2014.03.22 - Martian Chronicles

Sometimes heroes have to do big things. Sometimes? Little things. Like...the ferris wheel has broken down, and after much trying, there are workers just...glaring at it. And J'onn, retrieving the people stranded in the cars, so they don't have to be up there for hours. Little things...but sometimes those little things are just as important. Like, un-ruining a little girl's birthday as he carefully places her on the ground by the barriers surrounding the broken ride.
Teddy Altman had just changed into his Hulkling identity (carefully hidden) to help with the issues with the ferris wheel- but by the time he had found a good spot to change (hard to do, in this place) and fly back, J'onn was already ahead of him.
The green teen with the mop of blond hair grins, standing back and watching J'onn in action.
"That's what I call speedy service," he says. Of course he knows who it is, he and his boyfriend are probably some of the biggest nerds out there. Quite a few herowiki pages have been corrected by someone with fastidiously accurate knowledge. "I didn't know you were going to be in the area."
"Just flying by." The wheel isn't quite empty, and Hulkling can help with the last few stranded people, with the ones close to the bottom being helped out by fair workers. "Obviously, I wasn't going to let this situation stay as it was. The workers think it might take five or six hours to fixx."
"I am sure they're glad for the lift, then!" Hulkling says, sprouting wings and zooming up to help a couple off a particular pod, one by one for safety. "Too bad Wiccan's not here with me, he could save them some time by fixing it."
"I think they can manage." Once the wheel is cleared, he turns to the young man. "Thank you for the help, Hulkling." He does know who the kid is...but then, J'onn has always kept a careful watch on other heroes. Especially the younger ones.
Teddy Altman blinks, and turns slightly dark-green for a second. The Martian Manhunter knew who he was. "Wow...er, thank you, Mr. Manhunter. It was a pleasure!" He tilts his head, "Are you on your patrol right now?"
"I was. At least the interruption was less unpleasant than some." Nobody hurt. Nobody in any real danger...a little thing. He does note Hulkling's blush, but he doesn't say anything about it. After all...
"If it's not too presumptuous... could I, could I tag along?" Hulkling asks. "I promise I won't do anything you don't want me to do." A chance to shadow one of the greats? WHo wouldn't ask for that? The young shapeshifter could just see his teammates' eyes growing wide at the thought.
Well, except Kate. Kate was a bona fide member of the JLA.
"Of course. How fast can you fly?" J'onn isn't as fast as Superman, but he's left people in his wake before. Or, perhaps, he'll discover Hulkling is the faster one.
Excited, the Young Ally answers, "I can do decent speeds, but I have the impression you'd probably leave me behind easily," he smiles. "I've never really pushed it as fast as I can go, though."
J'onn J'onzz ahs. "Well, just yell wait if I DO leave you in the dust." He lifts off into the air, easily. They're both green...not quite the same shade of green, though.
Teddy Altman follows after J'onn, clearly eager to make a good impression. "Will do! Where to next?" he says. He does fly quite swiftly, though not as fast as J'onn. There's something to be said for the slowness of flapping wings at times.
"I was going to swing north, up past Long Island and into upstate. I tend to leave purely in city stuff to those who can't fly as quickly." He matches the younger hero's pace. "So, you and Wiccan are partners?"
There's a missed flap there, out of surprise, but Teddy rights himself quickly with that dark blush returning to his cheeks. "We are, yes!" It wasn't as if they hid it, but it was still the exhilaration of someone you look up to knowing details about you. He hadn't been there when the Young Allies had received presidential medals for saving the city, but Wiccan definitely got his due of attention being the present side of the couple at the time. "I think we're the only ones who are... uh, open about it currently."
"I have never understood why humans are so...uncomfortable...with such things." Then again, some days J'onn thinks he'll never understand humans. Telepathy only helps so much.
"What do you mean, Mr. Manhunter?" Hulkling frowns, "You mean uncomfortable with sexuality in general, or just the less mainstream options?"
"Mostly the less mainstream options." J'onn considers that. "But I think I have a very diferent perspective."
Hulkling puts his best effort to fly side by side with J'onn, as he is very curious by now, "What would you say your perspective is? If... I mean, if you feel like discussing it?"
"I am a telepath from a species of telepaths. Hiding in the closet is, truthfully, an alien concept." Hiding one's feelings? Oh, you can do it, but why on something like that?
