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Neutral
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Maisey felt the rapid spinning in her head ease at the cool temperature and quiet outside. The bustling inside made a nice atmosphere, she was alone but so close to people. She liked that about the city, on a deep level she was a very lonely person. She enjoyed feeling the presence around even if she didn't know the strangers. Her peace was briefly disturbed by the sound of a can being kicked. Her gaze jolted in the direction of the noise, feeling her heart rate rise slightly. She knew she was fairly safe but there was always that possibility that she wasn't. The woman had been leaning with her back on the cold wall, enjoying her peace and quiet from the busy bar. She pushed off the wall and straightened herself up when she spotted the man, likely the can kicking culprit. In the low light it took her a few seconds to click that he was the man from inside- the one that had helped his drunken friend off the table just before she disappeared outside. Where she stood a bright neon light from the building next door cast a green shadow over her. Ironic that the color green to always haunt her. "Hey!" She spoke up, as to not scare him if he hadn't noticed she was there. "Is your friend okay?" She questioned in a soft tone, obvious that her question was sincere. "Looked like a hard fall" she chuckled nervously. For most talking to a random man in the alley behind a bar wasn't always wise. But she was half cut, friendlier than ever. She also knew she could hold her own, well- at least tipsy her thought so. When in reality it would absolutely not be wise to fight someone in her current mindset. Her hip popped to the side, resting her weight on one leg as she stood. The angle from the light paired with her positioning really accentuated her hips. She would be a total liar if she didn't admit that she usually got a lot of attention- generally unwanted on her nights out. But she had a great body, you had to in her line of work! An unfit, weak hero would be rather useless against most villains. She brought a hand up to tuck her hair behind her ears, she hated having hair in her face. Maisey couldn't help but wonder if she had met the man before. He felt so familiar.. but she decided it was just the alcohol talking and that he was indeed a stranger. A stranger who was one hundred percent her type physically. |
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Lightbringer
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As the man calmed down, his racing thoughts slowed the frantic pace that had been shoving ideas and connections at him, and the claustrophobic feeling faded, a part of him had to wonder if he did jump to conclusions after all. He tried to follow that particular thread that strung the idea with others into something that could resemble an explaination. But after even a moment of considering that angle, he had to shake his head and disregard that. That was no case of a sense of knowing someone but in reality the other person reminded him of a friend.
A quiet sigh escaped him, barely audible to even his own ears. He had to admit that this was an odd situation, it was not a situation that presented itself very often. After all, a trait that both heroes and villains shared with each other, is the protectiveness of their true identity. It is with good reason too. for heroes, a revelation of who they are can put their loved ones in danger, their home and their entire life would forever have a target painted on. It would have drastic consequences for the hero, and for the ones they know. And for villains the results would be just as dire, having heroes know who they were would end in a life of imprisonment or forever running and hiding; such a thing was intolerable to think of for the villains who have a very good reason for being who they are, for not choosing the light side in the struggle. Just as with the heroes, such a thing would mark them out from the crowd, make it so that they would be hard-pressed to ever be unknown again.
It was practically unheard of for a hero to accidentally learn who the villain is, and vice-versa.
A good amount of villains he knew, would love the information on an enemy. But he already knew that he could not do anything against The Firebird, the unspoken rules and invisible lines in the sand had been nearly crossed as it was; the two were too comfortable with each other and walked so close to the edge, their relationship was a very complicated one. Something made that way by the thing that divided heroes and villains in the first place.
As he was thinking and trying to figure out the best course of action from there, he did not even notice there was someone in the alley behind him. And so he was surprised when he heard a voice call out for his attention.
Afton started, managing to keep most of the reaction down and turned to face the too-familiar voice. The first thing his eyes saw was the woman -Firebird- standing in the light of a green sign, bathed in the color, he could almost see the rest of the hero's outfit even though she was not wearing anything like that. He processed her question, surprised at the genuineness of the question, not everybody would ask about a friend who fell like that and actually mean it. Even though she was a hero, it didn't mean that as a civilian she had to show the same kind of courtsey.
"Oh, yeah. He's fine. I have no doubts that that was not the worst fall he's ever had in his life." He shook his head in a comically disappointed manner, his exasperation evident. "Though that was the first time I've seen him fall like that in public. So I might be wrong."
