Drifting Ends
Characters: Wren and Charlie Setting: block B/room 43
Wren was disoriented when she got out of her room. She was rubbing her eyes, and reaching up to pull her hair back over her shoulders to get it out of her face. Her nightgown was simple, a thin strapped pale blue cotton gown with tiny purple flowers on it. She shivered immediately when the breeze hit her, and she was instantly looking for Chester.
Charlie wasn't far behind her, and he made straight for his girlfriend. "Wow, talk about a wakeup call. Guess that's one way to get us to test the doors straight away," he grumbled.
Hugging her arms to herself, she smiled when she saw him, meeting him halfway. "I suppose so." she said. "That was...unpleasant." she remarked, standing close to him to hopefully draw some heat from him while she was at it. Glancing around, she saw other people coming out of their rooms too, the ear splitting sirens not much better even if they were coming from someone else's room.
Charlie caught the fact she was chilled and pulled her into his arms, rubbing his hands up and down her upper arms. "Maybe they decided that a daily blinking computer message just wasn't doing it for them any more," he said, contemptuously.
Wren was happy to step in even closer, and she put her arms around his middle while she was at it. "Maybe. I was thinking it was some kind of emergency, but I don't smell smoke, or anything else." She looked around as well as she could without pulling away.
"Could be that too," Charlie admitted, though his immediate reaction was that they were being messed around. He didn't trust whoever was running this place. He never trusted anyone in a position of authority.
Wren looked up at him and smiled. "There's got to be some reason, yes?" she posed. "Let's look around. Maybe we can figure it out, then go back to one room and crawl back under covers to be warm together." At least, that's what sounded like a good idea to her.
Charlie grinned. "Now, that sounds like a great plan," he agreed. Looking around, he spotted the screen. Indicating it, he glanced at Wren and added, "That wasn't there before."
Looking where he pointed, she nodded. "It was not." she agreed, then started in that direction, shivering again from the wind. It was not a nice day out. When they got close enough that she could start reading the screen, it didn't take her long to frown. "We're being forced to move?"
"Apparently so," Charlie said, scanning down the list of room numbers. "Hey, they gave me your old room. That's... bizarre." He hesitated and then glanced across at her. "You could just... not move," he said, sounding and looking far more calm and collected than he felt as he intimated they could move in together.
There was a little flutter in Wren's stomach at that. Her cheeks heated up and there was a soft little smile on her lips. She was nodding, though then stopped. "Wait--it says if I don't comply, I'll be removed." she said, turning back to him and looking distressed. "So, we'll be on different blocks? Perhaps we can request a change when whatever this is is finished?"
It was at that point that Charlie took in the rest of the message. "What the hell? What's the point in giving us so little time to move? What's the hurry? That's unnecessary and ridiculous. And the 'punishment' is even more so." he rolled his eyes. "Fine - let's get you moved. You can come back later and we can decide what we're going to do," he told her.
Wren wasn't sure how this was going to go, really. But she nodded, since apparently they didn't have a choice. She turned back toward her room. This was weird. Very, very weird. Maybe it had been the sirens, but it also felt ominous, and she was thinking she was being paranoid on that.
Charlie put his arm around her waist as they walked towards the elevator. “This will be, what? The third move for both of us since we got here? They really don't want this place to start feeling like any kind of home, do they?"
"Second, for me." Wren said. "The first was my idea. I hadn't wanted to be next door to Ryan. Though he's gone now. But I would rather be close to you. Hopefully, we'll be able to request that and it'll be fine." She said. "Though you're absolutely correct. This sort of thing really shatters both the illusion of home and the idea that we're in any kind of community. This is very much a play toy feeling."
"Exactly the opposite of what they're apparently meant to be trying to create. None of this makes any sense," Charlie almost growled. It was all bullshit as far as he was concerned. He figured that this was nothing more than some kind of social experiment to see how they would react to things. They didn't really care about the outcome.
Internally, Wren winced a little. It was the tone in his voice. She was familiar with it by now, but it was still sometimes jarring for her. "We'll work it out." she told him, not sure how they were going to do that, or how she would go about trying to make him feel better, but she knew she'd be putting in a lot of effort to do so. They got to her room, and she saw there was a scanner there.
"Security upgrade as well," Charlie commented. He rolled his eyes and scanned the tag on his bracelet. The door clicked open. He pushed the door open properly and stood to one side so she could enter first, glancing back at the countdown as she did so. "I would suggest that you just grab what you need immediately. If they're serious about the whole 'we'll remove you' thing, then you don't have that long." he paused. "I don't want to risk it," he admitted. He'd lost her for so long. He wasn't willing to risk losing her now.
"I'm happy it'll be you in here. I trust you with things. You can use whatever you would like, of course, if there's anything you can use in the meantime. You'll...probably find a lot of stuff that'll bring up memories." she admitted. That, while she went to grab a few things, in the end taking a pillow case and filling that with some clothes, her cards, her favorite necklace he'd given her back in the day, and then she was looking at the 8-ball. Her attention ticked back to him. "Is it silly I really want that?" she asked, stepping up close again. She felt like time was slipping away fast, she knew she would need to go quickly, but she wanted one last little moment here with him, even if logically, she knew it wouldn't be anything so dramatic as that.
"I don't think it's silly at all," Charlie told her, taking it down and handing it to her. They both knew that he didn't really believe in all of the tarot and looking to the future things that she did. The most he could get to was not not-believing it. The magic eight ball was part of that. A light hearted way of expressing his opinion that everything was random, but that that was okay.
She took it and smiled, appreciating that he wasn't calling her silly. She still treasured that magic 8-ball. She likely always would. She looked around the room again, though it was brief. Her attention mainly was on Charlie. "At least you'll have nice artwork." she told him, referencing the painting Kyle had given her. "Even if you'll have to put up with a room full of strange things."
"You don't want to take it with you?" Charlie asked, a little surprised. Then again, it was quite big and moving it may take more time than they had. God, but he hated that awareness of time right now.
"I don't think I have time, and I wouldn't want to rush and wind up wrecking it." Wren said. Then she made a little face. "I already sort of run wildly through the tunnel, I don't want to do that on a deadline with something rippable." she admitted. She nibbled at her lip a moment, also uncomfortably aware of the time. She set the pillowcase down by the door, then went back to him. And, in a move that wasn't generally like her, she opted to not say anything more, instead she reached up, put her arms around his neck and pulled him closer to kiss him.
Charlie immediately went with that, holding her close to him in the way he caught she needed right now. He drew the kiss out, then pulled back a little. "I'll bring it over later, with the rest of your stuff," he promised. He knew she hated the tunnel. And now they were going to have to start using it. He'd be going to her whenever he could, that was for sure.
Nodding, she wished there was more time. But she probably needed to go. She was burning time that wasn't that ample to begin with. For her, however, she was frustrated. If there was ever a time where she didn't want to be responsible, and do what was expected of her, it was now. Hell, deep down she wanted him to not be responsible either. "I'll speak to you soon." she said, reluctantly starting for the door.
Charlie, for once in his life, looked uncertain as she walked away with that comment. He wanted to go with her, but the way she put that, it seemed like that wouldn't be welcome. He considered simply ignoring that and heading with her to the elevator anyway, but they had already had conversations about how he shouldn't ignore her wishes. So, against his instincts, he stayed put. "Of course," he called after her. "I'll - soon," he promised.
Picking up the pillowcase, she looked back over her shoulder at him, and gave him a soft smile. "I think this is the first time I have regretted being someone who doesn't buck the system." she told him. She hesitated there at the door for another long second, then forced herself to turn to walk out.