NO FEAR [OPEN]

[tigermillionaire]

Who: Steven and anybody in the Defying Atmosphere penthouse.
What: Greg is rewarded with a slightly used pet child.
When: About 24 hours after the SC concert where he gets kidnapped.
Where: DA's penthouse in Virgo HQ.
Warnings: There is a laundry list of things wrong with this situation.

No matter the intention, the violence of being kidnapped leaves a mark on a person, and that's the lingering anxiety that Steven feels now. He was pulled away from his life once again, as terrible as it might have been. He was manhandled, drugged, and dragged off somewhere else, even as he pleaded, for fear of angering his keepers again.

There was a period of claustraphobic darkness followed by a time where blinding white is all he can remember. And then, suddenly, he finds himself here...a penthouse that is totally unfamiliar to him, and is told that he's going to be with his dad now.

He doesn't know if he can believe it, or what he should do. So, once he's left alone, all he does is curl himself up on one of the couches and wait. He's been dressed in fresh clothing, simple in comparison to anything he's made a habit of wearing - the flashes of pink cracklines are still bright on his exposed skin.

He has no control over anything anymore. He may as well stop pretending.

Comments

[tigermillionaire]

"How is she supposed to make the pizza if she's frozen?" Steven asks, giggling softly again as he points out the ice. This is a serious logistical issue with this snack spirit, clearly. "She needs fire, too."

[panspermia]

"That is her curse." Greg taps the eraser nub against his chin, considering this very soberly and seriously. "Cold and separate from our realm, she cannot enjoy the things she's meant to oversee... Once someone cooks her a slice, finally she can understand her own warnings." He leans back in his chair. A joke album is sounding better and better all the time.

"When the dough starts to rise
And you need a thick slice
That's a pizza

With the best melted cheese
And hot pepperonis
That's a pizza"

[tigermillionaire]

Steven laughs more loudly and pushes at his shoulder before leaning down to draw on his page. He starts drawing another figure beside the woman.

"Nooo, she needs a friend. Maybe there's a fire lady for hot snacks, too."

He draws this fire lady looking kind of ripped.

[panspermia]

Greg leans into Steven to watch him draw. Even with Steven's less developed doodling, the likes the idea of the buff lady and the elegant lady working together.

"Oh man. A yin and yang of chow time! She can introduce the ice lady to cooked pizza, and the ice lady can show her how to eat ice cream."

[tigermillionaire]

"Yeah!" He draws the buff lady's hair like a ball of fire, and then leans back too, appreciating their combined work. Everything feels so good at the moment. If it was always like this, if he always felt this healthy and if Greg always felt this relaxed, then everything would be okay. Even the cracklines on his body are scattered and scarce in this state of mind.

He snuggles into Greg's arms, just happy to be there.

[panspermia]

This has to be what things were like, weren't they? Simple and happy and warm. It could fit right in with the rest of his memories. They never could have had this, until now.

Greg tussles Steven's hair, relishing the moment, appreciating the freedom to be silly. "I'd have to make a spicy salsa beat for fire lady, against icey's slow dance." He snaps his fingers. "Olé!"

[tigermillionaire]

Has he always loved having his hair ruffled like that? He remembers hating it a few months ago. Is this how it was meant to be? Why would they change that about someone? It just seems so...unfair.

But he smiles, with those thoughts mostly far away.

"Can you salsa and slow dance at the same time? That sounds hard."

[panspermia]

"Nah, it's easy! C'mon, I'll show you"

Greg gets up, snapping his fingers as he takes a jaunty pose. "You just gotta do your salsa moves.... really....... slooooooowly......"

[tigermillionaire]

Steven stands up too, grinning, and puts his hands on Greg's hips as if getting ready to go into a slow dance pose.

"But I have to hold onto you," he says. "That's how you slow dance."

[panspermia]

With Steven's pose for a slow dance, Greg reaches his hand around Steven's shoulder as a salsa partner.

"That's right. I'll keep it hot, you keep it cool!"

They fall into a playful beat, somewhere between a waltz and a mambo.

[tigermillionaire]

Steven remembers always knowing how to dance, even if he doesn't remember from where. He doesn't remembering anyone teaching him how to waltz, or how to do ballroom dancing in general, but now it comes to him easily.

He's a lot shorter than his dad, but it doesn't really matter. This is all just silly and fun, and for once he doesn't care if anyone is looking or not.

"Do they spin in salsa?" he asks.

[panspermia]

Were anyone taking this seriously, the difference in height would make this borderline impossible to manage, but this isn't something done to impress anyone, or do anything except have fun. Greg's certainly pulling that part off with ease.

"Yeah! What good dance doesn't have spins in it?" He raises one hand to lead Steven in a twirl. "And every good salsa has a dip!" Going down, buddy.

[tigermillionaire]

Steven laughs in delight as he spins and dips, cradled in Greg's arms as they settle into the pose. His arms stay wrapped around Greg, too, pulling him in more closely for a hug at the peak of the thing. He feels so relaxed and happy in those moments - more than he has for a really long time.

That warmth spreads through him and outward until it seems to encompass his entire being, as well as Greg's. The soft flickering light of his gem, even while cracked, fills the room.

