Apollo

In a single dimension, a difference will be made.

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 15:02:33 GMT

If it were just insanity, it could have been dismissed.

Somewhere, under old programming and learned responses, there's a man who has had enough of waiting for someone else to fix this.

He gets into an argument with Angie and Jack about America. He gives Jack a withdrawal deadline for the Authority and says that it will be met.

Shen is told to get China out of Tibet. Under their own steam or hers, he doesn't care. Just stop asking and make it happen, and make it happen now.

It would be easier to stop him if the Carrier weren't responding to each thought and touch and giving him access. It would be easier if Jeroen were together enough or maybe disagreed enough to stop him.

The Authority has twenty four hours to stop jacking around and start working or Apollo will fix the situation.

He doesn't want to lead. But he's out of other options.

He hopes Jenny Sparks forgives him for taking total insanity to reach this point.

Better, Not Balanced [Winter]

Sat, 18 Aug 2007 14:06:10 GMT

Two weeks, or near enough, has brought Apollo out of the fugue that seemed to hold him ever since he reappeared in nexus.

Of course, out of a fugue isn't 'well' or 'healthy' or 'balanced', but since none of those really describe him anyway, it's probably not that big a deal.

He's in the engine room, so charged he's glowing when he stands still. His hands rest on the railing and he stares up at the universe like he's never seen it before.

Different Bleed [John, Sam, others who can get access by asking the team]

Tue, 07 Aug 2007 15:40:32 GMT

As promised, later Apollo is back in his rooms on board Carrier. He's slept, he's eaten, he's spent time with Jenny and not in that order.

He's still not really entirely himself, but he's had preliminary tests done by Angie, probing through the implants already in him. She's diagnosed, tentatively, psychological damage. From sensory deprivation of all things. There's nothing in the Bleed but the Bleed.

Jenny's asleep on his lap, having worn herself out. Apollo is just basking in the senses again. Music on, watching the room attentively, fingers brushing through his daughter's hair.

Back in the Bleed [Winter]

Tue, 07 Aug 2007 15:21:38 GMT

The quarters seem oddly quiet and empty, even with Apollo back in them. His normally exuberent personality isn't quite sparking to normal.

Right now? He's in the shower, with the water too hot, but just right for him and the little girl that keeps running in and out of the cubicle, scattering water through out the house.

She keeps running in and out because she's half convinced someone else will go missing while she's not looking. So she's got to watch Dad while he stands in the shower with his head against the wall and she's got to watch Nikolas while he's out in the other room.

She skids back in, water going everywhere. "Are we eating once Dad gets out?"

OOC

Wed, 25 Jul 2007 12:50:24 GMT

So, it's been nearly six months, and I'm so sorry for that.

My work placement is about to end. I'm still unemployed, which means I may actually be available again with reliability. I'd like to talk to the people I left in the lurch, if they want to pick up RPing with my pups again and work stuff out.

I'm available on my email at jemisardATinternode.on.net most of the time.

If people wish to move on and past my pups, I'll take no offence. I've been the one caught, and I udnerstand that sometimes, it's easier to move things on after so long. It's really my own fault, so I'm hardly going to get grouchy over it.

Dinner date [John]

Tue, 06 Mar 2007 07:30:40 GMT

There's a Door in the living room. A note tells John to get out of work clothes and head on through, the girls have a babysitter for the night.

On the otherside is the Nexus cafe. Apollo's sitting by the window table, watching out through the glass.

Subtle as a brick to the face.

Tue, 06 Feb 2007 05:49:42 GMT

In grand Apollo tradition, he's found a perfect way to cope with stress.

By dealing with someone else's issues. Namely, John's.

Sam's been bribed to take the two little ones out, which gives Apollo the space he needs to walk up to John, pick him up over one shoulder without a word and march him into the living room and put him down on the couch before flopping down half over him so he can't leave.

"So, what's the problem?"

Fallout

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 07:15:44 GMT

The door hisses shut as Winter leaves, and it's John and Apollo.

