Vernique Denning (butterflybullet) wrote in dc_nextgen,
@ 2011-01-11 23:37:00

Entry tags:

cosmopolitan, jon kent, plot - "12-step"

Talking-To
When she was done with Svalin, Vernique went fluttering about the place looking for Jon.

Tiny Human Rage was a recurring joke with some of her friends, but it was slightly in play right now. Really, though, she blamed herself most of all.

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	first_son 2011-01-12 04:28 am UTC (link)
	She finds him easily enough - in his room. From the expression on his face, it looks like she's not the only one blaming themselves. He's had time to think now. The morning after and general pleasantry has worn off, now he's just sitting on his bed, knees curled up to his chest, looking very disappointed with himself. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	butterflybullet 2011-01-12 04:32 am UTC (link)
	"...I'm not even sure where to start here. So I'll start with the weirdest and work my way down to the insanely blindingly obvious," Vernique says. "Do you have any kind of superhuman infections that you're aware of, and are you allergic to green rocks?" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	first_son 2011-01-12 04:34 am UTC (link)
	He sighs. He's about to apologize, find some way to explain, when he's not forgiving himself even remotely. Then the question comes, catching him totally off guard. "Wait... what? How do you know about kryptonite?" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

butterflybullet
2011-01-12 04:41 am UTC (link)

"I don't. I had a science genius girl in another trip -- a further-along alternate timeline from ours -- describe green rocks with 'many structural qualities similar to a meteorite, several properties of an aromatic polyamide, and mild-moderate levels of radiation" -- except for cases of particular allergy. There was some implication that Svalin's alternate had a sexual encounter with someone who had such an allergy in his medical history. But I am a moron and thought that she would never go past second base on her very first date ever. And I even more stupidly assumed that a corner pharmacy would be stopped at if something that outlandish had happened. I forget how stupid Good Girls can be, especially when they're goddesses."

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first_son
2011-01-12 04:50 am UTC (link)

He nods with a sigh. "And yes, I should know better... I do know better. And I should have thought, and I didn't. I should never have let things go... as far as they did. Before last night... I'd never kissed a girl, never been on a date... its not that I didn't know... that I have any excuse, because I don't. Things just... happened, and I was stupid, and irresponsible."
And he's not going to blame the pressure, not going to blame losing his father, or big shoes to fill, or a lifetime of trying to be the perfect boyscout catching up with him when he was out of any depth he'd ever experienced - those may be explanations, but they're not excuses - and whatever the consequences, he'll own up to what he's done without excuses.

"The green rocks, though, are kryptonite. They're debris from my father's homeworld. Don't ask me why it didn't kill the population of Krypton, no one modern knows the science of it, but we suspect it has to do with exposure to yellow sun radiation. Once we gain the powers, we also gain the allergy... maybe. In any case, there's numerous varieties, but the green is the most common. Its mildly radioactive. Over a decade of frequent exposure, someone could get cancer - except Kryptonians. To us, everyone with any Kryptonian DNA, its deadly poisonous."

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butterflybullet
2011-01-12 04:55 am UTC (link)

"Yeah. My bad, too. I should have given her the talk before throwing you together. She's a passionate person, and not up to date on that stuff."

"Okay. So it's called kryptonite. That gives us a leg up on our alternates, anyway, if we need it. Hoping it's not necessary, but just in case, is there anything else I should know about your medical history if I end up raising your baby?"

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first_son
2011-01-12 05:10 am UTC (link)

He winces visibly - but he has to admit, he deserves whatever he gets. And he'll own up to things as best he can, including accepting that its now a possibility.

"You shouldn't have needed to, Vernique. I'm not from some medieval culture. I know... should have known better. It was my fault, and I'll do whatever I can to help deal with anything that comes of my mistake, not that its a lot now."

He pauses a moment to collect himself and stop kicking himself over it. Can't go back in time to fix things, no matter how fast he flies in circles.
"Yeah, Kryptonian powers are derived from solar energy. Under normal conditions, well, I can get you my files. With longer term exposure or more intense solar radiation we can do more. We lose our powers when exposed to red sun radiation, but its not otherwise deadly. We're more vulnerable to magic than purely physical threats, but from what I understand, gods are more resistant to magic, so I don't know how that will work. We can eat, sleep, drink, all of that, but our primary sustenance and need is eventual exposure to sunlight, and we can go extended periods without almost anything. We're immune to most poisons and diseases that aren't specifically tailored to us - in addition to what you've seen, flight, super speed, freezing colr or hurricane strength breath, heat beams from the eyes, near invulnerability, superhuman hearing, telescopic, microscipic and x-ray visions, perfect mimicry through voice modulation, environmental independence, increased memory, rapid thought processing that mimics mildly superhuman intellect... are all common. Kryptonian traits are fairly dominant. My sister has about half my level of strength and most of the other powers - but she still possesses them all. In a world with no Krypton, the allergy may be less important, but every known form of kryptonite has some kind of allergic reaction - but otherwise we're long lived, preturnaturally healthy and not allergic or prone to anything."

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butterflybullet
2011-01-12 05:23 am UTC (link)

Vernique listens and nods. "Okay. I'll download the file to the shades sometime soon, just to be sure. And, well, only one from our world who's got any Kryptonite is Kang. All the more reason to take him down hard when we find him. Just in case."

