5740/Is the Drazzler hanging out again

Is the Drazzler hanging out again
Date of Scene:	08 November 2018
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Slipstream, Dazzler

---

Slipstream has posed:
It's roughly ten at night and Drake is upstairs in his apartment that is owned and operated by his team, the New York Static. Some days he spends the night at Avenger's HQ, but other days like today, he just needs to get away from team chaos and drama and other big Avenger excitement so that he can do what he really loves... play video games.

Settled in front of his battle station that is a large glowing green tower, his green gaming chair and his triple monitors, Drake is having a field day on the game as he jerks his mouse left to right while his fingers of his left hand mashes the keys. He has his stream on as usual, engaging with his chat of about sixty thousand viewers, calling out subs and donations as they come through. These days, he has to give all the money to charity, per Captain America's new rules, so no big pay days for him anymore now that he is on the salary.

"Monkeymonkeymonkey! Ok. Zarya next! Let's gooooooo dude!" He crows out as the Victory logo flashes across the screen. His chat goes ballistic as always as the gold medals show up with his name upon them. "Thanks for the love guys and helping me sponsor Saint Baldricks. It means a lot to the kids." He flashes double guns to the camera, then gives a twirl in his chair.

Dazzler has posed:
    It's been popping up, here and there, in his stream's chat since he started up for the evening. Drake even probably saw it posted a few times, the YouTube link recognizable even through the spamming chat. But, as time goes on, more and more people are spamming the link, peppered in between comments of the usual type. Some people are starting to catch on that it's something potentially worthy of pointing out, especially if they watch the video. It's soon one of the most frequent things that pops up in the stream's chat. But Drake is busy doing his thing, in his zone, doing all of the cool moves, getting all of the points, as cool guys like him do!

    Then, suddenly, at the end of the stream, a series of donators begin bringing it to his attention: DRAKE MAN WATCH IT https://youtu.be/DAZZ13R51nGz

    And, it keeps coming, until Drake finally pays attention. Until it captures his notice. The last donator to comment said: man lol u breakin <3s like u breakin records?

    Wth could that mean?

Slipstream has posed:
Squinting his eyes, Drake leans over and clicks the link with his mouse, pulling up the video and he pulls it over on to the screen so that chat can watch him react to it. "I swear to God, if you Rick Roll me chat.." He trails off, then begins to watch. Slumping forward, he props his chin up in the palm of his hand, letting out a soft breath as he listens to the song, looks at the face of his best friend, digesting the lyrics. He glances at chat now and again, laughing softly as they spam Dazzler's Twitch emotes in the chat, as well as his Tier 3 Drazzler emote that he made just for fun.

"You guys are so stupid." He laughs as he leans back into his chair. "We're not OTP guys. Pretty sure that song is about Justin Bieber or some other celebrity dick she hooked up with." He scans the chat again a few more times. "I miss her too."

Chat of course is in a frenzy by now: CALL HER. TEXT HER. He waves it off, looking to queue up again for another round, though he glances over at his phone. Biting his lip, he reaches over and taps it on, then scrolls through his contact list until he hits the call button. Holding it up to his ear, he leans back, waiting, listening to it ring.

Chat goes insane.

Dazzler has posed:
    Alison is at home. It's kinda late, anyway. She's spent the last two days filtering calls from agents and labels trying to get her attention after the leak of her most recent song. It wasn't even completed, really. Like, she still needed to refine the lyrics, and listen to the melody a lot to make sure it's just right. But, the fact that she cried every time she tried to record it was a sign from her muse that it was pretty much done. P much.

    Really, it's all been a bigger headache than she'd intended... And, she really has hated all the questions about who inspired the song. She can't...she can't think about him, right now. No. She drops her pencil on the desk, good ol' Stubby, her writing pencil that's nearly gone. She rubs her face vigorously and groans to herself, lamenting her pathetic lack of a love life and how it's gotten her into hot water she hadn't anticipated.

    Her phone buzzes, again. She glances at the clock. 10:09 pm. She slumps a bit, sighing. It's /probably/ not a music magazine or someone else calling about Until the Lights Go Out. Probably. So, when she picks it up and sees his face, her heart freezes up. "Oh, no." She hesitates, probably letting it ring once more than she's comfortable with, and probably more than Drake would prefer, too... Juuust shy of dropping to her voicemail, she finally swipes to accept and brings the phone to her ear. Swallowing thickly, she exhales a soft word.

"Hello?"

