The Outsiders: Meeting 2

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

It was going to be their second meeting, and she already had an idea from Beastboy that he'd drummed up some interest in some the newly pod popped. So she'd been making alterations to the Outsider headquarters all day, from checking out the intercom and monitors Billy fixed (she needed Alex's help for that) to helping to set the new carpet in the lobby to preparing the pool for the training session. It was absolutely important that today grow well: she was going to tell the group she was trying to petition Leon to get them more involved in missions. Even if he said no, there were chances that they as individuals would be pulled into some dangerous situation and then all that training WOULD come in handy, wouldn't it? Either way the training would be coming in handy, as would meeting the people that would come to the second meeting. In a way, the second meeting was more important than the first: the second told you who was staying, who hadn't just popped in for the snacks and a few laughs. She still had those of course: chips and dip and a few sandwiches were already set up for people who were hungry.

As for her, all of this work had already made her really sweaty and stinky, so she was taking a dip in the pool to clean herself off, careful to only do so in the shallow part of the water reserved for small kids: once she was good and clean, she would flush that water out, and fill it with clean water again. For now, she wanted to make sure everything went perfectly. Of course, she was also nude for this, so she figured if Beastboy dropped in now, she'd have to dry off pretty quickly.

So far though: room were all clean, conference room was a-okay and the lobby was spotless. For the moment she could relax. She'd be ready in a few minutes.

Comments

((Vita, feel free to come bother him too! ^_^))

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Alex might have been around six feet- a gene he got from both his parents- but it was rare that he really seemed it. He was currently sitting in the corner, smiling a bit as he played with his rat, Alice, flipping her over and tickling her stomach, occasionally letting her pin his hand and start to groom it.

Just because he had dragged himself to the meeting because he knew that he would see Katara and possibly someone he knew he really wanted to see but couldn't figure out quite who it was here didn't mean he was particularly comfortable with the crowd. The fact that he was smiling as he kept to himself showed a marked improvement in his ability to handle large social situations though.

His smile and his blond hair was about all that could be see under his hood as he crouched near the wall. His hand was also noticeably covered in scars, but judging by the size of them, they were from play-fighting with a rat.

Rage. So much rage.

[behaemmert.livejournal.com]

That was a tall person, about as tall as Signum. Sheesh. Playing with a rat, too. She hoped the rat wasn't like the ferret, Yuuno, and thus actually a person.

"You a part of the Outsiders?" She asked, trying to mingle some. She ignored the height difference for now!

Would you consider her a generally 'good' person? Alice has a good sense of this.

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

The tall person jumped and fell backwards. He, as usual, hadn't been paying attention, and the sudden voice directed at him made his heart skip a beat. He looked up at the girl and sighed. He needed to stop expecting danger from every person.

Alice flipped herself over and looked at Alex concerned before climbing up to his shoulder. Alex pet her head and nodded, still shrinking a bit from the girl, "Y-yeah, I a-am. A-are y-you one of th-the new c-comers?"

She is, she just can get annoyed at stuff. She generally likes to help people, but may not admit it.

[behaemmert.livejournal.com]

"Uh, sure. I'm Vita, I came from those stupid slime pots recently."

Had she really scared him? "Uhm, you don't have to worry about me."

thanks!

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Alex smiled a bit, "G-glad I'm n-not the only o-one who's t-taken a d-dislikin' to the ship." He scratched at the back of his head, forcing himself to relax a bit more, "I-I j-just... I-I'm not the g-greatest w-with people..." His heart was racing, and had he been standing, he likely would have ran, but now that he was in a conversation, he was trying rather hard to relax and not be so afraid of everyone.

Alice, on the other hand, showed no fear at all. She chittered happily and lifted on her back legs to sniff at Vita. Alex put out his hand and she climbed into it as he introduced himself, "I-I'm A-Alex. C-came out a wh-while back." Carefully he lifted Alice and held her out to Vita, "Th-this is A-Alice. Sh-she popped w-with me."

Though Alex was speaking of her as if she was a person, it seemed that she was, in fact, nowhere near as intelligent as a human.

[behaemmert.livejournal.com]

"Really, don't worry. I won't bite or hit you with my hammer unless I got a reason to!"

...You know, Vita kinda was glad that, for one, the reaction wasn't 'oh, cute *pet Vitas head' but this was kinda bad in the other direction.

"Uhm..."

She carefully extended her hand so the rat could sniff at it - that was what he wanted, right?

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

As Alice set about licking Vita's fingers and trying to nibble at her nails as Alex shied away. That was a bit too close to what his father would say.

'But she isn't Father,' he reminded himself.

He awkwardly pulled himself to his feet, standing at more of 5'5" than his full height. "s-so," he went on, eyeing her hammer, "y-you're j-joining?"

Alice only paused briefly as Alex stood, quickly returning to her grooming of th girl's fingers.

[behaemmert.livejournal.com]

Vita had to look up to him now, and ocassionally glanced back to what the rat was doing (the rat better not bite her!). She also noticed that he was eying her weapon.

"Don't worry about Graf Eisen, really. Neither me nor he will do you any harm, really."

