Semi-Open RP: House Returns From His 'Vacation'

[canes-can-kill.livejournal.com]

((OOC: Back from my holiday! Open for anybody in the Slytherin dorms, or anybody who wants to slip in, really.))



The last month had been both incredibly trying, and incredibly entertaining. Having never actually resigned from his job at Princeton-Plainsboro after he came to Hogwarts, House was still sent referrals and letters from people that wanted him to diagnose their mysterious disease. Taking a certain satisfaction in coming up with answers other doctors wouldn't have (and because he'd go insane without puzzles), he still took cases. Unfortunately, the latest one had required his actual physical presence, so House had taken off to Cairo for a month without telling a single soul.

In terms of complexity, the case had been fairly boring. Being able to pierce the language barrier with his workable knowledge of Arabic, House had nevertheless been stumped by the other doctors refusal to treat without proof, so everything had taken at least six times longer. Still, it had given him time to annoy the locals, so in House's mind, it wasn't a total loss.

Not one for loud entrances, House returned just as quietly as he left. Wandering through the hallways towards his room in the Slytherin dorms, he was tired, pale, wearing a purple bruise on his cheekbone and a black eye - but actually looked fairly pleased with himself. There was, of all things, an acoustic guitar slung across his back.

Not bothering to fully close the door behind him, the first thing House did was greet the two action figures on his desk - G.I. Joe and a Storm Trooper, melted together from nose to chin, now charmed to be animated and currently struggling in a futile manner to get away from each other - and sat down with his guitar, picking out Cream's Strange Brew. He didn't bother to notify anybody of his return, either; he figured whoever cared to know would see him eventually.

Comments

[primediscordian.livejournal.com]

"Hellooooo." She posed in the doorway, an apple in each hand. "Have you given any thought lately to the state of your immortal soul?"

[canes-can-kill.livejournal.com]

Good lord. Not even five minutes into his room, and already House was being hounded by people concerned over the state of his soul. This was just ridiculous.

"No, but I just now gave a lot of thought to the state of your blouse." House leered over dramatically at the woman's cleavage. "Salvation and Funbags. Is that like a two-piece deal?"

[primediscordian.livejournal.com]

"Who said anything about salvation? Also, that'd be three-piece." She points pointedly at each of her breasts, individually. "One, two plus salvation would be three."

She toddles in on her heeled sandals and offers him an apple. "So who kicked the crap out of your face?"

[canes-can-kill.livejournal.com]

Touché. "Oh, well there's an offer I can't refuse," House rolled his eyes. "Two breasts and salvation. Yipee." Only not, because she'd questioned it.

Glaring at the offending fruit suddenly offered to him, House scowled and ignored the comment about his face. "I'm allergic to fruit. Besides, if you're going to go about shoving round objects into a guy's face, make it the twins. A lot more fun."

[primediscordian.livejournal.com]

She made a tsking sound. "Someone has mommy issues." She tosses the apple up in the air in front of him -- either he'd catch it or it'd make a splut on the ground, and either way she won. She took a bite out of the other apple and started wandering around the room, poking at things with a curious (if sticky with apple) finger.

"Did you hit yourself? Was it self-defense? I know sometimes when I get self destructed only I can save me from me, and sometime it takes a little violence."

[jewboy-wonder.livejournal.com]

Wilson, had he bothered to, would have been fairly insulted that House hadn't informed him of his return. But, of course, he'd known House far too long to let something like that get him down. It wasn't the first time he'd up and disappeared. And at least he'd been able to send letters like the worried, Jewish nana he really was. But honestly. The man had been missing for weeks, after all, and... well. Things weren't nearly as interesting without him. He'd met a thoroughly inebriated party-goer (http://community.livejournal.com/hogwarts_hocus/1076926.html?thread=53900734#t53900734) and... well... that had been about the extent of his excitement. For a magic castle, this place could definitely be dull.

So, he most certainly hadn't been expecting the return. Hell, he'd almost walked entirely past without noticing before his ears picked up on the sound of guitar strings and.. well. He put two and two together. Wilson poked his head in, eyebrow raised.

"Uh. Hi."

[canes-can-kill.livejournal.com]

Glancing up briefly at Wilson, House smirked a little and didn't pause in his playing. "Um. What?" He parroted back, faking a gormless look. But it didn't stick. Instead, a strangely expectant, gleeful expression took residence.

