Pandaemonium
Posts 381
Power Level 31
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Post by Aurora Disicio on Jul 4, 2016 12:32:50 GMT -7
"You can drop the act, it doesn't work on me," she rolled her eyes.
Aurora never understood why people insisted on doing this. It'd be so much easier if people would just quickly outline what they wanted from her so she could either agree or punch them in the face for it. It's not like this kind of stupid dance was going to make her any more likely to agree. It was especially irritating here because Blue Jay in particular was always dishonest and fake and was so bad at hiding it that it was just transparently obvious. To the point that she was pretty sure even the worst of people readers could see right through him. His use of humor, the way he acted when he finally did get mad, the types of underhanded tactics he used when it was obvious he wasn't going to win any other way, it was obvious he kept up a facade at all times and it was annoying. Fortunately, it was also pretty easy to tear down.
"Unless I should be putting more stock in those rumors about you, Mr. Rogue Bulwark."
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Pandaemonium
Posts 343
Power Level 30
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Post by Blue Jay on Jul 4, 2016 14:34:09 GMT -7
“Ouch. That rumor’s half your fault, you know.” He sighed, knitting his brow. He’d been called that offhandedly a few times now. He was trying to not let it bother him, but he still had a bit of a recoiling reaction to it.
He was not entirely sure how to respond to “drop the act” when he was, in fact, not acting. Blue Jay sucked at acting - when he did try, it seemed everyone in the immediate vicinity was aware of what a poor job he was doing just by the sheer obviousness of whatever falsities he was trying and failing to deliver. Just saying “it’s not an act” is exactly what the people in the movies would say if they were acting and would get him nowhere. This was ignoring the fact that he didn’t even know what at Aurora thought he was putting up. Probably something about wanting something from her, but if he did, wouldn’t he have just said so?
“I still don’t know what you’re talking about.” If he wasn’t going to be able to prove there was no act to drop, he may as well not bother. “Are you alright? Is it hurting too bad? It looked pretty nasty, and all those layers of clothes didn’t help getting to the wound.” He was rambling a bit, but he was too tired to stop himself.
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Pandaemonium
Posts 381
Power Level 31
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Post by Aurora Disicio on Jul 4, 2016 15:10:43 GMT -7
Was he seriously going to do this? Was he seriously going to pretend that he obviously wasn't putting on some kind of front and that and that he was actually happy to see her? Did he honestly expect her to believe that? Did he think she was that stupid? Her eyes narrowed further and she let out an indignant snort. Normally she'd be more irritated that he was wasting this much of her time, but it's not like she was going anywhere right now. Aurora was pretty sure that even attempting to get up right now would just leave her rolling on the floor swearing in pain, so she might as well get comfortable.
"Holy shit you really were asking me if I somehow shrugged off a bullet to the back last night weren't you?" she rubbed her forehead and sighed. "I guess it's not that unreasonable to think given the circumstances, but no I'm not a fucking bullet sponge like some of these people. So no, by most definitions of the word I am in no way 'alright' and I probably won't be for some time, but it won't kill me and that's good enough for me," her expression flattened further. "Obviously it hurts dumbass. I can't say I enjoy having a hot poker shoved into my ribs. My ribs still feel like they're being ripped open, and that's the tame way to describe it. I doubt I could find the words to properly describe the full effect," she paused for a moment to catch her breath from all that. "I don't recall asking for your opinion about my fashion choices, and," she paused again to take another few breaths, "stop blaming the effects of your own actions on me. It's not like anyone things I'm getting chummy with the Bulwark."
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Pandaemonium
Posts 343
Power Level 30
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Post by Blue Jay on Jul 4, 2016 22:32:08 GMT -7
Wow, he’d just poked a sore spot. If nothing else, if she was talking this much she was alright enough, though the fact that she hadn’t just stormed out of here already (or taken out his wall and left that way) backed up her words. Aunt Nora had assured him that she wasn’t going to die (twice) and she didn’t seem to be dying, so he could rest easy on that. “Good enough for her”, as she said. That didn’t change the fact that pain sucked, but it was something, at least.
