Rest Well

Participants:

huruma3_icon.gif lashirah2_icon.gif

Scene Title Rest Well
Synopsis Miss Lee is healing nicely; enough to be talking walks, at least. Huruma is fine with playing a bit of catch-up.
Date December 14, 2010

Bannerman's Castle

The name Bannerman's Castle is as deceiving as its appearance; built stone by stone more than a century ago, the now crumbling fortress, seemingly derelict, was in its glory days used as a military surplus warehouse and still carries the faded words Bannerman's Island Arsenal on one of its walls. Time and neglect have since taken a hefty toll on the property, which belongs to the Maxwell Development Corporation in name, but is in reality much more than a prized relic.

On the outside, ivy creeps up its walls, some stripped down to skeletal supports and others as strong and stalwart as the day they were erected. In the decades that Pollepel Island has been abandoned, nature has reclaimed a large portion of the castle where its roof has caved in, creating courtyards of stone and saplings, thorny bushes and wire fences put up to section the most tangled hollows off. A few have been cleaned up, exposing worn stone floors that serve as gathering places for the people who live inside the ruins, and where the walls are tallest, shielding one open cavern from the mainland's view, there is a metal drum to burn fires in and large chunks of stone arranged around them in a circle.

Inside, Bannerman's Castle has been repurposed by the Ferrymen network as northern stronghold with its own electrical grid powered by basement generators, though most of the castle is lit by gas lanterns and candles to conserve fuel. Tall ceilings reinforced with wooden rafters are a feature in almost every room, including the castle's dining hall and the basement kitchen where food is prepared on outdated stoves and ovens taken from restaurants on Staten Island that were abandoned in the wake of the bomb and later repaired and refinished for installation in the kitchen.

Also in the basement are the fortress' supply rooms, which are kept under lock and key and contain everything from cured meats to additional linens, firearms, ammunition and fuel for the generators that power Bannerman. The living quarters and infirmary are located on the ground floor in the corner of the castle that's most intact, and while the narrow corridors are drafty, a lot of time and effort has gone into insulating the rooms themselves as best they can be insulated with what supplies were available and fit the budged allocated to the network's reconstruction efforts.


Lashirah is out on her nightly wandering, dressed in warm jacket, jeans, boots, gloves, and a hat. She winces every few steps, but she keeps pushing herself. A gut wound, tends to damage a lot of abilities, since a lot of things tie into the muscles there. But, from the looks of it, Lashirah is a survivor. And someone who heals fast, for not being evolved. In one hand, is an insulated mug, that she sips from now and then, from which the smell of hot coffee issues forth.

The halls of Bannerman Castle are not very active as the weather gets colder; some patrols, some people going from point A to B- for the most part, everyone seems to find a place or something to do and sticks there at length. Huruma is one of the few that can stand to idle in the halls. The various niches in walls, and alcoves along the hallways can serve to either be good hiding spots for children, or good perches for adults. She is curled in one of the alcoves in the hall, listening to the sounds with her hands on her lap, knees crooked up in front of her. She's got on a couple of shirts, and what looks like a flannel that she likely stole from someone. The red plaid somehow suits her.

She can hear, and feel, the woman that has been achingly getting herself walking again. Only when miss Lee gets near enough for Huruma to smell the coffee does she lean her head and shoulder out of the alcove to look. Hello.

Lashirah pauses in her tracks. What ELSE do you do when someone suddenly leans out of an aclove at head level to you. Well, other than her free hand reaches to her side almost reflexively… only to find that, yup, she's still missing her normally carried 'little friend.' Which might be all the better at the moment as she recongized Huruma after a few moments. "oh…" She finally says lamely. "That was a fright…"

"I'm th'worst thing you'll see around here…" Huruma actually laughs a little at the woman's reaction, her tone dry. "You can carry a gun like th'rest of security, but you've got t'watch yourself. Kids, families- this is not enemy terrirtory. S'ok." She sits up a little, swinging long legs down over the edge and pitting her boots to the ground. Her eyes trail lines across Lash, observing her closely. "How are you feeling?" Not in her head, Huruma already knows that- she means physically.

Lashirah shakes her head. "Still hurts. Still humiliating. Hit over the head like a thug." She grimaces. "Took my firearm, my vest. Left me with my clothes at least. Then going to haul us upstate to gods know where without telling us where… busted out… then… well…" she shakes her head and grins. "First firefight without a vest. First time a vest would have helped. Damn." She laughs a little, despite it hurting. "On my Christmas list this year, those two things." She pauses. "how are you, Huruma? It has been a while."

