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[unphase]

Who: Tinya Wazzo and you, whether the character knows Tinya or not
What: Celebrating Tinya's nineteenth birthday!
When: April 21st
Where: The Raccoon Room

Content Warnings: underage drinking, possible discussion of underage sex/marriage/motherhood, possible discussion of an emotionally abusive mother



The Raccoon Room is beautiful as always, left mostly alone except for vases of blue roses sat on tables apart from the dance floor. Blue had always been her favorite color, blue to match her eyes, and she'd rather not to into details of how exactly she managed to acquire so many within such a short period of time. But what she didn't say was that there was a florist who needed a Night Walker to help them cope with the lack of sun and she was the one who responded.

The birthday girl herself looks lovely in a blue strapless dress with no shoes or stockings, the blue in the dress setting off the blue in her eyes, the jet-black of her hair, and the faint blue tint to her skin.

There's a large board with markers where people can write their messages to the birthday girl, ranging from well-wishes to encouragement to "who the Void are you?" Her feelings wouldn't be hurt at the latter, she's well-aware of the fact that she's new in town.

The meal is made of small plates meant to be shared between two or more people and selection of sherry to choose from to go with the food. During the meal portion of the evening, female vocalist jazz plays lightly in the background, enough to be heard but not so much as it would drown out conversations between those sharing tables.

As the meal ends and the plates are cleared, a waltz music plays, ranging from classical waltzes to later songs which lent themselves to waltzing. During this portion of the evening, she's relaxed, happy, dancing with whomever approaches her without care about gender identity, not minding if she led or followed.

As the evening passed midnight, a variety of cocktails were available and the music changed again to what people from the 20th and 21st centuries would recognize as New Wave music came on and the dancing grew far more informal, Tinya in the middle of it all and singing along to the music.

And as dawn approached, one can find Tinya sitting at one of the tables, finally sampling a piece of flourless chocolate cake for the birthday girl with her feet resting on a chair in front of her. She looks happy, as happy as she could be, but there's a wistful gleam in her eyes.

Comments

[kyley_b]

"Oh, cool. So's my boyfriend. He doesn't really like, hang out and offer services exactly, but he's a Paleblood and he is really, really good at getting people to chill the fuck out." A pause. "When he isn't deliberately antagonising them, I mean."

Kyle sighs. "Okay, these aliens showed up and thought I was a professor at DeVry Institute. I was nine. So. Yeah, no."

He smiles and gives her a funny look. "Well. I mean, where I'm from it's a comic book character, that's all. Batman's REAL in your time? Wild."

[unphase]

"Really? Is he an independent contractor, then? And I guess a Paleblood would be a perfect Night Walker. I'm a Coldblood, everyone tells me I should be a Hunter. But I did enough hunting back home and I'm good at what I do here." And she laughs. "Yes, that would be a bit of a hurdle to clear."

She listens intently, wondering if it was her people. "What's the DeVry Institute? Though, I've known nine year olds who went to MIT." Lyle. Her best friend who she misses like a limb.

She blinks in confusion. "A...comic book character? I guess maybe Terrans based comic books on Batman, but he was a real person. Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman...those were the three most remembered by Terran history. The ones we based ourselves on."

[kyley_b]

"I guess he is," Kyle muses. "Yeah, from what I understand a lot of them are Paleblood. But I don't see why you couldn't do just as good a job." He grins. "Yeah. He's a total asshole, but he is actually the kindest person you'll ever meet. He cares so much about people."

"A bullshit school I did not attend. MIT, huh? Yeah, I'm smart, but not a genius. My Little brother is, though."

Kyle laughs. "Oh, wow, okay. Yeah, this happens sometimes, here. Stuff from other universes bleeds into others as like, fiction or myth. Batman where I'm from has comics and movies and cartoons. Superman, too. Wonder Woman gets kinda ripped off, though."

[unphase]

"I like to think that I am. Back home, I was everybody's confidante, so the skills I had there translate pretty easily to being a Night Walker. And he sounds like a good person to know. Actually, he sounds a lot like my best friend from home."

Tinya nodded. "Lyle scored an eleventh level intelligence, something unheard of for a human. Most of the time, only Coluans score that high. And what's your little brother like?" She loves hearing about siblings since she was (technically) an only child. Her "sister" didn't count since she was meant to be part of Tinya from the beginning.

She grins. "I'm trying so hard to keep myself from asking if you know Batman's civilian identity."

[kyley_b]

"Yeah, exactly! It's not like your people skills just go away." Kyle laughs. "Yeah? Does your best friend frequently threaten violence on people, too?"

"That sounds really high. On behalf of humans, go Lyle." Kyle brightens. "Oh, Ike is great. My folks adopted him from Canada, so he's a little weird, but he's great. He's so smart that growing up it was kind of annoying because, you know, I'm older, I'm supposed to be the wise one or whatever. But he's such a good kid I couldn't be really mad about it. He's pretty normal aside from the genius Canadian thing - he plays video games and watches dumb shit same as anyone."

Kyle, who of COURSE knows who Batman is in popular media, laughs. "I mean, it could be totally made up? So I could tell you."

