September SOL and Dreamshare stuff (ota with some closed prompts!)

[eatsnutsandkicksbutts]

Who: Doreen Green eatsnutsandkicksbutts (plus Jason and Bart in some closed prompts)
What: Slice of life September stuff! Plus Dreamshare
When: throughout September
Where: Central City, Little Love
Content Warnings: mention of animal death and asphyxiation in the nightmarish Dreamshare prompts




Rooftop hangouts - OTA!

[ Things in Central haven't been too crazy lately, but it still hasn't been a great time to be a conspicuously visible, Unaligned meta. On the bright side, since it's September, that means it's officially Sweater Weather, and by god Doreen is going to take whatever downtime she has and friggin' chill.

You can catch Doreen hanging out on the rooftop of a nearby building at sunset, (giant cozy sweater on, tail out and headband engaged, secret identity intact!), drinking some apple cider and snacking on trail mix. She is, of course, flanked by a small posse of squirrels, with Tippy perched on her shoulder. ]

Y'know, I'm gonna miss being able to generate this stuff when we go back. Saves a lot of money.

"Chht chk chutt chik!"

No, I'm not saying you guys have been breaking the bank, I'm just saying it's been convenient.

[ Feel free to interrupt! ]


DREAMSHARE! (also OTA!)

[ If you stumble into Doreen's dreams tonight, you might run into a couple of scenarios:

• You might find her on the moon, sitting on the enormous, purple shoulder of Galactus the World-Eater, staring down at the earth in the distance. Doreen's smiling fondly at a trading card in her hand, and gives the side of Galactus's helmet a friendly nudge. ("Aw, this was really nice to revisit! I'm glad we worked things out, Galactus." "YEAH, ME TOO. IT'S BEEN A PRETTY CHILL HANG.")


• Teenage Doreen, complete with her furry old outfit, is crouched over... well, it can no longer, in good conscience, be called a squirrel. At least, not an alive one. Since it's Doreen dreaming this, the squirrel's body has been pixel-censored out, but it's evident that this was not a natural death, and that she's pretty heartbroken over it.

After a moment, once she's realized that she's dreaming again, teen-Doreen sits up and wipes her eyes, smearing the eye makeup across her face (god, why did she wear so much of it as a teenager!), and takes a deep, steadying breath.

I'm sorry, MJ. You deserved so much better than this, buddy.


• Doreen's fighting... Doreen. Or at least someone who looks exactly like Doreen, apart from the hardened glint in her eyes, and the arsenal of superpowered weaponry that she's equipped with. Allene - that's her clone's name - has Captain America's shield strapped to her back, one of Iron Man's gauntlets, a set of knockoff Doc Ock tentacles sprouting from her backpack, Magneto's helmet, and countless other weapons and gadgets that she's stolen on her rampage.

Doreen's next punch goes right through her double's head like mist, and when she stumbles forward with the momentum, the landscape shifts back to the empty moon, only this time there's no spacesuit, no Galactus, there's no oxygen, and as Doreen falls to her knees, the panic starts to overwhelm her because she can't breathe she can't breathe she can't breathe--! ]

Comments

Totally normal civilian times for Jason!

[eatsnutsandkicksbutts]

[ Doreen - and she is just Doreen right now, in full hidden-tail civilian mode - is a Computer Science student back home. Between Unaligned superheroics and trying to keep a roof over her head via freelance programming work, she hasn't been able to enroll in college and keep up with her studies, so Doreen's been doing her best to homeschool it at the library in her free time. It hasn't been easy, but assuming that the teleporters work and she can make it back home soon, she'll be an entire semester behind, so she has to study up while she can!

Anyway, today she's in the sci-fi/fantasy section of the Central City public library, holding a towering stack of heavy CompSci textbooks against her hip with one arm, and straining for a just-out-of-reach book with her free hand. Super strength is one thing, but it can't make up for being short, especially not when the book she actually wants (in this case, a copy of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) is on the top shelf! ]

Whose decision was it to buy the extra-tall bookshelves...?!

[robintohood]

[Central City's public libraries have become some of Jason's more frequent spots to go to as a civilian, be it for fun or for research. Today was just for fun as it's been a while since he read a good fantasy book. He was browsing through that section when he spots a familiar woman trying to reach for something on one of the top shelves.

Jason knew Doreen saying she doesn't have a civilian identity was highly dubious but he's a little surprised by how similar her civilian look is from her Squirrel Girl persona. Other than hiding her tail, there's really no difference between her identities.

Jason walks over and grabs the novel for Doreen]

Gotta make space somehow.

[Now was a good opportunity to get to know her better without their conversation becoming another fight. Jason needs to know how much of a problem she's going to keep being]

[eatsnutsandkicksbutts]

Ah--! Oh, hey, thanks dude!

[ Doreen beams up at him, and plops the book on top of the Leaning Tower of CompSci Textbooks. Jason's domino mask from before was super-effective, because she clearly does not recognize him! ]

Sure, I appreciate the efficient use of vertical space, but man, you'd think they could at least leave some stepstools around or something.

