2013.05.11 - Making Peace with Time

Morning. It seems to happen every day, somehow. The bulk of breakfast has come and gone, most folks gone off to go about whatever they might have to do with their days. Some, not many, linger in the mess hall, either still drinking coffee or still chatting, or simply making use of the tables as somewhere convenient to sprawl.
It is that last consideration that Jazmin has chosen this morning. She's settled at a table a little out of the way of the main flow of traffic. A mug of something that appears to be rapidly cooling is forgotten off to one side. She has before her a collection of papers and a computer tablet, referring to one and making notes on the other.
Working on -things- were difficult. Trying to live up to expectations from Rokk, on the other hand, was a whole thing. Despite giving the older Legionnaire a hard time, Garth -did- know what the whole Legion meant, and he had no intention of letting Rokk down. 
He'd checked in on Jazmin and Marya afterwards, but they seemed to be in evasive patrol. Out all night, although they'd checked in in the morning, so they -weren't- dead. 
And then when Garth wasn't looking, oh there's Jazmin. Isn't that always the way? 
"Good morning," Garth says as he settles his tray of coffee and soyegg. "Got a minute?" 
While there is nothing in Jazmin's file about skills in evasion and stealth, clearly she can hide pretty well when she wishes to. A glance up at the familiar voice and there is no indication on Jazmin's expression of anything but calm and professional. "Sure." She reaches over to draw a paper closer, to give him room for his tray when or if he sits. "What's up?"
The pages, easily seen at this distance, appear to be a roster of currently accounted for Legionaires, and their currently known powers. What's on the tablet isn't quite so easy to glance at.
Twisting his lips, Garth considers his words a moment, rather than just saying the first thing on his mind. He'd rehearsed this, right? 
"Look, I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to belittle Marya's abilities, just making a joke at how she doesn't -like- the exercise machines. And you're no joke at all, just... eeegh."
Flopping down onto a chair, Garth grumps. "You okay? I checked, but you were out all night." 
"I don't think there's anyone who /likes/ the exercise machines." Jazmin points out dryly and then settles back in her seat a little, letting the papers sit where they are. "Joking is fine, it just finally went on long enough that it crossed that line where it didn't feel like it was a joke anymore." She is quiet a moment, finally reaching for her own mug to have something to look at, and something to do with her hands. "I'm fine, thanks for asking. I just.. needed some time away after some of the fall out in the gym."
"You're kidding. I've seen the fitness freaks on those. Rokk... Kent.. ahhh, nevermind. I was trying to get a rise out of you two, really. You both, uh... seemed to be a bit -quiet-. I mean, you're no Shrinking Violets, but..." Garth rambles on, before falling quiet as Jazmin takes her coffee.
Grabbing his own cup, Garth sips, just... leaving Jazmin to speak. 
"Alright, /I/ dont like the fitness machines either. If I'm going to go for a run, I'd rather do it in reality, not staring at a wall." Jazmin sips from her coffee, making a face as she realizes its stone cold. "You know, it's not actually a character flaw to be /quiet/. If everyone is constantly working at volume and intensity eleven, we spend more time screaming and yelling and in dominance battles and not actually working together in any sort of functional matter." She is quiet again a moment. "Contrary to the lecture I got immediately after, I try not to flip out at every irritant. I don't find it's actually all that effective. I don't succeed all the time, clearly. And I'm not /trying/ to be a complete stick in the mud, wet blanket.. although when even /I/ think I sound like that, perhaps I really should learn to shut up a little more often.
Eyeing Jazmin's reaction, Garth nabs his fork, bends it into a u shape, and then motions for the woman to give him the cup. "What lecture...? You had every right to speak your mind there. Though getting Rokk to relax... ahh, you're right, it was probably a good idea to see if he'd like to go on a joyride. But if he tries to keep us in, he's got another think coming." 
"Apparently my rant at you was hormone fuelled lack of self control that was, if I'm not mistaken, because I did not feel that I was obligated to demonstrate or show my powers to an almighty Founder." Jazmin offers him her coffee mug at the gesture. "I'm paraphrasing here, and combining commentaries. And apparently I should just fight it out with some guy I'd never met before, who didn't feel obliged to introduce himself, and that would make it all better and square. How, I am entirely uncertain, but I turned down the opportunity to impress him with my unarmed combat."
