quietplace | un: kyouken

[ Stella made a beeline for the second apple slice, wolfing this one down quicker than the first. She didn't seem to recognize the two of them as potential dangers, either, focusing her left eye on Thomas's fingers.

Majima, meanwhile, slowly bent down to get closer to the hen's level and hopefully avoid spooking her. Stella accepted this movement, but stood in place. Then she began advancing again. Slowly, slowly, still out of reach... ]

[ thomas only glances downward briefly as majima crouches, keeping his own movements to a minimum to keep from accidentally spooking the bird. he takes the remaining third of the first apple slice, and like the first two pieces, he slings it out toward stella, a little closer than the two before it.

thomas is somewhat unsure of what majima's plan is, but he can wager a guess, and there's on a small part of him that thinks this could be a repeat of a while ago, when all of those strange birds showed up on everyone's doorstep. thomas had basically thrown himself on top if the one in front of his house to immobilize it.

breaking up another slice, thomas tosses two more pieces, and waits. ]

[ Stella came up to the first slice, pecked at it, then paused. If they'd been moving towards her, no doubt she would have instinctively turned tail. But she was used to being cared for, and this was a rare treat. She moved forward again...

Majima advanced at once, shooting out both hands around Stella's middle and pinning her wings to her round body even as she tried to turn. If he'd hesitated at all, likely the animal would have slipped out of his grip or batted his hands aside with her wingbeats.

Instead, it went near-perfectly. Stella's struggles tapered off quickly once she realized the jig was up. She opened her beak, but no sound came out; her legs dangled ineffectually under her body. ]

How d'ya like that? One fowl swoop.

[ perhaps to both of their benefit, thomas is far more interested in the capture of this chicken than he is in paying attention to his device, so he misses the punny message for now, and majima misses out on the deadest eyes a boy who's half dead inside can muster (but it's fine, because he'll see it sooner or later, at which point, he'll be able to unleash them).

instead, thomas just acknowledges majima's swiftness with a slightly raised brow and a half attempt at a smile. it's weird that stella is so quiet when he expects the opposite, but not a whole lot around reims isn't at least somewhat weird.

with one apple slice left, thomas pops the whole thing in his mouth and chews slowly, wiping his hand dry on his leg before giving majima a questioning thumbs up. mission accomplished? ]

[ Stella ducked her head under Majima's arm, maybe in an attempt to calm herself down; it made it easier for him to shift his grip to free one hand and return the gesture briefly.

He motioned with a tilt of his head back to the house, where he'd probably have to put Stella up in the garage for now. Then he paused, and held the chicken out slightly towards Thomas.

You want to pet the chicken buddy

Do you ]

[ thomas starts to follow, only because he doesn't really have anything else to do, and also because majima is... well, he's not that bad to be around. definitely climbing up thomas's short list of Okay People. but also, if majima manages to lose the chicken again, he may as well be around to help lure him back in.

he stops when majima does, though, and when the chicken is presented to him, he just furrows his brow, first at the bird, and then at majima. unfortunately, he's not a mind reader, nor is it every day that someone presents something for him to pet, so it's only natural that he misunderstands the point of the gesture.

thomas reaches out with both hands, his expression slightly confused, but he doesn't touch stella yet. he just assumes majima doesn't want to carry her, despite having made the trip out to catch her when thomas originally volunteered to catch her himself.

whatever, man. he'll carry your weird chicken. hand her over. ]

[ What, he wanted to carry the chicken? Well, that was... unexpected, but far be it from Majima to dash Thomas's hopes and dreams. Maybe he was an animal lover.

He carefully handed Stella over, letting her taloned feet dangle as he remanded her to Thomas's custody. For what it was worth, the chicken seemed fairly docile, and she'd bury her head under Thomas's arm once she was secure.

With his hands free, Majima would gesture for Thomas to follow him. ]

[ thomas isn't an animal lover, per se. his personal experience with animals is actually fairly minimal outside of the smaller ones wckd used to keep in the labs for testing purposes, but even so, he hardly remembers them anyway. if anything, he's more of an animal... acceptor (in the most literal sense in this case), in that his feelings for animals are mostly... neutral.

well, neutral-leaning-mildly-affectionate once stella tucks her head under thomas's arm, though he doesn't react much beyond a quiet, amused huff of a laugh through his nose. he's careful not to hold her too tightly (but really, how would she tell him if he was?), and follows after majima. ]

[ The bar wasn't too far, and Majima beckoned Thomas (and guest) through the door so he could close it after them and safely get Stella inside. ]

Thanks for the help. Just put her down wherever; I'll get her up to the garage later.

