[OPEN] Something about the world today

[perfectlyhuman]

WHO: Adam Young and YOU
WHERE: All over
WHEN: First half of February
WHAT: The whole CnC thing was a mess, and Adam has found himself back not only dealing with years of memories from an alternate life, but also several friends of his are gone. Lots of changes happening.
WARNINGS: Sad child, big thoughts



1. [OUTSIDE NONAH, HOUSE] Packing up
He's still in there a lot, for the first week.

There's no reason to pack up things by hand. He could easily make it all go away, will it all into boxes, cut himself the slack. But he doesn't want to.

There's a lot of books. Stories, comics, the occasional mysterious tome that may not be entirely age or theme appropriate, but that his former guardians didn't seem to have an issue in him keeping. There's toys, of course, some of them partially chewed on by either of his pets. There's souvenirs, including a small, very accurate guilhotine they'd given him after they came back from Paris.

There's other stuff around the house. The plants, the other books. He doesn't know what to do with them, but he's not going to give them away. As far as he's concerned, the house is staying where it is, how it is, mysteriously locked and unbreakable.

He could use some help with packing, though.



2. [NONAH, STRIKE A PAWS PET STORE] Something to do
Nobody really knows how the boy stays employed, but it doesn't look like the shop owners mind or care. There's justifiable absences, every once in a while, but they do an eleven year old, so there's a lot more questions than anyone cares to ask.

It doesn't seem like a lot of people are really into bringing their pets in here lately. Makes sense, really, probably after everything that's happened in the last couple of months, and with rumors of strange creatures roaming about again. Not that Adam really gets why people are into bringing their pets over so often, anyway, but he's always happy to play with the little pups that come in.

Today, though, he's diligently going down the aisles and picking up assorted items. Pet beds, toys, cans and bags of food, the latter of which don't seem to keep only to dog and rabbit food, strangely enough.

He's got a good sizable pile of things in his arms as he's reaching for another small plastic dish, and ends up dropping half of them in mess of clatters and thuds.



3. [DE CHIMA, STREETS AND FOREST] Hideout
Many times, more often now than before, Adam can be spotted around De Chima. Often times, past school hours, he'll be walking down to the residential area and well past the houses, into the forest that surrounds the city.

A good couple of times, he seems to be carrying a rather full backpack and a couple of heavy looking bags, with assorted items. He's also always accompanied by his canine friend, and often carrying Bubsy the Jackalope in his arms.

A couple of people may know where he's going, all those times. Those that don't are welcomed to ask. A secret that isn't really a secret, but younger imPorts will have a better chance of being invited along.



4. [JEOPARDY] Curiosities
He hasn't been here in a good while. At a point, he pops in to see how far along the city's doing ever since what happened a couple of months, curiously watching the rebuilding efforts.

He likes Jeopardy a lot. It's spooky and weird, he's pretty sure half the people he sees around aren't really alive. There's just this odd feeling about it, not new to anyone, but that he finds...fun? Welcoming? Just weird? He doesn't know. But he likes it here.

He's decided to go to all manners of shops, though he's more often found in bookshops. Crystals and cards? He doesn't really understand those, but the crystals are neat.

Might as well build up his collection.



5. [ANYWHERE] (Make up your own prompt)
During these weeks, Adam can be found wandering around, as usual for the boy. Usually with a backpack on and accompanied by Dog, sometimes Bubsy the Jackalope, he can be almost always found anywhere between Nonah and De Chima, though that doesn't mean he won't go to other import cities.

All week days, he can be found at school, usually with his face buried in a book or notebook, specially nowadays. He seems to be keeping a lot to himself.

A few times a week, during the late afternoon, he can be found doing his shift at Strike A Paws Pet Store.

He can be spotted in several parks with his pets. Many times in book shops and the library, often coming in and out of sweets shops and cafés. May even find him heading deeper into the forest around De Chima.

Come and say hi.


--

[OOC: For plotting, feel free to privately message this account, or contact me at skree or Skree#9889 on Discord.]

Comments

De Chima Park

[mysterioisthetruth]

Beck was also dealing with losing somebody he was close to - as well as unexpectedly haywire powers.

And the latter was why he was currently in the park, attempting to get them under control. It wasn't working very well and he was now surrounded by swirls of thick green smoke which were likely wafting in Adam's direction. It didn't smell like anything was on fire. In fact, the smoke was odorless but it was as if a heavy green fog of it was drifting in. Muffled swearing could be heard nearby from the direction of the thickest part of the smoke.

