Bit by bit, torn apart, we never win

[pluckyreporter]

WHO: Roxanne and well-wishers (plus one really angry alien)
WHERE: The Ritchi House
WHEN: December 30th, Friday Morning - January 6th, Friday.
WARNINGS: Should be none.
SUMMARY: Roxanne's busted up. Come visit.
FORMAT: Looooooooooog (Just leave a note on what day you're visiting in the subject line!)


Roxanne sure as hell wasn't going anywhere after her encounter with Hal. So she was all cozied up at home, with some really good post-surgery painkillers, a brain bot to warm her feet, and a whole week of not leaving the house for pretty much any reason at all. But she'd take visitors. Maybe. If you weren't Hal.

Comments

[notpredictable]

Megamind wasn't pleased about this injury she had somehow managed to obtain and if he knew Roxanne and he's pretty sure that he does at least a little bit - kidnapping a woman for ten years then dating her under the guise of a nerdy curator for some odd months denotes a fair bit of familiarity - then she was hiding something from him.

He doesn't like that.

Of course, it's not like he's entitled to any kind of information about her, her whereabouts or her activities, but injury is something that he thinks -- no matter how unreasonable it is of him to assume -- is his business.

Especially if this wasn't an accident - though granted, he has no proof.

He had given this some thought, though. He had needed to think about how he was going to go about speaking with her about this and...well. Things were still tentative and delicate and he wasn't exactly sure where he stood with her.

So he waited a day.

And then some. He showed up New Years Eve, late, hoping she was alone and if she wasn't...

Well. He had his dehydration gun. He'd make sure they were alone, so they could discuss this.

Three knocks on her door signaled his arrival. If she didn't open after a few minutes -- three, to be exact -- then he would break the damn thing down.

[pluckyreporter]

A girl will get ideas, with you showing up at her house on holidays, Megamind. Or maybe they understand that you're not all that socially... on.

Regardless, he doesn't have to blow the door own. This is for the best. It's cold, okay? She likes her door. The brainbot, however, answers, and bowg bowg before it floats back over to where Roxanne is; legs up on an ottoman, on her couch, in front of her TV, though it's currently off. There's some take out Chinese on the end able - she's not exactly whipping up anything with her hand like that for now.

"Happy New Year?" she hazards, before she gestures to the other side of the couch. "Excuse me if I don't get up. Not feeling so hot right now."

[notpredictable]

He stalks right in like he owns the place and comes to stand in front of her, hands in fists at his sides, lips in a flat line as he glowers down at her.

"Unacceptable! This is unacceptable, Miss Ritchi - harm is, if you remember correctly, not part of the deal! What happened? How did this happen? Tell me now!"

[pluckyreporter]

Roxanne and the brainbot exchange a glance. Welp, the brainbot seems to say, you're on your own here, sister.

"Harm is not part of the deal with you," Roxanne replied smoothly. "You may recall that the first thing I pointed out in our last discussion of newsworthy things, people don't play by the rules here."

She watched him, feeling the waves of his upset -- worry, concern, affection, anger, frustration -- and closed her eyes against the barrage.

"I spoke to Hal."

[notpredictable]

Megamind knows Hal is here.

After his initial dealings with Roxanne, Megamind had had ample time to peruse the communication devices and scroll through what posts he could in order to get a better grip on his surroundings, turnaround, and various other statistics. He'd seen that his creation had been here -- but he hadn't had the heart to seek him out and throw himself into a fray just yet.

He had had too much else on his mind to get involved in that at the moment, which...was saying something, especially for Megamind.

The name makes him grind his teeth anyway though - and he fixes a bright and angry gaze on the woman seated in front of him.

"What. Happened."

[pluckyreporter]

"Hal has harbored a creepy crush for years. That's how I found out about Titan; I put it together, but he confirmed it. Took me for a wild ride. Tried to act like I was just going to fall into his arms after a few 'rescues'." Who gave him that idea, one wonders?

"I tried to head things off. See if I could let him down gently, but that he could still be a good person--- it went south. Like every concersation with Hal. Like talking to a wall..." she sighed, and then shrugged. "Got up to leave. He grabbed me. Not even full strength. Broke nearly every bone in my wrist, few in my hand and made hairline fractures up both bones in my arm."

[notpredictable]

It hadn't been on purpose. He'd had no idea it had been Roxanne herself that Hal had been admiring from afar. Megamind was only aware that the boy had had his eye on someone - the specifics as to who it might be hadn't been discussed.

