Howard Bassem (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
iselldrugstothecommunity) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
thecapitol2014-03-17 04:16 pm
iselldrugstothecommunity) wrote in thecapitol2014-03-17 04:16 pm
Entry tags:
Where Has My Head Gone? [Closed]
WHO| Howard, Lyle, Wyatt and Maximus
WHAT| Lyle sneaks up on the wrong kid, Wyatt and Maximus come to see what all the fuss is about.
WHEN| Middle of the night, sometimes after the races.
WHERE| District Ten.
WARNINGS| Howard being a creep and freaking out.
It's not all that uncommon for Howard to sneak up to the District Ten suite in the middle of the night. If he's not looking for Wyatt, he's invariably checking on Orc, and given that he and Orc haven't been able to exactly exchange words ever since their emotional encounter in the Arena, Howard's felt like the only way he can keep an eye on his friend is to watch him sleep. Some part of him realizes that this is probably a bit creepy, but it's justified, he thinks - Orc tends to be drunk and needs someone to make sure he's sleeping on his stomach.
So at a little past two a.m., the elevator makes a muted ding noise and a small, skinny shadow in baggy clothes slips through the District Ten living room. He picks his way past science experiments Carlos has set up and the empty bottles Orc's left out today, the ones the Avoxes haven't cleaned up. An Avox clearing dishes from the kitchen stares at him, then shrugs - they've seen him around often enough.
Howard's almost perfectly silent, having spent far too much time in the training center focusing not on fighting but on learning methods of escape and dexterity. He knows full well there isn't a fight he could win in the Arena, not physically and not with help, and his usual best options are always to put as much distance between himself and the threat as possible. The options that he hopes to avail himself to more often are just to avoid danger before that becomes his only choice, however.
He stops at Orc's door and is surprised to find that Orc's actually locked it behind him today. The door itself doesn't sit right on the hinges, having been ripped away from them and replaced a few too many times, and the carpet around the room is kicked up and worried by Orc's rough, heavy feet. Orc's room smells faintly of vomit from here, but the heavy snoring inside tells Howard that at the very least his inebriated friend is alive and well.
Never able to take a hint, Howard curls his bony fingers around his lockpicks and starts to work away at Orc's door, glancing over his shoulder every few minutes to ensure only the Avox is with him.
WHAT| Lyle sneaks up on the wrong kid, Wyatt and Maximus come to see what all the fuss is about.
WHEN| Middle of the night, sometimes after the races.
WHERE| District Ten.
WARNINGS| Howard being a creep and freaking out.
It's not all that uncommon for Howard to sneak up to the District Ten suite in the middle of the night. If he's not looking for Wyatt, he's invariably checking on Orc, and given that he and Orc haven't been able to exactly exchange words ever since their emotional encounter in the Arena, Howard's felt like the only way he can keep an eye on his friend is to watch him sleep. Some part of him realizes that this is probably a bit creepy, but it's justified, he thinks - Orc tends to be drunk and needs someone to make sure he's sleeping on his stomach.
So at a little past two a.m., the elevator makes a muted ding noise and a small, skinny shadow in baggy clothes slips through the District Ten living room. He picks his way past science experiments Carlos has set up and the empty bottles Orc's left out today, the ones the Avoxes haven't cleaned up. An Avox clearing dishes from the kitchen stares at him, then shrugs - they've seen him around often enough.
Howard's almost perfectly silent, having spent far too much time in the training center focusing not on fighting but on learning methods of escape and dexterity. He knows full well there isn't a fight he could win in the Arena, not physically and not with help, and his usual best options are always to put as much distance between himself and the threat as possible. The options that he hopes to avail himself to more often are just to avoid danger before that becomes his only choice, however.
He stops at Orc's door and is surprised to find that Orc's actually locked it behind him today. The door itself doesn't sit right on the hinges, having been ripped away from them and replaced a few too many times, and the carpet around the room is kicked up and worried by Orc's rough, heavy feet. Orc's room smells faintly of vomit from here, but the heavy snoring inside tells Howard that at the very least his inebriated friend is alive and well.
Never able to take a hint, Howard curls his bony fingers around his lockpicks and starts to work away at Orc's door, glancing over his shoulder every few minutes to ensure only the Avox is with him.
no subject
Or maybe he'd just had another nightmare about being pushed through that sprocking skylight. But whatever, no big deal.
Still, he's greeted with the unusual sight of someone doing something interesting to that Orc guy's door, and it was rare that Lyle passes up the opportunity to investigate things that pique his curiosity. Plus this kid obviously wasn't shabby at sneaking; he might have some useful knowledge about sneaky things going on here in the Capitol.
Better make sure to impress him, then.
