JULY PLANET MINGLE

[save_the_souls]

Who: YOU. ME. EVERYONE.
Broadcast: IF YOU WANT
Action: YEAH!!!!!
When: July!

[Congratulations to the crews that did not get themselves blown up! Welcome to the Blue Planet, a planet full of charming islands and even less charming weather patterns! Are you going to take the time to enjoy the beach? Help out with the local Nunnilis population? Get caught in a storm with another person and have a rating boosting sexual tension moment? The world's your oyster!]

[Yeah in other words: ITS A MINGLE GET IN HERE]

[July Planet Info!]

Comments

[nextlineis]

[The longer Caesar is there, the more Joseph feels he should say something. Words float to the surface of his mind, but it's like they're in another language that he can't wrap his mouth around enough to say without butchering them. Maybe something he's heard before would work better, he thinks.]

[He tries thinking of things his grandmother had said to him when he was younger and upset about something. She wasn't completely silent whenever he'd go to her worked up over something and looking to her to make it better. She spent a majority of the time just stroking his hair and listening to him ramble on, talking himself into circles and working himself up more and more until he got too exhausted to say another word. But she'd still say little things here and there to make him feel better. Thinking about those things a little more though seems a little patronizing, something you'd say to a kid and not really fitting for this situation. Joseph tries to imagine what Lisa Lisa would say. Caesar knew her far longer than he's known Joseph and there had to have been times when he stumbled. Even if she wasn't encouraging and nurturing in the traditional sense, there had to be things that Lisa Lisa would say that would embolden Caesar again. But Joseph hardly knows her when you get down to it. He trusts her implicitly as a student should their teacher, but he doesn't know what she'd say in a moment like this.]

[In the end, he's left only with himself and he's not very helpful in making this any better or setting things right. He's left mentally fumbling around, trying to find something meaningful to say that doesn't come across as some kind of condescending platitude. The only thing that he can do is just sit here and be quiet and it eats away at him because he should be able to do more, he thinks. He should be doing so much more than being helpless in the wake of whatever's happening to Caesar right now. Even his frustration with himself that he can feel starting to spark again isn't really enough. There's no fire, just dull embers that barely have any glow to them.]

[So, he just holds Caesar a little tighter to himself because that's all he has to give. He closes his eyes in their shared silence and simply focuses on being quiet and still, drawing slow breaths that are gradually lowering his heartbeat. He only opens his eyes again when he thinks he hears and feels Caesar say something against his shoulder.]

Caesar?

[ino]

Oh yeah? Is it a common profession?

[ She's not even thinking it could be the same person, that would be too weird of a coincidence, right? ]

The guy I knew told me you can get in trouble with the law for punching someone! I bet they need a lot of lawyers to take care of stuff like that.

[ She also does not seem to grasp the concept of modern American law ]

[ino]

First of all, just because I'm human doesn't mean I don't have any powers. Secondly, I would have kicked his ass if he tried anything weird, and he knew it.

[geonomy]

[It would be too weird of a coincidence; besides, Apollo never told him anything like this, so it couldn't be the same guy.]

Well - yeah, in America, that's considered assault. You can get fined pretty big for that kind of stuff if you don't get away with it! That makes people not want to do it as much.

My friend sure got away with it, though. And he's a lawyer! Talk about hypocrisy, right?

[experiencepoints]

I'm a mage, but that doesn't mean I can take a god. Unless gods are just weak where you're from?

[ino]

Oh, no, he was very strong. But he would have never tried to hurt me, so that's an automatic win for me.

[experiencepoints]

I've heard god-like things say that before. Want to guess how that ended?

[ino]

That's crazy. Some people just need to be punched! Like all those people following me around with cameras and stuff. But I tried to be nice about it since he was getting all fussy about me maybe going to jail or whatever.

[ No they don't, Ino, you are just a violent person. ]

Wow, really? ... Can other lawyers get you in trouble if you're already a lawyer? People in charge can usually get away with not listening to the rules sometimes ...

[ino]

I'm sure there are some who would say that and not mean it, but I knew him well enough to know that was the truth.

[ She sounds 100% confident, anyways ... ]

The point is, it's good to be careful, but every place is different. There are nice demons and terrible angels.

