[Event] Calibrations Waiting Room Mingle

[trpmods]

WHO: ALL HE ROWS PRESENT
WHERE: Calibrations Area
WHAT: Mingle log for literally anything you'd like to take place in the waiting room between sleep cycles during the event
WHEN: May 9th to June 10th
WARNINGS: Please mark individual threads with warnings
NOTES: If you have any questions, please go Here

For those who followed the visions there is little more to do before and after the dreaming times but wait. At least there is some modicum of comfort offered to those who have found themselves trapped here. From the moment one steps through the door there is no going back, the doors people entered through sealed beyond any hope of opening. And by some twist of fate (or design), it's not possible to be by the door when another He Row arrives, something always calls any waiting away, until at last the door doesn't open anymore.

Some might find the area familiar, having haunted these halls before. Upon entry one walks down a large hallway before it opens into an even larger waiting room with chairs, tables, and the same food dispensers available in the shuttles, save that it lacks any Red Fruit Drink. It's a shame, actually, the alcohol might help you get through things, and since there was no warning this time, the dispensers are the only source of food available. But at least there is enough for everyone. Yay!

There are also communal bathrooms - one men and one for women though nothing would stop a person from using whichever they desire - with several toilet stalls and shower stalls in each, including basic shampoo and soap dispensers. All of the dispensers put out a liquid that smells like Italian dressing for some reason. The water in the showers is only ever cold or scalding, with nothing in between. Pick your poison.

Branching off the main waiting room are hallways that lead to the bedrooms. Each one has a name on it but there is nothing requiring you to use that one. Anyone can enter any room or share with someone else. Each room has a simple bed (approximately queen-sized) and a set of drawers. There is one white jumpsuit in your size in the drawer and a pair of canvas shoes. You can wear them or ignore them as you like.

Some power out there seems to have pity on the heroes too, accounting for the possible boredom that comes with the downtime. While no one may have been able to bring things in with them even if they had them in hand upon approaching, a need for entertainment for those long hours between dreams has been realized. A set of shelves can be found in the waiting room, covered in various boxes and containers. Each is labeled with brightly colored pictures of people seeming to have fun with a game, and the boxes clearly represent all sorts of species, even those that have never been present on Temba to your knowledge.

The complication is that none of the games are written in any language anyone knows, and even the Communications datapoint seems unable to translate. Good news, all the games seem to have all of their pieces, even the single large puzzle that is both solid gray and yet causes a headache when looking at it for more than ten seconds (damn those alternate light spectrum puzzles). Perhaps people can figure out the rules on their own, or make their own games from the pieces. There’s even paper and some sort of pen that only writes on that paper specifically, so maybe some pictionary? Or, if you’re really desperate and okay with fights breaking out, there seems to be a full set of Monopoly Longest Game Ever. Okay, so on second thought, maybe that power out there doesn’t have pity, but is malicious and wants to show you that people truly are driven to strife.

You can opt to spend time in your room or in the larger, common waiting room. But about every 16 hours, all people suddenly feel a compulsion to sleep. Once this starts, you can’t fight it off. You find yourself going into your room for bed or wherever else you feel like you’d prefer to sleep. And then, inevitably, you close your eyes and dream.

Comments

[heeeyadora]

...That...isn't how that was supposed to go.

Catra blinks, growing still, and a little small, feeling a wash of shame and then reflexive anger, because she doesn't do sorry.

She was just trying to have fun!

She was just-

Her ears droop, and Catra hesitantly tries to make herself say those words when Tommy snaps at her, and she instantly gets defensive.

"It's not a big deal. What's your problem?"

[doubled_speed]

"The person that literally decided to fuck up my meal is my problem," he snaps, but he's not angry at her. Not really. It's just... hard to explain why he is angry. It's just so fucking hard. He didn't know what to do.

This was a mess. The worst sort of being the worst.

"I'm sorry. I... I'm sorry."

[heeeyadora]

And now he's apologizing???

Catra's shoulders slouch, and she shifts uncomfortably, slinking off of the chair she's jumped to and crossing the floor to silently and awkwardly pick up the bowl. She's overly stiff, cheeks flush as she sets it pointedly on the table, still not able to make herself say it, instead grumbling, "...Don't be stupid," at his apology.

She'd pushed his food. He doesn't need to say sorry.

[doubled_speed]

He needed to say sorry for upsetting her. It wasn't her fault that he fucked so much shit up. Tommy sighs.

"I'm having a shit day. It's not your fault."

[heeeyadora]

"What, you're not enjoying being locked up with nothing to do?"

Maybe sarcasm isn't the best route to take here. She sighs as well and leans against the table. "...I shouldn't have messed with your food." There. Almost an apology.

"Want me to help you get cleaned up?"

[doubled_speed]

"It's not here. Here sucks a ton. It's miserable. But..."

But it wasn't just that and his face says that. But he isn't saying it.

