It has a million and one uses, fine purple mist.

[wrathfulkhan]

Characters: Gene, Jackie, Peridot, Alex, Miles, and YOOOOUU!!
Date: All of March
Location: All up ins
Situation: ALL THE THINGS!
Warnings/Rating: Will be added as they come up

A. [Gene] | throughout Keeliai | March 1-11| open
So, Gene's having a weird month.

He's not sure if he's happy or sad that his mother's here - she has no soul gem, so he knows she'll disappear. And he wants to apologize to her, but he doesn't know what to say, or how to tell her that in becoming the Mandarin he'd nearly destroyed the world that she'd claimed was his birthright.

He can be found at tea houses, writing in his notebook and thinking, and trying to avoid being home while he thinks. He'd wanted this since he was a child, but he can't wrap his head around it.

As much as he'd wanted it, he has no idea what to do.

B. [Jackie] | Sky Sector | throughout March | open
So, Jackie's having a weird month.

Well, last month was weird too. His girlfriend's a werewolf, he killed his murderer, and Wei has shown up. He's trying to think about what to do. Brigid being a werewolf doesn't matter to him; hell, he's experienced weirder. And he likes her a lot.

He's having nightmares about killing Mr. Tong. He'd been justified, but the way he'd done it had been so brutal...and he'd liked it. He's looking a little haunted these days.

C. [Peridot] | Metal Sector | throughout March | open
Finally! Despite the garbage that passes for technology around here, Peridot's sort-of managed to get her replacement limb enhancers working! Sure, they aren't especially fancy or anything, but they're better than nothing.

Now: time to test.

Everyone is welcome to pass by her garage and enjoy the show.

D. [Alex] | throughout Keeliai | March 1-11 | open
So, Alex is having a weird month.

Aside from reliving all of that shit (and David has a Bostonian twin? What???), Mo's here, and that's all that matters. He hadn't realized just how much he'd missed the psychiatrist until the man had shown up.

He's looking a bit distracted, which is weird for him.

E. [Miles] | throughout Keeliai | throughout March | open
So, Miles is having a weird month.

He sure did have a lot of fun reliving his torture, and of course there was that incident with the Walrider. He's scared of himself, and trying to lie low.

At least he's got his laptop and his camcorder's been fixed.

H. [Jackie] | Midnight Hotel | March 13 | closed to Kylo
The thing with Mr. Tong and how ineffectually Jackie had used the Force had made him decide to get trained, even though he thinks Kylo is creepy. He needs to learn to defend himself.

"Okay," he says when he finds Kylo. "I want to be trained."

I. [Miles] | the Turtle's Head | throughout March | open
There's one thing Miles has heard calms people down - visiting the Turtle's Head. When he gets there, he sees some of those Ban Om guys meditating there, so he opts to go sit somewhere very far away from them.

He sits there, staring at the ocean, trying to wrestle with what the Walrider had done - what he had done.

---

Feel free to PM me or hit me up on plurk at Chatvert if you want a starter!

Comments

do it

[pandapanov]

Alex is categorically not allowed to die, even if there are worse ways to go.

"I think I can handle being the sillier fool of the two of us. I'll need a better hat, though," Mo teases, and then his smile softens to something more serious.

"You are what you are, Alex. I'm aware of what you bring with you, and it doesn't deter me. Would I prefer you have escaped the trainwreck? Of course, but only because I wish you had less hardship in your life, not because I need you to be better," he says firmly.

don't encourage his bad life choices

[saintoflangley]

Stop being nice, Mo. He's gonna want to sissy slap you because that's better than getting teary.

Alex smiles crookedly. "Yeah, well. Not a great time being here in the trainwreck, I can tell you." Then he shrugs, trying to pretend like what Mo is saying isn't a big deal, when in actuality it is almost causing him physical pain to be told once again that he's enough and doesn't deserve the hardship he's gone through (and brought on himself), this time with the added weight of that coming from someone who loves him, and who they both know is going to leave.

There's more hardship about to come from that end, and he tries to turn the part of his brain that's always concerned with the next four or five or ten moves ahead off. He doesn't need that. Not right now. All he needs is to just be here.

"You know, if you were anyone else, I'd ask if you were sure you know what you're getting into. But you practically spend more time in here than I do," he said, and tapped his head. "So I figure you've got a better handle on the situation than me. I trust you."

He doesn't trust a lot of people.

[pandapanov]

Mo nods and squeezes Alex's hand again, reminding the spy that he's still here and knows he may be adding to the wreckage. He may be clearing some of it at the same time, too, but it's hard to tell.

"That's a good foundation to start on," Mo says. For both now, and for when they get back home. "I trust you, too, for the record."

He doesn't say he loves Alex; they're just words, but they'd hurt him, and Mo is sure the man knows it anyway.

"To think it took being shunted into another reality to get us this far," he adds, making small circles against Alex's hand with his thumb.

