∞ 99: Horoscopes [action]

[chikaidestroyer]

[Aquarius:
- Your next shower will be interrupted by a large mildly poisonous insect.
- Your sudden sweet tooth is probably a sign of impending doom.
- Duck!
- Learn to drive, jerk!

Albert had raised a brow when he had seen the horoscope predictions. There were, of course, mentions of the horoscopes and comments over the journals that the predictions were coming true. He's understandably somewhat wary when he takes his shower that day -- especially when the prediction comes true and he finds the hand-sized insect skittering around his feet. He jumps out of the shower.

The insect jumps out with him. And makes a beeline for the crack underneath the bathroom door.

...Wonderful.

After that experience, he finds himself heading to the plaza to visit ... the bakery. Anyone seeing him around the plaza or in the bakery will discover that he is being followed around by a male mallard duck -- everywhere. Maybe it has something to do with the prediction, or the fact that Albert seems to have taken to eating a lot of pastries. Either way, he is being followed by a duck. Everywhere.

Said mallard duck is still following him as he heads down to the battle dome -- because there is no other place that he can think of where he can cure this sudden need to learn how to drive. He may just spend the entire day there, which is entirely strange for him no matter what day it is.]

Comments

[mydearapple.livejournal.com]

[Caesar doesn't linger on the floor once he's cleaned up most of his spilled soda. Any extra drops he didn't manage to get with the towel will just be cleaned up with his socks. They were already a little wet from earlier.]

Did you see where it went?

[chikaidestroyer]

No, I did not. That's why I asked you. [Albert frowns at Caesar as he walks past him with the last towel. He uses that towel on Raine's door, then looks towards the living room. ...There were too many places for those insects to hide.]

[mydearapple.livejournal.com]

I didn't see where it went, either. [He sighs. It's not a complete lie. He didn't see where the first one ran off to, at least.] Why were those things in the bathroom?

[chikaidestroyer]

These predictions that appears because of the experiment. You can thank them for those two. [He continues standing there for a moment, thoughtful.] They happen to be poisonous.

[mydearapple.livejournal.com]

[He was ready to lament the fact that this was related to those weird predictions until Albert said that.]

Wh-why didn't you say that in the first place?

[He doesn't sound too impressed. Had he known, he might have felt less (or more!) inclined to lie.]

[chikaidestroyer]

Because I would have thought that a strange insect around the house would be enough to have you purvey some honesty. But I suppose that was too much to ask for.

[mydearapple.livejournal.com]

You don't think I'm being honest? I meant what I said. [Now he's lying about lying.] So you knew this was going to happen?

[chikaidestroyer]

I did not think it would jump out of the shower. [Or be that large.]

[mydearapple.livejournal.com]

It was just there? [Well, he can't say he's too surprised. He's been finding weird things in the laundry, too.] How poisonous are we talking? I've never seen anything that big before. Not normal bugs.

[chikaidestroyer]

If the written prediction is correct, it-- they are "mildly" poisonous. [He looks annoyed as he corrects himself; he was definitely not expecting a second insect to appear when he climbed into the shower to finish washing his hair.]

[mydearapple.livejournal.com]

Great... [He leans on the wall to take off his socks, then heads into his room. His door had been open, so it might have gone in there.]

[chikaidestroyer]

[Albert walks past Caesar, frowning and keeping his eyes on the ground as he heads towards the living room. ...There were far too many places for those insects to go.]

[mydearapple.livejournal.com]

[Hesitantly, Caesar kneels down on the floor again, this time to look underneath his bed. A part of him kind of hopes he doesn't find it here. He really doesn't want to clean up his floor once he smashes the troublesome little thing.

But hmm, it's too dark to see under here...]

[chikaidestroyer]

[Meanwhile, Albert carefully begins tipping the armchairs and the coffee table, not one want crouch and look underneath the furniture when he could avoid it. He ends up having to get down on his hands and knees to look underneath the couch, frowning at the lack of movement underneath the couch.

Those things were large; they couldn't remain hiding for long.]

[mydearapple.livejournal.com]

[He doesn't have anything he can use to see under his bed. Does he really want to try and coax it out?

...nope. He'll look somewhere else first. Like under his desk, or between his furniture. This is a better idea.]

[chikaidestroyer]

[It's as he's getting up from the couch that Albert hears an audible scraping sound from the fireplace. He slowly edges towards it, frowning as he sees one of the large insects sitting in the ashes. It's antennae twitch noticeably, like those of a huge cockroach.

...

He cautiously looks around. What could he use to grab it? Should he just kill it outright?]

[mydearapple.livejournal.com]

[Hmm. Nothing. At least, not unless it's under his bed, but he's not sure he wants to try provoking one of those things. He decides to head back out into the hallway to see what his brother is up to. He peeks around the corner leading into the living room, tilting his head at Albert.]

Did you find anything?

[chikaidestroyer]

One of them is in the fireplace. [Albert gestures to the fireplace with his chin, tensing when the insect skitters at the sudden movement. He starts forward as the insect jumps out of the fireplace and along the wall, disappearing past the room divider and into the foyer.]

...Was.

[mydearapple.livejournal.com]

[Caesar sighs in exasperation, but makes his way through the living room anyway, keeping his eyes on the floor.]

What are we supposed to kill them with?

[chikaidestroyer]

I was just wondering about that. [He frowns, glancing over towards the front door, where his shoes are.] If we wish to go with the tried, true, and crude method, we step on them.

[mydearapple.livejournal.com]

[Caesar frowns, too, pausing near the room divider. His feet are completely bare.]

If we go for our shoes, we'll end up startling it again.

[chikaidestroyer]

Herding them and cornering them in the hallway would be the best method. The hallway is sealed off, unless you decided not to seal your own room once you were finished checking it. [And now he glances over at Caesar.]

[mydearapple.livejournal.com]

Of course I remembered.

[...he says as he turns around to go back and turn his lie into the truth.]

[chikaidestroyer]

[Albert shakes his head faintly, watching Caesar for a moment before stepping towards the foyer. As he looks around the sparsely-furnished area, he sees Kogoro sitting on his little bed in the dining room, his ears perked alertly and head raised.

After acknowledging the dog, Albert opens up the foyer closet, reaching up for the flashlight on one of the higher shelves. He flicks the switch, looking around for the giant bug.]

[mydearapple.livejournal.com]

[Caesar returns to his room and does just as Albert did earlier, making sure the door was shut and retrieving a towel from the bathroom to put on the floor. If it turned out there was a bug in his room, at least it would be stuck there for now.

Once that's taken care of, he returns, heading toward the front door first so he can put on his shoes.]