Bug Friend

Canon Divergent Indie Roleplay Blog for Marvel's Humbug Tracking: manmind

[notaweapon]

OOC: What up, it’s your friendly neighborhood Beetle here to tell you I will be going on HIATUS FROM 2/28 TO 3/20 and possibly a few days after that. I’m moving in a week, and between now and leaving I only have about four days where I’m not working and I haven’t started packing or prepping. I might pop in for a few posts here and there, but mostly I’ll be stressing, packing, sleeping, and driving when we finally head out.

During this time, mutuals are 100% invited to contact me on d!scord @ Beetle#0612 to chat or plot. I’ll be reblogging this post a few times between now and coming off hiatus.

[man-mind-blog]

Like this post for a starter.

[man-mind-blog]

“Hank--” Humbug wandered into Pym’s lab without knocking or announcing himself, though he quickly realized that probably wasn’t the most polite thing to do, “Ah... Sorry for barging in-- Anyway, I made some adjustments to the communicator you gave me. I hope you don’t mind. It was very sophisticated, but there were a few things that could be improved. Sort of an accent. I know it’s a little... forward of me, but even before I gained the ability to speak to insects my specialty was insect biocommunication so--” He stopped abruptly, “Sorry, I’m rambling.”

// @looktotheants

[man-mind-blog]

looktotheants:

      “Yeah. He has a formula for restoring powers. I’d have to figure it out from scratch, because he’s hardly going to just tell me, but I know it can be done.” Hank put a hand on Humbug’s shoulder. “But the talking to bugs thing I can fix in two minutes, tops.”

     Tears of relief welled up in the corners of Humbug’s eyes, though he was quick to wipe them away, “Thank you, Hank, I really appreciate it.”

[man-mind-blog]

looktotheants:

      “Dammit.”

      Hank mentally kicked himself, because that sure did make it sound like it was his fault. He was the one who’d pulled Humbug out of hiding and into the Academy, saying it would be beneficial to Humbug. But he couldn’t indulge in a round of self-flagellation right now, so he settled for just saying, “I’m sorry.”

      “I can loan you my equipment for talking to bugs, so you can keep your friends safe in the mean time. And there is a way to undo Jeremy taking your powers, it just might take a while to figure it out.”

      It was amazing how quickly two little sentences could completely change one’s mood. While he didn’t show it, the prospect of both having a way to speak to his friends, and get his powers back eased the weight on Humbug’s soul. He wisely kept himself from getting too hopeful, but at least there was hope.

      “Really?”

[man-mind-blog]

eyecontactd:

      Maybe I’m an idiot. Joe carefully moved in front of Humbug, so he could see his face and maybe Humbug would understand the earnest kindness in Joe’s eyes. I’m not resisting leaving; I’ve walked with you this far. But you seem like a lonely soul and I’ve never not offered a hand in friendship when I saw someone who needed it.

     “I’m not lonely,” Humbug asserted, his tone slightly harsher than he intended it to be. Joey’s change in position had the opposite of the intended effect. It was read as continued resistance, and made Humbug feel slightly cornered, “I’m surrounded by friends.”

[man-mind-blog]

looktotheants:

      “I know it’s not a good thing. It’s pretty bad, actually. But I’ve got people helping me work on it.” He wasn’t sure that even with help, he’d be able to resolve it, but… Well, he didn’t need to mention that to Humbug.

      “Stark’s working on prosthetics to replace Ultron–because there’s not a lot of organic material here to work with–and Loki will be there when we’re removing Ultron to make sure I don’t die during the procedure; she knows about medicine and can use magic to help out, so. It’s not quite the end of the world.”

      He shook his head. “I’m not trying to be flippant about this, but the issue with Jeremy and you is a lot more time sensitive. Jeremy previously tried to launch missiles to depower every superhuman in the world en masse, so if he’s going back to his old ways, a lot of people are in trouble.”

      Well, it certainly didn’t seem like there was anything else Humbug could add to it. Hank’s attitude towards Ultron was still worrying, but if people were on it, people more qualified than him, there was nothing Humbug could do about it. Instead he was forced to face his problem.