Dipping the U-end of the bent fork into the coffee, Garth charges electricity through the conductive metal just long enough to heat up the coffee. "You already did, and it was more to have people who hadn't seen you before get the idea." 
Blue eyes look up, almost mischevious at Jazmin. "Although I -could- have done without you making it rain -harder- instead of -less-." At least he wasn't holding -that- against her. 
Pushing the coffee mug back at Jazmin, Garth quirks an eyebrow. "Sounds like fun." 
"Thank you." Jazmin accepts her freshly heated coffee with a little smirk. "Again, I am jealous at powers that are just everyday practical. Ah well, we deal with what we are born with." She takes a sip from the coffee and she chuckles faintly. "It seemed appropriate to speed up the rain a bit. At that point, in that demonstration, we were all pretty playful. Besides, it was just water." She gives a little shrug at the last. "It was, now that I've had a day or two space, kind of hysterical to be lectured on self control /right then/. Even more so that the suggestion was that somehow fighting an uninvolved party would solve anything, and not just shatter what little self control I had left at the time. It does make me torn between ensuring he gets plenty of practice time with female Legionaires so that perhaps the sexist comments might ease off, or giving the rest of the women a break from the assumptions that we are nothing more than slaves to our hormones."
"Well, you -could- just put the coffee in a slow-time stasis field if you want to keep it hot," Garth grins, motioning to Jazmin at her 'everyday practical'. "It's just... thinking about how you could use them, that's all." Eyebrows arch at the remark. "Oh... slaves to hormones. Ehhh. I can believe that, but I've never really dealt with that. I have a twin sister, you know. She showed up here the other day, but I got to miss that whole puberty phase. Grife, I'm so glad I missed -that-." 
"I /could/, yes. But if I'm not paying attention, I'll end up dropping it." Jazmin points out with a shrug. She lifts a hand to point at him. "Women are no more slaves to their hormones and incapable of rational thought or control than men are. And while the jokes on either side are common, some people apparently don't think they're jokes. And as we're a mixed gender Legion, perhaps the lecture on self control isn't so inappropriate, just poorly timed." She quirks her head at him. "Your sister's arrived?" She reaches over to dig through her papers and then ahs and nods. "Yes.. she's got similar powers to you, doesn't she? Good or bad to have her here?"
"Ahhh, control's not really the issue, I think, as much as knowing what your strengths -aren't-. Though I think Rokk's used to -his- Lightning Lad. Gods know, he's not -my- Rokk, but he's Rokk. That's all I really need, right?" Eyeing his bent fork, Garth tries to bend it back so he can get to eat his soyegg. "Grife, I don't even -know- what to think about the hormones things, I just try and work my way around it." 
"I suppose." Jazmin agrees thoughtfully. "I know, generally, what my strengths aren't, but there are a lot of assumptions, on all sides and all levels on who people are, or aren't. There's going to be a lot of surprises for the next little while. I.. I'm starting to really grok that." She offers him her fork, unbent. "It doesn't help that we're mostly just sort of hanging out, without having a whole lot of structure to our days or expectations. Everyone's out of sorts to some degree."
"Yeah, seeing everyone using their powers would probably be the best," Garth has to admit, after puzzling that out. Taking Jazmin's fork with a nod and a grin of thanks, Garth digs into his soyegg, eating quickly. 
Mouth full, Garth points out, "But hanging out is good for getting to know each other, even if we're not doing field training. I've spent enough time doing field leading to figure that people are always going to fall into little groups and couples and stuff, and it's just a matter of, well, being professional about it." 
"Oh we absolutely need the hanging out time. I have no arguments there at all. But think about it. Most of us are coming off of missions, in some flavour or another. Or being /on/ in terms of getting called on regularly, and keeping in training and the like, and we've come from that to nothing. Full speed to zero, no transition. I know /I/ am far less bitchy when I have something to do. I don't think I'm alone in this." Jazmin gestures vaguely at the papers and then shrugs. "I'm not talking 24/7 structure, but pretty soon we're going to hit the bored and restless of summer vacation where the structure of school starts to sound pretty damn good, and we all just piss each other off because we don't have anything better to do. At risk of sounding like that wet blanket again, I think it'd be better for our effectiveness when or if we get called upon for our /actual purpose/ if we aren't fully in lazy dopy vacation mode."
