So... He was at a convention.

With Shin.

Shin. The person he had known for years. Except. You know. Not. Because he had been on a team with him for years, and they just sort of... Didn't hang out. It wasn't an avoidance thing. They had... Different skill sets, and stuff. Different schedules. Yeah.

Saphirus looked down to his clothed chest... No Jr. with him today. He missed the little guy already. Colin was watching him. He'd agreed to speak at this sort of panel thing a few months ago, before things all burst into flames. He couldn't exactly cancel, on account of this being his community service penalty for being involved in that bowling alley incident with the rocket launchers at this point.

He sipped his coffee. Jr. had been up all night again. He was doing this thing where he would sleep for 30 minutes, and then decide that was enough until 3am.

Saphirus was in plain clothes. He hadn't had time to prepare a costume, honestly, so it was a little less likely people would recognize him. He was poking through the con looking for his panel partner, now. Apparently they had a list of test questions or something they were supposed to use to prep. Ah, there he was!

"Hey!" The person turned. It was a Shard cosplayer. "Eh... Nevermind."

He tried another person in Shin clothes. Nope! That was a girl! Coffee break time.

Third times a charm, right? He saw a form pass in front of the booth. "Eh... Shin?"

Someone said his name. The man in golden lion armor turned. Now, at conventions some times, people wear cosplays that have shoulder guards wide enough to be a danger to everyone. Shin had never gone to a convention, so he was unaware of the unspoken rule. Keep your shoulder armor wide enough for effect, but not wide enough you take out passerby every time you turn. That said, when he turned, Shard did not take out Saphirus with his shoulder guards. He bopped Saphirus with the long foam sword he had slung over one shoulder.

The thing was blade with gold highlights, made to look like the sword from the Japanese TV show GARO, and it bopped Saphirus upside the head. Like something from the Three Stooges.

It only made sense Saphirus had mistaken others for himself. The television show was a popular one in the city... maybe it was popular because he was constantly stopping crime dressed up in its stuff? The golden armor he wore had been created with his own power, and based around that of the hero from the show. It had big pauldrons and a helmet with a sneering lion’s face. It had become one of his signature shard armor forms, since he had returned. The sword he wielded... he usually also made, from his mind. It was good he’d had the foresight to swap it out for a foam imitation before the convention, or else Saphirus would have lost his head.

He lost his coffee, not his head. But maybe the loss of the hot beverage was only less major, by a hair. Maybe he would lose his head, after all. Or at least, blow his top.

Beneath the lion mask, Shin grimaced as she looked down at the lost coffee. ”Man down...” He said sadly. Then looked as Saphirus. ”Saphirus? Uh. Sorry about that. Are you okay? I’ll buy you a new coffee, I swear.”

He was not familiar with the other X-man. As previously noted, their dealings were minor and sparse besides. All he really knew of him was that he was an X, and that a long time ago he had brought a dead fish to a Pokémon fight. And broken someone’s arm with it. Maybe unfair, that he only remembered that. But it stuck out for him because he’d made his number one flying mount for the tournament... and thus everything surrounding it was remembered well. Maybe not as fondly as the golden glow of the porygon memory, but the rumor had stuck. You mess with Saphirus, you get the Karp. Dude liked to drop the bass.

Look, he said big knight guy. There were a thousand big knight guys. How could he know which one was Shin? Apparently he found him, though.

And he lost his coffee. The sleepy man stared down at the dropped beverage with a blank stare for a moment, before looking back up at Shin.

"WATCH WERE YER SWININ THAT DAMN THING!" Out came the fangs as the grump came out full swing. "YER A FREAKIN X-MAN! YOU SHOULD KNOW HOW TO CONTROL YOUR WEAPON!" He panted a few times before pausing to look around, and straighted up.

"Eh... Sorry... I'll uh... take you up on that coffee. Just. Dont hit me again with your stick." He had some memories of Shin. He'd proctored his X-Men exam, after all. Wayyyy back in the day.

Oh, and the pokemon thing. Fun fact, that Karp was alive and well, it lived in the mansion's pond with the coyfish. Resilient fish, carp.

Beneath the golden lion helmet, triangular pupils widened. Saphirus had just... gone nuclear. Over spilled coffee. What was it they said about not crying over spilled stuff? Oh yeah. Cry over spilled coffee.

Crap.

Coffee was life to some people. Shin had just ended Saphirus’s life.

He opened his mouth to apologize, and more fervently this time. But Saphirus mediated his tone and mastered himself. The Asian lion man’s shoulders relaxed... which was probably unnoticeable in the heavy plate.

”Yeah. Sorry. Usually I have more control because I make the swords with my mind. But this foam replica... I don’t know the dimensions well enough in my mind yet.” He explained.

For a guy with literal graph lined vision and perfect measurement senses, the fact he did not know the dimensions very well seemed strange. But, then he probably meant that it was large and unwieldy. Easy to underestimate its swing.

Shin pointed a gauntleted hand towards a nearby stand.

