ic Can I Borrow A Cup of Adventure? (IC)

[Electra]

"I guess," Erin said reluctantly, shrugging into the jacket and gathering it around her. She didn't suffer unduly from the cold, even with her reduced powers, but she still appreciated the way it was still warm from his body. "But not today. Definitely not when he's hanging around with her." She sighed at that, then slid her hand into his as they turned to walk towards the streets where Erin Prime had fled. "If he's going to do something crazy when I tell him, I'd rather we be back in Freedom City and well-rested. You don't think he's taken her somewhere else now, do you?" She looked around, trying to catch sight of Mark or an even more familiar face.

[Avenger Assembled]

As if summoned, Edge and Erin-Prime appeared from the air just a few feet in front of them, Mark's arm around the other Erin's shoulders. She was wearing a gendarme's jacket over her own, and was still clinging close to Mark from the shock of the whole experience. "-easy to find them. Hey, here you guys are!" Mark was just saying. "There's a French team inbound ASAP, and the local cops have the situation on lockdown for now. I think we can take Erin home," he offered, shooting a glance her way. This had been one of the best afternoons ever, beaten and battered though he was, but he had a feeling a civilian, even a civilian version of Erin, might not see it that way. "And hey, how's this for an exciting birthday, right?"

[Electra]

Erin Prime was still nearly as pale as her sun-proof counterpart, but she managed a brave smile for Mark and the others. "I don't think I'm going to forget it anytime soon," she said with great feeling. Even though her knuckles were white where she was holding onto Mark's arm, the civilian girl did seem to have some spine. "My folks are going to want me back home, I think. They're not used to so much excitement first thing in the morning." She turned her smile back to Mark, her eyes regaining a bit of their sparkle as she looked at him from under the beret he'd found while searching for her. "You'll have to give me a rain check. We didn't finish our walk."

Beside Trevor, Erin Keeley sighed almost imperceptibly, but didn't say anything. She guessed this was better than having the other Erin hysterical and never wanting anything to do with any of them, but it was a close-run thing. At least none of it had to be dealt with immediately.

[Gizmo]

Trevor made a muted sound that could reasonably be taken as agreement with the suggestion to return to Seattle as soon as possible. Ideally he would have preferred heading straight back to Freedom, but he felt the Whites deserved some sort of in-person explanation and perhaps apology. The specific situation was not one with any established social norms so far as he knew. "Powers aren't being interfered with?" he directed at Mark, keeping his chin tilted downward to cover more of his face with his hat's brim.

[Avenger Assembled]

"Yeah, they're fine," said Edge breezily. "At least, nothing stopped me from hopping all the way around the city, and popping out to Marseilles. Seraph says hey, by the way," he added to Midnight and Wander. To Erin, he added, "Here, take my number," he said, slipping her his fancy new UNISON business card. "Call me any time on the international line," he offered breezily, "I'm usually working during the day, but I've at least got access to my phone all the time. Maybe next time we'll go somewhere a little quieter, like Rome or the Caribbean," he added with a wink. He did owe her that walk, and presumably some place less overrun by giant robots would let them actually finish it. "Here we go!" And with those words, they vanished in a flash of energy, reappearing right back in the Whites' living room.

[Electra]

The noise of the group's return brought the adult Whites into the living room at a run, both of them looking rather less calm than they had before the little sojurn to Paris. "Are you all right?" Clarissa asked Erin Prime immediately, taking her daughter by the shoulders and looking her over for damage. Erin Prime made an annoyed noise and tried to squirm away, but Clarissa had quite a grip.

"I'm fine, Mom!" Erin Prime protested. "Mark took care of me, it wasn't even dangerous."

"You shouldn't even have been out of the house, Erin," Roger cut in sternly. "Much less leaving the country without our permission." He looked a little flabbergasted by that part, but was setting it aside for the moment. "What were you thinking?"

"I'm an adult now!" Erin Prime pointed out, managing to extricate herself from her mother and brush herself off. "It wasn't like I was going there to stay, it was just a quick little trip while you were busy. They do it all the time!" she added, gesturing to Erin and her friends.

"That's different," Clarissa said after barely a beat. "Superheroes can do things like that. And you're not so much an adult that we're not going to worry about you! You should have at least talked to us." A look at the trio of Liberty Leaguers made it clear that she wasn't assigning all the fault to Erin Prime.

"I'm really sorry," Erin Keeley offered. "Mark travels all the time when he's working with UNISON, sometimes he forgets that not everyone is used to that. I should've reminded him, but we all made sure Erin was safe and got home as quick as possible. We, ah, we better go now, in case we're needed for anything else today. It was nice to get the chance to talk."