In a situation like this, he would have thought that he'd feel awkward. After all, this was someone he knew from nights of fights that weren't really fights. But he didn't, instead the words and relaxed posture were not faked; he really did feel at ease talking to The Firebird as a civilian. He took a single step forward, to be able to hear her better, and let himself lean against the wall of the bar.
"Thank you for asking, I appreciate it." He said after a moment that had brought the thought that it would be a good idea to actually say thank you in response to the concern that was shown. Hey, he was still distracted with what had happened, his manners weren't at their best at the moment. As he said that, he leaned his head against the rough exterior of the building. His eyes strayed to her once again, subtly observing her out of habit of having to access people he was around.
She looks good, the thought was in truth, very underwhelming if anyone could have seen his thought process at the moment. But it was the first thing that came into his mind when he looked at her, and there was a slew of emotions and not quite finished thoughts that accompanied it; so he figured that the things he couldn't really put into words, even in the safety of his own mind, more than made up for it. He'd be a liar if he said that he didn't feel attracted to her, from what he could see, she was quite fit; which made perfect sense. And it was something that he already knew, but knowing someone had a great body and was in a very good physical condition when fighting them was a bit different than the current situation. |
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Neutral
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Maisey watched the man step closer and lean against the wall. He had an air of confidence that she wasn't sure was real or just a mask. She knew for herself it was a mask, one that she wore very well in public. She took a step closer too, turning her back to the wall and leaning as she had been before the can was kicked. His voice felt familiar, but she was sure she was just going crazy. There were probably 50 men in the bar that sounded similar! She listened to him speak, replying after a moment. "That's good!" She felt an awkward pause as she figured out what to say. "What's your name?" She asked, glancing her head in his direction as she spoke. "My name is Maisey" She offered politely. She let her gaze shift to the doors, watching people come and go for a moment. She loved people watching, seeing people's unique mannerisms and how they interacted together. She found it fascinating, she always found herself wondering if they were 'real' though. There were so many heros and villains to exist, surely the odd passerby-er had to be one of them. She'd start to wonder about their lives, give them little stories and fantasy families. She wanted to know this man's story now, maybe he was a local who worked at a bakery two blocks over, or maybe some affluent CEO for some big company. Maisey tilted her head back towards him once more, glancing him up and down before she let her eyes rest on his face. She felt her mind wandering at the possibilities with this man, and suddenly the evening seemed a lot more exciting. In her mind the thought of him ignoring her or rejecting her didn't exist. She was a conventionally attractive single, young woman at a bar. She wasn't used to rejection, but she would never admit it. |
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Lightbringer
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Oh dear lord, Afton thought as Firebird -whose name turned out to be Maisey- offered her name, and it was not in the way most men would think when interacting with an attractive woman. No, it was because he had to make a very quick decision, in a few seconds because if he waited too long, it would offically be too awkward to really carry on. Well, that was how it went in his experience. And from watching how others interacted with each other. His gaze turned away from hers for a brief second. Then he made eye contact again.
"Afton Fletcher. Nice to meet you Maisey." As he spoke, he wanted to wince but he kept his expression neutral with a hint of friendliness and his tone even. He knew deep inside, down to his very bones, that he had just taken a step from where he had previously been merely toeing the line between heroes and villains, and had now stepped right over it. For offering his name, not a fake name but his true first and last names.
For reasons unknown, he had not backed off or left when she had told him his name. It was like he had processed the question and then the words came out of his mouth. But in a way, he wasn't regretting it, he could not find words to describe the way he was feeling. It was one of those things that he would likely never figure out in the future.
Luckily when he started paying attention to Fire- Maisey again, it looked as if she had been watching the people enter and leave for a moment or two. Hopefully she didn't notice the few seconds that he had gotten distracted by the thoughts and ideas in his head; it seemed to be happening frequently to him the past night or two. Usually he had better focus than this, could restrain the random thoughts and ideas until he was in a position to let himself be distracted by whatever his mind came up with.
"Do you have any pets?" This time he definitely did not mean to say that, and he blinked in surprise, pausing for a moment. Alright, that was far from the worst thing to suddenly say, many pet owners loved to talk about their animals, him included. Well, he had been thinking that he'd probably say something or else the whole thing would start getting awkward, that was one way to get conversation going.
