* COMPLICATED / PEANUT !

“Nah, amigo. Me and Scarab are doin’ great. Like, he told me to eliminate the TA from my coding class and I talked him out of it! That’s progress, right?”

“That is the single most terrifying thing you have ever said to me,” Tony replied. Considering the amount of things Cassie had shrunk or alternatively caused to become massive, that was no mean feat. He was still traumatised from the ‘giant cockroach terrorising the interns’ incident. “There’s no protecting you,” Tony informed the bot as it clicked towards Cassie, simultaneously fighting the towel that was cleaning it and revelling in the attention. “She says she’ll get a petition going, but the amount of people you have blasted with a fire extinguisher will vouch for me. They’ll say how much of a dummy you are, and then we’ll-” Unfortunately, that was the moment where Dum-E finally worked out where the trigger for the fire extinguisher was. At the same time as their baked goods began burning, Tony was doused with white foam, which was not exactly how he planned to spend his Sunday morning.

“Yeah, it’s for me,” Nico replied, nodding at the bubbly girl who upon first impression reminded her of Karolina – “Wait a second - Cassie?” It may have taken her a minute but she clearly recognized the slightly older girl from their meeting a couple years ago. She cracked a smile, opening her stance slightly at the recognition of a familiar face. “It’s nice to see you again. You running with the Young Avengers?” 

It was cold. Bitterly cold. Bruce tucked his hands into the pockets of his coat, wishing he’d brought some gloves. Ironic - he’d gone out to buy the kinds of things he could use to help his clients stay safe in temperatures like these, hand-warmers and thick fleece blankets and the like, and he was starting to feel like he might freeze to death before he ever made it to the store.

To add insult to injury, he stepped on what seemed to be a patch of snow just like any other. It wasn’t, of course, because that was the way his day was going. Instead, he broke through a crust of ice and into the slushy puddle below, which flooded into his boots. “Should have stayed in India. No snow in India,” he muttered under his breath as he stumbled out of the puddle and back onto the sidewalk, cutting in front of someone in his haste to get out of the icy water. “Sorry.”

[ starter :: @statvres ]

       new york city is  ROUGH  in the morning  -  especially during the winter.  the people are finnicky,  the subways don’t work half the time  -  and the snow ?  turns  GREY  the moment it hits the ground,  black the moment that it’s stepped on,  and just a total  . . .  disgusting puddle in subway stations.

There was no word in the English language, to his knowledge, that could aptly describe how it felt to wake up in a hospital bed in a strange city surrounded by futuristic technology. Surreal, confounding, awe-inspiring, disorienting – these were good starts. Perhaps if they converged to describe one emotion, he would be covered. Once he was discharged from the hospital, he found that his wallet was still preserved in his pants pocket. He also immediately felt out of place as people swarmed around him, all of them wearing clothing unlike any he had seen before. Even their pants were different, and women were wearing them, too.

He looked around himself, trying to avoid being trampled by the impatient crowd. After a few tries, he finally got an answer as to what year it was. 2018. That couldn’t be right, could it? Last he remembered, it was 1918. The 100 year leap would explain the changes he saw, a different one each second, but he had no idea how self-sacrifice had brought him to the future.

Taking out his wallet, he saw that his money was all there. Hopefully paper currency was still in circulation. Steve stumbled away from the busy street and looked up at a sign above what appeared to be a clothing store. “O.N.S Clothing…” He mouthed to himself. Looking again at the rushing street of people, he cleared his throat before reaching out to tap the nearest passer-by on the shoulder. “Pardon me, sorry, I’m…” He cleared his throat again, tugging at his collar. “Is this a good clothing store? And…what sort of everyday outfits do people wear?”

       she’s shopping for  . . .  an excuse  to not pay attention to her responsibilities,  really.  cassie lang has been out and about since  . . .  about six am,  she would say if anyone asks ?  but no one would,  hopefully.  she made sure to get far away enough that she wouldn’t be around the same areas as anyone who would recognize her.

         cassie blinks,  once,  twice  -  brown eyes taking in his appearance.  handsome  -  but  way  too old.  it’s too bad.  still !  cassie perks up,  hands clasping together.  it’s nice to make distractions for herself.    “  it’s no problem.  ”  and a giggle escapes her lips.  he’s as  clueless  as her dad !  maybe even worse off.  she didn’t think that was too possible,  but it’s a new year,  she supposes.  

“The only thing I’m going to say – not even say, more like point out – is that technology can be dangerous, Cassie. Seriously dangerous. You see this?” Tony tapped his fingers on his chest, resulting in the arc reactor making a dull thud. “This is what happens when people mess around with tech. Do you want a hole in your sternum, kid? Don’t be like Tony.” It was a little bit of a variation on the truth, but it was for a teaching purpose! “Alright,” Tony said, nodding at Cassie’s deduction. “Do you wanna tell him it’s exciting?” He jolted his thumb towards Dum-E, who was currently bashing the glass of the oven in with the end of a fire extinguisher. “You are an ignoramus,” Tony informed him. “I’m selling you to city college.”

