Stormchaser Deck

Colton heard Pent fall silent and sigh. "I understand that Ammy understands you better than I could, given that she's your partner in the business, and in romance," he said. "but, she's..."

Stormchaser, Room 713 Backpack Interior

<SLAVE SCREAMS!!>

"He's going to cause the system to fall!"

Stormchaser Deck

"...busy."

Stormchaser Deck

Yeah it's fine. Yeah.

-He drums his fingers on the railing-

Don't worry about presents. I'm not good at knowing what I want so I don't really expect anything.

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"Oh, you too?" He asked. "Some part of me kind of wants to make a joke about the one gift I want being Yveltal's warm embrace..."

"...am I the only one who thinks Yveltal looks huggable?" He asked defensively, regardless of how Pent reacted.

Stormchaser, I guess we're outside now??

The shock is great at first, but soon Daydre has taken a few steps towards Megan.

"!!!" She's surprised (to say the least) when Megan picks her up but she's not complaining.

"I thought you died??"

???

Wanderer Corpsman #1: -In front of a computer- Commander, we've completely cracked the encryption on Mobius' communications.

Wanderer Corpsman #2: -With headphones on- Listening in now.

Wanderer: -Leaning back in his chair- Excellent, that'll keep them from shoring up reinforcements for their remaining bases as we send them halfway from here to the Lylat System.

After the looting and panicking was all said and done, AU!Halis quickly returned to Unova, specifically Castelia City, a bag full of stolen valuables and a lesson learned.

AU!Halis: "...Man, those guys just acted like I wasn't there. Probably for the best, honestly. They seemed weird, and if there's one thing I've learned, weird stuff and me do not mix well for anyone involved."

They open the door to an apartment they've been renting out for a while, setting the bag aside and sitting down on their bed.

AU!Halis: "Dunno who 'Mobius' is but I hope they don't mind me borrowing their stuff like that. Ahh, I'm sure they didn't need it anyway..."

They start looking through everything now that they have time to think about what they're doing.

AU!Halis: "Let's see... garbage, boring, bit of the ceiling, mundane..."

They find one thing interesting, though: a paper roughly describing what the J-Team is, though obviously using negative terminology given the context.

AU!Halis: "...J-Team? Is that what they were? Huh... if they show up again, I'm definitely selling this stuff to them at a discount. Or maybe a markup disguised as a discount? Nah... that'd be too rude."

That, however, is a story for another timeline.

Stormchaser Deck

I think I remember seeing their mortal form somewhere and like... Yes. Hugs.

-He chuckles-

Maybe that's how I'll do it...

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"Totally a last request," Colton decided. "If I am to die, I want to die peacefully, cradled by Yveltal's wings, resting my head on the fluff around their neck as white light envelops me," he fantasized, sighing contentedly.

Stormchaser Deck

-Pent silently raised his hands up to his mouth in contemplation-

...

-A sharp intake of breath-

Boy.

-He lowers his hands sharply and shrugs-

Stormchaser Deck

"... Can you call me that? I think I'm only so much younger than you," he considered.

And then what he said caught up to him. "Okay I know what I said seems kind of nihilistic but staring up at these stars always makes me feel existential, inconsequential," he explained.

Stormchaser Deck

All I get when I stare up at the stars is dread about potential invading spaceships.

-He shrugs again-

I should make sure I have a Psychic on hand whenever I encounter that egg, force all the images in my head on him to show why it's a terrible idea to multiverse collapse...

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Colton seemed to be at a complete loss for words.

"... Would that really be such a good idea? Don't care how eldritch you are, the psyche is fragile."

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Oh.

...

Maybe I'm just tired.

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"Happens to the best of us," he comforted, lying back down. "Though, to be fair, some of the best ideas happen at night since that's when we're at our most creative.

"But creativity is not ingenuity. Or, intelligence. Or, whatever the right word is," he added. "I dunno, I'm trying to keep that idea in check while at the same time advocating it. Fighting two battles and losing both."

Stormchaser Deck

-Pent sighs and nods before silently wandering off to get some sleep-

Stormchaser

Colton silently saw Pent walk off the balcony. He didn't say anything, instead electing to slowly sink into the shadow he lied under and reappear under his sheets.

He blacked out almost the moment he appeared back in Room 713.

stormchaser union room, yesterday

-Cady and Kat fall out of the AU wormhole.-

Kat: Okay, time to start work on my project idea!