...It's soundproofed in here, by the way.

[ Majima stepped behind the bar, opened a cabinet that turned out to contain snacks -- chips, packaged cookies, candy bars. Frankly, he didn't know half of what he had, since a good deal of them were American in origin. ]

You like any of these? Figure I oughta pay ya for your chicken-wrangling services.

[ thomas hasn't visited majima's bar before now, so it's probably not all that surprising that he takes a few long seconds to look around once he's inside, stella still tucked safely under his arm. he's not necessarily awed, but, perhaps, mildly impressed. he makes a mental note of the pool table and the dart board (things newt and minho might want to check out sometime), and then turns his attention to majima when he speaks.

thomas pretty much assumes that if majima — someone who knows the native sign language well enough to use it rather fluently and semi-frequently — is speaking, it's either because the risk of being heard is incredibly low, or near impossible, but the reassurance is still appreciated nonetheless. thomas puts stella down on the ground a little out of the way, giving her head a ginger little pat with two of his fingers without really thinking about it, and then straightens up. he's about to ask majima something about the bar, but when he turns around, he's met with... an open cabinet, stocked with all kinds of snack foods. ]

Uh... [ honestly, thomas doesn't need any sort of payment. he doesn't want to be repaid, and he's about to decline the offer when he's struck with a thought: he might not want anything, but newt might enjoy something sweet. minho, too, maybe.

so thomas just shrugs, sliding his hands into the pockets of his jumpsuit. casual. ] Sure. I mean, I'll take, uh, one of those candy bars, I guess. Thanks.

[ well. if he wasn't going to pick one...

Majima grabbed one of the candy bars at random and tossed it to Thomas. You were a good catch, right buddy.

American chocolate was way too sweet for him, though he had enjoyed the matcha Kit Kats that Tetora had given him earlier. But Eddie and the others seemed to enjoy this stuff, and for whatever reason, one of the others had apparently developed an undying love for something called Doritos.

(He'd tried them. They were terrible.) ]

You handled animals before?

[ He was only asking because Thomas's baiting game seemed so on point. ]

[ of course he's a good catch. thomas's hand snaps up to grab the candy bar out of the air with little effort, the wrapper crinkling quietly in his grip, but he doesn't slide it into his pocket. instead, he takes a couple steps up to the bar, and sets it on the bar top instead for now. putting it in his pocket would only lead to melted, misshapen chocolate, and while he has no plans to eat it, newt might enjoy it more, solidified an in its proper form.

thomas doesn't sit, but he does lean his forearms against the counter. he's quiet, thinking for a moment. has he handled animals before? well, grievers probably don't count as actual animals, and his experience with them, well — it's a different kind of 'handling'. he thinks a little harder, vaguely remembers a white lab and a brown rat, but it's not enough to make anything of the memory.

he shakes his head. ]

No, not really. Grievers probably don't count. [ and that's all he has to say on that.

thomas takes another look around the bar, cranes his head back to look up at the ceilings, too. ] You put all this together?

Not quite. The locals fixed up the counter, or so I been led to believe. And they bring a shitton of booze out here every month. All the glasses and equipment and the rest of it 'cept the pool table, though, I had to either scavenge or trade for it.

People around here'll bring ya all kindsa crazy stuff if they're thirsty. Which I figure they are all the time.

Can't blame 'em.

[ He crossed his arms over his chest as Stella toddled about, wandering over to the sofa. ]

You and Newt, ya doin' all right?

[ congratulations, thomas. you and newt were a unit in majima's reckoning, now and forever. ]

[ the last boozy beverage thomas had made him hallucinate all of his closest friends as cranks, so the appeal of the drink isn't really all that strong for him, regardless of how much he could do with a little unwinding. then again, it probably wasn't even booze at all, but whatever it was was enough to turn him off of the idea of kicking back with a tall glass of no thanks.

still, the bar itself isn't bad, even for someone with no interest in drinking. minho would probably like the pool table, and he could see newt getting a little competitive with darts. god only know that the two of them deserve to relax a little, and this seems like a half way decent place for it.

