Felt it in my fist, in my feet, in the hollows of my eyelids... [Open]

[nolimitation]

who ; Olivia Dunham and YOU!!
what ; Olivia's just going out for some air. For no reason at all. At... three in the morning. Yep.
where ; A park somewhere in Kurzweil.
when ; Tonight! Or some night... whenever... I'm flexible.

Comments

[usavatar]

Steve, for his part, is jogging. He's covered most of Kurzweil in the hours since midnight, varying speeds, pausing to drill or do pull-ups on convenient streetlights, trying to tire himself out.

Trying at the very least to get the crash off his mind, get the timing of Bucky's own arrival off his mind, to stop hearing himself called a crazy, fake, frozen boy-scout every time he looks in the mirror.

He's homesick for the citadels, wants Dum Dum to call him names for not joining in for another round of drinks, wants Falsworth to beat him at chess and Morita to argue with Dernier while neither one understands what the other is even talking about to begin with. He's so busy thinking about them, in fact, that he almost misses Olivia on her bench.

Steve comes to a halt quick enough to stumble, making sure he got it right- it is her. "...Agent Dunham?"

[nolimitation]

Olivia noticed him coming almost before she heard him. The auras are even more noticeable when they're in the corner of her eye, and here in the darkness, the golden glimmer surrounding him is impossible to ignore. She doesn't move until he stops, though. She'd been vaguely hoping he wouldn't notice her, if only because then she wouldn't have to explain what she's doing, sitting alone on a park bench in the middle of the night.

She drops her hand, lifts her head, and forces a smile, though she still looks, frankly, terrible, and she feels worse. Looking straight at him, watching the light dancing around his face, sends a fresh stab of pain through her head, but she manages to wince just a little and then push it to the back of her mind.

"Captain Rogers. Hello. Or good morning, I guess..."

[usavatar]

"I guess." He kneels, so she's not looking up. "It doesn't look like it's been good for you."

Steve tries for a smile himself and thinks it holds up pretty well. It's easy to forget he should be nervous around her when she looks... well, like she's been rammed by a tank. Plus, she's an agent- she reminds him of Peggy, all formality, irony, and smart questions.

[nolimitation]

"It..." Whatever she was about to say trails off. She hesitates for a second, shakes her head, and shifts back on the bench, taking a moment to force herself to stop clenching her jaw.

"I couldn't sleep," she says finally, with a little shrug. "I thought maybe a walk and some fresh air would help. Usually this kind of thing doesn't get to me, but... I guess even I have limits to how much strangeness I can accept at once."

[balancetheblood]

Toby's been doing that, too - going out to dark corners of the parks in the middle of the night, to "get some air". Part of it is that she's just fae, naturally nocturnal. Part of it really is just getting some air, because May in anything but small doses gets kind of overwhelming pretty quickly

[nolimitation]

Olivia notices when someone approaches - the glimmering aura is kind of a giveaway - but she tries to ignore it until it becomes obvious that whoever the aura's attached to isn't leaving. She looks up and blinks a little, wincing at the light from the glimmer; it's not real, but that doesn't stop it from hurting anyway.

It's hard to tell, between the darkness and the glimmer, but something about the woman's face doesn't look... normal.

"Can I help you?" Olivia asks, and it comes out sounding... only a little sharp. Really, though, she would like to know why the other woman's just staring at her.

[balancetheblood]

"--and resolve itself into a dew," Toby finishes murmuring, and though she hopes the other woman won't notice the change, her features go from not-human (stupid, dropping her disguise in public, even in the dark when she thought she'd be alone) to normal, average, human.

"Um... sorry, my mind was totally somewhere else." She shoves her hands in her pockets and smiles a little. "I just wasn't expecting to see anyone else out here at this time of night."

[nolimitation]

Olivia blinks a couple times as the other woman's face softens into something more normal and... well, human-looking. Probably just another side effect of the migraine - the pain's bad enough, but she really wishes it would leave her perception of the world alone.

As soon as her vision's... as clear as it's going to get, since the aura's aren't going anywhere, Olivia smiles tightly. "I wasn't really expecting anyone else either. I guess it's not surprising that I'm not the only one who has trouble sleeping, in this place."

[powerofgod]

Nighttime, where he was from, belonged to vampires. This place differs somewhat, in that there are presently only two of them, but Godric still finds it the most agreeable time to be out, and would even if the sunlight showed no inclination to harm him.

The park is... a comfort, or near enough. It's not true wilderness, but it's as close as anything ever is, and he is moving through it at a pace that's reasonably human, though his motions are graceful beyond what any member of that race could hope to achieve.

He sees the - girl, he supposes, for he has no true ability to gauge human age - and approaches her, nothing more sinister in his carriage than concern.

"I beg your pardon," he says, his tone formal and flavoured with an accent tied to a language nearly seven hundred years dead. "Are you well?"

