Closed Logs

Llewellyn hadn’t taken long to get in touch with Alex after things started to happen. Sometime between when he spoke to Bev about the abandoned domes disappearing and the first inhabited dome going missing, he got in contact. He did some preliminary looking around on his own, of course, but ultimately hadn’t wanted to waste too much time without a second mind to bounce thoughts off of. You could only get so much out of repeating thoughts to your dog before you really needed someone who could respond back. Alex been here a lot longer than he had, and the detective knew she would probably be as keen to look into this growing mess as much as he was.

As it stood, he knew he was out of his depth with this one; more used to murders, corruption plots and thefts than magical dome disappearances at the bottom of the blasted sea. Still, he wanted to do what he could to figure things out. Llewellyn needed to feel like he had some form of control over his life, and in this case it was by doing what he did best. Being nosy.

Notebook and pen in his pocket, with Pretzel on his leash (he was not taking a chance with leaving the little dog unattended right now), Llewellyn waited for Alex outside her dome.

Llewellyn had considered trying to get in touch with Enis over the coms, but he had been checking in on her to see how she was doing intermittently since Rhys disappeared anyway. It had been a little while though, the domes starting to disappear had thrown his routine into a weird spiral of intermittent panic and worry on rotation. The detective brain turned on properly, and he’d gotten lost in it for a while.

Then Rhy had contacted him on the behalf of the council, and they’d discussed how to proceed. Ideas, concerns, possible plans... Llewellyn didn’t have many that he could suggest that hadn’t been suggested already. After all, several of people he knew had gone home recently. Enis and the neat gadgets she’d been showing him over the last month were first to come to mind, though he was a little worried about bothering her right now what with everything she was dealing with emotionally... But desperate times.

So he showed up in the afternoon following the conversation with Rhy, and hoped to at least talk. To get a feel for how she was doing personally, how she was coping... and maybe ask for some advice if she was up for it. Perhaps having something to do would help, or maybe it wouldn’t, either way Llewellyn intended to try.

Knocking on the door, as always (despite her assessment that his insistence on that was weird, but you couldn’t get him to stop doing something the Inspector had drilled into him over two years), and waited. “Enis? Are you around?”

Things had been hectic to say the least since the first domes started disappearing, the scramble for organization, to figure things out, it had all snowballed at a rather rapid pace. Llewellyn had shifted into his work mind-frame fairly quickly, even before Rhy had contacted him on behalf of the council, with a need to try to figure it what was behind the situation. For some semblance of control in a world where there really was very little of that.

It had been a long time since he felt such a sense of urgency, his focus narrowing singly on the situation and how he could help. There was room for little else when he got like this, when he was given a job to do or found a need that should be filled.

He did make room, on occasion. Specific people he worried about, they were never forgotten entirely lest he miss something important about their state of wellbeing. Llewellyn had in the past, and it cost him dearly. Out of everyone he was closed to, Rhy would find himself interrupted on more frequent occasions by the detective, little breaks in the man’s focus that were dedicated to checking in on him over a snack. Never for long, they were both busy after all, he never wanted to take Rhy from what was important...

But he noticed things. He noticed how tired the man was growing, every time he stopped in it was worse.

Finally, there came an evening where Llewellyn had to put it all aside, to put down his foot firmly on the matter. “Rhy...? Can I have a word with you? Mm... In private?” Was out of his mouth moments after approaching, hoping to do this without an audience. He expected push back in some form, though he hoped not.

Rhy, busy in his cramped tent which had an actual desk in it for him to work with, paused to consider Watts. Of course the man had just waltzed in. He looks up from his coffee and frowns. What?

"Come on in, dear. Did you bring me a snack again?"

To be fair, tents didn’t have doors with which to knock. Otherwise, he would have. His inspector had yelled at him for not knocking enough times for that. He hovered awkwardly by the entrance to the ten before moving further in.

Llewellyn took one look at the coffee and frowned right back. In general, he liked coffee a lot. It was an excellent beverage, and he enjoyed it more than tea by quite a bit. However, when someone you cared about wasn’t sleeping, coffee was bad.