      “He said it was a message to you, Hank,” Humbug elaborated, lightly grasping the cloth of his hoodie, “He said this is what happens when superheroes drag people into places they don’t belong.”

[man-mind-blog]

eyecontactd:

      Not getting at anything. Joe wished he could put quotes around the phrase, but the synthetic voice wasn’t that sophisticated. Just saying I agree with you that humans are complicated. Why does that bother you?

      “Unless you’re an idiot, I feel like I’ve made it pretty clear you’re not welcome here, but you insist on continuing the conversation. Why? What purpose does it serve?”

[man-mind-blog]

looktotheants:

      Having Humbug and Jeremy vanish around the same time was troubling to Hank. There was no way for it to be a coincidence. If Jeremy’s disappearance meant he was going against the Academy again, Hank didn’t want the students looking for him because, well, last time that had happened, Jeremy had almost gotten killed. So clearly the students weren’t good at emotional distance when it comes to Jeremy Briggs.

      Not that he blamed them, but that still meant Hank was better suited for looking for Jeremy. Which left less time for looking for Humbug.

      Fortunately, Humbug was easy to find just by asking a few bugs. But Hank decided to wait for Humbug to approach him because Humbug was skittish, emotionally, and it had been difficult enough to draw him out once. If Humbug took too long, Hank would have to go hunt him down, but fortunately it didn’t take him that long to come back.

       The problem with that was that Humbug came in unexpectedly, before Hank had a chance to warn him about the Ultron situation. “Uh… Yeah, I’m okay. Just… have a thing going on. How are you…?”

       “That doesn’t look like just a thing.”

     Before, Humbug would have asked their opinion of the situation, what their senses told them about Hank, and his changes, but he couldn’t do that. There was just a deafening silence that acted as a constant reminder that he was alone.

     “I-- Everything’s wrong. You’re- Something is obviously wrong with you, and that kid, he- he stole my gifts. My friends are gone. I contained them as best I could, but without me to guide them... I’m sure some slipped away, the ones not bound to a queen. Now you’re gone, too. What happened to you?”

[man-mind-blog]

eyecontactd:

      Okay, then. That wasn’t working. Humbug didn’t even seem to want to talk about things he liked.

       They are complicated. I have to study us a lot to know how we work.

      Humbug clenched a fist, “What are you getting at?”

[man-mind-blog]

eyecontactd:

       That’s unfortunate. Humans are great. Joe paused, then added, Bugs are cool, too, but I don’t know that much about them. He was trying to give Humbug a chance to talk about why he liked bugs, why he related to them. Joe wanted to understand, but didn’t want it to seem like he was prying.

      “Humans are too complicated.”

[man-mind-blog]

      It was a solid week before Humbug emerged from his home. Part of this was due to having to restructure his home now that he wasn’t able to directly communicate with the insects that lived inside. They generally had free range before, but now that he couldn’t enforce boundaries it caused issues, especially with the non-native insects. The other part was mostly depression over the loss of his powers. Without any outside forces encouraging him to make healthy choices he just didn’t make them.

     But, eventually, he knew that he had to return to the Academy, or people would come looking for him, and he rather not have them find him in the process of making his home a proper insectarium like he should have ages ago.

      Just the process of leaving the house made him feel wrong. Without his powers it was too taxing to wear his armor constantly, and he was forced to resort to wearing a baggy hoodie, jeans, and a worn pair of sneakers he had stored away. Even though he was acceptably clothed, he still felt exposed, and everything looked different when he wasn’t seeing it with a red tint.

     Still, Humbug did it. He left his house, walked through the Academy, and lightly knocked on the door to Hank’s lab before entering without waiting for an answer, “Hank, I’m sorry I va-” Humbug froze mid-syllable once he had time to register Hank, and how he, too, seemed to have gone through some major changes since they last met.

      “Are... you ok?”

// @looktotheants

[man-mind-blog]

acolossalwaste:

      “Sorry, not happening.”

