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[indent][sub][color=21ABFF][B]Location:[/B][/color] [COLOR=white][I]Washinton D.C.[/I][/color][/sub][sup][right][color=D32500][b]Till Death – 1.02[/b][/color][/right][/sup][sub][hr][/sub][/indent][INDENT][sub][color=D32500][B]Interaction(s):[/B][/color] [color=white][I]None[/I][/color][/sub][SUP][RIGHT][color=21ABFF][b]Previously:[/b][/color] [COLOR=white][I][url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/5093679]1.01[/url][/I][/COLOR][/right][/SUP][/INDENT]
[indent]A overcast clouds releasing a slight mist kept the setting sun well out of sight, the slick roads reflecting only lamplight in the early evening. The slap of shoes against damp pavement accompanied Don’s steps as he went to the door of Perry’s Diner. Wiping his feet on the mat he stepped inside, the sickly scent of cooking meats and fried foods filling him with a guilty appetite. Just as he wondered if he’d arrived first or not, he heard a despondent waiter pleading with his date. “Ma’am, please put away the cigarette.”

[color=D32500]“I wasn’t going to smoke them!”[/color] the seated woman insisted, a black coat over her pharmacy clothes, fresh off of work. An opened, red pack of cigarettes sat on the table next to a glass of water, one of them being rolled in her fingers despite her insistence otherwise. Swooping in, Don snatched the one out of her hand and slid the pack on the table away from her. [color=21ABFF]“Excuse us.”[/color] he muttered, taking a seat across from her in the booth. Eyes, narrowed, Holly insisted, [color=D32500]“I wasn’t! I don’t have a lighter!”[/color]

Putting the loose cigarette back before sliding the pack aside, Don murmured, [color=21ABFF]“Why do you have cigarettes and no lighter?”[/color]Holly pulled back, one finger running along the edge of the table, like a scolded child. [color=D32500]“I only just bought them, I’m supposed to quit.”[/color] Don’s mouth tightened to form a thin line. [color=21ABFF]“I’ll treat you for dinner then, because you’re not getting them back.”[/color] Slipping them into the pocket of his light blue coat, he took it off and left it on the seat, before nabbing one of the menus left upright in a wire holder.

Taking up a menu herself, Holly hissed, [color=D32500]“Tell me you wouldn’t need a smoke after that little acid trip.”[/color] Don winced, looking around carefully. The waiter had left them to decide their order, and the place was rather quiet at this hour, the only other guests well on the other side of the diner. The appliances of the open kitchen and fans made a baseline noise level that would keep them from being overheard, but Don was still wary. [color=21ABFF]“Look, I don’t know what I’d call that but lets not bring drugs into it.”[/color] Squinting at his menu, he said, [color=21ABFF]“Anyway, you’re looking...well.”[/color]

Holly snorted. [color=D32500]“Oh, you definitely need glasses. I know I got fat, don’t try to smooth talk me. I swear, the next person who calls me ‘young lady’ is going to get my fist down their throat. And you’ve had better days too, while we’re at it. God I forgot what a tight ass you had, not [i]that[/i] saggy thing.”[/color]

[color=21ABFF]““It does not sag! And don’t make me talk about this in public!”[/color] Holly just cackled. Rubbing his brow, Don didn’t know if he could handle this woman.

The two went quiet as they decided, the waiter coming back around to give them drinks and taking their orders. One they had their orders on the way, two glasses of iced tea in between them, Holly’s with no ice, they were finally free to talk. Holly cracked open a few packs of sugar, beginning, [color=D32500]“So, some aliens want us to put on costumes and fight bank robbers from the sounds of it.”[/color]

Don sighed. [color=21ABFF]“I’m not up and up on this superhero stuff at all, there’s so many of them. And I don’t even understand...how. They took us to space and then put us back? If they can do that, why not just take all the bad guys and throw them into a black hole...”[/color]

Holly snapped, [color=D32500]“Oh get off yourself. ‘Bad guys’? Who do you think you are? Look, I don’t know what some Lords of chaos and order want with Earth, but if they chose [i]us[/i] of all people to fight, then do you really want them making other choices for us?”[/color] Stirring her tea, four empty packets of sugar bunched up on the table, she took a sip through a straw as apprehension crossed Don’s face. [color=21ABFF]“No, I guess not.”[/color]

