All The Black Is Really White Who: Terry and Landon When: Day 3, around 10:00am Where: Lobby
Landon was humming. The content and melodic tune carried through the hallways and into the lobby of the hotel, a little sunshine on the otherwise dreary day. The tune was simple, repetitive; something by a popular band from the sixties. The sound ebbed and flowed, sometimes echoing off the walls of the hotel, sometimes fading until was all but completely drowned out by the roar of the monsters outside. The sound of their seeming anger and misery was sometimes maddening, sometimes horrifying, but above all else it was depressing. The world was gone -- the world they had known anyway -- and the infinite wails of endless despair outside was nothing but a constant reminder of that.
So Landon hummed, despite there being very little to hum about, and walked through the hotel, exploring open rooms, sometimes snatching glimpses of lives forgotten in the fray of death and disease, but more often than not he found only empty, sterile rooms. Now the red head made his way into the front lobby, the tune dying on his lips as he spied a dark-haired man bent over something. He had been filthy and exhausted when they'd gotten in to the hotel the night before, but Landon remembered the green-eyed man clearly. He came upon him slowly, haphazardly catching glimpses of the older man's concentrated thoughts. It was embarrassing, trying to ignore other people's personal dogmas, trying to pretend he couldn't see or hear their ideas and worries. He wished he could turn it off.
Clearing his throat quietly, the Bostonian came up to the brunette's side, offering a smile. "Hey. It's Terry, right?" His voice was soft, his accent warm and rich in the otherwise silent room. The dim mood lights that hung from the ceiling in a faux chandelier sent sparkles of light across Terry's black hair and made Landon's own locks burn embers. It was a quiet moment, and Landon found himself basking in it.
Terry looked up when he heard Landon's voice, catching who it was before looking up based on accent alone. "Hi there," he returned, nodding in response to the question. He gestured briefly with a paint brush and glanced to it, smirking. "Was working on the sign to go outside." He shifted, turning to kneel over his sign again. "You can help if you want?" He glanced up at the tall redhead as he continued to work again, settling to get comfortable. So far he'd managed to write 'a-l-i' on the sheets he'd tied together, though he'd just started a while ago.
He thought about the last few days, letting the memories run through his head. Last night he'd spent most of the night doing just the same, turning over and over in the bed he'd chosen for himself, pulling the covers up over his shoulders but still feeling insecure. The howling and shrieking outside hadn't helped any, and even as it continued throughout the morning, it wasn't quite as bad when one wasn't attempting to rest. This was more, just... background noise.
Landon was looking down at the sign Terry was painting, his hands shoved in his pockets, his lanky knees bent a little as he peered down. "It's goan say "Alive Inside" 'ent it?" He asked with mild interest. His eyes shifted from the sign to the older man's face, reading the exhaustion there quietly. They all had the same dark circles under their eyes, the same weary and wakeful expressions. Landon pulled one hand out of his pocket, running it through his curly hair. "Hey, yeah, Ah'd be glad to help. Work gets done faster when it's spread around." He smiled again, a little more broadly, and reached for a paint brush.
As his hand touched the wooden end, a flash of thoughts washed through his mind, blanking everything else out for a moment. He saw Terry lying in his bed, eyes wide, hands folded over his chest. The minutes ticked by. He saw Terry watching the sun rise with an unhappy fatigue, could hear his repeating thoughts, his concern... It was with immense effort that Landon pulled himself out of Terry's mind, his side glance becoming a curious full on stare. "You didn't sleep at all did you man?" He asked it quietly, his blue eyes sincere, friendly and open.
Terry nodded, gesturing down to the letters he'd continued writing. "Yeah, that's it. Alive inside gets the point across, I think." He let out a brief laugh, though it was mostly hollow. He reached to tuck back some of his hair and sighed, shifting his weight as Landon settled down nearby him. He looked up again when the next question came, his eyes confused as they were curious. "What... I uh... no, I guess I didn't. I look that much like shit?" he asked, head cocked slightly to the side. He knew he looked bad, but he didn't think he was that bad.