[Gizmo]

Making a good impression with the Whites had frankly slid several notches lower on Trevor's ranked priorities over the last hour or so but he spared them a brief inclination of his head as he stepped smoothly around Clarissa to pluck his sunglasses from the kitchen table. "Sorry. Robot mimes," he restated in the same sort of tone one might have used to commiserate over heavy traffic or poor weather. "It happens." He gave them a coolly confident look that probably would have been more calming and reassuring if he'd waited until after he'd replaced the opaque lenses over his discoloured eyes, then stepped back over to his Erin, ready to leave.

[Avenger Assembled]

Mark blinked, sussing out this new reality and instinctively adjusting to it, or, rather, getting it to adjust to him. "I'm so sorry," he said sincerely to Roger and Clarissa, worried that he'd upset his friends' parents without intending to. "All I wanted to do was give Erin a birthday she wouldn't soon forget, and I guess...well, I guess I let myself get carried away. I never meant to do anything to frighten you about your daughter's safety." He looked away, abashed for a moment, and then focused right on the local Erin. "But the person I owe the biggest apology to is standing right here in front of me. I'm sorry our trip got interrupted," he told her with perfect sincerity. "If you ever want to see Paris again, I can make sure it happens on a much better day, though I don't know how I could have better company." He smiled winningly. "And hey, you got a chance to see three of the best heroes in the world do their thing, and an adventure most people would never believe. Not everyone's that lucky. I should know." He was still visibly bruised and battered from the savage beating he'd taken from the mimes, but it didn't seen to bother him. "I think we should get out of their way," he suggested to the others, and with their assent, they all vanished back to Freedom City and Erin's apartment.

[Electra]

Charlie scrambled out of his favorite spot on the back of Erin's armchair as the trio reappeared, arching his back and puffing his orange tail in alarm. Erin drew in a deep breath before seeming to deflate, then walked over to pick up her sorely confused kitten. "That could've gone better," she muttered. "I just need a minute. You guys can finish the coffee or whatever." By now the warmer on the coffeepot had turned the morning's brew into something rather less than appetizing, but it was still technically coffee. Rubbing her cheek against Charlie's soft fur, Erin carried him into the bedroom, letting the door stand halfway open behind her. Just as she left, there was a small commotion of gears from the kitchen table, then the clock opened up to make its cheerful cuckoo call.

[Avenger Assembled]

As Erin disappeared, Mark ran his hand through his short blonde hair, looking abashed. "Man, I guess my special present wasn't so good after all." He eyed the cuckoo clock, glad something he'd done that day still worked. "Some friend I am. Sorry I took you over there without any warning, Trevor." He put his hands in his pockets and added, "Say, uh, I wasn't trying to start anything with the other Erin or anything, but when we were hanging out in Paris, I kind of got the idea she was interested in me." He gave Trevor a questioning look and said, trying to pitch his voice so the other Erin wouldn't hear, "Would it be awkward if you were dating an Erin and I was dating an Erin at the same time?"

[Gizmo]

With his fingers wrapped around the handle of the half-full pot of lukewarm coffee, Trevor has without warning set upon by a surprisingly strong impulse to chuck the carafe in the general direction of his friend's head. It wasn't out of any actual desire to inflict harm on Mark. There was, as the young dark-haired man understood it, essentially a less-than-zero chance of such a projectile spilling so much as a drop on the hapless probability controller, but it still seemed like the vaguely appropriate if cartoonish response. Instead, he replied by dumping out the remainder of the brew into the sink, rinsing it out and replacing it to receive the fresh drip he'd simultaneously started, muttering incoherently under his breath as he poked through Erin's cupboards for anything with which to Irish the drink.

[Electra]

Erin's cupboards were neatly, perhaps even obsessively well-stocked for someone who lived alone with a cat, but there wasn't so much as a drop of alcohol tucked in amongst the carefully stacked canned goods or the rice and lentils sealed into storage baggies. The refrigerator turned up half of a half-gallon of milk and a bottle of chocolate syrup, but nothing stronger. Erin's penchant for fresh food shone through here, and if he'd been in the mood for fresh fruits or veggies instead, he'd have been all set. It looked as though most of her first paycheck had gone to stocking the kitchen. The coffee, though, was from Trevor. Erin couldn't afford his tastes, so it only seemed fair to let him provide it.

On the kitchen table, the clock ticked and hummed for a moment, then began cuckooing again. According to the insistent little bird, it was about fifteen o'clock by now.

