wilderlands | Problem Child

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Problem Child

...So, uh. Got some things I should probably tell you guys.

[ Kevin seems a little nervous, he has trouble doing "eye contact" with the mirror. ]

I guess like... first of all, I'm Kevin? I'm from New York? I skate? I've met some of you but not everybody so...

[ He shrugs. ]

You ever known somebody who... uh, has a personal problem? But it turns out that if you know 'em and are around 'em all the time it kinda winds up to be their crap ends up being everybody's shit to deal with?

It's kinda like that.

[ Everything about trying to explain this is awful. Everything. ]

The thing with me is... well..

I'm... kind of a vampire?

[ There. He said it. Getting that part out helps him square up and face it a little better, his gaze steadies straight on the mirror. ]

Actually, not "kind of" at all. I'm definitely a vampire. I drink people's blood. I have to. Been doing this shit a good while, too. The Green's got my back with the whole sunlight deal, but I still ain't exactly keeping down regular grindage if you know what I'm saying.

[ Kevin winces a little. He tried. ]

So... here's the deal: I need to drink blood sometimes. Otherwise I get hungry, and when I get hungry I stop... being able to be a person so good? It's bad. Trust me.

[ Please, please trust the self-described vampire. ]

It's not a lot all the time, I can go a bit if I'm full up, and I can stretch it on animals and junk like that, but it's... yeah, dog.

[ He makes his lungs pull in air and breathe it back out in a long hwoo. ]

The other thing is it's probably... if I'm gonna be real with allay'all, I don't want to put my teeth in you? I mean, I got 'em.

[ He takes a second to drop fangs and show the mirror before pulling them back in, which probably does a whole lot of good for his image with the team. ]

It does stuff to people, though? And I don't want to be like that if we're gonna be doing this Lord of the Rings shit together, alright? If we're gonna be real, I'm gonna be real.

[ Kevin's shoulders sink a little as this sudden surge of confidence falters. ]

I don't know what I'm supposed to do about this, but I'm not lying about it and I'm not gonna sneak around. And I mean.... if y'all wanna run me off into the woods, cool, but I'm gonna end up stuck comin' back like any of the rest of us.

If I could just go find someplace else to be, I mean...

[ He smiles weakly. ]

You wouldn't be hearing this.

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Oh no, I invented time travel, among other things. I may not be much to look at but the ol noggin's the intellectual equivalent of a three-time Playlien Centerfold model, whose likes include: slipstream engineering, long walks on the beaches of Infinity Atoll, and aiding and abetting.

You're just looking at my impetuous and eclectic style of conflict resolution and thinking 'that guy sure did threaten another guy in front of the group, he must be stupid' but really, I'm not dumb. I'm just morally bankrupt and don't care who knows.

Edited 2018-05-15 02:45 (UTC)

There's a pretty wide gulf between intelligence and wisdom. You can be smart one way and a complete idiot in the other. Trust me. I know, intimately, what that's like. And starting a war with someone you're going to be stuck traveling with for at least the next few months isn't the brightest idea ever.

[Harper scowls because...well shit he's gotten this lecture before in another form, from Rev, and he hates getting slammed in the face with it again. It reminds him of how disappointed Rev would be with how he's acting - just like Trance is - and all the upset in the world over Rev leaving him when he needed him the most still isn't changing the creeping feeling of shame that refuses to be ignored.]

[It's not that he really feels like that idiot deserves kid gloves but he's snapping at other people now and being a smartass and they're completely innocent in all this.]

[But it's not easy to just let the irateness he's currently coasting on go. When Harper doubles down, he really doubles down, and at the core of this is...]

[Is that fact that his feelings were kind of hurt and there's no way in hell he's going to admit that. No matter how much they ever disagree, certain things on the Andromeda crew are off limits. Nobody touches things like Beka's flash addiction, Tyr losing his family and Pride, Dylan losing his entire world in a heartbeat, or anything to do with the shitmess that was Harper's upbringing on Earth or what happened during the fight with the Magog Worldship. Yes, he'd zeroed in and started to prod the idiot for being an idiot but it had started in firm general asshole territory, nothing unnecessarily intense, easily riposted with some low-key assholery back. Then the other guy - whoever the hell he was - had gone in for the low blow, mocking how hysterical he'd been during the thing with those floating ghost-monsters.]

[It chafes. There's far too much baggage tied up with the memories he'd been forced to relive when the other man had saved him - and he had saved him, which makes this even more irritating. So Harper still refuses to back down, because there's fifty kinds of damage all rolled up in what he was mocked for.]

Look, there's no way I'm playing nicey nice with that inbred, lizard-brained, barely-evolved motherf--

[Whoops, he's not alone now.]

Edited 2018-05-15 08:08 (UTC)

[So not alone, and apparently just in time. Trance's best cheats for finding people are gone, but she knows Harper, and she especially knows his voice, so tracking him down while he's being an ass is surprisingly easy in a big, empty, echo-y city.