Re: De Chima Park

[perfectlyhuman]

The boy is trying to take his pets around the park, but the small white jackalope behind him doesn't seem happy with her harness. It's not tight or uncomfortable, she just seems to be stubbornly refusing to move on principle.

"Come on, Bubsy." He tugs carefully at the leash, as Dog watches them.

Adam goes to say something else, but his train of thinking is interrupted by the growing green smoke. He looks around, immediately wondering if this is some sort of usual strange happening, before the swearing catches his attention.

Considering it for a moment, he picks Bubsy up in his arms and glances down at Dog, before carefully approaching the smoke.

"Hello?" He calls out. "Is someone there?"

[mysterioisthetruth]

Hearing a voice, Beck goes silent.

Within the smoke, he makes some gestures in an attempt to disperse the thick fog and then hisses under his breath:

"Go away."

Thinner tendrils of smoke wrap around him now as he's revealed - looking rather ordinary and unremarkable otherwise. He's wearing a green sweater and blue jeans - his strikingly gaudy suit nowhere in sight.

He looks somewhat relieved as if the smoke had followed his verbal instruction and then his gaze finds Adam.

"Hey..."

[perfectlyhuman]

"Hey." The boy replies rather simply, him and his pets staring blatantly at the man - well, him and Dog, anyway. The jackalope doesn't seem to care.

"Are you alright?" A pause. "What was all that smoke for?"

Jeopardy Bookshop

[thecacophony]

Sal's been spending a lot of time in Jeopardy lately herself. There's plenty of reasonable-sounding excuses for it, a whole list of birdshit reasons she can fall back on to lie to herself about; take this bookstore for instance. It's a convenient way to knock off some errands on her list, at least while she's already lingering around this neighborhood.

There's a growing pile of books underneath her arm, a to-do list of sorts for her work here (and hasn't she had more than enough time to catch up it on lately). She runs through her mental reading list, somewhat preoccupied, when she turns the corner to another row of books.

Glancing up, she sees a young boy and someone behind him struggling to get a grip on their own overstuffed handful of books. It's more instinct than anything else. While the adult starts to loose their grip and the books threaten to tumble on the (seemingly?) unknowing boy, Sal makes a dismissive gesture with her free hand.

A small but strangely powerful magic breeze slips past, flipping the books away from the boy and leaving a mess on the floor instead. "Get a fucking handle on yourself," she says to the other adult in a very grouchy tone.

Sal moves to stand next to the boy, gazing at the packed shelves of books and trying to find what she's looking for. As if none of what just happened is abnormal. "What a pain."

Re: Jeopardy Bookshop

[perfectlyhuman]

Adam had been looking up at the shelves to find anything that catches his eye, searching for nothing in particular beyond anything that looks weird. Well lost in thought, he doesn't even notice the tower of books nearly falling on him before there's a distressed sound from the person and the books go hitting the floor. Adam simply turns to look, seemingly not startled or shocked in any way, just a little bit confused. He felt that wind blowing his hair and coat back, and he's pretty sure there's no storm or very localized mini hurricane passing by the inside of the shop.

He would help the person, but Sal catches his attention. Adam stares up at her for a moment or two.

"That was you, wasn't it?" People have powers here and all that. It's not really that surprising. But she does look interesting. "Thanks."

[thecacophony]

"Whatever," she says, but there's no edge to it. It's harder to be harsh at kids, after all. Even for Sal. "People get too fucking distracted in shops like this."

Speaking of distractions, there's plenty about this woman to catch anyone's attention. The scar scratched down one cheek, the red scarf lined with strange-looking runes, and some kind of...gun holstered under her jacket, poking out slightly when she reaches up to grab a book.

She flips the cover around, scrutinizing it for a second before showing it to the boy. There's a woman holding up a dagger on the cover, a rip-roaring tale of revenge. "What do you think about this one? You like action books?"

Strange as she might look, Sal does genuinely look interested in his opinion.

[perfectlyhuman]

Adam watches her for a moment, taking in the details. Out of everything, it’s the gun that catches his attention. Not out of fear or threat, he’s just genuinely not used to seeing those, surprisingly enough. Or, rather...wasn’t, if you want to count the Other World half the imPorts ended up in for apparently two weeks. It had felt like years, though.

He breaks out of his train of thought when she addresses him again. He blinks, and takes a look at the cover held in front of him.

“It looks interesting.” It has a dagger right there. That wins it a lot of points. “I do like action books. And sci-fi ones. And ones with monsters.” And cowboys and aliens and dinosaurs and vampires and...