If he'd known...

When he spoke, Megamind's voice was even, carefully controlled and for once, not filled with elongated vowels and odd pronunciations.

"He did this to you?"

He wanted to hear the verification come out of her mouth again, hear the confirmation from Roxanne's own lips.

Just to make certain.

[pluckyreporter]

"I sure didn't do it to myself," she replies. "Yes, Megamind. He broke my wrist. Likely by accident. He doesn't-- he doesn't seem quite-- in control of himself." She'll leave the laser flare part of their conversation out-- after all, he may have seen red, but he didn't fire on her. "He just-- wanted my attention. Got it the only way he knows how... which makes me sound like a battered house wife defending her husband."

She rubs at her face for a moment, weary of the whole mess. That gives her pause before she speaks again.

"You guys-- Sometimes I think you all forget that most of us are really mere mortals in your playgrounds. It's like Hephaestus and Zeus..." she says. "You mean well-- even you. But man, sometimes it's like looking at gods and not men." She includes Megamind in the Gods category, no less.

[titaness]

Not to be deterred by cancelled plans, Donna arrives at Roxanne's door on New Year's Day with a tray of gourmet cupcakes and a selection of chick flicks. Her motives are more angled at seeing if the other woman really is alright, so she may be looking a bit sheepish as she knocks on the door.

[pluckyreporter]

Donna is a saint, and will be heralded as such. Hopefully she'll not be put off by the brainbot that answers the door, though. It looks like a robot jellyfish, with a glowing plasma dome for a head and bear-trap for jaws.

It goes bowg bowg?, and the goes off, repeating the noise. Roxanne, arm in sling and looking less than TV-Ready is at the door in a moment.

"Pardon my doorman, he's screening my visitors. Happy New Years, Donna," she said, opening the door a little wider, if left handed. The right's in a plank-sling; keeping it up in it's cast, and the fixator steady against her. She can't even move it, really.

[titaness]

Robots aren't a big deal to someone who has a best friend named Cyborg, but Donna still offers the brainbot a quizzical look. When Roxanne arrives, however, she's quickly distracted from that and instead gives her a sympathetic smile.

"That," she says, looking at the cast, "does not look like much fun. But happy new year to you, too."

She holds up the confections to display them, grinning a bit more wryly this time. "Sugar, I think, is the proper substitute for dancing."

[pluckyreporter]

"It will also make sure that my hips don't lie," she said with a grin. Roxanne's well aware of where she packs all her weight.

She opens the door to let Donna into her little fixer-upper place. No major, obvious projects-- but it's a nice little house, but nothing too fancy. Home is where the brainbot is, though, and the little robot just putters about like a strange, metallic jellyfish.

"I heard there was a mess at Times Square. Our Junior reporter on the scene called up and said I owed her a 'trial by fire' drink or ten," she said.

[titaness]

She looks around as she enters, nodding approvingly. It's always interesting to see how people find their bearings in the City, given the resources or lack there of available to them. Roxanne has always seemed more than capable to Donna, however, so she's not surprised that she keeps such a nice home.

At Roxanne's last comment, Donna just sighs, and maybe rolls her eyes a bit. "It's to be expected, when we've got the holiday-themed villain in our midst. He's from my world, back home, but I never had to deal with him there. Gotham's more his scene."

[pluckyreporter]

Roxanne's a mortal in a city of the modern Gods, superhero and villain alike--but she's always had to be. Between a generous stipend from WayneTech and her own pitbull tenacity... She's doing alright for herself.

"Calendar Man, right? Met him at the Iceberg -- along with the Penguin and a gentleman who styled himself Black Mask," she said. She ran into Sanji and Pink there, too, but it's safe to say that neither of them are supervillains.

"I'm afraid I'm down a hand and Elo's only so great at being a waiter -- but my house is yours. Get anything you like," she said as she went toward the kitchen.

[titaness]

"That's the one. It seems a lot of guys get pulled in from my end, good and bad." She'd prefer it if more of them were on the good side, but when she gets on that line of thought she feels guilty for wishing more Titans were around. They're better off, she knows, being at home, but it doesn't help her miss them any less.

She nods at Roxanne's offer. "Thanks, I'll be sure to. How're you holding up? In pain at all?"

[pluckyreporter]

"A little bit, but that's what the magic pills are for," she said, as she takes a seat at the table, gesturing for Donna to join her. "Trying to only take it when the pain gets really bad, though. When I'm on them I-- well, I haven't been that stoned since some ill-advised brownies in college."

