Big Damn LIst has Kilowog! (and Guy)
Title: Together Alone
Fandom: Green Lantern Corps
Characters: Kilowog, Guy Gardner
Prompt: 37 - Sound
Word Count: 1049
Rating: PG
Summary:
Author's Notes: Stands between 40: Sight, and 44: Circle
Kilowog hates the silence. Everyone knows it. They all know he lost his people - not once, but twice - and that the company of aliens isn’t even a pale shadow in comparison. Even so, he goes out of his way to find company and stay with it. It’s part of the reason he trains the new recruits; he’s never alone. Even though he’s a damn good geneticist and was known among his people for his finely trained academic mind, these are qualities he rarely puts forth in the Corps. Working in a lab is too quiet.
Surprisingly, Kilowog has met a number of people he is proud to call friend. Many of them are from Earth, and he even considered spending the rest of his life there during one of the times the Corps was having trouble existing. (Kilowog isn’t sure how, exactly, the Corps has held together for supposedly billions of years when it’s collapsed twice in the last decade alone. He supposes they’ve had lots of practice.) One of them is now smirking across a table and wanting to spar.
“I’ll kick yer ass, poozer,” Kilowog says, accepting the challenge.
“If I win, you pay your bar tab,” Guy Gardner tells him, and Kilowog stretches his face into the human approximation of a smile. It isn’t easy; his muscles don’t work that way. But he learned, because he wants to show courtesy. Courtesy is important.
Important, unless one is training raw recruits (who wouldn’t know their asshats from their elbows, which is supposedly a common saying on Earth, even though Kilowog hasn’t heard anyone except Guy use it. Guy could be pulling his leg) or teaching a former recruit and current pain in the ass the difference between a drill sergeant and an Honor Guard Lantern.
Namely, the former will pound the latter into paste nine times out of ten.
By mutual agreement, they take their sparring match to the central training ground; it’s supposed to be empty of rookies at the moment anyway, which it is, but they’ve picked up a small crowd of the curious and the bored by the time they’ve been at it for about fifteen seconds. It’s also raining, but that doesn’t seem to stop anyone. Usually the Guardians don’t let it rain, but now it’s just pouring down.
Kilowog could crush Guy, if he could just get his hands on him, but Guy’s too slippery. He bounces and dodges, for all his talk of fighting straight on, “like a man.” Guy is as direct a person as Kilowog has met, outside his own people, but the Bolovax Vikians all shared the same consciousness, more or less, so it isn’t a fair comparison. Guy mostly says something and then does it. Kilowog appreciates this. What he does not appreciate is Guy’s dodge just past his reach. He’s doing it on purpose.
“Come and get me,” he taunts, and flicks water at Kilowog’s eyes.
Time was when Kilowog would have been genuinely infuriated; despite Hal Jordan’s impressive performances as a Lantern (before, during, and after Kilowog trained him), the man didn’t exactly inspire likability, nor did he predispose anyone else to feel affectionate towards humans. They were so… unpredictable. Furthermore, one of Kilowog’s very first interactions with Guy was a deadly serious fight over politics, of all things. Kilowog simply hadn’t realized that humans were so adamant in their support or opposition regarding the direction their governments took. He supposed it was a natural side effect of not sharing a mind - how could you know that you were heard? - but he’d still been surprised. And to be physically attacked? Outrageous.
In the end, though, Kilowog had found that there really wasn’t much difference between human political groups, no matter what their individual adherents wanted to think. He’d almost left Earth altogether, but it held much of what remained of the Corps and therefore what remained of Kilowog’s life.
If anyone had told him that he would develop a friendship with Guy Gardner, he would have told them they were clearly insane. But something about Guy’s pigheaded stubbornness - even if he was damn closeminded about it - and his purely physical prowess awoke a sliver of respect for the man, and his straightforwardness was like a breath of fresh air. Even if he couldn’t believe a word anyone else said, Kilowog knew that Guy Gardner would pretty much say exactly what he thought and to hell with anyone who thought differently.
Honesty, however, did not a Vikian make.
Guy’s smirking at him now, from just out of range. Kilowog leaps forward, and he knows he’s won, because Guy has forgotten how quickly Kilowog can move. Guy knows it, too, because he has a look of shock on his flat, pale human face just before Kilowog lands directly on top of him. “Got ya,” he says.
Guy mumbles something that might be “You fought well” and might also be “Go to hell.” Kilowog thinks it’s probably the latter, but he climbs off Guy and pulls him out of the mud. The rain’s already washing the sand out of Guy’s hair. “Beer’s on you,” Kilowog says.
“Yeah, yeah,” Guy grumbles.
The bar will be crowded within minutes after opening; between the rain and the recent crisis avoided, the Lanterns will be gathering indoors, and there are only two places to do that. Guy’s bar is by far the more congenial, and also, Salaak avoids it. That alone would endear it to most of the Lanterns in the city.
Kilowog helps Guy set up for opening, listening to the sound of the rain. This silence he doesn’t mind so much, the companionable silence of having nothing to say. It took him a while to learn. He uses his ring to set up the chairs more quickly (Guy is giving him that look) and the boom echoes through the walls. “Only you, ‘Wog,” Guy says, removing his fingers from his ears. “You gotta explain that sometime.”
That the sound is a memorial to his fallen people, those he lost not once but twice, is something that Kilowog will never explain. He just shrugs in reply and flips the sign in the window to open. He doesn’t like silence, but there are a few things that are better left unsaid.
