ArchivedLogs:Food and Fortune

Food and Fortune
Dramatis Personae Nox, Tatters, Lily, Marrow	2013-01-30 A Sewer Knight returns belatedly from battle, to find her people feasting on Chinese takeout. The Den Mother frets and hovers about her worrisome charges.
Location <MOR> Welcome to the Freakshow
Wider and more spacious than many of the surrounding nooks and niches, this chill cavern is the central hub of the Morlock's underground network. With tunnels branching off in many directions, it takes a while to learn to /navigate/ from here to where you want to go, but there's generally plenty of more experienced people around to teach newcomers the ins and outs of the pathways. Here, though, is a safe place to come and relax, for what value of relaxation can be found among moss-covered walls and the occasional stagnant puddles on the floor. There's been furniture brought in, a mismatched assortment of crates, mattresses with busted springs, a few broken and subsequently repaired chairs, a folding table in a corner. Shelves along a wall hold entertainment; books, a smattering of board and card games, sometimes snacks. There's even electricity, wiring none too safe and visible in places where the wall has been broken open; the naked light bulbs flicker often and the lone outlet has had so many power strips attached it is undoubtedly a fire hazard. Dinnertime is a fluid concept around here but someone's been dumpster diving behind a Chinese restaurant and scored several bags of free food. Some of it stale, some's gone over, but that hasn't deterred the appetites of the Morlocks who've gathered around for the feast. It is a merry gathering as such things go. Nox, of course, was right in the middle of distribution. The choicest cartons were reserved for the younger members, the most rancid bits handed off to those with stomachs capable of handling it. For herself, once everyone has settled into their meal and the cavern hums with quiet conversation, she's reserved a handful of fortune cookies. The shadow woman withdraws to a corner--where the light is less strong--and curls in a swirl of darkness, manifested hands pulling at one of the wrappers while other hands are created to hold the others. Plastic crinkles, then tears, and the cookie is snapped in two so she can read the fortune inside. "The night life is for you...brilliance." "So I think I should start, like, preparing one-liners in advance? Obviously I need to be able to adapt to situations, but it couldn't hurt to brainstorm some friggen, inflating animal-themed lines just in case or something." The familiar voice is faint but approaching, quiet footsteps barely rising over the din of gathered conversants, ceasing as the newcomers receive a challenge by the sentry posted outside the door. "Halt and present yourselves, fuckheads!" "Shove it, Mar-mar." Beat. "S'at Chinese food?" The next answer is muffled around a mouthful of noodles. "No. An eres none eft, ho away." Blissfully disregarding the sentry's instructions, two figures duck into the cavern: Tatters, her sweatshirt bearing some new burn marks and a freshly sewn patch over its left shoulder, the weight-pole she carries looking singed; and Lily, the girl's contacts out and her stark, mismatched eyes glinting unnervingly beneath her bangs. She still looks far too normal to be down here, though. Both girls raise a hand to wave as they enter, Lily silently and Tatters with a cheerful "Hoy!" The fortune flutters to the ground as Nox flows out of the chair she'd settled into and dances up to fall into "step" with the sisters. Check it out, she just so happens to have enough cookies left that one can be offered to each, in separate shadow-hands, while the last is kept (again) for herself. "Hello, girls! Home again, home again? Would you like a fortune cookie? There should be some rice left, I think...Tatters!" Nox has spied the singe-marks. Rather than continue on as an amorphous cloud, she swings in front of the pair and materializes fully to block their path. She frets. "You aren't supposed to be playing with fire. Melee only, you promised. What happened?" "I fought a guy! He spilled gas everywhere, I lit it before it could get all fumy and explode." Tatters opens her mouth to continue, but is interrupted when a head of brilliant pink hair leans down from above the doorway she came through, looking disdainful. "Why the /fuck/ would you do that?" Tatters turns back around and spreads her hands, rolling her bulbous eyes. "There were other dudes, there! They would've gotten fried!" Meanwhile, Lily smiles a greeting to Nox and takes one of the fortune cookies with a nod of thanks, deftly stepping to the side as Tatters' pole swings dangerously close to where she was standing and stopping to pull at the plastic packaging. Turning back around, Tatters