That Meddling Meddler

[on_repeat]

WHO: Echo et AL
WHERE: Various about The Hero City
WHAT: Normal moments, action moments, normal action? Whatever happens in between the bigger events.
WHEN: May?
WARNINGS: N/A?

-----

Every morning, Echo woke up. Every morning, he answered his door, leaning against the frame before looking down.

"We need to stop doing this."

The orange tabby meowed, pressing against the man's legs to slink past him and the threshold. And after watching the cat take over his apartment yet again, he sighed, bending forward to grab the newspaper that came with it.

* * *

Place An Order

Because even in a city full of Superheroes, folks still needed saving...

...From exaggerated hunger pangs.

Ramen, hero sandwiches, pad thai – whatever it was, Echo was out there, picking up orders and delivering them to the awaiting customers in need of feeding.

"GrubDash!"


On The Way

There were plenty of times he was there outside of making an online food delivery.

Not every single event could be taken care of within twenty-four hours by one person, of course. That would be ridiculous. Echo chose what was realistically doable with the constraints he had to work with, which included being mostly normal as opposed to being someone with actual superpowers.

Anything within the lower to middle tier, really, scripted and unscripted. The latter at least didn't involve reading tomorrow's newspaper articles ahead of schedule.

He knew some things weren't fixable. But if he could change an outcome for the better, he took the risk.


Wildcard

[Other ideas/suggestions/scenarios/what have you go hereeeee]

Comments

[on_repeat]

Brown eyes followed the thumb, narrowing slightly as he tried to access the damage to the window that was always locked and secured before every errand run.

"Well, I know where most of my recent tips are going," Echo sighed, glancing back at Cayde while the latter was busy with his meal. He finally pulled off the helmet, plunking it down on the other end of the table as he tried fix his hair. "A little warning would've be nice? Why are you here anyway?"

[deal_me_in]

"I'll take care of it!" Cayde promised between a mouthful of noodles. "Oh, this is good. Captain America was right, that place on Chestnut? Excellent ramen. Not quite on par with my favorite place back home but definitely up there."

He paused to pat the cat as it slunk into his lap while he was still hunching towards the coffee table. "Oh, no reason... Except that having an exceptionally handsome face such as myself happens to make it easier to pick out of a crowd and get unwanted attention at some very inopportune moments so I thought maybe I should lay low for a bit."

[on_repeat]

Echo almost balked, quickly forgetting about the broken window. "–You talked to Captain America?"

He wasn't exactly starstruck by the thought. Just surprised. It didn't take long for him to join Cayde on the couch, gaze hooded as he leaned back to stare at the television. "...I feel like I should ask, but..."

[deal_me_in]

"Oh yeah. Turns out? That guy really will come to rescue your cat out of a tree."

Cayde sat back a bit if only to let the cat pass so that it could clamber onto Echo's lap next. He brought up another clump of noodles, chuckling. "I thought you were the one with the magic newspaper," he said, leaning over to minimize any dripping ramen all over the place. "Anyway, it's not like I killed anyone or anything." Because that was totally reassuring.

[on_repeat]

"Huh."

The mild distraction of the cat finding its way onto his lap didn't tune him out to Cayde being specific. Another pause drew out before he unzipped his jacket and pulled out the newspaper the Exo referred to, unfolding it with little fanfare.

Lo and behold, there it was. Echo's brow furrowed.

"Arson?" He tapped the article for emphasis. "Seriously?"

[deal_me_in]

"Arson is such a strong word!" Cayde protested.

"Anyway, no one got hurt, nothing else burned down. Those news guys are totally exaggerating," he continued, waving a hand before picking up the disposable ramen bowl to drink down some of that spicy broth.

[on_repeat]

Echo snorted. "Exaggerated or not, pretty sure the vandalism that went with it still counts as a crime," he frowned, rereading the article.

While he said this, he found himself focusing more on the image and its transcribed message than the rest of the column's neatly kerned story.

DON'T FORGET, HE ROWS

"...He Rows?" It was rhetorical, a slight comment on the misspelling. Yet the earlier bluntness in his tone was noticeably absent.

[deal_me_in]

"-I know how to spell!" Cayde nevertheless felt he had to defend. "That's just the way they spell it. I thought it'd jog people's memories or something." He shook his head. "Did we go over this already? I forget if I already got the crazy look from you or not." He was getting really tired of the crazy look.

[on_repeat]

The man flinched, snapping out of it as he glanced the Exo's way. There was no denying that it did sound crazy – how often did an android of some kind say he knew him and then decide to drop when he least expected it? – but at the same time he was starting to feel bad for not reacting the way Cayde expected him to.

He just met Cayde. So why did he feel like he's had conversations with him before?

"...Look," Echo finally exhaled, running a hand over the cat a few times, "whatever the purpose was isn't my business, but stay for as long as you need." He then tossed the paper onto the table, trading it for the remote. "I'm the only one who lives here, but you gotta remember the walls are pretty thin. One of my neighbors'll get suspicious if the T.V.'s blarin' like that."

[deal_me_in]

The Exo set the now empty ramen container down on the table with a sigh. He wasn't sure what to make of Echo's reaction, but a tiny part of him held on to some hope that there was still some kind of connection there. The fact that the man hadn't outright avoided him or said he was insane was proof Cayde clung to. If it turned out he was just doing it out of pity then the Exo wasn't sure what he'd do.

