2012-09-08 Interview: By Way of Krypton

The night is starting toward crisp and cool, hinting the autumn and winter to come. Ten floors above Maple Street, Lois slides the door from her apartment and her balcony closed. It's a rare thing, her balcony door closed when she's home. Rarer still is the door being locked. Barefoot, the reporter is all but ready for bed, in loose fitting fleece pajama pants that cling to her hips, and a short pajama tshirt that barely brushes the top of those pants. The pajama pantss are a soft gray, with little electric guitars in blacks and reds printed all over it. The shirt isn't the match for the pants, for the shirt is light blue with Grumpybear on it and the words: Ask me if I care. Her hair is pulled up in a very sloppy, end of the day, I'm really ready for bed now style ponytail. It keeps the hair out of her face as she puts her second cigarette of the day, and the one she has before bed, between her lips. The lighter gives that distinctive click-click as she spins the flint wheel and brings the flame up, left hand cupped around the tiny bright yellow flame.
A freak gust of wind comes from nowhere and puts out the lighter flame. Followed only moments later with another gust that times just perfectly to blow hte lighter out once more. Then comes Superman, hovering downward to hang suspended near the edge of Lois' balcony. "Those will kill you, Ms. Lane." Superman warns softly, already reaching up to take the cigarette from her mouth.
"Forgive me for dropping in unannounced. I would have called...." he offers up with a grin, trailing off. 
"Bad time?"
At the first gust, Lois didn't think anything of it. She just restruck her lighter and tried again. She gets another steady little flame and brings it up to the little white cancer stick when the flame goes out again. About to get annoyed, Blue and Red is spotted out of the corner of her eyes. She looks up, cigarette tucked between her lips, just as he starts speaking. Her violet eyes double blink quickly, hands not coming up to stop the plucking of the cigarette. 
"But...? ...You don't have my number," Lois finishes when he's pulled the cigarette free from her lips, which twitch from a faintly confused (and slightly annoyed at the freak wind gusts that kept putting out her lighter... Metropolis and its freak wind patterns, I swear!) to lightly amused. 
"No, I suppose not. I /am/ still awake. What can I do for you, Superman," Lois replies, putting the lighter in that little 'hidden' spot just under the lip of a flower pot nearby before looking back over at the hovering superhero.
Superman crushes the cancer stick in a fist, and then dusts his hands off casually, sending the fine mist off into the night. He casually motions towards Lois' chest with a grin. "So do you care?" he asks, starting to float up to land on the balcony before stopping. 
"Excuse me. May I?" he asks, motioning towards the balcony. Floating a few feet above the floor....that's fine. Actually landing on a ladies balcony without permission, totally rude.
Lois watches the fine mist that was her cigarette. Those things are expensive, man! When Superman motions to her chest, Lois' eyes widen and she drops her chin to look. His question has her confused until she actually /reads/ what's on her chest, having to grab the bottom of her shirt to pull it a bit away to do so. 
"Oh," Lois says with a chuckle, letting the front of her shirt drop once more. She looks up, blinks at the empty space in front of her, then turns to follow Superman as he floats over her balcony. With a faint headtilt and a smile, Lois nods.
"Yes. Of course."
Superman touches down to the balcony gently, letting his cape settle backwards as both feet hit the ground. "Thank you." he says.
"Things are quiet tonight. I was wondering if perhaps you had the time to get started on our interview? I don't want to interrupt anything, but moments when the world is this quiet are rare." Superman explains softly.
Lois nods again as Supermen alights upon her balcony. Sure, she's about ready to curl up and go to sleep, but when Superman drops in and wants your attention... 
"Oh! Yes. No. I mean, sure. You're not interrupting anything," Lois stammers just a moment, mind trying to rebalance itself. "AH, you're welcome," she says now, because her mind is working out of order it seems. She steps from the balcony edge toward her balcony door.
"I can only imagine. You always seem so busy," Lois says, voice falling into something more calm as the physical motion gets her brain settled and ready for 'work'. "Did you want to come in or talk out here? I'd like to go get my notepad, if that's okay? We'll be on the record, I assume?"
"Absolutly on the record. And..out here, please. Or I can go around to the front door and we can talk in the living room." Superman says, running a hand through his hair a little sheepishly. A gentleman doesn't enter a ladies bedroom, after all. Nor peek into it, apparently. He has no idea whats on the otherside of those curtains, and isn't going to take any chances. 
"Please get whatever you need to make yourself comfortable. Treat me like you would any other interview, Ms. Lane." Superman offers, placing himself on the chopping block. "If there is something that I cannot answer, I will tell you that I cannot answer it."
