[Open] Exposition Free Space!

[long_live_the_queen]

WHO: Lucy and you!
WHERE: Various points in Tisse, Enprise, and Birch Hills
WHEN: Ambiguously the 19th
WHAT: A regain reaction log! Visiting an arcade to forget the Retrospec experience for awhile! Dumpster diving at a woodworking shop! Bringing this weird clock home for the roommates to see...?
WARNINGS: Lucy (ie language, crankiness, contents may contain casual threats of violence, etc)


A. Tisse, Hubbub Hub Arcade

[The best way to deal with distressing daydreams was by staring at a screen for awhile. A different screen, not her possessed phone, one that usually involved cartoonish violence or pixels of some kind, and one that didn't have that stupid app demanding she play Pac Man every few minutes. That game was banned. With the erratic hours Lucy worked, the time she got off work this time was...also when everyone seemed to be out and about on lunch in Tisse. Great.

But she was too stubborn to just leave and go straight home; the teenager ducked into the nearest arcade instead. Hopefully it wouldn't be as crowded...?]



B. Enprise, outside a woodworking shop somewhere

[Now Lucy was on her way home; she had taken a different route today, passing by several unfamiliar shops. One was a newly-established carpentry business, sign new and proudly declaring itself East Enprise Woodworks.'

Lucy paid no attention to that whatsoever, staring at the dumpsters next to it with great suspicion. There was something sticking out that made the lid sit unevenly propped open; it looked like the frame of something more solid than the broken up bits of siding and old wood.

She needed it, whatever it was. What, exactly, she was going to do with it was beyond her, but—she needed it. The details could wait.

So that was why Lucy was prying a dumpster lid open and leaning halfway into it today.

How's your Tuesday going?]



C. Birch Hills Apartment (closed to roommates)

[Somehow or another, Lucy's managed to cart the thing home. The clock had a ponderous, ancient, and slightly gloomy air about it that didn't seem to fit with the rest of the apartment; stodgy, sullen oak compared with white walls and a brightly lit hallway. It took up quite a bit of space in that corner, and it was stubbornly silent, with its hands stuck at midnight exactly no matter how much she tried fiddling with it, though she also wasn't exactly a mechanic.

Lucy stood in front of it, arms crossed. It was taller than she was even with her shoulders straight for once, though that wasn't particularly hard. Someone could even hide in it, if its insides were stripped out.

Though speaking of which—]

...it's fucking broken, isn't it.

[It hadn't rung since it got home, not even by accident.]

Comments

B

[true_noir]

Find something you like?

[Chloe knew good and god-damned well not to sneak up on this girl, so she made sure to scuff her feet a little in the alley on her way closer. She leaned against the wall of the shop, looking back down the alley just in case anyone came by. Most places wouldn't hassle you for looking in their dumpsters, but most wasn't all so she figured that the girl could use a spotter.]

You know, I only very rarely see this thing you call dumpster diving, heh.

[long_live_the_queen]

No.

[Lucy glanced over enough to see who it was, then carried on her very important business of looking for whatever the thing was. It was a gesture that showed some trust (Chloe probably wasn't going to stab her and didn't need staring at 24/7) and some dismissal.]

It's not like I'm stealing food.

[There was just sawdust and wood and things in here. And this sheet of cracked drywall was in the way; Lucy started tugging on it, but it was a bit too long and her arms too short for her to pull it free completely without dropping the dumpster lid on her head.]

[true_noir]

mmm, no. I suspect you do not need anything to eat from there. That would be a bit more for a termite, no?

[She cast a glance, noticing that she was having a bit of trouble. Well, she was already an accessory to whatever was going on, so she slipped up a bit closer and reached to put one of her hands on the dumpster lid. It helped steady it and keep it out of the way so that she could reach for what she was seeking.]

Dare I ask what you're looking for, though?

B

[beastenderblood]

[Vella's Tuesday is going... fine. Not good, not bad, but fine. And fine was boring. She needed something to bring any kind of excitement, anything better than useless malaise.

Which is how she ends strolling into random alleys for something to do.

Well this is a thing.]

...Not super sure how much you can get for selling wood.

[long_live_the_queen]

[Lucy snorted, shifting slightly on her feet when Chloe approached. She hesitated only a little when Chloe held the dumpster lid open, making the decision to pull the piece of drywall away and dump it gracelessly on the ground.]

...I don't know.

[With the obstruction out of the way, Lucy could go after the next thing—and the next and next, pulling bits of broken molding and wood panels away nor that she had both hands free.

Eventually, the light filtering into the alleyway glinted off of a glass surface; circular and dinner-plate sized set into something near the back. Odd. It looked like a...clock?]

[long_live_the_queen]

[Lucy was focused enough on her task that she didn't notice someone else was also in the alleyway until Vella spoke up. She almost dropped the dumpster lid on her head, and proceeded to glare over at the other girl like everything was clearly Vella's fault.]

I didn't ask you.

[Grump, grump.]

[true_noir]

[She chuckled and her grip firmed up a little bit.] Ah, I see. You are looking for the little treasures that someone has cast aside, hoping to find something of interest and value, aren't you?

