008 [video/action if desired for HoA]

[azarathmetrion]

[Things seem to be going fairly well around here again, in the House of Awesome and elsewhere in Siren's Port. Raven's had a peaceful few days and has talked to some of the new arrivals. Things seem to be under control. She's been reading for most of the afternoon, and she'd just decided to get up and go down to make herself some tea, when--

Damn it

Comments

[voice/private]

[isitablurred]

[Worked out the private function just for you, Raven.]

Canaries, robins and ravens. I didn't realise birds were so feminine.

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Well that doesn't tell you everything you need to know. I seem really wholesome?

[He can't really hide his amusement. It's such an interesting comment.]

I was called The Blur back in Metropolis, but it's not a name anyone else recognises.

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[azarathmetrion]

[Experience tells her it's sometimes disturbing to people to know that you've been probing their emotions, so she shrugs.] Yeah, wholesome. Growing up on a farm. All of that.

Right. Because they recognize you by the name... Superman?

[She is starting to get nervous again. If she's wrong, she'll look kind of stupid. And if she's right, what is going on, Batman and Superman inside of a week?]

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[That's the first time he's heard it, and rather than surprised he just looks puzzled. Superman, really? The super he understood, it was the man part that wasn't quite accurate. And then...he laughs.]

Superman. That's almost ironic.

[Oliver is laughing at him in his head right now.]

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[azarathmetrion]

[Now she's just confused, too. Why is he laughing? Was she wrong? But 'that's almost ironic' doesn't mean it's wrong at all. In fact, it seems to indicate it's right. Kind of. Okay, she doesn't know.]

...what do you mean?

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[It's okay, he'll explain. With a smile and an open gesture he looks back up at her.]

I've spent my entire life trying to be more human, but normal people--they aren't super. Well [Brief head tilt.] They are, just in more extraordinary ways.

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[azarathmetrion]

...I see. [Basically, what she's getting from that, is a):] So you're not Superman... yet.

[And b):] I think you're right about that. All the best writers in the world that I know of have all been 'normal people', but ... well, they're super, all right.

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[He isn't sure what to think about that, so he just shakes his head and smiles. He's not that good a writer, either.]

Not yet. As a result I can't promise to be everything you expect me to be...but I can promise to be there when I'm needed.

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[azarathmetrion]

[She just likes to think of things in terms of books.]

Right. [Well. So... a young version of Superman. They could certainly have gotten worse than that. The Core wasn't doing too badly right now. Well, assuming it wasn't meant to be some kind of prison for the good guys.]

It's still good to have -- well, someone like you around. We could use a lot of help here. [We? Sigh. It's been too long.

Anyway, he does look really young, doesn't he?]

...how old are you, exactly?

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It certainly seems like it. Though I have to nail this secret identity thing. You'd think a lifetime's experience hiding my powers would be enough.

[He does seem to relax a little, though, and he'll get to his own questions soon.]

I'm twenty-three.

[So not that young.]

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[azarathmetrion]

[Still younger than she had expected, though maybe he always looks young like this. She nods. Still older than her, at least.]

Secret identities are overrated. In my opinion. [Coming from someone who doesn't have one.] I guess they're more useful for people whose appearance doesn't immediately give it away.

[She wants to ask something like 'how do you like it here?' but that sounds... not very intelligent.]

Have you been getting used to the Port pretty well, then?

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I could go without, considering, but the fact is that there are people who know me as Clark Kent that might come here...that I really would rather know me as Clark Kent.

[A tilt of his head.]

Well apart from a brush with the Joker the other night and Batman's cold shoulder, I think I'm...handling it well. The news agency didn't seem to want a Newcomer reporter, but I'm not planning to let that stop me.

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[azarathmetrion]

Right. [She looks off to the side for a moment, looking evaluative.] I don't think most people think so long-range when they first get here, but that makes sense.

[Talking to the other legend--okay, a weird version--after talking to Batman is one hell of a contrast. He's almost exuding the opposite of the terror that a conversation with Batman appears to consist of.]

Already getting entangled with them? What happened with the Joker? And... I thought you and Batman were on a pretty familiar basis.

[She nods.] They don't want Newcomer anything, on average.

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[isitablurred]

He recognised my voice, tried to make me come out on video, and asked about Lois and Lex. Honestly? I considered doing it, just to stop him yabbering in my ear.

[A shake of his head.]

I'm a little out of my depth with all of this. And that leads us to why Batman and I are... Well, he's... [He opens his mouth, eyes rolling up as he searches for the right word, and he sounds severe and yet almost flattering when he finds it.] --incorrigable. I mean, sure, he's terrifying, but it's like a barrier. I can't really explain it.

Maybe that's why I'm his friend in the future, because it seems to me that he's someone who needs saving.

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[azarathmetrion]

...Really, it's better not to have any of his attention. You know, just don't feed him anything. [Not that she should really talk. Keeps running into him tangentially.]

I guess that means he suspects, though, huh?

[She mulls over that one for a long moment, though.]

I have a hard time imagining the soft core inside that shell. Somehow I don't think whoever's under the mask is any less of a barrier than the actual mask. For what my opinion's worth, anyway.

And I guess I don't even know how you'd go about saving someone like that. He--seems to me more like a ... natural force than anything else. He can't have been here that long--he wouldn't have let some of these things go by unremarked--but he seems to know everything already.

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[isitablurred]

I think he's certain of it, actually. However that happens.

[Clark sits forward slightly, as though it takes him a great deal of effort to concentrate. It doesn't. But it's a tricky subject, and he's constantly trying to work out how much of Batman is Batman and how much is his own projected feelings; that loneliness, the determination, the weight of responsibility on his shoulders.]

I think I'd probably break him if I tried. He wouldn't be the man you know, the one you respect so much, without that darkness inside of him.

[He sounds thoughtful.]

But I can't just let him fight his demons alone, either. There's a man in there, probably more of a man even than I can ever hope to try to be. Because while I didn't have a choice in my destiny; I get the feeling he did.