Morose

Hooked on a Feeling

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Guinevere Stark

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Guin raised an eyebrow as Lance let go of her, before grabbing a blanket from MIT and snuggling up with it. She wished Lance hadn't let go of her, as it had actually been relatively calming - not that she'd ever tell him that. It was just another thing that she'd never tell a soul - that she actually enjoyed being held. As much as she was fiercely independent and had a mouth on her, it was just a nice and calming feeling. "Why do you think that?" Guin asked him. "Hunches always have some sort of basis - unless you agreed to spy on me for him or something, can't think of an explanation."

She nodded, thinking it through. She tended to fixate on the smaller details of things, rather than pay attention to the big picture. Case in point, she was still trying to think through the basis of Lance's hunch, even though it was hardly important for the overall mission. "There shouldn't be any problem for me to code the virus that'll be placed on their machines and upload their information to the Stark Secure Server - only Dad and me have access to that, so it'll be fine. Pepper might have access to actually, not too sure...But anyways, it's extremely private and you are now one of the few people in the world who knows it exists."

Hooked on a Feeling

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Guinevere Stark

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Guin shrugged a bit, letting go of Lance but not moving away, so that way he was still holding her. "Honestly, if my dad thinks we're a couple, it's whatever. Besides, I doubt he'd get that impression - he'd understand that we'd really just be going as friends. Just a formality that you'd be down as my date for the event purposes," Guin explained with a shrug. It was hard to justify bringing a friend with her to a charity ball. But if Lance was her date, then it was easier to get him inside. She was more worried about the potential that Maddie might find out about it and turn Lance's life into a national spectacle.

"And I wouldn't accept that offer...Hammer smells like crazy, y'know?" Guin cautioned Lance. "Besides, my dad might get pissed if he finds out you went to work for Hammer Industries," she pointed out with a bit of a laugh. "The ball itself is in two weeks - plenty of time before the Expo. It also gives us time to figure out exactly what we're doing, for me to write the code and whatnot... And for us to convince my dad that you should be added as my plus-one to the guest list. He's kinda scrutinizing everything I do since...well, you know."

The Horrors of Coventry - Concluded

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@Nallore@FantasyChic@BlueSky44

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December 29th, 2016 - 12:15 P.M. EST - 1 Day Since Hel Returned

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Jade Cornish

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Location: Cromwell House - Suite 313 - O.M.E.N. Temporary HQ
Interacting With: Various

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Mallory nodded at Jessica in agreement on the second floor. "This house is filled with restless spirits...Souls who did not move on and yet are somehow preserved..." she murmured. She appeared to be human to all who saw her, yet to Jessica, her spiritual form was becoming more and more prominent. The shadowy outline of her true self, a kumakatok, was easy to see in this place. She was standing by the window, just looking outside before she turned to look at her temporary roommate. "I want to find the source of this darkness...Whatever it is that traps these spirits here..."

Outside of the house, Folly glanced at her companions as they entered the property. All they needed to do was find the O.M.E.N. agents, tell them what had happened, and then they would be absolved of their debt. Hel wouldn't be their problem much longer. It wouldn't bring back everyone they had lost, but it would be a start at least. "We're not screwed..." Folly whispered softly. She walked up and down the halls of the first floor, but there didn't seem to be anyone matching the description of an O.M.E.N. agent. "Maybe they're just upstairs..."

Up on the third floor, Jade nodded at Alex. Ricky was standing to Alex's side like a shadow. He wasn't the nervous type, but he also wasn't incredibly talkative. He'd been relatively quiet ever since the massacre at O.M.E.N. HQ, preferring to just speak when it was necessary. Of all the psychological responses to witnessing an event such as that, it wasn't that bad. It could have easily been far worse - a complete mental break like some of the other witnesses had experienced. And none of them had been at the true Ground Zero.

"I'm assuming you didn't make good on her deal...So no one will have followed through with her command. She easily could enact her threat but...No, this is about power. And real power isn't weapons - it's fear and collecting followers," Jade mused, more talking to herself than to Alex. "She'll do the same thing she did at O.M.E.N. soon. Tonight, I'm guessing. Leave a handful of survivors, instruct another to play messenger. After all...if the governments bow to her, then the people will follow."