Garth keeps eating, not really seemingly paying attention. It's not that he couldn't think quickly, it's whether he could think -wisely-, and having to work with Rokk was forcing him to have to do this. Grife, why -did- he have to be put in charge of training? 
"Fine," Garth says at length just when he might have been accused of ignoring Jazmin. "If we don't have some giant cataclysmic event showing up, we can at least run a sim of one to keep our hands in practice." Quirking a grin at Jazmin, Garth motions at her with the fork. "Why don't we just do something based off -your- experience with Mordru, and then we can work out what to do if we -do- encounter him here?" 
"I can organize some smaller group things if you want." Jazmin offers calmly after that lingering silence. "Unless we actually want to go with the sink or swim attitude of tossing all of us in a sim together, shake vigourously and see if we live or die." She sips at her coffee thoughtfully. "Which, actually, might not be the worst way to go about this."
"Might as well, actually," Garth grins, as he finishes his egg and starts in on his coffee. "Otherwise we'd just be encouraging groups within groups. And I'm guessing you don't want to hear -that- either. I kinda like the idea." 
Quirking a grin, Garth motions towards Jazmin. "You weren't leader of the Amazers, were you?" 
"No, I wasn't leader of the Amazers." Jazmin replies easily enough, a touch of a shrug. "No, small group tactical, with random groups rather than self selected, encourages people to be able to work with anyone, rather than encouraging groups within groups. A grand melee, even if it's not melee, will highlight the cliques."
"Huh. That's a good idea, actually," Garth replies, scratching his beard. "Well then, I'm stealing you to help -me- organize training." Matter of factedly, simple. Because anyone who's that good with tactical thinking? Needs to be pushed. 
Jazmin winks at him. "Well that does make it easier than trying to organize it around you. Although I think the general convention is to /ask/, but why yes, yes I'd be delighted to help." She gestures at the roster on the table. "I was considering having the random groups be somewhat nudged towards random, with more experienced and less mixed in together."
The wink is met with a wider grin. "Well, fine. Jazmin Cullen, will you help me organize training?" Garth replies in a cheeky fashion, before his eyes shift towards the papers. "You were -already- working on this? Overachiever," he says, although there's a twinkle in his eye and laughter in his voice. 
"Of course? What else was I going to be doing? Shopping /every/ day?" Jazmin pffts at that notion. "An enjoyable diversion, but not exactly something I can see filling my days with. The comments about keeping busy were not just theoretical, I cannot imagine I am completely alone in feeling terribly restless and wishing for something familiar in a century that is completely not my own."
"Heh. Rokk's idea, or your own intitiative?" The latter seemed more commendable. Not that Garth would say so, of course. 
Shifting his seat closer to Jazmin, Garth starts looking over the roster. "Hmmm... so, I get Marya...?" 
"Do you /really/ want to push Marya's buttons even further?" Jazmin asks pointedly. "That I'm waffling on which would be a better long term decision. She wasn't any less pissed than I was." She mmms softly. "Mine, but I did mention it to Rokk, so he had opptunity to tell me it was a terrible idea." Which, either way, didn't stop her clearly.
The time is mid-morning, after the breakfast crowd when folks are generally either lingering over coffee, or settled to conversation. Garth and Jazmin are at a table outside the general stream of traffic, sitting next to each other as Garth eats and Jazmin shuffles papers and drinks coffee.
"Eh, well, we can't pair me up with Ayla. Two of us at the same time is overkill. Don't worry about Marya... I'll get her to cool off. We could always come up with a mission or something -in- China. I think. I don't remember my Terran history very well," Garth says as he reaches over to grab another sheet of paper from the other side of Jazmin. "What about the reserves like Superman and Booster?" 