”They sell coffee. What’s your poison? Iced mocha, hot americano, the Captain Texas, the blue torch? I think they’ve got some other superhero themed drink names going on over there too. And not everything is even coffee. I think there’s a cold steel tea bag...” He joked.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it... Sorry, you know, not a lot of sleep these days. Got the kid, and work... Little grumpier than usual." He shook off the welling up of grump that had assaulted him, and rubbed his eyes for the fiftieth time this morning, looking over when Shin pointed out the coffee stand.

convenient. Shin started listing off drinks, and Saph's eyes went blank for a moment as he spoke a bunch of mumbo jumbo that didn't make any sense. The last one made him raise an eyebrow. "You know, I wouldn't be surprised. Not these days, anyway. Uh... Shot in the dark. It's uh... black coffee with more caffiene in it." Espresso dropped in black coffee had kept him alive these last few months.

He proceeded toward the coffee stand, looking about for a moment. "So... you been to a lot of these? And, uh... do you always dress like that?" It was... well, it was a lot, he had to be honest. He always went at himself, because... well, he was himself, and often that was enough. With the spandex he would always stand out plenty. Being out of uniform was actually a bit of a blessing.

No one was going to bother him. A little time to himself. Oh, and Shin. He shifted uncomfortably. "So... How are... Things?"

Grumpy was an understatement. But shin had no room to judge. Wasn’t like he’d ever had a kid to keep him up.

He moved on and tried tempting Saphirus with coffee to make up.

Saphirus was... confused for a tick. Then he figured it out and decided on something he liked. Shin chuckled at his response to the cold steel comment.

Personally, Shin was ruing the pucker face lemonade. Super sour. Green. Yum!

He followed Saphirus to the drink stand. While they waited, they talked.

Shin shook his head. ”I haven’t been to a convention in years. Wasn’t really ever my bag. Wife doesn’t like the overwhelming emotional component of hundreds of people either. As for the dress up comment... it’s cosplay. Part of my power. I make the armor with my mind... and make it look like super sentai TV show characters because I, am unoriginal.” His tone was light, full of self awareness and humor.

”If you can dress as anything, bring a super hero from your favorite show is... pretty fun.” he said.

As for how things were...

”Things are good. Glad to have my powers back. That was a nasty few years. How are you?”

Apparently, now was the time to get coffee. The line was a little longer by the time they got to it. He leaned to look down the line, over and aside all sorts of strange characters. He looked back to Shin, and shrugged. "Huh, I never knew it was based off anything, I just sorta thought that's was your eh... aesthetic, I guess. Anyway, seems pretty useful. Stuff's as strong as diamond, ain't it?"

He knew a little about Shin's powers as a whole, even if they didn't go on missions much together.

"I never watched a whole lot of shows like that growing up. Kinda got tossed from house to house. Lotta of the homes I ended up at didn't even have a TV." Did Shin even know his background? He... admittedly, didn't know Shin's. What did he know about Shin?

"That's good to hear, man. I don't even know what I would do without my power. I guess I kinda live my life by it. Or... I did. I guess now I would just be a dad, huh?" He imagined trying to raise Elke without his abilities. She would have killed him.

Shin asked how he was. "Uh... Well. I mean, do you want the usual @#$%-all I'm doing fine, or do you really wanna know? I can do either, honestly." The line moved forward a bit, and he looked at the person in front of them as they dragged about two giant foam rings with them. Part of their costume?

"Any idea who all these people are dressed as?"

>> "Huh, I never knew it was based off anything, I just sorta thought that's was your eh... aesthetic, I guess. Anyway, seems pretty useful. Stuff's as strong as diamond, ain't it?" Saphirus said.

Shin oddly felt touched. Saphirus really thought he was that creative? To make up crazy golden armor with a lions face straight from thin air? No. He had just sculpted the armor out of countless minuscule triangular barriers that could have cut him at any moment... and made sure that they did not.

”Thank you for the compliment. I’m not THAT creative. But yes, it can be diamond-hard. Though that doesn’t always stop all the kinetic energy if I get hit.”

He had been sent flying, and had bruises to prove the comment. Not currently, but often enough. When you pick fights with giant monsters and angry mutants, you get what you ask for.

He k ew Saphirus knew a thing or two about kinetic energy. It was kind of a legend, almost an aura around the man. Saphirus was the guy who could take the big hits, and throw them right back. Crowbar-in-hand.

Saphirus confessed old TV shows hadn’t ever really been available to him, when he’d been growing up like a weed. Unwanted, forced to grow wherever he could. But Resilient. Had he said those words exactly? No. But Shin liked metaphor and simile. As blank as a blank. He was the blank. That kind of thing.

He hadn’t known anything about the other man’s life. The Asian in the big golden armor shrugged.

”My parents we’re pretty cool, I guess? Let me watch too much stuff. Get away with too much. Got away with even more when I came to the US.” He said. Didn’t elaborate. Maybe, If pressed. They were both complicated subjects. And there were already enough of those in the world. Like his power loss.

He briefly shared that. Got a decent reply back.

