[Mission 002] Video/Action - Joint for Sam and Simon

[voiceinthedark]

[Sam switches on the camera and tries to set it up so it’s not horribly blurry and smiles at the camera when he thinks he’s got it right.]

God it feels weird to not be telling someone to raise the gates.

Uh... hi? So, I’ve been in Luceti a week now. Maybe a bit more and I was just wondering about, well, the houses are nice but they’re not very secure and I wanted to know if anyone knows how I’d go about finding stuff like fencing, barbed wire, concrete....

[A voice interrupts from the background as Simon starts to protest.] What? Oh no. No, you are not concreting up my damn windows, Sam. I’m putting my foot down. No. N-O.

It’s a weak point, Simon! Points of entry, that’s what Janine always says. You need as few as possible.

[The journal is jostled a moment before Simon’s exasperated face appears in the feed, giving Sam a Look.] Which is great. Awesome. Janine’s the voice of annoying reason as always, but I’m sure we can think of a better way of securing them in case of emergency that still allows us to enjoy the fresh air and actual sunlight when it’s, y’know, not.

[Which has his attention turning to the journal feed and giving it an apologetic look.] Please excuse him, he doesn’t get out much.

[Sam positively glares at him, a look of long time exasperation and why does he have to deal with this idiot?]

I get out plenty! Well, I mean, not at home obviously because oh yeah, apocalypse! I’m pretty sure a lot more people would be alive if they’d had concreted windows before the end of the world.

Oooor we might have all mutated into some strange sort of psychotic mole-men instead. [Simon rolls his eyes.] The point is, we’re looking to secure the house a little bit better than it currently is and if anyone has any suggestions on where to get the materials to do that, we’d appreciate it.

Mol- do you ever listen to the stuff that comes out of your mouth?

Never. [Simon’s grin is cheeky and unrepentant.] Speaking of houses, we should have a party here, since we’ve now got an actual one and we’re not likely to end up on the menu. How’s tonight sound? Good? Good! Open invitation to a grill-out on the lawn of House 33. Swing by, bring beer or food if you like, it’ll be all casual-like.

What? You- you can’t just spring a party on people! This is the first I’ve heard about it!

That’s because I just made it up. And sure I can. Be spontaneous, Sam! Live a little! 5 o’clock sounds good, right?

Oh god, this is gonna be like a couple of weeks ago in New Canton isn’t it? With the hula hoops.

[Simon’s smirk takes on a wicked edge for a moment as he flicks a glance sideways at Sam.] Nope. It’ll be even better. I need to go get things.

[And with that, he vanishes abruptly out of the feed.]

[Sam sighs, rubs his forehead and gives the video a pleading look.]

Please don’t encourage him? He’s good enough at doing that himself. Although I suppose it has been a while since I’ve been to a proper party.

But yeah... security. Thanks for any help.

[He pauses for a moment, looking like he’s trying to think of what to say, because ‘Stay Safe’ is Jack and Eugene’s thing and ‘welcome home’ just doesn't work so he settles for another smile and then cuts the feed.]


Action
[Simon and (grudgingly) Sam can be found around the village for the rest of the afternoon, collecting food and drinks for their impromptu party. And later on they can be found on the lawn of House 33, where the burgers are cooked and the booze flows freely and there are not yet fences and barbed wire and sealed up windows.]

Comments

[Housewarming Party at House 33 - Late Afternoon into the Evening]

[luckynumberthree]

[Feel free to comment under here if your character drops by the house to say hi or grab some food!]

[z_jay]

[In all his time in England, Eugene hadn't come across a grill administrated by an englishman. Or... whatever Simon was. British, pillock, Briton-- he's always associated grills with his American neighbors and thus, he approached this set up with the same quiet curiosity as he would a pop-up restaurant.

Eager to try out some of the delicacies at least. And even if he disagreed with Simon more often than not, if the man could cook, he'd give credit where it was due. Thus, he walked over toward the man, eyeing the meat, taking in a breath of the delicious smell, and then looking at Simon]

...No jokes about if I want to eat your meat, understand?

[luckynumberthree]

[Simon scoffed, laughing, as he shot Eugene a sideways glance.]

Well, I don't have to now, since you've so cleverly thought of it first. Where's your brain dwelling these days, Woods?

[z_jay]

I prefer to just open up the playing field with the first attack.

[And the set-up for making fun of his last name was right there and he didn't dare raise to the bait... no pun intended. Instead, he smiled serenely at the other man. Simon... probably took considerable pleasure out of teasing him, and he would humor him, but... only when he wanted.]

It's wondering where you learned to flip burgers from. You never made it to the new world, right?

[luckynumberthree]

Nope, but I worked my fair share of odd jobs in a kitchen. You pick up a trick or two along the way.

[Simon casts him a smirk when he very purposefully does not rise to the bait. More's the pity.]

Don't worry, Gene, I promise to handle your meat with the utmost care.

[z_jay]

[To his credit, Eugene did manage a poker face for about five seconds before he glanced away with a poorly executed stage cough.]

Make sure that you do. The buns are over here, right?

[Damn this language and its use of such euphemisms. Time to soldier on like nothing said was awkward]

So, this is your new place, huh?

[action] - either or both Abel-bros!

