ic A Briefing With Friends (IC)

[Gizmo]

Trevor lifted his eyebrows just above the lenses of his sunglasses for a moment when Quo-Dis suggested it was a 'fair match', his expression difficult to read but edging toward amusement. "Busy years," he noted in reference to their time at Claremont as he unbuttoned his shirt's cuff and rolled the sleeve up over a pale, impeccably toned bicep. Although still lean by nature, Trevor had grown fully into his tall frame over the past years and up close it was hard to miss his honed athleticism. "Lots of drama to occupy." Rolling his shoulder to loosen it, he placed his own elbow on the bar. "Past is tissue trauma; tears down to build up."

[Electra]

The foosball game was a quick one, full of back-and-forth exchanges almost too fast to follow. Erin may have had superhuman dexterity, but it had been six years and an entire lifetime since she'd last played, and that counted against her. Corbin scored four points in a row while she was still getting herself organized, a streak that had her sputtering with mingled amusement and frustration. "I think you got the good side of the table," she decided, adjusting her grip once more as he pulled the ball from her goal and prepared to fire it.

Luckily for Erin's ego, she started making a comeback as she got the hang of the game again. She managed to score several points in a row with a combination of backspin and blinding speed, and blocked a couple of shots with her goalie, to boot. The final score was ten to eight in Corbin's favor, but at least she hadn't embarrassed herself. "Rematch after the game?"

[KnightDisciple]

"Both sides are good sides."

Corbin's eyes twinkle with mischief at that statement, though they don't leave the game. He continues to sit cross-legged in the air, not even noticing the effort needed to do so. He grunts each time he or Erin scores, but is rather quiet while he plays. It's clear he's got more practice, but not by a large margin. Likely he's been busy for a couple months. When he wins, he can't help but briefly manifest a "#1" in the air above him, before nodding at Erin's question.

"Sure. Maybe the football game will live up to this game's excitement."

He meanders over to check on Quo-Dis and Trevor, his legs having unfolded and touched back down in the meantime.

[Avenger Assembled]

Quo-Dis put her elbow on the table and took Trevor's hand. "I wouldn't know," she confessed in response to his comment, looking wistful for a moment at the words. "My body heals all injuries as soon as they are made. We live on vril as much as on life itself. Now let us count down from three," she went on, "so that we may pit ourselves against each other. "Three...two...one!" She was all strength and solid muscle as she resisted Trevor; her eyes on him rather than their match as they pitted themselves against each other. "You are very fast, Erin!" she called to Wander as she and Corbin competed. "There are few who can stand against Corbin in foosball-battle and come so close to victory!" She gritted her teeth and narrowed her eyes at Trevor for emphasis. "Your power is great, Trevor! Few humans could stand my strength so."

[Gizmo]

Trevor responded with a neutral noise, his eyes hidden from Quo-Dis' intense gaze behind the oval lenses of his sunglasses. Outwardly he remained as composed as ever but inwardly the bout was definitely requiring the bulk of his attention and effort. While he could count himself among the top athletes in the world thanks to his grandfather's extensive training and his own experience that was still a list limited to human athletes. Being more inclined to leverage every possible advantage and tactic, relying on strength of arm alone put him at a further disadvantage. Speaking... of tissue trauma...

[Electra]

Erin ambled over to watch the match, picking up another slice of pizza as she went. It was always a pleasure to watch Trevor at work, even if this was a match he stood little objective chance of winning. Really, against someone with Quo Dis' metahuman abilities, it was impressive that he was even holding her at bay. "Come on," she encouraged, "the game's going to start again soon. And try not to break the table." She herself had learned the lesson that after a certain level of strength was reached, it was not wise to armwrestle on average tables.

[KnightDisciple]

Corbin tossed another 3 slices on a plate for himself, ambling over to the contest with a raised eyebrow. He was perhaps a bit biased about his assessment, but found it unlikely Trevor would win; he estimated Quo-Dis's strength to be on par with his own ring-enhanced muscles, and while Trevor and he were on equal ground with the Ring not in the equation, with it it was a rather sure thing. Still, it was clear the stoic young man was giving a good accounting of himself.

"Yeah, my folks wouldn't appreciate more broken furniture."

His eyes widened slightly at his own words, and he blushed as he moved on.

"Uh. Because. You know. Um. Hard to gauge strength sometimes, who knows how many cups I broke and forks I bent and stuff. Yeah."

[Gizmo]

Trevor did little more that quick an eyebrow at Corbin's artless attempt to cover but the momentary distraction was all it took for his precarious application of leverage to give way, sending his hand smacking into the table with Quo-Dis' over top. Pulling back the limb and flexing his smarting fingers experimentally, he gave the superhumanly powerful woman a faint smile and nod of humility before flatly replying to the flustered young man, "Preaching to the choir." He might not have been one to discuss such things in public but the soft-spoken heir was not without a sense of dry humour.

