54.1 - Delving (Alycia and Summer)

General Roll20
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41

The idea of a new costume hurts, and thrills. But this admission brings a warm smile to Summer’s face. She acknowledges it with a nod - no more is needed, lest she sound like she’s teasing or patronizing. But there is something safe she can say.

“Friends disagree. Friends argue.” She pauses, remembering what she said that say. “Friends hurt each other. Friends forgive. Friendship isn’t flawless perfection. It’s …” What is the best word? “Equilibrium. A point of stability that two people can find again, no matter how bad things get. An emotional home to come back to. And differences drive discovery. If we don’t agree, we’ll figure out who’s right, and not just assume.”

“I won’t tell you you’re wrong to be paranoid. When one of those things you worry about catches up to you, it won’t find you alone. I promise.” She clenches a fist for a moment, and grins.

“I think that’s the kind of friend Daph could use too. I think it’s the kind of friend you’re already good at being.”

author: Bill G.
url: https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6843763

42

Alycia feels a surge of what she interprets as … Anger? Fear? How can I be ‘good’ at being a friend when I’ve never been one. And if I’m ‘good’ at it, that’s just a higher mountaintop from which to fall when I completely blow it, when I fall shot, when they find out – She veers her thoughts away and they land on, And what does Summer even know about being – She stamps down on that thought as just plain unworthy. That just leaves her with just rampant nebulous worry, but that, at least, she knows how to handle.

“If being friends means having each other’s back, that I can commit to, and I’d expect no less from you. If it means judging what sort of feathered extrusions you have on your back --” A tight smile. “Well, I’ll judge, but I’m not a professional by any means, unless you’re going for a paramilitary look.” She snorts. “And I don’t think that would fit any of your desired motifs.”

author: *** Dave H.
url: https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6844197

43

“Every friendship I’ve had is different. I do different things with Leo than I’d do with Otto, or Aria, Jason, Nono, Angelica, Ryan, … and you. I’d never, ever show my friends at Blintzkrieg my costumes, but I can trust you with them. I know Otto would love whatever I did, so, y’know, I almost can’t trust him with it.” Summer grins at that.

“So judge away, and keep telling me your honest opinion. I need it. And when you’re at my back, if you occasionally find butterfly wings there, I hope you’ll forgive me.”

She lets ought a sigh, but it’s not frustration or weariness, just … a lot happened. She can even hear the phrase in Leo’s voice.

“I said I was a creature of love. I like being who I am. I choose to be this for the people around me. So when you watch my back, remember that Daph might not want her god’s chosen mission for her life, but I do. My creator had a plan for me, we came to a compromise, and I’m happy with it. He doesn’t send me dreams, but I do still dream of him anyway.” She’s getting a little maudlin, and brightens up with an act of will. “So I guess I’m saying, y’know, worry, but kinda… worry casually, okay?”

author: Bill G.
url: https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6844261

44

Alycia smirks. “My life has not been one of nuance, Summer. I was raised to take things seriously, or not at all. I’ve rejected much of my father’s teaching, but that underlying view of the world is difficult to shake. For me worrying casually is – well, a matter of explicitly assigning threat levels, not organically taking a casual view of things. Ha! I’m not sure what ‘casual’ even means. But – I’ll try to figure it out.”

Another thing to remember – she’s still … is besotted the right word? Certainly dedicated _to Leo. Even as Father reaches out across time and space to affect me. At least her memories are pleasant ones, and her dreams ones she enjoys. _Bèn dàn, that’s not something to mull on now.

Maybe I should invite her to help with my costume. Ah, no. I’d end up either festooned in kittens or skulls. Let’s keep the focus on something else. What do girls talk about in the movies when not chatting about clothes? Boyfriends. Ugh. Yeah, talking with Summer about Jason is …as awkward as talking with Jason, but with less kissing, because kissing Jason is niú bī, and kissing Summer would be so much not in so_many ways. And she’s got nobody else right now, which has got to be_ tatte masalna for her, given everyone else seeming to have someone they’re hooked up with – seeming, at least.

So does a friend find a boyfriend for Summer? Huh. I presume boyfriend, given her Leophilia. Though if she’s impressed with his engrams, she – yeah, not only does that get complicated, but I am – despite everyone coming to me for romantic advice – the last_ person to be trying to fix people up. Matchmaker, heal thyself, as the Greeks would have put it._

What then? What service can I perform for Summer after having been so … disruptive about her costume?

Oh. Well, there’s a brilliant thought. Ask her.

“Summer, I --” A pause. “I feel like I’ve kind of made this more complicated than I intended, with the costume thing. Even if I just, ah, ‘worry casually’ about it, I feel like I should make it up to you somehow. Is there, um, anything I can --” She hesitates. “My go-skills are a bit limited, and your needs aren’t --” She stops again before she says normal or human. “-- something I quite know – um, is there anything I can, ah, build for you? Tech-wise? Or I could offer to beat up someone, but I suspect that’s not your cuppa.”

author: *** Dave H.
url: https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6844737

45

Summer mulls this one over. The thought that finally reaches her brings a big smile to her face.