Slipstream has posed:
Freezing as he hears her voice, Drake's eyes widen for a moment as he looks at the camera of his stream. Reaching forward, he taps the camera off and mutes the mic. Chat once again goes crazy as it begins to flood the screen, demanding to hear the juicy gossip!

"... H--Hey, Allison. What's up? It's Drake. I hope I didn't wake you or anything. Was just playing some video games. Um... thought I'd call you! What's new?"

See. He totally played it cool. No way did she hear the stammer in his voice or how nervous he was. It has been months since he's heard from his best friend, just as long since they've emailed each other. "Everything okay?"

He kicks himself out of the queue, not wanting to be dragged into a high ranking game while on the phone. He puts the AFK logo up on his screen and plods over to his bed to flop into it.

Dazzler has posed:
Alison's heart feels like it might just leap out of her throat, so she's comforted by the sound of his voice, his stumbling over words. She smiles, then. A soft, secret smile she allows herself for this brief moment. She has no idea that the chat is going wild, especially when the AFK logo pops up. His chat definitely noticed the look on his face and didn't miss the fact that he quickly muted his feed.

    Standing up from her desk, she also walks over to her bed and lies down on it, staring at the ceiling of her bedroom. She doesn't know her actions mirror his, but it'd be so cute on a split-screen of a romantic movie. "Hi," she says, again, awkwardly. "Things are...okay," her voice sounds hesitant, evasive. But, she sounds noticeably brighter when she speaks, again. "But, you! I heard the news! Congratulations, b...." her voice falters a little. "Congrats!" she repeats, more brightly! More, and more! Cover it up, Ali!

Slipstream has posed:
"Oh! Thanks! Um... which part? Team USA beating South Korea again or... um... the whole weird alien invasion with the spores? That was mostly Tony to be honest. As usual he comes up with the big brain plays." Drake says with a smile on his face. "Wait, do you mean about me becoming an Avenger? Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you! I have been so insanely busy and I've been working real hard in the gym and missions with the guys and the stream on the side."

He can't help but grin as he stares up at the ceiling himself, wiggling his feet back and forth. "Where you live at now? Hollywood, right? You kicking ass and taking names as usual? Or... did you get back with the X-Men? I haven't seen you on TMZ so that's good!"

Dazzler has posed:
    Alison's smile just remains as he excitedly lists off all the possible topics on which to congratulate him, shaking her head softly. "Any and all of the above," she replies in that soft voice of hers. "Really, I'm just.. I'm just so happy for you, Drake," she says, her lower lip quivering. Why is it he's got everything so...together? How is he so okay? //Really, Alison. Don't resent him being okay without you. That's what you wanted. Are you really that screwed up?// she admonishes herself silently.

    To the question, she furrows her brows, and replies, "Mm, no, I'm in Manhattan. Hollywood just wasn't what I wanted." She pauses, "I'm trying to really reflect on things, y'know? Follow my heart." She stops there, holding the mic of her cell phone away from her mouth so she can draw in some steadying breaths. "Ah, I'm here for the X-Men if they need me. They know that," she finally says with another smile, thinking of her friends. "I'm just...working on some new stuff, really. Part of that trying to follow my heart thing..."

Slipstream has posed:
"Oh! You're actually here in New York? You didn't hit me up?" Drake's voice sounds disappointed as he sighs into the phone. "You coulda came to my last tournament, and we coulda hit up a pizza or something. I'd have made time for you." He always does. It's his thing. He would drop everything for her. That's what friends do. It's what best friends do.

"How about we hang out tomorrow if you aren't too busy? If you want to that is." His head tilts as one of his donations is read outlouad by the automated voice command: "STOP HAVING PHONE SEX DRAKE AND GET BACK ON THE GAME."

He face palms himself, letting out a cough. "... Top D is now four hundred dollars.."

Dazzler has posed:
    How can Alison tell him she didn't actually leave for Hollywood? How can she admit that to him? Well... It probably wouldn't upset him that much. He's been so busy. "Ah, I'm sorry, darlin'," she says, using the affectionate name without intending to, and she purses her lips hard for a moment. "I just.. You were busy, I've been busy... I didn't want to get in the way of stuff, you know? You were doing okay, and I just thought, 'He'll be fine.' And, look at you, now," she smiles. "An Avenger...saving the world," the warmth in her voice is genuine. He can tell she's proud of him, from that tone of voice.

