2013.05.12 - After the Party's Over

At some point in the evening, Booster finally got over his unease at being inebriated within the sight of Superman. Because, well, Superman. Then again, if he was that disapproving of such behavior, he would not have provided such libations. With that logic puzzle worked out, Booster cautiously partook of some alcoholic beverages, which in turn allowed him to be slightly more adventurous when trying the exotic foods.
The next morning, while he does not have much of a hangover, he is fairly groggy and his hair is slightly more ruffled than it normally would be. "Skeets?" he wonders, not wanting to shout, feeling slightly awkward at wandering around in someone else's home. Especially such a famous home. Pausing in a hallway, he pokes his head into one of the other rooms and spies the menagerie. "Wowzer," he remarks. He searches his memory for animals he knows about. "There's like... cows. I guess. And stuff."
Jazmin wasn't quite at the dancing on tables stage of inebriation, but she certainly had more than enough than made flying safe, and more than enough to encourage Booster in his food explorations. It has rendered the next morning to be a classic Morning After. She has found a quiet hallway, just on the far side of the menagerie doorway, sitting on the floor with a glass of juice and wearing sunglasses.
Jazmin turns her head at the familiar voice that is so much louder this morning, no matter his attempts to be quiet. "Hey Booster."
Booster actually jumps slightly when Jazmin speaks, and he peers her way, wide-eyed. He relaxes then, and grins faintly. "Oh, hey." His voice is quieter now, hushed tones as one might use in a cathedral. "So, that was pretty fun, huh? This place is so huge, I'm not even sure who's left here." He lifts into the air just a little and drifts towards Jazmin, because this is much quieter than walking. "Did you look into there? It's full of creatures." He stops dead, just hovering there as his eyes get wide again. Covering his mouth with one hand, he wonders with soft horror, "Do... do you think we ate any of them last night?"
"It's huge." Jazmin agrees quietly as she pushes herself carefully to her feet. "You're the first I've seen, beyond bots. I sort of got this far and decided a little moment of quiet was a good plan." She looks a touch rueful as she looks up at the tall man, hovering. "Well, not any of those in specific, no. Others of their species.. uhh.. maybe? I'm not sure what we ate, exactly. Probably not, I shouldn't think. It's even creepier to think that they'd eat anything that looks like their pets."
"N-no, I suppose... if these are kept as companion creatures..." Booster calms down a little bit. "I still haven't visited any current-era zoological gardens, although I want to do that. I bet he has some cool exoplanet animals in there." He pushes his goggles off, and while he does seem slightly haggard, he still looks camera-ready. "I just think that stuff is interesting. In my native era, there wasn't a lot in the way of interesting animals. It was mostly... horrible animals, or ones that were kept as companions by really rich people."
"Kent found a big park in the centre of things." Jazmin comments as she leans a little, sipping from her juice in an oh so cautious manner. "I'm not even sure what, if any, native critters hang out there. We should go see.. sometime. Not right now, I'm not in a spectacular rush to fly anywhere, let along back to New York at the moment." She gives a careful little shake of her head, not removing her sunglasses just yet. "My era didn't have a whole lot, and I'm from another planet, so nothing in familiar to Earth."
"I was born on Earth but it's so different in this era." Booster shakes his head a little. A touch wistfully he says, "I always wanted to visit other planets when I was a kid, but I couldn't afford to do it. I can't really afford to do it now, either, but someday." He perks up with a bright smile, and gestures back at the menagerie entrance. "Let's go view the creatures! I mean, if you're up for it. Sorry, if I had Skeets here, he could probably give you a painkiller if your head hurts."
"It's alright." Jazmin gives a little smile. "Serves me right, really. The last half of the evening is a bit of a haze." She mmms softly. "I didn't do a lot of planet hopping either, I stayed mostly on Xanthu." She takes a few steps closer to the entrance of the menagerie. "I'm totally up for it. Unless one of them starts skreetching, and then all bets are off." She laughs softly and gestures for Booster to head in ahead of her.
"I assume Superman keeps them fed, with interesting things in their enclosures. I doubt he'd keep any creature and then be cruel to it," Booster states, firm in that belief. "Although I guess some creatures might want to make noise, I'm not really sure. I know that can happen. When I met some cows, they made... you know," He searches his memory for the word in English and in Interlac, and finally just comes up with, "Cow-noises." In any case, Booster walks into the menagerie hall with some caution. For all he knows, he is still digesting the brethren of some telepathic animal in there, and it would be awkward to encounter that.