"Yeah, cleaning up works."

[heeeyadora]

Cleaning up works. And cleaning up gets them out of everyone else's sight, which Catra's knows is what she wants when she's frustrated to the point of tears.

They walk in silence to the bathrooms. Catra doesn't seem to care about surprising anyone in the men's, and she goes to wet a towel.

"...we don't have to talk about it," she mutters, conflicted between wanting to distance herself from anything to do with feelings, and a sense that she very much understood what Tommy was feeling...and as much as she would have denied it then, she would have given anything for some sort of comfort.

[doubled_speed]

Dammit that's a fucking approach, one that sort of works. But he has to decide what he's going to say.

"That asshole, Beck? He knows something I don't want people knowing. And he didn't even have to come here to know it. And now everyone can. I fucking hate it. My history should be my business alone."

[heeeyadora]

"Mm." Catra's ears swivel, and she gives a hum of agreement. It should be. No one has any right to any of that, and there's a reflection of that same...fear, shame and worry she's been carrying in Tommy's eyes.

"If it's going to get out one way or another anyway, you should stick it to both of them and tell before they can," she offers.

[doubled_speed]

What? Tommy looks horrified at that idea. How could she even suggest that?

"Yeah, but he could NOT tell. And the dreams could not tell. Doesn't that matter?"

[heeeyadora]

"Yeah, they might not. But you're always gonna be worried about it. It's always going to be hanging over you. Why give them that power?" There's a bitterness to her voice, and a faint flush as she offers up the wet towel. It's easy enough to say, but Catra's not sure she could follow her own advice, and she hates it.

"They don't deserve to hold it over you."

[doubled_speed]

She doesn't get it, how could she? Of course Tommy doesn't know that there are some clues along the way. The nervousness over food, the flinching when something broke or went wrong, the pure frustration of being powerless.

They aren't perfect, but they're a starting point.

"It doesn't matter. No one would believe him anyway," Tommy points out. Who could believe the father of a super hero hit him?

[heeeyadora]

Catra gives him a doubtful look, not exactly known for her tact, and she shrugs.

"If you really believed that you wouldn't be so freaked out right now," she countered plainly, leaning against the wall, her tail swishing slowly.

[doubled_speed]

"Yeah, well maybe I don't want the fucking world knowing my dad smacked me around, okay?" he snaps, anger bringing far too much volume to his voice. That was... going to be a problem.

[heeeyadora]

Catra looks surprisingly unphased, apart from the yelling, blinking as though to ask what the big deal was. It didn't make him special or anything.

She breaths out a dismissive huff, despite knowing the hurt intimately. "Yeah, so?" she mutters, adopting the same sort of distancing technique Tommy often does. No big deal.

[doubled_speed]

Of course it's a big deal. He looks... Bothered by that, by her dismissal.

"I don't want their fucking pity."

[heeeyadora]

"So don't let them," she says firmly, as though it's that simple.
"If anyone tries you show them you don't need it."

[doubled_speed]

Except he does. He needs to be told it's not his fault. That he didn't do anything wrong.

"What the fuck do you even know about it?"

[heeeyadora]

"..." She gives him a hard look, ears pressed down flat and low, tail giving a slow swish, though she doesn't seem to want to say it out loud.

"...Whatever," she mutters angrily, turning to try and escape the conversation, very much like a certain speedster when he's feeling uncomfortable.

[doubled_speed]

He knows that reaction. He knows that look. Sees it in the mirror sometimes.

"You know."

[heeeyadora]

"...Yeah," she admits finally, barking the word out like it's a challenge. After all, she has to live up to all that bravado she was just spilling about not carrying.

"It doesn't matter now." She's stronger. She's smarter. She won't let herself get hurt again...

[doubled_speed]

As if being stronger, smarter, older magically made it better. Sure hadn't for Tommy.

"If it doesn't matter, why does it still fucking freak us out for people to know?"

*TW/CW- Child Abuse talk. Probably should have put this sooner*

[heeeyadora]

It didn't. But pretending it did made it easier. Sometimes. Not really.

She frowns, crossing her arms and huffing out a sigh. "...Because. It's...embarrassing."

That's not the right word at all, but she can't properly describe the feeling. The shame. They have to guard their hurt. Hide their feelings. Feelings are weakness, and weakness is exploited, so you grow hard, and sarcastic, and pretend like no one can hurt you anymore so long as you don't care.

*TW/CW- Child Abuse talk. Probably should have put this sooner*

[doubled_speed]

"No," Tommy says, frowning, because he doesn't think it's that. "It's... shame?"

Yeah. He feels ashamed of it, of how it happened. How he allowed it. Like he had the power, as a child, to not allowed it. AS if it was that easy.

"Shit, this place likes the people who are messed up, doesn't it?

[heeeyadora]

Shame.

Shame is closer. She gives a faint nod of agreement, and then snorts at Tommy's next words.

"You just realizing that now?"