FORCED HONESTY MEME

[devoutish]

1) Post your characters, one per comment
2) Go around with your characters and have them ask other characters questions - anything goes!
3) Forced honesty time! Lying is impossible because of reasons
4) IC DISCUSSION AND CONFRONTATION, GO

Comments

Clint Barton

[awwnoun]

[redrooms]

Why do you always put yourself last?

[You jerk.]

[awwnoun]

Because I don't really like myself that much.

[redrooms]

Why not?

[awwnoun]

I'm not really as good of a person as I want to be and I don't think I'll ever get to that point.

[redrooms]

You're far better than most of us, Clint.

[awwnoun]

See, I know you're not lying because that's the whole point of this, but that's not an objective thing.

[redrooms]

Not always, no, but even when we first met, you were trying to do the right thing.

[When she was manipulating him, she means.]

You're far better than you think you are.

[awwnoun]

This wasn't supposed to be a pity party or anything, you know.

Why did you pick me? To work with, I mean. At the start.

[redrooms]

I'm not pitying you.

[And if he didn't think she was going to try to dodge that question... Whoops.]

[awwnoun]

Aww, that means the answer to that question is even worse than I thought.

[redrooms]

[Forced honesty is the worse thing ever and she hates all of this.]

Because you were skilled, but you were also idealistic, and you weren't subtle about your interest in me. I knew that would make you easy to manipulate, and I knew I couldn't deal with Stark alone.

[Ugh!]

That's how it started out. But you didn't follow my orders blindly, and you were brave and competent and a far better person than I was, and I admired that. You were also one of the first people in a very long time to treat me as anything other than the Black Widow. You were far better than I deserved. I'm sorry.

[hangfire]

Why the hell did you apologize?

[awwnoun]

Because I was a jerk? That's usually what people do when they're a jerk. Is uh. Apologize.

[mrcreamsicles]

Why did you offer to let me come back to your world? Not my problems that made you say it, but you said it so easily. Why would you want me to go there?

[awwnoun]

Because I want you to feel like you have a place where you belong.

[mrcreamsicles]

[It's a weird kind of answer—or no, really, it's not. But there's an odd feeling around it still, born out of that same difficulty he has with taking concern and compliments. Clint always makes it sound like it's simple, when to him it never is.]

Maybe I need to ask the other thing then. What do you think I'm feeling that would make me need a place like that?

[awwnoun]

I mean, nothing good. [ He frowns. ] You have awful self-esteem and you don't know what to do with me treating you like I'd treat any other person, so I gotta assume from that that you're in a bad place.

[mrcreamsicles]

[Maybe he shouldn't have asked after all. Of course he has shit self-esteem, of course he's not in the best place. But it's the same shit self-esteem that makes him feel like he doesn't deserve better, and that people don't deserve to deal with him. He just doesn't like himself.]

[A good part of him wants to do the whole shove-people-away thing right now, just because it's uncomfortable. But he said he was going to try not to, and he holds back.]

... Maybe. [It's a concession.] But why don't you take better care of your own self, then? You can't say you don't have your own problems. What makes a superhero feel he's not doing good enough even with stuff he couldn't have stopped?

[awwnoun]

Aww, DS, don't ask me bull like that! [ Ughhh, groan. He doesn't want to talk about his own issues, but he does, because forced honesty. ]

I'm the normal one in the bunch. We're a team full of people with crazy superpowers or tech that makes them superhuman. You've got Iron Man and Captain America, and Scarlet Witch, Thor, Wasp - you know, all these big names. And then you've got me, and I'm just some guy from the circus who can shoot good.

And I make a lot of stupid decisions about things. Things I wish I could take back, a lot. You look at people like Natasha and she very rarely regrets any choice she makes 'cause she knows what she is and what she should do.

[mrcreamsicles]

[You see why he's so cagey about his own, Clint? But it makes a nice diversion from his own problems, and the answer is full and informative.]

Dude, so what? You're still helping people, aren't you? You're on the team with them, saving lives, trying to do good. If you're still calling yourself a hero—if you actually want to be one—that says something.

[awwnoun]

Yeah, I know. Rationally I know I'm still helping people and that's why this isn't usually an issue.

I'm doing my best to be better, but I can't help it. And I know you know how that feels.

[mrcreamsicles]

[Huff.]

Yeah, pretty much. Is that part of it? You see yourself in me, something like that, so you want to help?

[awwnoun]

Yeah. Is that such a bad thing?

[mrcreamsicles]

You're going to be disappointed if you're expecting me to take on your dorky dad lineage.