deercountry | Who doesn't like a bit of chaos and downtime?

Entry tags:

Who doesn't like a bit of chaos and downtime?

Who: Glitch and you!
What: Glitch hanging around or causing problems
When: December
Where: All over the place

Content Warnings: Nothing to not, aside from casual book throwing and swearing

Guitar Playing at Willful Machine

[ It might be the only place in this whole stupid city that one could find a little bit of peace. With whatever monsters that tend to roam in this town Glitch at least found there are fewer incidents in the market streets and plenty of quiet places where some shop goers don’t pass by. He couldn’t help but give Deerington at this moment some credit, at least for a week at a time the town would be relatively peaceful. Here in Trench though? It always seemed like there would be something that was going to happen even if it wasn’t some kind of big event.

He’s sitting down on what would be a porch stoop, thumbing at the strings on his guitar. He’s not sure how long it’s been since he played. Definitely not since the arm thing, he thinks. He sighs a bit before he just starts strumming away. It’s one of those small songs he’s practiced as he just hums along. ]

Looking from the window above, it’s like a story of love, can you hear me?

[ Ugh, even he thinks it sounds sappy. ]

Throughout the town

[ There are probably a lot of strange sights in Trench so seeing a teenager riding on a gigantic white wolf is probably not that strange. He’s just zooming about town on Snow, stopping here and there. Whether he’s grabbing some supplies from some store or trying to get somewhere he’s around.

However, Glitch might not be paying too much attention as he’s riding because as he’s moving it’s only moments before he sees someone step out into the street. ]

OH SHIT! STOP, SNOW, STOP!

[ It’s a whole lot of skidding to stop and why must these streets be covered in blood sometimes to make it slippery. Well, enjoy a teenager and a wolf soaring over your head as they trip up their stop and go crashing into a wall.

Both just lying there and mild pain. ]

Owwwww….

Library

[ Otherwise, Glitch can be found at the library sifting through the shelves. Though this time around he looks more aggravated as he starts throwing books behind his shoulder. He grumbles angrily with each look at the title and another one goes soaring behind him.

Anyone interested to see what he’s picking up is a mish-mash of random titles, from ‘Cooking with Mother Superior’ to ‘Is your drain trying to kill you?’. ]

Holy fuck who organized these stupid shelves? None of these are fucking monster compendiums.

[And there goes another book that soars over his shoulder, this one titled ‘Dad jokes for aspiring father.’ He might need to burn that one. It’s too powerful. ]

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[Ruby has tagged along with Glitch to the library but she's got another goal in mind. Every time Glitch throws a book she's there to collect or catch it. And she moves to pile them by a desk nearby.

She's creating a fort not unlike what she had made the very first time they had meant. She doesn't know if he's noticed yet but it's time for a rematch.]

[ It's not hard to start to notice outside his peripheral that there's someone collecting the things he's throwing. He hadn't taken much note of who or what they were doing until he turned around and well...

seeing the small fort being built up makes him sigh. ]'

Ruby, what are you doing?

[That sigh only gets a grin out of her. She turns back to him and looks at him with determined eyes.]

Preparing for round two.

How about you?

Are you kidding? Really?

[ He lowers the book to his side just shaking his head towards her. ]

You're like what? Twenty? Don't you think you're getting to old for throwing books at people?

I mean really you should take that fort down and-

[ And then he throws the book he dropped to his side in her direction. Yes. This was a misleading tactic! Did it work? We shall see. But, for now, Glitch dives behind the bookshelf. ]

[Every party needs a pooper that's why they invited Glitch.

Or at least that's what Ruby thought at first. She feels her shoulders sage as her eyes drift down to the ground her guard lowering.]

I'm like nineteen. That's a million years off from being twent-

[She yelps as the book flies past her face and she looks up to see Glitch gone from from view.]

Wha- Hey! You dirty little monkey!

[ oh, music. ahiru had to pause, listening to it with a smile on her face, tapping her shoes to the rhythm. there's nothing she quite loves more than this. ]

How lovely . . .

[ He should've expected an audience of some form. He left the house to avoid one but that didn't mean there wasn't a chance there'd be one out on the streets. He stops mid strum before looking up, pursing his lips. ]

Guess I should've expected someone to hear me.

Was I not supposed to?

[ had she committed a huge faux-pas??? ]

. . . Should I pretend I didn't hear it?

[ There's a long sigh at her question because how is he supposed to respond to that? Besides, she looked like she was only just a kid. He lowers the guitar and shakes his head. ]

No. It's fine. Wasn't like it's a big secret or anything.