"Uh, no, you don't look that bad." Here Landon's brow drew in, his light eyes darkening a little as he grasped the paint brush and pulled it out of the bucket. "Ah..." He took a few steps forward and in a broad stroke added "v" Before re-dipping the brush and adding "e". He was starting on the word "inside" when he shot Terry a naked and slightly confused look. "This whole world endin' thing, it's pretty messed up." And then, unbidden and unexpected, a bashful smile came to his features, embarrassed. "Ah uh, seems like ever since everyone started dyin', Ah've kinda... known things that Ah normally wouldn't. You had anything like that happen to you?" His face was apprehensive, the young man half expecting to be mocked.
Terry laughed, the lines around his eyes deepening slightly as he enjoyed the small bit of humor passed between them. It seemed like so much of the time was filled with misery now, and it was nice to see something other than that for a moment. "Good then," he said, nodding and shrugging his shoulders. "As long as I don't look that bad, I guess." He moved to help write the next word out, starting before Landon's brush could touch the sheets. The letters were long, almost the length of his own body, though they needed to be thickened up. "It is," he agreed quietly, "pretty messed up." When the redhead started talking about having strange things happen Terry looked up, green eyes narrowed on Landon's face. "I... no, I haven't. Uhh... what do you mean, exactly? You've known things you haven't?"
"Uh. Like... well shit." Landon laughed again, shaking his head. "Like Ah knew you stayed up all night because Ah uh, Ah saw it happen. You laid in bed all night until the sun rose and thought about all this stuff that's happened..." He licked his lower lip, his arm starting to ache from the long strokes they had to make for the letters. "It's kind of like... like Ah can read minds. Ah know how crazy that sounds man. So... Ah'm not, you know, Ah'm not crazy." Landon closed his eyes for a long moment, focusing on Terry's thoughts. "Can you hear me?" He asked it with his mind, his voice too loud, almost a mental shout.
Terry stopped painting the letters when Landon told him he'd seen into his mind, his face a mingling of several different emotions -- though mostly it was confusion and mild alarm. How had Landon known what he'd done all night? Terry didn't know what to do with himself or how to respond. He had never heard anything quite like this before, not outside of movies. "I..." He was about to say more when he heard Landon's voice in his head, everywhere, without the other man even moving his lips. Terry was on his feet in a flash, hands out in a wide arc as though that would somehow protect him - or get rid of the voice in his head. "What the hell," was all he could manage, the words coming out more as commentary rather than as a question. "You... I heard you... in my head... really loud."
"You heard me?" Landon's look of surprise would have been comical if not for the relief that ran through it. "Ah... Ah feel crazy when Ah tell people that Ah can hear their thoughts, yanno? And Ah can't even really control it... it just... it started outta nowhere." He swallowed and let his fingers fidget along the wooden handle of the paintbrush. "You really 'ent had nothin' like that happen to you?" The Bostonian sounded tired, unsurprised. He was hoping that there would be someone with something like what he was dealing with. But there hadn't been. Both Charles and Megan claimed that they thought they might have something similar, but so far they hadn't been able to clarify what it was they experienced. "Ah... Ah think it's what saved me from the monsters. Ah was being chased, ah fell down an' they were about to eat me, and Ah kind of... Ah dunno how to explain it. Ah like reached out with my mind an' told 'em to leave me alone. They just... kind of did." He shook his head. "Ah know how crazy it sounds."
Staring hard at Landon as the other man talked, Terry tried very hard to make sense of what was being said. He shook his head vigorously a moment, still comprehending what had just happened to him. Aside from the monsters (and the dead bodies that seemed to be everywhere), Terry hadn't seen much else to freak him out after all of this mess had started. Hearing Landon's voice in his head was not normal, by any means, and it was not easy to stomach all at once.
"So," he started, holding out a hand to gesture with, "you're telling me you can... project your thoughts into other people's heads? And... and tell them to do things?" Terry stopped there, not sure he wanted to know the answers to those questions. It seemed worrisome, and if it were all true it had the potential to be something more - possibly something dangerous. That kind of power -- I'm going insane -- was something one would find in a movie... not in the person you'd just survived the apocalypse with... right?
