[OPEN]

[shorttempered]

Characters: Mark Grayson/Invincible and OPEN
Date: Backdated to shortly after Eve left
Location: All over
Situation: Eve has gone home, and Mark isn’t taking that too well.
Warnings/Rating: None (may be subject to change)

A.
[Eve was gone. It was the only thought that occupied his mind, no matter how desperately he tried to change it to something anything otherwise. Thanks to Bruce he had finally gone outside for the first time since being evicted from his… Eve’s apartment. And now that he was out, he just simply no longer felt like there was a good reason to go back. Mark took up to wandering aimlessly, as if he could find some new purpose by stumbling onto it. He barely notices that there is anyone around him as he stops every so often at a place that reminds him of Eve and screws his eyes shut as he tries to push the memory from his mind, before ultimately giving up and letting the tears flow.]

B.
[Eventually Mark does make his way back home… but only long enough to grab his costume and he was gone again, this time taking to the air as Invincible. He had slipped back into the anger… angry she was gone, of course, but angrier at himself. He and Eve—most of the people here, really—all wanted to go home. How could he have been so selfish to want to keep her here, when she was needed at home? When she was where he always wanted her to go back to after all?

Mark pushes himself faster, barely registering the wind against his costume, making a beeline for the barrier. Not on purpose, but at the speed he was going it was only a matter of time before he rammed right into it… or more specifically rammed into it then plummeted into the water.

And he didn’t care.]

Comments

B...? If that's okay. LMK if something about this all is not - I'll tinker!

[demon_brat]

[Damian - no, Robin - happened to be along the shore, when his mask's sensors picked up the motion above him... which is why he was prepared to take Invincible out of the water after the inevitable crash.]

[He is, however, totally not going to try and drive the bike back to the city with the wet unconscious super. Instead, he settles with his reader (from back home, yes) to wait for return of awareness. It's going to come, eventually.]

[And, yes, Mark will wake up to see an eleven-year-old brightly-clad mask doing what might look like homework (or would be, if Damian ever went to school).]

That's totally okay

[shorttempered]

[Mark's eyes snap open as he gasps for air on instinct. The last thing he remembered he was plummeting into the water, and so his brain still thought that was where he was. Yeah, in the long run this was probably one his dumber ideas, but it felt good at the time... why did Asti have to have that stupid barrier again?

Thanks to the water in his goggles, all he could make was a small figure, something that could be a mask on his face and the splash of red on his chest.] ...Oliver? When did you get here...?

W00!

[demon_brat]

Not Oliver. It's Robin.

[Damian sits back, arms crossed.]

It is truly disconcerting how often I get to fish out invincible folk in this state from these shores.

[Two is, basically, two too many.]

Re: W00!

[shorttempered]

[Robin? What's a Robin? And wow, was it stupid to say his brother's name out loud to a total stranger. He has totally lost it.]

You should start charging. I'd start this trend, but I left my juulan in my other tights. [Coughs up some water as he turns away from the boy to briefly pull the front of the mask away from his face and free the water from his goggles. He rubs at his eyes before putting the mask back on.]

[demon_brat]

Nah, saving people's part of the job.

[And, wow, that almost sounds like he's been paying attention to what Grayson's been trying to teach him. Somebody would be proud.]

[Or he's just reacting to sort-of familiar stimuli.]

[When Invincible turns back around, Damian's sitting back, cross-legged, cross-armed.]

I'd lecture on the probable importance of the Barrier for our defense, but, as it's sort of late for that, I'll pass that up, this time.

[shorttempered]

[Oh. Now that he can see, he can definitely tell this boy isn't Oliver. Not even close. And now that he's realized this he curses himself for saying his brother's real name out loud.]

Would you believe I wasn't actually trying to hit the barrier?

[demon_brat]

... maybe.

Were you actually trying to hit the barrier? Because, if not, you must've been a little distracted.

[shorttempered]

No, I really wasn't. I... I just wanted--needed to fly. It's how I clear my head... I forgot it was there until it was too late.

[demon_brat]

My mentor uses flying for the same purpose. [Beat.] Though it is a different kind of flying, he has no supernatural powers.

What has occurred?

[shorttempered]

[He's tempted to ask how that's working for him, but he's not in the mood to crack jokes.]

...Nothing. It's lame.

[demon_brat]

[Well, as far as Damian can tell. It's not easy to get a precise view, he's only seen a bit over a year - out of more than a decade and a half. Longer than Damian has been alive.]

... I don't think I've heard that word since I've been in Keeliai.

[Since he's spent any time with Colin.]

[shorttempered]

What's wrong with "lame"?

[demon_brat]

I didn't say there's anything wrong with it.

However, according to... a friend.

[Who's already gone missing once and is about to go missing a second time.]

... it's 'ableist'. Though I'm not sure if she meant it as applying to people only, or its use at all.

[shorttempered]

[Though he's never heard the word before, but he can guess it's meaning.]

It's just an expression.

And situations can't be "abled" or whatever anyway....

[demon_brat]

Hhn. It's complicated.

[Translation, which probably is completely lost at the moment: the friend in question is too important to let go of her lessons for mere situation differences.]

I didn't say that it's wrong, only that I haven't heard it during my stay here.

[shorttempered]

[Shrugs.] Whatever. Point is, I was preoccupied thinking about something stupid.

[demon_brat]

[Siiigh.]

At least you didn't do any harm, other than to yourself.

[shorttempered]

[Mutters.] For a change...

[demon_brat]

... what happens, usually?

[shorttempered]

You're a hero too judging by your outfit. You know how it is. You wind up hurting people trying to protect them.

[demon_brat]

When I hurt people, it's because I mean to.

[Possibly because he's only been at it for a couple of years. Also because he often means to, even still.]

[shorttempered]

Yeah, me too. But sometimes innocent people get caught in the crossfire. People whose only crime was being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

cw: child death

[demon_brat]

I come from Gotham. Crooks there don't exactly leave bystanders.

[There's tightness to his tone, there, thinking of a warehouse filled with homeless children, cut down to death by each other or by Zsasz, flushed down the river, and fished up by somebody who hoped to put them back together again by bringing them presents for Christmas.]

[In Gotham, everyone is invited.]

[shorttempered]

[Jesus this Gotham place sounds depressing. Why would anyone want to live there?]

That's even worse, then.

[demon_brat]

[Somebody's got to protect people there, too, right?]

[Robin shrugs.]

That's why it needs Batman. And Robin.