bakerstreet | Bromance.

Bromance.

THE RAD BROMANCE* MEME!

*girls, and all beings of other genders, most definitely count as bros too

A meme for fun people who just want to chill out and embark upon kickass friendship shenanigans.
Leave a comment with character name and canon in the subject, and others will pick a scenario and tag you.
Fun times to be had for all!

1. CHOW TIME:
Food! Everybody loves food. It is the best social lubricant. Cooking it. Burning it. Eating it. Throwing it around! All kinds of food! A picnic, or a diner, or a barbecue, or a swanky restaurant which is going to regret letting you in very soon. The possibilities are endless.

2. SLAM DUNK:
Fuck yeah, sports. Who doesn't love getting all hot and sweaty in the sun? Balls, frisbees, cricket bats! Or, if you'd prefer not to torture yourself with physical exertion, maybe a game of pool is more your style.

3. ROCK N' ROLL:
It's always been your dream to play in a band together! Finally, you are making it happen. You are the most awesome bandmates and you make the best music. You are going to be stars!
(Or not?)

4. GAME NIGHT:
Pawn to d4. Get out of jail free. Colonel Mustard did it in the conservatory with the revolver. Nooo, I told you not to pull that Zenga block out! I warned you, bro.

5. DARES & PRANKS:
Truth…or dare! Or maybe just the lot of you wrecking everybody else's shit. What a bunch of clowns. But face it! It was hilarious. Just maybe not for, uh, that particular guy, who is coming over here, right now, with that look on his face…

6. INTO THE WILD:
For some bizarre reason, you decided to leave your nice, comfy beds behind and camp outside. In the dark. In a tent! Or even just a sleeping bag, under the staaaaars. Don't burn the marshmallows! What was that noise?

7. REV THE ENGINES:
Look at this awesome ride. You'd be happy to take your friends for a spin, of course! Wind in your hair, radio blasting music, the works. Although you would never let them touch the wheel. Nope. This car is your baby (or your parents') and that would be an extremely dumb thing to do!

8. MAKE A SPLASH:
Whether it's an ocean or your backyard or a jungle pool, there's nothing like a good dunk in the water to cool you off! I hope you can swim, because you are going in. Right now!

9. DISNEYLAND!
The smell of cotton candy, the tinny music, the cooling puddle of vomit near the exit to the rollercoaster. It brings you back to when you were ten years old and you thought this was amazing! Or maybe you still do. Who knows. Either way, there are plenty of things to keep a friend or two occupied for a day.

10. SOMETHING ELSE
What? These traditional, sacred bonding activities are dull and cliched? Your friendship is special and you need to do something a little more special? Jeez, what a wet blanket. Kidding! In that case, you are limited only by your own imagination.

Have a rad bromance! :B
*STOLEN FROM HERE

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Everything is perfect. Come at him, bros.]

(any of those works. friendship is a ranger's jam~)

[Why the RPD had an outdoor basketball court near the parking lot was beyond her, frankly. But it was always nice to blow off a little steam during lunch on the days where S.T.A.R.S. was effectively a desk job.]

Chris!

[and that's all the warning he gets before she tosses him a basketball]

Let's play some one-on-one.

[ It wasn't so much the basketball court, or main branch of the RPD, put closest to the middle of a dodgy neighborhood that surprised him, but the offer before the toss of a ball to his corner of the court. The most use the place would get was on Sundays, usually when either Joseph or Forest could spare a couple hours to waste. Although, on most days, he had taken to using the court or parking lot for his smoking spot during breaks. ]

Oh, were you looking to bet some overtime on this? Or did Barry manage to get us all a longer lunch?

[ He barks out a laugh before tossing his cigarette and stamping it out. Exhaling his last drag with a smile while rolling the ball up an arm and across his chest. ]

Either way, I could go for a little one-on-one.

[no 5, please.]

((So what do you think about Julian trying to talk Qubit into a game of space tennis? ~~Note: Qubit does not even play earth tennis.~~ We could say jamjar, or just have Qubit be on DS9 as a tech consultant or something. Totally up to you :D))

I'm just saying, if you were going to take up a hobby, racketball is your best option by far! It's good cardio, it's great for hand-eye co-ordination, the real life practical applications are-- well, alright, they're not manifold, but they, er, exist, at least... and most importantly, of course, it's an extremely social game! You can play in pairs, threes, fours, every man for himself or in teams - it's a wonderful way to catch up with the ops staff, you know, especially since Chief O'Brien's so fond, for an amateur, he's really not bad at all...

