15875/Awkward Reunions

Awkward Reunions
Date of Scene:	17 September 2023
Location:	Underground Skatepark
Synopsis:	While at the Skatepark, Bunny and Joshua awkwardly reconnect. They discuss events and part as friends.
Cast of Characters:	Joshua Foley, Bunny Macleod
Tinyplot:	Reavers

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Joshua Foley has posed:
The underground skatepark is one of those areas where anyone can come and skate freely, despite of whatever may be going on in their life. Ever since Joshua had found his footing thanks to a kindly witch, he's started to come to terms and embrace the life he has now. Both now without his original family and as a mutant who not only died, but returned to life.

On his skateboard, Josh's mutation is hard to miss. Golden skin with blonde hair that makes him appear even more bright, especially in the glow of the construction lights that someone probably yanked from a construction site and brought down here.

Coming up on the bowl, Joshua twists as he takes flight, twisting once and then twice before coming back down the other side, hand on his board in a crouch as he lands a 360 and cruises across the other side of the giant bowl, making room for others that want to make use of the area. The queue is not that bad and he is more than willing to wait.

He's wearing a shirt with Snoopy as Joe Cool on a skateboard, the black of the shirt and the jeans doing little to offset the skin color.

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    The Underground Skatepark was one of Bunny's favorite places in the city. It was covered, so it never rained or snowed, it was Underground in even the metaphorical sense, and no one cared if anyone was a mutant. It's where she perfected her 'I'm falling!' shield responses. Less bruising.

    And road rash.

    She comes down the access, her pink helmet on tonight, with lemon pads and pink wrist protectors, already on skates like she was born in them. She's chatting with someone who's carrying his own board and helmet under his arm, and she turns, the flash of gold catching her eyes as she purses her lips, pausing in mid-conversation.

    Her eyes narrow, and she comes up to the side of the bowl to see who that flashy golden shiny skin belonged to!

Joshua Foley has posed:
Josh is taking his time, waiting in queue. In front of him is a mutated Gecko, dressed in a yellow shirt with skull and crossbones, purple shorts and red and black sneakers. "720, bro, watch!" he announces, and the Gecko takes off on his skateboard.

Down the bowl, up the otherside. Mondo launches high. One, two, three, and four twists in the air, but he lands akwardly and wipes out, going to his knees. "Wipeout!" he calls out, remaining on his knees.

Joshua skates down the side of the bowl, hopping off of his board to jog over. "Dude, so close! You alright?" He starts to pull off his gloves. "Got anything you need taken care of?"

"Naw naw, Josh, that was a righteous spill, but I'll be fine!" He gives Josh a fistbump, and Josh shakes his head. "Get on back on the saddle then." the golden mutant responds and turns.

"Lost my place in line." There's a shrug of his shoulders and as he turns to rejoin the line, he pauses as he catches sight of the girl in pink. She's immediately recognizable. She was one of the last people he saw before she died.

And one of the first when he was reborn.

And he freezes in his tracks. Karai's recent words ring out in his head and he prepares to retreat, pretty certain that this isn't going to go well. Then he pauses. No. Someone told him he needed to face his past at somepoint. And atone for it.

To make it right.

An awkward hand is lifted towards Bunny, but he does continue to move for the line.

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    Bunny's face shows elation. She doesn't call out his name, but she does bid her board-carrying compatriot a farewell with a fistbump, and she skates to the side of the dip, and comes up to Josh, staying a respectful three feet away.

    She looks up at him, gives a big smile, rubs the back of her neck a moment as she looks him over, and then motions to him.

    "Love the new look -- did you get a haircut?" she offers, giving a small, sheepish grin as she fidgits a little.

    "How've you been?"

Joshua Foley has posed:
She should hate him. Everything he said and did.

Her reaction to him is completely unexpected. And it gives him a momentary BSOD as he tries to translate. Is she about to kick him in the nuts? He seemed to remember her kicking a Reaver in the nuts.