    She hears just the garbled sound of the automated voice and she pauses. "---You're in the middle of a stream?" she asks, her voice hitching slightly. Her face falls. Was this some kind of joke? Is he...streaming the phone call? Surely not! //No, Ali, don't get paranoid.// She can't keep the hurt out of her voice, though, when she says, "That's...that's great. Maybe I should let you get back to them..." she trails off, feeling her eyes sting with tears that want to visit. She won't let them. Not if she can help it. Then again, she's having more and more trouble commanding them to go away.

Slipstream has posed:
"Uh... I'm streaming, but the cam and the mic is off. I turned that off when I called you. They can't hear anything." Drake assures her quickly, flailing a hand out in the air. "They knew I was calling though. Chat kinda begged me to when uh... they... spammed your new song in the chat for the last two hours..."

Biting on his bottom lip, he lets out a low breath. "And it was beautiful, as always. And it got me thinking about you... obviously.. and I just wanted to make sure you were cool and everything was alright. I'm also a slave to chat, you know that... three fifty dono telling me to call you.. kinda gotta call you. I'd hate that chargeback." He clears his throat. "... You're okay though?"

Dazzler has posed:
    Shit.

    Alison is very, very quiet as he explains the situation. Her mind races as she tries to figure out what to say. She should've known something like that would happen. If the music magazines and agents are aware of it, surely, Drake's fanbase would find out and torment him with it. After a moment, she swallows and says, "Drake, I'm really sorry." She doesn't say why. Maybe that makes his stomach twist, or maybe not.

    She exhales and he can hear the tightness in her voice as she tries to be chipper. He can tell when she's turning on the charm, being such a close friend of hers, being someone she... "Yeah, I'm great, Drake. You don't need to worry about me. You've done your duty for the donors," she says with a half laugh. "If anyone tries to chargeback, I'll be sure to personally tell them you called and talked with me, as they commanded," she says, a hint of something off in her voice. "Yeah, everything's cool," she reiterates. It doesn't sound greatly convincing, but maybe it's just to Alison's ears that her lies ring hollowly.

Slipstream has posed:
Swallowing, Drake feels his stomach tighten at her apology. "You don't gotta say sorry, you know chat is mostly fourteen year old weirdos who just troll for laughs. But I would have called you anyways, eventually. I just thought you were in California and on a whole different schedule. Just didn't want to bother you if you were in a session or a meeting ... or a date."

Obviously she dates. She's Dazzler. She's gorgeous. She's a celebrity. None of the reasons why his heart thumps in his chest right now. It's just the sound of her voice. The one he was used to hearing in his ear at Starbucks or in the park. ".. Okay. Cool. Good to hear that." He puts a smile in his voice. "I'll let you go then so you can get to sleep or back to your Netflix or something. Will you let me know when you'd want to hang out?"

Dazzler has posed:
    Alison smiles bitterly. A date. No. None of that. Not for a long time. "I didn't want to bother you. I knew you were busy doing things, so I didn't want to interfere in your life. Not while I was going through some...well, self-reflection," she says, which may or may not be helpful to the situation. "That kinda thing, self-reflection...doesn't really lead to dates," she adds with a laugh.

    "Sure, Drake," she agrees, sounding distant. Not for the reasons he's probably thinking, though of course, that's impossible for either of them to know. "Yeah, maybe this call jogged my writer's block. Um," she pauses. "Might be better if you let me know when you're free, 'cause I don't have a whole lot on my plate, right now," she adds, lamely. How impressive her life sounds! "But, y'know, you're busy. Doing the streaming, the Avengering, and all that. So, it's probably harder to work around your schedule than mine."

Slipstream has posed:
"You're still a reserve member of the Avengers I believe. If you want something to do, I'm sure Tony will find something." Drake says as he chews on his bottom lip a bit. "We could be a team again. Everyone wants to see The Drazzler back in action." He huffs out an amused laugh into the phone. "I'm not doing anything tomorrow. I still live in the team house... sometimes... when I'm not living at HQ. Just hard to sometimes because Thor snores pretty loud. God of Thunder you know."

Dazzler has posed:
    Alison nods her head, "Yeah. I'm on call for them, if they ever need my help. But, I did take that time away to sort of reassess my life. I've spent so much of it doing superhero things and not enough of it holed up in my apartment, trying to live a semblance of a normal life." She exhales. "It'll make a person tired. Some people are better built for it than others, but I guess I finally reached that point where I was like: if I don't stop and smell the roses now, I might never get the chance."

