Participants:
| Scene Title | Russian Roulette |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Tania tries to get a crazy homeless man on drugs out of the brick house. Or something like that. |
| Date | May 05, 2011 |
Eltingville Blocks: Brick House
So… it's been a few days since the mysterious man arrived via classic movies on Delia's (now-cracked) television set. He's been asleep for most of it, feverish for all of it. But now, the fever's finally broken, his nose has stopped bleeding, and he opens his eyes.
What happened? Where is he? The man doesn't know. He's groggy and confused and the bed is alternately familiar — over the last few days — and unfamiliar. But one thing's for sure: after all that time, he really has to pee. So he staggers up and makes his way to the door to poke his head out and try to find the bathroom. He scratches his head, smacks his lips a bit, and goes hunting.
So, you know. There's a strange man wandering the house. Or at least the hall by Delia's room.
The upstairs bathroom isn't too hard to find, thankfully, but there is the unfortunate coincidence that he isn't the only one who thought to use it this morning.
Tania has been scarce for a bit, feeling under the weather as she tends to from time to time, and it's just bad luck that the young girl steps out of the bathroom just in time to see a strange man coming down the hall.
Why do these things happen when her brother isn't home?
The girl greets him with a surprised gasp and a distinctly frightened expression, but the good news is she doesn't appear to be the screaming type. No no, she just rushes back into the bathroom and slams the door. There is some muffled words from that side of the door, hard to make out but they do sound Russian, at least! But she ends up blurting out louder (and also with that Russian accent), "Who are you? How did you get in here?!" It's… not the most threatening voice in the world.
Still groggy, the man blinks. Who was that girl? Blink blink. Doesn't seem to be… who was that… Dee-lee-ah? Yes. No, this one is not red-head. Grimacing, he says in Russian, «I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I don't know where I am. Where am I? Who are you? … Also can I please have the bathroom? Please?» Pozhalstaaaaaaaaa
An intruder who wants to use the bathroom. It can only be for shenanigans, clearly, but what's a girl to do? There's a long pause from Tania, apparently she has to think this one over.
"«I'll come out, but you have to move back,»" she eventually replies, giving him a few second to do just that before the door cracks open so she can check. When she does come out, in loose fitting pajamas and all, she's wielding… a bottle of shampoo which is probably the closest thing to a bludgeoning device she could find in there. But she doesn't hit him with it, it's just a warning. She could hit him! If he gets too close! Instead, she skitters from the door, trying to not get too close to him there in the hall.
"«I will move back. I mean you no harm! Please, I'm just lost,»" the man replies, and as she steps out, she finds he's backed up a few feet and is holding his hands up placatingly. As she skitters past, he does his best to back against the wall to let her through and then sidle past to the bathroom. Yes!! Relief.
A couple minutes later, after the water runs and he washes his hands, the dishevelled man pokes his head out again. "«Hello? I'm coming out now. Don't shoot.»" Haha. Ha. That shampoo wasn't a gun, right? Or something? Where the hell is he anyways?
The man seems to be wearing a t-shirt that fits rather snugly — one that Tania can recognize as one of Delia's shirts stolen from Toru, judging by the cartoon on the front. He's also wearing sweatpants that go halfway up his calves. Somehow this does nothing to lessen the creepiness of this situation.
"«Lost inside someone's home?»" Likely story, Tania's tone says. She's a little lost as to what to do at this point, this being her first home invasion experience. And there's the added thought that if he's wearing Delia's clothes, perhaps she's laying murdered in her room right now and the girl is a little torn between wanting to make sure the woman's alright and not wanting to see her lying gruesomely in a pool of blood or something. Plus! In the movies, they always say if the criminal lets you see his face, then he's totally going to kill you, so she's got a bit of the frozen in fear thing going on.
So she's still out in the hallway when he comes back out, still holding the bottle as if it might make her seem a bit more threatening. Nevermind that she's skinny as a beanpole. "«If you hurt Miss Deliya,»" she ends up saying, "«You will regret it.»"
Just how he'll regret it, she doesn't explain, but then she's new at threatening bad guys, too.