“What’s that one about?”

2.

[plentystrong]

[ For some reason, Catra has been sent out to get supplies for the cat café. She's just coming in as Adam drops all of his stuff. ]

Probably should've thought that through more, huh?

[ But -- wonder of wonders! -- she goes over there and starts picking stuff up. She's not even thinking about it, she just does. ]

Re: 2.

[perfectlyhuman]

[ The boy's well set to deal with a good bout of frustration, but the familiar voice catches his attention before that happens. But what really makes him stop is the fact that it's Catra, and that she's actually helping. They may have only interacted a couple of times, but in those times, she'd left a very specific impression... ]

Just-- trying to get it all in one go. [ He crouches, picking up stuff as well.

Most of it amounts to a couple of small animal beds, several small bags of pellets for various kinds of animals, bird seed, and a good few small animal dishes. ]

[plentystrong]

[ Catra stops in her tracks, only now noticing what she's doing. Wow, how embarrassing. But now she can do nothing but continue, if only to smooth it over. ]

Well, that obviously didn't work.

[perfectlyhuman]

[ For what it's worth, Adam doesn’t call it out. People do nice things all the time.]

Yeah, guess not. [ He tosses the pellet and seed bags into the bigger pet bed, as a makeshift bag, and stands.]

Thanks.

De Chima | Mid Month

[privatepurchases]

[Gabriel is not...okay. He has tasted the darkness and he would ordinarily feel righteous for coming out the other side until this - this happened.

Crowley and Aziraphale left.

It is suspiciously like what happened with his other self in that other place. That he was alone there. And Lilith-

Lightning curls out of his fist in crackling bursts but he chooses to bury his head in his hands, heedless of anyone approaching until he spots -

The boy.

There is a wave of absolute rage that fills him and it's hard to tell if that's him or stuck him. More lightning crackles out of his hands. Outwardly however, only Adam may be able to tell it's the archangel since Gabriel is dressed in a gray and blue flannel shirt and an undershirt and jeans and he looks like he's walked through hell.

Seeing him his chest burns.]

...Do I apologize to you? Or do you apologize to me.

Re: De Chima | Mid Month

[perfectlyhuman]

[ Ah, patterns. People see them everywhere. They've talked about this, once before, in another time the boy happened to find the disheveled archangel on one of his walks. Funny how that keeps happening. Funny, all of this. To someone, at least, probably.

Adam doesn't even recognize him from behind, dressed like that. Doesn't register at all that it's the archangel, not until Gabriel turns, and that's when Adam stops. Dog stops by the boy, staring at the angel uneasily with his beady black eyes, making an uneasy sound as he does. Bubsy remains clueless, in Adam's arms.

The boy doesn't know what he expected to hear, the first words from Gabriel's mouth as they found themselves here. But, that...well, in a way, it's expected, isn't it? But Adam furrows his brow, more in confusion than outright offense. ]

What?

[privatepurchases]

For the other dimension. For that reality.

[He stares at him, hands in his pockets. He has 6 years work of knowledge and memories and skills and tastes and it all mills in his mind and he can't decide if it's for the best or the worst but...

It's the angelic thing to do. Settling what happened with him. Ending it? Trying to fix it? He's not sure and to be honest...

He doesn't care.]

We spent 6 years as actual antagonists. Moreso then we were. I don't know - what I owe you. And what you owe me. Or what-

[He glares.]

What we do.

[perfectlyhuman]

I don’t owe you anything.

[ The answer is quick, and short. 
This isn’t one of those times where the boy looks simply confused, or neutral. One of those times where he’s fine letting the archangel talk and answering whatever question he’s asked, and asking some of his own. No some conversation about important subjects, but not a casual one, either.

This time, Adam looks wary. He looks...kind of miffed, really.]

And I don’t want anything from you.

house in nonah

[measuringdicks]

Richie dismounts from his bike fast when he gets there, letting it lean against a wall as he makes a beeline for Adam. His backpack bounces as he runs—clearly there’s something he’s keeping in there.

“You want some help with that,” he asks, nodding to what still hasn’t been unpacked, “or do you just wanna catch up on the comics you missed? I brought them with me.”

Re: house in nonah

[perfectlyhuman]

Adam’s still picking at items and boxes when Richie shows up, attention pulled away when Dog barks as the animal watches Richie approach the house. He boy doesn’t even have time to say much before Richie speaks, offering him a suggestion that sounds a lot better than packing or dealing with a house that feels too empty.

