three Legionnaires sneaking through the town / the Capitol went and broke one's crown

[googledox]

WHO| Open to Lyle Norg, Rokk Krinn, and/or Brainiac 5 and YOU!
WHAT| The Legionnaires puttering around the arena
WHEN| Week 1 Catchall for all three Legionnaires (May add more weeks if not much changes for Weeks 2 and 3.)
WHERE| Pick a scenario!
WARNINGS| cw: With Brainy: mental illness/a character essentially being forced off their meds

A) The Newsstand

The Legion holed up in an old news shop, largely because there was no front window that was easily breakable, just a door and broken sign saying "Plastino's Paper Shop."

They'd blocked the back door. The front was broken on its hinges but they'd moved some of the shelves to create a hurdle there so that they could easily attack someone that came in. The staircase that led upstairs had been left open in case they needed to make an escape to the roof since there were ways they could make their way down. Around them were shelves with all manner of things. One had snacks and candy that was mostly moldy but had a few edible things that could be picked out of it. There was refrigerator, long since broken, that had glass bottles of beverages inside that had probably long since gone bad. And there were shelves and shelves of rotten newspapers, moldy science fiction novels, pulp magazines, and comic books with titles like "Startling Stories," "Captain Future: Wizard of Science!" or "Tales of the Amazing."

When one of them wasn't out scouting, Rokk and Lyle planned things in hushed voices, keeping watch on the door. As a way of essentially focusing his mind on something that wouldn't cause it to overclock, Brainy had occupied himself with reading the tattered, moldy remains of a pulp magazine called "Stories of the Downright Unusual," that had a sinister green alien on the cover with a big head and futuristic ray gun. It advertised a story titled "The Green Menace: They Came From Planet Onzar!" and insisted it would shock and astound the reader.

"Astounding? Not astounding. Terribly insensitive," he was muttering to himself, frowning at it. "Space racists. Humans have no imagination. None. Bouncing graviton particle beams off the main deflector dish - nonsense. Nonsense. Utter nonsense."

He was still having difficulty keeping it together after having his personality inhibitors removed and that was partly why the atmosphere in the little shop was a bit...defensive, as his two friends were feeling particularly protective.

Because of the broken front door, there were some that might figure the place to be unoccupied who might poke their heads in but with how run-down many of the buildings were, the three Legionnaires knew that there weren't many places to hole up that were much better. So they were simply prepared to either chat with anyone that showed up to try to turn them away nonviolently, or, if any intruders felt like trying to attack, to turn them away forcibly.

B) A House Near the Orchards

They'd opted for snares in the trees. People might go to them seeking fruit and snares were simple and non-fatal - elegant in a way. The idea was to trap a few people, bicker about how to be evil without killing them and breaking the bet, annoying them for a while, and letting them go free, unhappy at their own lack of creativity.

It was risky but they needed at least some theatrics supporting their story, so while it increased the risk of retribution in the short-term, it might lead to their chances of being revived each time being greater in the long term.

Everyone loved a good villain and short of a ridiculously slow dipping mechanism, what else could they do?

So they waited for potential victims, pressed down low on the roof of the nearby house.

[ooc: Any characters that get snagged will be released, though they might get spooked during the ordeal, unsure of if they're going to be killed or not.]

c) Scouting

Brainy was in no condition to be moving around much - he was muttering to himself enough that people would be able to hear him in the fog, so despite the fact they didn't really want to be separated, Lyle and Rokk took turns going out alone to scout for more supplies and to get the lay of the land in the arena while the other stayed to mind him.

Luckily, they had a handy pick axe they each got to take with them when it was their turn. Not so luckily, it seemed that other Tributes weren't the only threat out there in the fog...

[ooc: Indicate which scenario you'd like and which combination of characters you want to thread with. In the first scenario (A), it can be all three characters or any combination of two of them. (Rokk or Lyle can be out scouting if you want Brainy with just one of them, or if you want just Rokk and Lyle, Brainy can be asleep.) In the second scenario (B) it's automatically all three of them. In the third scenario (C) you can get Rokk or Lyle by themselves, just pick one and note where your character finds them.]

Comments

[atippleoftransparency]

"Yeah?" Lyle asked, trying to relax a little in spite of the horrible-slash-awkward circumstances. Like Brainy breathing on his neck, that was going to get really awkward really fast if Lyle didn't start thinking about something that was not Brainy breathing on his neck.

"I suppose we should. We each get our own, or are we all being dreamed by a single dreamer? Or are me and you dreamed up by the same sentient? Or, I don't know, you and Guy Crood?"