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Neutral
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Maisey smiled over at him once he spoke "Nice to meet you, Afton!" She spoke in an upbeat tone, genuinely happy to be acquainted with him now. If she was sober she may have noticed his pauses however, she had been in her own little world people watching. Her eyes instantly lit up at the mention of pets. "Yes!" She grinned "I have an Orange cat named Nemo and a Siamese cat her name is Daisy" She quickly spoke. She was so passionate about her cats, she joked that they were the only things she had left but sometimes it felt true, her life was overrun with being a hero. She had little interest in any hobbies outside of work, she had her best friend Rosie and her other friends. But she still felt so incredibly lonely. "I'm looking at adopting a dog soon, but I want to move into a bigger place soon" She chatted away, happy to talk to him about animals. "How about you?" She asked curiously. He looked like the type to have pets, and he had brought it up so she assumed so. Maisey had been given Nemo when she moved into her apartment 2 years ago. Ben had found a litter of stray kittens and most of the group had one of them, she had hand raised him from a kitten and he was her golden child. Daisy, was an impulse adoption from a local shelter that she volunteered at. She had always wanted a Siamese and Daisy was such a unique little character that she couldn't say no. She had to mentally check out a bit at the shelter otherwise, if she was always impulsive she would've turned into the crazy cat lady by now. Although an apartment full of cats didn't sound terrible to her! She loved dogs too, she just knew how busy her life was and she would feel guilty having one in a small apartment when she would be gone a lot. She missed her old dog a lot though, sometimes she thought she wasn't ready for another dog because of how special he had been to her. In her happier than usual state she pulled her phone up and opened a photo of her two cays together, she pushed off the wall and walked over to stand beside him. "This is them!" She beamed as she showed him the photo. |
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Lightbringer
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Out of pure reflex, he returned Maisey's smile. A smaller thing, but that didn't diminish the the inherent politeness in the action. It always seemed like he gave a smile when he noticed one being directed that him, and sometimes even when he was walking out in a public place and nearly walks into someone. Callista once noted during the first time they had met as civilians that smiling at people when one didn't mean it was often a submissive gesture, the human equvialent of baring the neck. Even to this day, he did not know how to interpret whether she meant that as a regular observation, a bit of a dig at him, or as a somewhat positive thing.
When she started speaking about her cats, he leaned forward a little in interest. He really liked to hear about other peoples' pets, for some reason other than just knowing he liked it. He could tell right off that she really liked them, as in was one of the people who were very excited about animals, especially their own. And he really liked those names, 'Daisey' was a cute name and more of a classic; and 'Nemo' was still a bit of an unusual name, but it had a nice ring to it.
"Just make sure the dog gets along with cats, otherwise there'll be a problem." He said jokingly, although his words were serious, but he figured that if she was thinking about adopting a dog, then she would have already figured that part out.
"Yeah! I have two female dogs, a Border Collie named Dream, and a Doberman Pinscher named Nyx." He replied, his smile becoming more sincere at the mention of the pets. He had named Nyx after the Greek goddess of the Night; and Dream, well, the meaning of her name was a bit more personal, but it was fitting.
He had glanced away for a moment, up towards the sky he so often seemed to watch in calmer moments, and when he returned his gaze to Maisey, she had pulled out her phone and was stepping closer. The only reason he had not take a reflexive step back was because he assumed she wanted to show him a picture of the cats, considering the topic of conversation and the thing that most pet owners pulled out the pictures within a few minutes of talking about said animals.
"Oh they're so cute," was the first thing out of his mouth once his eyes adjusted to the brightness of the screen. "and so pretty! I can tell they're well cared for."
Deciding that he should show her a picture of his dogs too, it was the nice thing to do, and besides, he really wanted to; the man took his phone out of his pocket. Finding it took a second, because he had placed it in the other pocket and he'd simply grown used to the weight to really notice it. He tapped it on from the battery saver or sleeping mode it had been on, and pulled up the photos app of the device. He hadn't realized how many picture he'd taken of the dogs over a period of time, there were a lot of them.
After a minute, he settled on a picture of the two dogs lying down in a sunbeam that was coming in through the window. Nyx was looking up at him while also looking as if she were about to fall asleep, and he was pretty sure that Dream had already dozed off by the time it had been taken. He turned the phone around and showed it to Maisey with a happy, "Here they are!"
