the frost, it looks like dust, settled on the world —

[misshuang]

Who: Miss Huang + YOU!
What: general arrival catchall / event-related threads to be added in later.
When: December - January.
Where: Milton for now, may add more later.
Content Warnings: None explicitly, but themes of her canon content warnings may make an appearance in my introspection for her.

Note: I did have Miss Huang on a previous TDM; however, I've apped her in now from a later canonpoint. For that reason, I'll be clean-slating that TDM arrival and bringing her in fresh for new interactions!

Comments

methuselah's feast.

[misshuang]

[ A fresh wave of new Interlopers comes in, and among them is a young girl, no older than fourteen. She wakes in an abandoned shed, gathers herself, collects the heavy bust set out on a dusty old counter, and follows the trail of smoke into the town of Milton.

When she steps into the Community Center — holding the bust of a man's head to her hip — her pale cheeks and nose are flushed an angry red from the bitter cold, and she's visibly shaking, jaw set stiff. Yet her expression remains controlled and mostly neutral, eyes slowly wandering around.

Canada, she's heard someone say. This isn't... where she's supposed to be. (Except it has to be, she reasons. It has to. Of course it is. Mistakes are never made.)

Unless.... unless a mistake was made, an error on her part, and perhaps this is some sort of consequence. Some sort of punishment. The girl's mouth tightens into a severe frown, and she swallows against a slick, nauseated feeling. But she won't act on assumptions. She has to sort out the facts, find out what's required of her.

She's very hungry, but she ignores the ache in her stomach with ease, features calm as she approaches strangers (are these innies? Or un-severed Lumon employees? She'll still be working for Lumon, so... they have to be one or the other.) ]

Good evening. I'm looking for the Gunnel Eagan Empathy Center. [ The girl shifts the bust on her hip, one arm wound tightly around the thing. There's a polite smile, but it doesn't reach her eyes. There's something empty about her. ] Could you point me in the correct direction, or perhaps to your supervisor?

[nicehobbit]

[ As a permanent resident of the Welcome Hall, Frodo is quite at home helping with the feast and ensuring food is plentiful. It may be primarily for newcomers, but it is equally important for any other Interlopers to get a chance at a good meal. Especially when most of what can be eaten during winter is salted meat and the like.

Crouched by the simmering pot at the hearth in a large sweater like he is, his short stature may not be immediately obvious, but will be as soon as she speaks and he stands to give her his full attention. ]

I'm sorry, I do not believe we have found any location of that name.

[misshuang]

[ When the stranger stands, Miss Huang finds herself surprised, and for a moment it shows on her face — that eerily-practiced polite calm wavering just a little bit as her eyebrows lift and she pauses.

She does assume the other is a child, which isn't altogether out of the ordinary for what she knows — she's hardly the only child worker for Lumon — but she's yet to bump into another one here and he stands out for that. She quickly gets past her startle, however, and smiles again. This time it's more authentic; she's actually quite delighted to meet someone else like herself (girl... he's not) and she lifts her chin, attentive. ]

I see... They'll likely send another shuttle for me when the time is right. [ She nods, assuredly. In truth she's a bit nervous about this pitstop, but surely things will be amended shortly. ] What do you mean by "found", though? Have you been looking for other locations?

[nicehobbit]

[ Before she answers, he registers what she's holding, and he makes no effort to hide his surprise and confusion at it. What an odd thing to bring along with you here, and carry all the way.

It must be very important.

He catches himself staring, though, and schools his face back into a smile as he turns his gaze to meet hers.

He hadn't wanted to assume that the place the woman is looking for is something back home, even though that's what he suspected. When she talks about people sending her something - he's not sure how precisely a shuttle would help in this case - however, he thinks that suspicion is probably right. ]

There is much here that has not been explored. Unfortunately, the chances of your Empathy Centre being out there is probably slim, if not non-existent. Like most of us on this island, this is probably not where you meant to be.

at her cabin.

[misshuang]

[ Well, it's become apparent that she will not be getting to Svalbard any time soon. In the days to follow since her arrival, the girl has realised that she won't be starting her duties at the Empathy Center just yet. Instead, it seems as though this is another sort of training for her. Perhaps similar to an ORTBO — an Outdoor Retreat and Team-Building Occurrence — a really, really intense one.