[ There's a pause before Glitch says;]

I don't think I've seen you around before. You new?

[ she beams, her earlier quandary forgotten. ]

Mmm, my name is Ahiru! I just arrived last month.

Uh huh. So. I'm guessing you've experienced some of the fresh horrors Trench can give, I'm guessing?

[ Because well, he may as well check with the new girl to be sure. Never know what fresh horrors the town gives. ]

Nooo? I guess there were the large towers that were stomping around but that wasn't too bad . . .

Oh! And the mushrooms. The mushrooms were a little creepy.

Oh yeah. I saw someone drawing them, they didn't seem all that bad?

Right?

...and what's this about stomping towers? Towers can't move.

Edited 2021-12-22 19:01 (UTC)

I don't know if there were worse ones.

And these towers did! They tried to step on people!

[ Considering the amount of time Ange spends at the library, it's really no surprise that she finds herself there when Glitch seems to have taken it upon himself to.. reorganize the place.

(Read: to throw books around, really.)

In fact, that's mostly what Ange hears at first. And the sound of books being thrown around makes her curious enough to actually go to see what's going on, figuring someone might be having a fight in the middle of the library or something, but.. nope. It's just a familiar face. ]

Wow, you sure look like you're about to ruin a librarian's day. [ It's said flatly, but Ange clearly means it as a joke because there's hardly ever any of those around here.

After all, it's not like there's any actual book sorting on the shelves going on here in this library. So it definitely makes this much more of a deadpan joke. Ange doesn't even seem to be trying to stop him from chucking the next book behind him. She's just standing there.

Though thankfully outside of the book chucking zone. She would like to live without a book-induced concussion. ]

[ He might've snapped at just about anyone.

Though Ange would not be one of them. He knows of her witchy powers and while she may have been joking at the time he doesn't want her cursing him either. Either way, he turns towards Ange, tossing a book back into its shelf. ]

The librarians suck anyway so I don't really care what day they're gonna have.

[ He leans back against the shelf to face Ange more directly. ]

So what are you doing here? Also looking for useful info?

Hmm. Have been for a while.

[ As in, 'a while across the months we've been here now', rather than a while just today specifically. Taking trips here is a pretty common occurence for Ange by now, after all. ]

Since.. well, as you have noticed, it's not exactly easy to find anything specific here. [ Judging by the way he's throwing all of these books around. ] The best you can do is either get lucky or ask someone else if they've seen a book about anything specific around.

[ .. speaking of that, Ange pauses to think. ]

What are you looking for? [ Maybe it's an offer of help. Maybe it's curiosity.

Maybe it's a little of both. ]

Great. Just what I needed. A freaking scavenger hunt. Give Deerington some credit despite it being the worst the library was at least fucking organized.

[ He lets out a deep sigh, almost resigning himself to not being able to find anything useful here. He might've just left if not for Ange asking that question.

He turns to her with a small shrug and replies in turn; ]

Monster books. Like encyclopedias on the things that wander this city and how to kill them. Since, well.

This is not exactly a nice place. [ For a moment he pauses before asking; ]

What about you? Looking for anything in particular?

[ Ange shakes her head. ]

I've just been studying.

[ If that answer sounds a little dismissive, it's because it's certainly not the most important part of what she's saying here. Ange is much more focused on what Glitch is saying now - and on the other's general attitude, mostly. It's not entirely unlike Glitch to act like this, but at the same time.. ]

What's wrong with you though? [ He seems so annoyed, though Ange is fairly sure that pointing that sort of thing out to Glitch only makes the boy more annoyed, so she's smart enough to refrain from doing so. ] Sure, this place is dangerous, and that sucks, but.. we're used to that at this point, right? Deerington wasn't much different.

[ At Ange's question he pauses between putting a book back on the shelf and holding it. Now that is the million-dollar question, wasn't it? There's a lot he could say to that before he puts the book back on the shelf with a loud thud.

He turns to Ange, still frowning and she would be right; he does seem more annoyed.]
Because for once I'd like us to be cut a fucking break. It's tiring having to always fight for our lives every month.

It'd be nice if it would just all end, you know?

Of course.

[ She doesn't seem to hesitate in that answer. Of course it would be nice if it would all end. Ange doesn't like it either that this place is - in some ways - just as crappy as Deerington, or just a little bit better than that place was.

But.. ]

What can we do about it though?

[ Nothing. Nothing Ange has found out about so far, anyway, and she's been trying to look into it quite a bit. ]

We can either spend our entire lives being annoyed, or we can try to make the best of it.

