Corey Jackson (followthesigns) wrote in downfallrpg, @ 2010-05-23 08:19:00 |
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Entry tags: | 2015-09-06, corey, corey and john, john |
Doing As You're Told
Who: Corey and John
Where: The front of the hotel
When: Late afternoon
There were too many signs. Corey couldn't ignore it even if he wanted to-- which he still kind of did. Even as he walked towards the hotel, with his over-loaded backpack, duffle-bag, shot-guns, and electrician's toolbox, he was seeing them. The angle of the sunlight pointing shadows towards the hotel, at this time of day. The lack of monsters in the streets or even in the houses he passed. The outflung arm of a skeleton, long since picked clean, hanging out of a car window. It annoyed him, but he couldn't ignore it, and he couldn't deny it.
So here he was, crossing that parking lot again, scowling darkly at the direction fate had dragged him, Blitz seeming just as unhappy as he was as she trailed along behind him. If this turned out to be wrong, or if things changed, his house was intact, boarded up and locked down and waiting for him, along with the rest of his supplies and belongings that he hadn't packed into the bags he brought with him.
Now he just needed someone to let him in. Standing in front of the closed door, he scowled further, and set down his duffel bag and toolbox to come and knock. Blitz disdained to follow quite that far, and sat down behind him a ways, two tails twitching and a couple of her tentacles clinging to his belongings.
John was minding his own business, sitting in the tidied remains of the lobby, his eyes following the pattern of the wallpaper where blood stains and scratches hadn't disturbed it. He tried not to think too much about those things, though he was well aware of them. He knew what had happened here, the day everything had changed. It was the same thing that seemed to have happened everywhere. In his case, he'd had someone to save him when the monsters had appeared. He didn't like to think of them as having been people once, never mind people he'd actually known, any more than he liked to recall the bodies of the people who had died instantly that he'd passed as Drake had moved them through the facility to his room when he wouldn't leave without Mr. Squiggles... or his marbles... and so on.
He would be dead without Drake.
Someone - or some thing - chose that moment to knock on the door. John turned his head to look at it, as if he'd magically be able to see through it and determine who was there. He didn't have that ability, though. He stood, crossed to the door and considered all the locks. Was he allowed to open the door? Someone could be in trouble on the other side. Maybe he should look out one of the windows first, but before he could properly process that thought, his mouth took over.
"Who's there?" he called out.
There were slits between the boards blocking up all the glass on the doors-- and the windows, for that matter; he could approve of that, both letting in light and giving a way for people inside to peer out, while still keeping the portals safe from intrusion. Corey stooped to peer through one of the slits. There was a man on the other side, approaching. A human man, not a monster. A human man who looked awkward and lost, young for his face. Strange, and a little disconcerting.
The words made him frown. "New tenant," he answered, a little gruffly, just loud enough to supposedly be heard through the door.
John resisted the urge to say 'New tenant who?' as if this was part of a knock-knock joke. Unlike some other times in his life, he was able to tell that that wouldn't be appropriate. He stood closer to the door and peered back at the eye and what he could see of a craggy face. It was a man, not a monster, though it looked like it might be a big man. If he was a new tenant, then he was expected, right? That would mean he could open the door and let him in without getting into trouble. Didn't it?
"Okay," he said and worked on the locks. One of the deadbolts gave him some trouble, but he managed it and was soon opening the door. He looked up at the giant standing there, his mouth opening involuntarily. "Wow," he said, then collected himself and added, "Hi. C'mon in..." He hadn't noticed the little monster, waiting further back.
He would shortly enough. Corey nodded to the fellow inside, then turned and walked back a couple paces to get his things. Blitz sidled out of his way with an unhappy growling-muttering sound that no actual cat could have ever produced. "Now, don't complain," he chided curtly. "This is where we're supposed to be." The hallucinatory cats had already wandered in past John's ankles, not that John could see them, but Corey gestured anyhow, before picking up his duffel again. "See? The others are already in. You can't be more of a coward than they are."
Blitz hissed, a much more catlike sound, whether at the implication that she was a coward or at the tone he used. Corey liked to think she understood more than she let on, but it could just have been his tone.
John had no clue who the man was talking to until he saw the little monster with tentacles and -
"Um," he said, regarding the creature with some alarm. he remembere3d something about not showing fear, because animals could tell if you were afraid, but he didn't think that applied right now. He was afraid and even if he didn't show it, he was pretty sure the creature would sense it. "Um," he repeated. "Is it... friendly?" The man didn't seem concerned. Drake shifted a little behind his eyes and debated whether or not to take over.
"Probably not," Corey snorted, coming inside and whistling for Blitz.
He hadn't known Blitz to be friendly with anyone but him-- and even then, not very often. "But she's not gonna hurt anybody. I'll keep an eye on her." Once she was inside he set the duffel and rifle down again and looked around, frowning. "Name's Corey," he said, almost as an afterthought. "She's Blitz."
John paled a little and stepped back as the giant and... the thing entered the hotel. Was it a bad idea to have... that in here? Was he going to get into trouble for opening the door in the first place? "You've... trained... her?" The man introduced himself - and the creature - and John had to get through a portion of his fear to say anything that resembled coherent words. "John. I'm John." Except when I'm not - "Uh, welcome..."
"Tamed her, more like, and only mostly," Corey shrugged. "The things out there-- they're just animals. Hungry ones, confused ones, but still just animals." He shrugged. "Take taming and training like any other animal. I am pretty good with 'em, though, I guess," he had to admit, scratching his jaw and eying the layout and damage done during, he imagined, that horrible first day. Fairly moderate, but cleaned up. Blitz started to prowl around the edges of the room, scoping it out in her own feline way. "How many people live here?" he asked.
