Application: Starman, Justice Society/Legion of Super-Heroes

[unluckiest_star]

A black-and-white blur flies into the Sorting Room from a flash of light, and lands at the applications table. The man is clad in a shimmering black bodysuit and full face mask that looks like a field of stars, and white boots and gloves. He is humming a jaunty tune

Comments

[bantersucks]

((Placeholder, but I have earned the right to tag after finishing my taxes and this app is awesome. XD))

Jaime just stared at Thom, then at the application, wondering and half-hoping if this was a joke. This guy was an active cape? "Um." He had no idea what to make of the applicant. "...so why would Superman be mad at you?"

Valid question, although it depended on what the guy meant by "mad." There was being angry for real, or just giving that disapproving look that made you feel like you were eight years old again and had just been busted for stealing your little sister's crayons. (Even when he knew the mess with Livewire hadn't technically been his fault.)

[unluckiest_star]

((Workninja hai-EEEEE-yah!))

"We lied to him, me and the other Legionnaires," he replies sadly. "We didn't want to, but we knew he'd figure out what we were doing with the lightning rods and he'd try to stop us. Couldn't let that happen, so we - got in his way, him and his teammates. Had to carry out the mission, y'see. Only - it's Superman, you know?"

[bantersucks]

((And quickie before I crash.))

"Yeah, I know," Jaime agreed, understanding completely. Then he caught himself. "I mean - why'd he try to stop you? What were you doing?"

Had to ask. The guy didn't seem all that bad, but - he also didn't seem to be all there, either.

[unluckiest_star]

"We had to save him. Like we did Lightning Lad. 'Cause it's the only way to fix history. But one of us was supposed to die doing it, and Superman would've known that. So we - we ran his team around in circles until it was too late." He sighs. "Dream-dream says he'll understand it all someday."

[bantersucks]

"The future is open, but the past can't be changed."

Jaime blinked as the memory flickered past his mind's eye for a second, then disappeared like the last fragment of a forgotten dream. He frowned, wondering where it had come from, then shook his head to clear it. Even after reading up on Ted's notes, time travel theory was a headache in itself.

"I don't get it either," he said. "Who was supposed to die? How do you - how do you go into something knowing that's going to happen? To a friend? Bad enough when it's possible you're gonna lose somebody, but..." He sighed and put his hands in his pockets. "I don't know if I could do that."

[unluckiest_star]

"The lightning was supposed to decide who lived and who died. We needed five, but seven was better." Thom rubs the back of his neck. "We're Legionnaires. That means we do what has to be done. Things other people can't. That's what heroes are for. Isn't it?"

[bantersucks]

((I have memorized ENOUGH ALGORITHMS to earn the right to tag.))

"But -" Jaime suddenly remembered a conversation with another applicant. If he'd become the monster the Reach had wanted, what he'd been afraid the Scarab was for so long and if there'd been no way to fix that or bring him back... the protest stuck in his throat.

Sighing, he ran a hand through his hair. "Those kind of things don't get easier, do they?" he asked. "Seems like oth - uh, like some superheroes make those kinda decisions like it's nothing. Don't think I'd want to know what it'd take for that to be easy."

[unluckiest_star]

"It's never nothing. I've been doing this long enough - seen enough Legionnaires make that sacrifice - to know that." Thom's eyes clear and his voice loses its happy-go-lucky chirp. "I think when that moment comes, when all the other options are gone and it's all on you - I think you just know." He taps his chest, roughly at heart level.

Then the manic brightness comes back into his eyes and voice. "But you do everything and then some to keep things from getting to that point, of course. That's where having a team around you helps!"

Vote: Gryffindor

[bantersucks]

Jaime had heard and read a lot of stuff like that before, but - the moment of lucidity that accompanied it was startling. Enough to make him re-evaluate the guy (and change his initial vote) even after the manic cheer returned.

So he managed a faint smile at the last part. "Yeah. Don't know where I'd be without my friends." Probably even crazier than Thom. Not that he was going to say that out loud. But still, it seemed the guy wasn't as far gone as he'd seemed.

And then he finally noticed the aside on the application. "Wait. Brainy? That short for Brainiac Five?"

Re: Vote: Gryffindor

[unluckiest_star]

Thom's attention perks. "Ye-aahhh, it is. Have you been to the 31st century, by any chance? 'Cause - I can't help but notice - for a guy who comes up with all the time travel theories, Brainy's not so big on being his own test subject, you know?"

Re: Vote: Gryffindor

[bantersucks]

Jaime snorted. "Can't really blame him. You screw up experimenting with that, and... it's not pretty. Probably." Losing a year was bad, but from the theory he'd read, it could be a lot worse.

"Haven't been there, but there's a guy by that name who wound up here a while ago," he added. "He's in Ravenclaw now. The phrase 'twelfth level intellect' ring a bell?"

Re: Vote: Gryffindor

[unluckiest_star]

"Big Ben, the Nine Tailors and the whole Carggian Handbell Choir. Brainy's here?" He giggles. "I cannot picture Brainy in the 21st century. He'd go gaga. I mean, what passes for computers here alone..."

Re: Vote: Gryffindor

[bantersucks]

((I somehow tricked myself into thinking I'd tagged to this hours ago. *sigh*))

Jaime smirked. "No kidding. Probably makes it worse that most technology doesn't work right in this school, 'cause of all the magic. Think there's ways around that, though, and he's probably figured most of 'em out by now. You can probably send him a note when you get outta here."