[radiantwingedone]

[ Duke nods, and under his feet a seal of red light scrawls itself into being. It looks vaguely like the symbols in it could be math, before it flickers and doesn't change.

That is interesting. No time to focus it that he could see, and it was simply there where she wanted it. Sort of different.

Duke raised his hand, and the seal moves from under him, to a sphere about him, then ends in a ball of fire before the raised hand.

Six fireballs fly out in an arc and smash into the ground around where the spore had been. The greenery moves, but doesn't seem harmed by it. ]

... I've never tried aiming them at the ground like that before. Good to know it works.

[experiencepoints]

[She's about to snap back with a sharp retort, but she stops herself. She can feel herself getting too riled up, and she doesn't want to get her personal issues everywhere, even if she's really bad at that part. Still, better to back off for now.]

... And vampires who just really want to be superheroes. I get it.

Sorry for freaking out there.

[geonomy]

[And Clay has to laugh at that, because that does sound like something Apollo, or any other lawyer, would do. Heck, Apollo did that to him when he'd feel his hackles rise. He always seemed to know when it was happening before Clay even knew himself.]

I agree! Some people do need to be punched! Kind of hard to do it when you've got someone telling you you might go to jail if you do it, though. [He gives a grin and crosses his arms, reminiscent to the way Apollo would do so when he's confident, and mimics him as much as he can.] "And don't expect me to defend you if you do, Clay!"

[He drops that act, though, as he goes on with his explanation.]

Even lawyers can get in trouble with each other! My friend told me about a case where his mentor got disbarred when he presented falsified evidence, even though it turned out he was tricked into doing it. He recently got his badge back, but man. It was all over the news for a while.

[ino]

Look, I met a vampire one time who sparkled in the sun like he rolled in a bucket of glitter. Anything is possible.

[ She pauses ]

It's okay! I probably would have reacted the same way a long time ago, but I've kinda been doing the multiverse thing for, like, years now.

[ino]

[ Okay, now hold on a second. She's pausing and squinting, because not only is that gesture familiar .... so is that story. If nothing else, the story seems like something that wouldn't be so common ... ]

Okay, hold up. This is gonna be so weird if I'm right, but ... what's this guy's name?

[experiencepoints]

... I have no idea what you're talking about, but I'm pretty sure I'm offended on Bluebird's behalf, now.

[What the fuck, Ino.]

It's been about... five months for me, I guess? Probably a bit under. But it's been a busy half a year.

[ino]

[ Twilight, man. Twilight. ]

Eh? So you were somewhere else before here, then.

[geonomy]

[Clay's a bit oblivious at first, because that just makes no sense to him. The way she worded it was... After a moment, he squints slightly as well; there's a suspicion growing in him, but it can't possibly be right.]

A... pollo? Apollo Justice.

[ino]

...

[ An incredulous laugh ]

No way. His hair sticks up kinda like this? [ She imitates his hair antenna ] Wears a red suit all the time?

[experiencepoints]

Yeah. Castle called "Kyriakos", one among many color-coded amnesia shitholes.

[ino]

A castle? Seriously?

[ That's so weird ... She's heard of a couple of other multiverse places, but none of them were castles ]

I guess it must be. I was in a similar place before I got here, too.

[experiencepoints]

What was your place like?

[geonomy]

... Wait. Wait are you - KIDDING me?! [It's as if the force of the surprise knocked him back, even sent his visor sideways, and he just stares at her with wide eyes.] You knew Apollo?! That's - yeah, his hair's so weird, but - how? When did you - he -

[He's never heard about this. Never, and he and Apollo tell each other almost everything, so what - how?!]

[ino]

[ She's laughing, now ]

We met in a situation like this, actually. The whole multiverse type of thing? So I'm sure he went home and didn't remember any of it.

[ino]

[ ... How does she put this without it getting Too Serious ]

Annoying and creepy, mostly. The whole place was run by ghosts, and there was all kinds of weird drama with the people who lived outside the boundaries of the castle's reach.

[experiencepoints]

... Huh. So it goes in a line away from you and treats whatever it hits as its target...? Or something like that? That's interesting.

[Her voice drops, as she begins to think out loud.]

I don't know about advantages from that, though... It adds a precious couple of seconds from cast until it hits, which can mean everything in a real battle, and it gives ample blocking opportunities... Hm, but if it can get around the normal laws of targeting, then maybe...