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Neutral
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Maisey cleared a notification from Rosie off her phone before pocketing it once showing off her picture. "I work for a shelter so I'll find the right dog eventually, guess I'm just picky" she chuckled. Only partially telling a lie, she only volunteered there but she told civilians it was her job since most of her income came from rewards as a hero. "Oh absolutely, they are spoilt rotten. I love them to bits" she grinned as she leaned closer to view his phone when he offered her the photo. "Aww they are gorgeous!" she grinned "I love Collie's and Nyx is so cute too!" she chirped happily. He was quite a comfortable person to chat to, not pushy or selfish so far. Too often she met people that only wanted to talk about themselves and you could never get a word in. "I love their names too" she complimented. "So, do you live near here?" she asked curiously, obviously it was very likely that he was from the city. But it was a huge city and the bar wasn't huge. By process of elimination in her brain he either had to be here on holiday, seeing a friend or he just lived nearby. Maisey glanced over toward a group that seemed to be leaving, everyone laughing and joking among themselves. It wasn't her group and she always kept an eye out since Rosie was known for disappearing with new groups or individuals, Maisey had done many late night 'rescue missions' collecting her from strangers places or calling rides for her. "What brings you here tonight?" she asked, not meaning to bombard him with questions. She just wanted to get to know him, maybe start a longer conversation. She shifted her weight toward him, getting comfortable on her feet unintentionally bumping into him slightly. "Sorry" she chuckled sheepishly, she wsn't that drunk that she couldn't stand it was just her impractical shoes getting in the way. If she wasn't in some potentially gross alley then she would've kicked them off by now but something in her head told her that wouldn't be a great idea and she'd end up with cuts or some rare foot disease. |
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Lightbringer
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"Oh that's interesting! Yeah, if you work in shelter, then it's a matter of time." He commented, it could be unusual to find someone who works with the animal shelters. After all, there are many jobs one could in at the city, and sometimes the animal part of the roster could be neglected. But it was a nice thing to do. Even though he had never worked in a shelter, he once did some volunteer work, but then he realized if he had been there for any longer then he'd have wound with a several new pets. So for his own good and for the sake of his existing dogs, he decided to stay out of that.
He couldn't help the smile when she complimented the dogs, he loved them and honestly liked it when people remarked on them. They are good dogs and deserve all the praise in the world, in his opinion; he was very lucky to not have one of them be a major troublemaker, and even if one of them was more mischievous, his stance wouldn't change.
"Thank you! I tried to give them good names." He replied happily, feeling more cheerful than he had been in a while now, not to say that he was unhappy, he had been just content with periods of exhilaration with the almost nightly fights. Then she asked him the question of where he lived, and while that could be taken several ways, he just assumed that she meant in relation to the bar. "Oh, I...kind of? I mean, I don't live too far from here, roughly fifteen or so minutes on foot."
The sounds of people made him turn his head around to see if he could catch as glimpse of them, about the same time Maisey started to glance over there. His green eyes quickly swept over the group, checking for any familiar faces, even though he would have likely heard a voice he knew. But he didn't notice any of his friends in the mix, not that any of them had a reptuation for leaving with other people. They all seemed to be more on the responsible end in that respect. You never knew who exactly you were leaving with, especially when one is in a bar of all things. Even a nice bar.
He turned back when he heard the woman's question, opening his mouth to answer when she kind of leaned towards him. The next moment she bumped into him, there wasn't enough force to make him take a step back, but it still felt a little awkward. Things that like often do feel like that, and he couldn't help the shift back he made after that, giving a small noise that was almost a chuckle but not quite.
"Oh it's quite alright, I think we've all bumped into someone at least once in our lives." He said understandingly, it was like a fact of life. While it could be a tad awkward, most people didn't take offense to it. A good thing too, or else there'd be a lot more angry people in the city they were in. All of a sudden he realized he still had his phone out, the hand was now at his side but he didn't want to increase the chance of dropping it. He put it back in his pocket, the right one this time so he wouldn't have a brief flash of 'oh my gosh did I drop this somewhere?' again.
"Oh that's right, um, the reason I'm here tonight is my friends." He gave a small sigh and a roll of his eyes, both gestures fond and really more for show than anything. "The guy who fell over in there is the one who invited me and the rest of the group. How about you? The same thing?"
