they live inside us

[thememening]

FIGHTING YOUR INNER DEMONS

Everybody has them. Some are louder than others. Some are stronger. Some are overwhelming, and sooner or later you just give up fighting. But there are other people around you who want to help you - maybe they're suffering too, either because of your inner monster or their own. Or maybe they're one of the lucky ones with demons that don't howl so much.

You can help each other. It's better than the alternative.

• Leave top levels with your character name and info.
  
• Specify what you're running from, or if you're running at all, or if you just want to help.
  
• Details may be useful, but are certainly not necessary.
  
• Tag around for great drama and profit.

Warning: responses to this meme could potentially contain triggering material.

Comments

[scales_and_silence]

"Hey- there's nothing wrong with your personality," he assures him. He also straightens an imaginary tie in an exagerated gesture of personal pride.

"Besides. Doctor Preston doesn't do one-night stands. I'm going have to come back here at least a few more times. People aren't going to try anything if they think you have a boyfriend, will they? I don't want to put your safety at risk for the sake of my cover." Alex starts to look around the bar, as if violent homophobia were something he could spot with the naked eye.

"Is your friend who reminds me way too much of my baby sister going to tell anyone, do you think?"

[motherfudging]

Self-deprecating humor is a handy refuge when it tends to agree with everyone else's assessment of you. Pretty much no one bothers to contradict him anymore, but it doesn't really break his stride. "It's probably not gonna be a thing? Like, non-zero chance of issues. Nicole and Waves sometimes get--oh, they're some more of the merry band of crazy, I'll point them out if they walk by--get some shit, but mostly people have bigger things to worry about." When you might get eaten by a vampire at any time, your neighbors' tastes in romance aren't that important. Even the locals who persist in pretending everything is normal generally have to work hard on denial. Then again, both halves of Wayhaught are much tougher than he is.

"Wynonna, though? Anywhere from no one to every person she knows, depends on the mood." And the quality and quantity of alcohol. "Though there's like five people who'll talk to her." You'd think they'd get over themselves already, but there's still a powerful strain of anti-Wynonna sentiment. Though there are times he kind of gets it.

[scales_and_silence]

He gives Jeremy what he hoped was an encouraging look. "Hopefully your reputation will survive dating 'me,'" he says.

"And if you're willing to help me with a little field work when I'm in the area, it'll explain why we're going on camping trips."

[motherfudging]

It's nice to be estimated capable of field work. It improves his mood a bit. At least if the cover story is horrifically embarrassing he'll get to do some cool stuff, and try not to faceplant or get kidnapped or break stuff. "Okay, but, full disclosure, I'm allergic to everything."

[scales_and_silence]

"I have benydryl and epi-pens in my go bag, next to the ammunition," he says. "Not that I think I'll be needing the latter for frickens, but I did read what you sent me about your- ah. Local infestation?" The entirely different use for the word "revenant" still throws him a little, Grandpa Baker taken in to consideration and all. Different kind of dead people.

And then, kind of as an after-thought, as his brain goes back into Nerd Mode, "Huh... I wonder if any of their powers are having any local ecological impact. What's your water quality like?" Hmm. His father had mentioned a unicorn foal they needed to relocate- and there's a ravine a bit north of the Triangle just about inaccessible to humans on foot.

[motherfudging]

"Um." Jeremy has never gotten in the habit of putting down roots. Too much of his life has been spent going and doing whatever Black Badge (and preferably Dolls) suggested. And usually not leaving wherever it was aside from some odd-hours grocery runs. So for all his germophobic fussbudgetry, he doesn't usually check on stuff like that. He just drinks Monster anyway. "Hold on..." And a bit of poking around on his phone. "Nothing sticks out. You'd guess, like, kinda pristine with the mountains and junk, but... Okay, it's kinda hard to do much of a local search in Purgatory." He's mostly getting mysterious bodies in reservoirs and not a lot else, the unhelpful combination of small town dullness and the crazy bullshit that masks normal stuff. Though maybe he'll mention that reservoir thing to Wynonna in case it's a specific revenant she hasn't shot already and not just an incidental side effect of all the murder.

"Honestly? Their powers are super inconsistent. Besides being re-alive all the time and super evil, I mean. We get everything from your standard superpower set to cuper creepy horror movie junk to just being kind of a jerk."

