legionworld | Party Down

Entry tags:

Party Down

Who| Everyone!
What| A party
Where| In the Sim Rooms
When| After "Whistling in the Dark"
Warnings/Notes| N/A

Avoiding the destruction of Legion World was more than enough reason to throw a party, especially since its destruction could've meant the Lunar Debris Field might have fallen out of its orbit onto Earth. After Legion World's repairs were underway and the ship was mostly safe again, the old-timer Legionnaires decided to throw a little party in celebration of the newbies getting through their first trial by fire.

Even though duty might call them away, they all figured on being able to spend at least a little time hanging out with the rookies.

One of the Sim Rooms proved itself to be the best place to have a party, since the inside could be made as big as they needed it to be. In one section they had a massive setup for laser tag, and in another area there were games and food and couches in a massive square.

Times like these weren't going to be easy to come by, if the kind of crisis the Lux had caused was any indication, so it was time to enjoy their free time while they had it.

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"I was at your funeral. I kind of wanted to say something about how you saved me but it seemed...complicated. So I just listened."

Ferro twiddled with his fingers slightly. He wasn't sure quite what to think about Hal either, because he'd heard plenty of bad things, but this was also the same man that saved his life. That was why he'd gone to his funeral at all, to pay his respects to the man that'd plucked him out of the fire and sent him safely home.

"Everyone said a lot of good things about you, though. They said that you just...lost your way for a while. And that what you did to save us all from the Sun Eater was you being the real you."

Edited 2016-02-14 06:47 (UTC)

Complicated, huh.

"Back then nobody knew the half of it, not even me." Half a second's pause before he amended - "Least of all me."

He'd had no reason to think it was anything but his own decisions propelling him on that path. He knew who he was. Why wouldn't he be able to recognize anything in his mind that shouldn't be there?

"Parallax existed long before I did. It'll be around when I'm gone. But we - I - thought we could forget fear...and that's how it blindsided everyone. I'm not making that mistake again."

"You were possessed, right? Me and a bunch of my friends were possessed, too," said Ferro. "You wouldn't know from looking at it but a few years back, everything on Earth was almost destroyed by this species called the Blight. They captured a bunch of us and made us Blighted -- made us enslaved to their will. And then they sent us out to capture the people that hadn't been caught yet. To bring them to the Stem. That was where they --"

He stopped talking for a moment.

"That was where they used everyone for power. They farmed them. They even dissolved people."

The Blight were one of the few enemies that had traumatized almost the entire team. All the therapy afterwards. All of it.

"While we were all Blighted, we hurt some of our friends. And a lot of innocent people. That's why Kid Quantum thinks we should give you a chance even though you did some bad stuff. Some of us know what it's like, what it feels like when something evil gets inside your head and makes you do things you'd normally never do -- and even tricks you into thinking you wanted to do them."

A pause.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is I'm really grateful that even during the worst of it for you, you were still nice enough to save me. When I was Blighted I wouldn't have been able to do that; I couldn't fight it at all."

Edited (grammar) 2016-02-14 08:36 (UTC)

"I'm grateful to get the benefit of the doubt, so that makes us even. I sure as hell don't blame anybody who isn't willing to give it to me, because I've earned the judgment, but..."

He shook his head and took a sip of the drink he'd almost forgotten he was holding.

The rest of that thought, he kept to himself, because he didn't need to unload all over this kid. But it gets pretty damned old sometimes.

Ferro picked up a little on what was unsaid. He was good at that, at understanding how other people felt. He knew his friends always liked that about him, because he cared about their feelings.

Maybe he wasn't really the smartest in a lot of ways but he was kind of smart in that.

"We were lucky," he said. "That even despite the bad we did while we were Blighted, people didn't forget who we really are. Afterwards, people were grateful some of the team saved us all from the Blight. And mostly everyone just felt bad for us."

All of them had struggled. Losing part of the team in the rift accident afterward, caused by the Blight's damage to the stargate, had hurt them even more and gotten them even more sympathy. It was a year before the team of Lost Legionnaires came back, and they'd still come back without Livewire, Element Lad, and Monstress. Of the three of them, they'd only gotten Livewire back in the long run.