[unphase]

She grins. "Especially when one's people skills were honed to the degree that mine were." And she can't help smiling wider. "He's not, but his boyfriend is, though that's mostly for us plebes to get the fuck out of their lab. Though, the fact that he now calls it their lab instead of only his lab is progress."

"Better never say that to him in person, his ego already enters the room before he does," she says fondly. "I wish I could say that I understood, but I was an only child. It might be nice, having a brother. Even though he'd constantly be showing you up in certain areas. And who doesn't love video games?"

She looks like she wants to ask so. Damn. Badly. And she makes an audible sound of distress. "It could be. It probably should be. I can't imagine the real Batman letting his civilian ID being known to anyone, even those on his peripheries like five billion Robins took the secret to their graves."

[kyley_b]

"How come they're so good?" he asks, ever the curious one. "Hey, a shared space, that's cute."

"It's pretty cool, although I know not every sibling is as close as we are. My best friend back home, he has an older sister who pretty much just terrorized him for our entire childhood."

Kyle sips his drink and looks a trifle smug. "Well. If you ever change your miiiiind..."

[unphase]

"For Lyle? No one really knows. His parents were diplomats in the same delegation as Mother, but they were idiots." And way too easy to manipulate. "As for Brainy, he's kind of like me. A family legacy."

"Ugh! Why are people like that? It makes no sense, especially when it's family. Family is supposed to have your back." At least that's what she's heard? It's hard to believe when being evaluated by her great-great grandmother, her face remarkably unlined despite her age, but her eyes like chips of blue ice.

It's obviously taking all of her willpower to not ask, but she knows that if the secret was meant to be known, someone would have spilled it at sometime. A one thousand year old secret. "Urrrrgh! No. No, I'm going to be strong and not ask."

[kyley_b]

"Huh. Dude, where you're from sounds really complex." Of course it does to him - he's a small-town boy at heart. A human one.

Kyle shrugs. "Dunno. I think family is really important, but I also lucked out and have a good one. My friend's family situation has always been a little more, uhm. Strained. His dad is a bit of a character." That's putting it mildly.

He laughs. "Okay, okay, then I'll never mention it again. Put it right out of mind."

[unphase]

"Yeah, it's--for those of us who come from particular lineages, there's a ton of pressure to live up to the ones who came before us." Which was an understatement. Brainy never liked to talk about it, but everyone knew that the first Brainiac was one of Superman's most dangerous enemies.

Almost apprehensively. "What kind of character are you talking about?" Surely not as bad as her own father.

And she groaned and did her best to look tormented. "I'm trying, I'm trying! Ugh, almost everyone else, we have the civilian identities of."

cw: alcohol and drug abuse

[kyley_b]

"Okay, I can understand that. Not like, personally - the Broflovskis are not some royal family - but I understand the concept from TV and books and stuff."

Kyle shrugs. "He's an alcoholic who decided to run a weed farm because that way he could be stoned all the time. He didn't really ask his wife or anything, just sort of bought a farm and moved them all out there. He has a history of doing dumb shit like that. Like I could tell you so many stories about crap he's done, it's ridiculous. My dad is usually pretty normal." Usually.

"Oh, so you know like, Superman somehow fooled everyone by wearing frigging glasses and stuff?"

cw: alcohol and drug abuse, bambling

[unphase]

She nods. "It's like--your many thousandth great grandmother discovered phasing and her many hundreds granddaughter united a planet! What have you done lately? And by you, I mean me." Usually said to her by her mother.

And that is...a lot. A lot a lot. "If I were married to a man like that, I'd have had a divorce lawyer standing by with papers ready to go. To not ask about such a huge lifestyle change...the papers would be in the email." And she thought for a moment, then decided, well...it can't hurt? "My father...he was a gambling addict. Kept it from my mother for years. He was also an alcoholic, even though there were plenty of chances for him to turn his life around and he just. Didn't."

"Yes! After getting a good look at him, I have no idea how he pulled that off. It's like, with the glasses, he's a very handsome, well-built man who seemed to have too much fondness for flannel. Once he's seen in costume, it's obvious."

cw: alcohol and drug abuse, bambling

[kyley_b]

Kyle rolls his eyes. "Oh my god, it's just family pressure on steroids. I get guilted for not being as successful as my cousin but that? That's a whole other level. But weirdly the same vibe."

He sighs. "Yeah. They almost divorced a couple of times, and honestly? They should have. I think it would have been better for their kids." His forehead creases. "Jeez. I'm sorry. God, it's crazy how MUCH people can hide, isn't it? Like you can just go about your life and meanwhile your spouse has all these fucking secrets. I hate that."

Kyle laughs. "At least other people wear a mask!"

cw: alcohol and drug abuse, bambling, human trafficking

[unphase]

"It really, truly is. I've been standing my ground, but...the older I get, the more I wonder how long I'll be able to keep it up. And if success can be measured in kindness, humor, and being easy to get to know and even easier to like, you have your cousin beat on every level."

