tear it all down

“ok - hey - this is really important,” it was really hard to know whether he actually thought as much, or whether he was just a REALLY good actor. either way, his expression was entirely serious when he asked- “would you say my eyebrows are ‘on fleek’?”

romy was nothing if not her mother’s daughter. raven darkholme knew more about reading people than all the paid psychologists in the world, put together - and she would have to have been a damn fool not to have picked up on the skill over the past fifty three years. she noticed that chuckle. she just didn’t care much about it. “see - that’s what i don’t think is right. if you can’t fix a bike, you SHOULDN’T be able t’use one,” course, hers was a fairly extreme opinion, that not everyone would share, “you can learn from me, alright, but it won’t be from sitting - you good with getting your hands dirty, princess?”

          “ fair enough, which is why i’m willing to learn.”  to have someone believe her to be unworthy of something only fueled gwen more. with a slight shake of the head, gwen smirked. “ i’m not a princess and i’m never afraid to get my hands dirty.” the woman was trickier than she had originally given her credit for. “ where are we starting?” she asked as she squatted down next to the woman.

[ text → ✉ → gwen logan 🌎 ]: you’re too sweet. [ text → ✉ → gwen logan 🌎 ]: i’m coming downstairs now. [ text → ✉ → gwen logan 🌎 ]: see you in a moment!

“a word from the wise.” the god began, slowly placing down the book. it was always amusing to him, the actions of simple, mortal beings. did they think they were clever? although loki had become much kinder in his age, much more understanding after centuries of trauma, he was often terribly entertaining ( and, frankly, a little offensive ) when they’d done exactly what this girl had just done.

his voice was not hard, for he was not mad, but there was a cautionary tone to it. “next time, i wouldn’t try lying to the god of lies. i practically invented it. it won’t work out particularly well for you.”

loki was, typically, a quiet man. he was tired in his old age, and typically meant that in his downtime, he didn’t like to do much. however, this was not his downtime. in fact, the god was surrounded by several copies of plays, trying to work out which of his classes would do what text. what should have been a simple decision had kept the god busy for hours, incredibly distracted from the world around him.

he didn’t even notice the door opening behind him until he heard it swing shut.

looking up, two different plays in each hand, he watched the newcomer with a surprised look. “oh. have you… been here long?”

“once more with feelin’, kid.” it didn’t really bother romy if gwen didn’t much care for the situation at hand - so long as she actually came through with the help needed, and she did, so that ( as they say ) was that. she took the wrench with a degree of gratitude, conscious that it could have gone either way for a minute there, and spent a few long moments unscrewing a couple of the bolts she needed out before she answered. “my baby,” it was almost a purr, her love of the bike more than obvious, “it’s a 2001 harley v-rod. she was perfect when i got her, but there’s always room for improvement - i’m switchin’ out her engine, now. you know anythin’bout bikes?”

          the chuckle that left her lips was slightly more forced than she had intended, but she attempted to cover that up with a shake of her head.  turning her attention towards the bike again. “ i know enough to use one, but not enough to fix one. mind if i watch and learn from you?” being actually interested in bikes made the whole act of pretending to care much easier.

did she know that this was going to end badly? yes. did that stop  her from commiting such actions? no. in some ways it’s the familiarity  of the action that makes it so enticing. she doesn’t want to think about repercussions in that moment. “you have a point,” she laughed. addy didn’t know gwen well, but then aside from a handful of exceptions that could be said about most of the people at paragon. “thing’s will be a little louder in town don’t you think?”

“hey, bub-” with brown locks tied back into a mess on top of her head and a single smear of grease across her left cheek ( that she tried wipe away with the back of her hand, but only seemed to make worse ), romy looked up from the mess of parts she had been pooled over for what felt like hours, fixing her gaze on the other. going by her expression, it would have been easy assume that it were the first time that she was noticing them - but in reality, she’d been aware of their presence for far longer than she was letting on. considering that she tended to set up with her tools and her bike in the middle of the quad - a hub of activity on any given day - she’d quickly gotten used to passersby and their wandering gazes… and unless they were important, or she needed something, she tended not to pay them much mind. this was a case of the latter. “how ‘bout you make yourself useful-” she inclined her head towards the toolbox that lay just outside of her own reach, so there’d be no confusion when she continued, “- and hand me a 12 point wrench outta that?”

          making connections, getting other people to trust her, was the best way to build a good alibi. most people wouldn’t turn on people they considered to be friends, so she needed to get as many people to think of her as a friend as she could. that meant participating in the dreaded small talk and pretending to want to help people out. it was easy enough, just tiresome. “ hm? sure, i guess i got nothing better to do.” gwen did her best not to roll her eyes at the first part of the request, shrugging before reaching for the tool. “ here you go. what are you working on?”

“anything you need, just ask a volunteer!” she called after someone walking away, taking a little breath. wow, it was happening and each moment was exhilarating to the girl who hatched the idea. she turned a little to see someone looking at her, “hey! having fun? need any help?”

addy had never been the quietest girl, back in nyc before her parents died she  had built up quite the reputation as a party girl, one she wouldn’t be surprised if it followed her to paragon. gwen was exactly the type of girl she enjoyed hanging  out with, wild, unthinking. in a strange was it was a comfort even if it lead to her regretting it later on when she was fine again. it was a form of break from all of this that was  going on arround her. so she grins as the other approaches, nodding as she speaks.  “so as it involves a little bit of trouble i’m all yours,”

if there’s something to know about pascal, it’s the fact that he loves making new friends. meeting gwen was a happy accident which had blossomed into a nice friendship which now had them sharing a movie night! pascal loves movie nights. “hey,” he greets, a smile on his face. “i reckon ya did. but, knowin’ me, i’ll finish all’a these in a few minutes! good thing i got the pizza place on speed-dial, righ’?”

“no, they basically told me to quit my whining, which is pretty damn rude.” he pouted for a moment. “anyways, you good with tech?”

          “ sounds like those people don’t understand what it’s like to work hard on something and then have it taken away. ” she shrugged as if to say that those people weren’t as cool as her. “ i know my way around tech, but i’m also a quick learner if you need help fixing some stuff.”

“Okay -” Aki sets his hand on the table and leans in to meet the other person’s eyes, a somewhat mischievous glint in his own. “I’m bored. Bored out of my mind, actually.” He begins explaining, raising an eyebrow. He doesn’t exactly have anything dangerous in mind, but he needs to do something. Something new, something exciting. “Help me sneak out? It’ll be worth it, you have my word.”

“Well, I was going to run some training..” Dick trails off, glancing over towards the gym he’d been making a beeline for. He needs to train, he knows that, but he also can’t deny playing hooky sounds like way more fun. Besides, there’s always time for training later - it’s not like the gym’s going anywhere. “But that can wait. What’s the plan?”

          dick grayson. she had to be smart about this, needed to pretend to be normal so he wouldn’t say anything to her father or raven. so she was all smiles and laughs when she saw him, playing it off as best as she could. “ i was thinking that you can’t really have a good training sess without some food, right? what are you in the mood for?”