[And, the key factor:]

And, you know, I actually happen to play a little myself! Admittedly there aren't many of us who really play on the station - it's, er, it's taking a little while to catch on, for some reason-- [[this reason being that Bashir plays it] -- and I suppose the Bajorans, well, they have springball, ultimately a very similar game, but I can understand why they'd be protective of their own heritage... but I'm always around for a game! Not that I'm an expert, mind you, I haven't played much since the Academy, ahah, but one tries to keep one's hand in...

[He trails off, realising suddenly that in his enthusiasm he hasn't actually given Qubit a chance to get a word in for the past five minutes or so.]

That is to say, ah, if you'd be interested at all?

[It's actually kind of rare to catch Qubit in a moment of actual downtime, but the equipment he's on the station to monitor is between catastrophic failures at the moment, and he's been legitimately unsure what to do with himself in the meantime. So the doctor's offer comes at a fantastic time, really. There's only so many cryptography puzzles a man can do in one sitting.]

Not a bad idea. [The PADD he was using disappears into an inside coat pocket.] I can't promise I'll be any good, though, so you'll have to bear with me there.

Oh, that's alright, I prefer it that way. Good for my ego.

[Not that his ego needs inflating any more.]

You finish up here; I'll send you the replicator pattern for a racketball suit while I fetch mine! It's not mandatory, of course, but I find it rather helps - gets one in the mindset and all. And it helps with not stinking up your regular clothes, too, which I feel is rather a plus. See you on the court!

[And, with an attempt at a one-of-the-lads, aren't-we-having-fun smile that ends up just making him look a little manic, dashes off to squeeze himself into his ridiculous space-tennis outfit. Aren't you glad you agreed to this, Qubit?]

Racketball suit? [- mostly to himself. That's a thing? Boy he hopes it doesn't look stupid or anything.] Right, see you there.

[There's not much for him to finish up, so he has some time to check out the pattern instead of going straight to the replicator with it. This turns out for the best, since, uh... no offense, Julian, but he wouldn't be caught dead in that. He draws the line at spandex.

So... yeah, his normal clothes will do fine. He shows up to the court in the same green turtleneck and slacks he was already wearing, though he did put away his long coat, and switched out his good shoes for a pair of black sneakers. Whether or not he gets there first, he can't help grinning when he sees Julian dressed to the nines. He shouldn't poke fun, it's too easy.

He does anyway.] Sorry we couldn't match, Julian. I'm not half brave enough to dress like that in public.

[ooc; would this be totally weird? sometimes the best company is your own company?]

[ooc: weird, maybe, but good weird! What d'you think, like, intentionally making a copy of himself to hang out with? Alternate universe versions meeting up? Some kind of spell or whatever - angry ex maybe? - gone a bit wrong and somehow this has resulted in two Gabriels? I'm cool with pretty much anything.]

[You know what, I really like the idea of an ex having somehow done it, created some other version of himself to teach him a lesson or something. Yeah!]

Y'know, as wacky break-up revenge plots go, this is a whole lot less shitty than boiling my rabbit.

[And less intuitive, surely? After all, as obnoxious as Gabriel can be to other people, one doesn't have to spend much time with him at all to notice he's got the self-esteem of five or six normal people. If the thought behind the spell was to force him to realise how annoying he is, it might take a while.]

Not that I'm complaining. The more the merrier... especially with company as sophisticated as this.

You wouldn't be whining so much if that was a euphemism. You going to tell me what you did to the girl? Was it her sister? Brother?

[The other him laughs, leaning back and popping the cherry-flavoured candy from his mouth.]

You sound just like Balthazar. Poor S.O.B.

Coulda been either. Or both. It's so hard to keep track. Maybe I should get a rolodex.

[He plops down into a chair that had definitely not been there a few seconds earlier, and snaps himself up a can of coke.]

Without the ridiculous accent, I hope. This working man schtick is part of my charm - ain't gonna work if I sound like little lord Fauntleroy.

[The other snorts derisively.] Or get Naomi to fix up your memory old man.

Let's be honest, we couldn't pull off fancy-smanchy if we tried. Kali was as close to fancy as we ever got. She was classy. [He pauses, and then raises an eyebrow at his counterpart] It wasn't Kali that did this, was it? You know what her temper is.

[Any of these are fine, the only one that'd be iffy is dares and pranks, since Mamoru's not really into making fun of other people, as he'd basically see it as a form of bullying, which he hates, so expect some resistance from him there.]

[The Avengers met up with the Daredevil due to some nasty events that went down in the Daredevil's backyard. A very large group of inhuman's had gotten together, and had gotten rather nasty. They started robbing banks, kidnapping people, eventually moving toward stealing from the Federal Reserve, and that was the lesser of their crimes. They used their powers to their advantage, keeping people cowed, and the good guys at bay. Since their spree had gotten to such epic levels, the Avengers were called into action, along with SHIELD.