“You haven’t made things complicated, Alycia, you made them simpler. Now everyone’s happy with what I’ll be wearing.”

“But if you want… Leo gave me a list of things he’d talked to you about doing. Um, some kind of vulnerability or weakness scenario for cross-team exercises? Did he mention that…? Okay, good. We fought some specific people and he was concerned about them. Iconoclast, who might still be in the hospital, but we should do what we can for her.”

“Troll. I was there as Pneuma the first time the team fought him, but I think he was there a second time, at the school battle. Leo wasn’t satisfied with just making him go away. I’m not either. PowerPony said he was wifi powered. So can we build some kinda, I dunno, tracking or signal analysis or containment device? I’m not even sure what he is, but if it’s a projection, we can locate him, and if it’s really him, we can I dunno, imprison him in VR maybe? I’m already set up for that part. Anyway, just something like that?”

She gets a conspiratorial grin, and rubs her hands together. “And you can venture with me into the chaotic battlefield of Instagram. Let’s take pictures of the marigold planting and share it, but share it as you. Your friends will want to see it.”

author: Bill G.
url: https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6845545

46

“Now everyone’s happy with what I’ll be wearing.”

Alycia smiles encouragingly. _Except the ones who aren’t happy with your changing costumes all the time. There’s no satisfying everyone, nor should you. But I’m not going to debate that right now. Better she’s happy for the moment. _

As to the other items. “Huh. Yeah, that was, I dunno, a couple months ago, then things got – I got all pissy over some stuff. I’ll have to dig i back up. Hrm. Half the team has changed, as far as that goes. And that assumes anyone’s actually interested in ‘team exercises’ and the like.”

She makes a face. “We need to figure out what sort of a ‘team’ we are, Summer. The dust-up at the cemetery demonstrated that. We’re all doing stuff as individuals, not as a squad, and if we end up against something or some group actively attacking us – like one of the folk you mentioned – we’re going to be in a lot of trouble. I mean, Charlotte was missing for days and nobody but Pietwerp noticed. This whole thing with Adam – and we’ve got this whole creepy mystical Grove now as a team meeting place, but we haven’t actually had a meeting there in the weeks since the dance – and Harry who owns the place is on the verge of joining the HHL or something else, which leaves us back at Square One – or asking Jason if we can hang out over there.” She frowns, and her voice drops. “Or just not meeting at all.”

author: *** Dave H.
url: https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6846656

47

Summer feels… What’s a good word for this? Bemused.

I always wondered about that. There’s amused - A-mused. And there’s bemused - B-mused. Was that deliberate? Whatever. Alycia just doesn’t dial anything down, does she. I wish I knew how to help her relax a little more.

Maybe the problem is that she’s being the younger, more passive one here. If the two were sisters (and Summer stifles a giggle at the thought of reactions to this from Aria and Jason), Alycia would be the stern older sister, setting rules and boundaries, and reining in the careless younger one. Maybe she needs to consciously switch roles.

“We’re still a team,” she says firmly. “I might have joined as Radiance only recently, but I’ve been with the Menagerie since the beginning. We all have individual problems. Some of those we have to face on our own. Others, we think we do, but we’re wrong to try. But when things get bad, it happens like you saw it happen. An alert goes out, and we all come running for the ones in trouble.”

She straightens up, hands to her sides. “So if it concerns you that we’re not meeting, we can have a meeting. It should be at a home. But Adam, you, and I can’t do that. Charlotte’s home is um, a cemetery. The Gale estate is the logical place, and lets us talk to Harry with his family around, so we can get all sides heard - including his personal opinion. Let’s ask the Gales if it’s okay, let’s reach out to the team and find a good time.”

She pauses, and smiles gently. “After Instagram. We could both use a break from talking about such serious things, don’t you think?”

author: Bill G.
url: https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6847194

48

“I’m not sure,” Alycia says, frowning, “why it needs to be at a home, given that we have the Grove --” She catches herself. “But … that’s probably a discussion for ‘after Instagram.’” She raises an eyebrow. “I’m not sure anyone’s all that interested in marigolds, but the social media thing is an interesting panoply of purpose and incident, wielded by both oligarchic forces overt and covert and actual mass movements and individual actors. In the wrong hands, it’s a tool for subtle tyranny, but used properly, it could --”

Summer manages to get her out the door heading toward the marigolds before she instead goes down that rabbit hole. And, in actuality, Alycia turns out to have a pretty good eye for angle and perspective in photography (perhaps not that great a surprise after all), but declines, firmly, taking any selfies.

author: *** Dave H.
url: https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6847455

49

“You’re interested in marigolds,” Summer points out gently. “Whether your friends are or not, they’re interested in your interest. It shows a side of you they don’t get to see.”