"«Deliya?»" the man repeats for a moment, "«Oh! Dee-lee-ah, Deliya, yes, this makes sense. No! No I never hurt anyone, I promise. I…I don't know what's going on.»" He pauses and gives her a pleading look. "«Where are we? Are we in Moscow?»" He doesn't move toward her, doesn't move at all really. "«I don't think Deliya can speak Russian. She thinks I'm speaking Spanish. Is she a visitor? Did I wind up in your home somehow?»"
That's when Tania's arms drops to her side. Because of the confusion. "«Are you on drugs?»" It's a valid question, at this point. But she remembers to lift that shampoo again, just in case! "«Because you are a very long way from Moscow. Miss Deliya doesn't speak Russian because we are in America. New York City. And yes, you are in our home, where did you think you were?»"
Tania's brow furrows because at this point, she doesn't know what to think. "«How did you get in?»"
"«What? No! I don't take drugs,»" the man huffs, brows creasing. But as she goes on, he blinks owlishly. "«America? New York City? But I — But how — …»" Now he looks alarmed. A hand goes to his head to run slowly into his hair, blue eyes focused somewhere in the middle foreground. "«I…I don't know,»" he confesses. "«I think I…became…I don't know? But I'm not on drugs!»" A likely story!
At least he landed in a house where half of the people living there have medical training. To get him off his high or possibly get him into a straight jacket.
"«Why are you wearing Miss Deliya's clothes?»" Tania narrows her eyes at him, suspicion more than clear. "«Don't move.»" Because she's stepping down the hall, backwards so he can't sneak up on her, to peek into Delia's room.
"«I don't know! I woke up with them,»" the man replies helplessly. "«How could I possibly be in New York City?»" He resumes his hands-up position, as she sidles back. In fact, he slides down the wall to sit in the corner, one hand going to scratch his head a bit, and rub his eyes, and whatnot. This is a dream, right?
The room is a mess… Not due to foul play but because the woman that resides in it isn't exactly the neatest of people. Unlike the rest of the house. Piles of sorted laundry ready for washing is lumped in separate heaps on the floor, books ranging from trashy romance novels to medical texts to gardening how tos are scattered on various surfaces. The one area that is spotless is the nightstand by the bed, the place where her beloved bonsai tree makes its home.
There is blood, at least traces of it. The pool left by Luka upon entry is half hidden by a load of jeans. The old television sitting on the dresser is broken, the screen cracked in a few places and one of the antenna broken off. Unless she's been stuffed under the bed, there's no sign of Delia.
You know, for a moment, Tania gets a little sympathetic there, watching the man huddle into the corner and look so confused and sad. Poor crazy man.
But then she looks into Delia's room. The broken TV is spotted first but the blood isn't missed, either. Probably because it's exactly what she was expecting to see in there in the first place.
First, the shampoo bottle is thrown in his direction. Which might have hurt if she was any good at throwing things at a target. But she doesn't sit there to see if it hits, no, she darts into the bedroom she shares with her brother and slams the door. But she comes back out a moment later with a nice, lacquered, wooden baseball bat that has never been and was never intended to be used on a baseball. Just on intruders. And the way she stalks toward him, she seems to be aiming to shoo him down the stairs with it. And probably out the door, too. If she's not home alone, which she realizes she probably is, the others would at least hear the delicate girl shouting for him to get out. But, you know, in Russian. Still, it sounds angry! And that's hardly normal from this girl.
Oh yeah, this is going to go well. When the bottle is thrown at him, the man jerks back in surprise as it goes hurtling past into the bathroom. And when she's gone, he's standing, trying to say helpfully, "«Little girl…»"
Which is so helpful right now.
But then she's out with a baseball bat and his eyes widen out. Oh shit. Crazy Americans!! He sidles along the wall, holding up his hands, trying to get past and allowing himself to be shooed out, because he is an intruder after all. "«I didn't do anything! Please, I'd never hurt you or Miss Deliya!»" he pleads, all the while backing up.
Oh, we are past the reasoning stage, mister intruder! Tania actually takes a swing at him at the little girl comment. She doesn't connect, because she's still keeping some semblance of distance, but the message, it gets across.