[robintohood]

[His domino mask's effectiveness was exactly what he was banking on]

Stools are too easy to steal. Maybe those ladders on wheels and rails instead. You need more help?

[He gestures at Doreen's tower of books]

[eatsnutsandkicksbutts]

Oh, Beauty and the Beast style, I like it! I'm--

[ She freezes, looking very much like a squirrel in the headlights. Oh god, she forgot about the superstrength again, would a normal person be able to carry this many heavy textbooks?! She doesn't know, she's bad at judging this stuff! To her credit, she doesn't drop the books (the first time this happened, she'd been carrying moving boxes and dropped them all the minute she got called out), but she does give Jason a big, nervous grin. ]

... Sure! These are, uh... they're not as heavy as they look, so holding this many of them is actually super normal, but they are about to fall over, so if you could grab some off the top that would be a really big help!

[robintohood]

[Yup. Jason's going to keep pretending he doesn't notice anything weird about Doreen]

Sure.

[Jason reaches and grabs several books at the top]

You're studying for something?

[eatsnutsandkicksbutts]

[ those are some grade A acting chops he's showing! ]

Oh, uh... sorta? I'm kind of taking a break from school right now, but I don't want to be too far behind whenever I go back. Hitchhiker's Guide is just a bonus fun-times book.

[robintohood]

Good choice for fun. Don't forget to bring a towel.

You're gonna be a coder?

[eatsnutsandkicksbutts]

What kind of hoopy frood doesn't have a towel on them for emergencies?

[ This is said with a broad wink and a grin! ]

I'm... not quite sure what my endgame looks like, but yeah, I'm in the middle of a Computer Science degree, right now. Second year undergrad. I do some freelance stuff to pay the bills.

[robintohood]

[Jason smiles back]

Don't to thank for all the fish too.

What kind of freelance work?

[eatsnutsandkicksbutts]

Programming, some web design, database stuff, whatever. Gotta pay the rent somehow, right? Sometimes I'll do basic programming workshops at the library, for kids, but I haven't had much time for those lately.

[ She sighs. Doreen really likes working with kids! Just... paying the bills takes precedence right now. ]

What about you? What's your deal, apart from being a good samaritan with an appreciation for Douglas Adams?

[robintohood]

Not much. I'm just a mechanic. It's my day off so I wanted to take in something besides oil and the sounds of drills.

[Which isn't entirely a lie! He just also has a double life]

[eatsnutsandkicksbutts]

Hey, nice! What kind of stuff do you work on? Is it cars? I bet it's cars. Ooh, have you done any old vintage ones?

[ This is a shot in the dark, he could be a TV repairman for all she knows, Doreen just thinks old cars from the 50s are cool! ]

[robintohood]

[Jason grins]

Yeah. Cars and motorcycles are my specialties and I can never get enough practice working on the vintage ones. It's satisfying getting them to be as good as new or better.

[eatsnutsandkicksbutts]

Oh, dude, that's legit amazing! If I can ever afford a scooter here, I will totally hit you up!

[robintohood]

[Huh. Getting a gig wasn't what he expected but sure. Why not?]

Thanks. They're easy to work with so it'd be a quick job. You only recently moved here?

[eatsnutsandkicksbutts]

[ a potential future gig anyway, she has to buy a scooter first! ]

A... couple months ago, yeah! Earlier in the spring?

[ Not technically a lie! She showed up here around April. ]

[robintohood]

Seems like a decent amount of time. Hope the drop-off wasn't too rough on you.

[eatsnutsandkicksbutts]

[ 'The drop-off'... is he talking about a confluence? Does he ALREADY SUSPECT HER SECRET?? Quick, time for some ambiguous answers! ]

Oh, well, uh... life comes at you fast, y'know? It's fine! Sometimes things change and you just have to move to a new place and roll with the punches!

[robintohood]

[Jason purposely leaves her guessing if he means the Confluence or not]

Yeah, no kidding, especially while living in a city. Hard to believe half the year is already gone.

[eatsnutsandkicksbutts]

... God, it really is, isn't it?

[ Doreen has no poker face, and can't hide the way her expression falls. She's been gone for six months, and while she's usually pretty good at keeping this stuff on the backburner, she does really miss her friends and family. How have they been handling her disappearance? God, her mom must be worried. ]

[robintohood]

[Jason mentally notes the way her expression changes]

Time flies when you live in a chaotic city like Central and giant monsters attack and the sky cracks open.

[Jason's tone is casual as he tries to leave room for her to recover and not make things too awkward]

[eatsnutsandkicksbutts]

Oh my gosh, right?

[ THANK YOU FOR THAT SUBJECT CHANGE, she will grab onto it like a life preserver in the ocean! ]

Things are crazy here! I mean, my place back home was pretty crazy, but it's been just straight-up bonkers here lately! Oh, I'm Doreen by the way, nice to meet you!

[robintohood]

[Worked like a charm]

I'm Jason. Nice to meet you too. How crazy does your home get?

[eatsnutsandkicksbutts]

[ Well played, Jason! ]

Picture New York, but with costumed dudes running around and giant monsters popping up like every month. Not too different from here, honestly!