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[forasecond]

@ callidus » "Make it quick."

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0.01 Luther

0.03 Allison

Harry

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sliding into his instagram DMs

[thecoolerloki]

HEWWO
I am arguably thousands of years old, a teenager of indeterminate age, and 2 years old at the very same time. Reincarnation FTW!

[forasecond]

Impressive.

My consciousness is 58, my body is 13. By birth year, if I were in the proper timeline, I'd be 29., but going strictly by the year here, October 1st would make me 33.

It's a headache and a half.

[thecoolerloki]

MOOD

This particular version of my consciousness is only a few years old as I previously stated, but clearly it is not a toddler messaging you. I appear around 13 in Midgardian terms, but my memories encompass hundreds of years(ie: 13 in Asgardian terms).

Are you attending school in this realm? I was told I had to, and that I had to have a legal guardian as well.

[forasecond]

I was dealing with a truancy officer at one point, It was annoying for a while and they were harassing my sister since she's the "older" closest-of-kin, but I managed to talk them into letting me test out. It was pretty easy to prove I don't need high school coursework when I can work out quantum equations once they shut up for five minutes and listened to what I was saying.

[thecoolerloki]

I asked my elder self(EVEN MORE COMPLICATED LMAO) to assist with such matters, but he forced me to live with an old wizard who takes care of the guardianship and education issues.

But I do still attend the superhero school they have set up here. However, I do so undercover as a means of gathering information!

[forasecond]

There are several…versions of you around here, aren’t there? And no paradox psychosis in any of you? Fascinating.

Is that old wizard by the name of Strange?

What kind of information do you think you’ll leverage out of a bunch of teenagers?

[thecoolerloki]

Three total, two of us being from the same universe. What psychosis there is has little to do with paradoxes.

The very same! And actually, one can learn a good deal from seeing what a society decides to teach its youth. What they value, what hopes and expectations they hold for the future generation, and how they twist the stories of their past.

Aside from that, it was teenagers who opened up a dimensional rift in Sunset Falls, teenagers who caused those past shenanigans presented at the Expo, and teenagers who created the necessity for a secret flying school.

[forasecond]

There are... side-effects that aren't great to go through if I come into contact with another version of me.

I've met him- at least, over the network.

[It was brief, and nothing very detailed. Though, that may change in the future, depending on where his favorite little pet project takes him down the road.]

Live in a lot of different societies with that many years under you, I suppose. I wasn't so fortunate, myself.

[thecoolerloki]

Do you attempt to kill one another? That's usually what we do.

No one is better off for having lived in Jotunheim.

[forasecond]

I've only come across another me once, but... yeah. That's pretty much exactly how it went down.

I'm not familiar with it, but I might argue it, if there were people. Food. Anything besides desolation.

[But you know- maybe it's just a matter of perspective and opinion.]

[thecoolerloki]

It is a frigid wasteland and the only people are frost giants, who live short and meaningless lives, refusing to learn from their past failures. They value physical strength and size alone.

Oh, and the food sucks.

@osborntobeking, sometime vaguely mid-July

[nepotis]

[ It's been a rough month for Harry. He's been trying to play things cool ever since that moment in the giant robot when he found out his best friend was also his betrayer. But after speaking to Otto and finding out every version of his best friend that he'd met was also keeping this same secret from him...

Well. ]

I could use a drink. wanna join?

[forasecond]

Sure.
I should probably stop staring at the chalk equation wall in my room for a bit.

[He's come to a snag in his equations, and it's been frustrating. A little time away from it is probably a good idea.]

[nepotis]

you have a whole wall of chalk equations? nerd. at least invest in a whiteboard.

[ He sends the address of his apartment in Excelsior, figuring that Five can make his way there no problem. ]

[forasecond]

Chalkboard paint, it's useful.
And a whole wall is bigger than any whiteboard I could get.

--

An address is really all he needs. He knows the place, and it's easy to pop in. No need for Harry to do anything banal like get up and answer a door when he can literally just suddenly exist in the apartment, right?

"What's the occasion?" he asks, eyebrow perked slightly as he settles in one of the chairs in the living room of Harry's apartment. "Did you make a real move on that honeypot scheme of yours you were talking about a few weeks ago?" Mostly, he's joking. But it was one of their more entertaining conversations, to say the least.

