Prosaic — Roleplayer Guild

Grand Ridge Academy - Conference Room.
@Atrophy & @Surtr Inc & @FernStone

"You're welcome, I think you're the first person to thank me for that. Your name is Britney, isn't it?"

Funny, the things you found out in a group.
He had wanted to spark a reaction and he had. It was like a ripple effect had gone through the gathered students. It made him feel powerful, if only for a moment. Billy was the first person to 'fess up to his marking, it was nice that he was so honest about it. It was a little comforting too, he knew and he pretty much liked Billy. They weren't best buddies or anything but they talked every so often. 

When Billy introduced himself properly and pointed out Rita for stealing his bong, Martin gave her a curious glance. He had known about her weed escapade, he'd witnessed the whole event but he hadn't known she'd gotten it from Billy. Now, Martin wasn't big into substance abuse, save for a beer or two at the ocasional party, but he hadn't ever taken Billy for the type to spike weed. It just seemed very out of character for him.

Of course, Martin didn't know everything about Billy but he didn't think he was malicious. Nonetheless, he didn't blame Rita for being kind of nervy in response if she believed he gave her jacked up weed. Martin could feel her hand squeezing his knee and he rested his hand on her arm lightly, a touch that was meant to translate that he understood.

Sometimes it seemed like they had a kind of nonverbal language, he was generally pretty good at reading Rita and he assumed that she was good at reading him too. When she put her new truth power to work on Billy, he couldn't help but feeling his hair stand on end. The dream had resonated with him too and he swallowed thickly, feeling the anxiety from earlier returning to him in a fury.

He responded to Rita in an undertone that was meant only for her to hear. "I forgot to talk about that yesterday, me and Hagan had that dream too."

Speaking of Hagan, he couldn't help but wondering what was holding the big guy up. He knew that support groups didn't really seem like Hagan's thing but he was making groundbreaking discoveries here.

Aliana was getting more anxious by the moment, something about Martin and Billy both being so glaringly open about this stuff made her feel unnervingly wrong. Next thing she knew, this room would turn into a bunch of teenagers having a pissing contest for best powers. It had already sort of began when the kid with the blue hair mentioned that they had pulled a butterfly from thin air. She didn't doubt (him? her?) in the slightest, not after she'd been invisible.

The albino chick challenged the blue-haired kid immediately, not daring to believe that there was some way that the kid had done magic. She could practically feel herself sinking into her chair. She knew that Penny wanted to plead the fifth on this and she wasn't going to mess that up but it was getting pretty clear that they weren't the only people with something extraordinary happening to them. 

Martin had noticed that Tuyen had agreed to having shared the dream but had chosen not to relay any other information. It was only through deduction that he guessed that she had some kind of mark that she didn't want to talk about. He wasn't going to be the guy to push her but he was curious nonetheless. This whole thing was just making him maddeningly curious.

What kind of phenomenon made kids develop super powers?

Claire had rolled her shirt up to show her marking off, she'd done it with a kind of reckless dignity that he admired. He wasn't about to tell her that he found it admirable but he did, she seemed like she genuinely didn't care if they all knew or not. If she hadn't been such a jerk to Rita then he might have been inclined to like her. When she addressed the events at the end of camp, he was suddenly far less excited about all of this. 

He did remember the burst of light, it was like a demonic firework and it had nearly given him a heart attack.

"I wish I didn't remember it," he responded earnestly, "I've been actively trying to forget that whole night but there must be something up with my ability to disassociate."

LOCATION; THE TOWER - THE PARK.
COLLABORATION BETWEEN: @Prosaic & @Delta44

Though Silas wasn't much of a talker by nature, he wasn't someone who just let people stew around on their lonesome. It was kind of rude to just avoid fellow heroes, especially when he was in the area of them. He was glad that he'd taken the step to sparking a conversation, even if he was a bit on the nervous side. He listened as Elliot described the people that she felt most fond of, he wasn't surprised to hear that Joseiah was on that list. The guy really had a way with people. 

He was flattered to hear that she liked Epsilon, it was their team after all. "I mean, we are the coolest team of all. Phoenix Dawn sort of makes us the most media represented, it can be a little on the embarrassing side but we're good at our job. You gotta hand it to Omnicron though, I like everyone over there as well."

