Kaylee Southbrook
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Posts: 49
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Post by Kaylee Southbrook on May 6, 2009 18:25:04 GMT -5
In the more open area of Florenceville along Silverpine Ave lies lot 14. At the front of the lot is a mailbox addressed to Southbrook, Kaylee.
Here, a small two-storey house lies among quite an extensive garden.
The garden is planted in many bright flowers, bushes and one or two trees. Behind the house is a vegetable garden.
The house itself has two stories.
The ground floor holds an entrance hall with the staircase and a closet, and a toilet on the side. There are doors to a living room with an open kitchen facing to the front.
The top floor holds the bathroom, a bedroom and a spare room currently used for storage.
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Post by Fourteenth on May 13, 2009 17:02:43 GMT -5
Fourteenth departs the cab, slinging the girl's limp body onto his back. He walks halting toward the front door of the house, groaning with effort. He hadn't healed yet, and walking, much less carrying the insensate girl, was already something of a trial.
He pauses about half way there to catch his breath, then push her higher up on his back. Again rifling through her bag, he opens the front door with the key, steps inside, and deposits her on the nearest sofa.
After helping himself to some milk in the fridge, and quietly grabbing a few cans of soup, he uses the girl's cellphone, calls the hospital, and leaves--- but not before he clandestinely leaves a window unlocked in the back.
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Kaylee Southbrook
Super
[0:Please leave message after the beep.][1:Out and around, watch who you run into]
Posts: 49
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Post by Kaylee Southbrook on May 13, 2009 17:08:31 GMT -5
Kaylee remains limply on the sofa in the living room as Fourteenth pilfers her fridge and storage cabinet. There's a couple cans of soup to take, and some other tinned foodstuffs.
[[ later ]]
When the ambulance arrives, they find the front door open with the key still in the lock. Kaylee is still lying on the sofa, and carefully the ambulance personnel maneuvers her into the ambulance on a stretcher. Taking her duffel bag with them, and the keys after locking the door, they drive to the nearest hospital.
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Post by Fourteenth on May 13, 2009 17:38:08 GMT -5
After the paramedics have left, Fourteenth wastes no time in climbing back into the house through the entrance he'd prepared for himself. He helps himself to the shower, taking the opportunity to use shampoo and cut his hair a little, womanly shampoos notwithstanding (he's in no position to be picky), then plops down on a couch and flicks on a TV.
He could live with this. And he would.
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Post by The Phantom Rogue on May 18, 2009 21:23:36 GMT -5
Roughly a week after their meeting at the train station, Kacey decided to pay a visit to one Ms. Southbrook, florist (Kacey had done some research in the phone book in the meanwhile.) Judging from the first contact, the other girl might be unwary enough to make an easy mark, or at the very least she might start earning some trust to eventually make it so. So Kacey walks up to the door one weekend afternoon, and knocks on the door of 14 Silverpine Avenue.
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Post by Fourteenth on May 19, 2009 0:28:09 GMT -5
Fourteenth hears the knocks.
He's doing some light calisthenics, doing one armed pull-ups with a door frame, squats with a bar and two bags of gravel he found in the the backyard. It's light for him, only around 230lbs for the squats, but he's recovering as fast as he can, as much as the stitches would allow him to. He never knew when 'they', whoever they were, would be coming for him. And they certainly wouldn't be getting his other arm.
He doesn't go to the door. Nobody knew he was living here, and he wasn't about to let anyone have that impression. Instead, he readies his Colt Custom, creeps upstairs and takes a peek at the guest from the upper floor, hiding to the best his special forces training and experience as an assassin would allow him to.
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Post by The Phantom Rogue on May 19, 2009 1:12:13 GMT -5
She knocks a few more times, and shouts "Is anyone home? I'm looking for Ms. Southbrook, we met at the station last week?"
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Post by Fourteenth on May 19, 2009 1:21:23 GMT -5
Fourteenth patiently waits for her to leave, playing with the hammer of his Colt as he does.
