Week 7

[grimgrinningghosts]

[Well this is all starting to feel incredibly routine. After being trapped here for a month and a half with no sign of rescue, maybe you have just resigned to the idea that you'll never leave this place and that people will keep dying until none of you're are left.

Truthfully, I can't even pretend to make an optimistic about any of this. it's a dark and horrid world you all live in.

There are no new floors today. It seems you finally have access to the whole mansion.

15 people remain]

[SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY]

[Don't forget to fill out this week's Activity Check!]

Comments

[stanbyme]

[He gives her hand a squeeze. Him in his black suit and her in her grey dress they look the part of mourners, at least.]

Yeah... Guess it can mean whatever anybody needs it to mean.

[He looks over at her with the faintest of smiles on his weathered face.]

Anytime, sweetheart. [He leans over and brings her hand up to his mouth to kiss it.]

...Next time, though, it'll be a big party to celebrate blowing this popsicle stand for good. Sound like a plan?

[hasit]

[Leia sighs through her nose, letting him kiss her hand, his whiskers tickling at her skin, and nods.]

I'd like to think so. I don't know how much good positive thinking can do at this point, but it's worth a shot.

[Her thumb rubs over the side of his palm, slow and contemplative as she scans the room.]

I can feel them losing faith. All of them.

[stanbyme]

[He looks over the room as well, his big old boxer's paw dwarfing her hand.]

...Yeah, I don't need my Ma's fake psychic schtick to be able to tell that much.

[He sighs.]

I lived through plenty of other things that ought to've killed me, I ain't gonna lay down here.

I just...wanna see my brother again. And Mabel to see hers.

[hasit]

You will. And so will Mabel. And...and Force willing, we'll get everyone back and home safe.

[She turns in her seat, turns to face him, and takes his hand in both of hers.]

There's something I used to tell my men. Hope is like the sun. [She sighs through her nose, forces herself to smile.] If you only believe in it when you can see it...you'll never make it through the night. I...I have to believe we have a fighting chance.

[stanbyme]

[He sits up a little straighter to look at her when she turns to face him, and he listens. He spent his whole adult life fighting and keeping secrets, not trusting a soul, caught in a cycle of fuckups where he was his own worst enemy. And just when he thought that he was done, that he'd finally won everything he fought for, he was dragged in here and so was his niece, and his nephew, and his brother.

If pressed, he would never have said that he was a hopeful person. But he sure could be a determined one. And that's what there's a spark of, in response to her little smile.]

...You got a real way with words, Starshine.

[He takes her hands with both of his, tracing the soft skin of her hands with his thumbs.]

I ain't in the habit of giving up when the going gets tough. So long as you're fighting, I'll be fighting too.

[hasit]

[She gives a demure little shrug, but she's bolstered by that little change in his demeanor; it gives her just a spark of self-confidence that she'd been missing before. A spark of belief that they can actually find a way to fix all of this.

Hearing him say that, too, it helps. Eases some of the fear, that he might do something rash. That she might lose him.]

Good. [Her hands squeeze his, briefly.] I need those fists of yours on my side.

[stanbyme]

[He huffs, a muted little "heh," and squeezes her hands back.]

Long as I've got any strength in these old paws, they're yours.

[His eyes are trained on their hands, though. He leans his weight forward, props his elbows on his knees, plants a whiskery kiss on her knuckles.]

...I didn't mean to upset ya so much, earlier.

[hasit]

[Watching him bend down to kiss her hands, Leia's struck by just how sincere Stanley is with her. Far more than she'd have thought he could be, judging by the first few times they met.

She gives him a tiny, reassuring smile.]

I know you didn't. I just can't watch another person I love die.

[Is she showing her hand a little too much here? Probably. It is what it is.]

[stanbyme]

[That gets him to look up at her with a look of surprise. One that softens, even as he glances away... not shyly, per se, but something like it.]

...No pressure or nothin', right?

I would've gone crazy without you, sweetheart.

[He squeezes her hands. That's. About as much of a tip of his hand
as he can manage right now.]

[hasit]

Hmm. [It's a quiet little hum of a laugh, not enough to sting his pride, but enough to acknowledge the double meaning, there.]

Right.

[Her hands squeeze back, and she doesn't press the issue because she's just as...well, stubborn about this as he is, let's be honest.]

Then I'll be glad I ended up here with you.

[stanbyme]

[He chuckles.]

I've been thanking my lucky stars for sending me one of their own for weeks now.

[hasit]

[That gets her to swat him on the forearm, dropping a wink.]

Oh, hush, you sentimental old coot.

[stanbyme]

What, it's the truth.

[hasit]

Just because something's true, doesn't mean you have to say it.

[She's not actually admonishing him, of course.]

[stanbyme]

Can't believe I'm getting in trouble for not lyin'.

[He says, knowing full well that he's not in trouble.]

[hasit]

[She leans up toward him, nose wrinkling, eyes mischievous.]

Oh, trust me. If you were in trouble, you'd know.

[stanbyme]

I believe it.

[He still looks dog tired and exhausted, but there's a genuine smile twinkling somewhere in his eyes.]