Uh, yesterday? The Third.

[someonetoscold]

Flint wasn't entirely sure what he was doing there, but Roxanne was one of his few friends in the City, and he knew she was hurt and he knew it was Hal's fault.

He told her she shouldn't have messed with that guy. Sandman knew guys like that. He'd worked with guys like that. There were a few in his business and - if he was a bit more self aware - he might've realized there were a few parallels between him and Hal.

But he wouldn't do that to Roxanne, and the thought of someone doing that to her infuriated him. Still, he wasn't sure exactly on what terms they were on, since the end of November and with her boyfriend back in town. He stewed for a couple of days before going to see her. It's not like it would take him long to get there, not if he whisked himself there by sand express.

He reformed on her doorstep and rang the bell.

[pluckyreporter]

Roxanne has pondered those parallels herself over the last couple of days; not just with Hal and Flint (though that's bubbled up in her brain) but in the other relationships she's formed here. Who fills what roles and why...

She comes to the door-- jeans and a tanktop with a cardigan over her shoulders, since putting anything with sleeves on around that monstrous cast and fixator is a pain in the ass. But at least she's gotten to the point where she's not constantly in her pajamas.

"Flint," it comes out surprised, but she smiles shortly after, warming immediately. She's fond of him, and his peculiar criminal honor. "Come in."

[someonetoscold]

This was both simpler and a bit more awkward than he expected, but he enters her house easily. He can't quite take his eyes off that cast though.

He grunts and opens his mouth to say something - and does say something when he probably shouldn't have.

"That Hal character do that?"

[pluckyreporter]

"Yes," she replied. "Have a seat, stay a while. I can tell you the whole gory story if you like. But -- I'd honestly rather not."

She gestured toward her living room, going to where she'd been curled up-- turning off the TV. "Elo, baby, come here--" She beckons the brainbot from one of the chairs, and he floats over to the couch and curls back up again.

Weird little robots. But at least there's only one here now.

[someonetoscold]

Flint took a seat, feeling big and luggish. He started looking around her place and eyeing that weird robot. He wasn't sure what bothered him more - that there was a weird robot, or that it seemed almost normal to see one.

He didn't press her for details, but he couldn't help but growl, "That guy. Next time he comes 'round, I'll teach him a lesson."

[pluckyreporter]

She pats the robot (and the dome crackles with plasma) before she looks back at Flint.

"You don't have to do that. And while I know you can out think him, and could probably take a Metro sized beating from him and not even have a black eye for it later.... I'd really rather not deal with him at all, or have anybody else need to," Roxanne said with a thin smile.

All she needed was a bunch of supers pounding each other in the name of her honor or defense. It was like some sort of- crazy dream.

[someonetoscold]

His ego is really easy to stroke and he's satisfied. He's a bit too eager to assume the matter is settled and relaxes a bit, although it helps that he has mentally decided that if he ever sees Hal's face in person he'd give it a great big punch.

"If you're good with that," he says, with a shrug, "Can't say that revenge is always all its cracked up to be. All I'm saying is if."

In a lot of ways, Flint was a man of the moment. He gestures to the robot.

"You keeping those things as pets now?"

[pluckyreporter]

Roxanne knows it isn't settled--but she knows that likely it'll boil down to her, Titan and Megamind-- and a mess. A big mess. The fewer people endangered or involved, the better. Roxanne likes her private life private, and Hal has no concept of what 'privacy' even looks like.

"If... it comes to that, which I hope it won't, I'll let you know," she replied with a wry twist of her life. Knight in sandstone armor, Flint Marko. Who knew?

His question gets a glance to the robot, and she shakes her head. Not a pet, even if they acted like it a lot of the time.

"No, they've mostly been returned to Megamind. This one just-- likes me best, I guess, and keeps coming back to the house. And he's still useful." The robot didn't move, clearly not knowing or not caring if it was being spoken about.

belated flowers

[mylensisonyou.livejournal.com]

After a bit of internet soul-searching, Hal realized he needed to apologize before things could get any better. A hundred movies and advertisements had taught him, "No matter the offense, flowers are a great first step toward forgiveness." (http://www.ftd.com/im-sorry-ctg/occasion-imsorry)

So flowers it would be; a vase of yellow roses. Tucked into it was a small, unsigned card, simply marked Sorry