[hamilton trash intensifies]

[saintoflangley]

Alex is a car wreck wrapped inside a trainwreck wrapped inside a plane crash wrapped inside the island from Lost. He will never be 'okay'...but Mo makes him feel a little more okay, and as long as Mo manages to stay alive...that would be enough.

And Mo's made the right call there. Alex knows it, and while it would be nice to hear under other circumstances, right now, it would only crush him.

He squeezes Mo's hand. "Hell, look at where we are. Look at where we started. This alone is evidence that weirder things have happened." Then he snickers. "So don't be surprised. A lot of unexpected stuff happens here, I've found."

do continue

[pandapanov]

"That wouldn't surprise me in the slightest." Not even with all of the craziness of Medusa and Carlos he'd seen.

"I am glad to be able to... demonstrate how I feel, now that things are over, and safe." Since neither of them has explicitly said it, but it seems they understand each other like they usually do. Acting on the love he feels before now would only have made Mo more of a target, someone that Alex might see as a weapon to be used against him. With Carlos truly gone, there's at least less need for such worry. "I know that might not make things any easier for you later, but I'm still glad. You should know that you're cared for, and you'll have that to look forward to. You'll have me to look forward to, not to sound too arrogant."

you asked for it

[saintoflangley]

Alex snorts. "You? Arrogant? Now I really have seen everything." Mo's the most mild-mannered person he knows...except when he has to mete out psych justice, of course.

"I'm almost afraid to ask how long you've felt this way." Because Mo is right - even without being told how he feels, Alex had been climbing the walls trying to get him back when he'd been kidnapped by the mafia. It hadn't been allowed to happen, and he'd taken it personally, because it had been his fault. And he'd loved Mo then, even if he hadn't been conscious of it or acknowledged it.

He smiles, a little crookedly. "If it takes fighting a war for us to meet," he says, tapping his bad leg, "it will have been worth it."

I did indeed

[pandapanov]

Mo is not going to complain about getting to meet Alex, but he does wish it hadn't taken him getting a foot blown off to set that meeting in motion.

"It's been a while," Mo admits. He could put a pin on it for himself, but now was not necessarily the best time to share it. It was around the time Conklin had crawled out of a bottle to protect David and Marie. "But it seemed as though we had much bigger things on our plate, and I was willing to wait."

He did still get to spend time with Alex, and help keep everyone alive. That was worth a little silence.

i can keep this up all day.

[saintoflangley]

Eight years is a long time to keep those emotions bottled up, Mo.

Alex bumps him with his shoulder. "Idiot," he says fondly. "You know that's not good for you. Physician, heal thyself. You can't even take your own advice, you quack."

Love doesn't discriminate between the sinners and the saints, and sometimes it even pairs them up. And if there's a reason they're still alive when so many have died...Alex is willing to wait for whatever reward lay at the end of it all. And it looks like their waiting has awkwardly paid off.

Your endurance is impressive

[pandapanov]

Pot, meet kettle.

"Wrong kind of doctor, but I take your point," Mo returns warmly. "It wasn't doing me any great harm, I promise." Maybe a little harm; certainly watching Alex blame himself for everything that happened to David and Marie and Mo had not been easy, but the psychiatrist was not without recourse to help. "Should I be similarly concerned about how long it's been this way for you?"

.......title of your sex tape

[saintoflangley]

"Probably," Alex admits. He doesn't really care to examine his own thoughts and feelings for the past several years, and of course he'd lost several years to alcohol. So maybe it was before that, and maybe after. But either way, Mo ought to be worried. He usually should be worried about Alex, honestly.

"Though I can't put my finger on exactly how long right now."

Correct

[pandapanov]

"Fair enough." Something to be examined later, although it's not necessarily the most important thing to consider anyway. Summary: it's been too long, but better late than never.

And Mo does worry. With Carlos gone, though, there might be more room for healing. "Don't give up, alright? Doctor's orders."

[saintoflangley]

It has been far too long, hasn't it?

Then Alex smiles. "Mo, since when have you ever known me to give up?"

Discounting the whole passive-suicide-by-alcoholism thing. We don't talk about that.

[pandapanov]

"Very rarely. The occasional reminder to keep up the good work can't go amiss, though, can it? Positive reinforcement."

Mo does have faith that Alex will manage without him here, and perhaps prying open his shell a bit might be a way for him to develop a stronger support system.

"Would you prefer to stay here for a while, or shall we go find someone to give us a ride up to the turtle's head?" he wants to know.

[saintoflangley]

Don't pry open his shell! Then seagulls can get at his vulnerable meat!

"Let's stay here," he says quietly. "Just for a little while longer. Let's just...stay."

Because who knows how much time they have left?

[pandapanov]

Mo nods and offers Alex a not-quite-misty-eyed smile. He hates that he has to leave, that they have no choice in the matter. Yes, they'll figure this out at home, and yes, it'll be good then, but for now it's just cruel and there's hardly a better word for it.

So: staying. Whatever Mo can do in the time he has left here to help make is easier on Alex, he'll do.

"Of course," he says, and tries to pretend that they're not on a clock.

This thread is brutal and I love it

[saintoflangley]