𝑹𝑶𝑶𝑴 𝟔𝟏𝟑

tommy  is  unsure  exactly  what  he  did  to  upset  the  woman,  but  he  wasn’t  particularly  phased  by  the  fact.  as  much  as  he  tried  to  help  where  he  could,  some  people  just  didn’t  want  it,  even  if  it  was  just  being  friendly,  and  those  were  the  types  of  people  that   (   in  his  particular  experience   )   you  just  smiled  politely  at  and  hoped  they  didn’t  stay  too  long   ...   or  in  the  absolute  worst  scenario,  you  asked  to  leave  the  bar.  the  place  he  had  worked  at  had  been  kind  of  a  dive,  so  unfortunately  the  worst  case  scenario  happened  more  frequently  than  it  should  have,  and  often  with  the  response  being  no.  however,  this  was  not  tommy’s  bar  and  he  was  not  on  shift,  and  as  amicable  as  he  usually  is  he  was  annoyed  about  the  bruise  he’d  gotten  when  the  lights  went  out,  so  when  she  asks  him  if  he  knows  who  she  is,  his  face  visibly  presents  his  confusion  without  care.

the lobby’s flickering lights had begun to feel like eyes in the darkness, as if she were out with the chickens at night and a coyote stood just within view. it was a feeling of being hunted inside the house, being followed and chase through a labyrinth of domesticity. the bar was a little better: more people passed through and the darkness seemed to encroach and suffocate a little less. at the sound of tommy’s voice she looked up from the napkin she’d been ripping absentmindedly into shreds.

‘i’m really-’ she stopped before saying anything else, seizing onto the world tommy set up for her. don’t be afraid. he doesn’t want you to be afraid. ‘-fine. thank you for asking, mr barnett.’ tommy reminded her a bit of the dogs that herded the livestock back at home: alert and happy, always flinging themselves down where the most people were. despite her nerves his presence wrung a smile out of her. ‘why would he do that, though?’ she asked, lowering her voice just a touch.

tommy  notices  the  ripped  napkin.  he  may  not  be  the  most  booksmart,  but  he  got  people  in  a  way  that  often  came  as  a  surprise  to  those  who  expected  less.  he  could  trace  the  line  between  the  shreds  of  paper  on  the  table  to  a  mental  state  he  didn’t  like  the  thought  of  bonnie  being  in.  she  seemed  nice,  and  nice  people  shouldn’t  have  to  feel  like  that.  he  doesn’t  stop  her  though,  he  had  worked  at  a  bar  and  knew  better;  there  wasn’t  a  point,  you  take  away  the  napkins  and  then  they’re  peeling  labels  off  bottles.  it  was  all the  same  to  clean  up  at  the  end  of  the  night.   ‘   ah,  stellar.  i  knew  you  would  be.  that’s  why  i  came  over  here,  was  hoping  some  of  that  calm  vibe  would  rub  off  on  me.   ’

cary hadn’t really considered he could run into someone else, as he wandered towards the pool. in fact, he was looking for some peace and quiet, since he was still unable to figure out which room was his own. he hears the music first, cursing himself for finding yet another occupired area when all he really wants is to be on his own for a few minutes. the music is… almost familiar. it’s much closer to what he’s used to than some of the songs that people from the future have shown him. 

“it’s… far out,” the music sounded like something his sister’s stoned friends would listen to on their back porch, and so the words fit into that. it seems like something they would’ve said, even in cary normally wouldn’t. “you’re - what are you listening to that on? please tell me it’s not one of the… phones that some people have,” cary had a disdain for the electronics that some people seemed to carry around, much preferring the records of his own day, “and… who is that singing? they sound familiar but i can’t place it…” 

‘   far  out  for  sure,   ’   tommy  says  with  a  grin,  something  comforting  in  hearing  familiar  language.  there  were  so  many  accents  and  words  he  didn’t  understand  that  floated  around  the  halls  of  this  place,  but  far  out  was  something  that  clicked.  it  is  what  prompts  him  to  look  over  to  who  was  speaking,  hoping  to  see  someone  dressed  in  a  way  that  would  make  sense.  he  assess  as  best  he  can  in  the  dark,  and  it’s  not  quite  right,  but  better  than  some  of  the  things  he  had  seen.  

there’s  a  moment  where  her  brow  creases  and  she  looks  up  at  him,  attempting  to  figure  out  what  the  hell  he  was  talking  about.  who,  or  rather  what,  was  rosie?  it  takes  her  probably  longer  than  it  should  have  to  remember  the  furby  that  he’d  won  off  of  her  all  those  weeks  ago.  weeks  was  the  only  way  she  felt  comfortable  describing  how  time  passed  here.  years  don’t  feel  right  and  neither  does  days,  but  there’s  something  about  weeks  that  feels  right.  she  sighs  softly  when  he  says  it’s  harder,  shaking  her  head  and  just  letting  it  go. 

