[video] Checking In

[whyarewehere]

[ It’s that time again, gang! Grif’s broadcasting from scenic his room. You can tell it’s Grif’s room because it is an absolute disaster area. There’s all kinds of empty containers strewn everywhere, a pizza box, his other uniform (it’s rumpled and in serious need of a wash), and scattered bits of an orange suit of armor. Of note to those who’ve born witness to this appalling scene before, the far wall has a shiny little plaque on it. That’s new.

All of this is visible in the frame because Grif’s slouching back in his chair with the comm propped up on his desk. He’s a scruffy, somewhat flabby guy swiveling his chair lazily to and fro with one leg while eating… something as he talks. With his mouth full. Because Grif. ]

Alright guys, it’s come to my attention, as the one who tries to keep track of this shit around here, that we have new people. And when we have new people, that means we have new superpowers to figure out how they work.

[ Because clearly, clearly Grif is the only member of the team to take an interest in others and what they can bring to the table. It’s not that he’s nosy and just wants to know if anyone has eye lasers yet. He just gives and gives for this group, he swears.

Grif deigns to swallow before he continues. ]

So: New people. Lay it on me. Who are you, and can you do anything awesome? If it’s not awesome, make it sound awesome, cause that’s what I’m here for.

I’ll start for you:

[ He thumbpoints at his chest, getting space twinkie crumbs everywhere because he’s using that hand. ]

I’m Grif, Doubletime if you want to be that nerd who uses my code name, and I’m pretty much the fastest thing on this ship. Which is awesome.

[ He pauses for a moment, then adds, ]

…And the rest of you should probably come say hi? Tell them stuff? And tell me about the mission because I was stuck back here babysitting the ship and I mean... I took a lot of good naps, but...

[ He shrugs. Then he finishes off the space twinkie, balls up the wrapper, and throws it over his shoulder where it lands on top of the orange helmet. He is not even remotely concerned by this. ]

((( This is a free for all mingle post! Grif will reply to everyone who responds, but if you want to have a character jump into a thread with anyone you are absolutely welcome and, in fact, encouraged. This is set after the end of Lantern Plot, so characters who've been away on that are able to tag in too. )))

Comments

[fragileandsoft]

Oh, we're... just jumping into it, huh.... uhhhhh...

[ Scruffy and somewhat flabby guy, meet scruffier and somewhat flabbier guy. He looks distinctly uncomfortable; he thought he'd have a little more time to get settled after near-suffocation and dimension jumping and apparently???? getting superpowers????? but this is fine, he's fine, it's good to make nice with everyone. ]

Hey out there, I'm Mister Universe! ...That's uh, not a superhero name or anything, I'm not... doing that stuff really... Just call me Greg. I have, uh, the power to fix stuff? I think? I didn't really get what they were talking about very well.

[whyarewehere]

[ Mister Universe. What kind of a last name is that? But Grif is distracted onto the superpowers thing, because that's his pet topic. ]

What kind of stuff do you fix? You wouldn't be the only one. I mean, Donnie's good at computers and robots and all that crap.

[fragileandsoft]

[ The best last name, thank you ]

Iiii dunno, I haven't really tested it out. All kinds, I guess. Patching up stuff that gets busted? I think? Works on people too, so that's probably handy.

[whyarewehere]

You can heal people? That's cool. We could... probably use that around here, honestly.

[ He makes a face, it's a remembering-pain face. ]

Not that I blame anyone for not wanting to do the superhero thing. It's kind of a shitty gig most of the time.

[ And yet here's Grif, having agreed to do it. ]

[fragileandsoft]

Ahhh, yeah, I dunno if I'm cut out for that sort of thing. I'm not really the heroic type, is all. You guys are off handling this big crazy thing, I don't wanna get in the way.

But I don't mind patching folks up, once I figure out how all this works.

[headinjuries]

That's not a superhero name?

[ That totally sounds like a superhero name. ]

[fragileandsoft]

Hah, not so much! Flashy though, right? Perfect for hyping up the stage back when I was a rock star.

[headinjuries]

Oh, okay. Rock star name. It all makes sense now.

[fragileandsoft]

Well, it doesn't matter too much at this point. A name's a name, right? Call me whatever.

[frickingguardian]

I know a guy who goes by Star-Lord; I can buy somebody being called Mister Universe.

But what kinda name is 'Greg'?

[fragileandsoft]

Star-Lord... oh man, that's cool...

