I find shelter in this way, under cover, hide away

[wasblindbefore]

It's not that he isn't nervous. This whole thing is, frankly, pretty fucking terrifying, not to mention nonsensical, and though there's been an attempt at installing further security, being here isn't a guarantee of being safe. Elvis certainly feels closer to it, though, down here in the basement. There's only one way in, he has a baseball bat nearby if he needs it, and he can, hopefully, get through the night passing the time by working. If he had to guess, he'd be willing to bet good money that after tonight, there will be a pretty significant influx in business, his being probably the one line of work in which that isn't actually a good thing.

Maybe it's strange, to make a living off dead people. He's never known anything else, though, only the responses he's gotten for most of his life when talking about what his family did, what he now does. Besides, someone has to do it. It might as well be him.

At least if this has to be happening at all, he has Gwen with him to wait it out, keeping in touch with her friends who are out on the streets. It's a good compromise, he thinks, and is pretty sure he doesn't have to say. She can contribute while being inside, where it's at least relatively safe, and he won't have to spend the night worrying that she'll wind up in an alley with a knife between her ribs again, and no powers to help her heal this time.

In fact, if it weren't for the gravity of what he knows must be going on outside, this might almost be kind of enjoyable. As it is, he's not sure he could manage not to think about it, but he cracks a smile at Gwen over his work, and wonders, not for the first time, how the hell he found someone who's so alright with all of this. "What's the word from outside?"

Comments

[makeithome]

Gwen almost never comes down here. It's not out of any distaste for or disinterest in his work; despite the touchiness of the subject of death for her, it's also familiar in a way that is, at times, strangely soothing. She's a scientist and she's dealt with her fair share of bodies. It doesn't really faze her to be down here among so many. It's just more professional for her to stay upstairs out of the way of his work usually.

Tonight, she feels it a little, the strangeness of being here, knowing more bodies will come in over the next couple days, and why. She's doing her very best to minimize that number, though. She's watching as much of the city as she can on security camera feeds and trackers that the others have installed, making calls to the city's vigilantes as they hurry from one crisis to the next. It's grotesque, watching a city at war with itself, but she's doing something about it. That's all she can ask for in this madness, a chance to help.

"It's crazy out there," she says, but she glances up and catches that hint of a smile and smiles back reflexively. He's here, they're both here, and that's about as safe as it gets tonight. "But we've got a good team on the ground and so far, so good. I think they might actual deter the worst of it."

[wasblindbefore]

"Well, that's a relief," Elvis says, somewhere between wry and sincere. It is one, and he knows full well that a lot of the people Gwen knows are fully capable of making that kind of a contribution. There's no way anyone is actually going to stop tonight from being really fucking bad, but any damage that can be mitigated is more than worth it. He may make a living taking care of dead bodies, but as far as he's concerned, the fewer of those that come in after all of this, the better. He's always been someone who's expected the worst from people, but this Purge business is a different matter entirely. "I guess that's the only thing about this that isn't completely terrible. That there are people who can do something about it."

All he can do is pick up the pieces after, but it's as necessary as the rest of it, in a way. Tonight, the two of them can weather this together, too, which makes it seem that much easier.

[makeithome]

"I still don't know how they got all these security feeds running," Gwen says wryly, "but it's working." The details don't entirely matter. She's come to terms with that, mostly; there are always going to be things she doesn't fully grasp when working with superheroes. It won't stop her from trying but she can deal with not knowing.

"And this isn't completely terrible, at least," she adds a moment later, glancing up at him with a crooked smile. "This, here. I think we're about as safe as it gets."

[wasblindbefore]

"It's pretty damn impressive, yeah," Elvis says, tilting his head towards where the security feeds are playing live footage from up on the sidewalk. He can't really imagine how much coordination must go into something like this, never mind how the technology works, but it's fascinating to be getting a glimpse of it, and to watch Gwen do her part even from a distance. They're lucky to have her, he thinks, but then, he's pretty well biased. He'd count himself lucky to have her down here with him tonight, too. If she weren't, he doubts he'd be able to focus at all with as worried as he'd be about her well-being.