"Let it grow out a little, actually." he admits, awkwardly adjusting the board in his hands. "The gold skin is new. Side-effect, or someone suggested it was a secondary mutation." Think, brain, think.

He looks her over, eyeing her skates warily. The board is kind of adjusted, just in case.

"You're looking well." he finally manages.

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    "Yeeaaaaah... well... ah... I was disowned." Buny hops on her skates. "Both for being queer and for bein' a mutant. My dad found out and threw a fit. Wanted me to stop dying my hair and wearing roller skates and my colorful clothing so I was like 'peace!'" she states, flashing a peace sign -- doubling as Little bunny Foo-Foo, and she shrugs her shoulders with a semi pained expression.

    "Looks good on you. Suits you." she gives a nod. And she takes a deep breath.

    "I'm glad you're doing all right, I mean, you look good?" she awkwardly states. She does not look like she's going to kick him in the nuts. She looks genuinely happy to see him.

Joshua Foley has posed:
She's not the only one deeply breathing. He gradually starts to lower his guard. Josh chuckles a little, actually. "Yeah. After everyone showed up... my parents wanted nothing to do with me and threw me out. Just now started to get on my feet again. Someone's helping me to accept this... and everything that I can do."

Moving away from the others, he goes to the break area and sits on a cable coil, looking down. "I ran into a mutual friend of ours recently. She thought she was going to recruit me, until she realized that she killed me."

That should clue Bunny into who it was, he hopes. Becuase he's convinced if he speaks her name, she'll appear.

"She told me about you." And none of it was good. He draws in he breath, looking down at his hands. "Whem I came back to life, it pretty much verified what I was. I wanted to be cured. Well, that didn't go well. Now? Now I'm trying to come to terms with it. And to use it for the good it can do."

He closes his eyes, his hands settled on his knees. "I can heal people with a touch. I can do the opposite, but I don't want that to get out." his eyes open, and he considers Bunny. "And part of healing isn't just myself, but others. I can't take back the words I said to you. The awful, disgusting things that I did with my life. I wanted so much to be something that I wasn't that I sold my soul out and I will spend the rest of my life... whatever that is... trying to make amends. But that first step has to start with the one I wronged the first."

"Gabby accepted me into the group that she's in. I'm hoping that someday... I won't think that she is just waiting for a reason to eviscerate me. But I know that is noone's fault but mine."

"I wasn't ready to approach you, even after I was told you were okay. Everything was awkward and as much as I was coming to terms with accepting what I am, you... you are just here, happy to see me. I don't understand. I can only ask for forgiveness. Nothing more." When he looks up to her, tears are already streaming down his cheeks.

"Please, I don't think I could handle you hating me forever."

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    "... you ran into Karai." Bunny reflects a quiet moment, and she lets Josh get it all out. She purses her lips a moment, and she listens to Josh speak, her blue eyes set on him. Her eyebrows rise up when he shares that he's joined Gabby's group.

    "Ah, if Gabby wanted to eviscerate you, she totally would have done so already. She's kinda a more 'in the moment' person and not--"

    And then she realizes Josh is crying. She blinks, and her ears get red.

    "I don't hate *anyone*. Not even my dad, who called me dirty. Not even the bullies who would make fun of me skating by. I don't hate *anyone*." she states. "You were willing to stand up to the other Revers and get yourself in trouble by saving *my* but from Beb--" she starts, and then she looks around, and she grabs Josh's hand, and pulls him close.

    "You put yourself between me and a giant mutant warthog man with a chainsaw. Without knowing you had anything but an empty gun and some body armor."

    And Bunny rises up to her full in-skate height.

    "If being pissed off at yourself worked for absolution, it would have worked by now. You got that anger, but you know what? If you direct it inward, at yourself?" she pokes his Joe Cool shirt. "It'll kill you, and you won't even know you're dead. I"m here, I'm happy to see you because I am *happy to see you*. You sur/vived/ my man!" she throws her arms up in the air. "That's like, disco-ball and funfetti cake levels of celebration!"