A liter bottle of water in hand, Garth takes a quick peek into the menagerie to see who was in there. As far as he could tell, a fair number of people had stayed to relax, and while Rokk had returned back to join Imra in holding down the fort, Garth felt obligated to make sure everyone else got back safely.
"Hey guys," he calls out, not too loudly. It figures, if anyone knew how to deal with the aftermaths of hangovers, it'd likely be Garth. 
Quietly, Garth comes to the entrance, coming up close. "You guys okay?" he asks, glancing about the menagerie, letting a low whistle escape his lips. "Hell of a sight... a lot of animals that survived in our times are pretty much because he kept them alive, our Kal," Garth says.
"I was far more okay before you whistled." Jazmin winces a little, sipping from her juice again. She considers the critters within and nods to Garth. "Well.. it is Superman. If it's the ultimate good guy stuff, he's the one who is likely to think of it." She glances over to Booster, to watch him a moment even while she's asking Garth. "How're you?"
"Dude," Booster greets Garth in English, although he continues in Interlac, "Initially I was trying to figure out who was still here, without waking up anyone who was still asleep. Jazmin and I were going to look at the beasts in here." He glances around again, because the amount of visual information in the room is a little overwhelming. He remarks, "It's so weird for me, that you know Superman that way... like he's just some regular guy."
"I'm sorry, princess, for offending your ears," Garth says, rolling his eyes, although he does at least offer a wry grin at Jazmin, before nodding at Booster. "Er.. yeah. We're his friends, Buster. We knew him when he was wearing sweater vests. It's not like he's some... some... unapproachable dude. Just like Brainy isn't... even if he says a lot of things that makes me feel like a Neanderthal." 
"I'm not even getting started on Brainy." Jazmin thbbts Garth oh so maturely at his 'princess' comment. She considers and then points out. "I don't think you'd open your house to a Legion party if you weren't hoping to have some friends. I mean, he's not regular, but to various degrees, none of us are. If not for what we can do, or where we're from, then when we're from kinda marks us as distinctly not regular."
"It's Booster," Booster corrects Garth, with a sort of gentle earnestness. "I did meet Brainiac 5 and he seems like a nice guy. I mean he said a lot of words in a way that I couldn't always follow, but you know." He spreads his hands in a shrug. "That's just a thing that can happen, sometimes. With Superman, he's someone I learned about in bedtime stories, and in school... there's a whole wing dedicated to him in the Metropolis Space Museum where I worked. Getting to meet him? Words fail me."
"Oh, it's Brainy, he always seems unhappy to be hanging out with us, but really... he's happy. He will just tell you it's logical to be with friends. And that's what Kal is. I mean... he can't be a Superman unless he's a man first." 
Grinning widely, Garth drapes his arms around the other two's shoulders. "C'mon, it's easier to remember that before he was Superman, he's Kal. Or Clark Kent, whichever floats your boat. "Clarkie's got the weight of the world on his shoulders. He doesn't need his friends adding to that." 
The drape over her shoulders brings a light, teasing elbow into Garth's side from Jazmin. "It is one of the strong points of the Legion, at least in theory. Although damn we're a motley crew." She considers the animals a little while, thoughtful and then points out. "The home videos were absolutely adorable, I have to say. It was great to see them."
Booster has been suffering a lot of information overload since arriving at the Fortress of Solitude. It takes Garth flat-out stating that for it to really register in the tall blond man's head. Putting a hand over his mouth for a shocked moment, Booster finally manages to say, "Superman is Clark Kent?" He falls silent for a long, thought-filled moment. In a tone so quiet that it is barely audible to average ears, Booster says, "...that makes him even cooler." And then, at a more normal volume that is tinged with frustration, "Ugh, that makes it all even tougher to live up to..."
Oofing a bit at Jazmin's elbow (not that it really hurt, but you know, at least give her some satisfaction), Garth releases the two of them, only to reach back and try to noogie Booster by grabbing him in a headlock. "... Oh feh. You're not gonna live up to Superman's reputation. Hell, not even Clarkie lives up to Superman's expectations. It's all about being the best you can be. So you gotta be the best Buster Gold you can be, right...?" 
Fortunately, it wasn't supposed to actually hurt. Jazmin gives a slow shake of her head. "I am not familiar enough with Superman's life on Earth to be entirely in awe of the revelation that he's Clark Kent. It just seems.. as much a part of him as me being both Jazmin and Kid Quantum, or Garth and Lightning Lad." She twists up into a smile. "Fortunately, it's not a direct competition. Overtly. Even if some people really struggle to get over that notion."