He was rambling, he hated that, he should stop while he was ahead but he didn't. "I mean, takes Miles for example, if you threw something at that guy, he could shoot it out of the air. That's cool as hell-" 

He stopped, finally. He drew in a breath and when she offered him the sandwich, he didn't hesitate to agree. "Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'd love a sandwich. I haven't eaten all day."

He settled down beside her, folding his knees underneath himself and unwrapping the sandwich. "I'm a terrible cook, did you make these yourself?"

Left, then right, then left again; her eyes couldn't find a place to rest, so they settled on the water in front of them. It was gentle, something she felt was comparable to Silas himself. Unlike the fire of Phoenix Dawn or the shadow of Ka'van; he was water, lucid and calm. 

"Y-yeah... It wasn't t-that hard, just some lettuce, tomato, cheese, ham... I learned how to cook for myself. Once you get the hang of it, i-it's not so bad."

She couldn't help but grin to herself as Silas took the sandwich she had made. She honestly hadn't expected anyone to come see her, and for it to be Silas was... pleasant. There were things she wanted to ask him. Things that she couldn't ask anyone else about. 

The only problem was if she could even muster the courage to ask. 

That could wait until later. 

"I was thinking before... what if I cooked for everyone? Does that sound like a good idea? I don't know..." She shook her head. "Sorry, that probably sounds dumb. I-I'm not good at approaching people, so... you know..."

She shuffled and let out a nervous sigh. 

"I-it's an excuse... right? D-does that make sense...?"

God, she felt like she was terrible at this. Back in her old life, she never got the chance to speak with strangers before. It was a wholly new experience, one Eliott felt she was seriously underdeveloped for. 

He couldn't help it, he grinned. "Are you kidding me? They would love that. I can't speak for everyone but I  know that Ricardo would probably adore it, I know that I would."

Self doubt wasn't hard to become accustomed to, he had learned that over the years and Elliot seemed to have a lot of self doubt. He worried about people that didn't take immediate confidence in themselves, he was the encouraging type after all. He had always thought that his power was on the boring side but Elliot had a pretty damn cool power. He knew that she had a tendency to flip on a dime under her hero name and he found himself wondering if there was some way to inspire that confidence when she was just Elliot Reider. 

"Plus," the boy bit into the toasted sandwich, leaning back and washing it down with a sip of his steadily decreasing energy drink. "These are good, I pretty much live on processed food so it's good to take a break from that. These people, they're uh, they're not going to bite your head off, y'know? Especially people like Ricardo, but I'm sure you've noticed that. Are you afraid for any specific reason or just in general?"

Eliott was silent, as though processing Silas' words, before giving a short nod. Should she tell him? Or should she remain silent? He seemed trustworthy enough...

'They won't bite your head off..'

She repeated the statement in her head, and seemed to gain some sort of confidence. "I've... not met many people before..."

There was a pause. 

"B-but... there are some people here I... don't like..."

Silas had been immediately curious of that statement and it must have shown in his expression because she reacted sharply.

"N-not you, S-Silas! Th-they're from Omicron!"

Her gaze shifted to him, and she raised her arms defensively. 

The cat was out of the bag, now. But then again, for those who caught her in the act, it wasn't hard to tell just who it was that she didn't like. A frown crossed her features, and she returned to staring at the ground. 

"Victory... A-and Witness... Th-they..."

Another pause. The flow of water was making it hard to think. 

"... different reasons..." She mumbled, barely audible. She knew she was being difficult in this, but couldn't help herself. She repeated herself again, this time louder: "Both of them... for different reasons..."

"I like Epsilon," she added quickly, "because they feel like true heroes. Even Leo. Even Ka'van. But Omicron..."

She shook her head fiercly. There was a lot she didn't know, and she knew she could very well be jumping to conclusions. Eliott let out another sigh. "Maybe I am scared..."

Not even Eliott knew the answer to that statement.

"We're all heroes, Elliot," this statement was soft, it wasn't judgemental though. "Now, I'm going to sound all dad-like here when I tell you that we're all different. Even despite our many differences and there are many, we have one common goal."

