Rooms

[Public]

[As Ella M]

That hotel has the worst goddamn timing, like it plans around apocalypses.

[Group lock: Neil D, Marta F, Luke H, Dylan M, Max M, Joey A, Shane A]

Alive?

[Unfortunately, there is only so much experience and imagination can do with a general wish like this, but the cupid does his best.

Each of Joey’s sisters get a very sweet gift basket. The baskets are white. Because all valentines should have certain things, each basket has a traditional box of (cheap but serviceable) chocolates and a (small but soft) white cuddly bear holding a polyester heart. He forgets to take the tags off these, which are from a DC drugstore chain and were picked up by hand.

There is a box of pastel conversation hearts, but each heart has a strange label: MIND, BODY, and SOUL. The “mind” candies simply bring up a mental environment of a zen garden. It’s a very sweet but horribly cliche zen garden: there are stone paths, a round wood bridge over a burbling brook, meditation bells go “bing” and wind rustles through cherry blossoms. The “body” candies make a woman strong. Really strong. Wonder Woman strong. Let’s lift a car strong. (Sadly, this is what we equate to ‘healthy,’ and unfortunately they taste like cough drops.) The “soul” candies don’t do anything at all… but the placebo effect is undoubtedly very beneficial.

The basket also contains a booklet to all nearby AA groups, and a list of personal ads taken from a local newspaper and match.com that have distilled all available singles into age categories suitable to the request. The latter is the size and weight of a phone book.

Also there is a very sweet card with a puppy on it that says “Happy Valentine’s Day! Love, Joey and his Cupid XOXOXO”]

[Blake T]

I hear you got a house-guest who's a pain in the ass.

[Joey A]

you want that job, there's something set up with the owner Monday.

[Neil D]

hey. sorry I couldn't help with your brother. let me know how he is, yeah?

[Sam A]

hey, Pomegranate.

[Ford C/Ellie K]

both of you safe?

I do wish there was a way to 'opt out' of this Valentine's madness.

[The day after this. Her handwriting is dirt-smudged and messy.]

[Locked to "Ace" anon]
I want to change my borrowed wish, yeah? Is it too late?

[Locked to "Roman" anon]
I know what I want now.

[Locked to Joey A]
Raincheck. Don't bitch at me. Just say it's ok.

[Locked to Neil D]
Neil.

Hi. Have you thought about your wish yet?

[Locked to Joey A, Shane A, Iris M, Russ C, Lin A, Daniel W, Cris M, Neil D, Casey D, Jack C, Saint R, Preston R]

Hey, so Lou is sick and has some fucked up magic thing going on that's been causing his insomnia or whatever. He's missing, and we need to get him back, but we don't know where he is. If anyone hears about weird shit in their door, or hears from him, or is willing to go help find him or whatever, holla? He needs to get medical attention. He can do some magic shit that puts ppl to sleep too, so don't let him touch you or whatever if he's acting weird.

If anyone finds him, return him to Neil.

[Locked to Sam A]

Can you talk?

[Group locked to Louis D, Shane A.]

Where is Sam?

[Ford C]

need to tell you something.

[Marina S]

hey. how's the medical shit going?

[Sam A]

so do I need to bring Harriet some fucking flowers?

[Louis D]

I ain't gonna ask if shit is good. I saw Micah's shit. you need anything?

[Daniel W]

run out of music yet?

eta: [Joey A]

Alexander. you don't remember me real well, I remember you.

Random question.

Should I spend the extra for Tupperware, or is generic just as good?

what day is it?

[During this.]

Joey.

Wait. Hold on.

Should I be more worried that I woke up back in Gotham, or more worried that I have an earring I didn't have yesterday?

Oh my God is it the gay ear? Which one is the gay ear? Quick. Someone. Gay ear. Go.

Neil? Louis? Thor? SAMMY?

Who: Joey & Shane
What: Shane comes to the rescue
Where: Gotham General Hospital
When: Recent
Warnings: Language.


Joey Alexander had all of FIVE MINUTES to make his hospital escape. And yeah, he'd skipped out of juvie joints in the middle of the night, and he's skipped out on plenty of school mid-day. He didn't feel bad about it either, school still didn't strike him as anything worthwhile. School wasn't the way somebody like him was going to survive. Joey had done the school thing when he was real, real small. He remembered it with the fuzziness that came with adulthood, like maybe it hadn't been real. Way back then when Shane would hold his little backpack strap to make sure that he didn't stray into traffic. Wasn't many years later, he got the idea from Shane not to go at all. Big bro always had the best way to survive, right? And maybe Joey used to idealize him, but that was then. That was before Shane split and left the Alexander mess behind him for a couple of years(and with this Back to the Future shit, how long was Shane gone really?)

Still, the point is that Joey was good at getting out of places that he didn't want to be. He was good at avoiding getting his ass beat because he could run faster and hop fences and scale fire escapes faster than all them nothing motherfuckers back on the block. He was pretty sure he could even break out of jail if he was ever there long enough to really map the place out and get some ideas. But a hospital? Shit, as long as a guy wasn't in the suicide ward or chained to the fucking bedside by cop cuffs because of a robbery gone wrong, splitting from a hospital was a breeze.

