Baby, you're drunk and acting tough. I know you're sad you're not the only one who feels like that…

[nowinprint]

{Kashtta Tower party thread!}

It's about four thirty in the afternoon on a nice, sunny day when Dmitri Lang strolls up to the front door of the Kashtta Tower and kicks it. Hard

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[akablackkitty]

Marshall would have been down to answer the door, but he sort of got distracted pacing like a sad puppy outside Tosh's door, because she's been holed up in her room ever since... That thing with Jack, and he's not even sure if she has her headset on. He'd check, but he doesn't want to upset her more, and... Well, there's a Dmitri down in the cafeteria. If anyone could convince Tosh to come out, it's Dmitri.

So now there's a Marshall, valiantly ignoring the tantalizing smells of pizza so that he can wander up to Dmitri and say, "So, uh... Can I interest you in a mission to rescue a, um, certain fair maiden from her tower?"

[nowinprint]

Oho, it is a Marshall! It is a Marshall looking like a sad panda. (She never could figure out how Marshall managed to look more like a sad panda than Weiss ever did, but Marshall is a very talented boy.)

She hops up to sit one one table, swinging her legs and cocking her head to one side. "You're gonna have to excuse me for thirteen seconds while I try to decide who in Torchwood could possibly be considered a 'maiden,' but your answer is probably 'yes', my ailuropod. Am I to slay a dragon or climb up somebody's hair?"

[akablackkitty]

"It's, uh, Tosh." He shifts uncomfortably, because half of him is wondering if maybe leaving Tosh alone is the best idea and the other half is going TOSH HAS BEEN LEFT ALONE ENOUGH- IT'S INTERVENTION TIME. "She's been, ah, kinda avoidant... Well, not so much avoidant- that's kind of taking it to a... Okay, she's been a bit avoidant."

Marshall makes a face that could properly be described as 'Help me, Dmitri Lang, you're my only hope.' "I figured, y'know, if anyone might be able to get her to come out and have fun... You might."

[nowinprint]

Dmitri slides right off the table again, grabbing her messenger bag and fixing Marshall with a terribly, terribly sincere look.

"You've come to the right place, my man," she says. She glances down just long enough to unzip an inner pocket and withdraw a set of shiny lockpicks, which she extends in a heroic point like a hero extending her sword. "I shall carry her down myself if I have to."

The lockpicks disappear into an outer pocket, easily accessible, and she claps Marshall's shoulder and expects him to follow as she takes off for the stairs.

"Seriously, though? Tosh has not yet realized that the cold glow of her computer screen is not a substitute for real human interaction? I swear, I get bogged down for a few weeks..."

[akablackkitty]

Marshall breathes a sigh of relief and gives Dmitri an awkward smile when she claps him on the shoulder, proceeding to follow her like an awkward puppy.

"Well, it's been a, uh... Rough couple of months." Rough is an understatement, but Marshall's all about the understatement. "And, you know, I figured- well, I and probably everyone else here, y'know- she needed some time to decompress and, uh... Well, I know that when I get into one of those moods, it's probably best to not bother me, because.... Whooo."

Marshall is probably lying to, you know, defend Tosh's honor or something, considering moody and Marshall J. Flinkman aren't two things you'd put together. Even Marshall's depression is somewhat spastic.. If he ever really got depressed.

[nowinprint]

"Marshall," Dmitri says, glancing back at him as they move through the halls. "Don't take this the wrong way, xiongmao, but I think people would be more worried about disturbing a friendly beagle than an unhappy Flinkman. I swear, someone just needs to schedule Tosh's Happy Fun Time. Make it all official. She won't dare slink off."

She comes up on Tosh's door and brings a hand to her lips, pulling out the lockpicks again. Then, much more quietly, she whispers "I've been practicing this. Time me." She winks, and kneels in front of the knob. She pulls out a torsion wrench and a small hook, slipping them into the lock.

[akablackkitty]

Marshall opens his mouth, decides that whatever he tangent he was about to go off on can probably wait until Tosh is out and having pizza and all the fun ever and just sort of nods. Occasionally, Marshall knows when to keep his mouth shut.

"..Wait. You've been practicing- Never mind." See? He just sets his watch and actually does time her, because Marshall does not do anything half-assed, even... Breaking into Tosh's room for great justice.

[nowinprint]

Hopefully Tosh does not wonder about the strange scratching noises coming from the direction of her door's latch.

Dmitri goes to work on the lock with the keen focus of an AoK who learned lockpicking in a marathon session of being deeply bored for the space of three days, and soon feels out the tumblers and pins and has selected another tool for the job. In it goes, round the torsion wrench goes, and open the door swings!

Dmitri gives a triumphant smile to Marshall and pokes her head in, not even bothering to pull the incriminating lockpicks out of the latch. "Honey!" she calls. "I'm home! And I brought pizza."

[techniclybrill]

Tosh did not notice the scratching noises, mostly because she's been periodically sharing the room with an unhappy gray cat who occasionally takes it upon herself to claw at the door. It's hard not to notice, however, when the door swings open, and... well, Dmitri. She's very noticeable.