[nepotis]

the fucking dust, though. dude.

Henry doesn't flinch when Five pops into existence, being halfway through a glass of whiskey anyway. He just drops his phone onto a side table and gestures with the hand holding the glass towards his liquor cabinet, which is well stocked with a variety of bottles. Harry's priorities when furnishing a new apartment might have been a little bit skewed.

"Help yourself. And no, it's nothing like that. Though I do plan on texting that guy back..." Once he's out of his stupor.

He takes another sip of his drink, flopping sideways onto his couch with an almighty slouch.

"You ever have someone completely fuck you over? Like... You asked them for help and they knew you really fucking needed it, and they were the only person who could give it to you, and they still said no?"

[forasecond]

"Yeah? Keep me updated," the situation is entertaining, at least, if nothing else. He grabs a glass and a decanter of bourbon to pour a generous glass for himself before going back to settle in the chair, glancing over at Harry.

Something has brought this on, he's sure of it, and the almost huffy state of him says it definitely isn't any sort of good news.

Five's eyebrows arch upward at that ask. "That's a pretty specific scenario, but- yeah," he nods a little, mind wandering to that very first meeting with The Handler, and all the subsequent ones after that were essentially 'Just one more job and we'll get you back to your family, Number Five.' Empty promises, just as bad as flat-out denials, maybe worse if only for the false hope it installs somewhere in your chest to hear the possibility.

He would ask the details, but... he thinks if Harry wanted him to know those, he'd have said as much, so instead he keeps it to just, "Who is it?"

[nepotis]

"You'll be the first person I tell."

It's definitely not any sort of good news. Harry gestures wildly with his hands from his half-reclined position, coming close to spilling his drink, then reining himself in at the last second.

"Spider-Man." Five might have heard the name around. After all, there are several versions of the superhero here. "Who I just found out is actually, secretly, my best friend since I was seven!"

[forasecond]

“Better be,” he sounds equal parts serious and teasing at once.

He nods as he sips at his bourbon. He’s certainly heard that name once or twice. “Ah— that stings.” Not the alcohol, but that unfortunate truth. “So, you’re taking the news well.” He can’t be anything but caustic and snarky, Harry, please don’t expect literally anything else from him.

[nepotis]

Harry pushes himself upright, glaring at Five in indignation.

"I found out last month and for the most part have been handling it fine," he argues. But obviously something has changed recently to tip him over the edge. He doesn't want to spill Peter's secret— he does still at least respect his friend that much— so he doesn't want to mention the fact that all the Spider-Men here are also actually all the Peter Parkers here.

"I just— Who fucking does that?! Who fucking lets their best friend wither away and die without giving him the one thing he needs to cure himself?!"

[forasecond]

His eyebrows lift at that: was this what taking everything well looked like, buddy? But he didn’t say anything. His face probably said plenty m.

Five hasn’t forgotten this— terminal disease, no cure, prognosis not good. He’s guessing this means Harry either hasn’t found, or hasn’t looked for, any better alternatives. “Are you sure he can cure you?” Best friend? Either Harry has worse taste in friends than he thought— and hey, Five is one of his inner circle, so maybe there’s something to that thought— or there’s more to the story.

[nepotis]

Harry's looked for other ways of healing himself. Nothing seems to work, at least not permanently. He's looking fine now, all things considered, but that's just because he's fresh off of taking out his frustrations on some random asshole in a back alley. (Which he is not about to admit to, thank you very much.)

"His blood is... mutated or something. Gene-spliced DNA, able to heal itself." There's more to it than that, but 1) saying anything more specific might spill Peter's secret, and 2) Harry's too drunk to really remember the scientific mumbo jumbo about cross-species genetics.

"If there was anything, or anyone, back home that could be used to find a cure... It would be his blood."

text; @osborntobeking

[nepotis]

you're in that villain guild, right?

[ No preamble. No small talk. Five won't be offended, Harry thinks. ]

[forasecond]

Yeah, why?

[He’s not wrong; Five appreciates a good cut-to-the-quick sort of approach, honestly.]

[nepotis]

I think I might join up.
things are getting too dicey for unaffiliated metas.
especially in Excelsior.