He took a thoughtful bite of his sandwich, lamenting that his energy drink was now gone. Elliot was new and he didn't blame her for finding bias of some kind for anyone but he did want to help her realize that Omnicron was just as good a team as Epsilon, even better at times. They all had their skill sets, where Phoenix Dawn could pile drive a metal elephant into the ground below, Victory could slice the head off a metal lion with ease. They were different, different wasn't bad.

He had always envied the other heroes because his powers were strictly mental and they didn't make much ground. Most people didn't even realize that he was working behind the scenes. "Witness is brilliant, she's always doing extra work for the police force, she must feel so overworked sometimes. Victory can create things. My powers are very set, the dreamscape is a powerful thing but I don't even do outside work. I don't fight like the rest of the team. I don't fight like Omnicron. Some people would say that I'm not a hero because I'm never in the fray."

He gently nudged her with his elbow, the motion was friendly. "There's no foul in being scared but I think you should try to get to know Omnicron, they're a good group."

"Ow." The instinctive response came as a result of his elbow nudge. Despite the fact it didn't actually hurt, she still rubbed the area gently, soothing the area as though there were, in fact, pain. A giggle escaped her lips, unable to contain itself, and she shook her head. "It's OK, I'm not hurt."

Said Miss Obvious. 

However, her playfulness calmed down when she thought more about what Silas had said.  "Not a hero...?" It sounded as though she had taken particular interest in the statement about himself as opposed to that of Omicron. Though that likely wasn't his intention, she shifted to face him, legs crossed like a giant preschooler. "You're the most heroic of anyone."

In her mind, that was a fact. 

It was weird for him to hear that someone appreciated him, it was strangely nice. Everyone wanted to be appreciated, even Silas. He found himself smiling at her words, listening to her intently as she defined what she thought a hero was.

"You go running into battle without any real defenses; you're the same as any other civilian. One wrong move and it's game over. But you do it anyway. You beat the bad guys, save those in trouble, and no matter what people say, you keep going. If I'm honest, that's more heroic than what anyone else here does..."

Saying so brought back some memories of the past. With Ark. People often forgot nowadays that heroes and villains, terrorists and civilians - they were all just people. Having been on both sides of the spectrum, she had a unique perspective when it came to the likes of justice, good, bad, and all the other complicated issues of being a hero. But, in her mind, those who could go out and do things that created change, in spite of the difficulty, were the real heroes. 

"It may sound odd but not many people tell me that, or maybe I'm just not around to hear it if it's being said." he laughed, though the sound was soft and kind of awkward. "I don't ever think of it as dangerous, though I guess it kind of is. Dream-walking is all I've ever really been good at. I was almost a vigilante, y"know, but I think it's better that I landed in a team. My powers are too uh stagnant. I have to stay in one place, if I had gone against multiple villains then I would have been as good as dead."

He had always admired that vigilantes made their own rules, though he had come to accept that he would have been a particularly bad vigilante. He was better as a supportive man on a team, it was just a safer fit for him. "I think I wish I was more like Dawn sometimes, he really is kind of amazing. I'm glad I was placed on his team," his eyes narrowed and he grinned for a moment. "I mean, without him, I'd probably never make it to the battlefield. He pretty much acts as my main means of transportation."

Now it was Eliott's turn to laugh. "Transport...? Really?" She hadn't heard of the Hero of Justice being used to ferry fellow heroes around the city, but the more she thought about it, the less extraordinary it sounded. "I can see the appeal, but it must be terribly sickening."

Things with Silas had gone smoother than she had expected. Not that their conversations in the past were anything bad, but...

It was nice. 

Silas was nice. 

She could sit and stay talking with him for a lot longer than usual, it would seem. However, her mind couldn't help but wander. Wander into thoughts she had no right to be thinking, much less asking. Even if Silas was friendly, who was she to ask him? Who was she to impose herself onto him, especially with her being so new?

Silas could quite clearly see that look Eliott often gave him: the one with the curious eyes and the nervous lip-biting. She always seemed like she wanted to ask him something at one point or another, but couldn't bring herself to actually say it. 

