it's been a long october.

[afterdrop]

Who: Charles Rowland and YOU
What: Monthy catch-all
When: Throughout October
Where: Around Milton

Content Warnings: Specifics TBD; general warnings available here.


𝒊. 𝒚𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒔𝒂𝒓𝒅

[A short jaunt up from the town center, where the road gets rougher and the sparse trees begin to climb towards Milton House, there's an overgrown, decrepit cottage tucked back in the trees. Blue once, maybe, but faded into a mildewy grey, its windows utterly piled with what hasn't been worth scavenging.

At least, until today.

It's been almost six weeks of squatting in the near-hoard, stuck between pretending that he wouldn't be here long and feeling overwhelmed by the monumental task of making this place livable, when Charles finally wakes up, opens the front door, and starts dragging shit outside.]

Sorry, mate. [He gives a sideways little wave, plunking down a plastic cat carrier.] Just trying to clean up a bit, yeah?

[If it looks like it might have belonged to a 70-year-old woman prior to the apocalypse, it's sitting in the front yard now. Several ceramic horse figurines. A needlepoint pillow with a Bible verse on it. An ornate mirror, slightly scuffed. Use your imagination liberally. Surrounding it all, however, are items in much worse shape. The mattress looks like someone may have died on it, judging from the stains, and there's plenty of busted, broken furniture that's ripe to be chopped into firewood.]

Nick whatever you want. Don't think Gladys'll miss it much, will she?

𝒊𝒊. 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆

[There's one thing he won't part with from the old lady's house - an old, crumbling stick of black eyeliner he found in a bathroom drawer. With a tragic lack of sufficient inside light, however, he's toted a compact mirror down to the lessening hours of the town's unfiltered sun, and sat down against the back of the hunting supply store.

After thirty years of spiritually manifesting his eyeliner, it's harder than he remembers, especially with the scavenged pencil.]

Fuck. [Someone's having a hard time.] Bloody piece of shit.

[If you approach, he'll have one of a couple of reactions. Older men, particularly those broad or bearded, or otherwise classically masculine, will have him scrambling to conceal the pencil behind his leg, quickly barking out a, ] What're you looking at?

[If you have the good fortune not to remind him of one Paul Rowland, however, his reaction will be much less hostile. Instead, he'll give the pencil a little wave and offer a crooked smile.] Bit harder than back home, innit?

𝒊𝒊𝒊. 𝒐𝒐𝒄

[Contact me at ghoulsonfilm or pantsghost @ discord to plot a custom starter. Brackets are prose are both fine!]

Comments

[afterdrop]

[For a second Charles blinks at the boy, trying to parse out his reaction - genuine confusion, or something about to escalate into judgment? Is he going to need to "throw hands", as the kids these days say?

Fortunately, it's not hard to deduce that Levi is just actually confused.]

Eyeliner. [He waves the pencil, as if that's going to explain everything.] Fucking hard to put on inside without any lights, but the mirror's still shit.

[solitarysoul]

Oh.

[...yeah, okay, sure. Not the weirdest thing people from other worlds did.]

Do you, um, I could try to help?

[He clearly has no idea how he would though.]

[afterdrop]

[He's not going to deny that he needs help, but actually having a bloke apply it for him has a tinge of intimacy that he isn't willing to go near, especially not with a stranger. Instead, he lowers the mirror and sits up a little straighter.]

Lemme know if I'm getting too far away from the lash line?

[He holds the pencil still by the inner corner of his eye, waiting for confirmation.]

[solitarysoul]

[He thinks he understands that, so Levi nods. He then moves a bit closer so he can get a better look.]

Okay.

[afterdrop]

[The guy still seems pretty confused, which is fine. Charles just does what he does best, which is talk through the awkwardness.]

Worst part's that it takes two hands, really. One to hold the pencil, and one to hold the eyelid out, like this.

[He demonstrates, closing one eye to get at the lash line.]

Took me ages to figure it out myself, when I was younger.

[solitarysoul]

Um, if it takes two hands do you want me to hold that?

[He nods to the mirror then returns to closely watching whatever it is Charles is doing.]

...I-I, uh, I bet.

[afterdrop]

Yeah, sure.

[He passes it over, if only to let the boy feel even more helpful.]

Name's Charles, by the way. Figure this town's small enough none of us are strangers, really.

[solitarysoul]

[He takes the mirror and holds it up.]

T-tell me if you want me to move it.

[He's holding it about where Charles had it.]

Oh, sorry. I'm Levi.