Trooper Station, Friday

[firstofitskind]

People were disappearing. Which wasn't entirely unheard of, here in Fandom. Buildings disappearing kind of was, though; sure, there had been instances of buildings being destroyed or changed into something else but outright disappearing? That was a new one, at least to Liam.

So he'd shown up today with the intent of going through previous incidents and looking for anything similar.

(Privately, he doubted he'd find it. Repeat incidents seemed to be few and far between. But you never knew.)

Anyway, yes. He was here, if focused.

Comments

[bookbeltof_love]

Nina was, like, pretty sure the dorms were too big to disappear and so, if that was a thing that happened, she was also certain that there was no way, shape, or form that she could be considered to be foolish for... not having predicted that.

But, like, yeah.

When she swung by around lunch, she brought food she'd made at the dorms instead of anything ordered in. Partly so she could minimize places she went to that had the possibility of disappearing--okay, so like, she had a chance of disappearing but if it was an attacker or something Nina was willing to bet on herself--but also she thought Dad would appreciate both the visit and the food.

And there was only so many times in a week that she felt like texting updates on the fact that, yeah, she was still here, still fine.

"Portals are still up," she announced brightly as she came in. "It can't be that bad yet, right????????????"

What? Where was the lie?

[<.< i'm totes claiming it is still friday and you can't stop me mwahahaha]</>

[firstofitskind]

She was not wrong! About either the visit or the food.

(Or the fact that he'd sent more than a few texts her way to make sure she was still, you know. Un-disappeared.)

"You know," he mused, worried frown relaxing somewhat at the sight of her, "I was considering working out some sort of severity scale for invasions. 'Portals are down' should definitely be on the checklist, I think."

[ooc: WORKS FOR ME.]

[bookbeltof_love]

And he'd gotten so many selfies of her in the dorms back in return!

"It's definitely on my checklist," she admitted, dropping her bag of food (gently) on the desk and coming around to steal a hug. "If a week starts getting weird and it's the same kind of weird, portals usually go down after Wednesday or Thursday."

Nina was a nerd for data.

[firstofitskind]

Was it really stealing if it was freely offered?

Also Liam was maybe squeezing back a little tighter than normal. Look, just because invasions were routine and everyone usually came out in one piece (albeit occasionally with some added trauma)...

Anyway.

"I have noticed that," Liam agreed. "All right, on to the checklist it goes."

[bookbeltof_love]

Maybe she just liked telling herself it was stealing!

"What are the other things on your list??????????" she asked, hugging back a bit tighter than normal too.

She wasn't worried but, like, Nina was still pretty convinced she was invincible outside of burning buildings.

[firstofitskind]

"Oh, things like physical changes to town geography or, sometimes even residents," Liam told her plus some other stuff that's definitely very handwavey at the moment because while Liam's been working on the scale IC for a while I have totally slacked off.

[bookbeltof_love]

"Well, like, some people who show up are pretty strange!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Nina gave a little laugh at that and went to the bag.

"Vegetarian teriyaki stirfry over rice and spring rolls," she announced, pulling out a few different thermal containers. What? If this world had ways to keep food warm then she was going to use them!

[firstofitskind]

"I was thinking more along the lines of... 'Huh. Now where did these large terrifying wings on my back come from'," Liam clarified.

"Just in time, it seems," he added, as his stomach made an entirely undignified noise as he watched her unpack.

[bookbeltof_love]

"I like it when I get wings," she admitted. "Like, being an animal????????? Frustrating in some ways but I can fly and I can get into so many places I can't fit as I am right now!!!!!!!!!!!!"

And it wasn't like Nina's puffy white-winged, pink snake form was going to terrify anyone really.

"I figured that, like, you'd probably ignore it while working!!!!!!!!!!!"

[firstofitskind]

"I've only ended up with them twice myself, and the less said about the most recent time, the better," he grimaced. Because he'd also had claws and an inhuman hunger and... well.

He'd woken up the morning after things got back to normal next to the bloody remains of a teal deer corpse. Not a good time.

She was also not wrong about the 'ignoring hunger while working'. Hmmm. Wonder why. Possibly because it was a trap she'd fallen into a time or three herself?

[bookbeltof_love]

Guilty as charged!

"Fair," she allowed, though she was terribly curious. Nina busied herself with plating their meals, setting Dad's down before she snagged a chair with one foot and took a seat herself.

[firstofitskind]

Liam was reasonably certain he hadn't heard the last of this, but he appreciated that she didn't immediately press for details.

"This all looks great," he said, once everything was set up. And wasn't even asking if she'd made it her world's way or this world's way!

[bookbeltof_love]

Well, like, he was already stressed out...........

"Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!" she said, beaming at him. "It, like, gave me something to do--I've been trying to stay inside the dorms, you know?????????"

Mostly because she was not entirely sure how Dad would react if she sent him a selfie while... fighting whatever it was that was disappearing things.

(But she could totally take it.

Whatever it was.)

[firstofitskind]

Deeply conflicted, that was how.

On the one hand, she was an incredibly capable fighter and magic user, he knew this. (That she was female had absolutely nothing to do with anything, there were far too many competent, kickass women in his life for Liam to have any reservations on that front.)

On the other, she was a kid- his kid- his protective instincts were strong.

And a selfie whilst fighting (assuming there was anything to fight, because there wasn’t always) was just, in his opinion, asking for trouble in the form of being a distraction.

“And try to avoid any, uh, holes, if you do see them?” he implored.