[googledox]

"Lyle, don't be ridiculous."

[atippleoftransparency]

Lyle wasn't sure if this was something he was supposed to laugh at, but grife, Brainy.

"Can't help it," he quipped. "I'm a ridiculous human wearing a ridiculous headband on my ridiculous human head, remember?"

Wait, no, Lyle really didn't want to remind Brainy of that evening. Not right now.

"What do you want to call them?"

[googledox]

"Kalz An'rozen and Azik Palizlo," he said without skipping a beat.

[atippleoftransparency]

"Actual names? How very unscientific." Lyle smirked "You must be fond of them already, you didn't acknowledge that I had a given name for months."

At least Brainy's scattered attention didn't seem to have caught on Lyle quoting him back at himself. Thank grife for small favors.

[googledox]

"Everything should be named. Besides, I knew your name, I just ignored it in the hopes of irritating you, my most annoying and cunning of rivals."

That implied a level of equality he hadn't really vocalized in most of the time they'd known each other. Brainy saying he had legitimately seen him as a rival in the past was something he hadn't really ever admitted to.

[atippleoftransparency]

Lyle chuckled and opened his mouth to demure, then thought better of it. Brainy's head was messed up enough without Lyle trying to downplay his previous experiences. Besides, what was he going to say? Flattery won't get you anywhere new, you're already in my lap?

No. That way lay nothing but upsetting Brainy and possibly a conversation that he didn't want to have even when Brainy did have his inhibitors much less without them.

"How honest do you want me to be on how well that worked?" he asked finally.

[googledox]

"It was frustratingly ineffective," said Brainy bluntly. He knew how much it had discouraged Lyle because it didn't do it at all. He'd kept showing up in the lab to heckle him anyway.

Eventually he'd grown on him like a somewhat chatty fungus.

Then he'd become something else entirely.

"You kept showing up with your stupid human head in my lab, wearing your stupid head band." Brainy nosed in close to Lyle's neck again, pressing his cold nose against his skin. "I hated your stupid head. Now I'm preoccupied with the bone density of your skull."

[atippleoftransparency]

It had actually been reasonably effective at annoying him, but the irritation had only made him more determined to prove that he could keep up with Brainaic 5's vaunted twelfth level intellect. It was kind of funny to think that, if each one of them hadn't been so determined to annoy the nass out of the other, they might not be close friends now.

"I promise, the bone density of my skull is as solid as it ever was," he said instead.

[googledox]

"It's suspect," Brainy said with annoyance. "It should be denser."

With great solemnity, he proclaimed, "Your skull wants to sabotage you."

It maybe didn't make sense to Lyle, but his words made all the sense in the world to him.

[atippleoftransparency]

Lyle swallowed a laugh. It might not work so well, considering that he was literally wrapped around Brainy right now, but maybe the sleeping bag would muffle the movement enough that Brainy's distracted mind wouldn't pick it up.

"How dense are we talking? Because, short of getting my hands on a lab, I can't force more calcium into my bones."

[googledox]

He didn't find it funny. From the expression on his face it was clear that he thought it was very serious business.

"Seven millimeters. It's most likely only six." He frowned. "Either it should be denser or your brain should be kept safely in a containment unit with life support and inertron shielding."

He added, "Also, several layers of forcefields that can withstand antimatter explosions."

[atippleoftransparency]

Lyle chewed the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling.

"It would be very hard to do my Legion business inside of all that," he said. "But thanks. I appreciate that the safety of my grayish matter means that much to you."

[googledox]

"Precious contents. Your brain is the wholeness of you."

He was starting to look troubled now, thoughts blending into other thoughts, affection and fondness dredging up fear.

"Also, you're not allowed to require blood to survive any longer. Far too easy to lose. In fact, just become invulnerable. It's far too inconvenient that you're not."

[atippleoftransparency]

Lyle was usually pretty good at reading the emotions of other sentients -- yet another skill he'd picked up from his time working for EarthGov -- and even if he hadn't, Brainy was literally in his lap. He tightened his grip again, briefly, and started rubbing Brainy's back in what he hoped was a soothing motion.

"Invulnerability would be mightily convenient, yes," he agreed. "But I don't think that's going to happen any time in the near future. Too few space whales in Panem."

[googledox]

"Don't joke. Six millimeters. Six millimeters."

The powerlessness wore you down. He and Lyle had already died once and they - and now Rokk - were likely going to die again.

