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[img]https://i.imgur.com/fCa90aX.jpg[/img][/center]


[color=#A4303F][b]“Alex?”[/b][/color] She called in the tent. She wandered outside.[color=#A4303F][b] “Alex -”[/b][/color] There he was, holding up a wall, head bowed, spiritual tail between his legs and looking at something in his palm. She walked silently beside him, the top of her head barely reaching his shoulder. [color=#A4303F][b]“Alex.”[/b][/color]

He jumped back, eyes switching between red, green, blue, a stream of stuttering gibberish gushing from his mouth until his gaze focused on her and the glow in his eyes faded. Umbri leaned on the wall beside him, looking ahead. Across the street was a graffitied memorial of Hardcase.

[color=#A4303F][b]“Can I tell you a story?”[/b][/color] She spoke up after a moment.

Alex’s hands quickly found their way into his pockets as he regained some level of composure. [color=deepskyblue][b]”Uh, sure. Go ahead.“[/b][/color] There was a slight raising of one of his eyebrows that signaled his confusion. But he seemed attentive enough as he relaxed against the wall again, mostly facing her.

She looked down, and began,

[center][i]Once upon a time, a beggar girl followed the cry of a lone kitten into a cave.

“Kitten, why are you crying?” she asked.

“My mother left me because I am too weak to hunt,” the kitten said, “I am so hungry.”

The beggar girl felt so terribly for the unfortunate thing. “Don’t cry, kitten. I will feed you,” she decided.

So she fed the kitten scraps from her own meals. She scraped meat from the bones from the butcher’s bins, and offered any little critter she could catch. The kitten grew into a cat. One day the cat asked her, “Why do you feed me?”

“I feed you because I love you,” the beggar girl answered.

“I love you because you feed me,” the cat replied. It was enough for the beggar girl to know she too was loved.

Over many days, the cat grew. The scraps of the beggar girl’s meals were not enough to fill it. She did not want to lose the love of her friend. She fed the cat her every meal and took what scraps it left behind for herself. Its belly bulged with the food she went without. It grew into a lion.

“Lion, you are strong enough to hunt now,” the beggar girl told it.

“But I never learned how,” the lion said, “I’m still so hungry.”

“Please. I do not have enough to feed you,” the beggar girl cried.

“Then I will starve.”

The lion curled inside its cave and did not move. For seven days and seven nights it wasted away, until the beggar girl was so become she offered to feed it her legs.

The lion ate.

The beggar girl could no longer walk to find food. When the lion grew hungry, she gave it her arms.

The beggar girl could no longer use her hands to beg. When the lion was hungry, she would let it devour her, until all there was left to give was her heart.

“Why do you feed me?” the lion asked the last piece of its friend.

“I feed you because I love you,” the heart murmured.

“I feed because I am hungry,” the lion cried. With that, the lion consumed the beggar girl’s heart, and said,

“Thank you. I am finally full.”[/i][/center]

Umbri took a break after finishing the story, like meditating after a prayer. Then she rolled her head Alex’s direction and met his gaze straight.

[color=#A4303F][b]“What do you think it means?”[/b][/color]

Alex raised an eyebrow at Umbri. Not really sure what the correct answer here would be. So, he figured to go with the second thought that came to mind. [color=deepskyblue][b]”A warning to not be so charitable that it becomes a detriment to yourself?”[/b][/color] He could see that being a decent interpretation. He also wasn’t so dense as to not notice that there was a chance she was trying to make parallels to him with his helping and disposition to gifts. That didn’t click well with him.

Years of not being shown unconditional love or kindness by one’s only remaining parent at the time tended to foster certain forms of reactions later in life. Neglect and abuse had turned Alex into a people pleaser and defaulted to being helpful and showing some degree of kindness when able despite his insecurities and perceived failures. Better than the alternatives by far. It did have a very nasty side effect on his mind when such actions were met with resistance and contradictions. Gifts shouldn’t have to be paid back, kindness shouldn’t need some sort of catch or angle to it.

Alex swallowed the rising bile and did his best to hide his tension and frustration. He wasn’t going to budge on any of this if he could help it. Part of him wanted to find something to hit again. Had to keep that caged. 

Umbri glanced down, a crease in her brow. [color=#A4303F][b]“Hm,”[/b][/color] she pondered. [color=#A4303F][b]“I guess that could be right.”[/b][/color]

It was glaringly obvious that he didn’t know what to do with himself at this time. He could distract her by leading them back through the other side of the market, or just head directly back to Jemma and the others. Being boxed in wasn’t the right word for what he was feeling right now, but SOMETHING made him feel like there wasn’t a direct way out of this situation with a woman that was not even half his size. Irritation sparked and he could feel his face twitch. Anger and frustration bubbled like magma in his gut. His hands fidgeted in his pockets. Alex looked away, trying to hide a complicated mix of discomfort and anxiety that he was only barely keeping together.

