hadriel_logs | Event Log: Beetlejuice

Entry tags:

Event Log: Beetlejuice

Who: Everyone participating in the event!
What: The event log for the Beetlejuice event!
Where: All around the city
When: August 13th-August 18th
Warnings: Scary stories to tell in the dark! Maybe a few goosebumps? Taking a walk or two down Fear Street.

When you wake up on the morning of August 13th - well, you'll notice that morning just doesn't really happen. The light that usually illuminates the cave doesn't start coming on, leaving things as dark as night. As if that's not enough, the light switches don't seem to work either. No matter how many times you flip them, the lights won't come on, although mysteriously the other appliances work as normal.

Afraid of the dark? Don't worry! You have oh-so-kindly been provided with lanterns, candles, and flashlights that sure do love to flicker just when you least want to be terrified. Hey, it's something, right?

Just as you begin to realize the artificial 'sun' isn't coming up, Fear appears to make an announcement to the network. What's not fun about scary stories when you're stuck in a dark cave surrounded by monsters? Nothing, that's what! So have fun, everyone - terrify your friends with that story about a cactus filled with spiders, try that classic scarecrow-falling-from-the-ceiling prank. It'll be a good time for everyone, especially Fear! We're sure no one will hold anything against you. On the morning of August 18th, the lights will finally come on as usual. Let's hope you don't have any nightmares!

► This log covers August 13th-August 18th.
► Feel free to make your own logs, as well
► Please tag headers of threads with content warnings where they apply
► Please put your character's name and open/closed in the subject line of your starters!
► If you scare yourself to death, please let us know here!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

By now Nick should know that tough love is the language that Rey speaks best.

Rather than reacting harshly, she brings out a good natured smile.

"I know. I just figured that, if you're going to be doing that, you may as well not fuck up your leg more in the process. Put hard work into patching that up so far, you know." She waves a dismissive hand. "Besides, you don't strike me as the type who'd take advantage of the whole 'long-term bed rest' thing."

She gets this because Rey is exactly the same way herself.

Nick grimaces, knowing well enough that tough love is all Rey knows, sometimes. He can handle that; it's his doubts about himself he struggles with.

"Think I've had enough bed rest to last me a lifetime," he says, his tone embittered, "and it's only been a month. Seems like we've lost a few folks in the meantime, so it's even more important to get back out there."

The smile fades as Nick just has to point out such a down note.

"You win some and you lose some, I suppose."

Lucky for Rey, she hasn't lost anyone seriously important to her so far. That's bound to change eventually, she knows, because people coming and going is just a fact of life. Until then, she can at least try and enjoy the company.

"Yeah." Nick's brow knits together, the worry that someone he cares for -- Rey, Maketh, Glacius -- will just up and vanish one day, not a trace left behind as they're pulled back through the Door and thrust into their own worlds. That might not be so bad, for some, but for others...

Well, they'll cross that bridge if they come to it. No sense in worrying about it now. Not when there are plenty of other things that raise concerns.

"I noticed you're out more often than usual these days," he starts, keeping the tentativeness from his tone as he edges toward a subject that's been on his mind: that phone call from Muscovy, and what the boy told him. "I figured you might be trying to pick up the slack left by the folks who've disappeared."

No use in worrying about the inevitable outcome. Rey knows how these things usually end, and has long since made her peace with that.

Or so she'd like to think. Really, she has no idea how she would react if anything were to happen to Nick, whether it be here or he ends up vanishing back to his own world someday. It isn't a thought that she enjoys entertaining, not knowing the outcome of her friend's fate after all that time he had spent trapped in that vault he told her about.

Between Nick's words and the way he says them, Rey's mind is wrenched to a much different place.

"A little bit, yes. Just didn't think you'd want me hovering over you all of the time." She pauses. "And, um. I'm not running any errands for more parts from Hope again, if that's what you're worried about."

At least, that's what she assumes his tone is implying, rather than the possibility that Muscovy might've already spilled the beans about Bianca to Nick. It wasn't like Rey was trying to keep it secret, though.

The creases in his face deepen. He doesn't mind her company and hasn't really thought about her hovering over him, but he can see where she'd want to give him some privacy on occasion. Even before his injury, he'd end up working on the couch downstairs when she came home -- they didn't even have to talk. He just liked the company. Made him think of Ellie; it made the place feel a little like home.

"Glad to hear it," he replies. "Not that I doubted you."