looks back to Nox and shrugs. "It was weird. Uh, weirder than usual. I even talked to the friggen Police about it -- SHUT IT, MAR," she calls over her shoulder preemptively and continues as the sentry shouts something obscene back. "And that took...hours. Then I had to spend more hours waiting for their bomb-team to leave the pumping station so I could get my pole back. Anything happen down here while I've been out?" Agitation shows in the way Nox's hair writhes around her head as she listens. Even Medusa had a calmer 'do. Unlike the others, she doesn't interrupt, waiting until Tatters is finished. "I found a boy. Victor. Very sweet, very tired. He's nesting there," she says, with a gesture up. Then? Then it's all business, the thin edge of her voice gone harder. "Is he down here still, the man who spilled the gas? Will the police be...Haven, that is the -last- carton of rice, you leave it!" Sometimes it's like she has eyes in the back of her head, honestly. Nox points--practically ordering the sisters to nearby seating--and then flows off to rescue the last of the Chinese food for their dinner. It's back to being the cloud again, making it easier to carry the carton, papers plates, plastic cutlery, provided she stays away from the lamps. When she returns, it's with a return to the earlier conversation, whispered to Lily and Tatters while she lays out the feast. "It's good no one was fried. Is there likely to be a repeat? Who was this man?" The sisters settle down at a makeshift table as Nox bustles around, unshrugging their respective bags; Lily leans over to considerately turn down the electric lantern that provided light for this corner of the cavern, waving cheerfuly at the children as she does so. When their shadowy host returns, Tatters shrugs her shoulders and provides the best answer she can. "I dunno. He's some kinda mutant terrorist thing? The police already knew about him, but didn't know what he looked like. He's clearly got money, so I don't think he /lives/ down here. I don't think he's looking to hurt us, but I'm dead certain that his bullshit will be making our lives harder, and I'm worried that he'll try to recruit some of us for cannon fodder in his little war. I want to take Caliban out tomorrow and do a sweep, just to make sure he's nowhere nearby." Lily's shoulder is touched in passing, a thank you for her consideration that carries more of a sense of coolness than pressure. Nox fills the final chair once the food has been laid out, resolving into a figure with legs crossed and arms folded neatly across her chest. "If he comes back and we find him, he doesn't leave," she suggests softly. "The police never come so deep as this but if they were to think him down here, or suspect him to be connected in some way..." Her bare foot bounces, leaving dark trails in the air behind it. "Perhaps until he is caught we institute a curfew. No one alone, no one vulnerable. What was it like, to speak to the police?" "If he comes down here, I drag him back upstairs so they can stop looking." Tatters corrects her grimly as she serves herself and Lily some rice, pushing her hood back and sighing. "And...eh. Could've gone worse. Apparently they have a 'Mutant Crimes Task Force' for ridiculous stories like mine, the guy from there was nice. The other ones were just...cops. Bein' cops. I think talking to 'em helped, actually: if they think we've got our eyes open too, and aren't like -- sheltering him, or something, I don't think they'll come down." Lily quietly chopsticks rice into her mouth as she listens quietly, her fortune cookie placed politely to the side until she's done eating. "Or what is left of him. For purposes of identification." Nox is negotiating, really. It's only a suggestion. She does not sound pleased, however. "And it is good that one listened but still, we should be vigilant. If you can provide a description to the other sentries...but first, you should eat something, Tatters." There is a crinkle of plastic--her own (second) fortune cookie emerging from the darkness to be pulled open between her hands. The slip of paper is bright against her fingers as she studies it. "The problem with resisting temptation is that it may never come again. You see? It won't be Chinese again for awhile." "Speaking of food, Lily's place is getting new produce in on...Friday, I think." Tatters isn't intentionally changing the subject, but simply moving on to the next item on the itinerary. "So if a couple peeps could help us carry the olds down here, that'd be great. The usual drill." Lily smiles silently. There aren't many perks to working at Shop Rite...but there are perks to /knowing/ someone who works at Shop Rite, if you're a bunch of homeless people. Quietly, the girl sets her depleted rice aside and cracks open her fortune cookie...and