[Avenger Assembled]

Quo-Dis laughed, rubbing her knuckles good-naturedly. "A good bout. Thank you for the service, Trevor." She caught Corbin's blush and laughed ."Ah-hah, yes, it is all right, darling, you do not need to cover for me." Turning to the other two, with the air of one sharing a funny, albeit embarrassing story, Quo-Dis went on. "When Corbin and I started dating, I was very socially awkward. On one of our first dates, I asked our friends Jessica and Blake if they were having intercourse!" She laughed, covering her mouth, and blushed prettily. "And then my mother asked him if we were having intercourse. It was a very awkward conversation. So now Corbin is always very careful whenever the subject comes up. But it's all right, I will not ask your friends about that!"

[Electra]

Erin coughed, her cheeks coloring a little at Trevor's words. "Yeah, ah... yeah, well. Looks like the table survived." She looked over at Quo-dis, cocking her head at the story. "Wait, your mom went out on your first date with you guys? That seems like it would be kind of awkward even before the sex talk started." It was much more comfortable to talk about someone else's embarrassing sex stories than to try and think of how to explain one's own occasional bouts of broken furniture and dented walls. "Was she like chaperoning you, or did she just show up to check things out?"

[KnightDisciple]

"It was originally just a double date. Sa-Ur showed up a bit later, after we'd had dinner at an Italian place and were headed for coffee and dessert. Seemed like a somewhat typical "check up", albeit..."

He paused and glanced at Quo-Dis, shrugging a bit with a smile born from time's distance.

"Flashier. It was a...unique evening. But good. I've always figured she was just worried. After all, everyone knows the sort of reputation I've got, right?"

Corbin gave an exaggerated roll of the eyes at that statement, sending a quick thought toward Quo-Dis to assure her this was sarcasm (normally she could tell, but since they were talking about her mother and such he wanted to be 110% clear).

[Gizmo]

Waiting until Erin and Corbin were looking elsewhere, Trevor caught Quo-Dis' eye and gave a subtle but significant nod of his head, just to make sure the implied but avoided question was cleared up. Private though he may have been by nature, the young heir had been subjected to enough socialite drama to favour offering definitive information over leaving room for speculation. Besides, he felt for the Ultiwoman's unintended awkwardness trying to avoid the pitfalls of an unfamiliar society. "Better a parent who takes an interest, yes?" he offered with a small shrug, sounding more encouraging than bitter.

[Avenger Assembled]

"She just wanted to make sure that Corbin was adequately meeting my needs as a...partner," Quo-Dis reassured the others, nodding in Trevor's direction. The Ultiteen wasn't the most subtle of young women, but she could certainly take a hint. "I have convinced her that Corbin will eventually be able to provide me and the community with what we need...should our relationship go that far, of course!" she added, a little awkwardly. There was a silence for a moment before she said, "Anyway, I am told Father approves it as well, which is something, I suppose." She smiled thinly. "The mightiest vril does not make a good father. Only strength of character." With a nod, she headed across the room for the board games. "Have the two of you considered children?" she seriously asked of Trevor and Erin.

[Electra]

Erin blinked and opened her mouth, then closed it again, shooting a rather helpless look in Trevor's direction. Having friends really was harder work than it ought to be sometimes. "Ah, it's a little early for that sort of question to come up," she finally managed. "Neither of us are even twenty yet. Children are way, way, way off down the road, not something to even think about yet." Especially since the thought was enough to send a cold shiver down her spine, but she wasn't going to share that with the nosy Ultiman.

Erin had spent a little time after their brush with Omega thinking about the alternate future they'd visited, and the hints she'd gotten there to how one iteration of her had gotten by. Given the year, given how old Lucky Strike, Clara, had been, Erin and Mark (and there was a thought that was even more alarming to pursue) would've produced her quite young, in their very early twenties. It apparently had not worked out well, given the hints Clara had dropped, and Erin could understand why! If she was ever going to be ready to be a parent, it wasn't going to be for a really, really long time and a lot more therapy. She was pretty sure that Trevor, whatever his other long-term thoughts about their relationship, felt the same way.

Moving slightly more quickly than even her usual rapid grace, Erin drained her can of soda and dropped back onto the couch. "Hey, looks like the game is about to start back up."

[KnightDisciple]

Corbin nodded at Trevor's words. It seemed like, despite the awkward moments, Erin and Trevor and Quo-Dis were getting along better and better. That gave him a great sense of relief; bad enough his circle of friends was disjointed (and that Blake was secluded enough in his studies that they didn't hang out much), but it'd be worse if somehow they and his girlfriend didn't get along. A brief "pulse" of warmth and happiness was sent to Quo-Dis across their link.