Tosh yelps and jumps to her feet before she has time to register that the intrusion is not really a threat. LOLshadow, on the other hand, doesn't bother with processing time. She springs off the bed toward the door, a little grey missile headed for Dmitri's ankles. "Mai hero!"

Tosh blinks at the cat. Looks up at Dmitri. Looks to the door. "Did you just... pick the lock on my door?"

[nowinprint]

Dmitri scoops the cat up and puts her in a position where she can feel free to attach herself to her shirt, scratching behind her ears and casting Tosh a reproving look. "Don't you ever feed this thing? And as for your question, if by 'pick the lock on your door' you mean 'wage a heroic campaign to rescue you from the cold tomb of your self-imposed exile,' then yes. The answer is yes."

She pushes the door the rest of the way open with her foot, still petting the talking cat-shaped subconscious which threw itself at her. Yes, Tosh, and she's brought reinforcements. Look at Marshall. Is that a face you want to disappoint by being depressed on your own in your room?

"Come on," Dmitri says. "We'll stuff ourselves on pizza and then we can come back here and listen to J-Pop and braid each other's hair and talk about which Millennium Prize Problems we like. Don't think we won't carry you down if we have to. I brought along a big strong guy just in case."

That'd be you, Marshall.

[akablackkitty]

Marshall stops the watch nonchalantly as soon as the door swings open, but doesn't bother to announce the time, because.. There is a Tosh. And, as if on cue, he puts on a rather impressive wibbleface. Yes, Marshall Flinkman is totally capable of being utterly shameless for great justice, nodding along with Dmitri's words, although when she calls him big and strong, his wibbleface twists into one of sudden confusion.

"...Huh?"

[techniclybrill]

LOLshadow clings to Dmitri's chest, staring up at her with wide, pathetic eyes. She is never loved. Not ever. It's tragic, really.

Tosh shoots the cat a slightly annoyed glare, and then sighs, tugging absently on the sleeves of her shirt at her wrists before folding her arms over her chest. "That thing is a manifestation of my subconscious," Tosh points out. "It doesn't need to eat."

She looks up to Dmitri's face. She could protest that she's fine, just busy, that she has things to do, but... she knows that is going to get her precisely nowhere with Dmitri, and the only options she has now are to accept her fate with dignity or fight it, to no avail.

"You could have knocked," she comments mildly after a moment.

[nowinprint]

"My way works better," Dmitri says, turning to the hall and cuddling the LOLshadow. "And we will find someone whose subconscious has a can of tuna they don't need," she says in the direction of the furry grey ears.

A few steps into the hall and she turns back, looking with a vaguely smug expression back at Tosh. "You would be surprised at how many people don't know when Mrs. O'Leary's cow was acquitted for the great fire," she says, as this is a normal thing to know in any reality for any reason. "I mention this because apparently trivia feeds the masses, so long as the masses are in a creepy haunted tower. The hilarious thing is, while I aced that damn trivia comp, I still have only a vague idea what the festivities were for."

[techniclybrill]

"I would have opened the door," Tosh sighs, glancing at Marshall as she steps through the door - not quite accusing, but somewhat questioning. Did he have to?

To Dmitri, she just asks, "Why were you even there if you didn't know about... These things can't just happen to you." Not that it much matters. But there are some things you just have to question. Surprise pizza parties are apparently one of them.

LOLshadow, for her part, has started up a loud purring completely out of proportion to her size, claws kneading into Dmitri's collarbone. This is the best day. Tosh has a people!

[akablackkitty]

"1893, after a reporter admitted he created the cow story because it would be more colorful... Although, honestly, if it were me, I'd have probably suggested something a little better than a cow, like... I don't know, but it would have been way more dramatic," Marshall supplies to Dmitri's comment with a broad grin. He's not too shabby at trivial pursuit either, although most of his knowledge is, well, geeky in nature- like naming every major actor in every incarnation of Star Trek in reverse alphabetical order. That was just a lucky bit of knowledge.

At Tosh's look, however, he kinda loses the grin and looks utterly apologetic, although he arches an innocent eyebrow, suggesting that, well, it was for great justice, so she really can't blame him.

..And now he's just going to reach over and give LOLShadow more wuv via a good scritch behind the ears, because she is suffering from insufficient amounts of it.

[nowinprint]

Dmitri smiles. "Got the date right, but for the wrong event, my fine Flink wine. The Chicago city council passed a resolution absolving Catherine and Naomi, that's the lady and the cow, in good old 1997. You know, just in case anyone took City Council seriously, they needed to clear up what they actually did around here."

She looks back at Tosh, raising her eyebrows.

"As a matter of fact, simpatichnik, I did know about the trivia contest. Met some guys who go to the university - you know, those college kids, three parts academia and ten parts party. Not a one of them can hold their liquor, though. Told me the Uno was having a big night with prizes, and I didn't ask the whys and wherefores, I just tromped along. I also got a few good leads on clubs that have theme nights, and one of the ones over in University Village is having an 80s cult movie night. If that's not an excuse to dress up like a character from Tron, I don't know what is. You're more than welcome to join."