Outside Needful Things, Thursday

[needfully-yours.livejournal.com]

Evil things lurked in the heavy fog -- the rustle of feral creatures lurking just out of sight, waiting to pounce, the distant inhuman cry of something dying in the Preserve, the thick, liquid slurping of foul black waves crashing on the beach... and the incessant yammering of friends and loved ones on the wrong side of the whole standoff going on.

The thick, black fog still hung, dark and sinister, in the air around the island. The doors and windows of Leland Gaunt's humble storefront were all boarded over, and a very important sign hung out front:

YOU SAY HELLO
AND I SAY GOODBYE GOODBYE GOODBYE
I DON'T KNOW WHY YOU SAY HELLO
I SAY GOODBYE

Needful Things was closed. The streets around it, however, were open for conflict.

(This post is for Fighters to show up and get fierce, and Recovery to try (and fail) to get to Gaunt, and Recovery to fight the Fighters, and anyone who wants to drop in so they can fail at talking sense into any of the other teams, or just get in on the smackdown, or what have you. No OCD, just go crazy. Have fun!)

Comments

[suitably_heroic]

By now, stopping by Needful Things on the way out from the library was pretty much tradition. Atton observed the area from Jessica's rooftop - okay, it was just a rooftop, but it was now Jessica's Rooftop in his head - before hopping back down.

Hey, maybe today they'd be lucky.

[not_every_mage]

If Kathy and Cassandra had reduced Anders' devotion to protecting the store at all, it was hard to tell from the firm steps he used to trace the path of his sidewalk patrol today. He was being tested; he should have known the enemy (which was almost everyone) would send people he knew to break down his resistance and get him to abandon the shop.

It wouldn't work. If he let them persuade him this was wrong, if he left the store, the phylactery was as good as gone -- and Gaunt would never be safe again. And it would be his fault.

Anders pushed through his fatigue and kept walking.

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

The situation on the island was getting worse and worse. He knew it, he could feel it and it was painful. It hurt. But, he wasn't going to be cowering and waiting for it to pass. Not when Anders seemed to be under some sort of thrall.

"Anders," he said quietly, standing in front of him but keeping some distance between them. "Anders."

[not_every_mage]

Anders looked at him with cool, almost impatient eyes. He didn't want to hurt Nathan -- he wasn't that far gone -- but there was no one he trusted entirely by then.

No one except Gaunt and the others fighting for him, anyhow.

"Hello," he said, and then waited to see if Nathan was going to start lecturing him like the others.

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

"Anders, what are you doing?" he asked quietly. He knew very well what he was doing but he wanted to start light, start easy. "What's happened?"

[not_every_mage]

Anders glanced over his shoulder, as if checking whether the shop was still there.

Nothing had changed since the last time he looked at it, so:

"Gaunt needs us," he explained. "I'm helping to keep him safe so the rest of those bastards don't get to him. He gave me my phylactery. My freedom. I owe him this much."

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

"He didn't give you anything," Nathan said, stepping closer. "He's using you, Anders. No one should do that. He's imprisoned you without the cage. You're better than he is."

[sarcastic-vamp.livejournal.com]

Carmilla paced in front of the store, ready to tear apart anyone who tried to get in or take Elle's letter. After so long she finally had a piece of her again, and nobody was taking that from her.

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

Squall hadn't moved much since yesterday. He also hadn't slept, hadn't eaten, and hadn't even sat down. He was just being obsessive vigilant. He leaned against the wall of the building across the street, watching and waiting.

[glacial_queen]

Spotting Rinoa patrolling the store had Karla looking around for wherever Squall would be. She knew that he wouldn't be far, no more than Warren would if that had been her down there.

Calling in a bottle of water and a sandwich, she walked over to him. "You should eat," she said, trying to press them into his hands. "When was the last time you did?"

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

Squall shrugged stoically. "I've gone longer without."

...But he would be better off with some food in his stomach, and it was a gift offered with good intentions from a friend.

His scowl softened, and he gave Karla a halfhearted smile as he took a bite. "Thank you," he told her. "I'm just... worried."

[iceolatedqueen.livejournal.com]

Elsa's footsteps today were a little slower, a little more deliberate than they had been yesterday. She was exhausted, and she was starving, but she couldn't afford to rest, could she?

The pair of icy wolves prowling at her sides, on the other hand, seemed far more sure-footed than she did. Of course, they didn't need to eat.

[notacokeperson.livejournal.com]

She was going to rescue Sparkle, she was, but Karina had wanted to do a quick swing by the shop first. It was the sound of ice creaking and snapping that drew her attention. There was only one other person on the island, as far as she was aware, that had anything to do with ice… Karina picked her way carefully through the fog, listening for the shattering-glass sound of ice, and when she found Elsa, was unsurprised, though disappointed.

