trans_9 | Bows before Clothes (bendytimed to before everyone meeting)

She came upon a Latino teenager--dressed in normal clothes--who was meandering back from the cafetorium, having had his daily allocation of glop.

He likely looked far too comfortable with being stuck on an alien ship, but that was what happened after you were stuck on one for a while.

He seemed to be talking to someone else, perhaps on a comm--even though no comm was visible.

"I know you want to look for the bug-thing, but in case you haven't noticed, we can't use your sensors and it's a REALLY big ship."

Mia still didn't know who was who in this place, so she ducked around a corner as she saw the person coming. An arrow came out of the quiver and she nocked it carefully, listening to the person.

Bug-thing? Sensors? Who was this guy talking to? Did he have a Voice In Head too?

"You really need to knock down on the whining," he said. "I know you hate flying blind, but that's what we've gotta do or else I'm going to be walking around with a perpetual migraine and a never-ending nosebleed."

Mia curled up her face and cocked an eyebrow. This guy definitely seemed like he was holding a conversation with someone, but she didn't hear anything. She carefully drew back the arrow to half-pull, just in case.

"Wait, I've got an idea. Can you just narrow down your sensors? Only look for that specific lifesign? Less 'read everything,' more 'warmer or colder'? Why don't we try that? It might still be a head-ache, but if it works, it'd be better than nothing. And maybe kick up the infra-red. It might have a different temp than the rest of the ship. Just because it looks like a bug doesn't necessarily mean it's cold-blooded."

That dinosaur guy was warm-blooded for instance.

He held out a hand which was quickly wrapped in something eerie and black that spread over his arm from under his sleeve, hardening into armor. Little lights blinked at his fingertips. And black edged around his face as his eyes started to glow.

The figure came around the corner, Mia ducking low to stay out of it's peripheral visio--- !!!!

Alien!

She swung out a leg, striking it in the chest and knocking it to the floor. She tackled it, straddling the midsection and holding an arrow to it's throat, fully drawn. "Don't move!"

There was a chance this thing wasn't dangerous, but she could always apologize later if that was the case, right?

The scarab tried to call up the armor, but he couldn't risk spooking the person, so he willed it back.

"Not again--oof!"

Floor.

Arrow at his throat.

Girl.

He blinked away the infra-red.

Naked girl.

Uh.

"Uh..."

Mia kept her serious face on, still holding the arrow drawn. "You some kind of shapeshifter? I saw you starting to show your true form a second ago."

"No, I--" Deep breath. He tried to keep his breathing even, so that he didn't move too much. "See, I--"

Another deep breath.

"Um, what was the question?" He cringed apologetically and said honestly, "Sorry, this is possibly, um, the hottest life-threatening situation I've ever been in and I can't concentrate."

Edited 2008-08-10 06:52 (UTC)

"Well... that's very nice, thank you. But don't try to distract me." Mia kept her grip tight. "But like I was saying, are you some kind of shapeshifter? What was your arm and your face doing a second ago?"

A pause. "And what sort of competition am I up against for hottest life-threatening situation?"

"I've had a few. Not where the hot part was responsible for the life-threatening--well except with the giant-lady--but--"

Naked blond girl. Armed naked blond girl.

Space was totally awesome.

"You know that I can't help you with your sexy fights if you don't tell me that you're going to have them," Paco reminded Jaime, leaning against the wall of the ship. "And trust me chica, you don't want his clothes. The plant suits are creepy, but less gross."

"I don't think she tackled me for my clothes. Although if you want me to take them off, I can do that."

A pause and another cringe.

"I mean if you want to wear them. Like, my shirt."

His brain was completely shorted out right now.

Mia gave the other boy a glance, looking between the two of them.

"Okay, you guys seem too stupid to be dangerous." She relaxed her grip and put the arrow back in the quiver, and the bow across her back. She offered the one on the floor her hand after she got up. "Sorry about the kick. And the visible threat to your windpipe."

"I'm not stupid. You're naked," Jaime said, succintly explaining why he sounded like an idiot right now, brown eyes wide.

As soon as she had helped him up, he took off his button-down shirt and held it out to her, looking away, his face flushing just slightly, now that the mortal peril was over.

"I'm not a shapeshifter. I have sentient alien tech attached to my spine. It can make a suit. I'm a superhero." A pause. "And, you know, you're really familiar, actually..."

