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Who: Charlie Bradbury and anyone!
Where: Hopping from place to place so...anywhere floaty.
When: Feb 28th-March 3rd
Rating: pgish? It's just adventure time!
Summary: Charlie finds herself stranded in the library and decides she's going to risk a few jumps.
The Story:

Charlie's not exactly sure how it happens, or when, but it's easy enough to see something's up when she opens the door to leave the library and finds the hallway not where it should be.

Nothing is where it should be. Happy she didn't have her nose stuck in a book, which would have ended with her falling to her ultimate doom, she leans out the door to peer down at the ground.

The ground that's so far down her head starts to spin a little.

Pulling back, she closes her eyes and concentrates on her breathing. "Okay, relax. No biggie, no biggie. I'm just in a free floating library, cut off from everything. Totally normal."

Naturally, she doesn't manage to entirely convince herself of this. Staying put is tempting, it really is, but there's something that pushes her back to the door, standing on the ledge and looking out at the other rooms that seem to suspend in mid air around her.

Managing to keep her calm, a piece of hallway starts to travel by slowly, close enough that she can just step onto it and travel around.

That seems like a lot more fun than just staying put.

And with a deep breath, she takes a leap, landing ungracefully in the hallway with an 'oomf'. Turning around, there's a slightly astonished laugh from her as the library moves in a different direction.

"Okay. I can totally do this." It's short when compared to most pep talks, but she's feeling the excitement of ADVENTURE coming on, and with that starts to travel through whatever pieces are nearby, careful not to get too cocky with her leaps.

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_{[You know who has a working closet and isn't interested in tempting gravity? This guy.

The view from his window does, at first, seem like something out of a nightmare and he's compelled to go outside to see just what's holding up his section of the tenth floor. Of course, "outside" is relative: there's the first few rooms in his hallway and part of the stairs, but that's it, the rest is just... gone.

He's suddenly glad he's never had a problem with heights before.

Adam stays put for the most part, experimenting with throwing things off the side of the broken chunk of land once or twice, but he's otherwise content to ride this one out with as much of his confidence in the natural laws of psychics intact as possible.

He's sitting on the end of the stairs, looking over the landscape (it's hard not to look at anything else these days) when a shock of red hair gets his attention. Someone with a death wish is jumping onto his little slice of floating rock, someone who on second glance is familiar. Charlie... right? Adam stands up to greet her, wondering how it'll take for her to notice he's standing there.]}

[ It takes her a minute, because she's feeling quite proud of her leap and is giving a smug glance backward. Take that random floating pieces of Wonderland!

Victory achieved, she turns around and does a double take that involves a tiny yelp and a hand clamped over her mouth. ]

Sorry! [ She doesn't mean to act like Adam's some kind of scary monster, but she instantly feels awkward. Their last convo didn't end on the highest note. ] Uh, nuts, right? All this? I was waiting for Godzilla to make an appearance, but maybe that'll be next time.

... Don't trip and fall off.

_{[She's the one saying sorry, but maybe it's his curse to scare women like Charlie with the sight of himself. He had washed and dressed that morning, so he knows he's not rocking the mental patient hair or anything like that. Neither is he Dean or Tom, which after what Adam had heard... that particular face is probably the elephant in the room right about now.

He shifts his weight, hands in his pockets.]}

Yeah, it's something like that. What are you doing?

Something new and different!

[ It's kind of a test for herself, really. She goes on about quests, having an adventure, some kind of purpose but sometimes she finds herself too scare to take the chance. Forcing herself to jump around like Mario on that fourth level in Super Mario Brothers 3 has given her some confidence.

At least these things don't just fall out of the sky as soon as she lands. ]

I was in the library to begin with - I kinda fell asleep in there. [ She still has a book clutched in her hand, actually - something she's not read before, and in all honesty she grabbed the first title she didn't recognize. ] Since I woke up to find the mansion all in floaty pieces, I figured I'd have myself a little adventure! At least there aren't maniacs chasing us around or anything.

[ She hopes she isn't jinxing them. ]

_{[Adam doesn't often get to look at other people like they're nuts. He doesn't relish it. Hadn't she just died? Maybe he'd gotten it wrong, and it'd been a different Charlie who'd bit it in a gruesome murder.

Someone who'd been killed like that wanting to go on an adventure right after... Either she's tougher than the majority of people, or she's in some serious denial.]}

Just a falling from height that make the space station look tame.