"«You broke in to our house!»" Which is something enough for her. "«And you are crazy and on drugs and crazy!»" When they hit the bottom of the stairs, she still holds the bat threateningly, but she pauses there. He can show himself out, right? Plus, she's started to feel dizzy in all the excitement and seems to be unsteady on her feet. Perhaps she should have stayed in bed today.
Just as Luka reaches the bottom step, the front door opens to allow a giant dog through. To a man only familiar with all things Russian, he might recognize the beast as half wolf. Its eyes are definitely a good indicator of its origins if not the coarse hair that covers its body. She stops and just looks at him.
The pink leash that's attached to the canine is tethered to the woman in question. Her blue eyes are opened wide at the site of the young girl swinging a bat at the man who has been occupying her room. "Uhm…" Really, it's all she can say as her eyes dart between the two of them and then she gasps a deep breath of air in. "Tania! Did he hurt you?! Are you okay?!"
"«I didn't! At least — at least I didn't mean to — I came in — I came in through the — »" … Okay maybe he is on drugs, he thinks. He wasn't seriously about to say the TV was he? But he is moving down the stairs at her behest, and reaching for the doorknob, when it opens and there is a huge dog. Right there.
He freezes and scrambles back, halfway up the steps, but then there's a bat there, and a dog here, and what's a confused Russian man to do? He presses against the wall, and yells, "«I'M NOT ON DRUGS!»"
Oh thank goodness. An adult. Seeing the dogs and then Delia, Tania lets out a shuddered sigh and lowers to sit on the steps. She doesn't let go of the bat, though, as it is her security blanket at the moment. Her other hand holds onto the railing, as an anchor.
"He did not," she says to Delia, shaking her head. "He was in the hall and was talking crazy and I do not know who he is and Sasha is not home." Which is to say, she's more than a little rattled over finding a strange man in the house. "Are you okay, Miss Deliya?" She looks okay, anyway. There's no translation for the crazy Russian man, though.
"Preppetteppetteppep.."
That's what Delia hears when Luka begins speaking his crazy moon language. Russia is about as far away as the moon as far as she's concerned. Her hands and knees are covered in dirt, her new hobby having consumed her for the entire morning. Cheza is let off her leash and stalks closer to the Russian man to take a sniff. Delia doesn't seem at all concerned about his fear of the dog, or maybe she just hasn't noticed.
"I'm okay, sorry… I was trying to keep him a secret… I— didn't know what Mister Logan or your brother would say…" A sheepish glance is passed between him, it's apologetic at least. "He sort of just— popped— into my bedroom and he was bleeding and sick… I was scared."
"«N…nice puppy,»" the man stammers, holding out a staying hand even as he's practically trying to climb onto the rail to get away from the dog. As everyone is talking in their crazy American language, he's busy being focused on trying to steer clear of the puppy. Which, of course, is bringing him closer to Tania.
"He popped in?" Tania is not happy about the idea of people popping into their house. "I think, maybe it is not good to keep such a secret?" All things considered, since she's been trying to fight of a crazy homeless man with a baseball bat and shampoo today. "But, I admit, my brother… he would not like it." That's probably an understatement.
When Luka starts inching closer, the girl prods him a little with the end of the bat. "«You are too close.»" That comes in obviously unhappy tones, regardless of it being in a language Delia doesn't know. "Cheza," she says, patting the stair next to her to call the dog up past the man who's obviously afraid of the animal. But maybe she's counting on that for added protection.
The Russian man is stared at for a long time, not because of his reaction to the dog but to what he's wearing. The combination didn't look that horrible when she laid it out on the bed for him but on him is a different story. "Do you think you could help me find some clothes for him or something? I had to guess his size… I think I guess way wrong and I don't speak Spanish." Except for her standard phrase.
"I mean, if I'm going to come clean about him— He should at least look like not a— uhm.. Well he sort of looks like a man you might buy on a cheap street corner."
