2019-10-03 - Flasher Series

Marius semi-triumphantly and very wearily rips the 'Runs' sign off the door of the downstairs bathroom. The 'Puke' sign has already come off the upstairs door. Look, when you're ducking your head over a toilet regularly, you care what it smells like. He tears them in half, lines them up, tears them in half again, and then crumples the pieces up. And then promptly wavers and leans against the wall by the downstairs bathroom. "Ugh. I hate this shit. Rink can suck it." He doesn't mean that. But he's tired and dehydrated.

He probably means it. It's probably even worse when Ash comes in through the door in a bright yellow rain coat and flip-flops. At least she comes with grocery bags full of gatorade, which means that everyone has to love her again, right?

"Hark, the plaguebearer approaches." He's joking. He's mostly joking. Marius shuffles into the living room, dropping the torn paper on the end-table and slumping down onto the couch, falling onto his butt first and then flopping out across the length of the couch. "Gaaaaaatorade." He reaches up, making grabby-hands. "Yellow, please." There's a pause, and he scowls mostly-playfully at Ash, "You look alive. There might be hope for the rest of us."

"I am alive." Ash replies with more of her usual cheer, although it's still less bright and cheery than usual, but getting there again. She fishes out one of the bottles to hand over, then moves to put the rest of them in the fridge. Then she throws away the bag before moving back into the living room, curling up on the chair, her coat being rearranged around her before she tightens the belt on it. "How's the others?"

"I'm better," Jens mutters as he wanders down the stairs in a pair of trapered joggings and a sweatshirt. "My fever broke. Finally." He looks like death warmed over, but hey.

Marius cradles the bottle against his face for a moment, then hauls himself upright in the couch and cracks the Gatorade, pointing up to the stairs as Jens announces himself. "Astrid's mostly better. Think her fever broke an hour ago or so." Draining off a swig of the Gatorade, he leans his head back. "You know, except when my head starts to swim, I feel human."

"Yeah...I almost passed out a few times on the way to Elm, then the store...and then back." Ash went on an entire expedition, guys. She leans her head back against the chair, glancing in Jens' direction to give him a blown kiss on his way through, then she turns her attention back to Marius, "Evidently the uh...weird dreams linger, too."

Marius groans at that, setting the bottle down and pressing his hands to his temples. "Damn it. I don't need more dreams about all of you girls running around naked throwing sea stars at each other." Weak joke, and he shakes it off, and sighs heavily, "Crap, though. Seriously. I haven't been enjoying those." Collecting the Gatorade again, he takes a smaller sip this time, "I'm kinda glad they were cool next door. The movies were good for me."

"Nor me. I got chased by a giant teddy bear...and I woke up with bruises all over." And by all over she seems to be meaning the few pale bruises on her bare legs. "I just hope they go away...and that we didn't get anyone next door sick."

"Ugh. I had one about giant Valkyries. They were playing keep-away with me. There was no snu-snu." Marius takes another sip of the Gatorade, running his fingers through his lank hair, "I think we quarantined okay. I hope we did. They don't deserve to be chased by giant bees -- missed the stingers, thank god -- or the stay-puft-marshmallow-woman." He pauses to consider, "That one's Ast's fault. She had to mention Ghostbusters."

"Yeah, evidently the teddy bear was as frightening as I got...but not as weird." Ash shakes her head a bit, looking somewhat depressed about the fact that she had the dreams, or hers weren't weird enough? It's easy to tell, honestly. What is, however, easy to tell is that she's still very tired.

"Sounds pretty bad. Hugs shouldn't give bruises." Marius grunts, then shrugs, offering out the bottle, "Pretty sure we're beyond worrying about sharing germs." He hesitates for a long moment, shifting in his slump, "So. Uh. You know about Dreams. You know about... you know..." he lifts a hand and wiggles his fingers. The gesture might be part Jedi, part Harry Potter wand, part... who knows. "Because I couldn't do it at the end. In the Dreams at least. And it was hard as hell outside."

"I don't think it wanted to just hug me." Ash replies with a frown, then her bottom lip sticks out in a faint pout before she curls her legs up onto the chair with her, tugging her coat down to cover her ass. "Oh, yeah. No. I mean, I know..about it, just. Not much about it...so I don't know if that's normal. I can maybe ask someone?" Like Jens. He'd know.

