homemeless | 002 - The Stargazing Meme

002 - The Stargazing Meme

Vega, Altair and Deneb, The Summer Triangle and the Milky way

the stargazing meme

oo1. comment with your characters
make sure to put names, series, & preferences somewhere!
you can use < ! > sans the spaces to make the comment "blank"
oo2. reply to others in character
oo3. use the rng and enter 1-10
oo4. play out what happens—anything goes!
oo5. profit? oh yeah!

prompts

one → meteor shower you just saw a falling star! and another! make a wish!
two → aliens what was that? was that really? omg no way a ufo!
three → lunar eclipse you've been sitting out for hours, waiting for this. it's so cool!
four → comet does it move fast or slow? either way, it's amazing.
five → full moon the moon is so huge! just don't look too long, it's really bright too.
six → star dust anything can happen in space. make up your own plot!
seven → solar eclipse this might be happening in the middle of the day!
eight → planet sighting is that a new star? nope, just a neighbor in the solar system!
nine → constellations do you know the stories behind these odd patterns?
ten → deep space normal stargazing isn't that much fun. you got a telescope!

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

The mention of Darkwing Duck has Justin going down a road over twenty years old, thinking back to the early days of cartoons in the 90s, a time when he was busy finishing college and getting everything together to build his own company from next to nothing. Compiling funds, contacts, permits, and licenses, working tirelessly to make sure everything would be in order before he purchased his first building (and house) so that the transition would be as smooth as it possibly could be. Going from college to businessman could kill a person's motivation, drive, and spirit if done wrong, he'd seen. He didn't want that. He wanted to succeed. And by God, he was going to do it if took a whole week of sleepless nights. He'd do it if it meant skipping meals.

Of course, his mother had stepped in and gotten him to chill out on that regard and take better care of himself. If he had only one thing to be thankful to his parents to, that would be it. He couldn't forget that sort of guidance as a young man. That Tony had that torn out from underneath him? Not something that Justin really liked to think about. He didn't like it one bit.

Fortunately, the trip down Nostalgia Lane didn't directly involve that. It did, however, involve taking time out after all his bases had been covered to catch up on the pop culture things he'd isolated himself from. One of those was Darkwing Duck. He'd grown up on Captain America memorabilia, and he'd read a fair share of comics as a child and young adult. How could he not check out something like Darkwing Duck? The terror that flaps in the night indeed. He'd have to take some time to remember the other character's names, but a few moments spent thinking about hurried meals and classes interspersed with Darkwing Duck and various other cartoons a nineteen-year-old-verging-on-twenty should have ignored passed behind his mind's eye, and he found himself smiling again. Just imagining Tony in that get-up was enough to have him looking away, if only to keep from laughing.

"You'd have to be a duck to be Darkwing, wouldn't you? Please don't be a duck. That'd be a twist I never saw coming. You'd be the most human, manly duck I ever saw. Being a duck might be a deal breaker. Maybe. That's a pretty big lie to operate under. I'm afraid I can't be with a duck. So just don't be a duck and everything will be fine. You're not a duck, right? Say it isn't so! My heart won't be able to take it."

Tony could laugh at himself and pretend to be wearing a purple cape; Justin could easily lift his hand to clutch his chest as though he would suffer a great shock if Tony dropped the guise of humankind and revealed himself to be a feathered fiend. Truly, his heart wouldn't be able to take it. He'd suffer an arrest on the spot!

There were a plethora of good things about being with Tony. One of those things was the freedom for Justin to be as silly as he wanted without fear of getting slaughtered at his next meeting or given a surprise question about it when being interviewed for an article for an elite science magazine.

Even if Tony was a duck, Justin would have to say he was the best duck he'd ever come across.

something... not nice about it, exactly, but refreshing. Is that the word? He's certainly different from the men - even SHIELD agents - who strain her patience by suggesting they're stronger than she is or more deserving of being an agent. Steve is... very much the opposite of that. Sure, he's Captain America, but she's never known him to treat anyone as if they might be weaker than he is or less deserving. Particularly now, when he's unsure of the situation - possibly of himself - and bumbling just as badly as she's done in the past (okay, a little worse), she can see past the title of Captain America. If not for Aunt Peggy...]

