I Think I Need A Little Change

[fragileandsoft]

Who: Greg and Anyone
Where: Around and about
When: In the week or so following the kidnappings
What:The feeling when you just can't find the silver lining and give up trying

While Steven's more than earned some time off of work recovering from his wound and the sudden rush of changes, Greg can't justify the same. As much as he'd like to stay with Steven all day there's still things that need fixing and lights that need arranging, and so long as Steven's in no actual danger Greg has to trust he can be left to his own devices. After all, Greg usually has to leave him to his own devices even when there is actual danger. That's how things have always been. It's no different.

No different, no different. Who cares about growing horns or fangs or the rest, it's happening to everyone. He has to get over it, deal with the differences, it gets better after all, and so many people just love living here, and what has he got to complain about anyway. Steven's fine, he's fine, everything's fine.

A. On the job


The work is just involved enough that Greg can focus in on it and block out the excess of frustration and distress plaguing his consciousness. The rest of the world fades to a blur while he works.

Still, sleep deprived, working on autopilot, and electrical wires rarely make a good combination. If he doesn't irritate people with an overbright spotlight shining in their eyes, he may draw ire via the occasional yelp as he shocks himself.

B. Comfort Eating

Greg's never been the most outgoing or energetic person around, but he's made an effort to appear open and friendly to his coworkers and peers in passing. Still, he's fairly certain he's of passing interest to anyone, and that suits him just fine right now. He moves quickly around the grounds, avoiding eye contact and speaking little. If he can't shake off this bad mood, he may as well avoid rubbing anyone the wrong way with his moping.

The longest he spends outside of work or his trailer is in the cafeteria, where he guzzles down coffee and whatever's served with the highest calorie count. When all else fails, he can stockpile the energy and comfort. It's not exactly the prettiest sight, but he does make the effort to eat by himself where no one has to watch him scarf it down. Doing great, feeling fantastic.

Comments

A

[mossbuds]

Lars had recently reported that one of the ride consoles was acting a little funny. Nothing too dangerous outright, but it seemed like some of the buttons were on their way to not working.

And he was just coming back, realizing he forgot his bomber jacket (much to his own irritation), and he sees Greg—who he's pretty sure is Steven's dad—working at the console he'd reported earlier that morning. That's a fuckin' surprise. Lars kind of stops and stares, his eyes wide, finding it utterly bizarre to see someone's dad here.

What would he do if one of his own parents ended up in this place? —Lars pauses, rolling his eyes thoughtfully. They'd probably love it, actually.

He jumps when he hears Greg zap himself, and immediately scurries over. "Whoa, hey! You alright?" Lars's hands loom near Greg's arm as he inspects, but all he really finds is that Greg looks haggard as hell. "Daaang, you look like shit. Maybe you should take a break before you lose your eyebrows."

[fragileandsoft]

"'M okay, I'm fine." Greg shakes out his hand and sucks on the shocked finger. "Job hazard. I'll take a breather once this is all taken care of." Or if he can find anything else to do, first. Something's always breaking around here, and it's as good an excuse as any to keep busy

He shoots a halfhearted smile at Lars. "Can't have things going off the rails here." There's a bewildered pause, however, as he looks over the teen. He's--he knows this kid, right? He's not just spacing out and imagining stuff?

"La... Lars? What're you...?" Greg shakes his head and pinches the bridge of his nose. "Criminy. Half of Beach City's gonna end up here."

[mossbuds]

Oh. Greg knows him. He's not sure they've ever actually been directly introduced, but he figures his parents have probably hung out with Greg or something before, doin' old people shit. He couldn't be too surprised, since it was such a small place...

"Apparently," Lars responds, leaning forward to bend over, picking up his bomber from the dirt next to the console. Lars shakes it, then brushes it off. "Knew Steven was here, but I can't say I was expecting to see his dad. I'm givin' it a week 'till I see Mayor Dewey runnin' around tryin' to govern this stupid circus as a flying cyclops or somethin'. Figures that stupid place would just follow me here."

B

[mirrortide]

Unfortunately for Greg, there is one blue gem who has decided that she might as well just look around. Get to know her surroundings and all that nonsense since she's apparently stuck here for stars know how long.

Whatever, she'll deal with it.

Anyway, it's on this whim of looking around at this place where she finds Greg. Though he only looks semi-familiar thanks to his changes. It means Lapis just sort of awkwardly stares at him as he shoves food into his mouth. She looks a little grossed out. Just a little.

Classy.

"What are you doing?" Eating, obviously. It's the quantities that are disturbing.

[fragileandsoft]

Greg falters, halfway through a bite of corndog, and blinks at her. Lapis? Lapis is here. At the carnival. With them.