The Bulwarks were a topic that Blue Jay had some pent up feelings about, and upon their mention couldn’t help but say his peace. “Of course they don’t. The downside of working with a whole bunch of self-righteous idealists is they’ll try to hold you to their standards.” He sighed. “They’re nice people and I’m glad to be working with them, but they take the worst rumors like fact and they like to play this ‘holier than thou’ card while not looking at what they’re doing. Or the whole situation. Or actually bothering ask me about anything. You know that story in the paper about the train? That was actually a fight between me, three Bulwarks, and two other supers I never got the names of. The guy I was with stopped the train, and before I’d so much as drawn my sword a group of my faction showed up and attacked me. Called me ‘traitor’ for helping stop a cargo train. Carrying weapons. They didn’t even check what was inside or asking me what I was doing - they just assumed I was in the wrong, chased me off, and sent the train on its way.” His tone was a grumble and his gaze had drifted back to the window. “Sorry. You probably don’t care.” He chuckled, looking blankly back at her. “Bet that’s one of the nice things about being Pandaemonium, though. Not having some perfect and unrealistic standard to try to measure up to.”
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Pandaemonium
Posts 381
Power Level 31
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Post by Aurora Disicio on Jul 5, 2016 13:08:59 GMT -7
Admittedly, her eyes were starting to glaze over a bit during his story just because of how boring it was, but she still forced herself to focus on every single word. It was rare that she heard about the Bulwark from someone on the inside, so this was an opportunity. Not that she was surprised by what she was hearing. Aurora always figured that the Bulwark was a group of self-loathing individuals, complicit in their own oppression because of some arbitrary definition of what it meant to be a 'good person.' The fact there was internal turmoil because of that wasn't surprising. What it meant to be a 'good person' was such a vague and undefined idea that people only following that idea would have no idea what they were actually fighting for. Blue Jay had proven this several times already, and if that wasn't good enough, he confirmed it in his own words. She suspected the rest of them were the same; only going off of vague feelings and getting mad when people didn't have the same feelings.
"Why were you attacking a cargo train?" Aurora raised an eyebrow, before shaking her head. "But no, I really don't care, nor am I the least bit surprised. Well," she paused, "I am surprised that the Bulwark actually has standards, but that's it. But I don't think trying to hold people to a standard is such a bad thing. It just means you'll be disappointed a lot. In the end, the only standards that should matter are your own. If you were more secure with your own I doubt it would bother you as much. Have you even thought about what you want to accomplish," she paused again to catch her breath once more, "since the last time you decided to disgrace me with your presence?"
His comment about Pandaemonium made her laugh, and even though it was a weak and quiet laugh bordering on a scoff, it still sent a sharp pain throughout her whole body because of the sudden movement. Aurora grunted, grabbing her side and leaning in the corner of the wall again practically doubled over in pain. Her voice was quiet, closer to gasp than the usual kind of power behind it.
"You did that on purpose didn't you?" she glared, remaining silent for a bit to let the pain die down a bit again. "What you just described his how a lot of people in Pandaemonium greet people. Working with people that are sociopathic at best has its own set of problems."
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Pandaemonium
Posts 343
Power Level 30
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Post by Blue Jay on Jul 7, 2016 16:34:19 GMT -7
He shrugged at her jab at his standards. He had some lines he knew he wouldn’t cross and some things that would always step over his boundaries, but it was true that, had she asked him to lay out what kind of standard he’d hold someone to to consider them a “good Bulwark” or something of the sort, he’d have to put some considerable thought into it and doubted he’d be able to come up with much for concrete answers. He’d tried thinking about what would make someone a “true hero” in the past, for his own self mostly, but he found holes and “what ifs” in even broad strokes of statements. It was all just so mushy and grey, moral ground.
“Thought about it, sure.” The night after said incident, after spending the rest of the day eating ice cream angrily on a roof in downtown. “You probably won’t be happy to hear I haven’t changed my stance on it or come up with any new goals, but I don’t think I should let your opinion about that ‘bother me’ too much.” He said jokingly.
He yawned and leaned back off the side of his armless chair. “To be frank, I only got like two hours of sleep last night. I don’t think anything I’m doing right now is purposeful.” He chuckled.
As such, it took a moment for what she said to sink in. “Wait, do you guys actually attack each other to say hello? I knew there was a lot of in-fighting in Pandaemonium, but that’s pretty extreme. How are you guys not in constant revolutions or power plays?” With the number of powerful and prideful supers in the group - Aurora among them - he wondered how the faction had yet to tear itself apart with people trying to seize the head.
