metalogs | [OPEN] hope dangles on a string

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✗ eddie myers | original

[OPEN] hope dangles on a string

Who: Harry Osborn

nepotis and YOU!
What: Harry tries to grocery shop, and also beats up some NPCs
When: mid-March
Where: Central City
Content Warnings: wanton violence, possible mentions of alcoholism and poor coping habits

[ Harry Osborn is not a hero. He has no desire to "save" people, nor is he particularly suited for it. Conversely, he certainly doesn't think of himself as a villain, either, but then... who would? More than that, he has no interest in "reforming" himself to fit any mold this world has set for its metahuman residents. As such, he has no plans to join either of the guilds offering memberships and free handouts. He'll find his own way, by tooth and nail if he has to. ]

01. Independent Streak ⋯

[ Harry knows that his life will be different now that he's been cut off from Daddy's money. He's eventually going to have to find a job, find housing, find a way to feed and clothe himself without a team of staff to take care of those needs for him. His money and housing concerns are largely taken care of at least for now, but given how he has no intention of joining either of those guilds anytime, he knows it would be in his best interests to start making headway on independence now.

The main hurdle Harry has to clear to attain real independence is learning to cook for himself. His entire life, he's either had private chefs or school meal plans doing all the cooking for him. While he still has the Alliance's no-limit credit card, he could feasibly order takeout or delivery for every meal, but logically, he knows that cooking skills will take time, so he'd better get started learning sooner rather than later.

Which is how he ends up at the grocery store closest to the Diadem Hotel, shopping for supplies and ingredients. So far, he has in his cart:
a carton of eggs
a 5lb bag of yellow onions
a package of frozen meatballs
a jar of cocktail sauce
salt and pepper shakers
a value pack of 6 chicken breasts
a box of frosted flakes
It's clear this poor boy needs help. He stands in the pasta aisle, completely stymied by the sheer overwhelming number of shapes. ]

What's the difference between penne, and penne rigate? [ He asks no one in particular, holding up two near identical boxes.

Or maybe you run into him in the bakery department, purchasing the smallest, saddest birthday cake, only big enough for one person to eat alone. He stands in front of the rack holding the number-shaped candles, picking out a "2" and a "1." ]

02. Heal Thyself ⋯

[ A curious thing had happened to Harry when he crashed down in Excelsior during the last Confluence. Angered by an influencer who had turned his head into an emoji, Harry had let loose punch after punch, taking out all the pent-up rage and frustration that had been building in him since his father's death. That's not what's curious, though. What's curious is that, after beating poor Emoji to a pulp, the telltale signs of Harry's terminal condition— the patchy skin on his neck, his shaking hands— had miraculously been cured. The effect was only temporary, though, and Harry quickly realized that if he wanted to stave off the slow, insidious progression of his deadly disease, he would have to make this a regular thing.

And so, though he is neither "hero" nor "villain," Harry spends his days walking the streets and back alleys of Central City, looking for marks he can beat up and leave bloodied, then walking away hale and hearty, whistling an innocent tune. He uses the Alliance credit card to buy a set of brass knuckles which he keeps tucked away in his jacket pocket and slips on whenever he's cornered a new victim. He's smart about it, hiding his identity with a hood, dark sunglasses, and a medical mask. If anyone questions why he's buying a 50-pack of disposable masks, he simply replies, ]

Cold and flu season.

[ Is it actually cold and flu season? Who knows. Not Harry. ]

03. Wildcard ⋯

[ Want something else? HMU @ millennialfalcon! Will match prose/brackets. ]

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[Eddie is hardly what one would call a capable adult, but he has at least managed to make it to adulthood with basic cooking skills, because surely he, his dad, and his uncles would have long perished if between them they were incapable of a few basic meals.

Which is why he's doing his own basic shopping with some ingredients to make something cheap and easy when he stumbles across a poor soul.]

Uhhh ridges, I think.

[Out of curiosity, Eddie glances down at the guy's basket. That is almost a cry for help. He'd maybe feel better about it if the stuff was from similar aisles or something and that was just the start of his shopping, but...]

Are... you okay?

Ridges...?

[ Harry looks down at the box in his hand, trying to look at the pasta inside the little cellophane window. ...Huh. The "rigate" box does have ridges, while the other one doesn't.

He puts the rigate box in his cart and deposits the other one back on the shelf... somewhere, not really making an effort to put it back where it's supposed to go. It's probably next to some rigatoni. ]

I'm fine.

[ He glares at this all-too-helpful stranger, as if daring him to contradict his words. ]

[Now if this scowly stranger asked what the difference between them was, Eddie would be at a loss. He knew how to cook stuff, he wasn't a chef scientist.