It is a bit like a swap meat... only the price is how much effort you are willing to put in, not an actual price, yes?

[She was trying to figure out the motives here, though she had a feeling they were pretty obvious in the end.]

[belligerentwarrior]

[Once upon a time, Freya thought she was the weirdest one living here, Lucy's shut-in tendencies aside. Between Minako getting a dog and weapons uninvited in the mail, and Lucy... somehow dragging that huge, dreary thing from who knows where into the apartment, well... those notions were quickly gone.]

Should I even ask? [She drawled as she rounds the corner, drying her hair off with a towel.]

[long_live_the_queen]

[Lucy glanced Freya's way for a moment, her scowl remaining in place.]

Depends. Can you fix it?

[Fun fact: It smelled vaguely of sawdust and glue. Not unpleasantly so, but...it didn't exactly look new.]

[long_live_the_queen]

[Lucy shook her head with a frown and a grumble.]

No, that's not it.

[Well. Nothing for it. There was space at least for her to stand without getting splinters in her shins, and the whatever-it-was in the back of the dumpster too far for Lucy to reach otherwise.

So swinging herself into the dumpster she went, knocking a few other bits of siding away.

It was indeed a clock; one of those old-fashioned grandfather clocks and surprisingly intact, at least the part that was visible. Lucy tugged on it; it budged about...two millimeters. She tried again, with the same result.]

[complementing]

[This time, Minako is the one getting woken up by a new addition to the apartment. She shuffles out of her room, hair rumpled from her nap and Koromaru on her heels.] Whattre we trying to-- oh. [She stares up at the clock.] Cool, but we might need t'do some feng shui for it.

[belligerentwarrior]

[Freya finishes scrubbing at her hair and flips the towel over her shoulder, directing a very unimpressed look at the clock.]

Oh, that cactus' gonna need a lot more than a little feng shui.

[long_live_the_queen]

[Said cactus immediately protests.]

I'm not moving this thing again!

[The first time was bad enough, thank you very much. But the clock was here now! That stupid itch in her mind was gone. It was fine.

The thing was still broken.]

[complementing]

[She yawns widely.] If all three of us do it, we might be able to move it into the living room? Or maybe to your room, Lucy? [She's not as strong as Freya but she's still got pretty decent muscles!]

[belligerentwarrior]

[Please put it in Lucy's room.]

Why'd you even drag it here in the first place, 'specially if you didn't even check to see if it worked?

[true_noir]

It sounds as if you've found something at the very least. Do you need help in there?

[Chloe focused both hands on keeping the particle board and the roof of the dumpster out of the way, though she glanced in at Lucy with a modicum of concern. The girl was jumping in where there could be nails after all. Still, no hisses of pain were a good sign.]

I can help somehow, if you need it. [Though, how, she wasn't entirely sure.]

B

[borntoolate]

Umm... do you need a hand?

[The question comes from a teen aged girl with just a hint of an amused smirk.]

[long_live_the_queen]

[Lucy stood stubbornly in front of the thing, as if she could block off her roommates from it.]

I needed it. It's supposed to be there.

[In a corner of the house, to the left of the door. The clock just fit.]

[long_live_the_queen]

[The voice startled Lucy sufficiently that she dropped the dumpster lid on her head when she flinched. It made a painful-sounding bang, but she stubbornly didn't make a noise, just grit her teeth together.

She's got this, really.]

[long_live_the_queen]

[Tug. Tug. Ineffectual tug.

And an irritated sigh.]

It's too damn heavy.

[true_noir]

[And this was where she looked around and hefted the lid so that it was fully over and out of the way. She was careful to make sure it didn't clatter loudly against the dumpster side. Once that was done, she hopped up nimbly and squatted on the rim of the dumpster, like a little gargoyle.]

So, something is over it then. What do you want me to move?

[complementing]

You needed it? [There's curiosity in the emphasis. This might be the first time Minako's heard Lucy verbally mention needing anything.] You could always find someone to fix it, though it'll probably cost a lot...in the meantime, I guess we could scoot the shoe rack back a bit...and I'd want to move the coat rack and mail sorter to the other wall, so we can see them as we come in?

[borntoolate]

Whoa! Are you okay?

[She didn't mean for that to happen. Iris rushes over to lift the lid.]

[beastenderblood]

What can I say, I'm a natural answerer.

[She peeks over at the bin curiously. Looks like normal wood to her. Kind of a weird pick of items to rummage through, but who is she to judge.]

For serious though, you could probably find some metal bars around here that construction sites will take for a good price.

[long_live_the_queen]

[Now that Lucy had dug her heels in, she wasn't about to be easily deterred. She glanced up at Chloe, then at the discarded wooden wreckage the clock was still half-buried in.

...she'd need help.]

Can you budge this thing?

[Maybe she just wasn't at a good angle to pull the clock off of its base.

...what she was going to do after that was anyone's guess. It had to weigh more than she did. Lifting more than her own body weight overhead wasn't exactly part of her job's description.]