“Nope. No snack, I uh— could get you one if you wanted but...” Llewellyn let out an awkward little breath, “You need to sleep more.” It was a little blunt perhaps, but there is a considerable amount of concern in his tone as well.

What? Rhy, who had turned back to his work and writing more orders and arrangements, freezes. Then he puts the pen down and turns to look at Watts.

"My dear, do you believe I'm not sleeping?"

Llewellyn moved closer to the desk, sitting down on the edge of it as though he were going to be there a while. Rhy would have had to have gotten used to by now. He couldn’t lean on the tent walls like he usually would have.

Settled on the furniture, he fixed the other man with a particular look. It was the sort of look Rhy had been on the receiving end of quite often over the last couple weeks. The detective was focused on his face, taking in the signs of a tired person that had definitely worsened. “The evidence is strong that you haven’t been, yes. Or if you have, it mm... hasn’t been nearly enough.”

His eyes drifted to the coffee cup again, “Are you going to tell me I’m wrong?”

Well, given the fact that Rhy's bed is immaculately made and clearly the man doesn't have time to do it himself, Watts may have a point.

"I'm sorry. There just isn't time for rest. So much is happening, and while I cannot solve it, I can try to make things more comfortable and well managed."

Another frown slipped onto his face, lingering a little longer this time. Both because of the excuse and the reminder that the problem, the mystery of the disappearing domes, hasn’t been solved. It’s not Rhy’s job to solve it though, in a way he feels like it’s his. He’s the detective around here, and there’s a voice in his head telling him he’s done a poor job of it.

It’s easier to focus on Rhy and his insistence on continuing to work instead of sleep though, so he does. “Sorry is unnecessary.” Comes out quick, an old habit. Llewellyn disliked being apologized to, it didn’t change anything. In this case the appropriate response instead would be for Rhy to listen and to start taking care of himself.

“You’re right, there is... a lot happening. But! In order to continue doing the very good work you’ve been doing, you need to consider your body’s own needs as well. The less sleep you get, the uh— worse your cognitive functions grow. Which, right now, are very important.” He’s been reading again, it’s what he does when he’s worried about someone’s health. ... He ignores applying said knowledge to himself of course, a bit hypocritical...

Rhy sighs, fingers coming up to pinch the bridge of his nose.

"I hate this. I hate... I hate being powerless in the face of the loss of a city. I hate being useless when the world ends around me. It's happened too often for my liking. Once was too much. Twice is obscene."

Llewellyn shook his head a little, he couldn’t really blame Rhy for feeling that way. The other man had been through something like this before, after all. He couldn’t imagine having to deal with something like this a second time...

Gently he raised a hand to rest gently on the side of Rhy’s face to get his attention, “I know It’s not easy... but I’d remind you that you aren’t entirely powerless. You’re keeping things organized and running, ensuring the needs of the people are met as smoothly as possible while this is all happening. That’s uh... no small thing.”

It wasn’t like this were something that could be fixed, at least not that he could find yet. The sphere wasn’t just one of a funny machine that needed a little tinkering to get working. “Sometimes the most important thing in times like this is just keeping everyone together and as well as we can until the trouble is over. That includes you, just in case you forgot.”

It had been a couple days since it finally happened, the sphere’s stored supplies had gotten to the point where it was decided it was smarter to start limiting what went out... People had already been stressed and touchy before this as the situation worsened, now it was getting a little beyond what could easily be processed and dealt with. At least, that was where Llewellyn was currently at.

For all that he held it together pretty well from any outside perspective, he was starting to fray a little at the seems inwardly. Of course, Llewellyn dealt with this the only way he knew how (especially now that snacking constantly was out, oof), which was avoidance. Focus on other things, on the job, on the people he cared about or felt responsible for in some way. Anything to avoid thinking about how entirely hopeless this whole situation was starting to feel.

Thus, today had found him checking in on the younger residents that he could find and making sure they were as okay as they could be all things considered. At the very least, he knew Pretzel was at least entertaining them while also being amused in return while he was busy. That was the great thing about dogs, they were decent company and excellent therapy animals. Eddie, now that he knew he wasn’t allergic to them, had taken to the job quite quickly. He was pretty sure Richie liked the pup well enough too, even if they didn’t really agree on the coolness factor of the dog’s name.

