What do you mean there was a fire?

[Boy]

The front door of the house wasn't open, but the lights were on. Had Wendy come home, or was there something else responsible for the dancing shadows and the rumbling clatter in the kitchen?

[Dietrich Burke]

*Dietrich pulled up in his SRT-10, the engine rumbling a bit as it idled for a moment, and then was silenced. Dietrich stepped out of truck and headed up to the front door. He was just in a dark navy blue t-shirt, dark tan cargo pants, and black leather combat boots. He made his way up to the front door, and opened it up heading inside the house. He called out as he entered.* "Yo! It's Dietrich!"

[Wendy Berber]

*Skinny Wendy Berber. Looking much like she did weeks ago, wan, tired, bruises round her eyes from lack of sleep and hours and hours of running on coffee and mountain dew. Sometimes in combination. Its that particular combination of "energy drink and coffee" thats making her hands jitter as she loads the washing machine downstairs. That was the last of the curtains to smell of smoke. After this, all traces of the "incident" with the weaver spiders should be gone. Noises upstairs, and Dietrich's booming voice from the foyer. She brushes soap off her shaky hands and scrambles up the stairs.* Um.. H-hi!

[Boy]

A pan falls in the kitchen. The lout clatter sounds out once and, as it reverberates and settles there's the sound of crunching and munching coming from that direction too. Just inside the door sits a pair of Red sneakers that hadn't been there before. They're familiar, except that they've taken quite a beating. One has a distinct hole in the toe and both are dirty and stained.

[Dietrich Burke]

*Dietrich nods to Wendy and then makes his way into the kitchen to find what he assumes to be Boy.*

[Wendy Berber]

BOY!? *A double take at familiar, if worse for wear sneakers. Wendy's face lights up. She'd assumed all the clattering was Marrick. A thin finger pushes her glasses up as she pokes her had in the kitchen behind Dietrich, hopeful.*

[Boy]

The smell is obvious. Sweat, dirt, and a smattering of blood. Its high and meets them at the door, and for a second there's a bit of wondering if it really was Boy in there and not some extraordinarily savvy street person who had broken in. Ben then he shows himself, standing up from one of the lower cabinets. His clothes are a mess, caked with dirt and soaked with sweat. One arm holds onto a box of Fruit loops and two cans of something Chef-Boyardee-ish. The other arm holds a medium sauce pan. "Hey." he says quite simply. Then turns toward the fridge, opening it and rifling through.

[Dietrich Burke]

*Dietrich tilts his chin up and says.* "You look like stir fried shit man." *He half smiles.* "How'd you make out?" *His hands are placed his hips, stance shoulder width apart looking at Boy.*

[Wendy Berber]

*she slips in past the ahroun, head ducking as she slinks to the fridge and hands Boy a tupperware container full of turkey and stuffing, before murmuring quietly between Dietrich a question to be ignored or acknowledged as Dietrich and Boy saw fit.* I c-could m-make turkey melts for you b-both.. r-real quick.

[Boy]

He chuckles into the refrigerator after Dietrich's comment. "Not bad. Tired. And hungry." Boy makes way for Wendy as she approaches. He smiles at the suggestion, and nods while he hands her the saucepan. "These too?" He indicates the cans. There's an odd moment of hesitation there. He moves in. Stops. And moves in again, planting a kiss on whatever available space he finds on Wendy's face.

[Dietrich Burke]

*Dietrich nods.* "That's good." *He folds his arms in front of his chest.* "Had a little incident here one night. Wendy's laptop exploded and Weaver Spiders attacked her. She put the fire out, got out alright, no permenant injuries, but the house was left unsecured and was subsequently looted. Marcus and I worked overtime, cleaned up the damage, and in the process discovered we had a pretty bad mold problem. That's been taken care of, but as a result I've decided to move in the packhouse so there's more of a chance one of us will be around if something should happen again. I took the room upstairs with the carpet, and moved my weights and equipment down in the basement. If that's all good with you?"

[Wendy Berber]

*A nod, tall kin flushing crimson as she's pecked on the cheekbone. Thin jittery fingers manage to touch her mate's cheek before he draws back and she's busy blushing and stammering.* k-kay. Um. I'll m-make l-lots. *Though she curls inward as Dietrich explains her "leaving the house unsecure." Hunched over the Chef Boyardee she's dumping into a pot.* S-s-sorry. Sp-spiders kept ch-chasing me.

[Boy]

He stopped crunching When Dietrich started explaining, and by the time he got to 'looted' Boy had set the box down and stopped everything. The rest of it hadn't didn't seem to register to him. He just looked from Dietrich, to the ceiling over their heads, and then to Wendy as he started heading to the stairs. "What about...what about Gabby? What about..." The next sounds were his footsteps running up the stairs and the jangle of keys as he headed for the locked door.

[Dietrich Burke]

*Dietrich raises an eyebrow and watches Boy as he runs up the stairs. He heads over to the fridge, opens it up to pull out the pitcher of water to get himself something to drink.*

[Wendy Berber]

*Boy Bolts and Wendy looks stricken. She hadn't even thought about Gabbie and Travis. To her credit they were invisible. She gnaws on a finger anxiously. Nothing to do but construct some turkey melts on a cookie sheet. Head hung low.*

[Boy]

He comes back down, considerably more calm than when he went up, and pulls aside a chair from the kitchen table to sit on. There's a sigh of relief. "Looters, huh? What uh...what'd they take?"