"Ah... Ah 'ent ever told any people to do anything, only the monsters... so... Ah dunno. It might only work on the monsters, not people. But... you... Ah mean, you heard me an' all, right?" He cleared his throat, dropping his paintbrush back into the paint to pop his elbow. "It's really weird ah know... a couple other people think that they've had similar things happen to them too. Like uh, the blind girl we brought with us, Megan. She says that everything is a lot more..." The redhead hesitated, looking for the right word. "a lot more... there. Sounds are louder, smells are overpowahin', that sorta stuff. Charles says he feels like he knows what's gonna happen before it does... Ah dunno, it might just be stress or something, but Ah know mine isn't... just mental or anything." He bit at his lower lip for a moment, then sighed. "But Ah don't really know what it is."
Terry shifted his weight several times, drawing his arms inward to fold them over his chest. He stared at Landon, not sure what to make of all of this just yet. "I... okay," he answered, brow furrowed, low over his eyes. "I'm sorry, I just... don't know what to say to you just yet. This isn't something um... easy to come to terms with?" Terry lifted the fingers upward on one hand, making a subtle gesture of confusion. "So you just... how did it start? I mean, I'm assuming you haven't always been this way?"
"High school would have been a helluva lot more fun if Ah had always had this thing." Landon laughed, dropping a wink at Terry. "Hey, Ah'm all for talkin, but why don't we move to the kitchen, get some tea -- you really do look exhausted man." He glanced over at the wet sign they'd been working on. "We can let this dry a little and come back to it," he offered with a kind smile, his blue eyes crinkling just slightly at the corners. "I really make a mean cup 'a tea."
"Sure," Terry answered, turning to head down the hall toward the kitchen. "Although I can't help but wonder what it is you could do to tea to make it better than what it is already... which is glorified water." He smirked, returning the small bit of humor easier than he'd thought he could. "I'm a coffee man myself, but tea can't hurt." He shrugged, swallowing hard against the dryness in his throat. "So then... when did this start? The uhh... part where you can talk to people with your mind..." This was asked as they entered the kitchen, Terry's eyes glancing upward briefly to see if there were others hanging around.
Landon shrugged. "Glorified water holds even more glory when Ah make it ah guess." He grinned and then set about finding the kettle and the tea bags. "It started the mornin' that the the world ended." And wasn't that weird, to say the morning the world ended with such nonchalance? He supposed it was. "Ah woke up an' got ready fer work, grabbed a bagel, an' was headin' out when my landlord broke down the door a' my place. He was.... uh, different. One of them monsters. So you know, Ah..." Landon had stabbed him in one of his many eyes. It had distracted the monster long enough for him to get his gun. "Ah got around him and took off running. All of the sudden Ah could hear... no, it was more like all of the sudden there was a thousand different voices shoutin' in my head. All at once." The redhead paused, turning to Terry and holding up two different boxes of loose-leaf tea. "You want Passion fruit or Earl Grey?"
Terry listened to Landon as he explained how his power had manifested, nodding as he moved further into the kitchen. "I don't care which one," he said, reaching into the nearby cupboards to gather two mugs for them to use for their tea. He still wasn't sure about this whole tea thing, but he supposed he'd give it a try. "Whichever you think I'd like better. How does that sound?" He smiled, though it was a little forced, and brought the mugs over to where Landon was fussing with the boxes of tea bags. "So now you can hear people's thoughts and send out your own..." It was said as though it had perhaps meant to be nothing more than a passing thought, though Terry's eyes wandered over the near confused expression that seemed ever-present on Landon's face. It was as though he were waiting for some answer that would never quite arrive.
"You like coffee? Earl Grey is the right one for you then," the Bostonian decided and set the kettle full of water on the stove, turning it on cautiously. "Maybe you've developed some sort of power too and just don't know it yet." He spoke cautiously at first, his tone gentle, obviously intent on avoiding any conflict. "Unless... you didn't sleep last night, right? Maybe that's something - hear me out - maybe you don't need to sleep anymore!" But he could see the fatigue on the brunette's features quite clearly. "Uh, probably not though." He pursed his lips for a moment and then shrugged minutely. "Maybe it's something else... but whatever's happenin' with me, Ah think it's happenin' with everyone."