Lois blinks, then has to bite the inside of lower lip to keep from giggling at him. The sheepishness has a light blush in repsonse. She opens the balcony doors that lead into her living room. Sure, there's another set of doors to her bedroom, but that she leaves closed for now. Because her bedroom's a diaster!
"Living room, but if you'd rather stay out here, that's fine. I'll be right back," Lois says, offering for Superman to let himself in or not, whichever way feels comfortable. She moves to her messenger bag, mind going over what she'll want to use to record this interview. Her standard, if he'd like to be treated just like any other mark. Of course she was going to do it anyway, with the hard questions she might level at him. Far worse than what she puts his cousin through, the poor girl. She was /not/ prepared for Lois Lane.
"Can I get you anything to drink, Superman? Coffee? Water?" Beer? She doesn't say the last option. Her mind just added it on its own. It's one of thos staple things General Lane always offered when military types would visit the house. Coffee, water, beer. It's like those were the only three things he ever had ready and at hand for anyone not in the Lane Family. Does Superman even drink beer? Lois ponders that as she flips through the notepad that's with her pen currently, skimming the older notes contained within. No. This needs a new notepad, its own notepad. Lois sets that book down and heads to her rolly top writing desk to fetch a fresh notepan.
Superman moves to the balcony doors and folds his arms behind his back, under his cape, casually standing in the military 'at ease' positon as he watches Lois move about her apartment. "I'll have whatever you're having." he says in response to the offer of a beverage. 
Superman cocks his head, and looks far away a moment, before coming back to himself. He smiles softly at something and waits for Lois.
Fresh notepad in hand, Lois heads to the kitchen to pour the last of her coffee into mugs for them both. A mere half cup each, since this was the last cup in the brewer and she was going to throw it out right before bed. It had been brewed just a few hours before, when she got home from work. Holding the mugs by the handles in one hand, Lois collects her pen with her notebook hand and heads back to the balcony. 
"Here you go," she says as she holds out the mugs. One's a very classic I<3Metropolis mug. Bright blue and cheery with the Metropolis skyline emblazoned on it; the Planet's golden globe actually in metallic gold so that it gleams whenever light strikes it. It was a gift, and she really likes that mug. The other is a sleek black number with a red Team Luthor 2012 logo on it; also a gift. Neither cup of joe is very hot, but they are serviceably warm, and neither have any sugar added or anything. That fact seems to suddenly occur to Lois.
"Um, I take my coffee black. Did you want... sugar or something?"
Superman looks at the two mugs and then reaches up to take both of them. "May I?" he asks, taking them anyway and pouring the Luthor mug into the Metropolis mug. He focus on the black liquid a moment, and twin red lasers lance out from his eyes for a few heartbeats. He then offers the now steaming Metropolis cup back to Lois, bringing it back to the perfect sipping temperature. 
The Man of Steel hangs on to the Team Luthor cup and smiles softly. "I'll be fine. Thank you." he says.
Lois relinquishes the mugs to Superman, watching him as he pours the coffee into the one mug and heats it up with a look. That's still so awesome. Lois grins lightly. 
When Superman offers the perfectly steaming mug to her, Lois takes it. She notes that he keeps the other, now empty, mug for himself, and her lips part to comment. His soft smile and comment that he'll be fine is what keeps her from pressing the issue. She moves to the little table she has on her patio.
"Mind if I sit down so I can take notes," Lois asks politely as she sets her notepad and pen down before taking a sip of that perfectly hot coffee.
"Make yourself comfortable." Superman offers, grinning a little as he offers to let the woman do something in her own home. Already off to an interesting start. The man glances around a moment, and then returns to that 'military rest' stance, holding the empty coffee mug behind his back. 
Once more Superman glances up towards the sky, looking distant for a moment before he looks back down. "I'm ready when you are."
Lois sits down, setting her coffee mug off to the side. She seems nonpulsed by being offered to do something in her own home. After all, this is the place /he/ requested for the interview, so for the moment, the balcony is not her home but her place of business, and so the interviewee should be made as comfortable as possible, the interviewer seeming as accomodating as possible. Usually helps to grease the wheels, as it were. 
She activates her Livescribe pen, setting it to record before she writes the date and time on her notepad. '9/8 2146 - Superinterview (lame title)', she writes with the tip of her tongue poking out between teeth and lips. It's a slight stall tactic, trying to find the best place to start this off. Her violet eyes lift to meet blue, and she can't help but notice the parade rest stance. Lois' headtilts, and she fires off the first question that that sight brings to mind - because it really might have been better than the lame question she was considering opening with.