[250mhzwabl]

[Jack is never one to say no to a good party, even a low-key one like a housewarming party, so of course he's there reasonably early and setting up the stereo, positioning it near a window to project music out across the lawn while they grill and do whatever else. Once he's had a few beers in him, he may even regale some lucky listener with the tale of the elderly woman who, he swears, he saw put down a zom with a croquet mallet.]

Re: [action] - either or both Abel-bros!

[voiceinthedark]

[Sam, despite his earlier protests, has been pretty happy to hang around with the people who come over and eat burgers and drink. He's got a beer of his own and laughs as he listens to Jack telling tale of his exploits.]

Where did she get a croquet mallet from?

[250mhzwabl]

Senior centre! Up in Surrey, a whole lot of the elderly who'd teamed up with a foster home of children. [Jack laughs, taking another swig of his own before going on.] Had a few old lions - and lionesses, naturally - from World War Two, even. Kept the place in very respectable order.

[voiceinthedark]

[He has to laugh at that, grinning at the mental image it conjures up.]

All make do and mend stuff? Sounds like quite a place.

[250mhzwabl]

It was. [For just a moment, the thought makes Jack wistful. He hopes they're still doing all right, back at home. He hopes that for most of the people he and Eugene had met on the road, really - the ones who weren't complete psychopaths and hadn't died. But he perks up after a moment, grinning at Sam.]

All right, your turn. Fantastic zom kill - go.

[voiceinthedark]

Oh god... I mean, I came to Abel really early so... [He thinks for a moment and then grins.]

Okay, so, there were these allotments out on the other side of town. Posh ones. I mean, the people there spent some serious time on them so they had these little cabins there.

Anyway, I was heading through there because I figured it would be quieter than going along the road but I must've picked up a couple of zoms on the way. And before I could get my axe out, this guy bursts out of one of the shefs with, I swear it, an honest to god scythe and cuts them down.

[250mhzwabl]

[Jack just stares for a moment, stunned, before bursting into peals of bright, delighted laughter. It's several long seconds before he starts to catch his breath, at least enough to respond, though he's giggling between words even then.]

What in the world did you do? Stop and talk to him? Run? Piss yourself? [He is in very real danger of spilling his beer, the way he's doubling over.]

Because honestly, I - eehee! - I probably would have gone for that last one-!

[voiceinthedark]

[Sam laughs as well, dragged into it by Jack's giggles.]

Oh hell no, I was out of there. I mean, I think at that moment, the Olympic 100 metres team had nothing on me.

[250mhzwabl]

Smart man. [He grins broadly, finishing his latest beer and letting it dangle from his fingers as he goes to check out the grilled meats for himself.] What I want to know is why they even needed a scythe on the first place. Did harvesting grain become fashionable while I wasn't paying attention?

[voiceinthedark]

I dunno. I mean the allotments weren't even that big. Surely you'd be risking cutting someone's head off, besides the zoms, obviously. Unless it was actually Death's holiday home and he was annoyed at being interrupted by work.

[250mhzwabl]

Mm. I suppose I'd be annoyed with zoms if I were the Grim Reaper. They really just mess up the whole classification, don't they.

[God, Simon's been grilling a lot of things. Are those pork chops?]

[voiceinthedark]

Yeah, pretty much. Living, dead, undead. Formerly dead? And you can never get them to fill in the proper forms.

[He catches Jack's glance and laughs.]

I think he just picked up any meat he could find at the shop.

[250mhzwabl]

[Jack is so tempted to just grab a pork chop by the bone and eat it. But no, that would he uncivilized. So he does the clearly mannerly thing, and grabs the bone with a paper towel.]

Hah, I know that feeling. Has Eugene told you about the pies?

[voiceinthedark]

Pies? [He raises an eyebrow at that.]

No. He didn't. What about pies?

[250mhzwabl]

We arrived in November, right as it was getting cold. [He pauses to enjoy some more pork chop, nodding before going on.] We hit some awful weather right at the same time it really sank in that we weren't going to run out of food, and we hit this sort of, I don't know, day-long pie-making frenzy. Must have made almost twenty.

Re: [action] - either or both Abel-bros!

[luckynumberthree]

[Okay so Simon's grilled some version of every type of meat he could find in the grocery store. Just because he could. And it was meat. Except now he's run out, so he takes a turn at eating some instead and it's not half bad, in his opinion. Which is the important one, let's be honest here.

Carrying a plate of food, he wanders over to where Jack's telling tales to listen with a grin. Because yeah, this feels familiar. Except with more food.]

[250mhzwabl]

Siiiimooooon, hey-!

[Whatever rambling story Jack had been engaged in telling, it's already winding down, and he bumps shoulders with the runner in a fit of well-intentioned exuberance.]

Eugene hasn't been giving you too hard of a time, has he?

[luckynumberthree]

[Simon just laughs and bumps him back, goodnatured and grinning, because Jack's obviously had a beer or two.]

Of course he has. It's Eugene. If he weren't, I'd begin to suspect he'd been replaced by a doppelganger.

[250mhzwabl]

[A beer or two. Or three. And maybe some non-beer beverages as well. Jack's feeling good, is the important part. The bumping turns into a companionable lean, which without Eugene in sight is significantly less risky than it might otherwise seem.]

But at your party? That's low. [He almost manages to feign a frown. For a few seconds. then it's back to grinning.] Do you want me to have a word with him? Maybe even multiple words?