Someone slept in a little this morning, and it's not until the crowd has thinned that Ayla drifts in. Literally. Why walk when you can fly? It's not hard to spot her twin's shock of red hair, and she naturally heads that way. "Pair you up with Ayla for what?" she asks as she lands next to the pair at the table, eyes curious, brows arched. She reaches to ruffle Garth's hair, directing a smile at his companion. "Hi!" 
"Absolutely we can pair you up with Ayla." Jazmin replies and then shrugs. "I dont know anything about Terran history, I was going to see if there's.. I don't know what information stores this century has. Online or off, but that's on my list for the next few days. A map of the city wouldn't suck either." She glances up as another redhead joins the small group and there's a twist of a smile. "Morning. For training sessions. You must be Ayla, I'm Jazmin."
Garth gives Jazmin a quick -look- to see if she was deliberately ignoring his request -not- to pair up Ayla with him. Because it -made- sense to keep two power-houses like that apart to use to support others, to him. Searching her dark features to see if she was pulling his leg or not. 
"Hi, sis," Garth says without even turning his head, his hair ruffled. "Just talking about mission team-ups." 
Ayla offers her hand out to Jazmin, her smile taking an impish quality, "Pardon my brother's manners, but I'm Ayla. The cute one. It's nice to meet you, Jazmin." With the introduction taken care of, she slides to sit without waiting for an invitation. "Team us up how? Against each other? Learning to work better as a team?" 
"Well, the basic premise of the idea, as Garth gives me /that/ look that I'm getting to know really well already." Jazmin comments as she gestures to the roster listings she's got on the table "Is that while we can plot out the most effective and efficient teams in theory, the reality of mission calls is that it gets whoever is free at the time. Which might be two powerhouse lightning types. Which might be all non-damage powers people like myself. Which might be any combination of less than optimal situations. It is FAR better to explore how to make those work in advance rather than relying on nothing but optimized groupings." She flickers a half smile at Garth. "Which yes, means you work with people that have similar powers to your own, and people you wouldn't normally, and is rather the point of random. This is an ongoing thing, not a one off."
Leaning back in his chair, Garth looks back up at Ayla. "Hey, _I_'m the cute one." 
Any further protestations is delayed as Garth listens to Jazmin's explanation. "Huh. So -that-'s how Rokk comes up with the teams he usually assigns leaders to..." he says, scratching his chin. Nudging Jazmin on the shoulder with a lightly-placed elbow, Garth grins. "Nice thinking." 
Tilting his head backwards so that he can look up at Ayla, Garth peers. "Never worked with another lightning user before. You've got the same powers as me and Mekt, right?" 
"Random makes sense," Ayla offers, "Since you're absolutely right. We never know who might be able to go out when it's needed, so we all need to learn our strengths and weaknesses and compensate for each other." Blue eyes, almost exactly like his own, settle on Garth. "You guys are power users. I have finesse." She says this with a playful air of superiority. One hand is held up, palm flat, and a light sizzle starts. Within seconds, there's a small ball of electricity formed on her palm, and it slowly grows in strength and size. After a few seconds of this display, she absorbs the energy back into herself, smirking at Garth. 
"And that senario is one I'd rather face here in a sim than while some villian is doing his level best to remove me from existance." Jazmin grins at Garth. "I've never worked with another manipulator of time, usually we're all the only one with our powerset, but the Legion is becoming large and diverse and there's overlap." She watches Ayla's demonstration as she reaches for her coffee. "I just haven't quite worked out how best to implement the theory into the practical yet. Sims, or groups doing non-lethal to each other, somehow. I'm not currently in a rush to go ask Brainy for favours, so perhaps sims might be the best way to go."
"Hey I have -some- finesse," Garth says, motioning to the bent fork he'd been using to heat up Jazmin's coffee. He does, however, regard Ayla's ball lightning with a slight look of envy, as he brings a hand up, and starts forming lighting aura around his fist. No such luck, though, in forming a -ball- out of it, and Garth eyerolls, before flinging the excess electricity at Ayla without thinking much about it. 
