Dorm Log

[raw_angel_power]

Who: All of Smash.
What: Dorm log! Summertime special.
Where: Student and Teacher dorms, and quite possibly beyond campus.
When: Approximately the latter half of July to the earliest of Augusts (25th - 15th)
Warnings: YOU KNOW YOURSELVES

We all know our characters experience downtime after classes and their busy schedules, and this is a good venue for those kinds of miscellaneous dorm-shenanigans to take place. Not only does it give your characters the easy chance to meet new people in a laid-back environment, but it's a good mechanism for strengthening CR. It's easy!

Feel free to begin in any way you please! Plan with (a) fellow player(s) if you'd like! Or, set up a thread and wait for characters to bite! Just add a thread with the room number (and date/time, if it matters) and the characters that reside there (just for reference!). You do not have to use one character's thread as a dual-purpose for both characters if you do not want to. Doesn't have to be a dorm room, either, if you have something else in mind.

And don't forget: things are getting pretty freaky! Shadow bugs are still rife around the school and city, causing all kinds of trouble, but most significantly capable of cloning people and even objects. For the remainder of July, the dimensional lines are a little blurred and causing alternate universe versions of characters to show up. But something ever curiouser has started to show up on campus... Bubbles?

Subspace bubbles? They look kinda like the ones dotting the sky... Dare ye enter?

If you do, you'll find that it... just ends up being a portal to another part of the school. Sometimes they may lead you into some part of town. Weird! Hopefully it doesn't lead you anywhere embarrassing, like in the middle of a stage play or in the bathroom of the opposite sex. That's mortifying.


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7/27: Shadow bugs go wild and clone a bunch of office supplies. Do shadow bugs get bored or something? Beware of that stapler you're about to pick up... It might be a shadow bug clone! They're animate office supplies all around the school. At least it's easy to tell the difference between the real things and the animate ones, because the clones are purple. Unless, of course, your supplies are all purple. Then you're in a bind...er.

Also, they cloned the Kraken fountain and now it's come to life. Hope you brought some slippers.

8/1: You know those hazy purple-black pockets of subspace that keep showing up across the sky? Today, a humongous one swallowed up the sun completely. For almost all of the daylight hours, there will be a full-on solar eclipse. Aww, were you working on that golden tan? Too bad, buddy. You're gonna have to wait until tomorrow.

8/5: A herd of Towtow show up at the school overnight and stop to rest. They'll be there, napping all day with that peaceful look adorned on their faces. How cute! But you wouldn't want to see them angry... Maybe that's why you should be careful not to wake them up.

For reference, here are the rooming arrangements.

Comments

[icequeen_aran]

then they shared an indirect kiss

"After..."

It felt like the most appropriate time to disclose this sort of thing to Ian--she'd been meaning to but only when he was ready for it. With the alcohol and somber atmosphere of having nothing else to lose, execpt for each other, she felt it was almost necessary to talk about now.

"After you died. It wasn't that alone, but that was the final straw. I couldn't stand it any longer."

It. So many things about that kind of it and she wasn't sure Ian would ever fully understand.

"I needed to find my own path, do things my own way, make my own mistakes. No rules, no restrictions, no more losses..."

[redshirted]

they both got space mono

"Oh."

Ian doesn't seem particularly surprised by this. It's a little awkward to talk about, the whole 'technically being dead' thing. He sort of shifts and slumps a little more with his hands on his knees. It makes sense, though, her leaving. Maybe not so young, but sometimes plays out in unexpected ways.

"I sorta guessed you wouldn't stick around there forever. We all knew you had big things to do," He shrugs. He knew that military life was frustrating, for her at least. It was pretty okay for Ian. He fit into it well and followed orders well enough. He would never be some strategic genius like his brother, but he had hopes of being stationed somewhere semi-permanently and get to work on something he loved.

He spends a moment glancing at Samus sidelong again. Slumped up against this wall with him, she seemed vulnerable. Human. Small. For a second, his hand is lifted as if he were to reach over and brush a bit of hair away from her face. He chickens out, though, and not for the first time in his life but he's not sure if Samus realizes that. He redirects his hand to toy with the top of the bottle and offers an apology many years too late.

"Sorry." It's soft and quiet. It's not even really directed at the Samus sitting next to him, but one much further in her past. Sorry for being that loss. Sorry for causing that hurt. He wishes he could have been there for her.

[icequeen_aran]

"Yeah." She agreed. Big things like blowing up planets and space stations and single-handily causing the genocide of entire species. What kind of human being does that? Humans didn't do that. They started wars, sure, were capable of violence, sure... but carrying such a weight of the universe wasn't something many humans could do, nor would many even want to. Things get lost carrying that weight. Personal things. Personal relations.

If she hadn't closed her eyes as if to ward off such a weight, she might have noticed what Ian did. Instead she opens them only after his soft apology.

"Don't apologize. You saved a lot of people." She sucked in her breath, knowing this probably would hit him harder than it hit her. She was in a poor state of mind at the moment but she'd had many years to get over Ian's death.