"Go figure." Huruma's hands on the wall buckle at the fingers a little, her shoulders rolling in a small stretch. She lifts both to button a few buttons of the flannel. Despite being a woman, she is big enough to fill out the shoulders. "We've got a bit of a stockpile going. I don'imagine you getting one unless you heal up an'fall in with security." She considers Lashirah a moment.

"Benjamin is working wit'someone in th'Ferry, heading that department." That may explain a little about why Huruma is here looking like she might be getting Cabin Fever- in the part of her that dresses herself. "I am okay. Well enough, I think, compared t'some."

"Huh. So that's what he's been up to." Lashirah laughs a little. "I'm healing, but it isn't overnight… odds are I"ll end up doing whatever needs to be done… not like I can head back to town. They know both my faces." She motions to the hair that is starting to grow back in black at the roots. "Likely I"ll let it go natrual again."

"Best let it. Maybe keep it a new length." Huruma doesn't need to worry about masking her hair- it's hardly there, and if it is, it is either flattened or allowed to simply sprout. Right now it is somewhere between that and buzzed off. She's due for something, looks like. "You can start off with something simple, I think- things need cleaning, still. Dishes. Clothes. Could always babysit.." Making ex-agents into babysitters? priceless.

"And- if you'ave any weird dreams- you need to let someone know."

Lashirah blinks. "weird dreams?" She asks quite simply, as she leans against a wall and sips at her coffee. "Can't say that I have, but alright." She grimaces. "Children, I… uh… dishes sound good." THAT sounds very sincere, and worried.

"Delia Ryans is having- an out of body experience. She's been- around." Huruma tries to make this as easy to explain as she can; this is what she comes up with, and for now, it's good enough. "Only do what you can, it will help you get around, but if you need t'rest, jus'go rest." Long fingers twine with one another on her denim covered lap. "Nobody is going t'make you do things you can't handle."

Lashirah smirks a little. "That's my job." She states simply. It's by trying for that edge of 'just can't quite', that you get stronger, in her experience. Still, she does have a long way to go. "I'll keep alert for… visitors into dreams then." She states simply as she tries to digest the information given.

"You can ask Ben about it if you need to, I am only giving you what I know he is comfortable with me telling others." Not much, technically. Chances are that Lash will find out more details, but Huruma is not in a mood to start gossiping. "W'have a couple of th'people from th'convoy still here, if you wanted t'find them. If you don't, that's fine- just thought you should know."

Lashirah shakes her head, then asks something a little more to the point with her. "People from Gun Hill… how are they?"

"I wasn'there, I had th'van. I think all but one got out- he was on the convoy too. If there were more, I do not know of them." Huruma's thumbs fidget with one another, and she glances down to her hands, and back up again. "They've settled in, since, th'ones that came. That girl of yours- Liza- she was th'one that made us start decorating." The dark woman sighs, though it borders a laugh. "So if you see things on walls, or a tree…"

There is a pause, then an honest deep laugh, even though it hurts, it is a good hurt. "Even out here, Christmas will strike." She continues to giggle. "Glad to know some things still are alright in this world."

"I wouldn'know, this is m'first." Huruma shrugs heavily and gets to her feet, elbows bowed back in a small stretch. "She made us put up mistletoe, too. I think there were some kids messing around b'cause of that." She looks mildly perturbed by people taking it seriously. "And-" Oh, just one more thing.

"If you see a penguin, don'freak out. They- they are visitors. One can talk, it's some sort of proxy creature."

The rest doesn't surprise Lashirah much. "A WHAT? Here? Proxy for who?" She looks mildly confused.

"One of the Ferry's friends. Penguins. Animal telepathy." Huruma uses small words, pointedly. "Don'hit them, kick them, scare them, jus'be nice. They're keeping an eye on th'water, I think."

Lashirah shakes her head. "A first time for everything…" she mutters, then shivers a little. "I think it's time I get back to a warm room, with warm blankets…"

"If you need anything, let someone know. W'take care of each other now." AKA, if you need something from the stores, like another blanket- don't go getting it yourself. Huruma shifts to move past her, one hand lifting to brush at Lashirah's elbow. "Rest well." Looks like Huruma is off too, in whatever direction is opposite the one that the ex-agent needs to go.

Lashirah smiles. "Thanks… solar panel, coffee maker, coffee?" Of the three, only one is all that major a request. She grins, and nods her head. "Be well, and try to avoid low-flying bullets?" it's meant as a joke, as she works her way to her own room.


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