bootyhunter | CALL ME OUT

Yeah, and you became the first guy to turn Parker Rochford down, so, like-- don't talk about your dick, it's super unclassy.

[Like he has had any class this entire time. She waits a little bit, still turned away from him-- the scarring on her back on full display, unintentionally. Then, once she's sure she's given him enough time, she climbs out of the pool herself. She's much more careful, and deliberate than him-- she even gives her ponytail a little scrunch on its way out to get rid of the excess water.]

A rocket? I don't think so. The doc's pretty smart, but is super olden-times. [says the girl whose based off of JANE BOLEYN of literal olden times history] Maybe the robot? I somehow doubt that the stuff to make one is just like, laying around here.

[And there it is.

Rex winces just a tad, his nose wrinkling slightly. They should be discussing a potential getaway plan, but if he's being honest with himself, Rex has been trained for solo missions. Getting in and out of places unscathed- All on Earth. With limited parameters and specific contacts. A conveniently placed helicopter, a perfectly timed bicycle dropoff, a bus operated with only one stop by a man in a suit who worked for the same agency...

This is totally out of his depth. There are far too many parameters.]

Yeah, but you never messed around with other dudes, did you?

You just had one guy.

[Rex wonders, for a second, how Eve would have felt if she had lost him.

In some ways, would that have been better? He would've died a hero, if young, and she would have loved him to the very end. Ah, but therein lies his selfishness.

Rex, to some degree, knows he will die before he hits old age. In his line of work, that is practically a guarantee. But what he desires, what he craves-]

I didn't reject you? Not you-you, I...

[Is to become a champion first.]

I cheated on my ex-girlfriend? With our friend! In a shower that we all use! Eve was as close to perfect as you could get, and yeah, she's great and I'm about as nice as a bucket full of turds! But...

We did have some shit in common.

[That they were experiments. That their families didn't see them for their real worth. Or well, in Eve's case, "family." Rex had always wondered what it was like for her to live with two people she knew weren't her real parents.

Two idiot fuckers who hadn't the faintest clue.]

You're not the problem here.

Yeah. I mean… George and I just kind of. Made sense. Even before we got together in middle school, it was basically written for us. It was supposed to be forever. [She hasn’t quite made it to the towel, and wraps her arms across her chest subconsciously.]

You can’t hold that against me. If I had my way… [Well. They wouldn’t be here, would they?]

Cheating… doesn’t make you a shit person, you know?

[Instead of answering, Rex looks down at his knees, observing how the cloth of the towel folds above his thighs, considering his options carefully.

Parker is being thoughtful. Open-minded, even. But Rex was a shitty person long before he ever cheated on Eve. It's irrational, and sure, what his parents did to him was unforgivable, but everything that's happened until this point has made him wonder. What if they were right? Not to love him. To give him up, just like that. As it seems. nothing good has come out of being close to him.

He pulls his knees to his chest, knowing that an explanation won't do any good. It won't change what he did.]

...Well.

It's not the shittiest thing I ever did.

Edited 2022-02-19 04:36 (UTC)

Sure. And… it happens. [She casts a glance back at him—- then decides it’s probably best to not look at him anymore. There’s still that stirring in her chest, and he probably doesn’t want her looking at him when he’s like that. She focuses her gaze elsewhere, wrapping her own towel around her torso.]

It’s not as big a deal as people act like it is. Cheating. It sucks, yeah, but it’s not like…

She can move on from that. She has a whole life, still. She’ll be fine.

[Rex can't say that Parker's wrong, and she isn't. Eve will be heartbroken for a little while, but Invincible is probably ready beneath the bleachers, with a pair of strong arms to comfort her. For fuck's sake, they can both fly! And go to the same school.]

Yeah.

It will. She'll be okay.

[She, not, "I."]

Honestly? She's probably better for it. It's not like she doesn't have options.

Sure. So… don’t be so hard on yourself. It’s not like you cheated on her, then killed her for cheating back.

[she says it like? it’s happened before?]

You both can move on.

Why would anybody do that?

[Rex raises an eyebrow at her.]

Murder's a lot of trouble, FYI! Like, legally speaking. Nobody who pulled that dumb shit is close to worth the jail time for it!

[Parker cracks a smile, despite herself.]

You’d think. But… Well. Don’t worry about it. You’ll just have to like… trust me. It’s not that big a deal. She’ll get over it. You should too.

Hold on just a fuckin' minute.

[At this, he raises an index finger, growing more dubious by the second.]

You're from normal world, right? No superheroes!