      There was a twinge of guilt, sure, but Jeremy pushed it away. “If you weren’t interested in fighting, Pym shouldn’t have brought you here. See, as much as he talks about doing more than just fighting, that’s not what this school is for. I don’t know if Pym is delusional or the world’s best con artist, but you’re gonna be an example.”

      He took a step towards the door, thinking it’d be best to leave before Humbug got himself together enough to sound an alarm. “This is what happens when superheroes drag people into places they don’t belong. There’s consequences to forcing everyone with powers to be a cape. You’re gonna make Pym see that and maybe when my point’s been proven, I’ll give you your powers back.”

      There was no alarm sounded. Alerting anyone to what happened was the furthest thing from Humbug’s mind at that moment. He just watched Jeremy leave, and then watched that spot for another ten minutes before he dragged himself up, and made his way home to check on all of his friends.

[man-mind-blog]

acolossalwaste:

      Jeremy smirked a little, feeling… suddenly more confident than he had before. It wasn’t that he enjoyed upsetting people, he just suddenly felt like he was returning to an important project after abandoning it for a while. The rush made him feel accomplished.

      “No. It’s not something I undo lightly.” Because his serum only worked once; if he undid it, he wouldn’t be able to take them away again. Which was part of why he was targeting Humbug in particular. Most of the older students had already been exposed and he wasn’t sure the serum would work on Pym.

      He pushed Humbug off–he’d have to thank the Avengers for helping him with hand-to-hand combat–and straightened his shirt. “Your powers are gone. You’ll adapt.”

      “No...”

      It wasn’t difficult to push Humbug away by any stretch of the imagination. He stumbled back, and stood, hands half outstretched. As more time passed, it was beginning to fully register how much he relied on the presence of his friends to keep him balanced. How much comfort their small words of encouragement brought him.

      “You don’t understand, I’m not--” Humbug inhaled sharply, “I’m not like the others, I don’t care about using my powers for good, or fighting or-- I just--” Tears started to pool in his eyes, “Please, I’ll do whatever you want me to do, I can’t-- I need my friends.”

[eyecontactd]

man-mind:

      “Yeah,” He responded, purposefully keeping the response short to give the younger man less reasons to linger around any longer than he had.

      Well that was… terse.

      Joe frowned. This was definitely not a normal situation (no shit), but there was something… it didn’t seem like he should just drop this and ignore the fact that there was a guy who called himself mayor of a bunch of insects. Why do you live with just bugs?

[man-mind-blog]

      “I don’t relate to humans.”

[man-mind-blog]

acolossalwaste:

      “How nice of them.” There was obviously emotional significance to the outfit and Jeremy’s response was, admittedly, tactless. But he didn’t need to maintain the facade anymore. He held out his hand and the air around Humbug’s face turned into a green gas, the airborne version of his depowering serum. “All things considered, probably should have given you defense against gas, too.”

     “Wh-”

     Given no chance to react, Humbug breathed in the gas. He tried to speak, but could only cough as his lungs tried to clear themselves, and get more oxygen. Once he caught his breath, there was still more to deal with. His head swam, as it processed the changes brought on by Jeremy’s serum. It struggled to grasp that something was wrong. That something was missing.

      “What?”

      No, that wasn’t right. Clearly he could hear his own voice, but- Humbug tore off his helmet, but it didn’t help. All he heard was the ambient noise of the classroom. The dozens of tiny voices he grew accustomed to hearing were gone. His friends were gone. He could see now, that they were starting to drift away. No longer interested in someone who couldn’t speak to them, hold onto their attention. He was just another human now.

      As realization dawned on him, Humbug roughly grabbed for Jeremy’s shirt, but that, too, gave him pause. It was weak, weaker than he was used to, at least. All of his gifts were gone; his connection to the hive-mind completely and utterly severed.

       “Stop whatever you did!”

[man-mind-blog]

andjustarthur:

“ It was kind of… well it was the only thing that survived an explosion, and was handed to me after that. Destiny, supposedly. I don’t know if I believe in all that but I’m nonetheless here. ”

      “I would say that sounds a little convoluted, but the story behind how I got my costume is quite a bit less believable.”