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As is so often the case at this time of day, Teagan is... well... awake. And most of the motley is asleep. They're currently sitting in the living room, casually watching Sense8, because they're in the mood for some good gay shit. They have a bowl of chocolate pudding and are wearing sleep pants and a tank top.
Even machete killers need downtime.
Glitch is awake as well, slowly padding into the living room in the dimness with a tired look on his face. He's sleepy, but not enough, and he makes his way over towards Teagan to drop down next to them and lean a head on their shoulder. "Hey."
"I love Wolfgang so much," Sturm offers as she passes by the TV room on her way into the kitchen. The coffee pot beeped, after all. That means she's been summoned. "He's very relatable - and his adorable little friend Felix? Who loves Conan? Perfect." Only Sturm would find Wolfgang relatable - and of course she has a soft spot for the best friend who loves barbarians. God, she's so to-type.
She gives Teagan a little kiss on the cheekbone before heading off to fetch a cup of coffee.
Up from the basement rises She Of The Questionable Wyrd, gliding up the stairs as if Galadriel had an emo phase and dumped her Presence into Dex for a while after seeing Kate Beckinsale in Underworld for the first time. As ever, leaf litter, bright and autumnal, scatters across the floor ahead of her, vanishing to nothingness without ever a need for a broom.
"I'd say something about how curious it is to find so many of us awake so late," Vorpal comments as she sweeps into the kitchen and delegates opening the fridge and shuffling its contents to her shadows, peering imperiously into its depths to no avail. "But we all of us know curious is the last thing this is. How's everyone, then?"
"Yeah but I find his romance arc really boring and unsatisfying. Give me Nomanita any fucking day. Or any day, involving fucking. Or Lito and Hernando. There's a sandwich I'd love to get in the middle of." Teagan raises a hand and fans themself, turning their head to kiss Glitch on the top of his head. "Hey, Player One." One arm loops lazily around his shoulders, and they push the popcorn toward him a little in offering. A hand reaches out toward Sturm and Johnnie when they arrive, making grabby motions. Come here for kisses. "I'm doing okay, Johnnie. Gonna need to make more popcorn soon. This shit is good."
Glitch flops against Teagan easily, being snuggled up against their side like he's made to fit there. Given Teagan's control over their exact proportions, that may actually be the case. He reaches a flickery hand over to take some of the offered popcorn and toss it into his mouth. "I'm alright. Been trying to lay low for a bit. Not just...rush off to the next thing to be worried about. Been doing an okay job of it." He follows Sturm and Vorpal with his eyes as best he can without leaving the Mirrorskin's snug embrace, and if he's seen Sense8, he shows no signs.
"His romance is boring," Sturm agrees, stepping back into the room with a coffee in a mug with an old Savage Sword of Conan comic cover emblazoned on the side. "... but it's not Wolfgang's fault that the writers made him join a giant polycule and them crammed him into the first place they could think to fit him." Beat. "I think it'd have been just fine if he ended up being Aro or Ace, and just was the Guy Everyone Called when they needed to bust a member of the family out of prison with an armory of explosives."
She drops onto the couch with a fumpf right beside Teagan, and sips her drink. She's been pretty tired lately, so this might be the most she's said about anything in a while - and of course, it's Sense8 discourse.(edited)
"I haven't the slightest clue who any of those people are, but I'm going to presume them both competent and hot, considering," Johnnie announces, finally pulling some eggs from the fridge and grabbing an onion and a potato on the way to the stove. It's taken a while, but she's puzzled out another way around her aversion to others preparing her food- just learning to make it herself. While she puts a couple kitchen knives through rapid use to peel and slice the onion and thin-cut the potato, she starts beating some eggs manually. "See, that's the lovely thing about being part of a conscientious society," Vorpal calls over to Glitch. "Don't gotta go looking for new shit. New shit can just- poof! Find you!"
One of her shadows fetches the popcorn and starts the gas burner, putting a large metal bowl over it with a little oil. Apparently, Teagan won't need to make their own popcorn. "I'll be over soon as the corn's popped and the egg's going, love."
"I feel that way about Sun, too," Teagan agrees, adding, "I mean, it's one of those things where, I kind of feel like they fit within the general polycule, just... I dunno. I guess I probably just find het romances boring, but the fact is that by definition I will never be part of a het romance." They flash their grin at Sturm, and leaaaan up to kiss the root of one horn before leaning to kiss the corner of her mouth.
"And Nomi's sister's name is Teagan, which makes me laugh." They gesture at the screen. "Though I really get uncomfortable at the speech she gives at the wedding -- Nomi does, I mean. She really makes it about her, and it's Teagan's wedding. It's so ... awkward. Like, don't make me agree with your mom!" A heady sigh, and they kiss Glitch again on the top of the head. "Laying low is good, P1."
Johnnie gets blown a kiss from the couch. "You are a miraculous woman."
Glitch stares a bit blankly at the screen, soft monch-monch synthnoises accompanying his popcorn chewing. His head tilts a bit at trying to follow the conversation. He blinks, and then looks over to Vorpal with a look of mock horror. "Is that what I sound like when I talk about games?"
