ArchivedLogs:Plans

Plans
Dramatis Personae Jax, Flicker, Micah
In Absentia	15 March 2015 "Feel like all it is is heavy." (Part of Future Past TP.)
Location <WES> Croton Gorge Park – Westchester
Situated on the east bank of the Hudson, this large park offers events year-round and a plethora of activities for nature lovers. With playgrounds, facilities for camping and swimming, boating and fishing, plentiful trails for hiking, biking, horseback riding, cliffs for rock climbing, grounds for winter sports, and ample ground to just sit and enjoy the weather, these park grounds are a great place to relax year-round. The grounds are well-tended, and with a host of avian and herpetological life, early mornings often find animal lovers scoping out the grounds in search of a glimpse of some rare bird or lizard hiding in the trees or rocks as well. "S'only jus' next week. I ain't planned /nothin'/ though." Jax's words are a little bit strained. Just a little, huff-puff. It's probably to be expected, though; by now they're fairly deep into the park. The pack on his back has -- probably more food than is necessary. Then again, given his and Flicker's caloric needs, maybe not. "But then again I don't think B even wants nothin'. Eighteen jus' -- s'more stressful than it was before." His brows pull together into a deeper frown. "It's not like birthdays are mandatory." Flicker shrugs. His pack is less loaded down than Jax's. Though he sounds less winded he looks more flushed. Damper. Dark hair clinging to his scarred face. "Aging's mandatory. Parties not so much. Got enough stress. If they want to ignore it -- ignore it. Feel like -- everyone's plate is kind of already full." The slice of his smile is a little thin. "Maybe have a party some other time. Completely no reason. Or a different reason. Save the world? Then party." "I been back an' forth on the topic m'self. I been wantin' t'try an' catch 'em both at the same time t'talk about it, but...gettin' that many folks t'gether an' not busy at once's a harder proposition than it seems..." Micah is, likewise, taking entirely more breaks between phrases in his speech than anyone short of Shatner is wont to do on a normal day. Spikes of red hair peek down under his hat brim, sweat-sticky to his skin. His pack is not as large or heavy as the others, out of necessity due to reasonable percentages of body weight to carry. Both of his hands hold red Leki poles to help him keep his footing in less even terrain. "It's a bigger deal t'consider with all the /stuff/ lumped onto it this year. But I wanna offer t'do...whatever it is they want? 'Cause they should also have the opportunity t'celebrate if they want to. Push off the heavy stuff for a little while." He chuckles a little breathily after this. "That'd be the back an' forth bit." "That'd require us t'save the world, first." Breaking up through the treeline, Jax pauses, head tipping up towards the sunshine. "An' I ain't real sure how well /that's/ gonna go neither. Which kinda jus' makes me /want/ them t'have more t'celebrate /now/ on account'a what if the future /don't/ --" His head shakes, quick. "Feel like all it is is heavy." He tosses a quick grin back to the others. "Or maybe that's jus' my pack." "Could stop. Eat. Lighten it up." A couple small jumps brings Flicker out into the sunlight ahead of Jax. "I don't think the heavy stuff's going anywhere, is the problem. Hard to push it off when it kind of -- just. Haunts your --" His shoulder lifts. Falls. "I try not t'make too much conditional on world-level events, yeah," Micah agrees softly with Jax, an extra sigh to his heavy breath. "We could totally take a break. Get the pack off of you for a bit. Food, water, all that." It is truly a magnanimous offer. Not that he wouldn't mind having a moment off his feet, too. Nope. "It's also...if B goes off t'college next year. I mean, this is prob'ly the most /around/ we're gonna have 'em for awhile t'be able t'make a fuss easy. Really just...need t'see what they're up to. Maybe somethin' smaller." His following along behind the others is definitely a bit less quick or jumping. "The dreams have been... I keep thinkin' they can't get any more intense an' then they just take a dif'rent angle t'get there." "B jus' ain't really seemed like ze wants us makin' much fuss over hir lately." Jax's head turns quickly -- not actually quite quick /enough/ to track Flicker's motions, though his sunglass-shaded gaze settles on the other man once Flicker /stops/. He continues on into the brightest of the sun, settling down to unshoulder his pack, though he doesn't yet start unloading food. He just flops down onto his back in a patch of grass, folding a hand behind his head. "I ain't sure what's the best approach to take with all this. Prometheus, we knowed them. Had so much practice, I knowed how to put my teams together. This, it's like. I feel like anyone I rope in I'm markin' for death. I keep thinkin' who'd be good an' then jus' thinkin' /no/, I /can't/. -- I don't think I'm cut out for world savin'." "Who ever is." Flicker slides his pack off to set it beside Jax. Doesn't sit, though. Flits from rock to rock, restless. looking out over the tree-packed view. "Kind of a joke thinking any of us ever have been." His brows wrinkle. "... Lucien wants you all to bring Sera." Micah nods simply at that. "It's why I ain't even...started goin' nowhere with it without askin' 'em. Can't know until we really get t'talk about it." He finds a spot to settle into on Jax's other side, sitting and wriggling out of his own pack. "I been meanin' t'talk to Luci...um. Now-Luci. 