Around Town | Late Thursday Morning

[knife_bender]

Okay, well, it had been pretty well established that patrolling the town was useless, but what else were people like Diego supposed to do? It had been hammered in his head since birth to take action, even if the efforts were futile.

Which probably also explained Five's determination to stop the apocalypse even though he had nothing to go on.

So, yeah. Walking around town yet again. For some reason. Maybe he'd find a hole to jump in.

[For a few!]

Comments

[knife_bender]

"Sounds good." Look, he knew he was being kind of a sullen bitch, but it had been a long two-ish weeks with jack shit happening. Let's all just be happy he wasn't shooting down all the dumb ideas.

"How'd your class go?" He felt like if he had been sitting there watching Annie it would have made her self-conscious so he kept himself scarce while it was going on.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Like how you'd think teaching riding a bike over the internet would go." Annie's words were more sarcastic than her tone, which still strove for something like self-deprecating cheer.

Weirdly enough, having Diego be so realistic gloomy was sort of helpful? Trying to keep everyone's spirits up was something she could do, even if it was starting to become something of a strain after almost two weeks of this.

"I dunno, I figured they need something normal right now, but it felt sort of -- frivolous," she admitted.

[knife_bender]

"Everything feels frivolous," he said. "If this were anywhere else the town probably would be shut down by now."

But as he understood it these things happened sometimes, and people just kind of dealt with it? He kind of preferred man-eating candy canes because at least that gave him something to stab.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"We could go to New York," Annie offered quietly, not for the first time. "My apartment could hold a whole bunch of people if it needed to."

But she also knew that most of the people she'd want to evacuate with her would turn her down to work on the problem here. Present company included.

[knife_bender]

"I can't leave Five behind." And if you repeated that, he would be very upset. "And he's not likely to go anywhere we tell him to. Besides, we can't just give up."

[defenderofdesmoines]

Well, she wouldn't repeat it, but Annie did reach over to give Diego's arm a little squeeze. Because yeah, that was a good point.

(...maybe Five could teleport down to the bottom of one of these holes? He probably wouldn't cooperate, but -- hmm.)

"I don't want to give up," she agreed, "but this is starting to feel like we're just going in circles."

[knife_bender]

"Starting?" This thing had been a pointless endeavor from the start.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Yeah, I know," Annie said, worry and impatience creeping into her voice. "I hate not knowing what to do. I wish something would show up that we could actually fight, or something."

She'd even texted Hughie yesterday to see if he had any ideas. (By way of the more competent people he could ask, anyway. She wasn't that desperate.)

[knife_bender]

"Anything to punch would be nice," he agreed. "I mean, even if it's a hole."

He'd be willing to look like that much of an idiot at this point.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I don't even know how that would work," Annie said, sort of irritably. "And like, I don't know if we could keep from falling in, even if we got close enough to punch one. Like, Rey and Danny aren't dumb."

And if she focused on that, it helped her stay confident that they were fine wherever they were.

[knife_bender]

"Rey isn't dumb, yeah." Diego, don't roast Danny while he was in a hole and couldn't defend himself.

[defenderofdesmoines]

Annie gave him a little look, because yeah. "These are competent people. Like, the firefighter guy's down there, too. And Rey was prepared for this to happen to her."

Honestly, Annie was kind of surprised she herself had not fallen in a hole, given that this was the third (?) time she'd gone out with someone actively trying to find one.

[knife_bender]

"That is what makes it even more frustrating." Like, sure, it meant that the competent people were probably okay wherever they were, but it also meant that they were really screwed trying to figure this out.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Do you know anyone psychic?" Annie tried. "I know one telepath I could ask, but Rey couldn't feel people with her Jedi stuff, and that's usually pretty reliable -- but, like, maybe we need someone with really specific powers? Because like, what if they aren't even still on the island?"

[knife_bender]

"No, don't know any psychics," he said. "Could get Klaus here and he can see if they're dead?"

Not only was that morbid but you had to make sure Klaus was sober which was...doubtful.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Oh, Diego. Can that be, like...Plan Z?" Any attempt at cheer was dropped pretty abruptly as Annie worriedly reached up to touch the cross she'd started wearing again over the weekend. (Look. Everything helped, right now.) "I mean, it's not a bad idea, and, like...it might be good to eliminate the possibility?"

But she also just couldn't start thinking people were dead. This was already horrible.

[knife_bender]

"Plan Z it is," he said. "He's probably sleeping in a dumpster somewhere anyway."

Or in rehab. Again.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I mean, that makes me want to go find Klaus for different reasons," Annie observed pensively. "Hughie said he thought he might be able to get us some explosives when I asked him yesterday, but like -- I dunno, that seems like we're asking for it to cave in or something, if we try to blow up a hole."

[knife_bender]

"If there were a letter after Z that is what that plan would be." Because, yes, cave ins and making things worse.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"We can start using numbers," Annie said, trying for some levity. "I kinda feel like maybe I should carry emergency stuff around with me in case we fall in one of these things?"

Again: she was pretty determined that it would at least be a we, if a hole got them. If they stuck together, they at least wouldn't get separated.

[knife_bender]

"What, like granola bars and flashlights?" he asked. "Well, I guess we wouldn't need the flashlights."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"A flashlight for you isn't a bad idea, though." Okay, this was like, an actionable thing she could do. She could totally put together a bag with stuff in it. "Maybe bottled water, some first aid stuff, more knives...."

[knife_bender]

"It wouldn't be a bad idea," he agreed. "This is just assuming the holes lead underground. They could lead to, like, a different universe or something. Though I guess water and knives would still be useful there."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"That would explain things a little," Annie acknowledged, "but we'll need food and water wherever we go. Maybe space blankets or something. Camping stuff?"

[knife_bender]

"I know you're strong enough to carry all of that at all times, but do you really want to?" he asked. "If the buildings are with the other people then there should be, like, blankets and stuff, right?"