casually draws various sentients without their permission (open!)

[spacesharks]

Who| Kyle Rayner (spacesharks) & anyone!
What| Readjusting to the superhero life.
Where| The mess hall.
When| Lunchtime!
Warnings/Notes| N/A!

On a better day, he might have gone about this differently. Kyle wasn't entirely new to the concept of working with a team—he knew, at least in theory, that it'd be a good idea to meet everyone, to get to know the people he'd be spending the next who-knew-how-long with. And he wanted to. But it wasn't that long ago that he'd arrived, and maybe he still felt a bit— disoriented. It was like his body was here but his mind hadn't quite caught up yet, still lost somewhere in the past, somewhere in the middle of the war in the Vega system.

So he opted for a more indirect route in adjusting. Drawing was a good way to unwind, to give his mind a chance to catch up to where he was right now, so he took a seat in the mess hall and started sketching. People passing by, excitedly chatting with their friends, their expressions when they nearly drop their food— oops. Well, it wasn't like they'd ever know...

He was paying more attention to the sketchbook than his food, but that was okay. He was more here for the people, anyway. This felt so normal compared to what he'd left. And once he was able to accept the fact that everything he'd been through in the past couple months didn't mean anything right now, then he'd go about doing this the right way.

...eventually.

Comments

[spacesharks]

"Well, sort of. It's made of energy."

Willpower, to be exact. Technically, it was expendable (or at least, it was when he had the ring), but he supposed that probably wasn't the case now. He wasn't quite sure how it worked himself, so he didn't bother trying to fuss over the details out loud with him.

"But it's entirely solid. See?" Kyle reached over with his other hand and lifted the little action figure's arm. "Just like the real thing."

[bachido]

"Made of energy?"

The word didn't translate well to Kubo, with his lack of understanding of any sort of physical science. Kubo tapped the figure with his index finger.

"That's incredible magic," he said, finally. "Even my mother needed paper to make things out of." Even back when she had enough focus to spare for displays of small, origami magic. "Why isn't it magic?"

[spacesharks]

"You know," he tilted his head, thoughtfully. "I'm not really sure."

He'd know the difference if he saw it, probably, but that wasn't very helpful. There were also plenty of people whose powers kind of blurred the lines between 'superpower' and 'magic,' anyway.

"To tell the truth, I don't know a whole lot about magic. Back home, I can only think of a few people who know how to do it." Powers like his were rare, too, of course, but it seemed like magic was even more rare. "Do you know other people with special powers like yours?"

[bachido]

Kubo shook his head. "Only my mother ever did. My grandfather can't seem to get the hang of it." And as far as Kubo knew, Grandfather was the only member of his mother's family left alive.

"I don't know much about any other kind of magic," Kubo admitted. "Is yours from your family too?"

[spacesharks]

"Nope." Man, he wished. He'd probably feel more confident in himself if that were the case. At least then, he'd know he was meant to have it. Somewhat sheepishly, he explained, "It's kind of a weird story. Before I got here, my power came from a ring. Someone gave it to me."

A little blue alien in a red dress, specifically, but that part wasn't especially important right now.

"They needed help, and I was the first person they found, so I took it. But I'm a special case. Normally, the ring chooses you, not the other way around. The people who get picked, they're special."

[bachido]

"Oh!" A magic item! That made perfect sense to Kubo. He had a magic sword, after all, and there were plenty of other magic items out there . . . enough to tell stories about, at least. "I don't know any stories about magic rings, but that makes sense. Who gave it to you?"

He was very eager to LEARN a story about a magic ring, since he didn't know one already.

[spacesharks]

"Ganthet," he said, a somewhat bittersweet smile on his face. "An alien. He came from another planet."

He didn't get to tell this story too much—back home, he'd quickly learned the value of keeping his superhero life and his private one separate. But they were all in the same boat here, so there wasn't really any harm in it, he figured.

The little green action figure shifted into a more cartoony form.

"See, there's a whole group of these guys, called the Guardians of the Universe, and they have this team of people who help them protect it," he continued. "Each of those people got a ring just like the one I did. It was their tool for helping them keep the universe safe."

[bachido]

If Kyle had ever wanted a good audience to tell his story, he'd found it in Kubo. The boy listened with rapt attention, reacting to the fragment of story he'd already heard with unhidden wonder.

He'd already learned about aliens from Wash, but this was the first he'd heard about aliens who were benevolent, and that included the alien side of his own family.

Guardians of the Universe sounded like exactly the opposite of what his mother's family had been, and it sounded wonderful.

He looked at Kyle's illustration with an enthralled smile, then back up to Kyle, eager for more.

"Who did they keep it safe from?"

[spacesharks]

"From evil," he said. Of course, he knew that was kind of vague, so... "Evil comes in all shapes and sizes. You'd be surprised how many people want to destroy the world, or take it over. Some people just like to cause trouble. And it doesn't matter where they're from. Sometimes, bad guys come from other worlds, but sometimes, they come from your own, too."

Actually, maybe the more surprising thing was just where their enemies came from sometimes... On more than one occasion, they were their own enemies. Being a Lantern could be weird.

"We deal with all of that stuff. We kind of just help out where we can."

[bachido]

"You must have a lot of great stories," Kubo said, still grinning. "You were doing what the Time Trapper brought us here to do before you were here, right?

[spacesharks]

"Yeah, pretty much," he shrugged, with a smile. It was probably a strange thing to be able to say so easily (once upon a time, he never would have even dreamed of it), but it was the truth. This situation wasn't actually all that strange to him. "This is my real job," he said, gesturing to the sketchbook. "But I'm also a superhero, back home. And... Well, I would be lying if I said I haven't gotten to see a lot of cool stuff because of it."

A lot of less cool things, too, but the things that were cool? They were things he wasn't even sure his drawings could portray just how amazing they were sometimes.

[bachido]

"Like what?"

The kid seemed interested in the long version, by the way he settled in to listen.

[spacesharks]

Normally, Kyle didn't think himself too good at dealing with kids, but Kubo was pretty alright. He didn't really mind this.

"Like everything," he said. He let the little green alien fade away as he continued. "When I got my ring, I could travel pretty much anywhere I wanted for free. I got to see other parts of the world, I got to see outer space... Did you know there are sharks in space? I had no idea."

That was a totally cool and important revelation.

[bachido]

"Wow," Kubo breathed. Sharks in space! He could use that!

"What do they do? What do they eat?" he asked, lifting his shamisen and drumming up a chord that brought an origami shark into existence. It swam around them, chomping at the air, half the size of a child and cleverly articulated out of paper.

[spacesharks]

"The same things normal sharks do, but in space," he said, eyes on the paper shark for a moment, mesmerized by how it moved. It was so... well, lively. "I almost got eaten the last time I ran into one, but they're normally pretty chill if you leave them alone."