"Hey... Silas...?"

She seemed to get nervous once more, and her eyes were struggling to maintain eye contact. Again.

"I-I... Umm..."

Her flace had gone red, but not in the typical embarassed fashion. Rather, it seemed like she was... anxious? Extremely nervous? She certainly hadn't gotten so far as to actually say anything before when she had that look, that much was for sure. 

"Go on, he insisted, watching her with careful brown eyes, he had noticed more than once that she always seemed on the brink of saying something to him. It was as if there were a question bearing down on her tongue that she didn't know how to release. He was observant enough to know that the very same question had returned and he intended to know what it was now. "You can ask me anything, Elliot. I like questions, contrary to popular belief."

"I-it's not... normal..."

Her response was less informative than he may have liked, but the fact he got a response and not her running away was a good thing. At last, that was the assumption. Her body figeted and her heartbeat thumped faster than when he had surprised her. It was... hard for her to find the right words. To say what she wanted to say. That, and her brain wanted her to just quit at every step. 

But if what she knew of Silas' power to be true, then she knew. 

She knew, in her heart, that she had to ask him. 

"Silas... I want to know... if you can help me say goodbye to someone I once knew..."

Her tone was low, hinting just exactly what may have happened to this particular person. Her gaze, now down at her hands, watched as she mindlessly fiddled her thumbs, heartbeat racing. She knew it was a hard question for him to answer. But she had to know. For her own sake, so she could put any lasting hope at ease.

So she could find it within herself to let go. 

"You want to know if I can contact the dead through the dreamscape?" 

That was a hard question, there were a lot of things that could be accomplished in the dreamscape and he knew that it technically should be possible. The amount of energy that it would take however. . . That was what scared him. Not only would he be tapping into the dream realm but he would be trying to open a connection between there and the spirit realm. He couldn't summon a dead person without surrounding them in familiarity and it was a lot of work that went into this.

He liked a challenge though, something that he'd never tried before. People spoke with deceased relatives in dreams all the time, why couldn't he be the catalyst of the connection? There might have been more to this then he really understood and it might have him succumbing to narcoleptic fits for awhile but he was willing to try. "I've never done it before, he admitted. "I can try though. It's not impossible for me to breach a connection between ethereal realms when I'm in the dreamscape. I've accidentally stumbled into astral planes before, I know it's possible."

He bit the corner of his mouth, chewing at the skin there thoughtfully. "I'm not sure what the consequences are for opening that bridge up but I can try and I will try. We just need to decide if you want to do this now or tonight. It's easier for me to balance in the dreamscape if you're already asleep but harder for you to maintain lucidity."

"No."

Her response was firm. Despite the frown it put on her face, she knew that doing something like putting another in danger for her own sake was never, and could never, be something she would accept. 

"Nevermind. It was... a dumb question."

Despite making the judgement herself, he could see the pain saying so brought her. Tears threatened the boundaries of her eyes, and she curled her legs up to hide herself in a ball. She knew how silly she was being in asking. Selfish. But at least she knew.

There wouldn't be a proper goodbye, if she could help it. 

She buried her eyes in her legs, unable to properly suppress her sobs. Her body quivered with every sharp inhalation, and broke out into deeper sobs the more she thought about the past. The thought that maybe this was what she needed, just to cry, crossed her mind, however it was lost in her tears, as she couldn't focus on thinking, only on crying. 

"I-I'm sorry! I-I... I..! I'm sorry, y-you don't need to..."

She tried to speak, but it was just too hard. So she gave in to the idea of giving up. 

As well as the idea of seeing the dead.

It broke his heart to see her cry, it broke his heart to see anyone cry. It was almost like a physical pain in his chest, as if she were projecting her emotions onto him somehow. He had never been able to stand suffering, it was part of why he had always wanted to be a hero. Each cry for help was almost too personal for him. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a somewhat awkward hug with their current seated positions.

Even though Eliott continued to wet her cheeks with tears, she did little to stop him. She couldn't stop herself if she tried. 

"Elliot, listen to me," he said quietly, rubbing her back. "I'm not worried about this. I can do this. I'm a big boy and I can make my own decisions, if I want to fiddle around with the dead then that's my own choice."