_{[He can't resist. It's true.]}

[ Geez, Negative Nancy, way to harsh on her funtimes.

Not that she looks like her fun's been diminished or anything. ]

Falling off something is way easier to deal with than other ways of kicking the bucket. [ Like maniacs who murderize people. Falling from a great height is a cakewalk compared. ] I'm totally being careful, no worries. I wonder if grabbing a parachute from a closet would make the fall not too bad?

[ Something to ponder, at least. ]

_{[That's what he's here for. He doesn't bounce back from death as easily as she does.

Adam shifts, gaze flicking to his boots, to the dried dirt flecking off his soles and dirtying the stairs. Just as it was obviously difficult for people who knew who Adam Milligan was to try and say something pithy about his untimely demise, it's equally difficult to offer condolences to Charlie. Just because he doesn't have anything against her personally doesn't make it easier.

Dying is the one thing Hallmark didn't make a card for.]}

Yeah... I heard about what happened. Sorry it was you. Would've warned you if I'd known.

_{[It's the least anybody could do. He would've expected the same in his situation, too, not that that was how things had worked out, but still.]}

[ Her smile fades a bit, and she shrugs. She doesn't hold it against anyone, not really, though she is quite terrified if Tom and has done an excellent job of avoiding him. ]

It's not like anyone saw it coming. [ She can't quite pull off the nonchalance she's going for right now. ] No biggie, water under the bridge and all that jazz!

[ Truth be told, her experience has made her a little more reckless. Thus her current adventure! ]

I just have to be more vigilant and prepared. Maybe start carrying a gun on me. [ Said a little thoughtfully - at the moment, she just has some pepper spray. Hey, one never knows. ]

_{[If there's one thing to be said for surviving horrible deaths and remembering them with picture perfect clarity, it's that he can understand what it's like. Adam isn't convinced by the Zen attitude. He stares at her unblinkingly.

Water under the bridge? Bullshit.]}

You know who you're talking to, right? _{[Dry, understated.]} I'm one of those people who gets it.

_{[And he can see through the bravado part, in other words. His veneer is more ironclad after this much time and practice, but he has one, too. Nobody suffers in that sort of way without forming one.

Without warning, he looks over his shoulder, back toward the row of rooms, thoughtful in his own way. He doesn't shrug, but it's almost a thing that can be heard in his voice.]}

If you want one, I have one.

[ Her bravado slips a little, because yeah - he would get it. If anyone in the mansion would, it's Adam Winchester. ]

Yeah, I know. [ She just doesn't like to think about it, which isn't actually dealing with anything at all. Not a good idea, she knows. ] You've seen and had a lot worse happen.

[ And she has to wonder what arriving here was like for him. Is it better, or just another form of Hell? Not that she'll be asking, that's super private details she doubts he'll feeling like blabbing about. ]

Whoa, do you? Did you get it from one of the closets? [ And she's inching closer, wanting to see the gun. ] What kind did it give you?

_{[Part of the very thing that makes him so adept at navigating the waters between a normal life, dying, and everything in between is the fact that he's a Milligan, not a Winchester, and he'd happily educate Charlie on that point if she were less careful in skirting around his family tree.

She still knows about him, though--or thinks she knows. He's not wild on the idea of anyone trying to slip into his shoes and claiming they understand how they fit, but in this case, he understands. She'd wanted something good, something adventurous at the very least, and gotten something unimaginably bad instead.

That, he gets.]}

That's why I'm sorry.

_{[Because people don't deserve a fraction of what he's gone through. Really, in the end all that his experience amounts to is that he's harder to surprise now, so anything she could say about what had happened to her, he doubts would rattle him.

But you lean on friends, and reading about him in some prophet's holy paperback doesn't make them that. Not now. Maybe not ever.]}

Yeah.

_{[The topic of guns is, ironically, a lighter one, and his answer covers two out of three questions. Truthfully, Adam's not positive on the third, but he'd done his homework as best he could, so...]} I left it in my room. Some handgun. Semi-automatic. Seems easy. You could probably get a bazooka out of those closets if you wanted.

That would go a long way in making me feel safe, but I'm not sure so about everyone else.

[ She's picturing it in her mind, and the sheer amount of destruction she could possibly cause has her huffing out a laugh. Nope, she will stick to the tiny and more controllable for now. ]

I just grabbed some mace from my closet, since I didn't really want to shoot someone, but... [ Better to be safe than sorry, a lesson learned from many hours of reading and watching movies/playing games. ] Knowing my luck, Wonderland will just spit a Nerf gun out at me. Or a paintball gun.

