16th May 2011
15:42 GMT -5
I smile at this parallel's version of Wonder Woman.
"I realise that I'm pushing my luck here-" She smiles faintly. "-but is there any chance at all you could spend a year or two on my parallel once this is over?"
She raises her eyebrows very slightly. "Why do you ask?"
"We.. don't have much of a superhero tradition. Everyone with super powers gets them from a substance called Compound V, either injected or inherited. And… For various reasons, the people who are referred to as superheroes have never developed the skills or moral probity to truly
be superheroes." Her expression grows somewhat more serious. "The least bad are well-meaning celebrities with powers; the worst… Well, there was a… An event two years ago and they're mostly dead now, but we're left with a void in leadership and direction. I'm doing what I
can, but I don't have the experience or charisma to.. bring as many people as I
need to with me."
"You shouldn't underestimate yourself."
"Yes… But… I'm fully aware that my staff has altered my mind and that another version of me who
hasn't had his mind altered collects the skulls of his fallen enemies so that he can decorate his home with them. I'm not even sure that I'm the sort of person who
should be in such a position. And while I can probably… Succeed in managing something like what I'm trying to achieve
eventually, the presence of
you, or… If you can't spare the time, another highly motivated and capable League member would speed things up considerably."
She nods thoughtfully.
"Prepare a full brief, and I will give it the consideration it deserves."
I smile. "Thank you. Were..? Have you fought Krona before?"
"No, though I was involved in both the event which merged many parallel universes into one, and in the event where the Society of Super-Villains attempted to recreate them. I am all too aware of the devastation such events can cause. Even if the people involved are all too likely to forget them in the aftermath."
I frown. "Is there a.. way to know if you've had a memory erased like that? I've long.. thought of memories as a vital part of a person's
existence, and the idea that I'd just..
forget my whole
reality is one I find extremely troubling."
She
nods.
"If it is any comfort, I met a version of myself who had been part of a universe which was unmade. Though we were different in some ways, we were still recognisably the same woman."
"I appreciate the thought, but I'm recognisably the same man as the heart-ripping vampire and the skull collector with the blood-horns. Other than the fact that we appear to be naturals at being Lanterns, it… Doesn't really reassure me."
16th May 2011
15:42 GMT -5
The local Koriand'r regards me with a warm fascination, but I find my eyes drawn to her hair. It's
mountainous. I can't.. smell any hairspray-.
"Most people do not stare at my
hair." She smiles. "Why do you find it so fascinating?"
"Tamaraneans.. in my parallel, their hair doesn't get quite that… Voluminous. Do you do.. something special to it?"
She raises her right hand and runs it through her bouffant, forcing the local Garfield and… Some guy in blue armour I don't recognise, to back up to avoid being haired.
"It has been like this for my entire life."
"So it didn't get like that when the psions..?"
She shakes her head, making blue armour sidestep. "No. Most Tamaraneans have hair like this." She smiles curiously. "What is Tamaranean hair like where
you are from?"
"Our Koriand'r's hair is completely straight. No volume to it at all. She has the.. fringe cut short and the rest brushed straight back.
Komand'r's the same. There are… A
few Tamaraneans with bushy hair, but it's not really a… Common trait."
"It is strange to hear
anyone speak of my sister with such affection."
"My.. Komand'r isn't your Komand'r. Mine.. is more about personal freedom than domination."
Koriand'r smiles, apparently genuinely pleased.
"How long have you been together?"
"
About a year and a half. She's so…
Passionate. The way she.. throws herself into everything she does, probably… Because it's all new, all.. something she couldn't do growing up with Vega being.. Vega.
Being with her is what makes all the killing… Have concrete meaning for me. And trying to keep up with her has made me
live more than I did before meeting her."
"Then I am
glad that you have found one another."
I nod, smiling. "Thank you."
"And how does the other
me feel about it?"
"She finds it delightful in the abstract, but she gets a bit disturbed about exactly
how we express our affection for one another."
Garfield snorts in amusement, while Koriand'r seems more confused.
"On my Tamaran, my people are completely open with our feelings, both in what they are and in how we demonstrate them. I would not think that there is much you could do that would disturb me."
I suppose that projectile vomiting is a pretty open display. Super strength stomach evacuations are not for the faint of heart.
"Some girls just don't like excarnation, I guess."
16th May 2011
15:42 GMT -5
"
I've never been undead before."
Jade Nguyen examines her right hand, and the power ring upon it.
"Okay?"
"
I don't know how old I am.
I used the materioptikon to live so many lives, I never kept track of how many subjective years I was integrating back into the whole.
But I never tried undeath.
If a version of me died, I just wrote them off."
"I don't understand, I'm afraid."
"
On my Earth, a supervillain named Doctor Destiny brought the entire population of the Earth into a dream realm he could control.
When the Justice League defeated him he lost control of the tool he used to do it: the materioptikon.
I took it, and used it myself.
I created illusory worlds and lived illusory lives, becoming stronger and more knowledgeable until that began to lose its appeal."
"To what end?"
"
I-." She hesitates. "
Personal protection.
I hate feeling vulnerable, so I tried to make sure that I never.. would.
I…
Don't feel that way now.
Is that because of you?"
"It's hard to feel, as a Black Lantern. You'll need to feed your ring a few fearful hearts."
She shakes her head.
"
I'm not keeping this me.
Once we free them, I'll merge with another version of me.
Then you can have your ring back."
"That… Might… Ah…"
"
It's worked through every change I've gone through so far.
Including death." She looks out into the briefing theatre at the superheroes who are filing in. "
Let's get this briefing done so we can all go back to normalcy."
I frown at her.
"Are you sure that you really want to?"