dark  eyes  flick  up  to  meet  his  when  he  says  that  the  ibuprofen  is  important,  a  smirk  curling  on  the  left  side  of  her  mouth  as  drops  his  own  cards.  she  pulls  the  pile  towards  her,  happy  with  the  pile  she’s  accumulated  tonight.  she  reaches  out  to  reshuffle  the  cards,  the  little  packet  of  ibuprofen  between  them,      “  take  the  ibuprofen,  tommy;  sounds  like  you  need  it  more  than  i  do,  ”      while  there’s  a  teasing  to  her  tone,  she  is  genuine  in  her  meaning.  that  smirk  shifts  and  grows  at  the  slang  he  uses,      “  well,  the  power’s  out;  should  come  back  on,  it  just  sucks  that  it’s  going  to  have  to  warm  up  again.  if  it  doesn’t,  i’m  going  to  personally  find  oliver  and  demand  a  new  one.  ”     she’s  quick  with  the  cards,  folding  them  into  a  shuffle.  she’s  learned  some  tricks  herself,     “  can  i  deal  you  in  again?  ”

‘   y’know  --  looks  like  it’s  me  and  you  again  tonight,  ro  -  o  -  sie,   ’   tommy’s  best  impression  of  jackson  browne  is  decidedly  subpar,  and  not  quiet  --  drawing  a  few  stares  from  the  others  in  the  bar,  but  it’s  unclear  why  the  reference  to  the  song  is  supposed  to  make  her  remember  the  animatronic  monstrosity  that  he  had  one  off  of  her.   ‘   the  fuzzbit,  or  whatever  you  called  it.  i  won  that.   ’

“I don’t know,” June said, pursing her lips. “Should you?” He seemed unsure of the value of a plan, and June wondered if he often gave in to his impulses. She waited for the answer to her question. Which question? How long have you been sitting there? I don’t know, should you? He didn’t seem to have much of a plan beyond eating all of the ice cream before it goes bad – in other words, enjoy good things while they last – but June could be wrong.

June thought briefly of the allegory of the working ant and the mocking grasshopper. Perhaps the hotel would have no winter. Perhaps it’d have no summer either.

“Get some snacks before they run out,” June suggested. If they run out. June still didn’t understand how this hotel worked, though she would soon find out.

the  look  of  confusion  isn’t  hidden  on  his  features,  lip  curling  slightly  as  his  jaw  hangs  loose  and  brow  coming  to  a  furrow.  it’s  not  a  pretty  face,  but  it  fits  what’s  currently  happening  in  his  brain.  tommy  has  never  been  a  complex  creature,  the  internal  usually  matching  the  external.  it  wasn’t  that  it  made  things  easier,  often  the  opposite  actually,  but  he  never  really  considered  trying  to  hide  his  thoughts.   ‘   why’d  you  ask  then  ?   ’

if  he  remembers  from  the  last  time   (   was  that  yesterday  or  a  few  weeks  back   ?    ),   the  bar  doesn’t  exactly  seem  like  the  place  bonnie  would  pick  for  herself,  but  that’s  just  a  hunch  on  his  part.  however,  getting  people  to  enjoy  themselves  at  bars  was,  quite  literally,  tommy’s  job  description.  even  if  it  wasn’t,  he  had  decided  a  few  times  back,  and  he  wouldn’t  even  try  to  decided  when  that  was,  that  he’d  look  out  for  her.  tommy  knew  he  didn’t  have  too  much  advice  on  a  lot  of  topics,  but  he  did  know  how  to  survive  and  she  seemed  perhaps  a  bit  out  of  her  element  here.  perhaps  a  bit  overeager,  he  plops  himself  across  from  her,  smile  wide  enough  you  might  not  even  need  the  flickering  candlelight  to  see  it.

tommy  doesn’t  usually  frequent  the  garden;  the  familiar  sights  he  can  see  over  the  edge  making  the  strangeness  within  the  house  seem  more  uncomfortable  by  contrast.  inside,  it’s  another  world,  but  when  the  lines  blur  too  much,  that’s  when  it  impacts  him  the  most.  however,  the  darkness   ——   despite  the  creature  of  nightlife  that  he  is…   was?   ——   was  beginning  to  make  the  interior  of  the  raven  house  feel  too  tight,  like  something  was  closing  in  on  him.  that’s  why  he  drove  before  this,  that’s  why  he  wandered  the  halls  now,  finding  a  little  bit  of  escape  in  the  motion,  and  it  is  for  that  reason  he  climbs  the  access  stairs  to  the  rooftop  to  enter  into  the  light.