His mind was wandering, and now it was meandering to darker places, the countless possibilities where the worst happened. Just like that, his good mood was gone.

Brainy threaded his hands through his hair and tugged on it.

[atippleoftransparency]

Sprock!

"Brainy, shhh."

Keeping a hold on Brainy with one hand, Lyle raised the other to cup one of the hands Brainy had buried in his hair.

"I'm sorry I laughed, Brainy. But you can't worry about my skull density right now, all right? We can't do anything about it right now. We need to focus on what we can do. Brainy, look at me, please?"

[googledox]

He hated feeling like this, mostly helpless to protect his friends. He hated feeling to this degree.

But the gentleness in Lyle's voice had him looking him in the eyes, his own eyes glassy.

[atippleoftransparency]

Good, that was better. Lyle stroked Brainy's hair soothingly, but found himself at a loss for words. What could he say? He couldn't say that it would all be all right -- they were trapped in a deathmatch run by people so barbaric that they not only filmed and watched deathmatches, but they ripped Brainy's inhibitors out to make things more amusing for them. They could easily not be resurrected when they died here. The Capitol could have more of their friends (but not all, Lyle was confident that a they'd miss at least one Legionnaire and come to regret it). But none of that would help Brainy now.

"We need to focus on the things we can do, not worry about the things we can't," he repeated slowly. "There's no shame in not being able to do something, but you can't wallow in it."

[googledox]

"My thoughts keep running too fast or going completely stagn -"

He froze, staring into Lyle's eyes.

As Lyle sat there, holding him in his lap, stroking his hair, staring him in the eyes, face inches away from Brainy's, his pupils dilated. Lyle's pupils dilated.

All previous thoughts were forgotten and for a short while, the rivers inside Brainy's head ran still. He made them run still so that he could focus.

"Oxytocin release. Your pupils are dilated. There's nothing else that would suddenly provoke such a physiological response besides my presence." He looked confused, his jaw dropping open slightly, and his voice was soft and wondering as he said, "How did I not see it before?"

[atippleoftransparency]

...Sprock. That was not what he had been trying to do. That was one of the things he'd been trying to avoid having Brainy have. Sprock. Sprocking nass!

"Um," he said, and failed to find any other words. The light wasn't that great in here, sure, but his eyes had obviously dilated when Brainy was looking at them, so that wasn't going to cover it.

Oh grife, he's going to have to actually tell Brainy that he was into him and get rejected on camera, this was awful.

[googledox]

He was still staring at his face as if it was his first time seeing it. He pressed his fingers to the skin of Lyle's cheek.

He felt overjoyed and terrified all at once.

It couldn't be what it looked like, could it? But Lyle's own obvious panic suggested it was - and physiology didn't lie.

"You're so human. Yet fractal. Complex. Intricate patterns endlessly repeating. Not isotropic - you only appear isotropic on a larger scale."

[atippleoftransparency]

Brainy wasn't trying to get away. He was actually moving closer. Which didn't sync properly with what he'd said the morning after they'd gone out with the Science Alliance, so--

--So he should probably pay attention to the words coming out of Brainy's mouth instead of trying to work it out through body-language.

"I..."

Right, the words coming out of Brainy's mouth were a jumble because the sprocking Capitol had ripped his inhibitors out. Great.

Lyle took a deep breath and squeezed his eyes shut, immediately cracking the right one open again so he could watch Brainy's face.

"I wasn't going to say anything. I didn't want to make you uncomfortable."

[googledox]

Amid all the chaos, sentiment was always the thing that stayed the same. Not emotion - that vacillated all over - but the longstanding ties, the deeper feelings that he still felt even at his most unstable.

What he felt right now ran deep. It ran all the way back to Lyle being one of the first to reach out to him, puttering around his lab invisible until Brainy noticed he was there.

"I lied to you."

A tear rolled down his cheek.

[atippleoftransparency]

"Brainy..."

Lyle raised his hand to brush the tear of of Brainy's cheek, hesitated briefly -- what if Brainy didn't want to be touched, what if he didn't want his face touched right now where they'd ripped out his inhibitors, what if, what if -- then turned his hand to brush the tear away with the back of his hand instead. That wouldn't be too much, would it?

"You don't have to," he answered softly. He wasn't entirely certain what Brainy didn't have to do -- he didn't have to lie to him, sure; he didn't have to feel bad about it either; he didn't have to talk about it if he didn't want to...

"You never lied to me about anything important." Lyle's eyes went wide. "Urgent. Urgent!"