maskormenacelogs | I could fly if I wanted to

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I could fly if I wanted to

WHO: Normie Osborn & YOU
WHERE: All over; locations specified in starters
WHEN: August
WHAT: August catch all post. Normie was inspired to make a wingpack, and it's now complete. Also, he finally lets the symbiote out. If anyone wants a specific starter, let me know!
WARNINGS: None, will edit as needed

01. Nonah - Around Residence 004

[It was finally finished. The design had been rattling around in his head since before he had even arrived on this alternate earth, but when Jeff Winger had brought up wingpacks as a joke, it kept rattling around louder and louder until completing it was all he could focus on. The design was supposed to be for Brenda, a new, improved pair of wings for her Raptor costume so that she could throw away that last bit of her old life. But here... here they were just another one of his creations, a byproduct of a mind with an occasionally selective focus, as his wife wasn't here to enjoy them.

So he would enjoy them for her. Everything went smooth: gaining air, maintaining a certain height, flying in circles... For a few minutes, should anyone look up, it would seem like a giant bird was circling the Nonah housing complex. He was getting the hang of this.

This was pretty easy. Why didn't he think this would be easy? And then he remembered: back when he and Brenda first started to get serious, she let him try her wings. He had barely gotten off the ground before making a wrong hand motion and landing on his face. But that was then, this was now--

And now he was plummeting back down to the ground again, having turned his arm the wrong way and somehow managing to lock the controls on himself.

Crap.

Should anyone see him falling, but are unable to help him in the air, they can find him in his backyard, miraculously uninjured, unless you count sore an injury.]

02. All over (primarily Nonah)

[They knew going out is dangerous. Matt had warned that there was someone in possession of a symbiote (curiously not Eddie Brock) who had been here before, and they didn't doubt that person's reputation proceeded them. For months, he had taken that warning to heart. Sure, Normie never went anywhere without his other, who usually took the form of his clothes, but they almost never did anything out of the ordinary, nothing that Normie wouldn't do even if he wasn't in possession of his other.

But they were tired of hiding. They wanted to help, to make a difference--to be heroes. The feeling had been gnawing at them ever since they agreed to lay low, but had crescendoed over the last few weeks as the Cold War suddenly felt a lot warmer.

Moving through the shadows as... it really was pathetic that it's been months and they still have yet to come up with a good name, they finally felt whole again, for the first time in months. They're trying to keep a low profile, but you know what they say about the best laid plans. Perhaps you hear something rustling behind you, or catch sight of their white eyes and white spider symbol seeming to float in the darkness.

Or perhaps you see them poised to strike behind some hapless criminal, their right hand replaced by a sharp, black blade the same material as the rest of them.]

03. All over

[Choose your own adventure! Feel free to make your own starter, of if you want a personalized closed starter hit me up on plurk (redconfession) or send me a private message.]

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[Normie will find his descent suddenly halted as a thick tendril of water wraps itself around his torso and pulls him upright; it simply hovers in the air, apparently unaided and perfectly content to defy the laws of gravity for the foreseeable future.

it's not hard to pinpoint the cause, at least. Lapis descends from above until she's eye level, remaining in place with occasional flaps from the watery wings extending from her back. if the blue girl wasn't manipulating the water, it's certainly be a surprise.

she hadn't saved him out of any sort of goodwill, to be perfectly honest. it was curiosity which had struck her, because-]

I thought humans couldn't fly.

[Well that's certainly unexpected. Normie reaches down to touch the water tendril, surprised by its sudden presence, before looking up to see its source. Oh, it's one of his neighbors. He'd seen her around, but couldn't say he'd ever spoken to her before.]

Thanks for the save.

And we can't. Not on our own, anyway.

[Raises his arm, and the wings move with him, as though they were a part of his anatomy. They are, however, undoubtedly metal.]

Well, no, that's not true. Some people can fly on their own, but that's their power.

Did you make those?

[she tilts her head to the side, looking at the wings more than Normie. it's fascinating to see something so comparatively advanced from a human - they were barely able to reach beyond their own planet, even in a world like this one.]

I did. Apparently I can build them with no problem, but testing them is way out of my wheelhouse.

[Pulls a key fob from his pocket and pushes the button on it. A little silver disc comes rushing their way from the direction of Nonah 004, transforming into a glider under Normie's feet, which Normie then steps on to.]

You can let me go now.

