nine | joy, then pain. is this how christmas is supposed to work?

[strike_you_out]

[Slugger cautiously makes his way down the stairs and into the living room, stepping around and over the many, many cats that have taken sudden residence in the house. A certain skeletal cat-lover comes to mind, but when Slugger reaches the living room, Death is nowhere around. Neither is Eddie or Susan.

He's about to go search for them when something catches his eye. Beneath the Christmas tree is a pair of golden inline skates -- his inline skates -- with a note attached. It's suspicious, but after examining the skates and putting his hands inside, he finds nothing wrong with them. Once he's got them on his feet, it feels so good to be wearing them again that all his concerns vanish.

Obviously, he has to try them right away and dashes outside where he can be witnessed doing the following:

A) speeding blissfully up and down the street on his skates, taking delight in the rush of cold air as he swerves around parked cars and people alike.

B) kneeling doubled over in the snow, panting shallowly and clutching the back of his head for no apparent reason. Damn you, Mayfield, and your horrifying surprise catches!

- or -

C) trudging home through the snow in his socks, the pair of skates dangling from his hand.]

Comments

[strike-you-out.livejournal.com]

A pistol.

[He's had one aimed at him once before. It was in the cell block after beating to death his doppelganger. Thankfully, Susan made him take off the skates...]

Should I bring it inside?

[Should he also remove that cat from your shoulder, Susan?]

[deaths-heritor.livejournal.com]

Yes. Stow it in the basement. And don't say anything to Edward until the week is over.

[Not with the pistol you're not. As she enters the house, the cat leaps down and joins with its mates in meowing a chorus of extreme irritation.]

[strike-you-out.livejournal.com]

[A nod. He's a little surprised when she leaves him responsible for the revolver, but considering the new bat she gifted him with this Christmas, he figures his homicidal tendencies don't concern her so long as they take place away from the house.

Following her in, he edges around the cats on his way to the basement. Upon returning, the pistol will no longer be with him. He vastly prefers other methods of killing, anyway.]

[deaths-heritor.livejournal.com]

[Susan has less experience with gonnes than Slugger does. And she trusts him to have the sense to deal with it. That done, she herself heads upstairs while Slugger is in the basement, placing the skates in her room.

She is in the kitchen beginning to prepare dinner when he returns.]

I'd advise you to stay indoors the rest of the week, but it's your decision. Don't attend school, either. I won't be.