Nova Prime / Rich Rider (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
iamresponding) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
legionworld2016-06-03 06:21 am
iamresponding) wrote in legionworld2016-06-03 06:21 am
Entry tags:
Words people don't hear often: Grif was right [open]
Who| Open to Rich and anyone who might happen to swing by Medbay
What| Rich being not-dead! Visitors welcome! New characters can possibly meet him during their own Medbay stays
Where| Medbay, on the main floor instead of a private room
When| The day after Galactus plot, and after Rich's message on the network, but before Rocket shows up
Warnings/Notes| N/A
Rich felt like death warmed over. Because really, he kind of was death warmed over. After his lungs had kicked out an embolism when he was in the healing tanks, he'd apparently had a pretty close call on the operating table.
But then they got him breathing again, back into a tank, and the riskiest part of the twenty-four hours had safely passed on by. Now they'd gotten him into a normal bed on the Medbay floor and he was mostly out of the woods. Mostly.
Still feeling it, though. You didn't get an arm shoved through your chest without feeling pretty miserable the day after. Luckily, they had some real good pain meds in the glorious robot future. The part that was the most miserable was mostly just that he was so short of breath.
He was at least used to this. For someone who had invulnerability back home, he'd found himself in a Medbay bed being tended by medicos more than once. War was hell, after all.
At least this time nobody's gotta grow me a new leg.
Also: pudding. The Medbay had good pudding. He could barely tell it was made from soy. Their combat support hospitals during the Annihilation war never had pudding, just the usual protein paste and dehydrated carb rations. He was pretty much demolishing a new cup of it every other hour. Anyone that visited him would probably find him mid-pudding cup. Always chocolate.
What| Rich being not-dead! Visitors welcome! New characters can possibly meet him during their own Medbay stays
Where| Medbay, on the main floor instead of a private room
When| The day after Galactus plot, and after Rich's message on the network, but before Rocket shows up
Warnings/Notes| N/A
Rich felt like death warmed over. Because really, he kind of was death warmed over. After his lungs had kicked out an embolism when he was in the healing tanks, he'd apparently had a pretty close call on the operating table.
But then they got him breathing again, back into a tank, and the riskiest part of the twenty-four hours had safely passed on by. Now they'd gotten him into a normal bed on the Medbay floor and he was mostly out of the woods. Mostly.
Still feeling it, though. You didn't get an arm shoved through your chest without feeling pretty miserable the day after. Luckily, they had some real good pain meds in the glorious robot future. The part that was the most miserable was mostly just that he was so short of breath.
He was at least used to this. For someone who had invulnerability back home, he'd found himself in a Medbay bed being tended by medicos more than once. War was hell, after all.
At least this time nobody's gotta grow me a new leg.
Also: pudding. The Medbay had good pudding. He could barely tell it was made from soy. Their combat support hospitals during the Annihilation war never had pudding, just the usual protein paste and dehydrated carb rations. He was pretty much demolishing a new cup of it every other hour. Anyone that visited him would probably find him mid-pudding cup. Always chocolate.
no subject
Not the first time he's probably heard those words from Vance, either. Who was standing in the doorway, headpiece pushed back so that no part of his face was obscured. "I mean, I wouldn't have done differently, but it still needs to be said."
no subject
He breathed in a deep breath.
"'Sides, it wasn't a game of chance. That wasn't what it was about. I wasn't trusting to luck. I was trusting him." He was trusting a person. "And I'm still alive. And I didn't have to face Stardust or Galactus or anything. He knew what he was doing."
Yes, it'd been a very, very close call, but the Surfer had caused exactly enough damage to put him out of commission without killing him.
no subject
no subject
Rich shrugged.
"It's not really any different than back home. On Earth, at least. In space, the cloning tech's good enough that I've had limbs replaced before, during the war, but --"
Oh. He probably shouldn't have said that. Whoops. He didn't really want his friends to know exactly how bad it'd gotten during the war.
"I guess here, they haven't really pursued it as a science as much 'cause of the ethics or something, but that only means it's the same amount of risk as on Earth. Less even, because even if they can't replace things, the tech's still more advanced than even what Pym and Richards and them have. And on the limb end of things, the robotics are fine."
He wiggled the fingers of his prosthetic.
"So if I lose anymore limbs, I can't get cloned new ones, but I'd still be able to get something that works well enough."
no subject
It was said absolutely levelly, without any inflection. Which mostly meant that Vance was having to keep his own emotions under control. Probably couldn't be that much of a surprise, given everything. He closed his eyes for a moment, elbows on his knees and folding his hands to press his forehead against. Just a breath or two before he shook his head. "Between you and Robbie, I'm going to be the first of us to go grey, you know."