Eliott nodded.

He breathed in deeply and pulled back a little, his hands resting on her shoulders. He had a very earnest look about him, his brown eyes were honest and his mouth tipped into a gentle smile. He didn't want her to think that he was too worried about this, it was just going to be a dream after all. He didn't expect to completely mess it up. "No more crying, we're going to get you your proper goodbye, you deserve it. You deserve to be happy and you deserve to move on."

He was already running through ways that he could do this, marking up a battle strategy. "Tonight or today?"

She honestly didn't know what to say. She wanted to push him away, the cynic inside of her knowing exactly what he was doing. Unfortunately for the cynic, his gentle smile and easygoing nature won her over. 

"I-I... well..." She still had tears in her eyes, so she took the time to clear them, short little wheezes and gasps of remnant tears still plaguing the new hero. "T-tonight...? I have... n-nightmares... of that time..."

She honestly didn't know the specifics behind Silas' power. But whenever she got a nightmare, it was like she was living the experience all over again. That had to mean it was lucid, right? And easier for Silas to manipulate.

An idea formed in her head. 

"Maybe... m-maybe we can even find out... wh-who killed her..."

No, too ambitious. Best to keep it simple. 

Well, as simple as speaking with the dead through dreams was. 

"N-no, nevermind that l-last one... Tonight. Tonight... B-but won't you want more time to p-prepare...?'

"In theory, you will be able to ask her anything that you want. I just can't promise that she'll be able to answer everything, if she doesn't know who killed her then she won't be able to tell you." he sounded thoughtful again, his mind was drifting through the possibilities of what he could do here. "I can't really view the event as anyone but you, it's your dream afterall. I'll just be a passenger, for the most part. Tonight is fine with me, I'm a fast learner and I'll figure it out."

He was glad that he'd gotten her to accept his help, he would have felt terrible if she had been miserable about this forever. "To be lucid in a dream means that you can control your dream as well, perhaps not to my extent but it means that you're aware enough to make your own movements and not just follow the course of the nightmare. If it occurs to me that you're not entirely lucid then I'll try to jar you. Sometimes a person can become lucid in a dream if they have some help. Usually those times end in the person waking up but we'll try to avoid that." 

The young hero gave a curious glance his direction, eyebrows narrowed. "I-I seem to be not lucid, for the most part... B-but then at the end, when I realise it's a dream, I-I think I can take my own actions... I-is that common...?"

She sure hoped it was. She didn't know anything about dreaming, so she was at his mercy, here. 

"That's common enough in people with chronic nightmares, I used to be that way too, it's a step into lucid dreaming. It's good that you say that because that means that I won't have to try to hard to jar you."

This was all technical talk, boring, boring, boring. "Tonight it is."

That much she seemed to understand, her feaures visibly relaxing. Though still not entirely certain of her choice, Eliott knew that it was a far better opportunity than, well, no opportunity. But she couldn't accept the terms of the deal just yet. If he was willing to go this far for her, the least she could do was something for him. 

"T-tonight, then... B-but Silas?"

She wasn't about to walk away from this without being able to give him something in return. "I'm going to make it up to you, if you can do this... U-umm... I'm not sure what I'll do, but I want it to be fair. This. So if there's something I can do in return, then I'd be happy... to help..."

She stretched and let out a long yawn. Crying after psychology was the worst. "I feel tired... I-I might head back to my room... Or lay down here..."

"Don't worry about paying me back so much, alright? I'm doing this because I want to help you." the boy stood, crumpling the wrapping from his sandwich into his hand. "Try not to over sleep, you'll need to be sleepy tonight. I've got to grab another energy drink, or I'm going to also fall asleep. It was good talking to you, Elliot."

"I'll pay you back... no matter what." She offered him a meek smile, before finding a place she could comfortably lay without scratching her back on the grass. "Just a little nap... Just a little..." She turned on her side, barely able to keep herself awake, it would seem. Despite her age and her previous profession, she really was just like a big kid. Comparable to Dawn in some ways, even. 

It didn't take long before a gentle whistle could be heard escaping her lips. 

And then complete silence shortly after.

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