When all was said and done, the bad guys thrown into a meta-human style prison, and everything had gotten sorted out. Tony had decided it was time for a little downtime, with drinking, barbecuing, and the pool. Everyone was down for it, and soon it was beginning to wind down where many of the people left, but a good handful stayed behind, (most of them were the Avengers, and a few others. like Matt). Wanda had decided that she was never going to leave the pool; so she could be found drinking something strong as she laid in one of those floating chairs just listening, and feeling all of those molecules changing around her.

Matt seemed really nice, but he did have this quiet, dominant, 'don't fuck with me' vibe, but there was also the good guy with a big heart that he couldn't hide, that would shine through him when engaging him in conversation. It made Wanda smile, but also feel at ease around him.

It had been Matt, Wanda, and Sam left hanging out by the pool, but then Sam got up and went inside, leaving Wanda, and Matt alone to talk. She felt comfortable around him, and he didn't seem to phased at her oddness; like, the way she could sense molecules shifting, and how she could hear people's thoughts, or see pictures that popped up into their minds; she couldn't help but to drift off to listen when in the middle of a one on one conversation. She knew how others saw her, but when it came to Matt, she would rather hear it from the horse's mouth than listen in to his thoughts.]

Want to join me for a drink? I just ran out of my Margarita. [Her tone had a jovial, but friendly quality to it.]

[Naturally, when the metas struck, the Devil of Hell's Kitchen went to work. The Devil, by himself, was no match for these metas, so the Avengers' and what remained of SHEILD's aid was very welcome.

Matt may not usually be very socially outgoing, but he accepted Tony's invitation, which he'd suspected Stark had given on an impulse. Not to dine on a very rich man's bill (that was just a bonus), but to network. Battling Jack's son didn't enjoy feeling helpless, as he did when he tried to deal with the inhumans on his own, and knew it would be more advantageous not only for him but the Kitchen if the Devil had some contacts with the Avengers.

While circulating around the party scene, the lawyer would note the rhythm of each heartbeat, their smells, anything that would go into his mental catalog. It was a staggering experience, to be among a god and demigods, noting their quirks and scents. Through one way or another, he wound up in the company of Sam and Wanda. Sam's heart moved at a calming, but strong pace and Wanda had a young heart, one that beat as earnestly as the others'.

Matt didn't see anything out of the ordinary with Wanda--simply noting that there were periods where she too would remain silent, perhaps observing like he was. Or perhaps she was simply shy? Either way, Matt indulged her. She was youngish, impressionable. Why be the older curmudgeon who ruined a young woman's night by turning down their invitation to drink and talk?]

I'd like that, Wanda. [His tone tried to be friendly, accompanied by a half-smirking smile for good measure.]

[Walking fully out of the pool, she grabs a towel to wrap around herself first. Then Wanda makes it over to Matt, offering to escort him over to the bar should he need it? She didn't mind the idea of networking, Wanda didn't really know anyone, and she was still pretty young compared to the rest of the group. So, it was nice to branch out, get to know the people who had her back. And with Matt? She wanted to know how he operated, because he was a blind man, but she had seen him moving about. and how lethal he could be. That was not the work of a man without his sense of sight, not unless his other senses were all working at a great advantage!]

So, tell me a little bit about yourself? Where you born like this, or had it happened later on? Mainly, how did you come to your powers? [That was the main question that she had wanted to ask him since she met him. She was easy, she was given these powers by messing with alien tech. Something she and her brother agreed to have done to themselves.

She made it to the bar, and ordered another margarita, looking to Matt to see what he was interested in?] What would you like, Matt?

I'll have a gin and tonic. [Karen and Foggy had been dying to take him out for drink one of these days. If Wanda peeped into his head for a second, she could hear his colleagues' drunken voicemail messages on his phone, telling him that he ought to go out with them and live a little. Typically Matt was busy nursing wounds or crime-fighting. Foggy now knew this and simply played along with Karen, but, privately, he'd give Matt an earful about keeping Karen out of the loop.]

My power is the ability to look like I have one. Being deprived of my eyes has strengthened my other senses, and training regularly helps me stay on my toes in an actual fight. [It's a half-truth. If Wanda looked closer, she'd hear Old Stick's gentle instructions, training young Matt to observe his surroundings with the senses that he had left. She'd possibly sense his muscles tense, as he recalls boxing with his Dad and training to fight with Stick. Perhaps she could taste the memory of vanilla ice cream, that Stick had bought him, the sweetness marred with a bitter aftertaste left from being abandoned by his pseudo-father figure.]

If it isn't too personal, I'd like to ask the same to you. [Being blind, Matt hadn't been able to catch sight of Wanda in action. With what senses he had left, it was very hard for him to detect her powers, let alone know when they were working. In the world on fire, the world that he saw with the senses he had left, even if he was in Wanda's vicinity during the brawl, he would not fully be able to connect that air was being pushed around with a psychic force, that foes were being mentally altered. Perhaps, for a moment, he'd hear his enemies heartbeats change, but he'd more likely assume that it was because of the massive amount of heroes coming in and kicking their asses.]