[nolimitation]

Olivia lifts her head as he approaches, alerted to his presence by the glimmer surrounding him more than anything else. For a second, she frowns, trying to place his accent - but then, there's no reason to assume he's even from any version of Earth, never mind that his accent is one she'd know.

She manages a smile, friendly if somewhat strained, and nods. "I'm fine. Just... couldn't sleep, so I thought I'd get some fresh air."

[powerofgod]

That's reasonable. Godric nods, and then holds one hand out in a palm-up gesture.

"Would you like company?" By his tone, he'll be neither upset or offended should she refuse. One of the perks of being two thousand years old.

[nolimitation]

Olivia tilts her head, a little bemused by the offer and the gesture, but after a second she gestures to the empty bench beside her in invitation. "Sure, if you want. I certainly wouldn't mind the company."

As long as he talks quietly, anyway, and doesn't mind that she winces a little when she looks at him like she's looking into a light - which she is, in a way, just not a light anyone but her can see.

[heterochromiia]

If Sollux was prone to lack of sleep due to a combination of the nightmares endemic to his race and his propensity for coding benders before, it was nothing compared to now. The voices in his head had left him in peace, but the nightmares were worse, even if he wasn't as consciously bothered by them. Moreover, he just felt...removed. Like he was only half inhabiting his body. Maybe it was a side effect of being probably dead back home, but he just didn't feel attached to his worldly and bodily needs anymore

[nolimitation]

Olivia lifts her head when the glimmer surrounding him becomes impossible to ignore even when it's just in the corner of her eye. It's getting harder to convince herself the auras are just a side effect of her migraine when she notices them around people before she consciously registers that those people are there... but the idea that they're actually traces of energy from other universes she's seeing - well, that's just not possible. She's just nervous and seeing things, that's all.

She smiles at his greeting, and nods before remembering he can't see the gesture. "Yeah, we did. I don't think I got your name, though."

[heterochromiia]

She smells a little strange, this close. Blue with amber flecks. Not on the outside, but on the inside, and it is so weird to be making that distinction. Sollux sniffs a little as if against the cold night air, trying to pinpoint what it is about her - but nope, he doesn't really get why he smells that from her. Weird. Seeing by synesthesia is nothing but weird.

Oh well. He smiles as he takes a seat beside her, shrugs. His machinery hums softly to itself, doing a little self-maintenance. "Yeah, you didn't ask! But I'm Sollux Captor. And you're...Olivia, right? It sounds like a nice name."

Sollux yawns a little, stretches his arms slightly. "So, I thought humans weren't nocturnal. What brings you out at this time of night?"

[nolimitation]

"You're right, I don't think I did ask. I guess I was a little preoccupied at the time. And thank you. You have a pretty interesting name yourself."

She can't help studying him now that she can see him up close rather than just on a holographic video screen. The gray skin and horns are still odd and somewhat unsettling, but the mechanical parts... Those actually remind her a little of Nina, albeit a lot more extensive.

"Most of us aren't, no. I... might as well be at this point, with my job." She laughs softly. As often as a phone call from Broyles drags her out of bed, maybe her life would be easier if she just gave up and became officially nocturnal. "But this time I just had a headache. Couldn't sleep, so I thought I'd get some air."

She pauses, eyeing the boy for a moment longer, and then asks, "What about you? You said humans like you're not one. Would it be rude to ask what you are?"

[duplicitas]

Natasha doesn't sleep well in new enviroments, especially when she's unarmed and vulnerable. So she goes for a walk. It's hardly a better use of her time, but it is better than sitting up and doing nothing. She's beyond restless here. There's such a lack of...well, everything, if she's being honest. All her usual persuits are unreachable, one way or another. She suspects this will drive her crazy if she doesn't come up with an alternative.

What she isn't expecting is to see someone up, awake, and sitting on a park bench this late, or early, depending on one's perspective. Natasha stops, sizing Olivia up before she speaks.

"Are you alright?"

[nolimitation]

Olivia studies the other woman for a moment before nodding, with a smile that's a little strained but not unfriendly.

"I'm fine, thank you," she answers, her voice quiet to avoid making her headache any worse - in the silence of the park, it's still perfectly audible, but not exactly a normal conversational tone. "Just... couldn't sleep, so I thought I'd go out for some fresh air."

[duplicitas]

Natasha's expression is almost a smile.

"I can sympathize. I'd hoped a walk would tire me out enough for some sleep."

Doubtful, but always worth a try. Following Olivia's example, her voice is pitched low, just loud enough for Olivia to hear.

[nolimitation]

Olivia can't express how grateful she is that the woman keeps her voice low too. Of course, that would mean admitting she's in pain in the first place, which she's not eager to do, but she's grateful nevertheless. She smiles and tilts her head a little as she looks up at Natasha.

"Any chance you're having better luck than me? Because I am still wide awake."