video:

[charring]

[There's one very normal looking Charlie looking into the device with a small smile on her face. It's an entirely relieved look, as minimal as the expression is. On occasion, her hand will reach up to rub at her mouth as if she's checking that those teeth really are gone. Which she is. She has a quick message for a few people but isn't bothering with filters. Mostly because she doesn't give a damn. It's not like any of this is super secret personal.]

Doctor Banner, thanks again for helping me out with my ever so delightful diet change. Hopefully, I won't need it again.

Tony, do you want the clothes you loaned me back? They're clean.

How's everyone else doing? I was...concerned. [And yes, that was just as hard to admit as it sounded. She's just not good with caring about people.

The video gets shut off. She's done.

She'll be outside, wandering the town for anyone that wants to run into her.]

Comments

[bonesandskin]

[ The quality of Oliver's transmissions is back to being just as normal as he is, which is to say that it's flickering and full of static but he at least has a tired smile to offer. ]

I, for one, have returned to properly haunting your attic. [ Because he knows and respects that Charlie likes to keep a protective eye on her housemates. After all, that's something they have in common. ]

[charring]

Are you upstairs now?

[Charlie wants to make communication easier for him. She knows the devices can be frustrating with how they react to him.]

[bonesandskin]

I am. [ He is more comfortable with communication now than he was before, though it is still disturbing to him to be so connected to machines. At least he no longer is one himself.] A bit of quiet after recent events seemed prudent.

[charring]

Mind if I come up? [There's something to this whole face-to-face communication thing that Charlie's starting to like for many reasons, one of which is she likes seeing for herself that her friends are okay.]

[bonesandskin]

[ A nod and his smile turns slightly grateful. ] Be my guest.

[ While he would come down to meet her himself, he'd stuck his head down a bit earlier and had found himself too soon too aware of the ticking clock in the house. It was something he would have to get used to again, in time. ]

[charring]

[The grateful smile is met with one of her own and she shuts her device off. She'll be knocking a moment later, waiting patiently to be let in.]

[bonesandskin]

[ He doesn't take very long to open the door. His exhaustion is mostly mental, though the very thought of having not slept the entire time he was changed leaves him aching. ] Welcome to my sanctuary. I'm glad to see we're all looking a bit more like ourselves today.

[ The room at large is dimly lit, mostly by the window, the contents left behind by the house's previous tenants shifted about and items collected from about town to make something of a home. Though it's all still rather wide open to allow for his habitual pacing. ]

[charring]

[Charlie steps in once she's sure it's okay to, taking a quick look around before looking at Oliver.]

There's a spare lamp in my room if you need it.

[In case it's too dim for him.]

You missed the couple days where everyone was hallucinating. It was interesting. I have yet to decide which...situation was more fun. That or the most recent.

[bonesandskin]

Thank you. I'll keep that in mind.

[ With the door closed behind his visitor, Oliver makes his way over to a couple of chairs, boxes stacked between them to make a table. ]

I can't say I'd have preferred hallucinations, myself. I somehow doubt they would have been something so easily escaped. Had I found myself unable to cope with our recent transformations, I'd have simply had to let my-- ah-- heart go out. [ A disturbing thought but there it is. Never mind his uncertainty as to whether or not that would have counted as dying. ]

[charring]

Hallucinations can be explained, though. What happened these past couple days?

[Charlie shakes her head. She doesn't like how easily they can be tampered with here. It's horrifying and will most certainly keep her up for a few nights at least.]

This isn't something I'm used to at all. None of it makes sense.

[But she looks at Oliver with a soft smile on her face.] I'm glad you didn't let yourself go out. It would have probably been upsetting without you around.

[bonesandskin]

Nightmares rarely make sense and this place seems to be a living one.

[ Though he is quite used to powers tampering with people as they please, his own recent experience has left him more out of sorts than most things he can remember.

He shakes his head, clearing his mind, and smiles, faintly. ] You got on well enough without me here before. I doubt anything would have changed much without me again. Though I do appreciate the sentiment.

[charring]

Yes. But, I like your company. I can't really say that about people back home.

[And since Charlie wants desperately to change the subject.] Is it okay to ask what it's like for you where you're from?

[bonesandskin]

Ah well. Thank you. I'm flattered.

[ His smile is a bit lopsided, sad, when he thinks about home. ] To be entirely honest with you, Whitechapel-- my Whitechapel was something far worse than this. Here, at least, we have something beyond smoke and iron. There are days when the Powers That Be leave us primarily to our own devices. There it was always evident that someone was watching, waiting for the chance to crush any dissent, and children grew up under furnaces and ash clouds. [ He laughs, quietly, and waves a hand to indicate the attic at large. ] Hence holing myself up here, I suppose. I'm still not entirely comfortable with nature, as it were.

video

[servingmichael]

I'm just fine, thank you.

