bright lights and cityscapes, white lies and cavalcades

[notahawkingbird]

Hold my breath and I'll count to ten
I'm the paper and you're the pen
You fill me in and you are permanent
And you'll leave me to dry

Shield your eyes from the truth at hand
Tell me why it'll be good again
All those demons are closing in
And I don't want you to burn

You are carbon and I am flame
I will rise and you will remain


( The city lights are beautiful, but it's in the shadows where you find her. )

Comments

[truestpatriot]

[This? Was stupid. Eli knew that much. He couldn’t actually think of a single thing in this whole ordeal that didn’t scream ‘Stupid’ everywhere.

Lying to his grandma about a study group? Stupid. She’d eventually find out what he was really doing, she always did. And then he’d have to face that disappointed look she good and the ‘son, you should know better’ stance she was so good at giving. Billy had been right: there is no guilt as grandma guilt.

The fact that he had had to find another way to do this was also stupid. Yes, he was through being Patriot but please, a black kid hiding his face and kicking ass all around? Yeah, like that wasn’t going to get him noticed eventually. He was pretty sure he’d actually been spotted once or twice by the police already, but since it had actually made their job easier for them they let him go. Catching him wouldn’t have been that easy anyway, Eli knew that- but not that easy isn’t the same as impossible.

And then there was the fact that he was actually out crime-fighting again. After he’d quit, again. After he had left his best friends and pushed them away to do their own thing because he was through being Patriot. And he had indeed given up on that identity… but he knew he hadn’t just given that up when he’d decided to hang the suit. It was more than a secret identity. And by doing this he was breaking his friend’s trust, and he wasn’t sure they’d forgive him if they ever found out.

When they did.

He was so busy making a list of all the ways this had been stupid and thinking of quitting once more (he did that every single night, he always ended going out the next day. Stronger than him) he didn’t even really look to who he was jumping in to defend when he saw a guy threating a cute girl with a knife for her purse. If he’d really been paying attention he would have realized he already knew the girl, knew her fairly well actually. What other rich girl would be walking around when it was almost midnight anyway?

But as it was he was too busy jumping in and kicking the guy’s arm while still having his face completely covered so he wouldn’t be recognized to notice.]

[notahawkingbird]

[ The thing about being a superhero? There's no such thing as a night off.

"Hey pretty lady," she'd had no illusions that the voice that had called out to her the moment she'd crossed the street was harmless. The voice was a little too sure to be some drunk, a little too loud and suave to be anything else but some dumb jerk who didn't know better manners.

She'd known exactly when the guy had slipped the knife out of his pocket, had been perfectly aware of his intentions to hurt her when his eyes had wandered a little too far from her face.

She knew what to do: defend, disarm, and deliver the knock-out blow to the back of the neck before getting 'the hell out of dodge', or so her mentor might say. But that was before some aspiring knight-in-shining-armor had to jump in and derail her otherwise neatly plotted out plan of action. ]

Well, [ Kate huffs, as she backs away to a relatively "safe" distance while her erstwhile protector engages Mr. Jerkface with a one-on-one consultation with fists. Nothing about Sir Galahad's get-up raises any flags, but something about the guy's movements is nagging at her. ]

[truestpatriot]

[Eli had been trained to strike fast, to make the battle as short as possible. Some people fought tiring down their opponent and being as fast as they could- Eli had the stamina to do that, but he had always favored using his speed as strength to his favor instead.

So, in short: the guy is knocked out cold in a matter of seconds and Eli turrns to the girl to make sure she isn't scared enough to go run to get the police. He's gotten in trouble because of that before.

When he sees her face, he stops. And is suddenly very glad he covers his face almost completely.]

[notahawkingbird]

Well. [ Kate smiles, ] Thank you for... jumping to my rescue.

[ There's no reason for her to pry, but a new face (so to speak, she couldn't seek his face) in her town is something worth taking note of. ]

I'd ask for your name, but you vigilantes try to steer clear of giving that out, I suppose.

[truestpatriot]

[Well, she hasn't recognized him yet. That's actually a surprise because he always thought he gave himself away with the movements and the fighting-style. He's spend... too much fighting on his own to maintain the quirks he had with the team, he guesses.

He's tempted to just roll with it, run away and pretend this didn't happen. It'd be the smart thing to do, it'd let him keep this up and Kate would only think there's another nutso on the streets kicking bad guy's butts.

But Eli isn't known for making the right choices. He takes off his mask.] Some of us do.

[notahawkingbird]

[ It's like the world breathes in, holds it's breath and in the time before it exhales, everything clicks into place -- those moves were the same ones (well, almost, there was a variation to them now that she isn't familiar with) she'd trained against in those lost hours in the abandoned Bishop Publishing warehouse. It had been a strange sort of bonding for all of them: train -- often against each other -- and then head out to save their little patch of world; wash, rinse, repeat.

She should have known, her brain had flagged them at her with red, white and blue going doesn't that look familiar, but she hadn't thought to reconcile them with Eli.

Eli who had declared months before that he was quitting the team and moving to Scottsdale, Arizona to live with his mom. ]

What are-- [ Kate doesn't even get halfway to the point of her aborted sentence, because her feet are carrying her forward and her hands are coming up to shove at him because god damn. ]

[truestpatriot]

[For a really short moment Eli had thought she was going to hug him. He realizes how stupid that is even before she actually pushes him.

She is strong, but not a supersoldier. Still Eli is so taken aback by this whole moment, this whole meeting (that he'd planned in his mind a hundred times and now it was really happening-) that he actually has to take a couple of steps back when she shoves him.]

Yeah, happy to see you too.

[notahawkingbird]

What the hell, Eli. [ It's not that she's not happy to see him -- she is. It's just that much of a shock to see him here, right in front of her and jfc it finally sinks in properly that Eli is dressed up nothing like Patriot, but everything like someone back in the vigilante business. ] You're supposed to be in Scottsdale.

[ It stings. And its an awful, awful feeling because they'd both agreed to quit at the same time, and while Kate can contemplate the irony of it all later since she's done no better after the last couple of shenanigans she's gone through with Clint-- it stings because all she can think of is:

Eli, you took up the mask again and you didn't tell me. ]

[truestpatriot]

[And suddenly there's hut in Kate's eyes and the guilt finally catches up with him. He hadn't meant to hide this from them, from the team. It just kind of happened and he thought he'd have more time to think of something, more time to quit for sure.]

Kate, it's not- [He doesn't know how to word it.] I did move. I had to come back for my grandfather and one day I saw some dudes trying to rob a little shop and I had to stop them and before I knew it... [He motions to his home-made uniform.]

because i wanted a reason to use this icon i am shameless i regret nothingggg

[notahawkingbird]

[ It is so like him. The thought takes the wind out of Kate's anger because it is just so like Eli to step in and step up where others would have just opted to walk on by, turning a blind eye to something as mundane as a robbery in a city that all but dealt with getting blown up on a weekly basis. ]

You idiot. [ But she closes the space between them, her arms coming round his shoulders that all but says Oh jeez, you're home. ]

<33333

[truestpatriot]

[He was about to reply with 'HEY' or something equally smart at being called an idiot but then he finds himself holding an armful of Kate and he's hugging her tight and okay? If this is what he's getting instead of punches he'll take it.]

Yeah, I kind of am. I'm sorry- I missed you? [What is he supposed to say...]