[She leans toward him and gently presses her lips to his cheek. There's no ceremony about the kiss, no attention drawn to it, just a soft touch before she's pulled away and has started walking toward civilization again.]

We'll play it by ear, maybe.

[Jesus Christ. She just kissed Captain America. It counted as a kiss if it was only on the cheek, right? Damn it, Aunt Peggy. Why couldn't he just be some random guy in your life that you worked with?]

“But is it really bestiality if you don’t know that I’m actually a duck?”

There aren’t many people he could say that to even as a joke without getting a lecture or worse, having it mysteriously show up as a headline in the tabloids: Tony Stark Admits To Preferring Bestiality or some such ridiculousness that too many people would actually believe. There would have to be press conferences and damage control and Pepper telling him that he just can’t say things like that without them being taken incorrectly. It would annoy him, prompt him to rebel against perceived authority, and then they’d have a bigger PR nightmare on their hands, because he’d do something so much more outlandish and incitable.

He doesn’t have to worry about all of that bullshit with Justin. He can be silly. He can say dumb things without fear of being misunderstood and reported to the media as some kind of horrible abuser of animals.

Snorting, he shakes his head and leans over to begin the setup for his third, and final, smore. “No, don’t worry. I’m not a duck. If I was, I’d spend more time running around without pants on.” Which, if one is guided by cartoons, is how ducks typically dress.

“Which, you know, if you like that kind of thing, I can do without being a duck. Provided we’re in California or Barbados or some other warm place that isn’t going to arrest me for indecent exposure.” Whether he’d get arrested in California is debatable. He might be able to avoid it by using his eccentric billionaire reputation, he’s not sure.

[ Even if it was just a kiss on the cheek, he didn't expect it and it makes him a few shades pinker, but grinning despite himself. Yes, his eyes? They're twinkling. He's stopped thinking about her as being related to Peggy a time ago, and he's glad for that. Well, obviously the thought's still there since the relation is, but it no longer gets in the way of what he thinks about Sharon as an individual. He's glad for that. ]

Yeah, let's do that.

[ He's glad this is going well-- better than he'd hoped. Sharon hasn't always been very receptive to his attempts, and he never thought she'd be interested. He just... he wanted to give her something to think about. So this is... He just, he can't stop smiling. ]

"Well, you don't look like a duck. I've never heard you quack. I don't know what a duck fucks like, but I'm pretty sure I'd have realized that something was off at this point. There'd be. I don't know. Feathers. You sitting in high places to shit on fancy cars or in people's hats or something. You know, bird...things. So until you start acting like a duck in the slightest bit, I can believe you're not one."

It's not difficult to believe Tony to be a human being. It's not difficult to throw in sex, either, because "duck" and "fuck" rhyme, and it's stupid and juvenile, but it's fun to say, at least. There's so many other words he could rhyme with it, of course, and his vocabulary being the gaping abyss of The Entire Dictionary in Several Languages that it is, he could find something else. Ten other things.

But he doesn't care to. He doesn't feel the need to stand on fussy, poncey pretense. Besides, Tony likes crass. Duck fucking? Pretty crass.

"If you want to run around without pants, I won't stop you. Go crazy. You know, within reason. Not like...around prisons or while whitewater rafting in Georgia.

"Maybe just keep it in the house."

But is that all that makes your mind unquiet? Aragorn wondered, appraising Boromir with cool grey eyes. He understood the reason Boromir gave, at least. They all felt exposed, out on the empty river.

"I, too, fear that the Enemy has not been idle. We lingered in Lórien over-long." Aragorn's voice was heavy; for though Rivendell was his home, his heart dwelt in the glades of Lothlórien. He felt guilt that perhaps his affection for the place had kept him from pushing them onward as soon as he should have done.

He breathed a sigh. What troubled Aragorn's mind was the choice that lay before him: to press on to Minas Tirith and lend his aid to her wars, or to turn away and guide Frodo into Mordor. His heart longed for the former, and the latter felt like grievous betrayal, and yet he knew that Frodo's quest was of utmost importance. Where would he go, when he reached the Rauros-falls?

"Two pairs of eyes are better than one, and if they will not close in sleep, then at least they may be put to use. Come, share the watch with me. For I am as restless as you."