[OOC sorry for the lateness of my tag. We are ripping up the driveway, and it is taking a lot out of my time and then dealing with the kids. I have had little motivation for rp. I am really sorry for that.]

[Wanda waits as he orders, a small smile on her lips. Sitting back, she takes a sip of her drink as she watches him intently.

Listening to his thoughts on his coworker's, and how they have tried to get Matt to come out with them, but he was too busy with dealing with his vigilante duties. It was a sad thought, but good to know that he has friends, and being that she had no filter, she goes to ask.]

Your friends try to get you to come out a lot, do they not? I am sorry that your duties have taken you away from them. I know I wish my brother was still here to do things with him. It must make you a bit unhappy?

[At his next comment, she stiffens a little in her seat. Leaning forward to say.} There is a little more to it than that. Yet, I understand. It must have been horrifying to lose your sight, but a rare blessing that all your other senses have been enhanced.

[She sits back then, taking another sip from her drink. Leaning her head to the side, she sighed gently as she put her drink down.]

I do not mind. I allowed Hydra to perform experimentation on me, and my brother did as well. They used the scepter that Loki used when he tried to take over New York. I am sure you are familiar with that? [She said gently, putting her hand out to touch his hand, then giving it a squeeze.]

I gained neuro-electric interfacing, telekinesis, mental manipulation that I can use in a varying amount of ways to take down my opponents.

[OOC No probs, no probs. Thanks for taking time out to respond. :D]

[Matt found himself a little stunned after Wanda'd said that first part; but he continued as if nothing happened, because it would have been rude. Nothing much made sense, until that last part of hers was shared. Telekinetic and mental manipulation. If Matt knew his sci-fi well, that was usually paired with some degree of telepathy.

Huh. It was odd, being the one observed instead of the one observing for once. But this rarity made him chuckle, changing the fairly stoic, belabored expression of amusement to a more genuine smirk.

She'd said she lost a brother. That would explain the rather personal questions and the sharing of some quite personal details. Matt knew loss. Some loss drives people inwards, others outwards, making the latter more willing to trust than they normally would. Because they missed trusting anyone.

After regaining his composure, Matt replied. It felt a little nice to talk about people in his life without having to introduce them. And it seemed harmless to share this with Wanda. He doesn't reject the hand, and gives it a little squeeze back. For her brother.] I let Foggy into my secret, but it hurts him more than me to keep all of this from Karen. [Foggy's heart skipped beats when Karen was around. It was sweet, really.] Before I told him, I've never told anyone about my blindness being...different than the blindness of others. It was a little hard to work into conversation. [A joke. A small joke. But there was always a little worry that he harbored in the back of his head. That he'd already been ostracized for being blind but being extra-special-blind would bring extra-ostracization. If that was a word.]

I am fairly familiar with the goings-on of New York at the time of the attack. I was a little busy hiding out in the basement of Landman and Zack's to have helped out. HYDRA doesn't ring any bells, though. [Although the devil...sort of worked with SHIELD on this mission, he wasn't privy to the info they had. SHIELD, as far as he knew, were an espionage task-force that must have had some clout--enough clout for agents, who'd declare that they were with SHIELD, as he'd encountered, to still have some meaning, in spite of being disbanded. They were also spying on people for the government and were recently-ish revealed to the public, as he recalls from the live conference Natasha Romanova had had.] Are they an organization with SHIELD?

[Wanda had to admit that she liked that smile, it seemed so genuine, she had to smile herself. And she did catch his shock, which made her chuckle a bit. Wanda was not used to people feeling a sense of pleasure, even if it were in minute detail, when it came to her powers of observation.]

You did, that is good though, no? You need allies, because the world we live in is a very dangerous, and lonely place. And you keep it from her because? Do you think that she could not handle such information? She could surprise you. [Wanda offered quietly, but there was conviction to those words.] That I can imagine. It is already hard being different in one way, but have power behind that difference? It could make someone feel very powerless, and unsure. Take me, for instance, the people on this team tend to side eye me. With good reason, but still. I suppose I have been the only one to get behind their carefully built walls.

[He asks about HYDRA, and Wanda sighs heavily. Canting her head to the side, this is the part that sucks a bit. Knowing that her origins came from the people that she wants to protect others from. She had no way to know that they had been manipulating herself, and the others in Sokovia, but they are gone now. She lets out a breath then sighs a little.] Well, no. HYDRA is the organization that S.H.I.E.L.D. protects the world from. They are a bad organization, and they harm people. They manipulated me, my brother, our people, but I wouldn't change letting them experiment on me. I got these powers, and I am glad for them.