He couldn’t help but flinch with each of her pained movements. “Seriously, can I get you anything? Pain killer, ice…” He he wasn’t on his feet yet, but he looked ready to get up on her word.
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Pandaemonium
Posts 381
Power Level 31
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Post by Aurora Disicio on Jul 7, 2016 17:11:35 GMT -7
"Somehow I'm not surprised," Aurora rolled her eyes, her voice still a bit weak. "I'm sure you understand why I'm less interested than usual in explaining why you're stupid in detail today."
Aurora raised an eyebrow again when he asked about Pandaemonium. She just sighed, taking a moment to sit up properly and find a comfortable spot against the wall. Every movement felt like someone was sending needles up her body, but it was still better than being stuck in that position. She folded her arms again and crossed her legs at the ankles. Given his usual targets, something she followed closely like she did all active supers whenever she could, she assumed that he knew more about how Pandaemonium operated. Or rather how it didn't operate at all. So much for avoiding talking too much.
"It is in a constant state of revolution and anarchy, to the point that it can hardly be called an organization to begin with. There's generally a new 'leader' every few months, typically when the new one can get around to killing off the old one. Sometimes they get lucky and only get maimed with their reputation destroyed though. I don't know why they bother though because it's not like anyone cares. They're just going to keep doing what they want to do, leader be dammed.
"Attacking each other to say hello isn't that much of an exaggeration, but I'm not sure if I can call them fights. It's more like how puppies and kittens play, except sometimes someone gets stabbed in a bad place or blasted with superpowers. Not that people don't fight seriously there. Someone had a problem with me once and ended up stabbing me pretty deeply just below my collarbone. I sanded off his nose. We haven't had any problems since. It's...just how it works," her expression flattened into something bordering on a scowl again. "It's a disgusting group with disgusting people. I'm not surprised everyone hates Pandaemonium, it's not undeserved."
Her eyes had been wandering around the room again, but she looked him right in the eye again with her scowl deepening.
"Until I know what it's going to cost me, no."
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Pandaemonium
Posts 343
Power Level 30
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Post by Blue Jay on Jul 7, 2016 22:27:55 GMT -7
“That sounds kinda awful.” He said, only realizing afterwards that he’d said it aloud. He shook his head. He thought supers weren’t supposed to kill each other - such a powerplay sounded silly and pointless. Especially if, as she said, no one really pays attention to the ‘leader’. Nor could he imagine if force was the way he had to solve his issues with his faction members; at least with the Bulwark, you could agree with whatever ideologies the person was spouting, give them an apology, and they’d probably leave you alone.
“I already told you, I don’t want anything from you.” He sighed. “I saw what happened back there. A couple of those bullets were heading my way, but I didn’t get shot and you did. You took a bullet for me, didn’t you? Is it really that surprising that I want to make sure you’re okay after you saved my butt?” He hung his head tiredly. Really, he didn’t want to play this game of ‘what do I owe you’, but if she was going to insist, he may as well just go along with it. “Look, if you really want to make this some kind of deal, how about this: I’ll help you out with whatever you need until you have means of getting yourself home or somewhere else safe. My Aunt Nora already knows you’re here because I needed her help to dress your injury, but I won’t let anyone else know you are or were ever here. I won’t tell anyone about last night either if you don’t want, or anything else of anything related to any of this. I promise my aunt won’t tell either.” He paused, looking absently at a corner of the room, trying to think if there was anything else he should cover. He wasn’t very used to doing stuff like this, and he was sure he was forgetting something. Whatever; if she had a problem with something, she’d bring it up.
He shifted in his seat, correcting his posture and returning his gaze to hers. “I’ll do this in exchange for two things; first, don’t tell anyone where I live, please. I won’t be the only one hurt if you do and I don’t want to drag uninvolved people into my messes if I can help it. Second, I want you to tell me what’s up with your back. This… isn’t the first time you’ve been shot, is it? Why do you have so many scars?”