Step 1: Fold up clothes and belongings as tightly as possible, then tuck up against your chest from under the hospital gown. Keep the hospital socks on, but add your shoes in case running becomes a probability.

Step 2: Convince the overloaded, overworked nurse behind the desk that you're just stepping out for a smoke. Give her a good smile, and let your ass flap in the wind with that open-back hospital gone.

Step 3: Once outside, fucking run. Run and get changed in the bushes, which is a lot more difficult than it looks with one fucking hand. Abandon hospital gown in the bushes.

Joey stood out on the curb he'd specified, one arm all strapped up in a blue nylon brace and lots of bandages. The demerol was going to wear off after another couple of hours, but if Shane came through, Joey would be shitfaced by that point so maybe he wouldn't notice. Fuck it was cold, he huddled in on himself and kept an eye out for any security guard that might come looking for him. The good thing about not having a name on your paperwork, the good part of being a degenerate part of society was that nobody really gave a shit if you left. If they weren't getting paid, what the fuck did they care?

[After this, fuzzy timeline around the hospital visit.]

[Locked to Shane A]

Have you spoken to Joey?

[Locked to Joey A]

I hear you may need some medical assistance.

[Max M]

That flower arrangement is really something.

[Luke H]

Thanks, honey. Good Christmas?

[Public]

How soon do you take down the tree/how long do you put off the argument with the prepubescent?

[After this bullshit.]

[Locked to Joey A]
you okay?

[After she manages to get Joey to a Gotham hospital after this. She barely escaped the hospital without getting checked over herself as she's rather covered in his blood.]

[Louis D and (reluctantly) Shane A]

I don't know how much either of you are in contact with Joey, but he's injured his hand. I don't know if he's going to need additional help.


["Gray"]

I've returned. Whatever Abida tells you, I'm fine.


[Blake]
[After she managed to wrangle the name out of Joey on the way to the hospital.]

Joey told me that you're the one he's staying with. There was an accident and he cut himself rather badly, so there's [...] a lot of blood in your kitchen. I would have cleaned it up, but I had to get him some care and I couldn't get back in once we left. I'm sorry. If you need, I can come clean it or pay for it to be cleaned. Please let me know.


[Joey]

I know you don't have to, but it would be good to hear from you again. Even just to tell me how you're doing after the hospital. I'm sorry the visit went the way it did.

Who: Joey and Iris
What: First(-ish) meetings.
Where: First the Gotham door, then Blake's pad.
When: Recently? While all of this Sam stuff is going down, I think.
Warnings: None except for language and possibly drugs on Joey's part.


[It was early. Annoyingly early, less than handful of hours of sleep early. The fact that it was also a few minutes before noon might have brought judgment from the working throng of Gotham City, but Joey got most of his work done in the dark, so it wasn't uncommon for him to sleep well into the afternoon. The guy with the nice place, Blake, he hadn't yet taken Joey's presence personal... so Joey took the free luxury suite for what it was.

After that first party, there was little doubt that Blake should have thrown Joey out on his skinny ass, but the rich kid hadn't. Joey didn't know many rich kids, and in his old neighborhood anyone who had money was reason enough to hate on them, kick their ass, or bash the windows of their pricey cars with baseball bats. But Blake seemed different, or Joey was maturing, but the (newly)youngest Alexander took the situation for what is was. A big fucking favor. So he didn't steal anything from Blake's place, even if he drank some of the alcohol that he found in the freezer on occasion. He cleaned up after himself, mostly. Its not like he had a lot of things to occupy where he laid his head. There was a small pile of shoplifted clothes(tags still on) in one corner of the room where he slept. Joey did his best to clean up after himself, but still did kind of a shit job of it. When he ate, he ate out. When he stole, he took it from the streets. Joey looked at Blake Thorne's place as a kind of Switzerland, and lately he only came through in the early morning hours when it was time to crash after a long night of hustling drugs, stolen electronics, and counterfeit goods. If there was one good thing to be said about Joey Alexander, he landed on his feet real quick, time fuckin' travel or not.

So it was noon when he bundled up in a black winter parka and walked down half a block and around the corner to the nearest door that he'd found that led from Gotham to the Hotel. He rubbed his hands together, hissing warm breath on them before he reached for the handle and pulled the door open. The short-shorn blond of his head tilted, speculating like he might find somebody worth fighting just as possibly as he might find this lost sister named Iris. Gotham was fucked up, yeah? One only had to watch the fuckin' news to see that much.]

[After the reception of gifts]

[PUBLIC]
Somebody gave me a knife, condoms, and a fucking donut??

[LOCKED to Iris M]
Gotham. [Blake's address.] Hope you ready to get drunk girl we just cant break anything im already grounded from last time.


[LOCKED to Shane A]
What you think I can read at a 3rd grade lvl now?