Bananas and Bromance

Participants:

brian_icon.gif deckard_icon.gif simon_icon.gif

Scene Title Bananas and Bromance
Synopsis The long-lost Simon walks in on a pro-con discussion of evolved abilities and is surprised to see who, exactly, seems to be camped out in the Lighthouse living room. There are hugs and a lot of glaring. Also, Deckard eats a banana.
Date March 25, 2009

The Lighthouse


"Before you became Evolved did you ever wish about having superpowers? And like when you became one were you pissed that it ended up being X-Ray vision?" The questions come from the young man sprawled out on the couch. A baseball is flung up into the air and then caught by the same hand, and then again. "If you could change your ability, what would you change it to?" The founder and owner of the Lighthouse asks as his eyes lazily track the progression of the ball go up and down, up and down, up and…

To describe the atmosphere of the Lighthouse in one word, it would be best to use the word 'lazy'. It's getting to be late, yet still one of the chillins is still awake. As a treat for good behavior, Brian will sometimes let a kid stay up past bedtime and hang out with the adults. Tonight's lucky winner is JoeJoe. The Invulnerable boy, who is quickly finding that latenight adult time is pretty boring. And so he has a childrens book splayed out on his lap, seated on top of Brian's sweat pant clad legs.

Deckard was also allowed to stay up late. After getting him cleaned up and in clothes that wouldn't set the whole house on stranger danger alert, the older man was properly introduced to the kids as 'Uncle Mike'. And now the old man is present with the decidedly younger boys wasting away into the night.

Simon was turned onto the Lighthouse by a twitchy kid named Rocket, who swears his parents weren't hippies. Even though Simon isn't sure if that's true or not, he's glad to have met him, if not for his company than for showing him this nice place to crash. Only Simon can't sleep, because he's still totally out of his element. Hearing voices in the living room, the teen walks out, wondering if it's the mysterious "Brian" he heard about, but hasn't had a chance to meet, yet. He stands in hall and looks around, letting his eyes adjust to the light for a moment.

"I read comic books when I was a kid. I wasn't really into it, though. …And Batman never had super powers." Just lots and lots of money and free time. Sunk down into one of the living room's massive bean bags, Deckard looks halfway decent in a brown leather jacket and blue jeans, the button down under that far whiter than any of the others he's sported lately. The usual dusty grey of his hair is colored a few shades darker and the perpetual shadow of his stubble collection is buzzed short. No stranger danger here. Not if you don't know him.

Eyes clear and unusually sober, he sits with his long legs bent up spider-style, fingers working lazily at the peel of a freshly acquired banana. "I don't think I'd change it. It is what it is, I mean. I'm used to it now. Why? S'there something else you prefer to creating naked copies of yourself?" Brows adopting a cynical tilt over at the couch, he glances at Joe, takes a bite of his banana and settles still deeper back into the sifting comfort of the bean bag chair.

His head turns before Simon actually appears, chewing halted horse-like while he narrows his eyes at the younger man's skeleton. He wasn't here this morning, but he sure as hell knows him from somewhere.

"Really?" Brian asks, his tone genuinely surprised. X-ray vision seems like it would suck, especially if you had it like Kameron. Poor girl. His eyes instinctively wander to the part of the ceiling where he's pretty sure Kameron's room is. Tossing the baseball up once again, he yawns as he catches it. "I donno. I mean it certainly has a lot of advantages." Like the advantage that he would be dead three times over if he didn't have his power. "But I donno. There's this one guy, who absorbs other people's powers." 'A dick'. He mouths the last part, glancing down to make sure Joe isn't looking. "Total duck head." This statement elicits a giggle from the usually quiet Joe, who is now looking up and away from his book.

The boy's eyes catch Simon entering, and the boy goes to stand. On top of Brian, which gets a few pained groans from the shirtless man. "Hi." Joe says cheerily.

As if this night couldn't get any weirder, Simon walks in on a very serious conversation regarding X-Ray vision. Before today, the only talk of powers Simon ever had with anyone was with Mallory. Now, though, it's all around him. The older kid leans a bit to one side, resting his body against the side of the doorway he's standing in. He's more tired than he thought, but being up and about is waking him up slowly.

