trans_9 | All work and no play...

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All work and no play...

There is an AI on the ship that goes by the name Bender Stack. It only pops up now and again, and now its function may finally be somewhat clear.

"Hey. Hey meatbag!" says a grating voice.

Bender Stack chases people away from work when they've been doing too much of it.

This is why Brainiac 5 leaves the Special Weapons Division and by the time he gets up to the Living Area (having decided to eat anyway if the irritating AI is going to heckle him out of work) he's about at his wit's end.

"--For the last time, I am not going to build you a robot prostitute! You're an AI, not a mechanoid, you couldn't interface with it anyway."

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"I believe we've been conscripted for war, given the cross-selection of individuals here," Brainy says, popping some of his tray into his mouth, rather neatly. It's kind of remarkable how neatly he's managing to eat slop.

She frowns a little. "Well, considering the ratio of people with crazy powers to 'normal' people I'd say you could be right. Dunno what the hell good people like me would be in an organized war effort though. I mean, stacked up against the other here I'm nothing special."

She makes a little mountain from her slop and wishes she had some gravy. Her tray is getting soggy.

"You're highly intelligent for a baseline human, and familiar with providing a support structure for another individual's superheroic efforts. War is not won by warriors alone. An army has structure, and is comprised of valuable noncombatants that provide a support base for the fighting force," he points out. "Furthermore, your current relative lack of fighting skills is not indicative at all of your potential."

Brenda stops stirring her slop for a minute and just looks at him. Did the level 12 intelligence guy just call her smart? Cause she thinks he did. ~~...not blushing, nope nope nope.~~

"I kind of hate the idea of being sideline in a fight." She admits. "I mean, I've done it sure, but sitting aside when Jaime's out there with Khaji Da just makes me feel more squishy and helpless that usual."

"Don't get me wrong, I was TERRIFIED when I fought with the Reach and if not for Paco and the others I'd probably be dead, but I felt way better trying to tackle an armed alien twice my size barehanded than I did running away."

She pauses and cracks off a still-crispy bit of her tray to munch on.

"I should learn to use a weapon or something, god knows there should be someone on this ship able to teach me."

"While I wouldn't wish this locale on my team-mates, it's a shame Karate Kid isn't here," says Brainy. "Of the Legionnaires that weren't especially combat-capable, he trained most of us. He is, in fact, the only Legionnaire without an actual superpower--that is the full extent of his skill."

He goes on, "However, you're correct. Others on board would likely be willing to train you."

She blinks at him, then tries not to laugh a little at the name.

"Karate Kid? For serious?" she clears her throat to compose herself. "But... he made the Legionnaires roster just for being a hand to hand fighter? No super reflexes or anything?"

Hilarious name, but colour her impressed.

"Yes," says Brainy. "He's the only Legionnaire we've allowed to violate the charter. Cosmic Boy got around it by having us vote to declare his fighting skill superhuman in nature. I've seen him do such things as punch through weak points in energy-based force-fields."

"That... sounds much better than the movie."

Oh, right, Coluan brain vs pop culture references.

"Uhm, there was a really famous movie in the 1980's called 'The Karate Kid' about this boy who made friends with a karate instructor and it was sort of this coming-of-age tale that frankly would have been a billion times more exciting with force fields. As it was it just encouraged a lot of small children, including myself, to try to perform complicated stunts without support wires and break their toes."

"But yeah that's... ridiculously impressive. I don't know much about energy-based force-fields even but... wow. Did he teach you anything?"

Edited 2009-04-14 22:36 (UTC)

"It sounds like media hasn't improved in the slightest in the last thousand years," Brainy remarks dryly, taking another bite of his "food."

"But yes, he did train me. The only reason I'm remotely competent as a fighter is because of his training, and because of considerable practical experience." Learned on the go. There's nothing like facing the Fatal Five to teach you how to fight very quickly.

"I was not drafted into the Legion for my combat capabilities."

"If you were I would be very worried about the Legion's ability to protect people, no offense."

She smirks a little.

"Then again, give the geeky guy a big enough gun and he'll still mess you up. Look at Jaime."

"My preferences run towards non-offensive technologies, personally," he says, indicating his shield-belt. "It's considerably difficult to cause catastrophic damage with my shield capabilities."

She eyes the belt buckle curiously, munching some more tray.

"Oh yeah? Does it block bullets and stuff? Does it protect just you or can you shield someone else too?"

"Far more than bullets, and yes, I can extend the shield to others and create constructs out of it."

