and we could run away. [open]

[deuteranope]

WHO: Maverick Taylor and OPEN (mostly/semi).
WHAT: Maverick’s nightmares rear their ugly heads again. Time for late night stress relief.
WHEN: Night of February 20th (into the 21st) “officially”, but time is fake and nightmares happened on more than one night, so chase your bliss.
WHERE: Lumi3/outside and around.
NOTES: Smoking and swearing, as a Mav does.

( SKITTERING - closed to Imelda. )

[His feet are bare against the cold ice, and part of his brain tries to tell him that he should be slipping and splitting his head open, but there isn't time to argue because he needs to go, he needs to be faster, he needs --

crrrack.

He’s falling. The only one reaching out to him is the sharp-nailed, glowing creature he was running from in the first place...but arms still catch him. They're cold, probably from being so far beneath the ice in this dark pit, and dirty. He can't find where any of them stop being an arm, even as that one twitches with a crack and starts slithering over to him, crawling, nails scrabbling. He shouldn't open his mouth, but it's the only thing he can still move, as the cries for help rise up within him.

Maverick sits up with a yelp and an overwhelming feeling of nausea, like those fingers really had clawed their way down his throat and were stirring up his stomach, now. This room is -- weird. But it's his, still. Just the one at the academy. He’s here, and he'd yelled, but not for help, and he wasn't crying, and thank fucking god it had been years since he'd ever wet the bed from this shit. He doesn't know how much lower he can let himself sink. He runs his hand through his sleep-addled curls to try and stop it from shaking, but when that doesn't work immediately, he reaches for a pair of headphones coiled around the bedpost to clamp over his ears and -- ugh, fuck, where was his phone? He doesn't want to turn on the light… If anyone had woken up -- or was still fucking awake -- then he needed some kind of plausible deniability. Totally still fucking asleep…]

( SMOKESCREENS AND SNOWBALLS - open, around campus. )

[The fear had faded some, letting anger take its place. Adults weren't supposed to have nightmares, only little kids -- and yet there he was, eighteen years old, and waking up in the middle of the night scared out of his wits time and time again. All because of some fake bullshit his brain came up with! He needs...something real. And a goddamn smoke.

He’s already working on a second cigarette by the time he's settled into packing snow into something that is a maybe vaguely human-shaped lump? His movements are agitated and restless, punctuated now and again by a string of curses or a cloud of smoke intermingling with his breath, clear from the cold. He's gotta suck it up and build an army.

And then he's gotta take that army out with the metal bat resting on the ground beside him.]

( SORRY NOT SUBTLE - open, Lumiére 3 common area. )

[Now that he’s worked out all that anxious energy… Okay, no, he still can't fucking sleep. But at least he can come back inside and curl up on the couch with a mug of hot chocolate. He’s swapped out his bat for his laptop, drooping eyes scanning the screen as he scrolls through various, brainless sites. Mav’s got music going, but with the low volume he's set it to, someone probably has to get pretty close to recognize one of many songs by The Cure. Soothing rock.

...there are literally a dozen packets of hot chocolate resting next to him. He probably has more than enough to share, during these lazy, godless hours.]

Comments

[deuteranope]

[...Hm.]

I can't believe I've fucking had worse. [He had a latte once. It was terrible. He dips a finger in to scoop some of the sludge up to squint at it like doing so will reveal the secrets of the universe or at least a list of ingredients, then sighs and licks it clean.] I was right, though. Wouldn't trust you to be a barista.

[suddenlybees]

Hey now, I'd be a great barista! See, with that, you'll be full off one cup, and that's what makes it a snack!

[ The consistency... But this isn't absolutely horrible, so he reaches over to dip his candy cane into the sludge and lick it off the stick. Definitely needs to be stirred for longer. Maybe filtered. ]

You never answered my question, Mav: midnight snack, or breakfast?

[deuteranope]

[He grunts something that might be agreement, letting Kano have his taste before taking another sip of it because he isn't a coward. And because this question has him suddenly exhausted again.]

...Snack, I guess. Still feels like tonight, even if I don't really fucking plan on sleeping again.

[suddenlybees]

[ With the amount of caffeine Kano's poured into that cup, Maverick might not have a choice, unless his tolerance is up there. But he's having trouble sleeping, huh... The usual tactics Kano would use on Minako or Ellie wouldn't work, but maybe Nekano...?

It's still pretty pathetic to him that he's got to rely on this cat persona to make things better just because he can't do anything himself, just like he'd tried to use "Tsubomi" to get Toki to feel better. And that ended up with a dead man. ]

Hm... If you're going to be up, might as well be productive, right? Come with me for a bit!

[deuteranope]

[A blessing in disguise. A really, hideously demonic disguise. But maybe that's part of why he keeps...drinking it... The invitation (?) perks him up a little, too. Maybe...a chance to be good at something? Prove himself? Not be pathetic for a while? He closes the laptop with a nod.]

Sure. Not doing anything important. [Well, he's watching a live kitten cam, but that will still be there for him later.] Just lemme drop this shit off.

[suddenlybees]

[ If there's anything to be gotten out of babysitting Kano, at least Maverick can have the sense of responsibility, and if nobody dies tonight, it'll be a win for him. ]

Alright, awesome! Make sure to finish that, okay!! You promised! I gotta pick stuff up from my room too, so I'll meet you out in the hall!

[deuteranope]

[Yeah, yeah. He makes a gesture to wave Kano off as he gets everything packed up and put back in his room. He's drinking it! Slowly. He'll have to take it with him on whatever dumb adventure Kano's got planned.]