...Was that even a thing? It had to be a thing. Right?

Focus, Eddie!

Seeing the pasta go back in the wrong place, he automatically puts it back correctly so some random grocery store worker doesn't have to later.

At the glare, Eddie stops and takes a good look at the pasta-unaware guy. Ah, a cactus then. Luckily Eddie is 93.7% metal. Makes dealing with them a bit easier.]

I don't think anyone's fine after being thrown into a whole new world, yeah? I mean I certainly wasn't.

[ Harry keeps pushing his cart, only stopping to stand in front of the many shelves of sauce jars, trying to decide whether a white sauce or a red sauce would be better with his penne rigate.

His eyes flick over to the guy following him, taking in his appearance, his general bubbly demeanor, the way he seems to want to engage with Harry despite all the "leave me the fuck alone" vibes he's trying to give off.

Fine. Whatever. He can do this. He can make small talk in the grocery store. ]

Let me guess, you came in the first Confluence wave?

[Eddie has never let a "leave me the fuck alone" vibe stop him before, and he isn't about to start now.]

If you want something easy, you get some tomato paste and a small can of diced tomatoes and some hamburger meat. You can even add some grated cheese on top.

[Adding onions and pepper into the mix seem above this guy's skill level at the moment, and it would taste just fine without them.]

I mean, yeah, but I'm not claiming to be an expert or anything. Some people from my world got thrown from a different world into mine, so I've heard other stories, you know?

[ Harry glances over with a scowl, but... Yeah. He grabs a can of tomato paste and a can of diced tomatoes. ]

So this sort of thing happens elsewhere, too? It's more common than I thought.

[Eddie sees him and just grins.]

I don't think a lot of places. It feels like the more superheroes a place has, the higher the likelihood of "weird bullshit".

I'm going to guess yours had a very low number.

[ Harry holds up a single finger. ]

Yeah. Just the one, really. Spider-Man.

[ It's clear from Harry's resentful tone how he feels about Spider-Man. ]

[Spider-Man. He's heard that name before. And he's pretty sure he's met, uh, one(?) of them. Still, he somehow manages to keep a neutral face.]

He sounds like a right bastard by the way you said their name.

[ Harry heaves a heavy, put-upon sigh. He doesn't really want to get into his vendetta against Spider-Man in the middle of the pasta aisle at Sav-Mart. ]

Let's just say, he says he's all about saving people. But when I asked him for his help to save my life, he turned his back on me.

[Well that's a little ominous. And leaves Eddie with a lot more questions, but he isn't sure if it will lead to him wanting to punch a Spider-Man or lead to the guy cackling maniacally in the middle of the superstore... and it really says something when Eddie can't figure out which way that conversation could turn out.]

Do you still need help?

[ This really isn't something he was looking to get into with a complete and total stranger in the middle of doing his grocery shopping, but. This is Harry's life now, apparently. ]

I'm... working on it. [ That's as good an answer as any. ] There are some people in this world who might have answers I couldn't get back home.

[Sorry, his urge to try to help someone overrode the idea to even ask himself "is this an appropriate conversation to have in the middle of a grocery store?"]

I hope they can. If you want me to ask some smart people I know, let me know. But it's not my place to do anything if you don't want it.

(Godzilla has to admit: there's something kinda nice about being in a city full of people used to all kinds of superhero shenanigans. Shrunken down kaijus draw in surprisingly less attention, as if big G isn't the only lizard walking around Central City. He'd still get looks here and there, but more often than not, they let him be.

And what a time to not be noticed. There's something pretty suspicious about the hooded guy trying to keep his head down. He can't pinpoint what it is, but something insists he needs to keep an eye on him. Keeping to his current height of seven feet, Godzilla decides to tail him. A tall reptile isn't exactly subtle, but at the same time, neither is a hoodie with a mask and sunglasses.)

[ Just as Harry's victim is unaware that Harry is following him, Harry too is unaware that he is being followed. He's too focused on running through his plan in his head.

Get the guy alone. Get him cornered. A knee to the stomach, to get him bent over. Grab him by the hair, hold him still so he can slip on the brass knuckles and go for his face. If his eyes are swollen shut, he can't get a good look at his attacker.

The guy is just leaving work at a small corner store, locking the gate behind him and carrying a large trash bag around the corner to an alley where the dumpster is. Silently, Harry follows him into the alley. ]

(Once the worker comes into view, it clicks in Godzilla's head. The lurking, the air of menace...it'd be one thing if he were simply out hunting (something G's not sure humans really do, especially against each other), but this? This guy's hunting for sport. People don't read like this unless they specifically want to harm another. In this case, an innocent man.

