Logs:No Place In Heaven

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No Place In Heaven

cn: (implied) suicide

Dramatis Personae

Jax, Dusk, Horus, Shane, Ryan

2020-12-29


"Well, was a present, but it's a bit late now."

Location

<PRV> Black House - Ridgewood


This stately townhouse has a cheerful yellow brick exterior, its front entrance spectacularly inaccessible but affording residents a commanding view of the quiet street below. Inside it's bright and airy and almost entirely empty of furniture. It has the pristine, sterile look that comes with professional renovation, but here and there the obvious custom touches -- whether from the previous residents or at the new owner's request -- shine through.

The first floor is expansive, with a longish open floor plan that's quickly falling out of fashion. One entire wall of the living room consists of tessellated geometric mirrors, reflecting the truly massive and functional fireplace and even larger mosaic stone hearth. Beyond this the dining room and kitchen are conjoined; the space left for the as yet absent dining table looks vast and strange. A small half bath is tucked at the rear of this space, beside which the back door leads down into a small backyard with a patio sheltered by a quaint little pavilion and a strip of a garden along one side.

The staircase winding through the heart of the house is lit by a generous skylight, and runs parallel the main hallway of the second floor, which joins two comfortably sized bedrooms room, with an expansive and luxurious full bath in between and not one but two hallway closets. On the top floor is a massive bedroom with as much glass as wall and its own full, if smallish, bathroom. French doors one one side of this attic room lead out onto a roof deck, whose stairs lead down into the backyard far below.

There's a flap of wings, a WHUMPH outside the back door; Jax is pulling the door open even before Dusk has a chance to knock. His smile is brief, wan; he offers a hug one-armed before gesturing the other man inside. "Oh, gosh, honey-honey, you look like winter's hittin' you even harder than me. When'd you last eat?"

Dusk is looking gaunt, too-pale, but his smile is as bright as ever, his wing wrapping back tight around Jax. He shakes his head, though, just offering out the heavy canvas bag he's been carrying. "Stopped by the Lofts to grab a bunch of my mail s'been there. Figured I'd grab some of yours, too. I gotta get back to Riverdale, though. You should stop by some time, it's -- getting bigger." He presses a kiss to the top of Jax's head; another heavy flap of wings takes him away just as quick as he'd arrived.

---

This flutter of wings is quieter, a lot more rustly; Horus flits down from above, landing on the coffeetable where Jax has been sorting the mail. His head cocks one direction, and then the other. He taps lightly with one talon at the box on the table, painted in watercolor-style with an image of a red and white koi swimming through a lily-filled pond. His quiet warble is inquisitive.

Jax glances over to the game, shakes his head. "Oh, that. S'just a game, I kickstarted it more'n a year ago. It was supposed to be --" He hesitates, bites down on his lip. "Well, was a present, but it's a bit late now."

---

There are small stacks of beautifully-painted resin tiles out on the table, though it doesn't look like an actual game is in progress. Shane flops down onto the couch, head thunking against Jax's shoulder before he leans in to pick up a small tile with a red lotus flower decorating it. He studies it for a moment, then picks up the glossy page of rules. "Oh! I remember this one, shit. That GenCon seems like fifty years ago, s'finally here." He sets the tile back down where it came from, though he continues perusing the rules. "Did you want to play?"

Jax has by now been mostly engrossed with his tablet, an image taking place on the screen very similar to the theme of the game -- a peaceful pond with brightly-colored fish swimming through it, hovering dragonflies, colorful lotus flowers; on one stone statue in the center of the pond a northern flicker is just flitting down for a landing. "Hm? Mnh," he sounds somewhat distracted, "oh, not right now, I bet Spence would love to, though."

---

There's been music playing quietly in the bathroom for some time now, MIKA's voice audible softly under the door. Not much other sound, not for a while, at least; the bath stopped running ages ago.

Ryan is slow to set his guitar aside and prise himself away from his computer, leaving the tail end of tonight's Couchella lineup to take care of itself. He drags his knuckles against his eyes, knocks gently on the bathroom door. "Yo, man, you need dinner? When'd you last eat?"

No answer; he tries again, a little more firmly this time. Then stops, his head dropping slow against the bathroom door and his brows pinching together as he focuses. There's a moment when his breath catches, a low thrumming vibrating through the door handle, and even before he's opened it he's pulling his phone out of his pocket. Gets as far as hitting 911 before he deletes that and calls Joshua instead as he races inside. "-- hey -- hey, are you -- can you -- it's Jax."