I've been chillin' out on a star with my 5 star view

[lucetimods]

Who: All draftees
What: The space battle commences
When: After 3PM on the 19th to the 23rd
Where: In Space! On the Moon!
Summary: The battle finally begins! First there's asteroids to take down, then we finally arrive!
Rating: SPACE

MORE SPACE

All the details you need are here, so read up on it. This didn't get mentioned before, but you can tag the cultists instead of killing them. Details on this are on a previous draft post. Using the scanners are optional!

There will be a thread for interacting with NPCs, but they may not all go up at once, so keep an eye out for them.

Note: A log for the events in the village will go up on the 21st, in time for the hurricane and droid incursion.

Comments

[selfhelp]

...Mm. Not that that's a surprise- I've seen you in action before, and they call you a super hero for a reason.

[Yep, this is a little hard. But there's thankfully a distraction, so he reaches over and snags the soup, chewing absently on the spoon before he continues.]

Sorry, by the way. About... surprising you before.

[alloys]

[He takes a moment to chew a few bites of sandwich. For the food being one of the reasons he hates hospitals, this stuff isn't too bad. And chewing gives him time to decide how to respond to that.]

As far surprises go, there's worse things. Besides, now I don't have to feel bad if I pile up thirty dishes for you to do.

[selfhelp]

As if you ever felt bad up until now.

[He smiles faintly, shoulders lifting into a shrug.]

I did cheat on some of the chores, though. It was a handful even for me.

[alloys]

I'd be a little disappointed if you didn't use your powers to do things the easy way, frankly.

[He shifts, grimaces, and decides to drown it out with another mouthful of food. He misses when moving wasn't a completely shockwave of pain.]

[selfhelp]

Haha, I knew you'd say something like that.

[That's such a Tony Stark thing. Why hesitate to use a convenience over doing things the hard way?]

[alloys]

[Exactly. You're catching on to his philosophy, Billy.]

Did you? I'm going to have to work on being more unpredictable. Nothing quite like getting stale.

[He feels a little stale, stuck in this hospital bed.]

[selfhelp]

I doubt you'd really have to worry about that, sir.

[He'd prefer it if Tony Stark was a little more predictable, truth be told. No one would've predicted the stuff he'd proposed in the Civil War beforehand.]

[alloys]

Well--that's a relief. Though I probably won't be getting much done for a few weeks. Predictable or no.

[He clearly sounds really, really super duper enthused about this.]

[selfhelp]

...It's that bad?

[He's finally allowing some of the concern to ebb into his expression, because- well, it looks bad, yeah, but he's awake and talking, so that's good, right?]

[alloys]

[It's good in the sense that all his organs are in proper functioning order, sure. And he knows he should be glad he's alive. But he really, really hates the Third Party right now.

Six-to-eight weeks for recovery? Yeah, that's not going to fly.]

...Happen to run into any of those Shifters that could attack your mind out there?

[selfhelp]

No... I heard about them, though. They're bad news. [He's never liked telepaths. People are too easily manipulated and turned against one another... it's not fair to have that kind of power.]

[alloys]

You're preaching to the choir, kid.

[Yeah, he got caught by one. And no, it wasn't pretty.]

[selfhelp]

What happened?

[He doubts he'll get an honest answer, but he has to ask.]

[alloys]

[Oh, you know. The usual. Shifter took what was most precious to him and he had to reject it. Reject Pepper. Before Rogue shot her dead. No big deal.

He says none of this, of course.]

He got inside my head and I got distracted. Long enough for some other cultists to come attack.

[selfhelp]

[If Billy knew he'd probably have regret asking, so it works out anyway.]

...Well... I'm glad you're okay. Relatively speaking.

[alloys]

Thanks for the sentiment. [But don't go all mushy. Cry no fanboy tears. He'll be okay.]

Why'd you keep it a secret, anyway? Your power, I mean. Are you a mutant? [Rogue didn't tell him about hers at first. He understands there's a stigma attached to it in other worlds.]

[selfhelp]

Um... [Crap, he knew this was coming eventually. It takes him a moment to sort out what he wants to say.] I think so. I mean, I haven't had any tests for the X-gene, but my- ...I'm pretty sure my mom's a mutant. Kind of. ...Look, it's complicated...

[...Wow that is not how he wanted to put it. He is so not ready for this still.]

[alloys]

[He understands complicated, but he doesn't feel the need to point that out.]

Uhuh. [Not prodding. He's a little better about that these days. Still. He wants to know.]

[selfhelp]

[...Sigh. He can tell that isn't enough of an answer.]

...Anyway, I hid it because of... what happens on the future. You're probably better off just taking my word for it, there. The Iron Man in my world, he- he must not be anything like you.

[Which- he couldn't say for sure, because Iron Man was a great hero in the past, it's just- something doesn't feel the same.]

[alloys]

[There's suddenly a cold feeling in his gut. There were reasons he'd deliberately avoided the comic books in the library, asked people like Adele to not mention his future. He didn't want to know what was ahead. And there was that tricky rule of multiple universes. If he ended up one way in one universe, would he in his own?

He's already got the feeling that he's not going to like this.]

And what makes you say that?

[selfhelp]

[Oh geez. Oh geez. Billy stares at him for a long moment, wide-eyed, then looks down, hands twisting together uneasily. This is a bad idea. This is a bad, bad idea.]

I- ...I've got... my reasons. Okay?

[He might need a little prodding for this, actually.]

[alloys]

[It's not convincing. It's not convincing at all. And he wants to know why. He should know why.

But he really doesn't want more to deal with right now. Whatever reasons Billy had for keeping his power a secret from him--Tony Stark--he wasn't that person. God, he wasn't even Iron Man in some other universes. What reason did he have to think he'd be anything like the Tony Stark Billy knows?

Still...it bugs him. But right now...

God, he already had a lot on his plate. It was a whole emotional buffet. He can let it go, for now.]

...Right, then.

[selfhelp]

[Billy watches him quietly for a moment, genuinely surprised- and cautiously grateful, at the same time. He has no idea if this is going to come back to bite him in the ass later, but he'll take what he can get for the moment.

Feeling a sudden desire to escape the conversation, though, he sits up, setting aside the empty soup cup.]

You should get some rest. I can leave the rest of the food here, though, so you can pick away at it when you're feeling better. And- and I'll check on you again. Ring a bell or something.

[Smile, smile. Everything's fine, because this isn't the Tony Stark he knows, because there's no reason for him to know. Because there's more important things going on right now.]

[alloys]

[He throws a tired look Billy's way. Kid's been through a lot. He doesn't need to make it worse for him--or both of them--at the moment.]

Oh, you can count on that. Trust me. I won't hesitate to let you know if you're needed.

[It's said with a pretty weak flair of snark. Yeah, rest sounds pretty good right about now.]

bayley why do we keep ending our threads

[selfhelp]

[Billy nods tiredly - though whether it's a physical or emotional weariness, only he knows - and nudges the table within arm's reach, standing up.]

Good. I expect to hear a lot more unreasonable demands when you're more like yourself again.

[He turns away to head off, waving over his shoulder. That... was weird. And a little scary.

Went better than he expected, though.]