I'm in the autumn of my years

[panspermia]

Who: Greg Universe and any Rescuers
What: who's this asshole
When: June 18
Where: The Rescuers' ship
Warnings: trauma and PTSD

If Greg has a reaction to entering a massive alien guitar spaceship, he keeps it to himself. Between the drama of the ritual, the return of his maimed soul, and his haphazard rescue, he simply has too much to process first before he can take in the rest of the rescuer operation. As a result, first thing he does is find a small, empty room--a bathroom--and ask to be left alone for a while.

An hour or so later, a very different man emerges again.

It hadn't been his first intention in locking himself in that room, but the longer he'd been in there, the more necessary it had felt. Greg hasn't felt like himself in a very long time. The worst of it was the result of Blanche's meddling with his soul, yes, but it extended before that point as well. The face of his youth, the one Blanche used and tried to make into a different person altogether... Greg couldn't keep looking at that face anymore. It hurt too much, made him too sick. Adding a few years on to his appearance and a beard isn't going to fix it, either; he's not the same person he used to be, either. (After all, he did keep the hair.) But this is better, closer than before. Whoever he is now, this is about as close as he's willing to get.

Greg Universe emerges into the ship, avoiding eye contact, and finally begins to take things in.

Comments

[nibelungvalesti]

Greg almost had to go get some more work done.

Fortunately, Meril shed her armor into the ether just a moment before she hit him. Not lightly thanks to her strength and mass... but lightly enough. She was still a small girl, after all, and she wasn't trying to take him down. The hands that went around him clung more than they did squeeze, fingers splayed like she was trying to hold as much of him as possible all at once.

One moment of shivering, desperate tension later, she leaned her head back slightly, her eyes squinted from having jammed them, unthinkingly, straight into his beard.

"You are not safe from either side now," she said, the joke so much brittle ice over worry and relief and a soul that seemed to have been wrung out like a damp rag.

[panspermia]

For some reason--most likely the result of a lot of built up self loathing--he had expected their reunion to involve a lot more disgust or disappointment than warm, wonderful, desperate hugs. He always failed to give her enough credit.

Greg makes a little choking noise at her comment, caught between a laugh and sob as he puts his arms around her. He's even bigger now than before, but he can't hold enough of her.

"S-sorry," he croaks. His own voice is ragged and raspy, as though all that singing has finally worn it away. "I should've checked with you first."

[nibelungvalesti]

"I should have looked. Maybe one day I will learn." She opened her eyes again, looking up at him with a gaze that shone both literally and figuratively -- the former a bit watery, as she tried to hold back tears. "But I feel like it has been a century and more since I saw you!"

Not because of his physical differences, but because of everything that had been through. The two of them that had played this past while, that had toured, and done such horrible things -- hadn't been them.

"And I am so glad to see you again..."

[exhumerus]

Sans has, at least, gotten sort of used to being around the rescuers, by now. He's used to keeping to himself and simply acknowledging how broken he must look to most of these people. They all know what happened to him, don't they? The brainwashing, the amnesia, the...part with the torture. He's just a sob story out of a folder to most of them, isn't he?

A temporary victory to their team. It's different for the ones who are actually his friends, he knows, but... the entire team thing... he still doesn't know how he feels about it. He can't help but feel like he should be in an asylum when he's around this place. He's not a captive, but he's not a hero either. He doesn't really know where he belongs.

Which means he's so very relieved when Greg finally emerges again, only to see... wow. Kind of different, huh? It catches him off guard for a moment, but it's not like random changes are surprising anymore. Hell, his skin totally fell off once and Greg didn't even say 'ew.' He's got no right to talk about anything anymore.

So, instead he goes for the less obvious thing:

"Man. Gotta say, that was one hell of a long dump you took there."

He leans forward over the table he's sitting at, looking weary but surprisingly un-dead. In a couple manners of speaking.

[panspermia]

The whole location feels surreal. Everything about it, the location, its people, its leaders, have yet to sink in by any real capacity.

Greg hesitates by Sans' table, uncertain in a way he can't define. It's strange. The two of them look completely different than they used to, now. No one could possibly look between two pictures of them now and at the start, and guess it was the same pair. Yet, as he sits down across from Sans, he realizes how long it's been since they got to talk as friends. These last few months have been so complicated.

"Had a lot I needed to get out of me," Greg admits with an exhausted little smile.

[exhumerus]

Sans's grin widens at that - it's always a good sign when they can still joke. There is something strangely relaxing about this, compared to everything else. Just seeing Greg acting like himself again is its own special kind of drug.