Not on Godzilla's watch.

The reptile creeps into the alley as well, a look of frustration about him. He knows if Harry's allowed to proceed any further, the poor guy's gonna have the injuries to show for it, so he picks up the pace and reaches out to tug on Harry's shoulder. It's not too forceful, but it's enough to make the reptile known. If he bothers looking back, Godzilla's shaking his head with a groan.)

[ Harry jerks around, face scrunching up in confusion when faced with... Some kind of dinosaur person? ]

What the fucking...? Get off me!

[ He tries to yank his shoulder free from the lizard's arm, but by the time he turns back around, his quarry has run off in the other direction, clearly sensing that it's for the best he doesn't stick around and see the conclusion of this. ]

Well, fuck—! Great. That's great.

(Godzilla watches the man run off, good instincts guiding him to book it before things escalate with him around. Good. He may never know how fortunate he was today, but the fact that the idea can be pondered lets Godzilla breathe a resolute snort. Problem solved.

Sort of. There's still the matter of the dodgy kid, who Godzilla lets go of once the other guy clears on out. Might've stopped one attack, but what's to stop the kid from going after someone else another day? As such, the lizard looks Harry in the eyes, expecting an explanation. Demanding one outright is not possible, but with folded arms, he insists he's not leaving just like that.)

[ Harry isn't all that tall, and up against a huge lizard person, he feels even smaller, but the rage building up inside of him is big enough that it boils over, causing him to snarl and rush, throwing useless punch after useless punch at the lizard's tough hide. ]

You—! You don't know what you're messing with! Don't fucking—! Do this to me—! I need this—!

(Godzilla makes it a point to avoid fighting humans as much as possible. They're tiny and very fragile, compared to him. The superpowered folk are a different story, but even so, he only takes them on if they're a threat.

And right now? He's dealing with a very angry adult throwing punches that don't phase the lizard. Even with brass knuckles, those punches don't even scratch his scales. Harry's throwing a tantrum and better he take it out on Godzilla than the poor dude who just clocked out for the day.

Godzilla keeps his arms folded, taking every punch thrown his way and not budging in the slightest. He'll wait for the frail human to tire himself out before trying to get him talking.)

[ With the way Harry's new powers work, if he's not causing injury, then he doesn't get any of the healing benefits. So he throws punches until he's blown off enough steam to calm down a bit, breathing shakily through his nose and shaking his head, looking away from the fucking lizard dude. He runs a frustrated hand through his hair, tossing off his hood.

That's when the need for the healing makes itself apparent. A patch of green, scaly, deformed skin creeping across the side of Harry's neck. He shakes out his hand, having actually bruised his knuckles hitting the tough hide of the lizard. Godzilla might find himself feeling somewhat healed, though unintentionally. Harry's power works both way, after all. He hurts others, he heals himself. Likewise, he can hurt himself to heal others. ]

Fucking... There's no point. What am I even doing?

(Oh, it's admittedly strange. Never has someone taken a swing at Godzilla and he felt better because of it. He's seeing all kinds of superpowers in this place. That thought gets pushed aside once he sees the scaly growth on Harry's neck. That's not normal for a human. A lizard like Godzilla, sure, but the lizard immediately takes a look of concern upon noticing it.

He tilts his head to the side and points a scaled finger towards that malformed skin. What the hell is that about, man? He's getting the sense you're not happy about it, Harry, but he is admittedly curious.)

[ Harry swipes his hand in an instinctual attempt to knock the lizard's hand away the second he starts reaching out to point out the skin on his neck. ]

—Don't. [ He takes a deep breath in through his nose, and lets it out through clenched teeth. It's clear that this giant lizard is smart enough to see what's up, even if he can't ask about it out loud. Harry shakes his head. ]

I don't want to talk about it.

(Okay, it's a sensitive issue. Got it. For once, it seems the inability to speak may come in handy, if Harry really doesn't want to talk about it. Still, that's a serious issue and something should be done. Could it be why he was about to attack that innocent man? Because he needs help treating whatever the heck that thing is growing on him?

The lizard briefly fumbles through his belongings and offers his credit card from the Guardian Alliance. If it's money Harry needs, then the big guy's willing to part with it. Not like he spends much, anyway.)

[ What the hell? Harry isn't sure what to expect until the lizard finally pulls out whatever he was looking for. Harry just shakes his head, and waves the offered card away. ]

I've got one of those already. Sometimes there are things that money can't buy, as strange as that sounds.

[ It's a lesson he's had to learn the hard way. ]

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[OPEN] hope dangles on a string

01. Independent Streak ⋯

02. Heal Thyself ⋯

03. Wildcard ⋯

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