[scales_and_silence]

"The magic, dimensional-shifting half of things really isn't my wheelhouse- that's more Grandma Alice's deal," Alex admits. "I guess, aside from the mice, I'm really only useful to you here if you've got an overpopulation of angler tortoises or something. Which I don't think is likely, but I haven't really had a chance to see much outside of town yet. You do have screaming yams though, that was a pleasant surprise. I didn't realize any had ever managed to migrate this far north."

[motherfudging]

Like most people who hear the phrase "Grandma Alice" he can't help picturing a nice old lady knitting things and is impressed that she's keeping her hand in the mysterious preternatural. "That's neat. I, uh, I'll be honest? Not a lot of basic studies around here. Something about all the homicidal cowboy monsters just eats up all my lab time."

[scales_and_silence]

"That's... pretty understandable," Alex admits. "If there's anything I can do to help while I'm here- I did bring everything I'd need in the field. I may not be as good with the asskicking as my sisters, but I am still a Price."

He says "Price" pretty similarly to the way Wynonna says "Earp." There may not be a literal curse on his bloodline (that they know of, yet), but it's still a name that comes with baggage- and often that baggage is trying its very best to kill, eat or sacrifice you to a giant snake.

"...Uh. Though, maybe you tell your friend carrying-" Alex stops to count the guns the cowboy pretending not to size him up has on him. Two visible, and probably one in and ankle holster. "At least three guns in easy reach that I'm not here to eat your face or steal you back away to a vague yet threatening inter-government agency. Pretty sure he can tell I'm armed and is trying to decide if I'm a threat."

[motherfudging]

Jeremy turns to look just in case he's wrong about who Alex means. Cowboy with many guns is a pretty common description to meet in these parts, and sometimes applies to some of the cannier bad guys. Just healthy paranoia born of a certain lifestyle.

But, as seemed about 95% likely, his first guess is right. "Oh, that's just Doc." He has a dopey little smile as he says it. He's better than he was. Not over it, exactly, but resigned to a regrettable reality where the object of his stupid affections is disgustingly heterosexual, taken in a complex way, and both out of his league and terrible for everyone. "He does that to everybody. To a thirteen year old taking her little sister cookie selling, once. Turned out she was carrying, but only for an archery badge. Which is probably a good skill to have around here."

Part of Jeremy's resignation, combined with his special relationship with self esteem, doesn't allow for the possibility that Doc actually would be protective of him.

[scales_and_silence]

Alex and his siblings had never been allowed to take part in something so organized and official as scouting organizations, but still, the image of two young girls selling cookies while carrying a hunting bow does make him picture younger versions of Verity and Antimony. Verity was better at hiding her weapons, though. The sheer number of knives she could fit under those dance costumes Alex hated seeing her in was terrifyingly impressive.

"No, that's definitely a Worried Friend glare. I'd go for the hand-hold again, but I think he might just think I'm trying to seduce you into evil. Which is a little funny- I mean, my family seduces people out of evil organizations. At this point I think we can call that a tradition. Not one I'm particularly good at, admittedly," he rambles a little, reflecting on his early awkward stages with Shelby. And every other person he's ever seriously dated. All like... two of them.

[motherfudging]

Yeah, can we not do the hand hold, he doesn't say, because it's a good cover story and he's being a good sport about it. How much talking are Wynonna and Doc doing lately, come to think. It seems to vary pretty widely. If it's a talking period of their relationship, no way she doesn't share all her gossip. Great.

"I mean, seducing for the forces of good is a pretty neat power." Still a little stiff. He tries to make himself relax, which is, as always, a contradiction in terms. "But it seems like it might have limited applications? Whereas good data husbandry is always a plus." And that is why Jeremy only has fake dates.

[scales_and_silence]

Alex smiles sheepishly at that. "I'm the God of Scales and Silence for a reason," he says, though his audible pronunciation of capital letters is nowhere near as good as the Mice's. "The most social I ever got in college was a historical re-enactment society- and even that was for family business reasons," he shares. "I was not seducing anyone in those tights, believe me. Pretty sure my sisters still have pictures for blackmail purposes."

[motherfudging]

Jeremy considers a few responses and rejects them all in a display of tactful maturity. He settles on, "I mean, tights and leggings were standard menswear in, like, a lot of times and places." Scientific specificity at work there. He's mostly a biochemist, don't call him out on the history of fashion. "Logically there had to be some seducing or there'd be a lot less humans around."

[scales_and_silence]

"True. I'm sure the secret is confidence- which... not really something I've ever excelled at," he says, adjusting his glasses in a way that makes picturing a younger, lankier Alex in SCA garb a hell of a lot easier.