[With that last part shared, Matt drops the topic of Karen. This topic commanded far more attention than the soap opera of Matt Murdock's day-life. While some would react in immediate disgust at the thought of a person going to an organization with malicious purposes, a pity welled in Matt. Sympathy from the Devil. What would drive a person to do that? To go to a criminal organization and let them change who you were?

For the briefest moment, there's old Stick again, in Matt's head. Stick'd found Matt after he was raw from his father's death, when he was craving for some paternal figure. When he was most open to being changed.

He had a guess, but he wouldn't venture in and ask what drove this young woman to that. Let her keep that secret, if she wishes.

At least, Wanda seemed pleased with the results and was putting them to good use. The smirk lost some of its potency but, out of respect, the lawyer kept some semblance of it on his face.] I suppose it makes for some neat party tricks. [And, it hits him in that moment to ask:] What does the world look like to you? Hearing other people's thoughts, seeing into their heads while looking them in the face...is it like...do they change color based on how they feel? Or...is it like you see their thoughts as scrolling text while they say something else?

[Her head tilts to the side, and she closes her eyes as Matt's questions her reasoning for what she's done in his own mind. It has her lips set in a thin line. Something about it made her want to confront the thought, wanted to point out that she didn't do it all willy nilly, there was a very important reasoning for what she and Pietro have gone through.] It was done out of necessity, not to make any party tricks. [She said a bit coolly, not trying to push him away, but just wanting to make a point about his comment, and thoughts.] It was done because our world was torn in two, and we wanted to make a difference.

What does it look like? Well, there are colors, I can sense each thought as it comes into the persons head. A colorscape of changing information. It is not something I can turn off; it's an ever revolving door of pictures, and words. And my world revolves around changing molecules, where for someone like you it might be more solid, more tangible...for me, it is ever changing.

[Point received. He'd overstepped, made an assumption where he shouldn't have in a rather sensitive place.

How...odd it felt, to have to parse through thoughts, think more of the assumptions that pop out and how that could inadvertently offend a telepath. Was it possible to ever completely wipe away all of those hurtful assumptions? A task like that required a lot of time, a lot more awareness of what assumptions existed and were harmful.] My apologies. [Simple. No excuses made.]

[The lawyer heard a glass placed in front of him and the bar-tender giving a 'hey' in his direction. His gin and tonic. The Devil took refuge in his liquor, as he listened to Wanda answer his question. To see a world like that--the world on fire that Matt saw everyday was enough, but to have to parse through all of that stimuli, to see so much...but he still felt himself blurt out a correction.] I'm not so sure if the world I see is so tangible. [Another sip. Or perhaps Wanda knew what the world he saw looked like, and she was right. Mentally, the lawyer prepared to be corrected, if it was needed. In order for this partnership to work, all of the little assumptions that he held had to be confronted, to be extinguished. And he was prepared for that.] I haven't seen colors in years. All I can do is piece together information about the people I encounter from sounds, smells--using the senses I still have. [A small chuckle. Where it came from--nervousness, a desire not to overstep boundaries, or something else--he didn't have a single clue.] A bit of the opposite of how you see things.

[She really wasn't all that bothered, but the thought did leave her with mixed feelings. Knowing that he didn't mean any harm by it, it made her relax a bit.] Accepted, but I understand what you were thinking. The why's as to doing what we did, there is a lot to come to grips with. What we did was questionable, but Pietro and I had little choice in the matter.

[Wanda takes a drink from her margarita, clearing her throat. His comment about not having such a tangible world, it made her thoughtful, and apologetic. ]

Yes, I see. My own apologies. I guess we are both in the same boat, correct?[She leaned forward to look at him more intently.]

We are two people that live on the opposite sides of the same coin. I see too much, and you cannot see. We both see our world in a different way then the people around us.

[He chuckles, and that makes her smile. He had a nice laugh.] I could not agree more. So, tell me how you came to be like this?

[Yes. Perhaps...it was the universe's way of balancing itself out, by having these opposites finally meet.

Matt realized he could just think it and Wanda would have access to it. In fact, anything in his head could be fair game.

But it probably meant more to hear it from the person, instead of having to dig it out of their head. Right? The difference between a gift and theft. A nice thing given willingly, versus just taking it because they had the means to and they wanted it. And it showed that he was willing to trust her.] It--it sounds like a terrible soap opera twist. [Down went more of the gin and tonic.] An old man was crossing the street, not knowing that he was about to be hit by a truck. I was very young, but I couldn't allow it to happen. So, I tried to stop it and...[Even he had a hard time time coming to grips with this exactly. Not because it was particularly traumatic. But because how odd it sounded.] Some of the chemicals from the truck spilled out and landed in my eyes. I was blind, but my father helped me deal with it. [Stick--Stick didn't deserve to be mentioned. Even if he helped Matt use his senses more efficiently, his abandonment still stung.] I'm honestly surprised that the chemicals never gave me cancer, but it just made me blind. Maybe they're partially responsible for the extrasensory perception, maybe not. How would you test a thing like that?

