16463/Losing My Religion

Losing My Religion
Date of Scene:	01 December 2023
Location:	Morningside Heights
Synopsis:	Mark and Bunny were supposed to go out to get a tree. But that plan is laywayed when religion enters the chat.
Cast of Characters:	Mark Grayson, Bunny Macleod

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Mark Grayson has posed:
It's the first of December, and Mark woke up in a bit of a panic. What is the source of this panic, one may ask? A package he had gotten the day before. A box on the table. Inside, was an ornament for a tree. A cute little ormanent of a boy and a girl snuggling in a house, with the caption 'Bunny and Mark's 1st Christmas - 2023' - there was a dog, but Debbie put in the effort to make the dog look like a dinosaur.

He waited for Bunny to wake up before announcing. "We need to go Christmas tree shopping today. Mom sent this!" a gesture to the box, and then back to Bunny. "Do you mind a real tree? Or should we get an artifical one. I saw a tree lot near the aparment, if you want to go real."

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    Debbie is hard stanning her son's OTP in spite of Nolan's grousing, and Bunny was kinda here for it.

    Well, she was in bed for it.

    She got up, her hair blonde-to-pink, her eyes squinty, her lips pursed a moment as she opens her mouth, closes her mouth, and then looks at the box with the ornament and she gives a small smile.

    Which turns into a big smile.

    "... man, first she brings a family thanksgiving to us, and now she's all 'you need a tree for this ornament'." she gives a bright grin, and a yawn, still wearing fire work pajama pants and one of Mark's T-shirts.

Mark Grayson has posed:
Something Mark probably explained to Bunny when they were alone and all, was that Debbie did most of the heavy lifting in raising Mark. Nolan was busy. Always something about his powers. Or his books. A lot of touring to research his books, which left Debbie to mark many of the milestones in her son's life.

So her thoughts on who Mark dates carry a lot of weight.

And really, Bunny always looks good in his tshirts. He has never complained about that. Coming over to where she is, he's still in a pair of his own pajama pants, a buffalo-plaid design on them, and a t-shirt as he carries the box over to Bunny and flops down next to her. "What do you think?" he asks.

"We can pick out a tree and them you and I." he leans in and kisses her cheek. "...can go to that pancake restaurant that you like?" he suggests. "I can do with an omelete."

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    And Bunny had probably cried a bit... because more than anything else, she missed her own mom who she had been close to, before she was parentified and had to care for her younger siblings, drop out of school, and really, Debbie was a pretty amazing role model for girls everywhere.

    There was a lot of rapid-fire Bunny babbling over Thanksgiving.

    "Mmm... tree and pancakes. With rainbow sprinkles." Bunny gives a grin as she looks at the box, and then goes 'Eeeeeee lookit she even has Beeper on there!' happily, bouncing a little bit.

    "Ah, a real tree would be interesting? The last couple of years we've just had a little plastic tree that you plug in and sat on the counter." she pauses.

    "... I also almost never got gifts 'cause money was tight. So the little ones did."

Mark Grayson has posed:
"Well, that changes this year." Mark decides. "I think even you decided to break up with me tomorrow, mom probably has you covered for Christmas. Not that I'm suggesting we're breaking up." he's quick to add, because that is bad juju.

"And extra whipped cream." he teases lightly before he grins. "Well, my dear, we will have a real tree. May have to go get decorations, or this one..." a gesture of the box. "...will be lonely." he teases lightly. "And you are totally getting gifts this year. I don't know what yet, but I want to make sure that you know... you like it."

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    "That's because you are the best, and your mom thinks I'm pretty great. <3" Bunny grins, turning and kissing Mark's cheek as she leans her head against his. "Tree. Ornaments. Treeskirt. Maybe some garland for decorating... d'you wanna do a nativity set or nah?" Bunny asks as she slips out of the bed, and goes to grab Actual Pants (TM) because it is Cold (R).

Mark Grayson has posed:
"Naw, no nativity. When your dad is an actual alien, church was always a ... well, mom didn't do church either." Mark shrugs his shoulders, joining Bunny in the shedding of pajamas to put on warmer clothes so that they may trudge outside and get a taste of the winter air.

"I mean, if you want a nativity, though, we can get one. I just figured..." A small jump as he pulls his pants over his rump. "...I'd let you know how my family felt about religion. There is no religion on Viltrum, according to dad."

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    "There's religion *everywhere*. It's not just all Fancy Sky Daddy Stuff. And ah... kinda after a bunch of angels wrecked New York I had some significant questions about even that." Bunny admits quietly. "I mean, I'd trust the history, but history's written by the people who are left and even that's kinda questionable anymore. That and my dad's a Quiverfull Christian." she adds flatly, "So he was kinda mad about the Apocalypse being aborted."

    She breathes out.

    "Religion can just be assembled dogmatic beliefs that go unquestioned. Like Lululemon leggings salespeople, sports car enthusiasts and people who think that the Police are *totally* your friends and not sus." she jokes.

Mark Grayson has posed:
"No. Really." Mark says as he takes off his shirt to change it, "According to dad, Viltrum had no religion. Everyone just respected each other on the basis of their skills and abilities. There is an education system, and all, but there's no need for charity, no need for belief in a higher plane of existence. You just lived, then you no longer live."

"But yeah. I guess if you were to try to apply religon to what dad explained... it's that Viltrum believes they are the betterment of other societies... so, they /are/ the religion? I mean, if you could imagine Omni-Man arriving on a planet that doesn't have the riches of super powers this one does?"

