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(no subject)

Who: Apollo
Broadcast: Fleet wide
Action: SS Bishop
When: Now-ish?

Broadcast

[Apollo looks... a little flustered? Slightly bewildered? Like he might have accidentally exploded cooking supplies?]

I'm trying this cooking thing. I'm pretty sure it's not dangerous to eat, but does anyone want to come and be a guinea pig? These gel things are making roasts a lot fucking harder than they should be...

Action

[On the Bishop, Apollo has taken over the kitchen for now. He manages to look surprisingly domestic, bumming around in ship standard provided clothing and hair pulled up into a ponytail that bobs along to whatever music he's imagining as he 'cooks'.

Cooking occasionally involves eye lasers. Which doesn't work on the gels half as well as he hoped it would.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Honestly? I only need a minimal excuse to sit and eat a cake. Pull up a fork, there's plenty to go around.

How much of it is fake food and how much of it is real food? [ but even before he answers, she's fishing a fork out of the drawer. ]

... of the cake? Or my general shoving food in face threshold?

The cake is made with sugar and flour, it's an actual cake.

The cake. [ she smiles, and carves herself a neat little forkful of sweetness immediately after sitting across from apollo. up close, she has a better chance of observing him. and he's much as she might expect: strong, built, and well-jawed. hero physique. ] I'm glad to hear it. On the Blameless, we're so under-upgraded that our pantry's kinda...lacklustre. I have to make a lot of unpleasant substitutions.

Oh, yeah, the cake is real stuff. There's muffins happening, I thought a muffin is that bit dry, so you can use the sweet flavour gel... stuff on it to get sweet and moist and use the gel without the texture being too horrible.

[He pulls a face.]

I don't think I could face just eating that stuff. Mind you, I'm lucky. I have the option to just not eat it.

I made fake pizza last month. It went...okay.

... That sounds...

Different.

Wow, such a charitable way of saying it actually sounds really gross. [ kate smiles. ] It was actually only, like, 40% gross. Which is still a little too high for human consumption.

Well... I've lived on the streets, I've certainly been tempted to eat worse and witnessed far more revolting being eaten.

It just doesn't sound... pleasant.

[ the cake's good, and she reaches across for a second bite. ]

The streets, huh?

Mm.

[He finishes his mouthful of cake.]

Four years.

Where? [ ... ] If you don't mind me asking.

Nah, it's fine. This is all, like, public knowledge back in my home and I don't feel anything like embarrassment or distress about it. It was quite a while ago and... I never had to do it alone, you know?

[That thing again, where he remembers how very entwined their everything was. He sighs and shoves another mouthful of cake in his mouth and eats it before continuing.]

Basically? Anywhere we could hide. We were on the run from an international super hero organisation controlled by the madman who had designed and built us. We mostly moved through Europe and North America where a pair of white men didn't stand out so much.

That was my next question. [ how, indeed, does a superhero end up on the streets? his skills certainly sounded...marketable. ] But I have a little experience with playing fugitive from big organizations. That's not an easy way to live -- not even when you really believe in your cause.

Kudos to you.

Basically... We were custom made. An elite, covert team. And when we failed to recover the horror machine we were sent after... Bendix refused to extract us. Seven of us went in, only Midnighter and I got out and we went on the run. We realised that he was refusing to extract us because of temper, but he'd remember how much we cost and try and recover us if he ever got wind of where we were. Send the team of superheroes he had after us.

We were far more powerful than them... but there was only two of us. And all we had was our memories from waking up in the tanks after we were made onwards and our uniforms. He never sent them after us. Would've raised too many questions about how he knew about us and how we'd come on the scene without being noticed.

We didn't even know when he died. It was another... four months? Until they found out we existed by breaking into Bendix's files.

[He shakes his head and smiles.]

Listen to me, rambling on like an old man.

I don't mind. Ramble away, actually. [ kate's smile is small, but earnest. ] I've already heard most of the big super-powered stories from home. It's...eye-opening to hear about some new ones.

I've spoken to Kitty and Kurt about their worlds. They're... vastly different. My world is very... post humans are everywhere. Some of us are solar powered death weapons and some of us have gills and not much else but we're just... accepted as a part of life.

I have faced way more discrimination for being gay than being a post-human.

Kitty's world is kinda like the bad-ending version of mine, actually. In that my world has a Kitty, too. But the history's all...different. But whatever way you cut that cake, mutants seem to always have the hard time.

[ she takes another bite, leaning forward on her elbows. ] Actually, there are two gay guys on my team. And -- well, a gay gal too. I'm actually pretty certain I might be the only straight person on the roster.

[ -- and america would say even that's not true. but that's america. ]

[Apollo grins, looking pretty delighted about that.]

Token straight, huh? How's it feel?

I love it. [ she waggles her fork, prepared to clarify. ] I mean -- I love them. We haven't been so active together, recently, as we used to be...but they're all my best friend. Plus, I've long ago accepted my lot as a token. 'Cause I'm also the only non-powered member of the team.

Oooh, ouch. I'd sympathise more, but I don't remember not having amazing super powers, so it would be pretty false.

Have you considered trying the other team? I did, when we split up, and discovered to my disappointment that I am as queer as three pound note, which is a pity, because women are amazing.

Don't get me wrong -- I appreciate the advice. [ and for a certain interdimensional door-kicker, it might be apt. ] But these days I'm most interested in making some time for myself. I need to figure out who I am -- professionally and personally -- before I go experimenting with others.

Does that make any sense?

[Apollo is quiet and then nods.

It's a sobering comment. Because it's been months and he still isn't even remotely ready to think of himself as Apollo-who-has-nothing-to-do-with-Midnighter-in-his-life. He's never been alone before and even now...

He still thinks of himself as Midnighter's ex. He defines his life around him.]

Far too much.

[And there goes more cake into mouth.]

I introduced myself as Kate, right? [ she remains leaning forward -- on her elbows. ] But professionally, I suppose, I'm -- Hawkeye. I share the name with the guy who's traded on it for decades as a real legacy in the do-gooder biz. We worked together when I wasn't with my team. But...

I wanna figure out being Hawkeye without him right there, all the time. Everyone mistakes me for his sidekick. It's really not ideal.

[He nods. As Kate Bishop, specifically.

He... can understand that, a bit. Except the inherited titles in his world, the pervious name holder is dead before you take up the mantle. Doctor. Engineer.

Jenny.]

I can get how that could be so difficult. And why you need to work out who you are without him there.