The mental image that that conjures – the idea of him getting on the roof of a fancy car, or someone’s hat, to take a shit – has him laughing so hard he has to stop fixing up his smore. It’s quiet laughter, not the uproarious sort, but it’s enough to make his hands shake too much to be useful.

“Hanging out in high places are more Barton’s thing than mine,” he admits once the chuckles have died down. A deep breath, two, and he’s feeling marginally more in control of himself. At least enough to talk coherently. “So yeah, I think we can rule out duck as part of my ancestry.”

Going around without pants on, though, that’s another thing entirely. That is his thing. In the privacy of his own home, anyway. The wild public nudity days are at least twenty years in the past.

“But pantslessness in the house might have to be something that happens. When you’re around, anyway. Not so much if other people are. My ass is kind of a one person ass. A property of Justin Hammer ass, if you will.”

[Sam likes David. It's not an artificial feeling (as far as he's aware; even though he's a clone, he's still human—he's the clone of a human, what else would he be?), but nothing short of reality. It's not the same way he likes warm pasta or fresh air because David isn't a something like food or breathing. He's someone, not just a noun, but a proper noun. He has A Name. His name is David, and he is not seen as a robot or a very highly functioning computer program.

He's seen as David. And Sam? He likes David. He thinks he's well-spoken, well-mannered, and a good companion on a level that Sam can't really remember experiencing before.

He remembers the original Sam's studies and classes, the knowledge need to run Sarang properly, engineering and the path of the stars and skies. He doesn't remember friends. Maybe it was the radiation. Maybe it was the "crash" before he was awoken. Maybe it was easier to keep a man running along if all he had in the world to think about was a wife who loved him and a daughter who was waiting for her daddy, the astronaut.

He doesn't know much about humanity. He knows about inhumanity. He knows that people can be evil and foul, all in the name of pinching pennies while they tell the world they're doing great things to keep Earth at the pinnacle of properly functioning.

He knows that David is artificial. He knows that David is also, in fact, human in ways other people might overlook, if only out of spite or prejudice or ignorance.

Perhaps, due to Sam's issues with the most evil of people never met and yet who decided his life, it's easy for him to overlook David's robotic nature. Maybe it has something to do with the presence of a GERTY 3000 he grew to call by name instead of model, something to do with Gerty being the only friend he ever actually had. Maybe it speaks to Sam being unable to be a proper human, if only because he hasn't been as socialized as he "remembers" himself to be.

But he does like David.]

I don't think it's easy. You know, for people, because...there's all sorts of things that happen when you're growing up that can impair inference on every level. It's not...I can't speak for everyone, obviously. But, ah. David, how do you feel about that sort of thing? It's—it's okay to talk about it. I promise I won't write a scalding complaint about you to Dad.

((OOC: Damn it! That first part was supposed to read: "[She watches him out of the corner of her eye while he talks, and it strikes her that there is something... not nice about it, exactly, but refreshing. Is that the word?" Sorry about that!))

[Of course, it's become a flaw of Sharon's to constantly think of things in terms of missions. If they're to - God help her - see each other socially, as just people... She can do that with people from work, but they usually still talk about work. They make tasteless jokes about Hydra over beers. But in terms of dates, what is there to talk about? It's not as if she has a social life to talk about. Most of her job is classified. Of course, Steve does have clearance for much of it...]

Have you- have you ever dated anyone before?

[She'd dated someone a couple years ago, but she doesn't have much luck with men. Either they want her to settle down or they get upset with her job. Her skills are rusty at best. Rusty enough that she doesn't actually consider them to be skills.]

Who knows--!

[ his glass is empty though and he fills it from the third-- or maybe fourth? ah, well, whatever, bottle of today. the others are empty on the ground, one in Yukimura's hand.

he doesn't ponder the words too hard, because he likely wouldn't like whatever conclusion he would come to with his awfully jaded view of the world, despite the smiles and cheer. a novelty of the malicious kind, most likely, that is if Circus wouldn't get to them first. ]

It'd be something for sure. Aah~ [ but he'll indulge Yukimura's question-- ] What kind of adventure, do you think, hmm?