[Woah! She ducked when he went sailing, but about the time he was getting up, she was ... right there beside him, looking down with a curious look, giving him a poke with her umbrella and raising her eyebrow.]

That wasn't me.
I think.
I'm pretty sure it wasn't.

[If he looked around, he'd see another of her, the one he narrowly missed. They disappeared in a shatter of glass and she grinned at him, winking.]

Nope, wasn't me this time!
You ok there?

[ Of course. Neo would have to just poke him in the head when he's already in pain. He glares up at her still half bent over against the wall. ]

Do you really need to jab me with your Umbrella? I know that thing has a spikey in it.

[ He has to push himself to sit up as he looks towards her. ]

Where've you been?

[She giggled silently and brought it up to rest on her shoulder, winking and offering him a hand up before shrugging and twirling her finger in a circular motion. She'd been around, she promised.]

The spikey part's for people I don't like.
You alright there? No broken bones I should hope.

[ He pulls himself up, groaning all the while at the pain he was feeling. Well, that's what he gets he supposed for going at high speeds. He's already moving over to Snow to help the giant wolf back to his feet, the wolf already looking perterubed himself for having had such a harsh wipe out.

Glitch does look over at Neo when she asks her question; ]

Nope. No broken bones. Good thing too since I have less bones to break.

[ Get it? it's arm humour. Because he's missing an arm. ]

[Hey, if it was any consolation? She was laughing at that terrible joke. Her smile was pleasant enough while she silently chuckled away and walked over to offer the big wolf a scratch at the ear, assuming it didn't snap, before typing again.]

What happened over there?
Not like you to go flying after all.
Though we don't usually fight together, do we?

[ It's a good thing Snow wore that collar for he definitely welcomes the ear scratches like a good doggo.

As for the question, Glitch shrugs to it; ]

I wasn't paying attention to where I was going and nearly bowled you down? That's pretty much what happened.

Though next time I'll remember not to since you got that glass trick.

[She feigned a look of utter shock and a tiny bit of mock indignation to that before winking at him. What? Did he think she was always disguised with a secret doppleganger running around.]

Hey, I don't have that trick up every day!
Just six days out of the week and you have to guess which one it is!

[ Orpheus has mostly been taking it easy for the past few weeks, injuries from the Sleeper Farm still healing over. His voice is - thank the gods - more or less back to normal now, but he's still moving a little stiffly, if only because of the bandages wrapped around his torso under his clothes. As such he's been banned from doing much heavy lifting or cleaning around the house, and at a loss for anything else to do, has taken to wandering.

It's not too uncommon to hear buskers playing out in Willful Machine - they're more common around Cellar Door, to be sure, but anywhere there's a lot of foot traffic is a good place to set up seeking favors or what goods people can spare. The weird thing is, when he hears guitar music playing today, following it actually draws him away from the crowd, down sparsely-populated alleys until he runs into the player sitting on a lonely stoop. ]

Glitch! [ Orpheus lights up as he recognizes the boy, not just glad to see a friendly face, but to see him playing again, after he'd been so unsure about the prospect during their last conversation. ] It's good to see you! And - it sounds like you were able to keep playing after all. I'm glad!

[ Of all the people he had expected to find him where he was playing, Orpheus was definitely not among them. The chords he hit make a sour note from the surprise when he hears his name as he looks up from what he's playing. He lowers the guitar for a moment as he turns towards Orpheus approach.

He remembers the last time he spoke with Orpheus and it had been fresh on the heels of losing his arm. There's a moment of quiet before he shrugs his shoulders a bit to the man's remark. ]

Not as much as I had hoped.

I'm still getting used to the new arm with playing something like this.

[ Even if there was magic sensation built into the arm it still didn't change the fact it felt odd at times. ]

What are you doing out here?

[ Orpheus nods, frowning sympathetically. ]

I imagine it'd take some time to get used to? And practice, to build up the muscle memory again. Or - machine memory? [ Magic memory?? He guesses it doesn't really matter, and shrugs. ]

I was just out taking a walk, though. I, um, got kind of injured, last month, so it's hard to do much else aside from explore, so! What about you, though? Just practicing?

Yeah, something like that. I kept hitting the wrong cords for a long while after getting this thing. Almost felt like smashing my guitar a few times.

[ A feeling that was still lingering to some degree. He does lower it though to put more of his attention back on Orpheus, his focus now lost on trying to keep playing.

However, he stares when he hears what the other says to him. ]

Injured? Injured how? [ Because his mind already goes to blaming Maul, though that might be bias talking. There were plenty of monsters that could do the same here. ]

But, uh. Yeah. Sort of. Been staying in just trying to acclimate to all of....this.