Terry watched in silence as Landon turned to heat up the kettle, rambling on about developing the ridiculous ability to go without sleep. He sighed, shaking his head, near in time with Landon's rebuttal to his own suggestion. "No," he agreed, turning to lean against the counter, the small of his back pressed tight to the metal. He ran his tongue along the inside of his teeth once and began to speak again, slowly. "You say it's happening to everyone. How do you know that? I mean... you said that the blind girl, Megan, is compensating for being blind, but... what if it's just that? I mean, that's not necessarily a power... not unless it's extremely exaggerated. And Charles... he could just be guessing, making assumptions."
"That's true," Landon agreed thoughtfully, watching the kettle hopefully, eager for when the steam would begin to pour out. "No one else has said anything to you?" His face fell back into its perpetual look of confused dismay. "Then Ah don't know Ah guess." He turned away from the kettle to meet Terry's green gaze, looking into it for a long moment. "Maybe it's somethin' Ah've had all along an' didn't realize it... maybe the stress kind of brought it out." His mind flashed back to what he'd seen of Terry's sleepless night. "Ah could help you sleep maybe." He spoke softly, blue eyes quiet and thoughtful. "Like maybe ah could use my powah to make you sleep."
Terry turned back around, leaning his hip on the counter, arms folded over his chest as he watched Landon shifting and speaking as though he were incapable of holding still. He almost made a comment about what it meant for Landon to be the only person experiencing any changes, but kept it to himself. Teasing of that nature could come later, when they had perhaps developed more of a comfortable friendship. For now, Terry's green eyes narrowed and he returned, "That seems a little impertinent, offering to put me to sleep on the first date."
Landon's look of constant confusion dissolved into a gale of laughter at Terry's words, his hand falling to the counter as he lost himself in genuine mirth. It had been hard to laugh over the past couple days, hard to smile even, but Landon was a sunny soul, his natural disposition made of merriment, not cynicism. Cynicism, in his opinion, was simply a lazy way of saying you'd been hurt. After a few moments he began to recover from his fit, still chuckling as he checked the water. Not nearly hot enough yet.
"Shit." His grin was bright and vibrant as he looked Terry over, shaking his head a little. "You're right, I usually wait until the second date to break out the roofies and wine." With another snort of amusement the redhead bit his lower lip. "And who knows, maybe Ah can't do anythin with my mind at all. Maybe Ah'm just really good at projecting crazy onto others." He could tell already that Terry's sense of humor would be something that would be delighting him for a while to come. The deadpan and sudden teasing was just what he enjoyed seeing in others, that sudden break in sincerity a constant source of amusement, the kind of jokes that came at just the right time. He busied himself with dropping the bags of tea into the ceramic mugs, glancing out the kitchen window at the dreary sky with a fleeting look of forlorn remorse. Then his smile was back and his attention on the older man again.
"So what were you? Ah mean before all this mess. You've got the look of either a guitar god or a novel writer." Great contrasts, he knew, but it was true of the brunette's appearance. Terry seemed quiet, bookish -- but many musicians had the same air. Off stage they wanted only peace -- and Landon couldn't deny the subtle feeling of Deja vu he was granted with when he laid eyes on the green-eyed man before him -- as though he'd seen him somewhere before. Of course, that could have only been a side affect of whatever seeming insanity was taking over his mind. He was, after all, seeing inside so many people's thoughts and memories that it felt as though he'd known all of them somewhere along the line. "Did ah guess right?" His tone was light, easy.
Terry smirked in a proud manner when Landon laughed, watching the other man enjoy himself as he waited. He shifted his weight against the counter again and folded his arms more firmly over his chest, inhaling deeply. "Now that I know about our second date, I'm going to be sure to push it back a little bit. I mean... not that I don't like being drugged or anything, but..." He shrugged, a smug grin sitting perfectly on his face.
"Before all of this," Terry said, taking a moment to think about it. There wasn't a lot to boast about... not really. His life hadn't been terribly interesting, and certainly not in any way that would keep the attention of someone like Landon for very long. He seemed young and playful -- not quite the type to ask deeper questions involving the mindlessly boring way Terry had spent most of his days. "Close," he finally said. "I was an English professor, to put it simply. Advanced writing... and I taught private piano lessons for extra cash. And... because I liked to, I suppose."