Joshua Foley has posed:
She shakes his memory, that reminder of his near last stand against Bebop. Joshua draws in a shaky breath. "It's not been easy, having everything I thought I knew thrown into a blender and made into a mess."

She's so encouraging though. She always had been, even when he was calling her Shield Bitch. And now, here she is, cheering him on again. "Yeah, I did. And you know, it's like watching an isekai. Starting over at level 1 with an unknown power. Except I didn't go to another world." he laughs. "Except maybe I did? It's nothing like I experienced before. But you... you just keep your head up and smile, no matter what happens. It's amazing."

He looks like he's going to say more, but he cuts himself off. "Whem I learn to cook, I'll have the funfetti cake. I may even invite you to the party."

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    "Nope. It's not easy. Your world turning upside-down and shaking you out for spare experiences." Bunny confirms, and she gives a small, awkward smile. "I know a little bit what that's like." she admits, and she hops up to a handy concrete divider to take a seat so they can be roughly eye-to-eye.

    "And it's not easy keeping your chin up, either. Especially not with everything that happened. When I saw you, even though you were hurting, I knew you needed the help, so I just returned what you gave me, you know?" she considers a moment.

    "When I was younger, I was cornered by some bullies when I was making a delivery. I got knocked into the subway rails, and my ankle got caught. I couldn't get my foot out even enough to get the skate off. There was one guy who had opted to take on the group of bullies on his own, but when I called out for help?"

    She looks at her hands a moment.

    "He just -- appeared behind me. And then one moment the train was coming down hard on us, and I SWEAR I felt it bump me -- but the next breath he had his arms wrapped around my middle and we were in the stairs. And everything smelled bad." she gets a distant look. "Like rotten eggs."

    "-- anyway, he told me that we were all God's perfect creation. That kinda stuck. 'Cause if God made me perfect, mutant, queer, roller skates, everything... then who am I to question why I was a mutant? I mean, science and genes I get... kinda." she rubs the back of her head. "I mean, that was like two years ago now. I was meant to be who I am, though. That gave me what I needed to face up to my dad and tell him I wasn't going to change myself for him. Because he should love me because he's my dad, and I'm enough to be worthy of love."

Joshua Foley has posed:
When she settles down, Joshua returns to his seat so that they can converse eye to eye. He reaches into a pouch on his side and pulls out a small pack of gum and takes one for himself before offering one to her.

"I remember smelling the fire. It was the last thing I smelled before everything just stopped. It was blackness and momentary pair, and I thought for sure I had gone to Hell and I deserved it." he shares that since they seem to be sharing their stories of near death (or full death) experience.

"When I woke up in the morgue, there was no welcome back party. For all intents and purposes I was dead. And probably am still considered that way. I haven't checked." he laughs. "Someone probably thinks what was left of me was stolen." There's a smile of amusement at that. His hand reaches out and gives hers a squeeze. "Like you said earlier. We have to love ourselves first before we can love others." His hand moves from hers. "I'm working on that. And if I can heal some people while I do that..." he lets out his breath.

"Karai wants me to be on-call for her. She told me how much of a debt I owe the world because of my past affiliation. Even to you. Which is why I was scared to see you tonight. I almost ran, because she drilled it home what I did to you."

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    "Eh. Sometimes it's okay to admit you're a work in progress while you're loving someone else. I mean, there's times where a lot of what my dad said, what happened when I got pulled outta school comes back and hits me like a ton of bricks. And then it is not mojo dojo casa house, it's like, nightmare crappy apartment with the big roaches--" Bunny explains "But waking up in the morgue sounds straight outta Hell." she comments, and she gives a small grin.

    And then the mood changes as Karai is brought up.

    She takes a breath, and lets it out, slowly.

    "I haven't seen Karai in a hot minute..." she frowns, and then her voice gets very quiet: "I wish I hadn't accepted her invite. But you had just died. I was so ... so angry. I didn't have anyone else who I thought cared about me. And I was told by one of the Titans that I should *run* from The Foot."

