maskormenace | Text; Pull Point Plot (Aged-Down Barnaby)

Entry tags:

Text; Pull Point Plot (Aged-Down Barnaby)

[The attached ID reads Barnaby Brooks Jr. As a spokesman for a prominent energy drink brand, his name and face are splashed on all sorts of magazines and advertisements, and anyone who's been here for even a short amount of time might know him as a hero who's very public about his crime-fighting activities.

Generally speaking, it's rare for him to use text over the network. Of course, the message that follows doesn't exactly mesh with his usual image, either.]

I've got three questions. If you've got an answer for any of these, I want to hear from you.

#1: What do you know about this symbol?

#2: Who the hell is this?

#3: Do your numbers reflect the market's ACTUAL demand for heroes, or are you all just calling yourselves heroes because it's become the popular thing to do? At this rate, your characters are just going to overlap. Unless you've got a good hook, your odds of standing out or building a solid fanbase are pretty abysmal.

[You shouldn't need a 15-year-old kid telling you this, he irritably thinks to himself. And yet here we are.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Barnaby looks up from where he's been sipping a glass of water, arching an eyebrow at the man who wasted thirty minutes of his life, and instinctively sized him up. He's clearly younger than the "friend" in his photos, but still very much the same person. His broad shoulders and admittedly nice build hints at someone who's done a bit of working out, and that spot on his collar suggests someone who doesn't pay as much attention to appearances as he should.

Kotetsu T. Kaburagi.

Barnaby doesn't say anything at first, and simply gives the man a relatively blank, yet icy stare.]

[Wait. Wait just a minute here.

Kotetsu takes a couple more steps forward to get a better look at this future friend and--ohhhhhh. He scratches at his cheek, awkwardly.]

W-well, I guess I know what you meant now about being someone I wouldn't wanna have a drink with....

That's what I thought. [His words are punctuated with a slow sip of water.] Next time you invite someone out over the internet, you should at least check to see if they're a minor. People will get the wrong idea, you know.

[HUFF.]

How was I supposed to check that!! You were talking over text!

[It's called asking, Kotetsu.]

Exactly. I didn't want to advertise my age to everyone on the network. Give someone the opportunity to take advantage of you, and they just might go for it.

That's a pretty cynical way of looking at things, y'know. I bet people woulda wanted to watch out for you, rather than that.

[Crosses his arms with a harrumph sorta noise.]

Anyyyyyway, you wanna get smoothies or something instead?

You think this is the first bar I've been to? [By now, all that's left in his cup is ice, but like hell he's going to chew on it. It's noisy and rude, not to mention bad for his teeth.] Believe me, I know the kind of people who are out there, and they can't be trusted.

[He assesses Kotetsu again with the look of a skittish cat that's debating on whether to approach this stranger or not.]

...Where did you have in mind?

...Kinda, yeah. [what r u doin' in bars, small underage child.]

But there's plenty of good people out there, too. I mean, not saying that you shouldn't be careful, 'cause there's a reason they tell kids that whole stranger danger thing, but I just mean...we're all stuck in this weird situation together, right? So we gotta watch each other's backs.

[He scritches at his dumb beard, thinking.]

We could look for one, I guess. Or, uh...google it?

[LOOK he said an internet thing right!]

...It'd be nice if it were that simple. [He doesn't want anyone on the network to know his age, let alone expose his back to some stranger.

Barnaby pauses at that before answering:]

...Or we could just get some non-alcoholic drinks here and save ourselves the trouble.

Life's never simple. But you can't go through it without ever trusting anyone, that's just impossible.

...We could do that, yeah. What do you like? Soda? Lemonade?

There are some people I trust, I guess. But they're people I actually know, like the nuns at the orphanage, or my parents' old friends. To be honest, I don't understand how someone like you fits into that.

[But, for some reason, he's still sitting, and he says:]

...Lemonade is fine.

Hmph. You gotta trust people at least a little to get to know them in the first place.

[...Orphanage, though. :( :(!!! Kotetsu visibly frowns at the thought, but he can't figure out what to say that wouldn't sound weird, so he just...doesn't say anything about it.]

Lemonade it is, then.

[He flags down a waitress, ordering two lemonades....and asks for her to put bendy straws in them, because he's a Huge Dork.]

[Barnaby rolls his eyes when he asks for the straws, but he doesn't say anything about it. Somehow, he's not surprised, like this sort of thing has happened before.

Strange.]

...Maybe people just don't interest me. Have you considered that?

Eh...? But you're a people!

[POINTS AT. okay no, even he knows that was terrible, he's trying again.]

I mean, that doesn't make sense, cause like, everyone needs people. That's just how life works. You can be not interested in like, art or sports or whatever, but with people....I dunno, that'd be like saying you're not interested in sleep, or breathing or something.

[That was still terrible, Kotetsu. Wow.]

[Barnaby bristles at that. Don't point at him!!]

I never said I didn’t need anyone at all. Obviously, I can’t hope to get anywhere without help from teachers or experts. That doesn’t mean I want anyone’s pity or friendship, though.

[Huff.]

That's totally not what I meant by "needing" people.

Well, sorry for not being a mind reader. [His face is pinched with genuine frustration, too, because he honestly doesn't get it.]

Edited 2016-04-16 07:54 (UTC)

[Unfortunately, Kotetsu takes that as the kid being intentionally difficult about this.]

You know what I mean.

[Ugh...]

No, I really don't. Please, tell me all about how I'm supposed to feel about other people. It's not like I haven't heard about it a million times already or anything!

[....kid r u ok]

What, that you gotta have people in your life? Like, actually in it rather than just like, doing stuff for you? Maybe you oughta've listened to the people who said that before, 'cause they're right.

[No >:( ]

I don't expect things from people, if that's what you're implying. I do have priorities, though, and making friends isn't one of them. I don't see why that's so hard to understand.

No, I mean how--teachers and experts aren't really in your life. I dunno about you, but I was never exactly close to my math teacher in high school, or whatever.

There's like, people you'd smile and wave at if you passed in the street, and then there's the people you can rely on, who're there for you in good times and bad, you know?? You can't just--you need people like that. Everyone does.

[Hah, like Barnaby would smile and wave at someone he barely knew...]

Like I said, I've got the nuns and some people who were friends with my parents. I don't know what else to tell you besides that.

That counts as being interested in people, doesn't it?

They're not exactly people I chose to have in my life, though.

Text; Pull Point Plot (Aged-Down Barnaby)

action

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)