[suddenlybees]

[ It's more dumb and less an adventure... Kano gets what he needs and is waiting outside of Maverick's door by the time he comes out again, a length of wire rope looped around one shoulder, as it wouldn't fit in his pockets, anything else he'd stocked up on safely inside. ]

Are you ready? Make sure to grab a thick coat! And replace your sock!

[deuteranope]

[He replaced his sock because he needed to put shoes on again. Kano didn't really need to remind him of that...but if he'd done it before Mav opened the door and jumped at the sight of a waiting Kano he hadn't predicted would be there, that would have been great. Shit...

Socks, check. Shoes, check. Coat, check. Hat, check. Phone, check. Knife, check. Mug, check. Heart rate...will be back to check soon.]

[suddenlybees]

[ The knife... You know what? That's good. That might come in handy.

Kano pulls back away from the door once he sees Maverick has his cup and his shoes, and starts down the hall towards the stairs. They're going up! To the roof. ]

[deuteranope]

[The knife is as ever-present as his tattoos, just pocketed away.

The roof...]

I'm not taking the heat if you find a way to break your arm again.

[suddenlybees]

No worries, no worries~ Haven't you been to the roof lately?

[ It takes a bit to get the door opened (e.g. to break the lock), but when he swings the doors open, it's to six foot tall rails all around the perimeter of the rooftop, so that he doesn't have to watch his step going down the slope, he just slides all the way down until he slams into the railing and prays it'll hold, gripping the bars when they do and giving them a good rattle. ]

See? Sturdy~

[deuteranope]

[He hadn't, but not out of lack of desire or anything. Hanging out on rooftops was an excellent way to wind down...he just figured he pushed too many of Imelda's other buttons to dare to try. He wasn't an idiot.

Kind of feels like one now, though, as he looks around and wanders over to the railing as a more sensible pace and tries to shake it. Huh.]

Oh. That's cool.

[Damn. Now he's gonna come up here sometimes, and he climbs up the first rung to hang off of and breathe. Mm, this was nice.]

[suddenlybees]

[ It's a pity more people don't know the joys of hanging out on rooftops, but hopefully the railings does more to encourage people than to discourage them. Kano works his legs in between the bars so they can dangle over the edge and kick at empty space, and in the meanwhile unravels his length of steel cord.

He doesn't want to interrupt, buuuuutt... Come on, they're burning moonlight here. ]

[deuteranope]

[Maverick takes another moment of silence for himself, then hops down and puts his hands on his hips.]

All right. What’s the plan?

[suddenlybees]

We're making a fire escape. Do you want one? Here, here, hold both ends of this so I can find the center and cut it in half.

[ He holds out the ends of the steel wire to Maverick and waits, expecting him to do all the legwork of walking far enough to straighten the whole thing out. Teamwork is the best, having help is the best, thank god for people who don't sleep. ]

[deuteranope]

[A fire escape...]

That’s, uh. Weirdly responsible of you.

[And he’d rather be the one moving around anyway, so he will back up while holding his ends without complaint.

[suddenlybees]

[ A """fire escape""" ]

It's a precaution, a precaution~ Pretty simply to make, really! See, once we get these to the proper lengths, it's just a cord down from the roof down the side of the buildings, beside the hundred and threes~ Then next time I need to jump out the window, I might not die!

[deuteranope]

["out of the frying pan into the fire" escape]

Soooo it needs to go from the roof down instead of just from your own fucking window because...?

[Not that he's going to stop helping. He's doing his part.]

[suddenlybees]

Um... Sometimes the fire is on the ground?

[ Sometimes he's on the roof. Look!!! This way, 403 can use it too, not just 303 and the windows below! ]

[deuteranope]

Ye-ah.

[Technically...accurate...]

I can't really fucking picture you as good at climbing. That why you're making two? Like a ladder, kinda?

[suddenlybees]

Hey, I could... probably... climb a rope.

[ MAYBE. He's never actually tried, but he's not going to let that on, nor the fact that they might not be for climbing, exactly. ]

But that's not the point! Never mind that!!! There's enough length to reach the ground and back with just half, or even less than half, so never mind it~ I'm requesting your help, so I thought maybe you'd like a fire escape too? The leftover wire, I can find use for too~

[deuteranope]

[...Oh. Thank goodness there's distance between them now, and maybe Kano can't see the way his jaw clenches and eyes squint a little at the thought. It might be well and good as an exit, but...if it's something he can use as an entrance strategy, anyone else could, too. Never mind Kano -- though that's another kind of horror, the boy just popping out of nowhere. He does that enough already. It's the mysterious Other he worries about.]

Nah. I got my own ways.

[suddenlybees]

[ Surely Kano would be just as secretive about people having access too his bedroom window, but... no... It's just a chance for him to booby-trap that window and that's fun to be had in himself, it's almost as if he's inviting trouble.

He's curious about those "own ways," though, because he can't imagine Maverick jumping out of a three story window, putting his hands together and praying. ]

What's that, what's that? Share with me, I want to know~! Do you have fancy runes? Or- maybe you shout out for Odd-Eyes and hopefully he's there?

[deuteranope]

[Don't inspect his words too closely, he's dodging. Sure, he'd figure something out in the moment, and has gone through a few scenarios in his head...but there's nothing like what Kano immediately supplies him with.

He should probably start studying runes... Sarona's tattoo shit was pretty dang cool. He could do that.]

Odd-Eyes... Uh, Toki? What the fuck would he do?