"I just wish I could have saved you and Adam."

[redshirted]

He continues to roll the top of the bottle between his fingers for a few more minutes. There's a lot of him that's still processing every day that Adam is gone. He would give anything for him to be here, including trading places with him right now. Some days, he feels like maybe the school got it backwards. He had his moment-- some sort of accidental "heroic sacrifice," that didn't seem like anything more but him doing his job properly at the moment. He wasn't some brilliant military mind that could help navigate the dangers and complexities of the galaxy. He wasn't a bounty hunter that could rip through the galaxy with an unwavering sense of justice. He could fix ships and he could be a good friend and that's about it.

But he's here, and Adam's not, and Ian supposes Adam would not be the most helpful right now at this very moment, which gives him slightly more courage to act.

He leans over, hand drifting back to the side of her face. He's very cautious, even more so in the long moments that precede the soft press of his lips against her forehead.

"Don't apologize."

[icequeen_aran]

She's too emotionally drained to even shy away from the soft gesture and by the time she realizes where it's gone she finds she can't pull away, fearful that if she did she'd lose the only thing she had left. The physical act of it only blearily registers--warm soft lips against her probably clammy, dry, tired skin... but it's the slow realization of the meaning behind his gesture that eventually has her pulling away.

He's doing that why is he doing that doesn't he know what he's doing it's just an innocent gesture it's just Ian being touchy-feely like he always was isn't it it didn't have to mean anything more than that it didn't mean the same thing as when Falcon--

Somehow she feels even more broken and vulnerable, like that kiss alone reminded her of a great and very human vulnerability she was experiencing... and had been experiencing for an unfortunately long portion of her life; incredible and painful loneliness.

She's not sure how she should react and for a few moment she doesn't, staring at some spot on the floor and unable to look him in the eye. She's sure Falcon would be jealous. She's sure she would have find herself at the bottom of the bottle by now, despondent and alone, if Ian wasn't here. She was pretty sure she could use a hug.

Finally she looks up and shuffles forward a little, awkwardly embracing him in one of those hug things. Idly, she wondered, if Ian would have ever expected little Federation Sammy to ever grow to this point. She was obviously not very well practiced in the art of hugging at all, arms stiff and fingers fumbling at his shirt for a proper place to hold that wasn't a balled up fist, but she did at least initiate it.

She really needed to. She didn't have anyone else.

[redshirted]

It's a surprising, but not unwelcome reaction but perhaps that serves as a testament to how much Falcon has changed her. Ian doesn't necessarily count that as a bad thing. Maybe it was something he had unconsciously chipped away at it before his time with her was cut short. This is a gesture born in innocence, though, a physical manifestation of unspoken and unwavering support for her.

He wraps her up in his arms, resting chin against her forehead. He grazes his thumb against her back.

"You should get some sleep," it's coupled with a quick squeeze. He loosens his arms a little bit, letting her take the lead on this. If she wants to pull away, she can. If she stays and needs to be held a little longer- ok. He will do that. He's here for her.

[icequeen_aran]

Stays she does. Not for very much longer but enough to accept that the gesture is helping and that she will eventually have to stand back up on her own two feet and move forward, with or without him. For every tragic incident in her life, that was all she could do.

"...I'm tired..." She finally mutters with a nod. She was physically, emotionally and mentally drained. She was tired of crying and being angry and being sad, and knowing she wouldn't stop completely feeling that way for as long as Falcon was gone without a trace. She lets go of Ian's shirt as if she was letting go of the final visages of all her anger and sorrow and relenting to the idea of sleep she sorely did need. Samus just needed to have someone remind her to do that.

"If you want to stay you can stay." Samus wasn't about to kick him out, and eventually she would need her moments of privacy but his presence was not unwelcome. There was the couch. They had a nice couch for the many numerous visitors they never got.

Slowly, Samus rose to her feet. The bottle could stay on the floor for all she cared. Her bed wasn't far.

She tried not to think about how empty it would feel.

[redshirted]

Ian follows her a bit, pushing onto his feet. He reaches out after her brushing his hand against her upper arm. He's thankful for the obvious invitation, though he probably would have stayed anyway just to keep an eye on her, maybe tidy up a bit.

"Get some sleep, Sam." He lets her arm go and grabs the bottle to take it back down to the kitchen or wherever it belongs. He shuffles back from her to really let her go to bed. "I'll be here."

Like he had always meant to be.

[icequeen_aran]

Welcome to the land of empty beer cans, dog hair, and mechanical projects half-finished and half-started in various places, sir Maid Ian.

She mouths a thank you but the sound doesn't quite come out, like her throat had finally given out from how tight and twisted it had been most of this day. Days? How long had it even been? Had she even slept at all? Samus felt like she moved in a dream-state before she actually found her way to the bed. She promptly and fell into it face first like dead weight not even bothering to wrap a blanket around herself. She was exhausted. She felt terrible. Falcon was gone.

But she could rest knowing someone at least had her back, now that he could be.