selfhelp | [Voice/Action]

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[Okay, so. Post-draft, he's given himself a few days of seclusion and bed-rest (apparently being infected with a zombie virus is exhausting), and even Billy can freely admit to himself that he's been pretty depressed lately, a fact for which he feels no shame considering that depression was well and truly earned. One can only spend so much time fretting, moping, and dwelling on one's own misery for so long, however, and today? He's decided that enough is enough. Billy will be going out today, limping around the village and visiting the people who were on the draft whose fate he's still uncertain of. The ones he can't find or has no reason to actually visit, he'll check with a light location spell, and he'll spend a few hours at Seventh Heaven people-watching out the window while he doodles in a book that Teddy had given him containing a series of patterns (much like this) that resemble inkblogs, and bit by bit Billy's turning them into something like this instead. It's been a tiring week, though, so you could always catch him napping on the table, instead.

At some point he'll attempt to find Peter, and when both a location spell and a teleport fails, he tries to teleport to the apartment he'd been staying at instead, finding it almost completely emptied. All he manages to dig up is a small cartridge that, after a moment of scrutiny, he identifies as a web fluid cartridge. His fanboyish glee at the discovery is tempered by the fact that the empty apartment means one more piece of bad news.

After his visits and window-watching is done, he'll return home to make the announcement, along with one more message-]

Hey out there... just wanted to let his friends know that Peter Parker went home. So... sorry. Yeah.

[Locked to Loki]

...We still on for tomorrow, or do you want to take a break? Because... you know. [Draft. Awfulness all around. He wouldn't blame Loki if he wanted to take a week off.

Later on in the evening he'll be over at Ben's barbeque, if anyone wants to bother him while he's there.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[His eyebrows raise. There's an obvious joke to be made about biting between the two of them, but it can be reserved for people who haven't buried their sense of humor.]

How long did it take for them to find a cure?

[Wow Robin he had no idea you were so fascinated with his sex life.]

Not as long as it takes in the movies, that's for sure. The disease started showing up, what, on the 26th? So around five or six days.

[Not obsessed. Just sixteen.]

And there's no danger of it returning. We're sure about that. [Robin will totally be taking blood samples from himself and analyzing them for weeks once he's okay enough to settle back into his own space.]

Because of the cure, right?

[Makes sense- unless the zombie-itus or whatever they're calling it evolves somehow, it's pretty easy to deal with should another instance of it crop up.]

What I'd like to know is where it really came from.

I was asking. Reassure me. [Oh. Right. Food. Robin's finally reacting to the burning and busying himself with salvaging what he can. He misses mobility. :(]

It wasn't native to that enclosure? What else do you know about it?

[Crikey, does he need help? Oh wait, it's Billy. That might end badly.]

Well- I don't know that much more, honestly. But as far as I know everyone's gotten inoculated, and even if they haven't, there's a cure in case it comes back. I don't know about where it came from, but the people who weren't infected were looking for one guy from another enclosure who apparently got it first. Or was the carrier, or... I don't know. Really, the details are kind of unclear. You'd be better off talking to one of the doctors who made the cure.

[No he never needs help. He's just generally had someone to make food happen for him. The eating was pretty rad way back when he had a butler. At least things are off the fire now. And only slightly charcoaled! It was a good run, all things considered.]

Which ones were responsible? All Lucetians? [He's thinking Doctor LeBlanc seemed the most capable of the draftees.]

[Someone needs cooking lessons, that smells kind of hideous.]

I don't have all the names. I think the one guy was uh- shoot. He looks kind of like a fish-man. And Adele, and Loki... they were helping.

[Whatever. There's a plate of it sliding in Billy's direction. Robin's being generous today. Try not to choke on it.

And Robin's about to launch into an exhaustive debriefing of every stalkable syllable Mordin's uttered over the journals, but then Billy gets to the end of his sentence.]

What do you mean, Loki was helping?

[They're all poisoned now, aren't they?]

[Oh wow, cool, bacon and eggs. Billy shrugs off his concern - he's probably cooked worse himself - and helps himself. He's not actually going to choke, is he? Because that would be kind of awkward, bro.]

Just like I said. I don't know exactly how much his contribution was, but he was definitely involved.

[Hopefully not! It doesn't really taste bad, it just tastes like teenage boy cooking. Mind the overcooked bits and it should be okay.]

But we've all been injected with something he helped design. [Totally poisoned, all of them.] And everyone's okay with this.

[Cool, it tastes like his own cooking then. He can deal with this.]