Lois sits down, setting her coffee mug off to the side. She seems nonpulsed by being offered to do something in her own home. After all, this is the place /he/ requested for the interview, so for the moment, the balcony is not her home but her place of business, and so the interviewee should be made as comfortable as possible, the interviewer seeming as accomodating as possible. Usually helps to grease the wheels, as it were. 
She activates her Livescribe pen, setting it to record before she writes the date and time on her notepad. '9/8 2146 - Superinterview (lame title)', she writes with the tip of her tongue poking out between teeth and lips. It's a slight stall tactic, trying to find the best place to start this off. Her violet eyes lift to meet blue, and she can't help but notice the parade rest stance. Lois' headtilts, and she fires off the first question that that sight brings to mind - because it really might have been better than the lame question she was considering opening with.
"The Justice League has a heavy amount of US Military support, from MPs guarding the Hall of Justice to access to military and government equipment. With an known extra-terrestial and at least one mutant on your team, has there been any friction between the League and rumored government agencies looking to exploit people like them; searching for and/or attempting to collect DNA, for example?" Never opens with the easy ones does she? But if she can get an official reaction to this rumor in an article, maybe she can spook a few of her contacts into talking to her about that concern Supermand had brought to her a few weeks ago about people stealing DNA samples from various labs. She hasn't been able to find anything yet.
Superman steps forward and sets the empty Team Luthor mug on the table before crossing his arms over his chest and leaning agisnt the wall. He chews his bottom lip thoughtfully for a moment before settling on an answer and starting to speak.
"We do have heavy military support, and I want to emphasize the word support. There has been no friction between us that can't be attributed to the growing pains any new organization." Superman begins. "There have been some rumors going around that I wish to quash. The military is /not/ using the Justice League as an extension of the armed forces. The military is there to lend support and give credability to the Justice League. The League is using the military's authority to act as agents of the law, and to fall under the military jurisdiction for legal purposes." the man explains.
"So that in short...if a member of the Justice League makes an arrest, it stands up in court."
"Rather than just a bunch of costumed vigilantes leaving goons tied up on PD's doorstep," Lois adds, clarifying and restating in her own words. "Seems reasonable," she adds as she jots things down. Sure, the pen's recording, but physically making notes of the thoughts she has as the interview is going on helps her aim her next question.
"So then League members are sort of deputized? How does that work with an alien from another planet?" Lois Lane, being subtle.
"The same as it works with anyone else, Ms. Lane." Superman answers quickly. "Being from another plantet doesn't somehow preclude one from serving as an agent of the law, anymore than being from another country does. Yes, the members of the league are tasked and 'deputized' as you put it, by the US Armed Services to persure, investigate, and police meta, para, and super instances occuring within the United States."
He smiles softly and shakes his head at the woman. "All of which is public information. It will take an act of congress to formalize our jurisdiction, so we are acting under a Presidential Executive Order for the time being, using the military's authority. Which you already knew."
"So why don't we stop beating around the bush and directly ask the question, Ms. Lane." Superman offers, scratching lightly at his nose before returning his hands to across his chest.
Lois purses her lips in a smirk. Calling me out? Alright. Here is goes.
"Where are you from, Superman?" Short. Simple. Seems softly handled, doesn't it? It could be seen that way, given that Lois already knows. Has since that night in the Park and then a few weeks later when Superman told her and then she confronted Supergirl, but being told, off the record, and then getting asked by a friend to keep a lid on it is completely different from being on the record and him saying it for himself.
"I am from the central United States by way of the planet Krypton." Superman answers plainly, with a touch of a sad note entering his voice. "A...disaster struck my planet, and my father, Jor-El, placed me as an infant aboard a small spaceship and sent me to earth to avoid the planet's destruction."
Superman actually looks down at the floor a moment, and scuffs his boot on the ground. He looks a little pained, and tries to keep it from his voice. "The scant few of us that are here are all that is left of a planet of billions. I was raised here in the United States though, and the only knowledge I have of my homeworld comes from the notes and journals that my father placed in my ship with me."
"Kal, by the way. My name is Kal-El."
And that's what gets Lois softening. She lifts her gaze to Superman, hearing that sad note and seeing that scuffing toe. When he says his name, she jots it down. Delay tactic. Gotta reshift focus.
"So, you, your cousins, and Zenith are here, using your alien superpowers to protect the Earth so that what happened on Krypton doesn't happen here," Lois asks, violet eyes on blue ones.
"That's a bit of a stretch, but yes." Superman explains, his voice dropping slightly before he exhales slowly and stands up a little straighter. "And...cousins? I'm only aware of having one cousin, Supergirl. Who is the other?" the Man of Steel asks, a slight note of confusion entering his voice.