"Uhh..." Belatedly he swallows his mouthful of food, and wipes a smear of mustard off the corner of his mouth. He misses the glob still on a tusk.

"Eating, just... you know... big day ahead, stocking up on... what are you doing here?" Even more than her being hired on, gems don't exactly have much reason to go to the cafeteria. Usually once he goes somewhere with food they leave him pretty well alone.

[mirrortide]

"I just... got here." If you think that gems have any sort of knowledge on what a cafeteria is, you're wrong. Also it doesn't matter what you tell her because now Lapis is convinced that's where humans go to just stuff their face holes full of huge quantities of food.

Ew.

"I was looking-" Okay, no she can't leave it unsaid. Lapis motions up to her face, where a tusk would be if she happened to be Greg. "You have something. Here."

B

[pipers_son]

Right. Absolutely fantastic.

That is to say, Joker is pretty sure Greg is doing fantastic like he's doing fantastic, although the way Joker is run ragged is for a few different reasons than Greg's.

Still, at least his heavy schedule means that his times to eat are a bit unconventional and away from most other people's as well, and so he's exactly around at the same time Greg settle down to eat. The Stage Manager strides up to the table that Greg has sequestered himself at, one plate balanced on his hand. "Hey there, Greg. Mind much if someone comes ta sit with ya?"

[fragileandsoft]

It's not as though Greg dislikes company in general, but he still hesitates as Joker approaches. He doubts he'd make very pleasant company at this point, especially for someone as exhausted at Joker looks. But, if Joker's willing to look past the mouthful of fries, who's Greg to deny him?

He gestures across the table to a seat, covering his mouth while he tries to swallow his fried mouthful.

[pipers_son]

“Thank ya kindly!” Against all odds, Joker apparently still has enough energy somewhere deep down inside him that there’s an exclamation mark audible in his words, and he flops down across Greg. It feels so good to give his poor aching feet a rest. Really, he’d get lost in that relief alone, but he’s a man on a mission.

Popping something meaty that’s also undeniably foreign, he grins at the spread of food that Greg has taken for himself. “Cooks never fail ta impress, huh?” he asks. “One of the better things about this place.”

A - DID U KNO DOGS WILL ALSO CHASE LIGHTBEAMS

[otoko]

[He just needs to ask Greg something, really. It's not vital-but it's better to get things dealt with sooner as opposed to llllaaa....

...Gongenzaka pauses as he comes into the stage area he was told Greg was working in, a single jerking, wiggling light beam focused around in an unpredictable pattern along the ground. ...He shouldn't. He really shouldn't. Despite himself however his animal legs have already entered a sort of half crouch, tail swishing as his eyes track the light. He........has better things to do....]

HMMNN-!

[LATERLATERLATERHENEEDSTOCATCHTHELIGHTBEAM-

It may be a bit, it may not- but Greg's going to end up looking over the side of that spotlight to see an oversized bear-dog-man chasing a spotlight glare.]

[fragileandsoft]

[ It doesn't take too long for Greg to hear the heavy thumping of Gongenzaka's hoof/footfalls. He stares a moment, not sure what he's looking at. A practice routine? He didn't end up with the performers, did he? Or is it just a thing people do around here? Greg has really given up on guessing what's normal or not around here, and has decided against interrupting whenever possible.

However, his pause makes the beam of light finally fall still, wavering in the one spot. ]

[otoko]

HMMN!!- [GOTYOUYOUTERRIBLESHININGBEACONTH-

Oh it's stopped.

As if freed from a strange and mindnumbing spell, Gongenzaka stands straight, quickly realizing what he's been doing the last few minutes.] Kgh-

[And choking when he realizes that means he's probably been watched. He'll try not to think of it as being taken advantage of, he likes to hope most of the engineers there wouldn't. Do that. Right?

Turning himself toward the source of the light however, he immediately bows.] M-MY APOLOGIES..!

I, the man Gongenzaka, merely came to ask something of Greg..! [He. Has no idea Greg is the one up there, mind, but.] Please, forgive me for creating such distraction! [HE'S TRYING NOT TO LOSE HIMSELF LIKE THIS, HE SWEARS.]

A

[destiny_key]

Sora's the type to help anyone in need, whether they ask or not. Which is to say, he's got a slight case of Chronic Hero Syndrome.

So when he hears a yelping coming from one of the tents, he can't help but go check it out. That's his job here, isn't it? Helping people? That shouldn't extend to just the guests, but to everyone.

He doesn't know much about electrical wiring, but he's pretty sure you're not supposed to be shocking yourself with it. Still, it takes him a second of standing and watching before he speaks up.

"Hey, um... Are you okay?"

[fragileandsoft]

Greg's shaking the painful buzz out of his hand as a fairly unfamiliar voice calls out. He jumps a little, and glances back to Sora. He winces, and scratches at a horn stub.

