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

[panspermia]

"This is before the whole... last bit, right? Because you already said that doesn't count." Even without that influence, her confession doesn't actually surprise him, to be perfectly honest. "Those girls... boy. They aren't valkyries too, are they?" They sure looked like something close to it, in battle.

[nibelungvalesti]

"They are surely not Valkyries as I am." Though the idea hadn't occurred to her. Could they be another world's equivalent to her? "I... am not certain they are not goddesses, though. The power they contain would hint as such."

[panspermia]

"Wow..." No matter how many times she says it, her being a straight up goddess never stops being completely cool. "Boy. With all of you on the same side, who knows what kind of stuff you can do."

[nibelungvalesti]

"Whatever we could do... it has not, thus far, been enough. All the gods of Asgard could neither prevent me from being taken, nor rescue me while I was here. And my own strength..." She lifted one arm, crossing it over her body to grip her opposite elbow. "This is a living body, not one manifested by divine energy."

[panspermia]

For a moment, Greg's simply bewildered. He rests one hand on the shoulder of her living body. "This living body of yours just fought off three goddesses by itself. All I did was throw a light show and a tantrum, but you took them on." He can't overstate how super cool that is.

"Blanche has gotten this far by pulling people away from their strengths back home, where your old friends can't help." Whether or not those from home actually qualify as friends or not is not the point. "He's not used to fighting people together. He's never seen you as a team."

[nibelungvalesti]

"They were holding back." She felt duty-bound to point that out, though she couldn't help but lean her head against him with a smile. "I am only trying to be realistic. We need that. But we need your optimism, hope, and confidence as well. Also, I think you did a bit more than just a light show and a tantrum..."

[panspermia]

"And that'll only make it better when you're all going against someone for real." He will not be swayed from his praise.

He squeezes her shoulder, then wraps the arm around again to squeeze the rest of her. "Sure, I set up a lure to trap all our friends in. Optimism and hope are skills I think we need more, at this point."

[nibelungvalesti]

"We need everything we can get," she said, a faint sigh escaping that mixed the pleasure of his squeeze with her concern for everything that had happened, and would soon happen. "But if you are there with me, with us, I could ask for no more hope than that."