There's a scuffle in which the mirror is jostled badly enough not to display anything clearly, accompanied by the sort of low, hissed words that generally come with a parent scolding a child.

Eventually, the mirror stabilizes at a new angle, a strange, purple smudge along the bottom. Trance is using her tail as added keep-away leverage. Harper knows how much she loves her tail. He wouldn't do anything to hurt it.

Never let it be said Trance can't play dirty.

Finally, she manages to turn and face the mirror, the view carefully angled to keep Harper out of direct communication. Her smile looks stressed but genuine.]

Hi! Sorry, Mr.... Mirror-person. Harper's kind of being Harper right now, so it's probably best he doesn't come back to the mirror until he's less shouty.

Eh, I'm chief of a Viking tribe. That was just barely a two on the shouty scale for me.

My name's Hiccup, actually. Hiccup Haddock.

[She blinks a little, but the stress begins to fade from her smile.] Trance Gemini. And that's Harper. But I said that. Thanks for trying to help.

You're welcome, as long as didn't just make it worse.

So, the surprised blinking. Was it because of the Viking thing, or because of my name?

Oh, probably, but he'll get over it.

[How to explain that she's just happy he isn't writing both of them off because her best friend's a jerk?] Well, I don't know what a viking is, so I guess kinda that, but mostly that you think Harper's not very shouty. He's like the second most shouty person I know.

Why would I be surprised by your name?

Vikings are...mostly loosely associated tribes of very loud, very boisterous, and very violent seafaring warriors that originally came from Norway.

That said, My tribe's island is actually closer to Scotland, we've been there for centuries, we prefer riding dragons over sailing boats, and we prefer ending fights over starting them. [Most of the time they even managed to do so relatively peacefully!] The loud and boisterous part still applies, though.

And most people who don't know my tribe's traditions tend to wonder why I'm named after a bodily function.

[If Hiccup is looking to get fewer confused looks, this is probably not the way to go about it. Trance knows Earth is a place that exists and that Boston is apparently the greatest city ever or something, but that's about as far as she gets on actual geographic knowledge. Dragons, she's at least heard of, but not on Earth, except Nietzschean Dragons, and she can't quite picture anyone riding a Nietzschean. Certainly not a whole village of them.

...Right, no, smiling and nodding time.] Your home sounds nice?

I don't think Hiccup's that bad a name. It's kind of cute.

...nothing, huh?

[He's been on the receiving end of the smile and nod more than enough times to recognize it for what it is.]

I can't explain Norway and Scotland, especially since I've never been to either. Dragons though?

[The mirror flips around to show an absolutely adorable looking winged reptile.]

That's a dragon. Say hello Toothless.

[The pair of short growls Toothless gives do sound remarkably like a hello.]

Edited 2018-05-17 01:44 (UTC)

[The sound Trance makes is probably a little embarrassing, but she's never let that stop her before.] Hi! Why's your name-

[She will have to continue wondering why the dragon is named Toothless, unfortunately, as Harper takes advantage of her distraction to take back his mirror. There's yelling and running and not much else.]

[After his initial attempts to grab the mirror, he stops while she has more conversations and then when he thinks she's got her guard down, he makes a running leap and tries to snag the mirror out of her hand.]

[She knows better. She knows so much better because she knows Harper and all of his sneaky, conniving, Harpery tricks. But maybe it's the new place, maybe it's the new people, maybe she's just having a momentary lapse of all good judgement. Whatever it is, he gets the jump on her and makes off with the mirror.]

Harper! Give that back! You're in mirror time out!

Generally, that sort of cocksure recklessness is that dumb, unless you're willing to veer from sociopathy into what most people call psychopathy.

Unless you're willing to gas an entire city to kill one person, keeping your mouth shut is more effective.

Thanks for not understanding that principle.

Oh fer Chrissakes. Cool it, Captain Literal!

When I say it's war I mean slow burn, grudgey, Bugs Bunny-style, mildly traumatizing psychological warfare. Not actual murder or anything, okay?

Where we come from there can be a pretty thin line between those two things.

[Not interested in escalating things further than they have been already, Imp tries to keep his tone as non-confrontational as he can manage, just stating the facts of the matter, but it's hard to deny his words come across as judgmental anyhow.]

And most of us really don't know what kind of person you are, aside from what you've said on here.

[It's a great first impression Harper.]

Edited 2018-05-15 15:49 (UTC)

Thanks, Imp.

[ Tim gives him a relieved half-smile. ]

I was going to say that I'm not sure psychological warfare is a vast improvement for the group dynamic. You beat me to it, quelle surprise.

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Problem Child

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This can be where Trance intercedes and grabs his mirror?

Mirror Grab is go!

Re: Mirror Grab is go!

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--> Action?

The actioniest

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