've ever been called charming before.

[tryit]

Really? [Okay, maybe the word can be a bit dated, but it's still totally apt. He's kind of like Teddy in that way. The charming, friendly guy you can't help but like.] That's kind of a shame. The word fits you.

[voiceinthedark]

I'm a geeky Asian kid with overbearing parents and then the apocalypse happened. Rarely came up as a thing.

[And thinking about Alice makes him feel sad.]

I'm flattered though.

[tryit]

Some of my best friends are geeks.

[They're sitting right behind her, actually. Even if Kate does her best not to act geeky herself, sometimes she just can't help it.]

Even if you'd never guess it looking at Teddy.

[voiceinthedark]

[He laughs softly at that.]

He does look kind of like he should be playing on the rugby team or something, not geeking over video games.

[tryit]

[Kate winks at him, bumping his shoulders playfully.]

Appearances can be deceiving.

[In Teddy's case, sometimes literally.]

[voiceinthedark]

[He smiles back, leaning against her for a moment.]

Apparently so. Not that that's a bad thing.

[tryit]

You've got that right, Charming.

[voiceinthedark]

Are you just gonna keep calling me that, Kate?

[tryit]

Would you prefer Sammy?

[voiceinthedark]

No. No let's stick with Charming, if Sam is totally off the table.

[tryit]

[It really, really could be a whole lot worse. At least she hasn't taken to calling him Zombie Boy.

Only Simon seems to be that unlucky.]

Hey, it's better than a number designation.

[voiceinthedark]

I dunno. Nothing wrong with being a Runner. Having a number. The Runner might change but the number continues their legacy.

[tryit]

[Yeah. She gets that argument. It's why being given the Hawkeye mantle by Cap had meant so much to her in the end. She never would have accepted it otherwise.

She nods as she pulls a leg up to her chest, hugging it tight.]

It's not always easy though.

[voiceinthedark]

[He swallows, awkward for a moment and leans over to brush his hand against her knee.]

No. It really isn't easy for anyone. I- There was a runner back home, Runner 5. Me and her, Alice, had a thing. And then I sent her out somewhere and she never came back, not alive anyway. And then the new Runner 5 arrived and for a while, I couldn't even call them that. I went a bit crazy for a while.

[tryit]

[At least she never knew Clint before she took up his name. He had just been one of the many superheroes Kate had admired. And superheroes came and went. It was just the way it was.

But she knew how hard it was to lose someone you loved. She didn't know how she'd react if anyone ever used the name Stature. Hopefully, she'd never have to know.

She slips her hand on top of his and gives it a squeeze.]

Yeah. I- [Her voice lowers. Billy and Teddy can't know this.] I quit for a while. After my best friend died in a fight I was leading the team in.

[voiceinthedark]

[His smile is sort of painful when she takes his hand, but he squeezes back, the expression becoming stronger after a moment, sympathy obvious.]

I think that would give anyone pause. It's not bad. Just human.

[tryit]

It was my call that got her killed.

[She sighs, letting herself both look and feel weak just for this moment. Every time that she thinks that she's gotten over this, it just goes and stabs her in the gut again.

God dammit.]

[voiceinthedark]

[He's never entirely sure what to do in these moments. Maxine is way better at this than he is. She knows what to say, when to offer a hug, when to just sit quietly. But he knows how this is, how it is to lose someone because of a choice you made. It haunts him, what happened to Alice. If he hadn't sent her to the hospital. If he'd been a bit more observant, if he'd argued with Janine about sending her there...

After a moment, he just leans over and hugs Kate, holding her tight, because no words make it okay. No approval can ever fix it.]