Oh uh, I think it's... Greek?

[frickingguardian]

Ha! Quill ever shows up here, tell him that. He'd probably do a friggin' dance over somebody liking it for once.

[fragileandsoft]

We of the cosmos are unappreciated in our time.

[perverses]

I dunno, Mister Universe sounds a whole lot better.

[fragileandsoft]

What's wrong with Greg? Well, if you wanna call me that, I sure don't mind. A name's a name!

[perverses]

Mister Universe it is! Hello, Mister Universe.

[captainbuzzkill]

[The boy on the comm looks even younger than Greg's son. And that should mean that he's bright and happy, right? That's how small children are supposed to be.]

[He's not. He looks exhausted. His expression is too blank and he's very twitchy like he can't hold still. It's not the normal hyperactivity and aimlessness of kids that age, it's something more anxious. He's playing with the comms like he's rediscovering them again, like they're something he didn't ever expect to hold in his hands again.]

That's a good name. I like that name.

[He rambles because his thoughts aren't the clearest right now, but he's trying to talk anyway, as if he finds it absolutely imperative to inform Greg what he thinks of his name.]

That's like my name expect not like my name, it's kind of like my name because there's a whole air of mystery, except I guess my name is a little too on the nose because it's 'Captain Mystery' only nobody uses that really, they just call me Dipper although Donnie calls me Cap like some hero in his universe that's like Sergeant Exceptionalism except maybe cooler.

[He pauses, and then does everything backwards by saying what he should've said first.]

Hi. I'm Dipper.

[The Medbay people gave him his comm back because his first treatment with the telepaths means he's not a security risk anymore. That doesn't really mean he's back to himself yet. Sorry, new guy, enjoy the weirdo kid who's getting his brainwashing undone.]

[fragileandsoft]

[ Greg's seen Steven after a lot of missions; sometimes he gets scared, sometimes he gets angry, sometimes he feels like he's messed up and is down on himself. Greg's never seen his son get this out of it, but it's all he can think of.

Before even getting a word in, Greg's already determined to look after this kid. ]

Heya, Dipper. Good to meet you.

I like Captain Mystery. Sounds like a cool book character, like the No Home Boys. Maybe a little more urban. Helping people out, solving problems. 'S a good name.

[captainbuzzkill]

[He immediately perks up because Greg knows teenage boy language. He's already referencing things that sound familiar, that are almost in his frame of reference.]

[Also he sounds like a dad. Some people just sound that way. Just like people like Hal sound uncle-ey and people like Hiccup sound brotherly. Greg sounds dadly. Like his and his sister's dad.]

The No Home Boys...is that like the Sibling Brothers Mysteries? I used to read the Sibling Brothers Mysteries [His eyes dart back and forth slightly. Unsure.] I think.

[He's still sorting a lot of his memories out. They gave him a lot of false ones, twisted a lot of them to be something they weren't. Darker and more painful. Aven and the telepaths undid the absolute worst of it but they said he was going to need more treatments to bring true clarity.]

[As it stands, all the bad has been dismantled, but all the good is still...fuzzy. He knows the bad isn't true but isn't sure what of the good is.]

It's sssoft. Reading books is soft and not the same as crushing your enemies? So it's a little fuzzy. But I'm pretty sure I read them before I didn't read them.

[He's pretty sure they were in the real memories under the false ones that they're still dismantling and removing in his treatments.]

[unrecovered]

You have a superhero name built in and you're not using it.

[That is a damn shame. But Greg looks the least comfortable of anyone he's seen around here, so it's probably best not to push it.]

...are you holding up okay?

[fragileandsoft]

Ehh.

[Is he holding up okay? He's honestly not sure.]

Doing better than I expected, really. This is all kind of overwhelming, I'm just... digesting, y'know?

[unrecovered]

No kidding. I can't vouch for anyone else, but "welcome to a new dimension, here's some superpowers, now go fight in a war" doesn't usually happen where I'm from.

Outside of movies and comic books, at least.

[deafleppard]

Nah, definitely gonna keep on calling you Mister Universe.

Also, fixing stuff sounds pretty neat. You know, once you figure it out.

[fragileandsoft]

All right, all right. Who is the Universe to deny the public?

Well, I hope it'll come in handy, sounds like stuff gets broken a lot around here. Dunno what I can do that all this super fancy future tech can't handle.

[deafleppard]

Have you tried using your powers, like... at all?