tushanshu | nine : you feel hollow so you crawl home

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nine : you feel hollow so you crawl home

[The video clicks on and Hayley is intentionally out of the frame. The camera is staring at what looks to be an art piece. When she speaks, she sounds distracted and exhausted.]

I found this sort of bronze statue thing? Just like, tell me if it belongs to you or whatever.

[She reaches forward to click over to audio for the various encryptions.]
[60% encrypted to Sabriel]
I bought a book that has symbols like we use for magic. I'm guessing it's yours.

[100% encrypted to Mark]
Why is someone you know purple?

[100% encrypted to Jason Todd]
Bruce Wayne? Seriously?

[ooc: Feel free to backdate threads on this, related to Hayley's attack on Superman, after clearing your character's knowledge with Al. Time became a little ambiguous with hiatuses/etc.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Wha--how do you know that?

[Hayley clicks on the video and she looks pale and a bit sickly. She holds up a photo of Mark with the purple guy and someone else.]

I bought the album. I figured you wouldn't want other people seeing it.

Are you okay?

Where are you? I'll come get it.

Yeah, I'm fine. Just haven't been sleeping great.

I'm.. [She hesitates. Hayley really doesn't like sharing where she lives.] ..on my way out. Meet me at Wayne Enterprises in like, 15? It's kind of close to where I'm going.

Works for me.

[Waits about 14 minutes, then heads over to Wayne Enterprises. He's going quick enough that he's not too worried about flying outside of costume. Mark lands in the alley near Wayne Enterprises and walks over to the front entrance.]

[Hayley's already there. Truth be told, she lives roughly ten minutes from the place and wasn't heading anywhere. But it seems like a good excuse. She raises her eyebrows when she sees him walking out of the alley, wondering if he used his abilities to arrive.]

Hey.

What did you find? [Not that he really needs to ask; he can see his mom's photo album from there.]

[The album is tucked in Hayley's bag, the flap hanging open with the edge of the album sticking out. Upon Mark's approach, the girl slides the album from her bag and carefully holds it out to offer it to him.]

I put the photo I showed you back where it belongs.

[He takes it from her with a nod.] It was up for auction I'm guessing? [Finds himself flipping through the pages. Everything seemed to be there... Mark didn't know what he'd do if they started auctioning off individual pictures of his family. Especially the Omni-Man, Invincible, or Young (Kid?) Omni-Man ones.]

Thanks.

Yeah. [She confirms, closing the flap on her bag to hide its remaining contents and then watching him flip through it. Recalling their last conversation, she frowns and glances away awkwardly.]

I didn't mean to invade your privacy, okay? I didn't know whose it was and then a guy who's green is kind of hard to ignore.

Hey this is different. With everything auction style, you don't know whose is what. It's not like you bought it knowing it was mine and went through it anyway. That's different.

That's my brother. He's... not human. [Looks around.] I'll tell you more about him, but not here, in the open.

[Hayley nods to agree. Okay, so maybe she bought it, realized it was his, and then went through it page by page. But it's not like he's an open book.]

You don't have to. [She mutters, still more than a little bitter about their privacy fight. Of course, for all her bitterness, she's still curious.] I'm sure we could find a creepy alley or something if you prefer.

Edited (idk how comics) 2013-12-31 03:14 (UTC)

[Truth be told, Mark was too, but he was willing to let bygones be bygones so long as Hayley didn't start with it again.]

Look I just don't want to have this sort of conversation in the open, okay? Even if I didn't have--you know... I still don't feel like explaining to random strangers about my complicated family tree. We can go back to my place if you want.

Don't get upset. I was just teasing about the alley, okay? I'm sorry. I shouldn't have.

[She kind of means it. For all her bitterness and frustration with his secrets, she still thinks Mark's a pretty cool and interesting guy. And while that doesn't mean she'll necessarily back off as much as she claims to, she will apologize sometimes and mean it.]

Your place is cool.

I'm not, I'm just saying. And... I was kind of hoping you were kidding about the alley.

Do you want a lift, or would you rather not? [Because frankly, he's not quite sure where Hayley falls on the liking superheroes scale.]

[Hayley glances around and then back to Mark, surprised he would offer when his identity is supposed to be so very under wraps.]

Yeah, sure. [She offers a small to show she's alright with it, even if it's still an unusual and kind of uncomfortable thing for her.] A lift would be cool.

[This is true, but Hayley is forgetting just how fast Invincible can be when he wants to. He may leave from his bedroom window all the time, but that doesn't mean his neighbors have ever seen him do it.]

Sweet. [Hands her the album back.] Would you mind holding on to this for a little bit longer? [He could take her and the album, but he had a feeling that if he did that, his family pictures would rain down over Keeliai, and he'd really rather not.]

[Hayley accepts the album, tucking it into her bag again for safer keeping. She closes the flap on her bag and then pulls it up against her chest, hugging it there with one arm and then awkwardly reaching out the other for him to accommodate picking her up.]

