bigapplesauce | [closed] Temporarily powerless and homeless

Current Location: Gabe's apartment building and neighbourhood
Current Music: June 28th

Entry tags:

[closed] Temporarily powerless and homeless

It seems every day is more monotone than the last, like he's walking around in a zombie haze - though thankfully without any real zombies, he'd prefer not to do that again. But you'd think a city as weird as this would have more going on. That's what he gets for staying out of trouble.

He sighs as he unlocks the door to his apartment, dropping the keys on a table and running a hand down his face. He sits down in front of the telly, but gets bored almost immediately. Perhaps he should simply go out. Or perhaps he should go hang out with Gabe. He hasn't seen him for almost a week, he realises with a small pang.

Usually Gabe shoots him a text or something if he wants to hang out, or Seth just heads upstairs, but that hasn't happened lately. Probably he's just been busy. Yeah, that's what he'll do, maybe that will shake him out of this funk.

Not bothering with the keys just now, he heads for the door again, simply walking through it before heading upstairs. He knocks twice, but there's no reply. Guess not, then. He's about to leave, but then decides if Gabe's out, he might as well check if Scout's there and if he needs something, so he steps through the door.

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Johnny freezes when he hears the knock. He's only just popped in to grab some of Scout's toys - Scout's been chewing on his shoes in his ongoing agitation, so it seems prudent to provide him with something meant to be chewed on. But then someone comes to the door.

He considers going to check through the peep hole - maybe it's someone he knows? More likely it's one of the neighbors, and though Gabe seems to know all of them, Johnny hasn't really met any of them yet, keeping mostly to himself (or to Gabriel).

So, better to keep quiet and wait for them to go away. Which doesn't end up happening, as the dude simply strides right through the solid door a moment later.

"What," blurts Johnny in perhaps displaced shock, considering how he got in, and backs up against the wall, dropping a tennis ball with a bell inside. It bounces, jingling all the way, across the floor toward the intruder.

Seth stops the moment he's through the door, not expecting to see someone else in there, or at least, someone not Gabe. For a moment he thinks the guy might be robbing him and is frightened at being caught, but he only seems to be holding dog-related articles, which seems like a very peculiar thing to steal.

"...Hi." He leans down and picks up the jingling tennis ball. He's remarkably calm for someone who just walked through a wall, partly as a facade, and partly because, well, he assumes anyone Gabe lets live in this building is aware of the rift. Unless he really is a burglar, just one with an affinity for pet toys.

Johnny pulls himself together after a moment and straightens up, stepping away from the wall. "I... I'm Johnny," he says. "I live downstairs?" He points, uselessly, at the floor. "I was just... I'm taking care of Scout, so I..." He flails for words, which don't appear to be forthcoming. "Sorry, you... do know Gabe, right? I mean you're not like. Breaking in to steal things."

A safe assumption, he hopes. He doesn't think he could take his guy if it came to that.

"I live downstairs too. Seth," he introduces himself, stepping properly into the apartment. "Why are you taking care..." he trails off as he actually looks around the apartment. "What's going on? Where's Gabe?"

He suddenly feels a lot more worried than he did walking in here and seeing Johnny. The place looks different than it did last time he was here, which wasn't even that long ago.

"Um, well..." Johnny hesitates, not too thrilled to have to explain this. "He kinda... disappeared. Like, five days ago. I haven't been able to reach him via phone, or... other methods..." He figures Seth knows how Gabriel works if he lives here, but he's still not going to just call it prayer outright.

"I have no idea where he is," he says, feeling miserable about it all over again. "And... I don't know what to do about it, frankly."

Hell of a way to meet someone. But fuck it. He's got no energy to sugarcoat this. He shrugs and says, "It fucking sucks and I'm terrified, to be honest. But I don't have an answer. I cope by drinking and fucking random people. Or one random person, so far." He looks Seth up and down, wondering if he might have been another of Gabe's conquests that he just failed to mention, feeling a pang of totally unreasonable jealousy - but only for a moment. What the hell does he care? He wouldn't give a shit if Gabe were still around, after all. Right now all his agitation traces right back to that, just wanting to be with Gabriel again.