June observed him for a moment, noting that he seemed taken aback by her question. He’s a stumbler. He didn’t expect to be noticed, or to start a conversation, or… anything, really, and June gets the slightest intuition that she had thrown him off, somehow. 

Or perhaps he felt like a little kid, getting caught with all of that candy, jerky and ice cream.

“No plans, huh?” He must be acting entirely on impulse. Otherwise, he’d save some things for later. But, at least he has one good idea – use an empty box for all of her snacks. She tosses candy out of one large box and fills it with her own items, then carrying the box with one hand and drinks in the other. “How long have you been sitting there?”

‘  should  i  ?  ’  he  questions,  and  the  words  sound,  as  surprising  as  it  might  be  to  she  who  had  found  him  in  this  state,  genuine.  it’s  not  a  hidden  judgement,  but  an  inquiry.  he’s  unsure  how  one  would  make  a  plan  in  a  place  like  this,  and  if  he’s  honest,  davey  had  made  most  of  the  substantial  plans  in  his  life  before  arriving  at  the  raven  house,  so  his  ability  to  construct  one  was  as  rusty  as  he  imagined  his  car  abandoned  on  the  side  of  i-95  was.  

“ good luck to them, indeed, ” replies vasilisa, raising her glass in a wry toast to those determined individuals. perhaps she ought to try too, ought to do something other than drink in the dark, but it’d be a futile attempt on her own. the technology in the raven house is beyond her understanding, and in any case, trying to figure out how anything works in the hotel is a headache and a half. ( though she does try, if only out of spite and sheer boredom. )

“ neither am i. i think i would somehow press a wrong button and everything would get even worse. well, for the sake of us all, i hope they manage not to blow something up if they do find it. ” she cocks her head and smiles at him, a graceful hand gesturing at their surroundings. “ i am enjoying whiskey in the glow of candlelight. of course i am. ” a moment hangs in the air before she speaks again. “ are you? ” 

‘   what’s  worse  than  nothing  ?   ’   tommy  says,  and  in  part  it’s  an  honest  inquiry.  the  power  outage,  while  not  ideal,  was  also  not  the  worst  thing,  but   (  as  far  as  electrical  issues  were  concerned  )   he  couldn’t  imagine  how  this  would  devolve  into  something  more  worthy  of  concern.  the  switch  had  been  flipped,  the  only  other  option  was  back  on.  he’s  blissfully  unaware  of  the  possible,  more  philosophical,  read  of  his  words,  and  instead  focuses  on  pouring  himself  a  glass  from  the  decanter  she  had  offered  him.  he  frowns,  however,  and  eyes  widen  slightly,  when  she  mentions  the  possibility  of  explosions.   ‘   you  think  that’ll  happen  ?   ’   he  hadn’t  considered  it.

 macie  pauses,  mid  chew,  with  her  soft  pretzel  raised  for  another  bite  as  he  speaks.  she  prided  herself  on  a  strong  poker  face,  it  came  with  the  territory  of  her  work.  there’s  a  moment  of  silence  as  she  observes  him.  sometimes  she  wondered  about  him,  she  really  did.      “  it’s  …  harder.  ”      she  repeats  those  two  words,  cards  held  in  between  her  fingers.      “  considering  that  you  don’t  win  these,  like,  ever,  this  shouldn’t  be  more  difficult.  ”      she  pops  the  rest  of  the  pretzel  piece  into  her  mouth,  reorganizing  the  cards  in  her  hand.  it  wasn’t  the  worst  hand  she’d  been  dealt,  but  it  certainly  wasn’t  the  best.  

 she  looks  back  up  to  him  after  a  moment,  that  expression  only  shifting  to  something  more  warm  when  she  breaks  away  from  her  cards.  she  snorts,  takes  one  of  the  candle  sticks  and  slides  it  closer  to  their  hands  to  confirm  that,  yes,  he’d  just  put  down  a  single  dose  pack  of  ibuprofen.  the  blowpop  fell  well  into  their  bets   (  she’d  slid  a  baby  bottle  pop  and  a  cry  baby  forward,  and  no  that  wasn’t  pointed  ),  she  wasn’t  sure  about  that  one.      “  ibuprofen?  really?  ”      she  asks  with  an  arched  brow.  she  leans  back  into  her  barstool,      “  flush,  ”      she  says,  sliding  her  cards  together  from  the  fan  they  were  in.      “  you  know  what  sucks  the  most  about  all  this?  my  lava  lamp  doesn’t  even  work,  ”      that  was  genuine  annoyance  in  her  voice,  she  really  did  like  the  way  the  colors  lit  up  her  walls  at  night.    