Do you do this a lot? Carry people around, I mean.

[He was planning on armpitting her, but judging by her body language, she had other plans. Fine, he could bridal carry her too. No big.]

Not really. My mom, mainly. And William sometimes, before things got crazy. He's my best friend.

I'm going to go a little quick, but I swear to god I've got you, all right?

[He scoops her up and takes off, going a little faster than he usually would with a passenger, mainly because he wasn't in costume. But despite the speed, he was actually being quite careful; not going as fast as he normally would have. So long as Hayley was in his arms, she couldn't feel the wind beating up against them, as though there was a small invisible bubble (there wasn't, of course, it was merely a marvel of Viltrumite physiology).

He landed inside his bedroom, the usual window open, and carefully helps Hayley to her feet.] I hope that wasn't too bad.

Your mo- [She begins, but he picks her up and then things grow oddly still.

Her arm, which wraps around his shoulder, tenses and instinctively pulls herself closer to him. It seems only a split second later that he's helping her to stand and it takes a moment for her to regain her bearings and realize she can let go. Then she takes a step back, as if to emphasize that the contact isn't personal.]

What? Oh. No, it was cool. [After a beat, she offers him the scrapbook again.]

Thanks.

[He takes it from her.]

So... Oliver. [Opens the album and pulls out the earliest picture of his brother.] This was taken about a year ago. [He pauses.] Well, I guess it's closer to two now, but... a year before I left.

[Flips to the back of the book and pulls out a picture of him and Oliver their respective costumes. Mark isn't wearing his blue and yellow costume, but rather a blue and black one, but the design is pretty much the same. Oliver looks to be in his late teens in his Young Omni-Man costume, and his skin has gone from purple to something more red.] This was taken right before I left.

Edited 2014-02-03 22:51 (UTC)

[Hayley leans forward to look more closely at the images. She doesn't reach to touch them at all, a tacit acceptance of however much - or little - he's willing to show and explain.

The whole wonky aging thing isn't entirely unfamiliar to her thanks to Bart, but that doesn't really make it any more reasonable. Hearing about it and actually, truly believing it are two very different things. Besides, that whole purple and red skin thing is definitely new.]

Huh. Are you.. I mean, did you have purple skin? Or was this.. [She's trying to articulate more innocent questions, trying not to steamroll him with the scores of answers she wants from him. She frowns a little with the effort, waiting a beat before she adds:] I like your costume.

I actually just got rid of that costume right before I got here... Art, my tailor, wanted me to try something new... To be honest it got to the point where I was convinced the damn thing was cursed. Nothing good happened to me when I wore that costume.

[Yeah, he was definitely happier to have the yellow back. He looks back down at the picture of him and Oliver, and shakes his head.] No, he gets that from his mom. Oliver and I are half-siblings, actually. Different moms. [He flips to a picture of Debbie Grayson, his mother.] This is my mom, Debbie. She raised Oliver too, but he isn't related to her by blood. See, our dad, Nolan [He pauses to fish for a picture.] he's from an alien race called Viltrumites, and they look a lot like humans. Oliver's mom, Thalassa, she was from an alien race called Thraxans. They looked like tall, blue praying mantises. [He pauses again to look at her.] I swear to god I'm not making this up.

[Hayley's just.. staring at him. She makes no effort to hide the mixture of shock and skepticism on her features. Mark's tales are a complete mystery to her and Hayley has never done all that well with surprises.] You have a tailor.

[Looking at the photos in turn, she again has to make the conscious effort to rein in her questions.] So you're an alien, on your dad's side. And your mom is human, but Oliver's mom was a praying mantis and somehow Oliver ended up with your family, so your mom raised him because I guess that's what you do when you have a son with purple skin?

I believe you. [She says quickly, then, more distractedly adds:] No one would be dumb enough to make something like this up.

Not just me. I'm pretty sure most of the heroes I know go to him. Art Rosenbaum's the best in the business. He also does totally normal stuff too. You should see his prom dresses.

...You didn't actually think I could sew, did you? [Because god only knows what his costumes would look like if it were actually up to him.]

Pretty much. The average Thraxan life span was about 9 months. Andressa, his mom, asked me to take Oliver back with me because in the few months I'd known her, she'd already gotten old and she didn't want her son to watch entire empires rise and fall by the time he hit puberty. When I brought him to my mom, she... well she wasn't thrilled, so say the least, but she couldn't blame my dad's mistakes on Oliver, and... well... she took him in.

video; 100% encrypted

video; 100% encrypted

video; 100% encrypted (I'm going to say this is right before Mark and Tony find the laptop)

video; 100% encrypted (cool cool)

video; 100% encrypted (only because he would have started this differently)

action;

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action; thanks for visual references

action; no problem, Mark's life gets ridiculous sometimes

action; just a little bit

action; superheroes, man