It is not difficult to get Booster into a headlock for noogies, although it does mean Garth has to kind of pull himself upwards to do it; Booster is surprisingly hard to drag downwards, especially when he's distracted by big thoughts. "Yeah well, I mean, I'm Booster in or out of costume. That's just a nickname I've had for years, even my sister called me that half the time instead of 'Michael'. My day job is looking good for photographs, it's hardly as important as writing journalistic stories that managed to make it into schoolbooks five hundred years later. And I mean, that happened without anyone knowing he also would sometimes put on a cape and save the world!"
Garth is simply unimpressed. Booster hasn't lived until he's tried to noogie Colossal Boy. 
"What-ever," Garth says, giving a roll of his eyes as he glances towards Jazmin. This hero worship thing probably needed to stop. "So you've just found out Superman puts on a pair of pants like anyone else. Big deal. He's our friend." Glancing about the menagerie, Garth shakes his head. "Ah well. Let's get out of here, find something to liberate. I say we liberate Kal's food from the replicomats." 
"My brother called me all sorts of things other than Jazmin." Jazmin snorts softly, amused. "None of them were Kid Quantum, for obvious reasons." She looks at her empty juice glass and nods. "I could eat. I think. Coffee for sure. Booster, you hungry?"
"Y...eah." Booster seems pensive for a moment, then pulls his cowl back on, settling his goggles into place. "Sorry, guys. I mean, there are no superheroes at all in my era. It's a lot like entering some book of mythology, and seeing amazing beings out of these crazy fantasy stories. Sometimes I feel a little like an imposter." He would never be this candid about his thoughts and feelings if he weren't feeling fuzzy from a hangover. "Yeah, I could do with coffee and food, too."
"Like 'devilspawn, bratgirl, Minnie...'?" Garth grins, before offering Jazmin the liter bottle, as he glances towards Booster. "Right. Let's see... I think Supes' kitchen is that way. Although I'm not about to eat any of those weird hairball things..." 
"Nuh uh. Not even a chance I'm eating anything weird this morning." Jazmin protests softly as she accepts the litre bottle from Garth and takes a drink. "The prospect of normal food is a little be touchy at best." She steps over and reaches a hand out to rest of Booster's arm. "If it helps, you can pretend we're all hallucinations or something."
"Heh, are you kidding? I want you all to be real. I didn't violate government time-travel laws to get into this era just to dream of imaginary friends." Some of Booster's bravado is creeping back, and he grins. "I know I'm a reservist, but I was wondering about training. I mean, I know how to work on a team... but that was all sports. Maybe I'm making assumptions from my sports background, but do you do teamwork training sessions?"
"Sure do. I'm in charge, she's the one who's gonna explain how it's done," Garth says, grinning at Jazmin. "She's better at long-term strategy. I'm just the guy who gets out there on the field and deploy them. We're working on this stuff, so we should have announcements... soon?" 
"You have laws about time travel?" Jazmin asks, suddenly much more curious. "Just time travel, or about all time manipulation?" She nods at the mention of team exercises. "Once we work out exactly how to divvy up this particular herd of cats, and then further.. how to ensure we can train without destroying HQ or each other. Some folks hit pretty hard, in all sorts of literal and metaphorical ways."
"Great. I could use some of that, I've been meeting Legionnaires but in most cases I have no idea what anyone can do." Booster runs his fingers through his hair to get it looking more orderly. "And sure, I mean they had laws for a lot of stuff. Hmm..." His eyes roll upwards as he searches his memory. "In general it was unlawful to do any kind of power display, but the punishment varied depending on degree. So if I returned to my time, they'd catch me and execute me on the spot. But I had no plans on going back, so it's a moot point!"
"That's basically our job, to get an idea what everyone can do. Yeah, rules... forget about all that for now. If Rokk doesn't object, it's probably okay. If he does..." Garth shrugs. "I leave it to Imra to figure it out. You should too, Jaz." Rubbing his head, Garth motions up to space. "Think we can train out in, I don't know, the asteroid belt?" 
"Don't worry, you're on my list Booster." Jazmin assures him and then quirks a brow. "Uhh.. no power displays? Executed? Yeah, no. No going back there. I'll steal you back to Xanthu if I have to rather than that." She looks to Garth then. "What am I figuring out alongside, or concurrently with, Imra? We could head for an asteroid belt. If I manage to get my knickers no longer in a twist, I might ask Brainy about what the sims can handle."
"I couldn't go back even if I wanted to, the machine I took to get here is gone," Booster admits, a trace sheepishly. "I stepped out, turned and saw a figure in it and it vanished. Which was weird, because when I landed there wasn't anyone nearby, and we'd even scanned the area." He looks wistful then, as he says, "It's a shame, though. The time stream was beautiful. I don't really want to go back to where I came from, but it would've been fun to see other times." Blinking a little, he refocuses on the present and says, "...I think I'd initially be more comfortable training on-planet. If my forcefield shut down while I was in space, I'd... I'm not really sure what happens. Implosion? Explosion? Horrifying suffocation as you freeze-dry to death?"
