fluxnet | 06/24 - early afternoon: text

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06/24 - early afternoon: text

[ She is absolutely not getting on video for this. For a variety of reasons. She's tired. A bit terrified. All of this is vastly familiar and she hates it.

But she knows a thing or two about it, so she's going to warn the town. ]

A couple years ago, I found myself in the wrong dimension. There was this guy who was so desperate to see his dead wife and son again, that he had people build a machine that punched holes through the multiverse and I happened to fall through one.

While I was in the wrong universe, my cells and molecules were fighting to get back home. I wasn't the only displaced person in the wrong universe, we were all going through the same thing. We called it glitching.

It kind of feels like suddenly every molecule in your body is on fire and trying to go an infinite number of directions all at once, and it's a very visible response to being where you shouldn't be. It looks like turning on the television and for a moment, the picture goes wild. Like several shows are trying to air on the same channel. Kind of sounds the same way, too.

I just glitched...three times? Since I woke up this morning? And I'm not the only one. My boyfriend's experiencing the same thing.

Anyone else? Or are Hawk and I the only lucky ones, here?

If we aren't the only ones, please be very careful with what you do today. There's really no way to predict when these are going to happen, and it can get really, really bad.

Like...molecules dying just a bit at a time bad.

The one thing that fixed it was getting back to my own universe, but as none of us even know how we got here in the first place, I don't know what else to tell you.

Stay safe. Stay with a friend in case you get hurt and need help.

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So you said.

Fuck. Company's suggested though? I can come to you if you want. Better than spazzing out on my own couch.

[ Have an address. That’s it. That’s be a yes come over. ]

[ Fortunately he makes it there without glitching. Knocks then tries to let himself in, steps inside if it's unlocked and lingers outside the door if it isn't, bouncing on the balls of his feet while he waits. ]

[ The door is in fact locked, and Johnny’s knocking is answered within a couple minutes by Gwen who is being followed a little too closely by a young black cat and a micro pig. There’s also a German shepherd wearing a service dog vest, standing just at the bottom of the steps leading upstairs.

Gwen has a fairly good sized cut on her forehead above her left eye and Gwen looks pretty pissed off about this whole mess. But she steps back and let’s Johnny in. ]

Hawk is upstairs showering. But hi. Come on in.

[ He's got a few new bruises on top of the old, more faded ones, though he doesn't necessarily seem in a bad mood. Bruises are normal, familiar and almost comforting in a way. He's got no reason to suspect anything else in it, inconvenience and pain, but the first is temporary and the second is practically an old friend. ]

Thanks. Hey. That from whatever's going on?

[ He steps inside, looks around to get the general layout of the place, quietly appraising. ]

[ Gwen has many reasons to be upset. Many. For starters, she’s lost her powers. She feels so very off bu that, too. And one of her abilities was healing just a bit quicker than normal, so this lump and bruise on her head isn’t working for her. So at his question, there’s a sigh and nod. ]

I was getting out of bed to let Nacho out and get some coffee, I glitched. Hit my head on the corner of Hawks desk.

Nacho?

[ Eh, it's as good a name for a dog as any, he guesses. ]

Yeah, concussions are a bitch. At least you're not puking all over the place?

[ And then it hits. Everything splinters, fuzzy and too-sharp at the same time, and he drops, every nerve on fire, the sound of somebody screaming echoing in his head. His own? He's past being able to focus enough to know.

He's seventeen. He'd just lost the All-Valley, the twerpy little punk winning with an illegal kick to his face and it's fine, he's okay with second place, really. It's almost a relief, weirdly, pressure off. Except then Kreese comes out. Gets in his face, accusing, pissed because he lost. He tries to stand up to him, tells him off because screw this, it's just a tournament, the other guy won and he shouldn't have to cheat to win. It wouldn't be worth anything if he knew he hadn't beaten him fairly. But Kreese isn't listening. Throws all his insecurities back at him, his mentor, his father figure, the guy he'd looked up to since he wandered into the dojo, cutting him to ribbons with his words. Tells him he's worthless, weak, and he tries to protest, because he can't lose this, but he breaks his second place trophy, and the next thing he knows Kreese's arm is around his throat. Squeezing, too tight, pushing all the air out of him, and he struggles, fingers digging into his arm, trying to pull him off, tries to escape, to get anything, but his vision greys, panic rising as the rest of the guys shout their protests.

He's going to die. He knows this, knows it in his bones, even as he struggles, last ditch effort, but Kreese is bigger. Stronger. Better in every way. He's nothing, pathetic, worthless; even the guy he looked up to more than anything doesn't want anything to do with him, wants him dead, and something in him breaks.

And then he slumps to the ground, the weight strangling him suddenly gone, everything still grey and dim as he chokes and struggles to remember how breathing works.

And then he wakes up, on the floor. He scoots back, looking around, wary and momentarily disoriented, tries to get his bearings back. ]

[ Gwen can easily testify that, at least this time, people don't glitch at the same time. If only because roughly a few seconds after his starts, hers does, too.

The same feeling of being set on fire. Of being torn apart and put back together.