thomas looks back at majima, his attention drawn back in by the mention of his friend's name. he pauses, a little caught off guard by the question. people don't usually ask if they're okay. adults (the right arm and jorge excluded) don't usually ask if they're okay, not without some kind of ulterior motive.

but majima seems alright. as the days go by, thomas feels less and less uncertain about him, but he hasn't completely dismissed the idea just yet that he could be wckd, that all of this is wckd and everyone's just playing a part. it's too dangerous to let go of that paranoia. there are too many unanswered questions about this place for him to let it go.

thomas glances down for a moment, absently pushing the candy bar on the bar top around in a half circle with his fingers. he shrugs, then lightly taps his fingertips twice on the counter, shifting his weight between where his arms lean against the bar. ]

Yeah. Yeah, we're good. [ he lifts his hand, scratches lightly at the edge of his jaw. ] We've been, uh. We've been soundproofing my room. Started yesterday.

[ the first room out of plans to do the whole house, but newt had insisted they start with thomas's room first and left no room for argument. really, though, that's all that's new. ]

[ Majima wasn't sure how it was earthly possible to come across sketchier than Thomas had delivering that last statement, like there was something somehow scurrilous about an activity that everyone here did out of survivalist necessity.

Okay. Right. Newt and Thomas were both soundproofing apparently only Thomas's room. Sure. ]

Sounds like a good idea.

[ Majima's hand went to the breast pocket of his suit coat -- only he remembered before he took out the carton that he probably shouldn't be smoking around teenagers. Or chickens.

Old habits died hard, though. He dropped his hand instead. ]

Hey, you mind if I ask somethin'? 'bout those cranks from your world.

[ alright, so thomas isn't the greatest at small talk. it's not as if there's ever really been any time in between trying to escape a maze full of monsters and trying to survive out in the scorch, to sit around and shoot the breeze with friends. it's also probably the first time in a long time that he hasn't had a whole lot of shit going on. only having a soundproofing project to talk about is actually some kind of miracle.

this is why he doesn't talk to adults.

thomas pauses, his curiosity piqued. what could majima want to know about the cranks that thomas hasn't already told him? he straightens up a little and nods. ]

... Sure. Go ahead.

You said those WCKD guys were lookin' for a cure. For the ones who'd already turned into cranks? Or more like a vaccine for folks who ain't that far along yet?

[ After seeing the Sound Eaters, it was hard to imagine anyone ever coming back from that transformation -- if they were, in fact, former humans as the prevailing theory seemed to hold.

Keeping that in mind, Majima had been assuming that the kindest way to deal with them was to find a way to kill them. He'd certainly rather die than ever end up like one of them.

But as Kara had said, perhaps the possibility was there. He couldn't see much hope for it... but maybe. ]

[ thomas wets his lips. he thinks of winston for a moment, of alby and ben and brenda, the latter of the four being the only one still alive. still herself. for now, anyway. ]

... Both. They're trying to find a way to kill the virus. Reverse the damage.

[ and then, for some reason, he thinks of teresa. about what she'd said to him on the cliff, how she thought betraying them all would be worth it because she'd lost someone to the virus, as if they all hadn't lost someone in some way or another. as if they hadn't handed winston a gun and left him to find peace while peace was still a thing to be found. as if she really believed wckd was still good, after everything they'd seen, everything they knew.

he clenches his jaw and pushes the thought of her away, coming back to the question at hand. ]

There's a serum. It's not a cure. It doesn't kill the virus, but it does help slow it down and keep it dormant for a while. It's just... not an easy thing to make.

[ and it also requires the blood of someone who's immune to the virus, and even then, the amount of blood it takes for how little serum can be made from it is... well, not ideal. ]

[ Hmm. Not exactly an ideal situation, there, but at least there was some sort of available countermeasure in Thomas's world.

Better than anything they currently had should they start turning into Sound Eaters. ]

Little while back, I got into conversation with a lady -- said it was only a matter of time before we figure things out.

That even if our situation is like what you're describin', where people start turning into those things, we might be able to lock 'em up in prison till someone could help 'em.

Didn't seem likely to me at the time. But since your world's got more in common with this one, thought I'd ask your perspective.