"No, Ah understand, you gotta pace these things, if Ah'm knockin' you out on date one, you might wanna wait a few days before I roofie you on date two, you know, to recoup." He laughed again, his face lighting up as Terry mentioned the piano. "So Ah was right on both counts then! Y'do music an' English." Licking his lower lip, the redhead shifted, feeling the cool steel of the counter under his fingers. "Piano. Ah know a little bit of piano. Ah own a guitar shop -- or Ah used to -- just down the road. Music is kinda my thing." His hands flittered, as if longing for a guitar right then. "If there's a piano around here we oughta play together sometime."
"Yeah," Terry said, shrugging easily. "Music and English... mostly English, though. I don't have a lot of spare time for mus-- ah, I guess I didn't have a lot of spare time for music. These days...?" He sent a quick glance around the room, holding up one hand as though to say, well? "That's really great, the music shop thing. I wonder if I ever visited... Who knows? Maybe you sold me sheet music at some point?" Terry had never really purchased sheet music, but he'd visited several places for repair supplies from time to time, or to check out the keyboards he imagined he might have someday... all for his own private amusement, of course. When one didn't leave the house much, one didn't see anything wrong in finding entertainment in a music store. It wasn't as though his social life would suffer for it.
"Probably, Ah've owned it for nearly three years." His smile stretched a little, growing charming. "Though honestly? Ah think Ah would remember someone like you." Someone quiet spoken with such striking features. Abruptly the tea kettle began to sound, shrieking out steam and Landon grabbed it by the handle, pulling it from the heat and turning off the burner. He glanced around the kitchen, noting the pantry stocked with food, the giant freezers. "What'er we goan do when power runs out man? Those freezers 'r gonna be full of rotten food that we're gonna miss like hell." What had people done to preserve meat before iceboxes and refrigerators? They had salted and dried it. He had hunted a little in his time, but his father had always prepared the meat. For a moment the red head looked concerned, and then pushed the thoughts away. They would burn that bridge when it came.
Terry snorted a laugh at the comment Landon made about remembering him, but as the moment stretched, the simple words seemed to take on a different meaning. Terry blinked, attempting to wrap his head around what had been said - or implied - when the kettle began to whistle, signaling that the hot water was ready for tea bags. He heard the next question as well, though, and for the moment he chose to focus on that. "I don't know," he answered honestly. "We're going to have to figure something out, though. We can survive off of the canned foods for a while, but... that's not going to last forever. Eventually we're going to need to branch out, find more selection..." Terry reached up to scratch underneath his hair, lifting it in the back as he shifted. "We should maybe set up raiding groups... go out when the skies are clear... you know, get what we can." His mind went back to the comment regarding being recognized, and he wondered -- Was that flirting?
Landon poured the water into the mugs and over the tea bags, watching them steep as he carefully placed the kettle back on the stove. "Raids sound good. Ah know there's a couple'a grocery stores in the area, originally my group was thinkin' of campin' out in one of those, but then I saw you guys movin' around and..." He shrugged. "Seemed like there might be safety in numbers... and less madness." He hoped. "Do you think there's a piano around here? Ah might just go crazy without new music to listen to--" the idea stopped him dead in his tracks, his face falling. There would be no new bands coming out, no new songs to hear on the radio and fall in love with, no agonizing over new chords and tabs... everyone was dead. The concept kept hitting him in waves, eroding his happiness bit by bit. After a moment he picked up where he'd left off. "--and Ah always enjoy listenin' to other musicians."
"Actually... I think there's a piano in the main dining hall," Terry said, shrugging as he watched the tea bags in their mugs for a moment. "It will be sad, not having new music around..." He considered taking the tea, but wasn't sure Landon had quite finished preparing it. The piano thing was a tender subject for him. He wasn't so good at just playing for people on demand, and certainly not for people he wasn't terribly close to. He didn't say anything more about the piano for the moment. At least it was there if he felt the urge.