"Care to make it two?" he hazards, drolly, with the tone of I mean, whatever.

"Shit..." Seth starts walking around while Johnny's still talking, checking the bedroom, the bathroom, the kitchen area. Not exactly in the hope that Gabe would just be hiding, but perhaps he left a note or something, and he doesn't feel content just assuming someone else has checked.

He feels guilty for not having noticed before. And also a little frustrated that no one thought to tell him, but then, he doesn't really have friends in common with Gabriel. Still, he usually keeps an ear to the ground, he feels like he should've heard about this somehow. Suppose he's hearing about it now...

He runs a hand through his hair, the other one still holding on to the ball that chimes every time he moves. He's only half paying attention to what Johnny's saying now, and he looks up at something that sounds like a question. "What?"

Johnny blows air through his teeth. Seth's obviously worried just as much as he is, and this probably isn't the fucking time to be propositioning anyway. When did he become such a sleaze? Actually he knows the exact answer to that, which is birth. Maybe it was only Gabriel's influence that kept him from being such a little shit.

"Nothing, nevermind," he mutters. That just feels passive aggressive, so he amends, "I was asking if you wanted to have anonymous unhealthy sex. Which is how I cope, with everything. Nice to meet me, I'm sure. I'm gonna fuck off back to my room and work on being an alcoholic now."

He moves forward and takes the ball from Seth's hand, then presses his palm to the nearest wall.

"I guess we're both good at breaking in," he mutters, preparing to open a door.

A minute later he's still standing there, staring at the wall.

Nothing's happening. He's thinking about it, which is all it has ever seemed to take before, but now... He drops his hand, feeling shaken, though not altogether displeased.

Hey, at least he's straight-forward, Seth appreciates that. It's one of the many things he likes about Gabe too, no tip-toeing around things.

"Right," he answers in response to the clarification. Not that he hasn't had some anonymous unhealthy sex in his life - primarily in the past couple months, really, given before that he was either in a relationship, or still trying to get over losing that loved one, and then locked up for months, so.

"You know, it's not exactly anonymous if we know each other's names and live in the same building," he points out, while watching Johnny.. touching the wall?

"A fair point," says Johnny, distracted by his failure to depart. "I, um... I can't seem to leave." He glances at Seth, almost suspicious, as though his presence has something to do with it. "I mean obviously I could leave the fuckin normal way, but this just... usually works."

Really, though, why is he choosing to use a power he can't stand in the first place? Laziness and convenience? Like using the stairs is suddenly too damn hard? Great, there's a nice staple depression symptom.

It's probably, too, that he wanted to show off just a little bit after Seth's unintentional display of phasing right through the wall. But that's neither here nor there.

He lets out an awkward laugh and tries again, just for good measure. "Usually I can just like... mess up the, whatever, the architecture? Like make a direct line from here to my place. Gabe says it's a dimensional shift or something like that, I don't know." Nothing again. He's starting to feel almost a little giddy. What if it's gone? What if it's just gone?

"But, uh... now, not so much." He shrugs, feeling a little stupid.

"That's a very useful power," he comments. Definitely something he could've used when he was trying get out. But if it's unreliable, probably not the best escape method. But then sometimes people just don't know how to properly use their powers.

He's not really in power-scouting mode though, partly because he's worried about what's happened to Gabriel, and partly because, well, he's worried about Gabriel, or rather, how he would react if he found out he liberated another friend of his of their power. And if Johnny's freely using his power, chance are he doesn't want to get rid of it anyway.

Currently Johnny's presence is keeping him from full-out worrying what's happened to his friend, though. He knows Gabe can take care of himself, perhaps he's simply set out on a mission, and didn't want to risk anyone finding out beforehand. Or perhaps something has actually happened to him. There's not much Seth can do about it either way right now, so he tries to push it to the back of his mind.