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Pandaemonium
Posts 381
Power Level 31
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Post by Aurora Disicio on Jul 8, 2016 11:16:53 GMT -7
Aurora didn't respond to his comment about Pandaemonium with words, but with an irritated snort and a flare of the nostrils. He wasn't wrong, it was awful. She wasn't sure how anyone could actually want to be part of that mess. The only reason she tolerated any of them was because they were generally easy to bully them into doing what she wanted, and anything she'd get them to do would be leagues better than anything the majority of them would do on their own. In the end, they really were the ones that would be easiest to convince to help her achieve what she wanted, and the ones hardest to convince to behave after it was achieved, so having a degree of respect there was important. It was a pragmatic decision to join, but one that ultimately made her feel dirty still. His words snapped her out of her thoughts again. All she could do was roll her eyes.
"Yes! Yes it is!" she shouted with the usual power behind her voice. "It's the same with everyone. No matter what I do people always want more, and if I don't get this nonsense out of the way quickly they'll just hang it over my head and it'll just bite me in the ass later."
Talking like that was incredibly painful, and it showed on her face and in her movements. Aurora didn't intentionally raise her voice, it just happened. It was just the way she normally talked, and she was having to hold it back to avoid having to take reasonably sized breaths, but she had little patience for people treating her like she was stupid or people lying. There was no way he was happy. She could at least believe that he was stupid enough to bring her to his house due to not thinking things through, but there was no way his emotions right now were genuine. Thus, there had to be something more behind it. She didn't speak again for a little while to give the burning sensation in her ribs some time to die down. She visibly stiffened when he mentioned he wasn't the only one that saw her upper body. When she did, her voice was weaker again and she was pausing more frequently than usual.
"I don't care if you talk about it. I don't tolerate police brutality," her eyes narrowed slightly. "For the record, I'm still mad you made me run before I was done dealing with them. But nothing about my body leaves this room. If it gets out I will blame you and your aunt and I will do something about it," she paused. "I don't attack peoples' homes or more irreplaceable property," she paused again. "Unless it's a summer home or something similar, I might be willing to make exceptions for those. Regardless, that was never going to be an issue in the first place. Unlike you, I don't rely on underhanded tactics."
The second request made her look away, and then down, her expression solemn, but still obviously angry. Subconsciously, she tightened her grip on her jacket and pulled it slightly more closed. Aurora wasn't embarrassed by any of it, but it was still very uncomfortable to talk about, and finding the right place to start was always hard. She closed her eyes and thought for a moment, before returning her gaze back to Blue Jay.
"No, it was the third time," she paused again. "If you saw, I'm sure it's obvious that most of those weren't from fights. It's what happens when you directly engage unpowered people to try to help them instead of just...I don't know, fighting crime or whatever. Once it became obvious I wasn't going to fight them, they took all of their frustrations out on me. What you see were just the things that ones that didn't completely go away. I had to start wearing goggles because of how frequently I was getting maced, I got good at first aid and setting broken bones because of it. All of these people were 'normal' people. My neighbors, some of which I even considered friends at the time," she paused and looked down. "Most of the weirder scars were from a smaller group that treated it like a game. They were surprisingly...imaginative let's say. The bullet wounds were all from the police though. Getting shot in the chest for trying to help my neighbors knocked enough sense in to me for me to realize I was trying to help the wrong people. That's all they are; a very permanent sign that trying to help them is a waste of time and that they aren't the ones that need help here."
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Pandaemonium
Posts 343
Power Level 30
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Post by Blue Jay on Jul 10, 2016 15:09:18 GMT -7
Aurora had always seemed almost fundamentally different from him. Her arguments and actions confounded him. He’d put some thought into how one might create a super haven as she suggested, and without the compliance of the unpowereds, he could only see economic and social ruin for supers and unpowereds alike or the lot of them becoming entirely self-sustaining farmers up in the mountains somewhere. She was looking at her goals through a self-serving and narrow-sighted lens. The differences went deeper than that. Whenever he caused damage, it was on accident, and he always felt guilty about it later - hers was purposeful, or at the very least, inconsequential. She seemed to act out anger and motivation to achieve her goals, and he acted out of duty to and empathy for the people of the city. She seemed like she could care less about the unpowereds, and he fought to protect them.