Teddy Altman chuckles, "I see what you mean. Here, we consider privacy to be something valuable... everybody likes to have a little corner to think. And some people prefer not to reveal things about themselves... which is fine, really. The problem starts when some folks start telling others what -they- can't reveal."
"Privacy is important. It is not quite..." He glances back towards the city. "That is a problem, unless, of course, it is their personal secret."
"I guess that things such as secret identities would be seen as strange, too, in a race of telepaths?" Hulkling wondered what it might be like, being a hero in a different world, or with a different species.
J'onn J'onzz hrms. "You can still keep secrets. The difference is people often KNOW you are. But we still managed to have crime."
"How did you deal with crime?" A pause, and then the green teen says, "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be nosy..."
"Much the same way as humans, but we were rather less fond of custodial sentences for non-violent crimes and very big on reparation and community service." He sounds a little sad.
Hulkling picks up on the sadness, and does his best to move away from it, "-- what would you say are some of your favorite things around here?"
"You mean on Earth?" Is he the one blushing. "I find certain of your confections borderline addictive," he admits. "Most especially your cookies."
"Cookies? Oh, my mom makes some of the best--- any in particular you like?" This is a helpful thing to know, Teddy notes.
"Oreos," he admits. Well, those ARE just a little bit addictive at the best of times.
"Ooh... yes, those are nice." Noted and filed in the Hulkling computer. "- anything about the people that you like?" he grins.
"Humans? I like humans well enough. You have some rough edges, and a definite tendency to over-categorize, but...a lot of potential as well." He glances at Hulkling. Whom, of course, he thinks is a metahuman at this point. Oops.
"We do tend to be a little complicated." Teddy looks down at the city, pensive. "Isn't it interesting how a species is capable of that much fear and that much courage? I mean... as a mutant, I'm feared by some people. I'm gay, I'm hated by others- which really is just a sort of fear. But they're the same people from which a Batman or a Nightwing come from. Funny to think about it." He too, at this point, thinks he's human.
"I think it has to do with being an adolescent species." He doesn't quite explain what he means. "But I have chosen to devote myself to protecting them."
"Wait... do you mean that we're all teenagers from some sort of galactic point of view?" Hulkling asks, a little surprised by that.
"I mean that humanity is in a tricky time...genetically, technologically, culturally." He smiles at the actual teenager. "I suspect you can envision what I mean.
"Yes... I can. In the last hundred years or so we've changed faster than we had in thousands of years. What do you think the outcome of... all this?" he says, waving his arms "will be?"
"Hard to tell yet. I have gained several opinions on the matter, ranging from the strong feeling in some quarters that the human race is going to split...most likely as you start to expand into space, to the conviction from others that baseline humanity will probably become extinct within a few generations." He doesn't seem disturbed. "*I* do not care what form humanity takes as long as you survive."
"That's... a sobering thought," Hulkling comments. He is curious to know more about the Manhunter's own culture, but the sadness inherent in his replies caution him away from being indelicate. "And now you work with the League... it must be very exciting!"
"Sometimes. And sometimes it gets a little bit *too* exciting." Tony. He never knew the man well, but what happened definitely constitutes "too exciting."
Hulkling had never had any encounters with Iron Man personally, he couldn't say he felt the loss personally-- but he was a hero, and he felt the loss in that sene. "... hopefully things will go back to being normal-exciting for a while."
"I hope so. But when we come out here...we all know the risks." He could easily have gone down himself; he was in more danger than he had been in, perhaps, ever.
"My mom isn't exactly thrilled, I can tell you that." Hulking says, "I'm aware that this is dangerous... but at the same time, I can't really go back home and lea a 'normal' life. Thinking that somewhere out there there was someone who got hurt... or worse... whom I could have saved. You know?'
"For me, it is...making sure history does not repeat itself," he says, softly. Not that he doesn't deal with the minor stuff, but...
Hulkling frown, looking at J'onn. Well, he mentioned it... maybe it was okay to ask. He decides to ask in the most circuitous way possible, "History?" That was enough for him to be oblique if he wanted to, respecting his privacy.
"Mars." One word, but perhaps the boy will understand. There's nothing *there* now.
There's a certain heavyness in Teddy. Of course. "We'll make sure it never happens." He gives J'onn a smile full of youthful idealism and optimism. "I mean... if we could stop Darkseid, we can do almost anything."
"I know." And then he pauses. "I have to go. Take care, Hulkling." And he streaks off at a speed few could match, towards the Hall of Justice.
Category:Log