maskormenacelogs | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

WHO: Tina Belcher and you
WHERE: Various places throughout the Porter cities, except for Jeopardy
WHEN: Early January
WHAT: Two more of Tina's closest friends have disappeared, so she's a mixture of Sadsack and Angry and might get into a bit of trouble in the meantime.
WARNINGS: TEENAGE ANGST and being sad over lost friends

1. Maurtia Falls #001

Home is a difficult place to be right now, now that Angus has disappeared. He'd been around the entire time Tina had been, and she's always taken for granted that he's just going to be there. So she's going to alternate between being mopey, doing things like lying on the couch and groaning, and trying to keep busy by stress-cooking and cleaning. At least the household will be clean and well-fed?

2. Mischief - Porter city of your choice

Tina's still hanging around with Team Skull, as much as she tries to disentangle from them and remind herself she's not suited for gang life. Perhaps that will change, though, if this place keeps throwing crap at her. After Iris and Ango's departures, Tina can be found stalking around some of the Porter cities, Skull cap and bandana to obscure her identity, being egged on by a small group of grunts in various bits of teenage mischief- like pushing over trash cans or using rotten produce or soda to make sticky messes.

3. Horse/mischief cleanup - Porter city of your choice

Other times, Tina feels bad about whatever trouble she's causing and tries to overcompensate by taking out her beloved Jake, a placid piebald miniature pony, and visiting the Porter cities. He'll sometimes don a unicorn costume, complete with colorful chalk in his mane. Or else she can be found picking up trash, even if it wasn't her specific fault, with a frenzied energy that's unlike her.

4. Wildcard

Or anywhere else? Hit me up on Plurk at

shurimon or Discord at Yedong#9491 to talk ideas.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Oh, Adam knows a thing or two about being angry at the world. While his experience is mostly based on rapidly gaining knowledge of both truthful and entirely made up paranoid theories about what's wrong with the world, aided by magical influences a bit too strong for any normal child to handle, it probably serves him enough to relate.

"What kind of stupid things?" He has to ask.

"Letting kids at school talk me into doing... well, vandalism," Tina admits, wringing her hands. "You know, knocking over trash cans and spraypainting buildings and stuff. While it's satisfying as I do it... I don't feel very good afterward."

Adam blinks, and gives Tina a once-over. Hard to imagine her doing anything that could be considered rebellious... although the things she said don’t sound that bad. But, then again, he almost destroyed the whole world, so maybe his perspective on What can be qualified as acting out is a little warped.

“Maybe you need to find something else then. I’m sure there's other things you can do that can help you feel better.”

Tina notices the once-over, and she can probably guess why- she's always such a good person who keeps her nose clean, being a destructive brat is strange.

"I've had exercise suggested to me," she admits. "Kickboxing. Or just beating a punching bag. Or, hey, maybe I should get back into capoeria. I'm not used to being angry, at least not this angry, so... finding an outlet that actually works for me has been hard."

Exercise sounds like the sort of things parents would get their kids to do if they acted out a lot. He doesn't know why he knows that, but he gets the feeling that's what happens. Talking it out would probably be better...

"Those sound fun." So much is true, at least. "Maybe you can do other things, too. Something you really want."

He thinks... "My mum gets sweets when I'm feeling sad, sometimes. One of the friends I live with makes cocoa, or we go out for ice cream. Those are nice too."

Tina nods, reaching over to pat Jake.

"At first I did try to do those things," she replies. "And I spent time with horses, and with my guardian's dogs. They made me feel nice, but didn't make the anger go away, not for very long. And when someone else I like vanishes... it just pisses me off all over again, and I'm back to square one."

Adam continues to listen attentively, idly petting the pony's mane as Tina talks. These sorts of things don't have simple answers, he doesn't think, but he's bound to keep looking for some. Maybe it's just his age.

"Have you tried just... Talking about it?" It wouldn't be his first suggestion. Talking rarely sounds like it might do much, until you do it and are surprised over how much better you feel. He may not have the best communication skills himself, but he's also eleven. " About how you feel and why."

