maskormenacelogs | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

WHO: Aunt Cass and YOU
WHERE: Heropa #16 + around town
WHEN: 6/04, and the following week
WHAT: Cass is going around greeting roommates and neighbors with baked goods and trying to destress by shopping and finding coffee shops
WARNINGS: none for now!

[1; the first day, at a GROCERY STORE]
[She did get told this was a war, so she's not quite sure whether she's surprised by all the tense paranoia and anger she's been dodging all day, but if this is a constant then it's sure going to be stressful living here. She can already feel it building up, but unfortunately the house she was dumped in isn't attached to a café, and if it's not attached to a café she doesn't have immediate access to sweet, savory, soul-healing cupcakes. Nor did she find enough ingredients in the kitchen to make them herself (besides, she didn't want to use ones that didn't belong to her). And while that's horrible, she was at least given enough to hold up until her first paycheck for that cat website.

The first thing she grabbed at the store was one of the reusable shopping bags they were selling on some racks near the entrance. Then the rest is easy. She doesn't need a list to know what she needs to buy, but she only hesitates a little to grab a box of gummy bears along with them. It's not long before her shopping basket is heavy and digging into her arm, and the shopping bags, once they're all packed and she's rung up, aren't any easier on her either. Gosh, maybe she over did the buying?]

Ugh, no, it'll be fine, [she grumbles, then hops a little to hoist the bag onto her shoulder better. Hopefully she didn't smack you with the corner of a milk carton at the bottom when she did.] It's only a short walk!

[Perhaps you care to help?]

[2; soon after, at HEROPA #16 - the kitchen]
[No matter, she gets that stuff home safely and the kitchen is stocked, various things in there labeled 'HOUSEMATES - FEEL FREE TO USE! :)' in neat handwriting if any of them care to look. And Cass is in there, too, if you can spot her behind the counter that is, crouched by the oven door and peeking in to check on the muffins inside. What, didn't you get drawn in here by the smell of them? They're blueberry.

Maybe you speak up, maybe you don't. If you do, she'll look over her shoulder in surprise. Or maybe you don't, and she only notices you when she takes the muffins out of the oven and turns to place them on the counter. Either way, her expression in the same: it brightens, a smile splitting her face as she steps over across the kitchen toward you.]

Hey! [She chirps the greeting, looking nothing short of absolutely delighted to meet you.] I didn't know you were there. Hi, my name is Cass, do you live here too?

[3; also at HEROPA, houses neighboring #16]
[There are more than enough muffins for everyone. Or enough for her neighbors, at least. For anybody living on the anywhere close to #16, they'll be getting a knock on their door. Should they open it, Cass stands there with a basket of muffins in her hands, smiling bright.]

Greetings! Hi, I'm Cass -- I just got moved into number 16. I thought I'd stop by to say hello, would you like some muffins?

[4; likewise, at HEROPA #16; closed to Tadashi and Hiro]
[But at the end of the day, later in the afternoon as it turns into evening, Cass is back at home again. This time she's on the porch, Mochi curled up on her lap as he pets and scratches his head absently. She busied herself and acquainted with some people, and that's fine. Overall, the day was fine. But now that she's out of things to do, the worries are creeping up.

Florida. Of all the places, Florida. There was a comfort in knowing she didn't get thrown out of the country or anything, but at the same time, this America is different from the one she knows. So maybe she's actually been thrown into another dimension. They sure made it sound that way, and if that were the case then it wouldn't really matter if she were in the US or Canada or even Japan. In any case, she was far away from home, and she has no idea what's going on with Hiro. For all she knew, she was alone here, and that's... scary. In ten years, no matter who she lost she was never alone, and she tugs Mochi closer to her as she wishes she bought a pack of cigarettes or something while she was out. But no, she quit that long ago didn't she? She threw them all out and cleaned up the house thoroughly so Hiro and Tadashi could grow up in a clean home. Maybe she should have brought out a muffin to chew on out here.

She sighs, running a hand through her hair. All this thinking and stressing -- she hasn't done it in a long time, and she really, really wishes she could go back to her café. Maybe she should apply for a job at one. That would be a lot more distracting than sitting at a desk looking at cat pictures all day.]