-She runs off, Cady follows.-

-Eva faceplants the floor as she falls out of the ultra plant one, Merah landing on top of her.-

Eva: Was that strictly necessary?

Merah: <No, if you wanted to miss the wormhole because you qanted to look at the scenery.>

Eva: Fine. Just, tell me when you're gonna push me off a cliff next time, okay?

Arthur stretches, "Was interesting to meet another Silas. That's for certain."

"Another year around the sun down," Silas comments, scratching behind the ears of Hacks a bit.

~Yeah... You should call mom and dad.~

"Hm?"

~They're missing you probably, call them and see how they're doing, let's maybe not spend another birthday alone.~

"Yeah... you're right."

Silas stretches as he steps into the lounge, only to be greeted by a sudden kiss from Roxy

"Happy Birthday~!"

"Uh... Thanks."

Hacks steps in and yawns, ~Another day, another year older... how old are we now?~

"24."

~Damn that long huh? Still doing that investigation thing?~

"Why wouldn't I? It's a mystery, one I intend to solve."

Roxy laughs, "Yeah no, no Ace Attorney Investigations for you, today we're celebrating your birthday, maybe going to a nice steak place for dinner. Let's try to have somethi-"

"Roxy why is my kitchen on fire?"

Roxy blinked and turned around, only to see the kitchen consumed in flames, Tae took notice and soon began to spit water to put it out. Silas sighed and turned to Amber, "Cake?"

<Cake. I warned her that it ain't easy.>

Conroy snorted, <Yeah I don't think any of us know how to bake a cake.>

Snakeye spoke up, <I do.>

Amber stared, <Then why didn't you help?>

<Was funnier this way.>

Silas stared, "I think it might also be Lucius's birthday today.>

Hacks groaned, ~Does this mean we're gonna have to go see the rest of the J-Team? I wanted to spend today sleeping.~

"Probably, come on you're the one always saying I should "interact more", after all."

~Yeah but Birthdays are the one day we can justify wanting to sleep in.~

At some point the Phansite would seem to get an odd request.

Stormchaser, Lucius's Cabin - July 4th

Kirk: <...How do you play beer pong by yourself?>

Lucius: Simple. If I get it in the cup, I drink from that cup. If I don't, I drink from a different cup.

-From his reclined position on the bed, he manages to plant a ping-pong ball in a cup across the room, which Maul then levitates over to him.-

Falchion: <I thought the whole point of a party was to have other people around?>

Lucius: You're people, right?

Falchion: <First time you've told me that.>

Lucius: Sure you are. In fact, why don't we have Maul port us over to Challenger's Cave and get the whole Pawniard Army playing?>

Falchion: <...On second thoughts, you do you.>

-As Lucius takes a drink, Maul slowly looks over to the window.-

Maul: ~There's a spaceship crashed outside.~

Lucius: Right, and I'm sure it belongs to some far-off alien race who think From Space With Love was an epic war documentary and want to abduct me so that I can produce a sequel for them. C'mon, Maul, I know you can come up with better material than that.

Edited by Herbert40k on Jul 4th 2019 at 3:35:49 PM

-Lucius's one-man beer pong groove is interrupted by the sound of his phone going off.-

Stormchaser, Lucy's Room

There is a knock.

Stormchaser, Lucius's Cabin

-Lucius's phone goes off just as he's about to throw another ball, and it goes wide.-

Lucius: Argh! Friggin' phone throwing me off my aim...

-He keeps muttering as he checks his phone, but then blinks as he sees who the message is from.-

-It's then that he hears the knocking.-

Lucius: Wait, who's...?

-He rolls off of the bed and pulls open the door.-

Stormchaser-Lucy's Room

Pria is there with a hastily wrapped present and a card.

<Des creeped you on social media and found out it was your birthday.>

She unceremoniously dumps the gift at his feet.

<Happy birthday, dork.>

She skips off.

Megan: -still hugging, joyfully- Me too!!

I—got sucked somewhere and fought a bunch of stuff and joined a mining firm and got spaced and—

-and she sets Daydre down and sort of...unconsciously nuzzles in-

Megan: and I missed you so much.

-like, she doesn't seem to have any idea-

Logan: ...without warning, we were caught up in something. A lot bigger than ourselves.

-taking a breath- And now it's done, and now we're back.

-small smile- And now we're back.