He was a Titan. He'd seen pictures around the Tower.

He looked over at Paco.

"Speedy, you think? We already have Flash and Starfire. And the future guy."

Little masks only did so much, and she was blonde, had an arrow thing going on...

"You'd know better than I would," Paco said, raising his hands in a shrug. "All I've got is pictures from magazines and the internet."

He was doing a fairly good job at keeping his eyes above shoulder level. Ogling was just flat-out rude. Although it probably would be better if they had something to offer besides Jaime's bug-waste clothes.

"Well so much for secret ID's..." Mia mumbled, taking the shirt and removing her gear to slip it on. She also gave the now shirtless Jaime a glance.

Mm. At least a seven. Maybe more if he wasn't panicking. And blaming being stupid on her former nudity.

She slipped the gear back over her shoulder. "Flash and Starfire? They're here?" She looked around. "Is this some sort of depraved Titans initiation rite?"

Inside she hoped that voice telling her she was clean was still true.

You only get to peek for a moment, Mia, 'cause another shirt slid over his body from seemingly nowhere.

Hooray for alien technology!

"We kinda haven't bothered with them much. The group here is so small that they probably would notice someone disappearing and a superhero taking their place and I'm on the only one that's managed to hold on to my costume because it's attached at the spine, so no one has anything to change into."

A pause. "And if it was a Titans initiation right, I'd be zapping them in retribution. With lasers."

He held out his hand. "Jaime Reyes. I'm the Blue Beetle. This is Paco. And we, and a bunch of people from other dimensions have been abducted by dimension-shifty aliens, probably as forced recruitment for an army."

Even with the shirt: Legs. LEGS LEGS LEGS.

LEGS.

His eyes kept wanting to gravitate down, but he kept them on her face.

Edited 2008-08-10 07:45 (UTC)

Mia blinked. "Wait wait.... I.... okay, the part about the recruitment for an army and the part about attached at the spine. Start with explaining those."

She managed to clear her throat. "Hi Jaime. I'm Mia." She looked to the other one. "Hi Paco."

"He does this think where his brain shorts out in the presence of hot girls," Paco said, rolling his eyes upwards and pressing a hand to his chest melodramatically. "It's very tragic. Heart-rending, really. Fortunately, I'm here to translate." He grinned and cleared his throat.

"Basically, the spinal-hug is his super-hero origin, his tech makes his clothes for him; and we've all been kidnapped. Most people seem to have some sort of super powers or inborn badassery, so the big theory at the moment is that someone's decided to build an army. No one really knows what the hell is going on, though. Also, there are people from alternate universes on board with us, which is how we know about the dimension-shift. That help?"

"My brain does not--yeah it does." He couldn't even pretend it didn't.

Great, now he was getting all blushy and embarrassed. That wasn't cool.

"I have an alien symbiote thingy."

"A sarcastic alien symbiote thingy."

Edited 2008-08-10 08:08 (UTC)

"...huh." Mia grunted as she processed that all.

She folded her arms, apparently thinking all this over. "I should probably go get clothes." She continued down the lighted path.

"Prooobably."

Jaime dawdled for a moment, then trotted to keep up with her.

"Okay, uh, I'm coming with you. Please don't interpret that as me wanting to see you get changed. It's just nobody's supposed to go anywhere alone--which was a rule I just broke, but technically there's two of us in here so it doesn't count--and also, I imagine you probably want more of the 411 on our situation."

Mia raised an eyebrow. "Fine by me... and... no, not really. I think more details would just make this more confusing. I'm just gonna either wait until I wake up, or until Green Arrow or someone else from the League gets here. I'll play along for now."

She continued strutting down the hallway. "Thanks for the shirt by the way."

"Shirt was just as much for me as it was for you. Now my brain can work right."

He went on, "We have the Flash, but he seems to be from some kinda alternate version of our world, 'cause he's apparently the second Flash, but from way after the second Flash was long gone. His Justice League is...different."

She curled up her face. "How different? Different like... lead by Lex Luthor, different like Batman wears pink, or different like Wonder Woman's some big burly guy from 300?"