"Well. The Wachowskis transitioned pretty late in life," Sturm flicks Glitch on the shoulder without breaking her stride. "... and every character ever written falls into one of two categories: Life Goals or Wife Goals. Nomi is definitely Life Goals -- she's the writer mouthpiece for the whole series -- so I'd bet money that speech was directed at someone in one or both of their lives." She sticks out her tongue. "... and Wolfgang's bit where he threatens to murder the husband if he ever hurts Teagan made me laugh, even though it's a bit of a toxic trope."
The level of self awareness in the conversation is non-existent. There's a little puff as she sips her coffee. "Great show though."
"Which, the bit about being absolutely lost but accepting of other's enthusiasm, or the bit I said about not having to worry about finding new things to fuss over?" Johnnie calls at Glitch.
Johnnie is pretty solidly out of her depth with the entire back and forth Sturm and Teagan are sharing, so she just enjoys that they're having fun talking about Things and gets the corn to popping before starting to fry the potato and onion in some olive oil, egg standing by.
"Oh, that's probably true," Teagan agrees thoughtfully. "But it is kind of -- weird. Like, it's really ... it's her wedding, stop talking about your transition. No one wants to talk about your SRS at a wedding, stop it. But yeah, it is very much Life Goals or Wife Goals, there." They nudge Glitch, leaning down to bite the top of his head this time. "Kind of, yes, this is kind of what you sound like. Deal with it."
They snicker. "It is a toxic trope, but I do love it," they finally end, and then pivot to, "Hey, J. I kinda noticed something when we were talking last. Do you have emotional bandwidth for talking about them feelings?"
Glitch takes the flick and bite alike with love and a not quite hidden smirk, squirming back against Teagan...after Sturm's flick nearly dislodges him from their shoulder. "I just thought it was funny. With me it's usually just me waving around, trying to explain why someone should give a shit. With the two of you it's more like me and Johnnie. I'm only lost because you both know what you're talking about without having to explain it to outsiders."
The Sprite beeps quietly, blinking at his own lucid verbosity. "This shit is why I can't sleep at night. Fuckin'...brain."
"Yeah, you're not wrong. It's a super weird fuckin' convo to have with a bunch of cis people, too - let alone just at a wedding - but I dunno. J.M.S. was petty big in the comics world, too, and he likes his drama and big gestures."
She shrugs as if this answer alone explains every ridiculous soap-opera-y thing that happens in the entire series. She quirks a brow when Teagan changes the subject, and quietly sips her coffee while waiting for an answer from Johnnie.(edited)
"Eh?"
Johnnie looks up from pouring egg over lightly caramelized onions and browned tater slices. "What were we talking about last? The dream stuff? I run my mouth a lot, a bookmark would help a lot. But I think so, yeh?"
She just basks smugly while Teagan confirms for Glitch. Being compared to the walking encyclopedia is flattering, after all.
There's a little nod aside to Sturm and Glitch -- Teagan is listening, but they're refocused. It's a look that both parties know very well from the Mirrorskin, that 'hey I saw you having feelings so now we're going to talk about it.'
Blame June. June started this. Now Teagan thinks feelings are things you should talk about.
"Uhm. When we were talking about Nick, actually." This is broached gently, and they fill Glitch in by saying, "The former Summer King for Old Iron up in the Lehigh Valley. He was captured by a Huntsman, and we've confirmed he's back in Arcadia. That's why Enyo took over. Anyway... " And then back to Johnnie. "I, uh. You don't usually talk about stuff that scares you, J."
Glitch puffs his cheeks out a bit as he's filled in. He opens his mouth to say something, then shifts his gaze to Vorpal. He stays silent, but the look that creeps over his face goes from concern to worry. Not much would be able to scary Johnnie.
Half hidden behind her coffee cup, Sturm's face is a pretty inscrutable mask. Save for one thing: the eyebrow she raised a few seconds ago hasn't come back down. Snowskin's gonna Snowskin, though, so she listens quietly and shows very little about how she feels on her face.
A brief pause. Telling, maybe. Then she shakes the popcorn, saving the popped kernels from the oily heat the unpopped so surely need.
"Oh, that. Well, yeah. Stuff doesn't usually frighten me. I can go most places, handle my own business, and the last time a fight scared me, I was fresh from the Hedge, but. We were talking about rescuing someone from There, maybe. The rules change There. And all the safeguards and practice and prep won't mean anything if They decide it doesn't." Shake shake. "Was just being honest."
"Okay, J," Teagan agrees, and lets that be that. "It's good to know that things can still scare you." There was a time, after all, where pretty much nothing did. They give her a low-key, but very genuine smile from across the room, one arm still wrapped around Glitch, leaned against Sturm. "If you wanna talk about it more, we can. But we don't gotta." 'Later' is the implication there.
Glitch nods. "Everyone should be afraid of things like that," he agrees with Vorpal. He rests his head back against Teagan and squeezes their side, turning to tuck his legs up against the mirrorskin as they lean into Sturm. "Easy to get hurt there. And an injury to one's an injury to all."
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