heyfreemagic | (no subject)

[When shadows are living forces and your city is under attack, it's no surprise that some people are driven to drink. Those newly brought into the city have been dragged into an unfamiliar place away from their homes, pushed into a fight they know nothing about, and saddled with abilities they likely never asked for. It's a lot to take in.

The go-to method for Greg is to avoid making waves and just try to get along with other, normal people, while someone else can handle the issue. Unfortunately, none of the normal people seem to be willing to get along. For all his efforts, he can barely get one-word responses out of the best of them, and general disdainful looks from all. Not to say it's an unfamiliar circumstance, but with everything else it's all too much to deal with right now.

Greg hasn't drunk a whole lot since the birth of his kid, but his kid's not here, which is a conflicting matter all its own. He's nursing a beer alone at a table, tuning his guitar softly. The rest of the barflies don't seem happy to have him there, since, well, they're presumably here to drink and forget about all these foreigners. Still, they accepted the few crumpled bills from his wallet without too much complaint.

They may have to get used to sharing the space, should anyone else feel like coming for some pressure release.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Dunno that I'd call it a "hobby." They're super into it. Watched 'em spend a week in the forest on a spirit quest once to do...somethin'. Refine their spirits, I guess. They made some pretty serious armor from scratch for it too.

[Teachers like high school teachers or teachers like Splinter? Casey has no respect for one and lots of respect for the other. Even if that one is strict and does grab his ear a lot.] But he's your kid, right? They can't stop you from hangin' with him. Sounds like he wants you to, so I don't see why you wouldn't.

[There's a stretch of silence, before Greg finally shrugs and takes a gulp of his beer.]

It's complicated. I've made things pretty rough for them by being around. I help him out with other stuff. Like you and your pals, yeah? You don't have to be a ninja to be their buddy.

[Wait]

You're not a ninja, right?

Not me, dude. Too busy being a super awesome lone vigilante of the night, keepin' innocent people safe from criminal scum!

...Gotta admit, it's a pretty sweet thing to have a ninja crew on call for.

[He hopes you're impressed.]

So...it actually kinda isn't like you and your kid. I'm still fighting with them, just not ninja-style, you know?

Haha, woah, see? How am I supposed to compare to a vigilante with his own ninja team? You've got me outclassed, kiddo.

[He's so impressed. Let's change the topic to how impressive you are.]

[If they weren't talking about how awesome he is, Casey might have noticed the subject change.]

Yeah, I know I'm super dope. I've had some pretty awesome adventures since I hooked up with the guys. Took on the criminal underground, alien invasions, mutant monsters...the works!

Criminal underground? Yikes, nothing gets in your way!

[This kid may even get into bigger messes than Steven. How endearingly suicidal.]

Wait, lemme guess. All that body checking comes in handy.

Ha! You got it!

...Except body-checking a robot really hurts. Found that out the hard way.

["Endearingly suicidal" may be the best way to describe Casey.]

I can't wait to try it with my kick-ass new fire powers!

[Now there's robots, too. No end to it.]

Yikes. New, like, from here new? [Already he can sense fire and this kid being a bad combo.]

Yeah, I found out the first day! It's So. Freakin'. Metal!

[Let's be clear: this is like all of Casey's Christmases have come at once. He doesn't even notice that he's getting glares from the other patrons for talking about magic out loud.]

You don't say.

[Greg clears his throat, all too aware of the glares.]

Do me a favor, though, and don't go for reenacting any album covers from the get-go.

Uh...ship sailed, dude.

[Casey shrugs nonchalantly. ALL of his adventures would be great album covers.]

I found out while I was fighting these creepy shadow monsters. Accidentally set one of my hockey sticks on fire! It was awesome!

You tangled with those things day one? I mean--that's a good time for the fireworks to start, just... man, those things don't mess around, I guess.

[So much for trying to relax.]

That's fine with me, because neither does Casey Jones-Hey, what's with you?

[Dude looks way less stoked then Casey about this. To put it mildly.]

Huh--me? Nothing! I'm fine. It's just... culture shock, is all.

[Things seem a lot more aggressive when you're one of the people the monsters go for.]

Seriously? I thought you said you were around magic a lot!

[Casey still doesn't quite grasp the problem. Magic is completely rad.]

Anyway, I've been through a lot worse than a few shadow creeps! How 'bout the guy who attacked me with a chainsaw when I tried to stop some beavers from another dimension from sucking my friend's life force out!

[Just don't ask how that one ended because it gets really lame from there...]

Yeah, well. [He'd done his best to keep as blissfully unaware of things as possible up to this point. Greg takes another mouthful of his beer, and grins wearily at Casey.]

Well, I'm sure glad I've made pals with an expert on this stuff.

[Yes, go on, tell him all about the sorts of fun, exciting things he has waiting for him, now that he's been pulled into the center of things. It doesn't seem like he's getting out of it, anyway.]

[[OOC: Seems like a good place to end this one, probably]]