frowns, slipping the paper discretely into her pocket and tossing a slightly stale cookie-shell into her mouth. "Victor," Nox suggests, "it would be good for him. He seems eager to help. And perhaps some of the larger boys, the restless ones, to keep them out of trouble?" As with the first fortune, her second goes twisting and fluttering to the ground. The cookie isn't eaten so much as it just disappears. "There has been a great deal of restlessness, with the cold. If you have ideas on how we might handle that..." Her head turns, black on black eyes fixing on Lily. Her silence is inquisitive, the way she studies the girl a prompt without the need for words. "I could do an art day for the little ones. Maybe on the weekend." Lily offers with a thoughtful purse of her lips, as Tatters shrugs. "Yeah, it's still way to friggen cold for a field trip." Tatters looks up and shrugs, leaning back and closing her eyes. Then she cracks one back open, flicking up along the wall before falling back on Nox. "Um, Victor. The new kid. Where's /he/ from?" Tatters hasn't been here long, after all. While there are often new Morlocks to meet, they're usually tunnel regulars, gingerly creeping back to the Morlocks proper now that it's safer. Entirely new faces are more unusual. "That would be lovely! There's a bucket of chalk in the storerooms, I believe. Some spray paint as well? I'll have to look. If it's gone, and oh, it might be, when boredom strikes, you know how it is..." But Nox trails off, leaving her planning for that eventuality silent. She taps the fingers of both hands together, keeping them solid enough to actually connect. "Mmm? Ah, Victor, yes. Illinois, I believe. So young, to be on his own. He ran across Pamela in Pennsylvania. Poor luck for her, no doubt, to be there still, but fortunate for little Victor. A sweet boy. Somewhat reptilian, we'll need to bundle him up well against the cold." "Is she still talking us up? I hope we haven't gotten his hopes up for some friggen, mystical mutant promised land." Tatters sighs and waggles her hands in emphasis, staring quietly up at the wall of the cavern. "I suppose there are worse places to be, but...still." The frown on her face betrays her usual thought: 'I should be doing more.' But that discussion doesn't need to happen again. Nox makes a soft hiss, disapproval of what goes unspoken--as is typical. "If you had seen his face when he saw us here, you wouldn't be so hard on Pamela. Or yourself. It is a promised land of -sorts-, to some. A safe place. There are many, many worse places to be, Tatterhood. More to come, as well. Which reminds me..." With some concentration, she stabilizes her fingers enough to manage a whispery snap, as if the thought had just come to her. "They are saying the new president will be making a speech. The radio needs repair." Tatters smiles, despite herself. "Well, if he's impressed with us, then we shouldn't disappoint him or something. I'll try and step up my safekeeping." From across the room, a pink head once again pokes in to jeer. "Which you won't do by /not/ explodin' dudes!" "Hey! Explosions are necessary in friggen moderation! We get by fine with punching." "You said the same fucking thing about stabbing!" "Yes, I /did./" Tatters glares across at her fellow Sewer Knight, then grumbles and turns back to Nox with a blink. "And, um. I think it's the mayor who's speaking. I dunno if we want to pipe him voice down here, I assume he'll spend most of his time going on about how terrible we are." "It is poor manners to eavesdrop!" Nox would be more effective at scolding if she could speak above a low rasp. "And subterranean explosions are a poor idea -all around-. Now take the garbage out!" She suffers down here at times. She really does. The woman's sigh sounds like rustling leaves as she sinks back into the chair. "President, mayor...those in authority. We should listen, all the same," she goes in a softer, more conversational tone of voice. "-Some- of us should listen. If it bodes poorly for us, forewarned is forearmed." "I can't, I'm on fucking sentry duty. Listening to shit is my /job./" Tatters raises her eyebrows, pointing out past the doorway. "Listing to stuff out /there./" With chuckle Lily stands, and gives Nox and Marrow a smile in turn. "I can take over. I need to stretch my legs anyways." The blonde girl strolls towards the doorway with her hands in her pockets, as the pink-haired mutant drops from above the doorway and stalks inside, grumbling, and giving Lily a /look/ and an 'I'm watching you' gesture as she passes. Lily just smiles and leans against the doorjamb, closing her eyes as Marrow grudgingly jogs trash-wards. Once that's sorted out, Tatters looks back to Nox and shrugs. "Good point. I was gonna just read a summary afterwards, but I'll see if it's streaming anywhere." After a second, she blinks and shakes her head ruefully. "Or, you know, find a TV or something. Or get our radio fixed." "Lily, peacemaker." Soft, amused and grateful...