Of the feeling of drum sticks buzzing as they hit the drum set up before her, music coming from her bandmates and cheers from the small crowd. Of something sharp and painful coming from an unusual-looking spider on her hand and of the feeling of slowly dying for three days after, only to come out the other side so very different. Stronger. Faster. Senses heightened. Friends making costumes and devices to use as she swings through town, saving the day. And the stress of trying to balance that life with her normal teen life of dance classes, time with her brothers and dad. All in rapid flashes, but in the end maybe they'll all make sense..

When that's all over, Gwen's half fallen off the couch, Nacho whining and trying to help her back up onto it. She half-asses patting the dog on the head with a shaky sigh, turning to look at Johnny with some alarm. ]

So uh...there's no real way to ask so...who was that creepy asshole with his arm around your throat? Because that's not my memory but it sure felt like it was?

[ He's still stuck on the spider. The image of her getting bit, and everything getting crazy, and he's still reeling from everything when she speaks. He glances up from his position on the floor, tries to scramble everything back together, and at the question he frowns deeply, hand reflexively moving to his throat where the bruises he had when he first arrived are most of the way healed finally. ]

His name's John Kreese. He was my sensei when I first learned karate. What was with the spider bite?

Genetically altered spider. One bite and my DNA rewrote itself.

[ She remembers that. Not too fondly. But she remembers it. ]

It uh...I got these abilities from it? I could stick to surfaces like walls and ceilings. It made me stronger. Sharpened my senses. It made life interesting.

[ THat's her stalling. She knows the name, if only because Hawk mentioned it a few times, and now that she has a face to put to that name... ]

If he ever shows up in this universe...let me know. Here's hoping my powers come back before then.

Explains why you got so sick. And why you can lug a keg around like it's nothing.

[ It doesn't, exactly, but it's an answer. Makes as much sense as anything else around here, anyway. The rest of it, though, has him shrugging. ]

He's not worth it. He's a piece of shit, but you're better off steering clear. He gets in your head.

Because they are nothing.

[ Gwen replies with a small smirk. She's not exactly a cocky little shit, but it feels nice being able to talk about this. ]

Can I ask you to do me a huge favor? My abilities...not really something I like throwing around for people to know? So...maybe...don't tell anyone? Hawk knows. He found out because I went into the sewers to get his motorbike keys back after school bullies threw them in. And there was this giant...bug monster like the ones in the desert. Kinda got into a fight with it before I got the keys. Hawk caught me crawling in through my bedroom window and onto the ceiling shortly after. I just...I like being able to tell people on my own? But my track record for that is zero for more than I like to think about.

[ He nods agreeably, finally feeling like he's got himself back together enough to get up off the floor, even if he creaks like hell as he does it. He gets up and drops onto the couch like he owns it, although he's careful to give her all the space she could want. ]

Sure. Not a problem. In return, you don't tell anybody my sensei tried to kill me when I was a kid.

...he's getting bullied here?

Not anymore. He handled it. Now they avoid him.

[ That is a very, very polite way of saying it got violent. She's leaving out the part where he didn't like himself too much after. ]

When he first arrived, this town was different. It was a mountain village. Snowed in and plagued by these monsters called the Unseen. I was captured by one and turned into an ice statue. Hawk, before we even met, kept me safe from these assholes who wanted to destroy my statue. They don't like me because I don't let them pick on people. They don't like him because he stopped them from getting revenge.

But, now they avoid the both of us. And, I won't tell anyone. I promise.

[ He listens critically, attention trained on her as she speaks, taking it all in. It's good to hear the kid found his way back, that he was able to get past all the damage Kreese had done. Maybe Johnny starting Cobra Kai up again hadn't been a complete loss. ]

Good. He's a good kid, glad he figured it out. So what's an Unseen?

Yeah, he's the best.

[ Gwen is so very much so in love with Hawk. That much is so obvious with the way she smiles. Her fingers run over the tattoo of a compass over her arm almost unconsciously, the end of the needle of the compass a very detailed feather. For reasons she'll talk about another time, that tattoo is for him.

The question gets her nose to wrinkle and she brings her legs up under her chin. It's not a 'scared' posture. She's getting comfortable. ]

Monsters. Ether Beasts, I think they were called. They kind of didn't belong in that universe. They were called the Unseen because they were only visible and tangible when they were attacking. They left some interesting scars.

[ Gwen tilts her head a bit and, sure enough, there are bright blue scars on her neck and shoulder. Claw marks. Something big went for her, something she barely got away from. It absolutely is scar tissue with the way it pulls just a bit. ]

Do you want anything to drink? There's no alcohol in the fridge, but there are sodas.

[ He frowns at the outline of things, nods when it's appropriate, grimaces at the scars. He notices the tattoo too, but there's no significance he can see past thr fact it's clearly important. ]

Well shit. Uh. Sure, soda's fine.

[ Gwen stands and starts towards the fridge, glancing over at the German Shepherd with the Service Dog vest. The dog isn't really paying attention to her, which Gwen takes that as a good sign. If he isn't following her or getting upset, she's not going to glitch. She hopes. ]

Coke or Pepsi?

[ Gwen's going to grab a Pepsi for herself, and root around for a big bag of plain potato chips. ]

Coke, I guess?

[ He watches the dog while she's gone, offering it a friendly smile whole keeping his hands to himself, because he at least knows what the vest means. It's working, leave it alone. ]

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06/24 - early afternoon: text

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