...Well, I'm okay with not being a zombie anymore. If thanking Loki is the price I've gotta pay for that, then yeah, I guess I'm okay with it.

Even if he's got something worse planned?

[He's just going to melt into the seat across the table from Billy, don't mind him. It's not that he's tired or anything. He's just. Done with being vertical. That's all.]

[Wow, is he actually sitting with Robin eating and having a calm discussion?

He'll just quietly enjoy this while it lasts, okay...]

What's worse than a mindless, flesh-eating monster?

[Eating and having a calm discussion with a Robin who is also mostly out of uniform. Isn't that like nerd bingo for Billy or something?]

There's always something worse. Even if you can't imagine it yet.

[He'll totally whip up a card for this later.]

I'm sure you'll manage to imagine more worst-case scenarios than most of us can handle. How about I leave the worrying to you?

Won't be the first time I've been responsible for people injected with something malicious. [Loki's working with Slade. It's obvious. It all makes sense now and Robin was too blind to see it until it was too late! Of course!

He just hurts too much to do anything about it yet. Soon. Maybe he'll set Jason on some investigating work later.]

[Wow, Robin, he's so glad he's not a mind-reader. You can practically hear the paranoid gears of his mind working.]

What do you know about Loki, anyway? Just what you've been told by the Avengers?

[He's not accusing - he's not really in any position to defend Loki - but he can't help being curious.]

I don't think Sue counted as an Avenger while she was here.

[That in itself should give enough information about how much he's been informed. Directly, anyway.Stalking potential baddies is kind of his thing.]

Actually, she's an Avenger. Just not one of theirs.

[Answers his question, though.]

I think their Loki is different from the one Sue and I know. Not saying he wasn't a villain or that he's not planning anything - I have know idea if he is or he isn't - but this one seems a lot less... cliche. I think if he was really going to plot all of our demises he'd be less obvious about it.

Nearly crippling the archer isn't obvious enough for you?

[Eyebrows raising so high you can see them over the shades swallowing up most of his face.]

Define "obvious."

[He winces; yeah, he kind of walked into that one.]

He can just argue that as being a retaliation after getting attacked. It seems like it's an obvious villain move, sure, but if you look at the grand scheme of things, it was kinda brilliant: The Avengers made a big deal about him being the bad guy, wanting a truce and all that, and then he goes and publicly reveals that they attacked him first. It actually earned him some sympathy. Not to mention that by not killing Hawkeye, he gave the impression of being merciful.

[How's that for subtleties?]

[. . .

Billy, you've just described half the news that comes out of Metropolis.]

So he brilliantly spins public perception for himself. This makes him more of a hero to you? Do you trust someone if the best thing you can say about him is that he didn't kill someone?

You shouldn't stand up to cheer just because someone decided not to be a murderer today. You of all people should have better standards than that.

[Robin must be feeling better. He's on the cusp of a leader speech.]

Edited 2012-11-15 04:33 (UTC)

[Yeah well Metropolis is shit 8|]

I never said he's a hero. I grew up with heroes, I know what they're supposed to be like. What I'm saying is that he's intelligent- really intelligent. And doing something outright villainous would only limit his options as long as he's trapped like this. What he's doing is mutually beneficial- and he benefits twice-over by looking like the good guy for doing it.

[IS NOT that's where Superman is from and ONE DOES NOT MESS WITH SUPERMAN.]

Which means now is exactly the time to make a subtle move. Inject us all with something. Call it a cure. Cash the chips in later.

You're blind if you don't see what's happening.

[Action] You're so generous

[Action] I'm always generous

[Action] That's a lie.

[Action] wow, rude, why would you ever doubt me

[Action] You know why. You know exactly why. :|

[Action] omg no I dooooon't rude

[Action] It's rude to be dishonest with yourself.

[Action] but I only speak the truth

[Action] You're more perceptive than that

[Action] you think too highly of me clearly

[Action] Nope, I just forgot what we were arguing about

[Action] oh okay nevermind then

[Action] I'm assuming it's not important enough to scroll up about

[Action] not scrolling either 8D

[Action] we're so good at this

[Action] we are also the best at space

[Action] SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE

[Action] getting tired of space

[Action] akai, are you space?

[Action] yes. yes, I am space.

[Action] now we are a family again :O

[Action] /omg yay wait I ran out of lines

[Action] WHAT go back to youtube and experience it again.

[Action] but I have fabulous music playing :c

[Action] Nothing is more fabulous than the space core.