Action | Thought Bubble Glitch!

[theroadwarrior]

Who: Max and You!
Broadcast: N/A
Action: Many places, see below. The planet, iskaulit, Starstruck... 
When: This week and stuff.

Max has been affected by a glitch...! Always a treat. What glitch you ask? Well, sometimes... thought bubbles appear above his head, depicting in written word or image his current thought patterns. Hope you don't mind him being an asshole in a new format! Haha! 

Click a thought bubble below (in chronological-ish order) to be taken to the top level for that thought bubble!

Comments

one. shaving | SS Starstruck

[theroadwarrior]

[The bubble appears first when Max is making his way to the bathroom of the SS Starstruck. He rubs his chin, a shorter but no doubt unruly beard forming on his face. He's been ignoring the growth of it for a while, which probably isn't the best choice if he wants to avoid people likening him to a desert tumbleweed or something.

So begins his troubles.

Hello, crewmates and visitors, don't mind his one-track mind.]

two. repairs | SS Starstruck cargo bay

[theroadwarrior]

[The bubbles continue long after he shaves, FYI. He can't exactly see them, so it only makes it all the more infuriating when he figures the whole mystery out, eh? He can be found digging through a huge drawer of tools, his head practically buried in it while the bubble exclaims unhappily over his head. The shuttle he usually pilots is pulled open, one panel removed and wires to the wing of the vehicle hanging out.

He mumbles and grumbles and is inaudible, though the floating image is apt at explaining.]

three. rock | Iskaulit

[theroadwarrior]

[He looked away for two seconds and his old as dirt dog limped off and got himself lost aboard the Iskaulit. Max isn't worried per se, because it's not like the Iskaulit is full of hungry men who'd eat the dog, but he is quick to go looking for him once he realizes the old beast didn't sit around impatiently like he usually does.

So the thought bubble lingers, floating after him while he peers inside all the different rooms aboard the Iskaulit.

Rock, you in here, buddy? He whistles, but no dog.

... Is this an arcade room? When the fuck did this get here?]

four. theft | Iskaulit Garden

[theroadwarrior]

[He's staring those tomatoes down with a hungry grumble of his stomach; did he skip lunch?

....

Maybe just one.

Ochako won't even know.]

[willynilly]

[Will she not? Because there's a presence lurking in the doorway to the garden area. A fearsome ambush, a trap about to be sprung...]

[theroadwarrior]

[Ah, well... It doesn't seem like anyone's around, especially —



So he should be totally okay, right? Right. The unaware man with his obliviously poofing thought bubbles moves in for the kill. AKA that tomato on the furthest vine is totally his. Nobody is going to stop him from his thievery this day! Obviously!]

[willynilly]

[Okay, between the obvious deviancy of his theft and the fact that he is literally thinking of her as he does it, Ochako can't help it: a little gigglesnort escapes her before she hastily covers her mouth, takes a deep breath, and tries again in a louder voice-]

Max!

[She saw that, you are so busted!]

[theroadwarrior]

[The bubble pops rather dramatically as he turns around.

Oh, damn. He slaps away the tomato slightly before looking at her, grunt-huffing.]

What.

[I'm like forty-something and you're a fetus you're not the fucking boss of me.]

[willynilly]

[And yet you stopped when she caught you. bitch

....okay but first of all]

Did you know you have cartoon bubble things over your head?

[theroadwarrior]

... What?

[Clearly it is my new quirk I'm completely unaware of, do you like it.]

five. branded | Iskaulit | cw: nightmares/traumatic captive stuff

[theroadwarrior]

[He ends up napping in Maab's Sceptre, under a tree. He doesn't particularly mind this place compared to the fox park (snow, ugh, he hates snow) - and thanks to his usual terrible sleeping patterns, he doesn't keep his eyes open long. Rock the dog lays nearby, ears quirking slightly at the twitching of Max's face - the slight sweat on his brow and flexing of his jaw and shoulders and fingers where they're folded.

The memory is a singular image in the bubble: the brand, burning hot, close to his face.]

six. boardgames | SS Starstruck

[theroadwarrior]

[Ah, Max has found something added by the Atroma: a small cabinet full of board games. Sorry!, Yahtzee, Chutes and Ladders, Clue, and a set of dominoes... He picks it up and carries it into the lounge room, mostly because there's a decent table to leave things haphazardly. Looking at the back of the Sorry! box in his hands, he sits on the couch in there and - the thought bubble pops up.