A casual gesture has one hand up to intercept the charge from Garth, catching it like she would a tossed ball, absorbing it even as Ayla's attention is back on Jazmin. Although she does mutter, "Finesse wouldn't bend the fork." Her voice comes back up to level, her smile bright, "Sounds like you have some good ideas. And yeah.... I wouldn't like to be with a group in a dire situation and we don't know how to play to each other's strengths. That's just foolish." 
"Well, I can't do any of what either of you can do, so it all looks pretty much finesse from my perspective." Jazmin points out as she considers the remains of Garth's plate and plucks a bit of 'egg' off it with her fingers. "And if you chucked any of that at me, I'd be a twitching heap on the ground in fairly short order, which makes pitting teams against each other seem like a fast train to visiting Kent in the infirmary. Which is less than ideal."
"I don't know... if it were me, I'd just speed up time around -me- and then use it to get myself out of the area fast," Garth replies, leaning back and tilting his head up towards Ayla. "What -did- Mekt teach you, anyway? Can he do the same things?" 
There's a grin for Jazmin at her diplomacy, which Ayla feels no need to employ herself. It's her twin. She does lean in for a moment, lowering her voice to murmur to Jazmin quietly, "I met that Kent guy. Have you seen him work out?" The quick waggle of her brows says more than additional words might, and she sits back with a giggle, which she stifles to address Garth's questions. "Mekt said you and he could do the same things, so if that's accurate I have a better idea what you can do than you have of what I can do. I have better control. Maybe not quiet as much raw power." 
Jazmin leans in a little at Ayla's murmur and she mmms softly. "I.. I have not. I may need to spend more time in the gym." She comments absently with a flash of a smile for the other teen. She shrugs at Garth. "I need a tiny touch of warning in order to pull that off. Which is doable, don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to claim that I'm utterly vulnerable to any raw power tossed my way, but it's absolutely a weak spot for me."
"Heyyyy, what are you guys talking about?" Garth looks back and forth between the two twittering girls, before rolling his eyes, throwing his hands up. "Whatever. We'll just have to work on your reflexes then, Jaz." 
Almost at the same instant there is an identical eye roll from Ayla, dismissing Garth's dismissal of them! So there! She might have been about to say something to him, but she's interrupted by a rumble from her stomach. "Yikes, I guess I'd better eat!" She regains her feet, ruffling Garth's hair again, a gesture that could make anyone else's hair stand on end easily. She frowns lightly. "You're immune like Mekt. So not fun." Her eyes land on Jazmin, "So, gym date later?" With a grin she lifts, fingerwiggle waves at the two, and has a leisurely flight over to check what's in the offing for that grumbly in her tumbly. 
"I'll see ya there." Jazmin lifts a hand to wave after Ayla with a half chuckle and a smirk before turning her atteniton back to Garth and just looking at him. Thoughtfully, consideringly and quiet just a hint of a smirk touching her face as she does.
"Later, sis." Eyeing Jazmin, Garth quirks an eyebrow. "A gym date...? What are you smirking at?" Garth reaches for a napkin, wiping his mouth and beard off, and checks to see if there was anything. Nope. Can't be. 
"Nothing. Nothing at all." Jazmin informs him as she considers his plate, his empty plate and goes back to her coffee. "She's sweet. I feel sorry for your mother."
"Why?" Garth asks, with a blank look. "Ayla's sweet, cute, perky. Best little sister anyone could ask for back then. Now..." Well, Garth had to get to know her all over again, considering how she -grew up- since then. Looking at the plate, and then at Jazmin, and finally registering that she'd been nabbing little bits off his plate, Garth sighs. "Want me to get you something to eat?" 
"Because the pair of you are high energy, literally and figuratively, and the thought of raising three children who can zot the family pet /and/ have high levels of both perky and snark. I'm tired just /considering/ sunday dinner at your house." Jazmin points out and then shakes her head. "Naw. I'm good. Besides, you were done with it."
Garth shrugs. "It's no trouble. If all you've been doing is drinking coffee while you were working on this, then I'm definitely getting you something to eat." Getting up, Garth pauses, then cheekily asks, "So you were considering sunday dinner with us? You -are- welcome to come over, then." 