“Comics sound good.” The younger boy replies, with a faint smile. “Already took a lot of mine to the new place.”

[measuringdicks]

"Where is your new place, anyway?" Richie asks, swinging his backpack off his shoulders and dumping it somewhat unceremoniously on the ground.

Then he kneels down and opens it up, taking out comic books like The Obsidian Obelisk, Titanium Man (a blatant rip-off of the long-departed Iron Man), and Galaxy Battles (an even more blatant rip-off of Star Wars, because the publishers had plenty to work with off the antics of imPorts from a galaxy far, far away). There's a few paperbacks knocking around in there, but one is entitled The Amytown Terror: Based on a True Story and the other is very obviously school reading. After all, what else would Richie, of all people, be doing with The Scarlet Letter?

"Take your pick," he says. "Obelisk started a new arc while you were away, now they're trying to pull a Magnificent Seven scenario out of their asses."

3

[slapfight]

[Peridot and Pumpkin have staked out a clearing in the forest as an experiment in farming. It's not much- just a small plot of land that she's tended to in order to get her farming fix in without dedicating herself to something bigger. Of course, the fact is that it's a forest and animals have a tendency to sort of wreck it, so when Adam passes her by, she's griping out loud.]

Hnngh. Everywhere I go someone's wrecking my stuff. Can't they read the signs??

[No, Peridot. They're animals.]

Re: 3

[perfectlyhuman]

[ Adam is surprised to even see someone out there in the forest. Granted his destination isn’t really far deep into it, but there was only one person he knew that ventured into the woods often, and he hasn’t seen them in a while. He wonders if they’ve gone too.

He stops to watch Peridot for a moment, spotting the easily recognizable alien and her pet. Making himself knowing by the crunch of leaves under his feet, he walks out into the clearing, Dog following close to his side. ]

Are you alright?

[ He looks over to her little farming experiment. Dog seems more interested in Pumpkin, ears and tail perked up.]

Looks like animals might’ve gotten into it.

[slapfight]

[Pumpkin stops pouring a mental 40 for her vegetable brethren and yaps, wandering over to investigate Dog, the little vine that acts as her tail trailing behind her.

Peridot just crosses her arms over her chest and huffs.] That's exactly what happened. I don't know what I'm doing wrong! I built a fence and they knocked it down! I put up signs and they go ignored! What am I supposed to do?

jeopardy 004 | anathema's house

[anathemic]

Priorities.

It's the quickest, easiest way for Anathema to try to get her head on straight: breaking down a situation into clean lists and to-dos and manageable chunks. And right now, even with her head spinning after the return back home, to this universe, her priority pretty quickly becomes Adam. Realising that he's alone now — not just without his two guardians, but without anyone in his house — and clearly, that's unacceptable.

So she tells him to pack an overnight bag, and bring Dog, and come over, and in the meantime she brews up some tea. Winds up sitting in an armchair, warming her hands around a mug and trying to sort through it all while she waits for him to show up.

And to tell her what happened.

Re: jeopardy 004 | anathema's house

[perfectlyhuman]

His head is still spinning. A few hours and at least six years of experiences he doesn't know how to place, only to find the friends that had been taking care of him and sheltering him just...gone. ImPorts are still settling after what happened, and people are noticing the sudden comeback. Adam just sees and hears it all as background noise as he makes his way to Anathema's from the porter. He could just will himself and his pets there instantly, like he had apparently gotten into the habit of doing in that-- that one place. But he doesn't. He walks, Bubsy in his arms, Dog in tow, backpack full of messy clothes on his back.

He doesn't really respond to anyone trying to ask him questions. Keeps his head to his phone to answer those who give him words of sympathy or advice. A few glances here and there is all he spares the most recent mess tackling these cities.

Until he's at her front door, and he rings the bell.

[anathemic]

She'd hoped, a little, that maybe the others' return had just been delayed, and that they'd be whisked back soon like Anathema and everyone else had been. But the more that the day had gone on and from the way Adam had answered her questions, it had become clear that Aziraphale and Crowley were just... gone. Properly. Not like her at all, then.

When the doorbell rings, she sets down her tea and hurries over to open the front door. In that brief moment where she first looks at the boy, her eyes widen in surprise: he can see it ripple across her, the slight disjoint of seeing Adam Young suddenly... young again. All of eleven years old and shorter than her once more, looking so much more vulnerable than he had in that other world.

As disorienting as it is for her to see him like this, she imagines it's even harder for him.

Without pause, she steps forward and wraps him in a hug, mindful of Bubsy.