"Does it usually act up?" he asks, focusing back on the power issue.

"Not so far," says Johnny, chewing his lip. "I mean, it... works almost without any effort at all. Like the first time I discovered it I woke up to it." Ugh, bad memory. Not gonna talk about that.

"To be honest, I kind of... hate having it," he mutters. "I get that everyone thinks it's useful or cool or whatever, but to me it... it represents something awful. I can't really explain it." Or don't want to.

"Anyway, I guess I'll just have to use the door like a regular person this time," he says, trying to make light. "Or I don't know, can you Shadowcat me through the wall along with you? How does that work?"

Edited 2014-06-27 00:57 (UTC)

Seth frowns. Well then, guess he does maybe want to get rid of it. He doesn't bring up the possibility of taking it away just yet, but definitely files it away for a bit later, answering the question first.

"Um. Theoretically, yes, but I haven't tried it with anything person-sized yet. Much larger stuff doesn't work, there's only so much extra stuff I can take with." He shrugs. "Besides, you'd.. only end up on the other side of the wall. We'd have to go downstairs first. And I find phasing down the floor is much like jumping down a floor. Not very comfortable."

Johnny nods, smiling faintly, and heads for the door. "All right, conventional exit it is. You coming?" It's not that he doesn't trust this guy, but it feels weird to leave with someone still here, someone who isn't Gabe.

He unlocks Gabe's door, not really liking the prospect of having to leave it unlocked, but... well, maybe Seth can resolve that later. Right now he's a lot more curious to keep testing and see if his power is really gone. And if so, he wonders if he can figure out why. It seems almost like he should be worried about this, but... he can hardly find it in himself. Yeah, it's proven incredibly useful, but right now none of his friends are imprisoned and he's not trapped anywhere, so... might be nice to be normal again.

They get downstairs and Johnny turns toward his door, glancing at Seth, curious about which apartment is his. He's not even looking when he goes for his doorknob and turns, and-

Oh, shit.

"Fuuuuck," he hisses under his breath, and glances back up, looking sheepish. "I, uh. Kinda locked myself out. You think maybe you could...?"

Seth follows along downstairs - he'd like to see Scout again, too, make sure the dog's doing okay without Gabe. He's probably not any more happy than the rest of them about the situation. At least Johnny seems to care, given he's fetching all of Scout's toys and things.

He gives an amused smirk at Johnny having locked himself out. Well, that's what happens if you rely on unreliable powers. "Sure," he answers with a nod. He focuses for half a moment, then steps into the door.

And then stumbles back after his nose and forehead slams into the solid wood, and he falls on his ass against the opposite wall, clutching his nose with his hands. "Fuck," he comments, trying to imbue it with all the pain he is currently feeling.

Johnny can't help it. It's so startling, so not what he expected, and so ridiculous, that he busts out laughing. He tries to stifle it without much success.

"Sorry, sorry," he says between giggles. Fuck, but he needed that. "Are you okay?"

"Fuck off," he answers half-heartedly, not so much angry at Johnny as the situation itself, and the current pain he's in. Then, "Yeah."

He removes his hand and looks at them - they're bloody. He touches his nose gingerly. It definitely hurts, but he's pretty sure it's not broken. "I'll get over it," he adds, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment.

Johnny gives him a friendly pat on the back. "What happened there?" he asks. Weird, how both of their powers have just failed them. He's trying to be optimistic and not think and conspiratorial thoughts - maybe Seth just... did something wrong this time.

"Is my door made of adamantium?" he jokes.

Seth opens his eyes to frown up at Johnny. "I have no idea what that means," he answers, pushing against the wall (careful not to use his bloodied hands) to get to his feet. Wait, is that just a reference he doesn't understand, or should he know what it means? His balance doesn't seem off, but...

"Hang on. My name is Seth, you're Johnny. We're both friends of Gabe, who has a dog named Scout. It's.. June 28th, and you can do.. what was it, dimensional shift? Is that all correct?" he asks.