Justin himself doesn't want to imagine Tony sitting on cars or people's hat with the intent to shit. ITS. An awful thing, that, going around with the sole purpose in mind to shit all over the place. Justin doesn't like being shit on, not by bird or sick dog or human being. That Tony isn't part duck is, really, just a huge relief. A big load off his mind and a big shit off his shoulder.

This isn't good smores talk, he realizes. Smores are white like bird poop, covered in chocolate like the poop of everything else on the planet, and too many can constipate a person. It's shit on top of shit, and he needs to veer the topic away before his brain has a meltdown about it all and he can't stop thinking about the crapper.

The loo.

The John.

The porcelain throne.

A naked Tony? That's a good thing to get the conversation back to. Always a good thing, actually, shit involved or not.

"Do you ever do that when you're by yourself?" It's as good a question as any, and it allows him to detox from all the shit in his head and finish up his third, and also final, smore so they can move on from the night to, possibly, more star-related things. "Walk around the house naked for no reason other than you can?"

How they get onto these topics at the strangest of times, Tony will never know. Largely in part because he doesn’t find anything amiss about them. Zombie apocalypse before bedtime? No problem. The best locations for fowl to take shits while eating brown and white gooey smores? No problem! He doesn’t have a weak stomach and he isn’t squeamish.

Of course, he recognizes that neither rabid cannibalism nor shit are appropriate topics while attempting to sleep and eat. He isn’t bothered. Justin might be, though, and after realizing that, he’s quick to let the topic change.

“Not usually. I mean, not without reason. If I’m going to take a shower and I get distracted, yeah. Sometimes I’m down in the workshop for hours before I realize that I was about to get in the shower and I should probably put pants on if I’m going to stay there.” That doesn’t happen too often, though. Most of the time, he has the presence of mind now to work on machine parts in the buff.

“Or if I feel the overwhelming urge to jerk off.” That one happens more frequently, and usually is at least partially the fault of Tony’s screensaver, which has entirely too many pictures of Justin on it for his dick to remain flaccid for long. “That usually results in nudity. Why? Do you ever forgo clothes in the privacy of your own home?”

[ Yukimura drinks from his bottle, no longer looking for more ufos, instead simply looking at the star-filled sky. He doesn't like thinking back on parts of his past, with betrayal and the loss of loved ones, but adventures helps him forget, even if only for some time. ]

Adventures where you get to fight until you can hardly stand, and where you drink until you drop.

[ He'd love more of that. And... ]

It'd be interesting flying, too.

Justin's prepared to get into an appropriately fussy, neat lecture about working around hot metal and possibly sharp bits of cold metal in the nude is an awful idea. Not just awful, but lethal. He's all set to go on about a topic Tony already knows, and not just because it would be expected, but because he really does not like the idea of Tony getting his major arteries cut, even though a t-shirt only provides minor shielding in the first place. It's the idea that counts! The idea of being properly modest in one's own home, of being repressed when it comes to nudity and, therefore, closer to being a gentleman than a guy who runs around in the buff and wears no pants.

But then he mentions jerking off, and Justin knows why. At least, he knows that if Tony was jerking off to someone (something?) other than him, he wouldn't bring it up with such ease. He's observed a lot about him in the past year. As far as he can tell, the man doesn't lie. He's no Abe Lincoln, but on a personal level? Justin hasn't seen anything that would lead him to believe Tony was even capable of lying when it came to the two of them.

Of course, maybe he could be the best liar, and Justin a fool for not realizing it. That, however, was too big of a stretch for him to imagine, much less handle.

"I usually jerk off first thing in the morning. I kind of, I've taken to wearing your pjs to bed. So, like...I don't know, is that creepy? I'm jerking off all over your clothes that I, uh. That I just wash and wear again. I have like five shirts at this point. And...you know, it's not every morning, but it's, it's getting to be a ritual. B-But as for...not really. I used to have terrible nightmares about that sort of thing growing up. I wore closed boxers for a really long time. You know, the kind that doesn't have the slit in the front? Yeah. I had an awful nightmare with them once and I just...it got to me.

"So, you know. Good thing I have my own bathroom at work, right?"

[ He uh... well... ]

I've gone on dates before. But I've never... not more than once.

[ That was true, even for Peggy. He never did get one date with Peggy. ]

Um... how about you?