"Yeah. Well, the people who can survive space exposure are usually the ones most likely to be really destructive," Garth notes. "Mon-El, Superman, Ultra Boy if he keeps his invulnerability on. But we've dealt with space missions before, so no sense avoiding them. Right, Jazmin? I think we should just go ahead and try one in space. Get Brainy or Kent to get us a shuttle." 
"You can't go back that way." Jazmin points out with a shrug. "There's more ways of manipulating time than one single machine, but .. I think you're right. I think we're all stuck here a while. I know my time skills aren't up to shuffling us around the time streams." She is still drinking from Garth's water bottle, slowly coming around to being a little more functional. "I'm not opposed to training in space, I am totally opposed to folks who aren't naturally immune to space exposure going, at least on the first one. Shuttle battling isn't the same sort of training. Also useful, but one thing at a time, right?"
"I guess it's better to deal with space under controlled conditions. Instead of having your first exposure being thrown into orbit by some powerful bad guy," Booster remarks, in a philosophical manner. However, he's more interested in what Jazmin has said about her own abilities. "I didn't realize you had time-related powers. That's pretty neat! I've never thought about that kind of thing outside of actual time-travelling, you probably have some interesting ways to use it."
"Oh, she does," Garth notes with sarcasm dripping in his voice. "She can make things happen faster or slower... like if I tried to give her a noogie..." 
And Garth starts reaching out for Jazmin. 
"Not the most flashy.." Jazmin starts and then gathers up a ball of shimmering energy on her hand as Garth starts to reach for her. She tosses it in his direction, perhaps not the most on the ball, damn hangover, potentially to tangle him up in a field of energy. Unless he dodges, which is certainly possible.
Booster leans back a little bit, so as to not interfere with the demonstration--especially since he has no idea what it might do, but it's certainly interesting to watch. He exhales a quiet, "Whoah," and lifts his goggles for a better look. "Gosh, it's like you scoop up the stuff I saw on my trip here, that is nuts..."
Moving slowly, Garth begins to enact the entire Zeno's Paradox thing. Where he always seems to travel half the distance, then half the distance, then half the distance indefinitely, never quite reaching Jazmin. Because, of course, that was her little power. 
It might actually take him forever to reach Jazmin, but he was gonna get there... maybe... 
"Yeah, basically. Although I mostly just mess with the speed." Jazmin has plenty of time to take a couple steps away from Garth, giving room to let her fiddle with the bubble one of the Founders is currently caught in. "Slow, like this.. or I can speed it up." She illustrates that a moment, only a couple heartbeats really before dialing it back down to slow. "Although once I let him out, I am going to be doomed." She smirks a little, and then flicks her hand to let the bubble fall away from him.
"Ha!" Booster beams, smiling hugely. "Okay, you might say it's not flashy but I think this is a pretty great power." He darts his hand in to poke a finger at Garth's time bubble before Jazmin dismisses it, although his digit just darts in and out of it as if he were interacting with smoke. Whether this is normal or not is not for Booster to judge, since he doesn't know any better. "What's it like for the person in there? Do they feel regular and everything around them speeds up and slows down?"
As soon as the bubble drops, Garth stumbles forward into trying to embrace... empty air where Jazmin was a bit ago. 
Regaining his balance, Garth tilts his head, flashing a grin at Jazmin as he glances towards Booster. "There you go." Surreptitiously, and quickly, he sets the air around Jazmin into a faint amount of static electricity... 
And slowly, quickly, the effects will be seen in her hair. 
Glancing at Booster, Garth smirks. "What were you saying...?" Not that he'd heard anything clearly, as everything sounded speeded up when he was in the bubble. 
Booster's prodding at the energy bubble brings a little furrow to Jazmin's brow, puzzled rather than concern exactly. "Hunh.. that's odd. For the one in it, yes, they feel regular and everything around them looks odd." She reaches a hand up to tame her tight curls and harumph softly at Garth. "Brat."
"I was telling Jazmin that her powers are awesome," Booster explains, to Garth. "And also, wondering what it was like to be ... I guess out of synch with everyone else's sense of time. I can see how it'd be useful, though... you can slow down a foe to get an edge on them, or you can speed up a teammate so they're like the Flash." He folds his arms lightly, one hand lifted so he can rest his chin on his thumb and index finger. "Geez, Jazmin. You could really mess someone up with that power."
