11780/Our Lady of Takeout

Our Lady of Takeout
Date of Scene:	15 July 2020
Location:	St. Margaret's Church, Bushwick
Synopsis:	Cloak tries to do a nice thing for Dagger, but dinner is interrupted by a crisis of faith.
Cast of Characters:	Cloak, Dagger

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Cloak has posed:
It's not terribly easy to arrange a delivery to an old church, but Cloak was devious. It was set to be delivered to a neighboring address where the tenants had recently moved, all prepaid and with the instructions to just leave it. Then Cloak swooped in - literally - to collect the food once they were gone. He ends up walking to the church, as slow and impractical as that was, and makes his way in through the back door supporting a large, hot pizza with a box containing a slice of cheesecake atop that and a 2-liter. He'd lose all credibility if anyone else saw him, but he's not doing this for him.

"Tandy, I brought dinner." Which he didn't tell her he was doing. Cloak, organizing a surprise?

Dagger has posed:
Glancing upwards at the sound of his voice, Tandy turns around in the pew that she is sitting in. Lately, a lot more 'gifts' have been arriving in the way of food and utility as the old church is starting to become more of a home. That and with Warpath practically kicking it here when he needs 'chill time' away from the students, it doesn't feel as lonely. "Hey Ty." Her nose sniffs a few times. "Did you bring pizza? Do you want me to help turn you solid so you can eat it?" She slides out and over to him, tying her hair back behind her. "What brought this on?"

Cloak has posed:
"Pizza and cheesecake from your favorite spot. I thought you may want something fresher then noodles or canned soup." Cloak says as he sets down the boxes and bottle on their rickety, reclaimed card table. "And you don't have to, I know that takes a lot out of you. It's fine, really." The shadowy man takes a seat in the nearby pew. "There's a benefit to not really having a stomach. I don't even feel hungry. Not like that, anyway."

Dagger has posed:
"I know, but still .. you should at least enjoy it." Tandy says as she settles in next to him, tapping her fingers together a few times. "But you didn't have to go out of your way for me either. You even got me cheesecake." She trails off, then squints her eyes at him accusingly. "Okay, what did you do? You swallowed up a bunch of bad guys again, didn't you?" She says as she peers over at the folds of his cloak. "We've had this talk. You can't just go around eating people like Pac-Man." Her lips give a bit of a twitch.

Cloak has posed:
"I didn't eat anyone." Cloak scoffs indignantly with the impression he's crossing his arms under the folds of his cloak. "Everyone is fine. Besides, the last one refused to settle for hours. I usually don't run into gangsters with that much willpower. I ended up spitting him out outside the precinct once he'd worn down enough."

He leans in to bump his shoulder against her. "I can't just do something nice for my best friend who looks out for me? I can't find you a nice place to live or hit up the movies, but I can at least sneak you a better dinner once in awhile."

Dagger has posed:
Bumping her shoulder back against his, Tandy gives him a smile. "I guess you can. Just not used to you being 'nice' I guess. You're always so moody and .. shadowy. Aren't you getting tired of this though? This mission of ours? I just wish I could go back to having a normal life. Hanging out with friends and cruising around the city and getting into trouble." She opens the box of pizza to peer down at it, then takes a slice out. "I've got a few offers for us to spend more time with the X-Men, but I know your policy on teams." She scrunches her face up "This war .. it's just draining me."

Cloak has posed:
Tyrone Johnson leans back in the pew as he turns his eyes up towards the roof of the church. "Today is a clearer day for me, not so... foggy." He says it slowly, quietly. "There is no normal for us anymore. We ran away from it, and we can't run back, Tandy. Even if we could, these powers would be there, and weren't given these powers for a reason? God doesn't give us more than we can handle, isn't that what they always teach?"

His eyes turn towards the silent, dark alter and the shadow of the cross suspended there. "Teams are not for me. I can't expect them to understand what needs to be done, of the price that it may demand, and I can't let their goals get in the way of mine."

Dagger has posed:
"I don't believe in God anymore, Ty. I haven't for awhile. We may live in a church surrounded by strung up Jesus and his magical books of nonsense, but that doesn't make us any more holy or a saint. We can go back to being normal. Maybe not the normal we were used to. I can go home to my huge house where my mother ignores me. You can stay with us. I'll give you the light you need to survive. I can go back to college. You can too! Do online classes maybe." Tandy says with a weak voice.

"But I'm lonely Ty. We're living in a dirty church on cold concrete, going out at night and hurting people. Even if they deserve it. Maybe you were made for this, but I don't think that I am." She says with a sigh, then takes a nip of the pizza. "We could give the X-Men a chance. Maybe they can help us get rid of these powers."

Cloak has posed:
"If I have no purpose, then what am I?" Says Cloak in a measured, careful tone.

"You may be able to have a normal life, even with your powers. Not me. I'm a monster, Tandy. Either I hunt others, or I'm a parasite to you, and if I try to deny those then I risk hurting innocent people. I can't risk your family, or mine. Do you really think any hero will want someone like that around? So long as I have these powers, I can never be normal. I can barely pretend."

And he sounds tired then, but under that is anger. A deep, bitter anger. "And then what if they can remove these powers? We wouln't be able to protect the street like we do now. Is it selfish, to want to throw off the burden we were given and force someone else to take it up? Another kid?"

Dagger has posed:
"Cloak, I hate this! Be honest. You don't sleep, you don't eat. All you have is this. This war. There is a planet full of heroes, more than eager to put their costume on and pose for the cameras. They signed up for this, we were forced into it. Why would you even want this for yourself? What if I was to just use all of my power on you? I could just give you /everything/. Maybe it will take this dark away from you."

Tandy says as she puts the slice of pizza down, then rises upwards as her hands begin to glow bright and hot like a star. "I'd give anything to be rid of this curse so that I can have my life back. My /soul/ back."

Cloak has posed:
"I don't /want/ this!" Cloak rises up with a jerk and a snarl towards her, but sucks it back with a grimace. "But if I need to carry this so some other lost kid making stupid, scared decisions doesn't have to, then I will. Who knows, maybe I accidentally did wish for this, when I was a scared kid hiding as far inside the house as I could because I heard gunshots outside and was scared one'd come through the wall? And I'd /wish/ some hero would come and stop it but they never did."

He begins to restlessly pace, squinting against the brightness of her light, "Even if that worked, could you really sleep at night doing nothing, knowing what's going on out here? Could you really, /really/ turn a blind eye?"