John stood very still and followed the progress of the creature as it moved around the room. It made him nervous. "So, you... talk to the animals?" He didn't mean to reference 'Doctor Doolittle'. It just sort of came out. "Oh, about.... twenty-five? I think? I don't know. I'm sort of... new here myself." He smiled a little at the man, his eyes darting back and forth between him and the creature. "What did you say her name was, again?"
"Blitz," Corey answered, turning back to John and frowning again. Still, more likely. His face was fitted more to frowning than smiling, so he did it often; why fight fate, after all? "Will you stop acting like I'm going to bite you, and show me where to get a room, or somethin'?" He didn't want to leave his things down here longer than he had to, and he wanted to get Blitz and the cats settled into their new space, even though he imagined they'd all wander the building as they would eventually. Once he'd made sure to convey to Blitz, in particular, that no one here was to be harmed.
John's mind seized and Drake shifted into the front seat.
"Sorry, not nervous about you, Corey," he said, making the smile more relaxed and genuine. "Just a little nervous about Blitz, thoughg she seems quite... taken with the lobby. I'll spread the word that no one is to harm her." Crossing to the front desk, he pulled open a drawer. "The keys are in here and..." He turned and checked the list on the desk. Placing it so Corey could read it, he said, "These are the taken rooms." He pointed to the next column. "And these are available." He tried to keep the conversation as relaxed as John might be - that Iowa pace of life - but he didn't know how well he was doing. John was freaking out a little in his head and it was like static.
For the moment, Corey didn't notice the change. Not immediately, anyway. He was, however, glad the guy had stopped whimpering and actually started being useful. Scanning over the list, he looked for a room with the proper number, because if there wasn't a decent number he couldn't stay here. Quite honestly, he was hoping....
... but there it was. Three hundred and six. There was no real reason why it was the right number, but it was. Corey sighed. He really was stuck here, wasn't he? "Do I just write my name down and get a key, then?"
"As far as I know, yeah, that's exactly what you do." Drake slid a pen across the counter. "Here you go." He glanced down at Blitz as she sniffed with apparent suspicion at one of the upholstered chairs. Who knew what she could smell on it? "She'll be staying with you? Is she... housebroken?" It was amazing to see such a transformed creature, behaving in a similar manner to that of a cat or dog, though the tentacles, in particular, were a disturbing addition.
"She does what I tell her to," Corey shrugged. "And if I tell her not to piss on anything inside, she won't." Not when he could catch her or find it, anyway. That was something of a concern. She hadn't inside his house, but then, his house was her "territory" and, well, there'd been a litter box, which he suspected she used now and then. He leaned the rifle he'd been carrying against the counter so he could write down his name in a spidery but legible script, then he held out a hand for a key. "Room three hundred and six, then. That'll be me."
"Three hundred and six," he repeated and sorted through the keys. "Here you go." He slid the correct key across the counter. "I'm sure everyone would appreciate that. The... not peeing part." Drake smiled. "How did you find out about the hotel?" If they were leaving traces that they weren't aware of, perhaps they should be addressed. He didn't like the idea of other survivors - non-threatening survivors - being unaware of this sanctuary, but there were hostile factions out there. It wouldn't be prudent to advertise and endanger the group.
"I found and returned a couple of kids who were out wandering down by my house," Corey answered with a snort. "Not sure what they were doing out there, but Blitz almost ate them until I told her to stand the hell down." Across the lobby, Blitz shot him a look, since she obviously wasn't doing anything wrong that she needed to stand down from, and he added, "Not now, cat, I'm just saying what I said before. As if you'd understand that concept."
Drake frowned a little at the news that the kids - whom he assumed would be Jumpier and the brother of... whatever his name was - had been 'wandering' around outside the hotel without the supervision of an adult. It was dangerous outside. "Thanks for bringing them home..." His voice trailed off as Corey addressed his 'cat'. He supposed it could be a cat, crossed with a dog and an octopus and things that hadnh't existed before the change. Sort of. Maybe a combination of the words would work well, like 'cog' or 'catapus' or 'octidat'. "I think it's... amazing that you can communciate with... her." He wasn't going to say 'it', since Corey had clearly given the creature a gender. Drake couldn't tell if it had a gender, but the other man seemed to just... know.
Shrugging, Corey said, "It's no big deal, really. It took a lot of hard work and a lot of feeding her to get her to come around, anyway, and she's still not all the way convinced she made the right choice, I think. I bet any of you could manage it." He pocketed his new room's key and moved back to his duffel bag, plucking up the rifle from the counter as he turned. "Thanks for letting me in."
Drake doubted very much that any of the people he had met so far would be able to tame a creature like that. Most people would likely be too afraid, for a start, and just kill it, outright. Obviously, Corey was not most people.
"You're welcome. I'll let people know about your friend..." He paused and added, "Enjoy your stay."
That last made Corey laugh, a short, loud, bark of a sound that didn't even sound all that amused, though it was. Even Blitz twitched and hissed at the volume and quality. "Enjoy my stay... as if this were still some five-star hotel. Right." Still chuckling to himself, Corey hefted the duffle bag and toolkit, and headed towards where he could see a sign pointing him towards stairs. "Come on, all of you," he said over his shoulder, though there was only Blitz to follow.
He was intending it to be funny, so that was a good reaction. When Corey mentioned 'all of you', Drake took a moment to look around, just in case there was another creature that he'd missed the first time. No, he'd only been introduced to one: Blitz, who rumbled a little then somehow hurried to follow the giant on slightly too many limbs. Drake recalled a saying about not asking a centipede how it walks and though it wasn't quite the same, perhaps it was similar enough to apply. The creature had adapted and somehow, the giant had been able to - sort of - tame it. The invisible, impossible cats left no impression on Drake as they followed in their master's path.