"Hi," he tells the kid, tossing out a smile that lifts his mouth more on one side than the other. His gaze drifts over to Deckard then, and after a pause for reflection, Simon tenses up just a little. "Woah, are we under attack or something?" He remembers Deckard and his gun clearly now and isn't happy at all to see the man.

"…Really." Doubt is hard to read in the long lines around Deckard's face, but it's taking hold at a steady pace in the face of Brian's disbelief. …Is it weird? That he wouldn't change to something else? Apparently not having given the subject much thought before, he shifts as if realizing that this whole bean bag arrangement isn't exactly gentle on his back for the first time, spine stretched straight and then resettled less awkwardly. "Better than dying all the time and having to watch nobody care because you're still here."

Still watching Simon, he swallows and lifts his banana for another bite, more gaunt than the kid likely remembers. He's got a lot of bananas to go before he's back to a healthy weight and he's making pretty slow progress on the one he already has. "Not unless you're here to kill all of us."

"I—" Brian is about to sit up when Deckard says very mean things. Brian's features screw up at him and his body visibly tenses. It's not nice to talk about someone's death(s) and for a moment the young man looks very angry, angry enough to get up and take Deckard's banana. But the young man just sits there, giving death eyes for a moment. And finally a glance to Joe dissolves the anger. His features slightly softening, though his lips folded down. But it's true. No one ever gave a shit about him dying, that was evidenced by a bottle being thrown into his face the other day. No one understood. Sadface.

"Simon?" Brian asks, shock obvious in his tone as he finally sits up to look at whoever Joe and Deckard are talking to. His brows go wide as he peers at his long lost brother from another mother. "You're the guy Kammy was talking about?" Swinging his legs out from under Joe, (which sends the kid crashing into the ground on accident, don't worry he can't break) Brian jumps to his feet, quickly picks up Joe before walking around the couch towards Simon.

"Me?" Simon pokes himself in the chest with an index finger and gives Deckard a look of genuine surprise. "You're the one who - " profanity is set aside with a look to little Joe, "you, sir. I remember you." That finger Simon used on himself is turned around to point accusingly at Deckard and his damned banana.

That's all forgotten, though, when little Joe hits the ground with a thud and Brian appears. "Are you shitting me?" Simon exclaims, hate and awkward accusations exchanged with surprise and adoration. "*You're* Brian? I was expecting some old dude in a robe or something. I was already not trusting that guy, but you - " Simon pushes off the doorway and takes a few steps to meet up with Brian, who he'll try to throw his arms around in a big, friendly hug. How bromantic.

Deckard's pale eyes flick from Simon's tension to Brian's, mastication slowed still further while he takes note of the reaction there: all tense muscle and angry death glares. Brow's lifted (Sore spot?) he declines to push any more buttons just yet, banana peel tugged down away from white fruit while he turns his head slowly back to Simon. Who is pointing at him.

"The one who…?" Ever the curious asshole, he echoes the accusation in the form of a question when it isn't finished. "Ate your lunch? Didn't shoot you when you came prying?" Not yet having swallowed his last bite, Deckard takes another one. Obnoxiously. It's a good banana. And the more of it he has in his mouth, the harder it is to say anything about this hug thing that's about to happen.

Hug! Brian's arms slide around Simon in a hug. Though he's always had a thing about hugging shirtless people, or being shirtless and hugging. It's just weird, but he'll make an exception for Simon. "Where have you been man?" The replicator asks, giving him a shocked look. "My robe's in the laundry." Brian's hand claps around Simon's shoulder, tugging him in towards the living room. "I see you already know Uncle Mike." Brian darts a look at Deckard. A look that commands, 'be nice'.

"And this is JoeJoe." Brian motions to the little kid who is soon at Simon's side offering up a little hand. "He's a tough little guy. Got shot, but the bullet got dented." He gives a little grin as if proud of his boy. "So what brings you to the X Mansion, man?"

