[center][color=8b0000][h1][b]V A L O R[/b][/h1]
M O N - E L ,  M I K E  M A T H E W S[/color]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/SPVLljs.png[/img]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/Yvh2e85l.jpg[/img][/center]
[sub][hr][/sub][COLOR=#f69a05][indent][sub][B]Location:[/B] [COLOR=#bbbbbb][i]Amnesia, Jump City - Present Day[/I][/COLOR][/sub][sup][right][b]Familiar #1.06:[/b] [COLOR=#bbbbbb][I]Formula[/I][/COLOR][/right][/sup][/indent][/color][sub][hr][/sub][INDENT][color=f69a05][sub][B]Interaction(s):[/B] [COLOR=#bbbbbb][I]None[/I][/COLOR][/sub][SUP][RIGHT][b]Previously:[/b] [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/4903527][COLOR=#bbbbbb][I]Familiar #1.05: Cortex[/I][/COLOR][/url][/right][/SUP][/color][/indent]
[indent][indent][color=silver]The bright glimmer of Rao's light, the hum of a humidifier. [color=FFF8B5][i]"Wake up Mon-El, your lessons are due today."[/i][/color] Holograms, keypads, crystal encoders and math equations.

An insistent metallic ringing, and star shadows on the floor. [color=FFF8B5][i]"Wake up Mon-El, the reveille is sounding."[/i][/color] Footsteps in sync, dark shapes, reaching hands, copper in the air.

Laughter, tender touches, secret lamplight whispers. [color=FFF8B5][i]"Wake up Mon-El, your mother is coming."[/i][/color] Running, climbing, falling - [color=AD4C4C][i]she is no one, do not touch her![/i][/color]

Masks in white, a secret sign in cold metal, the manipulations unheard, and the treason unseen. [color=FFF8B5][i]"Wake up Mon-El, the sky is falling and the world is burning."[/i][/color] Sinister green shards, dust clouding and choking, a light has vanished in the dark.

A soft touch, labored breathing, fear twisting in knots. [color=FFF8B5][i]"Wake up Mon-El, you are dreaming.[/i][/color] Tubes and tentacles, a beating golden heart.

Mon-El shot up, scooting away from Reep's concerned gaze and tumbling off the other side of the cot. [color=AD4C4C]"Holy fucking [i]sprock![/i]"[/color] As reality crashed down his sight returned to normal. He could no longer see the alien beneath the facade, instead he focused on a daxa- no, a human face, freckled with dark curly hair. Reese. Reep - whatever, same thing.

[color=CEDB89]"Uh, you okay there Mon-El?"[/color] Reese asked unsurely, peering over the side of the cot where Mon-El lay with a stricken expression, breathing hard. He very obviously wasn't okay.

[color=AD4C4C]"Yeah,"[/color] he said, voice strangled even to his own ears. [color=AD4C4C]"Just- uh, just a dream."[/color]

Reese made a considering noise, [color=CEDB89]"Mm, yeah, I could tell. Your mom sounds like a bitch."[/color] An observation, that quite effectively rendered Mon-El silent, quickly gaining control of his breathing when he held his breath and gave Reese a startled look. [color=CEDB89]"What? You talk in your sleep."[/color] Rolling his eyes carelessly, Reese threw a shirt at him. [color=CEDB89]"Come on, get up! It's opening day!"[/color]

Oh. Right.

With a sigh Mon-El took the shirt and headed towards the washroom. Today he needed to look his best, but he also needed to be on time or Q would kill him.

[color=AD4C4C]"Oh, Worm, I've got x-ray vision, mark that off. Ugh, I did not need to be [i]that[/i] intimately acquainted with Durlan anatomy."[/color] He withheld a shudder, thinking of the squishy organs Reese hid under his skin.

Oddly, Worm's response was sarcastic; [color=FFF8B5][i]"Of course, my prince, whatever you say."[/i][/color]

Scrunching up his brow in confusion as he flipped the shower handle on, [color=AD4C4C]"What is [i]that[/i] supposed to mean?"[/color] He was less surprised and more annoyed when the AI ignored him. [color=AD4C4C]"Worm? What does that mean?!"[/color]

[center]-_-_-_-[/center]

If only his parents could see him now; the Crown Prince of Mighty Daxam, working as a bartender in a grungy illegal alien pub... and honestly? He'd never been happier.

As it turns out, Brin was more than just a little well connected, he knew over a dozen aliens just in Jump City, and he'd managed to convince all of them to turn up for opening night. Even the Karnan woman Fen and her daughter Laura, who was underage and wouldn't be drinking, had come, unable to miss what promised to be the start of something important to all of them. Mon-El never got tired of the looks of awed relief when someone entered through the door and didn't earn a second glance for their inhuman appearance, nor their excited joy at asking for a drink from their homeworld and actually getting it.

He'd been away from Daxam barely two weeks and he already missed listening to his people's music and speaking their language, he couldn't imagine how homesick he'd be if he had to go that long without a single swig of zakkarian ale! 

[color=AD4C4C]"She's doing it again."[/color] Mon-El cheerfully informed Brin as he came around the counter with a tray full of empty drinks. The two of them glanced over at the far table where Q sat with a trio of blue aliens, notepad in hand and speedily jotting down notes as they spoke.

Since opening Q had been simplemindedly focused on scoping out the sort of danger and discrimination their new patrons faced, and Mon-El couldn't lie; the more he heard, the more convinced he became that Q's argument was just. Between the four of them they all had unique powers they could easily use to crack down on crime and stop others from getting hurt, and the aliens of Jump City needed that protection desperately.

[color=D0B783]"She's won you over hasn't she?"[/color] Brin asked, sounding simultaneously amused and resigned. Mon-El only shrugged. With a sigh, Brin nodded. [color=D0B783]"Well I guess that's it then. Better get some spandex [i]Valor[/i], you're going to need it."[/color]

Mon-El rolled his eyes, catching Brin give Q a subtle nod out of the corner of his eye. he looked just in time to catch the blinding smile she sent his way, determined glint in her eye. Bartender, vigilante, alien, prince... his life was getting more complicated by the day.

At least Amnesia had turned out nice.[/color][/indent][/indent]