She doesn't know how long this will last. It could be a few days, a few weeks, or even longer than that. It all depends on how much more training she's meant to receive. (...Or how long her punishment will last, if this is that.)

In any case, she'll do whatever is required of her, and that seems to be surviving, right now. So Miss Huang (that is how she introduces herself, because she assumes that her training is continuing, that she's meant to be a leader, a managerial figure to what are presumably a bunch of innies) gets to it.

Firstly — a shelter. Now, she could keep staying at the Community Center with others, but she figures that wouldn't show much initiative at all. No, she'll be especially impressive if she can establish a true shelter. She sets off one dark afternoon to find a cabin that isn't taken yet, and when she's satisfied with her find — a small-ish place out on Thompson's Road — she starts getting to work.

It's clear that the cabin has been untouched for a very long time. Or at least, made to look that way. Miss Huang props the front door open to let the place air out a bit, though that also lets the winter air blow in. Drawing her coat tightly around herself, she starts cleaning up, sweeping the floors with an old broom she finds, and lugging out a few rugs to beat on the front porch. One might see her out there, barely able to lift a heavy floor rug up onto the banister, whacking it uncertainly with the end of her broom. But eventually the cold gets to be too much, and with chattering teeth she heads back in to try and get the fireplace going.

...Except even when she puts some logs in, the fire won't stay lit for too long (Miss Huang does not know about Kindling or Log Positioning; she just kind of... set some in there) and so she might be found stepping out onto the street, flagging down the first person she sees. Part of leadership and responsibility is knowing when to ask for help, after all. (Just not too much.) From there, she'll ask if you know how to "get a fireplace working", and if you wouldn't mind showing her.

Or, as the days pass by, you might see the young girl at the cabin, seemingly living all alone. She can't be any older than thirteen or fourteen, but there she is — lugging more logs inside, pulling out some old furniture and other random items that she means to take to the general store and trade, or sitting on the porch with a cup of coffee like she's grown. ]

[brushoff]

[ Unfortunately, the first person she flags down is Dorian, someone who looks like he's never lit a fire in his life. Miss Huang's teeth are chattering but Dorian is thriving in the darkness and the cold. In fact, he doesn't seem to be cold in the slightest—weird, as that shirt is absolutely not buttoned all the way to the top and Dorian is absolutely not wearing a jacket.

Fortunately, he does know how to light a fire. Thanks, immortality! He was around when gas lamps were a thing! And also served in a war—granted, there wasn't much opportunity to light a fire during the trench warfare of World War 1, but it's still something one should know. So when he sees the literal child wave him over, Dorian gives her a once-over before deciding eh, whatever, he can help. Helping out a child might boost up his image! ]

I do indeed know how to get a fireplace working—though if you don't have any dried firewood, it's probably best you go to the community center or the church. Kindling should be easy to get, but I do not have an axe on hand for manual labor.

[ plus, he's not doing manual labor in the first place ]

[misshuang]

[ Miss Huang takes in the man as he approaches, and his attire does immediately stand out as strange. How isn't he cold?

But she smiles, brightly and politely, and maybe even a little more openly excited than she might normally be. Trying to exhibit a calm professionalism is a tad more difficult when you're shaking in your figurative boots here. ]

Hello, fellow Interloper! [ That's what they're calling people here, what she's been called, so she's going to play this role to the fullest extent until she meets the standards required of her and gets extracted from this place. ...That's what's going to happen, right? Surely. ]

There's some wood stacked inside, [ she assures him. No axe needed today (though she's now thinking it's a good idea the procures one...) But she pauses, tilting her head. ] What's kindling?

[brushoff]

[ Oh no. She has no idea what she's doing. Dorian frowns a little before continuing, ]

Small sticks, twigs, or wood scraps that you use to start a fire. The whole log won't burn that well by itself at the start. You'll have to have something to keep it going.

around town.

[misshuang]

[ Miss Huang keeps busy, and doesn't stay still for long. It's evident that this training, or test, (or punishment), involves being part of a community in a survival situation. When she isn't working on her little cabin, she dresses in some of the warmest clothing she's been able to add to her own attire, pulls her hair back into neat pigtails, and wanders off into the darkness of the winter town with a purpose.

She's very often found at the general store, where she routinely brings items to trade, and to browse the selection of goods. At times she may be seen sitting down to have a cup of coffee like a full-grown adult. (She doesn't really enjoy the taste of it, but it's just One Of Those Things.) She'll also be poking into the library a lot, searching through books. When she doesn't find any of the teachings she's familiar with, she might approach you, asking politely where "the books on Kier" are located.