Maybe they didn’t need a reason to be louder, but he liked to thing that loud at their age was actually better than quiet. It meant you could A. find them easily enough if you needed to, and that B. they were (usually) well.

Richie might have seen Llewellyn before the detective actually saw him, his awkward little slouching gate slow as he looked around curiously for whoever was around at the moment. Not that you could go far without bumping into someone anymore, it was just that he was looking for specific someones.

Eventually he did spot him though, it appeared Richie was out for a wander around. Probably to burn off some energy (and perhaps frustrations), so he turned his path in that direction with a short gesture in greeting, “Ah— afternoon, Richie.” Afternoon is indeed phrased more as a question... he’s not really sure what time it is. “What are you doing out and about?” Without Eddie, not that they were glued together or anything, he’d just grown accustomed to seeing the duo getting into mischief together at this point.

Edited 2020-08-23 14:44 (UTC)

As soon as things had started to go down, Alex had launched into looking into things. This was, even for the three years back home and almost two years here, and the fact that she'd already died twice (three times) a whole hell of a lot for her. But the time with the Moss had made Alex a little more wary (despite what Richard might say or think) and she's trying to avoid the same sort of circumstance if she possibly can. And god does she hope that they can.

Coming out of her dome, Alex has Apophenia on his leash as well, her bang full of things over her shoulder. Just in case. They're doing a hell of a lot of things just in case and she kind of hates that she needs to. But the idea of being without some things (her recorder, food for Apho and Simon's cat, food in general, a bottle of scotch) has made it so that Alex's normal over the shoulder bag is filled to bulging, and she's got her recorder in her coat pocket other than where she'd normally have it within the leather.

Giving Llewellyn a quick grin that is nonetheless colored and darkened by her very really concern and fear, she just says quickly: "hey. You ready to go and try poking a beehive?" Alex knows this is probably dumb but whenever has she let her stop that before?

"It's not enough!" Rhy insists, his voice loud and sharp. Just short of a shout. He's angry, he's hurting. He's powerless.

And tears are threatening at his eyes and he doesn't want to let them fall.

"I couldn't do anything but wait last time. And Wanda, she... she suggested putting people to sleep. We did that in my city."

There’s a small, instinctive flinch back as Rhy raised his voice. It’s not the other man’s fault though, Llewellyn had simply never been good around such things. Been on the receiving end of what often went with raised voices too many times.

He gathered himself though, expression softening as he looked at Rhy’s face and saw the pain in it. “I know it um— doesn’t feel like it is, but you are...? You’re doing your best in a situation where no one else knows what to do, people who’ve been here for years. You’re keeping us all organized, you’ve taken it upon yourself to carry all that weight so others don’t have to...” Weight that he really shouldn’t have to. No one should, none of them should even be here right now.

And if he didn’t feel a small pain in his heart when he saw tears threatening to spill. Llewellyn was of the mind that one should be able to feel what they felt freely, but it was always such an instinct to hold tears in... When Rhy finished his thought, he realized why. “Well as someone who is present this time, and has observed you for a while as I brought you snacks... I mm... Can honestly say you’re doing far more than wait? But I’m sure her idea, though well-meaning, wasn’t easy to hear in that case...”

Llewellyn gave Apophenia a small hello, patting the dog’s head in greeting before he focused on the question. Honestly, the answer was probably (definitely) no. Not because he wasn’t prepared to investigate so much as the fact that he wasn’t even sure how to go about poking this particular beehive. Not that it would stop him, of course! The detective tended to poke around blindly until an answer fell out from somewhere... or something bad happened.

It was a toss up on what the results would be here.

“As ready as either of us will be, I expect.” He responded with a small nod, starting to walk with a side glance at Alex. “Mm... I admit, this isn’t the sort of nest I’m accustomed to poking. Less mundane and more—” He doesn’t finish the sentence, hand waving vaguely instead to perhaps suggest ‘weird future magic shit’ in more polite terms.

“Other than domes disappearing, have you noticed anything out of the ordinary?” Alex was observant, most journalists were, it was a valuable trait in a situation like this.

"I have done no such thing. I carry the weight with the rest of the council because that was what I was elected to do," Rhy counters.