Re: video

[charring]

Good. Good to see that.

[She means it.]

Looks like most of us survived.

[That dead body that was found, though. That's set Charlie on edge.]

video

[servingmichael]

So it seems yes. Are you well?

[ He wasn't concerned about the dead - there was nothing he could do about it. ]

Re: video

[charring]

Stressed. I lacked...important parts of myself that I've never been without. Ever. It was strange.

[Her fire. It was gone.]

I'm sure you've probably heard this a million times by others, but I don't like how easily we're tampered with, here.

video

[servingmichael]

I understand that feeling. And agree completely.

[ His Grace was affected, which wasn't something he would soon forgive. ]

[manofiron]

It's fine. You can keep them or toss them, I don't need them back.

How've you been, anyway? Survive the monster apocalypse okay?

[charring]

Okay.

[A shrug from Charlie. She's about to lie to you, Tony.]

Been alright.

[Nah, this whole mess just triggered more insomnia and it shows just a tiny bit.]

You seem to have survived, too.

[manofiron]

[ That's okay. The population of Liarsville is two. ]

Was there any doubt? Please. Come on. It wasn't so bad, was it?

[ Yes. Yes, it was. ]

[charring]

I guess not.

[Translation: It was. It was terrible.]

Guess it's a good thing I'm a night owl, otherwise not going out during the day would have gotten quite old.

[Yep. Just another way of saying she hated it. Eventually, she'll get to the point where she can crack jokes at herself.]

You stopped sparkling. That's also a bonus.

[manofiron]

Is it? Is that really a good thing?

[ That's about the only part of the whole thing - and the nifty super strength and speed - that he enjoyed. ]

Did you go out today? Soak up all that back sun you missed out on?

[charring]

I might miss a couple things. [She could have used being that fast before here.]

Not yet. I need books for this.

[manofiron]

Did you check out the library yet? The selection isn't great, least not for what I wanted, but I think you can find a fair number of novels there. If fiction's your thing, anyway.

[charring]

I have. I went with Steve a while back. I might have to pick up that copy of Alice in Wonderland I left behind.

[She's read The Hobbit a dozen times already since.]

[manofiron]

Haven't had enough of the whole spirited away thing yet, huh? It's okay. I get it. I'd like to get spirited away back home any day now.

[charring]

Alice was lucky. She knew what was going on when it happened.

We just sort of woke up here.

[manofiron]

Maybe all it'd take to leave is to find the white rabbit that brought us here.

[charring]

If you find him, let me know.

[manofiron]

Roger that. Same goes for you, too.

[charring]

You and my room-mates will be the first. Mostly because I think I like you guys the best so far.

[manofiron]

I start falling off that favorite's list, let me know what to do to get back on it, okay?

[charring]

I will. I promise.

And thanks again for the clothes.

[manofiron]

You're welcome. Any time.

[bostonhowler]

... We should probably talk, later? I mean, to thank you for the help, and about... what I found.

[charring]

Yeah. I'll help you with dinner and we can talk. I feel like an asshole, by the way. About how I handled things at first.

[bostonhowler]

It's okay. I know... we all have our different ways of dealing. It'll be okay.

And I want to explain how I knew about... helping you.

[charring]

Okay. I'm in my room.

[bostonhowler]

[Brigid takes that as an invitation and taps at Charlie's door.]

It's me.

[She sticks her head around and slides in, closing the door.]

All back to normal?

[charring]

Yeah. [Try as she might, she just doesn't sound happy about that, Brigid. In fact, she sounds...uncertain. As if she doesn't want to be back to normal. She's fine, though. Really.]

You look like you again. Always a bonus.

[bostonhowler]

[Brigid can hear it, though she doesn't understand it.]

I don't know how humans do it. Everything was so flat and dead. I was constantly in a panic that I wasn't hearing something important.

[She settles on the edge of Charlie's bed.]

I never realized how much I depended on my senses until they were gone.

[charring]

That's usually how it goes. You don't know what you had until it's gone.

[Her parents. The Manders. Normalcy. What little she had of that, anyway.

Charlie curls her legs, knees under her chin as she watches Brigid.]

You have it back now, though. Bet that's a huge relief.

[bostonhowler]

I understand the humans in the pack better now. No wonder they never came and ran with us. They'd get lost trying to find their way around the woods!

[She curls up and rests her cheek on her knee.]