Or you might have come across the note she left at the Community Center, the one that definitely isn't faintly off-putting and creepy in the least. As promised, Miss Huang can be found there at the Community Center on a daily basis, where she makes an effort to help out with any tasks that need doing: cooking, washing or straightening bedsheets, taking stock of supplies with a clipboard in hand. She'll be introducing herself as "Miss Huang" all over the place, so it won't be difficult to find the person who left the message. And if you're stunned to find that she's a literal child.... well. She won't bat an eye about it. ]

[solitarysoul]

[Levi is kind of surprised and sad to see another kid here. This place was hard and sometimes dangerous, so no place for a kid. She seems rather put together...but that might not matter for a place like this.]

Um. A-are you Miss Huang?

[misshuang]

[ The girl brightens as the other addresses her. Her demeanour's friendly, approachable (or at least she's trying very hard for it to be), but the way she studies him might also be mildly reminiscent of a scientist taking in an interesting specimen. ]

Hello! Why yes I am. And what may I call you?

[solitarysoul]

O-oh, sorry, I'm Levi.

[He never remembers to introduce himself. He probably should have, since he's going to ask her something...but it was too late now.]

I, um, I saw your note. What sort of services?

Community Hall - Early early January

[tinstar]

[Checking the message board in the Community hall was part of his routine whenever he was at the Community Hall. Every new scrap of paper was easily noted at this point, and Miss Huang's note is fingered gently as he glances around. While he'd been distracted at Methuselah's last feast, wrapped up in his own personal hell, he was a little more clear eyed now.

It didn't take too much of a jump to guess that maybe this note had been written by the new face he noted. Young. Damned shame.

Regardless, he ambles over towards the little girl and lifts his chin faintly in greeting.]

New here, huh? You the Miss Huang attached to that new note on the board?

[misshuang]

[ Miss Huang smiles at the stranger who approaches her — polite and cheerful, but maybe just a smidgen too practiced. Even her voice has the cadence of an answering machine recording. ]

Good afternoon! Yes, I'm Miss Huang.

[ ...Something does break her out of her kneejerk robotic greeting though, and it's a certain enthusiasm that someone saw her note. That her efforts are working. Her smile brightens a little. ]

I'm very pleased that you noticed the note I left! Are you in need of some assistance?

[tinstar]

[It was very odd to get the sense that Miss Huang would be less out of place if she were surrounded by pen protectors and pamphlets. Maybe it was the clipboard.]

You get drafted as Milton's concierge? I read 'services' and 'facilitation' and I'm just.. not quite sure what that aims to mean.

[There was no jibe in the tone, he was mostly joking, but there was a curiosity as to what the angle was here. Seeing the note's author brought around more questions than it answered. Par for the course.]

An' Raylan Givens, pleasure to meet you. [His manners weren't all gone.]

library.

[afterdrop]

[ Charles has never been too bothered by the fact that he doesn't like reading. It caused him some grief in school, of course, but ever since his death he's had Edwin there to do all the book bits when the text gets too small and cramped. Without much to do here, though, he'd finally turned to the extensive collection of pulp novels lining the shelves in his cabin, and found himself quite promptly absorbed.

He's made his way through about half of them, by now. Mostly bodice rippers - both tame and excitingly explicit - but there are a few of those serial mysteries with bizarre themes. The Maine Clambake Mysteries were a bit repetitive (there's only so much you can write about clams), but the Amish Quilt Shop Mystery Series is proving far more intriguing.

When the little girl approaches him, he's sliding Clammed Up onto a shelf, right next to Shucked Apart. His first instinct is to crowd closer to the bookcase, not wanting a kid to see any volumes of the Sweet Nothings Vintage Lingerie Mystery Series, but her question catches him off guard. ]

Not that I've seen? [ He looks around the place, as though he might catch sight of the unfamiliar word from afar. ] I don't, like, work here, though. Just dropping off some books I've finished.

