Summary:Rooftop meeting between a Spider and a Saoirse Log Info:Storyteller: None |
Related LogsTheme SongNone |
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You know how hard it is to order things like food when your face is constantly covered? Or if you get mistaken for one of the other wall-slingers in the city? Miles had a heck of a time getting some crepes to go. Because there was no way they were going to let him sit in the restaurant and eat. It's just how it is when you're dressed.. pretty much like you're there to rob the place.
So up on the rooftop Miles sits. He has the small plate of crepes sitting to his side, with a thermos of coffee, and he's working on rolling one up and lifting his mask slightly to pop into his mouth to chew on, getting chipmunk cheeks for a moment as he eats it whole and chews thoughtfully, enjoying the warmth in his mouth before swallowing.
There is a coffee cup that floats up from below. Still steaming, with some creme. It seems to come out of nowhere, but it comes from a few stories below at least and it slowly spins till it's in front of the secret snacker. How strange?
The coffee cup gets a lift of a brow in confusion beneath the mask. "Man, they give just about anything powers these days." Miles comments wryly, looking thoughful before lifting the thermos. "I'm good, coffee cup, but if whoever is controlling you wants to come up here, they're more than welcome to, I guess? Though it is a lot warmer inside then it is up here."
Saoirse comes up completely upside down facing Miles's back. "Hello!" she offers cheerfully. Her hair is flowing upward (normal orientation) and she holds a coffee cup of her own upside down too! "We said we'd have coffee! I saw your mask from inside! Oooh, Oooh, can I have some crepes too?"
"Ah!" Miles is momentarily startled as she floats upside down in front of him. It's a strange orientation, but he's trying to get used to it. From what little of his mask is up, she can see that he has mocha colored skin, and his teeth are straight and white with full lips. "Okay, okay… whew." Shaking his head, Miles chuckles slightly. "I did say that. Though I didn't think you'd be so eager to follow up?" comes the question.
At the inquiry about the crepes though, he pushes the plate over. "Sure, if you want. At least they don't ID you in there." A chuckle escapes from him at that as he lifts the small tin cup for his thermos to sip at the coffee
Saoirse turns slowly so she's completely at a 90 degree angle. So she's to the side instead of upside down. "Well I like to eat tasty things." The floating coffee cup comes to a rest in front of Miles. She takes the fork and takes some crepe and takes a bite, chewing thoughtfully. "Mmmn, it's yummy! But kind of cold."
"Yeah. Kinda cold out here, so have to eat them quick if you want them hot. Not as nice as it would be inside." Miles shrugs his shoulders. "Probably could have taken off my mask, but so used to wearing it.." There's a moment smile that hints of sadness there, but he shakes it off. "Your sister find out anything about your little misadventure last night?" he asks, remembering that she was specifically worried about that.
Saoirse nods "Probably, but she hasn't said anything. I started doing the prep work for the gundam. I put together the sprues on sprue holders, and I have some paints, and toothpicks for painting, and brushes. I like Tamiya paint for them. I have my godhand hobby nippers, and now I'm all ready!"
She reaches out to touch his nose with the tip of her finger. "My sister is a hero..but she works with the military. It weighs on her. Having a special needs little sister isn't easy either I'm sure. There are things you feel good about, and things that you have to live with. If you want to do the hero thing it isn't easy, and you will face decisions, and failures that change you slowly."
Miles listens to Saoirse go on about preparing her model, though he doesn't know a sprue from a beam saber, but he's trying to pay attention. Then she's reaching out to touch his nose, and it crinkles slightly as he pulls back, reaching to roll up another crepe to pop it in his mouth. "Autistic?" he asks her curiously, not trying too hard in prying into what Saoirse is talking about if she doesn't want to volunteer it.
"There's a lot of heroes that work with the military. Several don't. It is what it is. Someone once said, having powers ain't what decides if you're a hero, it's what you do with your heart." he explains as he pops the crepe into his mouth to finish it off. "He also gave me the not easy speech. But anything worth having isn't easy, supposedly. Right?"
Saoirse shakes her head "Severe physical and metal issues. I could not think like you do, speak, communicate, form very rational thought, I was in a wheelchair with very little movement. I was injected with Nanotechnology and I got better. Then in a moment I made a decision to stop someone from transforming a population into people like me - not giving them a choice. I paid for that choice. I fired a superlaser powered by my reactor. I overloaded the reactor, and it gave enough energy to destroy the missle system, but it also fried out my entire brain, I lost an arm to the heat, and my reactor melted out of me. I died after I fell into the ocean. I was rescued and got better but it took a couple years to learn how to think again, to heal, to re-learn how to talk. That too I'm sure weighs heavily upon Michelle. Sometimes the right choice is more painful than you can really handle, but it still has to be made."
As he listens to her story, Miles frowns a little. "So. They made you better, which made you worse, then you did something to stop it which.. made you better again?" he asks, trying to figure that all out as he pushes the plate of crepes over to the young woman and pays attention to his coffee for a bit to try to warm up. "That sounds really impressive." he admits finally between sips on the tin cup. "So they're not trying to make you a hero anymore. And you're just a free spirit.. or?"