Kind of weird. He was so used to thinking of Greg as younger than him, but like this he's pretty sure he looks like the human equivalent of his own age. And, in reality, Greg is actually at least a decade older.

"You know, I didn't actually expect any of that to work. I find myself pleasantly surprised."

[determinate]

Frisk hasn't seen Mr. Universe since the lab, but they follow news of the musicians well enough. They know he hasn't been...exactly well. It worried Sans and Connie a lot. It worried them too, though maybe in a different way. Soulless people are things they usually have to deal with themself, and it's never gone great.

So it's great news that he's finally been rescued! Enough new people are in that Frisk has been all over trying to see to them all, but Greg was one of the ones they were really looking for. They stop in surprise when they finally see him. Was he hiding in the bathroom this whole time?

"You put it back!" Not all of it; they remember him being more bald and pink than this. But that he would choose to become older again at all is surprising. And, Frisk thinks, probably a good thing.

[panspermia]

Greg blinks at the child. There's a lot of vagueness to that sentence, but he can guess at at least some of their meaning.

"Uhh, I guess... I sort of did." He glances away, rubbing at his neck. "Just... thought, you know..." He hesitates, realization dawning. "W-wait, uh--we... did we know each other? Before... all this?" He's regained a fairly sizable chunk of his memories, but nothing of Frisk before their meeting in Vista.

[determinate]

Frisk shakes their head, hair bobbing. "It was a dream. You probably don't remember." It's normal to forget dreams. Nothing worth worrying about.

They could describe what happened, but it doesn't seem very important at this point. Besides, they don't really feel like it. So instead, they offer him a hand. "Wanna look around?" They can give him a tour! Sometimes it feels like they've spent more time on this ship than they did underground.

[fantasyseal]

If anything, Reimu has been even more quiet then she had been before. Most of the fight she was off to the side, curled up because she had no way to help..now idea who to try and fight or if she was even able to. Until things had seemed to calm down mostly did she even finally register that everyone was safe and away from all that. It was then she started to wander...and found Greg after a bit. Hesitation hit..but then like nothing had happened, she launches herself at him, clinging tightly and shaking. This hug isn't being let go of any time soon.

"Don't do that again...Please..."

[panspermia]

The number of hugs coming at him is a little surprising. Poor Reimu's gone through so much these last few hours--these last few weeks, really. Dragged along as the rest of her band goes wild and breaks apart. He can only imagine how badly he's scared her.

Greg returns the hug. Against all odds, she's safe. For that, he's grateful. "All right, kiddo. Never again." He squeezes. "I'm so sorry, Reimu. You shouldn't have gone through all this."

[trustme]

Doctor is distracted when Greg first wanders into the living space where he's practicing spells. Currently a plastic cup is doing something that resembles break dancing on the table in front of him. Doctor switches several times in one minute between looking amused and pleased with himself, and shaking his head, "No. No. This won't work." He ends the enchantment with a wave of his hand and finally looks up at the other person in the room.

It takes him a moment and then he hesitates just in case he's mistaken, then nearly shouts out his recognition. "Greg! You're all beardy now!" He gestures at his own chin.

[panspermia]

"Uhh. Yeah." He scratches at the hair in question, a little bit embarrassed. "I thought, uh. Disguise, and all..." Except that reason hadn't occurred to him in the slightest at the time. He's not sure why he's making excuses now.

"Doc, uh. Are you doing okay?" Greg hadn't been altogether there for a lot of that final confrontation. If he hurt Doctor in his wild flailing...

[lateforkindergarten]

"Where is he?" Amethyst happens to be in the middle of asking around about Greg when he quietly appears from out of the bathroom. It doesn't matter if anyone is actually around to listen; she's going to ask the ship walls where Greg is if it will make her feel like she's getting closer to her goal to see her friend. Supposedly soul repair required rest and rest required being alone in a quiet place. It had been hours though.

"I can't wait any longer! I'll watch him sleep if I have to!" Amethyst drags her hands down her face. "Please! He's gotta be okay!" Is she complaining or praying? Hard to tell.

When she finally stops whining that's when she catches sight of him from the corner of her eye. With a loud gasp she makes a leap in his direction and rolls in a blur straight up to him, nearly knocking into furniture on the way. "Greg!"

She doesn't care if he remembers her yet or not. He's getting hugged tightly and a huge grin.

[panspermia]

The ship isn't exactly a quiet place; really, if he didn't know that voice, Greg might have thought she was yelling about something entirely unrelated to him. As it is, he barely managed to turn to Amethyst as she barrels right into him.