"I commissioned a painting for you," House said without further ado, making no attempt at explaining where he'd been or asking if anything interesting had happened in his absence. He nodded at the canvas that stood against the far wall, face turned in and hidden. It was the one by Rose; the one that looked rather like 'The Scream' only with Wilson sans eyebrows, and a burning teddy bear.

[jewboy-wonder.livejournal.com]

Hand held out in a questioning manner, Wilson just blinked a few times at House and entered the room, shaking his head. "Never mind." It was pointless, really. With House... you just couldn't win.

Instead, his eyes were directed directly to the painting, and his face automatically flickered with something. Whether it was horror or... SHEER amusement, he wasn't entirely sure yet, but his eyebrows definitely jumped up at the sight. Well. He surveyed it a few long minutes. How did you respond to something like THAT anyway? "Oh, that's rich," he commented lightly, glancing briefly back to House before he started looking onto the picture again. He was assuming this was what the random picture (that had left him paranoid for days after) was for.

[canes-can-kill.livejournal.com]

Hiding his smile by focusing on the fretboard of his guitar, House allowed himself a moment of self-congratulations. Anything that could make Wilson that stumped was worth it. He glanced at the painting again and shook his head minutely in amusement.

"Of course it's rich. I bet I could sell that for a decent amount of cash." Though, he wouldn't be selling it. It would either go with Wilson, or stay in House's room for his own amusement.

[jewboy-wonder.livejournal.com]

"But you won't, of course," Wilson replied back automatically, a knowing look to his eyes as he flickered his gaze back to House. Smug bastard. "No, you're going to keep it in your room and marvel." Just to torture him. Whee! Not that Wilson minded all that much, after all. He wasn't so self-serious that the painting wasn't worlds of amusing.

Hands on his hips, Super-Wilson style, he turned to the other man, slightly amused half-grin starting to twixt at his mouth. "Charming, really. Who'd you manhandle into painting this?"

[ugly-imp.livejournal.com]

Tyrion had come wandering down the hall, probably going somewhere else entirely. He was carrying a large paper bag, and the clink of glass bottles could be heard inside it.

He paused at the sound of music and looked in at House. "I didn't know you took up music," he remarked conversationally.

[canes-can-kill.livejournal.com]

House had heard the clink of bottles before anything else, even over his guitar. He'd only had one opportunity to drink in the last month, and that had ended with the business end of a rather large fist. (Not that he deliberately provoked it. Of course not.)

Oddly enough, Tyrion was a welcome sight. If nothing else, House respected other sarcastic freaks. "I don't," he replied with a small smirk, completely ignoring the fact that he also had a piano in his room, "I just mash at the strings and hope it makes some sort of sound." To prove his point, House made the guitar squeal obnoxiously, pretending he hadn't been playing just fine a few moments ago.

[ugly-imp.livejournal.com]

Tyrion winced a little at the guitar's squealing and nodded, advancing a half-step toward the door. "Well, in that case I'm pretty sure everyone would appreciate if you were distracted." He pulled out a bottle of firewhiskey from the bag and offered it. "Got this from Ravenclaw. It's supposed to be good. Want some?"

[canes-can-kill.livejournal.com]

House faked extreme offense. "You're telling me I suck at playing guitar?" Like a rebellious teenager, he scowled and set the guitar aside. "Fine. I just won't play. I'll sit in my room and waste away to nothing while wishing I could play like Eric Clapton."

But despite his amusement over that, the bottle of firewhiskey was suddenly incredibly tempting. "You've never had any before?" House asked, actually surprised. It seemed like everybody here was knee-deep in the stuff. But, wait. Voluntary association, no scathing comments, offering of alcohol. This didn't add up. House paused in reaching for the bottle, and changed his mind, leaning back in his chair instead. "Clearly you're here for something," he smirked, implying that Tyrion should just tell him right then and there what his ulterior motive was.

[ugly-imp.livejournal.com]

Tyrion plastered a mock-offended look on his face. "Me? Want something from you? Whatever would give you that idea?" Then he shrugged. "Nah, actually, I'm running for something called the Slytherin prefect, and figured that alcohol might be a sufficient bribe to make sure you voted for me. Because, apparently, the alternative is some chaos goddess, which is just asking for trouble."