An election he had put himself in because he didn't know how to be anything but a leader of men. Even if he wasn't very good at it.

Still, his partner was definitely a man that kept Rhy balanced, wasn't he? He sighs and wipes away the unfallen tears.

"There is nothing we really can do but plan and hope for the best. And it maddens me."

“And you were elected because you chose to run, even if it was the decision of many that you get the position on the council, you still accepted the responsibility. You, Max, and Laurie are all carrying a lot right now; and still moving forward when others might give up over the hopeless feeling that has settled on this situation.” Llewellyn’s tone was gentle but a touch firm, wanting to convey that he thought a lot of what Rhy was doing.

He lowered his hand slightly to rest on his shoulder, comforting and thoughtful. “It’s very mm... maddening, but I assure you... I’m still investigating, even if I’ve not turned anything up yet.” He truly had nothing to show for it, but... “Eventually something will shift, and we’ll have an idea of what to do next.” For better or worse, but he at least knows better than to say that right now. “This is temporary, and the work you’ve done has been invaluable to keeping everyone well.”

"Fuck!" Her voice echoed from the back room. "Just come inside for god's sake. It's a store Llewellyn!" She didn't have to see him to know it was him.

He was the only person who knocked when the store was technically open.

Not that Enis often took customers. There was now a form to be filled out and she used the text system to confirm the cost of repairs. It was easier than actually coming into contact with customers who were bound to ask where Rhys was.

Enis didn't come out to meet him but as he walked into the room he'd smell burnt metal and seared flesh. There was frantic rustling in the back room but when Llewellyn stepped further into the store he'd simply see a mess, Enis and blood tears staining her cheeks.

Alex gets the hand gesture. After all, the last three years for her at home had been her investigating weird magic shit from the foundational skill set of a journalist, and it was one of those things that had both helped and hinder her in that instance. But it had at least given her a starting point, and it's given her one now, even as the walls seem to go tighter and tighter around her as people try to move their entire lives into fewer and fewer domes.

Alex doesn't like it. At all. And the reason that she doesn't like it is for a simple reason:

"You mean other than the boiling anger and sense of resentment from the older population?" The words are followed with a sigh, and Alex just presses her fingers against her dog like some sort of touch stone. "It'd happened pretty seriously with the stuff around the Moss and the older residents kind of acting like we weren't supposed to be here. I mean, I got taken early so I missed a lot of it."

Which actually stops Alex short with a frown, and she reaches out and puts a hand on Llewellyn's arm. "Before we poke too hard, you should know that the last time we poked at these sort of things, everyone who was investigating it was... Well, we died and then instead of coming back to life in our domes where we were supposed to, the Moss controlling the Sphere was able to stop us from resurrecting where they were supposed to. It was me and Aaron and Rhys," the sadness that her friends are gone lingers there. "And they took the council. Well, Max and Laurie, it seemed like Annie but we didn't know that she was a..." How to put this both more and less delicate.

"She was a robot, a really life like and human looking one who a resident who left had made in Max's daughter's image. She'd thought that she was doing him a favor. She wasn't. Instead Annie just reminded Max of a daughter who he'd never see grow up to look like that." Which makes Alex sad all over again.

Perhaps he is right. And Rhy does feel tired. He looks past Watts toward the bed.

"I just... worry I shall get too far into my head if I try and rest."

Llewellyn’s face shifted to something of an awkward grimace at the reminder of the unrest starting to spread already. He hadn’t been here for any of the prior events, but he had certainly seen what a city full of people who didn’t like the presence of specific people could do. It was frightening, ugly, and dangerous. “Well... one could argue that we aren’t supposed to be here, but that’s hardly our fault. Not that the older population will be thinking particularly rationally about that if this all gets worse. Oh— and I did mean other than that, I suppose.”

And it was a bit frustrating, because a small part of him actually liked some aspects of living here. Not the nightmares or the memory shares of course... but the freedom to just be as he was, and the people he’d befriended. It somehow was as much a home as the one he had back in Toronto. In some ways it was almost more...

