Application for Jaime Reyes/Blue Beetle III (DC Comics)

[bantersucks]

((Contacted the four active DC-muns about this to get permission. Jaime is being pulled from right after Blue Beetle #14. NOTE: Jaime's armor has a mind of its own. Anyone with special abilities, PLEASE check out this tl;dr post on the scarab and how it might react to you - and let me know what you want it to detect - before posting! SYLAR I'M

Comments

[hellminxmel]

The demon smirks as she surveys the actually decent-looking guy slam into the floor, and her grin spreads as he appears to talk to himself.

'We don't get too many crazies,' Maia says leisurely, sashaying to him and looking down. 'You'll be one of a very select group.'

[bantersucks]

Startled, Jaime looks up - and immediately scrambles to his feet. The fact that a hot girl is talking to him is eclipsed by the fact that she is freaking the scarab out more than the average person - more than most of the Posse, actually. She's not attacking him, just snarking at him, though, which is better than the norm.

"Uh-huh," he says, choosing not to comment on the sanity crack. No point, really. "And who's 'we' supposed to be exactly?"

[hellminxmel]

That's it, boy, whoever you are, stand up when a lady comes into the room...

'The denizens of this fine place,' Maia says silkily, running a hand through her hair. 'Or, if you prefer, we're some evil secret government agency desperate for more mechanics.'

[bantersucks]

Jaime snorted. "Secret government agency? That doesn't narrow it down. Well, you answer like a politician. Don't tell me cutbacks are that bad."

Not one of La Dama's, that was clear. She'd have gotten to the point instead of trying to mess with him if that was the case. Unfortunately, that narrowed the list of possibilities he knew to exactly zero.

[nicknamegirl]

"It's 12.30 here," said Lola helpfully and smiled. "You're in Scotland."

Hey. The guy was kind of cute, and just the appropriate age... She was only human. Okay, not technically. Whatever. The angel went into the room, eyeing Jaime curiously, the way she eyed every new applicant, and took a further peek at the application itself. If she paid any attention to the scratched-out comments running through it, she didn't mention it out loud.

"So..." she said slowly, trying to think of something appropriate to say. "Hi." That would have to do.

[bantersucks]

Jaime blinked. Normally, the phenomenon of a cute girl who wasn't out to mess with him would have left him tongue-tied, but what she said overrode the natural response. "Scotland? Are you kidding? That -" he paused as the scarab confirmed it and immediately bit back any snide comments about useful information. "That's good to know, but... how did I get from El Paso to Scotland?" More importantly, how was he going to explain this one to his folks?

"Um, hi," he added awkwardly, suddenly aware of the aforementioned phenomenon. "I'm Jaime."

[nicknamegirl]

Lola sighed. "Magic, I suppose. It seems to carry a lot of people from one place to another for no discernable reason." She waved a hand vaguely in the air. "It's just one of the many weird things about this place. You'll find out soon enough."

She tilted her head to one side, regarding him as a brand new smile lit up her features. "Lola Sanchez. Nice to meet you." Very nice, yes, very nice indeed. Okay, so now for something else, something like a good deed... Those should come naturally for angels, shouldn't they?

"Are you hungry?" Lola asked lightly. "You've been travelling pretty far. I was just going to pop by the kitchen for a snack anyway, so..." Yes, leaving the sentence unfinished, and punctuated by another hand gesture in the general direction of the kitchen. Well done, Sanchez.

[bantersucks]

((AGH I fail at keeping tenses straight.))

Jaime makes a face at the mention of magic. "Yeah, I've already gotten a taste of that. I'm hoping the throwing-scorpions brand of weird isn't the norm around here?"

The scarab isn't panicking for once, so he tunes out its scanning and babbling at him. If she's not hostile, her own weirdness is her business. "You too. I don't know, I'm..." Then his stomach growls audibly. Weird alien armor or not, he's still a teenage boy. "Okay, maybe a little. But is there a phone around here or something? If I can't get out of here, I need to call my folks. I already disappeared once, I don't want to freak them out again."

Things were just starting to get better, between reclaiming Dad's garage and Milagro actually hugging him again after avoiding him for weeks. He'd missed the brattiness, even.

