voice

[rathercommon]

[ Kitty's voice is cheerful, girlish, and energetic. She hasn't been around lately: the effects of getting out the warning about the invasion of Olympus had intense physical effects on her, and a long period of unconsciousness has been followed by a period of working hard to recover from that physical weakness. So this post's chipperness is partially motivated by the fact that Kitty's persona/alias Lizzie is just a chipper person, and it's partially motivated by the fact that Kitty wants to prove to herself that she's recovered and in good health and spirits. So...Honestly, that energy is frankly bordering on manic. ]

Hullo, Zion! Or at least the network-users of Zion. It's Lizzie again.

A few things. The first of these things, I think, is going to make some of you quite happy. I expect a lot of you remember the restaurant I work at - Cafe Modak - it's the one with the best food in the whole city, so you might have heard of it. If you pay attention to those sorts of things. Anyway, Chef and Mrs Dutt - that's our owner - are putting together a little celebration dinner, for the people who helped defend Olympus. And also when I say little celebration dinner, I actually mean that it's going to basically be a feast. Everyone's invited, but people who helped out get to eat free. So if you've got any dishes to request, just request them here, and I'll pass it along to the two of them.

Anyway, the second thing is that we really don't all know each other so well, do we? I mean, we do all use this, but I hardly know any of your names. Or anything about you. So we ought to play one of those silly games like they make you do, to get comfortable with the people around you. So...How about we play a few rounds of two truths and a lie? If you all know that game. Or you could do a little introduction speech. Or just talk about your favorite sims, if you do sims.

[ Translation: let me pick your brains and figure out what sorts of people you are. ]

Comments

[rathercommon]

[ And that is an answer that, of course, begs the next question: ]

Well - what is it you wanted to do?

[alsohawkeye]

[ Kate's smile is small, a little lopsided, a little wry. More than a little proud, too. ]

I was a superhero.

[rathercommon]

[ The problem with being a liar is, of course, that you have to keep track of your lies. And it's hard as hell to keep track of what Lizzie would know from her home world (versus what her other personas would know, versus what Kitty herself knows). Lizzie, the story goes, is from a world with technology roughly on-par with what the Real calls the Victorian era: fancy skirts with bustles, corsets, no cars, no aeroplanes, no magic. Lizzie exclaimed multiple times over the oddness of wearing pants. So the question is: did they have superheroes in that era?

And also: what on earth is a superhero?

She takes a bit of a risk and gives voice to her question, curiosity winning out over caution. Which...she also feels bad over sort of undercutting something that Kate is quite clearly proud of. ]

Erm - what's that?

[alsohawkeye]

[ Kate laughs, a soft huff of a chuckle. She's not offended; experience thus far has shown her to be pretty thick-skinned so that should be no surprise. ]

It's-- what it sounds like? In my world, there were criminals that normal law enforcement couldn't handle. Because they had powers, or protection, or money, or because they were spread too thin or just because the people they were attacking weren't important enough to bother helping. So people like my friends and I helped them.

[rathercommon]

So...

[ Um. ]

So like some sort of...paramilitary force?

[alsohawkeye]

Nnnnot exactly, no. That sounds bigger and more organized than it was. I mean, there are groups that are more formal, I worked for the government as a sort of freelancer, and was part of the main group, which was sometimes-- its exact status is kind of difficult to explain. It's official, but kind of independent? But mostly it was more-- it was more like vigilantes, really. I guess if you want to get technical about it.

[rathercommon]

So you...hunted down people the government considered criminals.

[ There's a very ambiguous note in her voice there, to go along with that unconsciously anarchistic turn of phrase - not criminals, but who the government considered criminals. It's all a little bit too un-Lizzie, a little bit too Kitty. It's not disapproving - it'd take a lot more than that to make Kitty disapprove of Kate, Who Showed Her Dinosaurs - but it's wary. ]

[alsohawkeye]

[ Kate's still not really on alert with Lizzie, not suspicious enough to be looking for hints. But she still picks up on something there, some uncertainty about how that's phrased and said. She doesn't read too much into it, but there's some awareness there that contributes to the length of her answer. ]

No, I stopped people who were trying to hurt other people. Occasionally that meant following up government tips about criminal organizations, taking out their hideouts, taking away weapons they were developing, freeing people they'd kidnapped, stuff like that. Mostly it was trying to keep my neighborhoods safe. Stopping organized crime, street thugs terrorizing people. Fighting off guys trying to take over the world. The usual.