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Robin Ramírez & Aloise Zamora

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Location: Cabin in Springfield
Interacting With: Mariana Garcia @Nallore, Hel

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Although Robin appreciated her cousin's hug, it didn't help to calm her nerves. A hug from a hunter before a hunt was essentially a prediction of death. And while Robin had already come to that conclusion, hearing Mariana confirm it just made it all the more real. She wanted to notch an arrow on one of her bows and shoot at Hel the moment she entered the cabin, but she knew that it'd jeopardize the plan and the fate of the world as well.

The door flew off its hinges as Hel entered. Her body was like a grotesque mirror of itself - one side youthful and radiant, the other old and decaying. On the damaged side, some of her skin had fallen off in flakes to reveal rotted muscle and bone below. Aloise slowly bent her knee, before motioning for Mariana and Robin to do the same. Robin did so with hesitation, hating that she had to bow to a mass murderer - but knowing that they needed Hel to shut the gates before they could reveal their status as traitors to her.

"My messenger failed me," Hel said simply, not motioning that it was acceptable to rise. "Fenrir has been slain. And I am no nearer to regaining my cloak than I was when I first arrived on Midgard after centuries of exile...In fact, I am further from it..." Hel said coldly. "I will make an example of him, show this planet what happens when I am disobeyed...I do not relish in their misery and pain, but it must be done for the good of all. They must learn that I am not one that can be trifled with."

"Of course, my goddess," Aloise said. "We'll do our best to aid you however we can."

Hooked on a Feeling

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Guinevere Stark

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She laughed weakly. "Lando, there are somethings that if I told you, I don't think you'd be able to look at me the same way again...I have a hard time thinking of myself in a positive light whenever they come to mind," she admitted cryptically. She wasn't going to say anything else on that subject matter, however. If she gave Lance more details, she knew he'd eventually guess what was wrong - and at the moment, she felt like that was a fate worse than death for someone to learn those secrets. The discussion of Hammer and what his company was up to was something she was far more inclined to speak with Lance about.

"Well...There is one way we can find out what he's up to, but it's illegal," Guin mused. "I could write a program that would hack his files - but you'd need to put it on a flash drive and plug that drive into a computer on the Hammer Industries network. I doubt they're the sort of company that's easy to hack remotely..." She twitched her fingers a bit, trying to come up with a way for them to get onto a Hammer Industries computer. At the same time, she remembered Pepper wishing that she'd attend some sort of public event, in order to generate some positive press after the damage Maddie had done with the rehab story.

"Hammer Industries is hosting a charity ball soon - all the major tech companies are pitching in, but it'll be on their campus...You could come as my date and we can see about getting information off of the computers..." Guin suggested.

Hooked on a Feeling

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Guinevere Stark

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"I'm not against beating them up...Just worried that if I left the tower today, I might end up relapsing," Guin admitted quietly. She never had used drugs in front of Lance before. There had been one or two occasions where he found her dealing with the aftermath of the drug abuse, but it was still hard to swallow her pride and talk to him about this. There was so much that Lance was struggling with in his life - she had to be the strong one in the friendship. She was supposed to be the one comforting him, rather than him comforting her as was happening now.

She made a face as he mentioned Hammer. She had seen some of their products before - and none of them seemed to be anything more than a glorified piece of garbage. The company was all flash with no substance. If it was possible for there to be negative substance, then it'd be a better description. But ever since her father's company stopped manufacturing weapons, Hammer Tech was the big name in weapons manufacturing. They had snapped up the military contracts that Stark Industries no longer held. "If Hammer wants anything from you, it's probably because he's trying to cut corners. He's like Lockhart - doubt he even knows what engineering is. I'd stay clear of him, if only for the sake of your brain cells as you probably killed a few just by talking with him."

Hooked on a Feeling

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Guinevere Stark

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Guin nodded a bit, hearing Lance list off his issues. There were other things that she could have told him, but she didn't think he'd understand them. She hadn't confessed those dark secrets aloud to anyone and as far as she was aware, her father didn't suspect anything as well. Guin returned Lance's hug, letting out a slight sigh as she started to calm down. Their lives were just both horrible messes. And she was certain that any counselor would say it was just part of being a teenager - but they didn't have typical cookie cutter childhoods. "I don't know if I will go beat them up tonight...Probably for the best if I stay where J.A.R.V.I.S. can see me, as Dad's probably having him monitor me constantly now..."

