Who: Pod Squad - Max, Isobel and Michael What: Drinks after all having the same dream When: Today Where: Random Bar Rating/Warning: Mediumish - references to murder Status: Complete
Michael was feeling some major guilt over his dreams. He had been camping with Isobel and Max. Some drifter had attacked Isobel and then Max had killed him. Michael helped move the body and cover it up. Yes, the guy probably deserved it for trying to hurt Isobel. But he was still a person. A person Michael had been a part of murdering. He needed a drink. But then when didn’t he need a drink? He needed more drinks than usual.
He wasn’t going to be drinking alone either. He had already made plans to meet up with Max and Isobel. He thought about cancelling. Not sure he could face them after his dream. But how often did both the Evans twins want to be in the same room together? Michael wasn’t about to fuck that up. So he went to the agreed upon bar after he finished up at the garage. Michael ordered himself a whiskey right away not bothering to wait for Max or Isobel.
“Getting started without us?” Max questioned lightly as he slid onto the barstool next to his friend. At the very least he could have waited for one of them to arrive. But then it rather seemed like Michael needed the drink in a way that wasn’t particularly normal for Michael.
“What’s wrong?” Obviously it was something.
“Since when do I need a reason to drink?” Michael replied forcing a smile. He didn’t want to dwell on the dreams. Or look at Max differently. Which knowing his killed someone in the dreams was proving so be a bit of a challenge.
“Point taken.” Max motioned for the bartender. “One of the same,” he ordered, waiting for the man to step away before turning toward his friend and continuing the conversation. “But there’s a difference between drinking and drinking. You’re doing the latter. And since Isobel isn’t here yet, you have my full attention so spill.”
“Pretty sure I’d still have your full attention even with Isobel here,” Michael replied. He knew they were getting along a bit better these days. But still for the longest time whenever the three of them were together most of the focus was on Michael.
The door open and a disheveled Isobel came in, which was a rare sight to see since her highschool days. She saw Micheal and Max, made her way over to them, “sorry I’m late,” she breathed out and she shifted to take off her jacket, “It’s been a day,” she informed them, “how are you two?”
Max couldn’t exactly say that Michael was wrong in that regard. But he and Isobel had been making some small strides in their relationship since they’d both started dreaming. Head tilted at his sister’s appearance.
“I’d say ask Michael but you don’t look like you’re doing too well either…. What’s wrong?”
Michael was relieved when Isobel came in and the questions were no longer on him. But Isobel, she didn’t look like her usual put together self. Something was definitely off. “Yeah, Is,” Michael added taking another sip of his drink. “What happened?”
Is instantly stole the drink from Micheal, down half of it, “Where are you two in the dreams, because mine is fucked up at the moment,” she sat down, shifted her bag between her legs and open it to put her car keys in, “I overslept and just been a day.”
“Around middle school,” Max admitted, glancing down a minute. “We went on a camping trip in the desert.” He would wait for confirmation that they had dreamed any of that before continuing. The memory of it all had made Max angry, upset, and maybe even a bit frightened both at how close he had come to losing his sister and how easily he had killed her attacker. But, as with so many other things, he had pushed those feelings so far down inside himself.
Michael waved the bartender over to get another drink and a second one for Isobel. With the way she was drinking she was going to need it. Especially with the topic of dreams. He took back the glass that Isobel had nearly downed and finished it off before speaking again. “Yeah,” Michael replied. “I just dreamed about that last night,” he kept his eyes on his empty glass not really able to look at either Max or Isobel.
Isobel nodded thanks to Micheal for getting her a drink, closing her purse, she looked up at both of them, “Me too,” she confirmed, “What the hell!” Is was freaked out, waking up as a kid with them in a desert, not knowing anything before that. “Guys, I’m seriously put off by this, she leaned in, “What are we?” she asked, “or in the dreams at least?”
“Not human.” Though that much was clear from the start of the dreams. “I didn’t even know...I wasn’t thinking in the dream. I just...I had to stop him. He was hurting you.” It had been completely instinctive.
**
“Yeah,” Michael agreed. “Pretty sure we’re some type of alien.” The word came easily to him. Easier than it probably should have. But they weren’t just aliens. They were also murders. Max may have done the killing but Michael helped cover it up. “What,” Michael began not sure how to finish that sentence. Man he needed another drink. “Are we dangerous?”