‘  i  have  too  won,  ’  tommy  replied  indignantly.  it  didn’t  happen  often,  so  she  did  have  somewhat  of  a  point.  ‘  i  won  rosie.  ’    the  furby  that  she  had  found  in  the  basement  that,  despite  apparently  being  something  macie  had  meant  as  a  joke,  tommy  had  taken  a  liking  to  it,  giving  it  a  name  from  one  of  the  songs  on  his  cassettes.  he  frowns  and  then  adds,  ‘  and  like,  it  can  still  be  harder,  y’know  ?  ’  his  brow  stays  furrowed  for  a  moment  longer,  lips  in  a  frown.  a  huff  of  breath.  however,  whatever  was  happening  inside  his  head  fades  when  she  snorts  at  his  bet,  and  he’s  brought  back  once  again  to  defending  himself.  ‘  yeah,  really.  i  ran  into  a  table  in  the  dark  already.  that  shit’s  important.  ’  then  she  puts  her  cards  down.  ‘  fuck.  thought  you  were  faking  me  out.  ’

he’s  not  sure  how  long  the  ache  in  his  hip  had  been  there   (  how  long  does  it  take  for  a  bruise  to  appear  ?  ).   specifically,  he’s  not  sure  how  long  ago  the  power  had  gone  out  and  he,  having  continued  to  wander  through  the  halls  of  the  raven  house,  had  run  into  a  side - table.  he  could  have  told  you  what  happened  between  then  and  now,  but  measuring  that  space  seemed  impossible.  it  gave  him  a  headache  to  think  about,  so,  making  one  of  the  wiser  choices  of  his  extended  …  paused  ?  …  lifetime,  he  decided  not  to  think  about  it.  instead,  in  an  attempt  to  rest  it  and  taking  an  action  to  counter  balance  the  earlier  wisdom  as  seemed  to  be  absolutely  necessary  for  his  soul,  wandered  in  the  dark  into  the  pool,  and  set  up  camp  on  one  of  the  lounge  chairs  around  it.  

some  time  later,  though  it  was  such  a  relative  term  in  a  place  where  there  seemed  to  be  only  now,  tommy  emerged  from  the  convenience  store  and  back  into  the  main  lobby.  while  the  space  lacked  windows  to  light  it  well,  it  seemed  that  the  candles  were  trying  their  best,  reflected  by  the  crystal  hanging  above.  it  was  enough  light  to  realize  that  he  was  not  alone.  it  takes  a  few  more  steps  though,  which  she  likely  hears  --  he’s  not  particularly  light  on  his  feet,  for  him  to  recognize   who.   anke.  he  knew  a  select  few  facts  about  her,  mostly  that  she  was  smarter  than  he  was;  sometimes  he  would  do  his  best  to  keep  up,  but  other  times  he’d  simply  removed  himself  from  the  situation  entirely.  the  academic  world  had  never  been  exactly  kind  to  him.  

it hadn’t been long since the darkness took over raven house, silence rang clearly through the halls– it felt as though the entire world had fallen asleep and woken up at the same time. but, he wouldn’t know for he remained confined within it’s walls, in a sense the world to luc was now nothing more than the premises of the raven house. tragic. he stumbled through the darkness until he finally found what he was looking for, his stomach had been twisting and turning all day– he had forgotten to eat yet again. it happened rather often, mostly when he was entranced by the canvas before him. 

a candle in hand, the lobby convenience store seemed a lot smaller than during the day. sky blue hues swept over the contents of the room before his attention landed on none other than tommy. a wide grin immediately appeared on his features and the young man launched himself forward, taking a seat beside the other on the floor. ‘ you are a genius. ‘ he paused before adding, ‘ of course ! comment dit-on… ah oui… only if you–uhm, prepare ( yes, that’s the word ! ) yes, if you prepare it with all those candies and things like the americans do in your time ! s'il te plaît ! ‘ excitement radiated off the young man as he glanced around to see what possible creation they could come up with. he was but a child in a candy store– everything readily available for the taking. 

‘   that’s  pretty  spooky,  dude,   ’   tommy  says,  gesturing  to  the  way  the  candle  lit  luc’s  features  from  the  underside,  much  like  one  might  do  with  a  flashlight  to  tell  a  ghost  story  on  a  summer  evening,  somewhere  outside  and  far  from  the  raven  house.  actually…  the  raven  house  would  make  a  pretty  good  story  to  tell.  he  considers  it  for  a  moment,  but  then  luc’s  compliment  draws  him  back.  people  didn’t  usually  call  him  that,  so  it  got  his  attention.   ‘   well,  hey,  thanks.   ’