(no subject)

[headinjuries]

CHARACTERS: Sam and you
WHERE: The Bearings
WHEN: day 46
SUMMARY: After the b&e on Public Security, Sam's distraction efforts have been noticed...by the extranet.
WARNINGS: Memeloving shitposts.


[ So. It's...definitely not bright and early the day after the break-in, because some hosts were up way past their bedtimes. (Some hosts will deny up and down that bedtimes are a thing they should ever have to consider, because oh my God what do you think he is, six years old or something.)

But he's slept in, he's finally stumbled into the shower, and Sam has parked himself in the common room with the news on, a few extranet feeds up in front of him, and a bowl of something vaguely like Cinnamon Toast Crunch drowning in something vaguely like chocolate milk, because researching what everyone knows and what everyone thinks about their highly illegal activities is an important activity and working out that scroll button works up an appetite.

And then he stops in the middle of a bite, spoon still in his mouth and one eyebrow shooting up, as he takes a look at what's actually going on in one of those windows.

It's some badly captured footage of his light show from last night - a bright blue blur doing a few loops and barrel rolls, and some text in a loud, annoying font slapped on the bottom: YOU CAN'T EXPLAIN THIS. Another one, this one just a still cap of the same: I DON'T KNOW, THEREFORE ALIENS. A few others, with text with varying degrees of ironically poor grammar... ]

-hmgd.

[ Right. That spoon was still in his mouth. He takes it out, swallows his mouth full of cereal, and tries that again: ]

Oh my God. I'm a meme.

Comments

[greentech]

( It's all downhill for you from here. )

[headinjuries]

( I dunno, if I'm gonna be extranet famous at least they don't have a horribly embarrassing picture of my face to attach to it. )

[greentech]

( It's just a matter of time, right? That's what happens with internet celebrities. )

[headinjuries]

( Technically, they don't even know that I'm human yet. )

[greentech]

( Fifty years from now, you're going to be in three million different UFO books. There's going to be "experts" on TV talking about how you're really proof of ancient aliens and other people are going to be talking about how it's just the light reflecting off of Venus or something. )

[circumspector]

[ she walks back from the kitchen, takes a big mouthful as she's going, ready to go back to beating assholes on the ExtraNet or maybe do actual work.

Then she sees and starts laughing. ]

I mean, technically, they're not... wrong.

[headinjuries]

The one time they actually nailed it, and nobody will even know.

[ There's something almost poetic about that, really. ]

[circumspector]

[ She keeps laughing, leaning over the back of the couch as she keeps drinking. ]

Poor them. [ She flicks her fingers, letting more of the memes pop up. ] So, are you in secret meetings with the government yet?

[headinjuries]

Man, I wish.

[ He takes another bite of his cereal, hming thoughtfully around it. ]

- I mean, wouldn't that be a great way to cut the crap and get this mission over with.

[circumspector]

Maybe we could organise first contact? [ she's snickering. ]

They don't need to know who we really are, right? My illusions, your light show, maybe we could get Ilde's crowd control, Ahsoka or Ren's force powers? Put it all together, hey there you go, ancient alien race to scare some politicians into ignoring the civil war they otherwise have on their hands.

[unfavoured]

[ It's a mere coincidence that Parker ends up in the same space as Sam given as she actively avoids being around other people (more so lately than ever, a worrying attitude of isolation, but one nobody really should pay attention to considering this is Parker we're talking about). But he happens to be in the same place where coffee is and Parker could go for some. So she does, not really turning to him as if his presence isn't there - difficult to ignore him more than others, like a constant awareness not our of caution like she tends to have, but out of-- well, nothing she can really explain and that upsets her more than she lets on.

When he speaks, his voice is clearer than it should be. In her head, not her ears. Like a film where the one voice you need to hear is superimposed over everything else. It's not a good feeling. She grits her jaw slightly and grabs a mug to get some terrible caffeine-like instant gunk that could pass by terrible dinner free refills coffee. ]

I'm sure it's your crowning achievement.

[ She says, still focusing on the coffee at hand. ]

[headinjuries]

[ He's always mildly surprised when he actually sees Parker, given how much time she spends avoiding them all. But commenting on it feels kind of pointless, and also distracting from the truly interesting things happening this morning, like him being a meme, so you know, whatever. ]

Right up there with not flunking out last year.

[ Despite the sarcasm, that was actually a pretty good achievement for him, considering how much class he missed. ]

[unfavoured]

[ If she was more of a talkative person, she would probably make a comment about him being a meme ranking so high in his personal achievement lists is kind of sad. But she would probably remember that he's like, twelve, so one could see how it could be granted great news. But then again, memes aren't that big of a fad in the future Parker comes from and much less in her life. ]

I don't think you have to worry about that anymore.

[ Which normally people would say it as a good thing, or at least a joke, but considering Miss Negative here, she says it in an almost judgmental tone. ]

[headinjuries]

Yeah, I almost made it a day without thinking about never seeing Earth again. Good thing you reminded me!

[ Come on, Parker. Let a guy have five minutes of blissful distraction from the harsh reality of being stranded in deep space, light years and realities away from giving his sister a noogie or Mom's pancakes for breakfast. ]

[unfavoured]

[ No, she would rather remind these people that they're working for some undisclosed "powers that be" or corporation or whoever knows who have told them they'll save the universe and everyone just believed them.

In all fairness, she didn't do it out of spite. Surprisingly, she doesn't really have anything against this kid (yet), not because he's a kid, but because he is polite enough to keep out of her hair unlike a good handful of these people. She did it because she has absolutely no sense of tact when it comes to, well, most things.

So instead of feeling remotely awkward about that, she just gives him a one-shouldered shrug. ]

Why are you a meme anyway? [ Parker asks as she puts the spoon in the dishwasher-thingamajig.

She isn't very good at small talk, but if there's one thing Parker is, it's curious. ]

[erbier]

[ She leans over the back of the couch, her chin in her hands, observing the scenario in entirety. Cereal, milk, the blurry shot of the boy on the screen. ]

That is you?

[ It doesn't look like much of anything to her. ]

[headinjuries]

Yeah. The blue -

[ He traces a finger along the blue trail. ]

- that's the Nova Force. And when I'm going that fast, you can't see anything else.

[erbier]

Oh.

[ Genuinely intrigued, she peers at it a little more closely, squinting. ]

It must be... exhilarating to move so quickly.

[headinjuries]

It's the best feeling in the world.

[ Which is one of the things that's kept him hanging in there, even when it seems like he's getting more trouble than anything else out of the superhero gig. Every time he finds himself thinking that it's ruining his life, he tries to remember what it feels like to head up to the stars and just go.

If thinking about that isn't good enough, going and doing it usually does the trick. ]

[erbier]

[ She tilts her head curiously. ]

I cannot even imagine.

[ A brush from her thoughts. Will he share? ]

[snaphiss]

[Far be it from me to imply Mara crawled in the window while Sam was in the shower, but she certainly looks like it. Mara is stifling a yawn when she (sarcastically) asks,]

-Is it communicable?

[headinjuries]

You know, I'd like to say no, but even my mom somehow heard about that stupid meme with the dress that nobody could agree what color it was, so...

[snaphiss]

[Squints.]

This must be some cultural thing. What system did you say you were from again?

[Mara says over her shoulder while walking toward the kitchen area.]

[headinjuries]

I didn't, I think. But the star's called Sol.

[snaphiss]

[She's never heard of it, but the galaxy's a big place. She's not about to get caught up in little details. Mara begins making a salad.]

And 'memes' are indigenous to the Sol System?