“I don’t know,” Isobel leaned in, “that guy was….and than Max…..” she sighed as she leaned back, “I don’t think we are, it was self defence, Max” her eyes looked at him, “I don’t know what would have happened if you weren’t there.” She took in a long breath, “we need to figure this out.”
“Figure out whether or not we’re dangerous aliens in the dreams or here or both?” He sighed, one hand running through his hair. “I don’t know, Is. You say it was self defense but…” He had felt the power coursing through him. It felt good. “There had to have been another way.”
The bartender brought over the drinks and Michael took a long gulp of his before responding. “We aren’t dangerous here,” a pause as his eyes narrowed slightly. “Or aliens.” He heard of things carrying over from dreams, but he didn’t think they could completely change what you were.
Frowning she took the drink and took a big gulp, she wasn't sure what to say, but she wanted answers. "There is that clinic for people who have been dreaming, we know whatever we are, we are all it. One of us should go get checked out." Rubbing her face she sighed as she tipped her head back, "who has some free time this week?"
“Maybe I should get checked out,” Max answered. Even if he didn’t have time. “I’m the one that killed the guy.”
“No way am I going,” Michael said with another sip of his drink. He was not about to be poked and prodded. Even if it was to find out what he was.
She looked between the pair, “I have court till Friday, I’ll see if its open Saturday and go,” she shook her head, “plus Max, you are not the best liar out of us and honestly,” she looked at Micheal and than to him, “I will lose my mind if I don’t get some kind of answer.” She was the one who was anal out of the trio. Her hand reached out to touch Max, “You were protecting me.”
“There were better ways,” he repeated. “There had to have been another way to stop him without….” Without killing him. “And then I made you both cover it all up.”
Michael let out a sigh followed by another swallow if his drink. “We were kids, Max,” he finally said even if he did feel a bit guilty himself for the whole thing. “Learning powers we know nothing about with no help.” It wasn’t like Max knew how to control it and honestly… “Who knows what would have happened to Isobel if you didn’t step in.”
“It’s not like you set out to make that happen as well,” Isobel pointed out, patted his hand then pulled her away, “plus it’s a dream, right, didn’t happen.” She downed the rest of her drink and let out a sigh, “just a dream.”
“Can you really say that, Is?” Max twisted n the barstool, turning to face her. “Can you honestly say it doesn’t feel like we really lived through it? It doesn’t fade like a normal dream. People have been hurt in the dreams. What if I wind up hurting someone else? Someone I know here? What if something happens to you two?”
“I don’t see that happening,” Michael replied. The three of them, they were close in the dreams. Closer than they were here even. Particularly Max and Isobel. But the fact they all hatched from a damn pod together? Michael felt closer to them in the dreams than here. Here he was just some foster kid they had bonded with all those years ago. “You wouldn’t hurt us,” a pause to take another sip of his drink. “You’d protect us.” Which was just proven with what happened to the drifter that had tried to hurt Isobel.
With Micheal words, Isobel jump right in, “Like you did in our dreams,” she informed him, “Max, you protected me, granted it turned out like it did. However, you both protected me,” she looked at Michael and than to Max, “Honestly, it was...nice” she sighed, “not that he died, but we were together camping of all things.” She waved her hand dismissively, “I’d never to that here.”
A nod, Max reaching for his beer. “I miss that here,” he admitted. “I know we were only kids but...we were bonded in a way that we never have been here.” It was a completely different level of family.
“That’s cause we all came out of that pod thing,” Michael replied. “But yeah. It’s nice having that bond,” he agreed. Because it was. Michael of course still felt like an outsider even in the dreams. But it wasn’t as much as he did here.
Isobel smiled at Micheal, she leaned over kissed his check, she didn’t give affection like that often, “maybe it’s something we all should work on,” she suggested, which she had been doing, even reaching out to Max to fix what was frayed between them.
“Yeah, maybe,” he nodded, taking Isobel’s hand. Max hoped they could at least. “I liked our family. The three of us, I mean. I’m sorry you got such a raw deal, Michael.”
Michael just shrugged. “It’s no big deal. Nothing I didn’t go through here.” Well minus all the alien stuff. But foster care? That was shit he was used to. However, his eyes fell on Max and Isobel’s hand. Looked like they were finally working things out. Getting close again. And that was something Michael had wanted for a long time. “I’m glad I have you guys,” he finally said taking a sip of his drink. And he meant it too, both in the dreams and this world.