[closed] I thought you said summer's gonna take the pain away

[brink]

Topher is outside.

This is a pretty big thing. At least for him to be outside willingly. It had not been quite so voluntary this weekend, when he had temporarily lost his powers and had a big panic about it.

But in amongst all of that madness, he had remembered that going outdoors is actually a thing he is capable of, if not overly enthusiastic about. And once he had spent a few days recuperating from the massive meltdown that experience had given him, he decided he could probably brave it, with proper armour.

That armour is a hoodie with the hood pulled up, sunglasses to block out the harsh light, his trusty backpack, and headphones to block out most of the noise surrounding him. He still took a cab to get here though. Nothing short of the apocalypse could make him take the subway in this city.

He pushes open the door and steps inside the little bakery that Sunshine works at. The smell that hits him is a very pleasant one, and for a moment he closes his eyes and just breathes it in.

Then someone bumps into him from behind, and his heart jumps into his throat. Right, right, standing in the way. He shuffles quickly aside, shutting off his music, and eventually manages to approach the counter.

"Um... I'm looking for Sunshine?"

Comments

[rae_of_sun]

"I've been okay," she says as as the treetops of Carl Schurz Park come into view. "Settling," she adds, as if she's not quite sure if she should be ashamed of the admission or not. She still hasn't entirely ruled out another teleportation attempt, but she'll need a hell of a lot more practice before she has another go at the rift (not least of all because now would be a terrible time for her to end up landing in Spike's bedroom again).

Perking up a little, she continues, "I met an actual Martian." From what she remembers of the dream, that seems right up Topher's street. "Blue skin, antennae, the works."

[brink]

That brings a grin out of him. "Really?" he asks, with a bit of excitement. "There was another Martian here... But he was green and armoured, big red eyes. Probably not the same universe." Most of the aliens Topher's met have actually looked pretty human. And then you've had very non-human things come through from different versions of Earth, so.

"What's their name?" Because he can't not check that out.

[rae_of_sun]

Hey, there's some of that old nerdy enthusiasm shining through. Success. "He's called Croach the Tracker," she says, her smile taking on the particular fond tinge she reserves for good eaters. "He's not that big, but he has a… distinct voice. Very… resonant." It might not be flattering to add that he talks a bit like the shipboard computer in a cheesy scifi movie, so she doesn't, even though it's a detail Topher would probably appreciate. "I'll have to introduce you sometime," she says instead. Then he can hear it for himself.

[brink]

Topher nods enthusiastically. A Martian? He can leave the house for that. And judging by the way Sunshine's talking about him, he's probably a bit more friendly than the green one.

"You'd be surprised how many aliens there are here actually. But either they look human, or they hide out in the bases, usually. There's a... Um, have you ever been to the rebels' main storage areas?" he asks. He knows she's with them but not too involved, but as far as he can tell, it's not a very restricted area.

[rae_of_sun]

"I've gone past it on my way to the kitchens," she confirms with a little nod. Anticipating where he might be headed with this, she guesses, "Are you talking about Howard?"

[brink]

"Howard the duck!" he affirms excitedly, with a bit of a handflap, then gives a happy sigh. "So great. You know, we had the Hulk through here? I was the one who greeted him." Just... so much fanboy excitement.

[rae_of_sun]

"The Hulk," she repeats dubiously. It's not a term she recognizes from home, but she's been here long enough to pick up a few things via cultural osmosis. "Is he the… big, green one?"

If so, yeesh. It must have gone well for him to be reminiscing so fondly about it, but better him than her.

They cross into the park, and Sunshine makes the executive decision to head for the northern half. It's a bit quieter, and there are plenty of nice places to sit and have an impromptu picnic.

[brink]

Topher nods again. "I was a bit terrified, but it worked out alright," he admits. Besides, he had backup from someone who could give him temporary forcefields at the time. He was pretty sure he wouldn't get smashed.

Topher lowers his hood again once they enter the park, and breathes in the smell of grass and trees. Once they find a nice bit of a grass in the shade, he takes off his backpack, and plops both it and himself down on the ground, taking out the bag of goodies again.

[rae_of_sun]

"Okay," Sunshine says, taking back the bag and carefully opening it. The contents aren't any the worse for wear for their time spent in Topher's backpack, and she starts to remove various individually wrapped goodies. "So, I don't know if you've had lunch, yet, but I've got some avocado sandwiches if you want something that isn't basically dessert. Otherwise, this little bag has those Buttermost Limits that you like, and there's some tea bread and carrot cake, and this," she gives a styrofoam clamshell a pointed little waggle, "is Bitter Chocolate Death."

She takes one of the avocado sandwiches to start with, leaving Topher with first choice of everything else.

[brink]

Topher definitely eyes the clamshell with pointed interest, but he hasn't actually had lunch (who's surprised?), so he reigns himself in and goes for a sandwich first too. And he brought drinks, so he pulls some juice-boxes out of his bag and offers one to Sunshine.