When she started talking about "meeting needs" and "providing for the community", he blushed as red as the cape his alter ego wore, unconsciously grasping his hands behind his back and giving an expression somewhere between "embarrassed", "amused", and "slightly prideful".

"Your father approves? That's...well, it's good to know all of your family approves."

When you knew your girlfriend's father was the Nazi answer to the Centurion, having his approval seemed a tricky affair. He didn't let those thoughts leak out though, and he didn't say more. Wouldn't be polite. He also didn't visibly wince when Quo-Dis asked Erin about kids; he'd been on that trip to the alternate future and seen how it put Erin off-center a bit, meeting her daughter by way of Mark.

"That's understandable, Erin. Not the sort of thing to jump right into. All parties involved deserve that being a careful decision. Luckily you two are good at careful decisions, so."

Corbin probably was ignoring the occasions when the other two young heroes had been somewhat...rash...in their adventures, but comparatively speaking even those incidents were minor. He also appreciated how they had a talent for redirecting things.

"Excellent. Time to see the local team triumph soundly."

He eased over to Quo-Dis, put an arm around her shoulders with a smile, and took them back to sit on one side of the couch, soon getting into the flow of the game once more.

[Gizmo]

There was literally nothing in Quo-Dis comments that Trevor wanted to comment upon. He could have gone a long time indeed without participating in a conversation debating the younger man's ability to satisfy his partner or the potency of his vril. The Ultimen might have used it to refer to a measure of life force but in his study of Superior the detective had always gotten the impression that it was at least partially euphemistic, particularly given the fascist superman's eugenic leanings. That same knowledge of history made Quo-Dis' father and his views impossible to tackle diplomatically. As for plans for children... he returned Erin's look with a faint wince, rubbing his collar uncomfortably with one hand. His options for small talk seemed nonexistent.

Fortunately, if there was anything the Hunter heir excelled at, it was remaining silent where others would feel the need to speak. Letting the broached topics clatter awkwardly to the floor, he turned back to the game.

[Avenger Assembled]

The game ended with a last-minute field goal for the home team breaking a long-standing tie, giving the kicker a moment of glory as the Freedom City crowd went wild. Quo-Dis had grown quiet as the game ended, clinging to Corbin's arm as the show ran down, but cheered lustily when the game ended. "Well-met, and well-matched," she said when she was done, putting her arms affectionately around Corbin's shoulders. "You know, I originally thought this was a pointless waste," she confessed about the game with a nod, "but I think it is a fine thing this society has learned to channel its aggression into pursuits more productive than simple warfare. A healthy competition that ends in celebration, not slaughter, really is the best thing for this culture. Does anyone need a snack?" she offered.

[Electra]

"Thanks, Erin said, getting up and stretching, "but I think it's about time for us to get going. I go on shift at eleven tonight, and I'm sure you two have some stuff you'd like to talk about in private." She tossed her empty pop can in the trash. "Thanks for having us over, it was fun. We'll have to do it again sometime." Sometime when you've had lots and lots of time to dissect your relationship without an audience, she added silently. She looked to Trevor to make sure he was ready to go as well. "Nice seeing you again, Quo-dis. Good luck with the job offer and everything."

[KnightDisciple]

Corbin had been enjoying the game, giving the occasional "Yes!" or wordless cheer when an excellent play was made. When the home team won, he threw both hands in the air for a moment (not spilling anything!).

"All right!"

He returned Quo-Dis's hug with a smile before standing up to stretch.

"Football's got layers, for sure. Though, I dunno. I bet if I practiced a bit, I could get out on the gridiron."

With a cheesy grin he took a moment to make a football-ish pose, before walking over to check the bar for snacks (there weren't many/any left). He was about to take Quo-Dis up on her offer of getting a snack when Erin spoke up. Part of him realized at least some of the reason was likely the awkward moments through the evening, and he couldn't help feeling a bit hurt. He understood Erin's reluctance to get involved in "drama", but he'd hoped there wouldn't be any...

Still, they'd stayed, and they'd been polite about the whole thing. And Erin even said she'd been willing to get together again.

'That's more than Blake and Jessica ever did...'

He shook off that brief, bitter thought, and stepped over to offer Erin and Trevor each a handshake.

"No, that's fine. Duty calls, and all that. We're probably lucky someone didn't pull off a wacky super-crime while the game was going on that we had to stop. It was nice to hang out and relax for a while. We'll let you know when we can do this again."

He moved to stand next to Quo-Dis, giving her a firm one-armed hug as he nodded at the quiet couple.

"Really, thanks for coming over. It was nice. And fun. And insightful."