"I have, but... maybe not enough," Tina muses. "I've been to the school counselor before, but not lately. That's one of the things that kept me going before, and I'm not sure why I stopped... maybe part of me wants to believe I didn't need it any more."

“Maybe you could try again.” Again, not that he really knows how that works. “I bet there are other people who’ve done the same, though. When they’ve had friends go back home too.”

He looks at Jake, gently moving his hand to pet over the pony’s head. He kind of wishes he had treats to give him. And, just like that, he does. Adam pulls an apple from his coat pocket and holds it to Jake's mouth. "Is this alright?"

Jake's attention perks up at the apple, and he touches the surface all over with his lips before taking a cronch out of it.

"Aww, he says thank you," Tina replies. "Apples are one of his favorite things." She then sighs, looking out at the distance at nothing. "They've helped me before. When I've had people leave... now it seems like it happens so often, there's no point. But that seems like a pretty grim thing to say, too. And that wouldn't make counseling totally pointless."

Adam smiles as Jake eats the apple, continuing to pet his mane with his free hand.

"Maybe you could do something with your friends." That isn't, apparently, mildly harmless vandalism. "Something fun. Might get your mind off it."

But he thinks about it a bit more. "Or maybe you could...make something about your friends that aren't here anymore. Like a story, or a drawing or something."

"I do like to write," Tina admits. "I've kept a diary since I was little, and that gets all of my feelings poured into it. As for spending time with friends... I don't wanna say it feels like all of them are gone, because it's not true. Maybe I need to step back and take a good look at what I have and focus on that, instead of what I don't have."

Adam nods, smiling faintly. At least she seems to be moving onto more positive notes, which is nice.

"Maybe you could write about your friends. Like an adventure. Or just how they were. And other people who knew them can do something too."

"I have done that before," Tina admits a little sheepishly. "Not for a while, though. Sometimes I find it hard to live inside a fantasy when there's... well, everything like this going on around me."

Adam nods faintly. "Yeah."

With the apple gone, he goes back to petting Jake's mane. "Reading superhero stories got kinda boring. Monster ones, too. Stops being fun when it's all just...normal."

"Because how do you improve on this?" Tina agrees. "It's not really an escape any more. Some of it's been wonderful, like my dear horse here." Jake swishes his tail contentedly. "But I've also lived through the end of the world. So imagining something more exciting than that is hard."

“ Yeah.” He’s gone through two almost ends, and had his whole view of reality changed twice in the span of a month. Not a lot keeps being entertaining after that.

“I mean, there’s still some good stories out there. Plus, other people can tell you about where they come from, so you actually know it’s true.”

"Hey, that's true," Tina says, sounding a little more chipper now. "There are still stories to be told... I just have to find them. And they don't all have to be excitement. I miss writing romance stories, too..."

“You should write whatever you want. I’m sure someone will want to read it. And it might help you feel better.” Adam himself is getting the urge to write some stories of his own, though his usually involve a lot more space cowboys.

"That's true," Tina says. "I do need to work on writing for fun instead of school, no matter what I end up producing. If working with horses as a career doesn't work out for me... I need something to fall back on."

He wouldn't know about jobs, but, hey, follow your dreams, girl.

"You can probably do both." The possibilities may not be endless, but they ma at least cover this sort of thing.

Tina laughs softly at that.

"I might have to," she replies. "I looked a bit into writing as a career... it seems like it's hard to make enough to live on as full-time work. But getting qualified to be a vet or horse trainer could be expensive, too..."

He never really thought about that. Far too young to be really thinking about costs of things, probably.

"Maybe you could save up? Study to be a vet during the day, write at night?"

"That sounds like a lot of work," Tina says. "But then again, I'm used to working all day. I'll need to keep busy when I'm in college, too."

Adam smiles. She seems to be a lot happier than when he first saw her, so that's pretty good. He figures there's not much they can do about her missing friends, but at least she seems to be feeling better.

"Bet you can do it all, if you put your mind to it."