Robbie "Walking Disaster Area" Baldwin ✘ Speedball (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
an_extra_hour) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
metaheroes2022-05-26 08:46 pm
an_extra_hour) wrote in metaheroes2022-05-26 08:46 pm
OURPOWERS | VIDEO | PUBLIC
Display Name: bouncytrouncy
Profile Photo: Link
[ The video that starts doesn't show a person. Robbie is currently enjoying the sheer novelty of the internet not having a single picture of his face. He wants to enjoy it for however long it lasts, so he's got the camera flipped to stream from the non-selfie camera. ]
[ Right now, he has it focused on a laptop. It has a youtube video up, including a visualizer. ]
Good evening, fellow heroes. This is DJ Robbie B, bringing you the sweet sounds of your smooth jazz favorites. Next up: all you lovers out there have will have your ears gently caressed by the musical stylings of Wham! For the uninitiated that's "Wham!" with an exclamation point at the end. The exclamation point denotes quality because how could artists who have that much enthusiasm about their band name be bad?
[ "Careless Whisper" by Wham! starts to play on his laptop. And...doesn't stop. He plays the entire song. ]
[ Never at any point does he show his face. Instead he keeps the phone's camera flipped and directed at the laptop. ]
[ He wants to talk to people because he needs to make some friends and allies at some point. After he moves out of the hotel, heroing alone and then going home to an empty apartment every single day is the kind of self-punishment he's trying to get away from. Since Thrash and Nita came back, he's been safely wrapped up in the comforting bubble of his team. He's a social animal, an instinct that clashes tremendously with his other general desire to hide in a concrete hole. ]
[ The latter desire is blissfully a little weaker here, in a world where no one will already know his name unless they're from back home. He feels like he can actually breathe a little for once. Like the crushing weight that always rests on his chest is a little lighter. ]
[ It feels better.]
[ (It also feels wrong to enjoy it. Does he even deserve something other than infamy?) ]
[ He's also still self conscious about being perceived as egging for attention, so that's another reason to hide his face, right?. He'll be Sir Not Appearing On This App. After all, how can he get famous if the only people who know what he looks like are ones he meets in person? ]
[ The song finally ends. ]
Mmm, just makes you want to hold your sweetheart close and dance the night away.
Now, let's shift the mood to something a little more lively. For the Belieber in all of us, I'll be streaming the entire discography of Justin Bieber.
[ It should be obvious by now that this guys's a mischievous little so-and-so. ]
Or you can tell me a little about yourselves, starting with your tastes in media. Books, music, movies, TV, go crazy.
I'll even rank them if you want. As a certified style maven, (who isn't currently just wearing a hoodie, I swear), I know what's hot and what's not.
Profile Photo: Link
[ The video that starts doesn't show a person. Robbie is currently enjoying the sheer novelty of the internet not having a single picture of his face. He wants to enjoy it for however long it lasts, so he's got the camera flipped to stream from the non-selfie camera. ]
[ Right now, he has it focused on a laptop. It has a youtube video up, including a visualizer. ]
Good evening, fellow heroes. This is DJ Robbie B, bringing you the sweet sounds of your smooth jazz favorites. Next up: all you lovers out there have will have your ears gently caressed by the musical stylings of Wham! For the uninitiated that's "Wham!" with an exclamation point at the end. The exclamation point denotes quality because how could artists who have that much enthusiasm about their band name be bad?
[ "Careless Whisper" by Wham! starts to play on his laptop. And...doesn't stop. He plays the entire song. ]
[ Never at any point does he show his face. Instead he keeps the phone's camera flipped and directed at the laptop. ]
[ He wants to talk to people because he needs to make some friends and allies at some point. After he moves out of the hotel, heroing alone and then going home to an empty apartment every single day is the kind of self-punishment he's trying to get away from. Since Thrash and Nita came back, he's been safely wrapped up in the comforting bubble of his team. He's a social animal, an instinct that clashes tremendously with his other general desire to hide in a concrete hole. ]
[ The latter desire is blissfully a little weaker here, in a world where no one will already know his name unless they're from back home. He feels like he can actually breathe a little for once. Like the crushing weight that always rests on his chest is a little lighter. ]
[ It feels better.]
[ (It also feels wrong to enjoy it. Does he even deserve something other than infamy?) ]
[ He's also still self conscious about being perceived as egging for attention, so that's another reason to hide his face, right?. He'll be Sir Not Appearing On This App. After all, how can he get famous if the only people who know what he looks like are ones he meets in person? ]
[ The song finally ends. ]
Mmm, just makes you want to hold your sweetheart close and dance the night away.
Now, let's shift the mood to something a little more lively. For the Belieber in all of us, I'll be streaming the entire discography of Justin Bieber.
[ It should be obvious by now that this guys's a mischievous little so-and-so. ]
Or you can tell me a little about yourselves, starting with your tastes in media. Books, music, movies, TV, go crazy.
I'll even rank them if you want. As a certified style maven, (who isn't currently just wearing a hoodie, I swear), I know what's hot and what's not.
no subject
I didn't mean - no, look, I'm not worried about that part, I just wish the time travel thing had worked, it would've saved a lot of grief. Stupid Dr. Doom.
Can you hold my drink? I'll meet you outside.