Much like the Green Lanterns--not that they exist anymore in Brainy's time.

He points to the implants on his cheeks.

"That's what these are for. The controls used to be entirely manual in nature, until an unusual spacial anomaly upgraded me."

"You have a personal force field and it's control panel is embedded in your face?" She sits back in her chair, piece of tray between her teeth. "Do you make different expressions and it tweaks the field or does it read your brainwaves or something? That's crazy!"

"The latter," he says, rather simply. "It reads nerve impulses that are, yes, controlled by thought."

"Honestly I thought maybe they were just decoration or something. Like some Coluan version of jewelery maybe? Does your species really put much emphasis on physical beauty at all?"

She keeps asking him so many questions and maybe it feels a little one-sided but... he probably knows or is at least disinterested in everything she could tell him about humans and truth be told listening to him talk about his home world and time with the Legionnaires is pretty fascinating. (Distracting her from lunch enough for her to have mostly finished it at the least.)

Brainy actually likes this. He has such difficulty socializing on his own and she's reducing the sharing to a format he's familiar with--someone asking him a ton of questions. (That happens constantly). It was the only way Ayla'd ever gotten anything out of him, like him telling her about his mother, after all.

He almost smirks at her supposition about his implants, intensely amused.

"Our species is not known for putting emphasis on physicality, no. Actually, it likely wouldn't be difficult for you to conjecture what trait Coluans value most." He taps his temple for emphasis.

So that must mean he's Colu's most desirable young bachelor and most well-respected citizen, right? (Ha.)

Brenda smiles at that, suddenly imagining him in dark sunglasses and a trench coat like some kind of incognito celebrity. He'd indicated life was anything but fame and respect back on Colu but...

"The girls ought to have been all over YOU if you'd ever been let out of the lab back home." She teases. "But you know, you're pretty cute by human physical standards too, even with the out-there skin colour."

This is where he gets uncomfortable.

"I'm not..." He lets out a little huff of disbelief. "It's not my experience that I'm considered attractive."

He's a little pinker--well, greener in the cheeks.

"I wasn't considered as such on Colu. Or...anywhere else."

That made him squirm a little, and that blush is amusing as hell, so she pushes the point just a tiiiiny bit.

"Just cause nobody's TOLD that you're attractive to your face before doesn't mean you're not cute you know." Brenda grins. "Not my type, but I'm sure you're right up somebody's alley."

"Perhaps, but generally, being told the opposite makes it abundantly clear that the opposite is true, however."

He's flushing even more, to the point of half covering his face now.

"I really--I'm not."

Edited 2009-04-15 09:55 (UTC)

Brenda makes a face at that.

"Aw seriously? Somebody called you ugly? Who was it? If they're on the ship they're getting punched. That's just mean no matter WHAT you actually look like!"

"I mean in general. I have never been considered--viable as a potential mate." A pause. "By anyone."

He explains, "The Legion combats xenophobia daily--it's part of the reason the team even formed, as a force of unity in the United Planets, and while there is progress, for many species romantic interest in individuals outside their own species is somewhat rare. Ergo, the chances of catching the interest of a mate outside my own species is unlikely, none of my team-mates, who are governed less by societal pressures and prejudices are interested, and I'm considered an aberration and dangerously antisocial and insane by other Coluans, and therefore unfeasible as a potential mate."

He goes on. "Being exiled from Colu as I am makes the chances of finding a mate even more unlikely, given I'm excluded from all aspects of Coluan society."

"Given Coluans base attractiveness on such non-physical traits..."

He's one butt-ugly Coluan. (But also he just doesn't think he's particularly physically attractive anyway, or doesn't put much thought to it).

"Regardless of all that, it's irrelevant. I have no interest in finding a mate and will never develop such interest in the future."

"That's...kinda sad."

And she thinks the last part about not wanting to find a mate is a bold-faced lie but she's not going to just say it like that.

"I think it'd be a shame if you just give up on the idea entirely though. I mean yeah. Don't pine. That never did anybody any good. But don't resign yourself to being alone so totally that you wouldn't believe it if someone ever asked you out."

"I think you underestimate what some other people might find attractive, Brainy."

"As I said, it's irrelevant. I have no such interest."

It's very easy for him to lie to himself. To just not think about it, until he gets slammed in the face with a blonde and then he devotes quite a bit of brainpower to pretending that--that it doesn't matter.

Subject change.

"It's my understanding that humans are far more concerned with mating than other species. I've never understood the obsession."

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