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Post by The Phantom Rogue on May 19, 2009 1:30:31 GMT -5
"Hm, I guess nobody's home..." She goes around to a side window and jiggles it open with her knife. She climbs through the window - into the kitchen - as quietly as she can, then listens for any sounds that might indicate activity.
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Post by Fourteenth on May 19, 2009 2:09:21 GMT -5
Fourteenth swears.
He'd left his impromptu workout equipment out, not expecting the woman to invade the house-- forget the equipment, the smell of sweat would probably be enough indication that someone was there. Thankfully, his spare magazines and all 43 rounds of .45 ACP ammunition are hidden in a shoe box in a closet. Fourteenth's mind races.
The house is small, hiding is a bad idea. Cover. He would need a cover.
He strips down to boxers. Bum clothing would be a dead giveaway. After turning on the shower quickly, he moves to the first floor.
Walking down, he openly confronts the wayward woman. 'You, what the hell are you doing in here?' He waves the gun for effect.
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Post by The Phantom Rogue on May 19, 2009 19:00:49 GMT -5
"Uh, hi! You must be Ms. Southbrook's boyfriend? ... Fiancé?" She grasps at straws, putting her hands up, then hesitantly lowering one for a handshake. "I'm a good friend of Kaylee's just dropping by for a visit here. She told me she'd be home today, and I got concerned that nobody was answering the door."
Almost as an afterthought, she adds, "Sorry I interrupted your shower... I could come back later if you'd like?"
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Post by Fourteenth on May 19, 2009 19:05:26 GMT -5
'By breaking in? You couldn't have called her?'
Fourteenth puts as much pressure on the girl as possible. He does not remove the gun from a ready position.
'Kaylee's in the hospital. She fainted and hasn't woken up. I'm watching the house. I would very much like it if you leave friend.
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Post by The Phantom Rogue on May 19, 2009 19:25:10 GMT -5
Between the exposed lie and sensing that this man wouldn't budge from his position, she switches tracks. The offered hand goes back up, and she backs away slowly towards the front door. She tries to change the subject.
"Kaylee -- ohmygod is she okay? Maybe we can talk about this if you put the gun down, please. Over a drink, perhaps? Would you prefer coffee or tea? I could make either of them while you go uh, take your shower..."
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Post by Fourteenth on May 19, 2009 21:48:17 GMT -5
Fourteenth doesn't buy her cover for a second.
'You broke into this house. Get out before I call the cops or shoot you. Whichever I fancy more.'
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Post by The Phantom Rogue on May 19, 2009 23:06:16 GMT -5
"Okay, okay, I'll be leaving now." She continues backing towards the door and opens it, but suddenly gets an inspiration from the encounter with Kaylee. "But only if you tell me who you are. Do you always keep a gun in your - no, in Ms. Southbrook's bathroom?"
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Post by Fourteenth on May 19, 2009 23:23:31 GMT -5
'I always keep a gun with me period.'
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Post by The Phantom Rogue on May 19, 2009 23:57:37 GMT -5
Finally giving up on getting any answers out of this guy, and not wanting to keep pushing and get shot, Kacey waves goodbye and leaves the house without another word.
**********
When she got back to her room, she calls the local hospital and finds out that the mystery "boyfriend" had at least been telling the truth about Kaylee's condition, and left her number to call if Kaylee would recover. Would such a timid girl really live with someone who claimed to always carry around a gun? Something was not quite right here...
((OOC note: When Kaylee recovers/Kaylee's player returns, she'll be informed over the phone that a taciturn man with a gun has been living in her house for some time now.))
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Post by Fourteenth on May 31, 2009 23:42:26 GMT -5
It has been weeks since Fourteenth settled in, and problems are beginning to crop up. For one thing, he's running out of food. Having consumed an above-average quantity of calories (compared to his life on the streets of Blackwork anyway), his unwitting benefactor's pantry is becoming quite empty.