"Oorf--!" The force of the hug nearly knocks him to the ground. Greg stares down at the purple mass clinging to him, slightly awed for reasons he can't fully pin down.

"Ah... h-hey... Amethyst."

[4thdimensional]

"It's good to see you again," Doc says from one of the windows. His face is a little pale, there's a lot on his mind, but he liked what little of this man he knew. And he wanted to help.

"You'll soon get a better view of the stars from here."

[panspermia]

Greg has to stare at him a moment before he can remember where he's seen this face before. Then he has to stare a moment longer. Was there anyone in Vista who wasn't part of this whole thing?

It's not a complaint, though. Despite his bewilderment, Greg paces over to the window. "Brandt, right?"

better late than never...

[faithfulflame]

There was a lot on Rei's mind in the aftermath of that ritual. A lot of crazy things had happened, not the least of which was her own transformation. Not that she'd doubted her friend's words, but it was still kind of a shock all the same, but that's not the same sort of transformation that's occurred with this man. Rei had only seen him in passing, but knew of him, at least because of Rarity and Meril.

When he emerged, she barely recognized him since his...sense...was different, but that didn't stop her from awkwardly waving hello from across a room.

"Greg, right? You alright?"

never too late

[panspermia]

He blinks, a little bit surprised to be called over by her. He knew Rei, of course, but he thought she'd be more concerned with Meril.

"Uhhh.... yeah." 'All right' is a pretty relative term these days. He doesn't have the brainpower to contemplate it, so 'yeah' will have to be good enough.

"Um, Rei. I... thanks. For taking care of Meril."

/days late with pasta

[giglio_madonna]

Before she even speaks, there's the smell of tomato sauce heralding Luce's presence. The prime culprit is a small bit of tupperware she holds in her hands, still freshly made and warm. For all that Greg looks very different, she doesn't comment on it.

"I thought you might be hungry, so I made something. You don't have to eat it now, of course. There's always later."

Being horrifically brainwashed and used as a music puppet seems like the kind of traumatizing experience where you'd forget that you need to eat.

When Mafia Mom Com Home And Make Hte Spagheti

[panspermia]

"Luce..." He stares at the tupperware a moment, a bit bewildered. It's true; food had been the very last thing on his mind. And that's sort of completely out there for Greg Universe. Slowly, he takes the offered meal. Now that he thinks of it, he is hungry, but... he's not sure he'd be able to keep it down, either.

"Um... thanks." He's not really talking about the spaghetti.

[missknight]

Hey, Greg. One word of advice for you.

"MISTER UNIVERSE!"

Catch.

Because that is absolutely one preteen girl barreling towards you with all the strength in her tiny body.

[panspermia]

Considering his exhaustion and distraction, counting on his catching reflexes may not be the most dependable plan. Greg puffs out a startled breath as Connie collides into him, staggering a step as he gawks down at her.

"Connie! You... Oh, thank goodness you're all right." The last he saw of her was escaping the lab, and... well, he hasn't been in the right mental space to worry about her since then.

[oceantier]

She didn't join in the rescue attempt. Likely she should have -- tells herself she should have -- but she didn't. Part of it is the proximity to the CEOs and the freshness of the impact in her mind; having been enthralled once, the possibility of being taken so easily again, plunged back into the voices and the blindness, sits in her gut like concrete. Where before she wouldn't have hesitated, that weight sinks from her stomach to her feet, rooting her into the earth.

Maybe privately, more quietly, she worries that he won't want to see her. The apology she'd made to him, coming to him as he signed autographs, had taken more from her than she'd believed. She'd attacked him, hurt him, put Steven in danger when she'd told both of them they'd be safe. Better, maybe, for both Greg and herself if she stays away.

Though she knows he's back on the ship, she remains tucked into her corner much like she did when she'd first been brought -- legs up, tight to her, still trying to make herself small as possible, even though this time she watches the rest of the world around her, chin leaning on her folded arms. She's in the world, but still not quite part of it.

[panspermia]

It takes some time before someone else joins her in the corner. He found her by luck, relieved to see that shade of blue hidden away. The last day had been so brutally overwhelming, it had taken Greg a long while to realize who was missing--once it dawned on him, he wondered if she'd gone off on her own, like so many times before. It's a relief to find her here, safe and with friends.

It's possible she doesn't want to see him, and he wouldn't blame her. He did some pretty stupid, nasty things before. Still, he needs to clear the air.

Greg sits nearby, sure not to crowd her space. "Lapis. Hey."