seattle ; tuesday

[necroslacker]

Coming back hadn't been...pleasant. Sam had figured it wouldn't be so he'd prepared himself. Frank was angry but he was, at least, talking to Sam. Ramon had yelled at Sam upon his return and then stalked off and now was refusing to talk to anyone. Sam figured it would pass and he'd just give Ramon time. If he'd been that angry, he would have just moved out altogether and he was still here.

Sam didn't tell Frank much, keeping everything very low key just to possibly avoid Frank texting everyone and their brother about his return. He'd said he was tired and had promised to talk about it later. With that, he'd meant to go to his bedroom to just decompress.

But, he'd ended up in the basement. It still gave him a chill and he still felt an almost painful tugging in his gut but he tried to ignore it, to beat it down and not let it overwhelm him. He leaned against one of the bare walls and thought about maybe doing something with this space.

Maybe that would help.

[NFB but open for interactions. If you think you got a text from Frank about Sam, feel free to mod it.]

Comments

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie had stared at Frank's text for a while, not even sure of what she was actually feeling.

And then she went to call Sam's phone. She wasn't really trusting it to even be on or anything, but trying to call was still the first thing she was doing.

[necroslacker]

Sam's phone still went to voicemail since he hadn't actually checked his phone or even bothered to turn it on. It was just the same voicemail message from previous phone calls. He'd get around to checking that in awhile.

[whenshewasnice]

Of course he would.

"It's me. Of course you probably don't even have your phone on. Probably hiding away because everyone's angry at you. I'm coming over."

Maybe he'd even check his messages before she got there. But she was grabbing her bag and making sure her mini menagerie weren't going to run off, and then she was already scheduling a portal.

These weren't decisions made with any sort of sense and logic.

[necroslacker]

Sam didn't make it upstairs to check his phone. He stayed in the basement, sliding down to sit against the wall. He was more thoughtful than anything else. It had just been a long, long week.

Frank had figured out where he'd gone and come down to bring him water before leaving him alone again. Ramon was still staying away.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie got to the house in record time. Amazing what a stern voice and a humourless attitude could do sometimes. She let herself in, then looked around. His bedroom seemed like the safest bet, but with everything that had been going on, she wasn't so sure that was where she'd find him now.

"Hello?"

[necroslacker]

Frank popped out of a random room, looking towards her in confusion.

"Natalie?" He hadn't expected her to show up this quick. "Hey. I didn't hear you knock. You here about Sam?"

That was a dumb question, Frank.

[whenshewasnice]

It was, but Natalie was going to let that one slide this time.

"Yes."

[necroslacker]

"He's in the basement," Frank told her, nodding his head in the direction of the door to the basement. "Has been since he came back."

[whenshewasnice]

"... Really, Sam?"

She kind of muttered that mostly to herself, before nodding at Frank. "Okay. Thank you, Frank."

She turned to head towards the basement door.

[necroslacker]

Frank nodded before disappearing again.

Sam was still sitting against the wall, eyes closed and body still. He didn't look pained though he was a little tense. There were thoughts whirring through his head so he wasn't paying that close attention to other noises that might signal someone coming downstairs.

[whenshewasnice]

And Natalie moved quietly. Not even on purpose. It was just how she moved. Her scuffed sneakers didn't make too much of a sound as she slowly came down the stairs. Slowly, because she really wasn't sure what to expect from this encounter.

Still, once she was there, she looked him over, and said, "Hey." Because that was the best start to go for when in doubt.

[necroslacker]

Sam didn't look awful, at least. Both of his hands were still bandaged with stark white gauze and though he was tense, he didn't look agitated or irritated with things.

When she spoke, he startled a bit and opened his eyes. He shouldn't have been surprised to see her there. "You didn't have to come. I'm fine."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie moved to sit down beside him. Felt weird to loom over him. Of course, this whole situation was going to be weird no matter what she did, but still. "Uh huh," she said. "As people often are after they've been MIA for over a week." She glanced at his hands. "And trying to raise dead things."

[godgavemecable.livejournal.com]

Okay, so Toby and Sam weren't exactly the call-each-other-every-other-day sort of friends, but when you couple the lack of communication with the fact that the thoughts Toby had (completely inadvertently) been picking up from Sam's... Natalie... had been decidedly less than pleased regarding the behaviour of one Samhain Corvus LaCroix, that text from Frank was definitely worrying.

So, yeah, that'd be Toby, sending Sam a nice succint: the hell, man?

Which was a little bit pot-calling-the-kettle-black of him, considering the months he'd spent on the streets between his last foster home and Fandom, but details.

[necroslacker]

By the time Toby's text came through, Sam had retrieved his phone and was going through messages. He frowned at the one from Toby and tried to figure out what to say.

Long few weeks. I took off for awhile to clear my head.

[godgavemecable.livejournal.com]

Which, yeah, was a reaction Toby understood (see above re: pot calling the kettle black).

Doing any better now? Because 'okay' was kind of a loaded word, Toby knew.

[necroslacker]

More or less.

Well, that was honest, at least.

How goes it with you?

[godgavemecable.livejournal.com]

Right, Toby could recognize a subject change when he saw one.

Camping is a pain in the ass, especially in this... thing. he replied, attaching a picture (http://iambicnut.com/rpg/misc/castles/cantsleepclownswilleatme.jpg) of his current accomodations to that text.

[necroslacker]

What is that?!

Toby, Sam was very thankful you went with that subject change. He really needed to talk about lighter stuff.

[godgavemecable.livejournal.com]

Bouncy castle. Shaped like a clown. IDEK, man.

[necroslacker]

What in the world?

This took Sam's mind off a few things, at least.

And you have to sleep in that? How?

[godgavemecable.livejournal.com]

Badly, mostly. Toby admitted. Every time someone so much as twitches, the rest of us can feel it. I'm this close to finding a tree to sleep in instead.

[necroslacker]

How long are you guys there? Sam texted. Can you sneak back to your room, maybe?

[godgavemecable.livejournal.com]

2 weeks, i think? gonna probably do that for a couple days, yeah. And not just because he wanted to sleep on a real mattress instead of a bouncy-castle floor.

[necroslacker]

You get lucky in the roommate department, at least? Sam figured that the whole living thing would be even worse with bad roommates.