[she does without comment, the water swirling away back to whoever was unfortunate enough to have their pool temporarily commandeered. Normie will notice that despite the fact he had that wrapped around him for a bit, no part of him is wet. how considerate of her.]

This is too advanced for any humans I've seen before now, so that's not surprising.

[it's a wonder he can make them at all - what could he possibly know about flight tests, after all?]

[Reaches down and touches his shirt, surprised he's not wet.]

Huh. How'd you do that? Not get me wet, I mean.

[Slowly raises an arm to test that the wing beneath it is still working properly.]

Really? I based these off a model a... friend of mine had back home. The original design from these are practically ancient.

[Colloquially speaking. Because the Vulture made his first pair what, 30 years ago?]

I just put it back.

[she tilts her head to the side a little, vaguely indicating wherever that pool was. water manipulation means that she can move any kind of water - including droplets that may have soaked into someone's shirt.]

But...yeah, really. Humans don't seem to really do all that great when it comes to technological advances.

Wow.

[Because that's gotta be some degree of control to do that.]

It really depends on the human. My mom was a whiz at a lot of things, but she still called me whenever her computer "did something funny."

[there's a pause between his response and Lapis' answer along with an imperceptible pressing of her lips together that hints that she doesn't quite understand the joke. ok, right, just ignore it and hope for the best. socializing.]

I guess we just have different things to compare it against. I never saw them do anything close to what we'd developed.

Well, do you have superheroes where you come from? Or humans with any kind of superhuman abilities?

...just one. I'm not really sure if he counts, though.

Why wouldn't he?

He's special.

[in a lot of ways, not the least of which is that he's only technically half human.]

If anything, I would say that extra qualifies him to count.

I don't think it really works like that.

Someone being "special" is practically a superhero prerequisite.

[her shoulders hitch, almost defensively]

Not for him.

[Arches an eyebrow. He feels like he's missing something here.]

How so?

Because I don't want him doing that.

[it's shameful to admit, in some ways, that she cares so much. at the same time, it's Steven. she doesn't regret that desire to protect him.]

[Normie's expression softens at that.]

It's scary, isn't it? Seeing someone you care about put themselves in danger like that. Sometimes, even the thought of it can fill you with dread. "What if they go up against something they can't handle? What if today they don't come back?"

But you know... a friend of mine has a saying: With great power there must also come great responsibility. The people who become superheroes know they have the power to help others, and it's what compels them to go out and do it. Asking them to stop is like asking the sun to rise in the west. Sometimes they get in over their heads, but they do it because they feel it's something only they can do.

Ultimately, the call isn't up for us to make. No one's saying you have to like it... but you have to respect whatever decision he makes. After all, he'll need you for support.

"There's no way we can win, and that's why have have to fight."

[she looks away, a melancholy frown tugging at the corners of her lips. hadn't that been what Steven had said to her? Lapis doesn't think that she'll ever understand it...but maybe she admires it all the same. to be able to look at the future with such fierce determination no matter what horrors it held the way Steven did was something she doesn't think she'll ever be capable of; it's why she wants to protect it in her friend so very much.]

I'm not the kind of person who can really do much for people like that.

Is that something he said? Because I hate to break it to you, but it sounds like a superhero to me.

[Gently puts his hand on her shoulder.]

I'm pretty sure you're selling yourself short. You obviously care about him. I mean I don't know anything about him, and frankly I know barely more than that about you, but you can just hear it in your voice.

You don't have to do anything. Most of the time, just being there's enough. They're strong, but that doesn't mean they don't need support, or a friendly ear to listen to their day. People like you are what keep people like them going.

[she stiffens a little at the touch, but doesn't shake it off. it's a gesture that's meant to be friendly, she thinks, rather than the dominant pushes and grabs of Jasper.]

I don't think that's the case here. [she purses her lips, but manages to muscle through the melancholy] But I knew that from the start, so it's alright.

[Pulls his hand back the moment he can feel her stiffen. He has no intentions of making her feel uncomfortable, opting to smile gently instead.]

Back home, three people.... [Pauses for a moment. How to phrase this on the chance one of them actually shows up here?] ...three people I care about are superheroes. I never thought I could be much help to any of them, and honestly I still don't think that I really am, but they seem more relaxed when I just listen whenever they need someone to talk to.

...I can't listen to him right now.

[here or at home, which is clear in the lilt of her voice. all she can do is hold Jasper back for as long as it takes - to what? Lapis has no idea, but she's determined to see it through to the bitter end.]

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I could fly if I wanted to

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