FINIS
Fandom: Green Lantern Corps
Characters: Kilowog, Guy Gardner
Prompt: 37 - Sound
Word Count: 1049
Rating: PG
Summary:
Author's Notes: Stands between 40: Sight, and 44: Circle
Kilowog hates the silence. Everyone knows it. They all know he lost his people - not once, but twice - and that the company of aliens isn’t even a pale shadow in comparison. Even so, he goes out of his way to find company and stay with it. It’s part of the reason he trains the new recruits; he’s never alone. Even though he’s a damn good geneticist and was known among his people for his finely trained academic mind, these are qualities he rarely puts forth in the Corps. Working in a lab is too quiet.
Surprisingly, Kilowog has met a number of people he is proud to call friend. Many of them are from Earth, and he even considered spending the rest of his life there during one of the times the Corps was having trouble existing. (Kilowog isn’t sure how, exactly, the Corps has held together for supposedly billions of years when it’s collapsed twice in the last decade alone. He supposes they’ve had lots of practice.) One of them is now smirking across a table and wanting to spar.
“I’ll kick yer ass, poozer,” Kilowog says, accepting the challenge.
“If I win, you pay your bar tab,” Guy Gardner tells him, and Kilowog stretches his face into the human approximation of a smile. It isn’t easy; his muscles don’t work that way. But he learned, because he wants to show courtesy. Courtesy is important.
Important, unless one is training raw recruits (who wouldn’t know their asshats from their elbows, which is supposedly a common saying on Earth, even though Kilowog hasn’t heard anyone except Guy use it. Guy could be pulling his leg) or teaching a former recruit and current pain in the ass the difference between a drill sergeant and an Honor Guard Lantern.
Namely, the former will pound the latter into paste nine times out of ten.
By mutual agreement, they take their sparring match to the central training ground; it’s supposed to be empty of rookies at the moment anyway, which it is, but they’ve picked up a small crowd of the curious and the bored by the time they’ve been at it for about fifteen seconds. It’s also raining, but that doesn’t seem to stop anyone. Usually the Guardians don’t let it rain, but now it’s just pouring down.
Kilowog could crush Guy, if he could just get his hands on him, but Guy’s too slippery. He bounces and dodges, for all his talk of fighting straight on, “like a man.” Guy is as direct a person as Kilowog has met, outside his own people, but the Bolovax Vikians all shared the same consciousness, more or less, so it isn’t a fair comparison. Guy mostly says something and then does it. Kilowog appreciates this. What he does not appreciate is Guy’s dodge just past his reach. He’s doing it on purpose.
“Come and get me,” he taunts, and flicks water at Kilowog’s eyes.
Time was when Kilowog would have been genuinely infuriated; despite Hal Jordan’s impressive performances as a Lantern (before, during, and after Kilowog trained him), the man didn’t exactly inspire likability, nor did he predispose anyone else to feel affectionate towards humans. They were so… unpredictable. Furthermore, one of Kilowog’s very first interactions with Guy was a deadly serious fight over politics, of all things. Kilowog simply hadn’t realized that humans were so adamant in their support or opposition regarding the direction their governments took. He supposed it was a natural side effect of not sharing a mind - how could you know that you were heard? - but he’d still been surprised. And to be physically attacked? Outrageous.
In the end, though, Kilowog had found that there really wasn’t much difference between human political groups, no matter what their individual adherents wanted to think. He’d almost left Earth altogether, but it held much of what remained of the Corps and therefore what remained of Kilowog’s life.
If anyone had told him that he would develop a friendship with Guy Gardner, he would have told them they were clearly insane. But something about Guy’s pigheaded stubbornness - even if he was damn closeminded about it - and his purely physical prowess awoke a sliver of respect for the man, and his straightforwardness was like a breath of fresh air. Even if he couldn’t believe a word anyone else said, Kilowog knew that Guy Gardner would pretty much say exactly what he thought and to hell with anyone who thought differently.
Honesty, however, did not a Vikian make.
Guy’s smirking at him now, from just out of range. Kilowog leaps forward, and he knows he’s won, because Guy has forgotten how quickly Kilowog can move. Guy knows it, too, because he has a look of shock on his flat, pale human face just before Kilowog lands directly on top of him. “Got ya,” he says.
Guy mumbles something that might be “You fought well” and might also be “Go to hell.” Kilowog thinks it’s probably the latter, but he climbs off Guy and pulls him out of the mud. The rain’s already washing the sand out of Guy’s hair. “Beer’s on you,” Kilowog says.
“Yeah, yeah,” Guy grumbles.
The bar will be crowded within minutes after opening; between the rain and the recent crisis avoided, the Lanterns will be gathering indoors, and there are only two places to do that. Guy’s bar is by far the more congenial, and also, Salaak avoids it. That alone would endear it to most of the Lanterns in the city.
Kilowog helps Guy set up for opening, listening to the sound of the rain. This silence he doesn’t mind so much, the companionable silence of having nothing to say. It took him a while to learn. He uses his ring to set up the chairs more quickly (Guy is giving him that look) and the boom echoes through the walls. “Only you, ‘Wog,” Guy says, removing his fingers from his ears. “You gotta explain that sometime.”
That the sound is a memorial to his fallen people, those he lost not once but twice, is something that Kilowog will never explain. He just shrugs in reply and flips the sign in the window to open. He doesn’t like silence, but there are a few things that are better left unsaid.
FINIS