[Wendy Berber]

*Wendy lets Dietrich field these questions, as she'd not returned until he'd said it was all clear. Instead she stoops over the stove, stirring canned pasta and sprinkling cheese on the tuna melts before sliding them in the oven. Once done, she fetches a cola from the fridge and offers it shyly to Boy, getting herself a new one if he accepts.*

[Dietrich Burke]

*Dietrich looks over at Wendy, and pours himself a glass of water. He leans against the counter and waits for Boy's return downstairs. He looks over at Wendy and then back to Boy.* "Nothing that couldn't be replaced. Wendy got out fine, besides a little scare she's not any worse for wear. And like I said without the fire we'd of never found the mold. Basically just some appliances, cheap furniture, dry wall, and so minor vandalism we got out of it pretty much intact. Marcus and I went ahead and re-did the floors downstairs, got rid of the mold, some pests, rats and roaches. I just brought some things over from my place. Bought the rest. So we're in better shape then we were before." *He takes a drink of water.* "Though the panic room budget is pretty much gone. That project will have to be put on hold for now."

[Boy]

He scratches one eyebrow and nods. "Right. Guess these things happen. How did it happen though? Where'd these spiders come from?"

[Wendy Berber]

Um.. th-the internet. I Th-think.. i got a weaver virus. S-somehow. *She frowns severely, thinking of her laptop sputtering and busting into flames. She rubs the back of her neck anxiously.*

[Boy]

Theres a look of obvious confusion on his face. He was clueless about this kind of thing. "Is that...normal?"

[Dietrich Burke]

*Dietrich crossed right left ankle in front of his right as he leaned up against the counter. left hand folded across his chest, right hand holding his cup of water. He took a sip, and looked at Wendy waiting for her response.*

[Wendy Berber]

*Wendy shakes her head vehemently. * Th-things don't come out of the in-internet. Spiders came out of m-my laptop. When it caught fire. V-viruses are, um, Viruses are usually programs that just mess with your computers s-software. like. um. They record your t-typing and send it to someone um, someone else. Or th-they just mess up your p-programs so nothing works. They d-don't send s-spiders after you, and m-make things .. blow up. Th-they can't.

[Boy]

"What were you doing before this happened?" Oh yeah, he was back. It was obvious from the way he crossed his arms now, and the curious yet serious look he was giving the two of them. "Dietrich, Did you check the other side? Was there anything lingering around?"

[Dietrich Burke]

*Dietrich nods.* "Yeah I checked the other side. Nothing around except the usual spirits. By the time I got here the spiders were gone."

[Wendy Berber]

I w-was on my, um, on My occult forums. I l-like to check, make sure no one is um, saying things that are weird or.. even.. you know. Ac-ac-curate... And some one named S-sp-spiders... *She pauses to clear her throat and stir the pasta, before wrapping herself tight in skinny arms.* They um, they said they had a picture of a wolf th-thing that was w-wounded behind their house... and then they showed a p-picture of it.. and it was the um, Someone in warform. It was. And then a p-picture of.. um.. gore flashed and the c-computer screamed at me. *Growing more anxious as she relates the whole sorry tale. She nervously checks the tuna melts and pulls them out with an oven mitt.* Then the c-computer slowed to a cr-crawl and st-started crashing. I t-tried to copy the picture and the um, the source info I'd hacked to a flash d-drive. Thats a little chunk of um, computer memory that stored in-information so you can put it on an-another computer? And everything caught fire and exploded. And then sp-spiders were everywhere, and everything was um, on fire. *She brushes shaggy black hair out of her face, skin still pitted with faint near-heaied over burns from melted plastic sputtering at her as she tried to put out the fire.

[Boy]

"Hm. Sort of sounds like a trap. But...if that were the case...were you really the target? Do you think you can find this spider person again?"

[Wendy Berber]

*Wendy purses her lips at the suggestion, scratching her collar bone with long twiggy fingers.* I can try, if you'd um. Like. But.. maybe.. Somewhere that won't b-burn down? I haven't ch-checked the chats since. *She admits.* I di'didn't want any more f-fires.

[Boy]

"Okay. I need to get some rest first anyway. And some food."

[Dietrich Burke]

*Dietrich nods.* "Alright man. Good to have you back." *He finishes off his water and puts the glass in the sink.*

[Administrator]

cricket, welcome to Lake View (Northside) (Now)

[Administrator]

cricket has switched to Lake View (Northside) (Night)

[Boy]

"And good to have you around here, Dietrich. Um. No barbwire though, okay?" For a moment he considers the box of fruit loops, but stops himself. "I'm gonna go take a shower, then I'll be back for that turkey melt."

[Wendy Berber]

*Wendy nods to Boy, turning the pasta to low. She offers a shy apologetic smile to Dietrich, and moves to rinse the dishes.*

[Dietrich Burke]

*He half smiles.* "Sure man. No barbed wire." *He looks at Wendy and touches her shoulder.* "Don't worry about it. Just another day in the life that's all." *He pulls out his blackberry.* "I'll be outside if anyone needs me." *He heads out the back door into the backyard.*