trans_9 | Great Light [Open!]

In this Sensorium, art class was in session!

Or, to be more precise, Starfire's attempt at sculpture was underway. Armed with discarded items from around the ship and her own starbolt powers, she donned some protective equipment and got straight to work. This was going to be a difficult effort, but it would be well worth her patience. Her fellow Outsiders could have worse gifts cluttering their headquarters than her crystal flame. When made with pure positivity, it was said to bring peace and good luck to all who approached it.

Hours of bending, melting, and sculpting later, the torch was ready to be lit. This was the most important part of building such a light sculpture: the emotions powering the lighting blast had to be pure and true. Any resentment, anger, or lack of tranquility would forever taint her work, turning its presence into a curse.

And a gift to her teammates could not be allowed to become a curse. Before lighting it, she would spend a few more moments in reflection.

But what was that noise? Starfire circled around it and glanced to the open door, the as-of-yet unlit crystal flame standing tall behind her.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"The greatest for all of the cosmos?"

She knew what the answer was going to be, of course. His...uh...confidence was awe-inspiring if nothing else.

"Yes," Zetta said, and in that word there was nothing but pure pleasure. Whatever may happen at the end of the day, he IS the strongest Overlord there is, and he knows it.

Then, in an oddly frank admission, he said, "I miss it. I mean, how it used to be. I'm still the strongest there is... you'd think that, and getting my Netherworld back, would be all that mattered."

That was interesting to her. She was sure he missed the power, of course, but Starfire also sensed that there might be something more.

"But it is not all that matters. What else is missing?"

"Hell if I know," Zetta said reflexively. Then he actually gave the matter a moment of thought.

"I don't know if I feel like ME any more. Back before this all happened, anyone who mattered knew the name Zetta. They feared me... or they hated me... or they cowered before me. Here, even with all my power, no one even knows what an Overlord is. Being the strongest in the cosmos? Doesn't matter a bit."

"You feel your significance is not recognized, that it no longer means what it once did," she confirmed, thinking about it for a few moments.

"My friends on Earth had a saying for situations like the one you describe. When a large fish contained within a fishbowl is transferred to an ocean, they are no longer large and awe-inspiring objects within their environment."

Translation: big fish-small pond->big ocean-small fish

"I do not believe that many of us had positions as high as yours on our worlds, but none of us stand alone. We have all met people stronger than us or more fortunate than us, and the Ohm have an information advantage that keeps us from working to our fullest potential. You feel this more strongly than most of us, but I believe the others would understand."

"...Wait a minute, none of this applies to me at all!" Zetta said, a little indignant. "First of all, this isn't a big ocean! It's a really damn small pond! The cosmos was big enough that the other people I dealt with KNEW what the being the most badass freakin' Overlord meant! Here, it's like I'm so big people can't even see me for what I am. They see a talking book, and don't understand what 'strongest in the cosmos' actually means.

"And I haven't met anyone stronger or more fortunate, either. No one here is me! I'm Zetta! Even as a book, it's better to be me than it is to be anybody else! Hyaaa ha ha ha ha!"

Zetta chuckled over how damn awesome he was for a moment, then actually gave some consideration to what he had just said. "Hey... I guess you did actually sort of explain what I was missing, just in reverse. Well, that makes sense." Starfire probably deserves some sort of medal for actually managing to make Zetta successfully recognize a part of his feelings.

"I don't really know how to deal with people here, because of all that," he said, frowning again. "That's what makes me miss it, I think. There are only two, maybe three people who I can deal with like I'm used to."

Well, at least he was out of his momentary funk?

"They address a shadow of who you truly are. Will it be better if the others get to know you?"

"This whole 'getting-to-know' thing is part of the problem!" Zetta complained. "People don't 'get to know' the top of the Overlord heap! I'm Zetta! I beat up their gods for their lunch money! I wedgie the higher powers of dozens of worlds and play keep-away with their prescription glasses!"

The Overlord focused on Starfire more directly. "If things were normal, you and your friends would see me as a threat, you know. The strongest villain you could imagine. And here you are making me a crystal statue thing. How do you work that, in your head?"

Starfire flashed him a small smile.

"You are not currently antagonizing us. We are instructed not to judge individuals by their lives prior to joining this crew. You are...confident and wise in the ways of battle despite your circumstances, and that is valuable."

"...And when this is all over, Starfire?" the Overlord asked, unusually quiet for him. "When you're a hero of... wherever you come from, again, with your team. When that time comes, every night you'll know that somewhere out there, the strongest creature in the universe is demon Overlord. And sure, I may have saved your ass and restored your world, but it was to get my own Netherworld back, since I can't write the wish myself.

"What happens then?"

"Then we go our separate ways," she whispers quietly. "I will leave you alone unless and until you become a threat to my world."

She doesn't believe in pre-emptive strikes. She also believes, however foolishly, that he might not become a threat to them.

"That simple, huh," he said quietly, looking down at the floor.

"You'd make a really lousy demon, Starfire." And she could probably take that as a compliment.

"Yes!"

Starfire shook her head, smiling faintly. "Then it is fortunate that I am not a demon, and that you are. There is much you can teach us."

Zetta at last lost his composure and began to laugh. Serious, real laughter -- not that his evil laugh wasn't both, mind, but this purer laughter didn't have that element of LARGE HAM which so characterized the Overlord. That sound, coming from this Overlord, was almost downright odd.

His rare laughter, perhaps unsurprisingly, was enough to send her into a fit of giggles.

She waited as he laughed it out, then asked: "Are you well again?"

"Maybe," Zetta said, still amused. "You're starting to scare me, you know."

Great Light [Open!]

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