He pauses again, then adds:

"I, er. Got a phone call the other day. From Muscovy. Said he'd seen you out and about."

It's more of a relief than Nick probably realizes, knowing that he wasn't suspecting her of sneaking around behind his back again. Not in that way, anyway. Or, rather, she isn't sneaking around him him even now, but she wanted to make a few things clear.

His response merits a confused expression and raised brows, though.

"Did he?" Rey asks slowly, not surprised that the kid had paid notice to her being out, if nothing else. He seems to follow her from a distance, perhaps thinking she wouldn't notice him or not caring whether she did or not. "Is that all he said?"

Sources point to a resounding no, but she'd like to make sure first rather than just assuming. It isn't exactly a subject that she knows how to even begin to approach.

A resounding no is right.

"Well, it wasn't so much of a call as a series of messages," he clarifies, stalling as he parses out what to say in his mind. He's thought over this a few times, and it never comes out right. "You know how these things are."

Nick has noticed that he seems to be one of the few who comes from a world where such technology isn't readily available, even with all the pre-war, nuclear-powered commodities. The most advanced of Pip-Boys back home can't even do half the things his phone in Hadriel can.

"He's living with Firo," he continues. He ran into him, too, but that's a topic that can wait.

Edited 2016-08-21 04:35 (UTC)

Technology can be funny sometimes.

"Yes, I do."

I think, she fails to include. While she has a pretty good idea on the sort of technology that is accessible in Nick's world, Rey doesn't need the full details as to the extent of it. Doesn't seem like communication is as easy as putting on a nexus like it is in her world.

There are implications to what Nick is saying then, but all Rey does is decide to humor him for a bit. Delay another sort of inevitable. "I'm aware. Seen him over there a few times."

Not just because of Bianca, per se, but Firo as well. That's relevant.

"I'm guessing he still wants to keep an eye on you."

It's not a guess so much as a certainty; while he and the boy are on speaking terms, it's clear Muscovy still doesn't quite trust him. Who knows what kind of a world he comes from, though. Maybe he's had to grow up too fast, or maybe's he's not used to putting any sort of trust in adults. That would explain why he's been so reluctant to let go of what trust he has in Rey and accept that she isn't his mother -- not here, not in this world.

Edited 2016-08-21 05:12 (UTC)

"That's not at all surprising."

Considering what he apparently knows about Rey thanks to the 'other Rey' and her fat mouth, Muscovy seems to know a little more about her than she would care to admit. And is comfortable with.

Seems there is more to it than that, in Nick's case. "He didn't give you a hard time about anything, did he?"

"Not particularly," Nick says, brushing off any concerns she has. "The two of us just don't agree on some things."

He hesitates for just another second, waiting the span of a breath before his eyes rise from the cane in his hand and land on her.

"He wanted to talk to Bianca about the two of you, and I said to leave it alone."

Welp.

If there was any doubts in her mind before, that certainly dispels whatever remained.

"Why would he want to do a thing like that?" It probably goes without saying that Nick isn't stupid, and has figured out that something is up between Rey and the other woman. So, that just means there's no need to talk about it anymore. Right?

"He wanted her to know that if she hurt you, there'd be consequences."

So yes, Nick knows enough about what's going on.

"I know he's a kid, but I told him to lay off the intimidation. It's not real becoming on him."

That's it, then.

Dropping her head into the palm of her hand, Rey sighs. She should've seen this coming, but she really doesn't have enough experience in this to know what to expect.

"I can handle myself," she mutters. "If I end up getting hurt by it, it'll be my own damn fault."

Although that isn't what Nick is getting at and she knows it. Facts are just facts.

"Hey."

Nick's tone is stern, hardened. He may not have been eager to join in on what Muscovy kept insisting was a friendly warning, but he's not about to let Rey turn this on herself.

Ah, yes. She knows that tone all too well.

"What? Just because it doesn't sound nice doesn't make it any less true. And I don't need anyone else looking out for me over that sort of thing."

Even if it's something that Rey herself would do if anyone she cared about were in a similar position. The hypocrite.

His hand tightens on his cane, his nose wrinkling in disapproval.

"It won't be your fault," he cuts back. "I told Muscovy to stay out of it because it's none of our business what you do and who you do it with, but don't you dare blame yourself if things go south."

Not that he doesn't do that plenty himself with the death of Jennifer Lands, but the two of them really do make a pair.

Indeed they do. When it comes to self flagellation, they have a lot in common.