"If a lot of people forgot the real you, it must be hard. I know some of them were trying not to. Like Superman. He said really nice things at your funeral. But, you know, he's Superman. Not everyone is as forgiving as him. Not everyone can see things the way they are."

Edited 2016-02-18 16:48 (UTC)

"Clark's always been good at that. Way better than most of us." It was really no wonder that Superman had inspired the kid so much, Hal thought. Superman had a way of doing that for everybody. "Some people can't see things the way they are, but I wouldn't say that's always the problem. Sometimes they can see it...they just don't want to."

There were certainly people whose problem with him was the former, he was sure. He'd earned himself a reputation among the Corps, and not a good one - one that had spread and become known to people he'd never met, to rookies who hadn't been around in the old days.

People who had never seen Hal at his best, and had only heard stories of him at his worst.

Those weren't the ones that bothered him. There was nothing for it but to go out there, do things right, and give them actions instead of words to judge him by, and he'd seen some of them come around.

And then there were the ones like Bruce.

His reaction was absolutely expected, of course, but maybe that was what had made it one of the most frustrating. Because Batman was all about suspicion and contingency plans and being prepared for anything, but despite all that Hal still liked to think that someone who'd known him and worked with him for that long ought to be able to put a little more faith in him than that.

He didn't think Bruce couldn't see he was trying. But when he'd been newly returned and trying to sort all the pieces of his life back into one he could actually live again, he'd been pretty sure that Bruce had just been afraid to believe in him.

Ferro thought about that.

"Everyone has their own...their own things going on. Sometimes people maybe won't change how they see things because they're bad people. Like...like my mom, I didn't want to think it when I was younger but I think part of why she didn't like me was because she was maybe just a bad person."

He sounded okay with that, like it was just simply a reality he'd come to accept, a little lesson in human character he'd learned.

It was okay. He had a new family now.

"But sometimes people see things a certain way for a reason that isn't entirely selfish." Under his mask -- now a part of his face -- he chewed on his metal lip with metal teeth. "Like, well...I don't know if I'm supposed to tell you this but it's not like he said it was a secret and he'll probably eventually say it to your face anyway -- 'cause it's Brainy -- but he still distrusts you a lot, even after what the rest of us decided."

Ferro gestured subtly at the green, somewhat grimfaced Legionnaire that was currently talking to Kid Quantum.

"But he wasn't Blighted like we were. He was one of the Legionnaires that was gone on a mission and came back and saved us all. He doesn't understand what it feels like."

He paused.

"And the thing is, Brainy thinks it's his job to think about all the things we don't think about. That's how he protects everyone. And...and everything that happened last year really got to him, I think. He...he can't really be forgiving of anyone else when he's having trouble...you know. Forgiving himself. It was his machine that accidentally made our friends...um. Disappear."

Ferro wasn't ready to think about them being dead yet and that was the best way he could think of to put it.

"Sometimes people get caught up in their own thing. Is what I mean. You could see that as him just not wanting to see your situation -- and our situation, too, since it also happened to us -- but really he has his own reasons."

In a very gentle voice -- a voice of experience -- he went on, "Sometimes if someone doesn't see you the way you want, you just...have to accept it's not entirely about you."

He knocked on his helmet.

"That's something I had to learn. Before I accidentally got stuck in my metal form I wore this because... well. Because I was born disfigured. My face is really, really messed up. It's why my mom didn't--"

He broke that off.

"But that was just her. It's important to just remember that that's them. And to pity the people that judge like that for petty reasons. And to understand the ones that judge like that for good reasons aren't trying to be bad. They're usually trying to protect themselves or someone else--or both."

He looked over at Brainy, who didn't seem to be enjoying the party at all and looked like he was itching to get back to work.

"And it's kind of really sad if they're that scared of the world."

Hal's gaze followed Ferro's over to Brainiac.

And he half-smiled, and shrugged lightly. Being distrusted? By someone who hadn't ever known him as him and had only seen anything of Parallax?

Nothing new there. And anyway, everything else Ferro described - thinking about all the things nobody else thought about, to protect everyone...well, that didn't exactly sound new either. "That reminds me of somebody. Too bad we can't just punch it out like I did with Batman."