    Bunny is very quiet, and it's like she physically dimmed. Her shoulders slack. Her fingers go white at the knuckles.

    "I wish I had listened. They don't like accepting 'no' for an answer."

Joshua Foley has posed:
Joshua listens. And hears.

'I wish I hadn't accepted her invite. But you had just died. I was so ... so angry.'

Joshua lifts his eyes to her. He did this. He caused her to accept Karai's invite. And now she was embroiled in the mix. He searches his mind, trying to find a way to help her.

"We could run away? Surely there's someplace that the Foot doesn't exist... find someplace new to start over. We could do skateboard tricks for cash." he offers up in a creative solution.

"No, that's probably dumb. I'm alive. I'm here now. I can help... or at least try to." He lets out his breath. "You're not alone in this."

If he only knew.

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    "Multinational criminal organizations are hard to run away from, I even dated a speedster to try." Bunny replies, and she brings her hands up, elbows on her knees as she sits her chin in her hands, but she gives a smile to Josh.

    "You /are/ alive. And neither of us are alone. We've got tons of good friends. You've got Gabbi on your side. And she's *awesome*, and not just saying that 'cause she's my ex girlfriend." she replies and gives a small smile. "And bro-code, wasn't your fault, you were dead. I was angry and never was taught how to use the anger constructively. Something I'm workin' on with a stupid amount of self-help videos from Youtube." she explains, and she gives a grin. "And even dumb ideas are helpful. You get 'em out of your head and then maybe one of the good ones rattles out."

Joshua Foley has posed:
"I'll figure out some way to help." Joshua decides as he moves to rise to his feet. "I'm here and around. And hard to miss." he admits with amusement, before offering her a smile. "I need to get back to the shop, it's getting a little late for me. It was really good seeing you again."

But it's still awkward. He takes out a sheet of paper and writes down a number. "If you're hurt and need help, call me. I'll get there as fast as I can. I have a lot of healing to do."

"But I'm glad you're here to help with it, Bunny."

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    "Well yeah, you're the literal Golden Boy. You're gonna be hard to miss." Bunny grins, and she takes out her phone (with a bright pink phone case) and types the number in. And sends a text.

    "And now you've got my number in case you need someone to show you how to make a funfetti cake from a box." she jokes. "Which you totally deserve, beteedubs. 'Cause coming back to life is hard."

Joshua Foley has posed:
"You're not just whistling." Joshua responds with a smirk. Which turns into a grin. "But if that's your way of asking me out, I'll think about it." At least he has a little humor left as he scoops up his skateboard to prepare to head out.

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    "Taken, aaaaaaannd my boyfriend is not only hot," Bunny gives an awkward, toothy grin, "but he also can benchpress a bus and took me surfing." she takes a deep breath, and lets it out.

    "For serious though I coudld bounce quarters off his abs and dimes off his ass."

Joshua Foley has posed:
She had mentioned her exes, he thought he had a shot.

Apparently not.

Somewhere, Mark sneezes.

"Congratulations, I hope he knows what a catch he has. Still friends, though?" he asks before he's heading off.

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    "Absolutely. And hey, brave of you to shoot your shot man. Can appreciate the testicular fortitude. But also means Gabby's single too. I think. Unless she's dating the eight-foot-tall demon she brought by the bar I play at." Bunny offers a fist bump. "And hey, if my guy decides he no longer wants to date the colorful but pale-ass girl I'd be down for checking things out." she offers with a grin.

    That's right. If she wasn't dating Invincible (insert yellow to blue color blend here) she would have accepted.

Joshua Foley has posed:
At least he knew he wasn't blind? Joshua gives her the little bump to her fist. "Naw, Bun, I ain't wishing nno bad juju on your relationship." he offers to her. But he will totally consider Gabby.

When he's not thinking she wants to disembowel him.