"Is it? Then why do it, Superman? Why fight for ...whatever it is you fight for? Why stop the bad guys?" Lois pokes lightly, before she nods at Superman's confusion. Her brow knits faintly, head half turning away. "Yes. Supergirl and Superboy. Young man, looks just like you. He stopped a really lame meta that had scooped me up the other day. I assumed you knew him."
"Why save the world? Because it's the right thing to do Ms. Lane. What kind of person would I be if I had all these amazing gifts, and did nothing with them? I have amazing gifts here on Earth, and prefer to use them for the betterment of all mankind. This is after all....my home too." Superman explains softly, a soft smile playing on his face and he shifts his arms and recross them. 
"And...I've never meet this Superboy. I'm unaware of any relation." the man explains.
"Kind of like Jonn," Lois asks, still not able to pronunce the martian's name properly. She's got it fairly close, and for her that's saying something. She's known to mangle people's names on purpose. "Do you two get along alright," she asks, meandering slightly. When Superman says he's never met Superboy, the reporter looks a bit concerned.
"Really? Wow. Well, I hope you get to soon. He's a nice kid, and really, spitting image," Lois comments lightly, brows knotted slightly.
"Do J'onn and I get along alright?" Superman repeats the question, eyebrow slightly raised as he tries to ponder Lois' angle here. "We get along just fine. He's a first rate gentleman and I trust him with my life." the man states plainly. 
"And I think I will meet this 'Superboy' as soon as possible." Superman says, bringing a hand up to stroke casually at his chin.
Where was that question going? Slip of professionalism. She adores J'onn, and since he asked he rto hook him and Superman up - Lois Lane, Super Match Maker - and they ended up on the League together, well... maybe it's because: "Since you're both mostly the last of your species," Lois offers by way of explanation. Because that made it sound so much better. Wow, she can tell this really isn't going where she wanted it to. Lois gets to her feet and brings the notepad with her, doodling a bit just to get her pen moving, and maybe her brain too.
"What took you so long to finally tell us," Lois finally asks. Her thoughtful steps took her to the edge of her balcony before she said anything, and so now the reporter stands with her back to the railing, notepad and recording pen in hand. It's a question that's been bugging and bugging her, eased a little by some of hte things Supergirl had said, then flaring up again at the world's seeming easy acceptance of J'onn.
"Honestly?" Superman asks, following Lois with his head as she walks to the railing. "Fear." The Man of Steel states plainly. "I was born on another planet. I'm an alien, in the true sense of the word. But on the other hand I look just like a human. I was raised here in the United States. Even if I wasn't born human...I was raised one. And I didn't think I would be accepted. But there are so many brave men and women out there who are just a little different...."
Superman starts to walk towards the balcony railing himself, his voice warming quite a bit with the passion of his conviction. "Wheter they are just taller than everyone else, or shorter, or a different race or sex, or homosexual or even a mutant. These brave souls come out and stand up proudly to say, this is what I am. You don't have to like it...but you have to accept it. Times are rapidly changing, and I wouldn't be much of a hero if I didn't show the same level of courage. So here I am. Adding my voice to theirs."
HOnestly? Lois nods. Honesty's all she's ever wanted, if if that honesty is to tell her that there's something she can't know. (That probably won't stop her from trying to find out anyway, but at least she'll know where she stands.) His answer confirms what Supergirl had said, strikes a sympathetic chord in her. Fear means people do weird things, inexplicable things. She ponders his words, what kind of world baby Superman might have grown up in. Just a normal family, maybe even watching terrible alien invasion movies like everyone else. 
"When did you learn that you came from another planet," Lois asks the question on her mind, voice softening as her normally hard exterior falls away.Her violet track Superman as he comes to a stop at her side. Her lips can't help but twitch up in pride at the sound of conviction in Superman's voice. It's rather a bit like the /other/ Man of Steel's voice when talking about mutant rights and so forth, only Superman's is warmer, not as cold or troubled. Which makes sense, given that this is Superman's coming-out party.
"When did I begin to suspect, or when did I know?" Superman answers back, grinning a little. "I begin to display differences from normal earth children at a very young age, but could contain them for the most part until puberty. And like most young teens, those were some really awkward years." he says, laughing a little as the memories surface.
"My mother gave me the complete run down when I was in highschool, including a crystal that had the complete histroy of my people. Sort of my 'coming of age' present. This symbol.." the man says, tapping his chest. "Is my family crest. My first cape was my baby blanket, believe it or not."