During one of the short periods where the kid focused in on the lock, Lyle slipped out of his room with the silence of a spider and crouched down out of range of any flying elbows that might come his way.
"G'morning."
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"Wyatt!" he yells, dredging up the name of the person who's always been there to protect him. It comes faster than a 'who's there', because Howard's mind has already decided that the identity of the attacker is irrelevant. All that matters is that he's threatened. He'd cry out again, but his voice is choked as he begins to hyperventilate, sinking back against the wall his his knife held in both hands.
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Okay, sneaky kid did not appreciate fellow sneaky people. Lyle filed this away for future reference even as he leaped away from the knife the kid was waving around, holding his hands up defensively. "Unlax, kid!"
Aww sprock, that looked like a panic attack. There was a sentient on this floor named Wyatt, wasn't there? Hopefully same one as the kid was shouting for, hopefully he could help.
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For a heartbeat, even as he struggled to free himself from the bedclothes he couldn't have said that it wasn't just lingering touch of some nightmare, but then another voice called out - one he didn't know.
Before he was even fully awake he was yanking the door open. His broad-shouldered frame filling the doorway, all but nude; reaching for the closest figure, a big hand closing one of the boy's collars, even as he boomed.
"What in the sam-hell's goin' on out here!"
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"Howard?" He called gruffly as he joined Wyatt.
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He barely notes Maximus' entrance, dramatic as it is so nearly nude, but he does see the other figure yelling at him, the source of the fright. All that really registers, more than the defensive action, is that this person's a stranger and that they're bigger than him, which isn't saying much.
He gestures with the knife at Lyle, clutching it so hard his knuckles are starkly pale even in the dark.
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"He doesn't like the Sneaking Game," he explained quickly, trying to keep the worry out of his voice. He was a supervillain as far as anyone needed to be concerned after all, he didn't care about emotional torment in others. "I hope one of you's Wyatt, because I think he's in the mood to stab anyone who isn't."
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"I'm Wyatt," he rumbled, voice lower and rougher for his rude awakening. "But that ain't the question here. What I want to know is what yer doin' sneakin' round on people in the first place? You got some sort of death wish, boy?"
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He hadn't seen the boy as shaken as this since Aunamee.
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He glanced down briefly at Maximus' hand on his shoulder. "And because I'm not actually looking for a fight, I'm going to ask you politely to take your hands off me and go help the kid."
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"I need to sit down," he says rather suddenly, and sits without asking or even waiting for Wyatt to let him go. He leans again the wall, eyes locked on Lyle, breathing heavy.
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"Ya realize where ya are, don't'cha?" he snorted at Lyle. "This whole buildin's full'a folks who don't kindly to be snuck up on."
It was a good way to end up dead, and certainly a fair share had learned that the hard way.
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Maybe.
"You should take him to the room," Maximus murmured to Wyatt. "It's quieter. Get him out of the hall. I can escort this one back to his quarters."
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He waggled his fingers at Howard. Impressive resilience. He'd have find some way to do something nice for the kid without coming off as some kind of softy not-really-a-villain.
"My quarters are right there," he answered the man still holding him, rolling his eyes. "How long are you planning on camping outside my door to make sure I stay in? Because you're neither of the people who raised me and anyway, 'go to your room and think about what you've done' lacks the punch it used to have."
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He lets Wyatt help him up - he can't seem to get feeling back in his legs. He's outside his head, and it's like trying to drive a remote-control car. He has to think, very clearly, the things that should come automatically. Straighten your legs now. Lean on Wyatt. It's okay. It's okay.
"I was just checking on Orc," he mumbles.
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But despite how sternly it was said, he still nodded at Max - let him go - before he turned to Howard.
"Come on, son, I'll walk ya down, unless there's someplace else ya'd like to go. Ya can stay with Max an' me if ya want."
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"I can return to my quarters," He offered Wyatt roughly. He wasn't entirely sure that Howard would find his presence particularly comforting.
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"And goodness knows 'fairness' is the height of my concern," he answered dryly. Busy busy supervillain, places to go, people to not be seen by. He really wanted to apologize to Howard, but "I'm sorry" wasn't much of an option in his current persona. "I'll make noise next time I see you, kid."
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He gives Lyle one last - and one brutal - glare before slipping into Wyatt's room, still shaking even though his breath has returned to normal.
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A request, before he turned to follow Howard back into his room.
As much as the two of them - Max and Howard - meant to him, it seemed as good a time as any for them to get used to rubbing along together.
They were both his family, so far as he was concerned, and family stuck together.
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He followed silently, closing the door behind the three of them with a gentle click before walking across the room to fetch his tunic and slide it over his head.
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