"It usually is. Better for the kids, that is. No one wants to live in a house with that kind of tension in it all the time, even if there's the occasional break. That's almost even more cruel, it's easy to trick oneself into believing that this time, things will be different." And she sighed. Her relationship with her father had been borderline non-existent for years upon years. And then it turned out she'd very nearly been sold to cover gambling debts.

"Most of them do, yeah. Those whose identities aren't public knowledge. Some people, even in the twentieth century, could get away without keeping it a secret." Like pretty much everyone knew who the Flash really was, his villains too. I'm pretty sure I saw Captain Boomerang in line at Starbucks once.

cw: alcohol and drug abuse, bambling, human trafficking

[kyley_b]

Kyle snorts. "God, here I am hoping it'll get better with age. Like maybe if I hit thirty my mom will just realise I'm a lost cause and stop nagging me."

A sad look comes into his eyes. "Yeah. And he's really sensitive, my best friend. A poet's soul, you know? He takes things really hard."

Kyle can only stare because he refuses to believe Captain Boomerang is a real person.

[unphase]

She gives a world-weary smirk. "It won't. I'm...technically an adult where I'm from. Have been for a long time. That hasn't stopped my mother from sticking her nose into whatever business I have and trying to fuck with it." For example, encouraging Brin in his hopeless crush on her. Brin was a brother, a trusted friend. But not a potential lover. Never that.

She looks on gently. "Then they really should have thought more about him and less about their own needs."

She sees that look. She's used to that look. But it was true, Captain Boomerang was real and apparently favored blue flannel two-piece jammies and slippers it looked like had been chewed by a very large dog on very many occasions. "I was a ghost at the time, so I don't have a photo."

[kyley_b]

"Hey, I'm older than you," he teases. "So let me hold out for thirty."

He finishes his drink. "Yeah. Yeah, they should have."

He shakes his head. "That's unfortunate, because that's the dumbest superhero name EVER and I once called myself the Human Kite."

[unphase]

She grins broadly. And starts humming the Jeopardy! theme. A whole year spent in the 20th century and most of what she remembers came from Jeopardy!. "Time's a'ticking, better get a move on."

"Unfortunately, more people are concerned with themselves and what they want than what's best for their children." So she has to give her mother credit, she divorced her father when Tinya was barely two years old. And he's not a part of her life, never will be if she has anything to say about it.

"Actually, he was a super villain. Which somehow makes it both better and worse at the same time. But, the Human Kite? Could you somehow fly? With some other person holding the twine on the other end?" Because that would be hilarious.

[kyley_b]

Kyle groans.

"I guess. Although, I dunno. My mom is super concerned about what's best for us, she just tends to get carried away, or not really see all sides." He sighs. "I'm a lot like her, to be honest."

"Dude, that's even WORSE." He snickers. "Uh, flight AND laser eyes, thank you!"

[unphase]

No one is immune to the Jeopardy! theme. She's even used it against her best friend, Lyle, and he never went to the 20th century! He mopes and complains and bitches her out, but it's a terrific motivator!

"Oh, no. Our mothers should have coffee, the Mistress rest our souls. But at least you recognize your tendencies, that's more than most people do."

"Okay, my husband still has you beat, even though he can only use one power at a time. Though, I honestly wonder, he has super-strength and manages to punch tanks without his muscles and bones breaking. Wouldn't that imply both super-strength and invulnerability to you?"

[kyley_b]

He shrugs again, smiling just a little. "I guess. Doesn't always stop em, though."

He blinks. "You mean like... not a real husband, right? And uhm, yeah? Yeah that sounds about right."

(CW: teenage marriage)

[unphase]

She smiles back warmly. "No, of course not, that's way too easy. Just like I know I shouldn't indulge myself this time, although I almost always do."

She blinks back. "No, I mean a real husband. We were married while we were in the twentieth century and had to wait until we got to the thirtieth to finalize it, but I've been married since I was sixteen."

(CW: teenage marriage)

[kyley_b]

Kyle just stares. Sixteen is young even by redneck mountain town standards. "That sounds..." How to phrase this delicately?

"Like some super religious kinda creepy possibly illegal shit. Like, where I'm from, that's the sort of thing that ends with you having twenty kids in a cult, or running away, or winding up a footnote on a true crime podcast."

Kyle fails at delicate. Obviously.

(CW: teenage marriage)

[unphase]

"...super-religious? I follow the Mistress, but Jo doesn't believe in god. Any of them. Growing up on Rimbor will do that to you," And she rolls her eyes at the rest, looking mildly amused. "Do you watch a lot of crime dramas and reality TV? Be honest. Anyway, it was all legal. The age of adulthood where we're from is fifteen."

Maybe. Kind of. Just a smidgen.

(CW: teenage marriage)

[kyley_b]

"Yeah. Yeah, that's usually how it is, in my reality." He is just picturing intergalactic Quiverfulls now.

He shrugs. "Not as many as some people I know. And that's..." He wants to say a terrible idea but he's TRYING to be cool. Trying. Which means he winds up sounding almost exactly like how his mother does when she's trying not to let one that she hates something.

"...different."