Slightly Less Animated Than Usual [Open]

[starbolts]

Who: Starfire and anyone who wants to join her!
Where: Media Library
Summary: Starfire's received news that her love has returned to stasis in the pod caverns. Her escape is the bright and colorful world of cartoons.
Warnings: Nothing too serious here! Some potential sadness if that line of conversation is followed, but a little fun can be had here.



Visitors to the Media Library today will find a rather distressing sound coming from one of the watching pods. It's a croakish, scratchy sound that might be called a laugh...if the listener were underwater, inebriated, and otherwise less able than usual to discern the sound. The sound contains the basic elements of a laugh, anyway. It's loud, sudden, and presumably in response to funny events on the screen!

In this case, a bacon-eared and sausage-lipped breakfast monster is in hot pursuit of a banana boat. Colorful cherry-men are yelling in musical-sounding gibberish, directing themselves down a river of orange juice in their attempt to avoid the meat monster. There's a dip in the river, and the little banana boat flies---only to slip on the air (how does that work?) and do a flip into the monster's mouth.

Thus ends one segment of this bizarre cartoon. Starfire is clutching a small pillow from her room and laughing at the screen. Or trying to, anyway.

Comments

[starbolts]

"The day we met Cyborg," Starfire recalled, pleased by the memory. They'd been so happy to see their old friend.

She could sure use him right now. Instead, she turned back to the cartoon, where several treas were now using pea-shooters against each other.

"Are other friends of yours here with us?"

[morganknight]

"My friend Stephen is. Stephen Valkonan... he was awake longer than I was, but he spends a lot of time holed up in his lab in the City," Morgan said with a slight frown.

[starbolts]

"He does not come out to play the games?" That was not fair. Everyone should be happy sometimes! She knew Cyborg loved his repair work and his cars, but life required balance.

"Perhaps he should watch the cartoons." Right now, carrots were being tossed through donut holes. Someone was hungry, weren't they.

[morganknight]

"I can dream, but... he's always hard to get out in the first place, and now, ever since the girl he was interested in got repodded..."

This line of conversation was a total coincidence.M

[starbolts]

It was definitely, most certainly a coincidence that Starfire pulled her knees up, staring at them.

"It is a more common problem than I first believed. He is unwell?"

[morganknight]

"He's had terrible luck in that respect, and his reaction is... to withdraw. He'll be all right in time, it's just hard to see him hurt," Morgan said, sighing.

A less oblivious man might have picked up something from her tone, or body language. Good work as usual, Morgan.

[starbolts]

"I understand." Oh, she definitely understood that urge. She was feeling it right now. "How do you attempt to interact with him now?"

[morganknight]

"I go in there and make him deal with me. It's the only way. Try and drag him out when I can, just to make sure he doesn't turn into a hermit." Which was quite a task.

[starbolts]

"I see...does it help him, to go outside?"

Starfire was engaging in a little self-evaluation. Just how much of a hermit was she just yet?

[morganknight]

"Yes, but he'll never, ever admit it," Morgan said with a grin. "At least, not till much later when he reluctantly engages in a fit of honesty."

[starbolts]

"Perhaps I should do this as well," Starfire whispered, talking more to herself than to Morgan at this point. She needed to convince herself that it was safe to move, really.

"This has also happened to me."

[morganknight]

He reached up to put a comforting hand on her shoulder. He was guessing that she needed the human contact, rather than minding it. "It happens a lot here. And it sucks."

...needless to say, it had happened to him too, though he thought nothing of it compared to hers since he had only had an interest in the girl, nothing settled or anything.

[starbolts]

Starfire appreciated the comfort very much. She moved closer, nodding. "It does, whether they are dear friends or beloveds. I only wish that we may all stay together someday, that this problem is solved."

It really did eat at her, not knowing who would still be there in the morning.

[morganknight]

"It hurts less to lose someone to the pods than to have them die, so we count ourselves lucky, I think." This conversation had gotten him more somber now, in turn.

[starbolts]

"Yes, I am grateful that they are alive. I will always hope for his return, but...there is a pain in uncertainty as well."

She sighed, staying at Morgan's side. "You are remembering?"

[morganknight]

His nod was abstract and distant. "I learned something I knew with my head, not terribly long ago, but not with my heart, and it goes a little something like this: You can't fight the cosmos. Trying only hurts you more. You may hurt, you may suffer, you may grieve... but if you can accept what has happened, you'll find you're better off for doing so."

[starbolts]

"We accept because it is reality," she whispered, echoing words from another friend. "And this cannot be changed at the present time."

Not for her, anyway. She blew a clump of hair away from her face. "It simply takes such a long time."

[morganknight]

"That's why you live a life that gives you no regrets, cherish what you have, and remember the good," he said, giving her shoulder a squeeze. "None of which is easy. But if you were happy, nothing can ever take that feeling or those memories away."

[starbolts]

"You do this, yes?" Starfire wondered. "What are the daring things you have done without regrets?"

[morganknight]

"I learned to sing," Morgan said promptly, gladly turning the conversation away from its darker moments. "Despite being convinced I had a terrible voice."

[starbolts]

Now that was interesting! She sat up straight, ears perked. "Can you demonstrate this?"

[morganknight]

"I suppose... if you like metal," he said, smiling.

[starbolts]

"I do! It is a very useful substance! Its solidity and weight have supported our structures many times," she cheered, completely missing the point.

[morganknight]

...She really DID remind him of Stormraven.

"The metal I was referring to is a style of music. It's descended from rock, centered around the electric guitar --" At this, he reached into his coat, and from the interior pockets that were alarmingly larger on the inside than the outside, pulled out his electric guitar. "Particularly with heavy distortion and wicked solos. Also it's loud."

[starbolts]

"Oh!" Starfire nodded quickly. "Music! I understand now."

The pockets were definitely a curiosity. She stared at the openings. "Where have you obtained the subspace pockets?"