... The Max is pleased by seeing these.

They're practically relics to him.]

[kill_switch]

[Furisoa wanders in and pauses a moment to take in the sight of the bubble, and the stack of boxes. Wary, because it's obvious Atroma is up to something, she settles herself on the couch next to him.]

Find something?

[theroadwarrior]

[Look at that caught-redhanded thought bubble, just before he huffs and swipes his free hand at it. It's hard to say if his efforts actually dispelled it, or if he just got lucky; either way, he's clearly bashful at the sentimentality on display prior. Stupid thought bubbles.]

Ahhh — Just games.

[Full furrowed brow engaged, grump mode initiated.]

[kill_switch]

[She can't help a small smile at his ineffectiveness in and instant crankiness. It's ... oddly endearing, considering it's something as harmless as some games. She leans over to look at the title he's currently holding.]

Yeah? What kinds?

[theroadwarrior]

[Oh, right. He turns his attention back toward them, holding up Chutes and Ladders.]

Aaah, well. Mm. This one's more a kid game...

Goal's to climb all the ladders and avoid falling down the slides.

[He gets a little lost in reading the back, but mumbles:]

... Good way to practice controlling your temper. I guess.

[kill_switch]

Not a bad lesson to learn.

[For people in general, but also ... well ... he has been getting better.]

They from ... our world, from before?

seven. dog | SS Starstruck (this one's about a dead dog)

[theroadwarrior]

[Sitting in the cargo bay of the Starstruck, Max ties a bandanna around Rock's fuzzy neck and scratches him on the underside of his chin and chest with a thoughtful expression. The dog in his thought bubble isn't Rock, but it's certainly also wearing a bandanna.

Been a long time since he's seen that dog.]

eight. abandoned | Planetside

[theroadwarrior]

[Max is pretty curious about the abandoned town, especially because it's one of the closest things to home there's been so far. So as he ventures through the empty space, he can't help but flash to so many different times in his life where he'd come across ghost towns. None of them were this... clean, that's for sure. He looks around with a skeptical pinch of his brow, considering taking as much as he can from the stores - hell, the community. Nobody's around to need any of it. Yes, it's suspicious, and yes, he's pretty sure this is gonna end poorly.

But also, pilfering supplies is good.

As he passes one store, the thought bubble lingers, the first person view of an dilapidated toy store from his world.]

[noprophecies]

[while she has absolutely been looting like many of the other fleeters, she's mostly been doing it on her own. There's something strange about looting with someone as if going shopping, and the place was weird enough on its own. Armed with a backpack, she finally makes her way into the town.

Of course, seeing another fleeter there isn't strange either, but seeing a . . . what is that, a bubble? What the hell? She stops short and stares, head tilting as she tries to figure out just what it is. And then she notes who it's following, and . . . no, really, is this a planet thing? It doesn't seem harmful, at least.

Hefting the backpack up on her shoulder, she hurries after Max, giving the bubble itself a wide berth as she catches up]

Max. [she greets in her usual lilt, with a sideway glance] There is a thing following you. [descriptive as always]

[theroadwarrior]

[He grumbles so very audibly, swiping a hand at the bubble. It sort of spaces out like a disturbed cloud in the sky, but easily begins to come back together despite his effort.]



[Well look at that, sass from both the glitch and Max all in one.]

It's nothing.

[Squashed that topic, sure did.]

[noprophecies]

[oh, that's interesting - when the cloud reforms she reaches out to try and bat it away as well, making a soft sound of surprise when her hand passes through it]

How strange -

Well it certainly does not look like nothing, dear.

[theroadwarrior]

[He is so very unhappy, glowering up as best he can at the bubble — it eludes his line of sight most of the time, so hell if he ever knows when it's there.]

A glitch, then.

[Is it just him, or do they single him out a lot for these goddamn glitches?]

[noprophecies]

[she can't blame the bubble for avoiding that grumpy face]

Yes, I guessed as much. What is it with you and glitches?

nine. lizard food | Planetside

[theroadwarrior]

[On the outskirts of the town, where the structures end and the desert begins, Max stares out over the infinite space.

And that thought bubble pops up.

... Yeah, that's about all there is to it.

Mumble zebra grumble stripes grumble.]