"Ahh--sorry. Was I being too loud?" He'd rather his pain not distract anyone from their own business, but by this point it's probably lucky he hasn't started cursing at the uncooperative FX panel. He sucks idly at a scorched finger. "I'll keep it down, don't worry."

SORRY FOR LATENESS!

[destiny_key]

"Huh? Oh, no, you're not loud, but..." Sora hesitates. He has no idea how to help, but he might as well try.

"Just, it sounded like you were hurt. Are you okay?"

b

[wild_magic]

Susan is one of the most outgoing and energetic people around, and he normally will happily greet (and maybe chat the ear off of) any of the other carnival workers when he passes them. He was a bit more subdued and quiet for a couple of days after he was attacked, but now that he's had a chance to get over it he's back to his normal self.

...Which means that when he sees Greg sitting by himself in the cafeteria, he doesn't even think about it before heading his way with his own food. Greg seems pretty nice (even if Susan doesn't like being told by adults what he should or shouldn't do) and so he's going to at least see if he can cheer him up.

"Hi! Can I sit here so I don't have to sit by myself?" Not that he minds sitting by himself, or sitting somewhere else, or even going back to the trailer and eating with Lauren, or any other number of options.

[fragileandsoft]

"Uhh... all right." Greg gestures to a seat. He definitely wouldn't have expected Susan to approach him; the kid strikes him as someone who prefers pretty high-energy company, and Greg's fairly low key on a good day.

"How're you holding up?" After the last couple days, Greg's been too distracted to catch up with people, but something always seems to be going on with the young brothers.

[wild_magic]

Susan sits happily, swinging his legs as he starts to eat.

"Well..." It takes him a second or two to think of how to respond to that one. "I'm okay now! But now Lauren doesn't want me to go back into the fake city any more, 'cause of the bad guys, so that sucks. I liked going in there."

B

[sunflowerfields]

Greg can run, but he can't hide from concern mom. Hinawa had heard the news- that one of the carnival's younger residents, who also happened to be Greg's son, had been injured while out in May Tricks, so it was no surprise to her that he was looking downright distraught. It's any parent's worst nightmare.

She comes by with the coffee pot, giving him a refill without being prompted. Then she sits down across the table from him. "I hope you've been able to get some rest. Coffee'll do the trick for a while, but it's got nothing on a good night's sleep."

[fragileandsoft]

Greg gives her a grateful but threadbare smile as she refills his cup. He may well have doubled the kitchen's workload with all his gluttony in the last day or two, but the staff's been accommodating to a fault.

"I'm dozing where I can." Fitfully, sure, but it's gotta count for something, right? "Mostly I'm trying to look after Steven whenever I'm back at the trailer." He hesitates, realizing that makes it sound more dire than it really is. "He's doing fine! Just... you know how it is." It's hard for him to see his kid in pain, healing or no.

[sunflowerfields]

She returns the smile, but there's a sadness in her eyes, and she nods solemnly.

"I do," She says. "When you know there's something out there you can't protect them from, it's frightening. It really is."

Try as she might, Hinawa doesn't think she'll ever get the image of that one glowing red eye out of her mind.

"I really should be telling you to get some real rest. That you shouldn't be punishing yourself like this. But to be honest, I really think I'd be doing the same thing if I were in your shoes."

B

[amusicaladventure]

A low whistle interrupted his solitude, followed by the splay of clawed fingers on the table as Ash leaned in to get a better look at him. "You look like hell, man," she said, brutally honest but sympathetic as well.

[fragileandsoft]

Greg flinches at her whistle and leans back, caught off guard by her scrutiny. He knows he's a mess, but that's sort of why he tried to keep out of anyone's way over here. "Uh... sorry, it's been a hard... few days..." He glances off, scratching at his scalp, then wincing when he catches on a growing horn.

A

[dontpokethat]

Once upon a time, Ginko used to be surprised and almost impressed by the R.O.U.S's skill for getting past him and out of its enclosure. These days, its escape attempts are really more annoying than anything else, especially when it gets far enough to chew up the wiring in the stable before he can wrestle it back into its pen.

He sits aside, examining the gold-tinted scratches Barfy left on his arm as Greg works. That yelp draws his attention, though, and he stands up, already ready to go over and check. "Hey, you okay?"

[fragileandsoft]

"Fine, fine." Greg rubs at the hurt hand a second, before again putting his focus back on the damaged wires. "Just caught me off guard."

Almost immediately, he bites back a hiss as he's shocked again. It's harder to see clearly when he's this tired, but the work's gotta be done. Imagine the disaster if one of the animals got shocked unexpectedly. "That thing did a real number over here.