Glancing towards the door that leads back out to the stairwell, he nods in agreement. "And yeah, I'd say we are," he says. "Only one way in or out, a clear view of the door, everything else anyone'd have to get through on their way here... I think we've got a pretty good deal." Of course, they have dead bodies for company, but God knows he isn't fazed by that, and she doesn't seem to be, either.

[makeithome]

"Plus," Gwen says wryly, "who else would want to be down here?" There are plenty of people accustomed to death, but it's something different, she thinks. There are people like Elvis, who help prepare the body for the ground or the furnace; there are doctors and nurses and scientists who see it daily in their attempts to help others. They're all people for whom it isn't desirable, but simply natural.

The people out there, though, some of them are looking for it in one way or another, and those are people she will never understand.

"I mean, we're not exactly the first place people think of when they plan robberies."

[wasblindbefore]

"Yeah, I doubt this is really some high-profile target," Elvis says wryly. It's a relief, to say the least. Tonight is nerve-wracking enough as it is without the two of them having to worry more seriously about someone breaking in here. As it is, he has no intention of letting his guard down until the second siren has sounded in the morning, but it would be far worse if he thought there were a more significant chance of them having to deal with people making the most of the Purge. Instead, this is probably as close to safe as anyone can get who hasn't shelled out for some private bunker hidden somewhere, making it a little easier to focus on getting work done and to find whatever levity he possibly can in their situation. "People can do anything they want, probably most of 'em aren't thinking about corpses."

At least, not any that might be on the streets right now, but that's not a clarification that seems worth making.

[makeithome]

Gwen pulls a face. "I would hope the vast majority aren't," she agrees. A few might be, though, she expects, mostly in the sense of making them. But that's what she's here for tonight, watching security feeds from across the city on her laptop, waiting to make calls to the heroes fanned out across the city. If they're very lucky and watch very closely, Elvis won't be too much more busy tomorrow than he is any other day.

"The whole thing is completely batshit, though," she adds, "so who even knows what people are thinking anymore?"

[wasblindbefore]

"Fuck knows," Elvis says, shrugging probably a little too easily. "Your guess is as good as mine." All he does know is that, whatever is going on up on the street, he doesn't want to have any part in it. He's always been more comfortable than he expects most people would be in a situation like this, being down in a basement with dead bodies, but he thinks he's a hell of a lot calmer here than he'd be above ground right now, in no small part because Gwen is with him, too. An apartment would be an easier, if still not particularly likely, target for a break-in. If she were out out on the streets, he'd be nothing but worried. As it is, waiting everything out down here doesn't seem like the worst thing. "For that matter, I'm not sure I'd want to find out."

He's long since been more inclined to believe the worst in people than the best, but this is something else entirely, something he wants no part of.

[makeithome]

Gwen's gaze flickers over the screens in front of her, and she shakes her head, glances up to him instead. "I don't want to know either," she says. But the sight of him is comforting all the same. It doesn't matter that he's working. She can't see much of the body from this angle anyway, and besides, she's seen corpses before. It doesn't faze her much. His being here is enough. They've gotten through some awful things together. Maybe that won't always be enough, but she has to believe that, for now, it will be. "The whole thing freaks me out."

But at least, here, even if she's hidden away from it all, she's helping. She wouldn't be able to abide it, just sitting here, twiddling her thumbs. At least like this, she's got some kind of a purpose.

[wasblindbefore]

"You and me both," Elvis says, exhaling heavily. Death is one thing. It's normal, natural, something that happens to everyone, albeit not always when it should. All this senseless violence, though, is another matter entirely. He doesn't understand it, he never will, how people seem to find shit like this fun. Even growing up in the middle of fucking nowhere, there was still crime, and there's been far more so in Darrow, but no more than he would have expected. Now, apparently nothing is a crime, and instead of just waiting it out the way he'd expect anyone with half a fucking brain to, people are out wreaking havoc. By the time the night's over, he has a feeling they'll have more work to do here than they know what to do with. "And the fact that it's supposed to be a tradition? Jesus."