Trooper Station, Friday

[pocketpretzels]

Watts had barely gotten himself settled in at his desk- for his version of 'settled in', which mostly meant sitting atop the desk, feet resting on his chair, when Calvin (at least he thought it was Calvin) came running in.

"EVERYTHING. IS. FINE." Calvin (?) shouted. "There is nothing to worry about."

"Good god, man, why the yelling?"

"Everything is fine," Calvin repeated.

"You are not sounding particularly fine," Watts countered.

"I am calm and relaxed, which is appropriate for the situation. Because everything is fine."

"I must insist that you tell me what is going on," Watts demanded.

"If anyone asks, my name is Lars Gerhard and I was never here. Also, you haven't seen me," Calvin told Watts, before bolting back out of his office.

[ooc: the post is open and everything is fine, really.]

Comments

[hasaknightjob]

At lunchtime there was a Steven at Llewellyn's office door. Though he was looking out towards the rest of the station curiously. "Why did Ralph just ask me to call him Lars?"

Misunderstanding of which Trooper was doing it or was the request spreading through them all? Hard to say, Steven had only just got here after all.

[pocketpretzels]

Oh, it was definitely spreading. Give it a minute and there would be an outraged “You’re Lars Gerhard?” coming from the direction of Ralph’s desk and then the sounds of a scuffle.

But at this exact moment it was just Watts, attempting to twist himself around that he might face Steven. “Did he also insist that everything was fine?” he asked, curious.

[hasaknightjob]

Steven looked surprised that Llewellyn had guessed correctly. "He did, yes. I did ask how his day was, granted, but he seemed rather... vehement? Is everything all right?"

[pocketpretzels]

"It... seems to be?" Watts said, turning back around so he could hop down off his desk. "But as Calvin wouldn't offer any clarification I cannot tell you why they're all so insistent on- well, insisting- that everything is fine."

[hasaknightjob]

"I mean I could do with a bit of fine if anyone is asking," Steven admitted. "After this week and all."

And Steven hadn't even seen the fires yet. Or listened to radio.

Steven closed the door to Llewellyn's office so they could have some privacy. He looked at Llewellyn like Llewellyn was an oasis after a long time in the desert. "Hello, you."

[pocketpretzels]

Watts usually listened to radio first thing, but skipped it this morning for plot reasons in favor of sleeping in a little longer.

"Hello, you," Watts replied, and was not so undignified as to launch himself at Steven, exactly, but he did move across the space rather quickly.

[hasaknightjob]

That was all right, because Steven was about to do much the same. He gave Llewellyn a tight hug. Or as much of one as he could while one hand was holding a bag of food. "Are you all right, love?"

[pocketpretzels]

“I just,” he sighed. “Needed this. Needed you.”

[hasaknightjob]

Steven let go long enough that he could put the bag on Llewellyn's desk, then he went back for another hug. "You too?"

[pocketpretzels]

“Suppose that answers the question regarding how the rest of your week has been,” Watts said.

[hasaknightjob]

"I've had better," Steven agreed. He looked Llewellyn over, trying to see if he could determine what was wrong. "Would you like to tell me? Or I could remind you I love you, as always."

[pocketpretzels]

“Nothing you don’t already know about,” Watts assured him. “Rubbing salt in old wounds, mostly.”

[hasaknightjob]

"Since Monday then?" Steven asked, both to confirm time and that it had been the baggage which had done it. He hugged Llewellyn tighter. "Poor Llew. Did you get any sleep at all?"

[flamesburned]

It was already a rough day, being the anniversary of Pittsburgh and given everything that seemed to be happening today, going to the station was probably not a good idea considering it was one year ago today since she had been arrested but Liz had been afraid that someone would think she was responsible for the fire so maybe it was better just to turn up to the station first and say that she wasn’t responsible for all the fires that seemed to be burning.

Liz was also extremely tired and not thinking clearly either, she also didn’t listen to the radio so she had missed the part about the fire not being actual fire.

She looked around nervously, already having second thoughts about being here, maybe she should leave before anyone noticed her?

[fandomtroopers]

"Ma'am," Ralph said, running up to Liz as she entered the station. "Please be aware that EVERYTHING IS FINE."

His tone of voice was not that of someone who actually believed everything was fine. For the record.

[flamesburned]

Liz blinked, it was definitely not what she was expecting and also … he did not sound like everything was fine.

“Um …” she said slowly as she tried to process that, “I … er ...“

Maybe she was imagining the fire?

"It's just ...there's a lot of fire outside?" she tried instead.

[fandomtroopers]

"There's nothing to worry about. If anyone asks, my name is Lars Gerhard, I'm not here, and everything is fine," Ralph told her. "Also, you may want to wear this," he held out a fake beard towards her.

[flamesburned]

Liz blinked a lot as she was handed the fake beard, really unsure what to make of all of this “um…I …”

She was imagining the fire wasn’t she? She was so confused.

She had no idea what was going on.

“I - um …why would I need something like this?” she finally settled on, staring at the fake beard.

[fandomtroopers]

"Because everything is fine!" Ralph insisted, before turning and running off in the opposite direction.

Yeah, not that helpful, probably.

[flamesburned]

Liz stared after him, holding the fake beard and really not knowing how to process what was going on at all.

“Um…” she really wasn’t sure what to say and stood there awkwardly.

[pocketpretzels]

Honestly, ‘um’ was pretty much the correct response there Liz. The Troopers were weird on a good day. Today they were downright bizarre.

Luckily (?), Watts had heard the commotion and was coming out of his office to investigate.

“Miss Sherman? Is everything f- all right?” Yes, he’d almost said ‘fine’. Clearly the Troopers were starting to get to him.

[flamesburned]

Liz had been staring after Ralph, still unsure about what was happening that she almost didn’t here Watts approach,

She jumped slightly, “I …” she stared back at him, “I …no,” she admitted softly, trembling.

[pocketpretzels]

“What seems to be the problem?”

That she might consider herself responsible for these not-fires hadn’t actually occurred to him, since they were, well, illusory.

[flamesburned]

“I …I there’s a lot of fires,” Liz said softly, trembling, “it’s …they just happened… I…”and then she let out a sob, not realising what she was saying. “I couldn’t …” and then she burst into tears.

Sorry Watts.

[pocketpretzels]

Oh no, not again.

Dealing with hysterical women was very much not his forte.

He handed her his handkerchief (sans pretzel, this time, at least), because at least that much he could do.

“Yes,” he confirmed. “I had noticed that. They don’t seem to be real, though. Merely illusions.”

Real-enough looking that they’d scared the hell out of him when they’d first appeared, but now…