selfhelp | [Voice/Action]

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[Today is a good day for serious business, apparently. There's a certain something he's been putting off for a while, and after one-too-many dreams interrupting his sleep, he's had enough: this morning when Billy wakes up, the first thing he does is jot out a note in the journal-]

[Private to Ben Grimm]

Hey, would it be okay if I swung by to ask you a few things?

[He'll work through his morning routine until he gets a response, after which he'll go for a visit and get a hell of a lot more than he bargained for.

After that, his mood for the day is drastically altered; he'll skip out on school, trying to sort out his feelings on the matter. Tommy's still AWOL, and he's trying not to worry Teddy, but what he's just been told has really got him thinking- about people, and heroes, and the unfairness of mankind in general. And eventually he'll just go ahead and return to his journal for it. He's kind of in over his head here.]

[Open to All]

I know Luceti's full of heroes- seems kind of a standard trait for most of us, for whatever reason. Back on my world, super-humans aren't that uncommon, and in general they're revered for everything they do for the world. Some of them were born that way, and some of them are from other planets, and some were altered to get their powers, and some have a lot of talent or skill instead of powers. But they're all considered to be super heroes. There's bad guys, too- just as diverse and unique as the heroes they fight. People fear them and celebrate their defeat.

There's another group, though... humans who got their powers because of evolution. It's much more natural, in a lot of ways. Some are heroes, some are villains. Some are just trying to get by without becoming one or the other. But regular humans fear them, and hate them for it, even if they save the world just as much as the heroes they love. They're called criminals or monsters, no matter how innocent they might be.

[He hesitates- it's probably obvious to some, what he's talking about, and he's not sure if he should lock it from the mutant population, or apologize, or something, but it relates to them even if it's not by name. Hiding it wouldn't be right.

In the end he just leaves it be.]

...Sorry for the ramble. But it's not fair, and... I just can't understand why. Why hate one and love the other, when they're basically the same?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

You're lucky my boyfriend is hot.

[PETULANT SCOWL.]

I'm sorry. That was cruel of me.

Just a little. I'm not bitter.

Bitter like almonds.

I'm sure you can think of something to torture me with in revenge.

I can always publicize that picture of you in the pink dress. Coulson would like that, right?

In all honesty?

...Coulson's probably seen me in more compromising positions.

[Which translates as 'please god Billy, no' but he doesn't want to admit he has a weakness.]

So he won't mind this sort of thing, then.

[Calling you on your bluff, good sir.]

Nah, course not. This is nothing after that time with the 'massage parlour' in Thailand.

...Massage parlour.

[THERE IS A QUESTION IN THAT STATEMENT.]

Yeah, massage parlour. Don't make me do air quotes Billy. No-one looks good when they do air quotes.

I don't want air quotes, I want a story. That sounds interesting.

What, you think I'm just gonna spill information like that over the journals? It's highly classified.

I can be in the kitchen in under ten seconds.

[NO EXCUSES]

Well... I suppose that I could be persuaded. Get the coffee machine on and I'll meet you there.

[Hell yes.]

It's a deal!

[ZOOM]

[Clint saunters in a short while later, smirking as he pulls out a chair and sits down.]</small. So... this massage parlour...

[Billy's already there and chilling by the coffee maker, and when Clint is seated he heads over with two steaming mugs, sliding one over and getting himself comfortable.]

Your payment, Mr. Barton.

[Clint grins and takes the coffee gratefully, wrapping his hands around it to soak in the warmth.]

Thankyou, Mr. Kaplan.

So... this place... SHIELD had got intel about it being a cover for a pretty damn huge crime ring. It was a high class place, politicians and stuff going in. And the ah... masseuses were very talented at getting information from them. And hey, it's incriminaing enough for a politician being seen going there.

Sounds sketchy enough.

[He sips idly at his coffee, leaning in with interest. SHIELD stories, how cool is this?]

Very sketchy. Very difficult to get someone in there. Can't exactly take in a wide array of surveilance equipment and bugs when you're gonna be getting up close and personal like that.

Especially when a lot of places give you a massage while you're naked.

[Unless you're going to stick a bug up where the sun doesn't shine... and that just sounds uncomfortable.]

[He gives Billy a slightly suspicious look at that. Not sure whether he's being trolled or whether Billy really believes he's talking about a massage parlour.]

You know that massage parlour is a euphemism for brothel, right?

[........................w e l l

The expression on Billy's face should tell him that he's definitely not being trolled.]

Nnnn...o... no, I did not.

[...oh god. Billy didn't know. How did Billy not know? Clint had known when he was that age.]

Why do you think that I mentioned the air quotes?

Well, I suppose introducing a minor to the seedier facts of life is one of the least bad things I've done.

[Clint, what kind of teenager do you take him for? That is not the slang of Billy's era!]

I don't know, I thought you were just being weird! My generation has the internet, when we talk about prostitutes we say there's prostitutes!

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