When life gives you garbage...

[Barnabas]

”Well Bubba, It looks like he just collapsed from exhaustion and hunger, so we get some food in him and let him rest, and he should be fine. You know how he is with booze though; maybe this whole episode is just his body telling him it needs more alcohol.” Trounan said as he picked Zhorin back up. He managed better this time, but his back muscles were not happy with him. “Come on Sena, home.”


And with that Sena bounded off toward the river. Trounan and Bubba couldn’t keep up with her but it was only a few hundred feet more to get to Trounan’s ‘house’. The two humans reached the edge of the river wall, the actual river running in a channel some twenty feet beneath them. Trounan lead Bubba another block or two to a staircase in the wall a hundred feet from a bridge spanning the river, leading down to the sandbar beside the river. The two proceeded down, but with Bubba in front so Trounan could keep a hand on his shoulder. There was no handrail going down, and Trounan didn’t trust the slick steps with so much weight on his shoulder.



When they reached the bottom, they could make a beat up, rusty, lopsided cargo unit, or Trounan’s house. As they got there, they could see that the underside of the bridge was used as a dump site for many things, and that was why the cargo unit wasn’t sitting flat, it was propped up slightly by something that, though it could have been anything years ago, could only be identified as scrap metal. The unit itself was supposed to be a long rectangle with square ends, but its sides were bowed out for some reason. Trounan thought that maybe it was used to smuggle something explosive, that something decided to blow up, and the owner thought that it would be easier to dump the thing here instead of deal with the authorities. That was just a theory of Trounan’s though, because the inside of the container was clean when he found it.



The door of the container was a thick rug that Trounan and put in place, and surprisingly it had held. Sena waited outside for the two humans, sitting beside a box that was oozing blood from the bottom edge. Trounan passed to look inside and saw two wonat’s. Trounan smiled at Sena and patted her on the head, “Great job girl, good for you, I’ll clean those in just a bit.” Trounan set Zhorin down for a second, pulled out a block of duracrete from under his house that he used as a step, and hauled Zhorin inside.

 

[Cailst]

"I really hope you're right," Bubba said to Trounan.

Preceding Trounan, Bubba gingerly descended the narrow stair case. Not holding Zhorin, Bubba could go a little faster but it was still pretty slow. At least there were stairs there and not just dirt.

When he reached the bottom, he saw the "house". Looked a tad bit sturdier than his "house" which consisted of a cardboard box with a few items hanging around. Definitely some fine real estate. Wait, it looked a bit familiar. But Bubba couldn't remember. It was something within the last few years. Was it some dumpster? No, too big. Was it some tanker that fell over? Probably not, a bit too small. Wait, maybe it was the escape pod he arrived in? Certainly looked the part.

"When did you get that home?" Bubba asked.

If it were more recent than nine years, it would be conceivable that it could be as that's when Bubba landed on Coruscant.

 

[Venom]

Zhorin came to while still being carried by his friend Trounan, he had a feeling of being set down fr a moment than being lifted again before he seemed to be in a set place. His head felt worse than it ever had before, his migraine felt like something was in his skull, boring multiple holes in an attempt to escape. He wished he was still out.

Somewhere though, there was an odd sensation, one that he had felt very little of before, it was of accomplishment. He couldnt remember what it had been, but he knew that he had done something important in that bar. He shook his head and glanced around, his vision was somewhat blurry, and he felt like shit, but he still felt accomplished.

He kind of saw his friends and said. "So guys... what the hell happened to me? And where are we?"

 

[Barnabas]

Trounan looked down to his friend Zhorin. He had just shown some signs of life finally, moving slightly, which was great by Trounan's reckoning. Plus, now he didn't have to try to wake him up now.

Trounan had set Zhorin down against the wall once they had made it inside, on some only slightly moth eaten blankets, covering him with one of them. Trounan had then gone to secure the rug over the hole in his house to keep the heat in. As he did this he told Sena to go lay down across Zhorin's legs to help keep him warm.

As Trounan moved to sit on a bundle of ragged cloths he heard Zhorin speak, and he smiled. "Welcome back buddy. You gave us a scare right there. I can answer the second question easy enough. Your in my house." Trounan chuckled at the last statement. "At least, this is as much of a house as I have ever had. As for what happened, well, I don't really know. I thought I...., saw something weird happening when you were at the bar, but I am not sure. Then you stood up and collapsed. Not positive about this, but since you seem so weak right now, maybe you just got light headed."

Trounan was not sure yet if he should add that the 'weird' thing that happened was him sensing that Zhorin was somehow moving the bottle on the rack with his mind.

 

[Cailst]

"Thank you force, thank you force, thank you force," Bubba muttered under his breath as Zhorin got up.

Fortunately, Trounan's means of fixing Zhorin somehow worked. If it hadn't, Bubba would have been a bit sad. Granted, he wouldn't have been able to do anything about it. At least not much. But now, he was at least conscious, maybe okay. And informing him of what happened didn't see like a bad idea, at least Bubba couldn't think of why it would be.

"Right before you passed out, some glass fell for no apparent reason. Maybe it was related to why you passed out." Bubba offered as an explanation.

 

[Venom]

Zhorin glanced around a little more. It was more of a house than he had been used to these days. Hell, with how his luck had been going, just being at a place with an inside was more than he was used to. It was warm in here, and compared to other places he could of been, it was actually pretty nice.

He immediately noticed that his friends dog was on his legs, he didnt quite remember her name, though he was sure that Trounan had told him once or twice before. He rubbed the side of his death and frowned as his stomach growled at him.

"A bottle fell? Im not really sure what that has to do with anything there buddy." He laughed a little bit, it seemed like very odd information for his friend to just throw out there.

"Also, sorry about the scare, just not really feeling too great these days. Lack of food, and I may be a little sick... since my head feels really wierd." His mind kind of felt like it had done work, not in the thinking sense either, though he wasnt really sure what to make of it.

 

[Barnabas]

"No problem bud." Trounan was happy his friend seemed fine, besides his usual maladies of course. Trounan new he would have a lot more luck dealing with those than he coudl waking up someone who had passed out suddenly for no obvious reason.

He moved over to the back of his house and pulled out some strips of wonat meat from his patched together refrigerator. It wasn't really a fridge though, just a metal box with seals on the hatch, which he had put an air compressor on. For a homeless guy who didn't need to keep anything for more than a few days, it worked like a dream.

As he made his way back toward Zhorin and Bubba, Trounan passed where he had left his duffel, and pulled a small package out of it.

"Here ya go Zhorin, it tastes like crap, but it'll do your gut good." Trounan said as he passed the package to Zhorin, which was one of the meal bars that Trounan lived off of. He then sat down next to Zhorin and started petting Sena as her tail went crazy and she eyed his other hand. "Yeah girl, your right, this is for you." He said as he gave Sena the meat strips one at a time, playing with her as she ate.

 

[Cailst]

"Well, it fell for no apparent reason, and then, at the same time, you passed out. That's why I think it might be important." Bubba said.

He felt the odd occurrence merited a little more discussion. It was really weird that it would happen at the same time. That, and since he didn't own the place, he didn't have much to offer to Zhorin to help him get better so he figured he might as well focus on that. And who knew, maybe it was a signifier of something important.

Meanwhile, he was petting Sena in such a way that she was nearly involuntarily arching her back. She seemed to really enjoy being scratched in just the right spot. He'd basically figured that out in his dog petting days. Something useful for when he came across friendly dogs, even if they did have six legs.

 

[Venom]

Zhorin gratefully accepted the meal bar, and tore into it immediately. Trounan had definitely been right about the taste, but he had tasted worse before, and having something in him was pretty nice. It was gone very quickly, which was a good thing, since things needed to be talked about.