[5; any other day, at a COFFEE SHOP]
[After the adventurous first day, Cass ventures out again, this time just to find a place to relax and get to know what the city is really like. There's no way all that anger can be a status quo, right? She hopes not. Just what could she have been brought into this place for anyway? She's no soldier. She's no fighter, or a researcher, or even a hero like those people that have been showing up on the news lately. But then again, even those heroes...

She shakes her head and smiles at the barista as they call her name and hand her her drink, not forgetting to thank them and making sure she didn't forget to shove some money in the tip jar before turning to find a seat. It's busy in here, so she can't find an empty table, but she does spot a chair right over there... with YOU!

She meanders over, squeezing between chairs full of studying college students and past a pair of old men playing chess. It takes a minute, but she manages to reach the table with the empty-looking chair and she taps on it to try to get the attention of the person already sitting there.] Hi. Would you mind if I sat here? It's full everywhere else.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Oh!

[He's not sure if he's actually the best person to talk to about this one. He's too close to the situation, and the minute she says that one of her kids has taken up the mantle, he can't help but think of his mom, those first few weeks. Oh sure, she settled on being the most supportive parent anyone could have ever expected, but he'd be lying if he didn't say it had been rough for a little while.

Jaime knows it's still not easy for his parents to watch him go out there, but it's probably not easy for any parent, no matter how old the superhero is.]

That's... pretty big. Are you okay with it?

Are you kidding? [Pbffffffft! She actually makes the face and the noise, her bang flopping up... and then back down over her face when she blows air up at it.]

I've eaten so many donuts since he started! Sure, we don't have giant monsters? We don't have crazy villains? Yet! I mean, not really? But it's so reckless! It's so dangerous!

But--

[And now she calms down. Her emoting goes all over the place. She deflates like a Baymax out of battery, visibly frazzled(?) one moment and sighing it out the next, shaking her hair out of her face and eventually settling to that ever-present smile again.]

But he's been through a lot, and if that's the answer he found for himself, then as a parent I'll support it.

I just thought -- you know? If there are people here who have experience with being in a world that's got superheroes, it'll be a good opportunity to see if anybody is willing to talk about it. Although I guess if the secret identities thing exists outside of comics, I'll have to figure out my around that.

[and then] Oh!

Oh, oh dear, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to explode like that.

[Is she pressing her hands to her cheeks? Yes.]

Oh dear me.

Edited (face.. cheeks...) 2015-06-09 06:34 (UTC)

[Jaime has to laugh a little, then holds one hand up, embarrassed about being so rude.]

It's fine, it's fine! I'm sorry, I shouldn't laugh.

[This is another case where Jaime wishes that he didn't have a secret identity. It would be so easy to reassure her that teen heroes are absolutely something that exists, that he's one of them, and that he'd be happy to help out any other hero that enters their midst. He could tell her that his parents probably feel very much the same way, worried and supportive all in one. He could tell her that it's hard, dangerous work, and that she has to make sure that her kid's getting proper training, that he's got a team behind him.

He can't say any of that, but oh, this poor woman. He's happy not to be on the other side of the parent-superhero coin.]

Um... [He raps his knuckles on the table, trying to figure out what to say.]

Secret IDs are totally a thing here, but superheroes still talk sometimes on the network? So there's that, at least. He's lucky to have someone support him, it's just... he's not doing it alone, right? Back home, there's a whole team of superheroes who're teenagers, so they've always got someone looking out for them.

[That's not entirely accurate, but eh, close enough.]

Mmm. I know he's not alone. He's got a team, although I can't imagine any of them are any more experienced than he is. [She has guesses about how that team came to be. First of all, those armors are totally Hiro's aesthetics, and she can only imagine that he was the mastermind. And his motive -- well, considering what Big Hero 6's first adventure was, she can guess at that, too. And that's her biggest worry, though she tries to have faith that this is Hiro's new direction, not a lashing out of his grief. What a direction that is, though.] Well, I know at least one of them knows his way around first aid, so that's one of my reliefs.

