calibrations - memories (spike)

The scene is a park in Paris, grey and foggy in the early morning. Alex is sitting on a bench, wearing a coat and headphones, and scribbling a marker against a large drawing pad. Clearly she's a bit too lazy for the starving artist life, because right now her pickle jar of coins is tipped over on the sidewalk, and she seems to be halfway engrossed in a drawing of a dog with dragon wings.

"Hey! Alex!"

She doesn't recognize the small, lime-haired boy running towards her, even as enthusiastically as he seems to know her. And with her headphones on, she doesn't hear him fast enough to warn him about-

Ooph.

"Careful. There's a pickle jar there." She takes her good sweet time removing the headphones, watching as Spike groans and picks himself up.

"Yeah, thanks." He looks grumpy about the fall for just a moment, but then his face lights up with cheer again. "Alex, you're here! Is this where you live on Earth?"

She just stares. "As opposed to where I live on Jupiter? Do I know you, kid?"

"You don't recognize me?" Sadness crosses Spike's face for a moment, before realization dawns. "Oh, duh! Of course you don't. I'm not looking like myself right now. I'm usually a dragon."

Alex has a vague feeling in her stomach that she shouldn't be perturbed by this statement. Dragons are totally normal, right? She's even drawing one! But then logic takes over, and she shakes her head, turning on the patronizing sarcasm. "Of course you are. And I'm usually Santa Claus. I just misplaced about three hundred pounds somewhere on the trip from the Arctic Circle, that's all."

Spike's patronizing sarcasm filter is unfortunately a bit broken. "You never mentioned that before…"

"It's top secret knowledge. Not something I usually tell random green-haired pipsqueaks." She goes back to her drawing, but her mind isn't in it. She keeps watching the boy out of the corner of her eye.

He leans in to watch her progress. "I'm not random, though. I'm Spike! You really don't remember me at all?"

"Nope. Now go find your pony friends or something. I'm working."

Spike points at her, suddenly excited. "Ah-HAH! You do remember! I never mentioned the ponies!"

For a brief moment, Alex thinks about saying, Yeah, ponies. You're the dude that hangs out with the weird rainbow ponies. But that would be really freaky and unusual, and she just shakes her head instead. "I was just guessing. You look like guy who'd be into horses."

"No, you weren't! You totally remembered my friends from back home!" Spike isn't letting go of the concept now.

Alex finally drops her sarcastic smirk, trying her hardest to place him in some sort of lost memory. "Where did you say you know me from, again?"

"Paradisa! You know, the castle that kidnaps people from different worlds?"

She squints. "… Is that, like, from a movie or something? It sounds familiar."

"No, it wasn't a movie! It was real. It is real." Spike frowns. "Don't you remember wishing for everything you want? And your loss was the same as mine, we couldn't sleep in."

"Wishing?" She raises an eyebrow. "I think it's time to lay off the Coco Puffs, kid. I don't know who you're mistaking me for, but I never lived in any magic voodoo castle."

"But you have! You just don't remember it properly."

But she just shakes her head. "No. No, I've lived in Paris for three months, and then before... Before I was in New York. Yeah. New York, with... I lived with some people. But no castle..."

The memory ends there, and the board fades out to buzzing static.

calibrations - memories (rise)

The scene is a bright, sunlit garden - perfectly mown grass covers the hillside, and when you look up, you can see it. A huge, sand-colored castle rises up into the sky, with four towers and twice as many turrets. Then, the screen goes white with the flash of a camera.

"I mean, it's not like there's anyone I'm actively interested in, you know? No one I'd like to jump or anything. Just… guys are pretty stupid, right?" Alex comes into view, smacking on gum and holding a Polaroid camera between her hands. She looks happy, in oversized sunglasses and shorts. "And you? Anyone in particular?"

Rise Kujikawa smiles back, a hopeful look on her blushing face. "Well, I guess it doesn't have to be guys…" She watches Alex fiddling with the camera, and her thoughts are clear on her sleeve. "A-anyway, I can't really think of anyone…"

"No, yeah, it doesn't." Alex shrugs, looking over the tops of her sunglasses. "I've just… I've never kissed anyone who wasn't, I guess. Doesn't mean it wouldn't be nice."

Rise's cheeks go even redder. "… Might be kinda nice…" She pops another pose as Alex aims the camera, and the flash goes off again. "And we shouldn't have to wait for the castle to tell us who to kiss!"

Alex looks at her for a long time, a slow smile growing on her face as she lowers the camera. "Yeah, free will is awesome."

And as the two come together with a laugh, their lips meeting, the board goes to static.

calibrations - memories (sollux)

The blue glow of a TV, and the smell of slightly-burnt popcorn. Two teenagers are slumped down on the cushy sofa, a blue bowl between them and a pile of DVD cases scattered around their feet.

Alex tilts the remote up to hit the Play button. "The alien in this one is huge and nasty and spits acid. It makes my brother cry."

"What, spitting acid is weird?" Her companion is small and grey-skinned, with two pairs of orange horns and a slightly spitty lisp.

"Well, when it's killing people it's kind of freaky." Alex pauses for a moment, one eyebrow going up. "What, can you spit acid?"

"Adult trolls can. From their pharyngeal box." Sollux's face is the exact picture of straight. Alex tries to read it for a moment, but then just shrugs.

"That's cool. It's too bad no one ages here, 'cause I've always wanted to meet someone who can spit acid. I'd totally stick around for that." She reaches over to a side table, and produces a small pink bag. "Here, I have this too."

Sollux freezes, his eyes going wide behind his glasses. He looks a bit like he's having some sort of allergic fit, or possibly break into tears.

"What? Does cotton candy bring back some kind of painful memories?" Alex sounds as flippant as ever, but her voice is layered with faint concern. Did she just offend him deeply?

Sollux just shakes his head, still looking at the bag with wild reverence. "Most lowbloods don't even get to eat cotton candy their entire life! Are you sure I can have this?"

At that, Alex's face breaks out into a huge grin, and she tosses the bag over. "Yeah, totally. It's yours, as much as you want."

As the bag lands in the troll's lap, the board goes static again, and the scene fades out.

calibrations - memories (sirius)

The castle foyer is dim with orange firelight when the front door creaks open, and a tall young man peers in. Alex is half-asleep with a cup of coffee, despite the early morning hour, but when she sees the newcomer she nearly falls out of her seat with alarm.

"Sirius!" He seems to notice her, and his jaw gapes open. "Way to vanish for awhile, dude. Real reliable."

Sirius Black looks flabbergasted. He approaches the couch slowly, taking in the look of his old friend. "Alex…? How long was I- … Are you alright? What's happened to you?"

She makes room for him, ignoring his question entirely. "I don't know, a few months? It's October now. How long were you on the other side?"

"About a year. Just finished school." He sits down, looking conflicted. "…Alex? What happened?"

"Thought you looked older. Lucky asshole." She tries to put on a characteristic smirk. "Some crap went down last month, that's all. Rough time. New loss, all that jazz."

"Well, age is only a number, you know." Sirius starts to waggle his eyebrow, but seems to think better of it. He looks her closely in the eye. "Care to explain what happened?"

"Maybe later." She shrugs, cutting off the line of questioning. "And no flirting anymore, mister. I'll have you know I'm spoken for."

He smiles broadly, and their old rapport sparks in an instant. "Really now? By whom? Do I know him?"

Alex almost laughs out loud, giving him a gentle shove. "When did I ever say it was a 'he'?"

The two lean in towards each other, laughing, and the scene fades out to the sound of a crackling fire.