"I'm trying not to take that dirty, Ash. Mostly because you're dressed like a Cake song." Shaking that off, he sits forward, holding up one finger and putting it carefully under the coffee table, making it clear that he's only touching it with one finger. And then he strains for a moment, and... lifts the table with just the one finger. Or with telekinesis. It still looks like he's lifting it with one finger. "Our mom taught us." He only holds up the table for a moment, then sets it down with a clatter and immediately goes for his Gatorade. "Did you try? In your dream? When the teddy bear was trying to smother you?"

"I'm not wearing a skirt." Ash has heard the song, she thinks. But that just reminds her to tug her coat down further, and make no further comment on that. When he lifts the table she stares, then looks at him, "What...no." She shakes her head at him, snorting before she gets to her feet, "I don't know how to do anything like that...why would I?"

Marius blinks, his eyes dropping down -- and then darting away. Whoops! Her face is up there. He flushes faintly, although it's cleared up by the time he sets the table down. "Because I'm pretty sure you can. Maybe not that. I don't know about that. I'm just... I'm pretty sure you can do something. Some people can share their thoughts, some people can heal. Whole lot of other things."

The blink and the look down and up causes her to roll her eyes, then she starts to undo her coat, grabbing it before she opens it to flash him. Well, she's not wearing a skirt. But she is wearing short shorts, probably sleep shorts, and a bra. Honestly, he's seem her in less at the beach. "I'm not naked." She points out. "And I don't even know how you did that. I wouldn't have any idea."

Being 'flashed' draws a choke and then a chuckle from Marius, and he raises one finger, swirling it around with, a weary, "Woooo." Because even more-than-swimsuit flashing deserves a cheer. Even when you're sick. But there's another issue there, and he shrugs, "You might not be able to do it. Lifting shit. But that's what I'm doing. Using... I don't even know what it is... but my mom called it the Glimmer. Tapping into it to make myself stronger." It's... actually not what he's doing, but it's how he thinks of it.

"Yeah. And how did you figure out what you could do?" Ash wonders, closing her coat before retaking her seat, legs crossing before she slouches down, "You realize this is all crazy sounding, and I'm wondering if you're still feverish."

Marius shrugs a little, "Yeah. It sounds crazy. But does it sound crazier than fever dreams that leave marks? Or paintings that make you dream?" He nods down to the table, taking another slug of the Gatorade, leaving very little left behind, "Or that? And mom had me test. She had this whole list. I can do a lotta stuff, but some of it... just... nothing."

"Crazy. All of it pretty much sounds crazy, Marius. Like..." Ash lifts her hands up, making explosion symbols with her hands, coming out of her head. "But considering the fact I had a fucking goblin trying to eat my face at work, a teddy bear way too into me, and everything else? I believe it. I just don't know if I can do it."

"So... um. Have you noticed that some people seem to pop? Because that's how you can tell." Marius rests the bottle with the remnants of Gatorade against his forehead, "Who can do it, I mean." He frowns then, looking up, "Wait... goblins? Like, real goblins? I mean, I don't know the difference between real goblins and fake goblins, but you had goblins at work?"

"Goblins...Wanted people to shine or something. It tried to eat my face." It did not. Just hug it. "Like, I thought I was going to die, for real. I was so scared, and no one would help me. Ast wasn't there that night, either."

"Wanted people to shine?" Marius pauses a moment, frowning, "Maybe like... glimmer? Maybe it was going after people who could do things?" He pushes himself out of the couch with a groan, moving over to perch on the arm of the chair, and put a hand on Ash's shoulder, "Look, I'm glad Ast wasn't in danger, but I'm still worried that you were. I've gotta admit, I've never been in a situation like that. Been in a lot of fights, but they were all fake fights when you get right down to it. Sport fights. I'm glad you're okay."

"I'm not like you and Ast." Or Jens, really. Tall, athletic...ish. But not a fighter in anything but goofing around. "I was super scared, and I didn't know what to do, Marius. Like...not even a clue." She shakes her head at him, glancing up at him, expression giving a clear indication that she's in that post-sick place where not even her usual bravado will overshadow the honest fear swelling up from that moment.