That's encouraging to hear, though. So I'll have to take a look on the network, then.

[She doesn't know, yet, that Hiro is here. But she does want to think about it. She knows she can't really find advice on how to talk to him; that's something only she can find the answer to because he's her kid. But if it's knowledge about superheroing, or about knowing a superhero -- that, maybe she'll be able to find here. Her smile just grows wider.]

Thank you, dear -- and I'm glad to hear those heroes in your world have a team, too. [She's curious about the part where he called them teenagers -- how does he know? Do they not keep their identities secret there? She keeps it to herself, though; she doesn't want to put him on the spot if it turns out it's something he can't answer.] I hope they have somebody at home to support them, too.

[Dear, she calls him, and his expression changes a little at that, though not in a particularly bad way. Having a mom as his next door neighbour is going to be the death of him, isn't it? He doesn't know that she's their aunt, not their mother, not yet, but it doesn't really matter in the long run, because she has all the same mannerisms of most mothers he's met... albeit pretty goofy mannerisms. She's the sort of lady he'd expect to see his own mom chatting with by the side of the playground, patiently waiting for Milagro to finish playing, a chorus of voices from the slides begging, five more minutes, mom!

Superhero son or not, she seems awfully normal.]

I hope they do too, [he says, and he means it, because honestly? He actually doesn't know a heck of a lot about his own teammates. He kind of doubts it.]

...but if your world doesn't have monsters and supervillains, what do they fight against? Just, like, street crime?

[The side of a playground is somewhere she'd fit right into. But unfortunately, Cass didn't have a lot of experience with that -- at least not with other moms. She spent more time storming school and doctor's offices, fighting with authorities and other parents about what Hiro's schoolmates had done to him on school campuses where he was supposed to be safe. There were plenty of people who supported her, but she was more of an infamous parent than a popular one. She dreamed for years about Hiro making friends. She wasn't expecting him to make friends and turn them into a superhero team, though.]

Street crimes... and other accidents? They stopped a trolley from rolling all the way down the hill just recently.

[Compared to superheroes who fight those big monsters and villains, Big Hero 6's activity might be cat-in-a-tree level. But Cass is grateful for that, and she's not one to say that those smaller heroisms are any less important. As it is, stopping Callaghan and that trolley both saved a huge number of lives.]

Edited (adding a thing... ) 2015-06-10 08:03 (UTC)

That doesn't sound so bad, then.

[That's pretty small stuff, and considering Cass didn't mention any superpowers to go with the duty, that's a darn good thing. It's not that people without powers can't tackle the whole hero business, but they need an awfully lot of training, training that can't be found just anywhere. He was able to fly by the seat of his pants and end up okay, but that's because he could literally fall from orbit and still be fine. People without powers are a little... squishier.

He waves his hands in front of him, suddenly realizing how dismissive that could have come off.] Not that that makes it any less important! It's just a lot safer than, like, going into space and punching aliens or something.

[Speaking of which!]

Aren't there any other superheroes where you're from who could... I dunno, check up on him? Give him a few tips?

[Even he'd gotten a little crash course from Guy.]

Honestly, I don't know. At least our city hasn't had one as far as I know.

[Maybe sometime in the long past, but until Hiro and Baymax started flying around, it was all just in tv shows and movies.]

That's why I wanted to learn. I'm his only parent -- he thinks he's hiding it from me, and I don't want to bring it up in a way he thinks I'll be mad about it. I know he doesn't want to worry me, but... [She sighs as a way to end that sentence. She's sure Jaime understands just by virtue of being close to Hiro in age.]

They're pretty hard to miss.

[So they probably don't have any other superheroes, he thinks. It's hard not to know about people going around in spandex beating up criminals, but it takes a heck of a lot of gumption to go out there and be the first one.

Jaime wouldn't.]

I dunno. It might be a relief that you know, in the long run? [He chooses his words carefully, trying not to give away the fact that he would have had to hypothetically grapple with the same issue. He leans back, placing one finger on his mouth as he thinks about how to phrase it. What does having his parents know mean?

