toy soldier

83. “I’ll make sure you hate me by the end of this.”

52. “There was that one time where I had a nightmare about socks.”

27. “After all, dead men tell no tale.”

She pauses for a moment, like the thought had never occurred to her. Okay, maybe it hadn’t. Really, though, that might work. She didn’t want to turn into a gym rat account, and then how hipster was too hipster, when it came to aesthetics? “Huh. Never thought to just narrow it down. Now I feel a little silly. My other account is mostly selfies. I mean, duh. I can’t really do selfies on this other account, if you catch my drift.” Which, he might not, because that was the single most unhelpful hint about what the focus of her second account was. 

“Yeah, I’ve had this second one, like...almost a year? Long story.” She shows him two photos, swiping between them a few times. “I’ve kinda been sticking to more of a scenery type theme, but. With the end of the month coming up, I dunno if I should switch to, like, training stuff, or, like, more aesthetic stuff like that one.” She took the account pretty seriously for something she’d only started as a joke.

“I mean, I think you look like you’re ready for your confirmation, but. You’ve looked like that since you were first old enough to have a confirmation. Get some rest, tall child.” She chuckles, amused by her own joke but not sure if Hugo would get it. She decided the Avengers had had entirely too many kids between them, because she couldn’t recall which ones understood which jokes. “But, no, you look fine, Hugo.”

“Yup.” A hard pop at the end of the word for punctuation. “Nothing at all. Run along. And keep your mouth shut.” Saccharine smile plastered on until the other person left, she turned her attention back to Hayden. “So! Like I was trying to say. I’m taking a vote, but all of us are terrible at answering our phones, so. Which of these two pictures looks better? I need to update my, uh, other Insta.” Because what else is a vigilante supposed to do other than make an account for her alter ego?

“People stare at a lot of stuff. Doesn’t mean they’ll demand an explanation. And if they do, that’s a better point to snap at ‘em.” She shrugged, not entirely put off by the other’s attitude. After all, they’re not much worse than other people she associates with. “And I mean. Scars like that either have a really shitty story or a really cool one. I’m pretty good at weighing out if it’s worth asking.”

A sharp click/pop noise is all Mikah gives in response. Oh-kay, then. She throws her hands up a bit, palms out. “Easy, tiger. Can’t walk around with shit like that and expect no one to notice.” Not that she’d know from experience. Very few injuries she ever sustained scarred, and those were only the really nasty ones, the sort that took even her mutation some time to repair. “ ‘sides, I might not ‘a even said anything.”