Landon slid Terry's cup of tea towards him, nodding at it. "It's hot, so yanno, careful." He offered the brunette a vibrant smile. He could sense Terry's hesitance to talk about playing music with him, and assumed, safely, that the older man was shy about his abilities, most talented players underestimated their potential. Landon let the subject of music drop, grinning at Terry. "Doesn't taste like roofies, does it?" He asked, his voice returning to a soft and teasing tenor.
Terry took the cup of tea gratefully, smiling as he brought it up to smell it. At least it had that going for it. The scent was definitely enticing, even if the taste may not live up to the expectations his mind put in place. He snorted softly at the teasing, blowing across the surface and watching the movement of the darkened water. It was calming, and Terry was grateful for that. It felt peaceful, the warmth between his hands and the hot steam rising upward into his face. He took a careful sip, drawing a tiny bit of tea into his mouth to push it around with his tongue. "It's alright," he said, the second word lilted slightly. "Thank you, Landon."
"Not a problem man." Landon grinned, enjoying the show he brunette put on about drinking the tea. "How about we go an' sit in the lounge, get comfy an' all." He had a feeling their days of comfort were limited. "Ah know how creepy it sounds, but Ah really think if yer wantin' for sleep Ah could help out. It's.... It 'ent that you look especially tired, but y'mind keeps sendin' out these... like, waves of exhaustion or something. Ah keep gettin' hit by 'em." Landon wasn't much of an insomniac himself, sleep had always sort of fallen into his lap, but he could certainly sympathize. "I promise I'll save the actual doin' weird stuff to y'when y'asleep until we know each other better." He grinned and lifted his mug of tea, gesturing towards the lounge. It had huge, soft couches and comfortable chairs, perfect place to relax for a while.
Smirking, Terry took another sip. "Trust me, I'd love to... but I have a date with dead bodies in a while. I don't think getting cozy would be a good idea for me right now. I might just fall asleep... which, while it would be nice, wouldn't be terribly productive." He shrugged, running his tongue along the inside of his teeth. "I should probably finish this and be on my way. We can... lounge later, if you want. I'm sure we're going to have a lot of time on our hands from now on." He sighed, the sound resigned and unpleasant. Of all the ways he'd envisioned his later years, it had never involved surviving in a hotel with a group of people he had never met before.
"Ah guess y'right. The banners to finish, and... Ah think maybe once we get the rooms cleaned out we should probably work on makin' sure none of them monsters can get in, huh?" The red head sighed, and for the first time found himself thankful that he hadn't been terribly close to his sisters. He couldn't imagine what sort of horror this whole ordeal was for those missing their loved ones. His mind was mostly clear to think about simply surviving. "If you want help with anythin, Ah've been told Ah'm a strappin' young lad. Ah'd be glad to help out." He took a slow drink of his tea, feeling it warm down to his stomach. "Thanks again for lettin' my whole crew in, even though they kind of just waltzed and made themselves at home."
Terry laughed at the comment about Landon being a 'strapping young man', unable to keep it inside. It was a genuine smile, and it was hard to muster those up these days. "Alright," he said, nodding once. "I'll be sure to keep that in mind, then. For now, though... I think I'll be alright." He started toward the door with his mug in hand, shaking his head at the thanks he was given. "It wouldn't have been right to turn you out," he said simply. "It's not in my nature, and I hope it would be the same of anyone else living with us so far. And... it's not really my place. I'm just surviving here... like all of you."
"Ah suppose that's true." Landon answered with a smile, and leaned against the counter for a moment. "In the meantime Ah guess Ah'll go an' do an inventory a' what we have that's gonna expire in the next few weeks. Maybe kinda, let people know to eat that stuff first Ah guess." He licked his lower lip, watching Terry as he moved towards the door. "Ah'm just down the hall from you yanno, if uh, you ever need anythin'." Landon was a friendly soul, never able to turn anyone down or away by nature. It was no different with Terry.
"That's a great idea," Terry said, trying to do his best to encourage the others to help where they could. "Why don't you do that?" His tone was slightly more cheerful, glad for any offered help. It didn't matter how small. "And thanks. I'll be sure to stop by... though I'm sure we'll see each other a lot, regardless." He held his tea up in a silent goodbye, turned, and headed from the kitchen. He had work to do, and a long day ahead of him.