It means that when things go wrong, he doesn't have to worry about them not knowing and being taken by surprise. He can talk to them about what had happened, and when he fails, there's always someone to come home to, someone who understands. He's missed it a lot since he was forced out on his own like this, and it just makes him all the more aware of how important it was to have that support group there, just waiting for him.

Maybe it's easier for Cass' kid. He's on a team. But if you can go home to someone who understands, wouldn't you want to?]

He's gonna have a bad day, one of these days, and, um. [He shrugs.] It'd be good to go back home to family after that, you know? Without wanting to hide it? That's what I think, anyway.

[A bad day. She wonders about that. It's not like she doubts it. There are plenty of bad days for her and Hiro, but especially Hiro. He may have friends and he may be going to school, but there's no way to fill that Tadashi-sized hole. Hiro's going to have his bad days even without the heroing, but how many things will he run into during his heroing that'll remind him of that? And if he comes home hurting from it, she wants him to be able to share it if he wants to.

She smiles. More softly than her amused grins, but it's been a personal choice of hers to always be with a smile.]

You're right, Jaime. I agree with you. [She knows the value of having a family very well.] I'll have to find a time to talk to him -- and soon.

[And nooow, she brightens again, sipping her coffee now and looking up at him.]

Thank you -- gosh, I'm sorry, you just met me and you had to listen to me go on about all this!

Well... whenever you get home, anyway.

[He's glad that she said that, though, without any further urging from him. Whoever her kid is - and he's lucky to have such a nice mom - he'll need all the help he can get. Being a superhero is hard work, and it's a heck of a lot harder on the mind than it is on the body. It's wonderful being able to come home to a hug from someone who knows exactly what it is you'd just gone through, and he'd wish it on every hero he knows. He doesn't even have to say anything, half the time. His parents always seem to know when things are bugging him, even if they say it through making his favourite for dinner instead of making him talk about it right away.

He's very, very lucky. He knows that now. Once she starts brightening up again, Jaime just waves her off.]

No, no, don't worry about it! I did ask if you had any questions! I don't think that was the one I was expecting, [he admits with a wry smile,] but I hope it helps anyway.

[Whenever she gets home. That time will come when it's meant to come, she figures, so there's no rush in her.]

It helped settle something I've been wondering about, so I'll have to say your answer's yes.

[Jaime's a good kid, she's convinced and it'll take a lot to convince her otherwise. Maybe he has been here for over a year, but it still takes a thoughtful mind to offer a sudden guest hospitality and a drink and advise so quickly. Even most adults wouldn't think to do that so readily.]

As for anything else, you know, I think I can take it as they come. That's how we have to handle anything, you know? Bills. Sudden school events. A huge order at the café, and now new worlds.

New worlds is a pretty big leap from school events!

[He gets what she means, though, and a part of that does, in fact, show. It's how his parents had handled all the recent weirdness too. One step at a time, as if they were dealing with Jaime after he'd sprained his ankle instead of having an alien AI living in his spine. It's the only way ordinary people can deal with it with any amount of grace, Jaime thinks.

(With all these mentions of her boys, her superhero boy, and now the cafe, he's going to be kicking himself later for not putting two and two together. An ace detective, he ain't.)]

So... did they give you a job at a restaurant here too?

Believe me, Jaime. When you're a parent? You realize that nothing is as life changing as becoming one. Superpowers and new worlds? Must be another spirit day!

[She's slightly stretching it, but it's really no lie. Suddenly being in custody of Hiro and Tadashi was the craziest thing and to this day, nothing has compared. Except losing Tadashi came close, but that didn't change that she was a parent, still. Bring it on, multiverse.]

Except, no! They made me a... gif curator? For some cat website. Which isn't all too bad but I tried the desk job thing once and it's really not my jam. That's probably the craziest thing here.

...I'll take your word for it.

[Jaime just grins at her at that. He's not planning on becoming a parent very soon, thank you very much. Oh, sure, he'd like the whole shebang, the house and wife and kids, but not for a long, long time. The mere idea of it is a little scary. He'll stick with being a big brother.]

