Post-Canon Extravaganza!

[Chairubplay]

Weeks in the future, but not many...


Claiming the Ultimate Reward and stepping bravely into the new universe that waited for them still felt unreal, a product of too much krypton intake that would end with him waking up on LOTAK, dazed and confused and wanting for just another few minutes of his first actual taste of peace. Instead of the darkened tombs of his session's planet, Dirk awoke to sunlight streaming in from the windows of their new-and-improved version of home on Earth. Humans, trolls and carapaces alike laid claim to their own personal slices of Cantown. Though there was now an entire planet to explore, its population was concentrated around that central hub until it felt ready to branch out.

It was... Different. Dirk expected that, to an extent. After so long spent hurtling through the empty space of a dead session, preparing for a final battle that he had been certain meant he wouldn't make it to see the finish line, these few idyllic weeks of lazing in the sunshine in between efforts to extend their reach to the stars above felt like a cheat. A trick. Some cosmic scheme to make him let down all his walls and actually enjoy himself before snatching it away like a favourite toy just to see the infant wail. Of course, that was all kinds of illogical, and not to mention a sentiment probably held by everybody present during the big finish, but at least now Dirk was able to recognise when he was being a self-absorbed jackass and put that thought to bed.

It's a beautiful day outside. Birds are chirping. Flowers are blooming. On days like these, kids like him need to pull themselves up by the bootstraps and get to work. There was nothing like the task of colonizing an entire planet to keep a dude busy, but luckily enough, it wasn't something he had to do himself. Alongside the motley crew of characters he'd come to terms with having to rub elbows (as if being sociable with eight other humans, their troll friends, and a stray cherub wasn't enough), imagine their collective surprise when stepping into that doorway meant they'd be greeted not only by more chess guys than you could shake a stick at, but a vast amount of long-dead friends. Family. Guardians.

Paradox space must have felt embarrassed about fucking things up so utterly that it made the Ultimate Reward more of an Ultimate Reward Deluxe Special Edition: Director's Cut.

Some of their group had decided to have their homes (for lack of a better word; the things might as well have been sporting labels for peas and corn as far as he was concerned) extra large to accommodate their respective family units. Dirk was more of a solitary animal, with his being just about the size of the apartment he'd grown up in, though its cylindrical shape left plenty of space for an upper level he'd dedicated as his workshop.

It had seen plenty of use, that was for sure. As Dirk climbed the stairs, he offered a fistbump to his newest bud Screwball, spiritual successor to his other pair of Brobots. This lovable pile of scrap metal had been integral to setting up a network of similarly-constructed bits of bot that functioned as both assistants in the rebuilding efforts and communication devices to reach every resident of Cantown, no matter how far-flung they may be.

In theory, anyway.

"No time like the present, huh, buddy?" Screwball gave a musical chirp in reply, not unlike a certain other all-purpose droid he might be able to mention. Dirk hadn't gotten around to installing a voice sample yet, so the little guy would have a while to wait before participating in any rap battles. This was technically supposed to be his maiden voyage, where Dirk would be able to test whether it would support sending and receiving messages across a distance larger than the next can over. He gave Screwball a fond pat before retrieving his headset, plugging it into the jack situated just under his bot's speaker system, and prepared for action.

Show time.

"House meeting, everybody. Tell your friends, tell your neighbours, everybody report to City Hall. Those of you that don't show will be presumed dead or that your Screwbot is nonfunctional, which would wreak utter havoc on the results of this here test, so you'd best get to stepping. Headcount will begin in half an hour to allow for stragglers. Resident techmonkey Dirk Strider, out."

That should take care of that. It was time to see just how good of a system he could rig up in just a few short weeks. While he might be useless when it came to hard labour (too much of a twig to play Hot Construction Worker, thanks ever so), let nobody say that Dirk wasn't pulling his own weight and then some. The walk to City Hall was a short one, as Dirk wanted to be close to any action that might arise, but it looked as if there were only carapaces milling about now.

Welp, nothing for it but to settle on the building steps and watch the clouds pass him by.

[cherubplaynonsense]

Helping to bring about the creation of a whole new world was enough to give a young woman like Jane Crocker goosebumps for the rest of her life.

Being part of something so much bigger than oneself was a unique kind of feeling that didn't actually go away so much as it rescinded to the back of one's mind so that one could properly go about life without a stupid expression on their face. Permanently in awe of the life they had built and subsequently destroyed, Jane was certain that even with time, such a profound and unique event would only become harder to fathom, not easier. Being the gutsy gumshoe she was, Jane was not about to let such a thing stop her from investigating it; it was just a matter of internal affairs more-so than external casework that everyone needed to be made privy to. This case was on a need-to-know basis, and pretty much nobody needed to know that she was having nearly out-of-body feelings about the whole thing.

The Crocker in question had chosen to settled back down with her father, reunited and very glad of it. The ages where she had been so uneasy about his whereabouts were terrible and she was not likely to forget about those either. The reunion was fantastic, and living with him made everything seem almost some semblance of normal if she didn't leave the house- but those days were gone, too. Dad's experiences had changed him as much as Jane's had changed her, and he was far beyond keeping her forcibly locked up in the house with dastardly refrigerators to block her escape.

Of course, old habits died hard, and sometimes she found herself staring down the large kitchen appliance in the morning anyway.

She had earned her rights to freedom and independence, and she didn't live with her father for necessity or support as much as she lived with him out of her own desire to remain close ever since that accidental parting long ago in LOCAH. That wasn't to say that she didn't venture out on her own! On the contrary, she had made plenty of new friends, and she did intend to spend all her lazy days with them for as long as time would permit. One such opportunity invited itself to her doorstep quite literally, as she pulled on a loose jacket and paused mid-footfall as she saw a bot chirping eagerly at her.