She might disagree with my thinking about a meeting. And I could be wrong about it, too. So let’s find out…

“I think a home is better than the Grove because the Grove is all ‘super’. A home is mundane. It’s a place for us to be not only Charade and Radiance, but Alycia and Summer. Concord can be Adam. Mercury can be Harry. If we talk about super stuff and it gets too tense, or difficult, having that other side of us gives our minds a place to go, sort of. An emotional safety valve, a place for us to step back into.”

“Sometimes, having some distance helps us see ourselves more clearly. I think that’s how Leo and I did so well. I could always criticize him without attacking him, because I had distance from his mind, yet knew it so thoroughly. I could think things about him he couldn’t think about himself.” She folds her hands together in thoughtfulness. “I think we need that space. But I also think that once we have it, we should meet at the Grove, as a team, and own that feeling of being together. Does that make sense?”

author: Bill G.
url: https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6847737

50

“Lots of sides of me they don’t get to see,” Alycia mutters, but acquiesces. She publishes under the handle @AliceSecunda, and includes notes on proper spacing of the plants in question “regardless of what the commercial tags say (they just want added sales).”

As to the meeting, “Psychologically, you may be right. And I don’t need reasons not to visit the Grove. I’m just not sure the Gales are the best alternative – it’s hardly a place for the 'mundane,” and it adds potentially to the pressure on Harry. Plus – well, Leo and Otto and Aria are still over at the carriage house, right? Which creates, perhaps, other stresses?" She raises an eyebrow to Summer, then sighs. “Unfortunately, I don’t have any other suggestions, especially if we want any level of security around this.”

author: *** Dave H.
url: https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6847781

51

Summer nods along.

“What you say is true. There will be pressure on Harry. I suggest that if he’s going to stay with the Menagerie, that’s a pressure he’ll have to overcome. Where better than in a place where he can be not only a young hero, but a young man and beloved son, and backed up by his friends and allies?”

Summer sounds only slightly less confident on the guests. “I’m sure Leo and Aria can find other things to do elsewhere, and Otto can take them there. And he’s got plenty of things to keep him busy. But alternately, if you ever saw Leo as the previous leader of the team, maybe you want him around, sort of a pass the torch moment? Think it over.”

author: Bill G.
url: https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6847785

52

“Of course he was the leader. That’s why it --” Pisses me off he’s bailing so he can go play house with his girlfriend, his robot – She stamps down on that thought as well as doubly unworthy. Instead, she gives a sharp shake to her head. “He chose to leave. Without any succession plan or discussion. That’s how he passed the torch. It’s up to us to pick it up from the ground and carry it forward.” She growls, and holds up a hand. “And, yes, Jason did the same goddamned thing. Stupid and irresponsible. Almost like a teen-aged boy, except they should know better.”

Those last two words come out more angry and shouty than she’d intended, and she suddenly realizes she’s about to break into an appalling emotional display. “I’ve got to clean up. I appreciate your help with the flowers.” She turns and strides back to the house.

author: *** Dave H.
url: https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6848258

53

Summer is alone again.

Leo’s original plan didn’t work out. The Menagerie isn’t a team that can get by without any kind of leadership. But his larger philosophy is still working. There’s enough people who can fill a leadership vacuum, and who want to, because its members trust each other.

She looks up for a moment, in the direction Alycia took. Well, almost everyone.

Is she right, Leo? Are you just running off without a plan, like usual? Or was your plan to lay down the torch, and watch whose hand reaches for it first?

author: Bill G.
url: https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6848916

54

Alycia closes the door from the carport behind her and leans against it, closing her eyes – until with a start she starts to worry that Summer might be on her heels, and rapidly moves away, then heads down to the basement, wiping her eyes with dirty arms. Dammit. This was supposed to be – to be simple and straightforward_. Join the team. Clear the record. Prove Alycia Chin is_ not her father. Not easy – never easy – but I knew I could do. I saw the opportunity, and jumped for it like the last evac chopper out of an overrun firebase.

And what happens? The team falls apart around me from the moment I walk in the door – hell, because _of me, for all I know. Jason left before I even warmed up the cushion. Leo’s bailed, along with Aria and Otto. Harry’s wavering. Who knows what craziness is going to happen next with Adam, or Charlotte? Hell, maybe Summer’s going to quit and form a team all on her own … one she can be sure appreciates a fairy princess without getting all snarky about it. Slick move, hyper-genius. 男女日光浴! _

I can’t lose this. I can’t. But if I can’t make good with this assignment, Parker will have be back in a cell faster than I can spit. Or, worse, make me a full-time AEGIS stooge, complete with bodyguard and conditioning collar, no doubt. Either way, I lose everything_. Again._

She stands there in the cool of the basement for a few long minutes, forcing herself back under control, before growling, grabbing a change of clothes, and stomping up the stairs for the hall bath.

author: *** Dave H.
url: https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6849810