[ A few minutes later, after ducking into the washroom, changing into her regular clothes, tucking her tail down her pants and heading out through the back door of the cafe, Doreen meets Robbie out front in full 'civilian mode'. Her tail always attracts more attention than she wants; this way they can talk without anybody staring at them. ]
There, now we can go incognito.
cw: mention of self-harm and the penance suit again.
[He finds the words and finally can meet her eyes.]
I didn't mean to make you think I was upset with you. When I was in the Thunderbolts, do you know how many people tried to get me out of there?
Two. It was just you and Doc Samson. I turned him down, too, but it did help. That both of you thought I didn't belong there. By the time he was finally called in, I started to listen, at least a little. Even if I wasn't ready to leave yet.
[He looks away.]
And because I was avoiding my friends, the only people that tried to tell me I was being hard on myself were also just you two. And Nova, because the Thunderbolts ran into him.
But when he found out it was me, it also was what caused him to snap and want to escape. He was hurting after the war and everything he'd been through in space, so finding out one of his best friends was in a walking iron maiden made him nope out of being on Earth for his own sanity.
It's not his fault. I think if I'd come home from a horrible war to see all that had happened to home, I'd have left again, too.
[He doesn't drink his coffee, mostly just fiddles with the edge of the lid against his thumb.]
I was avoiding you because you're one of the only people that knows. Not that I was Penance, but what was in the suit. By the time everyone was fighting Osborn, the internal spikes had been taken out by Osborn's people.
It's bad enough I was going around in a creepy gimp suit, but that some people know it was even worse than that...
[His voices hushes to almost a whisper and is also somehow raw at the same time.]
It's embarrassing.
[Like many self-harmers, he's ashamed. Even if people could figure out what he was doing from the blood vents, no one was supposed to know it was him.]
[It's one thing for Samson to know - he was his therapist, and for his friends to know - they're his family - and actively having to help him in the day to day.]
[ But for anyone else? He just wants to crawl and hide in a hole. ]
no subject
She sits there and listens to him in full, each little detail breaking her heart further and further. God, she hadn't realized he'd been pretty much alone that whole time, Robbie went through hell with barely any support system.
Once he's spoken his piece, Doreen takes another sip of her drink and leans forward, eyes on him. ]
... Ok, first of all, I didn't think you were upset with me, so please don't feel bad about that. Second, you didn't belong there. The whole thing was a huge mess that never should've been blamed on you in the first place, and I'm glad at least one other person could see it.
Third... dude, we're from a world where people dress up like rhinos to deal with their personal issues. You went through something really awful and dealt with it the best way you knew how to, and that's nothing to blame yourself for or be embarrassed about. That's not me dismissing your feelings! But anyone who would judge you for that would be a complete jerk. You came out the other end in one piece, that's what counts.
[ She scooches a bit closer on the bench, not close enough to get in his personal space, but close enough to be a little more approachable. ]
Fourth... I don't know if you'd be up for it, and it's totally okay if you're not, but I have it on authority that I give really good hugs. So, y'know. The offer is open.
no subject
[But even now, it's hard carving out a place for himself in the world. He's gained some forgiveness after it all, especially after the thing with the Serpent, but it's still just that. Forgiveness. Not absolution. "He was terrible but now he's better. He was responsible for an atrocity but now he's trying to be good." He still lives in a world where he has to avoid the comments sections of certain websites for his own sanity. Where every so often they trot out another poll about the level to which he's been forgiven.]
[There's a reason he's gone back to the safety of his New Warriors bubble, in their mountain that's a half-step out of phase with a much harsher reality. Most of his friends are alive again. The temptation to reconnect with the world is weaker when he can get all his socialization in a place that's secure. When he can just focus on family.]
[He shouldn't be that unused to kindness from outside that bubble but he is now.]
[The offer of the hug makes him look even more surprised.]
[He opens and shuts his mouth, trying to find some words. He fails. Eventually he settles for a taut little nod.]
no subject
[ She scooches over the rest of the way and pulls him into a good, strong hug. Doreen wasn't lying, she is really good at these, you can tell she's had a lot of practice! The only hitch is that given the height difference, she has to kinda pull Robbie down at a weird angle to manage the hug, but they're making it work. ]
... Man, what the heck dude, when did you get so tall? That's the real crime here!
no subject
[Those arms envelope her warmly. There are actual biceps now. It's a little stiff at first, like he's not used to a lot of hugs anymore, but he relaxes into it.][Being accepted by someone the way he used to be...it means a lot. The distance between himself and other people feels just a little shorter because of it.]
[His eyes are a little glassy when he pulls away. He tries to surreptitiously wipe at one of his eyes with the heel of his hand.]
no subject
[ She's teasing! She gives him an extra squeeze before he pulls away though, and glances off to the side to give him a little emotional space while he's being surreptitious.
It's good to know that Robbie's... well, obviously not 100% okay, but doing better, at least. Over the years, her teenage mega-crush on him had turned into kind of... nostalgic fondness, and she'd kind of figured they'd never run into each other again. Doreen's pretty happy to be wrong (although she is probably not gonna tell him how long she kept a poster of him in her room!) ]
So... I feel like we got most of the awkwardness out of the way in one go, huh?