[She listened intently to his tale, watching him as she took another sip from her own drink. Once he was done, she cleared her throat, and shook her head a little before she answered.]

That is some tale, to be sure. [She said gently.] It sounds like it was horrible, and painful, but family is always a good thing to have at your back. I understand how a family member could ease what has been done. [She sounded sad, but tried to shake it off.]

[She took another sip of her own drink, mulling it over for a moment. He shared, so she would as well.]

My parents were killed one night while we ate dinner, me, and Pietro were only 10. We got stuck there, while another bomb with the name Stark on it, it laid there for 2 days, like we did, waiting for it to explode. [She looked down, letting out a pained, and shaky sigh before she went to continue.] That is when we started to join anti-Avengers rallies. We wanted a way to save our people, to stop the war in our country. HYDRA provided that way by using Loki's scepter, which really held a gem made out of pure cosmos, it was used on us as an experiment. It gave us our powers.

[Eyebrows furrowed at that tale. When Matt heard the footsteps of the barkeeper approach, he gestured at his glass and politely asked,] Another. [This was a young woman who had survived a war-zone. No need to ask what happened to the parents--this seemed self-explanatory. How many times had he talked about his Dad with others, and gotten to that odd point where they asked where he was, how he was?

In the ground. He's been doing alright. It was always a deadpan answer. It had been years, so it wasn't raw as it had been way back when.

But hearing this from Wanda gave him a pang of guilt, one that he realized others must have felt when they crossed the Dad line. But, the difference was, they were survivors of horrid experiences. They needed to share their experiences with others. They needed to. To make the experience real, exist beyond their head.] I'm terribly sorry that that happened. [What else can you say?] You and your brother--a lot of guts between you both, and I respect that. [With a small clink, Matt knew that the new gin and tonic had been deposited. A sip of liquid courage for the Man without Fear, and then...] I lost my Dad when I was nine, kind of the same ballpark as you and your brother. It was just months after I became blind. He refused to throw a fight, so the mob no longer saw any use in him. [More of the g & t got tossed down his throat.] I was nine and, but I wanted the whole mob to fry. [This wasn't intended to one-up her history. No. Just wordlessly tell her, you are not alone in your experiences and your feelings after are completely valid.]

[She listened intently to his tale, it deserved the same credence that her own tale needed. Finishing her drink, she put the glass down and indicated that she needed another one. Wanda was quiet as she sat there, the only thing she did do was sigh a little forlornly. Lifting her eyes back to Matt, she leaned in close as if to seem as if she only wanted him to hear her; not that there was anyone else nearby, but for the bartender who was busy doing stuff.]

I see that we have a lot more in common than I should have realized. You honor your father's memory with the work you do. It is quite important, especially for all the people you help with what you do. [Fiddling with her glass, she sighed again, but spoke almost conspiratorially.] Do you ever think about what your parents would think of you now? Like, for better, and for worse? I always think that they would be proud for us going out to help people. Yet, they would be angry at the avenue's we took to get there. When I think of them, I never know whether to feel ashamed, or proud. [Clearing her throat, she sat back when the bartender brought her fresh drink over. Lifting it, she downed a good portion of it before setting it back down on the table top.]

I am all that there is left. My entire family has been done in by war in one form or another. I think that myself, and Pietro were also killed that day the bomb fell. We just didn't know it yet.

I'm sorry to hear about that.[A small, sympathetic smile and, quickly, the rest of the drink went down.

Damn. Did he just say and, but? It had been a very long time since Matt had lost Battlin' Jack, and he'd thought himself long over it. Perhaps talking about it like this, not as a tasteless joke or a brief acknowledgement of the fact, brought something else out in him. (Or maybe it was the drink?)

So. This had to be why marvels like Iron Man, Captain America, and the rest met. How many lives were touched by tragedy? How many lives, instead of crumbling inwards, devoted themselves wholly to serving others and preserving the innocent from suffering what ills they had endured? A fairly small club, formed less out of arrogance and perhaps more from a very human need. A need to commiserate over the problems very few shared.

Matt leans in too; with a small smirk, he shared what he thought of often but rarely told anyone.] I'd like to think my Dad would have asked for a play-by-play every morning. Like any parents, after the initial shock, he'd be too proud. Like I'd imagine yours would have too. [It felt corny saying that, but, well, young woman feeling guilty gets some empathy from the Devil.] Regardless of the path they took, their kid straightened up and made sacrifices for the good of their community. What more could a parent want?

