Outside the sewers... and then on in

[heromaniac]

Momoko had made the decision late last night that she was going to spend today exploring the sewers for clues to this weirdness.

This is why she was standing in front of an entrance to the sewers.

She hadn't gone into the sewers because... well... sewers. Ew.

She knew she had to, but give her a moment. She was totally sure that it wasn't going to be like the sewers involved in that case back in Saitama. In fact, she was convinced it was going to look much different...

Ew.

She'd sent some text messages, hoping for some company, but wasn't sure if anyone was coming. he was going to stand here and wait a bit more, and enjoy being clean and un-grossed-out for a few more minutes, okay?




[Open for anyone... And if you think you got a text, sure! It was late, numbers are small! Come on and explore... with no results!]

Comments

[peace_n_war]

You know, Warren wasn't actually in any hurry to return to Fandom as controlled by the Lannisters. At all. But he could understand the importance of keeping the island here and now from falling into absolute chaos, especially since radio broadcasts seemed to be becoming increasingly worrisome. He didn't know enough of the locals to be able to really judge if anything was wrong with anyone in particular, but...

Well, the island had killed him enough times, he wasn't about to let it best him again without a fight.

Still, he was giving a look to the entrance to the island's sewer system as he arrived all the same.

"You know," he shared, "I don't actually have any clean clothes to change into, after this."

[heromaniac]

"I will loan you a hat." Momoko reached up to give him a hug, smiling. "I think it's the only thing I have with me that would fit you."

Aside from Jaime's t-shirt, which she wasn't giving up; sorry.

"The hotel has cleaning service?"

[peace_n_war]

"I'm sure they'll love me after this," Warren snorted wrapping his arms around her for a quick hug right back. "And in the meantime I can wear the bedsheets like a toga, right?"

That was not a look that Warren Peace was made to rock, but it probably beat running around in sewer jeans.

"What are we looking for in here, again?"

[heromaniac]

Momoko should not be imagining Warren in bedsheets, but she did for just a fleeting moment.

"Any thing really? I haven't found a single clue about what's happening." She gave him a wry smile. "But. A year or so ago some people from another universe came here, thinking Fandom was the site of a tv show? And radio says they found some rings in the sewer that gave them the powers to make all sorts of crazy changes. Making people disappear or show back up. Giving them different back stories or new powers. Like they were rewriting our lives."

A shrug. "So I think I'm hoping we'll find gremlins or something wearing some kind of power rings?"

[peace_n_war]

"... That's actually probably the most sensible theory I've heard about what's going on since I got here," Warren noted. "Worth wading through sewage just to be able to rule it out, at least. It's not bad if I'm hoping that they're not actually gremlins though, right?"

He really had no interest in being bitten today.

[heromaniac]

Momoko poked him. "If it's gremlins, you can set them on fire?"

[peace_n_war]

"Only if I see them first, and that depends mostly on how deep the... water... is," Warren replied, poking her right on back as he made a face. "At least I can make sure it's well lit down there. That might scare a few of them off."

[heromaniac]

"Ew." Her face mimicked his. "You had to remind me there was going to be... water."

[furnaceface]

So, Jono really didn't check his text messages often. Would you, if you had no head? His psionic powers were good for sensing other living things in the room, and even traces of psi-signatures left behind on objects that people had interacted with. Not so much for reading text messages. Checking those meant that he either had to swallow his pride and ask somebody to read them off to him, or he had to borrow somebody's senses, so it often took him a few days to get around to looking into that sort of thing.

This morning, he'd finally gotten around to it. Joni had settled into his lap, and he'd taken a few minutes to tap into her sense of sight, gently nudging her to look at his phone while he read through the messages that had been left for him last night, even last week, by Momoko.

You want a fun time? Try reading text messages on an LCD screen using the eyes of an animal that could see in ultraviolet.

In any case, he was here. He hadn't replied to either of Momoko's texts mostly because Joni had wandered off at that point, sick of staring at a phone. But he was here, hands in pockets, wearing a pair of old jeans that he didn't mind getting messy and an old t-shirt that was already practically a rag. And, of course, his helmet.

