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

[eatsnutsandkicksbutts]

Nobody's gonna know for sure unless someone investigates, right?

[ this conversation took a huge swerve into absolute nonsense territory! ]

[robintohood]

[It is absolutely ridiculous but it's also letting Jason know what kind of goofy person Doreen really is]

Sounds like a challenge for yourself.

[eatsnutsandkicksbutts]

I went down there once when I was a kid! Sadly, no giant gators, ninja turtles or martial artist rats to be found, but it was kinda fun. Parents weren't very happy about it though.

[robintohood]

[Jason stares in mild surprise]

How young were you?

[eatsnutsandkicksbutts]

... Ten-ish? Maybe eleven?

Look, all I'm saying is that it people don't want kids to explore the sewers, they shouldn't leave manholes open and unattended.

[robintohood]

You're not wrong but I didn't realize they could be such a common occurrence.

[eatsnutsandkicksbutts]

New York, man! As previously discussed, it is Absolutely Wild!

[robintohood]

I gotta keep that in mind if I ever visit. You're really not afraid, huh?

[eatsnutsandkicksbutts]

Nah, I'm swole as heck and... [ DON'T SAY SUPER STRONG, DON'T SAY SUPER STRONG ] ... and I do, uh, Crossfit! Plus I've taken self-defense lessons!

[ NAILED! IT! ]

[robintohood]

[Jason recognizes the last-minute change in phrasing and smiles]

Yeah? Good thing too with how wild this city gets. Good thing for all the heroes we got.

[eatsnutsandkicksbutts]

[ once again this conversation is beginning to skirt some DANGEROUS TERRITORY... ]

Oh... oh yeah! They're pretty cool, huh? Do you keep tabs on that stuff?

[robintohood]

[Jason is absolutely trying to see how far he can take this conversation]

Casually. Hard to avoid the stuff when it's all over the news and the internet. Or at least that's what it feels like in Central. Don't know about other places. You?

[eatsnutsandkicksbutts]

Like you said, it's, uh... it's hard to avoid! We had similar stuff going on at home though, so it's not too weird. The guild system is strange though, we didn't have anything like that.

[ The best way to handle this is to stick with things that are technically true! ]

[robintohood]

[Hmm... interesting]

Yeah? What do you think of the guilds?

[eatsnutsandkicksbutts]

[ there's a long, thoughtful pause as she thinks this over. ]

... I feel like their intentions are basically good, but you shouldn't need corporate sponsorship in order to help people. That should be the focus, not the publicity. And making it illegal to be unregistered is just not cool.

[robintohood]

[Jason nods. That seems to be something they truly agree on]

Yeah. You should be helping for the sake of helping. The corporate sponsorships make it feel disingenuous. Plus, they seem to harp a little too much into recruitment. It feels suspicious.

[eatsnutsandkicksbutts]

Right? It's one thing to welcome accidental interdimensional travelers and help them settle in, it's another to yank the rug out from under them if they won't play by their rules.

[ She sighs, and shifts the weight of her small tower of books. ]

Like, if I'm getting mugged, hypothetically speaking, I don't care of the person who saves me is with a guild or not.

[robintohood]

[It's a pleasant surprise to hear all this from Doreen. Jason had been assuming she was part of the Alliance but it's starting to sound like she's not]

Right. Why does it matter at that moment? Anyone can be good or bad, with or without a guild. And then there are those who just want to live their daily lives, without weird faction politics.

[eatsnutsandkicksbutts]

Right, exactly! They shouldn't have to sign on for publicity stunts when all they want to do is get by. Half of these guys didn't have powers before they got here, so they're already dealing with a steep learning curve on top of everything else.

[ Look at them, getting along! ]

[robintohood]

[Huh. Jason didn't anticipate agreeing with Doreen as much as he is now...]

Yeah. And then there's being on a entirely different planet or a different alternate version of their planet. That's a lot to take in too. You can worry about the bigger politics all you want, but gotta consider the "smaller" day to day stuff too.

[eatsnutsandkicksbutts]

[ "We're not so different, you and I... apart from the guns, gratuitous violence, and potential murder!" ]

Yeah... I just wish there were more options, you know? It doesn't seem fair. For, uh, people who arrive via Confluence. It's definitely not fair to them.

[robintohood]

[And entirely different animal associations!]

Yeah. Seems like they got it pretty rough. Would be nice if the guilds were better at helping with that stuff, without trying to recruit.

[eatsnutsandkicksbutts]

[ They have, uh... trees in common?? Maybe???? ]

Right? Nobody asked to get sucked through an interdimensional portal. Everybody's... they're all starting from the same point, here. It isn't a crime to just exist, whether or not you sign up for something.

[robintohood]

Yeah. Plenty of people just want to mind their own business after getting dropped off here. As long as they're not hurting anyone, why should it matter if a guild is involved?

You think you would ever join one? If things ever get bad enough?

[eatsnutsandkicksbutts]

[ Doreen's grin goes rigid and nervous again! ]

That's, uh... that's a pretty wild question for a totally normal random citizen you just met! But hypothetically... I dunno. Maybe if it came down to a choice between joining and being thrown in jail, but...

[ She can't say she hasn't thought about it before, is the thing. It would mean stable income, housing that isn't a crummy hole-in-the-wall apartment, more time to do what she wants, crimefighting without the risk of being arrested... but it doesn't feel right, so she's been just doing her own thing as best she can. ]