He lets out an approving humm at the food, leaning back a little and running the fingers of his free hand through the grass. This is nice. If only his outdoors adventures didn't have to involve the bit of getting from A to B, with all the people and traffic and noises. Basically what he wants is a garden, plus not having to worry about whether he can trust someone before he brings them there.

[rae_of_sun]

Whoops, she knew she was forgetting something. "Thanks," she says before taking the proffered juice-box. Now it's a proper impromptu picnic.

She eats in comfortable silence for a while, gazing out at the East River. Something Topher had said about the Hulk sticks out as a bit unusual, and after she polishes off her sandwich, she turns to look at him. "So, is that your waking world job - greeting new arrivals?" She's not sure how such a thing would work given how unpredictable the rift seems to be, but it also seems like the sort of job someone should have.

[brink]

Topher eats a bit faster than Sunshine, so he's already tasting some of the carrot cake by the time she finishes the sandwich. He's building up to the main chocolate event, and he of course wants to try a little of everything.

He shakes his head at her question. "More of a tech and science guy. And some dream stuff. But I used to spend a lot of time at Bethesda, monitoring the rift, and people would often come through there, so it happened now and then," he explains.

[rae_of_sun]

Sunshine hums her understanding - that makes sense. She doesn't tend to frequent that particular area of the park, in part because it's the epicenter of the rift, and she'd prefer to go about her day without otherworldly flotsam dropping on her head. Knowing that some of said flotsam is giant, green, and smash-prone only solidifies her belief that it's an area best avoided.

"Dream stuff?" she repeats, raising her eyebrows. She knows it's his rift power, but she's having a little trouble understanding how it would translate into a job.

[brink]

"Well," he answers, contemplating while munching the rest of the piece of cake. "'s more of a hobby, the dream stuff. Go around helping people with nightmares, that sort of thing."

Apart, except, for the times when he goes around spying and extracting information from people by manipulating their dreams. That's stuff he only does for his job, and generally only to people he can justify it. He'd never do something like that to Sunshine, for example, who's both well-meaning and too unimportant to really warrant it.

[rae_of_sun]

Or crashing perfectly pleasant dreams, Sunshine thinks, but she can't really say she disapproves of nightmare fixing - at least not entirely. Odin knows she has no shortage of the damn things, but she's not sure if having them fixed would be worth having someone else witness them in the first place. Most of the things she has nightmares about are things she also really, really doesn't want to share with the class.

Sunshine carefully unrolls the cookie bag and helps herself to a Buttermost Limit. "So, how does that work?" she asks curiously. "Can you tell whose head you're diving into before you, uh… land?" So to speak.

[brink]

Yes, well, it's unbelievably boring and lonely to sit inside his own head all night. Especially given he doesn't often meet people while he's awake.

"Sometimes, when I've been there before," he answers, getting a Buttermost Limit himself. "If I recognise their.. energy, sort of. And usually also what kind of dream it is. Like.. the mood of it. Lazy pleasant dreams, nightmares, adrenaline-fueled excitement, anxiety dreams..."

He doesn't mention sex dreams, because that's one kind he steers right away from - he's learnt to recognise the particular feeling he gets from them, so he hardly ever jumps into one by accident anymore. (It was one thing to look at a doll's vital signs, it's another thing entirely to be inside someone's head while they're dreaming about it.)

[rae_of_sun]

Sunshine sips her juice-box and considers the... what, the etiquette?... of dream hopping. If he's sensing distress, she can't really blame him for wanting to intervene. It's actually kind of refreshing, considering the average New Yorker's willful ignorance of others in need of help. But then again, her nightmares still feel like hers. She's still learning how to deal with them, sure, but she doesn't want help. Not in the form of someone else just flicking an off switch, anyway.

"Would, uh... would you mind just avoiding any nightmares of mine?" She gives Topher a look of mingled embarrassment and stubborn determination. "I'd, um, prefer to deal with them on my own."

[brink]

Well, he's not a New Yorker. Hell, he's risked his life to avoid an apocalypse, he feels like he should be in the good guy category, the kind who doesn't stand idly by at seeing people in distress. And also the kind who generally respects people's wishes.

"Sure," he answers with a nod. "I wasn't happy about others dropping into my nightmare either. Wasn't too happy about HAVING a nightmare." He frowns with concern. He really hopes the rift isn't going to make a habit out of that.

[rae_of_sun]

Well, that was easy. She relaxes a little, taking another sip of juice and trying to figure out if this nightmare he's referring to is one she's been in. It's difficult to say, given how bad she usually is at remembering the shared dreams at all, especially without prompting. But it's not like she can ask him for details after he's explicitly said he had a miserable time - and not after explicitly asking him to respect her privacy. "Thanks," she says instead.

Then, in case it might offer some comfort, "I almost never remember the shared ones, anyway." So, an indirect admission that whatever his nightmare was, she either missed it or forgot it.