Who: Mantis
Broadcast: Yes
Action: Bishop
When: Today
A. Bishop (action)
[The sun is long since arisen when Mantis finally crawls out of bed. Some days, he doesn't sleep. Other days, he embraces a few hours under his quilt. Today, he is up at the crack of noon. This normally quiet and ordinary occurrence soon isn't.
First comes the loud, high-pitched gasp followed by a scramble of legs and arms as he dashes his way out of the bunk he calls his own. If you're in the bathroom area, you might catch the sight of a small figure topped with bright fire red hair running up to one of the mirrors. The boy practically leaps up onto the sink and grows rigid when he takes in his appearance.
He screams. Ear-piercing and expressive of a wealth of shock and a surge of childhood memories. The boy slips off the sink and lands in a heap on the floor with all the grace of a sack of potatoes. It takes a minute before he stirs again. When he does, it starts with a groan that is quickly followed by him curling up on himself and sobbing ever so quietly.
You
can try and hug him, but it would be ill-advised.]
B. Bishop (Broadcast / Text)
[Life has many band-aids. Some are made of medical gauze and adhesive. Some are made of the many cousins of ethanol. In this case, it's made of a mug filled with hot chocolate topped with miniature marshmallows. Mantis has his mask lifted out of the way of his mouth as the feed comes on. He breathes deeply and speaks with an almost whispering voice marked with a Russian accent.]
These...glitches. How long do they last?
C. Yadrolla (action)
[When life's little habits get you down, go out on the town. Or at least, that's what Mantis thought to himself when he decided he needed clothes that were less straitjacket and more fit for human life. He managed to get some new clothes before wandering over to a park in the verdant city. Trees were calm. Parks were calm. Brightbirds fans were not calm, but he was drawn to the intense board game tournament that seemed to have sprung up.
You'll find the pale red-head sitting at a table for
connect four players. A couple of older fans were watching with intense interest as he stared down his opponent as they placed another piece. This staring match is broken only long enough for the boy to carefully decide where to put his last piece, letting it linger over the slot as realization comes over all the grown ups surrounding him. When he lets it go, there's a loud cheer and the adult sitting across from him forks over not an entirely small pile of money to the boy.
As the grown ups discuss how good he is at the game, the boy stands up and stretches. There's a world of difference between how he looked at ten than he did at thirty, but some things never change.]