Holly continued, [color=D32500]“Anyway, I didn’t get taken anywhere. Or, well, I remember it, but I was still at where I left from, if that makes any sense. My coworkers who found me said I’d just zoned out. When we got sent back, they were all around me, trying to figure out if something was wrong. So it’s like, our minds are the ones who become heroes, but not us, really.”[/color]

Don’s brow furrowed. So their minds were taken away from their bodies? At first it left an unsettling feeling, but on further through he realized that it kept their actual bodies out of harms way, though who knew what would happen to them if they got hurt. Even if they could fight without being in danger, where would they even begin? Trouble didn’t just happen every day, how were they supposed to find out about it? Just watch the news all day? Hell, Don didn’t even know how to do it. He was stuck in place, only uncertainty ahead.

[color=21ABFF]“Holly, I don’t think this is a good idea. We’re too old for this. We’ve got a kid, and he’s got kids now. We can’t be superheroes, that’s...”[/color] Don trailed off, noting the blank look in Holly’s eyes. [color=21ABFF]“Holly?”[/color] Leaning in, she blinked, but her eyes didn’t move, they were just focused on some point just past him. She moved lightly with her breathing, and occasionally she’d shift her posture slightly. [color=21ABFF]“Holly? Holly?”[/color] Don continued to whisper.

[color=D32500][i]I’m fine you mope.[/i][/color] Her lips hadn’t moved at all, her voice only among his thoughts, a sensation he’d felt not to long ago while his senses had been hurtling through space. The voice was different too, younger, just like it had been then. [color=D32500][i]Try it. Just think about it. That same feeling.[/i][/color]

Don froze, glancing around the diner. The kitchen was as busy as ever, no plates being dished up to come over to the table, no guests appeared to be paying them any mind. They had a moment, so Don readied himself before daring to try.

[center]---[/center]
Blue and black overtook him, before Don came to, a murky, cloudy sky far above him, brown roof tiling below. Even in the weather, his outfit, the hero costume, kept him from feeling any discomfort from moisture or temperature, which gave him a slight, disconnected dissonance. Glancing about the neighborhood, he started to piece together where he was. It took him longer than he should have from his unfamiliar, second story perspective, but he was at the same house he’d been at for decades, just on the roof. Aside from the faint sound of the light rain and the occasional car, he could also hear a low hum, one familiar, but muted. At once he was familiar with what was going on around him as the masked hero, but also he could hear the diner in the back of his mind, furthering his disconnection.

Though it was dark, he still felt open, naked, worried that his neighbors might see him. Body feeling immensely light, he managed to float, before steadily dropping down to the backyard. Reaching for the glass sliding door to the inside, it was locked tight. [color=21ABFF]“Holly?”[/color] he spoke, before realizing his mistake. [color=21ABFF][i]Holly? Where are you?[/i][/color]

[color=D32500][i]Look, I don’t know how to explain it any better. Just feel it, like earlier.[/i][/color] [color=21ABFF][i]No, I know, I’m at my house. Are you at yours?[/i][/color] [color=D32500][i]Wait, what? I assumed we would just go where we needed to be, like last time.[/i][/color]

Heart racing, Don was worried. [color=21ABFF][i]Wait, are you in trouble?[/i][/color] Holly’s voice had been relaxed, though now it had been raised in response. [color=D32500][i]No, everything’s fine here, I just...[/i][/color]
[center]---[/center]
Perched on the corner of a building over a city square, Holly slid to a sitting position, legs dangled over the side of the building. Where it had been late evening in D.C., here it was more of a late afternoon, the sun still burning brightly on its descent. The square was abuzz with people moving about, the weather temperate as far as Holly was concerned. Towering in the middle of the square was a pillar topped with a bronze statue of an angel, one of its arms holding up a crown.

[b]Mexico City, Mexico[/b]

[color=D32500][i]Well, just don’t ask me to tell you what’s going on because I have no idea. I think I’m in Mexico. Or, well, maybe. My geography isn’t the best.[/i][/color]

[color=21ABFF][i]Well, come back in time to eat.[/i][/color] Don offered helplessly.[/indent]