Pepper held up a hand, and then reached into her clutch. She pulled out a tiny packet of handwarmers, and passed one over to the girl. “Trick of the trade,” she said, smiling gently. “Works for festive outings, business meetings in very cold offices, and out on patrol,” she said, winking once at the young hero. Pepper still wasn’t sure how she felt about having people so young risking so much, but it wasn’t her place to say so. At least not right now. “I do recommend the pantsuit,” she said, laughing lightly. “I suppose it is. Music can be very powerful that way.”

Kate Bishop had made the decision to re-form the Young Avengers, only days before she was taken. How fortuitous it was. If Baclath were prone to sentiment and philosophy, she might believe it was fate that drew Cassie Lang to Kate Bishop’s side now, of all times. 

“Um, excuse you? Triple the fun. Extra fun, because it’s you, Cass,” Baclath said, Kate Bishop’s signature grin on her lips. They moved towards the center, and ugh, Baclath had to actually dance. “I love yours. My outfit would look better if, ya know, this stupid futzing power swap hadn’t turned me into a devil and whatnot,” she said, shaking her head. “But never mind that. I’ve got way more important stuff to talk to you about.” She paused the dancing (thankfully), and pulled Cassie close. “What would you say about getting the team back together? Like, for real.” 

          she’d never say this out loud,  but kate is uh  . . .  definitely her favorite.  cassie wants to get along with the other young avengers,  yeah.  be friends with them,  of course !  but kate bishop  -  well,  she wants this girl to be her best friend.  it’s a work in progress.

MJ grinned at Cassie’s flair for dramatics. “I’m always right, Cassie! You gotta learn this early so I can change your life. Anywhere is pretty good, but I gotta recommend Absolute Bagels. They make the best homemade ones, they’re actually affordable, and their cream cheese is to die for.” She waggled her eyebrows at her new friend, “I can take you there if you want. My treat!” Cassie definitely deserved that much. “Are you and your dad close?” She asked, a little surprised by the mere concept. “But yeah, you definitely gotta keep him on his toes! Kick his ass in the hero department, I’ll help. I gotta one-up Quicksilver.”

“You’re hovering,” Scott shot back playfully. Truthfully, he was just ecstatic to have a little bit of spare time to spend with his kid. Although the obstacles stopping them from hanging out now weren’t as big as they once were – Peggy’s whole ‘if you show up here again I’m calling the cops, Scott, I mean it this time’ threat was a lot scarier than world-ending aliens, if you asked Scott – they were still there. They were both superheroes now, and that didn’t leave them with a ton of free time. “I don’t really want my daughter setting me up with any pretty women or pretty men,” he replied with a laugh, shaking his head. “I don’t know what Tinder is, Cassie, c’mon. I’m old! You’re gonna have to break it down for me.” He returned her grin easily. With Cassie, grinning was always his natural state. “What, because of the aliens? Nah. No big deal, right?” Not right. Scott was sort of a small-time  hero – both figuratively and literally. Aliens were so out of his league. 

Pepper glanced down at herself, her all-white dress. She’d largely worn it for the matching jacket and gloves, because it was freezing out here. But the crowd and the faux champagne kept her warm enough, and she smiled at the girl. “Thank you. You look amazing too,” she said, nodding to Cassie. “You might be on to something. There’s an awful lot of negativity in this city right now, it’s good to clear your head of it every now and again.”

Xavin stopped dancing for a brief moment to give the person next to them an amazed look. “They have entire festivals for this music?” Oh, the concept sounded vaguely familiar, but they hadn’t really stopped to consider before what such a thing might be like.

“Of course not,” Tony said with a grin, pretending that Dum-E wasn’t currently wheeling flour tracks all over the ground – they should really keep the bots in the workshop during activities like this. “If I don’t vary my lectures out, they’ll get stale. I’m an old hat at this, honestly. I’ll keep it fresh.” It was at this point that a rather loud popping noise erupted from the oven behind them. This was a state of the art kitchen, how the hell were they messing up so bad? “Do we count explosions as something going wrong, or just a little excitement?”

“I understand dancing now! I can feel this music in my bones!” Xavin grinned broadly, yelling to be heard over the deep thrumming of the bass. They were having the time of their life, even though it was cold and this party was being held in the street.

“Feels like I haven’t been out of my office since the last New Year’s Eve,” Pepper murmured. She was holding a glass of champagne, bought from a nearby vendor which had about a twelve percent chance of actually being champagne and not a cheap imitation. She was taking the party in slowly, her eyes drifting all around. She could’ve watched the ball drop from Stark Tower, but she wanted to be here. In with all the people, the real living beings she was working so hard to help defend. She so rarely got a chance to actually live in this city.