You could always apply for jobs somewhere else, if you want. It's weirdly easy for us to get jobs, even if we could just lie about everything on our resumes.

You could do a lot worse than looking at cat gifs all day, though. I didn't even know that could be a job!

[He's humoring her. It's sweet, really. She just grins at him and weaves her fingers together, resting her chin on top of them, elbows on the table.]

Oh, I didn't know either. I almost thought they were joking, but it's a conversation starter, at least. 'Hi, I'm Cass and I'm not a crazy cat lady -- I'm a crazy cat gif lady, and I get paid for it!'

I am considering switching, but I'll have to see what's available. In the meanwhile? I think I convinced Armin to run a cat blog with me, though, so maybe that's close enough. He's so good with Mochi.

Edited 2015-06-21 07:25 (UTC)

Oh! I forgot that you said you were ported in with your cat!

[Jaime's expression actually lights up at that. He had been pushing for Armin to get a cat once he said that having animals around helped him sleep at night - an arduous task for the poor kid - and he was certain that some cat out there would be lucky to have Armin as his owner.

Well, now Armin can spend time with a cat guilt-free, unencumbered by the worry that he'll be ported out.]

You know, I was actually trying to convince Armin to get a cat, like, a month ago! He seems to really like them. It's good for you -- you've got a built-in catsitter if you ever wanna go away.

Oh, that's even better. I was worried that it might be a problem, you know? A lot of people are allergic to cats and I didn't want to make anybody suffer that.

[She's all smiles -- as if her expression had changed at all in the first place -- as she thinks about Armin talking about videos and Mochi's adventures in his new world. It had been sweet, really, and she would be happy to set up a blog that he could write in whenever he wanted to record the things that fat cat did. She's no tech whiz, but she knows her way around setting up something like that.]

Mochi's always been pretty friendly, and he took to Armin and the others quickly. I think they'll all be okay, you know? I think I'm really lucky for that.

You're even luckier that you came when you did. You know the guy who used to live there had an alligator and a wolf? I'm willing to bet that Mochi would not be happy with that. The alligator was kept mainly in the back, and the wolf was friendly, but I mean, still.

[It's not prime conditions for any housecat. He kind of misses Conner, weird as he was, and his little menagerie of deadly animals. He knows intellectually the the alligator is still in the Cave, but Jaime tends to steer clear of her.]

...is he named after anything, by the way? I don't think I've ever heard of the name Mochi before.

Oh no. No, he wouldn't! He's definitely a lucky cat, then!

[Her reaction is immediate, uninhibited, and just utterly genuine. She herself? Would be fascinated by those animals. But Mochi? Even after being conditioned by Hiro's experimentations she's pretty sure that can't survival instinct would go berserk. What a fate.]

Mochi's a food. You know, um, Japanese rice cakes? Mochi was fat and squishy since the day we got him so we decided on that name.

Oh! Never heard of it... I think. Or maybe I have, and I just wasn't listening, [he admits a touch sheepishly, though never let it be said that he's not typically an honest guy. It's altogether possible that any number of his Japanese friends have mentioned it in passing, but if he doesn't recognize a word while they're talking food, he tends to tune out.

When they feed him Japanese food, though, it's a whole other story. Then he'll pay perfect attention while he stuffs his face.

He shrugs.]

It's a nice name anyway. You'll, um, probably see me over at your house when I visit Armin sometime, so maybe you can introduce me to him.

We'll have to see if I can find any around here. It's a bit difficult -- the west coast has a lot more Japanese stuff, so I'll have to build up a whole new grocery list while I'm here.

[It'll be fun, she thinks. Buy a new notebook, buy a new pen, fill it out all over again. She's had the one at home for decades, and a couple sealed away in boxes that she inherited from both her mother and sister. Here, it's a brand new one.]

He's a friendly guy. Sit on the couch long enough and he'll make a chair out of you in no time, if you don't mind that sort of thing.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

(no subject)

no subject

1/

2/

3/

/4 i'm done i swear

bless

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject