camarod | - INBOX -

[he did not fuck the boyfriend. he was saved, miraculously, by steve, and they've had a decent sort of day without any drama and he is - well. he's half way home, feeling a bit lighter, feeling a bit like he is actually NOT the drama, and it's just eddie and steve who are stupid. billy is perfect, in fact, and very smart.

a good day.

and then. ]

- What. [the fuck is this, if not drunk texting. and then, after: ] Oh shit.

shit that's a lot of bats dude

n sh t

[ okay. throwing the curtains back and... hiding? hiding. his bathroom doesn't have a window but if he goes in there, he could get stuck if they break in.

and if he goes outside into the hallway, and someone has left the window open as they're wont to do, they could get in and ohhhhhhhh this is not his day. ]

[because he's now weak, apparently, for eddie munson too, he walks. he keeps walking. ]

i'm on my way. try not to pee your pants.

[he walks to his place, grabs his bike and hits the pedal. it's to show off, obviously. he can be a hero and look doing it. anyway, it cuts the time in half. he's there in 10, parked out front and then sort of peering to see if he can see the bats from outside. maybe? it's dark.

inside, the staff let him in, and up he goes on his merry way, and he even remembers eddie's apartment number unaided. see? that's real love. ]

Open up Munson, the cavalry is here.

[ they are... very visible. eddie's window is immediately obvious, there's just a swarm of little black bodies crawling all over the wall nearest to his window.

this would actually be sick as hell if he wasn't terrified of being eaten.

the voice suddenly breaking through just about has him shit himself, nearly dropping the plunger he's decided is his only protection between life and death. scrambles to the door, yanking it open and then standing there half frozen. he looks half feral - his hair in a wild disarray, those big brown eyes wild and torn between survival instinct and pure terror. he grabs billy's arm and yanks him inside - talking a million miles a minute]

I broke my fucking phone and I can't get in touch with Harrington - they can't get through the glass but they are ripping through the screen.

Jesus - [is all he gets, yanked in and well. yeah, it's a lot of bats. there's a broken phone? one problem at a time. ]

- Munson. Eddie. [it's a little stern; he's grabbing Eddie by the arm, tight. wrangles his own free to force Eddie to look at him. to focus. ] C'mon, look at me. You're okay.

[he thinks so anyway. they just look like normal bats. feral, weird little creatures that chose the wrong window. ] C'mon. Use my phone to call Harrington if you want? Let me see if I can spook them. Breathe.

[ Fine. He's fine. Bats are cool. He likes bats. He also liked watching Ozzy bite the head off one, which maybe feels like a point against him in whatever the hell this is. ]

Yeah. [ okay. breathe. ] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah man. I just - um...

[ deep breaths, raking his fingers through his hair and nodding. ]

Yeah. Just yeah. Give me your phone.

[there, there. a nice little cheek pat and then he slides his phone from his back pocket, unlocked. ]

If you have a panic attack on the phone do not break it trying to get my attention.

[thank you. anyway, bats: they are restless little shits. scrapping, flapping away, trying to trample each other to get in. Billy eyes them for a moment before he sighs and walks slowly over, watches the way the react to the new movement. which is - well. they're bats. ]

Right - [the mess of Eddie Munson's floor might work, actually. he grabs a shirt, wraps it around his fist and arm then lies it flat against the window pane, then inching through the space to the screen where they're clamouring, inspecting how big the tear is. fixable. good.

next he eyes them, then, tries to remember if noise deters .. or attracts ... fuck it, he claps loudly anyway. ]

[ They don't seem to like Billy nearly as much as Eddie, flapping away from the hand suddenly invading the space they're trying to get through. There's loud angry chittering, little fangs being bared as a few smaller ones back away from his hand. The bigger ones, though, don't seem to hold that same fear, some of them trying to hop forward and bite at his shirt covered hand.

The clap only seems to agitate them further. ]

So that is how we're playing it.

[he's double wrapping. he's not losing to bats, okay. not today. he sticks his Black Sabbath covered hand out and begins waving wildly, wonders if actually, they should have called pest control. ]

Move you little shits -

[ this is rude behavior. you are a rude man. the chittering raises in volume the more agitated the colony gets. They're not chewers, but they are pushers - and they're going to try to wiggle their way through that gap now that they can see the window is just a little bit open. ]

Oh, shit -

[nope nope nope, in his arm comes, uncovered hand sliding that window closed at record speed.

new tactic, then. ] - Munson, bats hate light, right?

I - what?

[ It takes a second to register. ]

Yeah, I, uh, they're not fans of it anyway?

Yeah, they're not fans of me either.

[so if he turns every light on in this room, maybe. MAYBE. ]

[ Oh fuck. Now all he's thinking about is Robin Buckley's hysterical ranting about rabies.

But the light seems to do... something. They're not trying to squeeze in as much anymore. A few of them even back off of the screen. But the horde doesn't seem to be moving very far away. ]

[it's a breather, which is better than nothing. he retreats, momentarily, to Eddie. ]

I think we need pest control.

Or a flamethrower.

[ just what the actual fuck. ]

Why are they swarming the building?

They're swarming your window. Specifically.

[a beat.] But it's fine. It's cool. We're cool.

Great! Just perfect!

[ he's just going to get eaten alone its nbd. ]

- They're regular bats.

[he is reaching, tentatively, for Eddie's wrist. squeezing, firm. hopes it grounding in some way. thinks to stand between him and the window, because that's what he would have wanted someone to do, once.

this is new territory for him. he doesn't know how to be comforting. ] They're just regular old bats, with regular old little teeth. C'mon, look at me Eddie. In the eyes. They're not gonna eat you. I can stay, make sure.

[ yeah. they are. little tiny bats. they're not like, little piranhas with wings. he meets billy's gaze, focuses on his grounding touch.

It's not that they're going to eat him. But Vecna always made animals go weird, right? That was the prelude to disaster, wasn't it? Something about rats and flesh monsters and -

God, he hates this shit. He'd rather it go back to just being text on a page. ]

Right. Appreciate that. [ because the bats are less the problem. he can hear... voices, he guesses. words almost. let us in let us in and that feels like something bad waiting to happen. ]

[he used to be a sensitive kid. used to know how to cheer his mom up the right way, used to know all the birthdays of the kids in his classes, used to share all his coloured pencils.

now it's gone. the muscle memory is weak; but he can try, he thinks, to reach for some of it. he squeezes his wrist again, hums under his breath and then chews his bottom lip. thinks. ]

We can do music. Drown out the chatter.

[ if it is vecna then music is probably their best call here. ]

[ okay, calm the fuck down, eddie. he feels less like a shaken soda can and more a deflated one, and that's - at least going to guarantee he's not going to do something stupid like run into steve's room, grab a can of hairspray, and do what he used to do when wasps nested around the yard. ] I owe you some music anyway.

Yeah, you do. C'mon.

[he glances at the bats, watches them hover and waver against the light. he wets his lips. ]

You wanna keep calling Harrington? I can go haul his ass out of bed. Make it a party.

He's... Yeah, if this is going to be a situation then he should probably be in the know. [ Eddie falters for a minute, tilting his head back. ] But I fucked up, man.

[ Luckily his guitar is no where near the window. He picks it up. ]

[A beat. ]

That I find hard to believe. [finally. finally he gets the juice details -] What happened?

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