They do send people to jail for killing and shit. Yeah? The only things that would hold up in court to prevent any kind of accountability for that would be self-defense or a reason of insanity plea.

...What's goin' on here? Something is up! UFO up, baby. And I, for one? Am not a fan.

Edited 2022-02-19 05:21 (UTC)

Uh, normally, yeah? Except… this guy. Henry. His dad basically owns the town. They managed to chase the Boleyns out, and they were fucking loaded.

[She’s back to digging her perfect fingernails into her own arms again.]

It’s just. More complicated than saying he has to go to jail for it. There’s politics. There’s money. There’s… all the proof we gathered. And seeing what the police end up doing with it. [She says we. But so much of the evidence had come from Anna herself, dead and gone.]

Ugh.

[Rex's nose curls inwards, his lips twisting into a snarl. The young man has a habit of yelling, but it should be noted that his anger is always at its worst when he speaks in slow, deep breaths, cursing through a wall of gritted teeth.

So, this guy kills two people in cold blood and gets away with it? That's as obvious as it gets! Obvious, but unsurprising. While people like Rex himself, those who come from nothing, aren't even given a bed at hospital when they're sick and dying for anything less than thousands of dollars.]

So he's filthy stinkin' rich.

I take back what I said. People like that can get away with anything! It's the pits! Meanwhile, if you're down on your luck and get caught doin' a break-in, you get locked up! And when ya get out, there's no way in hell you're ever gonna get a job.

[He snorts, disgusted.]

No wonder you're so angry all the time.

Uh, yeah. Obviously I’m angry all the time. [Its funny—- before this place, you’d have never caught Parker Rochford saying that. Eve at risk of death herself. To admit that she was pushed to such an emotion feels like losing, and Parker hates losing. But here, it somehow feels like a rebellion to be angry. One that people will understand.

It’s less lonely.

She hates that it took these circumstances to feel less lonely.]

He killed my best friend and my boyfriend, and maimed me, all in one night. And six months later? He killed Katie. And people still say they had it coming. People still think he could never, and if they think he did, they think he was right.

It’s fucking bullshit. [… Sometimes, it feels nice. To just be angry.]

Okay, okay.

[Now he's actually going to yell.]

WHAT?! I'm sorry, actually, no! No I'm not! I am not sorry about this, because what the actual fuck?

I don't care what gossip or highschool drama got out. Murder?! Straight up murder?! That's unreasonable! That makes no sense! I don't care if everybody likes the guy or he's got a magic dick. I don't care if you'd be able to rub it and have a genie come out! People's lives mean something. No matter how shitty they are!

No wonder you tried to shoot him. I'm glad ya didn't, but mostly because you're too pretty for prison. And, also, did I tell you-

[Rex leans closer, looking panicky-]

That demons are real in my world? Oh yeah! Hell's a real fucking place! Don't put that shit on your eternal soul, girlie.

I'm still tryin' to clear mine.

Edited 2022-02-19 05:49 (UTC)

[Now that he’s actually, y’know, covered up his dick, it’s a lot easier for Parker to stare at him. And despite herself, and the topic at hand… she can’t help but crack a smile.

She wraps her own towel around her shoulders, wearing it like a shawl instead of wrapping it around her torso like a normal human would. She’s not worried about covering up her body— not any part of it other than her back. ]

Yeah. Well. I think even God would have trouble blaming me, if I had pulled it off. Fucker has it coming.

… You look so much more human, with that thing off. [You know. The super suit.]

[Parker will receive a flash of pearly whites in response, following a split-second where Rex looks down and the water and smiles, much like any kid his age. For a brief moment in time, he looks as she describes: Normal. Like an athlete who's just looked in the mailbox and received a scholarship and the opportunity of a lifetime to study at his dream school, with an an open mind and a bright future ahead of him-]

[But the mirth settles in as his mouth closes and his grin widens, smug as ever, a shitty band-aid slapped across the festering, infected wound that is Rex's everlasting misery. He was born with it, and while his life will be short and not very sweet, Rex will at least have the opportunity to cast it all away before he becomes nothing but dust.]

Awh! You must've missed the extra pair of eyes on the back of my head! I know, they're probably hidden by manbun and all? But they can shoot laser beams, pew-pew!

[He mimes a gun, Rex's tone a dead-giveaway for his obvious sarcasm.]

What, I don't look human in that thing? Good! Uuuuuuh-maze-ing.

I always knew I was larger than life, anyway.