[panspermia]

Their laughter, delighted and soft, mingles together as the glow spreads through the room. no one could say when the sound shifted its pitch, a single voice full of glee.

It takes a dazed moment for him to realize he's no longer holding a dance partner. Straightening up, he flexes his fingers, experimentally. He looks down at himself, the sparkling pink haze of his eyes restricted only to his pupils, and runs a large hand over the cracked gem in his stomach.

Multiverse drinks in his returned formation, the struggles of his components, the blessing it is for him to still be here now. With a smile twice as big for twice the person, he throws his hands up high.

"WHOOO! I knew it! Haha! There's no keeping me away!"

[tigermillionaire]

Things feel a bit different than last time, but while some of it is the inevitable struggle of dealing with a damaged gem, some of it just feels more freeing. Steven was a very different person the last time they formed, and some of Multiverse's most wild urges seem to have been soothed and matured with time.

Not that there isn't still plenty wrong with both of him component parts, but Multiverse is fully aware that none of that has ever been their faults. The situation has advanced, to be certain, and it's just a matter of what he'll do now that he's once again found himself.

The confidence and self love that was there before is still very much present. He believes he can help them, he just needs to figure out how. For now, just existing is enough.

"Oh, man, I gotta show-" he starts, and then stops, it taking a moment to remember why showing this off to certain individuals may not be the best idea. "Hmm...maybe not quite yet. But, come on, I gotta celebrate this somehow!"

[panspermia]

In many ways, he's more free than ever before, and in others he's become freshly blocked. That's all right. He's here to help them get away from all that, anyway.

He can't blend into a crowd as easily as in a huge, sprawling concert, but there's no way he's about to hide away cooped up in his room.

"Ooh! Ooh, there's the museum! When's the last time I went to the museum? Never!" This is a great idea. He won't even need a disguise! All this seven-foot man needs to do is sneak out unnoticed, and he can have the whole day to himself.

[tigermillionaire]

He goes for the door, totally set on his goal, until another few moments pass and...hmm. He stops to think. He doesn't really want to run into Kimiko or anything and risk her spoiling his fun so soon. It only takes a moment of contemplation to become equally excited about something else.

"Oh my gosh..." he says, eyes lighting up with the revelation. "WE HAVE A POOL!"

He is going there immediately, fuck the police.

[panspermia]

Heck, that's the better idea in the first place. There's never any reason not to get excited about a swim, even if you don't have a swimsuit in your size.

He puts some nominal effort in making sure no one sees him, in that he didn't actually see anyone on the way. There's nothing really about him that's made for sneaking, after all. Even that token play at subtlety then goes right out the window as soon as he makes it outside.

"CANNONBALL!"

[sailorgenerous]

It's been a slightly quieter day - "quieter" being very relative, given what's been going on recently - and Rarity has decided it was time for a little relaxation. The deck chairs up by the pool offered the perfect venue, and she'd gone up in a swimsuit, sunglasses, and wide-brimmed sunhat to sunbathe for a bit.

Evidently "a bit" is going to be much shorter than she expected. She opens her eyes when a voice she doesn't recognize yells, and the next moment a wave of water rises from the pool and washes over her, leaving her utterly soaked. "Wh-" she splutters, upset. "Have you no decency?"

[tigermillionaire]

Multiverse emerges, flailing and laughing in the water, before realizing what he's inadvertently done. His massive locks of curly black hair hand around his head like an octopus.

"Aw geez! I'm sorry Rarity, I didn't even see you there!"

He momentarily forgets about the fact that Rarity doesn't really know who he is, or who he's comprised of. Everyone knows Multiverse, obviously.

[panspermia]

The big, sopping wet stranger starts swimming his way to the edge of pool to check on her.

"You all right? Lemme get you a towel or--uh."

Waiiiit a second. He blinks chlorine out of his eyes, and looks over himself.

"Um. Right, so, about this..."

[sailorgenerous]

Rarity wrings out her hair, getting an eyeful of the stranger as she does. He can't be dangerous - he never would have gotten past security if he was. He does look oddly familiar in some ways, and there is the matter of that pink gem...

How many inexplicable sons does Greg have?

She blinks as he addresses her. "I'm sorry, have we met?" It's a very thinly veiled and not terribly polite who are you?

[tigermillionaire]

"Uhh..."

Man this is confusing to work out. Has she met him before, really? It's hard to say. He doesn't want to be misleading. He ends up hedging on what seems fair in the moment.

"Kinda! You've...kinda met me two different ways, but...not completely?"

Nice.

[panspermia]

He brapes over the pool's edge, wiping his curls out of his face. This is hard enough to figure out explaining without treading water. Though, he can practically stand on the bottom anyway.

"Um, let's say, for starters... I'm a real close friend of Greg and Steven's. I wouldn't be here if not for them."

This is dort of dancing around the facts, though. He chews at his cheek, then hoists himself up out of the water. With a wide grin, he extends a hand.

"First things first. My name's Multiverse. I'm glad we get to officially meet!"

[sailorgenerous]

This isn't making any sense; unfortunately, that's par for the course at this point. "Charmed," she says, shaking his hand daintily. "Do remind me how we've met." She says it with a smile, but there's an edge hidden in there somewhere. Normally, she'd be a lot more polite; then again, normally she wouldn't have met a complete stranger at the pool.