"Thanks a lot man, you have anything here that I can drink?" He had mostly drank his water back at the bar, but he was thirsty as hell. Still, he didnt really feel very good about taking things from a friend who was in a situation similar to that of his own. He put his had against the wall behind him and started to stand up, he felt dizzy, but it was definitely doable.

He watched Bubba pet the "dog" for a little bit, then said. "I suppose that it could be important, though are you sure it didnt just fall because of me falling? I suppose its something we could talk about if you really think its a big deal, but I kind of have an idea for us..."

 

[Barnabas]

"Well Bubba, well put a pin in that, and come back to it later." Trounan said, trying to sound like he meant it. Honestly, this guy sometimes got the oddest ideas about things, although...Trounan had feltsomething right then too. Thinking about it, he added "I'll admit I felt something kinda weird there, but it could have just been anything really."

As Zhorin got up Sena got off his legs and went over to her corner of the house and laid down in her pile of rugs. Turning to Zhorin, "Thirst on the other hand is something I CAN deal with right now."

Trounan went over to a crate next to his frig and opened the lid. "Lets see what’s hydrating in here, I've got some filtered river water with a chlorine after taste, some rain water from the barrels out back, some Blumfruit juice, and some bottles of expired vitality slash energy drinks."

 

[Cailst]

"I suppose the Blumfruit juice or the rainwater might be the best for us. The rainwater is all natural and that's clearly good for us as opposed to chlorinated government produced water. They're probably using that to try and brainwash us into doing something. Unless the Blumfruit juice also has those chemicals in it. And maybe those chemtrails in the sky are some means of controlling the rainwater. So I guess no matter what we do, we'll be brainwashed. I suppose it doesn't matter." Bubba said getting into a conspiratorial mood.

It was the Imperial military that had introduced him to the idea of conspiracies like that. Here and there, he'd noticed that some days, he'd want to do something in particular. And it always happened whenever it was most helpful for his superiors. A little bit of researching revealed that certain chemicals induced certain reactions and after some snooping, it turned out that they were doing exactly that. Even when he left the military to live in the Alliance, he kept his suspicions. They were a government after all.

 

[Venom]

Zhorin had opened his mouth to start responding when he heard Bubba talk about the water possibly being a form of brain control. He had heard his friend talk about such things before, but he wasnt really expecting it at this moment. He wondered if Bubba knew that Trounan had likely purified the water himself in order to make it safe he to drink. He decided it was best to just not bring it up.

"Heh, Im not to worried buddy, I cant see what I could really do for anyone even if I was brainwashed. The vitality slash energy drinks sound like theyd be good for later, after I have something that actually hydrates someone. So just give me some of the river water I suppose. Also, I think I know of an idea for a house that we could possibly acquire, if you guys would be interested in hearing how."

 

[Barnabas]

"..." Trounan remained silent while Bubba went on his triad. This guy was very odd indeed. He assumes he is being offered a drink, when it was only being given to Zhorin because he was injured and asked politely. Its not that Trounan wouldn't have offered Bubba some, especially if he had asked, but Bubba just assumed he would get some.

As well, Bubba must really had some issues in the head, especially if he though Trounan had enough money to come by stuff that the government would bother messing with. Bubba lost a little of his standing with Trounan after that comment. Oh well, the guy was crazy anyway, Trounan thought, shacking his head slightly. He wasn't the type of guywho would let alittle slight like that get in the way of a friendship anyway.

"Oh, Bubba, I didn't know you wanted a drink too, I would have stocked up on my non-government-mindcontrolling drinks." Trounan said with just a hint of a grin thrown Zhorin's way.

Trounan thought about telling Bubba how he would get the river water from the river outside, where the water had a slightly redish yellow tinge to it, and describing to Bubba that he was the one who filtered it and added chlorine tablets. He tossed that idea aside quickly though. He poured three containers full of the rain water, one a plastic food container, one a half crushed metal cup, and the last one a glass jar with a few chips in it and handed them out, keeping the glass jar for himself.