Other basic supplies are becoming scarce as well, toilet paper in particular.
On the up side, Fourteenth is mostly healed now, only the tender tissues of his throat still scratchy and the inner membranes of his viscera still a little loose. Not that that stopped him from training his body. Fourteenth pulls his chin over his impromptu pullup bar with only his human arm, a hundred pounds of extra weight hanging by a harness between his legs, supported by a waist assembly he'd put together himself.
Ten.
He lets himself drop, legs thunking to the ground, weight clattering. He'd put on a little weight, but he didn't want to become too heavy. His lack of speed had cost him his last prosthetic in his last encounter with the pyro, Sabbat. This level of strength, he thinks, is enough, whilst allowing him to remain fast enough.
That was the other thing that worries him. The house lacked a treadmill, and while Fourteenth is content, for now, to build up mass, he has not had an opportunity to work aerobically. He is uncomfortable with leaving the house--- for fear of blowing his cover.
Now, the act seems necessary.
Fourteenth would need a job.
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Kaylee Southbrook
Super
[0:Please leave message after the beep.][1:Out and around, watch who you run into]
Posts: 49
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Post by Kaylee Southbrook on Jul 1, 2009 17:48:42 GMT -5
2 july, early afternoon.
Three days before, Kaylee had awoken from her comatose condition. She was kept at the hospital for a while longer to ascertain that she was healthy and could be released, and on the morning she checked out, she felt fine again.
No call had yet been made to Kacey's number, because it was not in Kaylee's list of numbers to be called in emergencies. Her parents had been called, and they had come to visit her a bit later. Kaylee insisted, however, that she would take a cab home by herself. The hospital personnel had given her Kacey's number with the message that the young woman wished to know if she woke up, but that it was her decision to call her. She thought about calling in the cab home, and also about the note that there was someone else in her house while she had been in a coma. She presumed it might have been a bum that had stolen her keys, but then again the ambulance personnel had brought the keys with them.
As she stepped out of the cab in front of her house, the first thing she saw was all the mail in the mailbox she'd missed. There were several bills, a letter from her parents, and some other notas, including a message that she's won the jackpot somewhere. She threw that one away.
Walking up to the front door, key in hand, she listened if anyone was inside.
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Post by Fourteenth on Jul 1, 2009 23:06:45 GMT -5
Fourteenth is practicing his tactical reloads and draw-present-shoot in the living room. At this point, he'd more or less converted the house into his own abode, and anyone else who walked in would instantly comment on how much it smelt of sweat and testosterone.
Fourteenth himself didn't notice, of course, having lived on the muddy streets of Blackwork and in the gutters of London-- he merely used it for what it was worth: a dwelling.
And a safe place to sharpen what were, unfortunately, still perishable skills.
See the sights. Drop the magazine, draw a new one, pointer finger on the tip of the bullet, base of the magazine in the step of your palm. Keep the gun at shooting level, tilt slightly. Visually acquire the magazine well. Insert. Hit the slide-lock. Return to ready and--
*click*
--fire.
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Kaylee Southbrook
Super
[0:Please leave message after the beep.][1:Out and around, watch who you run into]
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Post by Kaylee Southbrook on Jul 2, 2009 4:53:28 GMT -5
Kaylee can see that several of her potted plants have shifted on the windowsill - she knows something's wrong. she turns the key in the lock, opens the door and steps inside. At the very smell she encounters, she drops the duffelbag with a dull fwump and just stands there in the hallway, catching glimpses of the living room through the half-open door.
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Post by Fourteenth on Jul 2, 2009 16:44:20 GMT -5
Fourteenth peeks out into the hall, gun in hand to see what the sound was about.
He freezes for a brief moment.
'Don't scream, please.'
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Kaylee Southbrook
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Post by Kaylee Southbrook on Jul 3, 2009 8:19:50 GMT -5
Kaylee merely opens her mouth into a silent gape of amazement and fright. The blood clearly drains from her face as she looks Fourteenth straight in the eyes.