But for the first time, he could sort of understand why. The really weird part was, he found himself relating to her. On a fairly deep level. After spending how many months was it now, ten? Doing everything in his power with every free hour of his day to help people, the first thing police did when they saw him was shoot. He had as much ill intent for the city as the florist downtown, and unlike said florist put his life on the line to stop those who held ill intent, and powers as well, from hurting anyone, and they wanted him dead for it.
These were strangers to him. Blue Jay had left home for college like any standard graduate and come to the city knowing no one but his aunt. The people who called the police on him after he’d stopped their mugging were not people he knew, let alone trusted or could consider friends. What she spoke of was outright betrayal.
He felt his eyes start to water and quickly looked down at his feet, blinking furiously. His face was probably bright red. He’d been compounding his tension since last night, practicing staying calm, he told himself, but her account was enough to make his attempt to not release it in front of someone falter. It took him nearly thirty seconds to regain his composure, and during that time said nothing.
“Well, thanks for helping me.” He began slowly at last. “I, uh, don’t know if you’ve figured this out, but I don’t actually have any powers. It’s the sword there that has all the abilities. Haven’t developed any myself.” He gestured with his hand to the sheathed blade propped up in the corner. “It only lets me borrow its powers while I’m wielding it, so if I don’t have it with me, I’m basically unpowered. If I’d been shot in the wrong spot last night while I didn’t have it, I could’ve ended up dead.”
He paused. “I probably shouldn’t tell you that.” He probably wouldn’t have, had he been operating on a few hours more of sleep and a few less of worrying. Even he knew that sharing information about how his powers worked with anyone but his closest allies was dangerous, but once he’d started talking, it’d all just kinda come out.
He turned, putting his hands in his lap and rolling the melted ice pack in his palms. “I know that probably doesn’t mean much coming from someone who’s fought you, and yelled at you, and is a Bulwark, but I really appreciate it.”
Blue Jay stood. He paced to the door, turning back to her once he stood before it. “I promise, none of this will leave this room. And, I won’t hang this over your head. You have my permission to punch future me again if I do.” He rested his hand on the knob. “Now, for reals, can I get you anything? Because I’m going to get me a sandwich.” He considered food for a moment. “Probably about time for lunch, actually.” He mused.
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Pandaemonium
Posts 381
Power Level 31
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Post by Aurora Disicio on Jul 10, 2016 17:40:18 GMT -7
Even as his own gaze faltered hers didn't once she looked back up to him. It was amazing how much it took for people to feel even a shred of empathy for the people actually being hurt. It was so easy to side with an oppressive majority just because they controlled the narrative, because there were more of them and thus it was more likely that those individuals would be affected even if they weren't affected as much. It was even worse with supers than other groups because they had the appearance of great power even if in reality they had none. If they did, she wouldn't have had to practically grovel at her neighbors' feet for the mere opportunity to help them. And all it took for this idiot hero to maybe understand just a little was a story about how she was repeatedly tortured for a year and a half. Just recalling the events alone made her angry enough that she had a white knuckle grip on her coat, but his utterly dismissive behavior was just irritating her more. It was difficult to talk about, difficult to acknowledge, but that was the point. The fact that he was trying to run away, pretend he wasn't a super, it was infuriating.
"As far as I'm concerned, you'll always be a super," her voice was calm, but still had an obvious edge to it. "Powers manifest in strange ways, we as a society don't really understand them. Just because your powers exist separate from you like that doesn't make them any less yours. It'd be like saying Dullahan isn't a super because he can just build things really well. And trust me, I've talked to him enough times to know that his power isn't super intelligence," her expression flattened. "I don't care who you are, how stupid you are, or how much you try to fight me, I will still be fighting for you too, whether you like it or not. Because I fight for every single one of us. My opinion of any particular individual won't change that."
When he started heading towards the door, she watched carefully and her eyes narrowed. He was seriously just going to run away, avoid the awkwardness of this conversation under the guise of humor. Again. Aurora started grinding her teeth as he spoke. When he was done, she paused for a moment before shouting with all the usual power behind her voice.
"Don't run away from me you coward!"
