capeandcowllogs | Bit by bit, torn apart, we never win

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Bit by bit, torn apart, we never win

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.

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When he begins to gesticulate wildly, she reaches out to snag the glass carefully from his hand and set it aside, before she returns to sipping her own. Roxanne knew this would probably happen once all this came to light, and not simply because she'd lived it before.

"Destiny isn't the path one is given," she says, looking into her glass, "But ultimately the choices that one makes for one's self. Or so a smart person once told me."

"The person who told you that is a fool and a liar," he snaps, planting his hands on either side of him, fingertips tracing absentminded patterns onto her couch. Equations ran through his head - an attempt to try and calm down, he found himself continuously reciting the properties of relativity and calculations relating to alternating current electricity.

It's a coping and defense mechanism that he frequently uses. It's not really working this time.

"I tried to chose for myself, Miss Ritchi. I tried here. It doesn't seem to be in the cards for me."

Edited 2012-01-02 05:42 (UTC)

Though she keeps her eyes on her glass, he can't keep the sadness out of them when she says, "Funny, you're the one who said it."

She sips her eggnog quietly, she waits for him to calm. The brainbot is fidgety nearby, not sure what to make of all this shouting.

"Am I now."

He sounds particularly grumpy - but he's at least a little calmer now.

As calm as Megamind can really be, anyway.

"Is there anything else?"

"Not much but the detail of the fall out. Wayne refuses to help us. I suggest we prepare for big fight you refuse." She takes a deep breath, knowing she's about to lay out a pattern of 'dumb ideas with Hal' here, but continues.

"You leave, I go off to stop the bad guy, bad guy ties me to Metro Tower and makes me beg for my life on TV, wait an hour, nobody shows, falling to my death, get last ditch moment to get Hal's attention-- and then you and Minion swoop in, save day, both of you get pretty pummeled, but... you pull it off. Everybody cheers. Metro City gets new defenders and... Wayne eats Cheetoes and writes terrible lyrics."

She's... still really mad at him.

"Along the way we kissed and made up. We're not -- perfect, by any means, but... I'd be bored if we were, honestly." Yup, the eggnog in her glass is really fascinating, because she has a really hard time looking at him through all this.

"Wait -- wait." He holds his hands up, shaking his head in disbelief. She just uttered several things that had his brain on the verge of spontaneously combusting.

"You've -- tried this with Hal, before? And it didn't work? And you did it again? And didn't call me, his creator?"

He cannot wrap his head around that.

"And -- me...and you--kissing? There was kissing involved?"

Because he had been fairly certain she never wanted to do that again. Getting champagne tossed at you is usually a pretty clear indicator.

But then something is dawning on him.

"Hold on a minute. Is that why you've been...acting so odd? So...tolerant? Because of...this future me, that I wasn't yet aware of?"

Edited 2012-01-02 06:38 (UTC)

"Yeah, I know." And she does know. "I -- went emotionally. It was stupid. I know it was stupid. And I'm playing for it."

There's a pause, as she looks down at her hand, contemplating just how bad it could've been. "I just-- he thinks beating you to a pulp is the way to win my affection, and-- if he knows he has no shot, he stops caring about me pretty quickly and moves on to being a jerk at large-- and hopefully, you will matter less over all." So yes. At least a little of this has to do with protecting Megamind.

But... that doesn't seem to be everything. "Besides... I really can't live in fear of him. What sort of life is that, looking over my shoulder and wondering if I'm going to have to endure his advances? What happens when I set the super-staler off? I -- I couldn't just-- I won't let him do this to me again. Even if it's a mere mortal against a God, someone has to spit in his eye." Roxanne Ritchi will spit, if she has to!

But-- she pauses. Future you, huh? Well, at least he's denying the possibility of this all happening like Hal did. "Some of that. Some of it was you being here before, too. Only a month while I was here. You made me my watch, that keeps my powers dampened. Course, it's ruined now. Wore it on my right wrist."

Which is now in a cast.

Edited 2012-01-02 08:37 (UTC)

Looking down at that cast is enough to send another tremor of rage through him, and his face darkens again and he reminds himself that now is not the time to go charging after Hal revahnge.

That would come in time. Megamind was a patient man, after all. Spending time in prison did wonders for that particular trait.

"Miss Ritchi, you do realize that there is no reason to protect me? I have told you already - I am quite capable of keeping myself alive. I've done a fantastic job of it thus far, and trust me - no pathetic excuse for a hero is going to be the death of me."

He exhaled, still plainly hurt that she didn't call him, but...

Why would she request a villains aid? It made perfect sense for her to go to someone else.

"You shouldn't have to - I will do everything in my power to fix this." He knows it probably wont work because of that blasted Porter, but damned if he wont try.

"Watch -- hm. A replacement can be commissioned, for the low cost of a smile, perhaps?"

"He nearly killed you," she says. "And it was hard to watch. Minion pulled that double cross and I was--" She was on the verge of tears, right there. "Let's just say I care enough to worry about you. More then enough to be dumb about it. I knew he'd make you an immediate target. I didn't want to risk that."

His hurt is palpable, but she feels the will behind it too -- she lifts a hand as if she might reach out, and stops; uncertain about explaining her powers and how much she knows and senses, and all the rest, but...

Then he comes at her with that line.

"You're lowballing yourself there," she said, and that smile he wants appears on her face. "Thanks. For-- all of it. I'm sorry I went around you... and that this has come to ... well, spoiler land."