'Bout that. Figure he'd know better'n anyone how t'read what future-Luci was talkin' 'bout in that dream. Need...t'get a feel of what's... If she's actually dyin' /soon/ like future-Luci said an' there's treatments, what they wanna /do/ about it." Reaching out, he rests a hand on Jax's arm, gives it a little reassuring squeeze. "I'm not even sure what it is gettin' planned, t'be honest." "Sera's --" Jax's lips pinch together, his muscles tensing up. "... real sick." That's quieter, and for a while afterwards he's silent. His brows furrow, head shaking in puzzlement. "... gettin' planned? By who?" Flicker doesn't have input on Sera -- not out loud, at least. Just a small twitch in his cheek, a small dip in his head in acknowledgment of Jax's words. At the question, though? A smile. A lift of eyebrows. His restless flitting brings him back over closer to Jax again. He drops down to sit on a nearby rock, one leg hooked under him, one dangling down towards the ground. Still no words, but his forward lean towards the other man and the look he angles down towards Jax is – expectant. "She's been not-good for awhile. An' that first run of future dreams didn't say nothin' good, neither. It's what makes me want...to talk t'Luci 'bout it." Micah chews at his lip, digging into his bag for a water bottle to drink from. "Other'n getting' intel, what're we s'posed t'be /doin'/? I know they want info. from Oscorp. That sounds...prob'ly like somethin' best t'put the computer folk on, right? At least...from this end. Now's we're certain an' more there's somethin' already /on/ this end. But...they'd have more information in the future. An' we found out that Luci's got /access/ in the future. That might be the best bet. But we can't rely on 'im t'do anythin' for us." Interrupting himself to take a swallow of water, Micah holds the bottle out for anyone else to take if they want, as well. "He /also/ has that ability t'thwart the...mind-scannin' /whatever/ the Sentinels do in the future. Which would be crazy useful if we could figure out how t'replicate it. But I'm not sure, again, what we might be able t'/do/ with that. How much help we can expect. I'm just really not sure who's doin' what an' what's even expected anymore. Where do we /go/ at this point?" "Not like this, she ain't." Jax exhales heavily, tipping his head back to /frown/ at Flicker's Expectant Look. His face scrunches up, head shaking fiercely. "Look, I don't know why y'all expectin' like I'm gonna know how t'-- I ain't even been /havin'/ these dreams till they started yoinkin' me at the future. Ain't like I know no more'n anyone else about --" He shakes his head again, sitting up slowly. He takes the water bottle from Micah, gulping thirstily at it before passing it off to Flicker. "Replicate it? Luci's /ability/? How we gonna do that? I mean, Joshua, or Mirror, but Joshua'll need practice an' I don't think we can count on Mirror for help. An' ain't no /tech/ means we gonna duplicate Luci's brain." His knuckles scrub against his cheek. "B's drones an' Dusk's knowhow is gonna be our best bet for information-wranglin'. /Luci'll/ be the best bet for gettin' in Oscorp if he's got access but if it's government offices we need to hit up -- I'd say a small team, know their way around bein' stealthy. Couple'a folks as can get in-an'-out right quick, couple'a folks as can handle any /trouble/ comes at Dusk as he's workin'. An' someone to cloak from the bots. That's -- /if/ I was runnin' it." "If." Small-twitch of lips. Does Flicker look a little smug at this? Nah. Surely not. "I'm usually your in-and-out guy, but, I won't be good for you for much for a while." Flicker looks a shade guilty at this. It passes into thoughtful: "Though -- future me..." He chews, briefly, at the inside of his cheek. "Not sure Lucien'll tag along /or/ share how he does his thing without some kind of bargaining chip. And I can't say I like your -- our -- your --" Fidget. Frown. Language, getting messy again. "-- chances of dodging the Sentinels just-so." "I know, sugar. It ain't on you. It /shouldn't/ be. I'm just almost...askin' the universe at this point 'cause I feel so. Useless in it. I've had so /many/ of these dreams an' what am I doin'? What've I helped? What /can/ I even..." Both of