-deeply- so. Nox sighs again, strong enough that it ripples through her and frays her edges. "I had thought of taking Leech and attending but crowds...it could become volatile and I wouldn't be able to protect him if it went poorly. Radio, TV...internet cafe, but that too would require going topside." Her lips curl. "Or we can get our radio fixed. I'll see about scavenging some parts before the speech. Can you rest for a little while, Tatters? It's been a trying week for you." "Yeah, I don't want to be in the middle of that, either." Tatters frowns up at the ceiling, suspiciously, then shakes her head and looks back down to Nox, tapping her fingers on the table. "And if you know what's broke Lily can run by RadioShack or something. Or I could, if I'm topside. I don't /think/ they'll kick me out for trying to buy a transitor. Um," she smiles, her expression reassuring and slightly amused. "That's what I spent today doing, on Lily's couch. Dunno if I can justify taking /another/ day off." Nox spreads her hands. "I'm helpless with electronics. It might be simpler to procure a new one." But more expensive too. "I'll see what I can do...ah. Well." She knows better than to argue, though that pause is simply pregnant with meaning. Then, instead of fretting, she gestures at the fortune-litter left on the ground. "You didn't open your cookie." "I'm sure we can find an old radio around somewhere. And I was looking at some internet courses for bio and stuff, I might see if I can take an electrician one, maybe get this place set up with a generator or something." Because Tatters obviously needs /another/ job. Hopefully there'll be someone to delegate it to. "And, oh! Um, sorry." Carefully reaching down to tear open the plastic wrapper -- and smiling when her left hand performs as expected -- she cracks it in half and extracts the slip of paper, blinking and dilating her pupils to read it in the dim light. "'To one who waits, a moment seems a year.' Thanks, fortune." With a chuckle she drops it to the table, and tosses the shells into her mouth. Crunch crunch. "-I- will see what I can do," Nox says firmly, or as firmly as she's capable of. "A generator would be lovely though. I'll speak to some of the others about it, someone is bound to know something." She can hope. The woman unfolds from the chair and passes a hand over the floor--picking up the fortune she'd littered--and then sweeping up Tatters' as well. "Do you think it's someone's job to write these or do they just have a computer randomly stringing words together? They're as bad as horoscopes," she says as she collects the other trash from the meal. "I assume someone just...spends a day typing a bunch out or something. There's probably loads of duplicates, but most people don't eat, like, nearly enough chinese food to notice. Or they do but they've stopped bothering with the fortune cookies." Tatters shrugs and scoots back in her seat, smiling a thanks as Nox cleans up, grinning as a thought occurs to her. "And trust me, a computer'd be spitting out /way/ more non-sequitors." The carton of rice is lifted and rattled, then set down again--enough remains inside that it's worth saving. But the rest of the trash is piled neatly for Marrow's eventual collection. "Oh, I believe you. Non sequiturs and pornography, that's all they're good for. Another reason this place -is- the promised land is the lack of computers," Nox murmurs, needlessly brushing her hands off. Tatters makes a face, but offers no argument: another discussion they've already had too many times. Pushing her chair back, she stands and glances around the cavern, giving Nox a long-suffering smile and sighing. "Alright. Thanks for the food, as always! I know Lily will--" And then Lily's there beside her, leaning around Tatters' bulk and piping up with a cheerful, "Yes, thanks!" before disappearing back and emerging once again by the door. "--that thing. Um, do you know where Callisto's got to? I should talk with her, make sure there's nothing else we need before I head out on patrol." "Such a good girl." The fondness is for Lily, the amusement is targeted at Tatters--mostly for Nox's teasing implication that she is the girl who is opposite of sweet. "I believe she is brooding over something." 'Again' goes unsaid but the woman indicates a direction with a helpful gesture. "Do try to remember that you're allowed to say no at times, dear. -Before- you speak with her," she advises. Then the figure that is Nox disperses, puffing off in the same direction taken by Marrow--someone is probably going to be getting a talking to for dawdling and having a potty mouth.