[ As he gestures to city at large. And more off topic; ]

I hate the clothes here.

[ Orpheus nods, frowning. ]

It's frustrating, when your brain knows better than your hands. I'm sure they'll catch up, though, if you keep at it. But, um. You know how people were warning us that Sleepers tend to go missing, last month? It, ah, turns out there's these people in the city that steal blood and body parts from us, after taking us to this tower that's - I'm not sure where it is?

[ It might not even be in regular space, given how powerful some of the zealots seemed to be and how magic works here. Orpheus grimaces, shrugging. ]

Anyway, I got out with some help from Cynthia and the others, but... [ Not until after they took some things from him. Not anything he needed, apparently, but it's still kind of worrisome. He starts to get lost in his own head thinking about that, but Glitch's last comment snaps him out of it, and he laughs, surprised. ]

They're really strange, aren't they? I haven't really gotten used to them either. [ he says, dressed in the entirely anachronistic and well-patched denim jacket Julia gave him all the way back in Deerington. ] My wife took to it right away, though. She looks like one of the locals already. Oh! Did I tell you? She's here!

[When Maul hears the sound of someone coming towards him, he tenses and nearly jumps up to the top of a nearby lamppost. But then he sees a blurry white shape go sailing over his head and crash into a wall. When he walks over and sees who it is, his mood improves immensely.

Maul just stands over Glitch and his wolf shaking his head and not bothering at all to hide the smug expression on his face.]

If that was an assassination attempt, you will need to do far better than that, boy.

[ Of all the people to crash into it just had to be this asshole. When he see's the shadow come over him and who it is, he's already leaping to his feet and back to get between Maul and Snow, glaring all the while. ]

Go fuck yourself, Maul. Like I was aiming to kill you. Besides, no point in that since we both know you've been cursed, Cursedy.

[ Though honestly, he's glad he hadn't accidently killed Maul. Not out of some sense of morality or anything like that, but he knows how that may look to some of Maul's friends. ]

[The smug expression on Maul's face doesn't fade and instead morphs into a very unnerving smile, all sharp teeth and harsh lines on his tattooed face.]

Ah yes, I may be cursed but my brother and mate are both not. Either of them would be more than happy to get rid of a little pest like you for me.

[Not that Maul ever would ask Savage or Reaper to do such a thing. He did his own dirty work without having to outsource it. Besides, Maul values the relationships he has with people far more than the strong desire he still has to leave Glitch a screaming wreck. But Glitch doesn't need to know that, so Maul says what he does mainly to get under the boy's skin and scare him a little.]

[ It's so hard not to feel intimidated by this look Maul gives him. How he just domineers over him. He hates this man for it. Cause for so many of his problems in Deerington and here. What anyone saw in this man Glitch would never know.

So when the threat of Maul sending his brother and Lover after him makes him tense for a moment, but then...he starts to feel and see something else.

Like a miasma of cruelty radiating off Maul, but at those words? He can see them for what they were; a bluff. A scare tactic just to watch him squirm. Glitch isn't sure how he's seeing or even feeling this, but the moment of panic subsides into a steely look. ]

Nice try, asshole. You're not gonna do that. 'Cause if you did, you're gonna endanger all this supposed 'good will' you got with people.

God, what does Varian even fucking see in you? You play at wanting to be better but you don't actually want to, do you?

[ That bit thrown out a little more venomously. ]

[Maul's eyes squint in surprise when Glitch correctly calls his bluff. Now how would he have known about that? But then Maul has been very vocal in wanting to do better so it's not that hard to put two and two together.

Then Glitch mentions Varian and a spike of anger rises in Maul. He sometimes feel like he takes far more than he gives in the relationship with his disaster nephew but he knows for certain Varian not giving up on him and believing steadfastly that Maul could do better had been instrumental in the steps he was taking. So Maul reaches out with a hand and yanks Glitch up on his feet until he's standing on his tiptoes. It's uncomfortable but he's not actively seeking to cause the boy pain like he would with a Force Choke. Maul sneers at him.]

You'd like to think that, wouldn't you? That I'm just a heartless monster fooling everyone until he lashes out like a rabid animal. It's easier than facing the facts: I am doing better with the help of others like Varian, I simply have no desire to do so around you.

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Who doesn't like a bit of chaos and downtime?

Library

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1/2

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( guitar playing )

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library

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Throughout the Town

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Willful Machine

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cw: reference to organ theft/surgical horror

Throughout the town

Re: Throughout the town

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