Edited (clarification) 2015-08-24 02:48 (UTC)

Thank you. [She said absently, and then she moved to take another large drink from her glass. Taking the glass, she looked into it, and got lost in the dregs of it.

And Wanda felt like she would never get over Pietro's death, it felt as raw as it had the day she lost him, as it felt speaking about it right now. It was an intense feeling, one that she reconciled she would never be over. As far as the other Avengers went, she really didn't know their true stories. Maybe the Captain's, but who didn't know his story. The other was a bit of Natasha's, but other than that, she didn't know that much. She really didn't even know that much about S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA, all she knew was that Sokovia was in trouble, and she switched sides to help the Avengers. There was a lot to get to know, and she never knew if she would ever get to know that far?]

You think? [Her voice was slightly broken, but uplifted by the idea.] You father sounds like a good, strong man. [She said warmly.]

For us to have stayed out of trouble, that way Pietro would still be alive. That is what I think that they would have wanted, not some life where we keep putting ourselves in harms way.

[Admittedly, these Avengers guys were still names listed in the morning news, to Matt. What he knew of their lives was what he'd only heard. Stark had lost his father in an auto accident. Cap was the man out of time. Etc. Being among these headliners remained a novel experience, one Matt had yet to feel fully worthy of. The Kitchen, however, didn't need a defender who couldn't overcome his own, small insecurity. Heroes had to be bold. Had to be strong, had to be fast, had to be fresh from a...damn, sorry Wanda. Matt has that Bonnie Tyler song stuck in his head now; he wondered if this happened often to Wanda...but she had to be able to tune it out.

Right?

There's that smile again.] Perhaps. But your brother lived his life well, doing all he could to save lives to the fullest of his capabilities. [In that moment the smile disappeared, and was replaced with a stern expression. Knowing that his Dad died not throwing a fight, sticking to his principles, didn't entirely ease the loss. Perhaps it would be the same for her.] It may be a small consolation, and it may not fill up the space that his existence held in your life. But...[After a considerable pause, Matt asks,] If you weren't doing what we're doing now, where would you see yourself?

[Her head tilted to the side as the song started to play through his head, she wasn't sure what to make out of it, and she wasn't even sure she wanted to try.]

Is that a song? It is not something I have ever heard before, is it a poem? [She leaned forward as if she could hear the music playing inside of his brain by tuning in with her ears alone. Like he was a conch shell that she could pick up, and listen to the ocean through.]

[Matt's talk about her brother sobers her up, it makes her sit back, and look everywhere, but at him.] Yes, I guess you can say that about him. [She replies sadly, her heart is heavy now, her mood more somber.

Then his next question makes her pause, completely unsure how to answer that.] To be honest? Nowhere, my country was war torn, and I had no money, no place to live, I had no life. There was little way to pick oneself out of the gutter except through a miracle. We got that miracle, but I never expected to be working with the Avengers, we had been pretty anti-Avenger growing up. What about you?

[Right. This was probably her first time hearing the song. Strong cultural divide between Eastern Europe and America in the 80's. Murdock delivered a smirk, as he replied,] Not really. An annoyance, at best.

[Sorry Wanda. Matt did try to be cheerful, but, well...

He has a point to this question. Scout's honor.] I think people like us would, in some capacity, still be trying to serve our communities. The gifts that we gained did nothing to change our personalities; they simply provided tools to bring our service to a different level. [Optimistic but, well, you needed some optimism in this field, to make you feel like your work had worth.] I'd still be a lawyer, but, I know, in some capacity, it wouldn't feel like it was enough; I'd want more.

[It's not so bad, at least she is being indoctrinated into America's music culture, something she has been trying to learn more about. Though, when he calls it an annoyance, Wanda crossed off the notion of getting to listen to said song on her own. Maybe she should give it more thought, or understanding, but she was growing to respect Matt, and that meant respecting his notion of it being a nuisance.]

Noted. So, I am going to cross it off my list of things to listen too. [She said with a smile in her voice, and with a mirroring smile on her lips.]

Well, point taken. I believe in what you say, and agree that I would be trying to help people. Except, HYDRA was the only thing around that gave us an option, and we took to it with everything we had. Had they not been around, there wouldn't have been another way to climb out of the gutter.[She gave a small, sad sigh, and cleared her throat before she spoke up once again.] Moving was nonexistent, so we couldn't come over to America that had literal tons of opportunities we could strive for. Though, I really did want to help my people, help them find justice, and strength. I wanted to help them get out of the gutters, find a way to make the war nonexistent, and help them heal. That is all I ever wanted to do, frankly.

