You love this town

[carrytheshield]

WHO: James Rogers and OPEN
WHERE: Around the City
WHEN: Any time
WARNINGS: None
SUMMARY: James explores his new habitat alone, meets interesting people
FORMAT: log, stuff, words

Comments

[finalpunchline]

Eddie didn't bother much with kids on principle. Not that he bough into the weepy bullshit of sparing the youth or preserving innocence, he'd shot enough of them in his time, had started shooting them when he still was one himself. The little fuckers just usually weren't worth the trouble. Never was much humor in a match that wasn't a challenge, and any punk with more spots on his face than years usually didn't offer one. Not that there weren't the occasional exceptions. Ozy had barely been out of his baby britches before he'd come sniffing around Eddie's door, after all.

So it wasn't the kid he noticed walking down the street. It was the shield. Eddie let out a low whistle under his breath as he saw the familiar symbol make its way down the road across from him. He should know the damn thing, he had one leaning against his bedroom wall. A grin formed as he made his way across the street towards the kid. And to think he'd been concerned it'd be a dull morning.

"Little small for somethin' like that, ain't ya, kid?"

[carrytheshield]

James didn't know this guy, and didn't recognize his voice either. But that didn't really mean anything, James wouldn't have recognized his own parents out here on the street, though he kept hoping he'd meet them here. "I can handle it just fine," James said. Adjusting from the energy shield to the metal shield had been easy, and in the week after he'd recovered it, James can come to know the subtle differences between the two quite well.

He never spent time away from the shield, even at night, and it was now a comfortable, reassuring presence on his back. It felt natural.

This guy wastaller and more muscular than James was, and older, although James wasn't a good judge of age for anyone that wasn't his age or younger. He didn't know enough adults to judge their age very well.

[finalpunchline]

"Hell of a lot of 'em running around this place."

Eddie fell into an easy pace along side the kid without invitation or permission, too entertained with the entire scenario to step away just yet. The Captain America thing had been an easy joke to start, easy and well paying. But the real humor of it hadn't popped up until the real McCoy had shown up and started shooting his mouth off. Now this kid had to be tied up with him somehow, to have that thing on his back. Figuring out how could only make it better.

"So what'd that make ya. Some kinda sidekick?"

[carrytheshield]

"I'm not a sidekick," James said, slightly irritated at the suggestion, "I'm an Avenger."

He wondered how long he'd have to keep telling people that. Although for all he knew, this guy was one of the original Avengers James hadn't met yet, or someone who knew them. "How many other people with shields like this do you know?"

[inthirds]

Further from the downtown sector, there was a fairly generous space of vacant land squeezed between a trio of condemned buildings of fairly generous size, giving it an almost arena-like quality to it on three sides. The block itself seemed more or less abandoned, given the amount of damage it had seen in the past two years of imPorts. The business-minded types may have forgotten it, but their absence was filled by a scarce few other people that put it to good use.

After all, it was damn near impossible to find a decent place to train for anything in that damn City

[carrytheshield]

As James past a vacant area with rubble and noticed someone with what seemed to be a magic sword of some kind, he slowed down. People had told him there were a surprising number of people with powers here, but James hadn't seen many of them yet.

This guy was probably one of those people. James stopped to watch, curious. He had never used a sword himself, but he'd grown up alongside Torunn, who's sword was as much a part of her as James' shield was a part of him. It was a little strange to see someone else with a sword, although the way he moved seemed nothing like how Torunn used her sword.

Regardless, James was fascinated, and watched in silence for several minutes.

[inthirds]

Zelgadis held position for those several minutes, arms twitching with fatigue now and then. Willpower was only as affective as the attention span was long, and it was hard to keep the mind from wandering after a while. One stray thought could immediately cascade into another, and it was no exception then and there. He stifled a grunt as his focus waned, setting the spell to crackling. It left in a shrill whistle, dispelling and leaving the blade its regular color.

The weight of effort lifted and Zelgadis sagged, stepping out of stance with a heavy sigh. He'd hoped to hold out a little longer, but it wasn't a complete loss. That was minutes longer than his last attempt - a sign of getting stronger without being subject to Rezo's curse.

He glanced the spectator while he was wiping his forehead. He stopped immediately, straightening back up and squinting. Who-?

[carrytheshield]

After a moment of quiet staring, James spoke. "Hello." He wasn't sure what else to say. He considered asking about what he'd been doing.

Instead he stood there awkwardly, wondering if this guy was one of the many villains James had been told lived here, or if they were on the same side. Well, if he was a villain, at least James knew help was only a call away.

[endorbeginning]

As he neared the part, he may have become aware of a piercing stare on him.

[carrytheshield]

James felt like he was being watched. It was an odd feeling, a bit like he'd had before first meeting the scavengers.

He carefully looked around, paying even more attention to his surroundings than normal.

[endorbeginning]

A --maybe a woman? was sitting on the was around a park and squinting down at him with one eye.

"Small human all alone," she said, voice high pitched and strangely accented. "That not usual. Why alone?"

[carrytheshield]

The way she looked was surprising to James. Strange, and scary in a way different from Ultron and the Hulk's appearance.

"I'm not that small," James protested, "I'm just looking around."