[rathercommon]

Yeah.

[ She knows she shouldn't be saying this. Lizzie Does Not Care about issues like poverty and crime and terrorism and government oppression. Lizzie has not broken any laws. Lizzie has never attended a protest. She has never lobbed a bomb, never broken into any weapons storehouses, never graffitied slogans under bridges and on razor wire-topped fences. The worst thing she ever did was nicking a few quid from her parents one time. That's it. And who knows who might be listening in? Who knows.

But even so: ]

So it was people you really did believe were wicked. Not just who they said was wicked.

[alsohawkeye]

[ No one is listening because literally no one gives a shit about your world sorry kid. Kate wouldn't believe Lizzie didn't care at all about those things anyway, even if she did manage to play it here. Nobody tearfully requests somewhere they're good to their people because they don't give a shit about Issues. But anyway. ]

Yes. Blind loyalty isn't my thing, Lizzie. These were bad people.

the shadow knows

[rathercommon]

[ She hesitates again. How did she know? That's a question - because there are perfectly decent people, kind people, who hated her and everything she did...

What, like your parents? asks a little voice, and she shuts down that line of thinking entirely and focuses on just having a bloody conversation. Naturally. As Lizzie. ]

Huh. So - what made you super?

her name is the evil that lurks in the heart of man?

[alsohawkeye]

What, I don't seem super to you?

ye....es. Eva for short

[rathercommon]

Oh!

[ She gives a little giggle. ]

But, erm, really.

It is kind of a mouthful

[alsohawkeye]

[ Kidding, kidding. ]

I didn't actually have powers myself. I'm an archer.

and 'man' is a terrible nickname

[rathercommon]

And here's the part where I reveal that this was all just a terribly clever plan to get you to reveal what your lie actually was.

[ But - ]

Does powers mean, like, magic, then?

[alsohawkeye]

So clever it only took ten times as long as just asking. I walked right into your devious trap.

Sometimes magic. Mostly more specific things. Shapeshifting, telekinesis, the ability to kick open portals to other worlds, super-strength. People had all different kinds of powers.

[rathercommon]

[ That's....certainly...a lot of things they can't do where she's from. ]

And - they worked for the government?

[alsohawkeye]

Some of them. There were a bunch of different teams at different times. Some government, some independent, plenty of powered villains, some aliens, lots of people just doing their own thing. We had a little of everything, really.

[rathercommon]

Oh.

[ She thinks about that a moment, then finally confesses: ]

That's all really weird. We haven't got anything at all like that where I'm from. Either...powers or...people...just going after criminals just because. [ Thank goodness. ] They're a bit keener on just...making a living and keeping their heads down, you know.

[alsohawkeye]

[ Kate laughs, briefly. ]

So are most people in my world. We're not called 'super'heroes because just everyone does it. It's actually very few people, but when that's your life you don't spend much time with anybody else anymore.

[rathercommon]

Can I ask why? Why you do it.

[alsohawkeye]

Someone needs to protect people. I'm good at it.

[rathercommon]

Yeah, somebody needs to clean up rubbish, too, but they don't do it unless they've got a good reason to.

[alsohawkeye]

[ Kate finally bristles at that. It's not a huge reaction, but there's an edge to her tone that wasn't there a moment ago. ]

How about because it's the right thing to do? I think if you're capable of it it's more like you'd better have a good reason for not using your skills to help people.

[rathercommon]

[ She does hesitate a little bit at that edge - not because she's scared of conflict, but just because she doesn't want Kate to dislike her. So, more cautiously: ]

Well - it's just that there lots who do. It's not a natural thing to stand up and throw yourself into danger, is it. I know I wouldn't have the courage to do that.

[ Never mind that's just what she did, not so long ago. ]