Saphirus shared. He was a dad. And— wanted to know if Shin actually wanted details, or just the basic I’m fine I’m fine talking point line. Shin was silent for a second. It was a second long enough for Saphirus to try and change the subject.

Shin looked around. ”I dunno man. I’m not so up to date on heroes. Especially American heroes. I think...” A gold gauntleted hand poked towards one person In the distance. ”I think that ones supposed to be you.”

Costume fit well enough, in the right way jump suits do. Foam crowbar was a nice touch. Guy had a girlfriend on his arm. Shin had no idea what to make of so much green, and a rubber shoulder snake. Fans knew everything though. Must have been something.

He cleared his throat and chanted the subject yet again. ”Look, man. I had no major powers for over a year. Had to fight crime with the one thing I had left. My wedding ring. So I know about tough times. If you’re having those... talk. I’m a good listener.”

"Eh, I ain't exactly Mozart myself. I see it, I let it hit me, I hit it. It's what you do with what you got and it's not every day you see a badass ride in on a flying motorcycle and beat up a giant moth. Saw that the other, what, month? Not sure about the naked newbie, though."

He seemed to be relaxing into the conversation. It was one of those moments when you realize you've been tense, and get a chance to consciously relax your muscles. He'd had to do that a lot more recently; it was like his mind was a big knot.

"That's good, man. Still don't know mine, and foster parents always seem to... just sorta be watching you, waitin for you to make a mistake so they can throw you back. Couldn't control my powers back then, so I broke a lot of things on accident. Sorta made my upbringing more eclectic than usual. Heh, I had fosters that were doomsday preppers, private investigators, accountants, crazy cat ladies. All sorts of stuff." He nodded, and took another step forward in the line. They weren't too far off, now.

"Seems like you turned out pretty well, though. Took me a while."

Shin sort of shrugged off his statement about details, and Saph nodded. "I'm doin fine."

Saphirus squinted into the crowd when a Masochist cosplayer was spotted. Really? Holy crap, it was him! Wait... He turned a little red at the man's companion. "Great... Got my Ex-Wife in tow, too." Man, coffee really sounded good right about now.

They were almost there.

He looked over to Shin, and went silent for a moment as well. With a sigh, he rubbed his faced once, and nodded a bit, as if he were sorting out his thoughts. He hadn't talked to anyone about all of this. Not once. He'd just sort of... held it in.

"Well... Yeah. I guess I'm having those. My wife is missing. Probably de-aged, like all those other people. There've been sightings, but she's elusive. So... I'm raising our kid alone. And Moose... Eh, my adopted daughter, Elke, was turned into a little kid again. She was a hellraiser back in the day, and she... well... She escaped and started lighting fires down town, assaulting people. Stuff she always used to try to do when I could handle it and focus on her. Trying to find her, too, but I got the baby, so... Well, Granpa can help watch him every once in a while, but I just... I dunno man. It's a lot. I'm just trying to survive, you know?"

He paused, realizing he was looking at the ground, now. "Anyway. Strugglin a bit." He looked over to Shin again, and then to the line in front of them. They were next.

>>”Eh, I ain't exactly Mozart myself. I see it, I let it hit me, I hit it. It's what you do with what you got and it's not every day you see a badass ride in on a flying motorcycle and beat up a giant moth. Saw that the other, what, month? Not sure about the naked newbie, though." Saphirus said.

Shin shrugged. ”Not about the size of the ship on the sea, it’s about the motion of the ocean and what you do with your boat that counts? Eh. He did okay. I’m trying to teach him capes are bad and nudity is worse but— still a work in progress.”

Newbies were easy to talk about. You could really slip into shop talk. Family talk, harder. Saphirus didn’t really know his. Foster parents, yowch. His heart went out to him. Well, at least he’d turned ... something. Out something.

Moving on.

Saphirus was... doing fine. Turned out something, doing fine. Evasive, much? He noticed the cosplayer, and grumbled something about ex-wives, in a tone which spoke volumes. Shin was not a mind reader, but having lived with a woman who could read emotions, one gets pretty good at reading or controlling tone. And the other man’s tone said he needed coffee, ASAP. But what Shin really thought, was— that Saphirus wanted something a bit harder than coffee then and there.

Who was he to judge?

They fell into a silence. Maybe comfortable, maybe not? Saphirus broke it. Like a mirror. Shin listened, and tried to piece everything back together. He knew a thing or two about rearranging shards.

It was a lot. Shin put a gauntleted hand on his shoulder. Which... probably would have been more comforting if it hadn’t been a bit good gauntlet hand.

”I know we aren’t really close. But if you need help. I know a thing or two about tracking people. And I could babysit. Or my cousin could. She’s stateside right now, doing college stuff. And—“

From ahead of them, a nasally voice called “NEXT!”

Shin looked from the person back to Saphirus, and removed his hand. ”That’s us.”

He quickly turned and placed their orders. Paid. Handed the other man his drink and looked towards the food court tables. If he hadn’t already shifted his helmet into gold hood form, he did that then. Hard to drink cofffee through a metallic lions head.