//There aren't many people that can talk me into a sewer, luv.// This wasn't true at all. //Hello, Momoko.//

[heromaniac]

A smiling Momoko turned at the familiar voice in her head, and rushed to jump him. "ABOUT TIME YOU..."

*bang*

"Ow!" Glomp aborted due to casualty!

Momoko rubbed her head and tiptoed to CAREFULLY hug him this time. "Why are you wearing a stupid helmet? It's just a sewer."

Seriously. She wasn't even transformed!

[furnaceface]

//Er...// Jono returned the hug, giving her a little pat on the back before easing backwards a little. He would have loved, at that point, to raise an eyebrow, but there were certain technical difficulties involved in that sort of thing. //The alternative tends to disturb people, mostly. I wear it to class and to my shifts at th'music shop, too.//

Because the nightmares his students would get from staring at the Xorn helmet were decidedly less terrible than the ones they'd get from oh-holy-hell-there-is-fire-where-his-head-goes.

[heromaniac]

"Why?"

Look she'd heard he had no head, but she hadn't BELIEVED it.

[furnaceface]

There was a silence there between them, while Jono worked on a way to explain just what was at play, here. It had been years since he'd had to explain the head thing to anybody besides new students to the school. Having to do so with old friends all over again was... tiring.

He settled on leaning forward a little.

//Take a good look at my eyes, luv, and ask me that again.//

Spoiler: There weren't any under there.

[heromaniac]

Momoko looked. And looked.

She reached for his shoulder. "So it's true; your fire has eaten more of you?"

[furnaceface]

//In a way.// Jono brought a hand up to rest on her elbow, going for reassuring, as best as he was able. //It's been a long time. Years, for me. And there are things that people keep mentioning that I don't remember at all. I don't think I'm quite the same person you know. Not if you were expecting a face under here, or have memories of... blue skin, of all things.//

Honestly, he wouldn't have been able to picture it if not for weird Fandom weekends giving him glimpses of himself in potential futures he was never going to see.

[heromaniac]

"You're Jono, no matter what." Momoko nodded. "And I'm still not scared of you. You're not in pain, right? And it's still not regular fire?"

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

Kenzi had been surprised to get a text from some chick she didn't know... but Mia was down for her nap, Bo was around to keep an eye on her, shamelessly mods the roomie for some indeterminate point in time, and why not?

"Why am I here? And who are you?"

[heromaniac]

Momoko blinked. "Noisy thief girl?" Ah. Wait. what was her name again? "I mean, uhm. Kennedy?"

no. Wait.

"Kelly?"

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

"Kenzi," she said, sticking out her tongue. "And hey, not noisy!"

Yeah, we'll take the Fifth or whatever it is on the rest of it.

"And again I say: who you? Why here? What now?"

[heromaniac]

"Kenzi!" Momoko gave a cheerful thumbs up. "I'm Momoko. We've only met once or twice, don't worry. Were not best friends or anything." Had she misdialed last night?

"I'm taking some friends and heading into the sewers to see if we can figure out what's happening to the island. Want to come with us?"

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

"Sewers? Ick." Kenzi made a face. "I don't know that I'd be much help. I don't even know what to look for."

[heromaniac]

"I now right! Ew! But it's one place I haven't checked yet for any clues." Momoko's face mirrored Kenzi's.

"I'm hoping to maybe find some rings, but basically anything that doesn't look like it belongs."

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

"Rings?" Okay, that was some added perkiness there. "Are we talking Cracker Jack box rings, or something else?"

[heromaniac]

"Rings rings?" Momoko pinched her lip, trying to remember if they had actually been described. "Probably not, like, diamonds and rubies, but definitely not toys. They're pretty important, that's why they're hidden away." Or so Momoko's imagination had decided.

[heromaniac]

Momoko took a deep breath of fresh air, her last for a while, and then nodded at the others.

"Okay! Let's go!"

And she led her team into the sewers.