The light grin and counter question is what starts it. Lois smirks and sets her forearms on the railing to lean forward on it. The thought of toddler Superman doing things like jumping on the bed and ending up flying through the roof or liteally climbing the walls after a Halloween candy binge or even possibly a two year old Superbaby throwing a temper tandrum (and the CAR). It all sets the reporter chuckling. More so when Superman comments about awkward years. Superzits? Lois can't picture it. She's shaking her head amusedly. Hearing that Superman has a mom ends the chuckles, Lois' smile growing bittersweet, and she's forced to swallow roughly. She turns her face away a moment to collect herself before turning back to him in time to see his tap his chest. Her eyes are immediately drawn to the symbol, that S that when she was asked all those years ago what it meant, she had said stood for 'Super'. Her expression falls in an instant. 
'Family crest?' the mortification is clearly visible in how her cheeks darken. God, Lois. You really /are/ a moron, aren't you? Superman's immediate shift to 'babyblanket' yanks Lois from mortified to 'say what now?'
"Baby blanket," she repeats, voice squeaking a bit.
"You can relax Lois. I'm not upset at the name Superman, and I thought it was an 'S' for the longest time too." the man says, grinning lightly before he reaches down and grabs the edge of his cape and holds it out to be touched. "Yes, my baby blanket. As in, the blanket that I was wrapped in as a baby when my parent's pulled me out of my landing pod."
"It's been put away now, but my very first cape, that I wore to save the day for the very first time, was the very thing I was wearing the day I arrived on Earth."
Relieved that he made that mistake too, Lois lets out the breath she hadn't realized she was holding, the smile returning. When offered the cape, Lois can't help herself. Sure, she's been rescued by him many times, and carried about now and again, but to just touch his cape? That's a treat. Lois' hand reaches out for the red fabric.
"Sounds like every little boy's day dream ever, grabbing their favorite blanket or towel, tying it around their necks, and jumping off the back of the sofa," muses the reporter, eyes and hand on the scarlet fabric.
"I wasn't able to fly fully well into my teens." Superman says, keeping his body turned so that the reporter can play with the cape as long as she likes. "And taking off was the easy part. Landing was the hard part." he jokes softly. 
"But we all go through an awkward phase, Ms. Lane. I bet even you did."
Lois giggles at the thought. Superman jumps into the air... doesn't come down; arms flailing and everything. It's amusing, and very humanizing. Lois is playing with the fabric, wondering if its silk or cotton or something kryptonish when Superman 1) calls her Ms. Lane after having been calling her Lois for a while, and 2) suggests she ever had an awkward phase. Lois will deny it ang thank heaven that the General was never a shutterbug and so there exists very little photographic evidence of what short lived awkwardness there may have been. She drops the cape now, as if awkwardly realizing she was lingering over it.
"Why Metropolis," she asks, expertly switching topics that won't raise any suspicions at all if her interviewee was like your typical interviewee and not /also/ a news reporter in his spare time.
"Sometimes you choose a city, and sometimes a city chooses you." Superman replies, taking a moment to casually toss the cape back behind him. "And sometimes it's something in between. I choose Metropolis because I liked the city. I had a good experience when I visited for the first time, and it seemed like a place that I could make a difference. I came here, and I still felt like I was home. So here I stayed." 
Superman shrugs lightly and tilts his head to the side. "Not much of an answer, I know, but thats a hard one to explain. Why did you choose Metropolis? A job? Family? Just sort of happened? Same thing for me."
The Planet. Lois chose Metropolis because of the Daily Planet. ...and the influence of its circulation. She stayed beacause she fell in love with the city. So, Superman's answer just make her smile abit more.
"Did that have any bearing on the location of the Hall of Justice?" Meandering again? Slightly. Softball question? Possibly. Lois has slipped into conversation mode.
Superman nods his head. "Of course. Though again, not specifically. We found a spot that would work, it was in Metropolis, so I said yes." the man says, grinning lightly as he turns to lean his back lightly agianst the railing and crosses his arms across his chest again. 
"Things just sort of worked out that way." he finishes before standing up. "Tell you what, Lois. Why don't you start another pot of coffee. I'm going to go stop this high speed chase before it gets out of hand, and I'll be back with some food. Anything you would prefer? Chinese? Ice Cream?"
Lois grins lightly as Superman replies, only to blink a bit and straighten as he does. She knows that sudden straighten up move of his. It's his offer to come back with food that's surprising. He... he... he's never done that before. Her eyes are a little wide.
"Ah, sure. Both sound great," replies the reporter, brows knitting a bit with the surprise of it all.
"Back in 10." Superman says, starting to lift off the balcony as he lifts his hand into the air. "Better make it 15." he comments, glancing down once more to smile before zipping away in a blue and red streak.
Category:Logs
Category:RPLogs