video; un: shiro

[shiro2hero]

[Oh hi Shiro, long time no see on the network. That's because this is a last-ditch effort. He looks pretty darn not great, despite the fact it's Sleep Season for Warmbloods. Maybe it's the Arena. Maybe it's the River. Something honestly, sincerely traumatic that's happened already.]

[His face is in his hands, hunched over the counter in his kitchen. The omni in front of him. Voice haggard and quiet. Like he has a migraine.]

I will pay... however much anyone wants. For coffee beans. Espresso beans. Don't even have to be cooked. Roasted. Doesn't matter.

[... Or it's caffeine withdrawl.]

Or tea leaves. I don't care.

[Please, he is Suffering.]

Comments

[micycle]

I asked everywhere, and no one had ever heard of it!

[It was a dark day. Or, well, darker. Nowhere here is exactly bright, even in the middle of the afternoon.]

Back in Deerington I was basically running Peter's Pizza, though- [not to brag, or anything] -so I can probably figure it out.

[shiro2hero]

... Right, I was kidding before, but now I'm actually concerned.

[Mostly for the teens he knows.]

Yeah? [Well, that got him to grin a bit.] That's an accomplishment. I bet you could, in that case.

[micycle]

[Supportive adults? In my horror town? It's more likely than you - or Mike - think.]

The business part is annoying, and I can't deliver on my bike anymore, but, I mean... people need something normal.

[shiro2hero]

Do you have anyone to pitch in on that part?

Or maybe someone with a bike you can borrow? [He will not bring up Marshmallow the Demon Horse, so help him -]

[micycle]

Will can probably help.

[You know, your son who's also his friend. His very good friend.]

And it's not the bike that's the problem. I have one, but my leg got kind of fu- [oops] -uh, messed up, back in Deerington. So I can't really ride it anymore.

[He's doing a pretty okay job of sounding way less upset about it than he is.]

[shiro2hero]

Yeah, he's good at that kind of thing.

[Oh bud, he knows. He knows - but, Will asked him to keep it on the down low.]

Ah. That's... I'm sorry to hear that. [That's an understatement right there.] Can I ask what happened? Maybe we can figure out a way to rig the bike to compensate.

[micycle]

[Mike's face twists further into discomfort at the topic of his leg, but it's not like he could feel worse about it at this point. If anyone's going to give him shit for being a dumbass, he deserves it.]

A building sort of... fell on it. [On him, really, but that's semantics.] Back in May, when there were the big monsters in the fog.

[And he'd gone out alone, like an idiot, because he thought maybe stocking up on snacks would make Will less mad at him.]

I'm the reason Peter got- [Dead.] He was trying to help me.

[shiro2hero]

I remember.

[Said quietly. Gently. It feels like a lifetime ago, honestly. Those days feel - well. Like a nightmare.]

That's... he never mentioned that. [If anything, he sounds more tired than upset. Definitely not angry. Because Peter's back now. Peter is himself.] He's the kind of guy to do that, though. Huh?

[He pauses, before moving back to the bike. Maybe that's a better topic for Mike.] But - what about putting a motor on the bike? All you'd have to do then is balance. Steer and brake.

[micycle]

[Peter is absolutely the kind of guy to do that, and Mike's spent many sleepless nights dwelling on that fact, repeating it over and over until he feels even worse, because he should have known. Putting himself in danger inevitably meant putting someone else in danger, too - someone whose ears were tuned to the slightest cry for help, who Mike knew would be there in a heartbeat if he heard.]

Do they have motors here? [Latching onto something other than the self-hate, though his voice is still flat with gloom.] Or the stuff to build one?

[shiro2hero]

[Changing the subject may be for the better, for both of them. So he doesn't sit here thinking about the time it'd happened in his own small family. About the faces disappearing into darkness. About letting people down and - ]

Not sure. We'll have to keep our eyes out. If you think it might be an option to explore, it won't hurt to look.

[He hasn't seen any, but, on the other hand, he hasn't been looking, either. Doesn't mean they don't exist though - unlike coffee, apparently.]

And hey, while we look... I've got something you could always practice on. [Something to look forward to, hopefully. To get the flatness out of the teen's voice.]

[micycle]

[Mike's brows quirk up just the slightest bit. Curiosity piqued, but tamped down.]

Yeah? What?

[shiro2hero]

Did Will ever tell you what I drive?

[Oh heck yeah. We're gonna nail this.]

[micycle]

[A shake of the head, slow and considering.]

Just that you’re from space, pretty much.

[shiro2hero]

[Shiro grins.]

It's kind of like a motorcycle. Without wheels. Hoverbike.

lost this notif omg

[micycle]

Holy shit.

[There's that tween nerd wonder, back in his eyes.]

How does it work?

gdit dw

[shiro2hero]

Hover thrusters in place of wheels. Keeps it a foot or so off the ground, while the ones in back give it propulsion.

[micycle]

So, like, the same as a rocket? Does it take fuel?

[shiro2hero]

We rigged it in Deerington to take gasoline - it takes a lot more than it did back where I'm from, but it works.

We might need to find an alternate source here, though.

[micycle]

They have kerosene, for all the lamps. It’s got a different flash point, but maybe you could figure out how to modify it.