...And then, to show this, the weapon actually spoke in a metallic, somewhat enthusiastic male voice. *

Yup, Vita's hammer was capable of speech, among other things. Well, speech in Ancient Belkan, but most people seemed to understand it fine.

"I'm not actually joining, I'm with the magical department. But I'm going to help you guys out in the free time, because I like what your leaders seem to be doing."



Translation from german/ancient belka to english: Indeed! Don't worry.

So I fixed it and forgot to remove my reminder...

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

He was starting to get used to things that really shouldn't be talking talking, though it still earned a surprised glance. Alex smiled a bit, getting the gist of what was said. His mother had only ever spoke in German, and though he couldn't speak much of it himself, he could generally understand the language on a basic level.

"W-well, I-I'm s-sure th-they'll be g-grateful for the h-help!"

[behaemmert.livejournal.com]

"I hope so!" Vita agreed, and nodded. ..."So, you got any abilities?" She asked, since she wasn't the best with conversation. "It's ok if not, just wondering."

After all, if she was to help with that, she had to know things like that and all.

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Alex nodded, "Th-they're a b-bit c-c-complicated though... An' a-apparently m-more s-science th-than magic, r-really, o-or somethin'." He swallowed before going on, "I c-can see n-negative emotions, a-as these shadows an' I n-needta e-eat them ta k-keep from starvin'. I-I c-can also turn m-my e-emotions into a sorta m-manifested f-form... thing... B-basically, I c-can m-make myself f-feel bad i-in order ta use th-these d-different abilities, l-like a sh-shield an' th-these tendrils that c-can grab at things."

[behaemmert.livejournal.com]

"Oh, the magic from my world is also grounded in science, so I'm used to that. Do you use a device to focus it, or do you use the magic on your own?"

She understood what he explained well, considering she knew one person with almost the exact set of abilities. Well, chains not tendrils, but the difference didn't seem to be big.

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Shaking his head he said, "I-it's jus' m-me. An' w-what I do's p-pretty new, s-so, it's n-not like it's b-been c-called magic openly. C-came outta s-some sorta experiment d-done to us." He rubs awkwardly at his arm, "I-I'm g-gettin' help from the m-medical department ta f-figure it o-out."

[behaemmert.livejournal.com]

"So you're like an artificial mage, in a way..." Vita pondered. Gosh, she hated those stupid secret experiments and the idiots that did them on unwilling people.

"Man, I hope they sort things out well enough for you."

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

"I m-manage." He shrugged, looking off to the side, giving the distinct impression that if he did manage, it was just barely.

"I-I don' r-really r-remember much o' h-how it w-was like b-before I c-could see sh-shadows, an' I d-don' k-know how I c-could really f-function w-without th-them, s-so I j-jus' w-wanna k-know what was d-done. M-more f-for my friend's s-sake than mine."

Re: ((Vita, feel free to come bother him too! ^_^))

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Katara had made sure to pop over to Alex and give him a hug. She knew he was still having a little trouble with people, and thought it brave of him to come back. She didn't say it, but she wanted to really help him however she could.

"Glad to see you Alex!" she greeted. "Do you think you'll be doing any of the training today?"

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Alex, as usual, jumped at the touch, but it wasn't quite as bad as it had been in the past. It had taken about three hours for him to work up the nerve to join them. "I-I don' k-know... I k-know Zuko seems p-pretty against other p-people's ways of teachin'. S-said he was h-happy he d-didn' haveta un-teach anythin'."

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Katara frowned. "Well, I wouldn't quite say that. I mean, Zuko of all people should know that being able to be versatile in what you know so you can adapt to several situations is a good thing. Things are unpredictable."

She sighed, shaking her head. "But its okay if you don't go anyway. Your talent might be something else, you know?"

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Alex continued to play with Alice, "I-it is, b-but I figured, that i-it'd be g-good ta not only need ta r-rely on my shadows f-for protection. I-I don' wanna do anythign without Zuko s-saying it's okay, i-in regards ta training with others though. H-he seems pretty strict."

Yes, Alex is thoroughly terrified of his teacher, even though their only lesson so far went surprisingly well. Then again, it didn't take much to make Alex scared.

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Katara thought a moment. "Listen," she said, "you can't look at teachers like that. I mean, I can tell you from personal experience that it'll be important to sometimes question your teacher. Zuko will know it: he's done it himself. Alex, its god to have a teacher, but any teacher wants you to evolve beyond what they can teach you. Eventually, I hop you do question Zuko: he'll know it means he's helped you change."

She smiled. "But you have a good teacher, I can tell you that."

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Alex fiddled with the draw-string on his jacket, "w-w-well, maybe wh-when I k-know a bit more..." He felt like he was blindly groping still. He had only one lesson so far.

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

"Then keep trying to improve," Katara said, taking his hand a moment. "That's all a master wants from their student. I know from personal experience."

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Alex still jumped at the touch, though he was getting better about it. He looked up at her and nodded, "I-I w-will."

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

She grinned. "Good. I'd like to eventually run some simulations where it would benefit the less physically apt members of our team. I mean, we're not all meant to be fighters, right? You can still have your training with Zuko, but we can run some simulations to make you better at what you're best at."

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Alex smiled and nodded, "O-okay. I c-can do that I th-think."