He shifted on his feet, just changing the center of balance and letting one of his feet get a little rest. He was tempted to stretch, but then again that was a weird thing to do in a conversation. Even if said conversation was taking place in an alley with questionable things in it. |
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Neutral
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Maisey mentally calculated what areas were roughly 15 minutes away but didn't dwell on it for too long. "Oh that's not far then!" she replied, "I'm not far either but I was too lazy to walk" she chuckled softly. Sometimes she hated carrying around a secret life, it would be so much easier if she could openly tell people and talk about her life. She'd never be short of conversation topics then! Obviously she still enjoyed what she did, and she loved helping people but sometimes it felt very isolating. Even with other heros she never spoke of Venandi that would get them both into an awkward and potentially dangerous position. She was thankful that he wasn't offended by her lack of stability, regardless she still felt a tad awkward. "Yes I was summoned here by my friend, I'm the only one in the group that keeps up with her. It's a big job but someone has to do it" she joked with a genuine laugh. She wasn't being mean to her friend and she figured he would know exactly what she meant considering he had talked about his friends in a similar way! She felt a slight gap in the conversation. The silence wasn't awkward but she also didn't want it to be the natural close of their interaction, she was tempted to offer her number but she didn't want to seem forward or desperate. "You look nice tonight" she blurted out "I mean, I like your outfit" she paused again "I mean obviously you look good too- you know what I mean!" she grimaced as she recovered from whatever that was. She hoped he wouldn't be offended by her rambling, but oh god what if he had a girlfriend inside! She instantly felt bad about not asking, it's not that she had been intensely flirting with him or anything it just seemed polite. She felt her cheeks flush red as she over thought the interaction. She shifted her gaze away from his face so that he hopefully wouldn't notice her embarrassment, if there was an Olympics event in over thinking she would've absolutely won gold. |
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Lightbringer
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At Maisey's response, he gave a nod and a small hum of agreement. Sometimes walking all over got tiring, but not even that had motivated him to buy a car. Not even when he was bruised and aching from a particularly rough fight with a hero -Firebird or no- or when he had to get to a location in the city that happened to be far away. After all, he had several friends who had vehicles, and when he needed to transport something heavy or multiple items, he would simply ask to borrow their car or truck for a little bit. He had his reasons for things, and his reason for the lack of a car is that he didn't need it. Not often enough for the absence to convince him anyways. He did relate to the feeling of just being too lazy to straight out walk though.
Truthfully he was lucky to have found people he could actually trust in his chosen line of work. While there was a companionship with fellow villains, an uneasy kind that said that both parties were still on guard for any wrong moves, it did not hold up to the solid assurance that the people at his back would not attack him. Sure, it had taken a while for everything to evolve to that point, but it was worth it. Another upside was when the going got rough as a villain, when he would just lose motivation for one reason or another, he knew he could get in touch with one of his friends and just vent his feelings out. Given that they were all villains, they each related to one another's struggles in their chosen work.
A part of him always wondered whether heroes shared the invisible ties and unspoken rules that all villains knew.
Though it wasn't like he could go and ask.
He wasn't really expecting the joke about her friends, but he immediately related to that sentiment and gave a laugh as well. He knew too well about that. Although in his group, it was more like they all had to keep up with each other, they could get very chaotic if suitably inspired or even worse, bored. He grinned as he remarked "Oh I understand that. I understand that very well. There's always one person in a group that's like that."
As the conversation tapered off, they were left with a kind of silence that is unique only to the interactions. The air not awkward but rather just quiet, with no dominating emotion hanging in the space between the people talking. Afton found himself wondering if he should go, but most of him really didn't want this to the end of the conversation. And he then wondered whether if he should say anything, or if this was the kind of pause that didn't need more discussion to fill the air.
His conversation partner obviously felt the same way, she beat him to the punch. A compliment on what he was wearing, even though it took a few moments for her to find the right phrasing. He felt the urge to laugh rising up but he pushed it down, with things like that, while it is usually tempting to give notice of some amusement, social rules declare that it is not the nicest thing to do. And so he just kept his mouth shut and expression the way it was.
He did not want to piss her off. Ever.
"Thank you, it honestly isn't anything special." He said after she was done speaking, looking away briefly, feeling slightly embarrassed for some reason or another. "I like your outfit too, it
looks good on you."
A moment passed as he tried to figure out whether he should clarify his meaning on that last bit. He did not want to accidentally come off as, well, he didn't know how to describe it, but he didn't want to come off as it anyways. "Um, I, I meant that in the same way you did..." he winced at how that came out, but he wasn't able to think of any other way to phrase it without sounding weirder. |
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Fall 
Day Weather: 
Hurricane