"There you guys go." Trounan said, taking a drink of the cool clear water.
"Ah" Trounan sighed, "A house? What kind of house are you talking about Zhorin? I mean, its not much, but this place ain't bad...unless your talking about a real, duracrete foundations, indoor plumbing house now?"

 

[Venom]

((OOC: We have awesome RP's))

 

[Cailst]

"I don't think we can really escape the mind control of the government. Everything that goes through this city has their mark on it. Their chemicals. Their way of thinking. I suppose we wouldn't notice it, like fish oblivious to the concept of being wet." Bubba continued.

He began to space out a bit, wrapped up in his own little world, pondering how much people would objectively judge their own condition. And that of course was near impossible unless one had experienced many experiences, and even then, all the other experiences would be colored by their first one. So maybe that was why he was so suspicious, he saw the trash everywhere when no one understood. Woah.

He stared blankly as Trounan passed out drinks and began talking to Zhorin.

 

[Venom]

Zhorin was about to respond about the house, when what Bubba said distracted him quite a bit. His friend said more crazy shit, then seemed to space out. Zhorin frowned and accepted the drink from Trounan.

"You okay Bubba? Get hit in the head by anything lately?" He realised that it sounded somewhat mean, but he hadnt really seen Bubba act like this before, or at least not to this extent.

He shook his head, and remembered what he had just been about to talk about.

"Anyways, yes, I am talking about a real solid house. Though... I have no idea if the standard housing systems are still active in it. As far as I know, there isnt anyone in it anymore, but the last residents took their leave somewhat quickly. So I suppose we'd have to check it out to know more."

 

[Barnabas]

Trounan looked over Bubba quickly, focusing on his joints, finger tips, and nose. There did not appear to be any sign of drugs, but Bubba's fingers were extremely calloused from all the sifting through trash, so there was no telling really. He just shock his head and turned back to Zhorin.

"So, an abandoned house. That sounds promising. I might even be able to fix up anything that is broken, depending on how broken that is."

"So, how did you hear about it and where is it? Also, are we..." Trounan paused. "...going to have to kick out any person's like ourselves? After all, if it has been vacant for some time, anyone in the area might know about it and use it."

 

[Cailst]

Bubba continued staring off into space as he pondered life and perception. Briefly, he heard Zhorin ask him if he hit his head.

"Nope," He responded laconically.

He zoned out again, not really paying attention to what they were saying about the house. As he thought, he wondered what made his parents the way they were. After all, they were even explicitly under the control of chemicals. And they liked it that way, even though the apartment was an utter cesspool of filth and disease. Maybe Zhorin and Trounan were okay with being under the control of the government. At least they didn't have to pay for it.

Then for an another glimmer of conversation peered in, he heard Trounan mention kicking out any other residents of the house.

"We should try to share it if anyone else lives there and doesn't want it just for themselves, after all, we'd have more people to get food and more to defend against others who don't want to share," He said.

 

[Venom]

"As far as I know, as of right now, it is unoccupied. It wasnt so much of a heard about it as a, I saw it for myself recently, though there is a chance that someone else has heard of it as well. Which could be unfortunate."

He laughed a bit after saying that, it would likely be much worse than unfortunate if they ran into any trouble with someone being there.

Zhorin finally drank some of the water that his friend had given him. It, combined with the mealbar had actually made him feel a bit better, or at least good enough to not feel like his head was going to pop from pain and pressure.

 

[Barnabas]

"Sounds good to me buddy." Trounan said,with only a hint of the saddness he felt.

It wasn't like he didn't want to live in a nice house, but he did not want to leave his current abode either. He had spent some good years here, renovating, and this is where he found Sena. He looked around the container then, his eyes finally settling on Sena. She was watching him intently, eyes smiling at him, like she was actually following the conversation. It would be with a heavy heart that Trounan would leave this place, but he knew that an actual house would be better for them all, that is, as long as no one else tried to taketi from them.