After the message properly relayed, Jane laughed at Dirk's exaggerations, and smiled wide at the mobile machine, nodding. "I'll head right over, don't worry." After the simple affirmation, Jane leaned back to open the door behind her and call out to her Dad in question. "I'm going to a meeting at City Hall! Be back later!" Too eager to wait, Jane shut the door and practically bounced on the balls of her feet with each step, delighted at the prospect of being able to see lots of people gathered together once again. 

Carapaces were pretty friendly little fellows, and as Jane walked through grassy fields littered with massive Cans, the inhabitants tended to at least stop and wave. In a grand mood with the sunshine and the wind, Jane indeed returned the pleasantries, all the way to her destination, where she began to see a little spot of color on the steps of the Hall. Dirk, assuredly! Was she really the first one there? Huh. She approached him with the familiar ease of best friends who happened to help save the world through countless sacrifices, and sat down beside him without explicitly being invited to.

"Good afternoon Mr. Strider!" she greeted, and gave him a nudge with her own shoulder, though slight, as her hands remained in the pockets of her jacket. "I see I'm the first to arrive. Do I get a prize?" It almost wasn't quite fair; Jane herself lived pretty close by, it had only taken a few minutes to walk at a brisk pace to the Hall.

[davedudie]

Waking up post-game wasn't really like waking up. It was groggy and frustratingly slow like before, with only a notion of purpose, reminiscent of the final moments catalogued by the hunk of rock hurtling to earth and the blade shoving through his chest. His heart beat as urgently as it had in his final moments, like he'd simply blacked out for a split second, but coming out there suddenly wasn't anything left to tangibly fight - just cloudy residue in his head. Dirk felt abandoned for it; an ache deep in his stomach and a difficulty to breathe because it was easier to breathe. There was space in him, and waking to that so suddenly felt more like emptiness than freedom, a vulnerability and a shock to the system while his mind was stuck in old habits.

It was like he'd been spat out from a decades long rollercoaster with no one there to catch him.

Abandoned was still what he felt when he'd stood up and taken stock of where he was: the futon, the apartment, the sounds of the city. Dave hadn't been there, which registered vaguely as good. He'd gone to the computer first, spent days glued to it, and had tossed his shades aside. Didn't need them.



His kid's digital footprint was easy to find, and by extension, his younger alt self's. He spent longer thoroughly sussing out his surroundings online, found he was no longer in Texas, Toto, and that their location was close. By the time he'd reasoned with himself that it was time to move, he'd eaten again and showered, judiciously packed one of Dave's backpacks twice over for his own, and then had only hesitated at the door to eye the shades still on his desk. In the end he'd slipped them back on.

Can Town was easy to spot over the hill, cylindrical buildings an eyesore against the blue sky, but there could be an argument made for the surrounding distinctively New Yorker flora softening it. It could be endearing, like a put-this-atrocity-on-the-fridge-dad-because-the-sun-has-a-smile-and-everything-is-bright-and-that-excuses-it endearing. Dirk didn't know how to approach this.

Conveniently, a glistening hunk of metal approached him first. In so much as it rolled up to a foot away. And seemed to stare. Dirk crouched and observed right back. Wondered if he could communicate “take me to your leader” with minimal effort, possibly just via eye-contact, speaking wasn't yet a forte.

[cherubplaying]

As far as he knew, he could have still been dead and only dreaming. His brain working wonders in overtime and trying to forge a world in the likes of a children’s hand-crafted metropolis. Things were decidedly strange. From the cylindrical structures to the ever friendly residents, it was vastly different than what he was used to, than what he was really comfortable with.

Fear should have come as a primary reaction, and obedience followed right at its tail. Having to work for what he wanted in just the right way he wanted it wasn’t necessarily difficult, though rather a nuisance. One he could really use without. But he supposed he’d just have to deal with it for now and mold it in the image of his former city. The Midnight Crew would soon rise again under new management, since the last one hadn’t ended so well. If it ever did end, actually.

After waking up so suddenly in this foreign place, he couldn’t remember much aside from the last thing he was doing. That is to say, grocery shopping. For what, he wasn’t exactly sure; everything before and after then was a giant heap of a messy blur. Irritating, really. Time-travel shenanigans were a breeze, so why was remembering the last weeks such a chore? Were the others experiencing the same things as he? Were they even here?

He frowned at that thought. One hand gripped tightly at his head while the other threw off the thin blanket, allowing him to finally get up and walk over to his bathroom. His eyes narrowed at the reflection staring back at him. Was it just his imagination or was he really beginning to look a bit paler? His skin was still black in essence, leaning possibly on dark grey. No. It was just a trick of the eye. Luckily, something else stole his attention.

It was a contraption that came along with the living arrangement. He moved away from the bathroom mirror to fix himself a quick cup before listening to the announcement. Living at one of the far ends of the town was both an advantage and a disadvantage. Lesser people to interact with, but more time-consuming travels to get essentials. The voice that came out of the device was faint and broken, but still audible enough for him to get the gist. A meeting at City Hall? He saw no reason to go, but then again…

With a classy suit and tie combo on his person, a classy hat on his head, and a lone smoke on his lips, Diamonds Droog was off and headed to the City Hall. If the rest of his crew were in this town, they might attend the meeting too. And, well…

“Misery does love company.”

The words slipped past his lips easily like the smoke of his cigarette. Looks like he’s been alone for far too long; a deck of cards wasn’t complete with a single suit alone, after all.