With a huff, she threw off her coat, exposing all of her scars once more. Then, she started fiddling in her mouth. After a moment, she collected all the false teeth she was wearing and slammed them onto the beside table next to her. It was obvious these movements were painful, but she didn't care right now. Her mouth stayed open slightly just so he could see how many she was missing. About a quarter of her teeth were gone, including two of her front four teeth in her upper jaw. She couldn't pronounce a lot of words correctly like this just because she wasn't used to having those teeth missing, but she thought it made the point stronger, even if it made her sound a little ridiculous.
"I already said it was obvious how new to this you were. Now you've actually seen it. For a lot of us this isn't a game, this isn't playing hero to make yourself feel good. This is a matter of life or death. Are you just going to run away from me again because you can't keep hiding from reality?"
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Pandaemonium
Posts 343
Power Level 30
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Post by Blue Jay on Jul 11, 2016 21:15:46 GMT -7
He leaned against the door, arms crossed. He wanted to get mad at her. This is what she did last time - jumped to conclusions about him that were both false and insulting. She had very little faith in people, didn’t she? But he couldn’t be upset. For one, he was too tired for it. Loud opposition was not in his repertoire today. Pitty was the wrong word for what he was feeling. Perhaps empathy? The amount of pain being exuded by Aurora was getting to Blue Jay, and he couldn’t blame her for her own anger.
Blue Jay sighed. His face wasn’t mad. If anything, it was relaxed. Though his mask covered it, he wore a light smile.
“You think I don’t know this is a matter of life and death?” He asked. His voice was nearly the opposite of hers; quiet, almost distant. “I know this is a rough road, and that it’s not a matter of if I’m going to die. I know this ‘game’, you call it, is going to get me killed, and probably sooner rather than later. I know I’m new to this and I know I don’t have scars like you do, but I’m not running from this fact, Aurora. I’ve had it shoved in my face. I’ve known since day one that I wasn’t going to live long. And you know what? I’ve made peace with my fate. Not all of us have to face this with anger and pessimism, and I’ve decided I’m not going to.”
He sighed and slid down the door, coming to sit with his back against the door and his knees before him. He rested his arms on his kneecaps. “For now, if you want my company that much, I guess I can stick around.” He teased. “And now it’s my turn to have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m obviously a super. I live like one, I face this reality just like every other super, I just don’t always have the powers of one. I’m thanking you for helping me when I had all the cons of being a super and none of the abilities.” He chuckled.
His gaze shifted down, to a small scratch he’d gotten on the top of his hand last night. “I’m not playing hero because I think it feels good. I’m not sure why you keep saying I do.” He furrowed his brow. He could guess all day as to why, make assumptions and then start yelling again, but he didn’t see the point. He looked blankly up at her. “Why do you keep saying I do?”
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Pandaemonium
Posts 381
Power Level 31
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Post by Aurora Disicio on Jul 13, 2016 16:06:24 GMT -7
"You get--"
Aurora stopped and clicked her tongue. There was no way she could deal with talking like this for any longer. She took a few moments to put her false teeth back in, running her tongue against them to at least make sure they were secure enough for now. They were a pain to put in when she took them out like this, but this would do for now.
"You get all teary-eyed, then immediately try to leave the room and get away from any awkward conversation or thoughts. Your tactics are transparent," she folded her arms. "Even last night, you were surprised that I actually got shot, and looked even more surprised when it actually hurt me, as though bullets should just bounce of my skin and I should be able to shrug them off. Today you were surprised at the level of brutality I faced, as though it's uncommon. You can claim you understand, but it's obvious you still have your head buried in the sand. It's not because of pessimism that I know any time the police show up they're going to try to murder me, it's because the first time they tried I was 14 with no criminal record, showed no signs of being violent or aggressive, and just wanted to talk to people. It's not pessimistic to acknowledge that supers and unpowered people come from completely different worlds, and if we ever want our own needs prioritized that we're going to have to fight for it. Hard. That's just the nature of being a minority. What you're doing isn't being optimistic, it's lying to yourself. You can only be optimistic if you face the full reality of your situation and still think everything will get better. And you say anger like it's a bad thing," she rolled her eyes "It's the emotion that provides the single greatest source of drive in everyone. Nothing happens until someone gets irritated enough at their current situation that they feel the need to change it."