This is both a good and a bad thing. It's bad, because now Apollo has to do the explaining on his own. And he's not sure what he can say without breaching the trust Nikolas gave him.

He looks up at John and touches a finger to his lips. Probably needs to hear a lot of things that he can't ask to hear right now.

His thumb smooths over his lover's mouth before he tucks himself back in close.

The GIFTS

Sun, 24 Dec 2006 02:23:58 GMT

What peoples is getting for Christmas, in alphabetical name order.

Angie: Tickets to the opera for two.
Jane: Johnny Walker Black Label.
Jenny: A collection of children's books. A new copy of Nightmare Before Christmas.
John: Gun upgrade for his pistols. Book on military history of Apollo's earth. A chip for the network.
Nikolas: A book on sculptures.
Sam: Laptop. Visit into Carrier's core.
Tasha: A booking for two at a very exclusive restaurant in Rome.

Christmas Night

Sun, 24 Dec 2006 02:10:58 GMT

It's nearly midnight by the time the party breaks up. The girls are long asleep, Jeroen dozing between them. Angie and Jack ahve staggered off together, Winter is hiding in his room and Shen has gone for a fly.

It is officially time to retire and give personal Christmas gifts.

He leads John into their bedroom by one hand, still holding his half full wine glass in the other. "Sit down, I got something else for you."

Nexus100: Three more.

Tue, 12 Dec 2006 06:31:45 GMT

#61- Winter

In quiet moments like this, he doesn’t understand how a human being can forget how to be with someone.

Heavy legs are tangled with his own, too weary face for once peaceful, at rest against his chest. It had taken sleep for the other man to relax against him and settle into the warmth.

It had taken soft prompts and nudging to make him do the natural thing and snuggle into Apollo’s body though. His fingers curled against Apollo’s ribs; he sighs slightly when Apollo’s finger brushed his hair back out of his face and behind one ear.

Apollo knew all about living your name, but it seemed to wrong that this man become so cold that his code name seemed warm in comparison.

#01- Beginnings

In the darkness that came before anything else, there was something. Maybe. A touch of something that was soft and cool and damp, perhaps skin pressed close. Noise that can’t be processed into meaning anything, but it might have been a voice speaking into the darkness that was before anything else.

Late at night, in the nothingness of sleep, the phantom sensations of before anything else can be there. Puffs like breath against skin, discomfort like too tight fingers against newly constructed muscle and bone.

Cold, cold metal and a madman’s eyes when, for a moment, there is something in the darkness before anything else.

But once there’s something again, Apollo never remembers what came before it.

#91- Independence

The escape was jagged and raw in his memory, fragmented by shock. He remembers tearing walls apart with his bare hands, light flashing over soldiers, the blur of shadow next to him and cold hands encased in leather.

Then, a gravely voice snapping at him to get them somewhere else. He had grabbed his team mate by his wrists and taken off, getting them away from this place.

From that broken moment, he’d come to understand something. The finer world was not through Stormwatch. Stormwatch promised comfortable beds and regular meals and doing the bidding of a man who would keep them on a leash as his trained pets.

Sleeping on his team mate in a cold, abandoned warehouse, he decided this was the first step to a finer world.

Mon, 11 Dec 2006 05:45:23 GMT

Late at night; lying in bed with John's head pillowed on his chest; Apollo decides is the best time ever to bring up something he's avoided until now.

"John? Can I ask you something?"

Nexus100: Three more.

Thu, 07 Dec 2006 05:53:21 GMT

#29 Birth

He opened his eyes to darkness.

It was the little things at first. The feel of cool cloth against oversensitive skin. The prickle of hair across his forehead. The silence broken only by a soft pant that came from his own mouth.

He held up his hand and stared at it. It was familiar, but not, in a way that confused him. The fingers moved when he wanted them to, stretching and curling and he just watched them for a moment, entranced by it.