"From what he described--slightly different lineup, Aquaman wasn't one of the founders, and he says he's the second Flash but seems more like the third Flash--because he's from about the same time as us and the second Flash is long gone. Wrong Green Lantern, too," Jaime explained. "Not THAT different. Just very subtly different." A pause. "Apparently the last Blue Beetle is still alive."

Mia entered what she guessed was where she was supposed to get clothes. "That's... weird. But not THAT weird. I mean... G.A. came back to life without a soul, then he got a soul while he was fighting alongside this giant purple furry monster."

"I fought a giant green furry monster. It was n old dude's dog. Sort of."

Jaime pointed. "You stand in the vines and apparently they give you pants. You can keep the shirt but it'll eventually disintegrate and you probably don't want to know what it's made of," he said, ducking outside the room.

"I'll keep hold of it until it breaks down then." Mia stepped up. "It's comfy."

She looked around. "So... vines? Go ahead. Make me up some pants. Extra shirt for once this one breaks down too please."

Cue the vineination. The material was soft, but...oddly throbby.

Ew. Ew. Very creepy. Definitely in the top ten.

"....these things last right? I don't want to have to do this often." Mia grimaced, shivering.

"As far as we can tell, you only have to do it once," he said, still outside the door. "And don't need to bathe, while wearing them. They...clean you or something."

Mia raised an eyebrow in alarm. "I... see." She moved away from where the vines had been.

She nudged him in the ribs as she exited the room. "Y'know, I appreciate the courtesy, but you didn't need to turn away so pointedly. I mean, it's not like you didn't already get in a good stare." She shrugged casually. Mia had a policy of not sweating the small stuff.

She'd been kidnapped by aliens who'd fixed her. She'd definitely had worse days.

He flushed.

"Um. Yeah. See. If I had looked, my mom? Would somehow magically be here. Smacking me upside the head for being rude. So."

He went on, "Annnd so would my girlfriend back home. Though I don't know if rule seven's kicked in yet."

Mia grinned teasingly, nudging him again. "Teen superhero who still manages to keep a girlfriend? Bravo bug, bravo."

She cocked her head inquisitively. "What's rule seven?"

"Heh. I don't keep her. She graces me with her presence, and I mean that in the really good way, not the sarcastic way. I'm a lucky guy."

He went on, "Buuut superheroing being what it is--and her being a superhero, too? (She does magic and stuff). We have rules, to help make it work and so we know how to deal with...weird stuff ahead of time. Rule seven is if one of us winds up in another dimension, time, is thought to be dead, or is otherwise displaced and 'lost,' both people are free to date other people and move on with their lives after two months with a free pass on the guilt, if the lost person has no way of getting home. And the plan was to lengthen the time the longer we were together, if we started having stronger feelings for each other. We both would want the other to be happy, so we figured it was best if we took that into account before anything bad happened."

Mia couldn't help it. She wondered if she was being baited, but it was too cute.

"So..." She nudged a hip up against him. "How long you been away now?" She gave him A Look.

She was trying really hard not to laugh yet.

He went completely pink.

"Not long enough to be oggling naked blonde girls was my point."

Mia giggled to herself as she relented for now, sashaying down the hallway. "You're adorable, bug." She looked around. "So... what's there to do around here?"

Somehow when she said that, he got a little fluttery feeling in his stomach.

But it was the same sort of fluttering that Traci caused that made his stomach flip-flop so he tried his best to ignore it.

"Well, there's exploring, but that nearly gets you killed by living statues being commanded by possibly demonic entities trapped in stone altars--i.e. if you wind up in a place where the stairs going upside down, don't go any deeper. They have holodecks like Star Trek. There's food that doesn't taste anything like real food. A really creepy art hall, a media library, and in the big city, there's sight-seeing, because they have temples and other weird buildings grabbed from just about everyplace ever--Big Carmen Sandiego thing the aliens that grabbed us have going for them. They also have this hall of statues--there's one of the Justice League in there. A version of them, anyway."

Mia cocked her head curiously. "Do they have Green Arrow or Black Canary among the statues? I'd like to see tha--"

She heard the announcement to report to the Obs Deck.

"Oh... the head voice again." She looked at Jaime. "You hear it too?"

"Yes. Which can get annoying sometimes, since I already have a headvoice. That's Stacy. She is the ship, but she's not prone to answering our questions."

Bows before Clothes (bendytimed to before everyone meeting)

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