Charles Smith (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
borntohurt) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
redshiftlogs2020-02-18 09:31 am
borntohurt) wrote in redshiftlogs2020-02-18 09:31 am
[open] scent of silence under starlight spinning
Who: Charles Smith and YOU. Yes you. You.
What: Exploring Anchor with a new four-legged blob-friend. Come say hey!
When: /wiggles hands vaguely and gestures at month of February
Where: All over Anchor. Seriously, he's just exploring the full extent of what's there, so you can meet up with him anywhere.
He couldn't say he'd enjoyed his time there, but things had perhaps been simpler in the City of Sin than he'd given them credit for.
For one, he'd had a place to retreat to with some kind of certainty, when need be. And the need is rather dire, as it happens. He can feel that itch coming up on him, that sense of anxiety that needed release. It grows as the days go by, clawing, scrabbling to be let out, but he doesn't trust the people here quite the same. Here, there seems to be less space to run.
Granted, it wasn't as bad as the first few times. With practice and help, he had something of a handle on the transformation. But it wasn't as good as being able to control it entirely. When it wanted out, it was going to get out, and what it wanted always remained the same. Run. Hunt. Eat. Protect the Pack.
Better that not be around a bunch of people it didn't know.
---
So he's on the move through the city, level by level, looking for anyplace big enough -- and secure enough -- to work for the time being. He's managed to find some new clothing from the recent appearance of the Alien Hot Topic, replacing his worn-out boots and acquiring a new black leather jacket in the process. It's a strange mix of old and modern, still preferring the shirt he'd arrived in, still wearing his beaded necklace, an eagle feather twined into his hair and hanging delicately against his shoulder.
Charles isn't alone, either. Almost fittingly, one of the blobs seems to have taken a liking to him and is following him around in its current assumed form: a large gray wolf. It trots along at his side, quietly offering suggestions and encouragement through this strong bond they now share as they make their way through the levels, exploring as much of the available space as possible.
Really, they're going to make their way just about everywhere in the complex. They're bound to run into at least a few people along the way.
What: Exploring Anchor with a new four-legged blob-friend. Come say hey!
When: /wiggles hands vaguely and gestures at month of February
Where: All over Anchor. Seriously, he's just exploring the full extent of what's there, so you can meet up with him anywhere.
He couldn't say he'd enjoyed his time there, but things had perhaps been simpler in the City of Sin than he'd given them credit for.
For one, he'd had a place to retreat to with some kind of certainty, when need be. And the need is rather dire, as it happens. He can feel that itch coming up on him, that sense of anxiety that needed release. It grows as the days go by, clawing, scrabbling to be let out, but he doesn't trust the people here quite the same. Here, there seems to be less space to run.
Granted, it wasn't as bad as the first few times. With practice and help, he had something of a handle on the transformation. But it wasn't as good as being able to control it entirely. When it wanted out, it was going to get out, and what it wanted always remained the same. Run. Hunt. Eat. Protect the Pack.
Better that not be around a bunch of people it didn't know.
---
So he's on the move through the city, level by level, looking for anyplace big enough -- and secure enough -- to work for the time being. He's managed to find some new clothing from the recent appearance of the Alien Hot Topic, replacing his worn-out boots and acquiring a new black leather jacket in the process. It's a strange mix of old and modern, still preferring the shirt he'd arrived in, still wearing his beaded necklace, an eagle feather twined into his hair and hanging delicately against his shoulder.
Charles isn't alone, either. Almost fittingly, one of the blobs seems to have taken a liking to him and is following him around in its current assumed form: a large gray wolf. It trots along at his side, quietly offering suggestions and encouragement through this strong bond they now share as they make their way through the levels, exploring as much of the available space as possible.
Really, they're going to make their way just about everywhere in the complex. They're bound to run into at least a few people along the way.
no subject
"Holograms, or something, I guess? Like the place was remembering something and trying to show us."
Julie scrubs a hand through the back of her hair, shaking her head. "I dunno, but it didn't happen again."
no subject
Though it appears to have been a long, long time since the previous occupants were actually here, judging just from what he's seen.
"But it's not here now. Which means we've got time." And from the surveying look he gives the broken down doorways, it's clear what he thinks that time should be spent doing. He doesn't know much about tech or the future, but there's usually grunt work that needs doing somewhere.
no subject
"But how would it have got out, if it isn't?"
It's said like an afterthought, like it isn't something that's been bothering her since she first thought of it... but it isn't, and it has.
no subject
He shakes his head. "Been too long to leave any tracks worth following. A lot can stay in the dust and debris, but people have been moving around. Moving things. Don't think there'd be a whole lot left to go on."
Even the scent would have faded, by now.
no subject
God, but she wouldn't put it past some of the people here to be hiding those kinds of powers. Julie rests a hand on one of the pieces of debris, testing how firmly it's stuck.
"Bet we could clear it. If you wanna see what's back there."
no subject
The wolf lets out a quiet whine, settling down to watch with a tilted head. It can dig and burrow, but only so much. And there's a risk of more debris falling once this initial cave-in has been moved. Better for it to stay out of the way, for now.
Charles doesn't necessarily worry about that, hefting back one of the slabs of rock like it's nothing, and letting it roll to one side. "You...might want to stand back," he adds, glancing Julie's way with a creased brow.
Don't want her getting hurt in all this.
no subject
Instead, she does what she surmises is the smarter thing, given that obvious show of strength, and she steps back as instructed.
"Sure. You're, uh... stronger than you look."
no subject
He says it as dry as a joke, before continuing to move the rubble away and, sure enough, some of the heavier debris on top comes tumbling down. He steps back out of the way just in time to miss a veritable shower of the stuff before shaking his head.
"There's a lot of places like this all over, seems like. Least there's work to be done."
no subject
"Yeah, but do you ever feel like it feels a bit futile? Like... what's the point of it?"
no subject
"Sometimes." Slowly, his brow knits. "But what's the alternative? Do something or do nothing. Even if it doesn't matter much in the grand scheme of things...I'd rather say I did something."
In the end, that's all it amounts to. The things you do, the things you can live with. Everything else, the things you can't control, that's not for you to decide. So even if it is futile, there's something that remains to hold onto.
Themselves. Their sense of self, whatever drove them onward.
no subject
"...Yeah," she mutters, then shakes her head slightly. It's something she needed to hear, really, and yet didn't want to hear all at the same time.
"Guess you're right." And a shrug, before-- "So... what's back there?"