(Hey, it was funny to him.)

"- I get that, though. Fear can do a number on your worldview."

Vicious understatement, from someone who'd been possessed enough by fear to murder his allies and try to rewrite reality.

"Brainy will get used to you. His bark is always worse than his bite, anyway."

It hadn't always been that way, but Ferro was pretty confident Brainy would get over his distrust of Hal as long as Hal kept being the hero Superman had spoken so fondly of.

He drew his feet up onto the chair and rested his chin on his knees, his head turned sideways to look at Hal.

"I think the hard part is no matter how long you've told yourself you know who you are, when people see you a certain way it almost tricks you into thinking maybe you were wrong about yourself. Especially if they're people whose opinions you care about. With the people that...that don't want to see who you really are, is that what happens to you?"

He leaned back in his chair and considered that for a moment.

And that wasn't really a small feat, because whatever his strong points were, thinking before he pressed forward had certainly never been one of them. But the way the conversation was shifting - from reassurances to sounding like Ferro might need some of them himself - was enough to get Hal to slow down a little, because no matter how much experience these kids already had, they were still kids from where he was sitting, and ruining the youth definitely wasn't on the agenda.

Feelings, though. Feelings were hard, especially when you made a point of pushing through life so hard and fast that you could avoid thinking too hard about them.

"Other people's opinions of me, not really. Everyone gets a different picture of you. Everyone sees different things. They're going to put together different pictures, and some of those might be pretty good ones, but nobody can see everything."

Hal had always been good at throwing other people's opinions out into the airlock, anyway.

There was a very pregnant pause before he continued. This wasn't a topic he liked much, but some things really couldn't be explained without the uncomfortable personal examples.

"What made me think I was wrong about myself was Parallax, not what anybody else thought of me after Parallax. Because I'd been working so hard at convincing myself since I was ten years old that I wasn't afraid of anything." He probably didn't need to explain how wrong he was about that. "But you can be wrong about something without having to throw out everything you thought you were, is the thing. Sure, I was afraid of something after all. But that doesn't change all the other things I thought I was - and still know I am."

He leaned forward, swinging his feet off his ottoman construct and back to the floor with a thump, and rested his elbows on his knees. "Telling you to trust yourself probably sounds pretty trite after what we've been through. I know that. But I'm going to say it anyway, because if you don't trust yourself, there's no reason anybody else should."

Ferro smiled behind his mask, even though it wasn't easy to tell that he was doing it. There was at least still a telltale crinkle near his eyes.

"I'm good with how I look now, at least," he said proudly. "Before I got stuck in my metal form, Karate Kid and I stayed with these monks on the planet Steeple. And they helped me finally not be ashamed of my face. I was going to stop wearing my mask and everything. But then I got hurt real bad and they had to make it so I was stuck in this form so I didn't die."

He paused.

"Figures, right? Right when I finally got comfortable enough with myself to go without my mask, I couldn't take it off anymore."

Which was actually a pretty miserable thing but he was at peace with it. He was good at making peace with a lot of things. "It could be worse" was pretty much his motto.

"But I can deal. It's all the rest that's a little..." He went quiet and thoughtful. "I used to worry a lot when I first got brought to the future about whether or not I'd be good enough. At being a hero. Even though Superman said he thought I was really brave. Dr. Ryk'rr said I was mostly worrying because I was afraid my friends would reject me. Because then I'd have nowhere to go. I'm not scared of that anymore. Even if I was the worst hero ever, I might have to stop being a Legionnaire but they'd never stop being my friends."

But there was much more at stake now.

"But now I worry a lot about being what the others need just...so that everyone can get through the day. It's so dangerous now. Especially with all our friends gone. Some of the politicians and the public and stuff -- they're not sure we can fix everything. They think we've lost our way. They think we've made too many mistakes. And now you're here and you're all helping but even though that's a help that's also another problem since we have to get you all back home."

