It's a Bird, It's a Plane

[betarade_spill]

Aw, shucks. It's that large, funny-talking horse dude with the winged helmet. What's he doing with that big wooden sign? Hammering it into the ground in the Forum? And, what does it say? "FREE PIGGYBACK RIDES." He can't be serious. Who would trust this huge, jolly weirdo (even if he does clean out demons like it's his day job)? The long-snouted thief of Thor's wardrobe must be nearly seven feet tall, and he's wide enough to weigh a quarter ton!

Oh, great. He's hovering. He must really be insane to expect anyone to go FLYING with him. The 'man' looks like some kind of monster. And, is he looking this way? Too late to hide...

"Wouldst thou care to take to the sky with Beta Ray Bill?" The joy of flight is apparently worth sharing. Boy, someone must be in a good mood...

((Note: any characters taking Bill up on this offer are in danger of seriously getting their hair mussed. Horse jokes may result in one unassisted flight lesson...just one))

Comments

[betarade_spill]

"It soothes me to know it," he says (truthfully) in thanks, in his way. "Much of the ways of nature doth elude me." Frequently confused exile friends, assemble...

Although, if Bill had the power to kill Galactus, before the creature had eaten New Korbin, Please Believe he would have. Damn the torpedoes.

[brave_heart_verity]

"Yeah. Nature's... too big. Nobody's supposed to understand it, I think."

It's good to know he's as short-sighted as all the other heroes. It'd suck for him to be the only one who understood consequences.

[betarade_spill]

"Still," he said, with his melancholy slowly fading away. "Beta Ray Bill would rather misstep, than not act." And misstep he did, on occasion. But, consequences of action he can handle. Consequences of inaction, less so.

[brave_heart_verity]

"Sometimes that's for the best." She knows how heavy the consequences of inaction can be. Even when she was ineffective, acting always somehow felt better. "So... why are you offering people piggyback rides? Did you lose a bet?"

[betarade_spill]

He considers this query carefully, and thinks back. Nope. Don't think so.

"Nay; Verily, the joy of flight be worth sharing...hast thou ever flown?" Generally honest space horse is honest.

[brave_heart_verity]

"Not like you do." Airplanes don't count. Neither do spaceships, although the view can be considerably better. "We never quite got to the 'personal jetpacks for everybody' part."

[betarade_spill]

Bill smiles, insomuch as he can smile. He remembers something from long ago. "Once, I took into the sky the sagest, elderly man. When first I heard his laughter, like that of babes, it dawned upon me that mayhap I hath as much to offer in peace, as in war."

[brave_heart_verity]

"Of course you do." It's the special Verity Willis charm that can make a statement of fact sound incredulous that he doesn't get that and still be sweet enough to not make people actually punch her in the face. "Power is power, it's not good or bad or for anything particular. It's how it gets used that determines what it becomes. Even your hammer can be a tool of peace."

[betarade_spill]

A lot of the nuances of conversation are lost on Bill. Between the barrier of language, the cultural filters, and just his general, jolly disposition. He tries to explain, the good and the bad were not his dilemma. "The power to turn away a villain or a monster or a beast, oft be far between in men. Especially on Korbin. But, so too can even a kind word be." He doesn't really have the words to explain how he was kind of like Captain America, basically a living weapon where he's from. That is, if Captain America were singly responsible for the entire world. No time for friends, or games, or piggyback rides...

[brave_heart_verity]

"Not every villain is turned by the power in someone's fist." She should know. Or maybe not, she did fuck everything up in the end. But they had been so close...

"It's scarier to be kind to people than to fight with them."

[betarade_spill]

The big alien nods thoughtfully. Perhaps a double lesson. "Verily can it be more difficult to soothe, and heal, than to simply lay asunder and forget. But so oft doth time work like a fiend against thee."

[brave_heart_verity]

"Yeah. But if you're not going to take the time to do something right, why do it at all?" Philosophy discussed in the abstract is a lot less upsetting for her, and will be less likely to lead to mentioning people and things that would upset Bill.

[betarade_spill]

Probably for the best to only lay but so much on him at once, Verity. He suspects, though, that she knows the answer to that question. You can hear the yearning in his voice.

"Even working as diligently as be within reach, the schedule of battle be set by the..." Bill's gears turned, looking for a word.

"Set by the attacker, not the defender?"

[brave_heart_verity]

He'll find out all about it if he goes to deal with Thor. "Yeah, I know, nobody gets to schedule these things. But you don't have to fight every fight. You can't pour from an empty pail."

[betarade_spill]

Not rush headlong from one battle to the next? What is this madness you speak? He tries to grasp her meaning.

"Thy meaning eludes, Verity Willis."

[brave_heart_verity]

What's with Asgardians and the double names all the time?

"I mean, you have to take time for yourself. You have to take care of yourself."

[betarade_spill]

Some things just are the way they are and there's no fighting them. Bill should have a sign around his neck that says, 'DON'T TELL ME YOUR WHOLE NAME' But hey, she'll always know which 'Verity,' of the endless droves, Bill is referring to.

"Tis a blessing, then: Each sojourn I gather, to this world betwixt worlds, seemeth not to advance mine own docket more than a hair." It seems giving piggyback rides in the Nexus is a day off for Bill.

[brave_heart_verity]

Because it's such a common name. Really racing up the baby name charts.

"Oh, that's lucky for you. It's good you found your way here."

[betarade_spill]

It's only too bad she's not named 'Verily Willis,' as it would really simplify the conversation. Bill nods at his good luck, but they really have that in common.

"Tis true, and I come and go on a whim. Each tarriance here doth refresh. I suspect, how'ere, thou art even more fortunate than I. " Heck, not just he and she.

[brave_heart_verity]

'Verily, Verily' sounds like the start of a nursery rhyme.

"Oh yeah? How so?" She's not discounting that it is extremely fortunate for her that she has a safe place into which she can retreat. But she's not sure that counts as being luckier than he is.

[betarade_spill]

Although Bill believes overall it's a wash as to who's (un-)luckier, he can traverse space and time, for the most part, at will.

"The Nexus doth seem well-stocked with refugees, now that I ponder upon it. But when I sojourn here, it be by choice." Of course, she could have interdimensional traveling abilities he's totally unaware of, which would be totally handy for when the universe ends.

[brave_heart_verity]

He's definitely the lucky one, as far as she's concerned.

"Yeah, we. It's not. It's not the sort of club I want more people to join..." She's a little lost now.

[betarade_spill]

It doesn't matter. He dismisses the whole subject with a gesture, waving his hand low.

"I pray thy stay thus far hath been pleasant?"

[brave_heart_verity]

Okay then.

"Mostly. Except for the demons."

[betarade_spill]

He hisses a purring predatory hiss, the kind that unhappy tigers make. The kind of thing that belies his usual human-like presence. But his face, his voice seem a little ashamed.

"If only I had glimpsed it forthwith! They could have been driven back at the onset!"

Even Stormbreaker throbs with energy unhappily.