[What's close to the truth is not that Rex is larger than life, but moreso that he has nine of them. That his bones will heal themselves and his injuries will disappear faster than those of normal people, and that he can walk through fires created by his own explosions unharmed, whereas others would have their skin completely burnt through at such high temperatures.]

Yeah, the collar, goggles, and uh, dome-top tend to make my chin look even bigger. I look like I'm gonna clean up nuclear waste or some shit! But, but, also?

My ass? Looks fan-fuckin'-tastic in it.

[She watches his expression change, and there’s a tiny, fucked up part of her that’s relieved by it.

Parker doesn’t look at guys with smiles like that the same way anymore. She can’t. Still—- there’s another part of her that is grateful she caught a glimpse of it. She can’t explain why. Parker Rochford’s mine is conflicted, and full of contradictions. But at least she sounds pretty sure of herself when she nods, and says—-]

Yeah. It does.

[He can't help but to let out a laugh. Without the spiteful rasp or demeaningly boisterous volume to it, it is a wholly different sound.]

You're actually agreein' with me?

[Rex has had to defend himself from the day he took his first step. In the good ol' US of A, some are born with the kind of privilege that allow them to act in ways they in no way deserve, giving them the option to take things that aren't theirs. He, in some ways, has mimicked this behavior, although in Rex's case there is some poetic irony to it. While he is indeed a man, his parents were from the bottom rung of society and so was he, and his skin is not the color that would allow him to con his way into a sea of suits and white collars.

Whatever. In Rex's own mind, he deserves some of that sweet, sweet validation too. Or, well, maybe he doesn't actually deserve it.

But he wants it all just the same.]

Okay! That's on you, y'know.

Has it been a while? Since ya messed around with anybody other than your dead boyfriend.

[She didn’t expect for him to laugh at her. Not like that, at least, not so naturally. Parker’s not used to being the butt of jokes— and she lets out an irritated huff of air, but finally sits by him.]

I couldn’t. [Thats… the truth of it. There had been unfinished business. She still wasn’t over George—- and she doubts she’ll ever be completely over him. But it had been harder, before the truth was out.]

Not while—- not before the truth came out. He deserved that. For everyone to know the truth. If I was with someone else before that, everyone would think—- [She presses her lips together tightly. People talk. Especially high schoolers. And Parker had been the only person, for a very long time, to stand against all of that talk. The only person to protect George and Anna’s reputations.

The realization, now? That that’s all over? It’s immensely relieving.

She just wishes she wasn’t having it while kidnapped in space.]

Well... Yeah?

[Rex scoots over, not so much that there's too much space between them, but just enough so that room to sit comfortably.]

He was murdered. And that's, like, terrible? What other truth could there be! Ohhh, no! Did some kids think he fake-offed himself to commit, I dunno, tax evasion? People are super messed up, I swear.

[He may scoff a little, but it's clear that he feels bad for her. He's had himself discussed on Reddit forums by loser incels with sticky, Mountain-Dew stained fingers. The kind of spineless bastards who wouldn't ever have the gall to do what he does, even if they had been equipped with Rex's abilities.]

So... I take it you were in love with the guy?

Mostly they just blamed his sister. But they always thought he… had it coming. Or did something to deserve it.

[She knows that part was fucked. Teenagers don’t know how to deal with shit like death yet, and it came out in the foulest ways. It was exhausting, holding herself together through all that, being George’s constant defender…

The next question gets her caught off guard. Normally, that question wasnt asked of her sincerely. She takes a little bit of time—- then nods.]

Yeah. George and I were… we’d been together since middle school. We were going to go to the same college. Get married. Have kids. Get really old together.

You still can, in a way?

[His voice grows quiet. There is a silent intensity that accompanies the softness.]

I know it's not the same, but if you keep his memory alive, he'll be there.

I don't know healthy it is for you right now, though. It kinda looks like it's tearing you apart.

It sounds like you've gotta let him go so he can still stay close.

[He’s right, and she knows it. Even so, she shakes her head softly.]

The truths out now. I did my part. The Boleyn name is safe now.

[Its still so fresh. She’d just been celebrating with the other survivors of Henry’s warpath through high school—- and then she woke up here.]

I did it. And it’s like… I don’t know. I have to learn how to live and do shit for myself again.

Boelyn... Boelyn...

[Why... WHY is that name ringing a certain kind of bell that sounds... Ringy-]

Where have I heard that name before? Well, you're a rich person. Who knows other rich people!

Is his family... Are theeeeeey...?

[Don't say it-]

Bowling Rink magnates?

[NO!!!!]

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1/2

2/2 SPOILERS FOR INVINCIBLE PAST S1

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