Sitting up revealed nothing helpful. He was in a hospital bed, covered by a simple white sheet. The walls were peach and he was completely by himself.

He didn’t even realise he couldn’t remember who he was until after the nurses came and assured him that he wasn’t alone.

#24 Family

The only way that Apollo could move was by dislodging the multitude of people currently using him as a pillow.

Sprawled on the couch, he’d been joined by Angie first, who curled up with her knees over one leg and his foot in her lap for her to play with.

Next had been Sam, slinking in after not coming home the night before and giving a hesitant smile before settling in leaning back against his thighs.

The door had opened and, heralded by a scream of ‘Daaad!’, Jenny bounded in, Lisa in tow. The girls scrambled up onto Angie and Sam and cuddled in.

Lastly, John and Robbie followed the girls. John gave Apollo an indulgent smile and a kiss on the cheek and sat down so he press back into Apollo’s chest.

My, that thigh was a mighty convenient pillow. He winked at Robbie, sitting on the floor between his father’s legs, and turned his attention back to the tv, tuning out the happy chatter from his family.

#64 Fall
The air rushed past him.

It’s wasn’t unfamiliar, but it was alien, feeling his body pulled and twisted by the hard currents. The pressure was sickeningly hard and not enough as he rushed towards the clouds, feeling the sunlight prickle over his body and sink in.

His vision greyed as he twisted again, and he was forced to close his eyes.

//Apollo?//

He couldn’t get together enough thought to respond. All he could sense was the rush of warmth spread through his body. The strong desire to curl up and sleep and leave whatever it was until later...

The world came back into focus.

He brought himself to a halt. Breathed deeply and turned his attention to the invasion fleet,. In the time it took him to think to Carrier, metal was ripping around his hands and body.

//Carrier, this is Apollo. I have engaged the enemy.//

Nexus100: #30 Death

Wed, 06 Dec 2006 07:29:38 GMT

Jenny’s body, lying on the floor with Jack, Angie and Shen kneeling over her, looked almost surreal to his eyes.

He kept expecting her to get up. To open her eyes and laugh at them all for being suckers and then start yelling them back into order. In fact he had leant forwards at first, peering at her with his heightened eyes, trying to see the twitch of a repressed smile or the faint movement of breathing.

Midnighter’s hand on his hip had snapped him back before he leant so far forward that he sank to his knees. He looked to his lover and back down to Jenny. His best friend.

There were no words.

Nexus100: #38 Touch

Wed, 06 Dec 2006 06:28:52 GMT

It was about as good as it could get.

A haze of sensation; skin against skin, muscle and heat and power shifting in pleasure. Lips damp with sweat and saliva move together, part, taste anything offered for sampling.

All flat planes, unyielding bodies and compliant movements. Hard flesh that needs to be touched, and all of them all too willing to oblige that need.

The total, burning, heated ecstasy of the two other bodies with his, hands on his hips drawing him back into each thrust, fingers in his hair, coaxing him forwards and down.

He wakes with the ghost feelings of their climax still rushing over him; pants for breath he doesn’t need and for just a moment wonders if he passed out, but the insistent ache in his groin tells him it’s been nothing but a dream.

Thu, 30 Nov 2006 04:38:08 GMT

When Winter didn't return, Apollo got worried

He asked Carrier to perform a full scan for the nano-chip implanted in Winter and set a Door for that location. Then went and fully charged himself and got into his uniform.

Lastly, he left a note for John. Gone to retrieve Nikolas. Be back soon I hope. Love Apollo.

Then, he takes the Door to go find his errant team mate.

[[Narrative]] Fantasy

Tue, 28 Nov 2006 07:15:28 GMT

Promised Treats

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 05:06:57 GMT

There's a note on the coffee table, telling John to head through to the bedroom.

On the bed, there's a second note, telling him to get undressed and then come through to the bathroom.

In the bathroom, the first thing John'll notice is the candlelight. Then the steam, softly scented like vanilla.

Rounding the shower stall, the bath comes into view. It's a bath of true luxury, large, spacious, set in the corner of the room.