Simon isn't even considering the whole shirtless factor to Brian right now. He's just glad to see another friendly face. So far Staten Island hasn't been so bad! "It's a long story, man. Lots of open roads, corn fields. Oh, and a barn party! I'll tell you about it sometime," he explains, allowing himself to be led into the living room. As he passes by Deckard, the hair on his arms stand up and he eyes the man wearily. He's actually acting a lot like a pissed off cat, but don't tell him that.

"Hey there JoeJoe," he tells the younger kid before giving his hand a shake. "Wow, that's pretty impressive. Did he do it?" Simon asks, referring to Deckard with chin nod. That's not really meant to be answered, so he turns to Brian and says, "A kid named Rocket brought me here. I got stuck overnight."

Kept carefully quiet by his own wisely-timed bite during the hugging process, Deckard tips the remaining half of his banana to Simon in a silently irreverent salute of greeting. Hi. He remains mild up until the point that it's suggested that he's the one that tried to put a bullet in one of Brian's pet children. Against all odds, past a flat level at his brow and the way his chilly glare ices over beneath it, he behaves. But there's some definite tension creaking through the synthetic bean bag in what would otherwise be a stone silent corner of the room.

Brian glances from Simon to Deckard. Mhmm. "JoeJoe, time for bed buddy." Joe's inevitable protests are swatted aside with an insistent, "Come on. Let's go." And finally the kid starts a reluctant march towards the stairs, only to be met by another Brian who walks him up the rest of the way.

The Brian remaining downstairs however, lets out a little yawn. "Let's not have a fight in the Lighthouse." Though he gives a little smile at Barn parties and whatnot. Oh to be young. "Ah. So where you staying?" The young man asks, "You're welcome to stay here as long as you want. I don't know how you feel about Evolved people or whatever but.. we're pretty much all.." He gives a nod to finish his sentence. He glances over to Deckard. "So you two have bad blood?"

Simon watches JoeJoe get escorted out of the room and takes a seat on the couch in the meantime. Until Brian gets back, he eyes Deckard without a word, looking less worried now than before, but only because there are no firearms present. A pillow is grabbed and hugged against his lap, offering some kind of psychological cushioning for the kid.

Then Brian is back, explaining about the whole evolved issue, and Simon just nods. "Right, no I'm fine with that. Believe me," he says, giving a knowing nod that might as well tell everyone in the room that he's evolved as well. "I've got a hotel room in Manhattan. No permanent place to stay, yet."

More nothing from Deckard's bean bag. Having swallowed down whatever banana was left in his mouth and picked a bit stuck in his teeth out with his tongue, he seems to have forgotten he's still holding the other half. With more force than is really necessary to keep it from jumping out of his hand and scampering off down the hall. Seeing as it's a banana.

He doesn't answer the question about blood, meeting Simon's pillow-hugging study with his own unblinking stare until the subject changes. This time it's bile that he has to swallow down, however ineffectively. He looks sideways, through the wall.

Taking a seat on the couch while his copy takes Joe upstairs to get settled Brian gives a little smile. "Stay here." He suggests happily to Simon. "We got room. I mean, you'd be sharing a room with boys. But, it would be a help to us as well. You're older, you could help out watch after the kids. And in exchange we give you a free place to stay with free food." The young man seems rather cheery about this prospect. Glancing over to Deckard, he lets out a little hum at the post-banana silence.

The prospect does sound good to Simon. Any money he would spend on rent could be put towards ferry trips to Manhattan if he needed to get things done. Still, and here he eyes Deckard, there are things to consider. "I'll sleep on it, man, though it does sound like a good idea," Simon tells Brian as he sinks back into the couch.

"So," he says, gaze moving from Brian to Deckard and back again. "It's been a while. What have you been up to, other than putting this place together. *Both* of you," he adds at the end, also interested to hear how Deckard has been spending his time.

"Oooh, you know me. Raping, murdering and plundering all the live long day." There's more creaking, then the sifting of beans over beans as Deckard pushes himself awkwardly to his feet, banana held out away from the movement to avoid more accidental smooshing than it's already suffered. One of his knees pops. He winces.

"I'm headed to the bar." No point in lying really. Not now that all the impressionable minds are asleep. Simon technically isn't 100% under Brian's care yet. Even so, Deckard looks briefly over at Fulk before he turns to head out. "Just a beer or two."


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