And now a pause.
"Okay, you totally screwed up. Now that we've established that, and that you probably didn't give her space syphilis," she says, putting a little hand on his big shoulder. "Let me say this: I, Vernique Denning, officially forgive you, Jonathan Kent, for being ridiculously inexperienced hormonal teenager who couldn't think of what to do with a beautiful woman except What Comes Naturally." She smiles. "It's never going to happen so sloppily again, we're all going to deal with any consequences that come our way. So There."

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first_son
2011-01-12 05:27 am UTC (link)

He offers a slightly rueful smile. "I'll get you everything on my files and my family's that I can, and hope you won't need them. I admit that I screwed up - and for that, I'm sorry. I appreciate your forgiveness, I wish it was that easy to forgive myself."

He shakes his head. "You're right, its never going to happen like that again, and I'll do everything I can to help make things as better as they're going to be. I can't afford to be... a ridiculously inexperienced hormonal teenager. It shouldn't have happened this time, and I'm going to do my best to make sure it, or anything like it, doesn't happen again. You have my word on that."

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	butterflybullet 2011-01-12 05:36 am UTC (link)
	"Good. That, collectively, is all I need from you." She smiles ruefully, too. "My dad always says someone who's had one big screw-up and managed to clean up after himself is better to work with than the one who's never screwed up at all. Good luck on the forgiving yourself bit. I don't want you and Svalin to have your memories of your first time ruined." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

first_son
2011-01-12 05:47 am UTC (link)

He shakes his head. "Nothing of the sort. She's wonderful, beautiful... it was a wonderful night, and I hope nothing more comes of it. I could very easily fall in love with her, if you were all staying around, and I'll always cherish having met all of you, and especially Svalin. Likewise, I can commit to try and learn from this and not do anything like it again. None of which equals forgiving myself for making a mistake that can affect someone else's life that badly. I'm used to people - sometimes a lot of people, relying on me and my judgement, more than once, trusting my judgement with the fate of the world on the line. Whether its fair or not, people trust me, or what I'm supposed to be. And all I've ever wanted in my life was to be worthy of that trust. So even if absolutely nothing else ever comes of this, I let myself down. That's not going to go away easily."

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	butterflybullet 2011-01-12 05:57 am UTC (link)
	Vernique listens and frowns. "...you're like, what, 19?" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

first_son
2011-01-12 06:16 am UTC (link)

"I know, I know. Were it anyone else, I'd agree with you. Were it anyone else, I'd say that's not a reasonable expectation of anyone, especially a teenager."

He glances down at the 'S' on his t-shirt. "In talking to all of you, hearing the differences in our worlds - in your world, all of you fight as hard as you can against oftentimes overwhelming odds. You battle prejudice, public opinion and the vagaries of your own governments along with supervillains, aliens and the rest. We have the super villains, and sometimes, we have to do everything we can, push ourselves to our utmost - and on this world, there's a phrase that's become popularized for those times we have to do that, and maybe just a little bit more. Specifically 'This is a job for Superman' - those times when nothing else will do. The rest of the time, its not that we struggle with prejudice - we have museums, cities adopt their hometown superhumans, my dad had a permanent invitation to interrupt the UN mid-session if he had anything to say. We struggle not to be seen as living gods."

A momentary pause. "My grandfather was happy to give me the same talk he gave my dad - and my dad passed it on. For us, my father, now me, the problem most days is not inability to do enough. Its worry about doing too much. Its not just the ability to be on the other side of the world in a blink, move mountains, see and hear anything anywhere in a city with no one the wiser - its that anything we do, whether we like it or not, will be looked on and judged. The people who the world believes have earned the 'S' can change the world with the right words, or the wrong ones. And its not fair. It isn't fair of the world to put that much weight on anyone. No one can possibly be expected to live up to that kind of expectation - but my father, God rest his soul, tried every day that I am aware to do so, and when he made mistakes, as everyone does and will, it was never for a lack of effort or trying to do the right thing. And it may not be fair, at any age - but fair or not, earning this symbol, believing myself worthy to wear it is everything I've ever wanted to be, even if I'm still not always sure why."

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butterflybullet
2011-01-12 06:31 am UTC (link)

Vernique is a finance major with perfect hair and good aim. She's in her element shoe shopping, rescuing accident victims, attending board meetings, and stunning thugs. Having never carried more than the weight of a mall on her shoulders, this is all a little weird to process. But she tries.

"...Gosh, you two..." she sighs. "I get what you're saying as much as I'm capable, Jon. And I really wish you well with it."

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	first_son 2011-01-12 06:39 am UTC (link)
	He nods. "Don't worry about me. I'll be just fine. Take care of your friend... I'm really glad she has friends like you to keep an eye on her." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	butterflybullet 2011-01-12 06:50 am UTC (link)
	Vernique smiles. "I'd go through a shotgun wedding for her. See you at the next session of 'Where in This World Is Kang and What's he Doing?'" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	first_son 2011-01-12 06:53 am UTC (link)
	"Yeah, I'll be there. Let me know if there's anything I can do for you guys, information wise or otherwise. I may leave the satellite for a bit, but anyone here can reach me easily enough." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	butterflybullet 2011-01-12 06:59 am UTC (link)
	She nods. "Good to know, thanks." And off she goes again. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	redheadspy 2011-01-14 02:47 am UTC (link)
	((END)) (Reply to this)

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