002 - Audio

[iamtetsuo]

[It's time to play the 'who's awake at 1 AM' game! If you're not, Tetsuo's talking softly enough that it might not wake you. If you want to see or answer this later in the day when normal people are awake, feel free, but please specify.]

Everybody's got powers, right? That's why they want us to stick around...

[You can just hear how much he likes that prospect. He all but spits those last two words out like it's a curse.]

So anyway, I'm curious.

How many of you have 'side effects' from them? Anybody know? I know there's gotta be more than one... but it's not all of you, is it?

I - nnghh. I wanna know why that is... why's it only some people?

Comments

[iamtetsuo]

[Tetsuo at least looks mildly less... off when the guy gets back. Who knew late night phone calls could lead to call-in room service?

He takes the water without comment, downs it, sighs, and looks at the ceiling.]

Hey... You got a name?

[burnmetwice]

No, I'm just a figment of your psychic freakout.

[Ordinary Errand Service #5, here for all your serving needs.

He feels bad for getting kind of snarky. It's not this dude's fault that Kazu's such a minion; he turns his tone more casual as he starts sweeping up the glass, using the broom to break the jagged pieces still left in the window and sweep them into the same pile]

Mikura Kazuma. Kazu.

[iamtetsuo]

Hmngh.

[That earns Kazu a dark glare. If he wasn't being directly helpful, he'd probably end up regretting saying that. That said..

It IS his fault that he's taking full advantage of this, but that could possibly be written off as - nah, there's no part of him that doesn't enjoy having a minion around, let's be honest. Tetsuo thinks about that long enough to commit it to memory, then nods.]

...Shima Tetsuo.

[burnmetwice]

[Any other pleasantries would seem weird considering he just delivered him tylenol at 1am and was now sweeping his floor.]

Soo psychic powers. That's pretty standard, but cool. [wait] Except for the side-effects, I guess.

[iamtetsuo]

Standard?! They're not standard! No one has these back-

[OH COME ON ARE YOU KIDDING HIM.
He was going to say home, but was it really ever one?]

..back where I'm from.

[burnmetwice]

Chill out, I just meant it wasn't totally off the wall like...

[What was a really out-there power?]

... Summoning fish or something lame like that.

[iamtetsuo]

Summoning fish?! That's pretty useless.

[burnmetwice]

That's what I'm saying!

[He's managed to knock the last of the glass clear of the windowsill and sweep it all into a nice, neat pile, so he crouches down to push it all into the pan]

[iamtetsuo]

So...

[Tetsuo has to take a second for another wave of ow, my head. Don't mind him, there. In fact, please stay busy doing .. why IS he doing that, anyway? Tetsuo won't say he's not grateful that he doesn't have to deal with it, but...]

...What about you? What do you do? Go fishing or what?

[burnmetwice]

['the unmitigated power of grunt work' he keeps to himself. He's not really feeling the need to snark at Tetsuo. Just himself. Instead, he taps his AT—they look like your average inline skates, honestly.]

I wouldn't talk about my own power being lame. Obviously... I didn't get any powers or anything coming in; I guess they thought being a Storm Rider was good enough.

[And he was going to have to explain that...]

That's, uh, these—[he taps the skates again] Are called Air Trek. They have a compact, really powerful motor inside... And heavy users are called Storm Riders.

What even is going on anymore

[iamtetsuo]

Racer, huh? I see... So you got to keep your wheels.

[He doesn't' even sound surprised by that. Namely, because he shares a house with someone who has a similar deal.]

Hey. Answer something. You think most people here have 'something' before or after America snags 'em?

idek some breakfast club shit or something

[burnmetwice]

Uh—Yeah.

['Racer' didn't really cover half of it. He was the fucking Flame King, probably the fastest rider in the world. He could make tornadoes of fire. He was on the strongest team in Japan. He should have some pride.

But even six months after the fact he didn't feel like much of a King. Not compared to—

Well, there really was no comparison.]

Fuck if I know... you mean 'something' like potential, or a hidden skill...?

I'm gonna laugh so hard if he ends up falling asleep over here

[iamtetsuo]

Yeah. Like the powers. I never knew people could do things like this.

[It's weirdly normal, despite how surreal the scene is. Then again, the things Tetsuo sees in his dreams every night, and sometimes during the day might have set his weirdness standards to a different level than most people have. This is just what's happening now. It'll keep happening until he decides it needs to stop.]

on the floor, with all the broken glass, that would absolutely happen to him

[burnmetwice]

You obviously didn't grow up with a protagonist.

[That's how Kazu had always seen it, anyway. It never seemed strange to him, that Ikki'd had some weird bullshit shounen destiny complete with powers. Just that Kazu'd been swept up in it, too.]

That's why he spent so much time cleaning that up, right?

[iamtetsuo]

Huh? The hell's that supposed to mean?

it will be his pillow

[burnmetwice]

[Kazu flaps his hand in a 'forget it' gesture.]

Nothing. Not everyone's built to handle crazy powers, is all I'm saying.

I can just imagine the next morning of even more awkwardness

[iamtetsuo]

[Kazu, if you only knew how true that was.
Tetsuo sinks back down onto his bed fully, hands over his head again.]

Ungh. Try making some sense.

/JUMPS OUT THE WINDOW

[burnmetwice]

[Kazu settles with his back to the wall near the busted window, toying with the rim of his beanie.]

Just think about it. Normal people aren't made for risking their lives... America just grabbed a bunch of random people and asked them to fight. Getting powers doesn't mean you're suddenly a hero.

Weirdest sleepover ever award

[iamtetsuo]

Maybe they should have thought about that before they started TAKING PEOPLE! America deserves whatever it gets outta this, is all I'm saying.

[burnmetwice]

America's probably going to be fine either way. Did you see that old guy [sorry Rick] on the network talking about overthrowing the system? Never gonna happen. It's the people they screwed over by bringing them here who are gonna get the worst of it.

[iamtetsuo]

It SHOULDN'T be fine! Not after what they di-aAAAGUH!

[We interrupt this rant against America to bring you yet another stab of audibly painful migraine. Which might be more pleasant to listen to than Tetsuo being angry.]

[burnmetwice]

H-hey! You're making it worse!

[What else was supposed to be good for headaches? Something cold to the head? Was that a totally stupid and untrue thing he just read in a manga?

Well, it was worth a shot.]

Just—stay here, I'll be right back.

[He grabs the dustpan full of glass while he at it and hurries (quietly) downstairs]

[iamtetsuo]

[Stupid head. Stupid America. Stupid everything!

It's not like Tetsuo's gonna go anywhere. The most he's gonna be able to come up with to do is thrash around and maybe pull a pillow over the back of his head as hard as he possibly can. Then throw it violently at the wall when that predictably doesn't do anything.]

[burnmetwice]

[This is all kind of alarming, but Kazu is 95% sure any suggestion of a hospital isn't going to go well. He finds some frozen peas or something and a clean dishrag to wrap them in and (again, quietly) hurries back up.]

Here—Try this. And stop screaming!

[iamtetsuo]

[Those peas wrench themselves out of Kazu's grasp the second he brings Tetsuo's attention to them. He'll stop screaming when he wants to stop screaming. Which is when it stops feeling like someone's compressing his head in a vice and stabbing needles into it all at once.

It does eventually abate enough that he shuts up, though.]