Murphy Pendleton (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
murphy_pendleton) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
hartfieldlodge2014-05-05 10:22 pm
murphy_pendleton) wrote in hartfieldlodge2014-05-05 10:22 pm
[prologue]
There aren't a lot of places Murphy expected to end up - prison, most likely. Some shitty apartment back in Baltimore, maybe, if he's lucky. The general handyman/groundskeeper of a wilderness resort...thing? Not so much. It hadn't been an interview he expected to get much out of. Just some gasoline wasted on a pretty drive.
He's not going to look a gift horse in the mouth, though. Hartfield's nice. Decent weather. Tiny town nearby. A nice lake and some rivers off in the forest, probably with some decent fishing. He hasn't gone fishing in a long time. He's looking forward to that, when he gets a chance.
Murphy's considerably less excited about the apparent onslaught of tourists coming out to watch the leaves all change. Tourists. Lovely. He's already hoping that he doesn't actually have to deal with most of them, though that's likely to be mostly in vain. Customer service might not be the main parts of his job description, but the summer staff is packing up and leaving. He'll have to pick up the slack.
For now, though, he's got a few things to keep him busy before this round of guests shows up. He still needs to build up the firewood stores considerably before winter hits - that's a big fucking task, because apparently his predecessors never replenished what they used. It's also one he can only do some much of in a day. Eventually, he's just got to give up and wander down to the lake with what amounts to his lunch, axe in hand still. He never know when he'll need something like that.
He's not going to look a gift horse in the mouth, though. Hartfield's nice. Decent weather. Tiny town nearby. A nice lake and some rivers off in the forest, probably with some decent fishing. He hasn't gone fishing in a long time. He's looking forward to that, when he gets a chance.
Murphy's considerably less excited about the apparent onslaught of tourists coming out to watch the leaves all change. Tourists. Lovely. He's already hoping that he doesn't actually have to deal with most of them, though that's likely to be mostly in vain. Customer service might not be the main parts of his job description, but the summer staff is packing up and leaving. He'll have to pick up the slack.
For now, though, he's got a few things to keep him busy before this round of guests shows up. He still needs to build up the firewood stores considerably before winter hits - that's a big fucking task, because apparently his predecessors never replenished what they used. It's also one he can only do some much of in a day. Eventually, he's just got to give up and wander down to the lake with what amounts to his lunch, axe in hand still. He never know when he'll need something like that.
no subject
More of that hair coils around him, and again he finds himself distantly waiting for some kind of pain that never actually happens. Then she leans in to his hand, scooting closer. Her face is very cold and maybe a little pinker than it had been a moment ago.
Walter's face, however, suddenly feels more warmer than it should be. Is that normal? He's never been good with normal, even when not dealing with ghost women. He should probably say something, too; he just doesn't know what. He manages the beginnings of a going-to-talk noise, not really noticing he's leaned a little closer in the meantime. He's too busy trying to figure out if he should maybe talk more or not.
no subject
She kisses Walter before she can think better of it. There are a lot of reasons why she shouldn't. Instead of thinking about any of them, she slides her hand from his arm up to his shoulder. More of her hair reaches up to wrap around him, but she's aware that might not be welcome. So instead the tendrils of hair hang in the air tentatively, not quite touching him.
no subject
Then she kisses him. He freezes in place, eyes wide, brain not quite catching up to what's happening until it's very much happening. She's kissing him. People don't kiss him; people don't even touch him. He can't even manage a real reaction to it. He just... goes blank. Shuts down completely. Even breathing requires too much brainpower, and he is very much incapable of any, at the moment.
no subject
Is she doing something to him without realizing it? She breaks the kiss and pulls back. No, he doesn't look any different. He just... oh. Oh. Right. "I-I'll just-- I--" If she were still alive, she'd be having a hard time breathing right now. As it is, she still can't finish a sentence. She backs away, down towards the water.
"I... sorry." She turns to disappear into the lake, stumbling a little in her haste to just get away.