He lifted his head, blinking a bit too quickly. "Rich. I would appreciate it if you didn't go on near suicide missions when friends show up. We barely had a chance to talk before I was thinking I'd lost you again. With just as much to be able to do about it."
no subject
He shrugged.
"It ain't like it was back on the New Warriors." He held a hand to his chest. "I'm always going to be a Warrior at heart, I am, but what I do now is...it's on a whole 'nother level."
He raised his eyebrows.
"'The crimes no one else will touch' remember? Back home, there are systems where they don't have anybody else. And with this, it would've been worth it if Surfer had been convinced to leave earlier. You guys put up a hell of a fight, but I watched the footage -- you won by the skin of your teeth. And only by releasing a dangerous cosmic power. We still will have to put pandora back in his box. There was at least a chance talking to Surfer would've worked -- I had to take it."
no subject
He reached out, picking at the blanket they'd given Rich. Something to do with his hands. "And you don't need to remind me of the cosmic power we released. I was kinda right in the middle of that one." Which hadn't been fun in the least. "It was the least shitty choice out of a bunch of shitty choices. I just..."
He trailed off, jaw working slightly as he obviously went over and over something in his head. Vance tended to think a lot when he needed to say something and wasn't certain how.
Finally, he sighed and sat back, looking at Rich. "You get that that was the second time I could only watch while something terrible happened to a friend? Somebody I couldn't be there to help?"
Only made worse by the fact that he'd only JUST gotten Rich back.
no subject
"God, I'm sorry, Vance. I know this all has been hard on you. I missed the whole thing with Stamford, and coming back to find out about about it -- that we'd lost..."
He couldn't finish the sentence. Maybe he'd pulled Nita out of the timestream but Dwayne and Zach were still gone, and Robbie'd still suffered -- was still suffering, even if he'd gotten a lot better.
"It wasn't a picnic -- but that's not the same as having been there, seeing it all play out. And I should've -- I knew something was up with Robbie, even if I didn't understand it. I should've told you. Maybe you could've gotten him out of that suit sooner. I just didn't -- everything was upside down -- and everything from the war was still fresh -- and home wasn't home anymore --"
His voice cracked.
"But it's still not right. I know I had a lot on my plate, but after everything that happened to you guys, I wasn't really there for my friends. I just kept -- I kept always thinking 'I'll go back home soon' -- and soon never came. There was always some other big catastrophe that came up."
He shook his head.
"And now I guess I'm still doing it. Jumping into things without thinking about how it'll affect anyone else. I still had to do it, but I could've asked you to come, too."
Then Vance wouldn't have had to sit back and feel powerless about it all.
Rich held out his flesh and blood arm for a hug.
"C'mere."
no subject
Vance shifted, standing so that he could lean over and give Rich a hug. It was always a difficult thing, remembering that Vance had been one of the younger members of the New Warriors when they'd started. But, then, he'd always been the 'old man' of the group in his own way. Grown up way too fast.
"Hey, don't, all right? Just don't forget that you aren't alone out here any more. I may not be a Nova, but I'm here if you need me. Whenever you need me." All with his head buried against Rich's neck and hanging on tight because, yeah, he'd nearly lost Rich again and that whole survivor's guilt thing hadn't gone away just because he and Robbie had talked about it.
no subject
"I just...kinda forgot what it was like for a while," he admitted. "The people I've fought side by side with have tried to look out for me. Dragged me out of the fryer more than once -- especially Starlord. But it's not like most people could keep up. Even up there, with all those heavy hitters. Only a few people up there were on the same level and not all of 'em were friendly."
He'd had friends, and some like Peter genuinely loved him, but there was only so much they could do. There was too much Rich'd had to face alone.
When he finally let go, he looked up at Vance with a bit of a lost expression on his face.
"It's been a long time since I was with the team. It's been a long time since I didn't feel like I was just...something apart."
It'd been a long time since he'd not felt like some kind of singular thing. Alone. The last and only Nova. The only person that'd made it feel less like that was Peter.
But he hadn't felt like he really belonged anywhere in ages. Not since Xandar fell, and not since he'd come home from the war to find so many of his friends dead -- or lost.
no subject
Which wasn't exactly the same, Vance knew all too well. But that didn't mean it wasn't important, to both Rich and himself.
Vance sat back on the edge of the bed, watching Rich for a moment. "So. You know. Whenever we get back home and you manage to find your way back through that door that the X-Men keep leaving open? You're always welcome."