Micah's hands move to tangle in his hair, coming up against /hat/ and even going so far as to push it off. "I'm not thinkin' t'replicate Luci's ability, not exactly. Just the /effect/. For him t'be /usin'/ the ability, he's gotta understand exactly what the Sentinels are readin' an' how t'cheat it. There's ways to mimic electrical signals. Ways t'block 'em. Y'can totally wreck EEG studies by creatin' interference. I was just thinkin' that on a small scale? If we needed t'sneak a few people. Or the future-team does, whatever. It /could/ be replicated with tech. Maybe. I know I've been doin' a lot of shootin' at maybes, but I don't know how else. To help." His eyes scrunch closed, perhaps in part due to increased sun exposure without the brimmed hat. "Future-me would help with anythin' that makes sense for him t'be doin', I feel pretty sure in sayin'. He can do more. Ain't subtle, but also he don't got X-gene brain waves or whatever." "Hmm." Jax's head tips thoughtfully as Micah speaks, fingers drumming against his knees. "S'possible -- s'possible. Still gotta understand what it is he's doin' -- an' I imagine it ain't simple t'figure /out/ else there'd be a fair few folks 'sides him in his world learned it an' doin' it already. Still feel like him /tellin'/ us is gonna be a fair sight faster'n us tryin' to hack it on our own in the -- whatever stretches of time we can grab t'experiment on in stolen snatches of dreams an' that's still gonna mean --" He grimaces. "Dealin' with him. What bargainin' chips do we /got/?" Slowly, he reaches for his pack to start unloading food. "Much as I hate t'say it, I kinda /prefer/ workin' with future -- yous. More'n takin' anyone. I mean for one y'know the world better but for two -- if I get anyone killed on all this..." He trails off, head tipping down to fix his gaze on the containers he is unloading. "If you die in the Matrix --" Though there's a note of amusement in Flicker's tone, there's none in his expression. A small shudder following. "I don't really know him well enough to say. All he ever seems to care about is his family. It's not -- really a. Bad priority. As priorities go." "All he asked for is Sera. I'm not at all against the idea of helpin' her. I just...he wants us t'bring her /there/? I don't...it's so far from my place t'make any of that kinda decision. It's gonna hafta be her and her family, as much as they can. But...we also have the benefit of now-Lucien? He /wants/ t'be involved in this, from what he told me. I think maybe he'll be a little more willin' t'work with us. As much as I can ever predict anythin' with 'im, anyhow." Micah gives a little dubious shrug at this, admitting less than stellar ability in this area. He moves to pull items out of his own pack, as well, helping Jax to set up. "I think you'll have their agreement on that. An' mine, too. I mean, the time future-me talked to you he said he didn't want t'be draggin' nobody in t'fight 'cause he felt that was just gonna get people killed /sooner/. We got players in the future, but they're scattered. If we can just help coordinate 'em, that may be enough. I know Isra an' Dusk came back with me from Mexico after the last...raid on a camp. An' Flicker. I saw a couple of people durin' that raid that I'm not sure what happened to, as well. Prob'ly Hive, Maya, an' Strange're best...keepin' a step back from anythin' that could risk breakin' what they're doin'. There was folks in Mexico as /might/ help, too, if we needed specific assistance from 'em." "I can't never tell nothin' 'bout what Luci's gonna want. Though I don't /guess/ murderbots an' prison camps is high on his list." Though this puts a deeper frown on Jax's face. "... though who /knows/. I mean, if he was workin' for Oscorp? In the future? I mean, how'd he fall in with /them/? That -- had t'happen /somehow/. Hnngh." His knuckles scrape against his cheek. "Alright. You -- maybe should go talk t'Luci. An' I'll work up gettin' a team -- somethin'. T'gether. In order. Sketched /out/, at least. /Mmmf/." Despite the food being laid out, now he just flops back on his back, slumping into the grass again. "... but first, lunch." "I thought that was on /everyone's/ wish list this year." Flicker flits down from his rock to join the others by the feast. "I saw the Bugle and I thought, mutant Christmas, coming early." Micah nods along with this. “Okay. I'll talk with 'im 'bout it. An'...I dunno. Self-preservation, prob'ly? S'gotta be an int'restin' story one way or another.” He follows Jax back into his lying-down, rubbing at his husband's stomach a little in a familiar, unthinking way. “Y'don't gotta do it alone. I'll help whatever way I can with the plannin'. Y'want I should fetch food t'you so's you can soak the sun in? Totally can deliver it.” "Santa must be thinkin' we /all/ been bad." Jax shivers, a quiet purr thrumming in his throat at the petting. "Mmn. Right now? Right now, I jus' want belly rubs."