Saoirse takes the crepe and chews on it till she's finished, licking her fingers one by one. "There's a lot more to it, but I was injected without my father telling my mother whom had custody of me. Michelle changed the nanite formula. She made modifications, things where the nanites dont accept outside commands, thier goal is to ensure that I remain as human as possible. I'm still a little human. But not much. I worry that someday when there's no more human cells left I will forget what it is to be human and who and what makes me, me."
Shaking her head "I went to a school to make pepole heroes..and I never got good grades. It was called Coral Springs. I was able to do something when Michelle was disabled. And I knew what would happen to me. So..even those of us who aren't the heroes of our own story can be the hero once in a while. Even if it's at great cost. Since then..it's been a couple years of rehab. People don't really expect much of me anymore, I was a dissapointment at the hero school, and there's a certain freedom now in people not having expectations of you."
"Coral Springs? Never heard of it." Miles admits as he sips from his coffee. "There's a SHIELD Academy I know of. They help some of the younger heroes. And I remember there were some of them that had started a group.. the Young Avengers or something like that? I don't know what happened to them." That draws a thoughtful frown to his features as he finishes up his coffee and shakes out the tin cup to put it back in place.
"…but you're as human as you want to be. As you need to be. Don't let something control you, you control it. Kind of like the hero thing. Concentrate on it too much, and it draws you in and suddenly it's your whole life. There's always going to be the need to find a balance. And you have your models and stuff, and meeting people. Seems pretty human to me?"
Saoirse smiles softly "Yes..but it's something that worried me before too. As scattered as I may seem to the outside world at least I can think. I wouldn't be here to annoy you if I were still a girl that wasn't able to use the restroom by herself sitting in Ireland." She lands on her feet, a bit unsteady on them but taking a moment to balance. "Be careful if you continue this life. There aren't really rewards to it." She licks the tip of her finger, then tries to touch the sorta-masked man on the chin with it with a grin "Heehee, gonna get you!"
"Maybe not. But this isn't something you go into for money or prestige. After all, not everyone can be Captain America, right?" Miles asks and gives a rolling shrug of his shoulders. And then she licks her finger and reaches out to touch him and he looks utterly baffled from what shows on his expression as he pulls the mask down and sets his jaw in a moment of thought. "It was pretty cool to hang out with you and all, but we have got to work on your personal space." he comments, a soft chuckle from him.
"I come home with some nano-bots on my, my girlfriend's gonna wonder what I've been up to." It's offered wryly, but he gives a shake of his head. "Anyway. Thanks for come up here and chilling out for a bit." Terrible accidental pun that it. "But I should get back to my patrolling. And well. Figuring out what it is that I do."
Saoirse laughs as she could try to press, but would probably just fall over from lack of balance. "Maybe. But it probably won't work." A bright and cheerful smile. "I had a girlfriend once, in school. We were going to be married. But when the laser cannon fired and my arm and shoulder melted from the heat it also melted the ring. Well probably. They never found the arm, so probably. When I pretty much died that day, eventually she went back to Mexico. I liked her, loved her probably too. Her name was Sierra, I remember that much! So make sure not to make your girlfriend sad okay?"
Saoirse perks up "Oh! I have something for you! Um..if you just use what you have..your not going to make it in this field. My sister has millions of dollars of capital, and expendetures, and Nattional Robotics supporting her with gadets and such. We're public figures, but you aren't. So she told me I should take a prepaid visa card and give it to whomever I thought needed it. You know, a pay it forward kind of way. That was a good movie…oh, wait, right! Here!" She scrounes in a pocket, then pulls over a black visa card. "There's a thousand dollars on it, it's a prepaid visa card. You can do it to buy things, like coffees, and crepes, and supplies to make a costume to hide your identity, and gundams, models not an actual war robot, and ice cream, and passes to see movies - like Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack..well, I guess /you/ can't see that one, it was one day only. But you could buy the BluRay! That's what I did. And I saw it in the theater. With Popcorn and all you can drink soda! And I can drink a lot of soda! Though..when I have to pee a lot. I try not to when I want to see the movie, it's all about bladder management! Anyway, here, take it, it's all yours and since it's prepaid it can't be traced to who you are."
There's a mask of confusion. Except it's totally not a mask. Miles is utterly confused by the young woman. As she's explaining things, he watches her. "Well, I'm planning on doing that. And I don't think your arm getting melted off affected the relationship?" he asks, then shakes his head. "Nevermind, that's your thing." At least he's a little relieved at assuming. "Sorry - thought you were hitting on me." Coughing slightly, it's worsen when she makes the offer with the card.
And his hands come up defensively. "No no. I totally didn't do this for the money. It's uh.. complicated." he admits. "But that's for another time." He is trying to get her to put her card back in her pocket. "I know I'm not doing .. or look like much. But I'm doing this because I want to help. I appreciate the offer. But I'm not for hire or doing this for pay.. just.. to help."
And before she can give him the card, he's pulling down his mask to leap away to head deeper into the city.
Saoirse picks up the thermos and metal cap he left behind and calls after "You forgot the thermos thingie, and your moneycard! Hey! And what about the crepe plate? The stuff you left behind? Well..I guess I'll clean it up, because littering is illegal!" She picks up the things left behind then heads off. There's no way she's catching up to him.