"Thanks," he said, nodding. It was enough for now. "Sorry, I'll keep it down." He was feeling a little drained that he didn't even bother trying to quip about it.

[on_repeat]

While Cayde made no effort to hide the shift in his mood, Echo couldn't help but casts a sidelong glance his way. He didn't know the guy. At some point, everyone went through a mood. He figured it must be the same for android-like beings to a certain degree.

Yet for some reason, it felt wrong.

As the news came up on screen to run through the next hour's headlines, he sat there, lightly patting the cat's haunches as he wondered why he was suddenly thinking about that particular feeling. Coming up with nothing, he shook his head, setting it all aside for now.

"Want something to drink?"

At the very least, he could try to make it up to the Exo.

[deal_me_in]

With the awkward lapse of silence, Cayde slumped against the armrest on his end of the couch as he watched the television, only half paying attention.

He couldn't say his attempts hadn't been completely fruitless. There was at least one other person who remembered things weren't as they were now. There was at least another person who had been convinced that things were off around here and that the things he'd told them weren't so completely off the wall as they might sound. But for every other person there seemed so many more just completely swept away with whatever this place had to offer and had crafted for them.

Each day wore on him a little more, even for all the shiny distractions it provided. If he hadn't found others who remembered or seemed to remember something of the place they were supposed to be, he wasn't sure whether he'd get pulled in to the lie too, or if he'd just end up going crazy. Neither thought had been attractive. But even with those few, they were oh so very few. And nothing seemed any closer to getting solved. Maybe he was doing this all wrong.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Sure. Drink sounds good," he said, surfacing from his thoughts.

[on_repeat]

A faint smile crossed his features as he moved to stand, scooping up the cat in the process. "Here, hold this for me," he said amid the sound of feline protest on the way to the kitchen.

Since it was a small apartment, the walk wasn't too far. The telltale opening and closing of the fridge covered his return to the couch, holding a bottle in each hand – one cola, one water.

The cola was waved at Cayde as he held it out. "Almost forgot I had to get groceries soon," Echo added, mostly as a reminder.

[deal_me_in]

Cayde scooped up the cat and promptly gave it some consolatory scratches. When it had made itself comfortable on his lap it was then that he found a bottle being held out. He tilted his head before accepting the cola, taking a swig.

"Should I put that on your schedule, along with a reminder for your morning jog?" he grinned. At least he didn't let himself wallow in self-pity for long.

[on_repeat]

"No, that's for me," Echo snorted, returning to his spot on the couch. "Man, I hope no one ever did that to you for real."

Seeing the humor slip back into the Exo showed him how resilient he was. And it felt right.

[deal_me_in]

"Ugh, thankfully not!" Cayde laughed. That was one of the few upsides about here, that and the food. "I think half the people think this is a mask and the rest think I'm just weird. And then when you wander onto Stark grounds they just figure you're Iron Man, casual edition."

He shook his head, not really feeling like talking about that incident as he takes another drink of his cola instead, resting the bottle on top of the cat. It wasn't for long, given the unamused look said cat was giving him.

[on_repeat]

As he took a swig of water, Echo raised his hand. "Guilty as charged. To be fair, it did look like a really good cosplay."

Stark was practically a household name, but he blinked at the mention. He wanted to ask why Cayde was there, but he let it be, tilting his head to one side. "Well. You are mostly metal, right? Considering Stark's background, it's not surprising that people would jump to that conclusion."

[deal_me_in]

"Top of the line tech and people think it's plastic, foam and cheap LEDs," Cayde muttered, shaking his head. "Unbelievable."

He absently pet the cat again, scratching under its chin. "Yeah. Guess that's true. I thought at least he'd..." Scowling, the Exo shook his head again. The aftermath of the fight that had happened back at Stark's still left a sour impression on him. He shouldn't have been entirely surprised, but it had been clear that whatever sort of friendship they'd managed to build up was non-existent here. He was just another mechanical curiosity to crack open.

"Anyway, what's for dinner?"

[on_repeat]

Although he didn't know what happened, the assumption came to a faint understanding about the first impression with Tony Stark. He personally never thought he'd be running a box of donuts and a bottle of champagne for the man. He never thought he'd be talking about anniversaries and missing fish with him, either, but that was that.

Echo huffed a laugh, leaning forward to rest his arms over his thighs as he looked at Cayde. "I can't believe you're still hungry," he shook his head. Although now that he wasn't driving around everywhere, he was starting to feel it too. "You okay with Mexican? I know a few good spots."

[deal_me_in]

Hopefully Cayde wouldn't find out that he could get donuts delivered too. He was thus far fine with buying his own.

"Well I didn't mean like, right now," he started, but he could grin about it. "Yyyyes. Oh right, you're the expert. I guess you'd know what to order by now." All that running deliveries for people, you had to pick up some experience on what was a go and what was no.

[on_repeat]

"I guess I am," replied Echo, rolling his eyes. It was all in good humor, though. "The one down this street is good. If you want, I can pick up a few things later."

[deal_me_in]

"Great!" Cayde seemed to have bounced back to his usual levels of frivolity. He reached over to clank his bottle of half-empty cola against Echo's water. "Let's do that. I'll even treat." It was the least he could do if he was going to be kicking back here.