screwloose

[OOC: This log is backdated to Christmas Eve, and open to those involved, obviously~ So far as I know, that includes Stein, William Birkin, Marie, Sherry Birkin, Henry, and Giriko. If I've missed anyone, please feel free to tag in. I'll run it a bit like an event, with different areas, so people can be in smaller conversations and it doesn't get completely insane.

We no longer need permission from the mods to run personal logs of more than 5 people, but we DO have permission for this, anyway! And I think that's everything I wanted to say.]

Stein's house looked rather different from normal, thanks to Marie's enthusiasm and Stein and Birkin's rather bemused assistance. The eaves had been strung with coloured lights, and the spindly, leaf-less trees had also been hung with lights, tinsel and the odd glass ball as well.

Inside, Stein's largest operating theatre had been transformed into a dinner table, a tablecloth covering the shiny metal surface of his operating table, and chairs set up all around it. A turkey was browning in the oven, and all the fixings were ready to be brought from the kitchen and set on the table, from cranberry sauce to potatoes to stuffing. The living room, dining room, and kitchen were decorated for Christmas with more lights and decorations, and there was a large artificial Christmas tree in the corner of the living room.

All of the more sensitive areas of the lab had been locked up, out of deference to the fact that Giriko was invited.

Stein sat on the floor in his favourite laboratory, the cold of the concrete soaking into his body and leaching the warmth from it even through his clothes and lab coat. He hadn't turned on the lights when he entered the room, so it was nearly pitch-black except for a small square of light that lay across the examination table in the middle.

At some point when talking to Birkin, he had knocked over a rolling tray table, and several beakers had shattered, sprinkling glass like caltrops across the floor.

His phone sat on the floor next to him, forgotten. At thirty he had stopped counting, but Birkin still wasn't here.

He sat against the wall, humming to himself and flinching away from dark movements and shapes that only he could see, his eyes darting around restlessly in their sockets.

Stein stepped through the portal the young man had opened for him without hesitation, and looked around. He honestly had no idea what exactly to expect, other than a laboratory of some kind, and he wasn't disappointed.

There was a twinge of nervousness despite his boldness. Walking blindly into someone else's territory, especially someone Stein knew to be of like mind to himself, wasn't necessarily a smart idea. Then again, Stein was more than capable of taking care of himself. He didn't have a weapon with him, but he could easily kill with his bare hands, if necessary.

He reached up with one hand and rotated the bolt stuck through his head a couple of times, considering his options, then picked a direction and started walking.

Sooner or later, he'd either run across some interesting experiment, or find Birkin himself. Win win.