[misshuang]

[ There's a clear startle in her face at that reply, to begin with. It's practically unthinkable that there wouldn't be anything about Kier Eagan on these shelves. But when the young man continues, she's smiling again, something that appears on her face abruptly, like a switch has gone off. It's undeniably practiced, all the way down to how she holds herself — standing up straight, poised, head tilted upwards just a bit as though alert. ]

You must not have noticed them yet. [ She deduces. Surely that's the explanation, right. The books and documents are here, the young man just hasn't seen them yet. (Of course, she has to wonder what in the world he'd be interested in reading, apart from books on Kier!)

Forthcoming as ever, the girl's going to outright ask... She watches him with polite curiosity, but also an intensity, as though preparing herself not to miss a beat. ]

What books did you read?

[afterdrop]

Oh, uh- [ He puts on a sunny smile and steps further in front of the bawdier selections. ] All of these ones.

[ There are well over a hundred by now, after nearly a year and a half in this place, and at least three times that back in his cabin still waiting to be read. They take up several of the bookcase's shelves, packed in tight and arranged by series as he'd worked his way through. It did feel a little wrong at first, taking Gladys' collection out of her house, but he figured he'd share it with the rest of the town. ]

Woman who used to live in my house left a whole bunch behind. Romances, mostly, but some mysteries. [ He taps on the well-worn spine of Assault and Beret. ] Sort of silly ones. This whole series is about a hat-shop owner who solves crimes.

community center

[cactusy]

[Creepy kid. Creepy kid. Great. "Human mouthpiece for an evil AI god" probably isn't what's happening here, but it's Shaw's only experience with children who act even remotely like this, and so it's the first place her mind goes. She won't take that out on this particular kid, but her eyes narrow suspiciously all the same.]

Yeah, I'm not calling you that.

[She says flatly, looking up from the sock she's darning.]

You got a first name, pipsqueak?

[misshuang]

[ Miss Huang is immediately reminded of Helly R's disposition (unfavourable). Seemingly unrattled, she lifts her chin and adjusts the clipboard in her hands, determined to maintain her professionalism. ]

My first name isn't of importance in this situation.

[ "This situation" being The Workplace, which she... very much thinks she is still in. The girl smiles again, patient and pleasant. But she has a thought, remembering how the workers reacted to her before, so she will ask, and it's with genuine curiosity— ]

Are you confused because I'm a child?

[cactusy]

A little bit.

[Or rather, she's confused by how she acts as a child, but Shaw has no reason to think that those sentiments aren't essentially one and the same.]

Don't get me wrong, I was a weird kid too, but I think you take the cake. I won't call you Miss anything, but I'll call you Huang. Good enough?

general store

[pacificator]

[ Why is there a fucking child wandering around the store. Is this like whatever it was that happened to Kate a while back? But this kid isn't anything like Kate-the-child, who let Wynonna dress her snugly in snow pants and warm mittens and boots that would have made Waverly at four years old deeply jealous. She's wandering with purpose through the shelves as Wynonna comes in with a basket full of jars, each one filled to the top with moonshine.

They make a loose sloshing sound, jars clinking lightly together as she heads into the store, peering around for Louis before heading straight to the collection of canned fruits. She's checking over a slightly banged up can of pears when the girl walks by, and Wynonna half-turns to follow her with her gaze. ]

Sorry, kid. Looks like the place is all out of Kraft Dinner.

[misshuang]

[ The girl immediately perks up into attention when the woman addresses her, turning her head fully to the side first, before her body follows suit. Being called "kid" as though she's a mere child (Miss Huang, you are a mere child) is mildly insulting, but she's not so unused to it. Helly R. had a similar disposition towards her... ]

Good day. I'm not looking for dinner crafts right now. [ She answers earnestly and with great misunderstanding of what Wynonna actually meant. ]

I was actually looking for tools. [ She, um, needs an axe... Miss Huang's brows lift with curiosity as her eyes flit down to the basket in the woman's hands, and she asks, cheerfully: ]

Did you bring something in to trade?

[greatdeliverer]

[The girl with the clipboard does draw his attention, at the Community Center. Sam forces himself to go, most days, so he can meet people and be less of a loner. Fragile would be proud of him. Most of his... his friends, back home, would be proud of him, he thinks.

So he blinks a little when he sees an entire child taking inventory, tilting his head to the side a little and giving a thoughtful hm.]

That's very... organized of you.

[misshuang]

[ The girl looks up and over at the man, smile immediately appearing on her face. It's no doubt friendly, but there's something almost too practiced about it. ]

Thank you! Organisation helps us all to be more productive workers.

[ Oh she's definitely normal. ]