[lilypotter60.livejournal.com]

Lily had been heading to see Sirius, maybe get him to let her play with his Playstation 2 a bit. In truth, she was restless and feeling depressed and lonely; the lack of sleep along with everything else giving her dark circles on too-pale skin and a desperate need to wander. Sitting alone with her thoughts? Not a good thing.

Walking into Slytherin, she stopped at the sight of House, sitting casually in his room as if he hadn't just disappeared for weeks. Leaning on his door frame, crossing her arms, Lily studied him for a moment in silence before saying, "Have fun on your trip, Skippy?"

Distractions were a good thing.

[canes-can-kill.livejournal.com]

A brief look at Lily told House everything he needed to know - something had happened while he'd been gone. Clearly, this something was emotional and therefore terribly moronic and annoying in House's mind. Still, maybe it might be interesting to poke a little. It wasn't like he had anything better to do.

"You look like you've been having fun," he said bluntly, completely ignoring her question.

[lilypotter60.livejournal.com]

One eyebrow raised slightly and Lily took in his black eye and bruised cheek. "Could say the same to you," she replied. House wasn't the only one who could dodge a question. "So, guitar now? What, finally realized the piano is only for nerds and blokes who aren't cool enough to pick another instrument?"

She was well aware she looked like hell. However, she was also not in the mood to talk about it. Besides, she hadn't had much luck with the whole 'telling people' bit. Of the two people she had told, she'd fought with Sirius and had sex with Dean. Since neither of those two outcomes appealed to her with House, she decided to ignore it.

[canes-can-kill.livejournal.com]

It looked like dodging questions was the order of the day, because House had no intention of answering Lily's barb either. It hadn't been his fault. Really. He'd just been drinking innocently at a bar, when he'd be confronted with a very angry man. More than once, House politely asked him to kindly place his looming presence elsewhere - but the large man seemed to have misunderstood, and instead heard the words, 'Go back to your child prostitute and get out of my way, you accidental reversal in the evolutionary chain.'

Needless to say, House had gotten what he wanted. Distraction.

"Nobody ever accused me of being cool," House smirked briefly. As for the two instruments, well, what else was there to do to burn energy when you also happen to be crippled? He sure as hell couldn't go for a run.

Placing his guitar aside, House regarded Lily with something almost verging on curiosity. Something was bothering her, and she wasn't talking. Interesting. As far as he knew, there were a few things that would hit her this hard, and he decided to go for the most obvious one first. This was a puzzle, and puzzles were impossible for him to resist. "So how's Cox?" House asked casually.

[lilypotter60.livejournal.com]

"Ah. So the guitar is a last grip at glory? And what about the black eye? Disagreement over the guitar?" The thought of House in a physical fight of any kind was amusing, and Lily watched him, curious. She'd bet her last Knut he'd started it.

At his question, though, Lily's features momentarily froze, her jaw clenching slightly. Bastard. He was trying to shock a response out of her. Not bloody likely. Carefully smoothing her expression out into one of complete neutrality, she said, "So, the word around here is that Madame Nutter expanded the wing somehow with Professor Mautrin. If you play nice, she might let you gruff and glower around actual patients." She didn't just dodge the question, she did an end run around it and spiked the ball on the opposite side of the field. (Ah, sports analogies.)

[ostianespionage.livejournal.com]

*Oh, look, it's Doctor Whatsisname.*

Hey, there. You look worse. What happened to you?

[canes-can-kill.livejournal.com]

House met his comment with a scowl and a glower. He remembered this guy as pestering him while he'd been trying to diagnose something (and insulting his sarcasm), so House completely ignored the question. "I don't know. What happened to you?" He asked instead, mock surprised.

[ostianespionage.livejournal.com]

*Matthew grins.* Just recently, or in general? Because if I told you about my problems, we'd be here for awhile. And that's only the ones that depend on other people.

[canes-can-kill.livejournal.com]

House rolled his eyes. "Oh, how very melodramatic. And so completely boring," he sniped. "Do you have daddy issues? That wouldn't surprise me." The question was, of course, completely rhetorical. House actually had no interest in finding out, but had clearly decided it was more fun to amuse himself by snarking.

[ostianespionage.livejournal.com]

Honestly, no. No problems with parents, no problems trying to act like a parent. Honestly, what I've got is dragged-around-by-annoying-loud-woman issues. And lover issues, but you really don't want to hear about that.