[ He tries not to regret that as soon as it exits his mouth, but he's having trouble not cringing. What an awful question. Three minutes in and they're already talking about exes, of which Steve's got a total of zero. Seems like they're going about this the wrong way, but there's really nothing too conventional about either of them, considering, so maybe that's for the best. ]

A hum of pleasure sounded at the back of his throat as Anders made himself comfortable against Garrett, resting his head against the other's chest and hearing the faint, constant beating of his heart.

"Since I met you," Anders confessed. "You were a good man, kinder than many others I'd met, and you cared for mages, for me and- and Karl. I'll admit I wasn't at my best then, and I worried that I might just be... looking for a replacement for Karl. But the feelings never went away, even as the years passed."

He laughed softly, fingers absently tracing patterns over Garrett's shoulder as he spoke. "After the expedition and you moving to Hightown, getting into your new life as a nobleman, I worried a little that it would be the last I'd see of you. But you kept coming back and I kept wondering if I could ever tell you how I felt."

Anders' fingers stilled as he sighed and grew still, remembering how the years had passed. "Then around the time I was considering it... that's when your mother... I couldn't do that to you. Not then. So I waited and... I suppose things just keep happening one after another. The moment never seemed right."

Hawke's arms tightened a bit around Anders' body at the mention of his mother. It still felt so fresh, so recent. He still couldn't bring himself to go into her room. Anders having come by that night, having come to check in on him - it meant more to him than the man may have realized. Hawke breathed slowly, one hand moving up to stroke through Anders' hair, fingers resting against the tie of his ponytail as he kept his gaze skyward.

Anders had been there for him through a lot - and he too had been there for Anders. Across the years, things did just keep piling up, seemingly endlessly. But those things didn't matter tonight. Nothing in Kirkwall mattered tonight.

All that mattered was laying here beneath the stars with the man who rested on top of him. Hawke swallowed, hand going still against Anders' hair. This man loved him. And this man meant something to him. There was something so liberating about being able to admit that, being able to say it out loud.

Turning his head a bit, Hawke looked down at the apostate that rest against him, the apostate listening to his heartbeat. There was something perfect about this, something Garrett never realized how deeply he'd longed for. "I'm glad that you invited me out here tonight, Anders..." he whispered, words meant only for Anders' ears. "Because this was perfect."

[That's a surprising amount of depth that Light genuinely didn't expect Misa to have, as he, being the charming nonjudgmental child he is, had already written her off as being more superficial, less intellectual. He frowns, wrinkling his brow slightly as he rebuffs the accusation.]

I never said you should lie to make people like you.

[For himself though? The desire to make the world a better place is largely genuine. He sees the way his mother worries about his father, and about Sayu, and if there was a way to take that worry and banish it to the farthest reaches of the galaxy forever, he'd do it in a heartbeat. Besides, if they're going to wish, shouldn't it be for the big and the grandiose? He'd always been taught to dream big, and reach for the stars. You can do anything, Light-chan! You're so smart, I'm sure you could be anything that you wanted!

Promising prospects and high hopes. As fascinating as space exploration and studying nebulas could be, Light already knows where his future will take him and it's law enforcement, just like his father. So he can catch bad guys and make the world safe for good people, too.

But just as quickly, Misa's attitude shifts and she goes from brooding to cheerful so quickly that Light is more confused by the whiplash than he is annoyed by the teasing]

I won't need any stars. Wishes are for those who can't make their dreams come true.

[ 'I never said you should lie to make people like you.'

Misa knew that she probably opened a topic she shouldn't have. Having a problem with something she loved doing was not a very 'Misa-chan' thing to do. So she just pretended not to hear it and pretend to be distracted by all the pretty stars. ]

Are you always this serious, Light? You know ... we're kids. It is alright to dream. That's the fun part after all. When we're big is the hard part. While Misa is still a kid, she wants to have fun.

Misa's mama says that when Misa is big enough and pretty enough, it is going to be lots and lots harder ... even though it is fun now.

[ She turns to Light and smiled as she continued to tease him. ]

Smile, Light. It doesn't hurt ---

---eh?!! Wait wait wait!

[ She suddenly remembers what they were talking about earlier. How could she have forgotten that? ]

Light hasn't told me what it means yet!