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    "I guess that makes sense when you can live for a long time that you wouldn't need the idea of an afterlife in order to comfort you, when your society has been perfected." Bunny states, though she's a little distant as she pulls on a fresh shirt, and then looks over her shoulder.

    "And yeah. I've read history, Mark. We kinda just celebrated weird alien people coming to a new place called Thanksgiving." she jokes, and then she frowns.

    "... it's just a weird shift I guess? I grew up some variation of Baptist. My older siblings all were baptized. I wasn't, 'cause you have to make the choice to do it. I chickened out twice."

Mark Grayson has posed:
"Why'd you chicken out?" Mark asks as he pulls out their coats. Then he realizes. "The fear of water." His smile turns apologetic and after handing over her jacket, he slides his hand along her back just to give her rump a pat. "I never realized how much faith you put on me when you let me teach you how to surf. I... I mean, if I had, I probably would have been scared to have let you down. Or just fallen in love with you right there."

"Well, at least dad didn't bring smallpox and poorly made blankets?" he asks with a smirk. "Just a short-lived superhero career. And eventually, half of what made me?"

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    "Oh, nah that only triggers when you can't see the bottom. They basically have this big bathtub thing in the church that they baptize you in when you're a teenager." Bunny accepts her jacket and was lifting her arms up to put it on, and then gives a soft "eep!" when his hand finds her butt. She laughs, and leans against Mark.

    "Yeah. I had a huge amount of faith that you weren't going to drown me and eat my lungs or something." she jokes. And then she considers her answer.

    "The first time I just wasn't ready. My dad pressured me into it and the minister said it was OK if I wasn't ready -- dad was pretty embarrassed. The second time?" Bunny pauses. And it's not often she looks sombre.

    "I was questioning if I even deserved Salvation 'cause I was a mutant. And at the time I thought God hated mutants." she pauses, and gives a snort.

    "Ah yes, the finest viruses of the great planet VILTRUM!" she booms out her voice a moment, "And some poorly made blankets. Yeet!" she digs out Mark's hat to throw at him.

Mark Grayson has posed:
When she talks about God hating her, Mark freezes in place for a moment. "Oh Bunny..." he says quietly. "...if there is a God, and he was against you for something that he gave you in his grand design...." He catches the hat out of the air, but he's not ready to put it on yet.

"It's things like this. The whole thing with the thought that someone can stand at the pulpit and declare that you are unfit of some unknown supreme beings love. What gives them that right? What makes them think that they deserve to be the voice of this God. I grew up on Earth. Born and raised here. But I never embraced religion. People just assumed it was because my mom was Asian. If they're the God that created you, and you are created in their image, what gives some pompous asshole the right to decry you and then get in an overpriced airplane to fly off to France."

His hand is ruining the hat, he's crushing it in his hand, his expression is one of anger - it's something he feels strongly about.

"I'm not God. Will never proclaim to be. But even as I am a member of this planet because I was born here... you deserve love. I hope I can love you enough. I hope you know that my mom already loves you. I hope you know that you have the love of your friends and allies." He blows his breath out.

"Sorry. I know this is important to you. And it's something we should talk about, if it's our future. How much religion you want to introduce. And all."

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    Bunny blinks.

    "Uh... so wasn't really expecting existentialism this morning--" Bunny states, and then she reaches out, and she forces her fingers (the best she can anyway) into his hands to save his poor hat from non-existence.

    "Mark, it's OK. I don't need hokey Sky Daddy religions to feel loved, or accepted, or anything. That's why I said that it doesn't have to be that stuff. I don't need a bunch of dead people telling me how to live my life, or their expectations of me." she gives a bright smile.

    "I have you. And your mom. My older sister. Gabby and Tommy and Billy, and the rest of my team. You most important of all. 'Cause I know there's never going to be a time where you look at me, and think I am Lesser." she smiles, and then she throws her arms around him, bodily leaping up at him.

    "My religion's love and music and you."

Mark Grayson has posed:
It's when she touches his hand that Mark finally realized what he was doing to his poor hat and he slowly releases it while Bunny explains things to him. He was wondering for a moment, if he misspoked. It'd be easy to remind him that he's the kid that didn't do church, therefore he'd not understand and things get awkward.

Instead, Bunny reminds him of how caring and understanding and loving that she is. He drinks in what she's saying to try to understand -- instead, he's finding himself being bodied by her and caught off-guard, he falls backwards, landing on the bed and laughing his heart out as he looks up at her.

A kiss follows, long and affectionate, before he breaks it to breath. "The tree can wait?" he suggests. "We can practice all of your religion." he teases her. "Especially the love and you part."

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    Bunny's laughing by the end, breathless and cheeks flushed, hair unbrushed and all over the place after the kiss. And she draws her head down, the tip of her nose pressing to Mark's as she gives a bright smile.

    "Tree can wait. But Pancakes?"

    She kisses the tip of Mark's nose so sweetly.

    "You'll have to convince me for that one!"

Mark Grayson has posed:
"Man, pancakes. You're expensive!" Mark teases and laughs. "I guess it's easier. Since we're already dressed."

Grabbing the stocking cap, he pulls it down over Bunny's head and face before releasing it.

"I didn't realize I had to convince you, though."

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    "MRBK!" Bunny protests, and she laughs.

    "All right, all right. Pancakes and omelett. Tree. And then here so we can figure out what kinda ornaments to get. Preferably shatter-proof plastic ones." Bunny laughs.

Mark Grayson has posed:
"Sounds like a plan!" Mark agrees before he kisses her befreckled nose and a gentle nudge to help her up.

"And yeah, Beeper may try to eat the glass ones." he comments with a smirk.