For awhile, she was silent after that, mulling around his thanks in her head. She shifted slightly, though her eyes didn't leave Blue Jay for even a moment. Aurora had very few positive memories of being thanked, but she knew that's because she was rarely actually being thanked. The people that said such things were mostly using it as a springboard to ask for something else too. This is why social niceties were so terrible. The fact that she couldn't even tell whether he was actually grateful or trying to pull something just showed exactly how dishonest society was. After mulling it over, she could at least believe that this confirmed that he wasn't using his pseudo unpowered status as a reason to distance himself from the fact that he was saved by 'someone like her.'
"...It's no problem," she sighed and closed her eyes. "No matter what, I will not let another super die at the hands of the police, no matter how much that super might deserve it," she opened her eyes again.
"I keep saying you're playing hero because you have confirmed it in your own words several times," the signs of frustration, as though she's explained this 100 times already, in her voice were obvious. "What you decide to call it, duty, necessity, because watching is hard, whatever, in the end you're doing it to fill a void. You have said this several times in several different ways. Further, you've directly stated that you have no goals, nothing you want to accomplish, nothing you actually want to be doing. This is not compatible with the idea that you're serious about what you're doing. Even I was surprised to hear that much because I figured you'd at least be trying to reduce the amount of crime in the city or whatever, but I suppose that would mean actual work for you since you'd actually have to think about what would be effective and then gather sources to see if you're right," Aurora's face contorted back into a scowl. "These ideas are mutually exclusive, it's not hard to understand."
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Pandaemonium
Posts 343
Power Level 30
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Post by Blue Jay on Jul 15, 2016 0:46:10 GMT -7
The acceptance of his thanks stuck with him more than that final jab at his work ethic. Coming from anyone else he would’ve been insulted, but at this point it he just expected it from Aurora. It was what she did. Taking his thank you, however, was a pleasant surprise (even if it had also contained an insult).
He took his time responding to her, mulling over her words, not for the first time. She’d said it all before and clearly knew she’d said it all before. Same message, different words? He felt like if he tried to respond, he’d only be giving her the same response he’d given her on the rooftop. As he said, his stance hadn’t changed. Stating it last time hadn’t gotten him anywhere and saying it now wouldn’t be any different.
“I forget I need to chose my words carefully around you.” He sighed. “You take things very literally. Not always unwarrantedly, but still. I also have to be careful not to start talking in circles with you.” He said this distractedly, as though he hadn’t intended to say it aloud. That seemed to be one of her favorite ways to counter his arguments - many a time in the past, his picked apart words were thrown back at him along with the shredded chunks of his reasoning. The argument shredder that was Aurora required a reasoning printed on steel.
His brow was furrowed and his gaze was on his bookshelf only because it was what was in the direction he’d vacently looked in. He felt like he was missing something. A core idea, perhaps? He was too tired to try to come up with any roundabout questions or subtle hints at the truth, and so Blue Jay elected to be blunt.
“This is going to sound off topic, but just humor me for a second." He began. "What do you think is the goal of life? In general, I mean.”
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Pandaemonium
Posts 381
Power Level 31
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Post by Aurora Disicio on Jul 15, 2016 22:38:37 GMT -7
Aurora's glare deepend, and kept her arms folded in such a way that she somehow looked even more closed off than even a few seconds ago. Whether he was stalling or trying to run her around she couldn't tell, but he was definitely trying something. Something about his tone suggested to her that he didn't expect her to have an answer, or that it was just meant to be rhetorical. She did have an answer though, and the simple fact that he likely considered it an absurd question continued to illustrate the point she was trying to make. How it hadn't gotten through his thick skull at this point was beyond her, but people were ultimately stupid and stubborn. She knew it would take a lot more repetition before he was likely to get it. She decided to humor him for now, but he better have some impressive reasoning behind this question.
"The ultimate goal of life is to impose your own beliefs upon the world and change it into what you want it to be. The closer you can get to your personal paradise the better you're doing. Mind you, this doesn't necessarily mean making it better for anyone but yourself, some people in history have been unforgivably evil in that regard, but there's no denying their success. There's a reason they ultimately ended up being remembered."
She continued looking him square in the eye clearly impatient for whatever his follow up was. Before he could provide it, she felt the need to comment on what he said earlier.
"And you being unclear is hardly my fault. If you want to understood then stop trying to be witty or clever. It's not like you're very good at it anyway."
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