Llewellyn slows his steps, pulling to a stop when Alex lightly put a hand on his arm, a curious expression crossing his face at that. “Hm? Ah...” He mumbled a little, taking a moment to consider his response to that little detail. It’s only a moment though, before he’s shaking his head a little. He looks serious, and a touch concerned. More for her than himself, “It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been in danger of dying because I poked around a case. Nor would it even be the second.” He added with a small sad smile, “But... I could also investigate on my own, you needn’t get mixed up in all this after what happened last time. It might be better to have someone who knows more available should something happen, to tell the others what’s happening if I did stumble on something.”

He knows Alex though, knows she’s just as stubborn as he is when it comes to figuring out the truth. It still needed to be suggested though, she needed to know he wouldn’t think less of her if she wanted to sit this out. Llewellyn was used to working on his own, as much as he preferred to have a partner.

The detective tilted his head, alarm rather apparent as he listened to a further recount of the events surrounding the moss. “The council as well— um... I wonder if we shouldn’t make sure someone keeps an eye on them, if only to make sure they remain safe. The people need those who can organize and keep things running as smoothly as possible if things happen.” It’s not even just knowing that Rhy sat on the council now, he respected both Laurie and Max in a way. Even if he wasn’t sure what they thought of him in general, though news that they might request his assistance did help some.

And the people would need them...

“And that can’t have been easy for them to handle last time, I... knew about Max’s daughter being gone, but I didn’t know that the third council member had been meant to look like her?” Even if it had been well-intentioned, it would almost seem cruel in its own way.

Llewellyn knows he is right. His head turning to follow the man’s gaze for a moment towards the bed with a thoughtful expression. “I know the feeling...” He murmured absentmindedly, no stranger to getting lost inward when one should be doing other things.

“Would it help if I... distracted you?” He asked, a little hesitant. Sometimes Llewellyn knew he had silly ideas, but they pop out anyway. “I could read quietly, I know having something else to occupy the mind while trying to fall asleep helps. I used to—” He used to do it for Hubert and Daniel when they were young, he hasn’t had an occasion to read to another person in years. “I just want to help you... If I can?”

Llewellyn winced a little at the expletive followed by a rather frustrated sounding invitation in. It would help if he had known the shop was properly open. He knew she’d been trying to take a break from working there for a while, and had been taking clients by text mostly... So knocking had, again, seemed appropriate.

Ah well, he’d get it right one of these days... Hopefully.

He wandered in, moving around with an absentminded distraction at the mess and the smell of something recently burnt. Making his way back towards the back room where he was reasonably sure he’d find her, he stepped around this and that. It was terribly strange, usually he was the one that left his work-space in disarray.

Entering the back room, he spoke up. “Enis I—” And then promptly stopped talking. His eyes darted from the mess, and back to Enis, and then to the blood running down her face like tears. Llewellyn’s expression does something rather strange, and complicated. Shifting from surprise to outright concern as he moved further into the room. “Enis what happened, are you— uh...” He was going to ask if she was okay, but she clearly wasn’t. Instead, he quickly looked her over with a worried, searching look to see if he could spot any obvious injuries.

It's getting harder to pretend things will just get better if Richie ignores them enough.

If the sphere had felt like a rubber band stretched taut before, then now it feels released, like it's hurtling in slow motion towards a sharp snap. Richie is completely overwhelmed, with no idea what to do about the increased outbreak of fighting and the quickly divided factions cropping up all over the place. He can only talk his way out of so much.

He takes to pacing about the dome at random hours whenever he feels his frustration build, and that's how Llewellyn catches him, with his skin itching under the surface and his hands jittery.

"Oh, yeah, greetings, chap. Just uh, just going for a stroll this fine eve. Fuck, is it an eve? I don't know." His reply is distracted, and his eyes don't really settle on Llewellyn's for longer than a second.

Edited 2020-08-26 12:06 (UTC)

Closed Logs

Alex and Llewellyn investigating WTF is happening - Backdated to early August

Checking in on Enis, Watts has one whole concern - August 12th ish?

Llewellyn checks in on Rhy and explains why sleep is good - Late month, probably around the 20th

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Watts is concerned that it’s a little too quiet - Late August, After rationing begins as requested

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Checking in on Enis, Assuming the mech shop :D

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hell yea