[Avenger Assembled]

Mark hmmed, studying Trevor for a moment. He hadn't said yes and he hadn't said no, and now he was vigorously hunting for something. Is it liquor? I bet it's liquor. Maybe then he won't be so on edge. Or maybe he wants to pour me a congratulatory drink? I don't know! Mark was beginning to think the idea of dating the Erin from Earth-Prime really was a bad idea. It wasn't worth this kind of uncertainty with his best friend. "Hey, if you're looking for something to drink, I bet there's something up above the fridge. People always forget stuff up there..." Sure enough, when Mark reached up there and stretched, he came down with a bottle of slighty dusty, but still-good, Tennessee whiskey. "And we didn't buy it, so it's all legal!" he said breezily.

[Gizmo]

Taking the proffered bottle from Mark, Trevor lifted it in his hand to measure its heft. He wasn't typically one for alcohol; even at high society events where a little wine was to be expected he usually got away with sticking to water. If ever there was a time, however...

With muted sigh, he set the bottle down on the counter unopened and turned to regard his friend frankly. "You dating Erin-Prime would be... uncomfortable for me," he admitted, trying to be as clear and honest as he could. "Probably more so for our Erin. If you really think there's something there..." He shrugged his shoulders slowly. "Otherwise."

[Avenger Assembled]

"Okay," said Mark, nodding and dismissing the idea without hesitation. "I guess I just...well, you're a really cool guy, Trevor," said Mark frankly. "Whenever I can't think of what to do, I just try and imagine what Trevor would do there. So I guess when there was an Erin who wanted to date me, I..." He shook his head, sensing that this was potentially another awkward scene. "Plus, she was really cute, so there's that!" He grinned, cheering up quickly as he put his mind on more important things. "Anyway, it's probably for the best. Nina al-Darsah and I sometimes have a thing, and if I had a regular girlfriend she's probably...oh man, yeah, I didn't even think of that!" He hmmed and added, "Listen, I interrupted your celebration this morning, so I'll let you guys get back to it." To Mark's credit, he didn't so much as wink, though the urge was palpable in him. "Happy birthday, Erin!" he called, loud enough for her to hear, before disappearing like a popped soap bubble.

[Gizmo]

Trevor rubbed one thumb along his jawline thoughtfully once Mark had departed, the insistent cuckoo clock continuing to sound on the table next to him. The idea of Mark looking to him as a role model was a surprising one, though he had to admit that 'turning the Eiffel Tower into a robot mime-attracting super-magnet' was the sort of thing he'd make expected his friend to come up with before he did, so perhaps it ran both ways. Shaking his head, he retired a compact multitool from his belt and deftly unscrewed the side of the clock, setting it aside before carefully removing a piece of the offending mechanism to silence it until he could affect repairs in earnest.

[Electra]

About the time Trevor finished silencing the offending clock, Erin stepped out of her bedroom with Charlie tucked in the crook of her arm. The little cat looked around suspiciously for Mark before relaxing, far more comfortable with Trevor as a guest than with the unpredictable reality controller. Erin had taken the time to pull herself together, inside and out, and was back in her civilian clothes and looking less shaken. She looked around as well, letting out a breath of relief when she saw that Mark's farewell had been genuine. She liked Mark, really, but sometimes enough was enough. Maybe she owed him for indirectly making her come clean with Trevor, but surely it could've happened without the awkward family reunion. If you could call it that, when your so-called family treated you like a stranger and didn't so much as dare to touch you.

Since she didn't want to think about that much more until she had time and privacy to process it, she scratched Charlie behind the ears and walked over to Trevor. "Thank you," she told him with great sincerity, looking down at the clock. "I guess we missed our chance for a ride, but my truck's downstairs. You ready to go?"

[Gizmo]

With a soft exhalation through his nose that could have been taken as a sign of amusement, Trevor flipped the tool closed and replaced it in his belt before walking over to wrap one arm around Erin's waist and lean over to kiss her lightly on the forehead, careful to avoid disturbing Charlie. "It actually is good work," he observed of the questionable timepiece, "Just some parts jostled loose. Could probably incorporate it into an alarm system..." The engineer's eyes unfocused slightly, imagined blueprints unfolding before them before he brought his attention back to the present. "Ready whenever you are."

[Electra]

"Just one second." Erin set Charlie down on the nearest dining room chair, then turned her body towards Trevor's and hugged him hard. The embrace was tight, but not painfully so, and even though part of it was simply Erin's self-control, it felt plain that there was less overall power in her arms anymore. There was still plenty enough to be mindful of, though. She didn't say anything, just held on for a long time, her cheek against his jaw and her hair tickling his nose, before taking a shaky breath and releasing him. It wasn't the same, not quite what she was aching for after watching Roger and Clarissa with Erin Prime, but it was good to remember that she still had someone who would hug her and mean it. "Okay, better now," she decided, picking up the cat once more. "Let's go."