When the big dog comes, tell him what this puppy done.

[awfulcer]

Who: Jason Dixon and You!
What: Dixon goes looking to pick fights and blow off steam. Bonus points if we can escalate to a straight-up fist fight.
Where: Around the Melai Temple.
When: Before the Crossroads Post
Warnings/Notes: all your typical Dixon warnings



[Each night so far he's been sneaking off into the woods from where everyone sleeping. He tells whomever is on watch that he's going to stretch his legs, and then he pops on his headphones and wanders out about half a mile before finding the base of a tree, where he'll sit and start his nightly breakdown. He probably shouldn't be listening to music wandering around in the dark in the woods, but he feels as if he isn't going to make it as far as the tree if he doesn't.

Once he gets there he just starts crying, snot-filled, stressed, shaking weeping that burns him out. Cries because his Chief killed himself and he would have let Chief down anyway and he's a fuck-up who got fired and threw an innocent person out a window and because he misses his mother and because he's useless and stupid and can't get anything right, couldn't solve a case, couldn't keep his temper in check, can't keep up here with everyone so much faster and hardier and smarter than he is, and because he's just sad and doesn't know what to do. He doesn't know what to do.

He's out of smokes, which makes it all the worse. Once he gets it all out of his system, the nic-fitting morphs sadness into anger; these two have always been kissing cousins for him, or rather tectonic plates, bumping up and grinding next to each other, rattling shockwaves all through his impulses. So with sadness stirred up he slides easily into a thunderhead, pissed off, stomping around, spoiling for a fight. In the absence of anyone to take it all out on, he chucks rocks into the river or uses sticks to beat the hell out of trees until his hands hurt. And then he'll storm on back to the temple and try, mostly futilely, to get some more rest.

The sun's coming up by the time his crying jag is done, turning the whole sky a rosy pink. Birds are chirping. The beauty's lost on him. He almost feels in a trance, animated by an aura of rage that makes it feel like the air around him is vibrating. His fingers twitch in need of a cigarette. He gets a sort of tunnel vision.

It'll all feel better when it's someone else's fault.

When he runs into someone, his voice is thick and annoyed. If he gets close enough, he might enough shove them at the shoulder.]

The fuck are you doing out here? You been following me?

[He hopes they don't have a good answer, so he can escalate it.]

Comments

[mark_in_the_sands]

[It is really, really hard not to say 'eat me' in response to Dixon's muttered aside. She earned that name, thank you very much.]

If Tim has fallen down a well though, I am never going to let him live it down.

[awfulcer]

[The irony is that if Robbie were to admit to his difficulty sleeping, he'd probably find surprising compassion. Dixon's been battling insomnia ever since he got here, between the detox and the nicotine cravings. He doesn't wish it on anyone. He'd try and give some flimsy advice that wouldn't really help, but it would come from a good place.]

No, Lassie does exist where I'm from, [Dixon mumbles very quietly to himself, feeling a flush of red in his neck from embarrassment. He appreciates Robbie giving him an out. He still doesn't get the joke. The fact that Cassie's here to witness that he doesn't get the joke makes it worse. And he really doesn't get what Tim has to do with any of this, or even know who Tim is.]

It sure as hell ain't the Hilton. [Not that he's ever been to one.] Far as I can tell watch is kind of happening naturally, what with everyone having nightmares and weird sleep schedules and all.

[balladin]

[ But that would mean dropping the front that he's fine. Robbie is doing splendidly, because of course he is. He's been working so hard for the past two years to not cause his friends undue concern. They might not be here, but he can't let go of the routine. He might not get it back.

Anyway, they're all at least half distracted by Lassie now, so Rob doesn't have to address the Dixon's comment about nightmares and the sudden flare of anxiety. Who cares if he knows? Everyone has nightmares, like he said. And Dixon is not the only one who's missed an important detail of the joke. ]

Hold the phone, is there a Tim in the temple?

[ Robbie looks positively delighted to find out that his joke had another layer to it and barks out a laugh. ]

Ha! Okay, everybody forget that I shot the Lassie jokes prematurely. I'm going to put them back in my pocket for Timmy, and you're going to pretend that I didn't need a trial run.

[mark_in_the_sands]

[Cassie's not sure if Tim just hasn't introduced himself to either of these two, or if he's going by something else here. Either one could be possible, regardless of the fact that this adventure literally kidnapped him out of his bed and therefore Knows Who He Is. Cassie shakes her head.]

Already forgotten.

[awfulcer]

[By now Dixon's just so lost that it's almost physically painful; the banter's moving too fast for someone who's slow-witted on a day when they have all their bearings, much less one when half their brain's occupied by nicotine withdrawals and the other half is burned out from all the absolute nonsense it's been forced to accept as reality. He takes a moment and pinches the bridge of his nose, hoping the fact that he's completely adrift isn't as obvious to Cassie and Robbie as it feels.]

I haven't met any Tims yet. You know, what I think is maybe we should have someone do a round-up. Make sure we got a clear idea of who everyone is in case we lose anyone and in case someone unsavory tries to sneak their way in.

[It's like he's trying to volunteer an idea to make up for feeling stupid elsewhere, and, well, that's actually exactly what he's doing. But he still casts a wary glare at Cassie, as if somehow she's one of those people who might try and squirrel their way into the group with malicious intent.]

[balladin]

[ A day with half his brain burnt out on the nonsense of a situation or reality is... kind of just a day. There's over a hundred superheroes in NYC. Something is always happening. ]

I don't think I've met a Tim, but there's a couple of people I haven't caught the names of yet. It's getting old, going "Hi, I'm Robbie." "Hi, I'm Robbie." "Hi, I'm Robbie."

[ He manages to give each one a different delivery and inflection: smooth, cheerful, and the sort of laughing, surprised tone someone would get after a meet cute involving dropped books on a subway. His face is 100% over it, although he manages a smile for Cassie. ]

Not that I mind meeting the two of you. But I wish we could just kumbaya around the fire, go around the circle dropping names, and then talk about Dixon's great idea. We all need to know who else is here, cause I don't know if I'd know if someone's missing, and that bothers me, too.

[ Robbie nods at Dixon expectantly, like he's waiting for step 2 of the plan. ]

[mark_in_the_sands]

[Cassie ignores Dixon's dirty look, nodding along in agreement. It's a good plan.]

Things are pretty disorganized now, and the only way to fix that is to start organizing. Maybe we should start using the buddy system?

[Okay, maybe she isn't ignoring Dixon's dirty look, all butter-wouldn't-melt-in-her-mouth.]