[ Which wouldn't be that bad actually. A paintball tournament would be all kinds of fun and stress relief. Something to think on later, anyway. ]

_{[It's the thought that counts. Still, as unhinged as Adam's sure he'd be to any vetted psychologist, he wouldn't recommend the heavy weaponry treatment. In the face of someone wanting to kill you, though, he can't say it wouldn't be a bad thing.]}

What are the options? Not shoot and have something happen again?

_{[Coming out the other side of death isn't normal, he knows that, nor is talking about it, but the fact remains, they're here now. Everyone in Wonderland is here, after one... two... who knows how many deaths. When something like that happens, what do you have to do to feel safe again? Personally, Adam chooses the "shoot first, ask questions later" option in theory. The zombie invasion had only motivated him on that front.]}

If you want it bad enough, it's not hard to get.

_{[But maybe the Nerf guns and the paintball guns are what's helping Charlie feel safe.]}

[ Though she's comfortable enough with a gun, she can think of a million things that would go wrong if she had a weapon - top of that list is whoever she needs to use it one would manage to snatch it from her and then where would she be?

Paranoia and anxiety has taken over her life in ways like never before. Being violently murdered probably does that to a person.

None of this is sound out loud, though. Save for a momentary drooping of the corners of her mouth, then she bounces back. Because she has to. What other choice is there? ]

I will totally get on that when I manage to hop my way back to my base of operations. [ Translation: her kickass room. ] I should probably practice some more. I don't feel rusty, but they say you need to get in a good ten thousand hours to be awesome at something, and I think I've only clocked in a measly eight thou.

_{[He starts back up the stairs to where the door of his room is still hanging open a crack, but he stops when Charlie admits she's been practicing.]}

You shoot?

_{[Or... practice shooting? Unbeknownst to Adam, Sam and Dean had taken who they'd thought was Adam out to do just that once, and the ghoul had proven the form it'd been borrowing wasn't terrible with a firearm. But Adam's never had an experience like that himself, and although he's thought about pressing Jo about it, has never taken the plunge all the way.]}

Sure do. Pretty good at it, if I do say so myself.

[ It surprised Dean, which made her feel pretty good about it. She's following after him because he totally invited her, right? Even if he didn't, she's still just talking. ]

Someone said there's a shooting range around here somewhere, I was thinking about taking an afternoon and hanging out. Not like now. [ And here she glances around, wondering where it might be floating. ] But maybe when the mansion gets its pieces back together.

_{[Well, he had been ready to get the gun and show it to her, only now he's thinking maybe Charlie might know more about it than he does.]}

Who taught you?

_{[She'd said she'd gotten mixed in with hunters, right? Had this been like a hunter training thing? He's never been in that particular loop and doesn't want to be by any stretch of the imagination, but this is the first time he's had rumors of a shooting range in Wonderland confirmed--if he'd done a better job of keeping his ear to the ground, he should've heard about it long before Charlie, who hadn't arrived all that long ago in comparison.

Can't really blame himself for being... occupied.]}

Where's that?

I kinda taught me.

[ The video game experience helped her know how to actually hold a gun - obviously, shooting the thing was a way different experience. It took some practice, but she had the time. ]

A girl's gotta protect herself in this big scary world, right? [ She looks proud of herself, because it did make her feel extremely accomplished.

Taking Dean off guard that one time was just a bonus. ]

I traveled around a lot and I wanted to be prepared for anything. [ And there's a pause as she tries to remember where exactly the shooting range is. ] I, uhhh, dunno. I thought I'd kinda wander around until I found it, unless it's gone. Someone said a guy who was kicking around previously made it or something.

_{[Apparently those self-taught shooting skills hadn't done her much good against Tom...

But that's something he won't say out loud. Rather than comment, Adam opts to process her answer with a simple:]}

Oh.

_{[As far the shooting range, not knowing exactly how something works or where a place might even be sounds about par for the course for Wonderland. He nods in acceptance, slowing his pace when they reach his bedroom door.]}

Never mind about that, then, it's probably around somewhere. Wait here, I'll be back in a sec.

_{[And once he unlocks his apartment door, he'll be back with his gun for Charlie to have at, as promised. The safety's on, because hey, at least it doesn't take a genius to figure that part out.]}

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::> Press 'Q' for Quest Log

March 1st!

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