Umbri's jaw clenched. She looked between the groups of people drifting by, absorbed in their own social bubbles, but still, present. [i]Say something to please him -[/i] [b]No.[/b] [i]He's getting angry, pacify him -[/i] [b]I'm not working.[/b] [i]Just give him what he wants.[/i] [b]I don't even know what that is.[/b] [i]Dance, Marionette![/i] [b]I'm. Not. Working.[/b]

[color=#A4303F][b]"I'm not going to ask if you're OK."[/b][/color] She spoke up. [i]Harsh.[/i] The gaze she'd averted from him fluttered back and down, betraying her nerves. She continued softer, [color=#A4303F][b]"You'll just have to tell me. You'll... always just have to tell me."[/b][/color] She brought a finger to her lips. [color=#A4303F][b]"... Maybe, quietly. I understand your -[i] reputation."[/i][/b][/color] A subtle nudge of the finger to the busy street. [color=#A4303F][b]"I’ve seen how you’ve worked hard for it."[/b][/color]

All the tension came to ahead as Alex became very still. With a strained look to his face, he turned to look at Umbri. Clear skepticism on display, but there was a glimmer of . . . maybe hope. If you knew where to look.  There was a barely registerable flickering of power in his eyes. He swallowed again. Keep it down. [color=deepskyblue][b]” . . .Are you saying you’re willing to listen?”[/b][/color]

‘She’s just trying to dig herself out of the hole she has made. She’s scared. You know she saw you brutalize that Apex. Are you really any better than Temujin? You could kill so easily, why wouldn't she look at you like some monster. Umbri is just placating you, trying to de-escalate because she’s terrified. Monster. Maybe you will lash out and hit her like your father would had. MONSTER.’

He tried to ignore the noise. Letting out a breath he didn’t know he was holding in.

[color=#A4303F][b]“It’s an unhealthy habit, but it’s what I do.”[/b][/color] She folded her arms and leaned on the wall sideways with a sigh. A brief smile. [color=#A4303F][b]“You listened to my story, didn’t you?”[/b][/color]

[color=deepskyblue][b]“Yeah . . . never really expected the courtesy for myself.”[/b][/color] Some of the tension started to leave now and it showed as Alex readjusted himself on the wall. He paused for a second and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. [color=deepskyblue][b]”That's also probably unhealthy huh?”[/b][/color] 

Umbri looked at him expectantly. [color=#A4303F][b][i]“Yeah.”[/i][/b][/color] Certain threads of this man were starting to weave her a decent picture, but it was still missing, right in the middle, the answer to that question - [i]How can someone this powerful and this liked be…[/i] [color=#A4303F][b]“So… is there anything you wanted to say?”[/b][/color]

Fuck. 

We’re actually doing this aren’t we?

[color=deepskyblue][b]”Do you know what put Shieldtown on a pedestal? What helped to give it its reputation?“[/b][/color] Softly glowing eyes gazed up towards the plates. He thought back to the day he lost his life,  so to speak. [color=deepskyblue][b]”This place was made on the back and ideals of one Rogue. And when he died, a man in glowing blue armor stepped up out of necessity and desperation in the heat of the moment. Aegis is stronger than Hardcase ever was. And everyone knows it.“[/b][/color] 

The short lived laugh that escaped Alex’s lips was bitter to the ears. [color=deepskyblue][b]”But he’s not Hardcase. Who’s to say he can handle the pressure? Not like he can afford to break under it. The mounting responsibility, expectations . . . Stress. Who knows, maybe that will kill him before any monster or villain does.“[/b][/color]

Alex slumped down the wall a bit, closer to eye level with Umbri. [color=deepskyblue][b]”You want to know the saddest part of it all?“[/b][/color]

Umbri gave him a gentle nod to go ahead.

Alex sucked in a breath and held his eyes shut right. Speaking words he had only ever told one other person in his entire life.[color=deepskyblue][b]”That power like that all came from a Trauma breaking point. And that the [i]unbreakable[/i] Rogue of Shieldtown . . . deep down is a neglected and abused boy . . . that’s desperately trying to be better than his angry alcoholic father . . . . .  who he killed in a fit of new power fueled fight or flight.“[/b][/color]

‘Just met this woman today and you drop all this on her? Your a fucking piece of work dude. You're just gonna get a moment of pity at most. Maybe a half hearted pep talk. Pathetic.’ Alex shook his fathers voice out of his forethought’s.

The ghost of his Father was wrong. It was neither. It was,

[color=#A4303F][b]“Oh.”[/b][/color]