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[abbacchiohno]

A QUESTION FOR A QUESTION


YOU MAY KNOW EACH OTHER ALREADY - OR YOU MAY NOT. UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, YOU'RE NOW PASSING THE TIME ASKING EACH OTHER QUESTIONS. IT'S A GAME! A QUESTION FOR A QUESTION. YOU START OFF ASKING YOUR OPPONENT A QUESTION OF CHOICE AND IF THEY ANSWER IT, THEY'RE ALLOWED TO ASK YOU A QUESTION IN TURN. THE RULES ARE SIMPLE, ONLY AS LONG AS YOU ANSWER THE OTHER PERSON'S QUESTIONS ARE YOU ALLOWED TO ASK QUESTIONS YOURSELF, BUT THERE IS NO EXPECTATION OF TRUTHFULNESS HERE, LIE IF YOU MUST OR WANT, JUST KEEP THE MOMENTUM GOING.

How to play -
1. Comment with your character's name, fandom and preference.
2. If you want, leave a question in the comment field that your character is asking their opponent. Or don't. I'm not the cops.
3. Pick other characters to question and have fun!

Comments

[shrikesback]

My neighbor when I was a kid made the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever had. I think about them every time I have other cookies. Even good ones just aren't quite as good.

Do you have something you miss?

[gruffed]

( That actually gets something that might be a little smile out of him, though it flutters quietly away after a brief moment. )

Funny how it works like that. There's always that one good thing nothing else'll ever compare to.

Rentin' movies. There was nothing like browsing old movie galleries. The cheaper-looking, the better.

[shrikesback]

There's definitely something to browsing physical media rather than streaming options. Especially if you can find a good independent place that has really obscure stuff.

[gruffed]

Streaming?

( The world kind of ended before that could become A Thing. Even YouTube never got to be invented.... )

[shrikesback]

Yeah, online, stored in the network's cloud?

You don't look that old.

[gruffed]

( He gives them a snort. )

Network — like internet, right? Don't know nothing about a cloud, though.

What year're you from, kid?

[shrikesback]

2023 - what year for you?

[gruffed]

( There's a pause at how to answer that. )

Same, if you wanna get technical about it. But the world ended back in '03, so.... feels like that's when everything stopped.

[shrikesback]

Oh, shit. Uh. What happened?

[gruffed]

Outbreak. Some kinda freak fungal infection that managed to get into people. Turn them into.... ( A beat. The word "monsters" always comes to mind, but that's not true. They're not, not really. )

....turned them different. Violent. Uncontrollable.

It spread like wildfire. World went to shit in a matter of days.

[shrikesback]

Fungus? Like... [ they're quiet for a moment to think before they remember the name of the thing that takes over ants. ] Cordyceps? The one that takes over ants?

[gruffed]

Yeah — that's it exactly. ( By the time they realised what exactly it would do to people, it was too late. )

It just wants to spread. Take over everything.

( A grim smile that doesn't come remotely close to reaching his eyes. )

Sounds like some dumb sci-fi movie or somethin, I know.

[shrikesback]

Well... I have super-powered masked vigilantes in my world, so. No judgment here. That sounds like something a mad scientist would come up with.

[gruffed]

For real? Like comic book shit?

( A certain fourteen-year-old he knows would be losing her ever-living mind to hear that. )

[shrikesback]

[ Wren gives a very big sigh and then, because fuck it - it isn't like Joel is from their world to go talking about it... They give a jump and just - don't come down, hanging out several feet off the ground like they decided to opt out of gravity.]

Yeah, like comic book shit. Though I was never on any A-list team myself.

[gruffed]

( Oh, fuck — they sure are just hovering right off the ground. Joel startles visibly, which isn't something he usually does.

(He doesn't pull out his gun though, which is usually the kneejerk to Things That Catch Him Offguard) )

What the hell— how're you doing that?

[shrikesback]

[ Wren at least looks apologetic at startling him, gently setting back down onto the ground. ]

"Comic book shit"? If you're asking specifics... I don't know. It's just something I can do. Showed up with puberty. Same for my dad.

[gruffed]

Damn. Thought I'd seen it all. ( Joel's eyebrows lift as he watches them come back down. )

...Huh. Like it runs in your family, kinda thing?

Did you know it was comin' or was it a surprise? ( Did dear ole' dad reveal it only after it happened, or did they know about it, have time to get ready for something like that? )

[shrikesback]

It was a surprise. It's complicated but - it looked like I didn't have any powers so he figured he'd wait until I was older to explain the whole 'superhero' thing. So it meant he wasn't around when they did end up showing up and that was a mess of a week before I could finally talk to him about it.

[gruffed]

Shit, kid. That sounds pretty terrifying.

So what, you just suddenly started having to be a teenage superhero?

[shrikesback]

Yeah. Basically. I did it for a few years but retired recently. It... wasn't really good for my mental health.

[gruffed]

Good for you. Sounds like shitty work.

So what're you doin' now, instead?

[shrikesback]

College. I'm in my freshman year. Haven't decided on my major yet.

... okay sorry in advance if this is a weird question and you don't have to answer but - do you have kids?

[gruffed]

( There's a pause — something catching in his chest like a fishhook. He usually wouldn't answer, would opt the fuck out, but they've done a lot of sharing on their end, and he finds himself responding before he can talk himself out of it. )

Had. She died. ( It's quiet and to the point and emotionless. Joel glances back up, not suspicious. Just asking. ) Why?

[shrikesback]

[ Whatever Wren was asking for it was not that as they quickly get the horrified look of someone who stumbled into an awkward situation they did not remotely expect to be there. ]

Oh - God, I'm sorry, I- you look just like a friend of mine is all so-

[ To prove they are not bullshitting they quickly take their phone out and pull up their photos to hold one out to Joel to see - a guy in maybe his early 20s with a chronic case of resting bitch face and dressed a bit like punk or goth lite. And yeah he looks a lot like Joel, minus a few decades. Weird. ]