"It's happened before." He hesitates, and reaches to gently touch the hand that she had reached for him with, mildly relieved that gloves still protect his skin. "Please -- Roxanne, don't...try something like this again. Alright? To preserve my sanity and your well being."

He sighs, and lifts a shoulder.

"I'm not terribly surprised, it seems inevitable that things play out a certain way. Don't apologize."

She slides a hand in his, grips it for a moment. Thankful, too, that he wears gloves.

"I won't go after him again. Or anything for a while." She doesn't have to explain how this will affect her fieldwork, after all. "I've had enough attempts at Hal to know I'd really... just rather not set eyes on him. Ever."

But--what's this? Defeat? Her Megamind? She sighs, and with some effort, scoots forward.

"Don't accept the inevitable," she says. "I know -- this doesn't make any sense to you right now, and I hope some day it will. But I believe in you. You've succeeded before -- more than once. And I know you'll do so again."

"Thank you." That doesn't change the fact that he's going to go after Hal himself, but it does make him feel better she's not going to try and talk him down again.

"I didn't want you to tell me because for...the first time ever, I had...choices. Now --" He just shrugs and smirks at her. "I suppose I'll just have to go along with it."

He'll succeed, alright. It just might not be in what you want, Roxanne.

Welp. She'll just take what she can get. Her hand in his, a little closeness on the couch, and-- hey, her phone's going off. She looks over at it on the table, and then up at a wall clock.

"One minute to the new year. Was going to turn on the ball drop, but I think I'll take a pass." She goes silent for a moment, watching the seconds count down, until the clock chimes midnight, musical and soft, marking the New Year.

"Well. 2012. Happy New Year, Megamind," she said, squeezing his hand for a moment. There's only a gauging look -- one he's seen before -- before she makes a decision. Villain or hero, he's still her Megamind, and he shouldn't go unkissed on New Years.

He peers at the ringing phone, but pays it very little mind. He...actually doesn't have a lot of time to contemplate anything, because she's leaned in and kissed him.

Willingly. No coercion or anything.

He's...not sure what to think about that, but instinct has him suddenly smiling against her lips and gently -- carefully -- returning it.

She doesn't risk lingering-- that he hasn't backed away is prize enough. Spooking him wouldn't do either of them any good. But she's never been good at not going after what she wants, and by damn, she wanted to kiss him.

Leaning back, she settles back on the couch, shifting her arm again to get comfortable... but she's watching him with those baby blues. Just-- in case.

"A. That -- that was...well. It was...really something, very nice -- I wasn't expecting, you didn't have to--"

He babbles a few more incoherencies. Roxanne tends to scramble his brain.

Edited 2012-01-04 02:39 (UTC)

Okay, slow down there, space man. Two fingers get pressed to his lips and a soft sshhh given.

"Didn't have to, did it because I wanted to, you have not recoiled in horror, so I figure this is a win on all sides," she replies, her smile turning wry. Oh, alien boyfriend, you are so confusing sometimes. "Besides... it's something of a holiday custom. A pleasant one."

"A...a win. Yes - though I'm fairly certain the victory is a bit swayed in your favor."

He's the one fumbling here, after all.

"It...is?"

"It is. You're with someone you care about, New Years Eve, you're supposed to start out the New Year with a kiss," she explains. "Though some people elevate it to new heights of 'whoever is drunk enough to kiss you', but..." she waves that off.

Doesn't matter here. It's just them, quiet despite the fact that all over the city there's chaos and madness and even in the neighborhood, people are standing on their porches shouting and hollering.

But she's here, her hand in his, and it's okay. All of this is going to be okay. Somehow.

"I like this tradition," he tells her enthusiastically, squeezing her hand. "Do you get only one?"

Because he could get used to this.

It looks like Roxanne created a monster-- but in the moment, scooting closer, she-- doesn't care. This could be really ugly and complicated down the line (and probably will be) and he's not quite-- who she thinks he is, and for all she knows, will never have the same epiphany.

"Depends on the couple," she says. "But there are no rules about number, though."

Carefully, hesitantly, he untangles his hand from hers and slides it around her instead. She wants him here, she hasn't shooed him out -- so this is...a safe gesture, right?

He's really not sure. He doesn't know what he's doing anymore. It's all complicated. He only knows that he very much wants to see her smile.

"Oh, good. So I--"

He clears his throat.

"In theory -- since there are not, as you say, any rules against it -- in theory, I could...steal another?"

Well, he was learning quick. Still a little fuzzy on painmeds, she didn't question anything; just let herself rest in the crook of his arm. She briefly closed her eyes, and made a little sound, mmhmming thoughtfully.

"In theory, certainly." Practice? Who can say. But she manages to keep you are so predictable off her lips, because he doesn't need it right now, and all she needs is for a gentle tease to be taken the wrong away and spoil the moment. "I suppose only experimentation will give you actual results to test your theory against."

Someone picked up nerd talk as they went along, yes.

He's horribly awkward but he's trying to be smooth and confident -- and he carefully strokes her hair, running gloved fingertips through short strands.

"That will likely give me the conclusion I'm looking for. Further experimentation is, as you say, required."

So he swallows and leans in to carefully brush his lips to hers - hesitantly, to make sure that he's not going to get violently shoved away.

Awkward, but kind of endearing. Much like Bernard was. But she manages not to roll her eyes against his antics, and just tilts her head up -- to receive and return his affection.

Nobody gets pushes. No names are called. No champagne to throw. It's all very calm, really. Sweet, if one really wanted to label it.

Not that Megamind would ever want to be told he was sweet.

Bit by bit, torn apart, we never win

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