[carri3_whit3]

((Forgot to put down Carrie's power level in the other post. I'd say about a 2 on the Phoenix/Parallax Worldbeater Scale, unless she's in physical/mental distress - then it goes up to about a 3 or 4 depending on the severity of the distress.))

"I don't get it," Carrie said shyly. "You'd name your bar 'bug'?"

[bantersucks]

((Cool. It'll probably just quietly WTF at her while he ignores it.))

Jaime flinches. "Uh, no, but if I worked there, it'd probably wind up with an unofficial name like that," he says, sighing. "'Beetle,' actually, and the reason why's a long and embarrassing story."

[carri3_whit3]

She nodded. "Been a while since I been in Spanish class. An', an' I kinda get the embarrassin' story thaing. Y'know, this is kinda nice - you're a lot less freaked out by the whole poppin' in, quill that writes by itself stuff than a lotta folks tend t'be when they first show up. Calm, like."

[bantersucks]

Jaime shrugs. "'S okay. I only know that 'cause of Paco," he fibs. "And, um, the embarrassing thing."

He looks a little uncomfortable. "I've seen weirder lately. El Paso's picked up a lot of the strange after the Crisis last year. This kind of weird hasn't tried to smash me, throw a tractor at my school or kidnap a friend's kid, so a floating quill is kinda mild even if it writes down embarrassing stuff."

Okay, no one's thrown a tractor at his school, he just made that up, but he's just been waiting for the day something attacks in the middle of History. Waiting and hoping and praying.

[insane_mil_cmdr]

Crais stalked in and read through the application with his usual scowl.

"For what do you intend to train? Surely at your age the instructors have taken an aptitude measurement and assigned you a career track."

[bantersucks]

Jaime snorts. "Aptitude measurement? Career track? Not in El Paso County, that's for sure." He hesitates, staring at Crais for a second. "...oh. Um. I'm guessing you didn't go to school in El Paso County?" Or anywhere near there, for that matter, the way the scarab's madly running comparisons to alien species in the background.

[insane_mil_cmdr]

Crais sighed. "No, I did not. Another area in which your people are more...lackadaisical...than mine, I suppose." He glowered at Jaime. "You did not answer my question."

[bantersucks]

Gee, that glower's familiar. Crais doesn't know it, but for a second he suddenly reminds Jaime a LOT of Batman. So he's a bit thrown off, enough that he doesn't watch what he's saying. "Your people, uh... they don't have anything to do with the Reach, do they? Sebacean? What are you talking about?"

"I know, but it's... not really realistic right now. And I don't know you at all, and one of my friends laughed when I told her. A lot. Sir."

The 'sir' is automatic; Crais is really reminding him of Batman right now.

[busty_robin]

Steph was dying -dying- to comment on question six's answer. But that was very much breaking the Seeekrit Identity thing, so she bit her tongue, and moved on, concentrating on the more schizo-answers.

"Sooooo...multiple personality disorder? Or just a weird day?" She smiled, not patronizing, but genuinely curious.

[bantersucks]

"Multiple personality disorder?" Jaime echoes, confused. Then he picks up a copy of the application and flinches, realizing that the quill wrote EVERYTHING down. "Ah, crap. Uh, more like a weird couple of months. This is just - I haven't even gotten a straight answer on what I'm doing here or where it is, but it's still not the weirdest day I've had lately."

No, the day with the robot penguins and his Mom nearly making Guy Gardner wet his pants still beats today.

[busty_robin]

"Oh, man. I'm afraid your days are only going to get weirder. And I used to live in Gotham, so I know weird." Truth. "Let's see if I can straighten things out. You're in a school of magic. In Scotland. Room and board are covered, and there are tiny little elves that attend to your every need."

That about covered it!

[bantersucks]

"I was gonna say they couldn't possibly get weirder, but... what, the snarky chick with the scorpions was telling the truth?" Now that's a surprise. "Elves. Like Keebler elves?"

"Never been to Gotham. But I've heard stuff. Mostly about Batman, and... okay. Seriously. Elves?"