"My sisters got the confidence genes. I- ah. Well, I'm lucky I got through my first thesis defense without throwing up. Or without anyone falling asleep- I did have one committee member take a phone call, though. Not the most shining moment of my academic career," he admits, and for the sake of the eyes on them adjusts his posture so he's leaning a little closer, with enough perfectly natural awkwardness to sell the idea of a first date. Because he can still feel Doc's eyes on him.

"I should probably give your friend a chance to threaten me formally, shouldn't I?" he asks. "He seems like he might be the type to appreciate that sort of gesture."

[motherfudging]

"I just imagined everyone was puppies. I tried the pretending they're in their underwear trick but honestly, more nervous?" Bantering is part of the cover story. Also fun. And it keeps him from turning to follow Alex's attention. Always easy to look at Doc.

He still has trouble believing Doc has any interest in the proceedings at their table. Even if he has noticed Alex is armed, well, half the town is, and... Okay, no one would trust Jeremy not to be having lunch with a revenant. That might be it. He'll just have to drop that the guy's not from around here, thereby precluding most if not all supernatural natures. "I mean, if you go up to the bar for your next drink he might be kind of growly at you? It's not personal or anything." Just all intimidating and manly. There's that dumb smile again.

[scales_and_silence]

It actually takes that return appearance of the dumb smile for Alex to make the connection. Oh. Oh.

"Well, it definitely won't be the most unpleasant interrogation I've endured," he admits with a half-approving nod towards Jeremy's taste. "I'll go get us a couple more drinks and hopefully not come back with any new holes in me."

He doesn't rush to stand up, and he leaves the tweed jacket where most of his knives are hidden slung over the chair as he ambles up to the bar, pretending not to look at Doc, Wynonna, who may me at least half a sheet to the wind by now, but dammit if she's being left out of whatever this is about to be.

Alex is maybe a little too calm when Doc first leans in, though he makes up for that when Wynonna swoops in for- uh. Badder cop? Drunken hype-man cop? Something Alex says seems to confuse her and prompt Doc cutting her off. The exchange lasts a little longer than it takes to get their drinks, and the ice is a touch melted in Jeremy's by the time he gets back to the table.

"Well," he says, putting his drink down. "I did have to explain what a herpetologist was before anyone made any assumptions about- you know-" he knows very well what laypeople hear in the name of his field of study.

"I'm also going to be fed to my own alligators if I break your heart. That was sweet of them, in a very my-family way of showing affection. And I made enough X-Men references to convince them we had more than the science in common."

sorry for late, am super busy

[motherfudging]

Don't encourage Jeremy's taste. It's terrible. He does have the sense not to stare, instead taking the simple precaution of pulling out his phone, turning down the brightness, and switching to camera. Doc wouldn't spot the maneuver, and Wynonna might, but not in her current state. He gets a pretty good view of the interaction, admittedly shrunk down and a little out of focus in the dim bar light. Not... too bad.

He's about to ask what herpetology could possibly mean besides what it does (because Jeremy), but the threat seems more noteworthy. "I, uh, do you have personal alli--nevermind. I mean, they like threatening people, but... huh." Apparently the hope he hadn't given up that he could get away with playing unsuccessful first date about this is going to be frustrated if they're talking alligators. "Doc probably hasn't heard of the X-men before now, but still, good move."

it's cool, I'm always good for backtags

[scales_and_silence]

"I've been picking up my cousin's pull list for months now. I can speak Marvel pretty fluently as a result," Alex admits "it actually took me a second not to go into the secondary, post Rogers super-soldier experiments when I made that reference earlier," he adds a little sheepishly. Sure, everyone knows Steve Rogers- but once you get in to USAgent and Isiah Bradley, you're in Deep Nerd Country.

He'd been reading the books with Sarah, helping her when her still-recovering brain would start "making the letters dance," as she'd put it. They'd never held his attention as well as a science textbook before, but it was helping his cousin, so he was happy to do it, be it reading, or just listening to her process the plotlines.

"But I think they're pretty sure I'm not a demon. If you need to out me as a 'secret monster hunter' if they're suspicious, I'm alright with that much getting around. Just don't mention the family." He grins when he adds, "I'll trust you to imagine a suitably badass backstory for me. Less Batman, more Indiana Jones. Without the colonialism or baseless hatred of snakes, obviously."

He has media he geeks out about too. In private. Shelby did get him the hat, though.