    She grimaces at the dreaded nickname. "I hate that portmanteau and you know it," she says with a laugh. "It sounds like some new generic soda that's come out, trying to compete with the brand name," she wrinkles her nose. "Anyway... What do you mean by 'be a team,' again? What does that entail?" she asks, out of curiosity. She's as not young and full of do-gooder spunk as she once was. She's reaching the point where she'd like to maybe sit in and watch Netflix with a warm body to hold her, instead of hopping from peril to peril.

Slipstream has posed:
"You know, I charge you up with my sonic boom, you unleash hell with your lasers. Wombo combo." Drake laughs softly as he shifts a bit more on the bed to get comfortable. "I loved beating up bad guys with you. Was fun. My one liners got better too by the way. Sometimes. It's distracting!" A grin tugs over his lips as he shrugs his shoulders. "Either way, Tony will never turn down help and right now they're working on an enemy from the astral plane. I dunno, way over my head and pay grade. I'm just street level helping out the little guys until big dog calls me up to the majors."

Dazzler has posed:
    Alison's hopes fall a bit as he clarifies, but she reminds herself that it's what she wanted. "Sure. If there's ever a situation where you think I'd be helpful," she murmurs, "...don't hesitate to call me. I'll come." She pulls the phone away from her ear to look at his picture on her phone's screen, a goofy smile and warm eyes... She exhales and brings the phone back to her ear. "I loved spending time with you, too." Make of that what he will.

Slipstream has posed:
"So, let's do it then. Let's get a pizza tomorrow and hang out. Be normal and enjoy a day at the park before it gets too cold." Drake says as he offers a smile through the phone. "I miss you, Dazz. It's been so long since we hung out and we got a lot to catch up on. You game? Or are you too cool to be player two?"

Dazzler has posed:
    Alison considers it for a moment. What does this pizza and hang mean? Is it a bad idea? She isn't sure, but a part of her wants to see him so much that she'll risk it. "I miss you, too," she admits quietly. She's silent for a long while. "Never too cool to be player two for the right player one," she says, finally. "Text me a time tomorrow," she adds, though she's kicking herself for it.

Slipstream has posed:
"Two. Pietros. The usual spot. I'll snag us a table ahead of time since I don't need to drive." Drake just speeds on throug without the need of a car most days. "There. We got plans. No need to text." He says softly into the phone to her. "Though, if you're really bored, I'm not going to bed any time soon. Could always come over." There is that familiar teasing in his voice.

Dazzler has posed:
    Alison smiles at the reply. How like him to not want to wait to text. She grins a little as she says, "Yeah. We got plans. No need to text." Then, at the last from him, Alison's heart kicks up in her chest, like a pony smacked on the haunch. "I'm not bored, exactly, but..I can't deny that I wanna see you," she finally replies. She pauses, wondering if this is a bad idea. "I probably shouldn't, but I do...." her soft voice trails off, and he can tell she's feeling guilty.

Slipstream has posed:
There's a soft chuckle from Drake as he says, "Don't worry about it. We can see each other tomorrow. I'm not really dressed anyways. Just in a t-shirt and some workout shorts. Probably can use a shower since I've been grinding for ten hours on the keyboard. I'm really glad I got to call you, even under peer pressure from chat. See you then?" He holds his breath, waiting, biting his bottom lip.

Dazzler has posed:
    Alison bites at her own lip as Drake describes a not-altogether-offputting image of himself. And, when he withdraws the offer, she grimaces and bonks herself on the head multiple times. "Sure," she says, still wincing. "You're probably right. I'm not wearing anything fit for company, myself. Old worn shirt that won't stay on both shoulders, some yoga pants...my hair all bunched on top of my head... Been writing and pacing," she says, painting a picture of her day. "Probably need a long bubble bath with some soft music... Nothing interesting," she breathes a wispy little sigh. "Tomorrow at two," she agrees.

Slipstream has posed:
There is a soft laugh from Drake. "Teasin' me. You're doing that on purpose like you always do. Making me paint a picture with my imagination." He is grinning to himself, cheeks flushed. "See you at two, cowgirl. Be good." He reminds her, then hangs up with a tap of the button. Laughing, he heads back over and taps the mic on and the camera, then untoggles his AFK. Back to the grind, and to deal with a frustrated chat.

Dazzler has posed:
    "As if you didn't do the same thing to me," Alison smiles at her phone, thumbing its display off after looking at his picture one more time. Then, she slowly drags herself up to go take that bath. She was serious about what she said. She needs relaxation more than ever, now. Tomorrow at two. Sigh.