[Some bad people don't have friends - the world treats them 'justly' and keeps them locked in isolation from company and progress. At least, that was how children were taught. In reality, the good flocked to the good and the bad flocked to the bad.

And apparently all of them - the good and the bad - flocked to this particular water park on this particular day.

The entirety of Kirisaki Daiichi was present, but Hanamiya had let himself drift away from them, riding an inter-tube away from the rambunctious juvenile dunking and splashing and kicking that was overtaking one of the shallower pools. (yeah. those guys. ruining the kiddie pool for everyone else - surprised?)

Floating and managing to be almost relaxed, hands dipped in the water and head lulling against the plastic, Hanamiya's eyes blinked long intervals of closed and barely open. So when he saw the big idiot of a center floating nearby, he nearly passed it off as a mistake. But another glance made that impossible, and Hanamiya floated by giving a lazy stink eye to the smiling bane of his existence. How dare he have fun???]

Edited 2015-07-12 02:44 (UTC)

[Bad people had friends because no one was really, truly bad, and... well... everyone needed friends! That was actually how the world worked, and if anyone had objections to that, then they were clearly in denial.

After all, if "bad people" (and really, who was he to decide who was bad or good anyway?) like most of the Kiridai team (supposedly) could band together and make friends and have fun at a water park, then, well, Teppei Kiyoshi was not about to get in their way.

Even if certain members of the Seirin team present were staring them down from the sidelines. Even if their presence did bring the tiniest twinge of nervousness to him. Not that he let it show - they weren't playing a game, nothing was on the line, they were here to relax and have fun just like them. No harm, no foul.

Not that they tended to draw fouls...

But anyway!

The lazy stink eye did not go unnoticed, but he was nothing if not pleasant, so the only response it got - this time - was a wide smile and a wave.]

[ what are you supposed to do when you get a day off and practice is called off due to gyn renovations? obviously find another place to play basketball. because while hyuuga knows that there is more they could be doing, and more to their friendship than just the sport, that doesn't help their equal drives to do better, and if they have a free day then what better way to spend it than doing the one thing they both enjoy in equal amounts.

hyuuga heads out first, texting teppei that if he's bored he can come shoot hoops with him at a local court. he'd texted riko, too, but she had plans with her father (something that surprised hyuuga more than it probably should) but would see about coming by later. it didn't bother hyuuga one way or the other - if teppei wanted to come, he'd have someone to guard him while he shot. if teppei didn't come, he'd just practice repetitions. he just needed to get out of the house, needed to get rid of some of his extra energy.

and if he really is, secretly, hoping teppei will join him - well. it's not like anyone will know. ]

[The text comes, and it's with a smile and a spring in his step that Teppei is out the door just as soon as he can pull on his shoes. It wasn't often they got a day off from practice, and though the gym was under renovations - and while that was a really convenient excuse for there to be no practice - he had to credit the fact that Riko had plans to the fact that they weren't all gathered up for some sort of outdoor drills or cross training.

And yet there he was, headed to the court anyway.

He knew Hyuuga was hoping he'd join him - if he wasn't, he wouldn't have texted - and while it was something he could tease him about, he decided not to. No sense in having the invitation retracted, after all, when it really had been ages since they'd played without the pressures of leading the team.

So it's with an enthusiastic wave that he approaches the court at a jog, huge smile plain as day on his face.]

Hyuuga!

((Some of those require modern AUness, but I'm game!))

[Open to all!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 1 of 2

Bromance.

Kagami Taiga | Kuroko no Basket | OTA

Dana Mitchell | Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue

chris redfield | resident evil

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Joseph Joestar | JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

merlin (kingsman)

Badou Nails | Dogs: Bullets & Carnage | OTA

Mai Taniyama | Ghost Hunt | OTA

Julian Bashir | Star Trek (DS9)

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I know nothing about Qubit's canon but this sounds good to me!

lol the premise is basically "so our superman expy went crazy and killed everyone"

a promising start!

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Gabriel | Supernatural

Gabriel | Supernatural

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sounds good!

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Nohara Rin | Naruto

Gabriel Silk | Children of the Red King

Morgana | Merlin

Mamoru Amami // The King of Braves GaoGaiGar // ota

Momotarou Mikoshiba | Free! | OTA

Jean Kirstein | Attack on Titan | OTA

Sora | Kingdom Hearts | ota

Poison Ivy | DCU | OTA

Dinah Lance | DCU | OTA

Matt Murdock | Netflix Daredevil | OTA

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Anna | Frozen

Teppei Kiyoshi | KnB

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2 - are you even surprised

I am not surprised also oh god sorry for letting this sit so long /o\

Lon'qu | Fire Emblem: Awakening

Max Rockatantsky | Mad Max movies | OTA

Sakata Gintoki | Gintama

Kunsel | Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII