originalbeachboy | for brave_heart

Nah, keep being you.

[A simple sentence, but one that means more than it sounds.

That's enough stalling. He started his tale, so might as well keep going.]

Anyway... I got out, Vic and my girl Marcy were waiting for me. I ruled New York then, even as a regular guy. No crime too big, I weren't afraid of nothing! Even the big crime families never tried to pin me down, 'cos they knew I'd be too much trouble. The cash rolled in, I gave my ma the high life. Every now and then things would go wrong and I'd be locked up again- but I didn't mind so much, 'cos outside I had Vic and Marcy, but inside I got to spend time with my dad. Whatever spell that old man had over me stuck, 'cos it got to the point where when I was tossed in there and he'd been tossed out... I couldn't take it. I busted out, which meant Vic and Marcy weren't expecting me when I came home... so I walk right in on 'em, together. Leechin' off me, the whole time. He weren't so pretty by the time I was done with him, but what did it was looking in her eyes when I was finished, seeing that kind of fear, disgust at the sort of guy I was.

I went kinda crazy, then. I went a crime spree that set the whole city spinning, so bitter and mad it was a rampage! I ended up top of the most wanted list, chased half way across the country. I hated everybody, every last stinking person on this whole damned planet, 'cos not nobody had my back for even a second! Carrying the whole world on my shoulders and nobody giving me a hand! So I just dropped the blasted thing and tried to grab what I could. It'd always been me against the world, but now it was gonna be a fight, a bare knuckle brawl to the finish.

That's when it happened. On the run, I hid out some place no sane person would look, because you'd have to be crazy to hide there- a beach cordoned off for nuclear tests. Agony! All I can remember is a blinding light and this suffering like nothing I ever felt before or since, screaming my lungs! It felt forever, face down in the sand. I was begging for it all to just end, just die and become dust, blow away. Get forgotten and make the world a better place. Maybe that's why I hid there in the first place.

[It's a lovely sentiment, the idea of being oneself. Once she figures out what that means for her, she'll be sure to live up to it. But right now, with so many things having changed in her life recently, she's really not sure what to do. A year ago, she wouldn't have given him the time of day, and now here she is caring about him.

So. It's not another hug (she did promise), but she'll lean into his side, a quiet and hopefully acceptable way of reminding him that he's not alone now.]

Does it still hurt?

Now!? Hah! Now nothing hurts! Maybe I got made into a freak, but I'm an indestructible one!

[Suddenly enthused, he gives an entirely unnecessary demonstration of powers she's already well acquainted with. Morphing his hand on the opposite side to her into a spiked mace, not dislodging the arm around her shoulder.

The mace goes through another transformation, into a hand- but each finger ends in a miniaturised image of his nemeses- Spider-Man on the thumb, the Fantastic Four the rest.]

I figured now I had the ammunition for the big gun I turned myself into! My first big break. No one could stop me now! I even let Spider-Man 'beat' me, that first time.

[He crunches his hand into a fist, grinding the heroes up.]

I let them put me back in the joint 'cos I heard my dad was back in there. So I went in, to take him out. Went smooth as you'd ever wish for. They didn't have decent super prisons back them- it was easy as breaking out of a shoe box! He was grateful, respected me, owed me. But after that, it all went the same way as usual. The wheel takes me up... The wheel takes me down. Spider-Man tracked me down two words before I could tell him why I'd gone through all that trouble for some guy I only knew from the big house... I went nuts, really lost it. Almost had him, I really did. One more second and I would have been made for life, no one could have stopped me.

I got struck by fucking lightning! [And that's the first real swear out of him, because really. Struck by lightning.] If that don't just sum the whole thing up, I don't know what does!

[The swearing gets quite a look from her. She had really started to believe he didn't know how. But when he takes a breath, she turns to him with a very stern look.]

You are not a freak. Don't you ever say that!

[Yes, she knows what could happen if she upsets him. But she cannot let a lie go unchallenged, and he's just wrong about this.]

[In response, his neck extends out several foot and coils back to look her in the face in an elongated U.

One has to admit, it's freaky looking if nothing else.]

Oh yeah? Says who?

Me.

[She folds her arms and gives him a glare.]

The chick who always knows when it's a lie, remember?

Yeah, well... it's just 'cos freak is a polite expression for what I really am, is all.

[He recollects himself into human shape and mirrors her stance- except for the extra foot and couple of extra hundred pounds.

All the same, he doesn't radiate the smallest hint of danger. As rough as his temper is sometimes, it'd take a lot more than disagreeing with his assessment that he's a freak to get him really mad.

The word he uses freak in lieu of is 'monster.']

One in a billion chance. A freak accident.

You. Are not. A freak. You're a person, just like everyone else.

[She is not backing down on this.]

You have an amazing power, and yeah it's really rare, but that doesn't make you less of a person.

Way you say it, you're making out like no one can be a freak.

[He seamlessly transforms into a very good imitation of the ever loving blue eyed idol of millions, the Thing. He can't do the voice, but the look is perfect. Aside from the fact the little blue pants are green.]

You can be both at once and I don't care what you say, that's the truth.

[She keeps staring at him for a moment before she takes a deep breath and forces herself to take a gentler tone.]

Does it hurt less when you call yourself that first? Because that never worked for me.

[He shifts back to normal and turns back to the city. Just in time to see about that time when the sun is low enough people start turning their lights on.]

I told yah. Now? Practically nothin' hurts.

[The practically probably pushes it out of the realm of a lie.]

[She's not stupid. It might not "ping", but she can see where he's wiggling around the spell.

Still, time to drop it. For now. Would he mind if she leaned up against him again?]

That must be nice.

[He doesn't object, at the least. He's a bit embarrassed more than anything else.]

Yes n' no. I got a bit numb, I guess. Stopped looking at the good too. Can't feel much of nothing when you're so damn mad all the time. That burned out some, so... that's where the practically comes in.

[See, he can't even do that half lie for long.]

[She'll stop if he wants. It wouldn't be hard to distract her, he could just ask for some of those promised snacks.]

The world becomes a horrible place and you don't want to deal with it anymore.

[Why hello there, voice of experience.]

So you keep screwing everything that ain't hate up, so the whole of you gets twisted into something unrecognisable.

[Experience shared, even if from very different angles.]

...Well kid, we're both trying to unfold that. I expect we're gonna end up with a lot of creases left if we ever get it done, maybe you can't ever really smooth out completely. But maybe we'll get there.

[She's quiet for a while. The "kid" got a smirk from her though.]

Every kind of experience leaves people with wrinkles eventually. Maybe we shouldn't be afraid of that.

If we're going to be philosophical, I need a drink.

[One water bottle of old-fashioned for him, one of sangria for her.]

Now you're talkin'!

[He casually falls backwards once he has his drink in hand- only to end up sitting on a bench made from himself. Odd to think that really it shouldn't actually make any difference in terms of comfort since technically he's still on his 'feet' but all the same he does it.

Room for her too naturally.]

I've always preferred the drink to the philosophy, tell yah the truth.

[But he indulges in the philosophy more often, because he can't help himself.]

[She takes off her satchel and puts it down before she sits.]

It is often easier to not think.

[Not that it's so easy to not think, even with the drinks. She's still giving it the old college try.]

So. My turn?

Ain't that the truth.

[He takes himself a heavy swig before only half looking her way.]

Only if you wanna spill.

[She sips more slowly, but has a healthy dose of liquid courage before she begins. This is not a happy story.]

So, it starts with my grandfather. He left when my dad was little. He gave my dad a magic ring and a warning as a going-away present. A ring that lets the wearer always see through lies and illusions, and a warning to not wear it too long because too much truth is hard to take.

And my dad kept it with him always. Grew up, got married, had me. And had a hole in his pocket. It landed where little baby Verity could grab it, so I did, and I swallowed it. The doctors never got it out, because the ring dissolved.

[Time for more wine.]

[Flint is not quite the degree of listener she is, being generally rather impatient. But he does his dues, silently listening with his head half turned to her and half towards the rapidly darkening city, that will soon brighten up artificially.]

And that's how you got yer power? Right from a baby?

Yup. I never had a chance.

[Another drink.]

I'm not sure when dad told mom, or if he ever did. He didn't tell me until he decided I was "old enough to handle the truth." Which was ten years after he left us. Mom's always been of the opinion that I should at least pretend to be okay. I know she loves me, but... I don't know if she doesn't understand or doesn't believe me. Either way.

I know they got divorced because of me. They both think that isn't true, but their fights almost always started out about me. How I was being difficult or mean because I didn't automatically buy into all those lies people tell kids. And it seemed like the rest of the world agreed with that assessment, so I just stopped trying after a while. If the world was going to be horrible, I'd just stay home.

Geeze.

[He drinks at the exact same moment she does, meaning she always has his full attention.]

I mean, I always hated being treated like I was dumb just 'cos I was a kid, but that's on another level. No wonder you locked yerself away from the rest of us jerks.

[He feels a profound sense of similarity- abandonment at a young age from the father certain it was their fault, a well meaning but ill equipped mother, an unwelcoming world. She retreated, he lashed out.]

You're not a jerk.

[In another life, she might have been one of those profoundly good people he spends so much time fighting. But in this one, she's ended up squarely in the Neutral Selfish center of the alignment chart.]

Lots of other people are jerks, but hiding didn't work.

[Yes he is, a great deal of the time to a great deal of people. Just not to her and like three other people max. So he lets it lay.]

You can run, but you can't hide. Always the way. So. Something musta happened, right?

[Otherwise, why would she even be talking to a bum like him?]

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