"You have family here? In this timeline that you can go have sunday dinner with?" Jazmin blinks, clearly surprised. She looks at her coffee cup and then up to him and ahems softly. "Perhaps I should get myself something to eat."
"Sure," laughs Garth, standing up. "You just met her." That was -way- too easy.
Oh Garth knew exactly what Jazmin meant, but he -was- amused to not hear a -hell no-, at the least. Ahhh well... at least he got her -flustered- a bit. Which was good to know, that little miss organized -could- be caught by surprise. 
A pause and then Jazmin reaches for a bit of redudant paper to crumple up and toss after him while she laughs. "That was not what I meant, and you /know/ it." She harumphs after him, poking at the tablet a moment.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. But admit it, you were -thinking- about it for a minute," Garth laughs, as the wad of paper bounces off his head, to be fumbled about before he finally catches it. "Fine, fine, I'll get you food. Wouldn't want to interrupt your -studying-," he says. "But you're not getting out of sharing your training ideas with me, because I am -so- using them." 
"I.." Jazmin starts and then pauses a moment as he moves away to get food. She's quiet the time he's gone, only really speaking again once he returns. "Yes, I was thinking about it for a minute, but more in the context of Sunday Dinner was a non-negotiable in our house growing up. No matter how busy you were, James and I had to have our butts in the chair in the dining room for Sunday Dinner every week, or have a damn good excuse why not. That changed when he joined the Amazers and then the Legion, of course, but on planet? Mom didn't take no for an answer very well."
Placing a sandwich, chips, and an apple in front of Jazmin, while keeping a starfruit for himself, Garth nods, beginning to break the fruit up for easy munching. "Neither do you, eh?" Garth replies, as he munches on a piece. "Winath's an agricultural planet, so we were pretty much busy farming and raising plants, so most of the time we saw each other." Which probably explains more than the twin connection why Ayla and Garth were seemingly close. "James was older?" 
"There may be some ways in which the apple did not fall far from the tree, perhaps." Jazmin notes with a twist of her lips and a murmurs 'thanks' for the food. She reaches for the sandwich to take a bite that belies entirely how hungry she actually was, without really realizing it. "Yes, James was older, by a few years. We saw each other a fair bit, but we mixed it with fighting like cats and dogs."
"That would be like Mekt, all right. Older brothers are utter dirj," Garth says, offering a piece of starfruit as he leans back, ignoring that he was -supposed- to be on training duty. Technically, this -was- part of his duties, right? Working out a plan of training. Or at least, it's how he's gonna explain it to Rokk. 
"We both may have gotten a tiny wee bit of a competative streak." Jazmin explains with an understanding expression at the comment about older brothers. "Which I don't know if that works better if both kids have it, or not. I /do/ remember.. I was about four or five I think, which would have made James about eight or nine, and I was just absolutely /crushed/ because he could do something I couldnt yet. Some ball game or another. I was too little to reach, so I kept losing and you'd of thought it was the end of my very young world."
"Oh I know!" Laughing, Garth leans forward. "Then you get older, and you start beating him, and then he quits playing it with you because it's not about having fun, it's about -winning-. Or he'll just keep playing it and add more rules, and then before you know it..." Making an exploding motion with his hands, Garth grins. 
"Exactly!" Jazmin laughs softly. "And then it's gotten horribly complex and everyone's mad and then we get lectured at the supper table for fighting." She shakes her head, nudging the plate over to invite sharing of chips. The sandwich is vanishing with alacrity around conversation. "And once he had his belt.. well that was just /cheating/, if you asked younger me. I didn't have my powers yet. But woe be to anyone who picked on either of us, suddenly we were a team. Generally."
Plucking a few chips out, Garth grins, nodding. "Nobody was allowed to pick on any of us except each other," the Winathian notes, a satisfying crunch in between sentences as he munches the chips, one by one, rather neatly for such a chaotic person. He falls silent, considering.
"I kind of miss Mekt," Garth announces, sighing. "Maybe he went and became a Super-Villain, but you know, he did it to save Ayla. And saved the rest of us too." 
"I miss James. No matter that he was often a pain in the arse. I miss him." Jazmin's words are quiet as she contemplatively chews on her sandwich.
Category:Log