"I can't not." Her hand slides from her face, eyes darting towards the shadows on the wall rather than Nick himself. "I've never... been 'with' anyone before. Almost a century old and I've no idea what the hell I'm even doing. Who would want to be with that?"

Bianca, apparently. But who's to say that she even knows what she's getting herself into? Or Rey, for that matter?

"Why don't you ask Bianca?"

It's a quick retort, but Nick knows what Rey is feeling all too well; it's something he's asked himself a few times over the years. Even if he did have time for something like a relationship, did find the interest when he wasn't trying to solve all the cases of the Commonwealth, who would be interested in a machine? Who would bother with someone -- something -- like him?

And yet, despite his questions and self-reflection, he knows what holds him back in that regard: it's not just time, or interest, or finding the right someone. It's that he's still not over her. Jenny Lands wasn't even his fiancé, didn't even love him— but his chest aches all the same when he thinks of her, when he recalls why she died... and why the original Nick got his head scanned in the first place. His existence is related to her death. In a way, he was born from heartache.

And that's all the more reason he doesn't want Rey to be wrapped up in such a thing. He trusts Rey can handle herself, but he doesn't trust Bianca, doesn't know her well enough to do so. And what he does know of her isn't good. If it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out, but he won't watch Rey blame herself. He can't.

"I can't tell you what to do, but I'm not letting you damn yourself like that. You'd tell me off if I did the same, and you know it."

Simple communication with the one you've developed a fondness for would be all too convenient when resolving any lingering feelings of doubt. Even now Rey doesn't know how to begin to approach the subjects of relationships and intimacy like a normal goddamn human being, because she isn't a normal human being. How do you gauge such a thing when you're not human at all?

Her arms tighten around her chest, almost as though she's hugging herself. "This is different. I'm not damning myself, just stating facts."

Duplicitous as it may be for her to make such a claim, Rey stands behind her own logic.

"I've fucked up more times than I get things right," she continues, her tone dark. "I have hurt people to try and keep them from liking me in that way, because hurting people is what I do. Or, it's what I did. I'm trying to change, but don't be surprised or dismiss my faults if I just keep fucking up."

It's the undeniable truth, in her eyes, and Nick shouldn't be able to argue given the track record he has witnessed himself. How Rey had attempted to push him away on more than one occasion, tried to shut her emotions out to keep herself from letting people in. Sometimes she still does that, just in other ways.

Nick sighs in utter frustration. What is it with her and Muscovy and their loose definition of 'facts'?

But he does know that hurting people is what she knows, and what she thinks she does best. She's capable of more than that; he's told her time and time again, and he'll probably keep telling her for as long as it takes to sink in. If she didn't do something right, he wouldn't still be there, living in the house with her, claiming her as his closest friend in the city.

"Look, if you cross a line, she should tell you. Hell, if I see it, I'll tell you. But don't be so hard on yourself, and don't expect that any problem that comes up will be your fault. You're no saint, but neither is she. None of us are."

There are still times in which Rey doesn't understand Nick's obvious conviction he has when it comes to her character. Of course she is no saint. She has hurt and killed, destroyed so many lives that sometimes she wonders if even Nick would question her integrity if he had an inkling of her past deeds. Shedding hints of her accounts is one thing, but having the firsthand knowledge of those acts that so many from her world do is another entirely. It's hard not to believe that whatever pain comes her way is thoroughly warranted.

"Believe me, I'm not trying to expect anything. Fuck, I wouldn't even know what to expect."

Seriously. How does not-robot shot relationships?

His conviction remains in spite of what he knows about her past, what he doesn't know and has yet to find the right time to ask, and the hypocrisy in his line of thinking. He'll argue all day for her humanity, but when it comes to his own, he's all doubts and questions.

"You're expecting to mess things up, or we wouldn't be having this conversation. Now stop it."

And as if to add finality to his statement, he turns and beelines for the couch to get off his feet, trying out his cane along the way. It's not ideal, but even he has to admit that it's an improvement over leaning on every wall and fence he comes across.

Well, shit. He's not wrong about that, either.

Actually, Nick isn't wrong about a whole lot of things. Rey just struggles to actually come to terms with the fact that he's right, even when she doesn't want him to be.

Shoulders slacking, she lets out a sigh and drops her arms to her sides. "Fine. Whatever."

She then watches him for a moment, making sure that he gets safely to his seat without event.

"You're not mad, are you? That I didn't tell you about Bianca sooner?"

Not like she would even know what to tell him.

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