Not much experience, no. [ Not more than once, huh? She guesses that would be pre-serum Steve. What woman in her right mind would pass up Steve as he is now? Obviously, Sharon hadn't really even though of him in that context - was still wrapping her mind around it - but she also knows that there are some things she isn't prepared to do in a relationship. If she has to, she will dump him. But then, no one has ever considered Sharon to be in her right mind. ]

So it looks like we're really winging it.

[ She isn't sure what to say next, but she's pretty sure this awkward feeling isn't just her. ]

Although he doesn’t dig too deeply into the psychology of it, as that would result in confronting many issues revolving around his parents, Tony’s aware of his personal quirks when it comes to honesty. Namely, that he doesn’t lie to the people he cares about. Occasionally he’ll omit details in an effort to protect them, like if he’s dying and he doesn’t want to worry anyone, and he’ll lie if he’s trying to surprise someone with something, but otherwise, he tries to be as honest as possible.

He’s largely honest with everyone else, too. He’s not above doing underhanded things if he deems the situation appropriate, like hacking SHIELD’s files when he knows they’re doing something dirty and trying to get the Avengers caught up in it, but he’s lived his life under public scrutiny for so long that lying about the things he does seems pointless. Everyone has seen him do a plethora of embarrassing, stupid, and character damaging things already. Why pretend to be something that he’s not now, after all this time?

Justin’s painting a picture that’s doing nothing to encourage Tony’s mind to stay away from sexual thoughts. First it was sucking on his finger. Now it’s him lying in his bed in his pilfered clothes, stroking his cock, and damned if that doesn’t make Tony’s blood start heading south in a hurry.

Who knew camping could be such a turn on?

“You know, you don’t have to put that ritual on hold when I’m around. It doesn’t have to be an only when you’re alone kind of thing. You could, and should, continue it. When I’m awake and can watch you. Any time, really.” It’s hard to keep his hands off of him. In fact, it’s hard to keep any part of him away from Justin when there’s nothing overtly sexual going on. When there is, it’s downright impossible. But that doesn’t mean that Tony doesn’t like to watch. He loves to watch. When he can find the willpower necessary to keep it to watching.

“I mean, it doesn’t just have to be in the morning. If you get the urge to jerk off any time, you should definitely do that.”

[ Nope. In fact, this is starting to feel like a mistake. Not because he doesn't like Sharon, but because he's come so unprepared and he feels like this this added strangeness, that it's really putting a damper on things. The brief times that they've spent as friends, it's been so easy. And this... even something so new-culturally insignificant as a first date... It's so...

...He should have thought this through harder. He should fight for this. ]

How else are we gonna learn to fly?

[ He nods towards the car ]

There's a place nearby that lets you do your own latte art.

Justin tries not to lie. Sometimes, he really has to. Sometimes, Justin does underhanded things, deals below the table that he doesn't get a salary for doing. But it was okay, if only because it gained him another contact where he didn't have one before. Oh, it was never anything awful, just a little something off the books so no one else knew.

Usually it was nothing awful.

Now, however. Now. Justin feels he can't do anything out of line, otherwise he'll have a visit from a certain pirate-themed director, and Justin? Does not want that. At all. He knows Tony's done things for his record at SHIELD, but he also knows that he's not about to go tattling to him if he has an issue with anyone from their little...agency.

He knows that Fury knows this much, and it's a concern. He'll deal with it if it ever comes up, of course, but whatever he can do to look clean (and be clean, actually) and professional on paper and camera? He'll do it.

"Any time, huh." It's difficult to seem indifferent to the whole thing. At least he has a marshmallow to skewer and nearly burn to keep his eyes occupied. That much is something he can be grateful for. "That...uh. That might be an issue, you know. If—when—we move in. Whenever it is. That's, ah. You know, you sleeping in the nude and, like, getting up...I mean that in the waking up, not the...it's. I think I'm going to have to—I'm the boss, I can go in whenever I want. So what if I'm not coming in as early as I used to, right? I'm busy. We're busy. I don't—I can come in—I can go in later. It's no big deal. I don't even have to call, it's. It's going to be interesting for the first month or so, how's that?"

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002 - The Stargazing Meme

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