“Isn’t a queen supposed to rule rather than obey?” she asked, while openly admiring the wolves. Those were neat. She wondered if her sponsors would let her try anything like that… well, whatever. Now wasn’t the time. Karina turned her attention back to Elsa. “I mean, like, why are you even here, Elsa?”

She kept her voice conversational and light. She knew why Elsa was here, probably better than Elsa did.

[iceolatedqueen.livejournal.com]

"I'm here to protect Leland Gaunt," Elsa replied, holding a hand to her side to stave off her wolves as they turned to snarl at the other girl. Karina was a friend. Had been a friend. Now Elsa wasn't sure about anybody. "A queen respects her debts, and I owe him so much more than my gratitude."

She really didn't. The bracelet around her wrist had been paid in full with the tiara that her mother once wore. But whatever the price had been, she hardly remembered now. All she knew was that Leland Gaunt was in danger. He had asked for help, and she had answered.

[notacokeperson.livejournal.com]

Asking Elsa if she was insane was… probably… not the best way to go about this. Especially after what she knew from the town hall meeting.

So Karina didn’t, though she really, really wanted to. (And knew the answer was probably ‘yes’, even though Elsa would likely say ‘no’.)

Instead, she stuck her hands in her pockets. "Okay," she said, keeping her voice casual as she looked around. "Can I ask what he did for you that needs all of this? Why does he even need protection? Like, you know me, I’ve been off the island lately. What’s going on? I heard people were gathering here but not really anything else."

She was totally lying, but that was okay. Karina wanted to know Elsa’s point of view on this sort of thing, since Elsa seemed to be capable of coherent conversation rather than Sparkle… being Sparkle.

[iceolatedqueen.livejournal.com]

"He gave me a second chance," Elsa replied, jaw squared and the look in her eye fiercely protective. "He gave me control, Karina. And now people are here to take it away from me. To take him away."

She was so tired of being so afraid. Afraid and alone and living with so much guilt on her head.

"He's a good man!"

[notacokeperson.livejournal.com]

Oh, come on!

“If he gave you control then he can take it away,” she pointed out, thinking that the ‘good man’ had seriously impressive brainwashing mojo and hating it. She wasn’t even going to address the ‘good man’ comment, but Karina did take her hands out of her pockets. “And if he had to give it to you, that means you don’t really have it, Elsa. What happens when he leaves?”

[glacial_queen]

Karla was on her way to the town hall to get there with plenty of time for the meeting, but ended up swinging by Needful Things first anyway. Know thy enemy and all that.

There were several faces here that upset her to see, but one just broke her heart. Mostly because she could see herself in the other girl's shoes so very easily.

"Hello, little Sister," she said softly.

[iceolatedqueen.livejournal.com]

Elsa's tired gaze turned toward Karla, all the more pale these days than she had ever been. She tilted her head slightly, placing a bare hand delicately on the head of either wolf by her side.

"Hello," she said, giving Karla a wary nod, "big Sister."

Her voice was quieter than it ought to have been. Why her, too? Why did everybody want to hurt Leland Gaunt?

[glacial_queen]

"I'm worried about you," she said. Because that needed saying. Elsa needed to hear that she was cared for, first and foremost. "And the handiwork on these are incredible. I don't suppose you'll let let examine them? I'll promise not to try anything funny while I do."

Afterwards, yeah. She was totally going to destroy them. They were dangerous. But first, good Craft needed to be acknowledged.

[iceolatedqueen.livejournal.com]

Elsa gave Karla another few moments of wary side-eye before nodding, just faintly, and gesturing to one of the wolves. It trotted over to Karla, though its ears were pinned back and its teeth were bared. She was perfectly welcome to examine, but the second she moved to touch, it was going to bite.

"Is that why you're here? You're worried and you want to poke at the canines?"

[glacial_queen]

"Hey now," Karla said lightly, examining the way the wolf moved as it prowled over to her. "I didn't want to poke at canines until I saw yours. This is magnificent work, Elsa. I could make an illusion of something like this, but I couldn't ever just create it. Is it alive? Or are you controlling it, like a puppeteer?"

LIKE, OH, SAY HOW YOU WERE BEING CONTROLLED?

[holyshitsnacks.livejournal.com]

Pam finally made her way to the store and -- WHAT? CLOSED!?!

THAT WAS NOT AT ALL OKAY!

Pam was now pounding on the doors and the windows, frantically screaming.

"COCAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAINE!"

She was out, Leland. Completely and totally out. WHERE WAS MORE COCAINE?

[hexentotchen.livejournal.com]

Hanna now had her knives in her hands. Shaky hands. Just be glad she didn't have that gun in her hand at the moment.

Sleep was for the weak! So was food! So was... other things.

[angelo_wings]

Rinoa wasn't going to think about the last time she ate, or napped. She couldn't remember. Did it matter? She was here. She was here to protect Leland Gaunt, and to keep her book safe. Everything else was just details.