[ thomas is quiet for a few long moments, his gaze dropping slightly and shifting back and forth as he thinks. on the one hand, locking up the infected would keep both the community and the infected safe. on the other hand, thomas thinks of winston. they all knew what turning into a crank would do to a person, and winston had chosen death over letting the virus claim him. he'd chosen freedom over a prison.

if he's honest, thomas doesn't really like the sound of locking people up. brenda and jorge had chained up a bunch of cranks outside of their hideout, used them as guard dogs, and at the time, thomas hadn't really thought much of it. there really wasn't time to think about it at all, but he has time now, and the thought of chaining winston up like that just... he wouldn't be able to do it.

thomas looks up, studies majima for a moment. ]

What if nobody can help them? Wicked's been trying for years and all they've got to show for it is a bunch of dead kids in a bunch of different mazes. We— [ thomas cuts himself off for a second, because he can feel himself getting worked up, and he'd rather not do so in front of majima. he breathes out, tries again. ] We don't even know if that's what's actually happening here.

[ even if it does seem really likely. even if there's a lot of evidence to back up the theory. ]

Edited 2018-04-16 03:07 (UTC)

No. We don't.

All we got's a bunch of pieces. And not enough jail cells to hold us even if that's what's gonna go down.

[ Which was part of what made this situation so maddening. But then, that had been Majima's life lately: dealing with crises as they came, without even the benefit of the full picture.

Back home, he'd concentrated on what he knew, getting from day to day with one faction or the other breathing down his neck and not much time to think about other options. Here, there were just as few answers, but more time. Jury was still out on which was better. ]

Never thought I'd say this, but shit was a lot simpler back home.

[ thomas almost laughs, but he just doesn't have it in him to find humor or irony in any of this right now. he hates that they don't have answers, hates that he hasn't figured anything out yet, that everything is just a bunch of maybes and what ifs.

so instead of laughing, he just huffs a quiet breath through his nose, lifting one hand to drag his palm down over his mouth, his eyes slightly downcast as he shifts his weight from one foot to the other. ]

Can't really say the same.

[ honestly, it just feels like a different kind of glade, like a maze of a different design with different monsters and different lies. sometimes, when things start to feel too familiar, too suspicious, he finds himself looking around for cameras. the gladers had ever found the ones in the glade in all the months and years that they'd been there. thomas has yet to find one here, either, though it's hard to say if that's a relief.

thomas lets his hand fall away from his chin, lowering it lightly against the bar top. he's gotten into the habit now of making as little noise as possible, being more aware of his movements. he glances up, finally, his expression a little unreadable. ]

If it was you — would you want to be locked up?

Edited 2018-04-18 00:55 (UTC)

No.

[ No hesitation, no dissembling, just a flat-out negative. Majima's expression now was completely serious. ]

No fuckin' way.

[ He'd spent more than enough time in prison, first that black ops shit and then living in Sotenbori in the Omi's gilded cage. It occurred to Majima that Reims, too, was a sort of prison, but at least it was one in which he was free to live or die as he pleased. With... one slightly complication, of course. ]

I'd rather --

[ take a bullet to the head, he nearly said, only the last time he'd said something like that (no matter how much he'd meant it), he'd upset Kara. Thomas probably wasn't as idealistic, but he still ought to temper some of that knee-jerk reaction. ]

There's no way I'd wanna risk bein' a danger to the people I care about. And tryin' to catch and hold anyone eats up resources that're stretched way too tight right now.

[ it's almost kind of sad that there isn't very much thomas hasn't seen or experience or been through outside of reims. he's dealt with being thrown into a place he doesn't belong, he's dealt with terrible monsters. he's walked away from a friend who deserved so much more, and listened as the gunshot echoed across the scorch.

majima doesn't have to finish that sentence for thomas to understand the gist of it. majima would rather die than live (if turning into a sound eater could even be considered living) and wait for something that may never come. it's the answer thomas expected from him. it's the answer he'd probably choose for himself, too, though it's hard to imagine giving up before he can get his friends to a safe haven. they come first. they always come first.

thomas's eyes flit back and forth between majima's, almost like he's contemplating something. trying to figure something out about him, or maybe just something about himself. after a moment, he just nods, slow and subtle. he breathes out quietly. ]

... Well. Let's just hope we got it really wrong.

[ he pauses for a moment, then shifts his weight off of his forearms as he straightens up. he reaches out, grabbing the candy bar off the bartop. ]

I'm... gonna head out. [ he lifts the chocolate a little, taking a couple backward steps. ] Thanks for the candy. Let me know if you lose the chicken again and need help rounding her up.

un: kyouken

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i'm sorry

don't be sorry think about how soft her feathers are!!

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