"You want to know?" Marius gestures to the table, "I mean... unless you can do that sort of stuff, I can't help you with Glimmer-y things too much. Besides to say that when you figure out how to do it, don't do it too much. Apparently it gets bad attention. I don't even know from what or who." He's off topic, still a little woozy, and he drains off the last of the Gatorade and then starts again, "You want to learn how to fight, we can help with that. All of us, actually."

"Maybe...I guess it wouldn't hurt to know a little bit." Which does not seem to thrill her, at all. But then she starts to get to her feet, careful to not accidentally knock him off the arm of the chair. "I'm going to shower and head back to bed, though. Still tired as fuck."

"Yeah, I know. My eyeballs don't feel like they're boiling in my head. But I still feel like crap." Marius rocks as necessary to steady the armchair as Ash gets up, then stands up himself to offer out a hug, "Hey. It's kinda fun." He pauses, then shrugs, "Maybe not so much if you're learning because you need to learn it, but otherwise, it's kind of fun. Besides, you'll get to put the beatdown on Jens and me. After a bit."

"Doubtful. Only Ast is that amazing." Ash gives him a hug when it is offered up, and then a kiss on the cheek, "You're the best, though. And I'll ask Astrid about it, and Jens....and then when we're all not dying, we can see about learning to fight against face eating goblins."

"Hey you gotta learn -- " Marius swallows a bit. He forgot about the bra and sleep shorts, and shifts a little, twisting slightly sideways as he grins under the return hug and the kiss on his cheek. And then he quickly sits down again, " -- what it feels like to actually hit something." He shrugs a little helplessly, "And, uh..." look, he's blushing a little too. "...I don't have any idea how to fight face-eating goblins, but we can teach you how to throw people, and hit people, and uses axes and knives and swords and shields, and throw axes, and Astrid can teach you how to joint-lock people and walk them all over the room by their pinkies." This might be the voice of experience speaking.

It is probably not lost on her why he's suddenly blushing and sitting again. But she's being nice, her hands tucking into the pockets of her coat as she nods in agreement, "I'm sure that we'll just...figure out what might help with fighting face eating monsters, and teddy bears." She pulls a hand out of her pocket, only so that she can reach over to drop it on his shoulder, giving him a squeeze, "Really, like...you guys are the best. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"So wait, was it like Ted or something?" Marius shakes the question off, and blushes again at being called the best, "Find some other group of friends to kick ass with, and we'd have a hole in the house, Ash." I mean, good news, parts of him are feeling better. Or neglected. "Get some rest. I think I've about worn myself out, and I didn't even prance around in my undies out of the house." No judgment, just amusement.

"I mean..." Ash doesn't go into why. She just shrugs her shoulders at the amused comment, and honestly, her smile might say it all. She then gives him another hug, this time a face hug, purposefully tormenting him now. But she does it out of love, so it's got to be okay, right? Right. "Anyways, shower, then I'm crawling into bed with Astrid. I need cuddle time."

The face hug is torment enough, the last part though, "Always Astrid. Everyone always wants to cuddle with Astrid." Okay, Ash always wants to cuddle with Astrid, and so does he. "No one ever wants to cuddle with me." Except Astrid. Which is why he's joking. He squeezes Ash's shoulder lightly, "Get your shower and your cuddle time. I'm gonna try to use up whatever you leave of the hot water, if I'm not crashed out. I might actually try to get to class tomorrow. Go go."

"One, you're welcome to shower with me." She knows he won't. "Two, you're welcome to come cuddly with me and Astrid." She is pretty sure he won't. But the offers are both there, because Ash is both a generous soul, and sometimes a very evil one at the same time. She moves away from him, giving his shoulder another pat before she starts to head for the stairs, shedding her jacket.

Marius raises a finger and opens his mouth at the first offer, then closes it. The second one he actually considers, "Yeah, maybe after I shower too. I stink." Like sick-house, which the whole place smells like right now. And... she's shedding the jacket and heading up the stairs, and he decides to just sit down in the easy chair for a little while. It's easier that way.