summonthesuit | IC Inbox

[Two days later, after he's napped, eaten and been prodded back into shape, he adds another message.]

Okay, I'm...

Now less freaked out. SORRY. IGNORE THESE. I would delete these, but I can't manage to.

Please just come home safe, okay? Maybe pretend I'm not weird and panicky. Oh my god.

[Steven's response doesn't come until much, much later, a good two weeks after everyone else returned from the Wasteland. By now, the transformation fog's already been around for a day or two. Steven's still recovering, but being bed-ridden and unable to sleep has left him with ample time to check his laptop. Memories of what happened to Peter are still running through his head on loop, along with plenty of other horrors. When he types up a reply, it's with trembling fingers.]

Hey mate. Sorry I'm late. Fog needed a while to bring me back. Not much choice in that.

Are you good now? How about Beat and Chiaki? I'm so sorry I couldn't save you lot. I was across town when it happened. Didn't hear the ruckus until it was too late. I should've kept a closer eye out.

I'm glad you're back. I was worried about you. I'm still worried if I'm being honest.

We're all back, Chiaki came back at the start of the fog a little... rough but we figured it out. Beat and I came back before her.

It's not your fault, Steven. I went in without much of a plan. The monster in the waste was going to attack everyone and I acted first.

I'm fine. Need a little longer to recover, but I've got a neighbour looking after me, so no worries! I'm good.

[He's not good, actually, but this is one of the few times Steven will tell an outright lie.]

Good to know everyone else is back too. Of course you'd go in without a plan if that bloody thing was storming the town. Not much time to plan then, is there? And you got it, in the end. But if I'd been there, maybe nobody would've had to die. That's the whole point of the mentor system, isn't it?

Just take care of yourself, okay...?

Still. I wish I had some kind of plan, or called for help first. Chiaki and I had handled one small feral monster before this, so I guess I thought I could hold it off. It seemed really small at first.

Yeah. Yeah, it is. I'm not exactly great at following my own rules I guess.

God, no, that's not what I meant. It wasn't your fault. You were actually there and you did your best. That's all you could do.

Oh.

Sorry. I guess reading comprehension isn't my strong suit today.

Lets just say the whole situation sucked. Cause, it did and I dunno what to really feel about a lot of anything right now.

Nah, don't apologize. You're fine.

Of course it sucked. Dying sucks and being set upon by feral monsters makes it ten times worse. We're bloody lucky we keep coming back to life like boomerangs, but that doesn't make it OK.

We have to do better from now on. This can't happen again. I'm gonna ask Mana if she can get me my old suit back. The ceremonial armor of Khonshu's avatar. Khonshu's not here, but who knows? She's magic. Maybe she can make it work.

Yeah. We do need to be better. We didn't really become W.E.B in there. We were just very scattered. For like, obvious reasons but we should do better. Especially if we're going to help and protect people.

You better be really specific with her about the suit. If not it might not work out.

Edited 2022-09-06 05:51 (UTC)

I'll head on down to W.E.B. HQ soon. We can chat about strategy. Get some emergency plans laid out.

Hah, I'd be real cheesed off if she hands me a completely normal suit that looks like my old one. Some bootleg version. Yeah, I'll be specific. If I can't summon it, it's worth bugger all.

Honestly, we should call a group meeting to make sure everyone is on the same page about emergencies. Have a plan everyone knows.

You want to be able to change at a moments notice. Not have to go through the awkward fumble of changing as stuff gets worse. I used to have a suit that did that, but, I don't think I can make nanotech happen here.

Aye aye, Captain.

-Man.

Captain Spider-Man.

It doesn't need to be nanotech, does it? Maybe Mana can give you a suit to summon with magic too.

Captain Spider-Man feels very weird, I gotta admit. Maybe sounds better than Captain America, lol.

Yeah, I guess not. I always preferred technology or something I like made myself over magic? Nothing wrong with magic, but, I don't have a lot of experience with it.

Captain America wouldn't really hold much weight to it in this place anyway, right? Not exactly a global superpower anymore, is it? It'd have to be Captain Ryslig.

I don't have all that much experience with magic either, but it seems like it gets the job done. It's intuitive enough.

Even then, I'm pretty sure everyone would argue even worse here about Captain Ryslig than they do about what Captain America represents back home.

I'll think about it? I kinda sorta knew Doctor Strange, his magic looked cool and really complicated.

Ok fair. Maybe just Captain, to keep it real ambiguous.

What's Doctor Strange like in real life? Is he nice, or...?

[And if that sounds like small talk, it is. Steven's just trying to keep himself distracted from other things.]

We'll name him, Captain Bad Ideas. Everyone would love that.

He's kinda cranky actually? Like, we didn't talk a lot mind you, but he was really focused on stopping Thanos. He did this thing where he saw every possibility that could ever happen. It was freaky to look at honestly. Like freaky and cool.

I think he like has a fake goatee, but Ned insists its real.

[Peter is happy to indulge in small talk.]

Hang on, he saw every possibility? Every outcome? Wouldn't those have been infinite? On account of the butterfly effect? If you stack those butterfly effects on top of one another there'd be billions and billions of branching options.

If he has magic, why would he have a fake goatee? Couldn't he use magic to grow a real one?

Or just grow a real one because human beings can do that?

Apparently?? I dunno how he did that in the two minutes I saw him do the hand thingy. Like every outcome sucked worse than us dying for five years, so he went with that one? I dunno, I'd try to find the one option that sucked less??

It kinda looked drawn on, that's all I'm saying. Maybe there are magic rules against hair growth.

Well, I'm sure he knew what he was doing when he made that choice. He is the Ultimate Sorceror, isn't he?

[He's misremembering the term Sorcerer Supreme, rip.]

Drawn on, huh? Maybe he has some sort of magical 2D goatee. It transcends time and space.

[Peter will not inform Steven either.]

Yeah, he is. He also kinda made that choice without consulting us. So, sometimes I get a little frustrated about that fight. Probably dumb on my part ngl.

Oh my god. I hope so.

Edited 2022-09-12 20:49 (UTC)

Sounds like a good reason to get frustrated, honestly. Even if he knew what he was doing, allowing half the universe to get rubbed out for five years should be more of a team decision.

Anyway, is there anything else I missed in these last few weeks I should know about? New team members? New cases? I read something about a museum heist.

It was kinda framed like the only option. It wasn't really great. I know I shouldn't really complain tbh.

Honestly, its mostly been people trying to recover and deal with what happened.

Oh... So no juicy crime to sink our teeth into?

[He was kind of hoping for a distraction. And a means to do some good, because he sure is feeling useless right now.]

IC Inbox | Ryslig

3/3

< HasNoFear >

<P.B.P>

< HasNoFear >

<P.B.P>

< HasNoFear >

<P.B.P> 1/2

<P.B.P> 2/2

< HasNoFear >

<P.B.P>

< HasNoFear >

<P.B.P>

< HasNoFear >

<P.B.P>

< HasNoFear >

<P.B.P>

< HasNoFear >

<P.B.P>

< HasNoFear >

<P.B.P>

< HasNoFear >

<P.B.P>

< HasNoFear >

<P.B.P>

< HasNoFear >

<P.B.P>

< HasNoFear >

<P.B.P>

< HasNoFear >

<P.B.P>

WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, HASNOFEAR. FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE 13.15.15.14 * HASNOFEAR has joined 13.15.15.14 <HASNOFEAR>** Hello! This is Steven Grant! If you need something, just leave me a message and I'll get back to you asap!