Of course, the real reason was she was afraid she'd relapse if she left the tower.

She nodded a bit at him, not pulling away from him or anything. She was incredibly comfortable around him, having known him since she was twelve. In many ways, he was the closest thing she'd ever have to a brother. "If it's having an intervention or suggesting I go to A.A. or whatever...Not really interested in that," Guin told him. "But if it's something else...Go for it."

Hooked on a Feeling

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Guinevere Stark

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Guin wasn't convinced that everything was going to be okay. She knew that she was at high risk for addiction, given her father's alcoholism. She wasn't aware of her mother having any substance addictions, but to be fair, Guin tried to avoid knowing anything about her mother. It was bad enough that she knew who she was. The world would've been a better place, in her opinion, if she could have pretended that her mother died in childbirth. Or maybe claim Aunt Nat or Pepper as her mother - that would have been the ideal situation. She even would have gone with the ridiculous explanation that Midichlorians had been her mother - that she was conceived by the Force and her father's intellect.

"How can you know it'll be okay?" she asked him quietly, letting him hold her. "My mother uses me to get her five seconds of fame...My dad flies around in a metal suit and nearly got himself killed at the Battle of New York...I have deep hidden insecurities that result in a need for attention...And every day, my mind goes a little faster and it feels like I'm out of sync with the world - like I'm just waiting for everyone around me to catch up, as if this is a horribly buffering movie you're streaming on Netflix...I just get so sad and overwhelmed and scared and angry, Lando..."

She did laugh slightly at his attempt to cheer her up. "Yeah...I sprayed the insides of their lockers with an amine, so they'll reek for ages...Was going to go to this party Flash is hosting tonight and cut them off on the way there, beat them black and blue in an alley or something..."

Hooked on a Feeling

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Guinevere Stark

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Guin crumbled into Lance, leaning on him as she cried softly. It had been hard enough to figure out how to broach the subject with her father - and he had been the one to start the conversation. Talking to her father about her addiction was one thing - talking to Lance about it was venturing into all new territory. They hadn't really talked about what happened and how she had ended up in rehab, much less the time she spent there. She tried to dry her eyes on her sleeve but the tears kept on coming.

"I'm fine..." she told him softly. "It's just...Look, I'm not doing great, Lando. I haven't been doing great for a while. So like last night, after you went home, I was going to swallow a handful of pills and see if I could make everything a little more tolerable. I didn't do it, but Dad found my stash while I was at school...Hence why I'm crying like a little kid right now..."

Hooked on a Feeling

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Guinevere Stark

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Guin nodded, hugging her father back. Had it been a different scenario, she would've pointed out that rumors of drug use didn't mean she was doing drugs. Someone could easily start a rumor just with the intent of getting her in trouble for something she didn't do. Yet given that Tony wasn't sending her off to rehab or grounding her or anything, she figured she ought to just be content with the outcome she had received. Content was the wrong word, however. She felt numb and depressed at the same time, just sitting on the couch as tears welled up in her eyes and eventually became too much, spilling over the edge and falling freely.

She glanced at Lance, trying to think of some sassy remark to say but she was at her emotional limit. She frowned when she saw his black eye but she was already in tears and somehow, seeing Lance just made her cry even more. Part of her brain told her to go do drugs to calm down, but her father had just taken away her entire stash. There wasn't much she could do about that, short of going out and replenishing the supply now - and she really didn't want him to send her to rehab again. It had been a horrible experience. "Hey Lando..." she said softly, her voice shaking.

Hooked on a Feeling

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Guinevere Stark

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Hammer paused before he launched into an explanation. "We have a big presentation coming up at the Stark Expo, buddy. It's our chance to shake up the playing field. Now, I can't tell you any specifics without you officially coming on board and joining us as an intern, but the project will be key to making a strong showing at the Expo. It could make or break a new direction that we're interested in pushing our company."

Guin nodded at Tony numbly. She knew that he was right - that this was dangerous. And there wasn't really anything she could say to make things better. She'd made her choice and replenished her stash. Wiping her eyes on her sleeve again, Guin glanced up at Tony before looking at the ground again. The ground didn't seem to be nearly as judgmental as her father was at the moment. "I know...I...I...I don't know why I got a new stash..." she mumbled. She peeked up at him again before instantly regretting it. "Please don't hate me..."