"Whoa. Yes." Johnny reaches out to help him up. "You don't have a concussion, it's okay. Not an X-Men fan, I take it?" He grins and taps very lightly on the door, not wanting to disturb Scout, who'd been napping when he'd left. "Just a regular door. Did you... did something go wrong, or..."

He trails off. The more he thinks about it, the less likely it seems that this is a coincidence. And that makes his heart sink a little. If both their powers are gone, that means he isn't necessarily free. It could just something affecting everyone, something that would need to be fixed.

He's been involved with medical care both in this universe and his original one, he feels it's his responsibility to make sure. But that's good, he'll just be a little bruised, once he washes off this blood.

"No, I..." He frowns more, shaking his head head to himself. He curls one of his hands into a fist (his knuckles being bloodless) and places it against the wall. "I dunno," he finishes, when nothing happens.

"I'm gonna go get cleaned up," he adds, because he's getting annoyed trying not to get blood anywhere. He walks over to his apartment door, turns the handle and... Lets out a growl of frustration, and gives the door a light kick. Without a word, he heads back upstairs towards Gabe's bathroom.

Shit. So yeah, the same thing has happened to both of them, and now Seth is pissed off. Johnny stares at his door in bewilderment while Seth stalks back upstairs. He places his hand on the door and makes one more solid attempt, which fails again. Goddammit. This is less of a relief when it means he can't get back into his apartment.

He turns and follows Seth up and back into Gabe's apartment, having nowhere else to go. "Is there like, someone we can call?" he asks. They didn't really have a landlord - they had Gabe.

Johnny frowns, thinking about Scout. They'd gone out for walk earlier and he'd been pretty sleepy after. Johnny'd just given him dinner. His water dish was full. He should be okay until morning, but what if he can't get back in by then? Daine is NOT going to be happy if she has to break through a window to save the dog - and more to the point, she probably wouldn't let Johnny keep him. And Johnny needs to keep him. Right now it's all he has.

Seth is already drying his hands and face when Johnny joins him, having quickly rinsed off the blood. He touches his nose a bit and looks at his hand, but it seems to have stopped bleeding. That's something, at least.

He gives a sigh in response to the question, and the many problems that need addressing.

"About the doors? Besides Gabe, no. I mean, I know someone who can lockpick them, but probably not till tomorrow." he answers. But that's sort of a secondary worry for him at the moment.

Johnny sighs. He left his fucking phone in the apartment too, of course so he can't call Jodie or anyone. And he doesn't really want to, either. He doesn't want to ask for that favor again, and anyway, it wouldn't help Seth out. And since they got into this together, he'd feel shitty leaving him by the wayside.

He folds his arms and leans against the doorframe of the bathroom.

"So what now?" he says. He glances at Seth, who seems highly distracted, maybe still shaken by the news about Gabe. "You okay?"

Seth runs a hand through his hair, contemplating, not answering for a few moments. He only just met Johnny, so he's tempted to deal with this on his own, but if Johnny's living here and taking care of Scout, that must mean Gabe considers him trustworthy.

"Something must've happened to our powers," he says finally, not wanting to leave that problem any longer. "It hit both of us, so either we were in the wrong place at the wrong time, or this has happened to more people. You may not be bothered, but given my survival has depended on my powers in the past and probably will again, especially if Gabe's really gone, I'd kinda like to know what's going on."

"Okay." Johnny nods. "I mean, I get that." He doesn't offer that the same is true of him - he's used his ability to escape a few bad situations now, or help others do the same. He almost feels selfish, being relieved about it when it's gonna be such an issue for Seth, but then again, Seth doesn't know anything about what he's been through.

"So how... do we find that out?" He shrugs. "I mean I don't know about you, but like... I don't think we can trust either of the organizations out there. I don't know anyone else who would know what's going on. Maybe except Gabe." He clenches his fingers tightly around his arm. He feels not only lonely, but helpless without Gabriel around. And now the little defense he had has been taken away. Yeah, he's definitely seeing the advantages to his power now.

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