"I might be a little biased here, since will is kind of what we do, but it's not really about being what everyone needs. It's about being able to stick in there and figure out a way to make what you are work." He stopped to kick back another sip of his drink. "Green Lanterns get one of the most powerful weapons in the universe. We take on the most dangerous jobs. But the rings choose who they think has what it takes, and the one thing they look for is people who can overcome fear. Doesn't matter what they did before. Sinestro was an archaeologist. Soranik was a surgeon. Kyle was an artist. Most of the time, it's not that everyone needs someone specific. They just need someone who won't give up."

"Like Superman," said Ferro, because, well. Superman was his hero. Anytime anyone ever asked him who his hero was, it was Superman.

And his friends, of course, but the Man of Steel was the example even many of them followed.

"I remember when he fought Doomsday. We had a radio in, um, the - the facility where I grew up. And they said he just kept going. That he didn't give up until he died and he only died after he beat him. And then he was willing to die to fight the Sun Eater. And you were, too."

Ferro paused for a moment as he realized something.

"And I was, too. Just like you guys. Wow, I didn't even think of that. I was willing to do the same thing as Superman and the Green Lantern. I guess that's a good start. Um, not the almost-dying, but the not giving up. Even when it's darkest. That's what you mean, right? That I just have to keep being that way."

"Right. Doesn't matter what's coming your way or what there is to be afraid of. You just keep going and light it up."

(Maybe a little less literally in Ferro's case.)

"There's a guy I work with sometimes. The leader of the Blue Lanterns. Every time the crap hits the fan, every time things are really looking bad, it's always the same thing with him -" He raised his voice a few pitches in an imitation of Saint Walker. "All will be well."

It wasn't...a horrible imitation? Points for effort.

"I don't think I'd make much of a blue. I can't tell myself everything's going to be fine no matter what. But that doesn't stop me from thinking that I'll get through it."

"I like that. 'All will be well.'"

He thought about Hal not thinking things would always be fine.

"Nothing's ever really always 'fine.' Bad things happen and people die and when they die, they only come back sometimes. But I think it's true that a lot of people can always be saved and that things can be well again for most people if people fight hard enough for it."

He smiled again.

"After all, we're here. Think about that. We're 1000 years in the future and it's really nice here when the bad guys aren't messing it up. There's a lot of things that are different, like a lot of prejudices aren't as strong now. Um, there's some xenophobia with species but a lot of the other ones aren't as bad and even that's seen as bad by lots of people."

It was definitely different. Part of why he'd come to the conclusion it was okay to go without his mask was because he'd come to realize he'd definitely be judged a lot less. Appearances weren't as much of a thing because so many people looked so different from each other.

"That means all the fighting everyone did back in the past meant something. Anytime it was hopeless and anytime it was all messed up and all the heroes fought back? Any of the times they wondered if all that fighting would matter? Well, it all did. It made things the way they are now. And they are better in a lot of ways. So maybe it won't always be well but I think that's proof it'll always get better, little by little. Not all the time and -- and sometimes you can't save everyone."

A pause.

"I wasn't able to save my brother, in the past. And...and we couldn't save our friends. But we still saved the galaxy in the fight where we lost them. And we saved you guys. And we can save anyone else that comes through the rift."

Hal grinned.

"You, on the other hand, would make a pretty good Blue Lantern, kid."

If they still existed.

Thinking about that much was another pang of...something. Not fear, he told himself. Maybe...a dull ache. But the fact that people didn't think they were still around didn't mean they weren't out there, somewhere. Hope might not be what powered Hal, but the will to find his way to the bottom of it, one way or another?

Yeah. He had that.

Ferro smiled widely behind his mask.

"Superman was right about you," he said, with no doubt in his voice. "But he's right about lots of stuff."

"Write that down. Sign it and notarize it. When I get home I want to wave it in Batman's face."

At that, Ferro actually giggled.

"I don't know if it'd work. Batman doesn't seem like the kind of person that changes his mind easy. Especially if Superman saying something isn't enough."

"I'm a Green Lantern. Easy's never in the job description."

"Hey, Ferro!" called out Gates from nearby. "We're playing laser tag and we need someone else for even teams!"

"Okay, I'll be right over!" Ferro waved back and then he turned back to Hal. "Er, Mr. Lantern, I'm gonna go join in with my friends."

Hal smiled. "Go have fun. No point in wasting your whole party talking to fossils."

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Party Down

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