"Who are you?" is all she says, but her words imply more than just asking for a name. She leans onto the doorpost, and flinches for a second as the images of how she was carried through it limply, twice, flow into her mind.
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Post by Fourteenth on Jul 3, 2009 9:57:36 GMT -5
Fourteenth's expression darkens and he steps in full view in the hall. He's not wearing much, having thought himself in the safety of his 'home'-- an undershirt and boxers, but the bareness suddenly emphasizes something strange.
Otherworldly. Draped in a coat or jacket as most have seen him, Fourteenth is nothing remarkable. Every injury exposed now, it seems to anyone who views him that no human could accrue that amount of injury in a single lifetime, much less the mid-twenties Fourteenth appears to be in.
The man is riddled with pale starbursts of skin that signify gunshot wounds. These pepper his body, one such scar replacing his left nipple. On top of that is a constant patchwork of white scars crisscrossing over ageless skin. Then larger lines, from heavy hacks, stabs and thrusts.
The results of Kaylee's psychometry is coming back a little now, the origins of wounds flooding back.
Face down in the dirt a Turk plunges his saber into a back. In the dust of Afghanistan, an armor piercing round rips through body armor and flesh, a gasp in the air. In the muddy trenches of the Somme, an exploding artillery shell showers a group of men with hot shrapnel, one man limps away. The hooded faces of the Inquisition, their cruel knives.
Fourteenth's voice breaks the spell.
'Do you really want to know?'
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Kaylee Southbrook
Super
[0:Please leave message after the beep.][1:Out and around, watch who you run into]
Posts: 49
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Post by Kaylee Southbrook on Jul 3, 2009 10:06:39 GMT -5
"I know parts of it already..." She replies with a quavering voice. "... enough to know that I fear what I will see if I come into contact with you again." She pushes her fear down, and sees the many scars.
'Yes', she thinks, 'I know how he got that one... and that one... and... oh gods. The poor man...' Tears start to well up in her eyes, but she manages to repress them. With a slow movement, she picks up her bag again.
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Post by Fourteenth on Jul 3, 2009 10:08:18 GMT -5
Fourteenth's voice remains level.
'Do you want me to leave?'
The sound is flat.
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Kaylee Southbrook
Super
[0:Please leave message after the beep.][1:Out and around, watch who you run into]
Posts: 49
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Post by Kaylee Southbrook on Jul 3, 2009 10:10:35 GMT -5
"No!" She almost shouts, and reaches out, but stops herself halfway in the action, drawing her hand close to herself again. "No, you can stay, if you want..." she's shaken, but she can't but feel compassion for the man in front of her who's suffered so much. Having seen only about a tenth of it all, she already has seen more pain than she ever wished to see in her life.
"I know you have nowhere to go... I have a spare room that you can use."
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Post by Fourteenth on Jul 3, 2009 10:18:58 GMT -5
'Good.'
He visibly relaxes, suddenly noticing that he still has the gun in his hand.
'Sorry.'
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Kaylee Southbrook
Super
[0:Please leave message after the beep.][1:Out and around, watch who you run into]
Posts: 49
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Post by Kaylee Southbrook on Jul 3, 2009 11:13:37 GMT -5
As Fourteenth shifts the gun, she suddenly notices it. "Um... could you... er... keep it.. away, please?" She doesn't like the sight of it, but isn't really surprised that he has a gun. "I'd like to... go to my room now..." she softly asks, afraid to come close to Fourteenth who's blocking the way to the stairs.
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Post by Fourteenth on Jul 3, 2009 11:54:35 GMT -5
Fourteenth removes the magazine from the gun, and gives the slide a yank. A chambered round rolls to the ground, and he bends over, picks it up, and moves his tall frame out of Kaylee's way.
As she passes him, he mentions to her, 'How do you know?'
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