{Fever inside the storm

[forasecond]

Who: Number Five forasecond & OTA
What: Crisis On Infinite Dreamwidths catch-all
When: Aug 12-18, 2022
Where: MetaHumans universe + A Nexus (details inside)
Content Warnings: Five comes with a bucket of warnings, including:
• Mental-physical age discrepancy (he looks 13, he's mentally 58)
• Well-hidden trauma and PTSD symptoms, potential depression/anxiety descriptions, some obsessive behaviors being exhibited at times
• Alcohol-as-a-coping-mechanism which technically presents as underage drinking
• Casual/flippant references to child abuse/neglect
• Violence, liberal use of violent threats, potentially flippant talk about murder and references to his time as an assassin
• In general, he can be aggressive, incredibly reactive, and generally come off as an asshole. These are risks in tagging with him that aren't feasibly curved without being untrue to the character.

Other Notes: HMU on Five's HMD / @loyalwolf[#3540] on plurk[/discord] for something specific!

these golden ashes turn to dust.

The Nexus

ARRIVAL

You show up in a desolate, dilapidated city that has seen better days. The buildings that remain intact are futuristic in their architecture, with sweeping lines, sharp angles, and geometric shapes that seem impossible but some have even withstood whatever ravaged this place so thoroughly.

EXPLORATION

Care needs to be taken as you explore the broken, inhospitable city. Electricity is spotty at best in the few places it seems to still work at all, but powerlines might have enough juice left to harm. Buildings and homes are in various states of disrepair with weak floors. Edible food is hard, though not impossible, to come by. Best to stick with anything you might find in a can.

SURVIVAL

When night falls, it becomes eerie, the lines made by the architechture seem sinister, and there's something humming or clicking in the distance- or is that just your imagnation? You might find yourself faced with a semi-sentient machine, twisted and changed by some magic or other means long-past. You better find an escape route or dismantle it and quickly, because it's coming for you.

ESCAPE

At some point, you see it: a small, shimmering break in the ground you were about to step on, in the wall of the building you're next to or the relfective glass of a broken down car. You see it, and somehow, instinctively, you just instinctley know it will lead you somewhere safe and warm. You're going home.

Comments

[grivences]

If this guy thinks that is in any way a valid explanation for whatever the fuck just happened, then maybe jumping around through space is missing with his brain.

"Could you always do that? I-I-Is that just like... a thing you do?"

Maybe teleportation was a normal human ability in his dimension? Out of all the crazy shit Robin has seen since last summer, this is still a new one for her.

[forasecond]

Entirely plausible assumption to make, really.

“Yeah,” he answers this just as dismissively as he’d apologized a second ago. This is old hat to him, no big deal. “It’s not something that was given to me from the Confluence that brought me here, I was born with it.”

He glances over at her again. “You like ice cream?” Rhetorical question, everybody likes ice cream. “C’mon,” he waves a hand to spur her into motion and hopefully it works so he can lead her into the shop.

[grivences]

Born with it? Robin is just picturing a little toddler in diapers, zip-zapping his way around a house in little chaotic teleportation jumps. "Bet your parents loved that."

Ice cream, though. She'll never say no to ice cream. Even working at Scoops Ahoy in the weirdest summer of her life couldn't take the love of ice cream from her. So, she follows, temporarily setting her existential confusion aside in favor of perusing the list of flavors on display.

"'Pumpkin Spice?' Who wants pumpkin pie spice in their ice cream?"

[forasecond]

"Actually, kind of," he says, though he knows she was being sarcastic or facetious, or both. "It's a long story, I won't bore you with it." Especially because... she's still in shock, probably.

"A lot of very weird people," he offers in response. "Whatever you want," he gestures at the menu board. She could get the most ridiculous sundae with a dozen different mix-ins if she wanted, he'll cover it.

[grivences]

If she ordered a ridiculous sundae with a dozen mix-ins, she'd just feel like Erica Sinclair. So no, she'll keep it simple, ordering a cup with a scoop of chocolate chip and a scoop of cherry.

"Are you going to explain why you're buying me ice cream, or is this one of those, 'shut up and be grateful' moments?"