Apollo's lounging in it right now, submerged up to his chest, arms thrown along the edges and head tipped back.

[John and Sam: After Winter: THNM]

Wed, 08 Nov 2006 05:32:46 GMT

He's limping when he gets back to his rooms, uniform ripped, skin and clothing marked with dust, blood, ash and scratches.

Mostly, his gut hurts. A lot. He's really starting to feel that kick. And his arms hurt from the energy impact of the fight.

He'll be fine come morning. Sunshine, sleep, he'll feel human again. Physically.

He sheds the uniform in the lounge room, not caring if anyone else is in. Stagger out to the bathroom and throws up. Keeps drying heaving long afterwards until he gets to the shower and can turn that on, curling up in a ball around his aching gut under the hot water.

But hey, you should see the other guy.

[John]

Fri, 03 Nov 2006 11:46:41 GMT

Apollo has had a long day. Not a hard one, just a long one. From the first tactical strike against the warships through to the display above Washington, Apollo has been on the go since he got up.

And now he’s returning home, and he has to arrange some kind of dinner, wash Jenny, and Jenny’s probably in bed having skipped a bath. He dismisses it from mind.

He comes in, uniform torn open from hip to shoulder and completely unmarked otherwise.

Trick or Treating

Tue, 31 Oct 2006 12:53:45 GMT

The door is metal, like something out of Star Trek. There's a big orange pumpkin with evil eyes and jagged teeth painted on the door.

The door, when opened, is actually being manned by a nearly six year old girl. Jenny Quantum is dressed in a union jack t-shirt, black jeans and tiny combat boots. Her hair is pulled into a ponytail and sprayed yellow and there's a cigarette (courtesy of Aunty Angie) tucked behind one ear.

((The mun may be later than normal getting online to reply due to RL, but I will be on.))

Being Mopey [John]

Mon, 30 Oct 2006 05:02:24 GMT

It's a quiet Apollo suspects he should get used to.

Late at night, curled up on his couch watching tv with a bottle of soda by the foot of the couch and a bowl of almonds sitting on the table, Apollo doesn't particularly feels like a superhero. Or a Majestic class post-human.

With Jenny asleep and Sam staying with her girlfriend overnight, he's really feeling the absence.

He just feels kind of lonely.

Voicing Concerns [Tasha]

Sat, 28 Oct 2006 10:43:48 GMT

Although John's been with Apollo for some time now, Apollo's still worried about him. Very worried.

Worried enough to bite down on his pride and suspicion and - while John is out with Windsong - wander over to Tasha's to ask her about it.

He gets Carrier to drop him at the front door and knocks sharply.

Point Break [John]

Thu, 19 Oct 2006 10:39:21 GMT

It's been a gruelling two weeks.

Apollo is standing in the bathroom. John's asleep in the room next door, Jenny's asleep in her rooms, Sam is asleep in a cot in Jenny's room, Winter's probably prowling the Carrier, but he's more together than Winter has seen him yet.

He's finally gotten himself a shower, and he's leaning on the counter, staring in the mirror.

John's not getting better.

Oh, physically, he's getting better. But he's going to let John go and then-

He'll either be picked up in Nexus a wreck or he won't make it back.

It's a cold realisation. John might not come back.

"Oh god. I can't keep doing this. I can't lose him too." He sinks to his knees in front of the sink, head bowing to touch the counter. "I can't lose John too."

Jenny's Room [Open to Sam]

Wed, 11 Oct 2006 02:50:45 GMT

The room that Sam was put in to sleep it off might not have dawned on her in the state she was in.

However, once the fog of alcohol and grief start to lift from her, she may be in a state to take in where she is. A large room, with a child's paintings stuck on the wall and photographs hanging in frames.

On the floor, there's a little girl quietly playing with lego. She appears to be making a giant, misformed solid thing with a tail hanging off of it.

She looks over to Sam, dark eyes far older than her young appearance. "Hi."