As the animal moves past him, the mystery man manages not to flatten himself against the wall in terror. Instead he just relaxes when its gone and then nods to Tania, moving away from her down the stairs towards Delia. "«Right, I apologize,»" he says to Tania, before looking at the older redhead, mind clicking away on its wheels for a moment before he manages, with a hint of hopeful hesitation, "H…How-dee, Deliya?" He can speak their moon language too! :D
"He speaks Russian," Tania clarifies. Lucky, too, since there's a live-in interpreter. "He thought we were in Moscow and did not know how he got here and it was all so… I thought he was—" Well. She glances at him as he makes his way back down, and the girl puts her hand on Cheza's back for a moment before she scratches behind her ear. Good Dog.
"I do not think he knows how he is in America. Something… is not right with him?" The girl's gaze flicks over to Luka again. "We will have to go to a shop." Because borrowing either Logan or Sasha's clothes doesn't seem like the best plan. "«What is your name?»"
"Oh…" Delia blush as she's corrected on the man's origins comes with an insecure smile directed at Luka. "Hi, are you feeling any better?" Turning her head to Tani but keeping her eyes on their guest, she continues in a low voice to explain. "He had a really high fever… I tried to keep it down but it wasn't working very well. He was in too much pain for me to go into his mind, it was all chaotic… When I pulled him to mine, I couldn't understand him. I just thought.." Then she raises one shoulder in a shrug.
Taking a few steps up toward Luka, she holds out a hand and then motions down toward the kitchen. "We can go shopping for him later, there's some stores here and I have a little bit of money. I guess just some t-shirts and pants? The things he was wearing got burned somehow."
Tania's Russian reaches his ears and he looks back at her. "«My name is Luka. Ulyanov. I apologize sincerely for the… the…»" Break-in? "«…interruption. Please, I just want to get home. I did not mean to frighten you, miss.»" Still, Delia addresses him, and he just gives her a confused smile. Yes? No? What's she saying? When she motions him to the kitchen, he looks between proffered place, the redhead with the baseball bat, and the door he was supposed to leave through, then points twoard the kitchen, questioningly.
Tania listens to Delia explain, then to Luka apologize, then she glances toward the kitchen as well. "«Home is Moscow? Do you remember how you got here? I think, it isn't an easy thing to forget.»" She moves to stand, keeping the bat, but leaving the dog behind. He gets a nod as far as the kitchen, but she trails along behind him. Even if that brings her dizziness up a few notches, trying to walk down stairs and in a straight line.
"«She asks how you're feeling. And thinks we will have to get you better clothes. She is a very nice lady, Miss Deliya is.»" She's still suspicious, even if she does think he needs help. "I think that would do. Do you know how he got here, Miss Deliya? He is very confused."
"«It… My wife…»" Luka pauses a moment, brows knitting a little, and he has to recompose himself, before he continues, "«It was…I was upset after the phone call. And I was … I was pulled apart?»" He shakes his head. "«I'm sorry, I don't understand what happened. But yes, I am from Moscow.»"
But when she translates for Delia, Luka rubs his head. "«She is very kind. She has looked after me, I think. … I am feeling hungry, but I'm not so feverish.»" Whether he notices that Tania is feeling faint or not, it doesn't seem to show.
Tania notices that moment of recomposing, but she is too polite, perhaps, to prod a stranger on what it is that's upsetting them. "«Pulled apart?»" She asks instead, tilting her head curiously. "«You look like you're in one piece to me.»" Once they reach the kitchen, she's quick about getting into a chair to rest. Apparently, she's pretty used to feeling dizzy.
"He says he is hungry, but does not feel a fever now. And he thinks you are nice for looking after him." She looks over at Delia, frowning just a bit. "I think he may need more rest, though." Veeery confused.
"I think you both need to rest, actually… You don't look so well. Your brother would have my hide if he saw you like this." Delia's idle comment is made while her backside if pointed at the two from where she's buried inside the fridge. Pulling out eggs, bread, milk, and some fresh fruit, she makes her way over to the stove. A rummage through the cupboards proves a success in finding cinnamon, vanilla, and nutmeg. All the ingredients for frensh toast.
"After I make something to eat, you guys can rest and I'll go shopping. Okay? I need a new television… I think that's how he got here in the first place… and I really don't want to risk him breaking one of Mister Logan's."