"Bratgirl," retorts Garth, sticking his tongue back out at Jazmin, before nodding at Booster. "Yeah, you were all talking a mile a minute or something." Shrugging, Garth grins at Jazmin as he checks out her new frizzly hairdo. "I like the hair. It looks better on you this way." 
"Or speed them up if they are degenerating or something." Jazmin points out as she attempts to smooth her hair, again. "Its hard enough to keep from frizzing everywhere without you helping it along." She notes to Garth before going back to chatting at Booster and then asking. "So.. when you put your hand in it.. you didn't feel anything odd at all?"
"Nah, I thought about trying to poke Garth, but I thought better of it. What if it messed him up, or something. I guess it felt a little tingly, though." Booster glances at his hand, then, although it looks the way it usually does. "A little like putting my hand into a room with a cooler temperature. Uh..." Now he looks concerned. "I didn't just... age part of my body differently to the rest of me, did I? Is that going to cause problems?"
"Uh... I don't think it matters," Garth shrugs. "Some parts of your body's gonna be older than the rest of you anyway, like your skin. I mean... maybe your skin's gonna peel off because skin cells die all the time. The rest..." Giving a light shrug, Garth grins. "Just stick your finger in a faster-time bubble so the rest of you catch up?" 
"Not enough as to make a notice." Jazmin looks at Booster and then notes almost absently. "But.. normally if its only a small part, it doesn't feel cool, it feels sort of numb." She mmms softly. "I.. I would love to work with you more, Booster. When my head isn't pounding like a thousand drums."
Booster points at Garth, saying nothing for a long moment, just giving him a solemn look. Then, he says, "That's disturbing." He starts to turn back to Jazmin, pauses, then again speaks to Garth, "What your sister told me about you makes more and more sense." Now he refocuses on Jazmin. "Well sure, of course... any time. I didn't mean to bring work into all of this, since we're in a leisure situation. I mostly just wanted to know more about you all."
"... okay, what did my sister tell you?" Garth says, straightening up and looking at Booster with a lot more intensity. "Because my sister was all of seven when I last saw her. So whatever she's telling you..."
"It's not work.. exactly." Jazmin explains with a shrug to Booster. "It's not like I can turn off some portion of myself just because I'm off duty, or unreasonably hungover. Which I'm going to blame on you at least in part, Garth." She offers a somewhat faint smile. "I like figuring out how we work together." She pauses a moment and then ahems softly, ducking her head a touch. She glances at the bottle in her hand. "Sorry Garth, I drank all your water."
Instead of immediately looking back to Garth, Booster Gold just smiles at Jazmin and gives her a wink. Then, with his eyebrows raised, he turns his head to look Garth's way and says, "Well, we just talked about stuff. You know, about what it's like being a twin, that kind of thing. I have a cute twin sister, so I know how it is." To Jazmin, Booster remarks, "Well, I just don't want to be pushy about it. But you seem like an awesome trainer and coordinator, so naturally I want to learn."
Motioning dismissively at Jazmin over the water bottle, as in 'think nothing of it', Garth instead eyes Booster. "Yeah, she's a cute twin. So... what exactly are we discussing here, how cute she is? Because I'll have you know she was a bedwetter when she was six." 
"I'm starting to think I'm quite the anomaly for not having a twin." Jazmin notes as she flickers a half smile at Booster and then blinks at him in surprise. "I.. uhh.. thank you?" She rattles the water bottle, as if somehow that will magically conjure up more water in it. She settles a little more quiet as the discussion falls to cute twins.
Booster tries to stifle a laugh, but fails, so he just reaches out in an attempt to give Garth a companionable pat on the back. "You guys make me miss Michelle." He then explains to Jazmin, "That's my sister, I may have mentioned her once, but not by name." He waves his hand, as if to dismiss the words he'd spoken about his sibling, as he says, "I still want coffee."
"Not really an anomaly," Garth grins at Jazmin. "Just... different." Patting Jazmin companionably, Garth looks towards Booster. "So... let's find Kal's kitchen already. I think he's got a collection of coffee from all over." 
Grinning, Garth leads the way. "And we can even toss in some of Not-Kal's Mom apple pie, too, I bet... if there's any left." 
"I absolutely want a coffee." Jazmin agrees wholeheartedly. "And whatever Superman might have around this place for headaches. Which, as I think on it, might be nothing. I somehow doubt he's ever been hungover, or had a headache. Coffee may have to do. Pie. Pie would absolutely help the headache." She nods and then heads out on the Epic Quest of Caffination.
Category:Log